Chinese History
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Chinese Currency Through the Ages
The Chinese have been using currency of one type or other for around 3,500 years. As soon as the trade of goods began, something was needed as a form of exchange.
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Yangzhou, City of the Salt Merchants
The importance of salt to the economies of many earlier societies is clearly illustrated in the story of Yangzhou, China, from the time of the Tang Dynasty to the Qing.
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Anyang - The Last Capital of the Shang Dynasty
Anyang, in Henan Province in northern China, has a long and distinguished past having once been the capital of the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago.
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Nu Shu: The World's Only Gender-Based Language
In feudal China, when Chinese women lived in isolation from the rest of society, a secret language called "Nu Shu" began to emerge as a response to domestic oppression.
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The Great Leap Forward
In 1958, Mao Zedong wished to propel China into the modern age. To do this he mobilized millions of peasants across the country to produce grain and steel.
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Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibit
The Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit at the National Geographic Society is a rare opportunity to see these fascinating figures up close from China's past
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China Humbled by Foreigners
After 1794, the British employed opium to turn millions of Chinese into addicts as a means of forcing the Chinese Emperor to grant them full trading rights
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Sun Yat-Sen Elected First President of China
Instrumental in the founding of the Republic of China, and the Nationalist and Communist Parties, he is unique for being widely revered in both Taiwan and mainland China.
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The Kitchen God
The Kitchen God can determine a family's fate at the New Year but he wasn't always a God. This is his story of how he became a key God in the Chinese pantheon.
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The Chinese Lunar New Year
Of all the important Chinese holidays the Lunar New Year is the most auspicious and splendid. It is a holiday of immense significance to Chinese around the world.
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Pu Yi - The Last Emperor of China
While on her deathbed the Empress Dowager Cixi chose the infant boy Pu Yi to be China's next emperor. In December 1908 he ascended the throne.
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Sun Tzu's The Art of War
The Art of War by Sun Tzu, is the oldest military treatise in the world. It remains unsurpassed in military strategy, but also in psychology, business and leadership.
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China's Terra Cotta Warriors Tour
Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi commissioned artists to make clay warriors, clay soldiers of a terracotta army. China's terra cotta warriors tour is in the U.S through 2010.
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The Effect of Chinese Literature on Modern China
The ancient historian Sima Qian and the more modern writings of Lu Xun have played a major role in the actions, beliefs, and values of modern Chinese people.
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The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
Next to Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Chinese Moon Festival, is the most important holiday on the Chinese lunar calendar.
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Ancient Chinese Characters
The Chinese writing system dates back to China's Shang Dynasty (16th-11th Century BC). Many of these ancient symbols evolved into modern day Chinese characters.
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Art and Literature of China's Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, reshaped Chinese cultural history. From the construction of the Great Wall, to the appearance of fictional novels, it is was a famous era.
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Art and Literature of the Chinese Sung Dynasty
The Sung, or Song Dynasty, was the ruling government in China between 960 and 1279. Brilliant strides in landscape and portrait painting graced this period.
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Tang Dynasty Horses Danced for the Emperor
Tang Emperor Xuanzong showed off his great wealth with a troupe of 100 beautiful silk and jewel bedecked horses that danced in great precision during his Autumn Festival.
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Sapajou, Cartoonist of Old Shanghai
Sapajou's cartoons for the North China Daily News made him internationally famous. But World war II ended Shanghai's heyday-- and Sapajou's career.
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White Russians in Shanghai
After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 thousands of ant-Communist Russians were stateless and homeless. They all flocked to Shanghai, China and a new life.
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China in the Neolithic Period
The Neolithic period marks an important turning point in the development of the Chinese civilisation, as recognisable cultural communities developed.
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Sir Victor Sassoon, Builder of 1930s Shanghai
A millionaire with a vision, Sir Victor Sasoon built modern Shanghai. His buildings modernized the city. When he left in 1948, the great metropolis bore his stamp.
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The Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai
The Fairmont Peace, known as the Cathay Hotel in the 30s, was known for its luxury and service. Its star faded with the coming of WWII. There are plans to restore it.
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The Chung Collection's Chinese Canadian History
The Chung Collection is emblematic of the growth and progress of British Columbia and Canadian History, even before the age of multiculturalism.
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Shanghai in the 1930s
In the 1930s Shanghai was the stuff of legend. It was a thriving commercial center, but also known for every kind of vice. The boom ended in 1937, when Japan invaded.
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The Chinese Cultural Revolution
The Chinese Cultural Revolution was a time of instability in China. Red Guards spread chaos across the country and political infighting was endemic.
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Emperor Hongwu Biography
Emperor Hongwu (or Zhu Yuanzhang) lived as a farmer, wandering monk and rebel leader and eventually become the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
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Causes of China's Economic Growth
Starting in 1978, Deng Xiaoping's reforms opened the Chinese economy and were the major causes of China's economic growth.
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Foot Binding in China
Ancient Chinese foot binding was a process that broke and reshaped a woman's foot, leaving them crippled and dependent on men.
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Yuan Dynasty History
Non-Chinese Mongols ruled China and ushered in many changes and reforms during their short-lived Yuan Dynasty.
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Tang Dynasty History
The Tang Dynasty was golden age in China. Art, philosophy, literature and technology all flourished during this period. International trade grew along the Silk Road.
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Republic of China History
The Republic of China, led by the Nationalist Party, took power shortly after the end of the Qing Dynasty. It ruled China through WWII.
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Qin Dynasty History
The Qin Dynasty was the first to unify China and Qin Shi Huang was China's first emperor. The history of the Qin Dynasty is the beginning of a unified China.
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Chinese Warring States Period
The Warring States Period was a time of conflict and as well as growth throughout ancient China. Various states and schools of thought fought for supremacy.
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History of the Lanfang Republic
The Lanfang Republic was a little-known state in modern-day Indonesia. It was the first republic in Asia.
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The History of Silk
While its origins are obscured by myth and legend, the history of Chinese silk shows it played a central role in the civilization of ancient China.
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The Chinese Civil War
In the first half of the 20th century, the Chinese Communists and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Party fought a bitter civil war. This is known as the Chinese Civil War.
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Happy Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is a two week festival celebrated around the world with special food, customs and traditions.
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The Ming Dynasty and Empire
A century before Columbus began the period of colonial empire, in Ming Dynasty China, a fleet under Admiral Zheng He visited Indonesia, India and even East Africa.
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The Sung Dynasty and Neo-Confucianism
After the collapse of the Tang Empire China came under the control of the Sung dynasty which is characterized by Confucian revival, often referred to as Neo-Confucianism.
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Mongol Warriors and the Composite Bow
Genghis Khan began the Mongol invasions but it was the powerful composite bow which carried their civilization out of the steppe.
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Zhang Qian, the Chinese Marco Polo
Over one thousand years before Marco Polo the Han emissary Zhang Qian traveled west to present day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, opening routes later called the Silk Road.
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History of Vancouver Chinatown
Many tourists visit Chinatown each year. But what many do not realize is that Chinatown rivals other Chinese cities such as Hong Kong in terms of historical significance
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The Moon Festival and Its Moon Cakes
The Moon Festival is celebrated across Eastern Asia, though the most well-known celebration, at least in the Western world, seems to be that of the Chinese.
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The Chinese Moon Festival
On the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the Chinese celebrate the Moon Festival.
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Historical Portrait of the Muslim Chinese
The Hui are one of the most important and peculiar of China's minorities because of their unique place inside China's socio-historical space.
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Drinking in the Tang Dynasty
How, when and why did people drink during the Tang Dynasty?
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The Sex Life of Chairman Mao
Chairman Mao Zedong had a long and varied sex life, both with his several wives and the many young girls procured for his longevity.
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Eunuchs
Who were the eunuchs and what was their role in the Tang Dynasty?
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