History

Slow Boats and Caravans: Great Explorers in Chinese History

Slow Boats and Caravans: Great Explorers in Chinese History

China was never closed to the world. The myth of Chinese civilization huddled behind the Great Wall, isolated and insular, is as much a product of Western imagination as any historical reality. For thousands of years, travelers, traders, scholars, and missionaries explored the overland routes and sea lanes connecting China with the rest of the world.

How Does China’s Imperial Past Shape Its Foreign Policy Today?: A China File Conversation

How Does China’s Imperial Past Shape Its Foreign Policy Today?: A China File Conversation

Throughout most of history, China dominated Asia. Now, with China on the rise again, are Beijing’s leaders looking to establish a new hegemony by drawing on the playbook of the distant past? 

Capital Histories: How Beijing became the capital of China

Capital Histories: How Beijing became the capital of China

How did Beijing become the capital of China? My short-form history of Beijing for the Nov/Dec 2016 issue of The Beijinger.

Blinged-Out Mobile Not the First Telephone Controversy at the Forbidden City

Blinged-Out Mobile Not the First Telephone Controversy at the Forbidden City

The recent flap over the Palace Museum's promotion of a bling-out luxury mobile phone was not the first time that a phone has caused a stir at the Forbidden City. The story of a phone, a young emperor, and his love of prank calls.

Lessons for Syria from the Taiping War

Lessons for Syria from the Taiping War

Far too often, humans are reminded of historical parallels to current crises that could have been avoided. War is repetitive, but is it necessary? The past may just be the best indicator of the future.

Preserved Architecture, Sustainable Crowds, and Manageable Traffic: The Story of What Beijing Could Have Been

Preserved Architecture, Sustainable Crowds, and Manageable Traffic: The Story of What Beijing Could Have Been

In 1949, two architects' plan for Beijing's future was rejected for being too much in love with the city's past.