The Battle of Yamen and the End of the Song Dynasty

The Battle of Yamen and the End of the Song Dynasty

As ships sank and the sea off the coast of Guangdong filled with corpses, the Mongol ships approached the vessel carrying Zhao Shi and his court. According to legend, rather than hand the boy over to the enemy, Lu Xiufu, a prime minister in Zhao Shi’s court, grabbed the young ruler and jumped into the sea drowning them both.

Meet the Great Chinese Women Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention

Meet the Great Chinese Women Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention

If we are to celebrate famous women in Chinese history, I think it’s time we expanded the list beyond the standard starting five (Wu Zetian, the Pirate Queen Ching Shih/Zheng Yi Sao, Ban Zhao, Hua Mulan, and Pick-Your-Favorite Soong sister).

China’s competing legacies on show at National Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei

China’s competing legacies on show at National Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei
  • The mid-century scramble to stop priceless art and artefacts falling into the wrong hands saw country’s collection of imperial artefacts splinter

  • Nationalists transported their treasures to Taiwan, while newly minted People’s Republic allowed Forbidden City to preserve posterity

Swine Fever: Celebrating Chinese History’s Most Famous Pigs

Swine Fever: Celebrating Chinese History’s Most Famous Pigs

What do Hillary Clinton, Chinese Admiral Zheng He, Amy Winehouse, and Chiang Kai-shek have in common? They are all pigs.

China’s Struggles to Reconcile Church and State are Rooted in History

China’s Struggles to Reconcile Church and State are Rooted in History

It’s not an easy time to be Christian, Muslim, or Jewish in China. Universalist religions are under attack in the PRC.

China’s Ghostwriter: The True Story Behind Jackie Chan’s New Movie “Knight of Shadows”

China’s Ghostwriter: The True Story Behind Jackie Chan’s New Movie “Knight of Shadows”

Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling gets the big screen treatment next month with Jackie Chan in the lead role. But who was the Qing era's most famous "ghost writer"?

Beijing's 'Great Brickening' Encroaches Deeper Into Residential Areas

Beijing's 'Great Brickening' Encroaches Deeper Into Residential Areas

While “The Brickening” has so far mostly affected commercial properties, including wiping out many well-known and beloved food and beverage institutions, the next phase in Beijing’s ongoing urban rejuvenation will start to affect residents of areas designated as historical and cultural conservation zones. These areas are mostly located within the Second Ring Road north of the Forbidden City.

The “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Guide to 40 Years of Reform and Opening

The “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Guide to 40 Years of Reform and Opening

What can the beloved (if warped) Christmas classic “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” teach us about China’s Reform and Opening Era?

The Chinese Doctor Who Beat the Plague

The Chinese Doctor Who Beat the Plague

In October 1910, a mysterious illness appeared in the city of Manzhouli, on the Russian and Chinese border. Meet the doctor who stopped a deadly epidemic from spreading to the rest of Asia and possibly beyond.

Did Chinese Architect Liang Sicheng Save the Historic Sites of Kyoto?

Did Chinese Architect Liang Sicheng Save the Historic Sites of Kyoto?

Walk down any street in Kyoto and chances are you'll run into an old temple. Did Chinese architect and preservationist save the city from being destroyed in World War II?

Beijing's Five Architectural Colors, and the Symbolism Behind Them

Beijing's Five Architectural Colors, and the Symbolism Behind Them

It sometimes seems like the dominant color in Beijing is “Socialist Taupe.” The streets. The bricks. The roads. Getting away from the gray and the beige is hard.

That wasn’t always the case. In imperial times, builders and architects relied on five colors to add life to their creations: red, yellow, blue, white, and (yes) gray

Xi’s Gotta Have It: Rewriting the History of the Reform and Opening Era at the National Museum

Xi’s Gotta Have It: Rewriting the History of the Reform and Opening Era at the National Museum

Feckless sycophants at the National Museum have taken the Reform and Opening period, one of the most significant moments in Modern Chinese history, and turned it into the equivalent of a Xi Jinping dick pic.

Being Thomas Friedman in Taipei

Being Thomas Friedman in Taipei

Nothing is more annoying than the uncritical writer who arrives at a destination and proceeds to gush over the local culture. So when I say I love Taiwan, I do so with the full expectation that I may be simply exorcizing the accumulated demons of a life lived in Beijing. But you know what… I absolutely love Taiwan and let me tell you why.