(中国何以统一) 5 min read   “The empire, long divided, will unite, and long united will divide” (话说天下大势, 分久必合, 合久必分), declares the opening line of the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义). Toward the waning years of the Han Dynasty (汉朝, 206 BCE–220 CE), China entered a century-long period (169–280 CE) of chaotic […]

(中国历史上的文化融合) 6 min read   China has been shaped by a complex process of ethnic integration characterized by periods of conquest, assimilation, and cultural exchange with neighboring groups. These processes broke down barriers and compelled different peoples to coexist, producing profound and lasting syntheses. This history has been interspersed with cycles of unity, fragmentation, collapse,

(贯穿南北的京杭大运河) 6 min read   In the late Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时代), between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, when China was divided into numerous competing states, King Fuchai of Wu (吴王夫差) made a monumental contribution to China’s long-term nation-building. Beginning in 486 BCE, Fuchai ordered the construction of a canal linking Wu’s capital

(蔡伦造纸) 4 min read   The biography of Cai Lun (蔡伦) in the Records of the Later Han Dynasty (后汉书), compiled in the 5th century, states: “In ancient times, writing was generally done on bamboo strips or on pieces of silk, which were called paper. But silk was expensive and bamboo was heavy, making both

(古代科举制的深远影响) 4 min read   Joseph Needham (李約瑟), a British historian of science and editor of the renowned series History of Science and Technology in China (中国科学技术史), posed a famous question: “Between the first century BC and the fifteenth century AD, Chinese civilization was much more efficient than occidental culture in applying human knowledge to

(印刷术的发明) 5 min read   The invention of printing, probably by the 8th century, had a profound impact on the spread of knowledge, literacy, and culture in ancient China. It democratized access to knowledge by making books more affordable and widely available, which in turn fueled the emergence of a large intellectual class and the

(敦煌遗书中的秘密) 4 min read   Twenty kilometers from the town of Dunhuang (敦煌)—a major crossroads on the ancient Silk Road—lie hundreds of Buddhist cave temples carved into cliffs bordering an endless expanse of sand dunes. Collectively known as the Mogao Caves (莫高窟), this complex represents one of the world’s greatest repositories of Buddhist art and

(马可波罗眼中的中国) 5 min read   Marco Polo was born into a family of adventurers. In 1271, at the age of sixteen, he accompanied his father and uncle as they departed Venice for the Mongol court during the Yuan Dynasty (元朝). Risking inhospitable deserts infested with bandits, they traveled through Turkey and Iran and reached the

 (郑和下西洋的文化遗产) 6 min read   Since the first century CE, many regions of South and Southeast Asia have been connected by sea routes known today as the Maritime Silk Road (image below). By the Tang Dynasty (唐朝), between the 7th and 10th centuries, these routes linked seaports such as Guangzhou (广州) in southern China with

(清末民初的百年奋斗) 10 min read   The century following 1840—when Britain launched the First Opium War (鸦片战争)—is often described as China’s Century of Humiliation (百年屈辱). During this period, China endured repeated invasions and plunder: the two Opium Wars (1839–42, 1856–60), the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the Eight-Nation Alliance’s attack on Beijing in 1900, and the Japanese