(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