Unlike many cities in China with long and varied histories, Shanghai's history is quite short. The British opened a concession in Shanghai after the first Opium War and ignited Shanghai's evolution. Once a small fishing village on the edge of the muddy Huang Pu River, it has become one of ...

Some half a million years ago, Peking man lived in Zhoukoudian, in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing. The climate of that time was warmer and more humid than it is today. Forests and lakes in the area supported large numbers of living creatures. The fossil remains of Peking man, his ...

  Drawn entirely from the extensive resources of the Metropolitan Museum, this exhibition presents the rich diversity of art created under China's Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Its seventy paintings and calligraphies chronicle the parallel evolutions of the courtly and the scholar-amateur traditions. These works are complemented by a generous selection of textiles, ...

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established his capital in Nanjing (Chinese for southern capital). He ate mostly food cooked with the flavors of South China during his ruling years. His fourth son, Zhu Di, declared himself the emperor in 1403 and gave his reign the title ...

The development of Qing military system can be divided into two broad periods separated by the Taiping rebellion (1850 - 64). Early Qing military was rooted in the Manchu banners first developed by Nurhachi as a way to organize Manchurian society beyond petty clan affiliations. There were eight banners in ...

Manchu-Han Imperial Feast (a full formal banquet) is the grand and luxurious feast prevalent in Guangxu reign period in the Qing Dynasty. Its name shows the feast originated from the combination of the traditional catering cultures of the Han Nationality and the Manchu Nationality. Meanwhile, it fully reflects the harmonious ...

The imperial food served within the walls of the Forbidden City by the Qing Dynasty had an important effect on Chinese dietetic culture. Using the traditional diet of the Manchu ethnic group as its foundation, the best of the Chinese dietetic culture, mainly foods of the Han ethnic group, were ...

Much more than earlier periods, the Tang era was an era renowned for its time reserved for leisure activity, especially for those in the upper classes. Many outdoor sports and activities were enjoyed during the Tang, including archery, hunting, horse polo, cuju football, cockfighting, and even tug of war. Government ...

The 7th century and first half of the 8th century is generally considered the zenith era of the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Tang Xuanzong brought the Middle Kingdom to its golden age while the Silk Road thrived, with sway over Indochina in the south, and to the west Tang China was ...

By the year 737, Emperor Xuanzong discarded the policy of conscripting soldiers that were replaced every three years, replacing them with long-service soldiers who were more battle-hardened and efficient. It was more economically feasible as well, since training new recruits and sending them out to the frontier every three years ...