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Chinese history

Chinese history
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Chinese history. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
A mural in Austin, Texas, featuring Herlinda Wong Chew, born in 1894 in Guadalajara, Mexico, to a Mexican mother and a Chinese father. Photo: Lucy Quaggin
US-China relations

The ‘Queen of the Chinese’ and a forgotten history on the US-Mexico border

As descendants rediscover their Texas roots, past discrimination against Chinese immigrants echoes in new restrictions on foreign nationals.

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Art

Landmark Chinese diplomatic exhibition reinvented in Hong Kong 91 years on

Lessons from China's history

Reflections | How Confucius’ teachings still apply today and what we can learn from them

Chinese culture

Chinese incense: why a new generation is turning to an ancient craft

An expert shares how incense went from the preserve of Chinese nobles to modern office workers, and how making and burning it have changed.

Incense master Sun Na leads a workshop at Alila Shanghai. She explains why the early adoption of incense was for practical reasons. Photo: Alila Shanghai
Brunello Cucinelli

Q&A | Interview: Brunello Cucinelli on the documentary about his life

The ‘king of cashmere’ talks about why he picked the Oscar-winning director of Cinema Paradiso to tell his life story, and why young people need hope over fear.

Science

China’s Terracotta Army may have been mainly built by women and children: study

Qin dynasty artisans included women and children assigned to pottery crafting, legal records and physical evidence show.

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China’s military

Opinion | The evolution of China’s active defence doctrine

As the PLA approaches its centenary, it must execute a modern Long March to ensure the doctrine remains decisive in this hi-tech era.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
China-Japan relations

China’s military hits out at student accused of wearing Japan’s rising sun flag

The student, reportedly from Nanjing, was confronted by other Chinese students at Moscow State University following the incident.

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Lessons from China's history

Reflections | How China’s macabre practice of human sacrifice in burials came to an end

In China, elites were buried with human companions as far back as the Neolithic period. Over time, symbolic figures replaced real people.

Chinese culture

This ancient Chinese warrior queen led huge armies and stole a king’s heart

The 1976 excavation of Fu Hao’s tomb revealed a revered general and priestess, shifting perceptions of women’s roles in Shang dynasty China.

Chinese actress Jingru You as Fu Hao in a still from the 2023 movie The Girl of Destiny. Fu, who is thought to have died in 1200BC, was a respected and feared army general who was second in command to her husband, King Wu Ding of the Shang dynasty.
China-UK relations

Cracks in security? Qing dynasty ceramics damaged in British Museum display

Incident involving 300-year-old Jingdezhen ceramics puts museum display safety under global scrutiny.

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A photo circulating on social media showed debris from two damage Chinese artefacts inside a four-tier display cabinet at the British Museum: a bowl catalogued as B629 that fell from the top shelf and item 634, damaged by the falling bowl. Photo: RedNote
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | The Chinese emperor whose sudden death sparked a 1,000-year-old mystery

Was Song dynasty founder Zhao Kuangyin’s sudden death the doing of the brother who succeeded him, like Czech St Wenceslas 40 years earlier?

Trending in China

How murder and secrecy helped create China’s only monogamous emperor

While Emperor Hongzhi certainly loved his wife, his traumatic childhood likely played a decisive role in his unique monogamy.

US-China relations

Chinese art takes long march home from US museums

Works amassed by America’s Gilded Age tycoons are returning to Chinese hands as wealthy collectors reshape a centuries-old art trade.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | The surprising history of beer in China, from li to Tsingtao

From ancient China’s fermented grain drink li to the founding of Tsingtao Brewery, China has a long history of brewing.

Bottles of beer dating from 1903 to 1916 on show at the Tsingtao Brewery Museum in Qingdao, in China’s Shandong Province. Photo: Picture Alliance via Getty Images
Science

Online claims revive mercury mystery around tomb of first Chinese emperor

A Weibo hashtag about ancient cinnabar sites has reignited debate over the ‘rivers and seas’ in Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum.

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Chinese culture

China’s ‘mountain of immortals’: why millions flock to the peaks of Wudang

The sacred mountain range dotted with ancient Taoist temples attracts pilgrims and visitors praying for everything from peace to good weather.

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China’s Communist Party

Shows, tours and film as China marks 90 years since the end of the Long March

Communist Party has rolled out a series of commemorative activities to promote the historic trek and revive its ‘spirit’.

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An interactive exhibition at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in Beijing is among a number of commemorative shows and activities across the country. Photo: Xinhua
2026 Xi-Trump summits

Why did Trump and Xi seal a deal on World War II soldiers’ missing remains?

Reviving the decades-long effort is one of the ‘least controversial’ ways the two nations can cooperate, observers say.

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Science

4-winged fossil found in Liaoning challenges single origin of dinosaur flight

While both birds and some winged dinosaurs could fly, they built their ‘flying kit’ in a different order.

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Lessons from China's history

Reflections | When centuries of Chinese knowledge were destroyed by warlord who burned a city

Xiang Yu’s razing of the Qin capital Xianyang, which left libraries full of vital texts in ruin, was echoed centuries later in Warsaw.

Chinese actress Sun Li plays Xiang Yu during a stage production of Farewell My Concubine in New York in 2008. Xiang Yu is known for his demolition of the Qin dynasty capital in 206BC, during which his forces destroyed libraries and the thousands of books within them. Photo: Getty Images
Chinese culture

Who was Wang Zhenyi? Chinese female scientist who defied gender expectations

Wang shot for the stars with her work in astronomy and mathematics at a time when learned women did little more than write poetry.

Qing dynasty astronomer and mathematician Wang Zhenyi defied societal norms and the expectations set upon her gender to study and demystify complex scientific and mathematical concepts. Illustration: Huy Truong
Trending in China

Chinese archaeologists find 2,200-year-old ancestor of Dragon Boat Festival treat

When we eat zongzi or other leaf-wrapped food, we can clearly appreciate that this tradition existed since ancient times, says researcher.

Food and Drinks

History of mooncake moulds and their designs, and those preserving the craft

Mooncake artistry flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties, carved onto wooden moulds depicting flowers, birds and even deities.

Trending in China

Chinese scientists find first proof of nose-chopping penalty for cattle thieves

Under the rule of the King of Qin (247 BC–221 BC), severed noses accumulated like mountain peaks, and carts overflowed with amputated feet.

The skull above exhibits features consistent with nasal amputation. Archaeologists in China have uncovered the first physical evidence of nose-chopping, a historically documented punishment for cattle thieves. Photo: Yawei Zhou et al
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | A Polish priest’s perilous mission to save a doomed Chinese dynasty

In 1651, the embattled Ming court, which included several Christian converts, sent Michal Boym to seek the Pope’s aid. It never came.

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Michal Boym, also known as Bu Mige, was a 17th century Jesuit missionary dispatched to Europe to seek papal aid for the struggling Qing dynasty. Although his diplomatic endeavour failed, the knowledge he spread helped demystify China for European audiences. Photo: Wikipedia
Chinese culture

Being Chinese | The unspoken reason my Chinese friends choose America

When friends say they can just ‘exist’ in the US, they mean they can stop performing to the Confucian expectations that define Chinese life.

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Chinese culture

The tragic Qing politician whose legacy lives on in descendant’s new novel

The life of Duanfang inspires E.L. Shen’s novel Foreigners, about identity, queer awakening and the immigrant experience in modern America.

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