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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.
An illustration depicts Ching Shih (right) during a swordfight. Chinese pirate factions were paralysed by infighting in the early 19th century, but Ching and her husband Zheng Yi unified them under a confederation.
Chinese culture

How Chinese pirate queen Ching Shih ruled the South China Sea in the 1800s

Ching, aka Zheng Yi Sao, became China’s most successful pirate during the Qing period, building a fearful empire that terrorised the region.

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Trending in China

Chinese scientists unearth 2,000-year-old cousin of chess played by royals, commoners

Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Amid US birthright ruling, lessons from how foreigners once ‘became Chinese’

Trending in China

Ancient Chinese lord buried with bells meant to silence ancestral war rituals

Nobleman used ceremony to invoke help from ancestors, and then politics made it awkward.

An ancient lord in China was buried with bells to stop a ritual meant to summon ancestors for battle assistance, highlighting his decisive choice to end the practice. Photo: Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | A history of Chinese fans and how they kept people cool in summer

Fans have long been used in China for cooling and cooking and as artistic status symbols. We look at the tool’s reinvention over 3,000 years.

China economy

As I see it | How the New Left won the battle of ideas for 21st-century China

Their revisionism challenges the neoliberal perspective which treats Maoist command economics and Deng-era capitalist reforms as diametrically opposed.

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Food and Drinks

Best things to do in Wuhan, China’s breakfast capital - revealed in a new light

Hubei’s eclectic capital on the Yangtze River is famous for its hearty breakfast food and many lakes. Here’s how to spend a weekend there.

Wuhan’s skyline with the Yellow Crane Tower in the foreground with the Yangtze River behind it. Hubei province’s sprawling capital is known for its breakfast dishes, its natural water features and for being the historical heartland of China’s Chu people. Photo: Shutterstock
Trending in China

What are the hidden Buddhist symbols in Chinese Da A Fu figurines

Listed as national cultural heritage, these clay dolls were initially crafted by farmers for extra income and sold at temple fairs.

Art

What was it like to attend a Children’s Palace in socialist-era China?

The ‘Youth Palace’ exhibition at Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum looks at a socialist educational institution that promoted collectivism.

Trending in China

Chinese horse-head discovery reveals ancient elite sacrificial rituals

The sacrifice was an elaborate procedure, indicating it was of utmost importance to the highest echelons of ancient society.

Archaeologists in Zhejiang have discovered a 2,800-year-old horse head sealed inside a pottery vessel at an Eastern Zhou dynasty ritual site. Photo: National Cultural Heritage Administration
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | As Europe bakes, how people in China kept cool before air conditioning

As temperatures soar, our columnist takes his cue from premodern Chinese, who used clothing, food and even a Chinese mantra to beat the heat.

A tourist cools off with a folding fan in Prague, Czech Republic, on June 28, 2026. Temperatures in several European countries have surged past 40 degrees Celsius in recent days. Photo: EPA
US-China relations

Opinion | What the US should learn from China’s 19th century decline

Every empire has its strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps the most important asset is understanding those of your adversaries.

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Trending in China

Carved in history: how dragon motifs tell the rise and fall of Chinese empires

Modern research reveals how imperial dragon artwork directly mirrored a regime’s strength and prosperity.

Chinese culture

‘Cleverest woman that ever lived’: the rise of China’s Empress Dowager Cixi

Beginning royal life as a low-ranking concubine, Cixi controlled Qing-dynasty China for nearly half a century from behind the scenes.

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A portrait of Empress Dowager Cixi, one of the most powerful and influential women in Chinese history. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | How the Chinese language has long been shaped by foreign influences

From Buddhism’s arrival in China to European exchange in the 1800s, external forces have left a mark on Chinese vocabulary and grammar.

The Hong Kong Academy of School Managers holds an event on traditional Chinese costume and calligraphy at Maryknoll Secondary School in Sau Mau Ping on July 9, 2023. Some of the most significant changes in the Chinese language shaped by foreign influences have occurred not in vocabulary but in the grammar and sentence structures that shape how Chinese is written and spoken. Photo: Sam Tsang
US-China relations

Opinion | How Chinese philosophy influenced US founding fathers

From the Mandate of Heaven to the ‘pursuit of happiness’, the US and China share a rich intellectual tradition of ethical governance.

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Food and Drinks

Bear’s paw, monkey brain? Not in this US$2,000 Manchu-Han banquet in Hong Kong

Chef who was part of the team behind the 1977 ‘imperial’ feast in Hong Kong is planning a modern interpretation, minus the taboo ingredients.

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Technology

Opinion | How the I Ching inspired modern computing and AI

The connection between Chinese civilisation and Western scientific thinking is far deeper and more intricate than commonly understood.

Illustration: Craig Stephens
Chinese culture

As I see it | What the I Ching is really about

While it may depart from scientific axioms, readers can glean much about their circumstances by consulting the Book of Changes.

Lessons from China's history

Reflections | From Hong Kong to Singapore, how China’s Teochew have left an outsized mark

Hit Teochew family drama Dear You spotlights a Chinese community with a long, influential history and notable figures like Li Ka-shing.

Food and Drinks

Think matcha is Japanese? Think again, says this Hong Kong tea brand

Hong Kong bar owner Gavin Yeung founded matcha brand Celadon after being ‘floored’ by its long history in China before reaching Japan.

The company uses powder from China’s Zhejiang province to spotlight the green tea’s true Chinese origins, which, the founders say, are contrary to “everything this generation knows about matcha”. Photo: Chloe Loung
Trending in China

Sips of history: how ancient Chinese brewing techniques shaped modern alcohol

Unopened 2,500-year-old bottle of liquor contains substantial volume of liquid, allowing researchers to analyse drink’s chemical composition.

This setting is the historic Liaoyuan Longquan Distillery Co. Ltd., which boasts a legacy of 110 years in Jilin province. Photo: CFOTO via Getty Images
Chinese culture

How a Chinese empress shaped her country without ever taking the throne

Empress Xiaozhuangwen secured power, averted crises and deposed enemies while raising and guiding China’s longest-serving emperor.

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Trending in China

Discovery of ancient Chinese anaesthesia reveals advanced early surgical practices

Researchers recently announced the discovery of Ming-era (1368–1644) topical anaesthetics, but how did they work.

Lessons from China's history

Reflections | The history of weiqi, or go, Chinese board game dating back over 2,000 years

More popularly known as go – its Japanese name – weiqi has for centuries been embraced as a mark of cultivation and refinement.

Weiqi, better known in the West by its Japanese name, go, is played by two opponents using black and white stones on a board marked with a 19-by-19 grid, creating 361 intersections. Its history dates back more than two millennia. Photo: vvoe/Shutterstock
Food and Drinks

What are alkaline rice dumplings, the Dragon Boat Festival sweet treat?

Alkaline rice dumplings, traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat or Tuen Ng Festival, boast a rich history that dates back to ancient times.

A golden kumquat rice dumpling from Tsui Hang Village in Hong Kong. Alkaline rice dumplings are a Dragon Boat Festival sweet treat with ancient origins. Photo: Tsui Hang Village
Asia travel

Best things to do in Wuxi, China’s lakeside city of gardens and sweet cuisine

Nestled on China’s Lake Taihu, Wuxi, with its industrial heritage, serene gardens, temples and decadent cuisine, is great for a weekend trip.

Art

At Art Basel Hong Kong, 3 artists reimagined the ancient art of Chinese ink

Xu Jiong, Chao Chung-hsiang and Tang Chang brought calligraphy and ink landscapes with Western sensibilities to the fair.

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