China

Matteo Ricci in China, 1583-1610

Father Ricci spent many years on his mission near Canton. Nora C. Buckley describes how, eventually, this Jesuit's skills in mathematics and astronomy were welcomed in Peking.

Ladakh: Barrier or Entrepot?

An island in a sea of mountains, as Sarah Searight describes it, the Indian region of Ladakh was once a cosmopolitan centre of pilgrimage and trade.

Commissioner Lin and Opium

Chinese Emperors banned the importation of opium, writes M. Foster Farley, but it was smuggled into the country by East Indian traders and led to the Opium War of 1840.

Koxinga and a Chinese Restoration

Donald J. Senese introduces General Koxinga; the legendary sixteenth century defender of the native Chinese Ming dynasty against the rule of the Manchus.

Rhubarb

William Gardener describes how, since the first century A.D. rhubarb was known to the Romans as a panacea for internal ailments, and imported from China.