China

The Eunuchs are Expelled

Roger Hudson tells the story behind a moment of violence in 1923 outside China's Forbidden City in Peking.

Jesuits at the Court of Peking, 1601-1775

For nearly two hundred years Jesuit missionaries held a privileged position at the court of the Chinese Emperors, C.R. Boxer writes, where they laboured not only as fishers of men, but as astronomers, mathematicians, portrait-painters and skilful architects.

Oriental Influences on English Taste

John Villiers describes the rich exchange of artistic ideas between Europe and the Far East during the seventeenth, eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. 

A Chinese Poet in Central Asia

Ts’ên Shên was one of the celebrated poets of the T’ang dynasty. Here, Arthur Waley explores his body of work and the tumultuous career that propelled it.

The Silk Road

2000 years ago, writes William Y. Willetts, magnificent Silks from China began to reach the wealthy families of Rome.