The Power of Protests
Recent protests in China are part of a long tradition of student activism, but results are often lacklustre.
China
A Dynasty is Founded
On 8 February 1644, Li Zicheng, a rebel warlord, proclaimed the foundation of his own Shun dynasty.
Secrets of the Silk Road
The discovery of a cave full of manuscripts on the edge of the Gobi Desert reveals the details of everyday life on the Silk Road.
Opium for the Masses
In Republican China, amid the chaos of dynastic collapse and war, opium became a rare stable currency, yielding huge riches for those who knew how to work the system.
Hong Kong and the Huguenots
The city’s ‘one country, two systems’ policy was boldly pragmatic, but it was not the first time such an idea has been tried.
When the World Came to Shanghai
In the 1930s several prominent Black intellectuals visited Shanghai, bringing politics, culture and anti-colonial fervour with them.
The Search for Immortality
The elixir of life, a mythical substance from ancient Chinese literature, underpins an enormous industry in modern China.
In Pursuit of Pith
Flowers formed from pith paper captured the imagination of British society in the 19th century, sparking a search for the elusive ‘rice paper’ plant.
Missions and Misunderstandings
A tale of two translators, caught between civilisations.
Between China and a Hard Place
Mao Zedong once said that Taiwan should be independent, but the Chinese Communist Party has since changed its mind. How Chinese is Taiwan?