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Qin Liangyu: Ancient China’s Unstoppable Female General
Forget Mulan—ancient China’s most successful female military commander went undefeated in battle and earned honors for over 50 years
What Video Games (Don’t) Teach Us About China
Video games mix real-world history and fiction in ways that inform—and perhaps distort—people’s views of China
A Trip in Time: How Did People Travel in Ancient China?
Historian Duan Zhiqian explores road dangers and the emergent travel industry in China’s Ming and Qing eras
Curious Court Etiquette From Ancient China
An audience with the Son of Heaven could be a minefield of ritual, ceremony, and etiquette for China’s court officials
How Did Ancient Chinese Avoid Sunburn?
From veiled scholar hats to canopied backpacks, China’s obsession with sun protection is not a recent one
Death by Flaming Shoes and Hundred Cuts: Disturbing Methods in Ancient Chinese Torture
From ankle crushing to slow slicing, ancient Chinese punishments and torture were brutal
The Bizarre and Dangerous World of Ancient Chinese Weight Loss
From a weight-loss dance to diets of cacti and musk, ancient Chinese had a variety of ways to keep themselves slim
Objects that Flew over China’s Skies (In Ancient Times)
From toys for children to weapons of war, ancient inventors sent many things into the sky
The Sun Rises: New Novel Gives Genderfluid Take on the Ming Dynasty
Asian-Australian author Shelley Parker-Chan’s “She Who Became the Sun” may not be historically accurate, but that’s not the main reason to read it
The Blast that Nearly Destroyed Beijing
The Wanggongchang Explosion continues to mystify historians almost 400 years later