Centuries ago, a ship sank in the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia. The wooden hull disintegrated over time, leaving only a treasure trove of cargo.
The Butterfly Lovers: A Classic Chinese Love Story
February 14, 2018 by
The earliest written record of the lovers is traced back to about 700AD, when the Tang Dynasty was reigned over by Empress Wu Zetian and was renamed as the (Restored) Zhou Dynasty.
The Road to China: Seaborne Exploration in Medieval Islam
February 13, 2018 by
This lecture explores how sea and mainland trade with China was one of the most important aspects of the flourishing of Islam in the Middle Ages.
Women in the Tang Dynasty: Prescribed, dependent and scary
January 11, 2018 by
Images from the Tang dynasty 唐朝 (618–907) present us with independent and powerful women, conferring the idea that the Tang dynasty was the one era in Chinese history in which the patriarchal grip was not as tight as during other dynasties.
A Record of the Defense of Xiangyang’s City Wall, 1206-1207
December 28, 2017 by
The focus of this thesis is the annotated translation of a diary completed in 1207 by a low ranking military officer in the Southern Song army named Zhao Wannian.
The Legend of the White Snake: A Chinese Mélusine Story
November 5, 2017 by
By Minjie Su A husband ‘accidentally’ glimpses into his wife’s bedchamber only to discover that the lady whom he believed to be fair, noble, and undoubtedly human – is in fact a (partial) snake. This unfortunate discovery, though hushed for a short period, eventually leads to the lady’s departure. The husband, full of remorse, renounces […]
Schematizing Plum Blossoms: Understanding Printed Images in Thirteenth-Century China
November 1, 2017 by
This thesis examines the significance of the printed images in the Register of Plum Blossom Portraits (Meihua xishen pu, d. 1238), the earliest extant book illustrating plum blossoms.
How Much Did It Cost to Build the Great Wall of China?
March 26, 2017 by
Admired the world over, the Great Wall of China’s construction came at a cost both in term of finances over the 2,000-year construction period, and in the lives of the military and civilians who built it.
Mapping the World in Medieval China
March 16, 2017 by
This talk looks at the extent of geographic and cartographic knowledge of the world that existed in medieval China.
Tea and Other Decoctions for ‘Nourishing Life’ in Medieval China
July 17, 2016 by
Professor Benn examines one significant way in which tea, a relatively new beverage in Tang-dynasty China, was first consumed and understood, alongside other decoctions intended to promote health and wellness.
The Global Side of Medieval at the Getty Centre: Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts
March 26, 2016 by
Los Angeles correspondent, Danielle Trynoski takes through the, ‘Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts’ exhibut at the Getty Museum.
Great Wonders: The Great Walls of China
January 16, 2016 by
This talk will examine these Great Chinese Walls from the perspectives of their contemporary and later observers, foreign and Chinese, advocates and critics.
Medievality and the Chinese Sense of History
December 20, 2015 by
The approach taken in this article is to ask whether the Chinese, prior to the twentieth century, developed a sense of history capable of qualitatively discriminating between present and past in the way, or to the degree, that allowed Europeans to ’discover’ their medieval period?
Chinese translation of De re metallica discovered
October 21, 2015 by
Scholars from the University of Tübingen have discovered a 17th century Chinese translation of large parts of De re metallica or On the Nature of Metals, a mining handbook written by Georgius Agricola in 1556.
Rapid Invention, Slow Industrialization, and the Absent Entrepreneur in Medieval China
September 27, 2015 by
For some sixteen centuries, about eight times the length of the period since the onset of England’s Industrial Revolution, China was the source of an astonishing outpouring of inventions that included a vast variety of prospectively valuable novelties as diverse as printing, the blast furnace, the spinning wheel, the wheelbarrow, and playing cards, in addition to the more widely recognized gunpowder and compass.
The First Great Divergence?
July 18, 2015 by
The ‘Papal Revolution’ in late eleventh and early twelfth century western Europe and the unsuccessful campaign by Wang An Shi and his followers to reform the imperial administration of Song China at just the same time are regarded as critical turning points in their respective histories.
Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)
July 3, 2015 by
In this article I have assembled elements from historical texts, archaeological discoveries and research from other scholars in order to establish the links between these civilizations.
How the Jin Loyalists Made a New Home in the South
June 24, 2015 by
The events of the transition from the Western Jin (265-316) to Eastern Jin dynasties (317-420) at the turn of the fourth century affected not only the people and history of that era, but also the development of China and Chinese culture today.
Comparing China and India in the 9th century
May 3, 2015 by
A ninth-century Arabic text offers insights into daily life in medieval China and India.
The Pre-History of Gunpowder
February 15, 2015 by
There is a Chinese tradition that a cook carrying a bowl of saltpetre slipped and dropped it onto a charcoal fire. That would certainly create a considerable conflagration but, as the ingredients were not mixed, hardly an explosion.
Small Talk: A New Reading of Marco Polo’s Il milione
December 12, 2014 by
It is perhaps not that surprising that we find the narrative pattern reflected in Il milione conforms nicely to the expectations of the Chinese genre of small talk.
Maritime Southeast Asia: The View from Tang-Song China
October 16, 2014 by
The following are annotated, critical translations of monographs from the Older and Newer Tang Histories concerning the foreign peoples and kingdoms of Maritime Southeast Asia.
Which Chinese Emperor Are You?
October 11, 2014 by
Take this quiz to see which Ming or Qing emperor you are most similar to.
A First Escape from Poverty in Late Medieval Japan: Evidence from Real Wages in Kyoto (1360-1860)
September 26, 2014 by
This paper offers a first investigation of long-term trends in Japanese living standards from the mid-14th to the mid-19th century using urban daily wages and price data for a number of basic commodities.
Odorico from Pordenone and his encounter with China (1318-1330)
September 18, 2014 by
Odorico from Pordenone was a Franciscan Friar, who made a journey from Venice to Peking in the first half of the fourteenth century
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