Which translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms should I read?
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the 14th-century historical epic, is one of the most widely read works in China. For people who cannot read the original Chinese text, several English translations are available. Here is a guide to your options.
Origins of nature tourism in imperial China
The emergence of nature tourism in early medieval China can be attributed to four major factors, including transformation of value orientations, seeking longevity, interest in suburbs and population migration.
A shipwreck and an 800-year-old ‘made in China’ label reveal lost history
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
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
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
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
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
By Minjie Su A husband ‘accidentally’ glimpses into his wife’s bedchamber only to discover that the lady whom he believed to be fair,…
Schematizing Plum Blossoms: Understanding Printed Images in Thirteenth-Century China
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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)
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
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
A ninth-century Arabic text offers insights into daily life in medieval China and India.
The Pre-History of Gunpowder
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
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
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.
