Mulan may be the household name, but China has a rich history of woman warriors. Qin Liangyu defended the Ming against northern invaders, and was recognized by the emperor himself for her bravery and loyalty.
In Urumqi on July 5, 2009, a Uyghur protest against racism and mistreatment turned into a riot, resulting in crowds attacking Han Chinese. The state's response — which is still ongoing — was not proportionate.
For weeks in June 1855, wave after wave of floodwaters laid waste to central China. More than 200,000 people died, while seven million lost their homes.
James Carter, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and the author of one of the most widely-read columns that The China Project runs, talks about his experience writing This Week in China's History for the past two years.
Marking the second anniversary of "TWICH."
On May 30, 1626, an imperial armory just west of the Forbidden City exploded with a force rivaling that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It remains one of the deadliest non-military explosions in history.
The “99-year lease” may be the most bureaucratic of euphemisms for colonization. Those leases followed the arrival of foreign troops and gunboats, but by “negotiating” leases, rather than compelling surrender, the European powers could claim this was business, not conquest.
Yangzhou in the Yangtze River Delta is an ancient city that reached its greatest prominence during the Ming dynasty. When the Qing invaded, it was the site of a long siege, followed by a bloody massacre — one used by future generations to fuel their interests.
The story of the last emperor of the Northern Song dynasty is a reminder not only of the perils of royalty in the 12th century, but also of the turbulence often obscured by the labels of imperial and dynastic succession.