A Statesman-Poet in Troubled Times On a spring morning in 1075, before dawn painted the sky, 39-year-old Su Shi (苏轼) […]
The Crossroads of Power and Principle in 5th-Century China In the year 405 CE, as the Eastern Jin Dynasty teetered […]
The Rise of Intellectual Dissent in the Three Kingdoms Era In the twilight years of China’s Three Kingdoms period (220-280 […]
The Fall of the Western Jin and the Rise of the Eastern Jin The year 312 CE marked a turning […]
From Humble Beginnings to Righteous Rebellion The late Eastern Han Dynasty (c. 184–220 CE) was an era of corruption and […]
The Aristocratic Scholar Who Loved His Homeland Too Deeply Born in 340 BCE in Danyang, Chu (modern Zigui, Hubei), Qu […]
From Scholar to Savior: The Unexpected Rise of a Business Titan In 1855, 38-year-old Qiao Zhiyong stood at a crossroads […]
A Maverick Among Late Qing Statesmen In the pantheon of the “Four Great Ministers of the Late Qing Dynasty,” Zuo […]
From Humble Beginnings to Scholarly Pursuits Born in 1811 in Xiangxiang County, Hunan Province, Zeng Guofan entered a world where […]
From Humble Beginnings to Political Prominence The year 1046 marked a pivotal moment in Chinese literary and political history. Teng […]
From Merchant’s Daughter to Imperial Concubine The story of Wu Zetian’s ascent begins not in the palace, but in the […]
The Warrior-Poet of a Divided China In the year 356 CE, during his second northern expedition, the renowned Eastern Jin […]
The Fractured Landscape of Late Han Dynasty The late Eastern Han Dynasty (184–220 CE) was an era of chaos and […]
The Unlikely Beginnings of a Legend Long before Li Bai romanticized the wandering swordsman in The Gallant Knight, the real-life […]
From Humble Beginnings to Imperial Ambitions The story of Liu Bang, founder of China’s Han Dynasty, reads like an ancient […]
The Puppet Emperor’s Ascension In January 1889, the 19-year-old Guangxu Emperor faced an unenviable situation. Though formally assuming imperial powers […]
From Humble Beginnings to Imperial Power In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang, a former peasant rebel, ascended the throne as the Hongwu […]
The Rise of Shi Jingtang and the Fateful Decision During the tumultuous Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–979 CE), […]
The Fractured World Before the Khan For centuries, the vast Eurasian steppe was a land of shifting alliances and ephemeral […]
The Meeting That Changed the Song Dynasty In 1068, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty met Wang Anshi for the […]
The Confucian Ascent in Han Dynasty Politics In 134 BCE, Emperor Wu of Han issued a decree seeking virtuous and […]
A Fragmented Empire Finds Its Footing In the early years of the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE), China emerged from […]
