The Origins of Qin’s New Year Celebrations In the ancient legends of China, “Nian” was a fearsome man-eating beast that […]
The Arrival of a Visionary On a snow-laden night in ancient Qin, a heavy-curtained carriage rumbled through Changyang Street toward […]
A Mysterious Carriage in the Night In the sparse lantern lights of Xianyang, a curtained carriage sped through the eastern […]
The Strategic Chessboard of the Warring States In the turbulent final century of China’s Warring States period (475–221 BCE), the […]
The Weight of a Young King’s Gaze The massive stone pillar stood in the eastern annex of the Qin palace, […]
A Statesman’s Anxieties in the Snow The first heavy snow of winter swirled outside the carriage curtains as Li Si, […]
The Weight of a Moonlit Meeting In the dead of night, General Meng Tian was roused by a servant with […]
The Sweltering Court of Qin In the oppressive heat of a Qin summer, the royal palace of Xianyang was anything […]
The Fateful Mission of a Master Engineer Zheng Guo awoke to unfamiliar luxury – the expansive bronze bed, the cool […]
The Birth of a Megaproject: Qin’s Desperate Need for Water In 246 BCE, the young King Ying Zheng of Qin […]
The Drought Crisis and the Birth of a Megaproject In the late spring of 3rd century BCE, the fertile plains […]
The Drought Crisis That Shook Ancient China In the spring of 239 BCE, the Qin state faced an existential threat. […]
The Spring That Never Came In the heart of the Warring States period, the Qin people had long revered the […]
A Kingdom on the Brink The year was marked by an unprecedented drought—one that stretched across seasons, withering crops and […]
A Kingdom in Crisis: The Historical Backdrop In the turbulent final years of the Warring States period, the Qin state […]
The Drought That Shook a Kingdom In the late summer of 237 BCE, an extraordinary scene unfolded across the Guanzhong […]
The Gathering Storm at Hangu Pass As the crimson sunset bathed Hangu Pass in fiery hues, the fortress echoed with […]
The Historical Context of Qin’s Open-Door Policy For over a century before the reign of Ying Zheng (later Qin Shi […]
A Kingdom at the Crossroads In 246 BCE, the Qin state stood poised between greatness and paranoia. Under the young […]
The Water Paradox of Ancient China For millennia, water had been both the lifeblood and the scourge of Chinese civilization. […]
The Fall of a Powerful Chancellor In 235 BCE, Lü Buwei, the once-mighty chancellor of Qin, died by suicide after […]
The Rise of a Merchant-Statesman In the turbulent Warring States period, few figures embodied the dramatic social mobility of the […]
