The Context

This year marks the 50th anniversary of both the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between China and the UK as well as the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. It is also the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and the heroic rescue that followed. In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’re going to talk...

In a Chinese linguistic context, the ox is a symbol of diligence, dedication, progress, and strength. For example, a selfless commitment to the good of the people is represented by ruziniu, or “a willing ox to serve the children”. The animal holds a special place in Chinese culture, and, through the nation’s history, has been venerated by politicians, scholars, and artists alike. Animals have alwa...

Today, we’re going to talk about a true Renaissance man of the Chinese Ming Dynasty. He was a bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician; meanwhile, he became the first Chinese to publish translations of European books in China.  This is also the 100th episode of The Context. Over the past two years, we’ve endeavored to provide listeners with an inside account of China’s his...

Today, we’re going to continue our talk about Xuanzang taking a closer look at his stay in India, his odyssey on the way home, and how his translations of the Buddhist sutras and the records of his travels in Central and South Asia have been of inestimable value to Buddhism, as well as to world history and archaeology.

For any overseas college student who wants to study China, one of the ideal texts for their first course is the 16th-century novel Journey to the West because this rousing adventure story can also be read as historical fiction, political satire, and religious allegory. Scholars worldwide have found it incredibly useful for unpacking the complexities of Chinese history, language, politics, economic...

“Heaven has paradise. Earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou.” This old Chinese saying is inspired by the natural beauty of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province and Hangzhou in neighboring Zhejiang Province, both located along China’s southeastern coast. The painting we’re going to discuss captures the scenery at a famous park in Suzhou.  The famous Classical Gardens of Suzhou were added to UNESCO’s World Cultural H...

A hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began to make their way to the New World, a Chinese fleet sent out by the Ming Emperor of China had already ventured into the uncharted waters of the western Pacific and Indian oceans.  Over a period of almost three decades in the early 15th century, admiral Zheng He and his armada made seven epic voyages. His fleet, which consisted of giant...

More than 600 years ago, a formidable Chinese navy ruled the seas along China’s eastern and southern coastlines extending its superiority throughout the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to the Persian Gulf and East Africa. Between the period from 1405 to 1433, China’s Ming Dynasty launched seven voyages led by Admiral Zheng He to explore these vast regions, known to the Chinese as the Western Oce...

Known in English as Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy , the painting Bunian Tu depicts a meeting between Tang Emperor Taizong and Gar Tongtsen Yulsung, a special envoy sent by Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo to propose a marriage alliance with the Tang in the year 640. What it doesn’t show is how much bad blood there had been in the years leading up to this historically significant moment. ...

In 1931, following the September 18th Incident in China, the Japanese occupied three provinces in Northeast China, including Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. It wasn’t long afterward that they turned their attention to Beijing, with an eye firmly set on the large collection of priceless cultural artifacts housed at the Palace Museum, located in heart of the city. Having failed an earlier attempt...

Today we’ll have the second installment of our two-part feature where we discuss a nationwide archaeological project that challenges previous notions of Chinese civilization through scientific evidence to better understand all those ancient ruins left behind.

The “Origins Project" is a decades-long, multi-disciplinary research endeavor that aims to trace the development of Chinese civilization. The project involves some 400 scholars from across China and nearly 70 scientific research institutes, universities and local archaeological institutions. The project gives Chinese researchers opportunities to explore alternative approaches not only to deco...

When the first round of the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in Wuhan of central China’s Hubei Province in early 2020, many countries recognized its inherent risk to global health and began donating gloves, masks, hazmat suits – sending whatever they could to help combat the virus. Among the supplies sent from Japan were shipments from the organization that administers the HSK, otherwise known as the C...

Equivalent to an atomic bomb in terms of its destructive power, the Tianqi Explosion is considered one of three major mysteries in recorded history yet to be solved. If you’re into solving puzzles, the others two are a 3,600-year-old event called Mound of the Dead that occurred in ancient India and Russia’s Tunguska Event that occurred in 1908.  Today, we’re going to tell some stories concerning a...

The tempestuous nature of the sea is a thing of legend – not only legend, but of gods. Just mention God of the Sea to a westerner, and you’ll conjure up images of Poseidon, reputed to be one of the most bad-tempered, moody and greedy of the Olympian gods. By contrast, the Chinese Goddess of the Sea is Mazu, a kind and compassionate lady watching over sailors, fishermen, and travelers. Today, we’re...

At the recently held cultural relic exhibition entitled “The Making of Zhongguo – Origins, Developments and Achievements of Chinese Civilization” at China’s Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, many of the exhibits were taken from the collection of the museum itself, and a significant proportion of those were related to Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 19...

Earlier this year, residents in Beijing noticed a subtle shift taking place in the subway – on signs, the English word “station” has been replaced with “Zhan”, the Chinese pinyin. In some cases, English station names such as Olympic Park and Terminal 2 of the Capital International Airport have become “Aolinpike Gongyuan” and “Er Hao Hangzhanlou”, and thank goodness their English translations are s...

“I want to give my love an unforgettable gift. The question is what?”  This is a challenge many guys face but few get right. Perhaps they can draw some inspiration from a young official that lived some 27 hundred years ago. He came up with a stunning piece of art that not only was likely a hit with his lady, but also the world for generations to come.   Instead of the gold or silver one would expe...

Imagine for a moment what life might be like if 16th-century sailors and explorers hadn’t introduced potatoes to Europe. How different would your dinner look? More importantly, would your ancestors have survived?  The discovery of the potato and its introduction to the continent’s colonial powerhouses by the likes of Sir Walter Raleigh or Christopher Columbus – depending on what history books you...

To this day, there are altogether 195 designated historical artifacts on the list of the National Cultural Heritage Administration that can never leave Chinese soil. Among them, 20 are paintings, a genre most susceptible to gradual damage with the passage of time.  Luckily for visitors to the cultural relic exhibition entitled “The Making of Zhongguo – Origins, Developments and Achievements of Chi...

Four decades ago, a retired national martial arts champion debuted in a movie about how Shaolin monks saved a Tang emperor from a warlord. The movie, called Shaolin Temple , was an overnight success. This big-screen blockbuster not only propelled its leading actor Jet Li from a mere martial arts master to a full-fledged movie star, but it also made “Shaolin” a household word around the world. The...

In 1971, Zhang Fengxiang, a farmer in the Ongniud Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region happened to dig out an “iron hook” while planting trees near his home. He immediately gave it to his four-year-old brother to play with. The child tied a rope to the artifact and dragged it along the ground for fun. Eventually, the “rust” on its surface chipped off to reveal the shiny and translucent j...

For more than 13-hundred years, this treacherous and winding path that meanders through the mountains and valleys of southwest China has been trod by human feet and horse hoofs helping to bridge the Chinese hinterland with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Along this unpaved and rugged commercial passage, livestock and commodities flowed back and forth: tea, salt and sugar flowed into Tibet, while horses...

For more than 13-hundred years, this treacherous and winding path that meanders through the mountains and valleys of southwest China has been trod by human feet and horse hoofs helping to bridge the Chinese hinterland with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Along this unpaved and rugged commercial passage, livestock and commodities flowed back and forth: tea, salt and sugar flowed into Tibet, while horses...

Today, we’re going to talk about how a small seal from the Western Jin Dynasty has born witness to the ups and downs of the Qiang people and the gradual integration of northwestern minorities that helped to build the great Chinese nation of today.