Search results for Ancient China

Ancient China elites used water fans, ice to cool down in summer; folks had bamboo pillows

In ancient China, summer heat could be deadly long before the advent of air conditioning. To survive it, people resorted to remedies ranging from imperial ice sculptures and water-...

Ancient China laws punished men for crying; people with messy handwriting forced to drink ink

Ancient China’s legal system was never only about crime and punishment. It was also a mechanism of imperial control, used to protect the throne, discipline officials and regulate s...

Facts About Chinese History That Make it the Craziest Civilization

Ancient Chinese texts depict ‘immortal mirror’ akin to CT scan – an early notion of robots

Ancient China dreamed of future technology long before the modern age, conjuring visions of magic mirrors, ingenious machines and even lifelike wooden puppets. In the Tang dynasty...

2 notable women in ancient China broke barriers, made major contributions to medicine, science

In ancient China, women were largely denied formal education and confined to the roles of dutiful wives and mothers. Against this restrictive social order, two women pushed beyond...

How gossip spread in ancient China before advent of printing when newspapers reported on scandals

Long before social media and camera lenses, ancient China had its own “paparazzi” who wielded ink, paper and a sharp tongue to unsettle the lives of the powerful. In those days, go...

Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, wanted an elixir that could help him live forever. Ancient…

Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, wanted an elixir that could help him live forever. Ancient...

This ancient Chinese megacity hides mysterious tunnels buried for over 4,000 years

A Trip Through China (1917) | Blair University Archives

Step into a vanished world. A Trip Through China is a rare surviving fragment of Benjamin Brodsky’s ambitious ten-reel travelogue, filmed across China in the mid-1910s and original...

Women sumo wrestling was popular pastime in ancient China until rise of Confucian ethics

In ancient China, women’s sumo was a popular form of entertainment in which participants wore minimal clothing that exposed their arms, backs, navels and lower abdomens, drawing si...

Ancient Chinese Wedding Rituals the Modern World Left Behind

Walk into almost any Chinese wedding today and you will see white gowns, Western style vows, and a bouquet toss, customs that now feel ordinary even though they were once entirely...

Why ‘dung collector’ was a highly lucrative profession in ancient China

In ancient China, a highly lucrative and fiercely competitive profession known as the “dung collector” brought its exponents significant profits. These people were responsible for...

Centuries ahead of Wall Street: how China’s Song dynasty pioneered global fiat currency

At least gold glitters. Long before the first paper banknotes fluttered through the financial houses of Europe, the bustling markets of 11th century China birthed an unprecedented...

How China Became the First Airtight Empire

Beijing rewrote two slogans before it sealed the country – once to rewrite history, once to prewrite the future.

China’s ‘most pampered child’ interred in palace-like coffin with treasures 1,400 years ago

Some 1,400 years ago, a young girl, celebrated as China’s “most pampered child,” was laid to rest in a palace-like stone coffin, surrounded by her grandmother’s affection and a wea...

Ancient Chinese Broke Weapons In Pursuit Of Peace, Archaeological Site Reveals

Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Who wants war? The majority of people want to live in peace. “War is hell,” as the saying goes, and it is often those who know conflict most closely...

Ancient Chinese Health Wisdom: What the Book of Rites Says About the Body

In classical Chinese thought, virtue produces a physically observable effect on the body The Book of Rites (Liji) is one of ancient China’s three canonical ritual texts, alongside...

Can China team’s Greek dig unveil an untold truth in ancient world history?

Chinese archaeologists have started work on a joint excavation project at a site in Greece that may help answer some increasingly popular questions in China about the roots of anci...

Archaeologists unearth 2,300 year old bottle of Chinese beer

Excavations of a fourth-century tomb located a mile from the Great Wall of China uncovered a "masterfully fermented" beer thought to have been brewed under the Zhou dynasty. The po...

China scientists argue that harsh settings, not warm climates, drive early human creativity

Archaeologists in central China have directly challenged the long-held belief that humanity’s earliest ancestors reached their creative peak during warm and hospitable climates. Fo...

Order, character and time preserved in China’s classical furniture

The first time one truly stands before a Ming-style horseshoe-back armchair, a quiet misperception arises. It does not feel like an antique. It feels like a piece of modern design...

Why Japan’s Culture of Cleanliness Traces Back to China’s Tang Dynasty

From Buddhist temples to Shinto shrines to modern school cleaning duties, the philosophy that sweeping is spiritual practice traveled from 7th-century China to Japan to Taiwan

160,000 Years Ago, Hominins in China Were Far More Advanced Than We Thought

New findings from central China are reshaping our understanding of early human innovation. An international team of researchers has identified evidence of advanced stone tool techn...

Unearthing peace: ancient China gravesite reveals significance of broken weapons

“War is hell,” as the saying goes, and it is often those most intimately acquainted with conflict who are the most eager to leave it behind. This yearning for peace was underscored...