Search results for Classical Chinese Texts

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...

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...

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...

Su Shi in Exile: The Meaning of ‘Settling the Wind and Waves’

Su Shi, a leading poet and statesman of China’s Song dynasty, wrote some of his most enduring lines while living in political exile. Among them is Settling the Wind and Waves, a po...

Confucius’s Warning Against Becoming a ‘Tool-Person’ Still Applies in the Age of Algorithms

In today’s Chinese internet slang, a “tool-person” (Gongju ren) refers to someone valued only for utility—replaceable, expendable, and defined by function. More than 2,500 years ag...

China’s Five Sacred Creatures and What They Actually Meant

The dragon: lord of transformation, emblem of imperial power The Shuowen Jiezi, the Han dynasty’s great etymological dictionary compiled around 100 CE, describes the dragon as “the...

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...

A Tang spring that survived an emperor’s flight

A visitor standing before The Court Lady Guoguo’s Spring Outing does not first see history. They see movement. There is no palace. No riverbank. No flowering tree. No painted sprin...

How Confucian Philosophy Helped Shape Early American Democracy and Ideals

During his latest visit to China, US President Donald Trump once again referenced Confucius and the influence of Chinese philosophy on Western civilization, particularly in America

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...

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...

Reading China through its characters: an American's lifelong quest

By Xinhua writers Tian Ying, Bai XuBEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Late at night, scrolling through social media, many Chinese users are surprised to find a foreigner "teaching" them...

Ming Dynasty Master Qiu Ying’s ‘Spring Morning in the Han Palace’ — A Masterpiece of Chinese Court Painting

Qiu Ying: a professional painter who rose from poverty to the top of Chinese art Qiu Ying (c. 1494–1552), courtesy name Shifu and sobriquet Shizhou, was born in Taicang, Jiangsu pr...

Facts About Chinese History That Make it the Craziest Civilization

Unknown Chinese warrior story by unknown author

I was just huddling along in my local library, until I stumbled across some intriguing book telling a story about a Chinese warrior by the name of Wing Ken. According to the front...