cultural heritage

  • Taiping Yulan

    Taiping Yulan (Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era) is a monumental Chinese encyclopedia compiled during the early Northern Song dynasty. Commissioned by Emperor Taizong of Song, it was edited by a team of scholars led by Li Fang, along with Li Mu, Xu Xuan, and others. Work began in 977 CE (the second year…

  • Crossing the Lingding Ocean

    – Wen Tianxiang By virtue of the classics, painstakingly I rose to serve my state;Four years of war have passed, with our banners desolate.Our land, torn asunder, drifts like catkins in the gale;My life, adrift and battered, like duckweed in the rain’s assail.At Huangkong Shoal, I sighed for the fears that once prevailed;On Lingding…

  • Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night [Tang Poems]

    — Zhang Ji Moon sets, crows cry, frost fills the sky; Facing dim fishing boats neath maples, sad I lie. Beyond the city wall of Gusu, from Temple of Cold Hill Bells break the ship-borne roamer’s dream in midnight still.

  • Mencius’ Mother’s Three Relocations [Warring States]

    In ancient China, during the turbulent Warring States period (5th–3rd century BCE), a young boy named Meng Ke – later known to history as Mencius, the great Confucian philosopher – grew up under the devoted care of his widowed mother, Lady Zhang. With no father and little money, their life was humble. But what…

  • Why the Eastern Han Dynasty chose a new capital? [Three Kingdoms]

    In Chapter 6 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Yuan Shao organizes an alliance of 18 warlords to jointly attack Dong Zhuo. The coalition’s forces vastly outnumbered Dong Zhuo’s garrison in Luoyang, and generals like Sun Jian posed a significant threat. Consequently, Dong Zhuo chose to burn down the current capital, Luoyang, and relocate…

  • The Analects – Chapter 54 (3.14). The civilizational beacon

    3.14 The Master said, “Zhou could survey the two preceding dynasties. How great a wealth of culture! And we follow upon Zhou.”