Hunan

  • The Last Stand: The Fragmented Resistance of the Southern Ming [Ming]

    This article chronicles the fragmented Southern Ming resistance. Loyalist forces, former rebels, and warlords fought the Qing but were crippled by infighting and betrayal. Heroic leaders like Li Dingguo won battles, yet the Yongli Emperor was killed in Burma. The last stronghold fell in 1663, ending organized Ming resistance.

  • Seven-Character Octave – Reply to a Friend [Mao’s Poems]

    –Mao Zedong – 1961 Above Mount Jiuyi, white clouds fleet and fly,The imperial maidens ride the wind down from the sky.A speckled bamboo branch holds a thousand tears, nigh;Ten thousand rosy clouds form a hundred layers high.

  • Butterflies Love Flowers · From Tingzhou to Changsha [Mao’s Poems]

    — Mao Zedong, July 1930 In Sixth Moon, heavenly troops march to crush the rotten and vile,With ten-thousand-foot long ropes to bind the giant Peng bird the while.Beyond the Gan River, a red corner glows far and wide;Our flanking force leans on General Huang Gonglue’s might and pride.

  • Cai Lun

    Cai Lun (c. 62–121 CE) was a eunuch official of the Eastern Han dynasty and is traditionally credited with the invention of papermaking. His courtesy name was Jingzhong, and he was born in Guiyang (modern-day Leiyang, Hunan).

  • Lian Cheng

    Scholar Qiao of Jinning was hailed as a genius at an early age, but was still frustrated and unrecognized in his twenties. He was a man of chivalrous qualities.

  • Fairy Su

    A girl named Su, in Chenzhou, Hunan, was washing clothes one day by squatting on a huge rock in the river. Some lovely green water plants drifted over and circled the rock three times, arousing Su’s curiosity. After that she found herself pregnant.