Walk down any street in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, or Macau, and you’ll see them: small shopfronts with gleaming brass or copper kettles, their shelves lined with mysterious dried herbs. These are liangcha (凉茶) shops – herbal tea shops – and they are as much a part of Guangdong’s cultural landscape as dim sum or…
This article recounts the Opium War era. Daoguang Emperor sent Lin Zexu to ban opium; Lin destroyed over 20,000 chests at Humen. Britain launched a war, defeated the Qing, and imposed the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing – China’s first unequal treaty, ceding Hong Kong and opening ports, starting a century of national humiliation.
This article introduces early Chinese Enlightenment thinkers. After the Ming’s fall, Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu and Wang Fuzhi criticized autocracy and advocated limiting imperial power. Later, Dai Zhen opposed rigid ethics, while Gong Zizhen called for reform and talent to save the declining Qing. Their ideas foreshadowed modern progressive thought.