Empress Dowager Cixi

Tzu-Hsi (pronounced "Tsoo Shee"), or Cixi, was one of the most formidable women in modern history. She was famed for her beauty and charm. She was power hungry, ruthless and profoundly skilled in court politics. She would rise from a middle class family to a dowager empress affecting Chinese life forever. She was born on November 29, 1835. Her given name was Yehonala. She was born to parents ...

Holy Farmer Yandi

Human beings, created by the goddess Nv Wa, multiplied rapidly. As their number increased, they suffered a gradual decline in natural food. With fewer birds and beasts to hunt or wild fruits to pick, they began to starve. Just at that time a tender-hearted leader, Yandi, emerged. Yandi was born during a drought when most of weeds and trees withered. Catching sight of the newborn baby, the s...

Flashes from the Past: Four Beauties in Chinese History

fiogf49gjkf0d What do Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan and Yang Guifei have in common? They are ancient Chinese women highly regarded for their beauty. Legend has it, in fact, they are ancient China's four most beautiful women, and among the nation's most significant historical figures. They are famous, or perhaps infamous, because they were able to influence emperors and kings, with whom they...

Cai Wenji - A Brilliant but Stifled Talent

Women of Cai Wenji's talent and education were rare in the later part of the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220), when fierce struggles raged within the ruling circles with high court officials on the one side and the Queen's relatives and the court eunuchs on the other. It was a time of abject poverty among the peasants — deprived of their land by rich and powerful officials and big landlords. Th...

Xun Guan

Xun Guan lived in the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316). Her father Xun Song, was the governor of Xiangyang. Du Zeng, one of his officials, staged a revolt and surrounded Xiangyang city, threatening to kill Xun Song and those loyal to him. Citizens of Xiangyang helped Xun Song's army to defend the city, but as the battle raged, army provisions dwindled. The only solution was to break through the sur...

Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan) - Father of the Nation

Sun Yat-Sen University is an excellent one in China, and i think many foreign students have heard about this name. Actually, it was founded by the great historian man Sun Yat-Sen (Sun Zhong shan). Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Republican China, Sun is frequently referred to as the Father of the Nation. ...

Assessment of Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai is regarded as a skilled negotiator, a master of policy implementation, a devoted revolutionary, and a pragmatic statesman with an unusual attentiveness to detail and nuance. He was also known for his tireless and dedicated work ethic, and his unusual charm and poise in public. He is reputedly the last Mandarin bureaucrat in the Confucian tradition. Zhou's political behaviour shou...

Cao Cao - Famous Person during the Three Kingdoms Period

A figure wearing white mask in traditional Chinese Peking Opera, conventionally, is treacherous and brutal. Cao Cao, a historic figure, is bestowed with such negative features on the stage due to the unfavorable remarks on his morality given in the classic historical novel The Romance of Three Kingdoms which represents orthodox feudalism. In fact, Cao Cao has been praised as “a brilliant ruler, ...

Knowledge of the Past

Jiangtou village was once famous for producing many top academics. A visit to the village offers a glimpse of Chinese traditions long forgotten in other parts of the country. Li Yang reports in Guilin, Guangxi. My visit to Jiangtou village feels like a pilgrimage to experience the type of Chinese tradition that has long been forgotten in many parts of the country. Located in Lingchuan count...

Chinese Makeup for Lips

The shiny image of Zhang Ziyi in the movie the Banquet is impressive to many audiences. Her red and bright lips, short and dark eyebrows, and well decorated cheeks are the typical elements in the makeup popularized during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618—AD907). In ancient China, especially in the Tang Dynasty, there were seven steps in cosmetic makeup for the belles: powder base, applying color to ...