From “Prime Minister Parrot” to the “Green-Coated Messenger,” parrots have been feisty feathered friends for centuries in Chinese literature
How rulers and would-be rulers used and manipulated prophetic texts
Hair was almost sacred to some ancient Chinese, and hairdressers eventually cashed in
Tales of treachery behind four toxins from Chinese history
On Qingming Festival, here’s a look at some ancient Chinese mourning rituals, from costume and diet, to mourning periods and wedding bans
Four ancient Chinese poets on human suffering amid turbulence and war
Retirement from working wasn’t always bliss for ancient Chinese officials
Ancient Chinese labeled tough, fierce women “tigresses”—they often had to deal with sexism and unruly husbands
From falling into a toilet to being struck by lightning, these are the weirdest deaths ever to befall imperial Chinese rulers
From forbidding crying to enforcing fish-naming etiquette to ink-drinking punishments—these are the weirdest laws from Chinese history
For centuries, Chinese funerals demanded living sacrifices to accompany the dead in the afterlife
The longest-lived ruler of the Qing dynasty wrote 43,000 poems in his lifetime, most of them bad
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