ANCIENT HISTORY

Squawking Through History: Parrots in Chinese Literature and Verse

From “Prime Minister Parrot” to the “Green-Coated Messenger,” parrots have been feisty feathered friends for centuries in Chinese literature

ANCIENT HISTORY

How Prophecies Were Key to Maintaining Power in Ancient China

How rulers and would-be rulers used and manipulated prophetic texts

ANCIENT HISTORY

How Ancient Chinese Got Their Hair Cut

Hair was almost sacred to some ancient Chinese, and hairdressers eventually cashed in

ANCIENT HISTORY

Ancient China’s Favorite Poisons

Tales of treachery behind four toxins from Chinese history

ANCIENT HISTORY

How Did Ancient Chinese Mourn the Deceased?

On Qingming Festival, here’s a look at some ancient Chinese mourning rituals, from costume and diet, to mourning periods and wedding bans

ANCIENT HISTORY

How Ancient Chinese Seniors Spent Their Retirement

Retirement from working wasn’t always bliss for ancient Chinese officials

ANCIENT HISTORY

Tales of “Tiger Women” from Ancient China

Ancient Chinese labeled tough, fierce women “tigresses”—they often had to deal with sexism and unruly husbands

ANCIENT HISTORY

The Strangest Deaths of Ancient Chinese Rulers

From falling into a toilet to being struck by lightning, these are the weirdest deaths ever to befall imperial Chinese rulers

ANCIENT HISTORY

Strangest Laws from Ancient China

From forbidding crying to enforcing fish-naming etiquette to ink-drinking punishments—these are the weirdest laws from Chinese history

ANCIENT HISTORY

How Ancient Chinese Buried the Living Along with the Dead

For centuries, Chinese funerals demanded living sacrifices to accompany the dead in the afterlife

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