ANCIENT HISTORY

Carved in Stone: Why Did Ancient Chinese Etch Messages into Rock?

Exploring the ancient Chinese obsession with carving messages and poems on rocks and walls

ANCIENT HISTORY

Curious Court Etiquette From Ancient China

An audience with the Son of Heaven could be a minefield of ritual, ceremony, and etiquette for China’s court officials

HISTORY

China’s Long Road to Abolishing Slavery

Legal, social, and cultural barriers to ending China’s forced labor tradition

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

When Exactly was New Year in Ancient China?

The date and means of celebrating a new year changed and evolved over centuries in ancient China

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

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE
TRADITIONAL CULTURE

The Jade Rush

Freewheeling prices and millennia of cultural mystique fuel China’s insatiable appetite for the green stone

TRAVEL

Seeking Immortals in Penglai

An excerpt from “Rivers Deep, Mountain High,” TWOC’s recent book on Shandong province,

HISTORY

Army of Darkness

The Qin’s terracotta warriors changed the lives of the peasants who discovered them—not for the better

HISTORY

The Missing Seal

It was the most priceless artifact in ancient China—then it disappeared