Today, we are going to talk about a museum to be opened on May 18, which is International Museum Day, and we’re going to shine a spotlight on part of its collection – especially a bone flute from the Neolithic Age that first piped out a tune more than 8,000 years ago.
Today, we are going to talk about a set of chimes from more than 2,400 years ago that reveal the musical theory of ancient China and, in doing so, has unwittingly rewritten global music history. Context.
Today, we are going to talk about how a little orphan boy who lived during the Tang Dynasty rose to become the most renown tea master in Chinese history as well as author of the world’s first comprehensive written account on cultivating, preparing, and drinking tea.
Today, we’re going to talk about a remarkable bronze sword that not only echoes the history of China with its story of political turmoil but also speaks to the amazing skill of ancient craftsman as the national treasure still looked brand new after spending two millennia underground.
Today, we’ll introduce you to the “father of China’s railroad”, Zhan Tianyou, who was chief designer of the first railway designed and built exclusively by Chinese engineers and brought advanced engineering to China by designing 14 railroads during his 31-year career.
Today, we will continue to talk about Dean Lung, the 19th-century Chinese immigrant who donated his life savings to establish Columbia University’s well-known Chinese Studies program as well as his persistent efforts to bridge the two cultures.
In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we are going to talk about a legendary Chinese immigrant to the west coast of the US in the era of the Gold Rush and how he turned from the servant of an arrogant tycoon into his close companion.
Today, we’re going to talk about the dazzling beauty and complicated story behind a Han Dynasty bronzeware from more than 2,000 years ago that was praised by Henry Kissinger as the world’s earliest eco-friendly lamp for its ingenious design.
Everyone knows “You can’t take it with you,” but that doesn’t keep some people from trying as we’ll learn in today’s podcast that talks about insanely expensive jade burial suits that were sewn with gold thread and found in the largest royal tombs excavated so far from early imperial China over two thousand years ago.
Today we are going to talk about a fortress in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality. With an area of just two and a half square kilometers, it may have saved the European and Arab civilizations due to its resistance against the Mongol Empire in China’s Southern Song Dynasty about 800 years ago.
Today, we’re going to talk about the latest blockbuster that debuted during the traditional Spring Festival holiday, which has evoked interest in and admiration for a national hero who lived during the Southern Song Dynasty about 1,000 years ago.
Today, we’re going talk about a 3000-year-old piece of bronzeware from the Western Zhou Dynasty that distinguishes itself with its delicate design and fascinating story of survival through a peasant uprising and the tumultuous warlord era.
Today, we are going to talk about the efforts to renovate the neighborhoods of Beijing’s Central Axis, which have revitalized their historical atmosphere and improved residents’ lives.
Today, we are going to talk about the stories behind the process of Beijing’s campaign for a UNESCO listing of its Central Axis which has picked up the pace after more than a decade of efforts.
Among the cultural relics prohibited from going abroad for exhibition, there are three pieces of blue-green landscape painting. One is the Spring Excursion by Sui Dynasty painter Zhan Ziqian, created in the late 6th century and believed to be the oldest-surviving landscape painting. The second is A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains by Northern Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng, created when the painter was only 18 years old and reputed as the “sole moon among stars” of all surviving blue-green ...
China has been building bridges throughout its long and storied history, and many of these bridges are vividly depicted in a variety of literary works and paintings, offering a unique perspective into the lives of the people who built them, which brings us to the subject of today’s podcast – the Zhouqiao Bridge: a single-arch stone bridge with huge beautiful ancient stone murals that reveal the exquisite carving techniques of more than 1,000 years ago. Today we are going to talk about the excava...
In the 16th century, during the same era that Martin Luther launched the Reformation in Europe, a legendary figure started the Chinese Renaissance on the other side of the earth. 2022 marked the 550th anniversary of the birth of Wang Yangming, the philosopher, military strategist, and educator of the Ming Dynasty, who embodied all the characteristics considered to express the highest standards of human achievement in ancient Chinese culture. Wang was held in the highest esteem as “the only perfe...
No sport in the world stirs as much passion as football. With the dramatic conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on December 18, football, the world’s favorite sport, once again dominated global headlines. While most people around the world are quite familiar with the global superstars who plied their trade on the pitches of Doha over the past month, comparatively few know that football originated in ancient China. The game is called cuju 蹴鞠, where cu means kick, and ju refers to a leat...
Today, we’re going to talk about a traditional Chinese painting from the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Superb painting skills aside, what’s more interesting is how it contains so many metaphors and mysteries and how it survived the treachery, conspiracy, and power struggles of the following dynasties.
Today we are going to talk about a legendary university in China that existed for less than nine years during China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. But despite its short existence, it produced a disproportionately large number of top talents, playing a crucial role in China’s independence and development.
Today, we’re going to talk about a traditional Chinese painting of the Northern Song Dynasty from more than 1,000 years ago. Done by an unknown painter and circulated primarily among family members, the portraiture has miraculously stood the test of time and harvested the imprints of a who’s who of historical figures.
Today, we’re going to talk about a complex individual who came to China in the early 1920s as an agricultural explorer. The success of his early work in Yunnan Province and his love for the region led to nearly three decades of expeditions and the creation of an unmatched body of work on the Naxi people and the remote area they inhabit.
Today, we will continue the WWII story about the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and how some courageous Chinese fishermen near the Zhoushan Islands risked their lives to rescue hundreds of drowning British prisoners of war.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of both the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between China and the UK as well as the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. It is also the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and the heroic rescue that followed. In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’re going to talk about the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese transport ship carrying more than 1,800 British pr...
In a Chinese linguistic context, the ox is a symbol of diligence, dedication, progress, and strength. For example, a selfless commitment to the good of the people is represented by ruziniu, or “a willing ox to serve the children”. The animal holds a special place in Chinese culture, and, through the nation’s history, has been venerated by politicians, scholars, and artists alike. Animals have always been a focus of interest for artists, constituting a major genre of Chinese ancient painting. Emi...
Today, we’re going to talk about a true Renaissance man of the Chinese Ming Dynasty. He was a bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician; meanwhile, he became the first Chinese to publish translations of European books in China. This is also the 100th episode of The Context. Over the past two years, we’ve endeavored to provide listeners with an inside account of China’s history and the fascinating stories behind its ancient cultural relics. In the future, The Context will ...
Today, we’re going to continue our talk about Xuanzang taking a closer look at his stay in India, his odyssey on the way home, and how his translations of the Buddhist sutras and the records of his travels in Central and South Asia have been of inestimable value to Buddhism, as well as to world history and archaeology.
For any overseas college student who wants to study China, one of the ideal texts for their first course is the 16th-century novel Journey to the West because this rousing adventure story can also be read as historical fiction, political satire, and religious allegory. Scholars worldwide have found it incredibly useful for unpacking the complexities of Chinese history, language, politics, economics, and thought. One of the great classics of Chinese literature, the 100-chapter Journey to the West...
“Heaven has paradise. Earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou.” This old Chinese saying is inspired by the natural beauty of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province and Hangzhou in neighboring Zhejiang Province, both located along China’s southeastern coast. The painting we’re going to discuss captures the scenery at a famous park in Suzhou. The famous Classical Gardens of Suzhou were added to UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage List in 1997. Throughout Chinese history, the gardens have been toured by senior officials, d...
A hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began to make their way to the New World, a Chinese fleet sent out by the Ming Emperor of China had already ventured into the uncharted waters of the western Pacific and Indian oceans. Over a period of almost three decades in the early 15th century, admiral Zheng He and his armada made seven epic voyages. His fleet, which consisted of giant treasure ships loaded with the empire’s finest porcelains, lacquerware, silk and the like, sailed to...
