Taiyuan is an ancient city. I visited it on my tour of Shanxi. Unfortunately, the ancient parts of Taiyuan are all gone. That said, Shanxi…
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The Temple of Heaven – Part 2
The Ming Emperor Yongle built the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. In 1420, Yongle moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The Temple…
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Shanxi – Part 3
Mount Wutai, ‘the five terrace mountains’, is the highest in Northern China and is remarkable for its five open treeless peaks. Mount Wutai is one…
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Shanxi – Part 2
To explore the pivotal role in the growth of Buddhism in China played by a female Dowager empress during the Northern Wei dynasty, there is…
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Shanxi – Part 1
There are three famous Buddhist grottoes in China, dating back to the dynastic era. In chronological order, you have the Mogao Caves [4th century AD],…
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Gunboat Justice v Soft Power
Douglas Clark’s magnum opus 3-volume history of Britain and American Law Courts in China and Japan is an exploration of gunboat hard power and the…
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The King James Bible and King James I – Part 5
Rereading these books, which I bought and read in 2011 for the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, due to my…
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King James I of England and VI of Scotland – Part 4
James I hated the Geneva Bible. He agreed to a new English translation on the condition that it must spread the idea of divine rule…
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King James I of England and VI of Scotland – Part 3
The King James Bible translation came about because the Puritans called for a new translation during the 2nd day of the Hampton Court Conference on…
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Temple of Heaven in Peking – Part 1
Most people, when visiting Peking, mistake an exquisite building with a pointed roof on top of three levels of blue-glazed tiles, built on a three-level…
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