Hankou, also spelled Hankow, is one of the three Imperial towns (the other two are Wuchang and Hanyang) that merged to become modern-day Wuhan City,…
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Tag: World History (Books)
Embassies to the Qing court—Part 3
Most people wrongly assume the Macartney Embassy of 1792-94 gave the Western world its first glimpse of the secretive Middle Kingdom. In fact, there were…
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Embassies to the Qing court—Part 2
Most people wrongly assume the Macartney Embassy of 1792-94 gave the Western world its first glimpse of the secretive Middle Kingdom. Why? Such an erroneous…
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Embassies to the Qing court—Part 1
Most people are familiar with the Macartney Embassy of 1792-94 for two reasons. First, the response by Emperor Qianlong to the British request to open…
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Understanding Europe’s Cultural Rebirth
Why did the Age of Renaissance begin in Italy? Why did it begin in that time period? European history can be roughly classified into the…
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China and Japan – Part 2
Japanese culture and arts only grew after absorbing Chinese traditions via Korea and China from 600 to 838 AD. Absorption was the most during the…
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From Mao to Modernity
On 2 Sep 1945, Japan formally surrendered. China designated 3 Sep 1945 as “Victory Day” to commemorate its victory over Japan. This year, on 3…
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Mao and the Dilemmas of Victory
In March 1949, Mao left for Beiping, where last-minute peace negotiations were taking place between the Communists and the Nanjing regime. He told Zhou Enlai,…
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Zhao and the “Liberation” of Tibet
In Dilemmas of Victory (hardcopy 2007), Chen Jian, who wrote the chapter The Chinese Communist ‘Liberation’ of Tibet, mentioned very briefly the role played by…
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The Dilemmas of Victory
It is easier to conquer a country than to rule it. Napoleon learned it the hard way after he conquered vast stretches of Russia. The…
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