Explore Chinese History & Culture: An Introduction

[Astronuc]

Back when I was at university studying Physics, I also studied Religions, including Eastern Religions, which brought me to study Chinese History and Culture. It is an extraordinary history.

Here are some resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_History

http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/toc.html - History of China

http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html

http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/chinesehistory/

http://www.asterius.com/china/ - Condensed Chinese History for Beginners

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/elman/ClassBib/

http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/chinhist.html - Chinese Cultural Studies: Concise Political History of China

 

[Astronuc]

Interaction between Rome and China!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_embassies_to_China

Sino-Roman relations started first on an indirect basis during the 2nd century BCE. China and Rome progressively inched closer with the embassies of Zhang Qian in 130 BCE and the military expeditions of China to Central Asia, until general Ban Chao attempted to send an envoy to Rome around 100 CE. Several alleged Roman embassies to China were recorded by a number of ancient Chinese historians. The first one on record, supposedly from either the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius or the later emperor Marcus Aurelius, arrived in 166 CE.

Well before Marco Polo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo.

Marco Polo (15 September 1254, Venice, Italy; or Curzola, Venetian Dalmatia - now Korčula, Croatia — 8 January 1324, Venice) was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called Cathay) and visited the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan). His travels are written down in Il Milione ("The Milione" or The Travels of Marco Polo).

Almost 1000 years between events.

 

[hypatia]

I love Chinese folklore. I was once lucky enough to view the Dragon Boat races. Which has the longest history of any of the festivals celebrated in China. Dragon boat races are held to the sounds of thunderous drumbeats. It just took my breath away, the colors and the sounds!
In Chinese tradition, the dragon boats attempt to rescue the patriotic poet, Chu Yuan. Chu Yuan drowned himself because his king would not take his advice. As a result, his kingdom was conquered. Chu Yuan drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth month in 277 B.C. To save his body, people fed the fish cooked rice. They rowed boats and threw bamboo leaved filled with cooked rice into the water.
And the food! Moon cakes and rice dumplings!

 

[Astronuc]

China's Great Armada

Six centuries ago a towering eunuch named Zheng He commanded the Ming dynasty's fleet of immense trading vessels on expeditions ranging as far as Africa.

National Geographic Magazine - July 2005

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature2/index.html

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature2/multimedia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He

Zheng He (Traditional: 鄭和; Simplified: 郑和; pinyin: Zhèng Hé; Wade-Giles: Cheng Ho; Birth name: 馬三寶 / 马三宝; pinyin: Mă Sānbăo; Arabic name: Hajji Mahmud) (1371 – 1435), the most well-known Chinese mariner and explorer who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" (三保太監下西洋) or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433. Life magazine ranked Zheng He the 14th most important person of the last millennium. He was a Muslim Hui Chinese.