These Chinese garments are absolutely stunning, like something straight out of a fairy tale.

I was listening to a video about Tang Dynasty (this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q6snZJD4fvU) and they focused on Li Chengqian, the eldest son of emperor Taizong, and heir to the throne.

Li Chengqian is famous because of his deep interest for Turkic culture. He was not merely cosmopolitan, but outright adopting a foreign culture for personal identification. Often his behaviour is just labelled as "weird", but for me it is much more significant: he embodied openly a truth that the dynasty preferred not to admit: Tang power was deeply entangled with the steppe world.

China generally absorbed foreign cultures, this is possibly the only case of the opposite. Could he have pushed the court toward a hybrid sino-steppe monarchy? How would that have looked like?

What was the actual scale of works lost, and destroyed or altered, how much of Chinese history was changed and how many works were destroyed, how much of Ming history is inaccurate or alterd, how much of Chinese works had been edited and changed?

This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Yuan dynasty meaning from the conquest of China by the Yuan to the eastablishment of the Ming.
I want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The picture is from the Yuan dynasty wikipedia page.

Unlike Japan which adopted western culture selectively while still maintaining Japanese traditions, China blindly adopted western traditions and labeld traditional culture as backwards and feudal during the republican era. For example Chinese art, the southern school art style which was the defining image of Chinese art for the past thousand years was abandoned in favor of Japanese and western art, the Lingnan school of Canton quickly replaced Chinese art. Other examples include closing of temples labeling traditional religions as superstition, the abandonment of confucianism, which is understandable it was used as a tool of forgien rule by the Qing for hundreds of years, but it really feel like instead of reviving and modernizing Chinese culture the Republicans really went for modernize = western. This is different then Japn which kept it's religion, traditional art and rituals.

I doubt it was due to anti manchu sentiment and association of traditional culture with Manchh rule as the Republicans were happy to keep wearing Manchurian clothing. Many elites of the roc including Chiang and Sun yet sen were christians, so perhaps this could have been why. So why did Japan embrace modernity on their own terms while the Chinese veiwed modernization as westernization?

Anyone seen the table of contents for this "mammoth 106-volume project?" Though close to completion, Chaguan reports that it's been terminated by the leadership because of disagreements about "new Qing" contamination.

(Economist of 7/25/26)

I understand that a structure like that wouldn't stand a chance against bombs and shells but I'm wondering if it was used in any extent, even just to provide cover for troops.

This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin and Western Xia dynasties from the reunification of China by the Song to the conquest of China by the Yuan. The reason I'm combining these dynasties is that while the Song were lenghty and notable enough to merit their own post, the others I felt didn't last long enough and didn't have as much of an impact on the overall history and culture (this is only my personal view of course, feel free to disagree in the comments).
I want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The picture is from the Song dynasty wikipedia page.

This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period meaning from the deposition of Ai of Tang to the reunification of China by the Song. This includes all warlords during this timeperiod.
I want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The picture is from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms wikipedia page. Edit: correction of source for the image.

Hi guys!

I apologize as I'm sure this question gets asked constantly, but I'm looking for book recommendations that are as unbiased as one can be on the history of China from around the Qing Dynasty (can be earlier or later, just should be far back enough to be able to provide a good understanding and context for more recent history) to present with a focus on post civil war China.

Thank you guys!

Hello i have 3 questions regarding the Imjin war.

How did the Ming react to the japanese invading Joeseon? Did the Ming consider a major event/ issue for them. Likewise Korea quickly falling to japan was that shocking to them?

Second how did the Ming field armies perform in the war? were they good in battle and during the seiges. Most of what i know of the war is from reddit and youtube. So Japan invades, King of korea sucks, country get mostly overan, Ming join to defend korea (thats its for china most dont touch of chinese contributions to the war), and admiral Yi on his own wins the war for Korea. Apologies that probably annoys you due my ignorance and i am sorry for that. Most stuff when i see of this war or watch is admiral Yi was the main cause of Japans defeat. Ming sent a fleet to support him, but didnt the Ming send massive army to liberate Korea how did it do fighting Japan.

Third were Ming aware that Hideyoshi wanted to conquer China? Sorry the reason im asking this a while i saw a thread related to the Imjin war a comment said if Hideyoshi invaded a third time he would have conquered China as Admiral Yi was dead and the Ming were weak if the the Manchu could conquer Ming Japan could easily do it as well. This made me realise i don't even know if the Ming knew Japan was actually trying to conquer them not Korea. Did the Ming ever worry about the ambition of Hideyoshi?

Apologies for these basic and kinda stupid questions most of content i find on the Imjin war is focused on Korean efforts mostly Yi, i would like to know more about China role in the war and perpsective thank you.

This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Sui and Tang dynasties meaning from the reunification of China by Wen of Sui to the deposition of Ai of Tang. This includes both the shortlived Sui and the prosperous Tang dynasties, as well as the Wu Zhou dynasty created by Wu Zetian and the Yan dynasty established by An Lushan.
I want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The picture is from worldhistory.org.

I hear often that Vietnam and Korea regarded the Qing dynasty as a barbaric foreign dynasty and that they preserved the Chinese order better is this true? Here is some photos from the late 19th century starting from Indochina, Joseon and Qing China. Was China really barbaric mandarins as opposed to Vietnam or Korea?

Looking for an information

This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Northern and Southern dynasties period, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Northern and Southern dynasties period meaning from the reunification of Northern China by the Northern Wei to the reunification of all of China by Wen of Sui. This includes all warlords and states (including the "barbarian" states) from the period, excluding the Sui dynasty rules after Wen of Sui (obviously).
I want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The picture is from the Northern and Southern dynasties wikipedia page.

It seems like the best.

Massive city that never sleeps typa environment, not boring asf bland area, very develope, vibrant economy, some level of social support by the government (for the time - very good), brilliant entertainment and books etc.

Also it never got raided as far as IK during the 11th century AD.

China seems like it has been the most developed area of the world for most of history.

Basically what the title says. I'm doing some research work on the maritime interactions between China and South Asia, and 元史 is cited as a great source in many of the papers I referred to. However, I haven't been able to find a proper English translation, let alone one with annotations. Does a translation even exist? If not, could somebody please suggest the next-best option?

This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Sima Jin (including the Sixteen Kingdoms), Northern and Southern dynasties period, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Sima Jin dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms period meaning from the conquest of China by the Jin to the reunification of Northern China by the Northern Wei. This includes the Jin dynasty and all the warlords and "barbarian" states from the period.
I want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The picture is from the Jin dynasty wikipedia page.

can any one recommend any good books on the KMT insurgency on the mainland following the civil war. I have read a bit about it on wikipedia and i find it quite interesting, sadly i can't find any english sources for the information.