"On 16 May 1966, the Chinese Communist Party launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and unleashed the Ten Years of Turmoil. I suggest that we set this day aside as a National Day of Reflection. Here's what I've learnt: Blind belief in any one group or leader will not give us true democracy or real rule of law. Without democracy, there can be no freedom or participation in the system, and anyone can turn from unbridled zeal to violence. Without rule of law, there is no way to equitably protect the rights of citizens, and anyone can become a victim." more ›

Via The Daily Telegraph: "Chinese citizens are outraged after a Ferrari sports car leaves tyre marks on Nanjing's ancient city wall during a publicity stunt for the car maker's Chinese dealership." more ›

Just how many people were killed during China's Century of Humiliation (1839-1945)? And how does that compare to the deaths incurred from Communist party policies from the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution (1949-1976)? The numbers have always varied. Luckily, Sinostand has some in-depth infographics on the data to paint us a clearer picture. more ›

Isaac Stone Fish of Foreign Policy raises the interesting hypothesis that former president Jiang Zemin's uncomfortable interview in 2000 with Mike Wallace, the 60 Minutes correspondent who passed away on Saturday, could well be the reason why the current president Hu Jintao has chosen to be the first Chinese leader since the Empress Dowager Cixi to refuse to speak with the foreign press. Watch Wallace lecture Jiang on the art of giving shorter, more concise answers, and then criticise him for having "no candour" in his answers. Ouch. more ›

"Shanghai today has many ancient ways and modern problems, like the traffic jam..." Part 2 after the jump... more ›

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Demolished in 2004, the Tigerbalm Garden in Hong Kong's Wan Chai district once used to be a popular tourist destination. more ›

The curtain is falling on Hong Kong's last dedicated Cantonese opera theatre which will fade into history after its final show this week: more ›

Chongqing authorities have spoken up after pictures circulating online which appeared to show the former residence of Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek being demolished sparked controversy and debate. more ›

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“I want to see your elections with campaign flags flying all over the place. Taiwan and China are one country. How can you arrest me for illegal entry?” more ›

The restaurant could be be the latest item in a long list of revealed-to-be Chinese inventions! Formerly misattributed as Western creations, gunpowder, printing, and even New World exploration have all been claimed thoroughly as Chinese in origin. more ›

On July 15, 1971, a historic day for both China and the United States, President Richard Nixon announced his intention of traveling to China and meeting with Chinese premier, Zhou En Lai, to discuss normalizing relations between the two superpowers as part of a campaign to ease global tension in the testy "Cold War" political climate. Nixon, a formerly staunch anti-communist, proclaimed; more ›

With the 62nd anniversary of the People's Republic now behind us, another very important date is coming up. October 10 marks the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 which ended in the overthrow of the Qing Empire and the abdication of Emperor Puyi. On the other side of the Taiwan Straits, "Double Ten Day" is commemorated as National Day of the Republic of China, and this year, massive celebrations are expected. more ›

Sohu Vice-President Liu Chun (刘春) laments in a post on his Sohu Weibo profile about the anti-Japanese propaganda productions that are shown every September 18, anniversary of the Mukden Incident in 1931, which subsequently led to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria:

September 18 -- I'd like to plead with China's film industry workers. Please stop making those obscene, mythological anti-Japanese films where a child destroys a dozen (Japanese) devils, a farmer hundreds, and a guerilla thousands. Are the (Japanese) short-legged or brain-damaged? Each scene requires hordes of cameos to act as (Japanese) corpses. Please, pay a bit of attention to history. Stop turning a 14-year-long brutal war which caused the death of tens of millions into a game. more ›

The culture of calisthenics is everywhere, and it likely begins at school, where kids are forced to go through morning exercises on a daily basis (occasionally they're also works of genius and timing). more ›

Why visit the real Lhasa when there's a fake one closer to home? Richard Bernstein, of The New York Review of Books, visits Chengde, not far from Beijing, where Kangxi, the great Qing Dynasty emperor, built a replica of the Potala Palace. Tourism authorities have in recent years developed the place as a monument to Kangxi and a quasi-theme park that is now teeming with Chinese tourists. Bernstein describes what he saw in the Kangxi Ceremony, a "ultra-high-tech theatrical extravaganza" that now plays nightly in the new amphitheatre:

In one scene, accompanied by a revolving, luminous model of the solar system, Kangxi learns astronomy from the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci. In another scene, one of the show’s most lavishly produced, a huge procession of Tibetan lamas, marching to the music of rumbling bass horns and headed by the Dalai Lama, arrives to demonstrate their fealty to the Chinese emperor. Did these events actually take place? more ›

Some random facts about Shanghai's most iconic landmark: more ›

Earlier this year we brought you some rare color photographs from Shanghai in the 1980s. This time we have another collection from 1986 for your nostalgic viewing pleasure. more ›

Thanks to a group called 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors based out of San Francisco, we now can watch the first ever musical rap version of Chinese history! And they do it all in under four minutes. Full list of lyrics on Youtube. more ›

"I don't have to answer this question. We should focus on tennis today... And actually, I don't really know what happened." more ›

Yesterday, June 4, was the 22nd anniversary of the government crackdown on pro-democracy student leaders in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Here's a quick roundup of links:more ›

Take a look at some rare color photographs taken around Shanghai in the 1980s, including an old view of Nanjing East Road, where you can see the Peace Hotel and little else obstructing Shanghai's skyline. The photo on the Huangpu is taken across from a very bare-looking Lujiazui. There's also a shot of an old Huaihai Lu restaurant, a clothing market on Huating Lu, and a military parade through People's Square! more ›

Yangzhou has opened a new Marco Polo Memorial Hall, a museum dedicated to the 13th century explorer, but a minor tussle has already erupted between Croats and Italians. more ›

Sorry about the delay in getting out the latest part of this series. In case you'd forgotten (and rightfully so), we've been searching through a list of 155 unprotected heritage sites in Shanghai. Here is Part I (Baoshan and Hongkou) Part II (Huangpu, Zhabei and Putuo) and Part III (Luwan and Jiading). Part IV is about Minhang and Yangpu. more ›

Take a look at a series of postcards called "Manchurian Beauties" (满族美人) - they include everything from geishas and courtesans to officials' daughters and women in 'cultural dress'. See if you can tell the difference! more ›

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Part III of an ongoing series taking a closer look at all of Shanghai's 155 "important heritage sites" that are currently unprotected. Here are the locations in Luwan (French Concession!) and Jiading Districts - which housed the creator of the Chinese alphabet (bopomofo!), the poor discarded second wife of Chiang Kai-shek, and China's best art forger. more ›

Yesterday, Shanghai Daily reported that there were 155 historically significant homes in the city that are currently unprotected. These houses were previously used by Shanghai's most influential politicians, industrial tycoons, scholars and such, but are now in a dilapidated state (though, luckily, not yet torn down). Interestingly, many Chinese newspapers printed out exactly which 155 homes these were, so I thought I'd document them. more ›

35 years ago today, China's first premier Zhou Enlai (周恩来) passed away from cancer at the age of 77. A skillful negotiator and able diplomat, Zhou quickly rose through the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party and became crucial in its rise to power. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou's efforts at containing the Red Guards earned him great popularity among the people. This led to a protracted factional struggle between leftist radicals led by the Gang of Four (which included Mao's wife Jiang Qing), and the moderate camp led by Zhou. After he was diagnosed with cancer, Zhou began to delegate his responsibilities to his protege Deng Xiaoping (邓小平), who would later on become the paramount leader of the People's Republic. Zhou's death, some eight months before Mao, led to massive protests against the Gang of Four (who had by then gained control of most of the central government) when they banned all displays of mourning. This eventually sparked off the April 5 Tiananmen Incident of 1976 (not to be confused with the 1989 protests). While Zhou remains arguably the most popular politician among China's first echelon of leadership, new biographies and reports have appeared in recent years, suggesting that he frequently caved in to Mao's whims instead of mitigating them and protecting all those he could have. more ›