An intrepid archaeologist in China has followed a series of clues from ancient texts leading to his discovery of an ornate stone vessel that he suspected indicated the lost burial mausoleum of the...
A 1000-year-old “Chinese couple” were pulled out of their brick-walled graves in an ancient cemetery to make way for a motorway. In 2020, archaeologists from the Institute of Cultural Relics and...
Researchers in China have found evidence that Stone Age people had a close relationship with hares. While they never domesticated them as they did with dogs, it appears that humans changed the...
The elixir of immortality (known also as the elixir of life) is a mythical substance believed to grant those who consume it eternal life. Various civilizations throughout human history have their own...
Considering the fact that the history of ancient China spans many centuries, it is only natural that its empires and kingdoms had a great deal of sprawling capitals and major cities. Throughout its...
Archaeologists excavating in Bali have presented the largest collection of Roman gold-glass beads ever discovered in early Southeast Asia, which proves the existence of an ancient trade route where...
Today it is in ruins, but Weiyang Palace was once the largest palace complex on earth. The few remains you can see now bear silent witness to the splendor and grandeur of the Han Dynasty monument...
Read Part I Here Wang Mang’s usurpation of the throne and the establishment of the Xin Dynasty brought the Han Dynasty to a temporary end. Displeasure with the Xin Dynasty, however, caused rebellions...
Some saw Wang Mang as an evil usurper – others a selfless visionary. Either way, an emperor lay dead, and a learned Confucian scholar sought to bring peace and harmony, but the dynasty would descend...
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty in Chinese history. This dynasty was a long one – it was established during the 3rd century BC and lasted all the way until the 3rd century AD. It was...
Liu Bang’s life is a rags to riches story. He was born into a peasant family but rose to become the emperor of China. In fact, Liu Bang (known also as Emperor Gaozu of Han) was the generally...
The largest naval battle in history occurred in the winter of 208/9 AD as part of the war for control of China. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers fought - some estimates suggest that the exact number...
Well-represented in artifacts found in museums and private collections, the Liao Dynasty rose and expanded as the Tang Dynasty dwindled in power. This was the first state to control all of Manchuria...
A team of archaeologists has uncovered more than 1000 tablets inscribed with Buddhist scriptures and over 500 pieces of stone sculpture, as well as glazed tiles with inscriptions, at the site of a...
Archaeologists in China’s Henan Province have excavated about 90 tombs, 18 of which contained golden earrings and turquoise artifacts, bronze and iron pots, and short swords. The 18 graves, of the...
The Battle of Gaixia was an important battle that occurred in 202 BC. It was the last battle in the Chu-Han Contention, which lasted between 206 BC and 202 BC. This was the period between the end of...
The ancient city of Pingyao is a county-level city located in the center of China’s Shanxi Province. This ancient city has been described as an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional...
You might call ancient Chinese royalty of the Han Dynasty jaded. Some aristocrats of around 2,000 years ago enjoyed a lusty sex life that included bronze dildos and jade butt plugs. And the presence...
A large area for animal sacrifices by Chinese emperors dating from the 3 rd century BC to the 1 st century AD in western China has been excavated and found to contain many cultural artifacts. Called...
The few remaining bones and teeth of a man who briefly ruled as emperor of ancient China and then was forced out for moral failings will undergo DNA analysis to shed light on his health, diet, and...
Archaeologists have identified the oldest known tea in the tomb of Jing Di, a Han Dynasty Chinese emperor who went into the afterlife well-provisioned with food, weapons, a ceramic-animal army and...
In 74 BC the royal Han Dynasty clan of ancient China dethroned the emperor after just 27 days because of his lack of talent and for intolerably indulging in pleasures. But when he died, insane, five...
An elaborate, beautifully painted tomb was found when rains washed away soil and revealed a capstone on a hillside in China. The tomb dates to the Yuan dynasty, about 700 years ago. Scholars believe...
Between approximately 300 BC and 450 AD, there existed a nomadic group known as the Xiongnu. Their ethnic identity has been greatly contested, but they were a very powerful tribal confederation that...
