18 articles
How Yue Ware porcelain from 2,000 years ago created the 'secret color' celadon that captivated Tang aristocrats and shaped later Chinese ceramics.
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How Huangmei Opera grew from rural tea-picking songs in the Anhui hills into one of China's five great opera traditions, known for The Heavenly Match.
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Meet the qilin - China's most beloved mythical creature. Deer body, dragon scales, ox tail, and a single horn. From Confucius's omen at birth to modern feng shui, the qilin's story.
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The Pixiu is a Chinese mythical wealth beast with a dragon's head and a lion's body - and no anus, so it only takes in. Where to place one, how Pixiu differs from Piyao, and why the bracelets are everywhere.
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The Jade Rabbit of Chinese mythology - companion of Chang'e on the moon, pounding the elixir of long life with mortar and pestle. The Mid-Autumn Festival, the Apollo comparison, and the rabbit's many afterlives.
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Huli jing - the fox spirits and fox immortals of Chinese mythology who cultivate themselves into human form. Daji, Yang Guifei, and the modern afterlife.
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How a real Three Kingdoms general became deified as Guan Di, the God of Loyalty and War, and why his red-faced image still watches over Chinese shops today.
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A guide to Du Fu, the Tang poet whose poems hold war, friendship, family, and ordinary life together.
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Chinese penjing is the thousand-year-old art of growing miniature trees and landscapes in containers. Discover the four major schools, the philosophy behind the shapes, and how to start your own penjing collection.
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Discover the extraordinary life of Su Dongpo - poet, calligrapher, chef, and statesman whose genius shaped Chinese culture for a millennium.
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