History of almonds: Almonds drying after harvest (Southern Spain) Where do almonds come from? Wild almonds are related to peaches and apples. Almonds probably evolved about the same time, around five [...]
During the Ming Dynasty, not many scientists were working in China; most people who wanted to do science moved west to the big universities of Central Asia. But when Jesuit missionaries from [...]
Empress Xiaozhuang In the 1600s AD, most women in China still suffered from oppression, as they had in antiquity and the Middle Ages. They couldn't own land, and they had [...]
During the Ming Dynasty in the 1500s and 1600s AD, the strongest influence on Chinese literature came from Central Asia, where the world's great universities and libraries were then located. Chinese novelists [...]
Qianlong Emperor wearing his armor (ca. 1750 AD) Qing Dynasty in the 1700s AD The Qing Dynasty continued to rule strongly until near the end of the 1700s AD. In [...]
Empress Xiaozhuang In 1644 AD, the Jurchen or Manchu people of Central Asia invaded China and got rid of the Ming Dynasty. The Manchu leaders took over ruling China. They called [...]
Opium Wars: Men smoking opium in China (late 1800s) Walpole and the Opium Wars In the late 1700s AD, the British prime minister Robert Walpole wanted to try to get [...]
Brush rest showing five great mountains of Taoism, but with Arabic writing (Ming Dynasty) The Ming Dynasty in the 1500s AD In 1505 AD, the Ming Dynasty emperor Zhengde succeeded his [...]
Ming Dynasty porcelain pitcher (before Manchu China) What was the Ming Dynasty? Early modern Chinese history starts with the Ming Dynasty, about 1500 AD. The Ming Dynasty was very powerful, [...]
Empress Cixi (the Empress Dowager) Cixi takes power as regent When the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in China died in 1861 AD, his only son was only five [...]
