/r/ChineseHistory

Photograph via snooOG

A community for those interested in the history of China and the various peoples of China. Discussion, discoveries and debates are all welcome.

Do you have a question about Chinese history? Feel free to post it here!

Also, please keep in mind that while any user is welcome to create flair here, the users with the yellow flair really know their stuff. If you've studied an area in depth and want yellow flair, send the mods a message!

PLEASE NOTE: If you try to directly submit a link and it does not appear right away, it is in the modqueue! A moderator will approve it asap, and then it will appear on /r/chinesehistory. So don't panic if the link you submit doesn't appear right away - it will!

And a shout-out to some fellow subreddits! Check out /r/chinabookclub for some interesting reading!

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/r/ChineseHistory

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1

Looking for books about the Japanese occupation of Manchuria

Hi,
I am looking to learn about the rise, ruling and fall of Manchukuo but I want to read it on paperback or hardback rather than reading through Wikipedia as I usually do.
I would like some suggestions of a book (or several books!), if you have any.
Thank you!

0 Comments
2024/03/26
20:57 UTC

1

Walking with hands together in a hanfu

Why do people in ancient China have to walk with hands together like in the picture below?

https://preview.redd.it/3v6q4d8ylqqc1.png?width=1518&format=png&auto=webp&s=8bc5eeeaf64fe5d835e555a9ceaf5eaca96c37d5

0 Comments
2024/03/26
20:21 UTC

20

月氏 - Tokharians, originally of Gansu Dunhuang. Some people call them "Rouzhi" as well

2 Comments
2024/03/26
11:53 UTC

3

Mining and Mountain Construction in Classical China

I have seen on early scrolls showing depictions of workers using the same kind of hammer stones to break rocks as they do to ring bells. What other techniques were common at the time, and how did they differ from western masonry practices?

1 Comment
2024/03/26
07:28 UTC

2

Mining and mountain construction in classical China.

I have seen on early scrolls showing depictions of workers using the same kind of hammer stones to break rocks as they do to ring bells. What other techniques were common at the time, and how did they differ from western masonry practices?

0 Comments
2024/03/26
07:16 UTC

3

Question about time periods

So, there is this card game called tichu and judging by the characters of each colour of the deck you can see that each colour represents a different time period of Chinese history. From what I understand(correct me if I'm wrong) the green color represents the 1800's and the red represents Communist China. I'm having trouble distinguishing which time periods blue and black colors represent. Both seem to showcase ancient China but I don't know what time periods they showcase or even if they showcase a different time period. I'll provide a picture, thanks to anyone who knows, because I've been curious about it but since the game isn't very popular in many countries there wasn't an answer on the internet.

1 Comment
2024/03/26
00:56 UTC

3

Question about bureaucracy size

I saw a presentation on YouTube about Chinese inventiveness by Yasheng Huang. He created a score called CDI (Chinese Dynasty Inventiveness), which is the count of inventions divided by the population of that dynasty. It showed that as the population of each dynasty increased, the CDI score would fall.

However, he also mentioned that a lot of the inventing was done by people in government employ, officials and such. It made me wonder whether the bureaucracy size had scaled with the population increase.

1 Comment
2024/03/24
15:38 UTC

2

Global Life of Material Culture- Chinese Wallpaper and Furniture?

Does anyone have any sources, good information on the global life of Chinese wallpaper and furniture (chairs)- Spread of creation, use in different countries, cultures of consumption. It seems there isn’t much historiography on these commodities in the early modern period.

0 Comments
2024/03/23
18:15 UTC

6

Pair of silver fingernail guards, Chinese, c. 1800-1900.

1 Comment
2024/03/21
22:14 UTC

10

What kind of relationship did China have with Okinawa?

1 Comment
2024/03/21
18:12 UTC

9

Just curious: What is your favorite dynasty/ies and why?

I like the Five Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms period, along with the Three Kingdoms period. They aren't a bit too peaceful like dynasties, and there were many heroes in them.

BTW dynasties/periods I know (+1 empire): Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Spring & Autumn Period, Warring States Period (Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, and Qin states), Qin Dynasty, Western Han Dynasty, Xin Dynasty, Eastern Han Dynasty, Three Kingdoms Period (Han, Wei, & Wu), Western Jin dynasty, North & South Dynasties (Sixteen Kingdoms, Eastern Jin, Liu Song, Qi, Liang, Chen), Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty (Wu Zhou Dynasty), Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou, Ten Kingdoms (too much to list), Khitai), Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty, (Jurchen) Jin Dynasty, Western Xia Dynasty, Mongol Empire, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, Modern China

Edit: I'm also tied to the Caos (rulers of Cao Wei from Three Kingdoms) and the Sui Dynasty because someone with my surname was married to Cao Pi and my mom is related to the emperors of the Sui Dynasty.

27 Comments
2024/03/21
03:50 UTC

5

Any good books out there on the development of education from the late Qing dynasty to the present?

As a teacher who has worked in both China and now in Taiwan I've been curious for the longest time how the profession developed over the course of the past century or so. Are there any good books out there about the introduction of "western" education? Who were the instructors in those first non traditional schools? Who taught them how to teach?

I know this is a broad topic so anything remotely related to the topic of education from the late Qing to near present would be much appreciated!

5 Comments
2024/03/20
00:11 UTC

10

Were the Chu people Vietnamese?

I've recently encountered a person who persistently asserts that the Chu people were Vietnamese, and by extension, that the invention of paper and Taoism are all Vietnamese.

I always thought that the Vietnamese were a mix of Chinese people moving down there and mixing with the indigenous people, not the other way around.

16 Comments
2024/03/19
11:38 UTC

19

Carved ivory figurine of a man holding a cat, Chinese, c. 1800-1900.

2 Comments
2024/03/18
02:11 UTC

3

Did any “Boxers” we know of end up converting to Christianity?

So the Boxer Rebellion was a well known uprising, taking place from 1899-1901. The Boxer movement, as it’s called, and for which the uprising is named, had some positive qualities, being essentially a traditionalist conservative movement, but is definitely more remembered for its negative qualities, such as violent atrocities, religious fanaticism, and, of course, a deeply hateful, anti-Christian sentiment, which lead to 30,000 Christians being massacred by the group.

My question is this; did any former Boxers end up converting to Christianity after the rebellion? I ask because I think it would be kind of a cool story is some did. A kind of Chinese-Paul-the-Apostle story, powerful in its portrayal of redemption and reconciliation. Do any famous former Boxers come to mind?

79 Comments
2024/03/17
21:24 UTC

1

The girls from Honkai Star Rail have been criticized for having repetitive outfits... But what IS this shoulderless dress with coattails? Is it based on anything historical?

0 Comments
2024/03/12
16:57 UTC

6

Desperately need advice about graduate programs studying Chinese philosophy and religion (Daoism and/or Chinese Buddhism)

Hello,

I received my bachelor's last May in a totally unrelated STEM field (as a result of two decades of utilitarian brow-beating about how only that which brings practical and material benefit is worth studying, and the only means of living a prosperous and debt-free life; Master Mo would be proud). None of this STEM stuff has ever interested me (I managed to graduate with a 3.81 while dumping all my free time into studying things I actually like), and the prospect of devoting the rest of my life here or in related occupations absolutely depresses me.

After realizing how much I don't want to be doing this for the rest of my life, I'm ready to take the risk and try to enter academia, and I'm planning on applying to grad schools in the fall. The main issue, other than getting in of course, is cost; I would absolutely love to attend Harvard Divinity School or University of Chicago Divinity School, but even in the off-chance I did get in, I wouldn't get enough scholarship money to be able to. I don't come from a family with money so I would basically need a full ride.

I'm told (by a friend who got her master's at one) that Divinity Schools/Schools of Theology are far more generous with aid due to church funding, but most are exclusively focused on Christianity. The same person tells me that grad programs in Religious Studies aren't really a thing.

I've also heard some less-than promising things about East Asian Studies programs. Along with needing scholarship money, I also need a program that gives me a very good shot at getting into a PhD program afterwards (otherwise the whole thing would have been a waste). I'm told that area studies are a good way to waste a lot of time and money. Essentially I'm at a dead end.

I'm well aware that the world we live in isn't exactly conducive to people studying the Humanities, let alone stuff like Daoism and Buddhism, and that anything I do is unlikely to lead to a promising path into academia.

However, I'm very desperate, and I welcome any advice you can give me. I live in the US, and this is important enough to me that I'm willing to travel anywhere in the country to attend a school, as long as the money and PhD prospects are good.

If you know of any schools with good programs in these areas, please, please let me know.

4 Comments
2024/03/10
20:12 UTC

10

What were the reasons behind the execution of late Ming general Yuan Chonghuan? Did his death contribute to the Qing conquest of Ming?

How come a national hero who thrice defeated the invaders become a traitor overnight? It just boggles the mind that Yuan Chonghuan was accused of leading the enemy to the capital when in reality he was the one who fought them off. I can’t find specifics of the case against Yuan, except that it was orchestrated by Hong Taiji somehow. How strong was the evidence against Yuan, if any? I also find it strange that Chongzhen Emperor seemed to have full confidence in Yuan, only to put him to death a year later. Was he convinced that Yuan was a traitor, or was there another reason? It’s also worth mentioning that many Beijing residents apparently believed the traitor narrative, so much that they rushed to buy Yuan's body parts and ate them as soon as they were sliced off his body.

 

In the longterm, how did Yuan Chonghuan’s death contribute to the eventual Qing conquest of Ming? He was often cited as the last Ming general who could have stopped the Jurchens, but in reality it took the Qing another 14 years after Yuan’s death to breach the Great Walls and conquer Beijing, and that was only after Wu Sangui’s defection. If Yuan had lived, would he recovered Liaodong and pushed back the Jurchen? Or it wouldn’t have mattered?

7 Comments
2024/03/08
14:15 UTC

25

If the Xia dynasty is fictional, where did it stem from and why would the Shang dynasty create the myth?

Hi! I am fully of the opinion that the Xia dynasty did in fact exist, for a multitude of reasons. it’s a logical fallacy to claim something did not exist because you have not found it. The oracle bones suggest a mature society would have had to come before the Shang dynasty. Not only this, but Qin Shi Huangdi ordered to have any writing that does not align with Qins position must be destroyed. I’m lost on where the debate is. This may be a stupid question, but how could such an elaborate lie be created, and how did the people alive during the time believe it? Or is that not the theory on it not existing?

18 Comments
2024/03/05
06:22 UTC

9

Books/Youtube/podcast Recommendations

I've been getting into Chinese history lately and I'm having some trouble finding good sources that focus on Chinese history pre-Qing. Pretty much everything I've been able to find has been focused on modern Chinese history or politics. I'm already aware of (and enjoy) the History of China podcast, the Cambridge History of China series and the Harvard University Press series. Does anyone have any other recommendations?

7 Comments
2024/03/03
22:55 UTC

17

Books from a Chinese Perspective

Hello, I'm an amateur historian and writer who studies Chinese (mainly) and other Asian histories. However, all of my current sources are from Western authors and professors. Since much of my writing is set in traditional China, and I almost certainly have a Western bias, I was hoping someone might recommend me some historical books from the Chinese perspective. I can only read a little of Traditional Chinese, so I am looking for something that has been translated or written for Western audiences (but not diluted, if possible). I've recently picked up Anjin - The Life and Times of Samurai William Adams, 1564-1620: A Japanese Perspective, and A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine for Japanese examples of at least attempting to give a non-Western perspective of historical and cultural events.

I am flexible with the historical time frame. Additionally, please feel free to correct any misconceptions I may have. Thank you for your time.

12 Comments
2024/03/03
05:25 UTC

3

Does anyone know where i can find an English translation of the section on Xinjiang/西域 in Ban Gu/Ban Zhao's "Book of the Han"?

I looked in Homer Dub's translation, but it looks like that is only a partial translation, and Dubs appears to not have translated that chapter. Are there any English translations with that chapter?

5 Comments
2024/03/02
00:04 UTC

9

Why did reforms in other warring states did not succeed?

I am quite new to chinese history and I was wondering why only Qin was able to implement legalist eforms successfully which lasted for generations but other states like Wei, Qi and Chu failed.
And were there other types of reforms other than legalism which took place during warring states period?

6 Comments
2024/03/01
06:17 UTC

42

What happened to people in China who were rich once the Communists took over in 1949?

Did they get their wealth taken away and become peasants or were they allowed to continue their lifestyle?

23 Comments
2024/02/29
18:55 UTC

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