Ancient Shanghai city wall near the Bund, 1850. COMMENTS FROM MINDS soxfan1957 Would have loved to walk around this. All Things Chinese Shanghai city walls are no longer there, demolished about 100 years ago. Eric I am constantly amazed at how the people in ancient time, Roman Collisium as an example, can stand for thousands of years while we in […]
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Ma Haifang (马海方) is a Chinese artist born and grew up in Beijing’s outskirts. Below are some of his works illustrating the lives of the ordinary rural and city folks in Beijing in the last century. A summer afternoon in an old Beijing village. COMMENTS FROM MINDS soxfan1957 Aaaah! The old fashion back scratcher. One of the best inventions ever. […]
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Chinese Wedding Photos in the 1900s It was a time when China was still under Manchu’s rule and the traditional Chinese culture, including costumes, were forcibly replaced by Manchu style. By then taking a wedding photo was not an essential part of the wedding process. A wedding photo of a court official and his wife Chinese Wedding Photos in the 1910s […]
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Ancient water town Qiandeng (千灯) is located in Suzhou’s Kunshan, where Kunqu, the mother of all Chinese operas, was originated. The waterfront of most Chinese towns are traditionally allocated as public space. In Qiandeng, an eleborated pavilion is also erected in the form of a boat, which can be used for Kungqu opera performance. The main shopping street of Qiandeng […]
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China in the 1950s: Typical Chinese factory workers’ home in big cities. COMMENTS FROM MINDS Eric Nice table All Things Chinese That is called Eight Immortals’ Table. Eric I knew I liked it, now I know why. China in the 1960s: Typical Chinese factory workers’ home in big cities. COMMENTS FROM TWITTER ρнιℓιρ мαк Without that picture and fake windows, […]
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The Climbers is a 2019 Chinese blockbuster adventure film based on the real-life events happened in the mid last century. The film is produced by Shanghai Film Group Corp, starring Wu Jing, the guy who played a pivotal role in securing the success of China’s first sci-fi movie The Wandering Earth. An awesome and hellish looking Mount Everest Mount Everest is […]
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Shanghai in 1955, an ordinary docker’s home. Shanghai in 1956, factory workers practising dragon dance. Shanghai in 1956, two ladies in makeup and Shanghai-style fashion gown. Shanghai in 1956, mothers and their kids looking themselves in distorting mirrors at The Great World, the biggest indoor entertainment venue in China. Shanghai in 1958, a shop selling table lamp & hanging lantern […]
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A Hong Kong funeral in the early 20th century British Hong Kong police and onlookers The funeral band, with the loud and howling suona horns being the central musical instruments. In a typical traditional Chinese funeral, Buddhist monks and/or Taoists played a vital role in assisting the deceased to choose the best available new form of existence. Funeral floats with prominent figures […]
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Hong Kong, a Chinese port city initially part of Guangdong Province, was lent to Britain as its colony by a non-Chinese regime (Manchus’ Qing Dynasty) for 99 years. After more than a century, the city eventually returned to China in 1997. 1894, a Hong Kong street after a plague. Over 2,000 people died and one-third of residents fled Hong Kong. […]
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In 114 BC, Chinese Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty decided to send Zhang Qian as his envoy to the foreign states on a diplomatic mission. Zhang Qian and his royal entourage and military guards began their journey from the capital city Chang’an (Xi’an), travelling through today’s Gansu, Xinjiang provinces, via Afghanistan, Iran, Russa, Greek to Rome in today’s Italy, […]
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Oracle Turtle Scripts This is Oracle Turtle Script, the early Chinese written language carved on a turtle shell during Shang Dynasty (1600 BC – 1046 BC) – an era ruled by merchants with a social system chiefly based on written business contacts. This script used to be considered as the earliest form of Chinese characters by archaeologists. But the evidence […]
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This more than 3,000-year-old bronze vessel was recovered by a Beijing museum researcher in 2002 from an antique market in Hong Kong. On the bottom of the container, there are 98 Chinese characters with the opening lines praising the legendary Great Yu’s hydraulic projects nearly 5,000 years ago to control the flood from the Yellow River. An Ancient Reference to […]
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