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For practitioners of Chinese calligraphy and painting, traditional rice paper (also known as paper) is the preferred choice. Soft, flexible, and smooth, paper provides a clean slate for writing and painting, and it is also surprisingly strong against the test of time. For proof, look to the many ancient scrolls and paintings on rice paper that retain some of their vibrancy today. For beginners and experts alike, quality paper for practice and finished works is essential. Read below for some of our favorites.

1. Teagas Sumi Paper

This cream-colored paper is sized, meaning there is an alum coating that makes the paper less absorbent and therefore more forgiving of imperfect technique. It also lends itself well to paintings that require multiple washes since it can hold up against high levels of liquid and pigment.

2. Megrez Practice Rice Paper

Raw (or sheng ) paper like this one from Megrez is highly absorbent, which is valued by experienced calligraphers for the depth and vividness it allows and by painters for the soft gray tones it permits that are not possible on sized paper. These large sheets come trifolded to reduce the crumpling that too often occurs when shipping this airy material. Any stubborn folds can be removed with a bit of water or a hot iron.

3. JapanBargain Rice Paper

JapanBargain's option is a go-to for instructors and students. The paper has a smooth side and a rough side, and, though traditionally calligraphers want the smooth side, other artists like to use the back of the paper for things like stamping. It is very thin paper, so be sure to not use too thin of ink.

4. Gnatural Handmade Decorative Rice Paper

For a more natural option reminiscent of Thai mulberry paper, these thin sheets are handmade using a traditional process and decorated with natural pressed leaves and visible fibers. Those looking for a canvas for a finished project will find a delicate option in this half-ripe xuan paper.

5. Hmayart Single Layer Xuan Paper

Semi-sized paper, predictably, splits the different between sized and unsized, offering you the best attributes of both. Hmayart's paper is made up of 40% qing tan bark and 60% rice straw and is about half the thickness of standard printer paper.

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The Best Rice Paper for Calligraphy and Painting

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If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, we may receive an affiliate commission. For practitioners of Chinese calligraphy and painting, traditional rice paper (also known as paper) is the preferred choice.

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By Spooky on June 24th, 2020 Category: Events

Board shoe racing is the traditional sport of the Zhuang people of China's Gunaxi province, a unique discipline that has three people sharing the same "shoes", which requires perfect coordination and concentration.

Board shoe racing can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty, when legend has it that a famous heroine of the Xhuang people used it as a way to train soldiers against invading Japanese pirates. The legendary Mrs. Wa used long pieces of wood to teach the men to march together in perfect synchronization, which greatly improved their combat qualities and boosted their fighting spirit, helping them repel the invaders. The traditional sport has been passed on from generation to generation since then.

This bizarre sport involves three teammates running on the same pair of shoes, which basically consist of two wooden boards and some leather straps to fasten the feet. The boards are one-meter-long, 9cm-wide and 3cm-thick, and using them as shoes for a three-member team requires expert coordination. If one of the three pushes too hard or falls behind, they can cause the entire trio to topple over each other.

In 2005, the National Civil Affairs Commission approved board shoe racing project as an official event at the annual National Minority Traditional Sports Games. It is practiced by both men and women, particularly from the Zhuang people.

"Board shoe racing is a true team sport, and coordination is the most important requirement," Liu Jianxin, head coach of the Henan board shoe racing team, told Henan Daily. "In addition to improving physical fitness and speed training, it is more about enhancing the team members' tacit cooperation to the highest it can be."

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Board Shoe Racing - China's Bizarre Traditional Sport

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By Spooky on June 24th, 2020 Category: Events Board shoe racing is the traditional sport of the Zhuang people of China's Gunaxi province, a unique discipline that has three people sharing the same "shoes", which requires perfect coordination and concentration.

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(ECNS)--This is Bangliang National Nature Reserve in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where the dense forests are home to eastern black crested gibbons.

The species, with only 150 surviving around the globe, is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Gibbons are forest dwellers, swinging between trees with their long arms, barely touching the ground, which demands the maintained protection of the natural habitat, according to Yang Jiang, the reserve director.

The precious creature was believed extinct in China before 2006 when the species was re-discovered by biologists on a bird research trip.

With its habitat spanning the border between China and Vietnam, the two countries cooperate to regularly patrol the forest area.

Altogether five groups of 21 gibbons are now residing inside the reserve.

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Explore endangered black crested gibbon reserve in S China

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(ECNS)--This is Bangliang National Nature Reserve in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where the dense forests are home to eastern black crested gibbons.　　　　The species, with only 150 surviving around the globe, is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

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This is an interview from the US-China Institute, an interview from Deng Xiaoping, "Interview With Mike Wallace Of 60 Minutes," Sept. 2, 1986. It about Deng Xiaoping’s perspective on Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech in Vladivostok. Through the interview, Deng Xiaoping is an important character for China, he thinks thing in the future and lead China became stronger.

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Mike Wallace: Mr. Chairman, what do you make of Mikhail Gorbachev's recent speech
in Vladivostok ?

Deng Xiaoping: There is something new in Gorbachev's speech in Vladivostok, and that
is why we have expressed cautious welcome to what is new and positive in it. However,
his remarks also show that he has not taken a big step. Soon after Gorbachev made his
speech, an official from the Foreign Ministry of the Soviet Union also made a speech that
was different in tone. This shows that the Soviet authorities have to decide among
themselves what policies to pursue with regard to China, so we still have to wait and see.

Wallace: Have you ever met Mr. Gorbachev?

Deng: No.

Wallace: Would you like to meet him? He says he will talk at any time, at any level,
about anything. Would you be prepared to meet Gorbachev at the summit?

Wallace: The Vietnamese said just this morning that they would like to engage in
negotiations with China to bring an end to the difficulties between Vietnam and China.

Wallace: So, as far as a summit between Deng and Gorbachev is concerned, the ball is in
Mr. Gorbachev's court?

Wallace: It seems that Chinese relations with capitalist America are better than Chinese
relations with the Soviet communists. Why is that?

Wallace: My producer says that I should ask you once again if you would like to meet
Gorbachev.

Deng: As I have said, if the Soviet Union can contribute to the withdrawal of Vietnamese
troops from Kampuchea, that will remove the main obstacle in Sino-Soviet relations. I
will say it once again: the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea constitutes the main
obstacle in Sino-Soviet relations. The stationing of troops by Vietnam in Kampuchea has
actually turned Sino-Soviet relations into a hot spot. Once this problem is solved, I will
be ready to meet Gorbachev. To be frank, I am over 82, already advanced in years. I have
long since accomplished my historical task of making overseas visits, and I am
determined not to take any more trips abroad. However, if this obstacle in Sino-Soviet
relations is removed, I shall be ready to break the rule and go to any place in the Soviet
Union to meet with Gorbachev. I believe a meeting like that will be of much significance
to the improvement of Sino-Soviet relations and the normalization of relations between
the two states.

Wallace: And what must come first, specifically?

Wallace: Do you mean the Vietnamese troops in Kampuchea?

Deng: Yes.

Wallace: What are the major issues currently dividing China and America?

Deng: There are three obstacles in Sino-Soviet relations, and there is one obstacle in
Sino-U.S. relations. That is the Taiwan question, or the question of the reunification of
the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. In the United States people say the U.S. takes a
position of "non-involvement" in the question of China's reunification, that is, the
Taiwan question. This is not true. The fact is that the United States has been involved all
along. In the 1950s, MacArthur and Dulles regarded Taiwan as an unsinkable U.S.
aircraft carrier in Asia and the Pacific. The Taiwan question was therefore the most
important issue in the negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations between
China and the United States.

Wallace: Is the United States failing to live up to its commitment to China concerning
U.S. relations with Taiwan?

Deng: I think the United States should take a wiser approach to this question.

Wallace: What approach?

Deng: Most regrettably, during the latter period of the Carter Administration, the U.S.
Congress adopted the Taiwan Relations Act , which has become an immense obstacle in
Chinese-U.S. relations. As I said just now, I hope that during his term of office President
Reagan will bring about further progress in relations between our two countries,
including making some effort in respect of China's reunification. I believe that the United
States, President Reagan in particular, can accomplish something in this connection.

Wallace: What can they do?

Wallace: What's in it for Taiwan to be reunified with the mainland?

Deng: First of all, it is a national question, a question of national sentiments. All members
of the Chinese nation want to see China reunified. The present state of division is
contrary to our national will. Second, so long as Taiwan is not reunified with the
mainland, its status as part of Chinese territory will not be secure. No one knows when
Taiwan might be taken away again. Third, in reunifying the country we shall adopt the
formula of "one country, two systems", that is to say, the mainland will retain the
socialist system while Taiwan will retain the capitalist system. This will bring no change
to the social system in Taiwan or the way of life of the people there and will cause them
no loss.

As for the contrast between the levels of development of Taiwan and the mainland, this
question should be examined objectively. The difference is only temporary. As far as the
mainland is concerned, there have been some mistakes and delays in our national
construction during the 37 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
But with the implementation of our present policy on the mainland, the growth rate will
be rapid and the gap will be narrowed. I believe that over the next few years the growth
rate on the mainland will, at the least, be no lower than that in Taiwan. The reason is very
simple. Taiwan is short of resources, while the mainland abounds in them. Taiwan has
already tapped its potential, while the potential on the mainland has not yet been tapped
and certainly will be soon. Besides, in terms of overall strength, the mainland is much
stronger than Taiwan. So it is one-sided to compare only Taiwan's somewhat higher
average income with the mainland's.

Deng: Yes, I am aware of these things. They do exist. As we are new to doing business
with the West, it is inevitable that we shall make some mistakes. I do understand the
complaints of foreign investors. No one would come here and invest unless he got a
return on his investment. We are taking effective measures to change the present state of
affairs. I believe that these problems can be solved gradually. But when they are solved,
new problems will arise and they, too, should be solved. As leaders, we have to get a
clear picture of the problems and work out measures to solve them. There is also the
question of educating the cadres.

Wallace: To get rich is glorious. That declaration by Chinese leaders to their people
surprises many in the capitalist world. What does that have to do with communism?

Deng: We went through the "cultural revolution". During the "cultural revolution" there
was a view that poor communism was preferable to rich capitalism. After I resumed
office in the central leadership in 1974 and 1975, 1 criticized that view. Because I did so,
I was brought down again. Of course, there were other reasons too. I said to them that
there was no such thing as poor communism. According to Marxism, communist society
is based on material abundance. Only when there is material abundance can the principle
of a communist society - that is, "from each according to his ability, to each according
to his needs" - be applied. Socialism is the first stage of communism. Of course, it covers
a very long historical period. The main task in the socialist stage is to develop the
productive forces, keep increasing the material wealth of society, steadily improve the
life of the people and create material conditions for the advent of a communist society.

There can be no communism with pauperism, or socialism with pauperism. So to get rich
is no sin. However, what we mean by getting rich is different from what you mean.
Wealth in a socialist society belongs to the people. To get rich in a socialist society
means prosperity for the entire people. The principles of socialism are: first, development
of production and second, common prosperity. We permit some people and some regions
to become prosperous first, for the purpose of achieving common prosperity faster. That
is why our policy will not lead to polarization, to a situation where the rich get richer
while the poor get poorer. To be frank, we shall not permit the emergence of a new
bourgeoisie.

Wallace: Yes, but the farmers, for instance, that I saw down in the Pearl River estuary -
they have motorcycles, they have colour television sets, they are building homes. You
take measures to encourage them to grow rich. They only have to give a certain amount
to the state and may keep the rest for themselves. And in a sense, that is almost like our
system in the United States; they give a certain amount to the state in taxes and keep the
rest for themselves.

Wallace: You spoke of the "cultural revolution" just now, Chairman Deng. What
happened to you and your family during the "cultural revolution"?

Deng: That episode looks bad, but in the final analysis, it was also a good thing. Because
it set people thinking and helped to identify our failings. Chairman Mao often said that
bad things could be turned into good things. If we draw the right lessons from the
"cultural revolution", we can institute measures of reform to change the face of China
politically and economically. Thus bad things can be turned into good things. It is
because we reviewed our experience and drew the lessons of the "cultural revolution"
that in the late 1970s and early 1980s we were able to formulate the policies that are now
in force.

Wallace: So far, I have never seen a picture of you in a public place in China; why?

Deng: We do not encourage that. Any individual is a member of the collective. Nothing
can be accomplished by an individual in isolation from others. Personally, I have all
along rejected offers to write my biography. Over the years, I have done quite a few good
things, but I have done some wrong things, too. Before the "cultural revolution", we
made such mistakes as the Great Leap Forward. Of course, I was not the principal
advocate of that policy, but I did not oppose it either. That means I had a share in that
mistake. If a biography is written, it should include both good and bad things, even the
mistakes one has made.

Deng: I am a Marxist. I have consistently followed the fundamental principles of
Marxism. Marxism is also known as communism. We made the revolution, seized
political power and founded the People's Republic of China because we had this faith and
this ideal. Because we had our ideal, and because we integrated the fundamental
principles of Marxism with the concrete practice of China, we were able to win. Since
our victory in the revolution, in the course of construction we have again integrated the
fundamental principles of Marxism with the concrete practice of China. We are striving
for the four modernizations, but people tend to forget that they are four socialist
modernizations. This is what we are doing today.

Deng: Certainly there will be no turning back. If you want to find out whether the present
policies are here to stay, you should first examine whether the policies are correct,
whether they are right for the country and the people and whether the life of the people is
gradually improving under them. I believe that the people are discerning. If the present
policies are altered, their standard of living will definitely fall. So long as the people
think the present policies are correct, anyone who wants to change them will be brought
down.

Wallace: Last question. You are number one in China. How long do you intend to
continue to be the chief leader and the chief adviser?

Deng: I am all for the abolition of life tenure and the institution of a retirement system.
As you know, I told the Italian correspondent Oriana Fallaci that my plan was to work
until 1985. It's already a year beyond that date. I am now considering when to retire.
Personally, I should like to retire soon. However, this is a rather difficult question. It is
very hard to persuade the Party rank and file and the Chinese people to accept that. I
believe if I retire before I die, it will help ensure the continuation of the present policies.
It will also be in keeping with my own wishes. However, I need to work harder to talk
people around. In the end, as I am a member of the Communist Party, I must obey the
decision of the Party. I am a citizen of the People's Republic of China, so I must obey the
will of the people. I am still hoping that I can succeed in persuading the people to come
round to my view.

Wallace: You told Fallaci "until 1985"; what will you tell me?

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Deng Xiaoping, "Interview with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes," Sept. 2, 1986

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Mike Wallace: Mr. Chairman, what do you make of Mikhail Gorbachev's recent speechin Vladivostok ? Deng Xiaoping: There is something new in Gorbachev's speech in Vladivostok, and thatis why we have expressed cautious welcome to what is new and positive in it. However,his remarks also show that he has not taken a big step.

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When was Confucius born?

What is Confucius known for?

Confucius, (born 551, Qufu, state of Lu [now in Shandong province, China]-died 479 bce, Lu), China's most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, whose ideas have profoundly influenced the civilizations of China and other East Asian countries.

Life of Confucius

Confucius was born near the end of an era known in Chinese history as the Spring and Autumn Period (770-481 BCE). His home was in Lu, a regional state of eastern China in what is now central and southwestern Shandong province. Like other regional states at the time, Lu was bound to the imperial court of the Zhou dynasty (1045-221 BCE) through history, culture, family ties (which stretched back to the dynasty's founding, when relatives of the Zhou rulers were enfeoffed as heads of the regional states), and moral obligations. According to some reports, Confucius's early ancestors were the Kongs from the state of Song-an aristocratic family that produced several eminent counselors for the Song rulers. By the mid-7th century BCE, however, the family had lost political standing and most of its wealth, and some of the Kongs-Confucius's great-grandfather being one-had relocated to the state of Lu.

The Kongs of Lu were common gentlemen ( shi) with none of the hereditary entitlements their ancestors had once enjoyed in Song. The common gentlemen of the late Zhou dynasty could boast of their employability in the army or in any administrative position-because they were educated in the six arts of ritual ( see below Teachings of Confucius), music, archery, charioteering, writing, and arithmetic-but in the social hierarchy of the time they were just a notch higher than the common folk. Confucius's father, Shu-liang He, had been a warrior and served as a district steward in Lu, but he was already an old man when Confucius was born. A previous marriage had given him nine daughters and a clubfooted son, and so it was with Confucius that he was finally granted a healthy heir. But Shu-liang He died soon after Confucius's birth, leaving his young widow to fend for herself.

Confucius was candid about his family background. He said that, because he was "poor and from a lowly station," he could not enter government service as easily as young men from prominent families and so had to become "skilled in many menial things" ( Analects [Lunyu], 9:6). He found employment first with the Jisun clan, a hereditary family whose principal members had for many decades served as chief counselors to the rulers of Lu. A series of modest positions with the Jisuns-as keeper of granaries and livestock and as district officer in the family's feudal domain-led to more important appointments in the Lu government, first as minister of works and then as minister of crime.

Records of the time suggest that, as minister of crime, Confucius was effective in handling problems of law and order but was even more impressive in diplomatic assignments. He always made sure that the ruler and his mission were well prepared for the unexpected and for situations that might put them in harm's way; he also knew how to advise them to bring a difficult negotiation to a successful conclusion. Yet he held his office for only a few years. His resignation was the result of a protracted struggle with the hereditary families-which, for generations, had been trying to wrestle power away from the legitimate rulers of Lu. Confucius found the actions of the families transgressive and their ritual indiscretions objectionable, and he was willing to fight by fair means or foul to have the power of the ruler restored. A major clash took place in 498 BCE. A plan to steer the families toward self-ruin backfired. The heads of the families suspected Confucius, and so he had no choice but to leave his position and his home.

The self-exile took Confucius on a long journey: first to Wei, the state just west of Lu, then southward to the state of Song, and finally to the states of Chen and Cai. The journey lasted 14 years, and Confucius spent much of that time looking for rulers who might be willing to accept his influence and be guided by his vision of virtuous government. Although his search was ultimately in vain, he never gave up, because he was eager for someone to "put me to use" ( Analects, 17:5). He said to those who found his ambitions suspect, "How can I be like a bitter gourd that hangs from the end of a string and can not be eaten?" ( Analects, 17:7).

Confucius was emboldened to think that he could set things right in the world, because he was born at a time when such aspirations were within the reach of men living in circumstances similar to his. By the mid-6th century BCE the Zhou dynasty was approaching its 500th year. The political framework that the dynastic founders had put in place-an enfeoffment system held together by family ties-was still standing, but the joints had been giving out since the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, and so the structure, if not shored up, was in danger of collapse. The regional rulers, who were relatives of the Zhou king, should have been his strongest supporters, but they preferred to pursue their own ambitions. In the century before Confucius's birth, two or three of them simply acted on behalf of the king, and under their watch the empire managed to hold itself together and to keep enemies at bay. By Confucius's time, however, such leaders had disappeared. No one among the regional rulers was interested in the security of the empire or the idea of the greater good. Petty feuds for petty gains consumed most of their time, while lethargy took up the rest. The same could be said of the members of the aristocratic class, who had once aided their ruler in government. Now they were gaining the upper hand, and some were so brazen as to openly compete with their ruler for wealth and women. Their apathy and ineptitude, however, allowed the common gentlemen-men like Confucius, who had once been in their service-to step in and take charge of the administrative functions of the government.

The common gentlemen, at this point, still could not displace the aristocrats as the society's elite. Yet, if they worked hard enough and were smart, they could exert influence in most political contests. But the more discerning among them set their goals higher. They saw an opportunity to introduce a few new ideas about worth ( xian) and nobleness ( shang)-which, they felt, could challenge assumptions that had been used to justify the existing social hierarchy. They asked whether ability and strength of character should be the measures of a person's worth and whether men of noble rank should be stripped of their titles and privileges for incompetence and moral indiscretion. Those who posed such questions were not merely seeking to compete in the political world. They wanted to change unspoken rules so as to favour the virtuous and the competent. This, in part, explains what Confucius was trying to teach. He believed that the moral resolve of a few could have a beneficial effect on the fate of the many. But integrity alone, in his view, would not be enough. Good men had to be tested in politics: they should equip themselves with knowledge and skills, serve their rulers well, and prove their worth through their moral influence.

The man Confucius looked back to for inspiration and guidance was Zhougong (the Duke of Zhou)-a brother of the founder of the Zhou dynasty and the regent of the king's young son Chengwang. Despite the temporal distance between them, Confucius believed that he and the Duke of Zhou wanted the same thing for the dynasty: social harmony and political stability grounded in trust and mutual moral obligations, with minimal resort to legal rules. But the Duke of Zhou was royalty and Confucius was a professional bureaucrat, which meant that he had limited political authority. And even the authority he possessed was transient, depending on whether he had a government job. Without an official position, Confucius also would not be entitled (for example) to host a feast, to assist a ruler in a sacrifice, or to take part in any of the occasions that were the living components of the political order that the Duke of Zhou had envisioned and Confucius strongly endorsed. Thus, Confucius was distressed when he was unemployed-anxious about not being of use to the world and about not having material support. Men who knew him on his travels wondered whether his eagerness for a political position might have led him to overplay his hand and whether he had compromised his principles by allowing disreputable men and women to act as his intermediaries. His critics included the three or four of his disciples who accompanied him on his exile.

Confucius's disciples were considerably younger than him. He did not actively recruit them when he was a counselor in Lu. He did not found any school or academy. Young men from a wide range of backgrounds-sons of aristocrats, children of common gentlemen, merchants, farmers, artisans, and even criminals and sons of criminals-chose to attach themselves to him in order to learn from him skills that might get them started on a path toward an official career. In the process, they acquired a lot more: in particular, a gentleman's refinement and moral acuity, which in Confucius's mind were essential to a political profession. Confucius was the "master" ( zi) to these followers, who called themselves his "disciples" or "apprentices" ( tu). Among his earliest disciples, three stood out: Zigong, Zilu, and Yan Hui.

Zigong had been a merchant before becoming Confucius's disciple. He was articulate and shrewd and quick on his feet. Confucius observed in him a resolve to improve his lot and the promise of becoming a fine diplomat or a financial manager. He enjoyed Zigong's company because Zigong was someone with whom he could share his thoughts about the world and the people they knew and about poetry and ritual practices ( Analects, 11:3; 1:15; 11:19; 5:9).

Zilu, unlike Zigong, was rough and unhewn, a rustic man. Confucius knew that Zilu would do anything to protect him from harm: "wrestle a tiger with his bare hands" or "follow him on the open sea in a bamboo raft." Yet, Confucius felt, simply being brave and loyal was "hardly the way to be good," because, without the advantage of thought and a love for learning, people would not be able to know whether their judgment had been misguided or whether their actions might lead them and others onto a perilous road, if not a violent end ( Analects, 5:7; 7:11). Still, Confucius took Zilu in, for he was someone "who did not feel ashamed standing next to a man wearing fox or badger fur while himself dressed in a tattered gown padded with silk floss" and who was so reliable that "by speaking from just one side of a dispute" in a court of law he could "bring a legal dispute to a conclusion" ( Analects, 9:27; 12:12). Besides, Confucius did not deny instruction to anyone who wanted to learn and was unwilling to give up when trying to solve a difficult problem. In return, he expected nothing more than a bundle of dried meat as a gift ( Analects, 7:7).

Yet even that modest offer was probably beyond the means of another disciple, Yan Hui, who was from a poor family and who was content with "living in a shabby neighborhood on a bowlful of millet and a ladleful of water" ( Analects, 6:11). No hardship or privation could have distracted him from his love of learning and his desire to know the good. Yan Hui was Confucius's favourite, and, when he died before his time, Confucius was so bereft that other disciples wondered whether such a display of emotion was appropriate. To this their teacher responded, "If not for this man, for whom should I show so much sorrow?" ( Analects, 11:9; 11:10).

It was these three-Zigong, Zilu, and Yan Hui-who followed Confucius on his long journey into the unknown. In doing so, they left behind not only their homes and families but also career opportunities in Lu that could have been gainful.

Their first stop was the state of Wei. Zilu had relatives there who could have introduced Confucius to the state's ruler. There were others, too-powerful men in the ruler's service-who knew of Confucius's reputation and were willing to help him. But none of these connections landed Confucius a job. Part of the problem was Confucius himself: he was unwilling to pursue any avenues that might obligate him to those who could bring him trouble rather than aid. Also, the ruler of Wei was not interested in finding a capable man who could offer him counsel. Moreover, he had plenty of distractions-conflicts with neighbouring states and at home in Wei-to fill his time. Still, Confucius was patient, waiting four years before he was granted an audience. But the meeting was disappointing: it only confirmed what Confucius already knew about this man's character and judgment. Soon after their encounter, the ruler died, and Confucius saw no further reason to remain in Wei. Thus, he headed south with his disciples.

Before reaching the state of Chen, his next stop, two incidents along the road nearly took his life. In one, a military officer, Huan Tui, tried to ambush Confucius as he was passing through the state of Song. In another, he was surrounded by a mob in the town of Kuang, and for a time it looked as though he might be killed. These incidents were not spontaneous but were the machinations of Confucius's enemies. But who would have wanted him dead, and what could he have done to provoke such reactions? Historians in later eras speculated about the causes and resolutions of these crises. Although they never found an adequate explanation for Huan Tui's action, some suggested that the mob of Kuang mistook Confucius for someone else. In any event, the Analects, the most reliable source on Confucius's life, records only what Confucius said at those moments when he realized that death might be imminent. "Heaven has given me this power-this virtue. What can Huan Tui do to me!" was his response after he learned about Huan Tui's plan to ambush him ( Analects, 7:23). His utterance at the siege of Kuang conveyed even greater confidence that Heaven would stand by him. He said that with the founder of the Zhou dynasty dead, this man's cultural vestiges "are invested in me." And since "Heaven has not destroyed this culture" and does not intend to do so, it will look after the cultural heirs of the Zhou. Thus, Confucius declaimed, "What can the people of Kuang do to me?" ( Analects, 9:5).

Emboldened by his purpose, Confucius continued his journey to Chen, where he spent three uneventful years. Eventually, a major war between Chen and a neighbouring state led him to journey west toward the state of Chu, not knowing that another kind of trial was awaiting him. This time, "the provisions ran out," and "his followers became so weak that none of them could rise up on their feet" ( Analects 15:2). The brief account in this record prompted writers in later centuries to speculate about how Confucius might have behaved in this situation. Was he calm or vexed? How did he talk to his disciples? How did he help them come to terms with their predicament? And which disciple understood him best and offered him solace? None of these stories could claim veracity, but, taken together, they humanized the characters involved and filled, if only imaginatively, the gaps in the historical sources.

Confucius and his companions went only as far as a border town of Chu before they decided to turn back and retrace their steps, first to Chen and then to Wei. The journey took more than three years, and, after reaching Wei, Confucius stayed there for another two years. Meanwhile, two of his disciples, Zigong and Ran Qiu, decided to leave Confucius in Wei and accept employment in the government of Lu. At once Zigong proved his talent in diplomacy, and Ran Qiu did the same in warfare. It was probably these two men who approached the ruler and the chief counselor of Lu, asking them to make a generous offer to Confucius to entice him back. Their plan worked. The Zuozhuan ("Zuo Commentary"), an early source on the history of this period ( see below Classic works), notes that, in the 11th year of the reign of Duke Ai of Lu (484 BCE), a summons from the duke arrived along with a gift of a handsome sum. "Thereupon, Confucius returned home."

After his return, Confucius did not seek any position in the Lu government. He did not have to. The present ruler and his counselors regarded him as the "state's elder" ( guolao). They either approached him directly for advice or used his disciples as intermediaries. The number of his disciples multiplied. The success of Zigong and Ran Qiu must have enhanced his reputation as a person who could prepare young men for political careers. But those who were drawn to him for this reason often found themselves becoming interested in questions other than how to advance in the world ( Analects, 2:18). Some asked about the idea of virtue, about the moral requisites for serving in government, or about the meanings of phrases such as "keen perception" and "clouded judgment" ( Analects, 12:6; 12:10). Others wanted to know how to pursue knowledge and how to read abstruse texts for insights ( Analects, 3:8). Confucius tried to answer these questions as best as he could, but his responses could vary depending on the temperament of the interlocutor, leading to confusion among his students when they tried to compare notes ( Analects, 11:22). This way of instructing was wholly in tune with what Confucius believed to be the role of a teacher. A teacher could only "point out one corner of a square," he said; it was up to the students "to come back with the other three" ( Analects, 7:8). To teach, therefore, is "to impart light" ( hui): to provide guidance to students and to entice them forward, so that even when they are tired and dispirited, even when they want to give up, they cannot. In a similar vein, Confucius said of himself, "I am the sort of man who forgets to eat when trying to solve a problem, who is so joyful that I forget my worries and do not become aware of the onset of old age" ( Analects, 7:19).

When old age did arrive, Confucius discovered that the act of holding his conduct and judgment to the right measure no longer bore him down. "At 70," he said, "I followed what my heart desired without overstepping the line" ( Analects, 2:4). This, however, did not mean that Confucius was free of care. Historians and philosophers in later centuries typically portrayed a careworn Confucius in his final days. Yet he still rejoiced in life because life astonished him, and the will in all living things to carry on in spite of setbacks and afflictions inspired him. It was the pine and the cypress Confucius admired most, because "they are the last to lose their needles" ( Analects, 9:28). He died at the age of 73 on the 11th day of the fourth lunar month in the year 479 BCE.

Sources on Confucius

Sources on the life of Confucius are sparse. Official annals and other historical sources of the late Spring and Autumn Period rarely mention his name because he did not play a conspicuous role in the political world. In fact, he barely existed in that world, since most of his life was spent either in preparation for such a career or in exile. Yet the gaps in the historical records were eventually beneficial, because they prompted later scholars to look for any trace of evidence that might reveal something new about him. Unfortunately, such searches often led to imaginative conjectures about Confucius, as in the account by a writer of the 3rd century BCE in which Confucius described himself as a yellow chi (homeless dragon) swimming in the turbid water but drinking from the clear. Confucius, in this writer's mind, could have chosen to live like a true dragon and never leave his pristine pool, but he preferred to be a chi. Throughout early Chinese history, there were many such writers, and the source they turned to repeatedly for understanding and inspiration was the Analects.

The Analects is the work most closely associated with Confucius. It is a record of his life in fragments, collected into 20 sections. The sections contain descriptions of his character, deportment, and moments of his life in exile or at home in Lu; bits of conversations he had with his disciples and other people he knew; and remarks spoken in his voice but often in the absence of a context. Without the aid of commentaries, this work-which also lacks any apparent organization-can be misleading or discouraging for some readers. Yet, with patience and attentiveness, it is possible to glean from the gathered pieces flashes of Confucius's genius and the elements of his humanity. The Analects probably took shape within the first century after Confucius's death. A handful of younger disciples-who make their appearances rather forcefully at the beginning and the end of the work-could have initiated the project, but it took another 200-300 years of tinkering-with some passages being omitted and others appended or modified-before the text settled into its present form. Material evidence of the age of the standard text emerged from the ground in 1973, when archaeologists opened the tomb of the prince of Zhongshan ( Liu Xiu, also known as King Huai), a relative of the Han emperor Wudi. The tomb, dated to 55 BCE, was discovered in Hebei province about 100 miles south of Beijing. The Analects, written on bamboo strips, was included among the grave objects that accompanied the prince to his afterlife.

A second work that is central to the study of Confucius and his thought is the Zuo Zhuan ("Zuo Commentary"). Although it is a commentary on the Chunqiu, the official annals of the state of Lu covering the Spring and Autumn Period, it does more than provide background and narrative structure for the events listed chronologically in the annals. The Zuo writer probably had at his disposal a wide range of scribal records, the most important of which were speeches of rulers and counselors and of men and women who had played a role in the political fate of their families and their states during the late Zhou dynasty. The best of these speeches reflect the characters of the speakers and the cultural practices that guided their moral decision making. They also throw light on Confucius's intellectual ancestry and the roots of his moral thinking. Confucius never professed to be an original thinker. He said, "I transmit but do not innovate. I love antiquity and have faith in it" ( Analects, 7:1). The Zuo Zhuan offers a view of China in the 200 years before Confucius's birth, which was not the antiquity Confucius had in mind. But when one reads it together with the early classics on rites ( see below Teachings of Confucius), poetry, and history, it can take one to the knowledge that Confucius intended to transmit.

The third source is a long biography of Confucius written in the 1st century BCE. The author, Sima Qian, is China's most distinguished historian, and the biography remains the standard in Chinese historiography. Even though later scholars did not find all his stories believable and saw logistical problems in his account of Confucius's travels, they were willing to overlook such questions because of Sima Qian's rare talent for improving the records imaginatively and reconstructing the interior lives of his subjects. In his biography of Confucius, Sima Qian tried to work mostly with the Analects, grouping individual utterances together to make them cohere and expanding isolated episodes by adding more characters and action. The biography was not altogether elegant or persuasive, but it was the earliest attempt to thread together into a continuous narrative the fragments in the Analects and the stories about Confucius that had been circulating through the works of historians and philosophers in the 300 years since his death.

Teachings of Confucius

Confucius thought that the rites, or ritual (li)-encompassing and expressing proper human conduct in all spheres of life-could steady a man and anchor a government and that their practice should begin at home. "Give your parents no cause for worry other than your illness," he said. "When your parents are alive, do not travel to distant places, and if you have to travel, you must tell them exactly where you are going" ( Analects, 2:6, 4:19). But what if your parents are thinking of doing something wrong? "Be gentle when trying to dissuade them from wrongdoing," Confucius advised. "If you see that they are inclined not to heed your advice, remain reverent ( jing). Do not openly challenge them. Do not be resentful even when they wear you out and make you anxious" ( Analects, 4:18). Every human relationship is a balancing act, and the one between child and parents is the most demanding yet the most deserving of attention and patience, because it is rooted in love and the child's earliest memories of warmth and affection. Confucius did not want children to be acquiescent in situations that call for their judgment. At the same time, he discouraged confrontation even when the parents are culpable. He worried that parents might lose their sense of proportion and their child's affection for them, and so he urged the child to "remain reverent" even if the parents are not inclined to heed the child's advice. The rites, therefore, enable the child to avoid a clash without having to betray principles. But unless the child "acts according to the spirit of the rites, in being respectful, he will tire himself out; in being cautious, he will become timid" ( Analects, 8:2).

In the eyes of his contemporaries, Confucius was someone who embodied that spirit. They observed that "at court when he was speaking with the counselors of the lower rank, he was relaxed and affable. When speaking with counselors of the higher rank, he was frank but respectful. And in the ruler's presence, though he was filled with reverence and awe, he was perfectly composed" ( Analects,10:2).

The spirit of the rites is the ineffable, and, therefore, different from prescribed rules. It awaits the person with knowledge and awareness and skills in deportment to put it into motion, for every occasion is different. The circumstances change, and they change even as the occasion unfolds. Thus, when Confucius was inside the temple of the Duke of Zhou, "he asked questions about everything"; he knew the procedures of the sacrifice, yet he still approached the rites as if he were performing them for the first time. "Asking questions," he said, "is the correct practice of the rites" ( Analects, 3:15).

An education in the Odes, the earliest collection of Chinese poetry, complements an education in the rites. The Odes "can give the spirit exhortation, the mind keener eyes," Confucius said. "They can make us better adjusted in a group and more articulate when voicing a complaint" ( Analects, 17:9). He told his son, "Unless you learn the Odes, you won't be able to speak" ( Analects, 16:13). Just as the legendary sage emperor Shun (c. 23rd century BCE) told the director of music to teach the children poetry-to let the poems become their voice-so that "the straightforward shall yet be gentle, the magnanimous shall yet be dignified"-Confucius, too, hoped that the Odes would become his son's speech, because such utterances are always appropriate and so will "never swerve from the path" ( Analects, 2:2). For him, a love poem from the Odes, called Guanju ("Fishhawk"), best illustrates this point. The poem tells the reader that in yearning for the woman he desired, the wooer did not suffer unduly, and in courting his lady, he did not make a vulgar display of his feelings. The poem reads: "With harps we bring her company," and "with bells and drums do her delight." Of the tone and sentiment in this poem, Confucius said, "There is joy but no immodest thoughts, sorrow but no self-injury" ( Analects, 3:20).

The music Confucius loved best was the ancient music known as shao. When he first heard it, he said, "I never imagined that music could be this beautiful," and "for the next three months he did not notice the taste of meat" ( Analects, 7:14). The music of shao is associated with the story of how Shun ascended to power upon the decision of Emperor Yao (c. 24th century BCE), Shun's predecessor, to abdicate in favour of a man who grew up in the wilds but whose love for virtue was like the rush of a torrent. According to the Shujing, a compilation of documents related to China's early history, when the music was played in the court of Emperor Shun, not only men but gods and spirits, birds and beasts were drawn to it. Such was the power of music that embodied the tenor and vehicle of a moral government.

Whereas Confucius looked upon music as the culmination of culture-of notes "bright and distinct" gathering in fluency and harmony-the Confucian philosopher Mencius (c. 371-c. 289 BCE) took the idea in another direction, seeing it as a trope of Confucius's achievements ( Analects, 3:23). In the work most closely associated with him (the Mencius), Mencius said that only Confucius could advance or retreat, serve or not serve "according to circumstances" and in a timely fashion, and, like a symphony perfectly brought together, "from the ringing of bells at the beginning to the sound of the jade tubes at the end," there was an internal order ( Mencius, 5B:1). The order found in the music of shao or in the conduct of a person suggests the ultimate good, but it is not an abstract idea, for it effects an emotional pull-a gravitating toward the music or the person possessing it. It has a kind of magic because it reflects a rightness in sound or in human deliberation. And this rightness of expression or intent serves a higher ideal, which Confucius called humaneness (ren).

When his disciple Zigong asked him what is humaneness, Confucius replied, "Do not impose on others what you do not want [others to impose on you]" ( Analects, 15:24). A humane man is someone who is able "to make analogies from what is close at hand" ( Analects, 6:30). He uses this knowledge to imagine the humanity in others, and he relies on his learning of rites and music to hold him to the right measure. Confucius was often asked whether someone was humane, and in response he always gave a careful assessment of the person's strengths. He would say, for example, that the man "did his best" in fulfilling his public duty, "had administrative talents," or "wanted nothing to defile him"-but such virtue, he would add, did not imply that the man was humane ( Analects, 5:8; 5:19). In fact, Confucius claimed that he had never met anyone who was truly humane. This, however, did not mean that humaneness was beyond reach. "As soon as I desire humaneness, it is here," he said, and everyone he had come across had sufficient strength "to devote all his effort to the practice of humaneness" ( Analects, 7:30; 4:6). Humaneness "is beautiful ( mei)," and most people are drawn to it, yet, Confucius observed, few will choose to pursue it ( Analects, 4:1; 4:6). That resistance suggests a rich and more complex notion of human nature, without which morality could not come into play. And, as his disciple Zengzi (505-436 BCE) said, only the strong and resolute are game for the quest, because "the road is long" and "ends only with death." ( Analects, 8:7).

Confucius gave his teachings on humaneness a political dimension, though they seemed to be intended for the self. He observed that Emperor Shun was able to order the world simply by perfecting his own humanity and by cultivating a respectful demeanour. "If you set an example by correcting your mistakes, who dares not to correct his mistakes?" he asked the counselor Jikangzi. "Just desire the good and the people will be good. The character of those at the top is like that of the wind. The character of those below is like that of grass. When wind blows over the grass, the grass is sure to bend" ( Analects, 12:17; 12:19). But when asked what should come first when administrating a state, he said "trust" ( xin). If a ruler's words and actions do not inspire trust, Confucius asserts, his government will certainly perish, even though he might ensure enough food to feed the people and adequate arms to defend them ( Analects, 12:7). Confucius thought that the classic enfeoffment system of the early Zhou dynasty came very close to an ideal government because it was grounded in the trust between the Zhou emperor in the west and the relatives he sent east with vested authority to create new colonies for the young empire. Such a government, reinforced with the civilizing powers of rites and music, does not need complex laws and edicts to keep the people in check. Confucius said, "Guide the people with ordinances and statutes and keep them in line with [threats of] punishment, they will try to stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame. If you guide them with exemplary virtue and keep them in line with the practice of the rites, they will have sense of shame and will know to reform themselves" ( Analects, 2:3).

Few people knew how to reform themselves in Confucius's time, and there was nearly no one among their rulers for them to look up to. But Confucius still had faith in professional advisers like himself, who, in the tradition of the great counselors of the past, were able to make rulers great with their hard work, discernment, and deft ways of moral suasion.

Later development of Confucian doctrines

The next 250 years of Chinese history, known as the Warring States Period, was even more fraught with tension and uncertainty than the one Confucius had known. A ruler's success at this later time was measured by the size and number of his conquests, achieved through military operations and political maneuvers. The means to power also became more violent and sophisticated. Accordingly, followers of Confucius either held on to certain aspects of his teachings with a tighter grip or realized the need to adapt what he had said to the political reality of their times. Mencius was a member of the first group and Xunzi (c. 300-c. 230 BCE) of the second. Xunzi, who followed Mencius by about a century, severely criticized his predecessor. In his major work, now called the Xunzi, he accused Mencius of misleading "the dim-witted scholars of the vulgar age," letting them believe that Mencius's own "aberrant" and "esoteric" doctrines are the "true words" of Confucius ( Xunzi, Chapter 6, "Contra Twelve Philosophers"). Later Confucians, who made much of the differences between the two philosophers, pointed to their theories of human nature as the source of their disagreement. But the fixation on that subject tended to obscure their more important differences regarding such topics as education and self-knowledge, feelings and intellect, law and adjudication, and the moral risks of a political profession.

Both Mencius and Xunzi took up the subject of moral judgment-the most difficult of human responsibilities in Confucius's view-and explored it with greater precision and urgency than Confucius had done. On the question of which of the human faculties should play the deciding role, Mencius opted for the heart while Xunzi favoured the mind. Mencius believed that "every person has a heart that is sensitive to the sufferings of others"; therefore, he said, the sight of a young child about to fall into a well would horrify anyone who might be a witness and afflict that person with pain ( Mencius, 2A:6). The horror-and the pain-is an unthinking response from the heart, which Mencius presented as proof that all humans are born with good impulses. People who lack the feeling of commiseration have only themselves to blame; they must have let go of their inborn nature, Mencius observed, and left their hearts morally barren ( Mencius, 6A:8).

Mencius's theory of human nature is bold. He claimed that he had gotten it from Confucius, though one learns from the Analects that Confucius did not like to talk about human nature ( Analects, 5:13). However, given what Confucius said about learning-"Being human and yet lacking in humaneness-what can such a man do with the rites?" or "with music?"-he must have had some notion of human nature, which was likely to have been positive ( Analects, 3:3). Mencius, for his part, wanted to go much further by using his theory of human nature as the basis of an entire moral philosophy. Thus, he speculated on ways of extending the heart's potential and on how the larger world would be affected if that potential were fulfilled. Using a legendary figure to illustrate the key points of his teaching, Mencius related how the emperor Shun was able to emerge from the darkest of family histories (insensate father, cruel stepmother, and scheming half brother) to become a perfected self. Indeed, according to Mencius, at no time-not even when his family was plotting against his life-was Shun ever resentful or disrespectful toward his parents ( Mencius, 5A:1, 2, 3). It was a moving, but not altogether credible, tale of strength gained through self-examination.

Confucius would have recognized Mencius's story as an expression of what he had taught about filiality, but he would not have gone as far as Mencius did in making Shun the supreme model of filiality and in suggesting that such virtue was all a ruler would need "to give ease to his people" ( Mencius, 5A.5). In fact, Confucius said that even Shun, a supremely cultivated ruler, found such a task "difficult to do" ( Analects, 6.30).

Although Mencius's political thought might today seem somewhat simplistic, he had a respectable following among the young; he also made a good living as a political counselor, and his service was often in demand. The rulers of his time did not mind listening to his remonstrances because, despite his reproving voice, he always included a positive message about their moral potential. He would tell them that no matter what sorts of transgressions they may have committed in the past, they could always recover their potential to do good if they applied themselves. Mencius was optimistic about the human condition and was willing to forego history and gloss over inconsistencies in his teachings in order to pursue his vision ( Mencius, 7B:3).

Xunzi, on the other hand, was always seeking clarity-clarity of thought and words and a clear-eyed view of reality. He did not set out to challenge Mencius and did not mean to be polemical when he said that human nature is repellent. He simply wanted to give a discomforting and more truthful account of what human beings are like in order to get them moving more quickly on the road to reform. To that end, he wrote about desires-how to manage them before they become obsessively out of control ( Xunzi, Chapter 21, "Dispelling Obsessions"); about power-how to use it effectively and properly when one has it; and about the difference between brute force and the authority of a true king ( Xunzi, Chapter 11, "Kings and Lord-Protectors"). Xunzi traveled widely abroad and was active in political circles, working with several heads of state and witnessing their horrific deeds and misconduct. In fact, the most violent chapter in the history of the late Warring States Period occurred in Xunzi's ancestral state of Zhao in the year 260 BCE, when Xunzi happened to be there. Thousands of Zhao soldiers were buried alive on this occasion by the army of the Qin dynasty after they had surrendered. Perhaps because of what he had seen and experienced, Xunzi liked to use startling images and shocking analogies in his writing to shake the men of his time from their mental lassitude and moral idleness. To one such man, a prime minister of the state of Qi who aspired to follow the great kings of the past but had not yet taken the first step, Xunzi said, "For you [to harbour such ambitions] is analogous to lying down flat on one's face and trying to lick the sky or trying to rescue a man who had hanged himself by pulling at his feet" ( Xunzi, Chapter 16, "On Strengthening the State").

Along with his warnings, Xunzi offered guidance and examples from more distant history, using the Duke of Zhou and his father, Wenwang, among others, as models of conduct and character. Of the Duke of Zhou, Xunzi said that he was born into power and knew how to utilize it, and, even when his actions might have seemed irregular, people trusted him as they trusted the four seasons-such was the integrity of this man ( Xunzi, Chapter 8: "Teachings of the Ru").

Confucius also admired the Duke of Zhou for his political vision and for having seen the young dynasty through a perilous time. And he believed that having the trust of the people was the first item of business for a ruler, because without it the government could not stand on firm ground. In these ways, Confucius was Xunzi's precursor. Confucius also stressed the importance of maintaining some emotional distance from matters that require judgment, but Xunzi placed more emphasis on the mind's potential. He went as far as to say that a balanced and discerning mind could offer a more precise measure of right and wrong and that the perspicuity of the mind, not the stirring of the heart, should be a person's moral compass. This was the essential difference between Xunzi and Mencius.

Many later Confucians sided with Mencius, and rulers tended to accept his teachings, as they did during Mencius's lifetime, because his voice was less taxing on their conscience (rulers also knew that they could bend his words to suit their ways). Mencian ideas were spread further in the 11th and 12th centuries CE by Confucians of the Song dynasty (960-1279). Thinkers such as Cheng Yi (1033-1107) and Zhu Xi (1130-1200), in their attempt to create a new Confucian philosophy to meet the challenges of Buddhist metaphysics and meditative practices, finding preliminary support in Mencius's concepts of human nature and self-cultivation, subscribed to Mencius's understanding of Confucius. The Mencius also gained prominence in their academies. Successors of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi in the subsequent Yuan dynasty (1206-1368) would go further by including the Mencius in government examinations, thus making his relationship with the state even tighter.

Xunzi, in the meantime, was pushed aside. Confucians in the Song and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties rejected him because his writings on human nature threatened to undermine their belief that the achievement of self-knowledge is the fulfillment of humanity's inborn promise. Although there was more interest in Xunzi in the subsequent Qing dynasty (1644-1911/12), when scholars thought highly of his intellectual range and his writings on learning and politics, Xunzi did not supplant Mencius in the order of their affections. However, since the recent discovery of bamboo-strip texts dating from the Warring States Period ( see below Contemporary scholarship on Confucian thought), Xunzi has gained more attention from scholars. Indeed, several of these excavated texts seem to resonate with Xunzi's writings in both style and substance. That this should be so suggests that Confucius probably had a larger variety of heirs in early China than scholars have imagined, many more than the Song Confucians would have liked to believe. Confucius himself would have been pleased with this revelation. He would have preferred a richer and messier history of his legacy over any single line of transmission.

Contemporary scholarship on Confucian thought

In 1993, after the discovery of the bamboo-strip Analects, two other groups of manuscripts, on moral cultivation and political thought, were discovered in Hebei province, which led to a revival of scholarship on Confucian thought. The manuscripts, also written on bamboo strips, were dated to c. 300 BCE or earlier, during the Warring States Period, before China was unified. One batch of texts was dug up by archaeologists, and the other was taken by robbers from an unknown grave, smuggled to Hong Kong, and then sold to the Shanghai Museum through an arrangement orchestrated by antique dealers.

Confucius appeared, often with an interlocutor, in eight of the published texts from the Shanghai Museum collection. Since most of the texts are incomplete-with missing or damaged strips-it is difficult to establish just how much they add to scholars' knowledge and idea of Confucius. Even so, the material evidence firmly places him in Warring States history. Either in conversation with a disciple or with a counselor about the drought in Lu or the cause of social unrest, this was a Confucius animated by speech and still trying to think through the most confounding problems of the human condition.

Early materials associated with Confucius continued to surface in the early 21st century. In 2011, an excavation of a Han dynasty tomb in the northern outskirts of the city of Nanchang, in Jiangxi province, uncovered a bamboo text of the Analects, a covered mirror with painted images of Confucius and two of his disciples, all identified by their names and short citations from the Analects, and Sima Qian's biography of Confucius. The tomb belonged to Liu He, a grandson of the Han ruler Wudi. Liu He was made an emperor in 74 BCE at the age of 18 but was dethroned within 27 days-a victim of the political struggle going on at the time-and sent back to his ancestral home as a commoner. The ruler who succeeded him rehabilitated Liu He, granting him a title, Marquis Haihun, and a large fief just a few years before Liu He's death in 59 BCE at the age of 33. Many piles of pottery and precious stones, gold cakes and gold utensils, and bronze instruments and jade ornaments accompanied Marquis Haihun to his grave, but so also did the image and words of Confucius, which suggests that even in death this young nobleman chose to stay close to what had become his moral compass in life.
Annping Chin

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Confucius | Biography, Teachings, & Facts

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Confucius, China's most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, whose ideas have profoundly influenced the civilization of East Asia. Confucius's life and teachings were an expression of self-cultivation, of the ability of human effort to shape its own destiny.

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Racing board shoes is a traditional team game in china, the team who has the better team win. This is a game that teach people how to have a good teamwork and communication skills.

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Board Shoe Racing – China’s Bizarre Traditional Sport (ft. Mike Tornabene)

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This religion is the start of Tibetan Buddhists during the Mongols empire.

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CHRISTIANITY AND THE MONGOLS

Many Mongol warriors and tribes in the era of Genghis Khan and Kublia Khan were Christians. Several tribes had been Christian for centuries. Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: " The Mongol Christians belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East, which is also known as the Nestorian Church and the East Syrian Church. The Church of the East was concentrated in the Middle East, especially in the region of modern Iraq and Iran. Early in the Christian era, Assyrian missionaries spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout India, China, and Mongolia. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

An important milestone the conversion of the Keriat tribe. The Keriats protected Temujin before he became Genghis Khan. Missick wrote: "Around the year 1,000 AD the Mongol tribe of the Keriats became Christian. The tribe numbered over 200,000 men. The story of their conversion was recorded by the Jacobite Bar-Hebraeus and by the ecclesiastical chronicler of the Assyrian Church and can be found in The Eclipse of Christianity in Asia by Laurence E. Brown. The chieftain of the Keriats became lost in the wilderness during a hunt and despaired for his life. Suddenly an apparition appeared before him. The supernatural being identified himself as Saint Sergius and promised to show him the way home if he would place his faith in Jesus. Miraculously the chieftain found himself back in his camp. Immediately he sent for some Assyrian merchants he knew of and when they arrived he submitted to Christ and requested religious instruction. This incident shows that Assyrian merchants and traders participated in spreading Christianity as they bought and sold along the Silk Road. <=>

"Marco Polo mentions visiting hundreds of churches during his travels and seeing thousands of Christians during his travels throughout the Mongol Empire from 1271 to 1295. The Assyrian Church reached its height during the Mongol Empire and was on the verge of becoming the dominant religion of the Empire but unfortunately declined in power due to opposition from Muslims and Roman Catholics and internal weaknesses, notably nominalism. The decline began as certain warlords, including the infamous Timerlane, began converting to Islam. Timerlane declared a Jihad, Islamic holy War, against the Christians of the Far East and virtually destroyed Christianity in Central Asia." <=>

RELATED ARTICLES IN THIS WEBSITE: SILK ROAD factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD EXPLORERS factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD: PRODUCTS, TRADE, MONEY AND SOGDIAN MERCHANTS factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD ROUTES AND CITIES factsanddetails.com; MARITIME SILK ROAD factsanddetails.com; DHOWS: THE CAMELS OF THE MARITIME SILK ROAD factsanddetails.com; MARITIME-SILK-ROAD-ERA SHIPS, EXPORT PORCELAINS AND SHIPWRECKS factsanddetails.com; EARLY HISTORY OF SILK AND THE SILK ROAD factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD DURING THE HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.- A.D. 220): WU DI, ROMANS, SOGDIANS AND PARTHIANS factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD DURING THE TANG DYNASTY (A.D. 618 - 907) factsanddetails.com; MONGOLS AND THE SILK ROAD factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD, BYZANTIUM AND VENICE factsanddetails.com; END OF THE SILK ROAD AND RISE OF THE EUROPEAN SILK INDUSTRY AND SILK ROAD TOURISM factsanddetails.com; CARAVANS AND TRANSPORTATION ALONG THE SILK ROAD factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD AND BACTRIAN CAMELS AS CARAVAN ANIMALS factsanddetails.com; CAMEL CHARACTERISTICS factsanddetails.com; SILK ROAD AND RELIGION factsanddetails.com; SPREAD OF BUDDHISM AND BUDDHIST ART ON THE SILK ROAD factsanddetails.com; CHINA'S GIFTS TO THE WEST factsanddetails.com; IDEAS INTRODUCED FROM CHINA TO THE WEST factsanddetails.com; SILK, SILK WORMS, THEIR HISTORY AND PRODUCTION factsanddetails.com

Websites and Resources: Mongols and Horsemen of the Steppe: Wikipedia article Wikipedia ; The Mongol Empire web.archive.org/web ; The Mongols in World History afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols ; William of Rubruck's Account of the Mongols washington.edu/silkroad/texts ; Mongol invasion of Rus (pictures) web.archive.org/web ; Encyclopædia Britannica article britannica.com ; Mongol Archives historyonthenet.com ; "The Horse, the Wheel and Language, How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes shaped the Modern World", David W Anthony, 2007 archive.org/details/horsewheelandlanguage ; The Scythians - Silk Road Foundation silkroadfoundation.org ; Scythians iranicaonline.org ; Encyclopaedia Britannica article on the Huns britannica.com ; Wikipedia article on Eurasian nomads Wikipedia

Nestorians

The term "Nestorian" is used to describe both a religion and Syriac-speaking linguistic minority. The Nestorians were based primarily in what is now Iraq and southern Turkey. They had a great school in Edessa (present-day Urfa in south-central Turkey). Their early followers included Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Persians and Arabs. After they became Christianized they were called "East Syrians" to distinguish them from the "West Syrians" - Monophysites or the Jacobites. Some say the Nestorians were the first people to adopt Christianity. It is said they did so after St. Thomas visited Assyria within a few years after Christ's death. There is no real historical evidence to back up this claim.

Nestorian Christianity is named after Nestorius, the bishop of Constantinople from A.D. 428 to 431. Of Persian origin, he became a monk and lived in a monastery in Euprepius near Antioch. His skill as a speaker helped earn him his appointment to bishop. He was an activist bishop who launched campaigns against heretics and promulgated beliefs that later became associated with Nestorian Christianity. His efforts won him the scorn of other powerful bishops who declared Nestorious a heretic.

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "The Nestorian Ancient Assyrian Church of the East. This church originated among and was dominated by Syriac speaking people of the region of modern Iraq and Iran.The Church of the East traces it origins to the evangelistic ministry of the apostle Saint Thomas and Mar Mari and Mar Addai [Thaddeus], who were among Christ's seventy disciples. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

Nestorian Christianity

Nestorian Christianity today is largely extinct but at one time it was quite a powerful Christian sect and was at the center of important doctrinal controversies. The Nestorians emphasized the duality of being between man and divine. They were regarded as heretics by other sects for their belief that there were two separate persons in the incarnate Christ and their denial that Christ was in one person both God and man. They went on to argue that Mary was either the mother of God (a blasphemous concept to many Christians) or the mother of the man Jesus; but she couldn't have it both ways.

The person who really defined Nestorian Christianity was Theodore (died 431), bishop of Mopsuestia in Colicia and a pupil of Diodorus, bishop of Tarsus. Theodore emphasized the humanity of Jesus and argued that he acquired his state of sinlessness by uniting with the Person of the Divine Word. which he received as an award for attaining a state of sinlessness. The Word, he insisted, dwelt in the man Christ. Nestorians thus rejected the union of God and man and Mary was considered the mother of a man not a god.

Theodore's doctrines were influenced by 4th century Christian scholars from Antioch, who emphasized Christ's humanity and its inherent imperfections. It was not until Nestorius came to Constantinople that Theodore's teachings became popular and thus was named after Nestorious. At the Council of Constantinople in 553 Theodore's doctrine was formally condemned.

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "In practice, the Assyrian Church has much in common with the Eastern Rite and Eastern Orthodox Churches. The term 'Nestorian' refers to their Christological doctrine that stresses the reality of the human nature of Jesus and that distinguishes it from his divinity. The word 'Nestorian' comes from Nestorius (c.381-451), the Patriarch of Constantinople who enunciated these doctrines. Nestorius held that Christ's human and divine natures were distinct." [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

"Nestorius's belief that Christ's human and divine natures were distinct "caused his opponents to falsely accuse him of believing Christ had two personalities. The controversy arose over Nestorius's opposition to the expression 'Mary the Mother of God'. The word in Greek is Theotokos, meaning 'Birthgiver to God'. Nestorius felt this was inappropriate because Mary is the mother of Christ's human nature and physical body but not his divinity. Nestorius taught that Mary should be called 'mother of Christ' or 'mother of God, mother of Christ' but never just 'Mother of God'. " <=>

Early History of Nestorian Christianity

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "The Egyptian Patriarch Cyril accused Nestorius of heresy. Nestorius was condemned as a heretic and banished to a monastery near Antioch. From there he was exiled to the Great Oasis in the Sahara Desert. After the storm of controversy abated, the Byzantine Emperor Marcion decided to pardon and release him, but the news arrived as Nestorius was laying in his deathbed. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

"Assyrian Christians...speak Syriac, a form of Aramaic, which is one of the original languages the Holy Bible was written in and was the language Jesus used in teaching and in daily discourse. Both the East and West Syrian churches use Syriac. Syriac is a Semitic language and is closely related to Hebrew, Arabic, and certain Ethiopian languages. Aramaic is important as a language of ancient civilizations and of religion. Aramaic was the language of the early church and first century Judaism. Several of the Early Church Fathers, such as Ephraim and Tatian, wrote extensively in Syriac. <=>

"Many Christians who spoke Syriac were attracted to the teaching of Nestorius and those of his teachers, Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia. The Church of the East adopted Diodore, Theodore, and Nestorius as the authorities of church doctrine. Theodore of Mopsuestia is now recognized as one of the greatest Bible scholars in church history. Today many Assyrian Christians object to being referred to as Nestorians. The reason, they argue, is that Nestorius did not found the Church of the East and that the term 'Nestorian' sometimes refers to a heresy that was never held by Nestorius nor by the Church of the East, that being the belief that Christ's human and divine natures were two separate persons within Christ. However, until recently, Assyrians referred to themselves as Nestorians. Also not all members of the Nestorian Church were Assyrians; in fact, many were Indian, Mongol, and Chinese and only used Syriac as a liturgical language. <=>

"Being accused of heresy by the west was beneficial to the Nestorian Church. Before Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire many Christians sought refuge in the Persian Parthian Empire, Rome's traditional enemy. When Constantine ended the persecution of Christians and claimed to be a Christian himself, Persia began to suspect the loyalty of its Christian subjects. When the Assyrian Christians demonstrated that the church in the west had condemned them as heretics, the Persians once again showed the East Syrian Church tolerance. With Persia as its base, the East Syrian Church began to spread out across the Silk Road and throughout all of the Far East. <=>

"The West Syrian Church is the other branch of the Syriac speaking Church. This church is also known as the Jacobites and the Syrian Orthodox. A Jacobite is a member of the Syriac Church tradition that rejected the teachings of Nestorius, they believe that Christ's human nature was insignificant and was absorbed into and overwhelmed by his divinity. They are called Monophysites. The term Jacobite comes from Jacob Baradaeus [died 578]. The East Syrian Church was dominant in the East, but wherever Nestorians went the Jacobites often followed. The Jacobite church has survived as the Syrian Orthodox Church. <=>

Spread of Christianity on the Silk Road

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "Trade along the Silk Road led to the intermixing of different cultures and religious beliefs. Many different religions coexisted along the Silk Road. Among these were Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, Taoism and the Shamanism of the steppe nomads. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

Edward Gibbon wrote in "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire": "In the sixth century, according to the report of a Nestorian traveler [Comas Indicopleustes of Alexandria] Christianity was successfullypreached to the Bacterians, the Huns, the Persians, the Indians, the Persarmenians, the Medes, the Elamites: the barbaric churches from the Gulf of Persia to the Caspian Sea were almost infinite; and their recent faith was conspicuous in the number and sanctity of their monks and martyrs. The pepper coast of Malabar and the isles of the ocean, Socotra [an island off Yemen] and Ceylon, were peopled with an increasing multitude of Christians and the bishops and clergy for those sequestered regions derived their ordination from the catholic [the Catholicos, the Assyrian Patriarch] of Babylon." <=>

Frances Wood in "Did Marco Polo Go To China?" refers to the incident of Marco Polo (or his sources) discovering followers of Mani and mistaking them for Christians. Missick wrote: "This was due to their use of Christian scripture and their special reverence for Jesus Christ. Starting in the year 241 a young man named Mani began teaching a new religion in the Zoroastrian Parthian Empire. Mani taught that all religions were true, and that Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus were great prophets that he had succeeded them as the greatest of the prophets. Mani's religious background was Assyrian Christian. Manicheanism was heavily influenced by the Assyrian church. The success of Manicheanism was due to its building on the foundations laid by Assyrian missionaries. The constant references to Jesus and the honor given to him in these texts attest to the strength of the Assyrian church in Central Asia. The followers of Mani attempted to follow in the steps of the Assyrian missionaries and seduce their Christian converts into embracing the false religion of Mani. Manicheanism completely died away and no longer has any adherents." <=>

By the year 800, Christianity was found in various, widely dispersed places in the Far East. In Central Asia Assyrian Christianity was absorbed by Mongolian tribes such as the Naiman, the Keriat and the Ongut as well as by Uighurs and the Kara Khitai (from which the word 'Cathay' was coined). Roman Malek says the 'intercultural encounter' is best revealed by depictions of crosses rising from lotus flowers and the use of multiple scripts and languages expressing Christianity in Buddhist, Confucian and Daoist vernacular.

Spread of Nestorian Christianity on the Silk Road

Nestorians lived in large numbers in Persia and Iraq after they were persecuted in the Christian west. Around the time of the Muslim conquest in the early 7th century they began traveling eastward on the Silk Road to Turkestan, India, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. They had penetrated deep into China, where a Nestorian church was founded in 638, in Changsan (Xian, See China). Wherever the went Nestorians continued to use the Syriac language. It was estimated that around the end of the A.D. first millennium there were more Nestorians than Catholics and Orthodox Christians combined. Among the Asians who were converted to Nestorian Christianity were Kublai Khan's sister in law. The Nestorians prospered in the Mongol Empire but were nearly wiped out by Tamerlane.

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "For several centuries brave Assyrian Christians transversed the entire breadth of the Silk Road. Before the year 600, the Assyrians had sent missionaries and established Christian communities throughout the Far East. Starting from what is now northern Iraq they spread into Iran then across Central Asia and finally into China. They also sent missionaries to Ethiopia and India. " [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

Al-lo-pan was a influential Nestorian cleric credited with spreading Nestorian Christianity to China and Central Asia as he traveled the Silk Road to China. Missick wrote; "Al-lo-pan was a native of modern Iraq." In the 1600s "Jesuit missionaries discovered in Xian, China an inscribed column that was erected in the year 781. It states in Chinese and Syriac that a Christian sage it calls "Al-lo-pan" arrived in 625 AD preaching about Jesus and his "Luminous Doctrine". It contains a brief statement of the fundamentals of Christianity. According to the monument the emperor received Al-lo-pan, approved of his doctrine and commanded it to be spread throughout the T'ang Empire. Al-lo-pan translated the Bible into Chinese for the Imperial library and established Churches and monasteries with Imperial approval. <=>

"In Central Asia and the Far East Syriac was the language of Assyrian merchants and the language of worship for Nestorian Christians. It was also used in diplomacy and on monuments, such as the Xian monument, which is written in Chinese and Syriac, and on tombstones and other memorials. Messages from Europe to the rulers of Mongolia were often written in Syriac. For example, William of Rubruck, a Franciscan priest, traveled across Asia with correspondence from European sovereigns to Mongol overlords which were written in Syriac."

In the early 20th century, Nestorian documents and paintings were found in western China. After that Nestorian relics were discovered all over China, particularly in Quanzhou and Inner Mongolia. In Inner Mongolia, Nestorian remains have mainly been found in an area once inhabited by the Öngüt Mongol tribe that is bordered on the south by the Daqingshan mountains and on the north by the present border between China and Mongolia. Although a number of related remains have been found south of the Daqingshan mountains no such remains have been encountered in Mongolia. Areas of study include remains of Nestorian settlements and Nestorian grave material and cemeteries.

Prester John and the Mongols

Many of the early European explorers to Asia and Africa were hoping to meet up with Prester John, a mythological priest-king who resided somewhere in the East and was supposed to help the Crusaders reclaim Jerusalem. Portuguese explorers went looking for him up the Senegal and Congo Rivers in Africa. Maps from the late 16th century had the kingdom of Prester John located in present-day Ethiopia. Some of the first Europeans to venture on the Silk Road traveled east towards Central Asia and China looking for him.

The legend of Prester John is believed to have originated with Saint Thomas, an Apostle of Christ said to have traveled to India in the A.D. first century. More miracles have been attributed to Saint Thomas than any other saint. Additionally, stories of Ung Khan - a Mongol ruler who preceded Genghis Khan and who may have been a Nestorian Christian - may have made their way to Europe, placing Prester John in Central Asia.

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: " The European legend held that a powerful priest-king reigned in 'India', meaning the Far East. Somewhere in the Far East, they believed was the magnificent King John of India, known as Prester John of the Indies. He was immortal, fabulously wealthy and also eager to join with Europe to fight a crusade against the Muslims. The legend of Prester John had three historical sources; The Saint Thomas Christians of India, the Christian Empire of the Ethiopian Coptic Christians, and the Nestorians of Mongolia and Central Asia. When accounts of Christians in southern India, east Africa or Central Asia reached Europe they became garbled and confused and eventually became the legend of Prester John. This was due to the fact that Europe at that time had no accurate knowledge of world geography. For centuries Europeans thought that Africa, India and China were all the Indies. The original source of the legend was various Nestorian princes and kings who ruled in Central Asia. Marco Polo, Bar-Hebraeus and William of Rubruck all attempted to identify Ung Khan as Prester John. John of Montecorvino believed that his convert from the Assyrian Church, King George, was a descendant of Prester John. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

The legend of Pester John began with a forged 13th century letter that was immensely popular and appeared as a 10-page manuscript booklet, written in numerous languages including Italian, German, English, Serbian, Russian and Hebrew. The Kingdom of Prester John included 42 "mighty and good Christian kings;" the Great Feminie, ruled by three queens and defended by 100,000 women warriors; pygmies who fought wars with birds; bowmen "who from the waist up are men , but whose lower part is that of a horse;" worms that survived only in fires, maintained by 40,000 men, that produced silk that could only be cleaned in fires; and magic mirrors, enchanted fountains and underground rivers with waters that turned into precious stones. [Source: Daniel Boorstin, "The Discoverers"]

Nestorians in the Mongol Court

Nestorians were important among the Mongols in numbers and influence. According to Gibbon, "the Nestorian church was diffused from China to Jerusalem and Cyprus; and their numbers, with those of the Jacobites, were computed to surpass the Greek and Latin communions." [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: " Many Nestorian priests served as ambassadors for the Mongolians. Rabban Simeon, Rabban Ata met with Andrew of Longjumeau, a European envoy. This monk sent Pope Innocent IV a letter requesting him to be tolerant towards Nestorian Christians and urging him to make peace with Fredrick II. This letter is preserved in the Vatican archives. The Nestorian general Elijigidei sent two Nestorian priests to King Louis IX on 14 December 1248. The priests were Dawoud and Markos. Elijiadei wished Louis success in his war against the Muslims and requested he "avoid discriminating between Latin and non-Latin Christians, since under Mongol rule all sects were held to be equal."

Nestorian Mongol Queens

Several Nestorian women obtained high status in the Mongol empire. Samuel Hugh Moffet wrote in "A History of Christianity in Asia": "Genghis' daughter in law, the Nestorian princess, ...Sorkaktanibeki...was one of three Christian sisters each of whom played a noteworthy part in the history of the Mongol empire. The eldest Ibaka-beki, became the wife of Genghis Khan,; the second Bektutmish, was the senior wife of Genghis oldest son, Jochi. But Sorkaktani, who married the fourth son, Toliu, was destined for yet greater things, she became the Christian mother of three imperial sons, an emperor (Great Khan) of the Mongols [who was Kublia Khan], and emperor of China, and an emperor (il-khan) of Persia." [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

James Montgomery wrote: "Halagu and his brothers the two khans Mangu and Kublai, and another Arikbuga, had a Christian mother [Sorkaktani], a woman of great force and character. Huluga had a Christian wife, Dakuz Kathon..., She played an important part in favoring the Christians against the Muslims, and through her influence Hulagu had a Christian church attached to his camp... She died the same year as her husband, and [Bar Hebreaus] records, "The grief of the whole Christian world over the departure of these two great lights and champions of the Christian religion."...These Christian queens played their part in religious politics...Abaga's son. King Arghun (1258-1291), had a Christian wife, to whom Pope Nicholas IV addressed a formal letter." <=>

Volkmar Gantzhorn described Sorkaktani as "a Christian whose vast influence has not been appreciated to this day... She is to be credited in particular with the spread of the Nestorian faith in Asia on the one hand, and also with the Khan's anti-Moslem sentiments... Her influence as 'first lady' on the other women and also on the children only comes out indirectly in the source material. Following her death in 1265, her niece succeeded in continuing her aunt's mission work until the death of Kublai Khan in 1294. After this period important Mongol leaders began converting to Islam." <=>

Mongol Nestorians and Christian Europe

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "Rumors of an impending Mongol invasion of Europe spread soon after the Mongols devastated Russia and Hungary. Matthew Paris recorded the alarm and stories of the Mongolians in his histories. The Pope together with secular leaders became alarmed and sent ambassadors and missionaries to the Mongolians to find out how serious the threat to Christendom was. Many Franciscan monks and friars were sent and traveled across Asia to the heart of the Mongolian Empire. The crusader King Louis IX, who later canonized as Saint Louis, sent Father William of Rubruck and other priests to visit Mongke Khan. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

"Marco Polo also traveled throughout the Mongolian Empire during this era. Many of these travelers recorded their journeys and frequently referred to the Nestorians they encountered. Nestorian monks also traveled as envoys for the Mongols to Europe. Of the Nestorian monks only the travel diary of Rabban (Syriac for Monk) Bar Sauma has been preserved. Through these primary sources we can get a good picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the Nestorian church in the Mongolian Empire.Soon after Friar Odoric of Pordenone was ordained, he went out to the Far East as a world traveler and perhaps a missionary as well. He started sometime between 1316 and 1318, returned to Europe before the spring of 1330, and died in 1331. He is reputed to have baptized more than 20,000 persons. His story is recounted in The Eastern Parts of the World Described by Friar Odoric the Bohemian. He refers to the Nestorians as "vile and pestilent heretics" and as "schismatics and heretics". He mentions seeing "houses of the Nestorians", several Nestorian churches and Nestorians in the service of the Khan.29 He also visited the Nestorian Saint Thomas Christians in India. <=>

Marco Polo on Nestorian Christians

"The Travels of Marco Polo" by Rustichello of Pisa recounts stories told to him by Marco Polo, a Venetian who traveled with his father and uncle on a trading mission throughout Asia from 1271-1292. "The Travels of Marco Polo" is filled with references to the Nestorians. Marco Polo said he saw Nestorian Churches. He describes important Nestorians and mentions cities with significant numbers of Nestorians. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

Marco Polo considered the Nestorians and Christians of the Far East to be heretics because they did not adhere to the Roman Catholic Church. He said: "There are people who observe the law of Christ, but not according to the ordinances of the Roman Church, for they are at fault in several points. They are called Nestorians and Jacobites. They have a Patriarch, whom they call the Catholicus. This patriarch makes archbishops and bishops and abbots of every degree and sends them out everywhere, into India and Cathay and Baghdad, just like the Roman pope. You must understand that all the Christians you will meet in these countries I am describing are Nestorians and Jacobites." <=>

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: " Marco Polo also refers to the Nestorians on Socotra island [an island off Yemen] and the Nestorian Christians of Saint Thomas in Southern India and he mentions Kublai Khan's protection of the Nestorians.

Bar Sauma; the Uighur Nestorian Monk

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "Around the year 1255, two Uighur Mongolian Monks from the city of Khanbalik (modern Beijing) left the city to go on foot on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The monks were Rabban Marcus and Rabban Bar Sauma. They were unable to reach Jerusalem because of warfare there and had to remain in Baghdad. While there, Rabban Markos was nominated as the new Catholicos of the Ancient Church of the East. He was renamed Mar Yaballaha III and ruled the Church of the East from 1281 until his death in 1318. He is the only Mongolian patriarch in history. In 1287 the Il-Khan of Persia, Arghun, who was a Christian sympathizer, sent Rabban Bar Sauma on a diplomatic mission to Western Europe to drum up support for a new crusade. Arghun wanted his Nestorian armies and Catholic Europe to team up for a two front assault that would drive the Muslims out of the Holy Land. While in Europe Bar Sauma met with Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus of Byzantium, King Phillip IV of France and King Edward I of England. They were all too wrapped up in internal European affairs to have much interest in crusading. Bar Sauma also met with Pope Nicholas IV. [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

The high authorities of the Roman Catholic Church interrogated Bar Sauma to find if he was a heretic. In his defense he said, "Mar Thomas and Mar Addai and Mar Mari taught our religion and we hold to the ordinances they gave us until now...many of our Fathers went to the lands of the Mongols and Turks and Chinese and taught them. And today there are many Mongol Christians. Indeed some of the children of the King and Queen are baptized and confess the Christ. And they have churches with them in the Camp. And they honor the Christians greatly, and there are also many believers among them. And the King, since he is assiduous in affection for the Catholicus and is desirous to conquer Palestine and the lands of Syria, desires your help because of the Captivity of Jerusalem."

Bar Sauma's writings have been incorporated into "The History of Yaballaha III and His Vicar Rabban Bar Sauma." Grigor Yohannan Abu al-Faraj Bar 'Ebhraya, known as Bar-Hebraeus (12251286), was a Jacobite priest who wrote profusely in Syriac and Arabic. He authored "Makhetebhanuth Zavne," a history of the world from the creation till his own time. In his history Bar-Hebraeus mentions the favor shown to Christians, both Jacobite and Nestorian, under Mongol rule. George Lane in "An Account of Gregory Bar Hebraeus Abu al-Faraj and His Relations with the Mongols of Persia" states that Bar-Hebraeus's praise of his Mongol masters is measured and in no way excessive. The Syrian Ortholdox Church undoubtably prospered and experienced a period of stability under Hulagu and Abaqa. Bar Hebraeus stated, "[Under early Mongol rule] the church acquired stability and protection in every place."

Contacts Between Christian Europe and the Mongols

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "Father William of Rubruck was sent by King Louis IX of France to the court of the Great Khan Mongke in 1253-1255...William of Rubruck wrote a very detailed account of his experiences for King Louis. Like Marco Polo's, his book is filled with references to the Nestorians... Father William's attitude towards the Nestorians matches that of other Catholics of the time. However, when the Great Khan called for a debate of all religions, Father William noted that the Nestorians who participated in the debate were well versed in the Scripture. He records that the Nestorians had the last word in the debate and that they silenced the Buddhist, the Muslims and the Shamans. He was disappointed that after the debate no one was converted to Christianity and that afterward "the priests of [the diverse] persuasions sat down afterward for a heavy drinking session that lasted the rest of the day." [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

On Father William's opinion of the Nestorians, Tim Severin wrote in: In Search of Ghenghis Khan, "Rubruck was very disappointed that the representatives of Christianity were so poorly prepared. The Nestorian priests, he complained, did not understand their own texts, which were written in the Syriac language. Furthermore, they were usurers, polygamists, and simoniacs who demanded money for religious services, and they took to the bottle. Because their bishop arrived on such a remote location about every fifty years, Rubruck claimed the bishop had the presumptuous custom of going around and anointing all the children, even down to the smallest baby, thereby guaranteeing a future supply of priests." <=>

Pope Nicholas IV sent Friar Giovanni da Montecorvino to the great Khan in 1295. Later Pope Clement V appointed him archbishop of Khanbalik. The Catholic's began to make converts in the Far East, mainly from the Nestorians. "Friar Giovanni mentions converting a Mongol king named George from the Nestorian faith; A certain king of this part of the world, by name George, belonging to the sect of the Nestorian Christians...attached himself to me and to the truth of the Catholic faith...he brought over a great part of his people with him to the true Catholic faith." <=>

Guyuk Khan sent a letter to Pope Innocent IV in which he responded to the scorn Europeans held towards other races and other Christians. He said; "You men of the west believe that you alone are Christians and despise others. But how can you know to whom God deigns to confer his grace? But we worshipping God have destroyed the whole earth from the East to the West in the power of God." <=>

In his writing Friar Giovanni da Montecorvino often complains about the opposition he faced from the Nestorians. Missick wrote: "The Nestorians understood that the Catholics were dividing and weakening the Christian community in the Far East. The Catholics were converting people from an indigenous religion to what would seem to the masses to be a foreign sect. Catholics continued to work against the Nestorians for centuries. Later Francis Xavier (1506-1552) would continue to make converts from the Nestorians. In the 1550's the Portugese forcibly converted the Saint Thomas Nestorians to Catholicism. They arrested Syriac priests and sent them to the inquisition in Europe. When the Portuguese left the Saint Thomas Christians quickly renounced the Catholic Church and joined the Jacobite Church." <=>

Disappearance of the Assyrian Church in Asia

Scholars have provided a number of explanations as to why the Nestorians and the Assyrian Church the disappeared from the Far East. "The Encyclopedia of World Art" blames the bubonic Plague: "In central Asia... the so-called "Seirech'e cemeteries" are known, Four of these were found near the metropolis of Nawakath: two to the west near Fruze....Tombstones found at these sights bear crosses and Syriac inscriptions ranging from 858 to 1345 -the latter year being the probable date of the bubonic plague epidemic that decimated the last survivors of these communities." Samuel Hugh Moffet believes the Nestorian Church disappeared because it was weakened by "isolation, superstition, and syncretism." [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: There were internal weaknesses in the Nestorian Church which caused it to be devastated by the opposition it faced from the Catholic church and more importantly, Islam. Despite centuries of missionary work and hundreds of thousands of conversions and perhaps millions of adherents, the Nestorian Church of Mongolia died away. There are many reasons why this happened. Perhaps William of Rubruck was right in that the church leadership was corrupt. However, similar abuses were common in Europe and the Assyrian Church in Mongolia was strong enough to produce important historical personalities such as the Ung Khan, Sorkaktani-beki, Mar Yaballaha III and Rabban Bar Sauma. Many were perhaps Christian in name only. It is hard to conceive of a devout Christian participating in the atrocities the Mongols committed, but then again Europe had its crusaders. When William of Rubruck visited the Christian Mongol Chief Sartach he was told by Sartach's representative, Cioac the Nestorian, "You must not say our lord [Sartach] is a Christian. He is not a Christian but a Mongol."

"Sartach worshiped as a Christian and had Assyrian priests attending to him but he considered his identity as a Mongol more important than faith in Christ. Perhaps this cultural idolatry also weakened the Assyrian Church among the Mongols. Divisions in the church also weakened it. Nestorians contended with the Jacobites and then the Catholics came to join the inner communal strife. ..The Nestorian Church in the Far East is not the only church in history to have completely died away. North Africa was also largely Christian and produced such giants as Tertullian and St. Augustine. The church in North Africa (except for the Coptic Church in Egypt) has perished. Internal weaknesses plagued that church too but both the church of North Africa and the Nestorian Church in Mongolia and China died away for the same reason, they were victims of the Islamic Conquest. <=>

Christian Declines and Islam Rises Among the Mongols

After the death of Kublia Khan many Mongols began to convert to Islam. The Jacobite historian Bar Hebraus wrote: "Since the Mongols noted among the Christians sincerity and charity they held the Christians in the early stages of their rule in high esteem. But, later their affection turned to hatred; they could no longer approve of the Christians when many of them [the Mongols] changed over to the Muslim faith." [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: The beginning of the end was the conversion of the Il-Khan Ghazan (1271-1304) to Islam in 1295.The Assyrian church lost its Imperial favor and protection. The Mongols began to fight their wars with a new purpose, of jihad holy wars fought for the propagation of Islam. The most notorious Mongolian Muslim warrior is Tamerlane, or Timur the Lame, who lived from 1336-1405. He conquered a huge piece of Asia, covering modern Turkey, Central Asia and India. He used the brutal methods of Genghis Khan. His cavalry rode over children and his armies made pyramids of decapitated enemies. He closed prisoners of war in the walls of the cities he built and buried others alive." <=>

Timur launched brutal attacks on the Christian Armenians and Georgians. Edward P. Sokol wrote: "Christians in the path of Timur's were also slaughtered in great numbers. In Mesopotamia, the Nestorians and Jacobites had since that time been only pallid reflections of their former selves. Nor did Timur show any greater mercy to the Hindus and Zoroastrians he encountered in India and Iran."

King Henry III of Castille sent Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo as a diplomat to visit Timur in 1403. In "Embassy to Timorlane," Clavijo refers to Nestorian "Chinese Christians" who requested audience with Timur. In regard to Nestorians Timur had imprisioned, he wrote: "So great therefore was the population now of all nationalities gathered together in Samarqand that of men with their families the number they said must amount to 150,000 souls, of these nations brought here together were to be seen Turks and Arabs, and Moors of diverse sects, with Christians who were Greeks and Armenians, Catholics, Jacobites and Nestorians, besides those [Indian] folk.

Missick wrote: "Timur persecuted Muslims as well as Christians and was willing to form an alliance with Europe to strengthen his empire. However, his actions and those of other Mongolians who took up the sword of Islam devastated the Nestorians. According to The Dictionary of the Middle Ages Tamerlane's victories led to the destruction of Nestorian centers of learning and resulted in the eventual reduction of the Nestorians themselves to a handful of refugees in the mountains of northern Iraq and Persia. <=>

"Figures such as Timurlane arose and propagated Islam with the sword. The Nestorians made the mistake of over relying on the preference given to them by ruling dignitaries. They concentrated on securing positions of favor, such as serving as ambassadors or positioning themselves to be honored by the Christian queens, instead of working to spread the faith and strengthen the congregations. The leadership of the church never imagined falling out of favor. This was a serious blow. Due to the loss of their place of honor and the Islamic Jihad, the Church was cut off from its missions. The scattered Mongol churches became isolated and lost contact with the mother church in the Middle East. Then they were hit by the plague, war, and persecution. The church began to shrink and then began slowly dying away. Many converted to Islam imagining it to be a similar religion and saw conversion as a way to escape the stigma of being a Christian. As the Mongol Church died away the Church in the Middle East suffered as well, but despite the troubles has survived till today." <=>

Lasting Influences of the Nestorian Church on Central Asia

Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: "Even though the Nestorian church in the Far East vanished, it did not disappear without a trace. John of Plano Carpini (1180-1252) traveled to the Mongols capital in the1240s. He was the first papal envoy to travel to Mongolia. Upon his return he wrote "Historia Mongolarum" in which he describes the Mongol's culture, character and history. Most of his information came from interviewing Russians and Turkish Nestorian Christians during his travels. He mentions the Uighurs who he says were "Christians of the Nestorian sect." He says, "The Mongols took their alphabet, for they had no written characters; now, however, they call it the Mongol alphabet" [Source: Stephen Andrew Missick, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, July 2012 <=>]

The Uighur alphabet and the Mongolian alphabet are altered forms of the Syriac alphabet. These adaptations of the Assyrian's alphabet are still used in Mongolia and in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia in China. On the Nestorian practices incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism, Aziz S. Atiya wrote in "History of Eastern Christianity": One relic of Nestorianism in the heart of Asia is said to be the survival of its ritual in a debased form in the Lamaism of Tibet [this ritual includes blessing of bread and wine in a communal meal]. The striking resemblances with Lamaist Monasticism, the use of holy water, incense and vestments of a similar character to Nestorian practices, must be traced to the days of the Nestorian missionary in the high Middle Ages."

In Christianity Meets Buddhism, Heinrich Dumoulin suggests that Nestorianism may also have influenced Amidism and the Tantric School of the "True Word." Amidist Buddhism "because of its amazing spiritual similarity to Christianity, has often been the subject of conjecture concerning a direct [Nestorian] Christian influence." Amidists believe in salvation through faith alone, in the name of Buddha. Volkmar Gantzhorm in The Christian Oriental Carpet, traces the design of the cross, which can be seen in many oriental carpets to the Nestorians and the Armenians. <=>

According to Missick: "Even though Christian monasteries were established in China for a time, Nestorian Christianity was much more successful among the Mongolian tribesmen than among the Chinese. There are very few Christians in Mongolia today none of whom are Nestorians. The Ancient Assyrian Church has survived only in the Middle East and in southeast India. Around 400,000 Assyrians belong to the Ancient Assyrian Church of the East."

Image Sources:

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, U.S. government, Compton's Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated February 2019

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MONGOLS, CHRISTIANITY, NESTORIANS AND THE SILK ROAD

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CHRISTIANITY AND THE MONGOLS Many Mongol warriors and tribes in the era of Genghis Khan and Kublia Khan were Christians. Several tribes had been Christian for centuries. Stephen Andrew Missick wrote in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies: " The Mongol Christians belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East, which is also known as the Nestorian Church and the East Syrian Church.

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The publication is in production. (01/2021)
Retail price: approx. EUR 100,00 excl. tax
How to order?

A collection of papers on the history of Christianity along the Silk Road and in pre-modern China, pushing back the frontier of knowledge in a fast developing new area of research.

The diffusion of Christianity along the Silk Road from Iraq and Iran to China in the premodern era has attracted scholarly attention in the West since the discovery of the famous Xian (Nestorian) Monument c. 1623. This initial discovery was dismissed as a Jesuit forgery by Voltaire, Edward Gibbon and many other scholars of the Enlightenment. However, its authenticity has been more than vindicated by the discovery of genuine (Nestorian / Jingjiao) Christian texts in Chinese from Dunhuang and in Syriac, Sogdian and Old Turkish from Turfan (Bulayq) at the beginning of the last century. Besides confirming the existence of a Tang era Chinese Christian church ( Jingjiao), additional archaeological and literary evidence has accumulated of a Christian presence in China during the later Song and Yuan periods ( Yelikewenjiao). These churches were the subject of a conference of international specialists in Hong Kong in 2015. The current volume of eleven articles has grown out of the papers presented there.

Professor Samuel N.C. Lieu is the current President of the Union Académique Internationale (International Union of Academies) and a Bye Fellow of Robinson College Cambridge. Professor Glen L. Thompson is Professor of New Testament and Historical Theology at the Asia Lutheran Seminary, Hong Kong

Foreword (Florian Knothe)
List of Contributors

Part One: The Church of the East in Central Asia
1. Erica Hunter (SOAS) The Christian Library from Turfan: commemorating the saints in MIK III/45
2. Nicholas Sims-Williams, FBA (SOAS) Sogdian biblical manuscripts from the Turfan oasis
3. Takahashi Hidemi (University of Tokyo) Representation of the Syriac language in Jingjiao documents

Part Two: The Church of the East in Tang and Yuan China
4. Huaiyu, Chen (Univsity of Arizona) Shared Issues in a Shared Textual Community: Buddhist, Christian, and Daoist Texts in Tang Chin
5. Max Deeg (Cardiff University) Messiah Rediscovered: Some Philological Notes on the So-called 'Jesus the Messiah Sutra
6. Samuel N.C. Lieu, (Macquarie and Robinson College, Cambridge) From Rome (Daqin 大秦) To China (Zhongguo 中國): The Xi'an 西安 (Nestorian) Monument As A Bilingual And Transcultural Document (Keynote Address)
7. Glen L. Thompson (Asia Lutheran Seminary, Hong Kong) Strange Teaching from a Strange Land: Foreignness, Heresy, and Our Understanding of the Jingjiao and Yelikewenjiao
8. David Wilmshurst (formerly Chinese University of Hong Kong) Interfaith Conflict in Yuan China

Part Three: The Art and Iconography of the Church of the East
9. Niu Ruji, 'History Is a Mirror:On the Spread of Nestorianism in China from the Newly Discovered Bronze Mirror with Cross-lotus and Syriac Inscriptions
10. Ken Parry (Emeritus Macquarie) Images in the Church of the East: The Textual and Art Historical Evidence in the Light of Contemporary Practice
11. Patrick Taveirne (Chinese University of Hong Kong) The Study of the Ordos "Nestorian Bronze Crosses": Status Quaestionis

Addenda to Chapter 3

Index

This publication is also distributed by:
ISD

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The Church of the East in Central Asia and China

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The publication is in production. (01/2021) Retail price: approx. EUR 100,00 excl. tax How to order? A collection of papers on the history of Christianity along the Silk Road and in pre-modern China, pushing back the frontier of knowledge in a fast developing new area of research.

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Chinese people think that fried cricket is a natural food, so with population growth, China thinks that fried cricket could be a new cuisine that people might like.

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It's made from different types of leaves of tea and boiled water and there many different kinds of leave to make the tea. It is important to China because other countries people might want to try a different kinds of tea, so it can get economic for China.

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is the religion if the Yi people, the largest ethnic group in Yunnan after the Han Dynasty.

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The Terracotta warriors refers to the thousands of life-size clay models of soldiers. The  Terracotta warriors is the models of the army in Qing Dynasty.

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The Terracotta Army refers to the thousands of life-size clay models of soldiers, horses, and chariots which were deposited around the grand mausoleum of Shi Huangdi, first emperor of China and founder of the Qin dynasty, located near Lishan in Shaanxi Province, central China. The purpose of the army was likely to act as guardian figures for the tomb or to serve their ruler in the next life. The site was discovered in 1974 CE, and the realistic army figures provide a unique insight into ancient Chinese warfare from weapons to armour or chariot mechanics to command structures. Shi Huangdi was desperate for immortality, and in the end, his terracotta army of over 7000 warriors, 600 horses, and 100 chariots has given him just that, at least in name and deed. The site of the mausoleum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site even if the inner tomb itself has yet to be excavated.

China's First Emperor

Shi Huangdi (also known as Shi Huangti) was the king of the Qin state, who unified China from 221 BCE and then founded the Qin dynasty. He ruled as China's first emperor until his death in 210 BCE. His reign was short but packed full of incidents, most of them infamous enough to earn Shi Huangdi a lasting reputation as a megalomaniac despot. The period saw the building of the Great Wall of China, the infamous Burning of the Books, where thousands of literary and philosophical works were destroyed, and the construction of a sumptuous royal palace. The emperor seems to have been especially keen on acquiring immortality, a quest no doubt given further motivation by his survival of three assassination attempts. Scientists were given the task of discovering life-prolonging elixirs, and young emissaries were sent across the Eastern Sea in search of the fabled Penglai, land of the immortals.

hundreds of thousands of workers were set the task of building the biggest tomb ever seen in China's history.

Failing in these endeavours to unnaturally prolong his life Shi Huangdi fell back on the age-old standby of autocratic rulers and had a huge mausoleum built instead. In fact, the whole massive project was begun in the early years of his reign as it required a prodigious amount of work to get it ready. An administrative district was established at the site with 30,000 families forcibly relocated there and given the task of building the biggest tomb ever seen in China's history or anyone else's. Eventually, no doubt as Huangdi realised time was running short, hundreds of thousands of forced labourers were sent to push the project to completion. One way or another, Shi Huangdi was going to be remembered long after his reign. The Terracotta Army seems to have achieved that goal.

Huangdi's Mausoleum

The mausoleum of Shi Huangdi, actually an entire multi- burial complex which covers an incredible 35 to 60 square kilometres, was discovered in 1974 CE buried at the foot of the artificial Mt. Li near Lishan (modern Lintong), 50 km east of the Qin capital Xianyang in Shaanxi Province, central China. The tomb itself remains unexcavated but its spectacular army of terracotta defenders has, in part, been revealed and already earned the site the title of "Greatest Tomb in the World". The tumulus of the buried tomb takes the form of a three-stepped pyramid, measures an impressive 1,640 metres in circumference, 350 metres along each side, and rising to a height of 60 metres. The whole is surrounded by a double wall.

Legend has it that the tomb contains vast riches but includes fiendish traps to ensure Huangdi rests forever in peace. The traps and the interior were described by the historian Sima Qian (146-86 BCE) in the following passage from his Shiji:

More than 700,000 convict labourers from the world were sent there. They dug through three springs, poured in liquid bronze, and secured the sarcophagus. Houses, officials, unusual and valuable things were moved in to fill it. He [Shi Huangdi] ordered artisans to make crossbows triggered by mechanisms. Anyone passing before them would be shot immediately. They used mercury to create rivers, the Jiang and the He, and the great seas, wherein the mercury was circulated mechanically. On the ceiling were celestial bodies and on the ground geographical features. (Shelach-Lavi, 318)

The floor map with its geographical models and painted universe ceiling were symbolic of the emperor's status as Son of Heaven and God's ruler on earth. Qian also notes that members of Huangdi's harem were entombed with their dead emperor and many craftsmen and labourers, too, in order to keep the fabulous wealth of Huangdi's grave goods a secret for all time.

The Terracotta Warriors

To protect his tomb or perhaps even to ensure he had a handy bodyguard in the next life, Shi Huangdi went a whole lot better than his predecessors. Rulers in ancient China commonly had two or three statues to stand as guardians outside their tombs but Huangdi went for a whole army of them. The Terracotta Army is actually one of only four in all likelihood as that portion so far excavated - 1.5 km distant from the mausoleum - is on the eastern side and is probably duplicated on the other three sides of the tumulus. Even this one-quarter section has not been fully excavated with only three of its four pits having been fully explored by archaeologists.

The main pit of the four which contain the discovered army measures 230 x 62 metres and is 4 to 6 metres deep. It had around 6,000 slightly larger than life-size depictions of infantrymen (1.8-1.9 metres tall), chariots and horses. The pit, originally with wooden columns supporting a wood beam ceiling, is partitioned by 10 brick-lined corridors. The floor was made from compacted earth which was then paved with over 250,000 ceramic tiles. The second pit, which is slightly smaller and R-shaped, had some 1,400 figures in it. In keeping with an obvious attempt to recreate exactly a real army, pit 3, measuring 21 x 17 metres, contains commanders and resembles a command post in the field.

Besides infantry, the army includes 600 horses and almost 100 chariots which carry officers and riders and have either a two, three, or four-horse team. The soldiers were set in regular rows and are depicted in different postures - most are standing while some are crouching. Their mix and particular arrangement of officers (slightly taller than everyone else with their general being tallest of all), cavalry, crossbowmen, skirmishers, archers, charioteers, and grooms give the illusion of a complete battlefield army ready for action. There are light infantry units with archers positioned at the flanks and front, the heavy infantry behind them, while chariots bring up the rear with their officers, matching the troop deployments mentioned in ancient military treatises.

The scale of the enterprise must have required a huge quantity of firewood to fuel the pottery kilns that made the figures, not to mention the countless tons of clay from local deposits needed to make figures weighing up to 200 kilos each. Besides the breathtaking finished result, the undertaking was a triumph of organisation and planning.

Much effort was made to render each figure unique despite them all being made from a limited repertoire of assembled body parts made from moulds. These parts are 7.5 cm thick and consist of a head, torso, leg, another leg acting as a plinth, two arms and two hands. Faces and hair, in particular, were modified to give the illusion of a real army composed of unique individuals, even if in reality there are only eight types of torso and head. Hands, too, were modified with straight or bent fingers and changes in the angle of the thumb and wrist. The figures were not glazed but were lacquered to protect them and painted using bright colours - traces of red pigment remain on some figures. It is astonishing to reflect that all of this almost infinite variety and realism was never intended to be seen by anyone.

Each figure would have held a weapon of some sort, probably real ones such as swords, halberds, spears, bows and crossbows, but most of these have long since been stolen, valued as they would have been for their bronze. Those swords still in place had kept their sharp edges, and each was inscribed with their manufacturer and supervisor. The warriors have seven variations of Qin armour which is (in imitation) typically in the form of riveted or joined panels of leather or metal, a design and materials confirmed by rare archaeological finds elsewhere and in text descriptions and other art forms such as tomb-paintings elsewhere. Some infantry do not wear armour, and shields are another notable missing item, despite evidence of their use in Qin armies from other sources. They, too, may have been stolen in antiquity as some figures do appear to have been holding an item in each hand.

Other Artefacts

Other non-terracotta artefacts discovered at the site as archaeologists work their way ever-closer to the central tomb area include half-size bronze and wood chariots pulled by teams of four bronze horses, and bronze sculptures of birds, notably 3 very fine cranes, 20 swans, and 20 geese, all set up by a 60-metre long pond to recreate a river scene. There is a replica of a stable, foundations of temple structures, and pottery storage jars within a granary building. There is an armoury measuring 100 x 130 metres packed with hundreds of replicas of armour and helmets, each piece meticulously made from hundreds of small stone pieces. There are tombs of other royal family members and high-ranking officials and statues representing them, including one tomb of a court acrobat.

Then there is a long list of real objects, not simply models. These include 31 exotic birds and animals each buried in their own wood coffin, real horses (300 in one pit alone) and the skeletons of over one hundred humans with accompanying bronze plaques indicating they were labourers and convicts who died while working on the tomb. All of these items taken collectively, along with their particular layout and the idea of the map and sky of the inner tomb, were designed to demonstrate that China's first emperor ruled, if not the whole world, then certainly the central and most important part of it in Chinese eyes.

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The Terracotta Army refers to the thousands of life-size clay models of soldiers, horses, and chariots which were deposited around the grand mausoleum of Shi Huangdi, first emperor of China and founder of the Qin dynasty, located near Lishan in Shaanxi Province, central China.

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The ink wash painting refers in Tang dynasty, The artist used ink wash paint to shows their feeling and emotion in the artwork. It a special way to draw landscape painting but it also being popular to some countries

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The paper will be an important things to Chinese calligraphy painting because different kind of papper might effect on visual

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Chinese vase is a types of artwork from Chinese ceramics, it is the most remarkable forms of Chinese art and ceramics

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The game started with two armies, person who arrest the enemy's general win

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The performance was invented by Zhuge Liang . The Kung Fu Tea performance was for Liu Bei's son was afraid of people getting close to him

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Spouts of Fury: When Tea and Kung Fu Collide

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Ansai drum dance is a type of Chinese drum dance , originated from the Tang dynasty and it was used to celebrate victories

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Dancing to the beat of Ansai's waist drums in northwest China

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Rationale:
The kaleidoscope project is about cultural preservation, we are going to choose a country to introduces their culture and things that are endangered. It is an online community-based project that talks about disappearing culture and how to preserve it. Anyone in the online community can contribute by making a website. Contributors will use templates from Padlet, the website must be accessible by everybody but they can only read, not edit. The name of the country I choose is China. The younger people in China have more Globalize culture so people will be connectable with other country’s culture.  The timeline began with the Wuchang Uprising, 1911, Qing dynasty began to change to the Republic of China, until 1949, the Republic of China was based on mainland China. In the 1980s, China’s “Open-door-policy” opens to other countries and inspire the development of a market economy. The project aims to preserve the culture that is under threat from art, food and drink, animals, language and literature, religion, festival, fashion, entertainment, music, and sport.
Flag:
The red represents the  Chinese communist Revaluation and the five stars represent unity

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Chinese fingernail guard is a thing used by women to protect their long nails from breaking and to show their wealth in ancient China because that means they don’t need to do things by themselves.

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Foot binding is the old fashion in China where people break and tightly bind young girl’s feet. This was done because they think that it was a mark of beauty. The girls had their feet bound since they were very little. It was discontinued because when the Manchus ruled China, the Manchus people did not support the customs of foot binding.

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Hair accessories are a thing that hooks hair in a place and used as decoration. There’s some different kind of accessories, such as hairpin, Chai, and Bu Yao. Sometimes people wear it when they are married or they turn a certain age.

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it a music instrument first invented by Han dynasty, most are made by bamboo with 5 finger holes on the front and one on back, The earliest xiao was made by bird bones. People like to play it solo or with local music

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it the small version of pipa, it used pick to played the instrument, mostly made by willow wood, professionals will be use the higher quality material such as sandalwood or rose wood. As the times evolve, the number of stringed had been change from two to four.

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[DEMO] Professional Grade Hong Huali Wood Liuqin with Mechanical Tuner by LH

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[DEMO] Professional Grade Hong Huali Wood Liuqin with Mechanical Tuner by LH

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chuiwan is ancient Chinese game same as the modern golf.  The most popular dynasty of chuiwan was Song dynasty. Ancient people always played chuiwan in a open space.

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is a traditional Chinese sport that everyone can play, it is coming from the ancient game called cuju. This sport is important to Chinese culture because everyone can play it together, even people who can't play it well will watch other people perform how to play jianzi.

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A traditional Chinese game that same as football. In the Han Dynasty, the popularity of cuju is for the upper classes and the army to the royal courts

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PIpa is a four stringed Chinese musical instrument, it the most popular instrument played for two thousand years in China. Pipa originated from Han dynasty, a man called Liu Xi write a book called《釋名·釋樂器》. Pipa can be use to perform it solo, part of the orchestra or use to dance with it

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is a Chinese plucked zither, there is a large soundboard that made by Paulownia wood, the other part of guzheng are all made by wood. The player will wear fingerpicks on one or both hand. The oldest guzheng was discovered during the Warring states period,

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is a Tibetan religion , the believer that the start in a land called Tazig

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according to Chinaculture.org , Beijing Music festival has been one of the most well-known event in the world. It important to China because it take economic and all of the world know this festival, so they may want to go there someday.

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The 23rd Beijing Music Festival (BMF) has concluded with a concert by the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). It was also a celebration of the 20th birthday of the orchestra. CPO conductor and BMF founder Yu Long gave a touching speech and called around 30 founding musicians to stand up and accept a thunderous applause.

It was also a concert to cheer the younger generation. Five soloists, who were all born in 2000, headlined the show, including countertenor Liu Shen, cellist Ouyang Nana, violinist Lin Ruifeng, pianist Ju Xiaofu and violist Yu Mingyue.

They presented segments of Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Rachmaninoff, showing their extraordinary skills and paying tribute to the orchestra and the festival.

"For me the most important debut on BMF was in 2012 when I was 12. We performed 'Noah's Flood' with Northern Ireland Opera, director Oliver Mears and conductor Nicholas Chalmers. That was one of my first operas in a very huge production," countertenor Liu Shen said.

"Every year, I come to concerts and operas because they always have the best. This year, coming back here at Poly Theater is just a thrill," Liu added.

The past two decades have seen the growth of the CPO and as well as classical music in general in China. Ranked amid the world's top 10 influential symphony orchestras by "Gramophone" magazine, the CPO has trailblazed a tough road and set the standard in China with numerous performances, recordings, commitment works, world premieres, operas and cross-over collaborations.

This celebratory concert also sounded the final note of the 23rd Beijing Music Festival, one of the few classical music events this year.

"We have such short notice with everything like every organization in the world. But we are probably the only music festival in the world that stood on to the very end," art director of the music festival Zou Shuang told CGTN.

"All the way we have explored a new form of celebrating music," Zou added, referring to the combination of online and live performances amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past 10 days, BMF presented more than 240 hours of online and offline performances, attracting more music enthusiasts than ever. As China's first professional classical music festival, it's been dedicated to promoting top quality concerts - a tradition that organizers are determined to carry on into the future.
Read more: Beijing Music Festival opens with anti-epidemic symphony

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'We were born in 2000': 23rd Beijing Music Festival concludes

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The 23rd Beijing Music Festival (BMF) has concluded with a concert by the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). It was also a celebration of the 20th birthday of the orchestra. CPO conductor and BMF founder Yu Long gave a touching speech and called around 30 founding musicians to stand up and accept a thunderous applause.

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the day term for winter solstice is every year between December 21 to December 23, it discover from the Chinese yin and yang philosophy. People will be eat tangyuan, dumplings, and rice cake to celebrate this festival because tangyuan symbolize homecoming

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double ninth festival also called Chong Yang Festival,  nowadays this festival connect traditional and modern thing together, it also a day for old people , younger people need to take care of them or take them to climb mountain and drink chrysanthemum wine, etc..

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a traditional  holiday happen on 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional  Lunar calendar. People believe that there is natural disasters and illnesses in that period

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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ants climbing a tree is a traditional classic cuisine from Sichuan China. It is important to China because a lots of people not know how to cook it, so it might be an interesting cuisine to other countries.

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This is an article and a picture of shark fin soup, shark fin soup is a traditional Chinese food that only noble people can eat it dating back to 1000 years because it is expensive, it usually makes with chicken soup or something that can add more flavor in.

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What is shark finning and why is it a problem?

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Conservationist Mark Carwardine discusses the issue of shark finning.

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black crested gibbon are forest dweller, they used their long arm to swing between trees, but most of them got extinct in China before 2006.

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CGTN Nature: Bawangling Series | Episode 1: Hainan Black-crested Gibbon

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south China tiger is the second small types of tiger, used to tramp the temperature of the southeast China. The south China tiger became more as a bother and danger animals to human, but their habitat has been damage from people too.

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it a type of pangolin,  it is important to China because the scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine. But as the wild population, Chinese pangolin had been turned down by more than  80%  in three pangolin generations

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Pangolin - the most trafficked mammal in the world

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panda was endanger animals in China but it take more economic for China because people went to the zoo to see them, and people was trying to take care of them