In the winter of the Year of the Snake, 2013, two laywomen accompanied me to Pu Tuo Mountain (普陀山), where we stayed in the Guan Yin Cave Nunnery (guan yin dong 觀音洞). At the time, the sun was

The common narrative of Chinese dynastic history is a story of the “sons of heaven” (tianzi 天子): great men (and one woman, Wu Zetian) who enforced the Mandate of Heaven until they lost it and were ove

He came from ArsakesHe came, his camel’s bells jingling, Eastwards from enigmatic Persian lands.   He descended from his royal throne, Sparrows twittering as his brick-red robe fell acr

The 2000-year-old Silk Road refers to the trade routes and transcontinental economy of Central Eurasia. However, its history is much richer when one looks into its maritime dimension. According to Cen

The Yellow Emperor liked these crystal pools, these fickle waterfalls. They trickled but they also crashed. They fell towards him, droplets outstretched, or they squeezed themselves through the stones

E.M. Forster, when discussing novels, observed that the narration of “the king died and the queen also died” was a fact, but “the king died and the queen died of sadness” was a

Since the parasol tree was believed to be appealing to the phoenix, the Chinese people venerated it as an auspicious symbol. There are records dating as early as the Book of Odes. Zheng Xuanjian of th

Looking at Chinese motifs and the values they symbolize