Li Ling: Marxism, the CCP, and Traditional Chinese Culture
Li Ling is a historian and a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature,...
cultural heritage
Mogao Buddhist Caves Face a New Threat: Tourists
The Mogao Caves in Gansu’s historic city of Dunhuang are a trove of Buddhist and Silk Road...
Auction Houses in China: Christie’s vs. PLA
Licensed to operate in mainland China earlier this year, the auction house Christie’s has...
Ancient Morality Text Updated for Young
China has updated the ’24 Filial Exemplars’, an ancient morality text, to promote filial piety among the new generation. From Tania Branigan at The Guardian: The original 24 Filial Exemplars date from around the 14th...
Notes from a Chinese Cave: Qigong’s Quiet Return
In the New York Review of Books, Ian Johnson writes about his experiences on a ten-day qigong retreat in a cave: In November, I came to Jinhua with about 400 others on a ten-day retreat to study with Wang Liping, probably...
China’s Cultural Assault From Within
The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos digs beneath the surface of a recent essay and speech written by Chinese President Hu Jintao, which called on China to boost cultural production to combat Western efforts to divide the country:...
China’s President Pushes Back Against Western Culture (Updated)
Last year’s CCP Central Committee plenum focused on “cultural reform” and the main document released after the session was titled, “Central Committee Decision Concerning the Major Issue of Deepening Cultural...
Fate of Old Beijing: Videos and Slideshows
China Green features a series of videos and slideshows exploring Beijing’s disappearing hutongs. In the face of China’s rapid modernization, the world’s most populous country is struggling to preserve its cultural...
Confucius Shows Up on China’s Tiananmen Square
Another indication that Confucius is making a major comeback in China: His statue now gazes out upon Tiananmen Square. From AFP: A mammoth sculpture of the ancient philosopher Confucius was unveiled this week off one side of the...
Silk Craft Fades in Village That Clothed Emperors
The New York Times reports on a declining craft in Zhejiang: Few products are as synonymous with China as silk. And for a time, no name was as synonymous with quality silk as Jili. In 1851, when the first World Expo, then called...
What Remains of Kashgar’s Old City?
Far West China has posted a map, created by Stefan Geens, showing the scale of the destruction of old Kashgar: A favorite destination among tourists and a symbol for infuriated activists, the Old City that has survived multiple...
Carrying the Spear (and Dagger) for a Fading Art Form
Like much of old Beijing, Peking Opera is now rapidly fading into history. The New York Times reports on the fight to keep it alive: This modest and slightly shabby theater is part of the Beijing Opera Academy, in a neighborhood...
Rival Museums Retrace Route of China’s Imperial Treasures
The New York Times reports on a joint project by the Palace Museum in Beijing and the National Palace Museum in Taipei to research the stashing and protection of cultural relics during the 1930s and 40s: The original Palace...
Sam Crane: Beauty and Power on China’s Silk Road
Sam Crane travels the Silk Road in a piece for Kyoto Journal: Today, Dunhuang is a major tourist destination, especially popular with Japanese, Koreans and Southeast Asians. It is a highlight of any contemporary Silk Road...
Culture’s Long March from Revolution to Crises
From the English version of Caixin: Flames of the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 consumed many but also engendered a skeptical generation that’s marched along a winding road of Chinese cultural change for the past...
Facelift for Old Summer Palace
From Global Times: The 303-year-old Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, will have a new theme park and a culture square on its periphery, according to urban plan-ning authorities. “The adjacent neighborhoods around the...
Ancient Wisdom of Confucius Reverberates in Modern China
Confucianism is making a comeback among China’s elite. From the Washington Post: A revival of interest in Confucius and other aspects of what Mao Zedong vilified as China’s noxious feudal past has been underway for...
Stunning Chinese Temple Art Hidden from Public Eye
The Wall Street Journal has a video report on rarely seen Taoist temple paintings in remote Shanxi: In China’s Temple of Eternal Happiness is a stunning, ancient wall mural seen by few people because of its remote location...
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