Chinese history: Did you mean...?

The Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival is celebrated either on the night of the 14th or the 15th day (depending on where you live in China), of the seventh month of the lunar year, known in the West as August. In other...

The art of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) began to explore new possibilities in materials and styles with landscape painting and ceramics, in particular, coming to the fore. New techniques, a wider range of colours and an increase in connoisseurship...

Our CEO Jan van der Crabben writes about the organization's history for its 10th anniversary in 2019 (when it was still called Ancient History Encyclopedia). Ancient History Encyclopedia just turned ten! On 25 August 2009, we officially...

Between 850 BCE and 1600 CE, great civilizations thrived in Africa, yet few non-Africans have learned about them. While some may be familiar with the achievements of ancient Egypt, most of our knowledge of African history is tainted by the...

The Supreme August Jade Emperor is the supreme deity of Chinese tradition and is otherwise known as Yuhuang Shangdi (Yu-huang Shang-ti), Yudi (Yu Ti) or Mr. Heaven (Lao-t'ien ye). He governs the cosmos and resides in a magnificent palace...

A servant statue, Western Han Period (206 BCE – 9 CE). Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France.

A detail of a roof from the Forbidden Cty, Beijing. In ancient Chinese architecture the yellow tiles, curved roof, and dragon acroteria were all typical features of imperial buildings.

A Chinese pig-dragon sculpture. China, probably Yunnan Province, Yuan dynasty, 1279-1368. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Although Thanksgiving celebrations dated back to the first European settlements in America, it was not until the 1860s that Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be a national holiday.

Wako (aka wokou and waegu) is a term used to refer to Japanese (but also including Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese) pirates who plagued the seas of East Asia from Korea to Indonesia, especially between the 13th and 17th centuries CE. Besides...