South China Sea: Did you mean...?

The Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE) was a brief one with only two reigning emperors but it managed to unify China following the split of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period. As had happened previously in Chinese history, a short-lived dynasty...

The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China in 130 BCE, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE. The Silk Road was not a single route...

Empress Wu Zetian (Empress Consort Wu, Wu Hou, Wu Mei Niang, Mei-Niang, and Wu Zhao, l. 624-705 CE, r. 690-704 CE) was the only female emperor of Imperial China. She reigned during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and was one of the most effective...

In ancient China warfare was a means for one region to gain ascendancy over another, for the state to expand and protect its frontiers, and for usurpers to replace an existing dynasty of rulers. With armies consisting of tens of thousands...

Relations between ancient Japan and China have a long history, and in certain periods the exchange of political, religious and cultural practices between the two was intense. China, the much older state and the more developed, passed on to...

Ancient China had seen little Western contact before the 16th century CE, the language, culture and science all being allowed to develop independently of foreign influence. By the time European Jesuit missionaries arrived in the 16th century...

Ancient China was often connected to the rest of the world through trade, not only along the famous Silk Road but also via merchant ships that sailed the Indian Ocean, connecting East Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Silk, paper...

Zheng Yi (also Cheng I, Ching Yih, Cheng Yao-I, Cheng Wen-Hsien, or Cheng Yud) was a Chinese pirate who lived from 1765 to 1807. Operating in the South China Sea, Zheng Yi famously led a 600-ship pirate confederation. This force of more than...

In the 13th century, astonishing quantities of spices and silk passed from the Far East to Europe. Exact amounts are not known, but spice popularity in both cuisine and medicine reached its historical peak during the Middle Ages in Europe...

In Greek mythology, Amphitrite is a goddess and the feminine personification of the sea. She is the wife of the Greek sea god, Poseidon, and lives with him in a golden palace beneath the sea. As the daughter of Nereus and Doris, she is one...