Search Results: Wen jiabao

The Mandate of Heaven (Tianming), also known as Heaven's Mandate, was the divine source of authority and the right to rule of China's early kings and then emperors. The ancient god or divine force known as Heaven or Sky selected a particular...

The Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE) was the second dynasty of Imperial China (the era of centralized, dynastic government, 221 BCE - 1912 CE) which established the paradigm for all succeeding dynasties up through 1912 CE. It succeeded the...

Chinese literature is among the most imaginative and interesting in the world. The precision of the language results in perfectly realized images whether in poetry or prose and, as with all great literature, the themes are timeless. The Chinese...

Wuzong of Tang (also Wu-Tsung, formerly Li Yan) reigned as emperor of China from 840 to 846 CE. He is best remembered today for his persecution of Buddhists, the worst such attack in all of China's history, and his early death by insanity...

The emperors of ancient China had tremendous power and responsibility. Called the 'Son of Heaven', he (and once she) was given a divine right to rule over all people but was expected to promote their best interest and not his own. An absolute...

Dragons appear in the mythology of many ancient cultures but nowhere else in the world was the creature quite so revered as in China. There, in marked contrast to other world mythologies, the dragon was almost always seen in a positive light...

An idealised portrait of King Wen of Zhou (11th century BCE), the first Chinese ruler to claim the Mandate of Heaven. Ming Period illustration.

A portrait of Chinese Emperor Wen of Wei (507-551 CE). 7th century CE Scroll of Thirteen Emperors. (Boston Museum of Fine Arts, USA)

This is a rubbing of a scene found in the Wu family shrines which depicts King Wen, founder of the Zhou Dynasty, lasting from 1046 to 256 BCE. Currently, it is a part of the Cyrus Tang Hall of China exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago...

Since the appearance of "world history" as an academic subgenre in the 1990s, the Silk Road has received considerable attention. The causes behind this focus of scholarly attention are not difficult to understand. For those seeking an alternate...