One Dream Thousands of Years

With the start of the new school year, this time we'd like to share a true story from Chinese history for kids. It is about a boy using his ingenuity to solve  a difficult practical problem.  Nearly two thousand years ago (around 200 A.D.), in the country of China, there lived a boy named Cao Chong . His father Cao Cao was the King of China. When Chong was six years old, a foreign guest brought an elephant from a distant land to the courtyard of the palace as a gift to Chong’s father.  Chong was very excited to see an elephant for the first time, since there was no elephant where he grew up. All the people in the court were amazed by the gigantic size of the elephant. A man with strong arms and legs tried to lift one leg of the elephant, but it moved not an inch. “I bet the elephant is really heavy.” Someone in the crowd shouted, I will give my precious marble to whoever knows exactly how heavy this wonderful beast is.”  The King turned to the guest wh...

Fan Li (范蠡) wore many hats: he was a prominent politician, a military strategist, and a successful merchant in the State of Yue during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 B.C.). (See our map of Chinese states in the Spring and Autumn period ) He was not best known as a military strategist because of the galaxy of brilliant strategists serving at the courts of each Chinese state at his time, but rather was mostly renowned for his unparalleled political acumen and business savvy. The highlight of his political career came when he served as an advisor to Goujian (remember The King of Swords post?), the king of Yue, and helped him conquer the powerful neighboring state of Wu against all odds. At the pinnacle of his success, to the surprise of the king and his colleagues, he chose to resign and decided to make a living as a merchant. He explained to his best friend and political ally about this decision with an analogy. "When the cunning hare is killed, the fleet hound goes int...

Today's post features the most famous bronze sword of ancient China. Figure 1: The Sword of Goujian, Hubei Provincial Museum You may have seen many ancient swords in museums all around the world, yet this one remains the most distinctive in many ways. Firstly, it is one of the oldest of its kind in the world, dating back to the late Spring and Autumn period ( 770–476 B.C.). Throughout this period as China remained politically fragmented with dozens of states competing for dominance, the state of Yue on the southeast coast (today's Zhejiang Province) was renowned for making the best bronze swords. The Sword of Goujian, named after its owner, the most accomplished king of Yue, is the cream of the crop. Figure 2: The chronological timeline from  Liangzhu  (Neolithic Age) to Eastern Zhou Dynasty (end of Bronze Age) Figure 3: The map of Chinese states in the Spring and Autumn period The second special feature of this sword lies in the fact that it was s...

The story of   Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (Butterfly Lovers)   originated in Jiang Nan of China. Where is Jiang Nan? "Jiang Nan" is neither a province nor a city. In Mandarin Chinese, "Jiang" means river and "Nan" means south. "Jiang Nan" refers to a geographic area in China that sits right on the Yangtze River delta. It centers around the Lake Tai and comprises cities of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing, Shaoxing, Zhenjiang, Wuxi, Huzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, Changzhou, Jiaxing in a narrowly sense. From the earliest Hemudu Culture (around 5000 to 4000 BC) to the most prosperous region in today's China, we invite you to explore the history, culture, and art of "Jiang Nan" with our original illustrations through the first series of our blog. Top: Map of China (The area in the rectangle is Jiang Nan); Bottom: Map of Jiang Nan -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

1700 years ago in China, education was a privilege to men. Zhu Yingtai, a young girl from a wealthy family in Zhejiang Province, longed for knowledge and convinced her family to allow her to pursue education disguised as a man. She went to a private school in Hangzhou where she met Liang Shanbo, a young man who later became her roommate and the very best friend. For three years, they studied together and Zhu gradually fell in love with Liang. However, as nerdy as he is, Liang never suspected for once that Zhu was indeed a woman.  When Zhu turned 18, her family abruptly called her back and arranged her marriage to Ma Wencai, a man from another wealthy family in the nearby village. Despite their unwillingness to separate, Liang saw Zhu off at the Duan Bridge ("Duan" means broken in Chinese) on the West Lake in Hangzhou. Zhu hinted Liang that she was actually a woman but how could Liang get it given that no woman at that time were allowed to attend school. ...