Questions tagged [china]
Generally refers to the country referred to as the People's Republic of China, a country in E Asia. With a surface area of 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). The current Capital is Beijing.
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Did China repay Soviet grain aid?
The Sino-Soviet rift/split is a complicated issue. But there can be little doubt that it was complete by mid 1963, when the «Polemics on the General Line» were released by the Chinese Communist Party.
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How did a nomadic minority group the Manchus come to rule over China?
The population of the Chinese empire was about 120 times larger than the Jurchen tribe, who later renamed themselves to Manchus. Yes, the Manchus were very skilled warriors and the late Ming dynasty ...
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What unique personal experiences contributed to the formation of Mao's brand of Communism?
Political scientists cite his personal attributes and exposure to the proletariat as synergistic in the formation of his doctrine. What particular experiences in Mao Zedong's formative years ...
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Why didn’t the Chinese leave troops behind in North Korea after the Korean War?
Why didn’t the Chinese leave a trip wire force in North Korea after the Korean War in a similar fashion to the United States leaving a trip wire force in South Korea?
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How did the Chinese Self-Criticism work in practice?
During the Maoist era often "enemies" were put through "self-criticisms" where they needed to note where they were in error and how they strayed from the party. I've seen multiple records of this in ...
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How did China deal with the Black Death during the second plague pandemic?
As far as I know, Europeans quarantined people. Sometimes neighbors sent food, and some people checked and marked houses infected by the Black Death. Sometimes corpses were burned in a mass pit, and ...
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What was the de facto rule by which the imperial title was transmitted in various Chinese dynasties?
I seek to find information about which rules or trends - if any - applied in Chinese imperial succession during different dynasties.
I found this source, but I can’t get access and what I see in the ...
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What percentage of the British Empire's economy was profits from the opium trade?
Between 1820 and 1840 the British sold a lot of Opium in China. Compared with the total size of the British Empire's economy, how big was the Opium trade?
I have an old friend who maintains that even ...
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What is the earliest archaeological evidence of silk presence in Ancient Rome?
And are there any archaeological data about silk in pre-Imperial Rome?
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To what extent was China unified?
Earlier this week, I asked the question, why was China able to unify and not Europe? I was given some very good responses that made me wonder, how unified was the government China. After all, it was ...
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When did Vladivostok become usable year-round?
Apparently some of us (myself included) were told in history class that the Russians were interested in control of Port Arthur/Dalian in part because their port at Vladivostok was not a warm water ...
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What are the flags in this Yellow Peril Cartoon from Italy?
Can somebody help me to identify the different flags in this Italian Cartoon from 1900?
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How did Chinese sausages come about?
In the west, sausages have a lengthy history. According to Wikipedia:
Evidence suggests that sausages were already popular both among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and most likely with the various ...
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What became of the daughter of Cixi‘s photographer?
„Princess“ DerLing has written several books on Empress Dowager Cixi. Her brother Xunling took the only photographs of Cixi known to me. But on some of the pictures from 1903 (example below) a little ...
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Motivation Behind the USSR Assisting China's Nuclear Program
What motivated the USSR to assist China with the development of Nuclear Weapons?
Why would the USSR want China to have this technology during the 1950s and early 1960s? What did they get out of this ...
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Did the fights in the Ip Man movie series actually occur in real life? [closed]
In a series of movies called Ip Man 1 and 2, based in WW2, a Wing Chun martial arts master called Ip Man fought with a Japanese general and a western boxer named Twister. Did these events actually ...
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What taxes were legally required to be paid in silver in Qing China?
Background
It is often argued that the following mechanism heavily contributed to the commencement of the opium trade between the Qing and British Empires (you are welcome to correct my understanding):...
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Qin's use of the number six
Writing about the Qin's ascent to power, John Keay in his popular history book China: A History mentions:
He [Shi Hunagdi] himself wore black, while his troops in black armour
issued from black-...
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What were the political beliefs of Sir Robert Hotung regarding socialism and communism?
Sir Robert Hotung Bosman, KBE JP (1862 – 1956) was a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist in British Hong Kong known as "the grand old man of Hong Kong". He has a colorful history, being the ...
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Are there any archeological finds or primary source drawings of the Chinese "blade shaped" bamboo-copter or rotary fans?
Bamboo-copter was a toy in China, dated to 400 BC. A Rotary Fan also existed in China around 180 AD. I'm interested in both of those things, as they work on the exact same principle.
Do we have any ...
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What impact does colonial legacy have on current US presence in the South China Sea dispute?
In recent years, the South China Sea has become somewhat important from a geo-political standpoint. China is building military bases, among many other things, and the US has been speaking about ...
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Why didn't Zheng He colonize the countries he explored like what the Europeans did to the New World? [closed]
Hundreds of years ago, China was more advanced than Europe and even the Ottomans. Why didn't China become a colonial master?
Ming Dynasty Zheng He went on huge shipping expeditions and could have ...
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What made Port Arthur (Manchuria) a better port for Russia than Vladivostok?
In 1897, Russia leased Port Arthur, Manchuria as a Pacific port to supplement its existing holding of Vladivostok.
Port Arthur is at about 39 degrees N. latitude; Vladivostok is at 43 degrees N. ...
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How would one have gone about setting up a business during Communist Revolutionary China?
In 1966, Mao Zedong launched a movement towards Socialism, to, solidify his power after a disastrous Great Leap Forward, called the Cultural Revolution. Though the movement moved towards a total ...
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Tarim Mummies origins and theories separating fact from fiction
Is there any conclusive evidence of where the Tarim Mummies originate from?
What were these "westerners" doing in China?
The theories I have heard are that they are the forebearers of the Kazaks or ...
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Did Jiang Baili receive a sword from Emperor Meiji for graduating first of his class?
Jiang Baili was a famous Chinese military trainer who attended the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. Some sources, including the Wikipedia article, claims that he graduated top of the class and that ...
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When were Liu Hui's mathematical works first translated into English?
I'm researching Liu Hui who lived circa 220 AD to 260 AD. He independently solved many challenging mathematical problems, and was an amazing mathematician previously unknown to me. I came across this ...
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When the Chinese were driven out of modern Vietnam in AD 938, did an Vietnamese ethnic identity already exist?
With some periods of interruption, China dominated Vietnam for more than 10 centuries between 111 BC and 938 AD. This wikipedia article and its subsidiary links spoke of sinification and shifting of ...
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How do the efforts of the Jesuits in China differ from their efforts in Japan?
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How do the efforts of the Jesuits in Ming China China differ from their efforts in Japan?
I know that when the Jesuits arrived in both countries, they started to convert people into ...
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How has Chinese GDP as a percentage of world GDP changed over time and why?
I've heard it's 33% during the Qing dinasty. 4% during cultural revolution. Now it's climbing up steadily to 11%.
Where can I see the table of those actually tracking those numbers?
What were the ...
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Why was Calcutta a node in the opium smuggling network prior to the Opium Wars in China?
As per Wikipedia's History of Kolkata page:
After the territorial conquest of Bengal in 1757, the British East India Company pursued a monopoly on production and export of opium from India. The ...
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What were China's thoughts on the possibility of a nuclear exchange, during the Cold War?
What were China's thoughts on the possibility of a nuclear exchange, during the Cold War?
We know, sorta, what the Soviets, and Americans thought, what about China?
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Why did sailing ships so often employ Chinese cooks?
During the age of sail, it was common for Western ships to employ Chinese cooks. I don't have any numbers except that there are pages and pages of relevant results from search queries including "...
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Did the US manage to eavesdrop on KMT communications during World War 2?
I was reading How frequently did the KMT use telegrams to communicate; from where (roughly) and to whom?, which contains a quote:
Following is a telegram code "dictionary" used by Japan military ...
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How and why did the "Green Gang" hold the balance of power in Shanghai in 1927?
The line ups were a bit unusual, to say the least. On one side, you have some thousands of Communist party workers (probably not well armed) loosely aligned with several hundred thousand workers. On ...
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What were Lord Macartney's original words about Chinese under the Qianlong Emperor's brutal regime in 18th century?
This is a follow-up question of Where can I find modern account of Macartney Embassy to China (1792–1794)?
After Lord Macartney returned from his mission to the Qianlong Emperor, he made a poignant ...
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Which tools were available in 1933 for the Chinese government to intervene in the money market?
I do not have profound knowledge of the Chinese banking sector in the 1930s, but, for instance,
Tamagna, Frank M. Banking and finance in China. International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific ...
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What are the best resources for studying oracle bone inscriptions?
Can someone please recommend the best resources for studying Chinese oracle bone inscriptions?
Rather than general or specific information about oracle bones, I'm looking for collections or catalogs ...
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What is the oldest excavated/discovered piece of silk textile made for clothing or writing?
Chu manuscript dating back to circa 300 B.C., middle of the Warring States era.
Mawangdui robe's dating back to ~ 200..150 B.C., beginning of the Western Han.
Do you know any older examples of silk ...
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Are Chinese and Iranian "blocky" writing styles related?
Both China and Iran have character styles that are characterized by being (at least approximately) based on a square raster and by "filling up the plane" in the sense that if you take any ...
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Why didn’t the USSR and CCP reinstate ties after Mao’s death?
With Hua Guofeng and especially Deng Xiapoing’s rise to power, why wasn’t there a thaw and rapprochement in their ties, as the main divide was the rift in ideology between the USSR and Mao’s Stalinist ...
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What was the nature of the Japanese cabinet crisis after the Battle of Taierzhuang?
According to Wikipedia, after the Japanese defeat in the Battle of Taierzhuang, "It was reported in the world's newspapers, however, and by mid-April had provoked a Cabinet crisis in Tokyo". ...
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What title did the merchants permitted to deal with Canton's 13 Factories carry?
What I know:
During the period leading up to the Opium Wars, trade into China from Europe was locked down to 13 buildings in Canton known as the 13 factories. European merchants were only permitted to ...
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How was the term "Mandate of Heaven" used during the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties?
The Mandate of Heaven (Chinese: 天命; pinyin: Tiānmìng; Wade–Giles: T'ien-ming; lit. 'Heaven's will') is a Chinese political philosophy that was used in ancient and imperial China to justify the rule of ...
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How did Taiwan participate in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58?
Wikipedia's International Geophysical Year begins:
The International Geophysical Year (IGY; French: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July ...
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Was 'Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns' published in 1303, and how do we know?
Wikipedia gives the date for Chinese mathematician Zhu Shijie's Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns (四元玉鉴, Siyuan yujian) as 1303, citing
Elman, Benjamin A. (2005). On their own terms science in China, ...
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Did Mao Zedong and Chinese communists collude with the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War?
Whilst answering another question on in which the CCP was militarily involved in the Sino-Japanese War, To what extent did the CPC avoid fighting with the Japanese? I came across groundbreaking and ...
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Was there anyone involved in the negotiations of New Territories (Hong Kong) lease still alive at the time of the negotiations of its return to China?
As well explained by this answer, I know the usual confusion among the previous cession in perpetuity of Hong Kong versus the lease of the neighboring New Territories.
For all effects, China got the ...
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What were conditions like for Chinese men subject to recruitment by the army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War?
In several accounts, it is claimed that conditions of men being recruited by the Chinese army were comparable to those in Nazi death camps. Are such accounts hyperbolic or largely accurate?
Thunder ...
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Did either Chinese government (Beijing or Taipei) operate an administrative structure in the Kowloon Walled City at any time between 1898 and 1994?
The Kowloon Walled City was a 6-acre enclave in Hong Kong that was accepted by the British authorities during the time of British rule over Hong Kong as being under de jure Chinese sovereignty. One of ...
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