China Guide 2008

The Naxi tribe is one of China’s most interesting ethnic minorities. Scattered mainly around Yunnan Province, with small settlements in Sichuan and Tibet, they were first visited by Western ethnologists in the early part of the 20th century and have been studied and written about ever since. There are about 280,000 Naxi and most live in Lijiang Autonomous County in northwest Yunnan.

The Naxi have a culture that’s rich and diverse with their own music, art and most unique of all, their thousand-year-old pictographic writing system which is similar to hieroglyphics. The Naxi language is also the only remaining pictographic written language in use. (more…)

Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian characters were invented over 5,000 years ago and have gone through golden ages of development and use, but only the ancient Chinese characters have survived the test of time and continue to be used.

Ancient Chinese people used simple pictographs to record events or record notes before the Chinese characters were invented. Over time, the pictographs became simplified to a basic outline and developed designs and meanings; this led to the beginning of pictographic characters. By the BC14th century a mature system of characters called jiaguwen (jiǎgŭwén 甲骨文) had developed. About 6,000 characters have been found inscribed on bones and tortoise shells, recording in detail the activities of sacrificial ceremonies and divinations. Most of these characters are pictographs, but the beginning of ideographs and phonographs can be seen. Ideographs and phonographs are more advanced than simple pictographs as they represent abstract ideas and sounds. (more…)

Prized for their fine wool, the Tibetan antelope population was ravaged by the 20th century due to over hunting and poaching. The Chinese government is urgently trying to stop the poaching – and numbers seem to be slowly rising.

Pantholops hodgsoni is found only on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, “the roof of the world.” These graceful animals are 1.2m tall and the males have 50cm horns giving them a similar appearance to a gazelle. The antelope grazes 4,500m above sea level and sports a specially evolved coat to deal with the extreme cold.

However, their coat is also their curse. The fiber is a fifth of the thickness of human hair and was named “shahtoosh,” or “king of wools” by Persians and “ring shawls” made from the wool have been popular for over a century. (more…)

Some basic etiquette rules that should be followed when in Tibet include:

Never touch the head of a Tibetan, the head is considered a sacred part of the body.

Show proper respect in the temples, don’t wear noisy shoes, drink alcohol, smoke or make unnecessary noise.

Don’t put your arms around someone’s shoulders.

When visiting a temple, follow the pilgrims and circle the temple clockwise, never counter-clockwise. (more…)

Princess Wencheng is the most beloved queen in Tibetan history. A beautiful and intelligent woman, she brought the Tibetans many of the scientific and agricultural advances of the Tang dynasty and is also credited with the introduction of Buddhism into the region. Born the daughter of a courtier, Wencheng became royal only later in life. Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty needed to find a bride for King Songtsen Gampo, the new ruler of the Tubo Kingdom (Tibet), and smart and pretty Wencheng seemed an ideal match. She was conferred the title of princess and sent west.

In AD 641, she set out from Chang’an, capital of the Tang dynasty, accompanied by envoys from both sides where they met King Songtsen Gampo in Baihai (Qinghai province). The delighted king ordered the construction of a nuptial palace by the Zhaling and E-ling lakes. They were married and honeymooned in the mountain valleys further towards Tibet. (more…)

Born in Texas in 1893, Claire Lee Chennault was to play a crucial part in China’s struggle against Japanese occupation during the 1940’s. His successes would not only win him the respect of the Chinese people, but also change the history of air warfare

Originally a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, he was forced to retire when he was 44 years old because of poor health and a stubborn insistence that fighter planes should be used to intercept incoming bombers – something that ran counter to the military wisdom of the day. Madame Chiang Kai-shek, however, had faith in Chennault, and in 1937 she recruited him to train and advise the newly formed Chinese Air Force.

Not long after he arrived in China, war against the Japanese broke out and Chennault’s theories were put to the test. In early missions his planes performed well against unescorted Japanese bombers, but the Japanese responded quickly by sending out cutting-edge fighters. Chennault’s rickety biplanes were no match for the agile Mitsubishi A5M; and so together with the rest of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces, they were forced to retreat 2,000 miles up the Yangtze River from Nanjing to Chongqing. (more…)

Matteo Ricci, who lived from 1552 to 1610, was an Italian Jesuit priest who struggled for 30 years to bring Christianity to China. Few missionaries have ever managed to win the respect of Chinese officials, but Ricci managed to gain the confidence and admiration of the emperor himself.

In the 16th century all traces of earlier missions to China had vanished. The Nestorians of the 7th century and Catholic monks of the 13th and 14th centuries had been forgotten and the few priests who were admitted into the country were ignored, or worse, punished for their proselytizing.

Coming to Guangzhou through the Portuguese enclave of Macau, Ricci realized that he would have to study China’s language and customs if he was to have any success spreading the gospel. He also shaved his head to appear similar to a Buddhist monk hoping this would eliminate other obstructions to his preaching. (more…)

Xuan Zang (Xuán Zàng  玄奘), who lived from AD 602 to 664 was the most famous Buddhist philosopher of the Tang dynasty. His epic journey to India made possible Chinese translations of some of the most important Buddhist texts, as well as providing the inspiration for the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West (xī yóu jì  西游记) and its stories of a brave pilgrim and mythical Monkey King.

Interested in the life of a Buddhist monk from an early age, Xuan Zang was ordained a priest when he was only 13 years old. He joined a monastery in Chang’an (now Xi’an) that was translating Indian scriptures, but was disappointed by the quality and accuracy of the works available. He decided that an expedition to the home of Buddhism was the best recourse to resolve contradictions he found in the Chinese translations. In AD 627 he set off on foot to India. He was only 26 and would not return for 18 years. (more…)

Zheng He was a Muslim admiral of one of the greatest fleets in Chinese history and perhaps world history. Born to a poor family in southwest China, Zheng was captured by the Ming army as a young boy and became a eunuch. Quickly rising up the ranks, he was eventually given command of the navy after Emperor Chengzu seized power. What followed were voyages of exploration that took Chinese “treasure ships” all over the globe.

From 1405, they visited Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Java, Ceylon, India, Persia, Arabia, the Red Sea as far as Egypt and parts of east Africa. Tributes and envoys were carried back to China from more than 30 countries and naval charts of unparalleled accuracy were drawn. (more…)

Qin Shihuang, who lived from 259 to 210 BC, was the cunning first Emperor of a unified China. His brilliant military victories and political stratagems ended the Warring States period, time of disunity and upheaval. To consolidate his power, he embarked on construction projects of astonishing size and grandeur – the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall are all linked to him.

He became King of Qin when he was only 13 years old, but it wasn’t until he was in his thirties that he finally managed to defeat six other rival states and bring China under centralized control. He divided his new kingdom into 36 counties which were subdivided into prefectures. The local military and administrative leaders were all personally appointed by him.

Deciding his own achievements had surpassed those of previous rulers, he renamed himself Shi Huangdi. Shi means first, and Huang and Di were titles of earlier kings – together it came to mean “The First Emperor,” today he’s known as Qin Shihuang. (more…)