The Golden Recipe for the Plague

Since ancient times, plagues have appeared when the morality of society was generally low. Every time, some people were exposed to the plague, but they did not get infected. How was this possible? The royal prescription for the plague A royal chef, who returned to his hometown after retiring from working for the emperor, had ...

Helen London

A Chinese building on a river.

How Formal Education in China Was Ruined by Communism

Before 1949, Chinese society, especially university education in China under the Republic of China, enjoyed intellectual freedom under the stewardship of Sun Yat-sen, the Beiyang government, and Chiang Kai-shek. There were three noteworthy types of Chinese universities in the Republic of China. The first type was government-sponsored universities, such as Peking University and Central University. ...

Helen London

Chiang Kai-shek.

New Year Reunion Dinner in Taiwan

Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival (chūn jié 春節), is the most important festival for Taiwanese people, and the Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner is the most essential part of the festival. Commonly referred to as the “reunion dinner (nián yè fàn年夜飯, or tuán yuán fàn 團圓飯),” the ...

Billy Shyu

Modern Africans and Europeans Have More Neanderthal Ancestry Than Previously Thought

When the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced, using DNA collected from ancient bones, it was accompanied by the discovery that modern humans in Asia, Europe, and America inherited approximately 2 percent of their DNA from Neanderthals — proving humans and Neanderthals had interbred after humans left Africa. Since that study, new methods have continued to catalog ...

Troy Oakes

Neanderthals interbred.

Norimitsu Odachi: The Mysterious Giant Sword of Okayama

Imagine swinging a sword longer than the height of an average human. The famous Norimitsu Odachi sword at the Kibitsu shrine in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, is the perfect specimen of such a weapon. Made in the 15th century CE, experts are still not sure whether such weapons were used for battle or as a showcase of ...

Armin Auctor

European Companies Not Profiting From China’s Belt and Road Initiative

A survey by the European Chamber of Commerce has shown that China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) is not benefiting European companies. The study indicates that China’s state-owned companies are favored over foreign competitors, with European companies often given short shrift in the bidding process. To date, only 20 out of 132 such firms said ...

Jack Roberts

European countries left our of China's Belt and Road Initiative.

A Chinese Tribe That Makes Clothing From Fish

You most likely have worn clothes made from cotton and wool. But have you ever seen a dress made from fish skins? Such clothing from fish does exist and it is still made by a remote Chinese tribe called the Hezhen. Clothing from fish In the 1990s, the Chinese government launched a census to identify ...

Raven Montmorency

A Hezhen tribe member.

Exploring the Interiors of Mongolia Like a Nomad

When visiting Mongolia, many people tend to keep to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and other urban regions. But beyond these areas lie the interiors where grasslands, deserts, and the lives of the nomads can give you a very unique experience of life. Mongolian interiors Nomads typically live in a ger, which is a structure ...

Raven Montmorency

Mongolian nomads in their dwelling.

Chinese Government Now Forcing Uyghurs to Use Sinicized Furniture

In what seems like a bizarre demand, the Chinese regime is now asking the Uyghur Islamic community from Xinjiang to replace their traditional décor with “Sinicized” ones. According to some, this is being done to benefit entrepreneurs from the majority Han community. Sinicizing furniture “Authorities in the XUAR (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) allocated more than ...

Max Lu

A Uyghur father and son sharing with a friend.