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A Qing historian reads the newspaper.  Commentary and observations on China and Chinese history.  

Today is the birthday of Song Dynasty über-historian Sima Guang,* born November 17, 1019, compiler and author of voluminous works including the Zizhi Tongjian (”Comprehensive Mirror on the Government”), a historical tour de force with 294 volumes and 3 million characters chronicling over a millennium of history. 
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* Same surname, but not to be confused with the Han [...]
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NPR ran a story yesterday on the 100th anniversary of the death of the Guangxu Emperor.  The report features interviews with historian Joseph Esherick, Zhu Chenru, deputy director of the National Committee for the Compilation of Qing history, and Jin Yuzhang, who is Guangxu’s nephew’s nephew, the oldest male in his generation, and, as [...]
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Good morning fellow Beijingers, you know what Chinese history is, in a minute…you’re going to here the REST of the story.
150 years ago today, in the province of Anhui, the Taiping general Chen Yucheng launched a daring attack at the key strategic point of Sanhe Zhen.
Earlier that year Chen had caused full-fledged panic in the [...]
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Sharp-eyed visitors to the Palace Museum will note the number of signs which are written in both Chinese and Manchu.  Makes sense considering who actually ruled the Qing Empire and so many of the signs at the Forbidden City look something like this:

But the signs on the main attractions, the big gates and halls [...]
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Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of The Guangxu Emperor.  The second in a line of three child emperors, Aisin-Gioro Zaitian (b. 1875) ascended the throne following the death of his cousin, Aisin Gioro Zaichun (The Tongzhi Emperor, r. 1861-1875).  I say cousin because Zaitian was the son of Prince Chun and Empress [...]
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Despite my small work and research-related hiatus, this past month Jottings from the Granite Studio had its 500th post and its 150,000th visitor.  Small time compared to Perez Hilton but not bad for a hobby.
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In the chaotic years following the dissolution of the Qing Empire, several regions formerly under Manchu control either declared independence outright or fell into a pattern of de facto independence under local rulers.  A document, a treaty between Mongolia and Τibeτ, purportedly negotiated and signed during this time, has surfaced, causing quite a stir among [...]
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China Daily reports:
Archives detailing major developments in foreign affairs between 1960 and 1965, a tumultuous time for China’s external relations, were made public on Wednesday.
Amid acute ideological differences between China and the former Soviet Union during the early 1960s, China on one hand managed to help the former Soviet Union transport aid to Vietnam during [...]
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Among the very cool history resources available on the web are the online exhibitions of historical photographs.  An increasing number of museums, universities, archives, and private collections are putting old photographs on the Internet, and as I hear about these through listservs and other means I’ll post the links here. 
The first for today is a new online collection of Xinhua News [...]
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It’s one of those wacky days in Chinese history.
Xinhua reports:
“Chinese officials led by President Hu Jintao on Tuesday marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of Liu Shaoqi, late President and Communist leader who was prosecuted and died during the Cultural Revolution.”
First of all, if they were celebrating his birthday, Hu and the boys were [...]
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