Jottings from the Granite Studio

A Qing historian reads the newspaper…

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China Daily: The "debate" over Zheng He

July 18th, 2007 · 1 Comment

It’s another of those cherished myths–that Ming Dynasty explorer Zheng He made his way as far as the coasts of North America and Europe. It does a lot for Chinese national pride and it has certainly made Gavin Menzies a well-known and wealthy author. He’s become something of a strawman in China history circles, but [...]

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Tags: Chinese History

This date in history: The bloody fall of the the Taiping capital

July 18th, 2007 · 1 Comment

On this date in 1864, Zeng Guoquan, the brother of the late-Qing statesman and official, Zeng Guofan, ordered his engineers to blow a section of the wall surrounding the Taiping capital, Tianjing (Nanjing). The wall caved and government troops charged into the city. The Taipings gave some resistance but soon Nanjing was in complete chaos [...]

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Tags: this week in history