See China

Queen Sheba’s visit to the court of Solomon is a familiar story from the Old Testament; It is probably not so well known that Muslims in various parts of the Middle East have their own versions of the story, as did pre-islam Ethiopians. In some versions, the Queen is said to have hairy legs, or [...]

Around 600BC in the Spring-Autumn era, a coalition army led by the Duke of Qi appeared on the border of Chu state, whose emissary quickly appeared on the scene to challenge the army’s presence “our respective circles are north and south; we have no entanglement with each other; for what cause do you come?”, and [...]

Do city people eat artificial rice? How can you find your home in your city where all houses look alike? If a student acts naughty in class in the city, will the teacher see it from the computer? How do you ride a plane? Do you sit on its wings or in its belly? These are some of the 100 questions written by primary pupils from remote Chinese countryside in Yunnan province.

Treasure not the golden thread suit; treasure more your time of youth Pluck straight the blooming flower - it begs to be; not till it wilts on an empty branch 劝君莫惜金缕衣，劝君惜取少年时。 花开堪折直须折，莫待无花空折枝 A poem recorded by the Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu, a contemporary of  Li Shangyin, in honour Du Qiuniang (who might have been the author), who was once [...]

 Once upon a time, the mulberry was an important plant in both eastern and western culture; the nursery rhyne “Here we go round the mulberry bush” so similar to the may pole dance, is what remains of an old pagan fertility ritual; mulberry was once the plant associated with Minerva/Athena, the Roman/Greek goddess of wisdom, [...]

Laotsu Bhodidharma I am not a follower of Tao or Zen – in fact, if I were, then by the stringent ideas of these creeds, I would not even be writing this article: according to one, you should be achieving the understanding that my article tries to pass on through your own meditative efforts, while according [...]

Round heaven – square earth is an ancient and long lasting concept in China, so is the concept of yin and yang. The Book of Change has the passage “The Ultimate brings about two Aspects; the two Aspects bring about four Appearances; the four Appearances bring about the eight Representations”.

In the Spring-Autum Chronical of Zuo Qiuming an obscure entry dated around 640BC says: Lord Zang of Zheng liked to collect snipe feather hats; Duke Wen was offended, and ordered to have him assassinated. Why should a mere sartorial preference produce such a drastic outcome? We have to go back another 3000 years to find the answer.

European cultures have just a vague notion of the phoenix, being a mythological bird that is reborn in the fire. West Asia has a more specific notion: the phoenix is a bird associated with fire, but has its rebirth on the tree of life, which happens to be a palm – the tree of life [...]

  the origin The idea of the dragon arose from snake fertility worship. The story of Eve and the serpent showed that (a) Eve, the mother figure of the Hebrew tribe, could talk to the snake, meaning that the tribe had an affinity to the snake (b) The serpent taught Eve and Adam to have [...]