Hello!! I'm a writer that is using different ancient cultures to create fictional countries. I have already did my research on Viking history and now I'm moving on to ancient China.

I know that China is a country is a big timeline of history (my country is the same) and what I'm looking for is to know the cultural customs, how society functions, political systems and stuff like that. I'm also using mythology, but that part I have it sort it out.

So my questions are: 1) which ancient china dynasty is cool to search about? and 2) books about ancient china that give the history but also customs, societies etc.

Was it a severe downfall, did they simply assimilate into everyday society, or something in between? How quickly did they lose their wealth?

https://youtu.be/3lMHs5Ti9uQ?t=139

This Chinese university professor said that only about 40% of population can keep warm and don't have to endure hunger (during Tang XuanZong's reign in northwest). How to find out more information like this for other dynasties?

It seems that official history predominantly recorded people either working for or against the government. How to find out how ordinary people lived and their stories? There was a story during Han Wendi's reign where a young girl followed her convicted father to the capital to save him (緹縈救父). How to find out stories like this in later dynasties?

Yuwen Yong, Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, died in 578 at thirty-six. In 2024 a team sequenced him from his tomb and reconstructed his face from the DNA.

He was Xianbei, a steppe people who ruled northern China, and the genome showed him as a mix of Northeast Asian steppe and Yellow River farmer ancestry — which fitted the historical record of intermarriage rather better than some expected.

There is also a medical footnote: the data supports the old suggestion that he died of a stroke, and hints at the skin condition chroniclers described.

As far as I know he is one of very few named emperors anywhere with a published genome.

Attached here is a genetic heatmap of modern people sharing similarity with his genotype and his genetic profile.

I bought it at a flea market/yard sale for a few dollars. Either way, I like it.

Found these in a store until that hadn’t been touched in 10 years. They are pretty heavy. Any significance?

Was Qianlong a traditionalist or modernist? He pushed for the dominance of the Manchus but was deeply into technology, that might surpass the idea of Bannerman hierarchy and monarchy in general.

Hello! I was wondering if anybody knew where I could find an English translation for the Xu Zizhi Tongjian Changbian? I have translated a volume or two myself just utilizing Google Translate, which can take a very long time and isn’t always totally accurate. I was also interested in knowing whether or not the Xu Zizhi Tongjian Changbian is more accurate than the Song Shi, or vice versa? I’ve read a majority of the first part of the Song Shi off the 24 Histories website, and have been using that as my primarily form of research along with the Apple Store version of the book (which is a much poorer English translation and just harder to read than the one on the website). I’ve cross referenced some facts with the translated years I’ve done from the Xu Zizhi Tongjian Changbian, but I’m worried that my translations may make some information I’ve gathered unsure or different between the two texts.

Traditionally in China's civil wars, in order not to let the enemy use anything, they carried out the ultimate Scorched earth operation called 堅壁清野(jiān bì qīng yě).

When Chinese troops withdrew, in order not to give anything to the enemy troops chasing, they burned houses, bridges and looted food and whatever, who could be the enemy's collaborators (China created the anti-Japan propaganda, so-called Sankou, which is "Kill all, Burn all, Loot all" policy, based on this). The KMT took this strategy against both Japan and CCP.

KMT fearing JIA carried out scorched earth operation in the city without prior notice to the citizens. More than 30,000 people lost their lives during the fire. 

Changsha Fire in November 1938

Hello, I’ll arrive in Beijing tomorrow and am looking forward to finding books about ancient Chinese myths, such as dragons, as well as books about ancient dynasties, particularly the Xia dynasty.

I'm hoping to find books in English, since I’ve had a hard time finding them in Europe.

Do you have any recommendations?

Edit: "Why do some Koreans see the Qing as a Manchu dynasty rather than a Chinese one?"

I am Korean, and my high school history teacher told me that Qing was not the history of China; it was the history of the Manchus. Although it inherited the culture and bureaucratic system of the Ming dynasty, the ruling royal family was the Manchus, and it was more of a multiethnic Eurasian empire than a Chinese dynasty. They explained it like that, but a Chinese friend I know said that the Ming and Qing dynasties were the same country, which made me curious—why are people's perceptions of history so different from country to country..

I struggle to find anything good Mao Zedong did that he himself was truly needed for. Was he a good fighter? Was he truly instrumental in keeping the Communists united during the Long March and Civil War that the Communists wouldn't survive without him? What did Mao do that another Communist member could not?

Any leader could have built basic infrastructure and do basic administration. What did he do post war that a Chiang Kai Shek or Zhou/Deng/Liu couldn't do? He is also responsible for disaster of the Great Leap Forward and then started the Cultural Revolution where didn't even handle any administrative or economic governance for the period.

All in all, Mao does not seem like someone who is particularly competent in anything but is revered as a great leader. Was Mao Zedong actually important and do anything well or did he just take credit?

Asking because I'm currently in college and doing a presentation about organizational leadership. Title is exactly what it says; how was power consolidated to go from a loose faction of guerilla militias in their individual rural villages into a structured military meant to last as a professional standing army? What was that transition like?

So I have been watching a lot of tiktok AI chinese drama. And a couple of series mentioned indentured servants being "sold". I am nor sure if this os a translation error but what is the status of them, especially those who live with their boss at home? But there was one where the new concubine replaced all the servants with servants loyal to her. There is another one when the main wife gave silvers akin to modern day bonuses. So what is their status? Can they marry? Do they have their own house? Do they serve a family for life?