Members of a Beijing diving club had the chance to experience China's Great Wall in a way few others have by exploring a section of the landmark that was submerged in the cloudy waters of a reservoir. There is no doubting that the Great Wall of Chin...
By Robert Raffaele Washington 02 May 2008 The U.S. Commerce Department says soaring prices for food, gas, and other everyday needs pushed consumer spending higher than expected Wall Street enjoyed an upswing Thursday, despite mixed economic news conc...
When the British arrived at the emperor's summer residence, they were lavishly entertained and spent days touring its beautiful parks and temples. Macartney(马戛尔尼), a good Englishman and loyal...
The new Manchu dynasty tried something different with their neighbors, diplomacy. Here in their lovely Summer Palace, they greeted delegations from all over the Eastern world. Attendance was compulsor...
The tombs all followed the same basic design, a temple in front and a walled enclosure with the underground tomb behind. Because Wanli(万历) ruled for so long, he constructed a huge tomb. And in 195...
Here on a steep slope, defensive walls rise in steps up to the watchtower. So if the enemy did make it to the top of the wall, the crucial watchtowers could be fiercely defended. The watchtowers thems...
With the Mongols expelled, the new rulers, the Ming emperors, were determined that an invasion would never happen again. And so in 1368, when Europe was being decimated by the Black Plague(黑死病, 鼠...
In summer, dried-up river valleys offered easy invasion routes for horsemen bent on sacking the rich Chinese towns of the plains. And this is why these passes were heavily fortified, even though they...
The Tang(唐) armies controlled vast areas on both sides of the Great Wall. So it was no longer needed as a defense and it fell into ruin. To maintain order in the steppes, the Tang preferred to make...
So when they left the sheltering walls of Dunhuang(敦煌), heading for the desert that local people referred to as "go in and you will not come out". They knew they had a little extra spiritual prote...
