For more than fifteen hundred years—from the second century BC until the rise of oceanic maritime empires in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD—the great civilizations of East Asia, South Asia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Mediterranean basin were bound together by a sprawling, four-thousand-mile network of overland caravan tracks and sea lanes known to history as the Silk Road. Far from being a single paved highway, this shifting web of desert oases and high mountain passes functioned as the pre-modern world’s internet: moving not only bolts of shimmering Chinese silk, Roman blown glass, and Central Asian warhorses, but also paper, gunpowder, mathematics, world religions, and pandemic diseases across Eurasia.
Definition: Why Baron von Richthofen Named It “Seidenstraße”
Interestingly, no merchant or traveler walking from Chang’an (modern Xi’an) to Antioch in antiquity ever used the term “Silk Road.” The name was coined in 1877 by the pioneering German geographer and traveler Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, who used the German terms Seidenstraße (singular, “Silk Road”) and Seidenstraßen (plural, “Silk Routes”) to describe the interconnected network of trans-Eurasian trade trails.
Geographically, the overland Silk Road split and reconnected to navigate around some of the most forbidding terrain on planet Earth:
The Hexi Corridor and the Taklamakan Loop: Departing the imperial Chinese capital of Chang’an, caravans threaded the narrow Hexi (“West of the Yellow River”) Corridor beside the Great Wall before reaching Dunhuang, where the trail split into Northern and Southern branches to skirt the lethal, shifting sand dunes of the Taklamakan Desert.
Crossing the Roof of the World: Reconverging at the oasis market city of Kashgar, travelers had to climb fifteen-thousand-foot icy passes over the Pamir, Tian Shan, and Hindu Kush mountains before descending into the legendary merchant cities of Central Asia (Transoxiana): Samarkand, Bukhara, and Merv.
The Western Termini and Maritime Silk Road: From Persia and Mesopotamia, goods traveled onward to Mediterranean ports like Antioch, Tyre, Alexandria, and Constantinople—supplemented to the south by a booming Maritime Silk Road connecting Chinese ports across the South China Sea and Indian Ocean to India, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea.
Causes: Why Emperor Wu Sent Zhang Qian West for “Heavenly Horses”
What caused the Silk Road to open officially around 130 BC? Not a desire to sell silk to Rome, but an urgent Chinese military survival crisis! During the early Western Han Dynasty, China’s northern borders were relentlessly raided by the Xiongnu, a powerful confederation of nomadic steppe horse-archers whose tough mounts easily outmaneuvered the smaller, chariot-pulling horses of China.
In 138 BC, the ambitious sixteen-year-old Emperor Wu of Han (Han Wudi) dispatched an imperial envoy named Zhang Qian westward into the unknown territories of Central Asia to forge a military alliance with the Yuezhi nomads against the Xiongnu. Captured and held prisoner by the Xiongnu for ten years before escaping to reach Bactria and the Fergana Valley (modern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) and returning to China after a thirteen-year odyssey in 126 BC, Zhang Qian brought Emperor Wu two revolutionary pieces of intelligence:
Sophisticated Western Kingdoms: Beyond the western deserts lay wealthy, urbanized civilizations (including Hellenistic Bactria, Parthia, and rumors of Rome) that craved Chinese goods.
The “Heavenly Horses” of Fergana: In the Fergana Valley (Dayuan), Zhang Qian had seen tall, muscular, swift horses that “sweated blood” (caused by a skin parasite) and were strong enough to carry heavily armored Chinese cavalrymen into battle against the Xiongnu.
Objectives: Trading Silk for Warhorses, Glass, and Ideas
Driven by the dual objectives of imperial military security and state-controlled diplomatic trade, Emperor Wu launched military campaigns to clear the Hexi Corridor, extended the Great Wall westward to the Jade Gate, and began exporting thousands of bolts of Chinese silk as diplomatic tribute and currency to acquire Fergana breeding stallions, jade from Khotan, alfalfa (to feed the horses), grapes, walnuts, pomegranates, and sesame.
Crucially, almost no individual merchant ever walked the entire four thousand miles from China to Rome. Instead, the Silk Road operated as a relay trade across middlemen—primarily Sogdian, Parthian, Kushan, and Arab traders—who bought goods at one oasis town and sold them at the next for a steep markup:
Going West From China: Mulberry-worm silk (whose manufacturing secret China guarded on pain of death for centuries until Byzantine monks smuggled silkworm eggs out inside hollow bamboo walking sticks in the sixth century AD), porcelain, lacquerware, iron tools, rhubarb, cinnamon, and two inventions that changed European history forever: rag paper (transferred to the Islamic world after the 751 AD Battle of Talas) and gunpowder.
Going East to China: Roman blown glassware (treasured in Chinese aristocratic tombs because China had not yet mastered glassblowing), gold and silver coins, Baltic amber, frankincense, wool tapestries, and cobalt blue pigments.
The Spiritual Highway: Most enduringly of all, marching right alongside the camel caravans were monks, scholars, and missionaries who carried Buddhism from India through the cave temples of Bamiyan and Dunhuang into China, Korea, and Japan, alongside Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, and later Islam—proving that the Silk Road’s greatest cargo was human thought itself.
This stunning opera house was built in the city of Harbin, known for its winter festivals. The building is located in a formerly marshy area near the Songhua River and blends organically with the surrounding landscape thanks to its flowing and curved lines.
The opera house covers an area of approximately 79,000 square meters (850,349 square-foot,) and consists of two halls: one for 1,600 spectators and another for 400.
Shanghai Tower
View from the Shanghai Tower observatory deck. Image: Wikimedia
Shanghai Tower is a majestic skyscraper in the city of Shanghai. The building stands 632-meter-tall (2,073 ft), with a total area of 380,000 square meters (4,090,300 sq ft). Upon completion, the tower ranked third in the world in height among freestanding structures.
The skyscraper houses corporate offices, entertainment and shopping centers, hotels, fitness studios, barbershops, laundries, shops, and all necessary living infrastructure.
1911 Revolution Museum
1911 Revolution Museum is a themed museum built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Revolution of 1911 Shouyi, Wuchang. Image: Arch Daily
Wuhan is the largest city in central China by population. It is renowned for its history, which is reflected in the magnificent large museum complex built here in 2011. It attracts numerous visitors not only with its interesting exhibits but also with its unique architecture.
This complex, with a total area of 330,000 square meters, consists of five interconnected buildings. Several lower above-ground levels and one underground level house a shopping and entertainment center, while the 12 upper floors are reserved for office space.
The city of Ordos began construction from scratch in 2003. According to plans, it was designed to accommodate almost a million residents, but currently, it has a population of only about 20,000, leading to its nickname as a “ghost city.” The museum building is its main attraction, drawing tourists from around the world.
This multifunctional sports and entertainment complex is often called the “Bird’s Nest” due to its distinctive appearance. It was created ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games to host numerous sporting events, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The construction of the stadium cost an estimated 325 million euros.
This hotel is curiously named “Horseshoe,” although it is actually a complete doughnut shape, with its lower segment located underwater, containing two underwater floors.
The building was designed by renowned Chinese architect Ma Yansong and completed in 2013. It cost the Sheraton chain $1.5 billion. The hotel ranks among the ten most expensive hotels in the world.
The National Centre for the Performing Arts is colloquially referred to as “The Giant Egg.” This unusual titanium and glass building is located in the heart of historic Beijing, near the famous Tiananmen Square.
The project by French architect Paul Andreu was chosen through a competition that attracted submissions from 69 of the world’s most famous experts. The large dome of the National Centre houses three performance halls: an opera hall (2,416 seats), a music hall (2,017 seats), and a theater hall (1,040 seats), all interconnected by aerial corridors.
This building is recognized as the largest standalone building in the world. Its total area is 1.76 million square meters, with a height of 100 meters (328 ft), a width of 400 meters (1,312 feet), and a length of 500 meters (1,640 feet).
The building has 18 floors and is almost entirely made of metal and glass.
Inside, there are shopping areas, offices, conference halls, a university complex, two shopping malls, two five-star hotels, an IMAX cinema, and a water park with an artificial beach.
This grand structure in Fushun resembles a ring, with an outer diameter of 170 meters and an inner diameter of 150 meters. At the top, there are observation decks accessible via high-speed elevators.
Look at a standard political map of the world, and you will see that the continental United States and China span almost the exact same east-to-west geographic width—stretching roughly three thousand miles (five thousand kilometers) across sixty degrees of longitude. Yet while the continental United States divides its territory into four separate time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific) so that noon always aligns with the sun overhead, the entire People’s Republic of China operates on a single, unified national clock: Beijing Time (China Standard Time, UTC+8). From the Pacific skyscrapers of Shanghai in the east to the Pamir Mountain deserts of Kashgar in the far west, every train station, bank, smartphone, and government office in China displays the exact same minute and hour.
Five Time Zones Before 1949
China did not always have a single time zone. For thousands of years of imperial history, time was purely local solar time tuned to sundials and drum towers in each province until the arrival of telegraph lines and railways in the late nineteenth century. In 1912, shortly after the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China, the Central Observatory in Beijing divided the vast country into five logical geographic time zones spanning from UTC+5.5 in the far western Kunlun Mountains to UTC+8.5 in the northeast near the Russian border:
Kunlun Time (UTC+5:30): Covering western Xinjiang and western Tibet.
Sinkiang-Tibet Time (UTC+6): Covering central Xinjiang and Tibet.
Kansu-Szechwan Time (UTC+7): Covering central China, including Sichuan, Yunnan, and Shaanxi.
Chungyuan Standard Time (UTC+8): Covering the populous eastern coastline, Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai.
Changpai Time (UTC+8:30): Covering the far northeastern provinces of Manchuria.
1949: Mao Zedong and the Symbolism of National Unity
Everything changed in October 1949 following the end of the Chinese Civil War and the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China by Chairman Mao Zedong. Having emerged from more than thirty years of warlord fragmentation, Japanese occupation, and civil war, the new Communist Party leadership in Beijing prioritized centralized administrative control and indivisible national unity above all else.
The government abolished the Republic’s five time zones and decreed that every square inch of the nation would henceforth follow a single clock set to the meridian of the capital: Beijing Time (UTC+8). Because roughly ninety percent of China’s population lives in the eastern and central river valleys and coastal plains (east of the famous Heihe–Tengchong Line), setting the national clock to UTC+8 caused very little disruption to daily sunlight hours for the vast majority of Chinese citizens, while ensuring that a radio broadcast, military order, or railway schedule issued in Beijing applied at the exact same clock hour nationwide.
Life in Xinjiang: Midnight Sunsets and Two Clocks on One Wrist
Where the single time zone creates surreal daily anomalies is in China’s far western autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, which sit more than two thousand miles west of Beijing—geographically aligned with Pakistan and Kazakhstan two to three solar hours behind the eastern coast. If you visit the city of Ürümqi or Kashgar in Xinjiang while looking at an official Beijing Time clock:
10:00 AM Sunrise in Winter: On a December morning in western China, when the official clock says 9:30 AM, it is still pitch-black night outside; the sun does not even rise above the horizon until past 10:00 AM!
Midnight Sunset in Summer: Conversely, on a June evening in Kashgar, the sun stays high in the sky all evening and does not set until nearly 10:30 PM or 11:00 PM on the official clock.
Shifted Work and School Schedules: To prevent children from walking to school in the middle of the dark night, banks, schools, and government offices in western China still use Beijing Time on paper, but simply shift their opening and closing hours two hours later: instead of working 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, offices open at 10:00 AM, break for lunch at 2:00 PM, and finish the workday at 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM.
Unofficial “Xinjiang Time” (UTC+6): Informally among locals in Xinjiang—especially within the native Uyghur community—many people privately set their watches two hours back to natural solar time (known as Xinjiang Time, UTC+6), leading to the classic polite question asked whenever two strangers arrange a meeting in Ürümqi: “Are we meeting on Beijing Time or Xinjiang Time?”
Even more remarkably, at the tiny mountainous border crossing where western China meets Afghanistan (the Wakhan Corridor), crossing a single step across the frontier line requires a traveler to wind their watch back by 3.5 hours at once (from China’s UTC+8 to Afghanistan’s UTC+4:30)—the single largest terrestrial time-zone jump anywhere on Earth.
The Silk Road is a conventional name for trade routes in Antiquity and the Middle Ages that connected China with Western Asia, the Black Sea region, and the Mediterranean. The name is conventional because the most famous product was silk. Moreover, it was not a single road but three different routes:
The southern land route from China through Bactria or Sogdiana (Samarkand), and through the Parthian trading center Merv to Ecbatana, Seleucia on the Tigris, and Syria;
The northern route from China through the steppes of Central Asia, the southern Urals, to the northern Black Sea region;
The maritime route that connected the countries of India and Southeast Asia across the Indian Ocean with Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and Egypt.
Sea navigation in ancient times was coastal, meaning they sailed along the coast. The duration of these routes is known to us from the peripli — navigation guides that describe in detail the coastlines, distances between settlements, their sequence, the character and customs of the local population, and how they treated foreigners. The description of the waters from the modern Red Sea to the eastern regions of India is found in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. This route was fraught with many difficulties and risks, the main ones being storms and pirate attacks.
In ancient times, no attempt to sail continuously around Arabia succeeded, so goods traveling from China to Europe were transferred to other ships at intermediate points. It could take several years for Chinese goods to reach European markets.
A figurine of a Western merchant made in the Chinese state of Northern Wei. 386–534 years. Image: Wikimedia Commons
An alternative was overland routes. One way for Chinese imports to reach Europe was through caravan trade across the steppes. Valuable goods (such as silk, jewelry, and lacquerware) were typically accompanied by more ordinary and practical items (such as dishes and agricultural products). Additionally, the caravan did not travel directly from the point of departure to the final destination; instead, it stopped at several caravanserais where some goods were sold or exchanged.
Camels were the primary draft animals. The ancient historian Strabo wrote that they were used for transporting commercial goods, a fact confirmed by archaeological findings. Camel bones have been found in layers dating back to the 1st century CE in Greek cities of the northern Black Sea region, including Olbia, Panticapaeum, Phanagoria, and Tanais. A loaded camel could cover up to 100 kilometers per day. With the total distance of the route from Southeast Asia to Crimea being about 12,000 kilometers, such a journey could take around six months.
The existence of trade routes between China and Europe in ancient times has been confirmed by archaeological discoveries of Chinese mirrors, silk, and lacquerware found in the northern Black Sea region. In the late 1990s, remains of Chinese lacquered boxes were discovered in tombs from the end of the 1st century CE at the necropolis of the late Scythian Ust-Almin settlement in southwestern Crimea.
Together with gold jewelry, Roman bronze utensils, and other luxury items, they were placed in the graves of local elite women, serving primarily as markers of the high status of the deceased.
In the three-thousand-year military history of China, if Sun Tzu wrote the ultimate theoretical textbook on the art of war, the commander who executed those principles with the most breathtaking, undefeated perfection on real battlefields was Han Xin (circa 231–196 BC). Celebrated in Chinese history as the “God of War” or “Military Immortal” (Bingxian) and the sharpest sword among the “Three Heroes of the Early Han Dynasty,” Han Xin began his life as a starving orphan mocked in the dirt by street bullies—only to conquer half a dozen kingdoms in four years, invent battlefield maneuvers that broke every rule in the book, and ultimately fall victim to the tragic political paranoia of the very empire he had single-handedly built.
Crawling Between a Bully’s Legs in Huaiyin
Born into destitute poverty in Huaiyin (modern Huai’an, Jiangsu Province), young Han Xin lost his parents early and owned neither farmland nor trade goods to buy a meal. Yet he walked through the streets carrying a long military sword at his waist and spending every waking hour studying military treatises. To avoid starving to death, he relied on the charity of an impoverished old woman who bleached silk fibers by the river and shared her meager rice lunch with him for weeks.
One day in the marketplace of Huaiyin, a burly local butcher mocked the tall, skinny youth for wearing a big sword when he was too cowardly to use it, shouting in front of a crowd: “If you are not afraid to die, stab me right now; if you are afraid to die, get down on your hands and knees and crawl between my legs!“
Any ordinary proud swordsman would have drawn his blade, killed the bully, and been immediately arrested and executed for murder under strict Qin law. Instead, Han Xin stared calmly at the butcher for a long moment, realized that throwing away his life and his destiny over a street insult was foolish, got down into the mud on all fours, and crawled right between the butcher’s legs as the entire marketplace roared with laughter at the “coward.” (Years later, when Han Xin returned to Huaiyin as the King of Chu commanding a million troops, he summoned that terrified butcher—and instead of executing him, gave him a reward and appointed him lieutenant of the palace guards, telling his generals: “Had I killed him that day, I would never have reached where I am today!” Known ever since in Chinese as Kuà Xià Zhī Rǔ—”The Humiliation Between the Legs”—this story remains China’s supreme parable of strategic patience.)
Xiao He’s “Moonlight Chase” and Crossing the Chencang Plank Road
When the rebellion against the Qin Dynasty broke out, Han Xin joined the army of the aristocrat Xiang Yu first, serving as a lowly halberd guard. However, every time Han Xin submitted a brilliant strategic plan to Xiang Yu, the arrogant warlord ignored it. Frustrated, Han Xin defected to Xiang Yu’s rival, Liu Bang, in Hanzhong—only to be given a minor clerk’s job there too! Convinced that Liu Bang didn’t value him either, Han Xin saddled a horse one night and deserted into the mountains.
When Liu Bang’s brilliant Chancellor, Xiao He—who had spoken privately with Han Xin and recognized his once-in-a-millennium genius—learned that Han Xin had run away, Xiao He didn’t even wait to tell Liu Bang: he jumped on a horse at midnight and rode furiously through the moonlight for two days to catch Han Xin and beg him to come back. Returning to camp, when a furious Liu Bang asked why his Chancellor had deserted too, Xiao He delivered his immortal reply: “Common generals are easy to find by the dozens; a man like Han Xin is peerless in the entire world (Guó Shì Wú Shuāng). If Your Majesty wants to conquer the Empire, you have no choice but to make him Commander-in-Chief!”
Appointed Supreme General on a grand ceremonial altar in 206 BC, Han Xin immediately proved Xiao He right with his famous stratagem: “Openly Repair the Plank Roads, Secretly March Through Chencang.” Sending ten thousand laborers to noisily rebuild the burned wooden cliffside walkways in the mountains to keep the enemy generals staring at the main road for months, Han Xin led his real strike army down a forgotten, overgrown mountain hunting path to capture the fortified pass of Chencang from behind in a single afternoon, conquering the entire Wei River valley in weeks.
The Battle of Jingxing (204 BC): Fighting With Their Backs to the River
While Liu Bang kept Xiang Yu occupied in the center, Han Xin marched north with a small army of novices to conquer the independent kingdoms of Wei, Dai, Zhao, Yan, and Qi one by one. In late 205 / early 204 BC, at the narrow mountain pass of Jingxing in Hebei, Han Xin’s thirty thousand exhausted troops faced a dug-in Zhao army of two hundred thousand men.
Every military manual written by Sun Tzu explicitly warned generals: Never pitch your camp with your back pressed against a river or cliff where your men have no room to maneuver or retreat! Knowing that the enemy general knew Sun Tzu by heart, Han Xin marched ten thousand of his men out of the pass at dawn and lined them up with their backs pressed directly against the deep, rushing waters of the绵蔓 (Mianman) River—while secretly hiding two thousand light cavalrymen carrying red Han flags in the wooded hills beside the enemy fortress.
Laughing out loud at Han Xin’s “textbook blunder,” the Zhao commanders emptied their entire fortress to charge out and crush the Han soldiers pinned against the water:
The Psychology of “Death Ground”: Because Han Xin’s soldiers had a deep river directly behind their backs and zero way to run away, every single man fought with the desperate ferocity of a cornered tiger to stay alive, holding off ten times their number for hours!
Swapping the Flags: While the Zhao army was fighting at the river, Han Xin’s hidden 2,000 horsemen galloped into the nearly empty Zhao fortress, tore down the Zhao banners, and planted 2,000 red Han flags along the ramparts. When the Zhao soldiers looked back over their shoulders and saw their own castle covered in enemy red flags, they panicked and routed completely—giving the Chinese language the timeless idiom Bèi Shuǐ Yī Zhàn (“Fighting With One’s Back to the Water”).
“When the Cunning Hare Dies, the Hunting Dog Is Boiled”
After damming the Wei River with ten thousand sandbags to drown a Chu general and orchestrating the final decisive encirclement that destroyed Xiang Yu at the Battle of Gaixia (202 BC), Han Xin had conquered China for Liu Bang. Yet Han Xin possessed one fatal blind spot: he was a military genius who was completely naïve and sentimental in palace politics. Earlier, when Han Xin held the wealthy Kingdom of Qi and advisors begged him to declare himself an independent third emperor—which would have divided China into three stable kingdoms—Han Xin refused out of deep personal gratitude to Liu Bang for giving him his first command.
Once Xiang Yu was dead and Liu Bang sat secure on the imperial throne, however, Han Xin’s unmatched military genius became an intolerable threat to the aging Emperor and his ruthless wife, Empress Lü Zhi. Stripped first of his Kingdom of Chu and demoted to Marquis of Huaiyin in 201 BC, Han Xin was lured into the Changle Palace in Chang’an in 196 BC by Empress Lü and his old friend Xiao He on false rumors of a rebellion plot. Trapped inside a courtyard and suspended inside a bamboo cage where he was executed by sharpened bamboo spears, the thirty-five-year-old strategist uttered a tragic parting proverb before dying that echoed across two millennia of Chinese history: “When the cunning hares are all dead, the faithful hunting dog is boiled in the pot; when the high-flying birds are all shot down, the good bow is locked away in storage; when the enemy kingdoms are all conquered, the wise counselor must die.”
Christmas and Christianity have been illegal in China for almost a century, but a secularized version of the holiday has become popular in the country. In recent years, Christmas in China has taken on a Chinese flavor while still including familiar elements like trees and lights. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has banned Christmas on the mainland since 1949 and Christmas festivities of any type, even in houses of worship, are illegal on paper. The reason for this ban is to assist in the “sinicization” of the celebration of Western holidays and customs.
Christmas is not a national holiday in China, but it has been growing in popularity in the country in recent years. More than 20 million Christians in China celebrate Christmas with the same or even more fervor than their Western counterparts. Other (often young) Chinese people also celebrate a tuned-down but still flashy version of this holiday. But outside of the Christian minority, Christmas is not generally observed in China.
A Non-Religious Holiday: The festivities have nothing to do with religion outside of China’s Christian population which is around 2% or 23 million. It’s grown into one of the most anticipated yearly events in China’s metropolises.
It’s a Valentine’s Day: Many young Chinese people celebrate Christmas in the same vein as Valentine’s Day. This is the season for romanticism and dates. Chinese people go to ice skating rinks and amusement parks for Christmas. Japan also sees this holiday in a similar vein.
Marketable Quality: Promotional events are organized at Chinese stores and shopping centers to encourage customers to make purchases during Christmas. On Christmas Eve, you may have a Christmas supper at a restaurant. Many stores are decorated with Christmas trees, lights, and other touches as a Westerner would have come to expect.
Gift-Giving Tradition: One custom of Chinese Christmas is the exchange of apples as presents on Christmas Eve. In Mandarin Chinese, the word for “apple” (苹果 píngguǒ / ping-gwor) sounds very similar to the word for “peace”. This word is used for Christmas Eve and the carol “Silent Night.”
The Chinese New Year vs. Christmas
One other reason Christmas is less popular in China is that the Chinese New Year generally falls between January 21 and February 20. So, it’s hard for China to blend Christmas festivities with New Year’s festivities, unlike many other nations. To not celebrate something twice, China puts more emphasis on the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year spans across more beliefs and regions in China than Christmas.
Also known as the Spring Festival, it holds immense cultural significance, is deeply rooted in the country’s history and is tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar. It is a time for family reunions, akin to Christmas in Western countries. This tradition, spanning centuries, is the most popular holiday in China, lasting about 15 days.
In contrast, Christmas, a relatively recent introduction, is viewed more as a Western tradition. The practices during the Chinese New Year, such as giving red envelopes (to ward off evil spirits), reunion dinners, and house cleaning for good luck, are observed across the country, while Christmas practices, like decorating trees and exchanging gifts, are less common and mostly found in larger cities and regions with significant Christian populations.
The Chinese government has campaigned against religious observances like this due to its declared state atheism but more people in China continue to celebrate Christmas every year. They celebrate it in a manner distinct from Western customs, giving it a Chinese flavor.
Christmas Eve Instead of Christmas Day
In the West, Christmas Day tends to take center stage, while in China, Christmas Eve takes center stage. It is a time for young couples to exchange presents and organize romantic activities, similar to Valentine’s Day. “Christmas Eve dinners” are offered at restaurants and promotions are staged in stores and malls to encourage spending.
Typical Decorations
In big cities, like Shanghai and Beijing, there are typical Christmas trees, lights, and other decorations on the streets. But just a minority of Chinese households have a Christmas tree, and those that do often choose a plastic one decked up with paper garlands, flowers, and lights. Unlike in the West, stores are open during Christmas.
In China, Santa Claus is known as ‘Sheng dan lao ren’ (聖誕老人, literally “Old Christmas Man”), and he is seen as a secular person who resides in a mythical Arctic Christmas Village at China’s North Pole. A Santa Claus on duty can be seen strolling the aisles of a Chinese shopping mall, accompanied by costumed ladies. Because in China, Santa’s helpers are his sisters. It’s not uncommon for mail carriers in large cities to don Santa suits in the days leading up to Christmas. Even though not many people know about or comprehend carol singing, some individuals still do it.
“Christmas Greeting”
In China, there is a thing called “Christmas greeting.” On Christmas, Chinese people exchange greetings, which are referred to as 圣诞快乐 (shèng dàn kuài lè), simply meaning “Merry Christmas” in Mandarin.
Some Chinese Are Not Fond of Christmas
Over the last two decades, Christmas has been divisive in China, with some nationalists calling for it to be abolished as an incursion of Western soft power. The celebration of this festival, they say, might lead to the erosion of Chinese culture.
Christian influence, other foreign cultural influences, and contemporary globalization all contributed to the establishment of Christmas in China. Former colonial control in China (and the rest of Asia) beginning in the 16th century is responsible for introducing the holiday to several formerly non-Christian regions. For instance, being a former British colony until 1997, Hong Kong celebrates Christmas as a legal holiday.
Thousands of Protestant missionaries arrived between 1840 and 1949 in China, established schools, and introduced new customs, including Christmas. However, the Qing government’s (1636–1912) tense relationship with Christian missionaries resulted in occasional bans and other restrictions.
Christmas was not popularly celebrated until the 1920s, when it was given the name Shengdanjie (literally “birth of a saint”). Slowly rising currency rates after the economic reforms of 1978 sparked a renaissance of Christmas, notably in the 1990s. As the public learned more about the holiday, it was frequently divorced from its religious roots and celebrated primarily for its secular significance.
Shanghai and Beijing were among the first major cities to see Christmas decorations, with smaller towns throughout the nation following suit.
Why Does China Ban Christmas?
Christians have been present in China since at least the 7th century AD, according to the Xi’an Stele. However, after 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was officially established, Christmas was seen as a symbol of Western imperialism and was widely discouraged or openly outlawed. Christmas has been outlawed in China on many occasions in the last few decades.
The Chinese government is fond of banning Christmas in an effort to suppress religious practices with foreign influences. Authorities in the Chinese city of Langfang, Hebei Province, banned public Christmas decorations in December 2018, claiming the need to “preserve equilibrium” and prevent societal turmoil. An official document prohibiting Christmas festivities in schools was released by the Department of Education in Rong’an County, Liuzhou City, in December 2021.
In the 21st century, China exports tea, silk, and porcelain to Europe. For its part, the United Kingdom begins cultivating and exporting opium to this empire in order to balance the trade deficit. However, this drug causes widespread devastation among the population. The Qing dynasty, which rules China, decides to ban the substance. The two countries attempt to negotiate, but without success. The First Opium War is triggered in 1839 by a blockade of foreign ships in China and the confiscation of their goods. The British, determined to continue trade, decide to deploy their troops. Following the United Kingdom’s victory, the Treaty of Nanking is signed, favoring the British. A Second Opium War begins in 1856 as a consequence of these “unequal treaties.” China is once again defeated. Economically and culturally weakened, the Chinese Empire loses all power. It is forced to open itself to the world and to enter the industrial era.
What was the context of the Opium Wars?
To understand why the British declared the First Opium War on the Qing dynasty’s empire in China, it is essential to examine the broader context. At that time, and since 1773, the United Kingdom held a monopoly on the sale of opium in China. Derived from the latex of the opium poppy, this substance is a drug that affects the central nervous system and induces a state of drowsiness. The British East India Company had begun cultivating this psychoactive substance in Bengal in order to restore a trade balance between China and the United Kingdom. Chinese goods such as tea, silk, and porcelain were in high demand in Europe. The result? A massive influx of narcotics into China, leading to a rise in addiction and a flow of money out of the country. This empire, which had long lived in relative isolation, gradually began to open up to foreign powers.
What were the causes of the Opium Wars?
It was at the end of the 1830s that the Qing dynasty began taking action to ban the opium trade in its ports, which was dominated by the United Kingdom. The Daoguang Emperor, who reigned from 1820 to 1850, refused to legalize the drug. On the contrary, he ordered Lin Zexu (a viceroy, military leader, and official) to go to Canton with a clear mission: to put a definitive end to the opium trade. This city was chosen because opium primarily passed through the port of Canton. A blockade of foreign ships and the confiscation of their goods were implemented along the Pearl River. At the same time, Lin Zexu ordered the destruction of a large quantity of opium. This action triggered the First Opium War. The Second War followed directly from the first. It was initiated after Chinese authorities arrested the crew of a British ship and imprisoned the sailors on board.
How did the First Opium War unfold?
Following the blockade and the destruction of confiscated opium in March 1839, Lin Zexu informed Queen Victoria that the consumption of this drug was now banned in China. Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister, decided to send an expedition to Canton. He was supported by more than 300 British trading companies, which demanded compensation for the destroyed goods. In April 1840, 4,000 soldiers arrived off the coast of Canton. Unable to land due to stakes driven into the harbor, the British fleet nonetheless managed to seize Hong Kong. The fighting truly began in July 1840, and 29 Chinese ships were destroyed. During negotiations held in Canton, the United Kingdom demanded the resumption of trade, sovereignty over Hong Kong, and compensation for the lost opium. The Chinese Empire refused, but was eventually forced to capitulate after a series of defeats. The British army emerged victorious, and the Treaty of Nanking was signed on August 29, 1842. The opium trade was resumed, China was required to pay 21 million dollars, new ports were opened to trade, and Hong Kong became a possession of the United Kingdom.
How did the Second Opium War unfold?
The Second Opium War was triggered in October 1856. On October 8, the Arrow Incident took place. Chinese authorities arrested the ship’s crew and accused them of piracy. The United Kingdom learned of the incident, as the vessel was (allegedly) flying a British flag at the time. While the Chinese governor advocated for de-escalation, a British fleet was dispatched to invade and bombard Canton. At the same time, the British Parliament was determined to obtain compensation for the damages caused to the Arrow.
The British government sought alliances with three other countries: France, the United States, and Russia. A specific event pushed France to join the war, namely the execution of a French Catholic missionary priest, Auguste Chapdelaine. At the time, Christianity was only permitted in certain ports, and the priest had been denounced and then beaten to death. The war continued, and in May 1858, the forts of Peiho (which protected access to Beijing) were bombarded. The Treaty of Tientsin was signed that same year. It aimed once again to promote foreign trade and to open diplomatic missions, but its ratification was delayed.
Meanwhile, Russia took advantage of the situation to expand its borders by negotiating a separate treaty with China. In 1859, hostilities resumed, as China refused to accept the foreign embassies stipulated in the treaty. Franco-British forces surrounded the forts along the Hai River and eventually advanced to Beijing. The Summer Palace was looted and burned on October 5, 1860, in retaliation for the execution of European prisoners. The Convention of Beijing was signed in October 1860. The war ended with territorial concessions, the opening of additional ports to foreign trade, and increased Western influence in China.
Which treaty ended the Opium Wars?
The Convention of Beijing, ratified on October 18, 1860, by Prince Gong (the emperor’s brother), brought the Second Opium War to an end. What measures were implemented? In addition to the legalization of opium and the opening of Tianjin to trade, civil rights for Christians were officially recognized, including the freedom to evangelize and to build churches. The Convention of Beijing also provided for the cession of the Kowloon district (a part of Hong Kong) to the United Kingdom, authorized British ships to transport Chinese laborers abroad (known as “coolies”), and required China to pay indemnities to both Britain and France. The provisions of the Treaty of Tientsin were also confirmed. This agreement was regarded as unequal by the Chinese Empire, as it had been imposed through military force by Western powers taking advantage of China’s weakened position.
What was the impact of the Opium Wars on China?
Following these treaties, China became burdened with heavy financial obligations, leading to what is often referred to as the “Century of Humiliation.” The trade balance, which had been favorable to China before the Opium Wars due to exports such as tea and silk, became negative. Chinese exports were no longer sufficient to cover the cost of opium imports. Overwhelmed, China was also forced to compensate Russia in order to recover territories occupied by the Tsar during the Second Opium War.
On a cultural level, major landmarks such as the Summer Palace were destroyed by British forces. In 1861, a very young emperor, only five years old, ascended the throne. His mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, believed that the empire needed to begin modernizing and industrializing. Steamships and railways were introduced, and the country gradually opened itself to the outside world.
The Taiping Rebellion also contributed to weakening China. This was a civil war that lasted from 1851 to 1864, opposing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a revolutionary and religious movement seeking to establish a more egalitarian and socially just Chinese state, against the Qing Empire. The Qing took around fifteen years to suppress the rebellion and nearly lost their power in the process. The Taiping ideals included opposing the old social order and promoting equality across classes, ethnic groups, and genders.
This was followed by the Boxer Rebellion, between 1899 and 1901, a nationalist uprising led by a secret society symbolized by a clenched fist. This movement was a direct consequence of China’s fragmentation under Western influence. The Boxers organized themselves into militias and carried out numerous acts of violence and killings against foreigners.
Key dates of the Opium Wars
August 1839 — The First Opium War breaks out In August 1839, the First Opium War broke out, opposing the United Kingdom and the Chinese Empire. At that time, the trade balance favored the British, who were exporting large quantities of opium to China. The widespread consumption of opium among the Chinese population caused serious social disruptions, prompting the authorities to ban the practice and to seize opium stockpiles and cargo. Pressured by trading companies involved in the opium trade, the British sent an expeditionary force to China in 1840.
August 29, 1842 — End of the First Opium War China ratified the Treaty of Nanking, which required the cession of Hong Kong to Britain and the opening of five ports to foreign trade. This treaty ended the war that had begun two years earlier when Chinese authorities had seized and destroyed a stock of British opium. A similar conflict would resume in 1856, further strengthening European influence in China.
August 29, 1842 — Hong Kong becomes British At the conclusion of the First Opium War, launched to defend British interests in China, China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanking, which forced the Chinese government to cede the island of Hong Kong to Great Britain. Hong Kong, meaning “fragrant harbor” in Cantonese, became a British colony for more than 150 years. It was returned to China on July 1, 1997.
October 24, 1844 — Signing of the Treaty of Whampoa The French ambassador in China signed the Treaty of Whampoa, allowing France to trade with China in five different ports. It also promoted Christian missions, and Catholicism was henceforth tolerated in China. These advantages were granted within the broader context of the First Opium War between Britain and China. The country was forced to open its trade to foreign powers. Major nations, including France, the United States, and Britain, all benefited from the conflict.
October 24, 1844 — Treaty of Huangpu between France and China The Treaty of Huangpu was signed between France and China in 1844. Through this agreement, China granted France the same rights it had previously extended to the United Kingdom. Five Chinese ports were opened to French goods, and fixed customs duties were established. France was also allowed to station consuls, and French citizens in China were granted extraterritorial privileges.
March 9, 1850 — Beginning of the reign of Emperor Xianfeng Xianfeng ascended to the Chinese throne upon the death of his father, Emperor Daoguang. During his reign, China engaged in the Opium Wars against Britain and was ultimately defeated. The country also faced floods and numerous famines. The Qing dynasty experienced multiple uprisings during this period, including the significant Taiping Rebellion.
December 1850 — Beginning of the Taiping Rebellion The Taiping were rebels who established a kingdom in southern China and sought to overthrow the Qing dynasty. In 1850, their army prepared for an offensive against the imperial government, launching their rebellion by massacring Qing troops at the end of the year. The uprising would last nearly fifteen years and significantly weaken the ruling power.
1853 — Nian Rebellion in China The Nian, opposed to the Qing dynasty, revolted against the government following devastating floods that caused widespread destruction and loss of life. Government inefficiency pushed them to rebel. Nian forces attacked the imperial army and initially gained the upper hand. The revolt ended in 1868 with the defeat of the insurgents.
March 19, 1853 — The Taiping capture Nanking The city of Nanking fell to the Taiping rebels, who made it their capital. The movement was both religious and revolutionary, advocating equality and collectivism. They sought to establish a more just society and to replace the ruling Manchu dynasty with a Chinese one. Influenced by Protestant missionary ideas, their leader Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the “younger brother of Jesus Christ.” The Taiping would control much of southern China before imperial forces, with Western assistance, recaptured Nanking on July 19, 1864, and crushed the rebellion.
1854 — Miao tribal uprising The Qing dynasty faced numerous popular uprisings across China. In 1854, during Emperor Xianfeng’s reign, the Miao tribes revolted in the Guizhou region. The rebellion lasted until 1873 and resulted in massive population losses, dropping from sixteen million to six million people in about fifteen years. These uprisings left the Qing government severely weakened.
1856 — Beginning of the Second Opium War Following the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking, Britain, France, and the United States requested a revision of the treaty in 1854. The Qing dynasty refused. Western powers then waited for an opportunity to enforce their demands by force. When Chinese authorities arrested the ship Arrow and imprisoned its crew on suspicion of piracy, Britain seized the opportunity to invade Canton.
June 27, 1858 — Signing of the Treaty of Tientsin To end the Second Opium War, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Tientsin with France, Britain, the United States, and Russia. The conflict had been initiated by Britain and France under the pretext of protecting their merchants. The treaty opened eleven new ports to foreign trade, required improved diplomatic relations with Western nations, legalized the opium trade, reduced internal tariffs, allowed foreign legations, and permitted Catholic missions. However, the Qing government delayed implementing these clauses, leading to renewed hostilities until 1860.
August 19, 1860 — Western forces halt the Taiping advance After capturing Hangzhou and Suzhou in June, Taiping forces advanced toward Shanghai. Franco-British forces defeated them there during the Second Opium War. Western armies continued capturing Chinese cities, including Tianjin (September 2) and Beijing (October 13), leading to the signing of a treaty in Beijing on October 24. Meanwhile, the Taiping gradually lost their strongholds, signaling the end of the rebellion.
October 18, 1860 — Destruction of the Old Summer Palace Five days after taking control of Beijing, British and French forces began destroying the Old Summer Palace, an imperial complex located about eight kilometers from the Forbidden City. Around 3,500 British soldiers were mobilized to set fire to the site, which burned for three days. A few days later, the Treaty of Beijing was signed. The site would suffer further destruction in 1900, leaving almost nothing standing today.
October 24, 1860 — Signing of the Treaty of Beijing France, Great Britain, and China signed the Treaty of Beijing, formally ending the Second Opium War. The agreement established freedom of religion in China, allowing French Catholic missionaries to settle there. Britain also secured the cession of the Kowloon district and gained permission to recruit Chinese labor to replace emancipated slaves.
October 25, 1860 — The Conventions of Beijing At the end of the Second Opium War, China signed the Conventions of Beijing. Having failed to respect the terms of the Treaty of Tientsin, China had faced renewed Western attacks. Tianjin and Beijing were occupied, and the Summer Palace was burned. Faced with military pressure, the imperial government had no choice but to submit to Western demands. In addition to enforcing the earlier treaty’s provisions, China ceded northern Hong Kong to Britain and paid war indemnities.
November 14, 1860 — Russian expansion in Manchuria In the aftermath of the Second Opium War, Russia took advantage of China’s weakened state to sign another treaty with the Qing government. It gained control over territories east of the Ussuri River. In 1858, Russia had already extended its borders along the entire left bank of the Amur River.
There was a huge crowd waiting to see the mangos. They wanted to reach out and touch them, smell them out. The Beijing Textile Factory came to a halt on that August day in 1968. Hundreds of people filed in silence to the beautifully adorned altar where Mao Zedong had placed his gift. When the employees realized that Mao had really brought them a mango, they bent down before it as a show of their profound gratitude.
They gathered again a few days later. The employees once again formed a queue and waited. This time, a big pot of water was waiting for them upfront, and every one of them got a teaspoon. The liquid could have a hint of mango flavor if you let it linger on your tongue for a while. There was also a whiff of moldiness.
A mango parade. The fruit cult was a boon for the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department. Massive papier-mache mangos were wheeled through Beijing as part of the National Day celebration on October 1, 1968.
Many Chinese workers grew to associate the free mangos that Mao gave them with his dedication to the working class.
Mangos became a symbol of the “Great Chairman’s” righteousness, toured the nation like pop singers, were promoted as products, and were worshiped like relics during the brief but bizarre chapter of Mao Zedong’s deadly Cultural Revolution that started in the summer of 1968. Despite the reality that most of them were only dummies.
A bloody decade of torture and killing
Soldiers on the Chinese border examine a wax mango dummy. As this fruit had never been seen in China before, it piqued the interest of many locals. (Credit: Museum Rietberg)
Ten years of mass killing and torture had been unleashed by Mao Zedong’s proclamation of the start of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966. He urged students and schoolchildren to destroy the existing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) structure on purpose so as to build a new one. Using acts of violence against dissidents, traditional cultural places, and religious organizations, the “Red Guards,” as the student groups dubbed themselves, spread “the Red Terror” across China.
The country was on the verge of civil war as “Red Guards” fought violent power battles with one another. Mao was unable to bring them together, so in the summer of 1968, he dissolved the “Red Guards” and established workers’ propaganda squads to carry out the Cultural Revolution in their stead.
When the members of the workers’ and peasants’ propaganda squad took back control of the Tsinghua University from the Red Guards in 1968. Mao rewarded them with 40 mangos.
In an effort to remove the Red Guards from Beijing’s illustrious Tsinghua University, he sent 30,000 manufacturing employees there on July 27. With spears and sulfuric acid, they fought back, killing five and injuring 731. The Red Guards were eventually overwhelmed and surrendered because of the large number of employees.
On August 4, 1968, the foreign minister of Pakistan, Mian Arshad, presented a box of mangos to Mao Zedong during a meeting. Mao decided to reward the worker soldiers at Tsinghua University by presenting them with 40 mango fruits.
Funding for psychedelic fruit consumption
Workers at a Beijing Textile Factory celebrate one of Mao’s mangos in October 1968. (Credit: Rainer Wolfsberger)
Only a small percentage of Chinese people were familiar with mangos. Wang Xiaoping, a contemporaneous witness, spoke about the fruit in 2013: “A few who were very well informed stated it was an extraordinarily rare and valuable fruit, like the mushroom of immortality, […] yet no one had the least notion what this fruit looked like.”
The reception of Mao’s gift was just as enthusiastic. The official party publication Renmin Ribao reported about the euphoria in Beijing on August 7, 1968.
Even though they were typically only wax dummies, mangos transported by special train to the provinces were sometimes anticipated by hundreds of thousands of people.
Almost immediately, a crowd formed around the attendees. They yelled and sang with unbridled fervor. Their eyes welled up with tears, and they prayed over and again that the Great Leader and Chairman Mao may have a long and healthy life. To disseminate the good news, they assembled work brigades and planned a variety of celebrations to last all night.
The propaganda coup was successful since the mangos were sent from the university to all the factories whose employees had participated in the July 27 coup. They saw the mangos as a sign of Mao’s approval and the end of the “Red Terror.” They were literally able to get their propaganda message out to the populace because of this.
To ridicule a mango is to face the death sentence
Soon, factories in Beijing started mass-producing fake mangos like this one so that they could give one to every worker.
Mao’s personal physician, Li Zhisui, said in his 1994 memoirs that when the arrival of the mango was celebrated at the Beijing Textile Factory, “the fruit was sealed in wax, hoping to preserve it for posterity.” Unfortunately, the decaying mango became immediately apparent. As a practical matter, the Revolutionary Committee decided to boil the spoiled fruit in a huge vat. Next, “each worker drank a teaspoon of the water in which the holy mango had been cooked,” as Li puts it.
Li claims that when Mao found out about the workers’ reverence, “he began laughing.” When seen in the context of Mao’s political career, this looks callous now, because just a few years earlier, he had precipitated a famine (the Great Chinese Famine) with the “Great Leap Forward” campaign that killed millions of Chinese and pushed others to cannibalism.
During the height of the Mao Zedong personality cult, buttons bearing images of the “Great Chairman” were widely distributed. From 1966 to 1971, China reportedly manufactured between 2.5 and 5 billion units.
Mangos were responsible for Mao’s rise to prominence in 1968, and he was eventually worshipped for them. Many manufacturers used formaldehyde to preserve their mangos, which were supplied by hospitals. During an interview in February 2016, Zhang Kui revealed that wax mangos, each with its own glass shrine, were created to give to each worker. Numerous fake mangos ended up in Chinese homes by the thousands.
Although many places of worship were demolished during the Cultural Revolution, a new path was being forged out of a yearning for spirituality. According to Li Zhisui, mangos were elevated to the status of holy relics. A warning was given to anyone who handled the waxed mango shrine improperly. According to the Daily Telegraph, in 2013, a dentist from a tiny community was hanged for deliberate disparagement after he compared a mango to a sweet potato.
Mango cigarettes are a hit
Two packs of Chinese mango cigarettes. In 1969, the Mango brand was the most sought after by Chinese smokers for lighting up a smoldering stalk. The company hoped to cash in on the fruit’s reputation as a panacea for longevity. (Credit: Museum Rietberg, Switzerland)
Mango mania quickly spread across the nation. Since September, all provinces have been receiving shipments of phony fruit. The mangos were treated like rock stars and sent on a tour on special trains. On September 19th, half a million people waited in Chengdu for one of the wax mangos to arrive, just as they had in other places.
The leading manufacturer of machine tools in Beijing even hired a plane to transport a mango to its Shanghai counterpart factory. The automobile that transported the fruit to the airport was followed by a crowd of observers and drummers. In Guizhou province, hundreds of armed peasants battled to the death over a black-and-white photocopy of a mango.
The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department capitalized on the increasing popularity of mangoes by creating a wide range of mango-themed goods.
The CCP’s propaganda machine benefited from the global mango frenzy. It mass-produced items including mango-patterned enamelware and washbowls, mango-inspired brooches and dressing tables, and mango-scented soap. There was a market for everything from mango cigarettes to mango-themed bedding. In addition, huge papier-mache mangos were wheeled through the streets on October 1 as part of the national holiday parade.
In little over a year and a half, the popularity of the mango cult began to decline. The disillusionment with the prospect of a world free of fear may have been a contributing factor. There was probably nothing more to it than mangos simply losing their exotic allure. Some employees even found a new use for the waxed mangos by turning them into candles.
A mango movie in 1976
Large parades honoring Mao Zedong’s mangos were held all around China in October 1968, not just in Beijing.
The ailing Chairman Mao, now in his dotage, made fewer public appearances as his health deteriorated. An effort to resurrect the mango cult in 1974 failed when Imelda Marcos, the wife of the Philippine dictator, delivered a box of mangos on a state visit to Mao, who was already wildly ill. Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, had previously supplied fruit to the Chinese laborers and did so again. The expected excitement, however, never materialized; the mango’s formerly potent symbolic significance had long ago worn off.
Jiang made one last effort. She financed the 1975 film The Song of the Mango, about twins who join opposing “Red Guards” at the height of the mango craze. They came to terms with the fact that they must still acknowledge the proletariat’s authority, and, as a result, they welcomed the arrival of mangos with a joyous procession through Beijing’s streets.
As a member of the influential “Gang of Four,” Jiang was detained by the Communist Party’s left-wing within a week of the film’s 1976 debut, and all copies of the mango film were banned. Unfortunately, Mao did not survive to witness the mango show’s debut. His death occurred in Beijing on September 9, 1976, not much earlier.
Mao’s tomb was the subject of an architectural contest. The idea that the chairman should be buried under a massive concrete mango stood out.
Raging mad, Jiang Qing yelled into the microphone. Her eyes sparkled spitefully from behind her rimmed spectacles as she repeatedly clenched her fist. The Cultural Revolution in China was initiated by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966. Jiang Qing, his wife, also had ambitions of seizing power. After proclaiming herself Mao’s “mouthpiece,” the lady promptly unleashed a public campaign of devastation.
Born in 1914, Jiang Qing tried her hand at acting first. In the 1930s, she became active in the communist movement and by 1939, she was married to Mao Zedong. She was a leading figure in the new administration that emerged after the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and she was much admired for her radical views and harsh stance on a variety of topics.
In addition to persecuting intellectuals, artists, and others who were seen as threats to the state, she was also responsible for the wholesale destruction of cultural and historical relics. Traditional operas and plays were forbidden, and books were burned at the stake. Many scholars, academics, and educators were publicly flogged to death.
Originally named Li Shumeng, Jiang Qing had been married to Mao for over 30 years at that point. Third-rate actress or not, her extramarital escapades were enough to make waves in Shanghai. Eventually, she had even Chairman Mao under her spell at the Communist Party headquarters in Yan’an. That day, all the other ladies in the room had short hairstyles and combat attire. Jiang Qing, on the other hand, decided to put on cosmetics and go dancing because she wanted to have fun.
Jiang Qing on the cover of a film magazine.
The other comrades found the young actress to be an annoyance. But Mao was already in her grasp. He ended his marriage to his first wife and married the stunning beauty in 1939. Jiang Qing, which translates to “green river,” was the name Mao chose for her. Mao was about twice her age since she was just 24.
Jiang Qing actually looked up to Mao like he was her real father. Her biological father was an alcoholic who was aggressive toward his children. She has been looking for acceptance ever since. She used every means necessary to get other people’s attention.
Mao’s betrayal
Jiang Qing’s agreement to the marriage was a huge bargaining chip for the communists in Yan’an. Together, she and her husband were banned from making public appearances for a minimum of two decades. She was also forbidden from engaging in any kind of politics. At least after then, dancing was tolerated at the Communist headquarters. During that, they also played a few love songs from Hollywood movies. But her husband, Mao, didn’t give a hoot about her. He slept with other ladies instead.
As a result of this humiliation, Jiang Qing acquired a ravenous appetite for power and a deep-seated hatred of her female rivals. She was not cut out to be Mao’s submissive second wife, particularly as Mao increasingly ignored her. Her feelings had long ago faded by the time the 1950s rolled around.
But there was nothing she could do; she was trapped. Beijing was her ultimate home. And she was stuck in her marriage to Mao Zedong, for better or worse.
A Cultural Revolution in retaliation
Jiang advocating the arts during the Cultural Revolution, carrying Mao’s Little Red Book, as seen on a poster.
However, Mao soon found that Jiang Qing was a useful tool in consolidating his influence in the state. His attempt to rapidly industrialize China had failed miserably. Up to 40 million people perished in the Great Chinese Famine caused by the “Great Leap Forward” effort in 1958. As a result, Mao stepped down from his presidency, while he remained a powerful figure behind the scenes.
During the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Qing was supposed to assist Mao to destroy his enemies. Qing was a key figure in the radical group known as the Gang of Four. She realized her time had arrived to emerge into the political limelight as Mao’s ally. She did this by obliterating the heritage that had once meant so much to her.
She said that anybody who appreciated classical forms of art, including opera, theater, music, and movies, was not a worthy communist. In the early 1960s, she started writing “model operas.” In each and every one of these dramas, the communist heroes ultimately prevailed over the capitalist antagonists. However, she reportedly kept watching Hollywood movies behind closed doors, as reported by witnesses in the present day.
“Sex is engaging in the first rounds”
The picture of Mao with a young Jiang Qing in Yan’an, 1940s.
Jiang Qing’s absolute dominance over Chinese culture finally earned her the respect and acclaim she had long craved. Even when Mao’s interest waned, she nonetheless continued what she was doing. “Sex is engaging in the first rounds, but what really sustains attention, in the long run, is power,” Qing offered her thoughts on the matter.
At Mao and Jiang Qing’s orders, the “Red Guards” terrorized the populace. A lot of people who used to be “comrades” but had fallen on hard times were put to death by the couple’s Summary Courts. By 1976, it was believed that two million individuals had been killed in these persecution efforts.
Ye Yonglie, a Chinese biographer, admits, “I once called Jiang Qing a ‘goddess of vengeance.’” In every aspect of her life, she was petty and vengeful. When she gained control, she made amends to all of her creditors.
White-boned demon
Jiang Qing’s blind animosity extended to the wife of Liu Shaoqi, who succeeded Mao as head of state in 1959. In Beijing, Wang Guangmei was shown to an angry crowd while dressed in the same outfit and high heels she had worn on a state visit. The ping pong balls were strung together to form a necklace that she wore around her neck. Wang Guangmei spent the next twelve years behind bars after her husband passed away while in police custody.
Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s widow, is shown here on December 5, 1980, sitting in the defendant’s box during her trial for crimes committed during the deadly Cultural Revolution that swept China from 1966 to 1976.
Even though she was widely despised, “Madame Mao” (Jiang Qing) rose through the ranks to become the first female member of the Communist Party’s ruling Politburo. She had hoped to succeed in her late husband’s position in the office, but that did not happen. Jiang Qing fell prey to her enemies after Mao’s death on September 9, 1976, the most prominent of whom was Deng Xiaoping, who would control China until 1997.
The former first lady was now widely seen as a “white-boned demon” by the general public. She was found guilty of many things, including murder, and condemned to death in a high-profile trial that was seen by millions across the world on television in 1981. However, the punishment was reduced from death to life in prison in 1983 because of the sensitivity involved in executing Mao’s widow.
Jiang Qing’s whole life was spent obeying Mao Zedong, and she stood trial in front of 35 judges, all of whom found her guilty. “I was Chairman Mao’s dog. What he said to bite, I bit.”
Jiang Qing was transferred from jail to house arrest in 1991. Cancer debilitated her and left her hopeless. For her, the country she had controlled was now an alien place. She made a noose out of handkerchiefs and hung herself in her bathtub ten days later.
As a result of the revolution, China is now a unified nation, no longer subject to the Western dominance that had been a source of turmoil since the late 19th century. But the conflicts inside Mao Zedong’s (1893–1976) ideology—between Marxist philosophy and a denial of modernity, between the building of a totalitarian regime and the wish to see the people rule themselves via a continual kind of activism—led to actual disasters. As a result, the Great Leap Forward sent the nation into the worst famine of the 20th century, which directly resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people. The Cultural Revolution rapidly deteriorated into a bloody civil war. But even now, some thirty years after his death, the man who dubbed himself “The Great Helmsman” continues to reap the rewards of the personality cult he created. It is still difficult to tell the difference between the mythic fate of a legendary politician and the actual life of an authoritarian dictator.
Mao Zedong as a young man: From privileged peasantry to communist activism
Mao Zedong in 1927.
On December 26, 1893, in the town of Shaoshan, Hunan Province, west-central China, Mao Zedong entered the world. He was raised by a prosperous family of peasants. Nationalist ideals abounded in his locality, much as they did in China, which was experiencing a crisis at the same time. Mao Zedong, all 1.80 meters of him, wanted to join the nationalist army when he was eighteen years old. But the trial period ends up being too short, and he decides to enroll in Changsha’s standard school instead.
There was evidence to suggest that a young Mao had conflicts with authority figures, but this did not prevent him from graduating and becoming an assistant librarian at Beijing University in 1919. Upon moving to a city, a hub of learning, he educated himself independently in Western philosophy, in particular Marxism. But he also had strong ties to classic Chinese culture and drew inspiration from the past more than anything else. In Beijing, he came across literature and student activists.
Indeed, Mao was sympathetic to the revolutionary cause and took part in the Changsha uprising of May 4, 1919. The teenager wavered between socialism, nationalism, and communism. The last political hue to win his support was this one. So, he went to the inaugural Chinese Communist Party conference in Changsha on July 23, 1921, and spoke for his faction. He was a staunch supporter of these views and faithfully followed Soviet theory, but for practical reasons he declared his support for an alliance with the Guomindang (Chinese Nationalist Party). From 1923 forward, he served in the executive office during the United Front (an alliance between the Guomindang and the Chinese Communist Party).
Towards a new communist thought
This photo is the third version of the standard portrait of Mao Zedong taken by Hou Bo and Meng Qingbiao on the eve of the National Day in 1959. After the photo was taken, for various reasons, the picture could not meet the requirements for making a standard portrait, so it took a lot of post-processing to make the photo present to the public, and this became the only standard portrait of Mao Zedong without both ears showing.
For Mao Zedong, 1927 was a watershed year. In fact, the United Front was dissolved after a failed workers’ rebellion in Shanghai in April 1927, which provided an opening for Chiang Kai-shek, a leading figure of the Kuomintang. Following this, the Guomindang launched a massive onslaught against the CCP. The fighting between the two sides was the culmination of tensions that had been building for almost a year. However, the Guomindang proved to be an overwhelming force. Mao attempted to organize a peasant army to quell the rebellion, but his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.
After his failure, he was shunned by the CCP. Then, in the Jiggang Mountains, he established the first Chinese Soviet, where he could try out a different party structure and organizational model. A report Mao made that year, “Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan Province,” served as the impetus for the formation of this group. The CCP’s political policy at the time agreed with Moscow’s by making the proletariat the revolution’s backbone. Nonetheless, China’s industrial landscape was still in its infancy, making students a more fertile ground for revolutionary Marxism-Leninism than the working class.
Mao Zedong developed a peasant-based philosophy of communist revolution, focusing on the rural areas where he was raised. He had a romantic view of the peasant revolts and said they might form the backbone of a revolution to restructure food production. This was one of the major differences between Maoism and Russian Marxism-Leninism, which had never placed a premium on rural life. Expelled from the CCP for a year, he was eventually readmitted. Up until 1934, he assisted Zhu De in expanding his system across the area. But when the Guomindang army advanced, Mao had no choice but to retreat and launch the Long March.
This particular one takes place between October 1934 and October 1935, covering a distance of around 10,000 kilometers. Mao, weakened by malaria, hobbled along with the help of a nurse and a secretary. On several occasions, four men would carry him on a litter while an oilcloth shielded him from the elements. The Communists were able to escape the encirclement of the nationalists thanks to this treacherous and fatal adventure, which became a true myth later on. It also served as a vehicle for the communist message to reach the rural populace. In 1935, Mao’s leadership of the CCP was bolstered by this.
The proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949
Mao Zedong proclaiming the new China. Source: /AP/SIPA
After years of experimenting with guerilla warfare, Mao Zedong bolstered it to its furthest extent, but the situation shifted in 1937 with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. From that point on, the civil war was halted to some extent, and the Communists gained valuable guerilla warfare experience by stopping the Japanese. During this time, Mao used his rising stature within the CCP to win over more people to his rural-based vision of communism. The peace treaty with the Guomindang that had been in place since Japan’s surrender in 1945 quickly crumbled. The Guomindang, still under Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership, withdrew and eventually crumbled in 1949, eventually fleeing to Formosa (Taiwan). The People’s Republic of China was officially established by Mao on October 1.
Now that he was at the pinnacle of authority, Mao set about reforming the nation thoroughly, although with some trepidation. He made an effort to improve relations with the Soviet Union, which he initially viewed with suspicion, and even embraced some of its policies. Despite China’s diplomatic isolation during the Korean War, Mao permitted Chinese “volunteers” to help the nation establish its military might. His paradigm of thinking is rooted in the peasants, but it has nothing in common with Soviet bureaucracy.
The announcement of de-Stalinization by Khrushchev accelerated Mao’s drift away from the USSR. The “Hundred Flowers” campaign, begun in 1957, was an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the educated elite. Everyone was encouraged to speak out against the CCP. At the same time that the opening was taking place, Mao was secretly putting in place a plan to increase his personal authority at the cost of the Party. Mao elevates himself above the latter by calling for its denigration, establishing a direct line of communication between himself and the revolutionizing masses. This same principle would justify the Cultural Revolution.
Mao’s Great Leap Forward
Sending government officials to work in the countryside, 1957.
The “Great Leap Forward,” Mao Zedong’s first major intervention, occurred in 1958. The goal was to completely restructure society by employing everyone in communal settings. This was envisioned as a replacement for the family unit and a means of increasing output. One further objective was to stop relying so much on the Soviet Union’s economy. However, the Great Leap Forward was overly ambitious, and it threw the economy, particularly the agricultural sector, into disarray. The catastrophe that Mao’s program became was made worse by the fact that he refused to admit it had failed. There was a horrible famine since production was inadequate. Mao Zedong was deposed by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping 10 years after the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
Mao’s Red Book: The chaos of the Cultural Revolution
Cover of the first edition English version of the Little Red Book circa 1966.
Mao Zedong, however, would not surrender and instead made plans to return to the spotlight with his wife, Jiang Qing. Starting in 1966, they criticized an entrenched party for turning into a sclerotic adversary of the people and called on the young to rise up in a coup. The revolution must continue indefinitely if the rights of the people were to be preserved. This was the fresh insight Mao wished to impart to the populace. With the release of the Little Red Book, a genuine political education for Mao, hundreds of images of him were posted across the country. He became famous by riding the CCP to prominence. As he overthrew Deng Xiaoping, he also solidified the cult of his ego. However, until 1969, considerable unrest was generated by the Red Guards, an army of students. Mao personally called in the troops to quell the unrest and prevent a civil war.
Declining power against a backdrop of a cult of personality
Chairman Mao en route to Anyuan.
Mao Zedong’s political activities and communist beliefs earned him the nickname “The Great Helmsman” beginning in the 1970s. As an added bonus, the cult of personality was institutionalized for a considerable period of time. Portraits of the leader were widely disseminated, and anybody caught defacing one faced the possibility of a short jail sentence or possibly execution. From 1949 through 1962, Mao was never without his lone official photographer, Hou Bo, whose pictures were used to spread communist party propaganda.
The “Official Portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Square” by Zhang Zhenshi was printed in two billion and two hundred million copies during the Cultural Revolution and distributed all throughout the country. The 900 million copies of Liu Chunhua’s 1967 artwork “Chairman Mao en route to Anyuan” There was also an artwork by Dong Xiwen named “The Founding Ceremony of the Nation” and a song praising Mao titled “The East is Red“. This one depicts Mao’s proclamation of the new Republic, but Xiven paints over it whenever a major player in Chinese politics dies. The “Little Red Book” also contributes to Mao’s personality cult.
A large portrait of Mao at Tiananmen.
The leader’s influence, however, was waning. Therefore, Zhou Enlai, his Prime Minister, was responsible for restoring order and enforcing a more practical policy. More peace and order might be established as a result. Timonier’s influence dwindled as he declined in health, and he left politics in 1974.
Mao Zedong’s death
A state funeral is being held for Mao Tse-tung, and members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army are paying their respects. Source: Associated Press
On May 11, 1976, Mao Zedong had a heart attack. On September 9 of that year, he passed away from Parkinson’s disease. Even though he had requested cremation, his remains were embalmed at the request of his political office. Afterward, on May 24, 1977, he was laid to rest in a mausoleum erected in his honor from November 24, 1976, until the present day in Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square. His political blunders led to genuine tragedies, including the deaths of nearly 80 million people, and his ideology led to the foundation of a totalitarian regime. The irony is that he is still revered in China since he was the catalyst for the country’s modernization and regaining of its independence.
Mao Zedong and his family
Mao with Jiang Qing and daughter Li Na in the 1940s.
Mao Zedong had four marriages. To begin with, he had a relationship with Luo Yixiu, whom he wed against his will when he was 13 and she was 17. Unfortunately, she passed away just three years into their married life. He married Yang Kaihui but eventually divorced her for his third wife. During the 1930s, nationalists had Yang Kaihui put to death. Among Mao Zedong’s wives, He Zizhen was the third and last. Jiang Qing (formerly known as Lan P’ing) was a 24-year-old actress when she married the leader in 1939; she remained by his side until his death and was a pivotal figure in the Cultural Revolution.
There were a total of 12 children born to Mao Zedong; just three of them are still alive and well now. He has three daughters, Mao Anying, Mao Anqing, and Mao Anlong, from his second marriage. And then, in his third marriage, he produced three males and three females. Then, in 1940, Mao’s beloved daughter, Li Na, was born to him and Jiang Qing. She had a prominent role in the Chinese Communist Party, but after suffering from despair, she withdrew from view.
In his latter years, Mao Zedong was no longer living with Jiang Qing and was heavily influenced by his numerous mistresses, particularly Zhang Yufeng. Mao Zedong’s family consisted of three members: brothers Mao Zemin (1896–1943) and Mao Zetan (1905–1935), as well as an adopted sister, Mao Zejian (1905–1929). When the civil war broke out, the Guomindang had all three of them put to death. Mao Yuanxin, born in 1941, was an important participant in the Cultural Revolution. He was the son of Mao Zemin and the nephew of Mao Zedong.
TIMELINE OF THE MAO ZEDONG
December 26, 1893: Born in Shaoshan, a village in Hunan province
Raised in a wealthy peasant household as the son of Mao Yichang and Wen Qimei.
1911: Mao Zedong joins the army
To help overthrow the Manchu monarchy and create the Republic, Mao Zedong enlisted in the nationalist army during the height of the revolution. But he didn’t like being a soldier, so he got out of it as soon as he could.
1918: Graduates from Changsha Normal School
But even though he struggled with authority, he was able to complete his education.
1919 : Mao was hired at the university library in Peking
As a self-taught person, he used this time to learn more. He studied Marxist ideas and Western philosophy, but he stayed true to Chinese customs.
July 21, 1921: First meeting of the CCP
Participating in the inaugural congress of the Chinese Communist Party, activists from different Chinese Marxist parties converge on Shanghai. Since the turn of the twentieth century, revolutionary groups in China have proliferated in response to student and public hopes for more freedom and modernization. Before turning against the Guomindang nationalists and achieving victory in October 1949, the CCP first collaborated with them. The future leader of the Chinese Communist Party, a youthful Mao Zedong, is among the participants. He was a very small player for a Changsha-based organization.
April 12, 1927: The Guomindang launched the offensive against the Shanghai insurrection
Chiang Kai-shek began his first large-scale battle against communism in response to a worker rebellion in Shanghai. The Nationalist leader’s fight against the Communists was successful and violent, just like this insurrection that was brutally put down. During the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek split with the Communists and successfully defeated the “warlords.” Mao led the Communist Party into conflict with Chiang Kai-shek’s authoritarian military regime beginning in 1934 and lasting for the next 22 years.
November 1, 1927: Mao settles in the Jinggang Shan
The Chinese Communist Party ousted Mao Zedong after the failure of the harvest uprising (Autumn Harvest Uprising) he organized. His first soviet was founded during his time spent in exile in the Jinggang mountains. Contrary to the Marxist-Leninist doctrines that had previously governed the Chinese CP, Mao turned to the peasants. His “Report on the Investigation of the Hunan Peasant Movement” was written during this period. His ban would end after a year. But what really gives him pause is the juxtaposition between the collapse of the urban insurrections and the stability of his rural soviet.
October 15, 1934: Beginning of the Long March
As Guomindang (Nationalist Party) forces advanced, communists fled Jiangxi. At that point, they would have to travel approximately 12,000 kilometers to reach Shaanxi. Mao Zedong became chairman of the Communist Party of China during this time.
October 20, 1935: End of the Long March
Rebel Communist forces commanded by Mao Zedong finally made it to Yenan in northern China after a year-long march across the country. Out of an estimated 100,000 soldiers at the outset, just 8,000 made it to the end. This trip not only saved the Communists from being captured by the Nationalists, but it also boosted the reputations of the survivors, most notably Mao. The communists would be able to relocate to other areas and keep fighting the nationalists.
October 1, 1949: Foundation of the People’s Republic of China
The People’s Republic of China was declared by Mao Zedong on the balcony of the Forbidden City in Beijing. After years of fighting between nationalists and communists, Mao, head of the Chinese Communist Party, finally ended the conflict. The “Great Helmsman” was elevated to head the government’s Central Committee. This advancement extends the Cold War into Asia. From 1949 until his death on September 9, 1976, Mao ruled China with an iron fist.
February 27, 1957: Launch of the Hundred Flowers Campaign
In a public address, Mao declared the commencement of an initiative to expand citizens’ rights to free speech. Since May 1956, he had been working on this effort to promote criticism of the ruling party. Ideally, he’d win over some smart people. However, this independence soon worked against the CCP, as they were seen as a new ruling class grabbing control. Unhappiness runs deep throughout the nation, giving weight to Mao’s calls for criticism and forcing the administration to back down. A short time later, persecution and mass deportations to work camps put a stop to the movement. The size of the Hundred Flowers movement foreshadowed that of the Cultural Revolution.
May 5, 1958: Mao’s Great Leap Forward
On the occasion of the Communist Party’s Eighth Congress, Mao declares radical changes in Chinese society. The CCP wanted to forsake the Soviet-inspired industrial program, so it embarked on a massive collectivization effort centered on people’s communes, which were more essential than any of the existing models at the time. One of the goals was to “stand on both feet,” or to boost manufacturing and farming. However, the worst famine in a century was caused by a genuine catastrophe. Between 15 and 30 million lives would have been lost in this one.
August 18, 1966: Beginning of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Lin Biao, the Army’s commander, led a massive protest against President Liu Shaoqi’s revisionist policies on the streets of Beijing. Red guards, most of whom were students, marched with copies of Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book by the thousands. They damaged “bourgeois” institutions and vandalized monuments to the past as a way of rejecting Western influence. All of China’s major metropolises would be hit by this proletarian Cultural Revolution. As a result, it would have an impact on numerous communist nations.
September 9, 1976: Mao Zedong died in Beijing at the age of 82
Known as the “Great Helmsman,” he has been China’s leader since 1949. His death brought together the ultra-maoist “gang of four,” including his widow, and the reformists headed by Deng Xiao Ping. He was the theorist and practitioner of a unique communist approach, completely distinct from his great communist brother. The September 13 funeral would not be open to any foreign delegations.
Bibliography:
Wilkinson, Endymion (2018). Chinese History: A New Manual (5th paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0998888309.
Ng, Yong-sang (1963). “The Poetry of Mao Tse-tung”. The China Quarterly13: 60–73. doi:10.1017/S0305741000009711.
MacFarquhar, Roderick; Schoenhals, Michael (2006). Mao’s Last Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674027480.
Dikötter, Frank (2010). Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62. London: Walker & Company. ISBN 978-0802777683.
Industrial robots are advancing at a rapid rate on a global scale. More than 3.5 million of them were present in 2021, and 500,000 more were added only in the previous year. China, whose robot density per employee has for the first time surpassed that of the USA, is seeing a particularly high increase in automation. Germany, ahead of Italy and France in Europe, has the most industrial robots per capita.
It has long been difficult to picture many industries—whether in the automobile industry, metal processing industry, or chemical industry—without robots. The majority of tasks that assembly line employees traditionally completed are now carried out by adaptive, machine-based assistants. Along with traditional robot arms, autonomous transport robots, and computerized manufacturing lines, they also include mobile 3D printers and robotic recycling assistance.
Record expansion despite the pandemic
According to Marina Bill, president of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), robot density is a critical sign of how automation is developing in industrial sectors globally. Her team assessed how the overall number of industrial robots and their density, computed per 10,000 workers, changed in 2021 compared to earlier years for the World Robotics 2022 Report.
As a consequence, the surge in robots and automation has not halted, despite the Corona epidemic. 517,385 new industrial robots were deployed globally in 2021, an all-time record and a 31 percent increase over the year before. Annual robot deployments have more than quadrupled during the last six years. Another record-breaking average of 141 robots per 10,000 employees already exists globally.
In the top five is China
One in every two new industrial robots deployed globally was utilized in China in 2021, where the number of robots increased especially quickly. Nearly 270,000 new robots were placed in the country. In China’s industries, there are now more than a million industrial robots in use. The high level of investment in China is reflected in its quick robotic expansion, and there is still a lot of room for automation.
China has now officially become one of the top five most automated nations in the world, surpassing even the USA in terms of robot density. In 2021, there were 322 operating robots for every 10,000 workers in China’s industrial sector. China now ranks fifth in terms of the density of robots, after South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and Germany. With 274 robots per 10,000 workers, the United States comes in ninth place.
Despite this, South Korea continues to have the most automated sector, with 1,000 industrial robots for every 10,000 workers. The electronics industry and a robust automobile sector are the main drivers of this.
Germany is at the top of Europe
Germany has the largest robot density in Europe, yet even in this nation, 23,000 additional robots were added to companies in 2021 despite the epidemic. This is the second-highest number after 2018—a record year in which the automobile sector made significant investments—and it represents a 6% rise in new installations. In Germany’s industries, there are now more than 345,000 industrial robots in use.
This indicates that Germany has the fourth-highest robot density globally and that no other nation in Europe has as many industrial robots in operation as this one. The industrial sites between Flensburg and Munich are home to around 33% of the industrial robots in Europe. Around 38% of robots are employed in the automotive sector, which is followed by the metalworking sector, the chemical processing sector, and the plastics and chemical processing sectors.
More than half a century after the race to the moon, space is once again the venue for a rivalry. China is doing everything it can to become a superpower in space as well. Already, manned and unmanned Chinese missions have passed a number of milestones. But what does this mean for the rest of the world and the previously leading space nations?
The first landing of a space probe on the far side of the moon, a rover on Mars, and a manned space station in orbit: In recent years, China has caught up tremendously in space travel and is getting closer and closer to the previous leader, the USA. China’s government leaves no doubt that it is also striving for supremacy in space—whether in Earth orbit, on the moon, or on Mars.
At the same time, however, the political divide between China and Western countries seems to be widening, at least in terrestrial matters. As a result, a new competition for space may be brewing in spaceflight as well.
China as a new space nation
China has launched more probes and satellites in 2021 than any nation before.
Until just a few years ago, the U.S., Russia, and the EU were the undisputed pioneers in space travel. They launched the most rockets, sent space probes through the solar system, and carried the lion’s share of the International Space Station (ISS). But the skies have become more crowded in the meantime. More and more countries are launching their own satellite and space programs.
Enormous progress in a short time
At the forefront of this is China. President Xi Jinping is striving to make his country a superpower in space as well, and is well on his way to achieving this. After lagging behind the two major space nations, the United States and Russia, for a long time, China has now caught up. No other country has made so much technological progress in space in such a short time and in so many different areas. And no other country has such ambitious plans and such a good chance of implementing them.
“It’s becoming more and more clear how dominant China wants to be with regard to space and the space economy,” says Steve Kwast, a U.S. Air Force veteran and space strategist. “They see the profit margin, they see the economic revenue stream, and they see the national security implications.”
To achieve this, the Chinese government is investing huge amounts of money in the largely state-run space industry; more than 300,000 people are said to work for the Chinese space agency alone—far more than for NASA. In addition, there are semi-private companies working on behalf of the state.
From orbit to Mars
And the successes are impressive. Within a few years, China completed its own global satellite navigation system, Beidou, and set a new record for satellite launches in 2021. In one year, Chinese launchers put 55 satellites into orbit; the record previously held by the U.S. was 51 satellites in one year. The Chinese space agency is also already working on its own mega-constellation of some 13,000 Internet satellites.
China has also reached new milestones in the exploration of the moon and Mars. Chang’e 4 was the first space probe to land on the far side of the moon in 2019. In 2020, its successor, Chang’e 5 brought back to Earth the first lunar rock samples since the Apollo missions. In May 2021, China became the only country after the United States to successfully land a Mars rover on the Red Planet with its Tianwen-1 mission. The Zhurong rover has since been exploring an area in Utopia Planitia, a plain northeast of the landing area of NASA’s Perseverance rover.
China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 with the Zhurong rover. (Image: China News Service)
China is now also competing with the U.S. and Russia in manned spaceflight. After launching its first astronaut in 2003, the country now operates a space station in low-Earth orbit, becoming the third nation after Russia and the U.S. to do so. In April 2021, the core module of the Tiangong station was launched into orbit, followed by the first laboratory module, Wentian, in July 2022. The second laboratory module, Mengtian, followed in October 2022. 14 Chinese astronauts have already spent time at the station as part of its construction and testing.
Just the beginning
For Xi Jinping and China’s space agency, however, this is just the beginning. They see an expanding space presence and space technology as an essential part of China’s development. “To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry, and build China into a space power is our eternal dream,” Xi stressed in a recent “white paper” on China’s space program. The space industry is a crucial element of the national strategy, he said.
Competition for space supremacy
For decades, things in space were largely cooperative and peaceful. Exploration of the solar system and research in Earth’s orbit were primarily characterized by cooperation rather than competition. Even old archenemies like Russia and the United States worked together on joint projects like the International Space Station (ISS).
However, this was not the case for China. Unlike Russia, which did maintain close relations with the Western space nations, the country remained relatively isolated even in space. For example, the U.S. blocked its participation in the ISS out of fear of industrial espionage by the Middle Kingdom or China. There was also little interest in cooperating on space probes.
Rival blocs
But the former pariah, China, has become a full-fledged rival. Thanks to its technological advances, China has also become a power in space that other spacefaring nations can no longer ignore. China’s undisguised striving for power, but also the Ukraine war and the associated conflicts between Russia and the West, have drawn new fronts—a new cold war is brewing.
As was the case a good 70 years ago, superpowers are vying for records, technologies, and resources in space. And as in the first “Space Race” in the 1950s and 1960s, two blocs with largely contrasting ideological and political views are facing each other. “One bloc includes more authoritarian states led by China and Russia, and the other is made up predominantly of democracies allied with the U.S. and “like-minded” countries,” Alanna Krolikowski of Missouri University tells The Guardian.
A new eastern alliance?
After decades in which Russia and China barely cooperated with each other in space, a new rapprochement between the two formerly communist states now seems to be on the horizon. There are declarations of intent for future joint projects on the moon and demonstrative mutual visits by Putin and Xi to their national spaceports. An alliance would bring advantages to both: China benefits from Russia’s greater space expertise and experience; Russia, in turn, could benefit from China’s greater financial strength and more advanced technology.
However, it remains to be seen how close this cooperation will actually be. After all, Russia and China have another thing in common: Their governments are striving for global supremacy and a new old greatness for their empires. This also implies a more rivalrous than cooperative attitude with potential competitors. Some experts are therefore rather skeptical about the new “bromance” between Putin and Xi. The techno-nationalist attitudes of both states could stand in the way of genuine cooperation in space.
Return of the Sputnik trauma
For the U.S., long the undisputed leader in all areas of space, new rival China is a problem: “We are back to where we were in 1957. This is not a Sputnik moment in the strict sense, but it comes very close to its spirit,” U.S. intelligence expert Mike Rogers recently stated. “China is racing ahead in space, while we are unfortunately resting on our laurels, impressive as they may be.”
General David Thompson, vice chief of the U.S. Space Force, takes a similar view: “We are absolutely in a strategic competition with China, and space is a part of that,” he told in early 2022. China, he said, is expanding its space capabilities twice as fast as the United States. “If we don’t start accelerating our development and delivery capabilities, they will exceed us.”
The new space rivalry could become particularly problematic for the closest celestial body to us, the moon.
China’s plans for lunar missions
The lunar rover Yutu-2 and its mother probe Chang’e 4 completed the first landing of a man-made vehicle on the far side of the moon. (Image: CSNA/Siyu Zhang, Kevin M. Gill/CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Everyone wants to go to the moon. After a break of almost 50 years, the Earth’s satellite has once again become the focus of interest in space travel. The moon also has great strategic importance as a stopover to Mars, as a location for space telescopes, and as a lucrative destination for space tourists.
And here, too, China is playing a major role. China’s lunar program initially relies on unmanned probes to test and develop technologies and locations for later manned lunar missions. The first major success came in 2013 with Chang’e 3, the first landing of a Chinese space probe and small rover on Earth’s satellite. Chang’e 4 followed in 2019 with the first landing on the far side of the moon—the first space probe ever to do so. A satellite placed at lunar Lagrange Point 2 will serve as a relay for the radio signals; a second relay satellite is to be added in 2024.
Lunar South Pole as a priority target
This means that China is present even before the USA in a lunar region that is considered particularly suitable for future lunar stations. This is because data from orbital probes suggests that there could be 3-foot-thick layers of water ice in the deep shadows of some craters in the South Pole-Aitken depression located at the lunar south pole, an important resource for future lunar astronauts. Metals and other resources could also be found in the regolith of this region.
China plans to use the Chang’e 6 lunar probe to determine whether this is actually the case. It is scheduled to launch in 2024 and take samples from the South Pole basin and bring them back to Earth. The two follow-up missions, Chang’e 7 and 8, are also to land in this region and conduct geological investigations and technical tests there. Among other things, experiments are planned on the use of regolith as a building material.
But China also wants more than just robotic flying visits to the Earth’s satellite; its long-term goal is a manned lunar base. According to current plans, the unmanned construction phase for such a station is to begin around 2030, and the first Chinese astronauts could then land in 2036. According to the Chinese space agency, the lunar base will primarily serve research purposes and will also be open to other nations.
A joint lunar station between Russia and China
The first partner for this venture could be Russia. In the summer of 2021, the Chinese and Russian space agencies signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). In July 2022, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin told Russian broadcaster Russia-24: “We are now almost ready to sign the contract for a joint lunar base with China.”
In parallel, Russia has resumed its Luna program, which had been paused for nearly 50 years. In September 2022, the Luna-25 spacecraft was scheduled to initiate the Russian return to the moon, also landing in the lunar south polar region. The piquant thing about this is that the newly launched Russian Luna missions were originally planned in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA). However, the latter terminated the cooperation after the start of the Ukraine war. Luna 25 is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2023.
Dispute over the Artemis Accords
According to the report, lunar exploration is also seeing a new edition of the old space race, with the Chinese-Russian ILRS on the one side and the Artemis program of the U.S. and Europe on the other. The latter plan is to land astronauts on the Earth’s satellite again as early as 2025 and to launch a lunar space station into lunar orbit. This could threaten a conflict over lunar sites and resources, in part because space law has so far not contained any clear regulations for this scenario.
To change this, the U.S. has drawn up the so-called Artemis Accords, a set of agreements intended to regulate the dealings of various players on the moon. In the Accords, signatories agree to abide by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, avoid mutual interference, share information, and use the most compatible technologies possible. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that there is a norm of behavior that says that resources can be extracted and that we’re doing it in a way that is in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty,” Bridenstine says. In addition to the U.S., 20 countries have signed the treaty so far.
But China’s government sees the Accords as an attempt by the U.S. to impose regulations on other space-faring nations, and China, in particular, that unilaterally benefit U.S. interests. “The Accords are an attempt to seize the moon for themselves and colonize it,” criticized Chinese military expert and commentator Song Zhongpin in the Global Times in 2020. Reports on Chinese state broadcaster CGTN were in a similar vein. However, there are also Chinese experts on space law who concede that international guidelines for lunar exploration and exploitation are needed and that the primarily bilateral accords could at least be a precursor to those.
In any case, one thing is clear: The next few years will see competition for lunar milestones, sites, and resources, and China will be at the forefront.
China’s new Tiangong space station
The Chinese space station Tiangong in July 2022, with the core module Tianhe in the center and the laboratory module Wentian on the left. Also docked outside are a freighter on the right and the manned Shenzhou space capsule below.
In parallel with the new race to the moon, the balance is also shifting in manned spaceflight in Earth orbit. After Russia and the USA as leading operators of space stations, China now also has its own space station in Earth orbit. In principle, there was little else for the country to do because, in 2011, at NASA’s instigation, China was expressly excluded from participating in the International Space Station (ISS) because industrial espionage was feared.
Tiangong is modular and as big as Mir
Like the Russian Mir space station and the ISS, the Chinese Tiangong station has a modular design and is gradually being added to orbit. It orbits in low Earth orbit between 340 and 450 kilometers above the Earth, roughly the same range as the ISS. When it was completed in October 2022, the station consisted of a core module and two laboratory modules and weighed around 80 to 100 tons. In terms of size and weight, it is roughly equivalent to the former Russian Mir space station but has only one-fifth of the mass of the ISS.
The station’s core module, Tianhe, was successfully launched into orbit by a Long March 5B launch vehicle on April 29, 2021. The module, which is nearly 17 meters long, contains a service section with life support systems, a power supply, propulsion systems, and systems for position and navigation. The second part contains quarters for three astronauts, computer and control systems, and communications equipment. In addition, the Tianhe module has a docking system and a robotic arm.
The laboratory modules
On July 24, 2022, another mission brought the first of two laboratory modules to the station. This initially docked to the docking site located at the forward end of the core module so that the two modules are in line. However, subsequent transposition gave the approximately 20-ton laboratory module its final position transverse to the core module. Wentian contains quarters for three additional astronauts and space for scientific experiments, as well as a second robotic arm and backups for key core functions such as navigation, propulsion, and attitude control.
The Wentian laboratory module also contains the station’s future main airlock. Astronauts will disembark through it when they need to perform outboard missions. These will be necessary, for example, to maintain and service measuring instruments attached to the outside of the station in the future. The laboratory module has special holders for this purpose, into which large instruments can also be latched. These could include a small reflecting telescope from 2023 and, from 2027, a four-ton instrument for measuring cosmic radiation, which was developed with the participation of European scientists.
In October 2022, the basic structure of the space station was completed with the second Mengtian science module. This module contains additional space for experiments as well as an airlock for supplies and other payloads. Unmanned supply capsules of the Tianzhu type can dock with it. It is unclear to what extent the docking mechanism, which is based on the Russian system, is also compatible with the systems of the ISS and the space capsules of other countries, as, with many technical details, China’s space agency is keeping a low profile.
First ion propulsion system in manned space flight
Test of a Hall-effect ion thruster at NASA. Tiangong is the first manned space vehicle with ion propulsion. Image: NASA
The Tiangong station’s propulsion system is a major feature. In addition to classic thrusters, the Tianhe core module also has an ion propulsion system—the first manned space vehicle ever to do so. The four Hall-effect thrusters generate their thrust from a stream of positively charged particles, presumably xenon ions, accelerated by an electric field. A ring current of electrons controlled by a magnetic field provides additional thrust and neutralizes the ion current after it exits the propulsion nozzle.
The advantage of such ion drives is their small size and long operating life. They can generate less thrust than chemical thrusters, but a small amount of xenon gas is sufficient to propel them. On the Tiangong space station, the Hall thrusters are expected to operate for at least 15 years and maintain the station’s orbital altitude at a stable level. One disadvantage of ion propulsion, however, is the highly corrosive effect of the accelerated ions. To prevent them from damaging the thrusters and the space station’s hull, they are surrounded by an additional shielding magnetic field and a protective ceramic shell.
Other nations may also join in
At present, China’s new Tiangong space station is mankind’s second “outpost,” alongside the ISS, but it could soon be the only one. That’s because the ISS is already relatively old, and its funding is on the line. In the wake of the Ukraine war and increasing conflicts with Western countries, Russia has announced the end of its participation in 2024. Whether the International Space Station will continue to be operated then, and in what form, is still unclear.
In the future, however, Tiangong—the “Heavenly Palace”—could also become a place of international cooperation, the Chinese government emphasizes. Some of the scientific experiments currently installed on the space station are already being carried out in cooperation with other countries or were developed entirely by research institutions in Europe. Among others, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany are involved. There is also particularly close cooperation between China and the Italian Space Agency. It is developing the cosmic ray measurement instrument, which is expected to be installed in 2027.
“After our space station is completed in the near future, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts flying and working together,” Ji Qiming of China’s manned spaceflight agency said in a recent press conference. The participation of astronauts from other countries is guaranteed, he added. Whether and in what form this participation will take place, however, remains to be seen.
What also seems clear, however, is that if China’s rapid development in space travel continues at this rate, most other countries may have little choice but to join in. “The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not,” said then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1962 during his famous moon speech in Texas.
When the twentieth century began, China was suffocating beneath the weight of the major Western powers. To be sure, the nation was compelled to open up economically, politically, and spiritually to other countries following the Opium Wars and the Sino-Japanese War. In addition, a secret organization, whose members were termed “Boxers” by Europeans, revolted in 1899 in an effort to free the nation. The growth of Chinese nationalism would hasten the fall of the Qing dynasty’s Manchu monarchy and bring about more foreign involvement in China.
Why did the Boxer Rebellion break out?
The Manchu Empire’s economy went into a deep slump in the middle of the nineteenth century, mostly because its administration had not kept up with the changing demographics and had instead stuck to its old ways.
As the rest of the world was swiftly modernizing, China retreated inside, clinging to practices and institutions that were hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. Canton was the only place in China where trading with other nations was legal, and even then, only if a Chinese firm was involved.
What were the causes of the Boxer Rebellion?
After fifty years of unfair treaties between the Chinese Empire and foreign countries, the Boxer Rebellion broke out. In 1839, the emperor of China was so concerned about the impact of opium on his country’s people that he had British supplies in Canton destroyed. As a direct result, the British immediately began attacking, setting off the First Opium War.
China was ultimately defeated in the war, and as part of the Treaty of Nanking, five of its ports were opened to international commerce, and Hong Kong was ceded to the enemy. However, despite these benefits, the British were not content, and thus the Second Opium War erupted in 1856.
After being beaten this time, China agreed to let Christian missionaries and international delegations set up shop in 11 previously closed ports. As a result, a war was being planned against Japan while China, already weakened by the Taiping insurrection (1851–1864), found itself more influenced by the West. As expected, Japan has progressed and become more advanced.
Thus, it did not think twice before attacking its neighbor to assert its supremacy over Korea. In April 1895, China signed the unfavorable Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceding even more territory to its enemies. The Movement of the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or the Boxer Rebellion, emerged from this time of crisis, submission, and discontent among the Chinese people.
Why did the Hundred Days’ reform fail?
At the conclusion of these wars, the Russians, the French, the Germans, and the English split up China into spheres of influence. In light of this embarrassment, the youthful emperor Guangxu surrounded himself with reformist intellectuals.
They convinced him that the only way the Empire could survive was to modernize. Although their changes were based on Western ideals, they were not well received by Empress Cixi or many other court officials.
They were set in their ways and would have none of the Western ways being imposed upon them. Cixi staged a coup d’état and had the emperor locked up to put a stop to the uprising. This period is called the Hundred’ Days Reform. Guangxu was imprisoned at the Summer Palace when the empress took over regency, and he died there in 1908.
How does the Boxer Rebellion start?
The Boxer uprising was sparked by the empress’s actions and the ensuing indignation at the country’s disintegration. Boxers, as they were dubbed by Westerners due to their participation in holy boxing, were members of the Yihetuan, a secret organization (“Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists”). Invading foreign delegations and missions at Cixi’s covert request, they murdered clergymen and ultimately the German envoy, Clemens von Ketteler, in June of 1900. The imperial authority soon declared war on the Westerners and publicly backed the uprising.
What was the reaction of the Western powers to the Boxer Rebellion?
Germans, Italians, French, English, Austrians, Russians, Americans, and Japanese quickly assembled an invasion force. The forces, led by the German von Waldersee, recaptured Tianjin with relative ease and then marched on to seize Peking on August 14, 1900. The insurrection was put down after 55 days, and the empress and her court departed the city.
What were the results of the Boxer Rebellion?
On September 7, 1901, the imperial government signed the Peking Protocol, agreeing to compensate the Western countries to the tune of 450 million taels (about 1.6 billion gold francs) for their involvement in the revolt. The popular Boxer insurrection, which had its roots in resistance to Western economic colonialism, ultimately failed.
For China, whose economy became more dependent on Western aid, the consequences were disastrous. The Qing dynasty’s reputation was damaged even more as a result of this occurrence. All the government changes that followed were too little, too late for China, and the traditionalists and the conservatives who had been the backbone of the country’s politics for so long. It was 1911, and the revolution was about to begin.
TIMELINE OF THE BOXER REBELLION
17 April 1895 – Treaty of Shimonoseki
In the Treaty of Shimonoseki (Japan), China accepted defeat after a short war with Japan. As a result of this pact, China gave up some territory in South Manchuria, the Pescadores, and the island of Formosa (later called Taiwan). In addition, it acknowledged Japan’s de facto rule over Korea and paid hefty indemnities to the defeated nation.
At the time, Japan was planning an assault on Russia in retaliation for Russia’s obstruction of Japan’s colonial ambitions. The stage for the twentieth century’s major conflicts was set in Asia. Starting next year, the area would be divided into zones of influence by the big powers (France, Russia, the UK, and Germany).
June 11, 1898 – Beginning of the Hundred Days’ Reform
Throughout his reign as China’s emperor, Guangxu was advised by a group of reform-minded scholars and intellectuals. In an effort to fight European countries’ attempts to divide China into zones of influence, these reformers overhauled the country’s government, schools, and economy.
These changes, which took their cue from Europe, were a huge snub to Empress Cixi, who saw them as too conventional and anti-Western. With her considerable court power, she stymied her nephew and emperor’s initiatives while secretly supporting the work of groups like the Yihetuan, or “Boxers.”
June 20, 1900 – Boxer Rebellion in Beijing
As a result of the presence of foreigners in China, members of the secret organization Yihetuan, “Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists,” also known as “Boxers,” rose up in rebellion. Invading Catholic missions, besieging embassies, murdering priests, and ultimately taking the life of the German envoy, von Ketteler, were all tactics used by these men.
The colonial powers that had been in China since the Opium War of 1840 responded swiftly, prompting the departure of Empress Dowager Cixi from the capital.
July 14, 1900 – The Western army recaptured Tianjin
When the Boxer Rebellion broke out, the world powers with economic ties to China banded together to send an expeditionary force led by the German General von Waldersee to put down the uprising.
French, American, British, Russian, Austrian, German, Italian, and Japanese soldiers were also there. As an added bonus, the alliance faced little resistance when they invaded Tianjin on July 14, 1900. A month later, it would invade Beijing and put a stop to the uprising.
August 14, 1900 – End of the Boxer Rebellion
A multinational expeditionary army led by German commander Alfred von Waldersee landed in Tianjin and eventually captured the Chinese capital. After 55 days, it ended the siege of the European embassies in China by the Chinese nationalists.
The uprising that had begun against the alien presence two months earlier had finally come to an end. Cixi, the imperial grandmother, and her entourage escaped. However, a massive war indemnity was imposed on the imperial administration.
September 7, 1901 – China must compensate foreign powers
After the Boxer Rebellion gained momentum, the imperial government of China was pressured into accepting the terms of the Peking Protocol.
It had to make hefty compensation payments to hostile governments. Overall, the Boxer Rebellion hastened the downfall of the Manchu monarchy and increased China’s reliance on Western powers.
Thompson, Larry Clinton (2009). William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris, and the “Ideal Missionary”. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-78645-338-2.
Harrington, Peter (2001). Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-181-8.
The West’s fascination with a potent new beverage, tea, peaked around the middle of the 19th century. But China was maintaining a 5,000-year monopoly on the product’s commerce and production. To end this, the British embarked on one of the most daring acts of espionage in history. They planned to steal the tea trade secrets from Imperial China. Robert Fortune, a botanist from Scotland who was 36 at the time, was the spy they chose to carry out this task. It is safe to say that there would be no tea in the West for a long time if it wasn’t up to Robert Fortune.
Who was Robert Fortune?
That’s probably how Robert Fortune carried out his task in China.
Robert Fortune (1812–1880) was born in Edrom, Berwickshire, Scotland. Fortune started his career in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, and then in 1840, he moved on to run the orangery at the Horticultural Society’s garden in Chiswick, London. In 1843, after the Treaty of Nanking that ended the First Opium War, he was commissioned by the Society to gather plants in Southern China.
The Society sent Fortune on a plant-collecting—if not stealing—mission to China, with specific orders to bring back plants that were both hardy and exotic. While Fortune was in China for three years, he frequently supplied his employer with new seeds and plants. He was the best choice when the East India Company was seeking someone to bring tea plants from China to India to start a new tea business in the West. He went to China two more times, and the second time was to advise the US government on how to launch its own tea industry. More than 120 new horticultural plant species were brought to Britain as a result of Robert Fortune’s trips to China.
Fortune to unseat China
A poster from “The Great American Tea Company” from the early 18th century demonstrates that tea had already become a popular drink in the United States.
Even though India now consumes and produces more tea than any other country, commercial tea cultivation in India did not begin until the middle of the 19th century. The British East India Company (1600-1874) engaged in a crafty act of biopiracy that facilitated the growth of the tea trade in the East. China was the sole supplier of tea to the West in the early 19th century, and commerce was severely hampered by the country’s insistence on being paid in silver. The Company saw an opportunity to unseat China as the dominant player in the tea sector as demand for the drink increased throughout Europe.
The British attempted to build a plantation using both indigenous Assam tea plants and Chinese seedlings after learning that the tea plant successfully thrived wild in Northeast India’s Assam region. However, neither of the attempts worked. But in 1848, the British East India Company wanted to send a “plant hunter” to China with the goal of acquiring the finest types of the tea plant, and bringing in local producers and supplies for the government’s tea plantation in the Himalayas.
The Royal Horticultural Society sent Robert Fortune, a Scottish plant collector who had visited China for the Society between 1843 and 1846. While there, he examined tea-growing regions and also gathered various plants and tree peonies including Abelia chinensis, Weigela florida, and Platycodon grandiflorus (then known as Campanula grandiflora).
Fortune the plant hunter
Robert Fortune
Robert Fortune discovered that black and green tea were actually coming from the same plant, and he noticed that the green teas packaged for export were always dyed with Prussian blue, a somewhat hazardous chemical created by combining cyanide acid and iron, and gypsum. This coloring was for the European and American “barbarians” who enjoyed the “beautiful flowers” in their tea. In addition, Fortune noted that the process in which the leaves of the tea bushes are selected and prepared was relatively simple, contrary to popular belief.
20,000 varieties of plants, and skilled producers
In the year 1848, Fortune set out on a quest to collect tea leaves. He chopped off all but a ponytail of his hair and dressed in traditional clothes so that he would blend in with the locals and be able to go more freely into the country’s interior. On his way to the Hwuy-chow tea district, he walked, took a boat, and rode a palanquin for a total of 200 miles (325 km). In the highlands, Fortune learned about the cultivation of green tea and spent time harvesting its seeds. He journeyed to northern “Hokkien” and other black tea producing areas. Despite the fact that there were more easily accessible tea-producing districts, Robert Fortune was certain that only the highest-quality supplies be sent to India.
His description of the northern Chinese city of Tsong-gan-hien tells a lot. According to Fortune, this city was full of large tea-hongs where black teas were sorted and packed for foreign markets. Traders from all regions in China where tea was consumed or exported were visiting here to buy tea and delicately plan its transportation.
Robert Fortune shipped the tea seeds to Calcutta in ward boxes, which he thought was the finest method for shipping. According to his book, “A Journey to the Tea Countries of China,” he was able to secure nearly 20,000 tea plants, eight first-class tea farmers, and a wealth of tea equipment from the finest tea districts of China to the Himalayas in 1852.
The most profitable heist ever
Robert Fortune predicted that the new tea plantations in Assam and Sikkim would probably prove a tremendous asset not only to India but also to England and her growing colonies. China continued to dominate the tea business far into the second half of the 19th century, but by the 1890s, India was meeting 90% of Britain’s domestic tea demand. India’s tea exports to Britain increased in value from £24,000 in 1854 to £20,087,000 in 1929. Today, there are now 3,300,000 US tons (3 million metric tons) of tea manufactured each year for the global tea demand, making it the most widely consumed soft drink in the world, all thanks to the efforts of Robert Fortune, the mighty “tea spy.” Robert Fortune died at the age of 67 on April 13th, 1880, in London.
Let’s have a look at the starting and finishing periods of the Great Wall of China, the reasons to build this enormous construction, and the mastermind behind the project, the first Emperor of China, Shi Huangdi. For a long time, it was believed that the Great Wall was built to protect the Chinese Empire from the threat of neighboring tribes. However, there was no threat from the northern tribes to the Qin Empire during the period when the wall was built. Because the Jung and Ti tribes, who rained fire from the 12th century BC to the 3rd century, were already scattered at the time.
Why was the Great Wall of China made?
The criminals were also used in the construction of the Great Wall, and they were treated quite brutally.
The Eastern Huns, which the Chinese called Hsiung-nu, entered the territory of China, but Meng Tian’s army managed to drive them from the Ordos region. The wall would provide confidence against future attacks, but for human life, its cost was too high for a structure that is not urgently needed. The idea of building a wall might have been due to Shi Huangdi’s obsession with security and his passion for ambitious projects. The entourage also supported this for more realistic reasons; the construction was, after all, in a very convenient place to send troublemakers away.
The construction of the Great Wall provided jobs for thousands of soldiers who were demobilized after the establishment of the Empire, which ended the interstate war. Also, after the wall was finished, soldiers had to be deployed along the walls, which meant that most of the army would be away from the capital. The wall was drawing a solid line between its lands and nomadic peoples. It was also an obstacle for those who might intend to escape from the Chinese Empire. The wall was not built only to ward off neighboring tribes; it was also to keep the Chinese inside.
China’s first Emperor Shi Huangdi
Shi Huangdi was obsessed with security after a series of assassination attempts against him.
The first known rulers of Chinese civilization were the Shang dynasty. This dynasty was defeated by a federation of states in the 12th century BC, and then the Zhou dynasty was established in North China. After some time, new problems emerged between the states that formed the union, and they started to fight each other. In 256 BC, the soldiers of the Qin State broke into the capital and ended the so-called reign of the last Zhou king.
The Qin armies spread across China, killing countless people in the provinces they defeated. These tactics enabled smaller states to surrender without much resistance. In 246 BC, a 13-year-old boy named Cheng succeeded to the throne of Qin. He continued his ancestors’ policy of conquering other states, and exactly 25 years after he came to power, he put all the states under the rule of Qin. Thus, the ruler of Qin Cheng became the first emperor of all of China at the age of 38 in 221 BC, and changed his name to Shi Huangdi, the “First Emperor.”
When was the Qin Dynasty overthrown?
Shi Huangdi built such a large grave to protect himself in his afterlife that the guard regiment–consisting of more than 7,000 clay soldiers in battle stance, 600 clay horses, and 100 wooden cars–was discovered 1 mile (1,6 km) deep.
Shi Huangdi died in 210 BC during a trip to the Eastern Provinces. While on his deathbed, the Majordomo asked Zhao Gao to write a letter to his eldest son, Fu Su, who was working on the construction of the Great Wall of China. In the letter, the young man was asked to go to the capital with his father’s funeral procession, which suggests that he will take over as king.
But before the letter was sent, Shi Huangdi died, and a series of intrigues and deceptions began among his successors. His advisor Li Si decided to hide his death until the emperor’s funeral was taken to the capital and the monarch was replaced. Meanwhile, instead of sending the letter to Fu Su, Zhao Gao gave it to the other son, Hu Hai. Zhao Gao cooperated with Hu Hai and offered him the throne, and in return, Zhao Gao was going to be appointed to a stronger position.
Hu Hai agreed, and after Zhao Gao persuaded Li Si to join his plans, Hu Hai became Emperor. Thereupon, a fake letter was sent to Fu Su, as if the letter had come from Shi Huangdi, and he was ordered to commit suicide. Zhao Gao was determined to take the Empire under his control. He first executed Li Si for a fraudulent betrayal, and then also made the new emperor, who was already mentally ill, commit suicide by driving him mad.
However, when Zhao Gao got the imperial seal, he found no support. The Empire was already breaking up. The resistance of the rebels was getting stronger. Therefore, he immediately declared one of Hu Hai’s older brothers as emperor. The new ruler immediately executed Zhao Gao, but it was too late. Rebel forces entered the capital three months later and killed the new Emperor. The Qin Dynasty collapsed in 206 BC, just 15 years after its foundation.
How was the Great Wall useful?
The wall was reinforced during the Tang Dynasty. And during the Ming Dynasty, most of it was rebuilt.
The Great Wall of China was quite an effective defense against tribes in the north when it was filled with troops. It was also an effective marking system. The communication towers, 11 miles (18 km) apart, enabled any messages to be transmitted by smoke during the day and fire at night to be sent across the wall within 24 hours.
The main flaw of the wall was that it required a large number of soldiers to defend because of its enormous length. In times when internal conflicts forced soldiers and as well as budgets, it was difficult to provide sufficient manpower and the wall was mostly ineffective. A few years after the end of the Qin dynasty, when the Hsiung-nu managed to cross the Great Wall, they had to be fledged by giving grain, wine, and silk.
The Han Dynasty emerged from the chaos after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, and they effectively protected the Great Wall of China. However, after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the northern tribes ruled all of North China for the next four centuries. The Great Wall was reinforced again by the Tang dynasty in the 7th century AD.
At the beginning of the 8th century, the Great Wall of China prevented Genghis Khan from entering the country during the Song dynasty. In the 14th century, the Great Wall of China was rebuilt extensively by the Ming Dynasty. The parts seen today are mostly from this period. When the Manchus (a Turkish and Mongolian neighbor) took over China in 1644, the wall had no military significance. The empire had now expanded to the north of the wall, and China’s new enemies would come from a different direction: that is, the sea. Today, the Great Wall no longer plays any role in China’s defense system but has become a national icon.
When was the Great Wall of China built?
The fascinating Great Wall of China lays like a giant snake along China’s northern borders after ten years of efforts that cost the lives of thousands of workers. Following the natural folds of the land, the wall continued from the Yellow Sea to the west over the mountains, deserts, and farmlands to the Tibet border.
The wall was built on the orders of Shi Huangdi, who was the first Emperor of China and used the power of the Qin state he led to overthrow and unite other Chinese states under his rule. In 214 BC, the emperor sent his commander Meng Tian, along with 300,000 workers and many political prisoners, to the northern borders of the empire to start construction and build a series of fortifications.
There were already hundreds of miles of walls remaining from the independent states of China, some were from the 4th century BC. The task of Meng Tian and his engineers was to reinforce or rebuild these structures, add watchtowers, and lay an additional 500-mile (800 km) wall to connect the towers and unify the whole wall.
The construction progressed at a relentless speed, and new teams of workers constantly joined the building craze. The cost of building the Great Wall of China was very high for human life, and this cost had to be paid by the villagers brought to the region from all over the country. At least two people from a family of five were taken to work on either the construction of the wall or equally ambitious government projects. Families have become unable to take care of their children, operate their farms, or take care of their animals due to a lack of labor. Criminals, sentenced for heavy duties in the construction of the wall, were chained and carried hundreds of kilometers northward. Some of them fell from fatigue before they even reached the wall.
People buried in the wall
“Great Wall of Qi” is the oldest part of the Great Wall of China and is 38 miles (61 km) long. The repair started in 2015.
Most of those who were forced to work died while walking to the construction site. Those who managed to survive the trip were sheltered in poor camps and operated under temperatures ranging from 95°F (35°C) in the middle of the summer to -5°F (-21°C) in the winter.
The food was minimal. In the barren land, crops could not be grown; the goods had to be brought from incredible distances with caravans or carried in the opposite direction of the fast-flowing river streams. Most of the food that is being transported was stolen on the road by bandits or consumed during the journey. Once, 182 loads of grain were sent from the Shandong Peninsula, but only one reached the construction site. Death rates among the workers were already high, but they went up even more because many of them were malnourished and there were fights between workers and their foremen.
People who died of exhaustion, injury, or hunger were thrown into the foundation pit or buried directly in the wall. This was done to protect against the evils of the north, which were thought to be angry that these huge walls were being built.
The Great Wall of China heads to the west
The Great Wall of China in the Juyong Pass.
Construction crews started from the northeast and moved west. First, the watchtowers were built. Most of them were 40.3 ft (12.2 m) high on a 1.614 ft2 (150 m2) base, and the distance between them was never more than two arrow shots. This way, no part of the wall would be outside the range of the archers. Also, these towers were positioned in strategic locations as much as possible, such as on hills or valley entrances. A 20-foot (6-meter) high wall stood between the bastions to keep out potential invaders and evil beings that the public feared.
Workers laid the foundations with granite blocks in rocky places. Some of these were 14.1 ft (4.33 m) to 3.1 ft (1.22 m) in size. An outer frame of brick or stone was built on these blocks. It is said that the grout used in some parts of the wall was so hard that it was not possible to drive a single nail. The soil and rubble were used to fill the gap in the middle of the wall. The carts pulled by oxen, the wheelbarrows, and the donkeys with panniers carried all these materials from the surrounding areas.
Wall builders had to deal with different problems in each region. At the east end, a short distance of the wall had to extend to the sea near a town called Shan Hai Kuan. To form a foundation for this section, they loaded the boats with giant rocks and sank them. The middle part of the wall passed through the fertile Ordos region, where the warrior Hsiung-un tribes (the Eastern Huns) lived. Before the construction began, they had to remove these nomadic tribes.
In some areas, the hills that the wall had to overcome were so steep that the stones could not be carried by carts or wheelbarrows. In this case, workers had to carry 110-pound (50 kg) loads on their backs or in baskets attached to a pole. In narrow pathways, they took the materials from hand to hand by forming a human chain.
Rocks that were too heavy for a person to carry were rolled on stumps or slowly pushed up steep slopes with levers. In some areas where the wall passed, there were such cliffs that the next generations of people did not believe that people carried the construction materials; they suggested that goats must have been used.
A great wall against the nomads
The photograph of the Great Wall of China from the eyes of an ESA astronaut on the International Space Station.
Many parts of the wall were built in thin yellow loess-type soil areas, which are not suitable construction materials. The masons mixed the soil with water and poured it into wooden containers, so they built the walls with adobe blocks. In some regions, the soil is dug up and a strip of loess is left as a wall. These sections of the Great Wall of China were less durable than those built on the rocky areas in the northeast of the country. In the sands of the Gobi Desert, the wall was built with sequences of sand gravel, desert grasses, and wild branches.
After the Great Wall of China was completed and the guards were placed in their spots, it became a truly impenetrable set. A small garrison could be placed in each of the thousands of bastions built along the wall, and it was possible to store supplies that would resist a four-month siege when needed.
The Chinese Empire and its northern warrior nomad neighbors now shared a border. For someone looking from space, the Great Wall of China was the first sign of intelligent life on Earth.
