The Context

This year marks the 50th anniversary of both the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between China and the UK as well as the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. It is also the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and the heroic rescue that followed.

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’re going to talk about the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese transport ship carrying more than 1,800 British prisoners of war that was torpedoed by a US submarine off the eastern coast of China during World War II. 

In a Chinese linguistic context, the ox is a symbol of diligence, dedication, progress, and strength. For example, a selfless commitment to the good of the people is represented by ruziniu, or “a willing ox to serve the children”. The animal holds a special place in Chinese culture, and, through the nation’s history, has been venerated by politicians, scholars, and artists alike.

Animals have always been a focus of interest for artists, constituting a major genre of Chinese ancient painting. Eminent artists are usually known for portraying a specific creature such as horses, cats, dogs, or fish. When it comes to depicting cattle, there is one artwork that stands above all others.

Today, we are going to talk about a famous painting from the Tang period called Five Oxen that is not only China’s earliest surviving painting on paper but also has its own backstory of political intrigue and intermittent homelessness.

Today, we’re going to talk about a true Renaissance man of the Chinese Ming Dynasty. He was a bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician; meanwhile, he became the first Chinese to publish translations of European books in China.

 This is also the 100th episode of The Context. Over the past two years, we’ve endeavored to provide listeners with an inside account of China’s history and the fascinating stories behind its ancient cultural relics. In the future, The Context will strive to help you have a more complete understanding of China, including the great opportunities the country brings to the world as well as the challenges it faces.

Today, we’re going to continue our talk about Xuanzang taking a closer look at his stay in India, his odyssey on the way home, and how his translations of the Buddhist sutras and the records of his travels in Central and South Asia have been of inestimable value to Buddhism, as well as to world history and archaeology.

For any overseas college student who wants to study China, one of the ideal texts for their first course is the 16th-century novel Journey to the West because this rousing adventure story can also be read as historical fiction, political satire, and religious allegory. Scholars worldwide have found it incredibly useful for unpacking the complexities of Chinese history, language, politics, economics, and thought.

One of the great classics of Chinese literature, the 100-chapter Journey to the West is believed to have its historical basis in the epic pilgrimage of the iconic monk Xuanzang.

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’re going to follow the footsteps of this Tang monk from 1,400 years ago, on his arduous journey along the Silk Road, across deserts, over mountains, until he finally arrived at the fountainhead of Buddhism in India.

“Heaven has paradise. Earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou.” This old Chinese saying is inspired by the natural beauty of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province and Hangzhou in neighboring Zhejiang Province, both located along China’s southeastern coast. The painting we’re going to discuss captures the scenery at a famous park in Suzhou. 

The famous Classical Gardens of Suzhou were added to UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage List in 1997. Throughout Chinese history, the gardens have been toured by senior officials, dignitaries, and many great men of letters. 

Today, we are going to introduce you to this painting that was so highly prized by China’s longest-reigning emperor that it may have singlehandedly been somewhat responsible for every traditional Chinese garden you’ve ever seen. 

A hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began to make their way to the New World, a Chinese fleet sent out by the Ming Emperor of China had already ventured into the uncharted waters of the western Pacific and Indian oceans. 

Over a period of almost three decades in the early 15th century, admiral Zheng He and his armada made seven epic voyages. His fleet, which consisted of giant treasure ships loaded with the empire’s finest porcelains, lacquerware, silk and the like, sailed to India, Arabia and east Africa, visiting more than 30 Asian and African countries and regions.

Today, we’re going to further explore the seven epic voyages made by China’s maritime legend Zheng He more than 600 years ago, but this time we’re going to talk more about their background – full of power struggles, envy, and treachery.

More than 600 years ago, a formidable Chinese navy ruled the seas along China’s eastern and southern coastlines extending its superiority throughout the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to the Persian Gulf and East Africa. Between the period from 1405 to 1433, China’s Ming Dynasty launched seven voyages led by Admiral Zheng He to explore these vast regions, known to the Chinese as the Western Oceans.

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’re going to unravel the mysteries left by Zheng He, which are considered to be one of the great wonders of the ancient world.

Known in English as Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy, the painting Bunian Tu depicts a meeting between Tang Emperor Taizong and Gar Tongtsen Yulsung, a special envoy sent by Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo to propose a marriage alliance with the Tang in the year 640. What it doesn’t show is how much bad blood there had been in the years leading up to this historically significant moment. 

Today, we’re going to talk about  this traditional Chinese painting that has, despite its understated solemnity, endured the kind of tumultuous life you might see depicted in one of the many costume dramas so popular on Chinese TV these days.

In 1931, following the September 18th Incident in China, the Japanese occupied three provinces in Northeast China, including Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. It wasn’t long afterward that they turned their attention to Beijing, with an eye firmly set on the large collection of priceless cultural artifacts housed at the Palace Museum, located in heart of the city. Having failed an earlier attempt at looting the cultural relics back in 1894, during the first Sino-Japanese War, they came better prepared this time. The future of China’s most prominent museum and its vast collection was balanced on a knife edge.

Today, we are going to take you back almost a century ago and offer you a glimpse at the largest-scale migration of cultural relics from China’s most prominent museum, the Palace Museum, formally the imperial residence at the Forbidden City.