The Context

Among about 2,000 artifacts and thousands of fragments of relics unearthed in the eight pits of the Sanxingdui Ruins site in Sichuan Province in China’s southwest, bronze masks and figurines have attracted the most attention. They are of unusual appearance, and have particularly protruding eyes. Do they resemble the ancient Shu people of this area, or perhaps people from West Asia or even further away, say, Egypt? Some even say they are images of aliens, a speculation dismissed by scholars. 

Some possible keys to the secret are not only found on their faces in the front, but also from behind. There are two hairstyles. In one style, the hair is kept upright by hairpins. In the other style, the hair is in braids which either go down the back of head or are in buns on top of the head.  Some researchers believe the bronze figures with hairpins are theocratic authorities, while those with braids are secular authorities. These hairstyles may also provide clues to a riddle that has puzzled scholars for a long time: why for thousands of years the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River was the center of the Chinese civilization with diversified origins?   

In Sanxingdui, it seems that the more artifacts were unearthed, the more questions were raised. Something invisible to the naked eye also caught attention. Silk proteins were found in one of the six newly discovered pits. Silk was probably originally only used in sacrificial rituals, not for clothing.  In addition, the life cycle of a silkworm starts with an egg and ends with a moth. For ancient Chinese, it was a magical process that must be explained by supernatural powers and sacred significance. 

Ten nesting ivory balls make a big ball. On a fan, there are scenes of European courting couples. On another fan, Qing Dynasty officials are on the road with their entourage. There are porcelain tea sets with a Chinese floral design but with European-style gilt trim. All are delicate. All feature both Chinese and European tastes. These are some of the displays at a recent exhibition on Chinese exports to Europe through the maritime Silk Road during the 18th and 19th century. Major exports from China to Europe along the Maritime Silk Road in the 18th and 19th centuries included porcelain, tea, silk, paintings, fans, ivory carving, lacquer ware and silverware. Many exhibits are from European collections, and they reflect what products  European collectors valued most. It is interesting to find out that there was a similar global supply chain for European luxuries as today, and that China’s role in this chain was similar to today. But it was cheap Chinese product that finally had the biggest influence on China and the West.   

Chinese parents invest a lot in English language education for their children. English is a major subject in China’s curriculum from primary schools to college. However,  Xu Jin （许进）, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, recently proposed to remove English from the national college entrance exam. One of his reasons is that computers can do a very good job of translation.  But can machines replace human link for cultural exchanges? 
More than 2,000 years ago, a venture of a Chinese diplomatic delegation paved the way for the Silk Road trade between China and the West. But nothing was possible without  the bravery and loyalty of the interpreter and guide of the delegation, Tangyi Fu, a former Hun soldier. After Buddhism was introduced into China, it was a Persian translator that brought the real teachings of the religion to the Chinese public. In the 16th and 17th century, a Chinese scientist not only translated, but also practiced Western science and technology. His achievements  are still remembered today. 

Recently Intel removed an online commercial by Yang Li, a controversial stand-up comedian. “Why do some men look so ordinary but are so self-confident (to judge women at will)?” “These are some of things Yang Li said in her shows in the past two years. Many angry men accused her of “instigating a confrontation between men and women.” They called for a boycott against Intel products. But Yang Li’s supporters argued that those men’s reaction proved that Yang Li’s comments about men were right.  Women? Girls? Or Goddess? Even how to refer to women has become an increasingly controversial issue. China has a very long tradition that requires women to stay at home and look after their families so their husbands and sons can focus on their careers. But still some women managed to push the boundaries of their world as much as possible. Today more and more Chinese women have a good education, they want to be respected as an equal gender, not a tag representing consumerism and valued by age or looks.     

Weak, timid, low in self-esteem, dependent, no appetite for exploration or adventure: This is how some of China’s lawmakers are describing today’s Chinese teenage boys. During the annual Two Sessions in March 2020 and 2021, legislators and political advisors raised concerns about the “feminization” of teenage boys, which garnered lots of media and public attention. The Ministry of Education has since pledged to “foster masculinity” among male students through physical education. The lawmakers’ proposal is partially in response to changing views of masculinity in mainstream culture during a time when slim, makeup-wearing male pop stars dominate TV screens and music stages. 
What has defined masculinity throughout Chinese history? A quick look and it’s easy to see the concept has been fluid and depends on the period. 

Wearing ancient Tang Dynasty-style dresses and make-up, 14 plump girls holding ancient musical instruments strike elegant and amusing poses. it is not a conventional dance in which skinny dancers show fancy, standard choreography.  The antiques shown on the stage set also attracted a lot of attention. There are special stories about the owners of the antiques over their life of thousands of years. 

China’s economy grew by 2.3 percent year-on-year in 2020. But there is a big imbalance among regions. In the top 10 provinces in terms of total GDP in 2020, only two, Henan and Shandong, are in the north. In the top 10 cities, Beijing is the only northern one. By contrast, in early years of China’s reform and opening-up about 40 years ago, the north contributed more than the south to the national economy. Analysts have noticed that the south has outperformed the north since the 1990s, and the gap has widened since 2013.  In history, there was also a process of a southward pivot of China’s economic and cultural centers.  Even brutal intervention from the emperor did not stop this process. 

In ancient times, Chinese people had more fun on Lantern Festival than during first few days of Spring Festival, as it was also a time for relaxed social norms. Besides lantern displays, there were many options for amusement, such as variety shows, plays and lantern riddles. Women would mingle in the crowds for a chance to meet suitors. The carnival not only set the stage for romance, but also troubles. Why lanterns and rice balls are so important to the Lantern Festival? They both hold physical and spiritual significance. Some researchers believe the Lantern Festival and its lantern displays also have religious origins in Buddhism and Taoism. 

Louis XIV sent a six-member delegation to visit China. All were fellows of the French Academy of Sciences. Two of them, Joachim Bouvet and Gerbillon Jean Franois, met Emperor Kangxi and took the place of the elderly Verbiest as Kangxi’s science teacher and adviser. 15 French scientists came to China under the initiative of the two emperors. This means that the originally religious missions by European churches became State-sponsored scientific and cultural exchanges between the two sovereigns. Before that, for thousands of years, China and Europe kept an indirect, material link through trade via the land and maritime Silk Road. 

The only legacy in China that still tells people today about the short honeymoon between China and the West during that time are the astronomical instruments built by European missionaries at the royal observatory in Beijing and Western clocks and watches in the Palace Museum. 

But the honeymoon had cultural repercussions in Europe. The missionaries’ letters  aroused strong interest in Chinese culture among intellectuals in Europe, especially some pioneers of the Enlightenment. They had never been to China. Their thinking about China was mainly informed by the missionary letters.