The Tang dynasty (618–907) is considered a golden age in Chinese history. It succeeded the short-lived Sui dynasty (581–618), which reunified China after almost four hundred years of fragmentation. The Tang benefited from the foundations the Sui had laid, and they built a more enduring state on the political and governmental institutions the Sui emperors […]
Domestic cats first stepped paw in China more than a millennium ago, a new study has found. Their route in? Quite likely, they hitched a ride along the Silk Road. A team of Chinese researchers has conducted a genomic analysis of 22 ancient cat bones gathered from 14 sites across the country, representing China’s largest […]
Find out the many strange experiences and encounters legendary adventurer Marco Polo uncovered during his Eurasian travels. Marco Polo (1254-1324) was a Venetian merchant, most well-known for his book The Travels, penned while he was a prisoner, after almost a quarter of a century of travelling through Asia in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth […]
By Cédric Rischitelli “I have not told half of what I saw and did,” were Marco Polo’s final words on his deathbed, according to the Dominican monk, Jacopo d’Acqui. In human history, few travellers are as renowned and venerated as the Venetian merchant, Marco Polo. Born in 1254, he reputedly spent a great part of […]
