Terracotta Army in Xian, Shaanxi, China

China

Michael Wood: "Why Elon Musk should take a lesson from Confucius".

The palace of Kublai Khan’s son is illustrated in a 15th-century manuscript of the Travels of Marco Polo. Despite such vivid depictions, no reference to the Venetian merchant has ever been found in Chinese sources.

Do The Travels of Marco Polo belong in the non-fiction section, or fantasy?.

Kublai Khan: ruler of the waves.

Michael Wood"The making of our new world began in China just over 40 years ago".

The Catalan Atlas from 1375

North, south, east and west: how ancient civilisations found their bearings before the compass.

Chinese workers tend a tea plantation in a mid-19th-century lithograph. Importing leaves from China was expensive – until Scottish botanist Robert Fortune introduced the plants to India. (Photo by Getty Images)

Eastern promises: the long and troubled history of Britain's relations with China.

A Chinese tank nears the city of Lang Son in Vietnam, 1979 and (right) Chinese and Vietnamese ministers meet for talks, 1991. Rana Mitter highlights the role of diplomacy in bringing war between Vietnam and China to an end.

Historians debate: how do intractable conflicts come to an end?.

Kavita Puri's hidden histories: "We mustn’t overlook the toll of surfacing traumatic histories".

Kublai Khan: life of the week.

Venetian merchant Marco Polo travels along the Silk Road to Chin

General ancient history

Q&AWhat was traded on the Silk Road?

A 1971 propaganda poster extolling the power of China’s cultural revolution

The long history of Chinese intelligence-gathering.

Du Fu: China's greatest poet.

Video podcastDu Fu: China's greatest poet.

A depiction of Empress Wu Zetian

Empress Wu ZetianThe only woman to rule China

Anti-Chinese prejudice: from gold rushes to exclusion laws.

Clash of cultures: how interpreters bridged the gap between Britain and China.

15 minutes of fameRana Mitter chooses Tsiang Tingfu.

Tsiang Ting-fuChinese historian and diplomat.

Photo of Chinese Red Guards

The Gordons: Prisoners of the Cultural Revolution

Nixon in China: a week that changed the world.

Nixon in China: the trip that changed the Cold War.

Soldiers from Mao Zedong’s Red Army assemble in Yan’an, Shaanxi province, 1936 (Photo by Getty)

The Chinese Civil War: a guide to the conflict and the rise of Mao Zedong

Mao’s Cultural Revolution: everything you wanted to know.

History's greatest mysteriesWhy did Mao’s chosen successor flee China?.

A modern fireworks display

General ancient history

Q&AHow were fireworks made in ancient China?

Illustration of the Red Dragon of China

Has China always been the world’s greatest superpower?

Mao Zedong applauds a parade of Red Guards in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. These young militants followed Mao’s call in early August 1966 to defend the party from a ‘white terror’. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Reign of the red terror: Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution.

Voices of China.

Chaos & communism: China’s 1949 revolution.

Michael WoodThe story of China.