China

BBC World Histories Magazine Issue 18

Issue 18 of BBC World Histories is out now

Simon was found with his whiskers burned off and hurt by four pieces of shrapnel. The medical officer thought he wouldn’t survive the night (Photo by Keystone Pictures USA / Alamy Stock Photo)

10 top cats in history

Medieval trepanning

General prehistory

Q&A What is trepanning?

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain passes a Nazi honour guard on his arrival in Germany in 1938, accompanied by Joachim von Ribbentrop (right). (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Second World War

9 notable ambassadors in history

An illustration of the battle of Agincourt. By attacking over unsuitable ground, Charles d’Albret “doomed his army”, says Rupert Matthews. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The top 10 military blunders in history

The US–China trade war feels as if it’s blown up very suddenly, but a long and unhappy history of trade between China and the west is still well-remembered in Beijing. Rana Mitter examines the history. (Illustration by Kate Hazell for BBC World Histories Magazine)

Trading blows: Rana Mitter on the US-China Trade War

A thin section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing disappearing into the distant hills. (Photo by Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images)

General ancient history

10 facts about the Great Wall of China

The president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt and his staff gathered together in New York to find a solution to the economic crisis. 1935. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Icons: the game changers of the 20th century

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the closing bell on 29 September 2008. A record 778 points were wiped off the Dow Jones that day, as the 2008 financial crisis pushed the world's banking system to the edge of collapse. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The credit crunch: “It’s a story of hubris followed by a fall”

A New York opium den. Although US legislators cracked down on opiates in the early 20th century, organised crime networks continued to fuel the illegal trade in narcotics. (Photo by Getty Images)

Books interview with Lucy Inglis: “Opium has held mankind’s hand since the beginning”

Husband and wife Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling (Madame Chiang), pictured at their wedding in 1928. The pair “dominated Chinese politics for two decades [and] were among the most prominent non-westerners on the planet throughout the 1930s and 1940s”, says Rana Mitter. (Photo by Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

The Library Six lives that shaped China

An engraving from Ulrich Molitor’s ‘On witches and female soothsayers’, depicting witches bringing down the rain. Germany, 15th century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

General ancient history

A spell-binding history of witches

The Terracotta Warriors podcast

The Terracotta Warriors

Replica chariot. (© Mr. Ziyu Qiu)

In pictures: The Terracotta Warriors

An overview of the Terracotta Warriors in the Terracotta Museum of Xian, China. (Image by Getty)

Uncovering China’s Terracotta Army