Terracotta Army in Xian, Shaanxi, China

China

Armoured cars unloaded in Shanghai in 1927

China’s public image war

The Tibetan plateau lies at an altitude averaging over 4,500 metres above sea level

In the footsteps of Sir Francis Younghusband's 1903 invasion of Tibet

Eleanor of Aquitaine.

History quiz – spacewalks, battles and Eleanor of Aquitaine

Yangguan Museum and a statue of Zhang Qian. (Getty Images)

Global encounters of the ancient kind

A relief at the World Heritage site of Xanadu in Inner Mongolia, China. (Photo by Dreamstime)

My favourite place: Xanadu, China

Clay soldier statues of the Chinese Qin dynasty. (Photo by Getty Images)

The six ages of China

A vintage photograph showing an unknown man standing behind a stall selling lemonade, root beer and ice cream – among other things.

Q&AWho invented lemonade?

The stretch of the Great Wall at Mutianyu, China

General ancient history

My favourite place: The Great Wall of China

Engraving of a brewery

General ancient history

Q&AWho made the first booze?

My favourite place: Vanessa Collingridge

Photo of people eating spaghetti

Q&ADid the Italians invent spaghetti?

A group of survivors from the Long March after their arrival in Shenxi in 1934. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The LibraryMao: the legend of the Long March

Chinese irregular cavalry and infantry from the north-western provinces move towards the front during the 1894–95 war

China's wars

Residents of Chongqing on the streets of their bombed-ravaged city in the autumn of 1940. China's temporary wartime capital was subjected to 218 Japanese air raids between May 1938 and August 1941, costing nearly 12,000 lives. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

China’s forgotten Second World War

The LibraryYe olde travel guide: Hong Kong 1842

BBC History Magazine

Mao’s Great Famine

The surprisingly long history of humanity's political development

Two women from South America. Six centuries ago South American civilisations matched the west in some respects. (Getty Images)

The wonder of the west

Statue of the great philosopher Confucius in Shanghai. Taken at the Shanghai Wen Miao, also known as the Shanghai Confucian Temple. (Photo by Getty Images)

The legacy of Confucius