Chinese archeologists
have mapped the layout of
Shangdu (
better known as Xanadu),
after large scale
excavations that
included the use of
GIS in remote sensing and aerial archeology. The capital,
located in
Inner Mongolia, was built in 1256
under the command of
Kublai Khan, the first emperor of
Yuan Dynasty, who was
enthroned there four years later.
It became a summer resort after the
Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) moved its
capital to Ta-tu or
Dadu (
built by the
same architect,
located in present-day
Beijing) in 1276, and was destroyed during
a peasant war at the end of
the dynasty. The regional government has submitted an application for
World Cultural Heritage status
for the site to UNESCO,
currently under review.
Xanadu has
captured the imagination of the
West ever since Marco Polo first
extolled its beauties
in his Books of the Marvels of the World,
subsequently immortalized by Coleridge in
a poem fuelled
by opium fevered dreams.
Other recently discovered
Yuan Dynasty artifacts include
a priceless porcelain vase as well as
a sunken ship - part of an
invading Mongol armada - off the coast
of Japan.
posted by infini
on Dec 3, 2011 -
24 comments
There is this perception that the only China skeptics are foreigners. Let me tell you that is completely wrong. The debate within China is much more interesting and much more ferocious than the debate outside of China about problems with the growth model.
Michael Pettis is a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, where he specializes in Chinese financial markets. Here
he talks about China's economic prospects.
posted by storybored
on Oct 30, 2011 -
25 comments
Special report: China's debt pileup raises risk of hard landing. 'When China announced a nearly $600 billion package to ward off the 2008 global financial crisis, city planners across the country happily embarked on a frenzy of infrastructure projects, some of them of arguable need.' 'Barclays Capital has predicted a global recession would trigger a "hard landing" in China, with gross domestic product sinking well below the 8 percent mark seen as the minimum for assuring enough job creation to keep up with urban migration. A severe economic slump would depress land sales, a vital source of funding for local governments, and make their debt load even more precarious.'
[more inside]
posted by VikingSword
on Oct 10, 2011 -
13 comments
Shanghai singles are using IKEA to find love. Yes, IKEA has become a semi-public social space in Beijing and elsewhere in China (
previously), but now one Shanghai IKEA is twice-weekly "taken over by a swarm of locals between the ages of 45 and 65 who come to seek out new love over free cups of coffee — a perk offered to holders of the Ikea Family membership card — and boxed lunches brought from home."
posted by liketitanic
on Sep 8, 2011 -
38 comments
Evan Osnos joins a tour group from China as they traverse Europe. In the front row of the bus, Li stood facing the group with a microphone in hand, a posture he would retain for most of our waking hours in the days ahead. In the life of a Chinese tourist, guides play an especially prominent role—translator, raconteur, and field marshal—and Li projected a calm, seasoned air. He often referred to himself in the third person—Guide Li—and he prided himself on efficiency. “Everyone, our watches should be synchronized,” he said. “It is now 7:16 P.M.” He implored us to be five minutes early for every departure. “We flew all the way here,” he said. “Let’s make the most of it.” [more inside]
posted by WalterMitty
on Jul 28, 2011 -
71 comments
Two Chinese bullet trains have
collided with two coaches
falling off a bridge after a lightning strike disabled the first train and signaling failed to alert the second in time. A few months previously the railways ministry
expressed and subsequently
retracted concerns that builders had ignored safety standards to complete construction more quickly.
[more inside]
posted by jeffburdges
on Jul 23, 2011 -
42 comments
Agony and Ivory. "Highly emotional and completely guileless,
elephants mourn their dead—and across Africa, they are grieving daily as demand from China’s 'suddenly wealthy' has driven the price of
ivory to $700 a pound or more. With tens of thousands of
elephants being slaughtered each year for their tusks, raising the specter of an 'extinction vortex,' Alex Shoumatoff travels from Kenya to Seattle to Guangzhou, China, to expose those who are guilty in the
massacre—and recognize those who are determined to stop it."
posted by homunculus
on Jul 16, 2011 -
26 comments
[Michelangelo Antonioni's Chung Kuo] as a documentary film was one which was draped with fascination for both filmmakers as well as an audience, rather than championing anti-whatever sentiments from either side of the world. Not having seen many movies, either features, shorts or documentaries made during the Cultural Revolution era or about that era in question (propaganda included), I think this Antonioni film has more than made its mark as a definitive documentary that anyone curious about the life of the time, would find it a gem to sit through.
posted by Trurl
on Jul 11, 2011 -
3 comments
