Trade dollar is a general term for many similar sized coins once used in China and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Originally, the trade dollar was the Spanish or Mexican silver eight reales coin (also called a peso), familiar in Pacific trade through the Spanish colonies since the 17th century. The term dollar comes from the [more...]
Many parents have convinced their youngster that the earth is not flat, but rather a sphere, only to be asked “So what’s on the other side of the earth?” American parents are likely to answer “China”. Maybe British parents reply “Australia” or “New Zealand”, and parents “down under” reply “England” or “Europe”. Then the youngster [more...]
A hong bowl is a punch bowl made in China for the export trade, originally in the 18th century, when European countries established trading posts in China. Back then, such a trading post was called a factory, in Chinese, hong. The factories didn’t produce anything but were rather the base of the factor: the agent, [more...]
Chinoiserie was a new fashion in the 18th century when China and the Far East seemed incredibly exotic to people in Europe. Imported arts and crafts had an excitingly different beauty from those made at home, and some were clearly superior to anything European – especially Chinese porcelain. Designers and craftsmen wanted to recreate the [more...]
Famille rose decoration for porcelain developed in China around 1720. A new wave of Chinese ceramics using rose and ruby shades in multi-colour designs was greatly admired in Europe. Introduced just before the western craze for oriental style interior decoration peaked in the mid-18th century, plenty was manufactured for export, along with many other Asian [more...]
The Shanghai World Financial Center skyscraper in Shanghai, China. It is the second tallest building in the world and the tallest in mainland China, including Hong Kong. It is currently the world’s tallest completed building by roof. It tops out at 1,614.2 ft. The most distinctive feature in the design of the building is an [more...]
Hong Kong is a territory of the People’s Republic of China located on the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Hong Kong became a dependent territory of the British in 1842, and remained so till the transfer of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. Hong Kong has a high degree of [more...]
China Mobile Limited, also known as China Mobile or CMCC, has the world’s largest mobile network and largest mobile subscriber base. For the last three years subscriber numbers have steadily increased: 301,232,000 in December 2006, 369,339,000 in December 2007 and 457,250,000 in December 2008. That’s an additional 87,911,000 subscribers for 2008. China is the world’s [more...]
The fact that Hong Kong is one of the most exciting cities in the world should be enough. But… Add a spectacular beauty and exotic night life, endless shopping, a nightly city wide sound and light show, a skyline any other city would die for, a base for magnificent day trips, and, well, you might [more...]
There was a time when Chinese pyramids were considered speculation and myth but now we can say, yes, there are pyramids in China. For many years scholars considered chinese pyramids as nothing more than large mounds, but things have changed. The study of whether or not there are pyramids in China has evolved in two [more...]