The Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Daoist Apocalypse of 184 CE
In the spring of 184 CE—a fateful year of Jiazi marking the opening of a new sixty-year sexagenary cosmic cycle—a terrifying sixteen-character apocalyptic prophecy…
27 min read
Tag
Qin & Han
Ban Chao and the Desert Bastions of the Western Regions
In 73 CE, in the imperial government archives of Luoyang, a forty-one-year-old copyist grew weary of copying official bamboo scrolls for a few copper…
30 min read
The Rule of Wen and Jing and Huang-Lao Governance in the Early Han
Han dynasty, Liu Bang, rode through the devastated ruins of China in 202 BCE, the continent was an economic and…
30 min read
Sima Qian, the Castration of Truth, and the Architecture of the Shiji
In 99 BCE, in the subterranean darkness of the “Silkworm Chamber” (Canshi) beneath the imperial palace of Chang’an, a forty-eight-year-old scholar lay shivering in…
28 min read
The Feast at Swan Goose Gate and the Chu-Han Contention
In the winter of 206 BCE, beneath the cold silk pavilions of Hongmen on the loess plain outside the smoldering ruins of the Qin…
43 min read