Helen London

The Temple of Heaven: An Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing

Since ancient times, the Chinese people greatly valued praying to gods for blessings and protection. Therefore, worshiping Heaven became a crucial and solemn national ceremony in ancient China. The Temple of Heaven was where the emperor worshiped Heaven and held a ritual to pray for good harvests. Heaven is one of the core concepts in ...

Helen London

Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China.

The Woman in the Brothel 

In ancient times, a child was born holding a wan symbol in her right hand, so her parents named her Wan Ru. When growing up, Wan Ru was trafficked to a brothel in the area of the Qinhuai River.  She hated this place and felt it was a stain on her from the bottom of her ...

Helen London

A giant Buddha statue.

Money Says It All

Money says it all. Repaying it can show your character, while earning it can indicate your true nature. As such, it can reveal many aspects about you. It reveals your heart Someone shared online: “I liked to make friends and was relatively generous, so people, no matter close or distant, wanted to become my friend ...

Helen London

A woman's hands holding money.

Does a Gate of Goodness Exist for Us?

Is there a “Gate of Goodness” in the world? Are gods watching people in the dark? Here, we will introduce two stories from the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the stories, a suitable hall collapsed suddenly, but some people survived for different reasons. The way Gods protect people is beyond our imagination. A Ming Dynasty dream ...

Helen London

Old chinese red doors with dragon head knobs at the Temple of Tayuan, Mount Wutai, China.

A Strange Disease Caused by Karma

Karma is a Sanskrit term that directly translates into action. In Buddhism, karma means an intentional act that has future consequences. These intentions influence one’s rebirth in samsara, or the world as it is known according to their belief system. Buddhism is one of the three belief systems underpinning traditional Chinese culture.  According to Venerable ...

Helen London

A Gautama Buddha statue.

Zhuo Wenjun, the Woman Who Got Her Man Back With the Beauty of Poems

The poems by Zhuo Wenjun to her husband Sima Xiangru are legendary in Chinese history. Zhuo Wenjun, the daughter of an iron tycoon in the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25), is one of the best-known tales. Her story was recorded in both Shi Ji (Historical Records) by Sima Qian in the Western Han Dynasty ...

Helen London

A pink lotus flower.

A Banana a Day May Keep Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Away

We generally consume ripe yellow bananas because they are sweet and fibrous. These are great for constipation and digestive health, but eating green, unripe bananas can provide unexpected benefits, including cancer prevention.  The 20-year-long study involved Lynch Syndrome patients at a greater risk of developing rectal and intestine cancer. They were asked to consume a ...

Helen London

Green bananas.

2 Ancient Chinese Brainteasers

Are you as clever as these people from ancient China? The following stories raise some perplexing questions. See if you can unravel these brainteasers. Confucius examines Xiang Tuo In the Spring and Autumn period (around 770 to 476 B.C.), Confucius and his students once went out for a ride in a carriage. They saw many ...

Helen London

Tiny white flowers in Spring in front of scrolls with Chinese characters written on them.

Do Animals Use a Sixth Sense to Escape Earthquakes and Tsunamis?

Do animals have a sixth sense? The 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused enormous casualties in Southeast and South Asia, with at least 290,000 dead and missing. In some hard-hit areas, such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka, bodies were scattered everywhere. It was a terrible scene. The media reported that rescuers at ...

Helen London

Sign posted at a beach declaring it to be a tsunami zone.