Ceramic Pillows: How People in the Song Era Used to Sleep

When we speak of pillows, we usually think of something soft on which we rest our heads. However, Chinese people in ancient times would often sleep on ceramic pillows, which were hard as a rock. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), these ceramic pillows were at the peak of their popularity. Ceramic pillows The trend of ...

Emma Lu

A Chinese ceramic pillow.

The Snake Pit: No Escape (‘The Shanghai Friendship Store’ — Chapter 3)

The following excerpt from The Snake Pit (Chapter 3), from the novel The Shanghai Friendship Store by Susan Ruel. It is the continuation of the previous articles, A Floating Life (Chapter 2) and A Chinese Eleanor Rigby (Chapter 1).  It chronicles the experiences of a small foreign community living in Shanghai in the 1980s (the heyday of Friendship Stores). These state-owned stores ...

Emma Lu

Wuzhen old city, Shanghai.

The Amazing Journey to Save China’s Cultural Heritage (Part 1)

The Forbidden City Palace Museum in Beijing, China, together with the National Palace Museum in Taipei, will normally receive more than 20 million visitors in a given year. But few of them will be aware of the extraordinary story behind some of the treasures they have seen and the odyssey that took those artifacts on ...

Helen London

The Beijing Palace Museum.

Myths and Legends: The Money Tree

In Chinese legends, there is a story about a holy tree that brings fortune and money to the person who owns it. Called the “money tree” (not to be confused with the money plant), it is considered a symbol of nobility. During the time of the Han Dynasty, Chinese people used to keep cast-bronze money ...

Emma Lu

A Chinese money tree.

A Floating Life (‘The Shanghai Friendship Store’ — Chapter 2)

The following excerpt, Chapter 2: A Floating Life, is from the novel The Shanghai Friendship Store by Susan Ruel. It chronicles the experiences of a small foreign community living in Shanghai in the 1980s (the heyday of Friendship Stores), shortly after the Cultural Revolution. These state-run Friendship Stores first appeared in China in the 1950s and initially ...

Nspirement Staff

Shanghai Night View The Bund.

Foods to Avoid Eating With Red Dates

Red dates (Chinese xi’an chunhefang), also known as jujube, is one of the most widely used foods in China for its health benefits. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) regards red dates as being a valuable source of nutrients. The history of red dates goes back 8,000 years to our Neolithic or Stone Age ancestors. In China, ...

Hermann Rohr

Red dates growing on a tree.

Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art at the Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the “Met”) in New York City is currently holding an exhibition of art in Chinese culture entitled Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art. More than 120 objects from Chinese history are up for display. “Conveying a person’s inner spirit (chuanshen) is the central aspect of figural representation in ...

Nspirement Staff

Daoist Immortal Laozi.

Being Thoughtful

There are many stories in China about people being thoughtful and caring for other people. A well-off man drove his mother to see the dentist. His mother was old and all her teeth were rotten. As soon as they entered the dental clinic, the dentist told her she would need to buy dentures, but the ...

Emma Lu

Striking Similarities Between Emperor Kangxi and King Louis XIV

In China, the 130 years of strong Qing leadership began with Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) followed by Yongzheng (1678-1735) and then Qianlong (1711-1799). In France, the time during which King Louis XIV (1638-1718) ruled was regarded as the Grand Century. The reign of France’s Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, lasted 72 years, which is ...

Hermann Rohr

Kangxi and Louis XIV.

10 Warnings From Chinese Philosophy to Guide Modern Life

With the fast pace of modern society, every aspect of the environment seems to be getting more complex. People feel overwhelmed and don’t always know how to cope with things in daily life. As the old saying goes: “What goes up must come down.” There is a limit for everything. Maybe it’s time to get ...

Emma Lu

Chinese bowl and bottle with picture of fish.