When a Chinese term is translated into other languages, it often only retains a fraction of its original meaning. In fact, sometimes it loses the original meaning altogether.

In the late 1920s, Chinese progressive women protested in the streets against the custom of flattening breasts by binding them tightly to the chest.

Discover Chinese society through television shows and documentaries

When Keir Starmer landed in Beijing last Wednesday, we had the honor of giving part of his following a crash course in the history of old Beijing. Starmer followed in the footsteps of many British diplomatic missions to China before his own. Probably the most famous one took place in 1793 and was led by the Scottish Lord Macartney.

In 1601 Matteo Ricci was granted an audience with the Chinese emperor. The Jesuit missionary had worked on getting this opportunity for 17 years. Equipped with clocks, prisms, globes and almanacs carefully selected as gifts for the emperor, Ricci had entered Beijing. 

We are often asked about good reads about Beijing. Here are ten  books we recommend as introductions to the city. Most of them qualify as fairly easy reads, but if you plan to take a deep dive, we also have something for you.

In 1867 the American diplomat Anson Burlingame ordered the first international standard national flag of China. It would be wrong to say that Burlingame‘s flag was the first flag of the Chinese empire, because the Chinese Imperial government did have flags often ordained with a five clawed dragon in the middle symbolizing the emperor, but Burlingame’s flag was the first flag used when the Qing dynasty started to send ambassadors out in the world.

The first of October 1949 is in China often referred to as the “liberation” as it is the date of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The city of Beijing was however peacefully liberated almost 9 month prior to this on January 31. At this point Beijing was called Beiping as the capital was still the city of Nanjing.

In a Qing dynasty painting representatives of nations from all over the world, queue inside the Forbidden City waiting to pay tribute to Emperor Qianlong. Among the nations are France, England, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and many more. It is a scene painted to flatter the emperor and assure him of China’s superior position in the world.

Very few people are familiar with the name Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒). It is however this little known person that more than 2000 years ago engineered an imperial take on religion, that would last all through the dynasties.

In the 1950s a spirit of hope seemed to push China magically forward. We have started to collect early propaganda posters from the time just after liberation. The pictures are available in our store and online shop as posters, jigsaw puzzles, enamel mugs and notebooks. 

We have around 100 original maps of Beijing and China for sale at Beijing Postcards gallery this summer, email us to make a reservation if you’d be interested: info@beijing-postcards.com

We have recently collected a fascinating picture of a Qing official and his impressive attire, and made both a reproduction picture and a cushion using this fascinating peek into the workings of imperial China.

It is rare that the very soul of a city is captured in a map, but the famous pictorial map of Beijing made by Frank Dorn in 1936 achieves exactly that.

In 1929 Chiang Kai-shek tried to abolish Chinese New Year. It sounds like something out of a fairy tale, because who other than the most terrible monstrous villain would ever think about cancelling the most important family gathering of the year.

When the sky darkened in the capital of China during the dynasties, the sound from the Drum and Bell Towers dictated the massive city gates to shut.

Even after the last emperor abdicated, the young republic could not ignore the importance the Temple of Heaven

Father Hyacinth Bichurin led the Russian Orthodox Mission to Beijing from 1807 to 1821. During his time in China he learned fluent Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese and made some of the most accurate Qing dynasty maps of Beijing.

From Imperial elephants to political animals

In and around the end of the last dynasty in 1912, Beijing became a breeding ground for liars and cheats. Decadent and corrupt government structures combined with poverty and desperation created the perfect atmosphere for such people to emerge. We have chosen three thrifty liars that all have the one thing in common, that it is still discussed to this day to what extent the accounts they have left us with can be trusted.