Billy's Cities

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China, A Little History, Part 6

Taiping Rebellion

The building that eventually became the Presidential Palace in Nanjing was built on the ruins of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's palace, which was destroyed when Nanjing was retaken by the Qing Dynasty. Presidential Palace, Nanjing, China, Asia.
The building that eventually became the Presidential Palace in Nanjing was built on the ruins of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s palace, which was destroyed when Nanjing was retaken by the Qing Dyansty.

The Taiping Rebellion?  What the hell is that?  In school I learned about the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion.  But I’m quite certain I’d never heard of the Taiping Rebellion.  Would you believe it was the bloodiest conflict of the 19th century and the bloodiest civil war in history at likely well over 20 million dead?  Battle deaths were actually less than half a million.  The remainder died from famine and plague directly related to the war.  (Plus there was the matter of thousands of civilians executed by the victors for suspicion of loyalty to the rebels.) [Read more…]

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China 2015 Food Diary, Day 2

At Shanghai’s high-speed train station in the morning, I had the obligatory first croissant of the trip.  (Plain, not the standard chocolate.)  But it’s not because I was dying for a croissant.  It was basically the only thing I could order.  All of the major train stations I went to had food concessions on the upper floor.  There were many fast-food type options.  But I didn’t see any English anywhere.  I went to a bakery, and the croissant was the only thing that I could be sure I knew what it was.  So, I had the first croissant of the trip.

image [Read more…]

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China, A Little History, Part 1

Ancient China Through Song Dynasty

The ancient Grand Canal, Hangzhou, China, Asia.
The ancient Grand Canal, Hangzhou.

Understanding the (quite long) history of China is helpful in appreciating its fascinating sights.  Every week while I’m sending out the pictures of my trip to China, I’ll add a post on Chinese history.  In a perfect world, I’d match up the history with the sights for that week.  But I don’t think I could quite get that to work, so I’ll just go chronologically.  Chinese civilization goes back about 10,000 years.  I’ll cover the first [Read more…]