About.com Asian History

Montblanc's Tasteless Gandhi Pen

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:13:38 +0000

This really is the height of irony - and tastelessness.

The Montblanc company has issued a limited edition, solid-gold pen priced at $23,000 US... in recognition of Mohandas Gandhi's 140th birthday.

The Gandhi pen is engraved with a likeness of India's most famous icon of nonviolence and simplicity. Only 241 were made - one for each mile of the famed Salt March of 1930.

In fairness, Montblanc is donating $1,000 from the sale of each pen to an Indian charity. Still, I can't help wondering what the Mahatma would think of it all.

Montblanc's Tasteless Gandhi Pen originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 21:13:38.

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Sherlock Holmes and the War in Afghanistan

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:05:01 +0000

I hadn't read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's masterpieces about detective Sherlock Holmes for some time, so I decided to delve into them this past week.

In the introduction to "A Study in Scarlet," I was surprised to learn that Dr. Watson had just returned from Afghanistan, where he was a medic in what later became known as the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880).

I had completely forgotten about this little bit of background information. What particularly struck me, though, was the familiarity of the place-names. "I... succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment... I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar," etc. (These quotes are from page 1 of the story.)

History does not repeat itself, exactly, but there do seem to be some recurring themes, don't there?

Sherlock Holmes and the War in Afghanistan originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 21:05:01.

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Cambodian Students Learn about Khmer Rouge

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:07:43 +0000

The majority of today's Cambodian people were not even born in the late 1970s, when the Khmer Rouge unleashed its reign of terror on that country.

Cambodians under the age of 30 have had to rely on older surviving relatives to tell them what happened when Pol Pot and his regime killed an estimated 1/5 of their own population. Many of the survivors are so traumatized that they have a hard time speaking about their ordeals; sometimes younger family members find it impossible to believe what they hear from those who do tell their stories.

Today, though, the current generation of students in Cambodia will finally have an opportunity to begin learning about the Khmer Rouge era. A new textbook detailing the regime and its atrocities has just gone out to high schools across the country.

This is an important first step in ensuring that the victims of Pol Pot's madness are never forgotten.

Cambodian Students Learn about Khmer Rouge originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 15:07:43.

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Travel the Silk Road

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:18:16 +0000

The American Museum of Natural History has a new exhibit on the Silk Road, history's most famous trade route. "Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World" takes visitors from Xi'an, China to Baghdad, in the company of grunting camels, armed bandits and exotic trade goods.

A New York Times review notes that the shows stops short - goods from China moved on from Baghdad to Constantinople, thence to Venice and the rest of Europe.

Nonetheless, the exhibit sounds very interesting. It opened yesterday, November 14.

Photo by wildxplorer on Flickr.com.

Travel the Silk Road originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 20:18:16.

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Queen Himiko of Japan's Palace Discovered

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:02:01 +0000

Japanese history and legends tell the tale of Queen Himiko or Pimiko, a warrior-queen endowed with magical powers who ruled the Yamatai state during the 3rd century CE.

Himiko may be a different name for the Empress Consort Jingu, but nobody knows for certain.

On November 11, 2009, archaeologists announced the discovery of a three-tiered palace in the ancient capital of Nara. They speculate that this could be the seat of Queen Himiko's power, 1,700 years ago.

We may never know for sure, however. Japan's current emperor, Akihito, and the Imperial Household Agency has forbidden the excavation of tombs in the area where the palace was found.

Queen Himiko of Japan's Palace Discovered originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 20:02:01.

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Cambyses' Army Found in the Sands of Egypt?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:22:08 +0000

According to Herodotus, in 525 BCE the Persian king Cambyses, son of Cyrus the Great, sent a mighty army of 50,000 men to the oasis at Siwa. Cambyses sent this overwhelming force to crush the Temple of Amun, after its priests refused to recognize his right to rule Egypt.

The ancient historian tells us, however, that a blinding sandstorm sprang up from the Sahara and buried the Persian host alive. They were never heard from again.

For much of the intervening 2,500 years, people have regarded this legend with skepticism. After all, Herodotus includes some pretty amazing flights of fancy in with his historical writing.

However, a team of Italian archaeologists working in the area of Bahrin, not far from Siwa, recently made an incredible discovery. They found a mass grave containing the remains of hundreds of people. Even more tellingly, they also found pottery dated to about 2,500 years ago, as well as jewelry, horse tack and arrow heads fashioned in Achaemenid Persian style.

If it's confirmed, this find could have a profound impact on Iranian history... and on Herodotus' reputation for accuracy.

Photo by Mike-wise on Flickr.com.

Cambyses' Army Found in the Sands of Egypt? originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 20:22:08.

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World War Zero - The Russo-Japanese War

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:12:12 +0000

In 1904-05, two expanding imperial powers clashed furiously on land and at sea.

Japan sought to exert itself as a global player, in order to enhance its own prestige and prove that it belonged among the colonial powers. Russia likewise needed to enhance its image with the other European powers - and the czar needed a victory to quell domestic opposition.

With Qing China on its last legs, these two of its neighbors fought over Manchuria, the rich northern section of China (and the Qing imperial family's home region).

To complicate matters further, in 1902 Japan had signed a treaty of amity with Great Britain, the most powerful nation on Earth at the time. Russia had agreements with France and Germany.

In the event, the British limited their contribution to closing the Suez Canal to Russia's Baltic fleet, which had to sail all the way around Africa before it could meet the Japanese navy off Korea. (The Russian ships would have done better to stay home - the vast majority of them ended up on the sea bed.) Britain's support for Japan also dissuaded France and Germany from weighing into the fray.

Japan emerged victorious from the Russo-Japanese War, to the shock and dismay of western racists. Far from being welcomed into the "Imperial Powers Club," Japan was cast as part of the "Yellow Peril," as a rash of anti-Asian paranoia spread across Europe and North America, which touched off an echo of fury in Japan itself.

In the end, the Russo-Japanese War was the first of the twentieth century to involve, directly or indirectly, many of the major players on the world stage. It was a sort of preview of the devastation to come over the next four decades: a World War Zero, if you will.

World War Zero - The Russo-Japanese War originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 22:12:12.

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China Upset about Dalai Lama's Monastery Visit

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:37:31 +0000

Pretty confrontational moves from a Nobel Peace Prize laureate!

The Dalai Lama, exiled leader of Tibet, is visiting a monastery in Arunachal Pradesh, a disputed border region between India and China. Arunachal is directly across the contested border from Tibet itself.

This visit comes about three months after His Holiness traveled to Taiwan, another of Beijing's tender points, to express his condolences to typhoon victims there.

Throughout his career, the Dalai Lama has advocated dialogue with the Chinese. Recently, however, he seems to have grown weary of playing nice while Beijing accuses him of inciting riots.

The next few years should prove to be yet another interesting chapter in the long history of relations between Tibet and China.

Photo by Mark Nolan / Getty Images.

China Upset about Dalai Lama's Monastery Visit originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 21:37:31.

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Today in Asian History: Lenin Overthrows Russian Government

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:13:52 +0000

On November 7, 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Russia, and ousted Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky.

The last tsar, Nicholas II, was forced to abdicate in February of the same year; he and his family were later murdered. In place of the monarchy, a coalition of moderate socialists and liberal reformers formed a provisional government led by Kerensky.

This change was not radical enough for the Bolsheviks, however. They took control in what is usually called the "October Revolution," because November 7 in the Gregorian Calendar is October 25 in Russia's traditional Julian Calendar.

The October Revolution and founding of the USSR inspired communist activists across Asia, and struck fear into the hearts of rulers like the Taisho Emperor of Japan.

Today in Asian History: Lenin Overthrows Russian Government originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 12:13:52.

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Mexican Dollars Used in 17th - 19th Century China and Japan

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:31:48 +0000

During the 1600s to 1800s, Spanish and then later Mexican silver dollars were the currency of choice for foreign trade in Japan and China, and entered into circulation in those countries for domestic trade as well.

What were these "pieces of eight" doing so far from their mint sites? Mexican silver dollars were valued for their purity and consistency; thus, they became the standard for trade in East Asia.

By the late nineteenth century, China was minting its own silver and gold coinage, and Japan began to issue paper currency instead.

See samples of Mexican silver dollars used in Chinese trade, and read an 1878 New York Times article about currency problems in the Far East.

Photo by woody1778a on Flickr.com.

Mexican Dollars Used in 17th - 19th Century China and Japan originally appeared on About.com Asian History on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 18:31:48.

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