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Nowadays you know Hong Kong to be a part of the People’s Republic of China but did you know that at one point it was under British control? Not too many people talk about it anymore and you’re not likely to see any specials about it on your Directv New Jersey service or the like – perhaps due to some mild shame shared between both the UK and the PRC, but history never goes away.

The long short of it is that China lost Hong Kong to the British during the Opium Wars. In the nineteenth century, tea-obsessed Britain was absolutely in love with all the tea in China. However, there was a problem: Britain wanted China’s tea but they didn’t want to exhaust their stock in golds and silvers to get it. Another problem: the Qing Dynasty didn’t want anything Britain was willing to trade. This prompted Queen Victoria to redirect their opium exports to China in an attempt to get the Chinese people addicted and willing to trade their precious tea. When the Chinese government learned of this, the narcotics were destroyed prompting the First Opium War.

China was defeated and Hong Kong was seized by British control. A Second Opium War began and ended, giving Britain full control over the entire tea trade by granting them possession of the neighboring territories surrounding Hong Kong’s port. It was all on the condition of a 99-year lease which has since expired, returning all British-held land to the PRC.

Sichuan Huanglong has been a national scenic area in China since 1982 and was made a World Heritage Site in 1992. The name Huanglong means Yellow Dragon. Huanglong is home of the endangered species Golden Snub Nosed Monkey and Giant Panda, as well as some of the most scenic landscapes in the world.

The travertine landscape found there is said to resemble the shape of a dragon. Waterfalls, caves and beautifully colored pools and ponds dot the land. The water of the 3,000 (more…)

Of all the natural wonders in China, the Jiuzhaigou Valley is one of the country’s greatest treasures. This scenic area lies 200 kilometers to the north of the provincial capital of Chengdu in south western China. Jiuzhaigou translates from Mandarin as the “Valley of the Nine Villages”. The name is often shortened to Jiuzhai Valley. Only seven of the original nine villages that the valley was named for remain today. The total population of the valley is (more…)

Zhoukoudian is located in China and is approximately thirty-one miles South West of Beijing. There have been many archaeological digs in this area that have revealed some very amazing glimpses into both the history of mankind and human development. The Peking Man site, located on the West side of Zhoukoudian, has provided a large amount of the findings in this area.
The Peking Man site was discovered in 1921 by Johan Gunnar Anderson and was initially excavated in 1923 by Otto Zdansky. It was at this time that human (more…)

Qin Shi Huang ruled as the King of the Chinese state of Qin from 246 BC until his ascension to the role of Emperor of China in 221 BC. He passed a series of political reforms and was responsible for the beginning of two thousand years of Chinese Imperial rule. He created a national system of roads and the first version of the Great Wall of China.

His most impressive contribution to Chinese history may be the creation (more…)