Today in Asian History: Mohandas Gandhi Assassinated
Sunday January 30, 2011
On January 30, 1948, the Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu radical named Nathuram Godse.
Gandhi had dedicated his life to peaceful resistance against the British colonial government in India ... Read More
Genghis Khan, the Green
Thursday January 27, 2011
According to a new Carnegie Institution report, world conqueror Genghis Khan and his Mongol armies had an unintended ecological impact when they swept across most of Eurasia in the thirteenth ... Read More
Myanmar Flirts with Democracy... Again
Thursday January 27, 2011
Myanmar's ruling military junta is putting on a show of democratization these days, including seating a newly-elected parliament. Critics (or realists) point out, however, that they pulled the same stunt in 1974. ... Read More
The Samurai as Cowboys?
Sunday January 23, 2011
Harvard Professor David Howell has an interesting thesis. He compares the Japanese samurai of the Tokugawa era to the cowboys of the American west, in terms of their place in ... Read More
Silence on the Real Assassins
Sunday January 23, 2011
In recent days, assassins and would-be assassins have struck in several countries. The governor of Punjab Province, Pakistan, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard on January 4. In the United States, ... Read More
Japanese Anime's Roots in Historic Ukiyo-e Prints
Thursday January 20, 2011
Although much of today's Japanese anime is decidedly "low-brow," some art historians see its origins in the beautiful tradition of ukiyo-e prints. Ukiyo-e, the beautiful and often brightly colored woodcut ... Read More
Americans Retrace Marco Polo's Route
Wednesday January 19, 2011
In the 1990s, New Yorkers Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell set out to trace the route that Marco Polo took to the court of Kublai Khan, in Yuan China. Perhaps ... Read More
Kyrgyz President Nominated for Nobel Prize
Tuesday January 11, 2011
After the violent ouster of its president last year, Kyrgyzstan is forging ahead with efforts to create the first real democratic state in Central Asia. In recognition of this goal, ... Read More
DNA: Yayoi Pushed Out Jomon People from Japan
Monday January 10, 2011
It probably shouldn't come as a surprise, but a recent DNA study shows that the original occupants of Japan were the ancestors of the Ainu or Ezo people, who now ... Read More
Is It Cold? 2,400-Year-Old Chinese Soup
Sunday January 9, 2011
In a Warring States Era tomb near the ancient Chinese capital of Xian, archaeologists have discovered some of the world's oldest soup. A sealed bronze pot contains liquid and ... Read More
Statue of Yi Sun Sin Raises Controversy
Saturday January 8, 2011
Every Korean schoolchild learns about the heroic admiral Yi Sun Sin, who fended off the Japanese navy at Hansan-do and saved Korea from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's samurai army. A towering statue of ... Read More
Emperor Wu of Liang: Scholar, Monk, Ruler
Sunday January 2, 2011
On the long roll of China's emperors, the fifth century C.E. Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty stands out. During a rule of almost five decades, Emperor Wu ... Read More
Though Interests Align, Japan and S. Korea Can't Get Along
Sunday January 2, 2011
It seems like Japan and South Korea should be close international allies. After all, both are progressive, industrialized, democratic nations, allied with the United States, and standing against the potential ... Read More
What Will 2011 Bring for Central Asia?
Saturday January 1, 2011
Central Asia has long been one of the pivot points of world history - the meeting place and thoroughfare for peoples from Europe and Asia. Historically, it has been the ... Read More