World of Royalty Blog

China calls on US to ‘undo damage done’ by Dalai Lama meet

 
(Official White House photo; copyright info here.)

Recent photos of Chinese archaeologists excavating the terracotta warriors in Pit 1 of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China’s Shaanxi Province. National Geographic has a video about the new dig.

Photo from Zuma Press

Great Wall of China longer than believed as 180 missing miles found

Here’s an interview with Anchee Min, author of two novels, Empress Orchid and The Last Empress, about Chinese empress Cixi (Tzu Hsi):

You can find more info about Cixi at Royalty.nu.

Here’s a very interesting interview (audio) with Grant Hayter-Menzies, author of Imperial Masquerade, a biography of Princess Der Ling, lady-in-waiting to China’s Empress Dowager Cixi.

Thank you to Grant for this link!

“Hutongs date back to the 1400s, but many are being destroyed to make way for modernity.”

The new movie “Curse of the Golden Flower,” set in 10th century China, tells the story of an imperial family with ugly secrets:

“Curse” hits box-office gold
Gong Li relishes her latest role as an empress
“Golden Flower” is cursed by its own excesses
More reviews of the movie from RottenTomatoes.com
Curse of the Golden Flower (official website)

2008 UPDATE: This movie is now available on DVD. I have seen it and I thought it was very good. Be warned, it’s violent — and a little strange if (like me) you’re not used to movies with highly stylized martial-arts sequences — and the plot is hard to follow in places, but it’s a vivid and memorable movie, and actress Gong Li gives an excellent performance.

Here are some photos from the Discovery Channel documentary The First Emperor: The Man Who Made China. (Thank you to Maria at Crew Creative Advertising for providing them.)

More about China’s first emperor from the World of Royalty site:

The First Emperor, Shi Huangdi
Books About the First Emperor & the Qin Dynasty