China Underground

The Weilue, a 3rd-century Chinese historical literature, contains details of Roman life. The Chinese and Roman empires had relatively little mutual knowledge. The papers show only a few instances of direct conversation. MORE: A Third Century Chinese Account of the Roman Empire

During the Great Leap Forward, between 1958 and 1962, the Four Pests campaign was one of the initial initiatives. Rats, mosquitoes, flies, and common sparrows were the four plagues to be eradicated, according to Chinese authorities. The extinction of the sparrows caused a catastrophic ecological imbalance and was one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine, which killed tens of millions of people between 1958 and 1962. MORE: The Tragic Four Pests Campaign to Wipe Out the Sparrow

The story of Shee Pei Pu, an opera singer, and spy, pretended to be a woman and had a 20-year sexual connection with a French employee in order to collect information. MORE: The bizarre story of the Chinese spy Shi Pei Pu

Tiandihui, or the Society of Heaven and Earth, is a Chinese fraternal organization and religious group. It is also known as Hongmen. MORE: Tiandihui or Hongmen, the Society of Heaven and Earth

The White Lotus was a Buddhist political and religious movement that believed in an all-powerful female divinity known as the "Unborn Old Mother," who would collect all of her offspring into one giant family at the end of the millennium. MORE: History of the White Lotus

Zhang Ling, commonly known as Zhang Daoling, developed the Way of the Celestial Masters. In the year 142, Zhang Ling established a theocratic state in the region that is now known as Sichuan. MORE: Way of the Celestial Masters

The Yellow Turbans insurrection was the first revolt associated with Taoist secret societies, and it has gone down in history as a backdrop to the great Chinese literary masterpiece "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." MORE: The Taoist Rebellion of the Yellow Turbans

Around 17 A.D., the people were unable to support themselves due to the mistakes in governance made by Wang Mang, the Han dynasty's usurper, particularly the introduction of new land reform, conscription, and the simultaneous flooding of the Yellow River, which particularly affected the region of today's Shandong and northern Jiangsu. MORE: History of the Red Eyebrows

The history of Hong Kong cinema, one of the most original, creative, and complete film schools ... MORE: A Brief History of Hong Kong Cinema, from 1909 to the present day

Cinema is a reflection of the events and tragedies of a country that has gone from resource scarcity, which has characterized its lengthy history, to startling riches in a matter of decades. MORE: History of the Chinese cinema

Unit 731, commanded by infamous Japanese scientist Shiro Ishii, was a covert Imperial Japanese Army biological warfare research and development unit that experimented on humans during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. MORE: Unit 731 in China

The introduction of native plants from the United States to China. The travels of Christopher Columbus to the Americas mark a 'point of no return' in human history. The world became larger from that point on, as the old world collided with the new, albeit the transition was not without sorrow. MORE: American native plants that changed Chinese food culture and habits

The Colombian exchange has had a significant impact not just on Western lifestyles and nutrition, but also on East Asia. However, this impact is not one-way. Unlike the Colombian exchange, which began on a certain date, the spread of Chinese and Asian plants in the West has been more flexible and has progressed at a far slower pace. MORE: 9 Chinese Native Plants that changed Western food culture and habits

After the US threatened to deploy nuclear weapons during the Korean War, Mao Zedong began a nuclear program. Mao's goal was to turn China into a globally acknowledged force. MORE: Chinese Space Program

The occurrence in which China invited the American table tennis team to visit China in 1971 is known as ping pong diplomacy. The United States table tennis delegation and a small number of American journalists landed in Beijing on April 10, 1971, and became the first Americans to visit China since 1949. MORE: Pictures of the ‘Ping Pong Diplomacy’

The name Triad refers to a number of clandestine societies and mafia groups operating in southern China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and other Chinatowns across North America and Europe. MORE: The Triad in China and Hong Kong

The Green Gang, which began as a boatmen's organization, became one of the most powerful Chinese criminal groups operating in colonial Shanghai's French Concession, a city with a tumultuous reputation at the time, generally characterized as a decadent and nasty place. MORE: History of the Shanghai Triad

A comprehensive literature on the use of magic to hurt, sicken, or exterminate those considered as unfriendly arose in Chinese mythology, particularly in the south. MORE: Chinese Black Magic

Over the years, the five-thousand-year-old Chinese civilization has created hundreds of stories about monsters, ghosts, devils, and spirits. Many of these ghosts and demons inspired mythology in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Let's take a look at some of the most important demons from Chinese mythology. MORE: Demons, Monsters, and Ghosts of the Chinese Folklore

The Taiping Rebellion was a significant uprising in China between the established Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that lasted from 1850 to 1864. Between 1700 and 1800, China had a slew of revolts against the central government, which was unable to fight the Western forces. MORE: The Taiping Rebellion: facts, causes, and effects