Kong Rong, was a littérateur in the Lu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms after the end of the East Han Dynasty. He was once appointed as governor of Beihai and was hence called Kong Beihai at that time. He also held a number of other official positions. He was a noted poet and was one of the “Seven Famous Personages of Jian An.” The essays he wrote were incisive and concise. Most of them contained sarcastic words. Eventually he offended Cao Cao and was executed by him.

Lu Xiangjun was a good flute player. Whenever he came across a lovely spot with a scenic view of the lake, he would paddle his boat over to anchor and play his flute. One night in mid spring, under the moon, Lu Xiangjun paddled over to Jun Hill by himself to relax and have a few drinks. After he finished each cup, he played his flute. Suddenly he saw a fishing boat approaching on the mist-covered water. As the boat came closer, he saw an old man with white hair and bushy eyebrows steering the boat. The old man’s aura seemed out of the ordinary.

In the Kai Yuan Period of the Tang Dynasty, under the rule of Emperor Xuan Zong, there was a Buddhist monk named Yi Fu who was renowned as a diligent Buddhist cultivator. Due to an illuminating radiance and virtuous character, people from both the upper and lower strata of society were drawn to study the teachings of Zen Buddhism with him. Once, while accompanying Emperor Xuan Zong on a trip to the Eastern Capital of Luo Yang, Yi Fu was offered monetary donations by dozens of people. Living up to his admired and legendary character, Yi Fu declined them all.

Yin Jiuxia from Qingcheng Mountain. Yin had the supernormal ability of divination. When Wu Zhongyi asked Yin to predict his life span and his career development, Yin replied, “Mr. Situ [Wu’s formal job title], you are already the governor of a province. What you desire is no more than an upgrade of power and authority, as well as an advancement to nobility! As long as you conduct yourself with compassion, virtue, righteousness, and humanity, you will have more wealth and honour than you desire.”

The Song Dynasty appears to be a turning point regarding the definition of “women of virtue” in Chinese history. The claim to fame for most virtuous women before the Song dynasty was that they made significant contributions to the country and its people, were outstandingly talented and took courageous actions, were wise enough to differentiate right from wrong in morally depraved times, or because they were highly devoted to their parents and husband, and the like.

Li Sixun’s landscape portraits have an elevated mood and a very unique style. He has beautifully captured the texture and realness of the mountains and rivers with the strokes of his brush. Li Sixun had an equally excellent command of portraying both animals and landscapes. His son, Li Zhaodao, put more emphasis on technique in his paintings of mountains, rivers and wild animals, which decreased their artistic quality. His composition and mastery of the brush cannot be compared to those of his father Li Sixun.

Supernovae shine fiercely -- as brilliant as 100 billion suns. They occur when the core of a massive star exhausts its fuel and collapses under its own gravity, generating a shock wave that blasts the star's outer layers into space. This ejected material, called a supernova remnant, contains heavy elements, including those essential to life, that are later incorporated into new generations of stars and planets.

This is a fable about Li Zhenduo, a woman who cultivated and obtained the Tao. She is said to have had supernormal abilities and to have lived for hundreds of years whilst never showing signs of ageing. Li Zhenduo was the younger sister of Li Tuo, an immortal who cultivated the Tao at the Long Qiao Peak, Jin Tang Mountain in Western Shu (today’s Sichuan Province). The people of Sichuan saw Li Tuo for many dynasties, over a span of some eight hundred years so Li Tuo was, hence, known as Li Babai.

Once, while writing to a friend about some things I had come to understand about painting, I paused when I got to the three primary colours of Red - Yellow - Blue to ponder this question: What should be the correlation of these 3 basic colours to the three cosmic characteristics, Zhen - Shan – Ren (Truthfulness – Compassion – Forbearance)?

During this time, he created portraits of sixteen Arhats, a portrait of a Buddha, and two portraits of Bodhisattvas in the Chinese style of painting using ink and water. In his paintings, boulders were enveloped by clouds and mist, while pines were knotted, serpentine, and dark green with ancient vines warped around them. The countenances of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and the sixteen Arhats looked ancient and rustic, yet superb and prominent, making them very different from similar portraits produced by other artists.

The invaders stood in awe of Gou Jubo and started to discuss this unusual turn of events among themselves. One of them said, “It appears that we depraved people have entered a town of morality and justice.” They all agreed. Thereupon they withdrew their forces and left the whole town untouched.

Zheng Xiangru thereupon asked Zheng Qian, “Uncle, don’t you know that I will succeed in my examinations? Confucius said, ‘He who is capable of inheriting the Zhou Dynasty can be foreseen even a hundred generations in advance.’ I am only an ordinary person, but if Confucius were still alive, I would be at the same level as his second best students, such as Yan and Zi Xia, if not at the level as his best student Yan Hui.” Zheng Qian was quite astonished by his audacious comment on being able to foresee the future, so he tested Zheng Xiangru with several questions, which Zheng Xiangru answered with ease.

The true masters of the Book of Changes in ancient Chinese times worked miracles in divination. They were capable of giving the finest details as if they had seen the future through the eyes of a god. Despite their incandescent capability in divination, the true masters of the Book of Change would never use it for personal fame or profit. They usually consciously avoided showing off their skills and remained unknown, which manifested all the more their noble moral standing.

Xiong Wei for many only a name, which one hears, forgets
Xiong Wei the whole world needs to know, where you are
You have been put behind barb wire and walls
There is no TV, no law, no justice.

According to a book that was released in the United States, 1421: The Year China Discovered America, by Gavin Menzies, Columbus was about 70 years behind the Chinese. The author, a retired Royal Navy submarine commander and historian became fascinated with the Great Wall and the Forbidden City during a trip to China with his wife. This led to years of research on the Chinese Emperor Zhu Di. In the course of this, he learned about a Portuguese map from 1424 that depicted Caribbean islands. Subsequently he found other pre-Columbian charts of this and other regions that had come from the Chinese.

The Analects of Confucius is widely considered to be the most influential text in the history of China and East Asia. The Prime Minister during the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Pu, claimed that half of the book, The Analects of Confucius, was written as a guide for governance. Zhao’s statement is valid. From the beginning of the Han Dynasty, all the Chinese dynasties for the next two thousand years have basically tried to govern the country according to the teachings of Confucius.

Its main peak soars majestically over the northern Shanxi Province. Legend has it that about 4,000 years ago, Emperor Shun, one of the two saintly emperors in Chinese history, came through on an inspection tour to the north Hun Yuan. Emperor Shun was amazed when he saw the majestic and towering peaks of Mount Heng. They appeared to him as the northern gate to heaven, and so he bestowed on Mount Heng the honourable title of "the Northern Mountain." Therefore, Mount Heng became known as the king of the more than ten thousand mountains in northern China.

How do the gods determine our lives? One thing is for sure. It is guided by a very strict standard. Gods will reward a man based on the amount of virtue he carries from his previous lives. One’s virtue determines everything. This is why the Chinese people always remind each other to accumulate virtue by doing good deeds, and not to do bad deeds.

Architecture is humanity’s most spiritual embodiment of culture. Every stage of human civilisation has developed its own unique building styles, by either borrowing from past cultures or inventing original forms. Today, architectural relics from many distant ages remain, including little known works in the deep seas and deserts. Some of these appear remarkably modern.