things I've read this week
Li Mingjie on Chinese folk belief. China doesn't really do religion, not in the way that Europe and the western end of Asia do.
17,000 shipwrecked items given to Chinese research centres, following the excavation of a late Yuan Dynasty shipwreck off the coast of Zhangzhou in Fujian Province.
A Tang Dynasty tomb decorated with murals showing daily life - and what's a blond dude doing there? I read Tang Dynasty and immediately thought, "Well, Chang'an was a very cosmopolitan city thanks to the Silk Road". But this tomb was discovered on the outskirts of Taiyuan. And the blond dude in the murals? The article suggests probably Central Asian. It is known that some Sogdians were blond.
Go out on a little minehunting, find Korea's oldest firearm:
A landmine search on a mountain in South Korea unexpectedly uncovered a small bronze firearm that could be more than 600 years old. After three years of investigation, researchers have identified the Hwangja Hwatong as the oldest surviving gunpowder weapon known from Korea.
The Enduring Appeal of China's Eight Immortals - a glance over the development of these characters in Taoism and Chinese folklore
Shen Fu: Floating Life in a Fallen Realm: Jeremiah Jenne on Shen Fu and his Six Chapters of a Life Adrift.