Asian History

The continent of Asia, home to the majority of the world's population and countries as diverse as China, South Korea and India, has thousands of years of rich history.

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Historian Yohuru Williams gives a brief recap of the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

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Illuminated neon signs in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

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Featured Overview

Historian Yohuru Williams gives a brief recap of the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

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General Chiang Kai-shek addresses the troops in China during World War II, circa 1943.

China was a vital, but often forgotten, member of the Allies battling Japan—two years before the official start of World War II.

The Mongol Army

The Mongols were brutal military conquerors, but they also took great interest in spurring intellectual collaboration.

Traditional lunar new year food.

Foods enjoyed during New Year are similar to those eaten throughout the year, but with special emphasis on bringing good fortune.

Gandhi Salt March

In March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi and his followers set off on a brisk 241-mile march to the Arabian Sea town of Dandi to lay Indian claim to the nation's own salt.

North Korea

How the Kim Dynasty Took Over North Korea

North Korea hasn’t always been under the totalitarian rule of the Kim regime. Foreign enablers and internal strife have completely reshaped the region over the last 100+ years, transforming a once-peaceful monarchy into the oppressive dictatorship we know today.

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Asian History
A view of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Xi 'an, Shaanxi Province, China.

On March 29, 1974, Chinese farmers digging a well near Xi’an made one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.

Cherry blossoms and Fuji mountain in spring at sunrise, Shizuoka in Japan.

Much more than just picnics under pretty pink trees, the national pastime of hanami is deeply entwined with the country’s national identity, spiritual beliefs and artistic traditions.

Dith Pran circa 1985 in New York City.

The Cambodian photojournalist survived and then exposed atrocities under the Khmer Rouge.

Ninjas were the ultimate espionage agents in Japan’s feudal skirmishes. Their air of mystery helped them infiltrate contemporary popular culture.

The Mongol Army

The Mongols were brutal military conquerors, but they also took great interest in spurring intellectual collaboration.

Indian school children pay homage to a portrait of Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi to mark the 70th anniversary of Gandhi's assassination. Gandhi was on the way to a prayer meeting in the Indian capital when he was shot three times in the chest and head on January 30, 1948.

Mahatma Gandhi, the spiritual leader known as the “Great Soul of India,” was assassinated at the age of 78 by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948.

General Chiang Kai-shek addresses the troops in China during World War II, circa 1943.

China was a vital, but often forgotten, member of the Allies battling Japan—two years before the official start of World War II.

How Two Vietnamese Sisters Led a Revolt Against Chinese Invaders—in the 1st Century, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi

Armed with swords, bows and arrows, axes and spears, the Trung sisters and their army  stormed 65 Chinese-run citadels. They became national heroines.

The Korean War

The Cold War conflict was a civil war that became a proxy battle between the superpowers as they clashed over communism and democracy.

History is full of forgotten conflicts that are commonly overlooked in U.S. history.

American bombers dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs over the country as part of a covert attempt to wrest power from communist forces.

Hong Kong

The arrangement began in 1997 as part of a gradual return of the territory to China from British colonial rule.

Tiananmen Square Protest

Tiananmen Square was the site of a 1989 protest calling for greater freedom. The deadly Chinese government crackdown resulted in the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The 38th parallel is the dangerous line that divides North and South Korea. But what lead to this division and why does it remain one of the most contentious areas in the world?

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China

For as long as there have been civilized humans, there has been some form of China.

Prisoner exchanges were critical to a ceasefire in the Korean War—but a peace treaty was never signed.

At the Chosin Reservoir, subzero temperatures were much the enemy as communists;  frozen bodies were used as sandbags.

Officers and crew of the United States Navy ship U.S.S. Pueblo being led away after being captured by North Korean forces in international waters in 1968. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

The captured crew were beaten and nearly starved in the 1968 incident that almost led to another war—and the ship remains in North Korea.

A Beijing demonstrator blocks the path of a tank convoy along the Avenue of Eternal Peace near Tiananmen Square during protests for freedom of speech and of press from the Chinese government. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Tank Man, a protester who tried to stop Chinese tanks moving through Tiananmen Square, has never been identified.

North Korea hasn’t always been under the totalitarian rule of the Kim regime. Foreign enablers and internal strife have completely reshaped the region over the last 100+ years, transforming a once-peaceful monarchy into the oppressive dictatorship we know today.

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North Korean soldiers passing in front of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il portraits on Kim Il Sung Square, Pyongyang, North Korea, 2012. (Credit: Eric Lafforgue/Getty Images)

For nearly seven decades, the Kim family dynasty has warned the North Korean people that the U.S. is a murderous superpower—and their only chance of survival is nuclear-level readiness for an American attack.

Scene from the Russo-Japanese War.

In the Russo-Japanese War, a military conflict between Russia and Japan from 1904 to 1905, Japan crushed the Russians. The Treaty of Portsmouth ended the war.

Japanese troops occupying Korea in the early 1900s. (Credit: Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Between 1910 and 1945, Japan worked to wipe out Korean culture, language and history.

Allied French and English troops storm through a breech in the fortifications of Canton (Guangzhou), China. The event occurred during the Taiping Rebellion, a war begun by a Kwangsi district schoolmaster and mystic Hong Xiuquan, 38, who believed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ.

The Taiping Rebellion was a revolt against the Qing dynasty in China, fought from 1850 to 1864 with religious fervor over social and economic conditions.

Chen Jinyu, then 80 years old in this 2005 photograph, was raped everyday at 16 years old while living as a comfort woman for the Japanese military.

Between 1932 and 1945, Japan forced women from Korea, China and other occupied countries to become military sex slaves.

North Korea's propaganda village of Gijeongdong as seen through barbed wire from the the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone on the border between North and South Korea. (Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Why Korea was split at the 38th parallel after World War II.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - MARCH 1: South Korean children wearing traditional costume wave national flags during the celebration of The March First Independence Movement Anniversary on March 1, 2005 in Seoul, South Korea. South Koreans celebrate the public holiday a day of remembrance to mark the 1919 civilian uprising against Japanese colonial rule from 1910-1945. A legacy of resentment and territorial disputes between the nations were renewed when the Japanese ambassador claimed last week, that Japan was the rightful owner of several largely uninhabited islands claimed by both Tokyo and Seoul. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

South Korea, or the Republic of Korea, came into existence in 1948. The East Asian country endured years of military rule before embracing high-tech industries.

Daily Life In North Korea PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 08: North Koreans, including women in traditional Korean hanbok dresses, prepare to take part in a mass dance to mark the 71st anniversary of the Korean Peoples Army on February 08, 2019 in Pyongyang, North Korea. U.S President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un will hold a second summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi later this month following a historic summit in Singapore last June. Although the two countries remain technically at war and with negotiations surrounding the details of North Korea's nuclear disarmament continuing, President Trump has hailed Kim Jong Un and North Korea with a tweet in which he predicted that the country would become "a great economic powerhouse" thanks to Mr Kim's leadership. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

North Korea, a secretive communist country that was founded in 1948, has threatened international stability in recent years with an aggressive nuclear program.

After the devastating bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the leadership of Japanese emperor Hirohito was put to the test.

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Khmer Rouge soldiers shown in July 1984.

The Khmer Rouge was a Cambodian communist military group that took power under the leadership of Pol Pot and ignited the Cambodian Genocide in the late 1970s.

The spread of Communism in Korea led to a battle that was brief yet bloody, and a national divide that exists to this day.

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Miyamoto Musashi fighting against Tsukahara Bokuden.

Master sword fighters are a recurring motif in fiction, but there were also several historical figures who were renowned for their ability to wield a blade with deadly precision. From soldiers and samurai to duelists and expert fencers, take a look back at the adventures of six legendary swordsmen. 1. Miyamoto Musashi—Japan’s Sword Saint The […]

A giant panda eats bamboo at a panda research base in Ya'an, China. (Credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

What has two black eyes, a short fuzzy tail, ears that look like pom-poms and can repair international wounds with nothing but their presence?

Historian Yohuru Williams gives a brief recap of the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

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Join historian Yohuru Williams as he gives a quick lesson on the Boxer Rebellion, a violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising that took place in China in the late 19th century.

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Historian Yohuru Williams gives a crash course on the Cultural Revolution led by Communist leader Mao Zedong in China in the 1960s.

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Chinese National Day ParadeA mass demonstration on China's National Day, October 1, outside the Gate of Heavenly Peace, Tiananmen, during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s.

The Cultural Revolution was a Chinese sociopolitical movement from 1966 to 1976 led by Communist Mao Zedong.

History of Seppuku

The ritual suicide originated in Japan's ancient warrior class.

American baseball player Ted Williams (1918 - 2002) of the Boston Red Sox serves in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War, circa 1952. (Photo by FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Meet 10 notables who served in the Korean War.

Gandhi Salt March

In March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi and his followers set off on a brisk 241-mile march to the Arabian Sea town of Dandi to lay Indian claim to the nation's own salt.

Genghis Khan (c.1158 - August 18, 1227), born Temujin, was the founder and first Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia. After founding the Empire and being proclaimed the universal ruler of the Mongols, or Genghis Khan, he launched the Mongol invasions, which ultimately conquered most of Eurasia, reaching as far west as Poland and as far south as Egypt.

Explore 10 facts about a great ruler who was equal parts military genius, political statesman and bloodthirsty terror.

Saint Basil Cathedral or Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed. Red Square. Moscow. Russia. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It encompasses nine different time zones.

The Korean War

Get the facts on this perpetually overshadowed Cold War clash.

Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (reigning from 1260 to 1294). He also founded the Yuan dynasty in China as a conquest dynasty in 1271, and ruled as the first Yuan emperor until his death in 1294.

Take a look backward at five Chinese leaders who helped shape the most populous nation on Earth.

Indian statesman and activist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 - 1948) greeting people at Juhu Beach, Mumbai, May 1944.

The iconic Indian activist, known for his principle of nonviolent resistance, had humble beginnings and left an outsized legacy.

The widespread use of opium in China yielded high profits for British exporters while crippling the Chinese economy, ultimately erupting into the Opium War.

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Originally built by Emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb his wife, the Taj Mahal remains an architectural marvel of the modern world.

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Thousands gather in New Delhi, India, for the funeral of Mahatma Gandhi, the beloved truth-seeker and nonviolent activist who helped free India from British rule.

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Korean War soldiers returned home to a population that was largely disinterested in the war effort.

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Veteran Sherman Pratt recalls the tough conditions during the Korean War.

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The Samurai were fearsome warriors whose traditions of honor and discipline live on in the study of jujitsu and kendo today.

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Seppuku was a ritual form of suicide used by samurai warriors to avoid surrender or atone for a shameful act. What were their painful final moments really like?

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Get to know Colonel Ralph Parr, one of the greatest jetfighter aces in American history, whose three-decade Air Force career encompassed three wars and five combat tours.

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Chinese and U.S. currency.

A look back at some pivotal moments in the complicated relationship between the two superpowers.

Taj Mahal, Agra, India, 1632-1654.Taj Mahal, Agra, India, 1632-1654. The marble mausoleum built by Shah Jahan for his wife Arjumand Banu Begum. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Taj Mahal is an enormous mausoleum complex commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the remains of his beloved wife. Constructed over a 20-year period on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, India, the famed complex is one of the most outstanding examples of Mughal architecture.

Mahatma GandhiIndian statesman and activist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 - 1948), circa 1940. (Photo by Dinodia Photos/Getty Images)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was leader of India's nonviolent independence movement against British rule. He was revered the world over for his philosophy of passive resistance and was known to his many followers as Mahatma, or “the great-souled one.”

North Korea's propaganda village of Gijeongdong as seen through barbed wire from the the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone on the border between North and South Korea. (Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a region on the Korean peninsula that demarcates North Korea from South Korea. Roughly following the 38th parallel, the 150-mile-long DMZ incorporates territory on both sides of the cease-fire line as it existed at the end of the Korean War (1950–53).

A memorial in India commemorating Gandhi and the Salt March of 1930.

The Salt March of 1930 was a bold act of nonviolent civil disobedience led by Mohandas Gandhi to protest and put an end to British rule and taxation in India.

US Marines climb from their landing craft at the seawall in Inchon, Korea. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Inch'on Landing, staged in September 1950, enabled American-led U.N. forces to break North Korean supply lines and recapture Seoul early in the Korean War.

UNSPECIFIED - :: Communist China: May 1935, an incident on the Long March. Crossing the Tatu River at Luting by the bridge of the iron chains. After a painting by Li Tsung-tsir. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Long March was a year-long retreat by the Communist Red army from Nationalist forces amid a Chinese civil war that fueled Mao Zedong's rise to power.

Saloth Sar (May 19, 1928-April 15, 1998), better known as Pol Pot, was the leader of the Cambodian communist movement known as the Khmer Rouge and Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976-1979. In 1979, after the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam, Pol Pot fled into the jungles of southwest Cambodia.

Pol Pot was a political leader whose communist Khmer Rouge government led Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During that time, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, execution, disease or overwork.

Steam locomotive at Takanawa, seen during Japan's Meiji Restoration.

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 toppled Japan’s long-reigning Tokugawa shoguns of the Edo Period as U.S. gunboat diplomacy forced Japan into the modern era.

Mao Zedong led communist forces in China through a long revolution and ruled the People's Republic of China from its formation in 1949 until his death in 1976.

Japanese troops in Nanking after the city's conquest, 1937.

The Rape of Nanjing, or the Nanjing Massacre, was the 1937 sacking of Nanjing by invading Japanese forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor of China

Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in 13th-century China. He was the first Mongol to rule over China when he conquered the Song Dynasty of southern China in 1279.

Soldiers Walking Down Road(Original Caption) As soldiers at right are briefed, other ROK Troopers move up the road to forward positions for counterattack against Chinese Communists who launched one of the fiercest assaults of the Korean War on the central front. ROK Troops regained more than 60 square miles of territory lost in the Red assault, by July 20th, Korean time.

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. Explore the war's causes, timeline, facts and end.

Indian statesman Jawaharlal Nehru during an interview with the Picture Post magazine.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a leader in the Indian independence movement and fostered economic, social and educational reforms as the country's first prime minister.

Chinese National Day ParadeA mass demonstration on China's National Day, October 1, outside the Gate of Heavenly Peace, Tiananmen, during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s.

In 1966, China’s Communist leader Mao Zedong launched what became known as the Cultural Revolution in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government. The Cultural Revolution and its tormented and violent legacy would resonate in Chinese politics and society for decades to come.

Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) served as India’s first female prime minister from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in October 1984. She garnered widespread public support for agricultural improvements as well as for her success in the Pakistan war. Gandhi was the daughter of former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Genghis Khan (1162-1227). Emperor of Mogol EmpireGengis Khan (1162-1227). Emperor of Mogol Empire. Engraving. Colored. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

Mongol leader Genghis Khan (1162-1227) rose from humble beginnings to establish the largest land empire in history. After uniting the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian plateau, he conquered huge chunks of central Asia and China. His descendants expanded the empire even further, advancing to such far-off places as Poland, Vietnam, Syria and Korea.

BOXER REBELLION: BATTLE IN PEKING, AUG.14-15, 1900 ARTIST UNKNOWN

The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was a failed uprising against Japanese and Western influence in China, led by the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists.

General Chiang Kai-Shek (1887-1975), the Chinese National leader, giving a speech.

Chiang Kai-shek took charge of the Chinese Nationalist Party in 1925, and governed in exile in Taiwan after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's Communist forces.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was a Japanese warlord who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 17th century and is remembered as one of the country's three great unifiers.

Group of Samurais A group of men pose together in military uniform. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

The samurai, who abided by a code of honor and discipline known as bushido, were provincial warriors in feudal Japan before rising to power in the 12th century.