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From the early 15th century onward gangs called dahang (guilds of punchers), especially well acquainted with martial arts, enriched the scenery of deviant subcultures everywhere in China. These young bachelors, virile and aggressive rogues predominantly from the lower strata of society, linked to criminal local networks, time and again disrupted the public order in urban spaces as well as in the countryside. Probably there was an especially great demand for their violent services in the well-off society of Jiangnan at the lower reaches of the Yangzi-River. Bands of thugs, hired by local despots and cadres in the People's Republic today, attacking people who protest against corruption, dispossession and injustice, are part of this violent tradition and everyday experience in Chinese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a conference on late medieval and early modern standards of learning and scholarship, held in Göttingen, Germany, from February 29-March 2, 2012. Topics of discussion included the interest of Franciscan monk Roger Bacon in the occult, intellectual life in 18th-century China, and the distinction between mechanics and miracles in the work of German physicist Johannes Andreas Schmidt.

This article focuses on the German navy troops that were a part of the intervention by the Eight-Nation Alliance, a Western military alliance that sent military troops to China during the Boxer Rebellion, a nationalist uprising in China at the end of the 19th century. Several topics are discussed, including that historians consider the German troops to have been the strongest force in the alliance (despite the fact that the Germans arrived later than the other troops), and how German troops are said to have been too aggressive and violent, shooting 76 Chinese people and killing all the male inhabitants of the city of Liangxiang upon their arrival in China. The author also presents a detailed description of the recruitment, travels, and massacres that were committed by the German troops.

This article focuses on the theater censorship and the official bans on performance that occurred in China during the early years of the Qing Dynasty. Several topics are discussed, including how theater censorship probably started during the Yuan Dynasty in the 1200s, how laws were passed by the Hongwu Emperor of China that banned any theatrical plays that criticized the Manchurian rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and that several laws were passed during the Quing Dynasty that prevented Chinese soldiers from entering a theater building. Other laws that were passed included a law that banned the Manchurian people living in China from watching plays, a law that outlawed any Buddhist or Taoist plays to be performed, and a law that prevented government officials from attending a play.

The article discusses the historical path created by the occurrence of rivers, which served as indispensable transportation aides for British and French imperialist interests in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Yunnan province of Qing era China. Until the mid-19th century British trade concentrated on textiles and spices, when raw materials, especially tea, became highly desired commodities. This eventually led to the opium trade and the consequent Opium Wars. Other topics discussed include the English East India company, English river exploration, and the French claiming of the Mekong River.