Free Republic

Human remains found in a 1,400-year-old Chinese tomb belonged to a man of European origin, DNA evidence shows. Chinese scientists who analyzed the DNA of the remains say the man, named Yu Hong, belonged to one of the oldest genetic groups from western Eurasia. The tomb, in Taiyuan in central China, marks the easternmost spot where the ancient European lineage has been found (see China map). "The [genetic group] to which Yu Hong belongs is the first west Eurasian special lineage that has been found in the central part of ancient China," said Zhou Hui, head of the DNA laboratory...

We often hear Christians talking about certain theological ideas and ministry models as “Western.” The implication is that, these ideas and models came from the West, and the church in Asia must take a critical look to see if they are suitable for use in ministry in Asia. What exactly does the word “Western” mean? And what did the Chinese church import from the West? WHAT IS “WESTERN”? The Gospel of Jesus Christ spread in several directions in the first and second centuries. The Christian faith went to India, according to tradition, by the Apostle Thomas. Christians also took their...

One day in a spring, an elderly man walked alone on a stone road lined by young willows in Xuzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province. At the end of the road was a museum that few people have heard of. A Chinese theology professor says the first Christmas is depicted in the stone relief from the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). In the picture above a woman and a man are sitting around what looks like a manger, with allegedly "the three wise men" approaching from the left side, holding gifts, "the shepherd" following them, and "the assassins" queued...

CHRISTIANS AMONG MONGOL INVADERS Seven hundred years ago, Japan faced the threat of imminent invasion by the Mongol, hordes of Kublai Khan. The entire nation was in a state of alarm and many Japanese felt there was no alternative but to surrender to the invaders . This was to be the most serious threat of aggression from abroad that Japan was to experience until World War II of the twentieth century. This attempted invasion of Japan by Mongol Invaders occurred in 1274 and again in 1281. The nomadic Mongol people, originated in the steppe lands, north of China, now called...

This remarkable record of the fact that Christianity flourished in medieval China is a huge stone about ten feet high. Carven dragons and a cross adorn its summit, and its main shaft is completely covered with some two thousand Chinese characters. It stands now in the Peilin or "Forest of Tablets" in Sian-fu, this Peilin being a great hall specially devoted to the preservation of old historic tablets. Up to a few years ago the ancient stone stood with other unvalued monuments in the grounds of a Buddhist monastery, exposed to all the assault of the elements. Only European...

BY 9 in the morning, the bazaar on a rocky island in the Panj River was a frenetic scene of haggling and theatrics. Afghan traders in long tunics and vests hawked teas, toiletries and rubber slippers. Turbaned fortune tellers bent over ornate Persian texts, predicting futures for the price of a dollar. Tajik women bargained over resplendent bolts of fabric. All were mingling this bright Saturday at a weekly market held throughout the year and, in one form or another, for thousands of years here in the Wakhan Valley, which divides Tajikistan and Afghanistan. “Mousetraps, mousetraps, mousetraps, oooowww!” crooned a...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s highway authority removed an old gate at the Khyber gateway without consulting Afghanistan. A traditional gateway to India on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has become the subject of a row between Islamabad and Kabul that New Delhi is accused of fanning. Pakistan's National Highway Authority (NHA) has removed an old gate at the gateway, at Torkhan at Khyber Pass 16 km from Peshawar, without consulting Afghanistan. It wants to put up another whose design Kabul does not approve. In the process, the Dawn newspaper says, Khyber Pass has been without a gate for one month. It does not indicate...