Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year? – Celebrating in Harmony
Chinese New Year' or 'Lunar New Year' are two intertwined terms. Although indicative of positive cultural change, their overlapping nature has sparked controversies within museum spaces.
14 February 2023
The Tea Horse Road: An Ancient Trade Route
Michael Freeman, photographer and author of the ‘Tea Horse Road: China’s Ancient Trade Road to Tibet’, explores the pressed tea bricks in MAA’s care and the longest trade route in the ancient world.
7 February 2023
May you always have alcohol and meat
Alcoholic beverages made from fermented rice and sorghum grains were considered ritually important in ancient China. This post looks at some vessels involved in the use of alcohol in the Han Dynasty.
18 January 2023
Brick Tea as a Form of Currency
In a previous blog post on this object, I pursued one of the clues found on its label to show that it was a product of the Russian brick tea trade in China. In this one, we look at how it functioned as currency.
20 December 2022
‘Square Face’: Gin, Currency, and Colonialism in Africa
Discover stories of trade in West Africa, colonial exploitation, Christianity, traditional African religious practices, alcohol consumption and prohibition through a bottle of European gin.
13 December 2022
Fancy a drink? Chicha: An Ancient Maize-Based Fermented Brew
In the pre-Columbian world, chicha (a maize brew) was a prominent alcoholic beverage. I search the collections at MAA for maize-related objects and speculate their relationship to this ancient brew.
6 December 2022
