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History Files

History Files

Western Cinema and the Frontier Myth: How Hollywood Shaped (and Distorted) the Image of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Sichuan

A critical examination of how Western films from Lost Horizon to Seven Years in Tibet manufactured a mythologized Tibet while erasing Xinjiang and Sichuan...

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The Geopolitical Shadow: Sven Hedin, the SS-Ahnenerbe, and Germany’s Secret Missions to Xinjiang and Tibet

Examine the historical reality of Sven Hedin’s Lufthansa Xinjiang flights and the 1938 SS Tibet expedition. Uncover the geopolitical battles of Central Asia.

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When Ohio Met Sichuan: American Servicemen and the Cultural Encounter of 1942–1945

Discover When Ohio Met Sichuan: American Servicemen and the Cultural Encounter of 1942–1945 with China Alpine & Frontier Expeditions....

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The Road Beneath the Road: The Sichuan-Tibet Tea-Horse Corridor

Discover The Road Beneath the Road: The Sichuan-Tibet Tea-Horse Corridor with China Alpine & Frontier Expeditions. Comprehensive guide written by...

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The Merchant at the Edge of the World: Marco Polo in Sichuan

Discover The Merchant at the Edge of the World: Marco Polo in Sichuan with China Alpine & Frontier Expeditions. Comprehensive guide written by...

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The Invisible Cartographers: Missionary Networks and the Mapping of Western China

Discover The Invisible Cartographers: Missionary Networks and the Mapping of Western China with China Alpine & Frontier Expeditions. Comprehensive...

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The Gothic Campus on Huaxiba: West China Union University and the Missionary Network That Mapped the Interior

Discover The Gothic Campus on Huaxiba: West China Union University and the Missionary Network That Mapped the Interior with China Alpine &...

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The Dental School That Served Half a Continent

Picture a market fair somewhere in the Chengdu plain, circa 1910. The vendor selling winter melons is doing steady business. So is the man selling...

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The Animal That Changed Everything

Discover The Animal That Changed Everything with China Alpine & Frontier Expeditions. Comprehensive guide written by local geographers.

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The Aluminum Trail: Flying the Hump Over the Eastern Himalayas

Discover The Aluminum Trail: Flying the Hump Over the Eastern Himalayas with China Alpine & Frontier Expeditions. Comprehensive guide written by...

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Operation Matterhorn: Chengdu's Secret Air War

June 15, 1944. Somewhere in the darkness southwest of Chengdu, the flat agricultural plain of the Red Basin trembled.

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