TIME Magazine: Tong. Western Union operators in Boston were puzzled, last week, by a number of enigmatic telegrams sent from their station to various parts of the U. S. The messages appeared, at first glance, to be in code, but a closer scrutiny revealed that they were merely lists of names—Chinese names.

The above passage comes from the September 7, 1925 issue of TIME Magazine. It contains one of the earliest references to Chinatown in TIME Magazine and describes a tong war between the Hip Sings and the On Leongs.

Time: Second Thoughts on the Chairman. Not even Mao was perfect, it turns out. Propped up by two solicitous aides, Ye Jianying, 81, the venerable chairman of the National People’s Congress, tottered up to the rostrum last week to deliver the keynote speech for China’s 30th anniversary celebration.

If you are ever curious about how the West perceives China, head over to TIME Magazine. For example, if you search for Liu Shaoqi, TIME will return results from its historical archives. The earliest reference to Liu Shaoqi comes from October 14, 1979. You can then sort the results by newest, oldest or relevance, or even refine your search by date.