The China History Podcast

This is part 1 of a 2-part series covering the history of the relations between China and Cambodia. In this first half of the series, I present the early history. Some of this material was covered in the China-Vietnam series: Funan, Zhenla, and the Khmer Empire. This is a nice refresher if you forgot about that. Cambodia didn't have the same historical relations with China as their two neighbors and sometimes antagonizers, Thailand and Vietnam. A lot of what happened later on, in Part 2, had its roots in mid-19th century Cambodia. I hope this episode is useful as an intro to Cambodian history. We'll take things up to 1965 here and finish off next time.  

I discovered a whole bunch of new podcasts that are produced out of Singapore, Malaysia, HK, and the Philippines. My listening diet has always been heavy on US-UK-Australian shows. Podcasting is on the rise in Asia too. 1 Up Media, led by Singaporean Yeo Guang Jin has a couple of shows that are quite good. The first (I'm playing for you here) concerns the stories behind great business empires. They've done deep dives on Ten Cent, Sony, and Samsung so far. The show is called Empires: An Asian Business Podcast. https://www.tiktok.com/@empirepod They also have another show that is sure to satisfy all imbibers of True Crime Podcasts. Over in Southeast Asia, they have their own murders and gruesomeness, some of which are featured in Heinous: An Asian True Crime Podcast. https://www.tiktok.com/@heinous_1upmedia Back when I started the CHP in 2010, podcasting was still in its infancy. Now in 2023 there are so many great shows behind produced all over the world by so many talented independent podcasters. I hope you take advantage of the many rich pickings out there beyond the borders where you live. Have a great weekend everyone. Links to the shows are below: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/empires-an-asian-business-podcast/id1674467595 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6fCGvywzRXGe5Q1GVP8Rtb?si=eaba0892a5644da4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I hope everyone is enjoying these Chinese Sayings Podcast episodes that I began posting to this podcast feed. We end Season 7 with an old one from the Book of Jin 晋书 that contains two venerable co-stars from the Three Kingdoms era. This time we look at the amusing story behind the 巾帼英雄 Jīn Guó Yīng Xióng. The CSP will be back one more time with a bonus episode featuring Emma, the G.M. of the Teacup 成语研究中心. You won't want to miss that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Taiwan series now behind us, it's onwards and upwards. This time I wanted to select one of the many great Chinese American heroes of his day, Chin Gee Hee. Chin was another Toisan native who came to the American west coast, not to the usual haunts of San Francisco and Los Angeles, but to Seattle. He arrived in the 1860s and stayed till 1904. Following a career in labor contracting and other entrepreneurial ventures that made him quite wealthy, he returned to his native Toisan where, together with a partner, he built the Sun Ning Railway 新宁铁路. The Sun Ning was one of the very few rail projects funded entirely by Chinese investors. During his decades living in the Washington Territory Chin Gee Hee faced the worst racism and anti-Chinese violence the future state would ever see. And when he returned to China during the final years of the Qing Dynasty to build his railroad, his best intentions encountered a different set of challenges and disappointments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I was happy to welcome Curtis Chin onto the CHP to chat about his life growing up Asian American in the black-and-white city of Detroit and coming out in his working-class immigrant community. Curtis's ancestors came to America over a hundred years ago and ended up in a place that not many Chinese back then gravitated to. His family-owned restaurant "Chung's" was a longtime fixture in the Cass Corridor where Detroit's Chinatown was located. His book isn't coming out till later this year but if you'd like to find out more go to https://www.curtisfromdetroit.com/ I hope you enjoy the conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our ninth offering of the season here's another golden oldie with a story that goes back almost 2,700 years to the time of the early Spring and Autumn Period. The story concerns the two major states of Qí and Yān and the two minor (and mostly forgotten) states of Lìngzhī and Gūzhú. Two major and extremely consequential characters from those times star in this story. These were Duke Huán of Qí and his advisor Guǎn Zhòng. They led their troops into the mountains on a punitive expedition and ended up getting hopelessly lost in the process. Fortunately, for all concerned, 老马识途 Lǎo Mǎ Shí Tú, and they were able to escape from their dilemma and live on to fight another day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last episode we looked at the Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-jeou years from 2000-2016. In Part 15 we'll take the narrative up to the present time. We'll examine the Tsai Ing-wen presidency and where she contrasts with her predecessors. Where cross-strait relations are concerned, differences are quite stark. Since the final years of the Obama presidency, the US-China relationship has been steadily deteriorating. And caught in the middle of this conflict is Taiwan. I hope this series has been helpful and useful to you. It ran a little long but it's a big story to tell.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greetings CHP listeners, whether you want it or not, here's the next episode of the CSP. The story behind our Chinese Saying for this time is quite recent as Chinese history goes. It takes place merely a thousand years ago, during the time of the Northern Song Dynasty. Just like location, location, location is what matters most in real estate, when it comes to getting ahead in your career, the same often holds true. One's location, relative to the boss, can sometimes make it or break it for you. As this story will show, if you're hoping to climb the ladder of success, sometimes a Jìn Shuǐ Lóu Tái 近水楼台 is all you need. A pavilion or a building near the water? How could that help an ambitious and aspiring bureaucrat in the government? Listen to this story that features the great Northern Song poet, politician, philosopher, writer, military strategist, and scholar-official, Fan Zhongyan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chen Shuibian and Ma Ying-jeou both served two terms as president of the Republic of China. These years from 2000 to 2016 illustrated the glaring examples between the KMT and the DPP. Beginning with Taiwan's first DPP president, more and more things began to be said and actions taken that have provoked China and raised the anxiety levels of everyone familiar with the situation. In this episode, the eight years of Ma Ying-jeou (Mǎ Yīngjiǔ) brought anxiety levels down. But as shown from these past many episodes, attitudes on Taiwan about the mainland are mixed and not everyone was thrilled. Next episode in Part 15 we'll wind things down and conclude the Taiwan series. Thanks, everyone for listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hitting the shelves April 4th is Beijing-based attorney James Zimmerman's new book: "The Peking Express - The Bandits who Stole a Train, Stunned the West, and Broke the Republic of China." This explosive and historic event in May-June 1923 had far-reaching consequences for China. For more info go to ThePekingExpress.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices