The Master of Demon Gorge: A Chinese History Podcast

This podcast discusses the challenges of translating Jin Yong's wuxia fiction, the author's life and career, the tendency to overwrite and the length of books, the prolific output and writing style of the author, and the blending of history and Chinese classical literature in his novels.

"Tang ping" or "lying flat" is a new social phenomenon from China that has now spread to America. Young people feel that striving in the socio-economic system in which they find themselves is pointless, so they opt instead to do the opposite of striving: lie flat.It's a phenomenon that the Chinese government now tries to combat, and it mean seem contrary to our typical image of the hardworking Asian. But in fact the art of not working is a venerable Chinese tradition that goes back nearly 2,000 years to a group known as "The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest"...Support the show

The stories of the various flags that have represented modern China, from the Yellow Dragon of the Qing Empire to the contemporary flag of the PRC.Support the show

October 10, "Double Ten," is the National Day or Independence Day of the Republic of China, now Taiwan. October 10, 1911, is a date indelibly engraved in Chinese history. But what exactly happened back then? This is the story of the 1911 Revolution. We discuss the decades leading up to it; Sun Yat-sen, the individual most responsible for bringing it about, and his partly American upbringing; and the fateful events on October 9-10 that ended all the millennia of monarchy in China.Support the show

We further discuss the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. How Christian was it really? Or did it rather belong in the Chinese tradition of armed religious movements such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion that nearly destroyed the Han Dynasty? We look at Christianity in China more broadly, from the introduction of Nestorian Christianity in the 7th century to the Jesuit missionaries of the 16th and 17th centuries. How do traditional Chinese religious views differ from Christian assumptions?And what are Christian assumptions and attitudes, anyway? Many apparently secular ideas trace their origins to Christianity. Marxism may be deemed an offshoot of it. And Catholic canon lawyers coined the term "human rights." Western society's urge to cast down the mighty and raise up the humble and meek is clearly Christian-derived. To what extent are difficulties between the West and contemporary China the result of the latter not being Christianized in its outlook?Support the show

In part one of two discussing Christianity in China, we look at the elephant in the room when it comes to this subject: the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1850-64). It's no big deal, just the third most destructive war in all of human history, behind only the two World Wars. And it began when a disappointed scholar, in a vulnerable moment, came across some Christian missionary literature. Reading it, he decided that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, charged by his Heavenly Father with establishing a Christian theocracy in China. Obviously.Support the show

Regarding the history, myths, and traditions associated with the Mid-Autumn or Lunar Festival. Of course we end with a recitation of one the most famous poems ever by the great Su Dongpo, written in the 11th century.Support the show

Recently, one Taiwanese politician compared another to Emperor Huidi of the Jin Dynasty, as a term of abuse. Huidi of the Jin (r. 290-307 A.D.) was notorious for his stupidity. And his mismanagement of imperial affairs substantially ensured the brevity of the Western Jin regime and the long chaos of the period known as the Wei-Jin North and South Dynasties.We discuss Huidi's lamentable career as well as (by way of Jefferson and Lincoln) what it means for Taiwanese politicians on both sides of the aisle to invoke figures from ancient Chinese history.Support the show

If you caught the latest Marvel release over the weekend, you might have wondered about the Chinese mythological creatures depicted therein. They mostly come out of Shan Hai Jing, "The Book of Mountains and Seas," an anonymous ancient tract describing world geography as well as fauna that might or might not have been real. Here is a spoiler-free run-down of the fanciful creatures, with digressions to Afghanistan, medieval England, the Arctic, and the works of Kafka and Borges.Support the show

Joseph de Guignes, a French scholar known for linking the Xiongnu to the Huns, and Edward Gibbon, the famed historian of the Roman Empire's decline, dive into riveting historical debates. They discuss whether the Xiongnu of China and the Huns of Europe are one and the same, and explore unexpected theories, including a wild connection between ancient China and Egypt. The conversation also tackles the consequences of refugee crises in history, shedding light on modern parallels and the evolving nature of historical narratives.