The China History Podcast

How does a dynasty that reunified China fall apart so quickly—and leave the foundations for a golden age? In Part 7 of this Pangu to Puyi overview, we’ll follow the fall of the Sui and the rise of the Tang. We explore the Grand Canal and Emperor Yang’s disastrous campaigns against Goguryeo. As the empire unravels, Li Yuan and his son Li Shimin enter the struggle for power, with the decisive Battle...

After centuries of division, how did China find its way back to unity? Part 6 follows the Northern and Southern Dynasties through an age of political upheaval, cultural transformation, and the flourishing of Buddhism. In Part 6, we'll also explore how the Xianbei 鲜卑 rulers of Northern Wei 北魏 blended steppe traditions with Chinese institutions, while the southern courts nurtured literature and...

From the flames of Red Cliffs to the turmoil of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Part 5 follows China through an age of legendary heroes, fragile reunification, and renewed division. The episode explores the struggles of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan, the strategies and enduring legends of Zhuge Liang, and the rise of the Sima family that brought the Three Kingdoms to an end. But reunification under the Jin...

Thanks for sticking with the program. Twenty-one more episodes to go till the end of the series. This time in part 4, we pick up with the aftermath of Liu Bang's passing in 195BC. This includes the infamous story of Empress Lü. Also covered will be the peak years of the Western Han under Emperors Wen and Jing. There's also an interlude that examines the long life of Zhao Tuo and his Nanyue Kingdom...

I hope you’re all enjoying the series so far. We continue on in Part 3 with the Warring State of Qín under their bellicose and long-reigning King Zhaoxiang 秦昭襄王 using all the powerful tools at his disposal to overcome the rival kingdoms. This will be followed by the old family favorite story of the dubious rise of Ying Zheng 嬴政 and the matter of his paternity. All your old favorites from the...

We’re still in ancient times, picking up from last episode, where we ended with the fall of the Shang. Part 2 will cover the rise of the Ji Clan and the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. We’ll look at the Zhou up through the Spring and Autumn period and a little of the Warring States, up to about 300-400 BC. The rise of the Qin State will also be introduced. The Warring States period will continue on...

Sorry to everyone for making you wait this long. Welcome to the inaugural episode of this series, which will offer you a concise overview of Chinese history from mythical times to the time of the last emperor of the last imperial dynasty. We’ll start off with the traditional stories surrounding the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors 三皇五帝 and cover the Xia 夏 and Shang 商 dynasties. The amazing...

Hi Everyone, the CHP will be returning next week. Here's a brief announcement concerning what to expect for the next several months.

Nothing to see here. Just a quick announcement on the latest from the CHP. Thanks for your patience. Lots of new stuff coming soon. The CHP Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheChinaHistoryPodcast CHP Premium:   https://teacupmedia.supercast.com/  

I drove downtown not too long ago to meet with Jesse Appell to talk about his first book, "This was funnier in China" https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/This-Was-Funnier-in-China/Jesse-Appell/9781668087565 Jesse's been performing stand-up comedy and Xiangsheng 相声 for years now. When he isn't engaging in this profession, he's managing and promoting his global tea company, Jesse's Teahouse htt...

I had the idea for this episode sometime during mid-summer 2025. Then I became distracted by the big project I'm working on now, then the holidays, sick cats, and the random hassles of life. This one's only 34 minutes long. My deepest apologies for all the mispronunciations of Maori names. This is the story of Choie Sew Hoy 徐肇开 and the times he lived in during the 19th-century Chinese immigrant...

This one is more entertaining than anything. Mr. Andrew Shaw mentioned this looting of the eastern Qing Tombs event when I interviewed him earlier in the year. If you recall, he wrote that book called "Spoil." This time, I'm focusing on the events that went down in July 1928 at the Qing Eastern Tombs 清东陵 northeast of Beijing. This all took place in the final moments of the Warlord Era, right af...

This morning, in between recording sessions, I checked out what was headlining on Drudge. And right there was the leading story, "Let Them Eat Steak." You can imagine what the piece was about. This made me think, what a perfect time to post this Chinese Saying podcast episode.  I released this one on Patreon and CHP Premium a while back. It's more or less the Chinese version of this Drudge headlin...

In early 2025, I was approached by Jenny Chan at  pacificatrocities.org about interviewing one of their experts in an upcoming CHP episode.  I had a nice interview with Quin Cho, born in my hometown of Chicago. Those who lament that the young generation of today doesn't bother to learn history, here is some relief. When I saw him, I was surprised to see how young Quin was and how much enthusiasm a...

Here's something a little different from the usual CHP fare. It concerns a natural substance that's not too well-known outside of Asia, mainly because it's so dang expensive! Chénxiāng 沉香 or Agarwood as it's also known, grows inside the heartwood of certain Aquilaria trees. Chenxiang has a few interesting things about it and is often mentioned in Chinese literature. This episode includes a bunch...

Hi Everyone, just coming up for air. This is actually one of the several new episodes that have been available on Patreon and CHP Premium since July, three months ago. This is a brief overview of the life and times of Wang Jingwei, the 中国头号大汉奸. Strong words. Why is he so despised? What drove him to make the decisions he did that forever branded him as a traitor to the Chinese people? He's a...

Here's a preview of a new podcast, The Chinatown Sting, from our friends at Pushkin Industries. In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan's Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case. Host Lidia Jean Kott and co-reporter Shuyu Wang interview sources who've never spoken on record b...

Here's another quickie for you, only a half hour long. It seems not only are the portions at fast-food chains shrinking, so are the CHP episodes. Thanks to a team of amateur historians, WWII enthusiasts, and survivors, this interesting tale can now be told. It concerns a forgotten man named Mr. Lam Ping Yu 林炳堯, who left behind a WWII diary from 1944 that was rediscovered by chance in 2015. I ho...

This is a rather long episode, running at just about one hour. The Guangxi Massacre is one of those dark chapters from the Cultural Revolution. Down in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, it was particularly dark. I was listening to Stanford Professor of Anthropology Andrew G. Walder on the New Books Network discussing his 2023 book covering this topic. That gave me the initial inspiration. Dr....

In this episode, we look at the life of Anson Burlingame, a well-known name  in California. During Lincoln's term as president, he was appointed Chief Minister to China, arriving in Beijing in the summer of 1862. Already well-known in the US as a fiery abolitionist and a man who believed everyone should be treated fairly and with all due respect, he sympathized with the Chinese government. When he...

Here's a nice little standalone episode on the life and work of Thomas Wade and Herbert Giles. And you can't mention Herbert Giles without mentioning his son, Lionel Giles. And of course, Robert Morrison must be mentioned as well as all the earliest Western scholars of Sinology going back to Michele Ruggieri. And it wouldn't be fair to only talk about Wade and the two Giles's without giving a nod...

This is only a 2-parter, so this exciting episode will bring the curtain down on Lin Biao and his famous "Incident." We resume the story following the 1970 Lushan Plenum. Lin, or Lin's ambitious manipulators, pushed Chairman Mao just a bit too much at this meeting, and he decided to take immediate action. This whole 913 Incident, as you will hear, was a huge embarrassment to the Chinese Communist...

This is Part 1 of a 2-Part series looking at the life of Lin Biao and the actual Lin Biao Incident itself. This bit of history is documented to death. I downloaded a dozen scholarly papers, read a few books, went through my entire library, and gathered as much information as possible. But practically every source ends with "cannot be proved." The Lin Biao Incident is China's version of the Kennedy...

Just in time for Liberation Day, I'm presenting this timely episode. Back in 1890, with the aim of protecting American companies from foreign competition, tariffs were jacked up significantly.  With all the advances in transport, logistics, and new technologies, world trade was shifting into a higher gear. For a few centuries, the Ming and Qing emperors did their damnedest to regulate the invasion...

This is the second of a two-part mini-series introducing the world of European plant hunting in China. In this episode, we look at some of the more noteworthy names and their accomplishments. After the exploits of Robert Fortune, many other plant hunters followed in his footsteps to China. We'll look at Henry Fletcher Hance, Père David, Augustine Henry, Ernest Wilson, and George Forrest, among oth...