The China History Podcast

In this week's episode, we begin a multi-part series covering the Chinese Civil War from 1945 to 1949. In China, this is known as the War of Liberation. In this Part 1, we will look at the background leading up to the war as well as failed attempts by the Americans in 1945-1946 to mediate a peace between Mao's Communists and the Nationalists led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Learn more about y...

This week's episode runs way into overtime but at least we're getting through to the end of 1944. The Dixie Mission is in full swing by the end of that year. John Service has established himself in Washington circles as one of the most informed and dynamic China hands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode runs way into overtime but at least we're getting through to the end of 1944. The Dixie Mission is in full swing by the end of that year. John Service has established himself in Washington circles as one of the most informed and dynamic China hands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this second episode covering the life of John S. Service, we take a look at the general situation and the proliferation of mistrust and bad faith in wartime Chongqing. Chiang Kai-shek remains baffled and frustrated with American efforts to cozy up to Mao. He blames the China Hands such as John Service for feeding American officials the CCP propaganda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

This week we explore the life and times of John S. Service. This original "China Hand" was born in China and grew up in Chengdu and Shanghai. He went on to a brilliant career in the State Department serving in China as a Foreign Service officer during the Second Sino-Japanese War and throughout WWII. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode takes a slightly deeper look at the Shang Dynasty and their signature achievement, the oracle bone script. Some of this episode will be a repeat of things covered in Episode 15. Like the oldest parts of the oldest world civilizations a lot of what we "know" is the collective guesswork of the best minds researching the history. From Wang Yirong down to the present generation of scholar...

This week we look at the Canadian and international hero Dr. Norman Bethune. Bethune is a staple among noted western friends and advisors who came to China in 1938 to help the Communists and the people in their struggle against the Japanese. He was not only a great friend of China but a gifted and brilliant man of medicine as well who had a great impact on thoracic surgery in his day. Learn more a...

This week we look at a topic many have heard about but aren't familiar with the details. We look at the early origins of the Jewish people in China and the time of the settlement in Kaifeng, Henan. Although you'd be hard-pressed to find a minyan amongst the native Jews in Kaifeng today, there are efforts being made to revive Judaism in that ancient city. It's an interesting story that spans a mill...

This week we delve back into the mists of ancient times to look at the State of Wu from the Spring & Autumn Period. Although they didn't last long, the Wu State had a major impact on the development of the culture of the Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Shanghai region. There are a number of Wu periods throughout Chinese history, so today we will try to sort them all out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...

In this episode, we will conclude our History of Hong Kong overview. We'll look at the years following the 1967 riots and the reforms championed by Governor Murray MacLehose in the 1970s and '80s. We'll close out this series by looking at the dramatic lead up to and the signing of the Joint Declaration, the Basic Law, and the handover on July 1, 1997. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

In this week's episode, we look at the year 1967 in Hong Kong. The words "riots" and "1967" go hand in hand when talking about Hong Kong history. Although the events that went down between May and December of 1967 caused death, mayhem, and destruction throughout the territory, when it was all over it led to a sea change in labor rights for Hong Kong workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

After a bit of a break, we pick up after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. The 1950s were a stressful time for Hong Kong with Britain managing a diplomatic balancing act trying to be a good neighbor to the new PRC and to their closest ally, the USA. Thanks to the exodus of Chinese industrialists, from Shanghai mostly, Hong Kong will usher in a manufacturing boom that will transform the economy...

We're back with Part 7 of Laszlo's overview of the History of Hong Kong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this latest installment of the CHP History of Hong Kong overview, we look at the years from Governors Nathan to Peel. The modern age comes to Hong Kong along with plenty of fallout and spillover from the upheavals going on in China in the 1920s and '30s. This was a period when the great pillars of HKL Chinese society rose to fame and fortune: Shouson Chow, Robert Hotung, Kai Ho, Robert Kotewall...

In this fifth installment of our Hong Kong history overview, we look at the final couple of decades of the 19th century. Hong Kong's second generation is coming to the fore. They are a better educated and more sophisticated lot than those Chinese who came before them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We continue this overview series on the history of Hong Kong. This time we pick up right after the Treaty of Nanjing and look at the early efforts to get this colony up and running. The first couple decades of Crown Colony of Hong Kong weren't easy and many considered throwing in the towel early. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Part 3 of Laszlo's overview of the History of Hong Kong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part two of Laszlo's overview of the history of Hong Kong, we look at the Canton System and the lead-up to hostilities that culminated in the Treaty of Nanjing that ceded Hong Kong in perpetuity to the British crown. In this episode, we'll get as far as the Convention of Chuenpi of January 20, 1841. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laszlo is back after another long delay. In this shorter than usual episode, The China History Podcast presents Part 1 of a multi-part series that will explore the history of Hong Kong. In this introductory episode, Laszlo starts at the very beginning and traces Hong Kong from the Devonian Period all the way up the end of the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

In this episode, we introduce American Sidney Rittenberg, 李敦白，known by the title of his 1993 book as "The Man Who Stayed Behind." He arrived in China in his 20's at the end of WWII and witnessed the Chinese Revolution from a front-row seat. When the US pulled out of China after the war, Sidney Rittenberg stayed behind with his dreams of contributing to the building of a new China. He remained...

In this longer than usual episode, we feature the three giants of the Jesuit China Mission of the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to their work in introducing Catholicism to China, these three men, Matteo Ricci, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, and Ferdinand Verbiest made a collective contribution to the scholarship of China that has not been matched to this day. Learn more about your ad choices....

In this episode, we look at Wang Xizhi, a man of letters who achieved greatness during the Eastern Jin dynasty and is called China's greatest calligrapher. His life and achievements will be explored along with the significance of calligraphy in Chinese culture. We'll also recall those crazy times in the fourth century AD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like Guan Yu in the previous episode 081, Yue Fei of the Southern Song Dynasty was a heroic and legendary military man in Chinese history. He dedicated his life to resisting the aggression of the Jurchens of the Jin dynasty. The Jurchens had booted the Song dynasty out of northern China in 1127. Yue Fei dedicated his short life to win back those northern lands before falling victim to imperial cou...

We close out our three-part series on the amazing life of Admiral Zheng He and his seven voyages. This time the CHP looks at retired submarine commander Gavin Menzies and his take on what Zheng He achieved. He makes some wild claims that have been savagely attacked by educated people around the world. If not for the fact that early Ming China was advanced enough to carry out these voyages, as Menz...

We continue on with the voyages of Zheng He. This time we look at some of the highlights from all seven voyages. Then after the Yong Le and Xuan De emperors pass from the scene, no further emperors are interested to put their seal of approval on any more of these pricey expeditions. With historic consequences, China's focus turns to protection from the west and northwest of the country rather than...