The History of China

The Hongwu Emperor officially accedes to the throne as the founding ruler of Great Ming, to as much pomp and circumstance as his ministers can possibly pack in to the ceremony. After the parties are all done and the sacrifices all made, however, the real work of governing an empire that has been ravaged for centuries begins… and not everyone is happy about having a new sovereign sitting atop the d...

"The list of their disasters was much lengthened [...] and whenever they tried to force a way into the borders of the empire, they were beaten back. They were once more confined to the great desert, whence they originally sprang.” “Although I am a woman, I have avenged the vengeance of my husband. When I die, there will be no regret.” Time Period Covered: 1368~1399 CE Major Historical Figures: Yua...

You are invited to a very exclusive party. Everyone who's anyone will be there, dressed to the nines. You're sure to have the time of your life, and won't even know where the time's gone... Story by: Edgar Allen Poe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The chill of autumn is in the air once again, which can only mean one thing! It’s time for more tales to terrorize & titillate, baffle & bemuse… it’s time to once again venture into the studio of Pu Songling and listen to his strange tales. So gather round the light of the fire… or the iPhone… and get ready for seven strange stories of sly foxes, flights of fancy, monstrous appetites, unusual enco...

How does a peasant, orphan, son of a farmer in the Black Death, made a monk in the middle of a forgotten spot In central Anhui by providence impoverished In squalor, grow up to be a rebel hero, then a monarch? Time Period Covered: 1364-1368 CE Major Historical Figures: Ming: Zhu Yuanzhang (Hongwu Emperor) [r. 1368-1398] General Xu Da [1332-1385] General Chang Yuchun [1330-1369] Commander Li Wenzho...

It's our 200th(ish) episode! And so we take to the listeners to answer some of their burning questions about... Daoist gods... Islam in China... The Mandate of Heaven... sacrifices! ... the political expedience of murdering Mongol ambassadors... The Duke ... the names of emperors... technology transfers ... Korean empresses... and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

You don't understand! Chen Youliang coulda had class! He coulda been a contender! He coulda been somebody... instead of a bum, which is what he is after the fiasco on the waters of Lake Poyang. Let's face it. Time Period Covered: 1360-1363 CE Major Historical Figures: State of Ming: Zhu Yuanzhang Commander Hua Yun [d. 1360] Han Lin'er, "Emperor of Song" General Kang Maocai General Xu Da General Hu...

When Ögedei dies in late 1241, the empire must choose a successor before it can move forward. In spite of the late Khan determining in advance that it should be his grandson, his empress has other ideas - namely, installing her own irascible son, Güyük, instead. This raises more than a few eyebrows, especially from the Lord of the Golden Horde (and Güyük's personal nemesis) Batu Khan. He'll spend...

As Guard-Captain of the Red Turbans, Zhu Yuanzhang sets his sights on the jewel of the southlands: Nanjing. Once that's in his grasp, he'll truly join the ranks of the top-tier warlords of the era... but when you've elbowed you way up to the head table, don't be surprised if those you bump up against take exception to you shoving them aside... Time Period Covered: 1355-1360 CE Major Historical Fig...

My long-lost conversation with the hosts of the excellent ReConsider Podcast, Xander and Eric... now *finally* delivered to you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the cataclysmic decade of the 1340s rolls in to the 1350s a planned rerouting of the Yellow River will trigger a massive uprising by what the Yuan authorities call the Red Turban Rebels. But who are they really? What do they believe? Why are they fighting? And how do they tie in with the eventual overthrow of the Mongols from their hegemony over China? Major Historical Figures: Maitreya Buddha,...

My presentation to the 2020 Intelligent Speech Convention, on Women, Minorities, and reading between the bamboo scrolls of history to find the hidden stories. Also with a Q&A session after. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Toghon Temur - the eleventh and final Great Khan of the Yuan, takes the throne - the dam holding back the near century of bad decisions back begins to buckle. Things are not helps by a dramatic climate shift, or the outbreak of one of the worst pandemics in human history, either... can we really blame the apocalyptic cults that spring up for thinking it's the end of the world? Time Period Cover...

31 years later, To forget is to risk it all happening anew... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath of the Golden Horde's devastating strike into Eastern Europe, Christendom reels. As apocalyptic as the assaults were, the great enemy's sudden and inexplicable evaporation offers no comfort, and only more questions. In order to get some answers, the Holy See will dispatch an unlikely candidate to make his way across the whole of Eurasia in an attempt to first find, and then meet w...

My interview with Beijing-based author and journalist Michael Schuman about China's history, present, future, and food... and of course about his upcoming book, "Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World," available on June 9th, 2020. Find Michael on Twitter under the handle @michaelschuman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start today in the aftermath of the murder of the 9th Great Mongol Khan and the 5th Emperor of Yuan. We end a decade later, at the beginning of the 15th Great Khan and 11th Yuan Emperor... coincidentally (or not) the last of both. The treachery, assassinations, wars, and power-plays that get us from that start to that end will threaten to split the very soul of the empire in two. Also, there's...

Temur Khan's death without an heir sparks a power vacuum within the Yuan court - two brothers will come to power together, but only one will be able to sit the throne at a time, who will succeed? Meanwhile, as money issues continue to plague the empire, the Mongol nobility get more and more fed-up with the Yuan Borjigins' continual shift toward Chinese-style reforms. Time Period Covered: 1307-1323...

King Bela IV of Hungary has a bit of a barbarian problem. You see, he let in some Cumans, but now some different barbarians are demanding that he give them back. So Bela does the sensible thing: he kills the Mongol emissaries. Batu Khan and General Subotai are less than pleased... Time Period Covered: c. 1239-1242 CE Major Historical Figures: Mongol Empire: Batu Khan [c. 1205-1255] General Subotai...

Olziyet Temur - the Blessed Iron Khan - takes the throne as the Yuan Dynasty's second emperor, Changzong "The Preserver." He has taken it upon himself to uphold and protect his grandfather Khubilai's glorious legacy... but granddad sure left a bit of a mess for him to try to clear up. Time Period Covered: 1294-1307 CE Major Historical Figures: Olziyet Temur Khan (Emperor Changzong of Yuan) [r. 129...

Khubilai is ancient, pained, and sick... but he still has more Mongol justice to mete out before he joins the Eternal Sky. Still, some campaigns will go better than others. Period Covered: ca. 1287-1294 CE Major Historical Figures: Yuan Dynasty: Khubilai (Emperor Shizu) [r. 1260-1294] Crown Prince Olziit Temur (Emperor Chengzong) [r. 1294-1307] Prince Esen Temur Prince Temur Bukha General Shibi Ge...

Traditional Chinese Medicine - as its name duly implies - has been a part of China for at least 2,500 years. But what does it mean? Where does it come from? How does it work? And does it have a place it modern society? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Khubilai Khan has led a pretty blessed existence as of the year 1279. But fate has a way of balancing things out in starkly brutal fashion... Time Period Covered: ~1279-1287 CE Major Historical Figures: Yuan Dynasty: Emperor Khubilai Empress Chabi (d. 1281) Crown Prince Zhenjin (1242-1285) Prince Toghon, Prince of Suppression of the South Finance Minister Ahmad Fanakati (d. 1282) Finance Minister...

Khubilai Khan is a man astride multiple worlds - trying to be both the Khan of the Great Mongol Nation, and the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. This will take quite a bit of accommodation, and between Mongolian shamanism, Chinese Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity... more than a little behaving like a cultural chameleon to square those civilizational circles. Learn more about you...

Jochi was tasked with subduing the Cuman tribes of the western steppes. Jochi failed. Now, under the second Great Khan Ögedei, it will fall to his successor, Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde, to finish what his father could not. He won't be going alone, though. In addition to his invincible tumens, he'll bring with him a host of imperial princes, as well as the greatest commander to ever mount a ste...