The Master of Demon Gorge: A Chinese History Podcast

The Ming Dynasty novel "Water Margin," a.k.a. "All Men Are Brothers," a.k.a. "Outlaws of the Marsh," ranks among the greatest works of prose fiction in Chinese literature. But much about the book remains uncertain: Wrote it? When? What constitutes the definitive edition and how long is it? And finally, what is its moral message? What is beyond doubt is that "Wate...

Let's continue our previous episode's theme of Russia. The nationalist narrative of recent Chinese history often emphasizes the so-called "Century of Humiliation" from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, during which Western imperial powers as well as Japan foisted many "unequal treaties" upon China. But the same narrative often notes one exception: the one modern t...

In connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the story of the 13th century invasion of the Slavic lands by Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, and his Golden Horde. The Mongols destroyed (the then minor town) Moscow as well as the metropolis of Kyiv, subjecting the principalities of Kievan Rus as vassals. The Mongols went on invade Central-Eastern Europe, finally laying siege to Vienna. Th...

The year was 1895. The (First) Sino-Japanese War was just winding down. And news came out of Shimonoseki in Japan that the peace terms would include the annexation of Taiwan, a.k.a. Formosa. So what did the Taiwanese do? They issued a declaration of independence, establishing the first democratic republic in East Asian history...  Even if it would not last very long, the Republic of Taiwan set a f...

On May 30, 1626, a screaming came across the sky over Beijing, the imperial capital of Ming Dynasty China. Within moments, thousands of people lay dead, and many more were injured, including within the Forbidden City. Modern estimates puts the force of the event on par with the Hiroshima bomb. The event shook Ming China to the core. Was it an omen that the "mandate of heaven" might be ab...

Bai Xianyong, or Pai Hsien-yung as his name is spelled in the Wade-Giles style, has been a leading light of Taiwanese literature for decades. His works including "Taipei People" and "The Crystal Boys" have been landmarks of Taiwanese fiction, and in addition he has produced important works of history and criticism. What is sometimes insufficiently appreciated, particularly outs...

When I was a child in Taiwan, I was told a legend about how the Lunar New Year commemorated a monster that used to haunt the Chinese people around this time of the year. Imagine my reaction upon discovering as an adult that the legend could not be traced back to ancient times. What, then, is the New Year or "Spring Festival" all about? And how have customs of the holiday developed over t...

Be warned, boys and girls, for this is a gruesome tale. We previously told the story of the founding of the Han Dynasty and its first emperor, Liu Bang. This is the story of his wife, Empress Lü.  After being married to Liu by her father, the future Empress Lü stuck by her husband even during his lowest periods, until finally he triumphed over all the other warlords to become emperor. But he didn&...

We've already done several episodes relating to events and personalities from the Tang Dynasty. Retroactively, then, let's set the stage for how the Tang came into being. The Tang era can boast many achievements. Chinese poetry reached its zenith during this period, never to be surpassed or even equalled subsequently. The Tang Empire was one of the most expansive versions of "China&...

Tsui Hark, that maestro of Hong Kong cinema, has in recent years churned a trilogy of films set in ancient China about one "Detective Dee" who goes around solving strange crimes in the manner of Sherlock Holmes. In reality, Tsui Hark got this idea for a Chinese Holmes from, of all people, a Dutchman. Robert van Gulik was a Dutch diplomat and Sinologist who was posted in China during WWII...

On Christmas Day, Jonathan Spence, the leading light of Western sinology and my former professor, passed away. Over a long and distinguished career, Professor Spence produced numerous books (not to mention countless essays and articles) on Chinese history. Unlike most other academics, he wrote in a uniquely engaging narrative style that made many of his works highly accessible even to general read...

The Chinese-American sci-fi fantasy writer Ken Liu draws a lot from Chinese tradition. In his short story collection, "The Hidden Girl and Other Stories," between sci-fi stories about the singularity and space exploration, he rewrites a short story from the late-Tang Dynasty called "Nie Yinniang," literally "The Hidden Lady Nie." For all of its kung fu fighting, thoug...

My friend and special guest calls in from New York, and we reminisce on traveling in China as well as his experiences teaching English in a relatively obscure corner of that country. It was only a few years ago, yet so much has changed between the pandemic and the politics that it feels like reminiscence from another era... Support the show

The orange was originally indigenous to China, and the great poet Qu Yuan wrote an ode to the orange tree back in 314 B.C. Since its earliest cultivation in China, the fruit has become ubiquitous around the world. And the various names that different languages have for it can tell us a surprising amount about history. Support the show

Current events remind me of two stories from ancient China. First, a philosophical argument from an ancient Chinese equivalent of a Sophist from the Warring States Era reasoning that "a white horse is not a horse." Second, a notorious incident from the Qin Dynasty during which a chancellor displayed his total power by demanding others to pretend that a stag was in fact a horse. Why does...

As another example of our common human culture, here's a compendium of Chinese and Tibetan folk stories that just may share sources with their Western counterparts. Support the show

Culminating our series on Chinese national heroes, we tell the history-changing story of Zheng Chenggong, known in Western sources as "Koxinga," literally "Lord Imperial Surname." Born in 1624 to a Japanese mother and a Chinese father who happened to be the greatest pirate in the Pacific, Koxinga was just old enough to stand and be counted when, in 1644, the Ming Dynasty began...

In our continuing series on Chinese historical figures regarded as national heroes, we look at the life of the 13th century statesman Wen Tianxiang. Born in 1236 into a beleaguered Southern Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang enjoyed early recognition for his keen intellect and a rapid rise through the Song bureaucracy eventually to become chancellor. Unfortunately for him, during that same time, the Mong...

Over the centuries, Chinese civilization has produced a number of figures who have entered the pantheon of national heroes. Perhaps none is more famous than Yue Fei (1103-42). As the great defender of the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei repeatedly beat back the Jurchen or Jin invaders who swept down from the north. As a notable poet, he left Chinese literature with arguably its most resonant statement on pa...

"The Children of the Red and the Yellow" is a phrase one stumbles upon from time to time when listening to the Chinese talk about themselves, particularly since the construction of modern Chinese nationalism starting in the late 19th century. The phrase refers to China's foundation myth. Some 4,700 years ago, so the story goes, the Red Emperor, the leader of a confederation of ancie...

Jin Yong, sometimes known by his English name Louis Cha, was the most popular and influential "wuxia" or martial arts fantasy author who ever lived. Indeed, he was one of the bestselling author in any language of all time.  But his books are almost entirely unknown outside of the Chinese-reading world. Part of that is due to the extreme difficulty of translation: although he wrote in the...

"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 im...

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 upbrin...

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 centuri...