The Master of Demon Gorge: A Chinese History Podcast

You're read about them in the news and read about the area they call home, what the Chinese call Xinjiang. But what do we talk about when we talk about Uyghurs? Where did this people come from? Support the show

Western writers like Kipling produced literature depicting imperial peripheries during the height of the British Empire. Similarly, Chinese poets during the height of the Tang Empire wrote many poems about life and scenery and war on the frontiers. These form a genre in its own right in Chinese literature known as "frontiers poetry." And, as so often happens with imperial writings, they...

On November 27, 1542, shortly after 5 in the morning, a group of palace girls in the Forbidden City gathered at the bedroom of their would-be victim: Emperor Jiajing of Ming China. At a sign, they jumped on him, ready to strangle the life out of him. What transpired was one of the oddest and most notable episodes in history of Chinese imperial harems. Support the show

Thoughts on friendship from Montaigne, Aristotle, and the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi, who advises us all not to be too eager to hang out. Support the show

Inspired by recent discussions elsewhere of the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, we take a look at some of the most sought after objects in Chinese tradition: the Nine Cauldrons and the Jade Imperial Seal, both symbols of royal or imperial authority on earth. Support the show

On that great leader of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xie An, who saved his country in the late-4th century and came to be remembered for his preternatural sangfroid. Support the show

The parallel lives of two great physicians who were contemporaries of each other, one in Han Dynasty China and one in the Roman Empire. By extension, a comparison between traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Western medicine. Support the show

The Sui Dynasty (581-619) doesn't get much respect, largely because it was short-lived. Even so, and perhaps paradoxically, its founder implemented a number of measures that far out-lasted the dynasty itself. This is the story of that man, Yang Jian, Emperor Wendi of Sui. Support the show

Two of the most infamous tyrants from ancient Chinese history, the women who enabled them, and why it all might be the worst libel. Support the show

Hu Qubing was one of the most remarkable and meteoric military figures in Han Dynasty China during the second century B.C. Meteoric because he rose fast (thanks to nepotism), burned bright, and died young. A kind of soldierly James Dean. But in his brief but brilliant career, he left an indelible mark on Chinese and world history. Support the show

Xiwangmu or the Mother Goddess of the West is one of the most important and familiar deities in the Daoist pantheon. "The Biography of King Mu of Zhou," dug up in 281 A.D. from a royal tomb, gives a euhemerist account of her as the queen or princess of a distant nation, and tells of how King Mu of Zhou visited her in the 10th century B.C. Much more besides, including King Mu's appea...

In part 2 of our mini-series on the Chinese underworld, we look at the Green Gang, an alleged offshoot of the Heaven and Earth Society, and one of its most notorious members who came to be called "the Emperor of Shanghai." Support the show

The Heaven and Earth Society, a.k.a. the Hong Society, is one of the most famous underground organizations in Chinese tradition. But its origin is shrouded in legends and myths, many of which connect it to Taiwan. Support the show

The story of the curious and arguably proto-Socialist figure who founded a dynasty so brief that it's often left out when we enumerate Chinese imperial dynasties. Support the show

The story of an expression, from its origin in the 7th century B.C. to the reason it's associated with so many places today in Taiwan. Support the show

The bloody tale of the salt merchant, failed scholar, and reasonably good poet who very nearly destroyed the Tang Dynasty.  Support the show

It is often said that Taiwan came into the Chinese orbit as far back as the 3rd century. Is that true? How? The story of the Three Kingdoms era exploration of (maybe) Taiwan. Fast forward a few hundred years to the early 7th century, and records show that the Sui Dynasty fought a war against an indigenous kingdom that the chroniclers called "Liuqiu." Today, that name refers to Ryukyu, al...

Of all the recent feverish discussions on the prospect of war in the Taiwan Strait, no alleged expert that I've come across has talked about the obvious historical precedent: Emperor Kangxi's invasion and conquest of Taiwan in 1683. Let's remedy that. Support the show

The late-Ming and early-Qing literary critic Jin Shengtan was quite a character. He never advanced beyond the rank of xiucai, the lowest-level degree in the imperial civil service exam system, but his legacy became far greater than most men who achieved more conventional success. That legacy was in teaching the Chinese how to read and why, in showing them why the great works of Chinese fiction and...

Chinese culture is stereotypically perceived as authoritarian. Although there is obviously a lot of truth to the cliche, it is by no means the full picture. Indeed, ancient Chinese philosophy already introduced certain ideas that might been called democratic, through the figure of Mencius, the second most important personality in Confucianism... Support the show

It's come to my attention in recent years that a certain portion of Westerners, including people who ought to know better such as academics, believe that the concept of "China" is a modern invention dating only to the early 20th century. Their argument is that the Chinese historically never referred to their country by its modern name, "Zhongguo," in ancient times. For avo...

By tradition, a man named Cangjie invented the Chinese system of writing that is the bane of so many foreign students trying to acquire the language. Trouble is, Cangjie is supposed to have lived some 26 centuries ago, in the time of the Yellow Emperor, but the earliest texts attesting to his creation of Chinese writing date to the Warring States period over 2,000 years later... Support the show

Though largely forgotten in the West, during the First World War, some 140,000 Chinese went to the Western Front to support Britain, France, and the United States. They were not meant to play a combat role but instead to help with logistics and support so that the Allies could free up more soldiers for fighting. Nonetheless, some 2,000 of them ended up buried in northern France and Belgium. This i...

Bucephalus, the beloved horse belonging to Alexander the Great, brings to mind two famous horses from Chinese history: the Chitu or "Crimson Hare" Horse of Guan Yu from the Three Kingdoms era and the Wuzhui Horse of Xiang Yu from the time of the founding of the Han Dynasty. Support the show

The Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi led a largely disappointing political career, but he left us with some of the most memorable expressions of individualism and humanism in Chinese literature. Even today, his most famous work remains required reading and is often quoted even by average people. Support the show