Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchBright Lights, Big Party: Lantern Festival
Season 1 Episode 24
In ancient times, Chinese people had more fun on Lantern Festival than during first few days of Spring Festival, as it was also a time for relaxed so…
5 years ago
Early China-West Exchanges: A Short Honeymoon
Episode 23
Louis XIV sent a six-member delegation to visit China. All were fellows of the French Academy of Sciences. Two of them, Joachim Bouvet and Gerbillon …
5 years ago
Early China-West Exchanges: Spring Festival
Season 1 Episode 22
Ever since 1912 after the end of China’s last imperial dynasty in 1911, Chinese people have been celebrating the turn of two calendars: One is the Gr…
5 years, 1 month ago
Chivalry (II): Dreams of Martial Arts Magic
Season 1 Episode 21
The xia that possess martial arts skills are called wuxia, “wu” meaning “martial arts”. These fictional figures first appeared in a unique genre of l…
5 years, 1 month ago
Chivalry (I): A Humble Beginning in Ancient China
Season 1 Episode 20
On November 14, 2020, Stephen Ellison, the newly appointed British consul-general in Chongqing, was visiting a nearby tourist attraction when he saw …
5 years, 1 month ago
Open Doors to Isolation: A Merchant’s Tale
Season 1 Episode 19
For most of its history, China was not isolationist. For nearly 1,500 years up to the 14th century, China was a major trading nation. Maritime trade …
5 years, 2 months ago
China’s Ancient Maritime Trade: Small Dynasty, Big Business
Season 1 Episode 18
For most of time since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty in the second half of the 14th century till the early 1980s, trading with the rest of th…
5 years, 2 months ago
Baby Booms in Ancient China: Families and Beyond
Season 1 Episode 17
China’s total fertility rate has been below 2.1 for nearly three decades, the necessary number of children born to every woman to maintain current po…
5 years, 2 months ago
Elderly Care in Ancient China: the Honor of Being Old
Season 1 Episode 16
Anything in today’s toolbox for care for the elderly can be found in ancient China. The question is how old was regarded as old enough to be entitle…
5 years, 2 months ago
Mr Dongpo: Of Poems and Pork
Season 1 Episode 15
No other scholar in China’s history has had such a deep influence on popular culture as Su Dongpo, one of the brightest stars in the vast galaxy of …
5 years, 3 months ago