Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchHelian Bobo and the Capital in the Middle of Nowhere
Episode 128
In 413 A.D., the self-proclaimed king of Daxia or Great Xia, one of the Sixteen "Barbarian" Kingdoms of the age, ordered the construction of a new ca…
2 years, 8 months ago
The Priest of Forever Spring
Episode 127
In 1222, a Daoist priest from eastern China went to Afghanistan to sit down with a man who had already shaken the world to its core: Genghis Khan. Th…
2 years, 8 months ago
The Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms
Episode 126
"The Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms," written in the Ming Dynasty, recounts the history of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States eras. It…
2 years, 8 months ago
The Uyghurs
Episode 125
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 abo…
2 years, 8 months ago
Frontiers Poetry
Episode 124
Western writers like Kipling produced literature depicting imperial peripheries during the height of the British Empire. Similarly, Chinese poets dur…
2 years, 9 months ago
The Revolt of the Palace Girls of 1542
Episode 123
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:…
2 years, 9 months ago
On Friendship
Episode 122
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…
2 years, 9 months ago
The Nine Cauldrons and the Jade Seal
Episode 121
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 Ch…
2 years, 9 months ago
Xie An
Episode 120
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 preternatura…
2 years, 10 months ago
Hua Tuo vs. Galen
Episode 119
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,…
2 years, 10 months ago