Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchEmperor Wendi of Sui
Episode 118
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…
2 years, 10 months ago
King Jie of Xia, King Zhou of Shang, and Queen Daji
Episode 117
Two of the most infamous tyrants from ancient Chinese history, the women who enabled them, and why it all might be the worst libel.
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2 years, 10 months ago
Huo Qubing or Why Nepotism's Not All Bad
Episode 116
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 f…
2 years, 11 months ago
The Mother Goddess of the West, King Mu of Zhou, and AI
Episode 115
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 Zho…
2 years, 11 months ago
The Green Gang and the Emperor of Shanghai
Episode 114
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 it…
2 years, 11 months ago
The Heaven and Earth Society
Episode 113
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 sh…
2 years, 11 months ago
Wang Mang
Episode 112
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 imperi…
2 years, 11 months ago
"Do Not Forget You're in Ju"
Episode 111
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.
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3 years ago
Huang Chao, the Cannibal Rebel
Episode 110
The bloody tale of the salt merchant, failed scholar, and reasonably good poet who very nearly destroyed the Tang Dynasty.
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3 years ago
Taiwan(?) in Ancient Sources
Episode 109
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 explo…
3 years ago