Podcast Episodes

#315 - Qing 46: Tripping Toward Taiping - Tribes, Triads, & Theology

Great Qing begins to buckle under early 19th c. internal pressures. Unrest first erupts not at the imperial core but along its social and geographic margins. This time, we look at three of the early …

Published on 15 hours ago

#314 - Qing 45: The Big Squeeze

The Qing Empire did not collapse because it stopped working. It collapsed because it kept working — just barely — under pressures that compounded faster than reform could relieve them...

Time Period…

Published on 2 weeks ago

#313 - Qing 44: Frontiers, Pt. 2: The Vastness Devours Us - Mountain Monasteries & Money Pits

From the koan chants of monasteries tucked between Himalayan peaks, to wending caravan paths stretching endlessly across the arid expanses of the Taklamakan & trackless steppes of Dzungaria, we finis…

Published on 3 weeks, 3 days ago

#312 - Qing 42: Frontiers, Pt. 1: The Vastness Devours Us - Of Willow Palisades & Reincarnation Permits

The world is coming to Qing's doorstep, but it has a whole other set of problems along its own frontiers...

Less chronologically tied-down than most of our episodes, today we look at two of the Qing…

Published on 1 month ago

#311 - Qing 42: Charting the Collision Course

The 19th Century is going to be exceedingly rough on Qing China. So, before we venture down into the chasm that is the "Chinese Century of Humuliation's" opening salvos, let's assess where we - and t…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

#310 - Strange Tales X.2: An Unseen Balance

Back with pt. 2 of autumnal fictions of the spine-tingling variety. This time largely from (where else) Pu Songling, as well as several shorter entries from the Zibuyu.
00:01:15 - Friendship Beyond th…

Published on 1 month, 4 weeks ago

309 - Strange Tales X.1: Fateful Encounters

00:02:09 - "The Scholar & the Headless Ghost"

True music fans come in all types.

00:05:37 - "Magical Arts"

Let the buyer beware... but sometimes the non-buyer, too!

00:12:37 - "Ruby Jade"

Nobody k…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

#308 - Zheng Yi Sao, Pt. 2: Into the Tiger's Mouth

The Pirate Queen’s Red Flag Fleet reigns supreme, but a three-way battle at Tiger’s Mouth tests even her grip on the seas.

Time Period Covered:

1807-1844 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Red Flag Fleet…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Special - Mid-Autumn: Fly Me to the Moon

A brief history of Mid-Autumn Festival, and the tale of Hou Yi the Archer & the Ten Suns, and Chang’e & the Moon

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you.

Sources:
Barlett, Scarlett. T…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Bonus: R. Glasspoole & the Pirates

Richard Glasspoole thought he was going to have enough of an adventure sailing to the South Pacific. He didn't expect quite so much excitement as spending 3 months of 1809 as the compulsory "guest" o…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago