The China History Podcast

We’re still in ancient times, picking up from last episode, where we ended with the fall of the Shang. Part 2 will cover the rise of the Ji Clan and the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. We’ll look at the Zhou up through the Spring and Autumn period and a little of the Warring States, up to about 300-400 BC. The rise of the Qin State will also be introduced. The Warring States period will continue on in Part 3, and I’ll take that up to the milestone year of 221 BC.

Here's a listing of all Chines...

Sorry to everyone for making you wait this long. Welcome to the inaugural episode of this series, which will offer you a concise overview of Chinese history from mythical times to the time of the last emperor of the last imperial dynasty.

We’ll start off with the traditional stories surrounding the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors 三皇五帝 and cover the Xia 夏 and Shang 商 dynasties. The amazing story of the Oracle Bones will also be presented, and how this marked the beginning of recorded Chinese history. In this episode, the story of Jiang Ziya 姜子牙 and his role in supporting the Ji Cl...

Hi Everyone, the CHP will be returning next week. Here's a brief announcement concerning what to expect for the next several months.

Nothing to see here. Just a quick announcement on the latest from the CHP. Thanks for your patience. Lots of new stuff coming soon.

The CHP Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheChinaHistoryPodcast

CHP Premium: https://teacupmedia.supercast.com/

I drove downtown not too long ago to meet with Jesse Appell to talk about his first book, "This was funnier in China" https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/This-Was-Funnier-in-China/Jesse-Appell/9781668087565

Jesse's been performing stand-up comedy and Xiangsheng 相声 for years now. When he isn't engaging in this profession, he's managing and promoting his global tea company, Jesse's Teahouse https://jessesteahouse.com/en-us.

This book tells the story of Jesse's experiences engaging with the PRC and building a nice, comfortable, and exciting life for himself. You'll learn about what it was like living there, about his apprenticeship unde...

I had the idea for this episode sometime during mid-summer 2025. Then I became distracted by the big project I'm working on now, then the holidays, sick cats, and the random hassles of life. This one's only 34 minutes long. My deepest apologies for all the mispronunciations of Maori names. This is the story of Choie Sew Hoy 徐肇开 and the times he lived in during the 19th-century Chinese immigrant scene in New Zealand. There was a lot more going on in the history of Chinese New Zealanders. This story is mostly limited to the events surrounding the Otago Gold Rush of the ea...

This one is more entertaining than anything. Mr. Andrew Shaw mentioned this looting of the eastern Qing Tombs event when I interviewed him earlier in the year. If you recall, he wrote that book called "Spoil." This time, I'm focusing on the events that went down in July 1928 at the Qing Eastern Tombs 清东陵 northeast of Beijing. This all took place in the final moments of the Warlord Era, right after the Central Plains War. This act perpetrated by warlord Sun Dianying 孙殿英 epitomized the venality of these parasites. To get early access to all the new episodes coming in February 2027, consider Pat...

This morning, in between recording sessions, I checked out what was headlining on Drudge. And right there was the leading story, "Let Them Eat Steak." You can imagine what the piece was about. This made me think, what a perfect time to post this Chinese Saying podcast episode. I released this one on Patreon and CHP Premium a while back. It's more or less the Chinese version of this Drudge headline.

I know, I know, a lot of you, because you don't speak Chinese, despite how you feel about me, never give this Chinese Sayings Podcast a...

In early 2025, I was approached by Jenny Chan at pacificatrocities.org about interviewing one of their experts in an upcoming CHP episode. I had a nice interview with Quin Cho, born in my hometown of Chicago. Those who lament that the young generation of today doesn't bother to learn history, here is some relief. When I saw him, I was surprised to see how young Quin was and how much enthusiasm and interest he has for this topic. It's refreshing to hear all this old history we're all familiar with recounted by those born in this century. We focused...

Here's something a little different from the usual CHP fare. It concerns a natural substance that's not too well-known outside of Asia, mainly because it's so dang expensive! Chénxiāng 沉香 or Agarwood as it's also known, grows inside the heartwood of certain Aquilaria trees. Chenxiang has a few interesting things about it and is often mentioned in Chinese literature. This episode includes a bunch of poems and a couple of chengyu's that all contain references to chénxiāng. While I was on the subject, I'm also mentioning five other trees that, while nowhere nearly as expensoive as chenxian...

Hi Everyone, just coming up for air. This is actually one of the several new episodes that have been available on Patreon and CHP Premium since July, three months ago. This is a brief overview of the life and times of Wang Jingwei, the 中国头号大汉奸. Strong words. Why is he so despised? What drove him to make the decisions he did that forever branded him as a traitor to the Chinese people? He's another figure from those early ROC years that everyone has heard of but perhaps not so sure of the role he played in the history of that era. Enjoy. If...

Here's a preview of a new podcast, The Chinatown Sting, from our friends at Pushkin Industries.

In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan's Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case. Host Lidia Jean Kott and co-reporter Shuyu Wang interview sources who've never spoken on record before, including witnesses, defendants, and federal prosecutors, to reconstruct a case that still has repercussions today and impacted the history of American Chinatowns themselves, which developed to protect immigrants from...

Here's another quickie for you, only a half hour long. It seems not only are the portions at fast-food chains shrinking, so are the CHP episodes. Thanks to a team of amateur historians, WWII enthusiasts, and survivors, this interesting tale can now be told. It concerns a forgotten man named Mr. Lam Ping Yu 林炳堯, who left behind a WWII diary from 1944 that was rediscovered by chance in 2015. I hope you'll enjoy this story. For more info, you can visit the website: https://www.dday.hk/. Thanks to Mr. John Mak, Mr. Angus Hui, and Mr. Jackson Chan for telling me abo...

This is a rather long episode, running at just about one hour. The Guangxi Massacre is one of those dark chapters from the Cultural Revolution. Down in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, it was particularly dark. I was listening to Stanford Professor of Anthropology Andrew G. Walder on the New Books Network discussing his 2023 book covering this topic. That gave me the initial inspiration. Dr. Walder's book and a few others are very disturbing to read. I didn't dwell on some of the more gory and grotesque parts of this story. Hoowever, the books are all rather free with...

In this episode, we look at the life of Anson Burlingame, a well-known name in California. During Lincoln's term as president, he was appointed Chief Minister to China, arriving in Beijing in the summer of 1862. Already well-known in the US as a fiery abolitionist and a man who believed everyone should be treated fairly and with all due respect, he sympathized with the Chinese government. When he arrived in post-Opium Wars, post-Treaty of Tianjin/Convention of Beijing China, he used his respected position among the diplomatic community of the treaty powers to fight for a fair deal for China. In...

Here's a nice little standalone episode on the life and work of Thomas Wade and Herbert Giles. And you can't mention Herbert Giles without mentioning his son, Lionel Giles. And of course, Robert Morrison must be mentioned as well as all the earliest Western scholars of Sinology going back to Michele Ruggieri. And it wouldn't be fair to only talk about Wade and the two Giles's without giving a nod to their contemporaries elsewhere on the continent and in Asia. So this is a slightly meandering survey of some of the great old sinologists from the 19th century (and...

This is only a 2-parter, so this exciting episode will bring the curtain down on Lin Biao and his famous "Incident." We resume the story following the 1970 Lushan Plenum. Lin, or Lin's ambitious manipulators, pushed Chairman Mao just a bit too much at this meeting, and he decided to take immediate action. This whole 913 Incident, as you will hear, was a huge embarrassment to the Chinese Communist Party. Therefore, it's not surprising that they circled the wagons and went beyond the call of duty to cover up what could still be covered up. Mao had to be careful. With...

This is Part 1 of a 2-Part series looking at the life of Lin Biao and the actual Lin Biao Incident itself. This bit of history is documented to death. I downloaded a dozen scholarly papers, read a few books, went through my entire library, and gathered as much information as possible. But practically every source ends with "cannot be proved." The Lin Biao Incident is China's version of the Kennedy assassination. So much we know. So much we have no idea. In this Part 1 episode, I cover Lin Biao's early life and how he rose up on Mao's coattails...

Just in time for Liberation Day, I'm presenting this timely episode. Back in 1890, with the aim of protecting American companies from foreign competition, tariffs were jacked up significantly. With all the advances in transport, logistics, and new technologies, world trade was shifting into a higher gear. For a few centuries, the Ming and Qing emperors did their damnedest to regulate the invasion of European traders clamoring to do business with Chinese merchants. The foreigners wanted free, open, and unfettered trade with China. By the 1890's and a few humiliating unequal treaties later, the dream finally came true. That's when...

This is the second of a two-part mini-series introducing the world of European plant hunting in China. In this episode, we look at some of the more noteworthy names and their accomplishments. After the exploits of Robert Fortune, many other plant hunters followed in his footsteps to China. We'll look at Henry Fletcher Hance, Père David, Augustine Henry, Ernest Wilson, and George Forrest, among others. Thanks to all for for listening.

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I was afraid I'd barely be able to scrape together enough material for a short episode. Instead, this one is gonna take almost two hours to tell. I hope no one minds that I opted not to drown anyone with Latin names and to go easy on the scientific aspects behind plants. The focus will be on the European and later, American plant hunters who came to China between the 16th and 20th centuries. This episode will look at some of the exploits of the early Jesuit missionaries up through Robert Fortune's four trips to China. Next time in...

Calling all fans of podcast great, Lindsay Graham! Here's a sampling of the very popular podcast, History Daily.

On History Daily, they do history, daily. Every weekday, host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes you back in time to explore a momentous event that happened 'on this day' in history.

Whether it's to remember the tragedy of December 7th, 1941, the day "that will live in infamy," or to celebrate that 20th day in July 1969, when humankind reached the moon, History Daily is there to tell you the true stories of the people and...

Former BBC reporter and master jade carver Andrew Shaw is back. What an informative interview this one turned out to be! I hope you all enjoy this discussion of the history and legends behind jade. I learned quite a bit during this brief talk. I hope you do too.

Links to Andrew Shaw's books about jade:

"A Jade Treasury" https://a.co/d/f2ynsRF

"Jade Life" https://a.co/d/0yvYPbZ

CCTV Documentary https://youtu.be/GWxFucq1o60?si=rsMeqqjMgy9Fbrg-

I welcomed Wuhan-based Andrew Shaw onto the CHP to talk about his book. It's all about the plundering of China's cultural treasures and imperial artifacts by not just the British, French, and Americans. It seems everyone got in on the act. Even the local people. It's a miracle there was anything left for Chian's museums. Many of you are familiar with the stories about looting that took place in China between the 1840s and the turn of the century. In Andrew Shaw's book, "Spoil" we'll look at the extent of what happened. And on the next episode, we'll feature...

With the Singapore History series out of the way, and 2025 off and running, here's the first special interview episode of the year. Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Joel Bigman, author of a new book called "The Second Journey." If you're familiar with the Ming Dynasty novel "Journey to the West," this one by Joel might sound familiar. You might never look at "Journey to the West" the same way again. This was quite an interesting and unique story that combined two ancient cultures. It's been called "The World's first Chinese-Jewish Historical Fantasy." Nuff...

First of all, to all of you who lasted through the entire series up to this concluding episode, I extend to you, my deepest appreciation. I hope you learned a few things about Singapore.

Here it is, the final installment of the series. I worked on this particular episode during my Oct-Nov China-HK-Cambodia trip. I recorded this one in Phnom Penh at the home studio of Dr. Digby James Wren. Digby's a long-time CHP listener and I gave him a ring when I hit town. Fortunately, he was in PP and generously spent a couple of days...

In its hour of need, quite a few leaders rose to the occasion in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew didn't transform the nation by himself. Last time we saw how S. Rajaratnam carried the flag around the world and advanced Singapore diplomatically. In this episode, I'll also introduce Dutch economist Dr. Albert Winsemius and his good advice. Winsemius suggested a number of priorities for Singapore to gain some economic traction. The man who had to make these ideas happen in real life was Dr. Goh Keng Swee. We'll look at Dr. Goh's life and contribution to Singapore's first decades as...

We left off last time with Singapore being granted sovereignty by Britain on June 3, 1959, and Tunku Abdul Rahman's "Grand Design" speech concerning a merger between Malaysia and Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew took this pro-merger message directly to the people of Singapore. We'll see how Lee deals with the political left by launching Operation Coldstore on February 2, 1963. Once the merger was completed, Singapore and Malaysia gave it their best shot to make it work. Happening concurrently with this sensitive time in Singapore's history, Indonesia's President Sukarno, in May of 1964 spoke out against the merger and began the period known as...

Post-WWII Singapore was a time that was loaded with historical events that shaped how matters would unfold throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. The matter of how to handle the future of Malaya and Singapore begins to be seriously discussed and hotly debated. To showcase what the British and political leaders in Malaya and Singapore were up against, we'll first review the events of the 1950 Maria Hertogh case and the disturbances that followed. In this episode we'll begin to explore the early life of the most consequential leader in Singapore's history and in the greater Southeast Asian scene...

In this episode, we see how Japan marched and bicycled their way across the Johor Strait and proceeded to quickly defeat the British Commonwealth troops. Then we see how Japan carried out a brutal and repressive occupation. Massacres at Alexandra Hospital and against the local Chinese residents of Singapore (Sook Ching Massacre) will also be introduced. After Japan's defeat, the British will attempt to resume business as usual. We'll see how the independence movement in Malaya had other plans and why the Malayan Union failed. In Singapore too, the politicians and the people had other aspirations than what the...

Although all kinds of tension brewed beneath the surface, the mid to late 19th Century saw a continued bonanza for Singapore. A prosperous combination of hard-working men and women, fearless entrepreneurs, and fortunes made in tin, rubber, and oil refining turned Singapore into the best thing to happen for the British Empire since Trafalgar, or maybe even the defeat of the Spanish Armada. World events, new technologies, and geopolitical shakeups all happened in such a way that Singapore benefited. Today's episode will take us up to 1942 and the fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army. Next time we'll see...

Part 4 continues with the aftermath of the 1824 Treaty of London. John Crawfurd takes over from a disgraced William Farquhar as First Resident. Singapore commences its never-ending building and infrastructure process. The Straits Settlements are created in 1826. With a spike in labor demand and with slavery recently abolished, the East India Company comes up with a novel solution. Up in Johor, Daing Ibrahim takes over as the new Temenggong and becomes a ruler that the East India Company can work with. The majority Teochew and Hokkien communities start to organize around their own community leaders. Gutta-Percha is discovered and for...

With Singapore formally established, we look at those first months and years. As soon as the document was signed, Raffles left the island and William Farquhar took over as First Resident. It would be hard to find a more capable person to manage what needed to get the new enterprise up and running. Taking advantage of his personal connections in Melaka and the political and technological dynamic of the time, Farquhar got the ball rolling in Singapore. The Dutch were outraged and plenty of fancy footwork and smooth talking needed to be done to avert a war. Singapore became...

With the arrival of the Portuguese and their 1511 victory, the history of this region began to move in s new direction. The Portuguese and the Dutch rather ignored Singapore and focused their trade and colonizing efforts on the Melaka Coast and in Indonesia. The Johor Sultanate begins its early rise to prominence. The conflict between Britain and the Netherlands ends up having a major effect on the Malay Peninsula and led to the founding of Singapore in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles. We'll take a brief look at his bio and how he ended up having such a profound impact...

Requests to present the history of Singapore go back to 2010 or 2011. At long last, here's an easy-to-consume and digest overview of The Lion City. In Part 1 we'll look at the watered world of Southeast Asia and the Monsoon Winds that led to the earliest intra-Asian sea trade. And of course, the legendary 14th century founding of Singapore will be told. Sri Vijaya, Sang Nila Utama, Temasek, and the five kings of Singapura. The visit of Yuan Dynasty explorer Wang Dayuan will also be introduced as well as his early observations. We'll get as far as the fall of Singapura...

First off, let me apologize for the less-than-optimal audio quality. This is a very informative interview. And for those of you who missed my very old episode from 2013 or thereabouts covering this topic, this discussion will be a real eye-opener. The history of the Chinese immigrant experience in Mexico (and Latin America) is not that well known. Hugo's ancestors emigrated to Mexico from Guangdong back in the 19th century. One of them, Wong Fook Chun was a major figure in the history of those times and he had an interesting interaction with the Qing-era reformer Kang Youwei. I hope...

This is surprisingly not very well-known and certainly wasn't taught in my US history classes. Here's a story for you that many might find hard to believe. Perhaps you're already familiar with the history of America's Chinese Paper Sons. Less known is the story of the 1957 Chinese Confessions Program. In this episode, we'll look back on the early to mid-20th century. First I'll present a general overview of San Francisco's Paper Sons and some of the history and culture that surrounded it. Then we can take another romp through Red Scare America in the 1950s and the 1957 Chinese...

In this episode, I'm presenting a simple but still informative overview of not only the Grand Canal but also the bigger subject of canals in China. The history of the Grand Canal isn't one clean linear story of a structure built all at one time. Although it measures over a thousand miles long, much of that distance was pre-existing in the form of rivers and old canals that were joined together to form an uninterrupted passage. A lot of the academic papers I used to research this topic, despite water being the main topic, were as dry as the...

Here's another CHP Special Episode. Not too long ago I had the chance to chat with Yokohama-based Scott Crawford, author of "Silk Road Centurian", "The Han-Xiongnu Wars", and a new one coming out any day now (co-written with his wife Alexis Kossiakoff), "The Phoenix and the Firebird." Scott has also written several works of short fiction that have appeared in fantasy, mystery, and horror magazines and anthologies. We talked mostly about the Han Dynasty and two books he has written, one non-fiction and another a work of fiction, both set in that exciting time period.

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Here's a reading of an article recently published in the South China Morning Post, written by travel writer David Leffman. On his most recent trip to Yunnan to work on his upcoming book on the 1875 Margary Affair, David had a chance encounter with a taxi driver who was a sixth-generation descendent of Jiang Zonghan, someone closely related to the little-known but rather consequential event that took place in February 1875 along the Yunnan-Myanmar border. Here's a link to the article. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3272812/who-built-first-bridge-over-yangtze-river-unlikely-tale-chinese-slave-soldier-and-tycoon-jiang

Website: https://www.davidleffman.com/

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