Audio, History
Jeremiah Jenne
What can the end of the Ming Dynasty tell us ...

Trump's re-election disappointed many in the U.S. and abroad. To help them process, Jeremiah and David talk with literary translator and Pennsylvania voter Brendan O’Kane about Zhang Dai, the Ming-Qing transition, and living through an age of upheaval.

What can the end of the Ming Dynasty tell us about the election of Donald Trump and what comes next
Contemporary China, History, Audio
Jeremiah Jenne
Historical Battles: Rewriting China's Past to ...

Jeffrey Wasserstrom joins Barbarians at the Gate to discuss the legacy of the Hong Kong protests, Xi Jinping’s patriotic education law, and how Beijing’s control over historical narratives is reshaping academic engagement with China.

Historical Battles: Rewriting China's Past to Shape the Future
Audio, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Dan Snow's History Hit The Creation of the ...

How China transitioned from imperial rule to Chinese Socialism and all about the key characters whose opposing visions for China's future created so much chaos along the way.

Dan Snow's History Hit The Creation of the People's Republic of China
Book Reviews, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Philip Kuhn: Sorcery and Bureaucracy in Qing ...

A supernatural crisis pits an anxious autocrat against his own functionaries when a hunt for soul-stealing sorcerers turns into a political witch-hunt among 18th-century China’s “deep state.”

Philip Kuhn: Sorcery and Bureaucracy in Qing China
Audio, History, Travel
Jeremiah Jenne
Edge of Empire with author and journalist ...

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gates, Edward Wong of the New York Times joins David and me to discuss Ed's new book, At the Edge of Empire. We discuss frontiers, what the Qing Dynasty means for China, and the different generational perspectives on China's recent past.

Edge of Empire with author and journalist Edward Wong

Century of Humiliation

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Barbarians at the Gate: The Destruction of the Yuanmingyuan (One from the Vault)

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Barbarians at the Gate: The Destruction of the Yuanmingyuan (One from the Vault)

This month marks the 160th anniversary of the destruction of the Yuanmingyuan. In this episode, David and I talk about the events leading up to the looting and razing of the gardens and the shifting meaning of "National Humiliation" in China today.

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Barbarians at the Gate: The Destruction of the Yuanmingyuan

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Barbarians at the Gate: The Destruction of the Yuanmingyuan

This month marks the 160th anniversary of the destruction of the Yuanmingyuan. In this episode, David and I talk about the events leading up to the looting and razing of the gardens and the shifting meaning of "National Humiliation" in China today.

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Pence Peeves Peking, MoFA Mocks Mike

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Pence Peeves Peking, MoFA Mocks Mike

A speech by US Vice President Mike Pence earlier this month seemed to signal a tougher line against China. The two countries have a long complicated relationship but is Beijing correct when it accuses Pence of distorting history?

Massacre and Memory: 80 Years Later, the Battle over Nanjing Rages On

Massacre and Memory: 80 Years Later, the Battle over Nanjing Rages On

The Nanjing Massacre is a poignant example of how history and memory can become contested battlegrounds, even decades later

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Xi Writes Himself into the Narrative of China’s Modern Rejuvenation

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Xi Writes Himself into the Narrative of China’s Modern Rejuvenation

The Developed West ignores the message emerging from the 19th Party Congress at its own peril

Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: A Short History of the Opium War

Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: A Short History of the Opium War

A four-part history of the Opium War (1840-1842) for The World of Chinese Magazine.

The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan: 150 Years Later

The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan: 150 Years Later

The multiplicity of meanings associated with the Yuanmingyuan (The Old Summer Palace) and the complicated circumstances of its destruction make for fascinating history as well as an opportunity for the CCP's educational minions to leech that history of any real substance -- other than as a crude device to teach 'patriotism.'