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

Mao Zedong

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Politics Squared: A Look at Tiananmen Square and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

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Politics Squared: A Look at Tiananmen Square and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

To walk around Tiananmen Square in Beijing or the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial in Taipei is to appreciate the divergent paths these two capitals have taken in the 21st century.

The Party Goes Retro for National Day

The Party Goes Retro for National Day

It’s the National Day Golden Week holiday in China, and Jeremiah muses on competing retro trends with the Party reaching back to the 1980s and reviving “Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization.” Were they inspired by the needless decision to remake Magnum, PI?

What Donald Trump Could Learn About Staff Loyalty from the Ming Dynasty

What Donald Trump Could Learn About Staff Loyalty from the Ming Dynasty

Disloyalty? Treason? The scheming of bureaucratic factions to thwart the ambitions of a mad head of state? The stories being told about the Trump White House by Bob Woodward and the New York Times have nothing on Chinese history

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The Politics of Protection: Beijing Makes UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site Bids

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The Politics of Protection: Beijing Makes UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site Bids

Beijing authorities have made a bid for 15 landmarks in the Chinese capital to join the list of World Cultural Heritage sites by 2035, a move that’s not without controversy.

Changing the Guard

Changing the Guard

Coverage of China has always been a reflection of our own expectations and hopes, cast onto the tabula rasa of the high walls which surround the palace.

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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

Musical Dynasties: A Band-by-Band Guide to Chinese History

Musical Dynasties: A Band-by-Band Guide to Chinese History

Which Chinese dynasty is most like the Sex Pistols? Which rap crew could have soundtracked the Khans? The rogue historian weighs in…

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Preserved Architecture, Sustainable Crowds, and Manageable Traffic: The Story of What Beijing Could Have Been

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Preserved Architecture, Sustainable Crowds, and Manageable Traffic: The Story of What Beijing Could Have Been

In 1949, two architects' plan for Beijing's future was rejected for being too much in love with the city's past.

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Historical Responsibility: The Yasukuni Shrine and Mao Zedong

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Historical Responsibility: The Yasukuni Shrine and Mao Zedong

The CCP calling somebody out for being unable to accept historical responsibility is like Chris Brown putting his arm around your shoulder in a club and saying, “Dude, you really need to chill around your lady.”

Zhou Enlai, the Qingming Festival, and the spring demonstrations of 1976

Zhou Enlai, the Qingming Festival, and the spring demonstrations of 1976

Today is Qingming Jie, the annual grave sweeping day, and also the 35th anniversary of the April 5 Τiananmen Incident.  This post, originally published on the anniversary of Zhou Enlai’s death (January 8, 2007), looks at the legacy of Zhou Enlai and how the celebration of Qingming led to a major demonstration and crackdown in the spring of 1976. 

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