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

Contemporary China

The Question of “Chinese Influence”

The Question of “Chinese Influence”

In writing about China, should we be careful not to conflate the Party with the people?

,

2017 Year in Review: Beijing's Changing Urban Landscape and a Few Predictions for the Coming Year

,
2017 Year in Review: Beijing's Changing Urban Landscape and a Few Predictions for the Coming Year

2017 was a year of change for Beijing, but then again what year since 1421 hasn’t been a year of change for the city?

,

Dangerous Benevolence

,
Dangerous Benevolence

The Beijing municipal government threatening organizations that assist displaced migrants is bad policy, but official ambivalence toward private charity dates back at least to the imperial era

,

The Beijing Migrants Crackdown: A ChinaFile Conversation

,
The Beijing Migrants Crackdown: A ChinaFile Conversation

Since mid-November, police and security officials have evicted tens of thousands of migrants from their apartments, and pictures of the newly homeless from all across China sitting outside in the Beijing winter have spread widely on social media. Why did the city government take this step? And what does this mean for the rights of China’s so-called “low-end population”? 

,

Voices from the Past: Child Abuse and Suppressed Rumors, Then and Now

,
Voices from the Past: Child Abuse and Suppressed Rumors, Then and Now

The case of the RYB Kindergarten scandal is not the first time rumors have overwhelmed official denials in a case involving child abuse in China

,

A Tale of Two Tragedies

,
A Tale of Two Tragedies

A devastating fire which killed 18 migrant workers in Daxing and a child abuse scandal at a kindergarten in an upscale neighborhood expose the fault lines of economic class in China’s capital

,

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

,
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

New Fronts in the Battle Over Scholarship and Ideology in China

New Fronts in the Battle Over Scholarship and Ideology in China

Angry academics rarely make the news, but this particular tempest quickly exploded the tea cup

China Revises University Entrance Exams to Get the Emoji Generation to Read More Classics

China Revises University Entrance Exams to Get the Emoji Generation to Read More Classics

The Gaokao is going back to the past in a bid to force a generation of emoji users to embrace their Classical Chinese roots.

,

Audio: Are the Kids Alright?

,
Audio: Are the Kids Alright?

Joining Jeremiah in the final episode of Barbarians at the Gate is Alec Ash, author of the book Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China to look at three of youth movements from the 20th century: The May Fourth/New Culture Era, the Cultural Revolution, and the 1980s.