The Context

NewsChina•the-context.onpodium.com

NewsChina explores the perspectives driving today’s China and its people with a deep dive into the histories that shaped them.

Last refreshed: September 11th, 2025 at 6:44 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

Gold, Silver, Wealth and War

Prices of gold and silver skyrocketed in the first half of the year amid uncertainties of the global economic prospect. China has a long history of using gold. But China has never been on gold standard. Instead, silver dominated the country as a national currency for hundreds of years partly due to silver influx from European colonies in the Americas. Silver also brought wars between China and the world powers.

Sep 16, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 5

Wuhan: Rediscovery, Restart

In the first decade of the 20th century, today’s Hankou District of Wuhan became the second-largest port in China, only following Shanghai and exceeding old big ports like Guangzhou and Tianjin in terms of trade volume. Kokichi Mizuno, the Japanese general consulate in Wuhan, described the city as the “Chicago of China” in his book about Hankou published in 1908. An official of China's last dynasty Qing initiated Wuhan's industrialization process which has also underwritten the fall of Qing....

Sep 06, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Floods Made China’s Early Civilizations

Chinese civilization began in the middle and downstream of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Unlike the Nile flooding which brought prosperity, it is troubles related to water, including flooding and conflicts on water supply, that underlies the geographic, political and cultural structure of the earliest Chinese civilizations.

Aug 28, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 3

A Pandemic, A European Missionary and Two Chinese Dynasties

Covid-19 is not the first pandemic that has impacted human society. In the mid 14th century, the black plague in Europe affected the continent’s evolution of politics and religion. In the 17th century, a pandemic outbreak in China impacted the rise and fall of its final two dynasties, the Ming and Qing. And during the process, European missionaries had a tremendous influence.

Aug 23, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Imperial Exams and Testing Times

Every year, millions of students take China’s national college entrance exam for a coveted slot at a top university. Despite the severe competition and its bouts with controversy, many still see the exam as the only avenue to social mobility – a view that finds roots 1,300 years ago in ancient China.

Aug 05, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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