In this episode we compare and contrast two modern Chinese Blockbusters. The 800, telling the tale of a doomed Chinese Battalion in the last ditch defense of Shanghai, was plagued by delays, censorship, and CCP meddling. The Battle of Lake Changjin on the other hand, was a top down propaganda piece about the Korean War ordered to be ready for the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. Both movies were extremely successful commercially, and are interesting in their own way. However if ...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 52
Baijiu is China's national alcohol, and the world's most drunk spirit. Despite it's fearsome reputation amongst the uninitiated, there is more to baijiu than its fiery taste and aggressive ABV. Join us as we sample the major varieties of Baijiu, learn about its history, and discuss its future. A special thanks to Derek Sandhaus and his book Drunk in China.
Sep 05, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 51
In 1979 a new election law ended the era of single candidate elections, and theoretically ushered in an system where voters voters would have some level of choice in who their representatives would be. However despite the letter of the new law, Chinese Elections remained firmly under party control, with no real path for anyone other than party-appointed candidates to become nominated and even less of an ability for them to impact government if elected. Despite the dizzying array of votes, confer...
Aug 22, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 50
In this episode we discuss the endgame of the Arrow war, and China's resulting loss of full sovereignty as the foreign powers take root in Beijing. We also discuss the looting/burning of the summer palace, and how despite British claims, it had less to do with making a diplomatic statement, and more to do with avarice and greed. From the Qing/Chinese perspective we discuss the unreasonable nature of British/French demands, but also their inability to resist those demands. This feeling of powerle...
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 49
During the Chinese Civil war, the communist forces experimented with various election systems in the territory they controlled, however upon taking control of the country in 1949, all large scale elections ceased. However, facing mounting pressure from the Soviet Union, the Communist party eventually restarted "elections" in 1954. In this episode we discuss the Maoist election process, how the "single candidates elections" worked, how the "voting" happened, and most importantly who was able to c...
Jul 19, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 48
After the Anglo/French diplomatic mission in 1859 was destroyed by the Qing Military, a larger, more powerful diplomatic army was sent in 1860 to ram the 'Treaty of Friendship' down the throats of the Qing Court. Despite being unable to stop this larger force militarily, the Qing Empire would attempt every conceivable tactic to delay, misdirect, or otherwise stop the British and French from reaching Beijing and meeting the emperor. However as desperate as these acts were, they in the end did lit...
Jul 05, 2022•56 min•Ep. 47
The Modern Chinese state calls itself a People's Democratic Dictatorship (人民民主专政), and insists that it quickly and efficiently translates the people's will into government policy. Supposedly the Chinese people have no want or need for slow, chaotic, and expensive 'western style' democracy, and some studies even seem to back this up. All of this however, is complete nonsense, as China is an autocratic, single party state, with no free elections and no freedom of speech or press. Still with all th...
Jun 20, 2022•54 min•Ep. 46
Cherrie and Natalie continue their discussion of the Arrow War! After local pressure was unsuccessful, the British (and French!) escalated the situation around Canton, sending military forces to depose the Governor of Canton, Ye Mingchen. While they were ultimately successful, it still did not bring them the results in China they desired. With neither side willing to compromise or back down, the cycle of violence would continue as both sides began to pull troops towards Beijing for the final sho...
May 25, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 45
China’s culinary culture and habits are endlessly diverse. However, you still can’t imagine Chinese cuisine without chili peppers. Everywhere in China, you will find chilis peppers used fresh, dried, powdered, pickled, turned into a paste, infused into oils, used as a condiment, used as a preservative, used as the main ingredient! In addition, chili is a cultural symbol for modern China and its influence goes beyond the culinary scene. However, chili peppers only arrived in China in the 16th cen...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 44
After the end of the Opium War, an uneasy truce existed between the Qing Empire and the Foreign Powers. Despite their victory, the British in particular felt unsatisfied with their gains, and constantly pushed the envelope, trying to whittle away more and more privileges from the Chinese. Overcome with internal issues such as rebellions, inflation, and natural disasters, the Great Qing was in no state to push the issue a second time, and thus attempted to fend off the foreigners as best they cou...
Apr 17, 2022•59 min•Ep. 43
In the early 1900s, Chinese women were entering the public space and shaping society like never before. At a time when the new Chinese identity was emerging, women activists and leaders had to navigate the shifting sands that was Chinese society at the time. Striking a balance between meeting the expectation of the traditional Confucian ideal of a women’s role and finding their own place in a modern society as a citizen was tricky. In this episode, we talked about one such woman, born into the l...
Mar 21, 2022•55 min•Ep. 42
In this episode we briefly recap the events of the Opium war, before discussing its conclusion. Both sides desperately wanted to end the conflict, yet neither side had the patience or diplomatic expertise to broker a lasting peace (If such a thing was even possible). The 1942 Treat of Nanjing (and those negotiated shortly after), did indeed end the war, but left many questions unanswered, and many problems unsolved. These problems would only grow larger in time, and go on to cause the more drama...
Feb 20, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 41
This is our 2022 Lunar New Year special edition. We hope you enjoy this episode and Happy New Year! Every year around late January or early February, people all over the world celebrate the Lunar New Year according to the traditional lunisolar calendar. As for the United States, in the 1950th, grand celebrations and American style parades in San Francisco Chinatown brought the concept of the Chinese New Year to the general American public, first to fight against racism and to show loyalty to the...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 40
Before the release of Edward Hunter's 1951 book, the term 'Brainwashing' did not exist in the English Language. Originally a translation of a Chinese term for political reeducation (洗腦，or "wash brain"), the term might have remained unknown in the US. However in the the next two years several thousand American (and international) Prisoners would undergo this 'Brain Washing' during the Korean War. The fact that this process seemed so effective (23 Americans refused to return to the US, wanting to ...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 39
While naturalistic expeditions in the colonial era were cloaked in the mantle of progress and discovery, they often had a more opportunistic motive. Native plants, animals, and techniques which had already long been known to others were 'rediscovered' by Europeans and mass produced across their colonies on an industrial scale. After the events of the first Opium war, Chinese methods of Tea cultivation eventually became a casualty of this process. In this episode we talk about the industrial espi...
Dec 20, 2021•53 min•Ep. 38
Since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, it has had a special focus on Africa. Referred to often as 'African Brothers' (非洲兄弟), the PRC sought new markets, new communist comrades, and international recognition, in the emerging continent. In order to gain this they freely sent arms, aid and propaganda, hoping to imbue Africa with some Chinese characteristics of its own. In this periodic series, we'll attempt to touch on every major Sino-African relationship, from 1949 to the pr...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 37
China has always had a piracy problem. However in the early 18th century, Piracy quickly morphed from scattered opportunists, into a massive state-like operation. With hundreds of ships and 10s of thousands of men, they quickly overwhelmed the Qing Naval forces, and were able to extract tribute from Chinese and Foreigners alike. Much of this was due to the organizational and diplomatic skill of Shi Yang, AKA Ching Shih, who, with her various husbands, forged several fleets into a powerful pirate...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 36
Chinese novels on crime, mystery and justice have a long and separate history from crime novels in the west. Often written by retired officials, they are useful both as entertainment, and as a description of how courts, laws, and investigations happened in the Imperial Chinese Justice system. Today we talk about Judge Dee（狄仁杰）, a real Tang Dynasty judge and statesman, subject of countless works. Specifically the 18th century novel that was translated by Robert Van Gulik as 'Celebrated Cases of J...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 35
After the failures of the Cultural Revolution, and the advent of economic liberalization, the Communist Party needed to refocus its propaganda efforts to stay current. 1997s 'The Opium War' was the country's most expensive film to date. Made partially to commemorate the return of Hong Kong to Chinese control, it attempted to tell a version of the 1st Opium War that aligned to the CCPs narrative of the century of shame. In this movie we talk the good, the bad, and the funny, going over the movie,...
Oct 14, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 34
In July 1840 British forces arrived off the coast of China to begin what would become the 1st Opium War. Despite an overwhelming military superiority the commander of the British forces, Charles Elliot, seemed unable to break through Qing delaying tactics with diplomacy, and was hesitant to escalate the war by seizing (and looting!) cities and towns en masse. The next year would be a series of skirmishes, battles, negotiations and delays, that would accomplish little aside from wasting British t...
Oct 04, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 33
The extract of the Opium Poppy is one of humanities oldest drugs, and has been widely used and traded for thousands of years. However when the mass production of refined Opium by the East India Company combined with a new and efficient method of smoking it, a worldwide sensation ensued. At the height of its popularity, Opium was a worldwide habit. In major cities across the globe, sumptuously appointed opium dens could be found where the rich, famous, and adventurous could enjoy a pipe of the dr...
Sep 20, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 32
In 1833 the East India Company would lose its monopoly on Chinese trade. This change, and the lack of an effective structure to replace it, would create a power vacuum in and around China's only western trading port (Canton). British Opium Traders took this opportunity to flood in and make fortunes, and to use those fortunes to promote a more belligerent diplomatic stance towards China. As the Qing Empire attempted to stamp out the Opium trade, Canton, now awash with Opium, became the flashpoint...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 31
The First Opium War is often seen as the beginning of China's 'Century of Shame' , a time when Foreigners ran rampant, and China lacked the ability to set its own destiny. However even without the aggression of Great Britain, China (Qing Dynasty) was undergoing a series of internal crisis, each with the potential to end the dynasty. Rebellion, Inflation, Ethnic Tension, Failures of Government, Piracy, and waning military power, all seemed to strike at once, and help explain why the Qing Dynasty ...
Aug 16, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 30
Its 1949 and Pandas are more popular than ever. Within Communist China, they achieve a rock star status, they appear on every product imaginable, and fuel attempts at scientific reform. Outside of China, as Pandas die in captivity one after another, they become the poster child for conservation and the highest prize imaginable for zoos to obtain. As China normalizes its relationship with most of the world Post 1972, Pandas would continue to be many things to many different people, National Symbo...
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 29
Despite their superstar status today, Pandas have spent most of history in relative obscurity. Living in remote, bamboo covered hills, they were rarely seen, and even more rarely recorded. However with the explosion of westerners entering the country in the late Qing dynasty, came hunters, 'zoologists' and others interested in killing or capturing Pandas. These interlopers would for better or worse, catapult the Panda onto the international scene, and for a brief period they could be found in Zo...
Jul 20, 2021•46 min•Ep. 28
By the late 1700s, the United Kingdom was by far China's largest European trade partner. Millions of tons of Tea, Porcelain, silks, and other goods came from China every year on British ships, creating vast wealth both in trade, and in taxes, for the Crown. Despite this, relations with the Qing court remained, as ever, frosty. To remedy this a grand embassy was sent from London to Peking, in order to cement a deeper relationship (and acquire a large number of financial and territorial goals). De...
Jul 04, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 27
From Ming Empire remnants, to anti-Japanese rebels, the Island of Taiwan has a long history of self determination. When the remnants of the Republic of China fled the mainland to Taiwan in 1949, it was a republic in little but name. With corrupt elections, single party politics, and a byzantine electoral process, the average citizen had little chance of influencing politics. In this episode we discuss the long, painful, and often bloody road by which Taiwan (ROC) exited martial law, reformed its...
Jun 13, 2021•49 min•Ep. 26
After Mao's death and the end of the cultural revolution, the Communist party engaged in the policy of 拨乱反正 (eliminating chaos and returning to normal). A feature of this time period, was a relative lack of censorship, and an acceptance of self reflection. One form of new literature that emerged was 伤痕文学 (scar literature / literature of the wounded), which were works that attempted to make sense of the human tragedy China had experienced over the preceding decade. Today we look at two Chinese pr...
May 23, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 25
The character of Fu Manchu isn't just an insensitive stereotype, or a villain that happens to be asian. It was the direct result of a failed author knowingly and purposefully cashing on on racist fears and tensions he sensed around his home city of 1910s London. Poorly written, and with essentially no factual information, its more racist propaganda than adventure series. It is an embarrassment that the novels are available for purchase on major storefronts, and that they are sold and marketed as...
May 16, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 24
While there are many delicate issues that can affect foreign businesses in China, one of increasing scope and frequency are public boycotts. Often coming quickly and without warning, a company can go from beloved to hated almost overnight, for something as simple as the wrong label on a website menu, or a statement concerning the ethical sourcing of cotton. In this episode we discuss the origin of boycotts amongst the birth of Chinese nationalism, and their reemergence in the 21st century. While...
May 02, 2021•59 min•Ep. 23
