Great Qing begins to buckle under early 19th c. internal pressures. Unrest first erupts not at the imperial core but along its social and geographic margins. This time, we look at three of the early warning shocks: the Miao frontier rebellions, the rise of Triad networks across the southern coastal cities, & the formation of the apocalyptic White Lotus uprising.
Time Period Covered:
~1790s-1840s CE
Major Historical Figures:
Qing Empire:
Fu Nai, Qing magistrate
Heshen, grand councilor under the Qianlong Emperor, (1750-1799)

Miao People:
Shi Sanbao, Miao rebel leader, (d. ~1796)
Shi Liudeng, Miao rebel leader, (d. 1797)
White Lotus Sect:
Lin Shuangwen, Leader of the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society), (1756–1788)
Liu Song, White Lotus sect figure/leader, (banished~1775; active 1770s–1790s)
Liu Zhishi, Disciple of Liu Song; charismatic White Lotus preacher, (active 1790s)
Major Works Cited:
Mann, Susan and Philip A. Kuhn. “Dynastic decline and the roots of rebellion” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 10: Late Ch’ing, 1800–1911, Part 1.Naquin, Susan. "Millenarian Rebellion in China: The Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813."
Ownby, David. Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Qing China.Rowe, William. China's Last Empire: The Great Qing.

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The Qing Empire did not collapse because it stopped working. It collapsed because it kept working — just barely — under pressures that compounded faster than reform could relieve them...

Time Period Covered:

~1790s-1840s CE

Major Works Cited:

Jones, Susan Mann and Philip A. Kuhn. “Dynastic Decline and the Roots of Rebellion.” The Cambridge History of China, vol. 10: Late Ch’ing, 1800–1911, Part I

Kuhn, Philip A. Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China: Militarization and Social Structure, 1796–1864.

Pomeranz, Kenneth, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy.

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From the koan chants of monasteries tucked between Himalayan peaks, to wending caravan paths stretching endlessly across the arid expanses of the Taklamakan & trackless steppes of Dzungaria, we finish out our look at the four primary frontier regions of the Qing Empire as of 1800, where they'd come from, how they were operated, & the imperial tonnage of headaches for Beijing that came with both.
Tibet - 00:01:21
Xinjiang - 00:22:08

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The world is coming to Qing's doorstep, but it has a whole other set of problems along its own frontiers...

Less chronologically tied-down than most of our episodes, today we look at two of the Qing Empire's four major "inner frontier zones" and how they - in spite of often getting upstaged by the "flashier" elements of the 1800s & Qings clashes with the wider world, many have played an even larger part in its imperial decay than the British East India Co. could've ever hoped to achieve. We start off today with Manchuria & Mongolia...

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The 19th Century is going to be exceedingly rough on Qing China. So, before we venture down into the chasm that is the "Chinese Century of Humuliation's" opening salvos, let's assess where we - and the Empire - sit as of 1810...

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Back with pt. 2 of autumnal fictions of the spine-tingling variety. This time largely from (where else) Pu Songling, as well as several shorter entries from the Zibuyu.
00:01:15 - Friendship Beyond the Grave
00:10:25 - Karmic Debts
00:12:30 - Spiritual Man Luo Catches the Wrong Demon
00:16:39 - The Human Prawn
00:18:37 - The Hairy People of Qin
00:21:01 - The Magic Sword

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00:02:09 - "The Scholar & the Headless Ghost"

True music fans come in all types.

00:05:37 - "Magical Arts"

Let the buyer beware... but sometimes the non-buyer, too!

00:12:37 - "Ruby Jade"

Nobody knows you when you're down & out...

00:27:00 - "Examination for the Post of Guardian Angel"

The job offer of a lifetime!

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The Pirate Queen’s Red Flag Fleet reigns supreme, but a three-way battle at Tiger’s Mouth tests even her grip on the seas.

Time Period Covered:

1807-1844 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Red Flag Fleet:

Zheng Yi Sao (AKA Ching Shih, née Shi Yang), Co-Commander of the Red Flag Confederation [1775-1844]

Zhang Baozai, Co-Commander of the Red Flag Fleet, later Qing Navy colonel [1783-1822]

Guo Podai, Commander of the Black Flag Fleet [178?-181?]

Qing Empire:

The Jiaqing Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Yongyan) [r. 1796-1820]

Bailing, Governor-General of Liangguang [d. 1829]

Sun Quanmou, Provincial Fleet Commander

Wen Chengzhi, Qing Chief Official Negotiator

Portuguese Empire:

Captain José Pinto Alcoforado e Sousa, Commander of Macau Flotilla [177?-18??]

Major Sources Cited:

Andrade, Tonio. The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History.

Antony, Robert J. Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China.

Leonard, Jane Kate. "Maritime China in Transition, 1750–1850" in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 9, Part 2: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800, Part 2.

Murray, Dian H. Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790–1810.

Van de Ven, Hans J. Breaking with the Past: The Maritime Customs Service and the Global Origins of Modernity in China.

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A brief history of Mid-Autumn Festival, and the tale of Hou Yi the Archer & the Ten Suns, and Chang’e & the Moon

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you.

Sources:
Barlett, Scarlett. The Mythology Bible: The Definitive Guide to Legendary Tales.
Masaka, Mori. “Restoring the ‘Epic of Hou Yi’” in Asian Folklore Studies, vol. 52, no. 5.
Yang, Lihui, Demin An, and Jessica Anderson Turner. Handbook of Chinese Mythology.

(initially broadcast in 2022)

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Richard Glasspoole thought he was going to have enough of an adventure sailing to the South Pacific. He didn't expect quite so much excitement as spending 3 months of 1809 as the compulsory "guest" of the Red Flag Fleet until the Company coughed up his ransom...

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