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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天高皇帝远

"Heaven Is Vast & the Emperor is Far Away"

On the far side of the realm from th celestial halls of shining Beijing, an outcast girl born on the fringes of society will scrabble to survive amidt the coastal chaos of the end of the 18th Century. With little more than her looks and wits, she'll have to outwit & outplay freebooter, bandit, and official alike if she is ever going to rise above her station on the boats of Guangdong harbor.

Time Period Covered:

ca. 1775-1807 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Zheng Yi Sao/Ching Shih (née Shi Yang), Pirate Queen of the Red Flag Fleet [1775-1844]

Captain Zheng Yi, Fleet Commander of the Red Flag Fleet [1765-1807]

Zhang Baozai (Cheung Po Tsai), "The Kid" [1783-1822]

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.

Mann Jones, Susan and Philip A. Kuhn. "The Ch’ing Government and Its Problems, 1800–1812” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 10, Part 1: Late Ch’ing, 1800–1911.

Murray, Dian. Pirates of the South China Coast.

Rawski, Evelyn. Education and Popular Literacy in Ch'ing China.

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Piracy in Great Qing surges to a "golden age" during the Qianlong & Jiaqing eras. Corsair Confederations like Zheng Yi Sao’s vast-beyond-reckoning Red Flag Fleet, backed by the likes of Vietnam’s Tay Son rebels, dominating the South China Sea through organized plunder and shadow economies. Jiaqing’s shift to accomodation, while necessary, may expose Qing naval vulnerabilities, paving the way for foreign interventions and imperial decline...

Time Period Covered:

Prelude: ca. 15th-18th Cs.

Main: ~1780-1810 CE

Major Sources Cited:

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

Andrade, Tonio. Lost Colony: The Untold Story of China’s First Great Victory over the West.

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

Perdue, Peter C. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Qing Shilu (Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty).

Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China.

Woodside, Alexander. "The Ch'ien-lung Reign" in The Cambridge History of China Vol. 9, Pt. 1: The Ch'ing Empire to 1800.

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For nearly a quarter century, Heshen served the Qing Empire - and in the process managed to amass a fortune that nearly rivaled the throne itself. Yet with the death of his patron Qianlong, the once-favored Grand Councilor would find his remaining state tenure as short as the length of silk ultimately left in his cell.

Time Period Covered:

1799-1800 CE

Major Historical Figures:

The Qianlong Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Hongli) [r. 1735–1796, d. 1799]

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

Heshen, Grand Councilor, Chief Grand Secretary, Minister of the Imperial Household, etc., etc. [1750-1799]

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As both the Qianlong Emperor's extensive reign and the Eighteenth Century itself comes to a close, the Qing Empire faces - in spite of its outward posturing of timeless grandeur and invulnerability - an ever more uncertain future. By this time his successor, the Jiaqing Emperor, assumes power in fact, the winds of historic change have already begun to blow.

Time Period Covered:

~1735-1800

Major Historical Actors:

The Qianlong Emperor [Aisin-Gioro Hongli) [r. 1735-1796, d. 1799]

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

Grand Secretary Heshen [1750-1799]

Major Sources Cited:

Crossley, Pamela Kyle. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology.

Hsü, Immanuel C. Y. The Rise of Modern China. 6th ed.

Jones, Susan Mann, and Philip A. Kuhn. “The Chia-ch’ing Reign.” In The Cambridge History of China, Volume 9, Part Two: The Ch’ing Empire to 1911.

Rowe, William T. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing.

Woodside, Alexander. The Centre and the Borderlands in Chinese Political Culture.

Woodside, Alexander. “The Ch’ien-lung Reign” In The Cambridge History of China, Volume 9, Part One: The Ch’ing Empire to 1800.

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From London’s harbors to Canton’s bustling hongs and the Qianlong Emperor’s Dragon Throne, Lord George Macartney’s 1792-94 mission to Great Qing unveils profound cultural divides, shaping centuries of Sino-Western relations. This series explores a pivotal diplomatic clash that redefined global history.

Time Period Covered:

1792-1794 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Qing Empire:

The Qianlong Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Hongli) [r. 1735–1796]

Chief Minister Heshen (1750–1799)

Wang Wenxiong, mid-level imperial bureaucrat

British Empire:

Lord George Macartney, ambassador extraordinaire [1737–1806]

Sir George Staunton [1737-1801]

William Alexander [1767–1816]

John Barrow, Comptroller [1764-1848]

Sgt. Maj. Samuel Holmes, 11th Lt. Dragoons

Major Works Cited:

Berg, Maxine. The Birth of the Modern World, 1780–1914: Global Connections and Comparisons.

Cranmer-Byng, John. “The Chinese Documents Relating to the Macartney Embassy.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1961.

Gao, Hao. Creating the Opium War: British Imperial Attitudes Toward China, 1792–1840.

Hevia, James L. Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793.

Holmes, Samuel. Journal of the Macartney Expedition.

Macartney, Lord George. Journal of the Macartney Expedition.

Peyrefitte, Alain. The Immobile Empire: The First Great Collision of East and West. Knopf, 1992.

Qing Archival Records. Tr. in Presents and Tribute: Documents on the Macartney Embassy.

Staunton, George. An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China.

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Qianlong's empire shines as a beacon of both martial might and cultural splendor, yet its mirrored glory hides truths too fragile for celestial ambitions.

Time Period Covered:

~1770-1799CE

Major Historical Figures:

Qing Empire:

The Qianlong Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Hongli) [r. 1735–1796, d. 1799]

Grand Councillor Heshen [1750-1799]

Great Britain:

Lord George Macartney (1737-1806)

Major Sources Cited:

Bland, J.O.P. and Lord Edmund Backhouse. Annals and Memoirs of the Court at Peking.

Fairbank, John King, and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 9, Part 1: The Ch'ing Empire to 1800.

Perdue, Peter. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Woodside, Alexander. The Qing in the Age of Confucian Empire.

Yuan, Wei. Shengwu ji (Sacred Military Achievements).

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