The Ransom of Canton.
The lame-duck Superintendent watches helplessly as a triumvirate of Qing officials arrives to reverse every compromise his predecessor had wrought... & promptly launches the most ambitious Chinese military operation of the entire war. In the midst of that rain-soaked battlefield, a brief skirmish between British soldiers and peasant militiamen plants the seed of a legend that will haunt Chinese politics for the next century.

Time Period Covered:
Feb. 1841–Oct. 1841

Major Historical Figures:

The Qing Empire:
The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]
Yishan, Imperial Commissioner and Pacifier-General of the Rebellious (靖逆) [1790–1878]
Longwen, Manchu nobleman and ministerial attaché [d. 1841]
Yang Fang, Governor-General and military commander [c. 1770–1846]
She Baoshun, Prefect of Canton [fl. 1840s]
Yuqian, Imperial Commissioner for Military Operations in Zhejiang [fl. 1841]

The British Empire:
Queen Victoria [r. 1837–1901]
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary [1784–1865]
Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China [1801–1875]
Sir Henry Pottinger, incoming Plenipotentiary to China [1789–1856]
Sir Hugh Gough, Commander of British Land Forces [1779–1869]
Captain William Hutcheon Hall, commanding HMS Nemesis [c. 1797–1878]

Major Sources Cited:
Wakeman, Frederic Jr. "Canton Trade and the Opium War." The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10.
Wakeman, Frederic Jr. Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839–1861.
Fay, Peter Ward. The Opium War, 1840–1842.
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China.

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Britain carries the Opium War to Beijing's unready doorstep with steam and iron, moving the crisis from the border frontiers to the heart of the imperial court itself. As imperial defenses strain and diplomacy replaces defiance, the two empires probe each other’s resolve – and discover that both of their understandings of the other have been built on little more than smoke.

Time Period Covered:
July 1840 – March 1841

Major Historical Figures:The Qing Empire:
The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]
Lin Zexu, Imperial Commissioner [1785–1850]
Qishan, Imperial Commissioner and Governor-General of Zhili [d. 1854]
Yiliang, Governor-General of Liangguang [fl. 1840s]
The British Empire:
Queen Victoria [r. 1837–1901]
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary [1784–1865]
Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China [1801–1875]
Sir Henry Pottinger, Plenipotentiary to China [1789–1856]
Sir James Bremer, Royal Navy commander [1786–1850]

Major Sources Cited:
Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age.
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China.
Wakeman, Frederic Jr. Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839–1861.
Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast.

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It's been 12 years since this initially was 'casted out - which means that the Year of the Horse is back, baby! Now it's the Fire Horse, but Happy Happy to Everyone!

马年快乐! 🔥🐎🧧

This Episode, we take a time-out from the historical flow to take advantage of the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities. We explore the history, legends, customs, and meaning behind this ancient and storied period of celebration. Happy Year of the Yang Wood Horse!

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Britain and China both saw the opium crisis clearly enough to know it would end in disaster. Each believed it understood the situation, and the other, well enough to keep events from spinning out of control. And yet... it happened anyway.
Time Period Covered:
Late 1839 – April 1840

Major Historical Figures:

The Qing Empire:
The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]
Lin Zexu, Imperial Commissioner and Governor-General of Huguang [1785–1850]

The British Empire:
Queen Victoria [r. 1837–1901]
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary [1784–1865]
Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China [1801–1875]
William Gladstone, Member of Parliament [1789–1898]
Sir James Graham, Member of Parliament [1792–1861]

Major Sources Cited:
Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China
Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast
Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, 1840

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Lin Zexu believed moral clarity and the largest drug bust in history could end the opium crisis and avert war. Yet, as his solution drained into Humen Bay, so too did the last hope of peace between China and Britain.
Time Period Covered:
1836–June 1839

Major Historical Figures:

The Qing Empire:
The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]
Lin Zexu, Imperial Commissioner and Governor-General of Huguang [1785–1850]
Deng Tingzhen, Governor-General of Liangguang [1776–1846]
Huang Juezi, Minister and court official (opium policy advocate)

The British Empire:
King William IV [r. 1830–1837]
Queen Victoria [r. 1837–1901]
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary [1784–1865]
Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China [1801–1875]
Lancelot Dent, Opium trader and head of Dent & Co. [1799–1875]
James Matheson, Merchant and political advocate for war [1796–1878]

Major Sources Cited:
Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast
Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age
Wakeman, Frederic, Jr. “The Canton Trade and the Opium War,” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10
Wakeman, Frederic, Jr. The Fall of Imperial China
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China

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Letter to the queen of England, from the high Imperial Commissioner Lin, and his

colleagues.

From the Canton press.

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In 1834, Britain sent a man to China almost perfectly unsuited to the job... only to forbid him from actually doing it. William John Napier, naval officer, socialite, & dilettante with no experience in diplomacy, trade, or China, arrived at Canton convinced he was destined to break open the Qing Empire by force of his will alone. But he would not get quite the war he wanted. Nor the recognition he imagined. Nor the vindication he believed history owed him. Which is not to say he got nothing at all...

Time Period Covered:

January-October, 1834

Major Historical Figures:

The Qing Empire:

The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]

Lu Kun, Governor-General of Liangguang [1772–1835]

The British Empire:

King William IV [r. 1830-1837]

William John Napier, 9th Baron Napier, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China [1786-1834]

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston [1784–1865]

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey [1764–1845]

Major Sources Cited:

Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast

Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age.

Wakeman, Frederic, Jr. “The Canton Trade and the Opium War,” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10.

Wakeman, Frederic, Jr. The Fall of Imperial China.

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In this empire business, you gotta make the opium first. Then when you get the opium, you get the silver. Then when you get the silver, then you get the tea.
Time Period Covered:
ca. 1760-1839 CE
Major Historical Figures:
Qing Empire:
The Daoguang Emperor (Minning) [r. 1820–1850]
Governor-General of Liangguang, Ruan Yuan [1764–1849]
"The Hoppo" (Imperial Superintendent of Maritime Customs), The emperor’s personal revenue agent at Canton
Chinese Commercial Interests:
"The Cohong" (Gonghang), the licensed guild of Cantonese merchants authorized to trade with foreigners
"The Consoo Fund" (Gongsuo), the Cohong’s collective insurance pool
Yaokou Dealers & River Smugglers, opium wholesale intermediaries and armed transporters inland via the Pearl River system
British & Foreign Interests:
The British East India Company (EIC)
The Select Committee at Canton, the EIC's on-site management team
Dr. William Jardine (1784–1843), physician-turned-opium magnate
The True Protagonists:
Silver, shiny
Tea, fragrant
Opium, somniferous
Major Works Cited:Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854.
Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age.Wakeman, Frederic, Jr. “The Canton Trade and the Opium War” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 10: Late Ch’ing, 1800–1911, Part I.

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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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