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The History of China Podcast
The History of China Podcast episodes
- When the Forbidden City Almost Fell: The 1813 Eight Trigrams Uprising
Explore how a millenarian sect’s audacious plan to storm Beijing in 1813 exposed cracks in Qing power, revealing the hidden networks of faith and intrigue that foreshadowed later rebellions. We trace the Tianli Sect, its leaders Lin Qing and Li Wencheng, and the empire’s brutal response under Emperor Jiaqing.
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17 min - Chang’an: Tang Dynasty’s Global City – The First Cosmopolitan Metropolis
Explore the grid‑planned capital that drew traders, monks, and diplomats from across Eurasia; see how its markets, temples, and technology shaped a model for Chinese urbanism and set the stage for modern megacities.
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19 min - Yangshao Painted Pottery: China’s First Village Art
Explore the origins of Yangshao painted pottery—bright reds and bold fish motifs that reveal early Chinese village life, cultural values, and technological innovation. The episode traces regional variations, artistic techniques, and how these artifacts connect Bronze Age societies to later Chinese civilization.
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18 min - Li Si: Qin’s Architect of Centralized Law & Bureaucracy
From the ashes of fragmented tribes to a single imperial state, Li Si engineered Qin’s sweeping legal code and standardization that laid China’s bureaucratic foundations. His reforms unified language, weights, and governance across a 70‑million population—an experiment that reverberated through Han, Tang, and modern central planning.
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18 min - The Jingkang Incident: How Kaifeng’s Fall Shaped China’s National Identity
Explore the 1127 capture of Kaifeng by Jin forces, its devastating impact on the Song dynasty, and how this event became a lasting symbol of humiliation and resilience in Chinese history.
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16 min - The Nestorian Stele: Tang China's Bilingual Bridge
Explore how the 8th‑century Xi'an stele bridges Chinese characters and Syriac scripture, revealing how Christianity was translated, adapted, and integrated into Tang society. The episode examines linguistic innovation, imperial politics, and cultural exchange that left a lasting bilingual legacy.
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18 min - The Eight Banners: How Color Became Power in Qing China
From Nurhaci’s innovative banner system to the sprawling social hierarchy of the Qing, this episode dives into how a military organization turned into an empire‑wide institution that shaped identity, politics, and economics for centuries.
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20 min - The Burning of the Old Summer Palace: China’s Cultural Cataclysm and its Legacy
In 1860, British and French forces razed Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan, a vast imperial garden that had symbolized Chinese artistic glory for five millennia. The episode traces how this destruction sparked anti‑foreign sentiment, reshaped national memory, and set the stage for modern heritage debates and digital reconstructions.
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17 min - Hong Taiji and the Birth of the Qing Dynasty: From Jurchen Tribes to Imperial Power
Explore how Hong Taiji transformed a tribal coalition into China’s last imperial dynasty by blending Manchu military power with Ming administrative models, setting the stage for centuries of rule.
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17 min - Northern vs Southern Song Landscape Painting: Power, Peace, and the Art of Mountains
This episode unpacks how Song dynasty landscape painters used mountains to project imperial ambition in the North and introspective reflection in the South. By examining key artists like Fan Kuan and Dong Yuan, we trace how visual style mirrored shifts in court patronage, philosophy, and regional identity.
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16 min
About The History of China Podcast
From the publisher's feed
Explore thousands of years of Chinese history, from the earliest dynasties and ancient kingdoms to imperial expansion, revolution, modernization, and the development of contemporary China. The History of China Podcast examines the rulers, philosophers, generals, inventions, wars, political movements, religions, and cultural traditions that shaped one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations.
Episodes journey through the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the rise of Confucianism and Daoism, the Qin unification, the Han Empire, the Three Kingdoms, the Tang and Song golden ages, Mongol rule, the Ming and Qing dynasties, foreign intervention, the fall of the imperial system, the Republican era, civil war, and the major transformations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The show also explores the Silk Road, Chinese technology and science, art and literature, military strategy, trade, regional cultures, everyday life, and China’s relationships with neighboring civilizations and the wider world.
Whether you are fascinated by ancient empires, famous battles, philosophy, political history, or the long-term forces that shaped modern China, the podcast provides detailed stories and historical context across centuries of change. The History of China Podcast is hosted by Josh Linsk.