With Chinese Characteristics

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 you're just going to watch one... it should be the 800. 

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. 

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, conferences, "opposition parties", and ceremonies, the system exists not to do Democracy, but to present the illusion, especially to the international society that democracy is being done.
 
Join us as we discuss the grand performance that is the modern Chinese voting system.

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 powerlessness will drive successive waves of Chinese reformers to build more and more militarily aggressive states, in an attempt to prevent foreign powers from repeating their humiliations. 

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 cast a ballot, and what happened to those who were branded "non voters" by the state.

The word play of "等额选举", which was the form of election in China since 1953 up until the release of the 1979 Election Law., meant "single candidate election". Even in the strictest definition of democracy, an election where there is no competition, is not a real election. The Chinese style elections are more of a ceremonial occasion where the hand picked candidates by the CCP get confirmed.

Recommended Book on this topic:

Voting as a Rite - A History of Elections in Modern China, by Joshua Hill
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674237216

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 little but aggravate the invading Europeans, and increase bloodshed. 

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 the propaganda floating around, it is easy for a layperson to become confused about what system of Government China has, and the ability of the average person to make their voice heard.  

In this series of episodes we explore the history of elections (选举) and democracy (民主) in China, from the Imperial Period to the present day. In the process we'll discuss the goals of these systems of peoples governance, their effectiveness, and their outcomes. 

This first episode covers from roughly 1840 to 1949. 

Special thanks to Joshua Hill and his book 'Voting as a Rite' for the episode idea 
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674237216
 

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 showdown. 

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 century. How did chili become popular in China? How did some, but not all areas in China embraced chili and developed regional identities around it? How is chili linked to the male-centered revolutionary spirit and at the same time, seen as a symbol of female passion and outspokenness? 

Books Recommended 

1. The Chile Pepper in China: A Cultural Biography, Brian R.Dott
2. 中国食辣史,曹雨 The History of Spicy Food in China, Cao Yu
3. The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Fuchsia Dunlop
4. The Food of Sichuan, Fuchsia Dunlop

Cover Image License
https://stock.adobe.com/

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 could, while avoiding open war.

For a number of years the unflappable Commissioner Ye Mingchen (葉名琛) managed to keep up this balancing act, despite the best British efforts. Then, a frustrated group of British colonial administrators, frustrated at the lack of progress, decided to manufacture a crisis, and blame it on the Qing.

Join as as we move past the Opium war to... the Arrow War!

Selected Sources:
Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857, '58, '59, by Laurence Oliphant

A History of Hong Kong: Frank Welsh

The Scramble for China: Robert Bickers

The Opium War: Julia Lovell