This is a special episode from Cherrie and Natalie's travels. Tune in to find out why we highly recommend you make a trip to Kinmen Island (and Taiwan!). In this episode we talked about Kinmen's history, culture and politices.

The Grand Canal, a waterway system that travels vast regions of China is famous today as a UNESCO world heritage site. In this episode we discuss its complicated history. Why build a canal? What was the labor cost - measured in countless lives - that built an emperor's vision? Does the UNESCO World Heritage Convention transcends cultural nationalism or reinforce it? Tune in to this first episode about the Grand Canal and its history.

In this episode we talk about the "high reward / high risk" stage of Imperial Chinese hydraulic management during the Late Ming to late Qing dynasties.

Vast amounts of money, material, and expertise were poured into keeping the yellow river forced into a narrow, rapid channel. These efforts allowed the entire vast Chinese canal and irrigation system to function (including the grand canal), but at the price of constant vigilance. The river never rested, and a single season of negligence could undo years of careful maintenance.

We also discuss the men who managed this system "Confucian Engineers" and use the 1841 levee breach at Kaifeng of an example of how the system operated and responded to emergencies.

If you'd like to see illustrated examples of some of the tools and methods described in this episode, the National University of Taiwan has a digitized copy of a Qing Dynasty illustrated river management handbook here:

https://taiwanebook.ncl.edu.tw/zh-tw/book/NTUL-9900013371/reader

For additional reading on this topic I also suggest "Controlling the Dragon: Confucian Engineers and the Yellow River in Later Imperial China" by Randall A Dodgen.

In this episode we discuss China's sorrow, the famous and infamous yellow river (黄河). Stretching through China's north eastern floodplain, it both birthed early chinese civilization, and put it through some of its most harrowing challenges.

In part one we discuss the geography of the yellow river, its early myths, and how the complex interaction between rainfall, erosion, and human action can create extremely deadly disaster events.

Selected sources:

The Yellow River, a Natural and Unnatural History

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300238334/the-yellow-river/

The Water Kingdom:

https://www.amazon.com/Water-Kingdom-PHILIP-BALL/dp/1784701548/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

In late November 2022, just last month, protests broke out all over China. People took to the streets to voice their discontent against the “Zero Covid” policies of the Chinese government. This came from months of frustration and suffering under the zero covid policies and the strict social control the Chinese state, the CCP government, had enforced on its people.

After at least 10 lives lost and many injured in the No 24th fire in Xinjing, Ürümqi, during which zero covid lockdown measures impeded the rescue and escape of the victims trapped inside the building, people marched in front of a local government building. Surprisingly yet, they waved the Chinese national flag and sang the Chinese national anthem to voice their dissent.

In this episode we discuss how the many versions of Chinese National Anthems in the past 150 years reflect the needs of the Chinese state at the time. Though sometimes, people use the tool of nationalism to combat the grip the ruling class has on the nation.

2022年11月，在乌鲁木齐的大火之后，人们走向了街头抗议。在一栋政府大楼面前，示威者们一度一起唱起了《义勇军进行曲》。国歌在大多数情况下，是国家主义的工具，是民族主义与爱国教育的化身表达。但是当中国的抗议者们借它来表达对政府的愤怒的时候，也意味着中共政府借民族国家主义为自己正名的把戏被戳穿。

在2022年春季的上海封城期间，政府和社交媒体平台也曾多次审查屏蔽《义勇军进行曲》的歌词。这是一首所有人都耳熟能详的歌曲，我们都能说得出它的每一句歌词。在言论和创作审查严厉的高压之下，难以找到有效的、有共鸣的表达的人们，此时可能会借助国家框架下的语言表达，将它转化为己有，作为彼此鼓励、共鸣、创造联结的口号。

在这一集播客里，我们回顾了中国过去150年间的“国歌“历史。后半段的播客专注于《义勇军进行曲》的历史以及词作者田汉在新中国成立后，政治运动中的苦难经历。文革中的《义勇军进行曲》的歌词被消失，甚至经常被《东方红》等歌曲代替。文革后的新版歌词却没有放弃歌功颂德毛泽东的英明领导。

而在最近的十年间，中共在香港大力推行爱国主义教育，集体歌唱国歌的仪式是重要的一环。我们还讨论了香港的人们是如何抵抗这种洗脑式的爱国主义教育的。

In this episode we discuss what is likely the second most printed book of all time, "Quotations from Chairman Mao".

Produced prior to the Cultural Revolution, the book was an iconic symbol of the moment, and become influential worldwide as it was translated into multiple languages and distributed.

We discuss what is in the book, and what isn't, as well as putting some of Mao's thoughts into perspective.

When chaos grows in 12th century China, and the empire is in peril, great heavenly heroes will arise among the people to make everything worse.

In the second episode we meet our first stars of destiny, and watch them immediately make bad decisions. We also discuss the finer points of Chinese capitol cities, and the definition of ancient chinese football (蹴鞠) techniques.

Feel free to get a copy (or find one of the many versions online) or just listen along as we go over this extremely entertaining story of rebellion. We are reading the Sidney Shapiro translation.

When chaos grows in 12th century China, and the empire is in peril, great heavenly heroes will arise among the people to make everything worse.

Our exciting read along of China's literary classic 'The Water Margin' (水滸傳) finally begins!

In this first episode we go over the history of the novel, its cultural significance, as well as the historical time periods in which it is set and written. Then we discuss the first chapter, which is mostly about one Chinese government official being bad at his job.

Feel free to get a copy (or find one of the many versions online) or just listen along as we go over this extremely entertaining story of rebellion. We are reading the Sidney Shapiro translation.

After this the schedule should be 2 chapters every two weeks, eventually we may move these episodes to a separate podcast feed.

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.

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

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 side 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?

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!

In the early 1900s, Chinese women were entering the public space and shaping society like never before. At a time when a Chinese identity was emerging, women activists and leaders had to navigate the shifting sands that was Chinese society at the time. Striking a balance between meeting the expectation of the traditional Confucian ideal of a women’s role and finding their own place in a modern society as a citizen was tricky.

In this episode, we talked about one such woman, born into the late Qing dynasty, who had a fantastic character arc that impressed many not just at the time, but for years after. Lü Bicheng(吕碧城), the main character in our story today, was an educator, poet, journalist, writer, activist, business women and a buddhist, a woman who wore many hats. Her life story and trajectory reflected China at the time. What did it mean to be a modern Chinese woman living in the early 1900s? What did it mean to be both a feminist and a nationalist? What was a woman’s experience seeking education and better opportunities for herself while challenging the very foundation of a patriarchal society?

In this episode we briefly recap the events of the Opium war, before discussing its conclusion.

Both sides desperately wanted to end the conflict, yet neither side had the patience or diplomatic expertise to broker a lasting peace (If such a thing was even possible).

The 1942 Treat of Nanjing (and those negotiated shortly after), did indeed end the war, but left many questions unanswered, and many problems unsolved. These problems would only grow larger in time, and go on to cause the more dramatic Second Opium war in the late 1850s.

Beyond anything else, the issue of Opium remained unsolved, as the Qing Empire's attempt to end the trade by force had failed, and the British remained too financially dependent on the drug to consider banning it.