The History of China

When Ögedei dies in late 1241, the empire must choose a successor before it can move forward. In spite of the late Khan determining in advance that it should be his grandson, his empress has other ideas - namely, installing her own irascible son, Güyük, instead. This raises more than a few eyebrows, especially from the Lord of the Golden Horde (and Güyük's personal nemesis) Batu Khan. He'll spend then next 5 years doing absolutely everything in his power to prevent Güyüks' enthronement. And so, when Güyük is finally installed... is it any surprise that he'll seek to get even on his hated cousin? Their looking showdown on the fields of Dzungaria will set the stage for a truly unpredictable series of events, that will leave the Mongol Empire altered forever...(NOTE: This is Part 1 of a Bonus Episode! Get the rest, and all other bonus content by subscribing via patreon.com/thehistoryofchinaTime Period Covered:1242-1254 CEMajor Historical Figures:Mongol Empire:Temuge Otchigin, Genghis Khan's youngest brother, Prince of the Hearth [1168-1246]House Ögedei:*Ögedei Khaghan [r. 1232-1241]Toregene Khatun [r. 1242-1246]Güyük Khaghan [r. 1246-1248]Oghul Khaimish Khatun [r. 1248-1251]Prince Shiremun [d. 1251]Prince Khodan [d. 1246]Lady Fatima [d. 1246]House Tolui:*Tolui Otchigin [1191-1232]Sorkhakhtani Beki [1190-1252]Möngke Khaghan [r. 1251-1259]Prince KhubilaiPrince HulaguPrince Ariq BokeGeneral Menggesar, Noyan Companion of MongkeHouse Jochi:*Jochi [c. 1182-1225]Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde [1205-1255]Major Sources Cited: De Nicola, Bruno. “Regents and Empresses: Women’s Rule In the Mongols’ World Empire” in Women in Mongol Iran: The Khatuns, 1206-1335. Hamadani, Rashid-al-Din. Compendium of Chronicles. Dowson, John (tr.) Juvaini, Ata-Malik. History of the World Conqueror. (tr. John Andrew Boyle). Kim, Hodong. “A Reappraisal of Güyüg Khan” in Mongols, Turks, and Others: Eurasian Nomand and the Sedentary World. Man, John. Kublai Khan: The Mongol King Who Remade China. McLynn, Frank. Genghis Khan: This Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy. Onon, Urgunge (tr.). The Secret History of the Mongols: The Life and Times of Chinggis Khan. Rockhill, William Woodville (tr.). The journey of William of Rubruck to the eastern parts of the world, 1253-55, as narrated by himself, with two accounts of the earlier journey of John of Pian de Carpine. Rossabi, Morris. “The Reigns of Ogodei and Guyug” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368. Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Guard-Captain of the Red Turbans, Zhu Yuanzhang sets his sights on the jewel of the southlands: Nanjing. Once that's in his grasp, he'll truly join the ranks of the top-tier warlords of the era... but when you've elbowed you way up to the head table, don't be surprised if those you bump up against take exception to you shoving them aside...Time Period Covered:1355-1360 CEMajor Historical Figures:Yuan Dynasty:Emperor Toghon Temur (Huizong/Shundi) [r. 1333-1368, 1368-1370]General Shimo Yisun [d. 1360]Red Turban:Emperor of Song, Han Lin'er, the Little Lord of Light [r. 1351-1367]Guo Zixing [d. 1355]Ming:Guard-Captain Zhu Yuanzhang, "Outstanding Hero" [1328-1398]General Xu Da [1332-1385]General Chang YüchenGeneral Hu Dahai [d. 1362]Minister Song Lian [1310-1381]Han:King Chen Youliang [1320-1363]Wu:Zhang Shicheng, the "Heaven Blessed" King, Salt-Smuggler Extraordinaire [1321-1367] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My long-lost conversation with the hosts of the excellent ReConsider Podcast, Xander and Eric... now *finally* delivered to you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the cataclysmic decade of the 1340s rolls in to the 1350s a planned rerouting of the Yellow River will trigger a massive uprising by what the Yuan authorities call the Red Turban Rebels. But who are they really? What do they believe? Why are they fighting? And how do they tie in with the eventual overthrow of the Mongols from their hegemony over China?Major Historical Figures:Maitreya Buddha, Successor to Gautama Buddha [???]Mani the Last, Prophet of Manichaeism [ca. 216-277 CE]Red Turbans:Peng Yingyu, Buddhist Monk, "Father" of the Red Turbans [d. ca. 1348-1358]Northern:Han Shantong, Lord of Light [d. 1351]Han Lin'er, the Young Lord of Light [1340-1367]General Liu Futong (AKA "Liu Fangshi") [1321-1363]Guo Zixing, Leader of Red Turban Army, Lord of Haozhou [d. 1355]Zhu Yuanzhang, Buddhist mendicant monk, Guard Commander of the Red Turbans [1328-1398]Southern:Xu Shouhui, cloth-merchant, Emperor of Tianwan Kingdom, Maitreya Incarnate [1320-1360]Qing Dynasty:Huang Yupian, Qing Dynasty Magistrate and White Lotus Hunter [mid-19th century]Major Sources Cited:Brook, Timothy. The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China.Buckley Ebrey, Patricia and Anne Walthall. Pre-Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume I.Chao, Wei-pang. “Secret Religious Societies in North China in the Ming Dynasty” in Folklore Studies, Vol. 7.Farmer, Edward L. Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation: The Reordering of Chinese Society following the Era of Mongol Rule.Flower, Theresa. “Millenarian Themes of the White Lotus Society.”Hung, Hing Ming. From the Mongols to the Ming Dynasty: How a Begging Monk Became Emperor of China, Zhu Yuan Zhang.Lin, Wushu. “A Study On Equivalent Names of Manichaeism in Chinese” in Popular Religion and Shamanism.Lin, Wushu. Manichaeism and its Dissemination in the East.Ma, Xisha. “The Syncretism of Maitreyan Belief and Manichaeism in Chinese History” in Popular Religion and Shamanism.Mote, Frederick W. Imperial China: 900-1800.Mote, Frederick W. “The Rise of the Ming Dynasty, 1330-1367” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty.Overmeier, Daniel L. “Folk-Buddhist Religion: Creation and Eschatology in Medieval China” in History of Religions, Vol. 12, No. 1.Shek, Richard. “Religious Dissenters in Ming-Qing China” in Religion and the Early Modern State: Views from China, Russia, and the West.Tan, Chung. Across the Himalayan Gap: An Indian Quest for Understanding China.Ter Haar, B.J. The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History.Wang, Kristen. “Scandalous Tales Behind Nanjing’s 70 Ancient Names” in The Nanjinger, 07/04/2019.Waterson, James. Defending Heaven: China’s Mongol Wars, 1209-1370. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My presentation to the 2020 Intelligent Speech Convention, on Women, Minorities, and reading between the bamboo scrolls of history to find the hidden stories. Also with a Q&A session after. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Toghon Temur - the eleventh and final Great Khan of the Yuan, takes the throne - the dam holding back the near century of bad decisions back begins to buckle. Things are not helps by a dramatic climate shift, or the outbreak of one of the worst pandemics in human history, either... can we really blame the apocalyptic cults that spring up for thinking it's the end of the world?Time Period Covered:1333~1344 CEMajor Historical Figures:Toghon Temur Khaghan [r. 1333-1368, 1370]Grand Chancellor Bayan Ba'atur of the Merkid [1280-1340]Zhu Yuanzhang [1328-1398] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 years later,To forget is to risk it all happening anew... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath of the Golden Horde's devastating strike into Eastern Europe, Christendom reels. As apocalyptic as the assaults were, the great enemy's sudden and inexplicable evaporation offers no comfort, and only more questions.In order to get some answers, the Holy See will dispatch an unlikely candidate to make his way across the whole of Eurasia in an attempt to first find, and then meet with, the King of the Tartars - whoever, and wherever he may be...Time Period Covered:1245-1247 CEMajor Historical Figures:European Christendom:Pope Innocent IV [r. 1243-1254]Friar Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (John of Plano Carpini) [ca. 1185-1252]Friar Benedict of Poland [ca. 1200-ca. 1280]Friar Stephen of BohemiaKonrad I, High Duke of Krakow [ca. 1187-1247]Prince Daniel Romanovich of Galacia [1201-1264]Grand Prince Vasilko (Basil) Romanovich of Kiev [1203-1269]Grand Prince Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich of Vladimir [1191-1246]Mongol Empire:Guyük Khaghan [r. 1246-1248]Toregene Khatun [r. 1241-1246]Batu Khan of the Golden Horde [ca. 1205-1255]Grand Secretary Chinqai of Khwarazm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My interview with Beijing-based author and journalist Michael Schuman about China's history, present, future, and food... and of course about his upcoming book, "Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World," available on June 9th, 2020.Find Michael on Twitter under the handle @michaelschuman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start today in the aftermath of the murder of the 9th Great Mongol Khan and the 5th Emperor of Yuan. We end a decade later, at the beginning of the 15th Great Khan and 11th Yuan Emperor... coincidentally (or not) the last of both. The treachery, assassinations, wars, and power-plays that get us from that start to that end will threaten to split the very soul of the empire in two. Also, there's a lot of Temürs along the way... like, a *lot,* a lot!Time Period Covered:1323-1333 CEMajor Events:* Coup at Nanpo [Sept. 4, 1323] - Outcome: assassination of Shidebala Khaghan, accession of Yesün Temür Khaghan* War of the Two Capitals [Aug. 1328-Nov. 14, 1328 (sporadic resistance thru 1332)] - Outcome: Khaishan Restorationist victory/ Shangdu Loyalist defeat, overthrow of Aragibagh & enthronement of Jayaatu Khaghan* Incident at Ongghochatu [Aug. 26-30, 1329] - Outcome: assassination of Khoshila, restoration of Togh Temur Khaghan to the throneRelevant Historical Figures:Great Yuan:Shidebala (Gegeen Khaghan/Yuan Yingzong) [r. 1320-1323]Yesün Temür (Khaghan/Yuan Taiding) [r. 1323-1328]Aragibagh (Khaghan/Yuan Tianshun) [r. Oct.-Nov. 1328]Togh Temür (Jayaatu Khaghan/Yuan Wenzong) [r. Oct. 1328-Apr. 1329, Sept. 1329- Sept. 1332]Khoshila (Khutughtu Khaghan/Yuan Mingzong) [r. Feb. 1329-Aug. 1329]Rinchinbal (Khaghan/Yuan Ningzong) [r. Oct. 29, 1332-Dec. 14, 1332]Toghon Temür (Ukhaghatu Khaghan/Yuan Huizong) [r. 1333-1368]Empress Budashiri [1307-1340]Crown Prince Aradnadara [d. 1330]Prince El Tegüs [c. 1329-c. 1340]Daula-shah, Grand Councilor of the Right [d. 1228]El Temür, General & Grand Councillor of the Right [d. 1333]Bayan of the Merkids, General & Grand Councillor of the Left [d. 1340]Chagatai Khanate:Esen Bukha I, Khan [r. 1310-1318]Eljigidey Khan [r. 1326-1329]Golden Horde:Öz Beg Khan [r. 1313-1341]Ilkhanate:Abu Sa'id (Bahadur Khan) [r. 1316-1335] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices