The Master of Demon Gorge: A Chinese History Podcast

The Heaven and Earth Society, a.k.a. the Hong Society, is one of the most famous underground organizations in Chinese tradition. But its origin is shrouded in legends and myths, many of which connect it to Taiwan.Support the show

The story of the curious and arguably proto-Socialist figure who founded a dynasty so brief that it's often left out when we enumerate Chinese imperial dynasties.Support the show

The story of an expression, from its origin in the 7th century B.C. to the reason it's associated with so many places today in Taiwan.Support the show

The bloody tale of the salt merchant, failed scholar, and reasonably good poet who very nearly destroyed the Tang Dynasty. Support the show

It is often said that Taiwan came into the Chinese orbit as far back as the 3rd century. Is that true? How? The story of the Three Kingdoms era exploration of (maybe) Taiwan.Fast forward a few hundred years to the early 7th century, and records show that the Sui Dynasty fought a war against an indigenous kingdom that the chroniclers called "Liuqiu." Today, that name refers to Ryukyu, also known as Okinawa. But could it have meant Taiwan at the time?Support the show

Of all the recent feverish discussions on the prospect of war in the Taiwan Strait, no alleged expert that I've come across has talked about the obvious historical precedent: Emperor Kangxi's invasion and conquest of Taiwan in 1683.Let's remedy that.Support the show

The late-Ming and early-Qing literary critic Jin Shengtan was quite a character. He never advanced beyond the rank of xiucai, the lowest-level degree in the imperial civil service exam system, but his legacy became far greater than most men who achieved more conventional success.That legacy was in teaching the Chinese how to read and why, in showing them why the great works of Chinese fiction and drama were great. His influence continues to this day.Support the show

Chinese culture is stereotypically perceived as authoritarian. Although there is obviously a lot of truth to the cliche, it is by no means the full picture. Indeed, ancient Chinese philosophy already introduced certain ideas that might been called democratic, through the figure of Mencius, the second most important personality in Confucianism...Support the show

It's come to my attention in recent years that a certain portion of Westerners, including people who ought to know better such as academics, believe that the concept of "China" is a modern invention dating only to the early 20th century. Their argument is that the Chinese historically never referred to their country by its modern name, "Zhongguo," in ancient times.For avoidance of doubt, here's an episode setting forth the voluminous evidence as to why they're wrong: the Chinese have been using the term "Zhongguo" since at least around 1,000 B.C.Support the show

By tradition, a man named Cangjie invented the Chinese system of writing that is the bane of so many foreign students trying to acquire the language.Trouble is, Cangjie is supposed to have lived some 26 centuries ago, in the time of the Yellow Emperor, but the earliest texts attesting to his creation of Chinese writing date to the Warring States period over 2,000 years later...Support the show