The Master of Demon Gorge: A Chinese History Podcast

The tragic tale of the Han Dynasty general Li Ling.Support the show

In 635 A.D., a Syriac bishop arrived in the Chinese capital, Chang'an. This is the story of the stele they put up to commemorate that event...Support the show

Li He, one of the most unusual poets of the Tang era, who also gave us the expression: "to answer the summons to the jade pavilion."Support the show

Li Yu, the last ruler of the Kingdom of Southern Tang, who also happened to be one of the greatest poets in Chinese literature.Support the show

Regarding the man who came up with the calendar of the Yellow Emperor.Support the show

The Coen Brothers-esque plot of 835 A.D. that backfired spectacularly, and gruesomely...Support the show

The Tang Dynasty prime minister who only hired non-Chinese generals.Support the show

The late-Sui rebel leader who lived by the code of the xia.Support the show

The tale of a cocktail hour in 961 A.D.Support the show

The military fiasco that led to an emperor serving two non-consecutive terms.Support the show

Regarding the Song Dynasty mandarin who defined the mission for the Confucian intelligentsia.Support the show

Regarding the small minority race who gave us the name "Siberia" and preserved the Manchu language.Support the show

In all the "24 Histories" of Chinese tradition, only one woman is feature in the biographies of military generals. This is her.Support the show

Was he a Confucian or a Legalist? Regarding one of the most controversial Chinese thinkers.Support the show

The famous 5th or 6th century courtesan of Hangzhou and all the poetry that's been about her.Support the show

Author of "On the Faults of the Qin."Support the show

The inventor of court protocols.Support the show

The man who convinced the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty that he couldn't rule from horseback.Support the show

The Chinese equivalent of the prophecies of Nostradamus.Support the show

Regarding the late-Qing businessman and reformist thinker.Support the show

Regarding the Song Dynasty statesman -- and my ancestor -- Han Qi.Support the show

Regarding the Tang Dynasty mandarin and calligrapher.Support the show

Wei Yuan, the 19th century mandarin and geographer who taught the Chinese to open their eyes to the outside world.Support the show

Regarding the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms figure Qian Liu and his "iron scroll."Support the show

Regarding the great 5th century mathematician, astronomer, and engineer.Support the show

Regarding the Han Dynasty policy advisor, party-pooper, and scapegoat.Support the show

About the Jin Dynasty alchemist and author Ge Hong and the text he left us, Baopuzi, which teaches us the way to immortality.Support the show

About one of the most famous disciples of Confucius, the man of action ZiluSupport the show

Regarding the Tang Dynasty writer and his most famous essay.Support the show

The greatest travel writer in Chinese tradition, the late-Ming figure Xu Xiake.Support the show

Regarding the great Yuan Dynasty playwright and his most famous play.Support the show

Regarding the historian of institutions Du You and his grandson, the poet Du Mu.Support the show

The legend of "a dead cat for a prince" and the true story of the career of Empress Dowager Liu of the Song Dynasty.Support the show

On the great Song Dynasty philosopher who redefined Confucian thought.Support the show

Regarding the major Qing Dynasty historian Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801).Support the show

A chapter in the Daoist text Zhuangzi that launches a sustained attack on Confucianism, through the mouth of a notorious criminal.Support the show

One of the most influential thinkers -- and his most influential work -- in the history of Chinese democratic thought.Support the show

Until the advent of modern scholarship, the earliest definitive date in the chronology of Chinese history was 841 B.C. What happened that year that so marked the calendar?Support the show

Regarding the Han Dynasty physician Zhang Zhongjing.Support the show

Regarding the Song Dynasty architect and scholar of architecture.Support the Show.

Everyone knows that Shang Yang reformed the laws and institutions of the State of Qin, setting it up for superpower status and paving the way to the Qin Dynasty. But a number of earlier reformers prefigured Shang Yang. Here are two of them.Support the Show.

The story of the deeply influential Ming Dynasty philosopher.Support the Show.

The 6th century B.C. statesman of the State of Zheng promulgated the first published criminal code in Chinese history. Moreover, it is through him that we know how the ancient Chinese understood the nature of the soul.Support the Show.

The hedonist tradition in Chinese philosophy.Support the Show.

The economic conference of 81 B.C. and the book that resulted from it.Support the Show.

On the late-5th and early-6th century work of literary criticism and its author.Support the Show.

Regarding the man who made Confucianism the dominant ideology of China.Support the Show.

On Chai Rong, the second emperor of the Latter Zhou, and how it became the last of the Five Dynasties.Support the Show.

Our only source for many of the stories about the life of Genghis Khan, The Secret History of the Mongols is a crucial document for understanding the Mongol Empire.Support the Show.

On the German scholar of Chinese architecture.Support the Show.

In 627 A.D., an elderly shepherd chanced upon ten stone drums bearing ancient inscriptions. Since then, they have gone on a topsy-turvy adventure through the tumultuous course of Chinese history, down to the present day.Support the Show.