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Last time we continued to speak about the Kumul Rebellion.. Ma Shaowu, appointed as Taoyin, executed rival Ma Fuxing and tightened anti-Soviet policies, responding to growing Soviet influence following Yang Zengxin's assassination in 1928. Kashgar became a refuge for conservative Turkic Muslims opposing Chinese authority, amidst a backdrop of rising tension with Tungan troops, perceived as oppressors. By 1931, as news of the Kumul Rebellion spread, resistance against the Han Chinese intensified, emboldening local insurgents to unite against their enemies. In May 1932, Jin sought vengeance against Tsetsen Puntsag Gegeen, the Torgut Mongol regent, hosting him under the guise of an investigation. At a banquet, Tsetsen was executed, igniting fury among the Turkic peoples. As the Kumul Rebellion grew, rebel leaders Ma Fuming and Ma Shihming united forces, launching assaults that devastated Chinese control. By March 1933, Ma Shaowu found his authority diminished, desperately appealing for British aid as rebellion spread, leaving Xinjiang in chaos.   #134 Kumul Rebellion part 3: A Game of Thrones in Southern Xinjiang Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So we last left off in mid March, where Ma Shaowu's control over southern Xinjiang had diminished to just a wedge of territory around Kashgar, Maral Bashi and Yarkland. Morale was so low, Ma Shaowu asked the British Indian government for military assistance as it seemed apparent no help would come from Urumqi. Ma Shaowu had received 3 telegrams from Jin via the USSR lines; the first confirmed his position as Commander in Chief; the second relayed Jin's brother's death and the third directed Jin Kashgar representatives to remit a large sum of money to his personal bank account in Tientsin. That last signal must have been a banger to read. Despite reinforcements sent to Yarkland under Colonel Chin, rampant inflation went unchecked and a sense of panic spread amongst the Chinese officials stationed in the region. In response the Chinese officials began withdrawing into Yarkland New City which was fortified with walls being hurriedly repaired and reinforced. Apparently heavy stones were placed all atop the walls to be thrown upon the rebels and 500 dummy figures were placed on the walls to “give the impression of a well-manned rampart”. When you start making dummy's for a wall defense, you know you are going to die. On March 21st, insurgent forces at Tokhta Langar advanced upon Yarkland. Colonel Chin's men made no attempt to resist the rebels and instead looted Guma and fell back using little known hill track by passing Karghalik and Posgam, killing large numbers of Uyghur civilians for good measure in the process. The rebels advanced straight to Yarkland unnopposed seizing Karghalik and Posgam in the process. Within both places a number of Hindu moneylenders of British Indian nationality were slaughtered. Back in Yarkland New City the provincial forces continued to bolster their defenses. By late March a group of 150 Chinese troops who had fled the rebels at Khotan arrived with a further 300 showing up to the oasis on April 2nd. During this period Muslim insurgents had massed up along the east bank of Yarkland River. They looked ill-armed and untrained as they forced the river during the first week of April. On the 11th of April Yarkland Old City fell to a mixed rebel force from Khotan, Karghalik and Posgam, seeing roughly 100 Chinese who were still outside the fortified New City massacred. In the afternoon, the bazaar connecting the Old and New Cities of Yarkand was set ablaze and completely destroyed. The shops belonging to Chinese moneylenders were ravaged, and their belongings were looted, leading to a siege of Yarkand New City. On the 12, rebel forces moved beyond Yarkand towards Kok Rabat, a key point on the route to Kashgar. At the same time, additional insurgent reinforcements from Khotan began to pour into the Yarkand Oasis. So by April, Ma Shaowu's position was simply done for, his only hope was to reach an agreement with the incoming force led by Ma Chanzeng. He opened up negotiations with Ma Chanzeng through the British Consul General at Kashgar, Fitzmaurice. However Ma Chanzeng could not speak for his Uyghur ally Temur, whom he was having issues with. To make matters worse, the Kirghiz levies began to mutiny on April 5th at Sughun Karaul, a Chinese fortified post roughly 65 miles northwest of Kashgar. This was followed by peasant uprisings amongst the Uyghurs at Artush and Fayzabad. Facing this Ma Shaowu ordered Brigadier Yang and the troops at Maral Bashi to fall back to Kashgar. Before departing Maral Bashi Yans troops burned and looted the town after which “They set out on their way to Kashgar with a large number of carts laden with refugees or loot or both; but this proved to be the last straw. The troops made slow progress, and in the meantime the whole countryside, incensed beyond endurance, rose against the Chinese. A bridge was broken at Kara Yulgun and, while the column was halted, it was set upon by a vast horde of rebels”. Karma is a bitch as they say. Brigadier Yang was wounded during the ambush and taken prisoner by rebels. Of his original force of around 1000, its estimated only 65 men limped back to Kashgar by the 27th of april. Meanwhile the main bulk of the Kirghiz mutineers advanced to Artush by April 15th from whence they menaced Kashgar as other Kirghiz groups attacked Kizil Oi and Ulugh Chat and demolish Chinese pots at Bulun Kul. With the dissolvement of Brigadier Yangs forces from Maral Bashi, Kashgar was completely vulnerable and isolated. Ma Shaowu, was probably very anxious to reach an agreement with Ma Chanzeng, but still took the precaution of preparing for a siege. As the Chinese were soiling themselves awaiting the rebel attacks, suddenly a divide emerged between the Tungan and Turkic factions. It appeared Ma Chanzeng had become concerned over reports of Uyghur insurgents rising up in Khotan, who owed him no loyalty. So he decided to reach an agreement with Ma Shaowu. Ma Shaowu agreed to allow Tungan power to be established at Kashgar, the military and economic key to southern Xinjiang. Ma Chanzeng dispatched a message via the British Consul general at Kashgar offering assurance that the sole objective of the Tungan forces in Xinjiang was to overthrow the tyrannical Jin Shujen and his reforms. Thus having seemingly distanced himself from the Turkic speaking Muslims of the south, whose apparent goal was to fully succeed from the Chinese Republic, Ma Chanzeng and Temur advanced to Kashgar.  Back over in Kashgar Old City, Turkic speaking nationalists calling themselves the Young Kashgar Party or “YKP” had become suspicious of Ma Chanzeng's motives and believed perhaps there was collusion between Gansu Tungans and Ma Shaowu. The Uyghurs feared this would lead to Tungan domination of Kashgar and the replacement of Han Chinese tyrants for Tungan tyrants. 7 leading members of the YKP set out from Kashgar to persuade Ma Chanzeng that Ma Shaowu would betray him. They met at Fayzabad with Uthman Ali, the leader of the Kirghiz mutineers present. Upon hearing their plea, Ma Chanzeng asked Uthman Ali to lead the Kirghiz to attack Kashgar Old City. Early on May 2nd, Uthman Ali led a large Kirghiz force against the Old city and according to the eye witness account of the British Consul General “They took up positions opposite each of the four gates of the city and at the same time sent parties to call up the country people Uyghurs. These appeared from all sides in thousands, armed with clubs and sticks, and there was a great display of enthusiasm ... Firing continued until about two in the afternoon, when the Kirghiz either forced an entry or were admitted by the Tushik Gate'. Most of the non-Chinese garrison simply joined the rebels. At the yamen, Ma Shaowu and his personal bodyguard continued to hold out as the Kirghiz secured the Old City, but notably prevented the Uyghurs from looting and ordered them back to their villages. The reason for this unexpected restraint became clear the next day, when the Kirghiz were left in sole possession of the Old City, and who proceeded to sack it themselves. The British Consul General estimated 100 Chinese were killed and their looted property was carried off or auctioned on the street. During the afternoon around 300 Uyghurs led by Temur arrived at Kashgar and were admitted into the Old City without any question by the Kirghiz, followed by the Tungans with Ma Chanzeng. Both forces marched to the walls of Kashgar New City, roughly 2.5 miles distant and after negotiations with the Chinese defenders were allowed entrance. The British Consul General had this to say of the moment “It was probably better to surrender to the Tungans than to be slaughtered by the Kirghiz”. With the fall of Kashgar New City, Han Chinese power in southern Xinjiang, excluding the besieged garrison of Yarkland New City was effectively brought to an end.  On May 7th, Ma Chanzeng realized the YKP had misled him and that Temur was under their influence and thus no longer a reliable ally. After the capture of Kashgar Old City, it seems the Kirghiz began negotiating with Temur over the spoils of their victory and made zero attempt to loot the Old City Yamen where Ma Shaowu was holding out. Ma Shaowu would make a invaluable ally against the Turkic nationalists who controlled Old city and much of southern Xinjiang. Thus Ma Chanzeng began secretly negotiating with Ma Shaowu. As a result the next day, Ma Chanzengs men put up notices announcing that the Taoyin and other officials of the former regime should retain their official posts. This obviously pissed off the Turkic Muslims who did now share the same loyalty to the Chinese Republic as the Tungans. The Kirghiz immediately manned the walls and closed the gates of the Old City, preparing to face the Tungans. At this point Ma Shaowu defused the situation temporarily by resigning as Taoyin and handed the officials seals over to Ma Chanzeng. Ma Chanzeng did not take the title of Taoyin, but certainly controlled the Old City Yamen and New City, keeping Ma Shaowu close and protected. It seems Ma Chanzengs strategy was to try and drive a wedge between Uthman Ali's Kirghiz and Temurs Uyghurs before a unified Turkic alliance could form, perhaps one that even incorporated Khotan forces. He was of course concerned with limiting the influence of the YKP who seemed to be as anti-Tungan as they were anti-Chinese. On the 10th he ordered the arrest of the most prominent YKP leader, Abd al-Rahim Bay Bachcha, who was released only after agreeing to supply the Tungan forces with 1000 uniforms at his own expense. Following this, Ma Chanzeng seized Temur who had just been proclaimed commander in chief of the combined Muslim armies at Kashgar. Temuar was invited to a meeting at the Old City Yamen on the 17th where he was placed under arrest. Had Ma Chanzeng managed to transfer his captive into the New City, he may have succeeded in his plans. But he did not have enough men to man both the Old and New Cities and when he tried to block the Uyghurs and Kirghiz from rescuing Temur they simply stormed the city walls.  With the failure to secure Temur, Ma Chanzeng had basically revealed to the Turkic Muslims and confirmed the claims of the YKP that he intended to set up a Tungan regime in Kashgar. On May 18th the pissed of Kirghiz mounted a surprise attack on the Old City. They avoided the yamen where Ma Chanzeng and Ma Shaowu remained, as Tungan forces there were heavily armed with artillery and machine guns, but murdered any other Tungans they found in the Old City. Fighting went on throughout the day and night. As a result of the Kirghiz attack, Ma Chanzeng agreed to hand control over Kashgar to Temur and Uthman Ali. On the 19th a very inconclusive treaty was signed seeing Temur confirmed as the Commander in Chief and Uthman Ali promoted to General in command of Kirghiz forces. Ma Chanzeng was given no official position, but retained control of the TUngan troops and on the 22nd accompanied by all of them withdrew from the yamen to Kashgar New City. Meanwhile Ma Chanzengs Tungan chief of staff, Su Qinzhou and Yunus Beg, a Uyghur of Kumul were appointed joint Taoyin of Kashgar and Ma Shaowu was permitted to take up residence in a nearby country house under protection from both Temur and Chanzeng.  The truce was followed awkward and uneasy peace with the Tungans controlling New City and the Turking speaking Muslims the Old City and Taoyins yamen. Fitzmaurice went on to state “that 'Ma Chanzeng, Temur and Uthman Ali all settled down to the congenial business of accumulating wealth and wives, whilst the YKP continued its intrigues against the Tungans, organized a 'parliament' of forty members, subsequently greatly expanded, and sent two delegates to Khoja Niyas Hajji, the leader of the Uighur rebels at Kumul”.  By this point it seemed Temur had fallen completely under the influence of the YKP and began issuing passports styling himself as “Temur Shah”. These documents also employed the Islamic Hijri date and not the Chinese Republic date, thwarting Nanjing's authority.  Over in the southern rim of the Tarim Basin, an are untroubled by the Tungan invasion and free from the Kirghiz movement, Khotan had emerged as a center of exclusive Uyghur control. Ismail Khan Khoja, the leader of the gold miner rebels of Karakash was soon eclipsed by the Uyghur nationalist committee for national revolution, known as the CNR, who was founded in Khotan in early 1932 by Muhammad Amin Bughra. Muhammad Amin Bughra was a scholar in his 30's and alongside his two younger brothers, Abdullah and Nur Ahmad, with some friends and fellow students began the movement. In early 1933 this group was joined by Abd al-Baqi Sabit Damullah, a teacher and former Qadi, that being an islamic judge from Kulja who had traveled extensively through the USSR, Turkey, Egypt and India. According to Muhammad Amin Bughra, “Sabit Damullah brought political information and experience to the Khotanlik Committee for National Revolution”. They were only 300 members who possessed nothing more than 50 antiquated rifles. Their political philosophy, like that of the YKP was uncompromising, they were nationalists who were extremely anti-communist, anti-christian, anti-tungan and anti-Han. The CNR favored the establishment of an Islamic theocracy in Xinjiang, with Muhammad AMin Bughra as its head of state. Muhammad Amin Bughra was working in Khotan as a mudarris, or teacher at Quranic college when an uprising began in February of 1933 in Karakash and Surghak. On the 20th of February the CNR leadership met and formed a provisional government with Muhammad Niyas Alam as president, Sabit Damullah as Prime Minister and Muhammad Amin Bughra as commander of the armed forces. Muhammad Amin Bughra also took the title “Amir al-islam” while his younger brothers took “Amir Abdullah khan” and “Amir Nur Ahmad Jan”. In most sources the rise of the CNR provisional government is referred to as the Government of the Khotan Amirs. Their new government was religiously intolerant, as a result when Khotan New City was captured on March 16th, the 266 or so Han Chinese there were forcibly converted to Islam. Following that, the Hindu moneylenders were murdered and the Swedish missionaries were exiled. Shari a law was implemented under the CNR with strict application of hadd criminal legislation. Between March and April the regime was reinforced by Janib Beg, a well known Basmachi leader who fled the USSR to reside in the Keriya Oasis under Ma Shaowu's control. Janib Beg made common cause with the Amirs and given his extensive military experience during the Basmachi struggle was placed in charge of a large body of Khotanlik rebel forces.  After they secured the Khotan Oasis, the Amirs began expanding their influence east towards Lop Nor and west towards Kashgar. In response to a appeal from the Uyghurs of Charchan who were resisting their Tungan liberators, a force of 100 Khotanliks came to guard against the Kara Shahr Tungan who were occupying the Charkhlik Oasis. Meanwhile in the west, Khotanlik forces captured Guma, Karghalik, Posgam and Yarkland Old City by early April. During the fight for Yarkland New City, over 2000 Han Chinese and Tungans were besieged by their forces. On the 24th, Amir Badullah Khan arrived to Yarkland to personally oversee the siege of its New City. According to Fitzmaurice, the Khotanlik forces had organized a military band, were doning red uniforms in stark contrast to the Tungan troops of Ma Chanzeng who wore green. Amir Badullah was greeted with a large ceremony as Turking speaking officials who had previously served under the Han Chinese were dragged through the streets in chains. On the 27th Amir Abdullah ordered the Swedish missionaries in Yarkland to be arrested and brought to him. We are told “Abdullah kicked and beat them himself, announcing that by their teaching the missionaries had destroyed the religion of Islam, and that it was therefore his duty to kill them'. The poor Swe's were only saved from a firing squad by the intervention of some British officials, instead they were exiled. Afterwards Abdullah focused his attention upon the siege of Yarkland New City. He ordered the water supply cut and for tunnels to be made to breach the walls. On the 27th three delegates from Ma Shaowu came to Yarkland and attempted to negotiate with Abdullah. Abdullahs response was to shoot a prisoner in their presence in what he called “a method of bringing them to a proper state of mind”. Then Abdullah sent them into the besieged New City to inform its defenders that their lives and property would be spared if they simply agreed to convert to Islam and lay down their arms. The besieged Han Chinese led by Colonel Qin, hastily agreed to the terms and on May 12th prepared to surrender. Shortly before this date however, the first Tungan and Turkic speaking troops, fresh from their victory at Kashgar arrived. Believing victory was well within his grasp, Abdullah became openly hostile with the Tungans and made it clear the newcomers were not appreciated. Faced with Khotanlik hostility, the small but well armed Tungans who owed their allegiance to Ma Chanzeng, and through him to Ma Chongying, entered the New City and strengthened its Tungan elements against the Khotanliks. Abdullah was shocked by this revelation and his hostility also had the effect of hardening the Chinese Muslim troops. They even sortied on May 18th briefly attacking and capturing the Altin and Khanqah gates of Yarkland Old City, setting fire to the surrounding areas before pulling back to New City. The Uyghur troops of Aksu and Kashgar led by Hafiz, a subordinate of Temur seemed to be keeping a neutral stance until the 22nd when news of the Tungan-Turkic conflict at Kashgar reached them. Following this, the two Turkic speaking armies at Yarkland cooperated in the siege of the New City. Despite the cooperation, Hafiz and Abdullah remained bitter rivals. Facing the united Turkic attack and realizing there would be no relief efforts from Kashgar, the Chinese of Yarkland New City surrendered on the 26th taking the original terms Abdullah had given them back on the 12th. The surrender would be incomplete however as the Tungans insisted on retaining their weapons and being allowed to go to Kashgar. The victorious Uyghurs and Kirghiz took 540 rifles from the Chinese and divided the spoils. However the men under Hafiz notably took the best quality rifles out of the pickings.  The defeated Chinese and defiant Tungans were divided into two groups roughly 1000 each and given permission to go to Kashgar. Neither party would reach its destination unmolested however. The first column, made up mostly of Tungan cavalry, was attacked and cut to pieces near Kizil. What became known as the Kizil Massacre was performed by a group of Kirghiz who owed their allegiance to Uthman Ali. Following the Kizil massacre, the Kirghiz irregulars entered Yangi Hissar where they killed all the Han Chinese and Tungans they could find. The second column was attacked and looted before they even got out of Yarkland, but did not undergo a massacre. When news came of the Kazil and Yangi Hissar massacrs to Kashgar, Su Qinzhou, the Tungan joint Taoyin departed the Old City Yamen to protest the killing of fellow Tungans and joined Ma Chanzeng in Kashgar New City. On May 31st, the Uyghurs of Aksu rose up and expelled the few Muslim Chinese that remained in their Oasis. The Taoyin that had been appointed by Ma Chanzeng and therefore was considered too pro-Tungan was removed from his post and replace by the leader of the Aksu insurgents, a Uyghur named Ismail Beg whose loyalty belongs to the anti-tungan Khotan Amirs.  The fall of Yarkland New City, massacre at Kizil and Yangi Hissar had not just signaled the final collapse of Han Chinese authority in southern Xinjiang, but also the alienation of Chinese speaking Muslims from their Turkic speaking neighbors. By the summer of 1933, the political power struggle in the south was now between the Uyghur and Kirghiz factions led by Amir Muhammad Amin Bughra at Khotan and the Tungan forces of Ma Chanzeng at Kashgar New City. Excluding Ma Chanzeng's forces the struggle over southern Xinjiang was more or less fought between the rival Turkic speaking Muslim factions at Khotan and Kashgar. Following the fall of Yarkland New City on the 26th of May, Temurs representative Hafiz attempted to conciliate with the Khotan Amirs, who were not happy their side got the less impressive rifles when they distributed the loot. Hafiz strengthened his forces then estimated to be 400 Uyghurs from Aksu and Kashfar, by conscripting another 200 Dunlanis from Merket.  Discovering this, the Amirs transferred command over their Yarkland forces to the youngest brother, Nur Ahmad Jan, while Abdullah set out for Kashgar at the head of 2000 Khotanliks. This action seems to be done to place pressure upon Temur. Meanwhile another force of 1000 Khotanliks under the Basmachi Janib Beg arrived at Kashgar on June 11th. Janib Beg's arrival with his poorly armed troops caused uproar amongst the local Turkic speaking leadership and Soviet Consulate General who feared the anti-Soviet Basmachi leader would swing the ongoing revolution to the right. Janib Beg immediately established his HQ at the garden of the Turkic nationals Abd Al-Rahim Bay Bachcha, raising the old spectre of an alliance forming between the Khotan AMirs and YKP, elements of whom were currently in favor of cooperating with the USSR. On July 4th, the Khotanlik presence was substantially increased by the arrival of Amir Abdullah, who brought over Prime Minister Sabit Dammulah and Shaykh al-Islam. Although Abdullahs forces were numerous, they were very ill-equipped. British reports indicate about 300 of them were armed with Russian rifles while another 300 had antiquated muzzle loaders and the rest bore Chumaq or heavy clubs. Nevertheless they posed a threat to both Uthman Ali and Temur, neither of whom sought to share the large stocks of food, money and arms they had looted in Kashgar New City. Temur made an elaborate show of welcoming Abdullah, installing him at the garden between the Old and New Cities pending more suitable arrangements.  Meanwhile at Yarkland, negotiations between Hafiz and Nur Ahmad Jan continued. Hafiz on behalf of Temur claimed territories of the Yarkland River, including Yarkland Old and New City, while Nur Ahmad Jan on behalf of the Khotan Islamic Government countered with claiming Kashgar and Maral Bashi. After a couple of incidents between the two armies, Nur Ahmad Jan took action against a number of Yarkandlik Begs who had petitioned Hafiz to intervene on their behalf. All the offenders were executed with their severed heads and displayed in public to antagonize Hafiz. When news of this reached Temur at Kashgar he was royally pissed and decided to make a move against the Khotanlik forces at Kashgar. Temur sought the support of his Kirghiz ally Uthman Ali, stressing the threat the Amir's would make to his position and bought off numerous other Kirghiz leaders. By mid-July, Uthman and his Kirghiz cavalry prepared to return to the mountains above Kashgar lulling the Khotanlik's into a false sense of security. Then suddenly on the morning of July 13th, Temur sent a force of 750 men to arrest Janib Beg. Abdullah was informed of this and sent 100 of his men to help Janib Beg, but they arrived too late and found themselves likewise arrested.  Following this minor success against Janib Beg, Temur and Thman Ali coordinated their efforts against Abdullah. They managed to corner and arrest him while disarming a large number of his troops. Realizing he was in imminent danger of getting arrested as well, al-islam Sabit Damullah fled for Artush, but was caught and quickly brought back to the Old City Yamen. During these actions casualties were quite light for both sides. On the night of July 13th, Abdullah and Sabit Damullah were placed under house arrest at the gardens, while Janib Beg was kept under close arrest. Now the new balance of power in southern Xinjiang had been held at a conference in Kashgar Old City on July 4th, attended by all the prominent Muslim leaders except Janib Beg and Ma Chanzeng. At the meeting it was agreed that the entire Yarkland Oasis should be transferred to Temurs control, while the Khotan Islamic government would be on the east bank of the Yarkland River. When news of this agreement reached Yarkland however, panic set in amongst the Khotanlik troops who had been ordred to withdraw from Yarkland New City by Hafiz. Hafiz moved quickly to exploit the situation, sending 200 men to hold the ferries across the Yarkland River to cut off the Khotanlik retreat. He arrested Nur Ahmad Jan and disarmed hundreds of his troops in the process. Nur Ahmad Jan was imprisond in Yarkland Old City, just as his brother Abdullah was in Kashgar. Shortly after this, in violation of the agreements made as Kashgar, Hafiz sent his forces across the Yarkland River into the territory of the Khotan government and captured the town of Karghalik on July 20th.  The major reverses of the Khotan Amirs followed closely with the withdrawal of Ma Chanzeng's Tungan forces to Kashgar New City, leaving the victorious Uyghur leader Temur and Kirghiz leader Uthman Ali well placed to expand their political control over the whole of western Tarim Basin. Such a feat could have been possible, if both leaders were capable of cooperating against the besieged Tungans. Uthman Ali, now taking the name Amir Al-Muslimin “prince of the believers” and Ghazi “holy warrior” was keen to attack Ma Chanzeng, whom he had personal quarrels. Temur on the other hand was not keen on full scale war against his former ally. Thus Uthman Ali withdrew from Kashgar to the hills on July 18th. Shortly after his departure, on the 26th a party of Khoja Niyas Hajjis officers, accompanied by 30 Kumullik soldiers arrived at Kashgar and presented Temur with an official seal and letter recognising his position as Commander in Chief of Kashgar. Its alleged, Khoja Niyas Hajji's delegates pressured Temur to attack Ma Chanzeng's forces in Kashgar New City. But Temur still did not want to do so, but agreed to invite Uthman Ali back to Kashgar to possibly perform joint operations against the besieged New City. Uthman Ali came back, but by August 8th, he departed again as Temur proved too reluctant to act. It seems Temur may have seen the situation as an ideal one to eliminate his Kirghiz ally and emerge the sole Turkic speaking Muslim commander in Kashgar. In any case he secretly formed an agreement with Ma Chanzeng and sent a large part of his army to pursue and disarm Uthman Ali and his Kirghiz forces. How Temurs Uyghur irregular infantry would overtake disarming mounted Kirghiz troops is anyone's guess. On August 9th, Temur left Kashgar Old City by car to see how his men were faring. Shortly after a force of 500 Tungans rapidly overran the ill defended Old City. Temur had made a fatal mistake. He was intercepted by Ma Chanzengs men on his way back to the Old City, where he was arrested and shot without ceremony. His head was cut off and placed on a spike outside the Id-gat Mosque in Kashgar Old City. Its like game of thrones in Xinjiang isnt it? As a result of slaying Temur, the Uyghur forces were left leaderless. Both Janib Beg and Abdullah took advantage of the chaos and escaped prison, fleeing southeast towards Yarkland. Ma Shaowu likewise slipped away from his house arrest, fleeing to Ma Chanzeng. The Tungans made zero effort to garrison the Old City, but disarmed and plundered its arsenal. On August 13th, Uthman Ali returned to Kashgar and sent a message to Ma Chanzeng asking his Kirghiz forces be given a share of the weapons taken from Temurs men. Ma Chanzeng refused to comply, so the Kirghiz forces attacked Old city, capturing it easily by the 16th. During the battle Uthman Ali's younger bother Umar was killed alongside 150 Kirghiz when they failed to attack the walls of New City. After taking Old City, Uthman Ali assumed Temurs title as Commander in Chief of the Turkic speaking forces at Kashgar. But he did not enjoy the full support of the Uyghurs and his Kirghiz had no hunger to attack the walls of New City, eager to return to their lands in Tien Shan. Then two new and unexpected things happened. On the 26th of August, a Syrian Arab adventurer named Tawfiq Bay arrived at Kashgar. He was a charismatic character, claiming to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and had served for a time as an official under King Abd Al Aziz ibn-saud and a man who had formal military training and experience. Two days later the representatives of Khoja Niyas Hajji, arrived as a Kumullik delegation. They soon rallied the dispirited Turkic speaking forces in Kashgar Old City and urged them to renew their attack against Ma Chanzeng. Uthman Ali and his Kirghiz forces thus renewed their attack, aided by the Uyghurs who were rallied under Tawfiq Bay.  Meanwhile on the southern front Hafiz had found out about Temurs death, thus he halted his advance against the Khotanlik forces and returned to Yarkland New City. At the same time Abdullah reappeared in Yarkland taking command of the undefended Old City. From this new base he rallied the disorganized Khotanlik forces still in Karghalik and began a siege of Yarkland New City, still held by Hafiz with a mixed force number 600 Uyghurs and Dulanis. Meanwhile both Tawfiq Bay and the representatives of Khoja Niyas Hajji at Kashgar sent messengers to the Amirs stressing the need for joint Turkic actions against the Tungans, and appealed for a cease-fire between Hafiz and Abdullah in Yarkland. On September 26, Yarkland New City opened its gates to the Khotanlik forces of Hafiz and allowed the Uyghurs of Aksu and Kashgar to leave the oasis disarmed, but unharmed. Following this Abdullah assumed control over Yarkland, while Nur Ahmad Jan advanced at the head of a large force to Yangi Hissar to take control over its fortified citadel. The Khotan Islamic government still led by Amir Muhammad Amin Bughra from Khotan was thus extended west to the fringes of Kashgar and upon invitation from Tawfiq Bay, the Khotanlik Prime Minister and Al-Islam Sabit Damullah, negotiated the formation of a unified Turkic speaking Muslim alliance in southern Xinjiang. The alliance was one of necessity as the Tungan forces of Ma Chanzeng were tossing back attacks by the combined forces of Taqfiq Bay and Uthman Ali with ease. On September 7th, the Tungans sortied from New City and devastated their enemy at the village of Sekes Tash, killing 200 Uyghurs and Kirghiz. Tawfiq Bay and Uthman Ali soon received reinforcements, including Hafiz and his 500 troops, 300 additional Uyghur recruits from Aksu under a officer named Idris and a rather mysterious force of 300 Andijani Uzbeks under the command of Satibaldi Jan, a 25 year old Uzbek from Soviet Uzbekistan. With this mixed and ill armed force they all tried to pressure Ma Chanzeng, but it was still to no avail. Attempts to mine the New City walls all ended in failure as did attempts to starve them out. Uthman Ali's Kirghiz and local Uyghurs began to run into conflicts, as the Kirghiz felt they were bearing the brunt of the fighting. Soon some Kirghiz had 3 Uyghurs executed in Old City for “filling cartridges with sand instead of power”. Other Uyghurs were hung publicly outside the Id-gah Mosque for selling food to the besieged Tungans. Support for the siege wavered and by late September morale was so low, the local authorities stopped issuing passports to stop a exodus from the Oasis. Then on the 26th, Tawfiq Bay was seriously injured and could no longer lead from the front. Uthman Ali then resigned from his post as commander in chief on October 2nd in shame, fleeing to the hills, followed closely by Satibaldi and other local leaders. A power vacuum in Kashgar opened up and was filled by Sabit Damullah, the Prime Minister of the Khotan Islamic Government. Thus in the end, with the exception of the Tungans held up in Kashgar New City, the Khotan Amirs now dominated southern Xinjiang. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In what can only be described as a form of Game of Thrones in Southern Xinjiang, numerous groups fought together, then against each other, then together, until one was king of the hill. The Tungans still clung onto Kashgar New City, but with the Khotan Amirs at the reigns, could they take it all?   

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/language

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book:  A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic forms. Using data from images of the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with Sino-Muslims about their heritage, the author examines how signs of 'Muslimness' are displayed and manipulated in both covert and overt means in different contexts. In so doing the author offers a 'semiotics of Muslimness' in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims and understanding of their heritage literacy. The author employs theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage to demonstrate how signifiers of Chinese Muslimness are invoked to substantiate heritage and Sino-Muslim identity constructions even when its expression must be covert, liminal, and unconventional. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here.

Welcome to the China Compass Podcast! After I defend my China bonafides, we begin by looking at the flights that are (and are not) available between the US and the Mainland this year … https://simpleflying.com/airlines-with-most-us-china-flights-summer-2024/ Next we look at why many of China’s millionaires are fleeing (and how they get their $ out), followed by why I think we shouldn’t be concerned about “most” of the US land being bought by Chinese nationals… https://www.newsweek.com/china-millionaires-leaving-country-1916427 https://nypost.com/2024/06/20/us-news/chinese-owned-farmland-next-to-19-us-military-bases/ CCP is brought to you by Pray for China (www.PrayforChina.us). Get daily prayer reminders on Insta or X: @chinaadventures. Here’s today’s post about Shizuishan in Ningxia… June 26 - Pray for Shizuishan (“Stony Beak Mtn”), in arid Ningxia (宁夏) Province in north-central China. Home to millions of Chinese Muslims, Ningxia is paired with western Missouri for prayer: https://prayforchina.us/states/missouri.html For more info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shizuishan https://www.asiaharvest.org/christians-in-china-stats/ningxia After explaining why Halal entrepreneurs in Ningxia are struggling, it's time for an extended story time… https://www.economist.com/china/2024/05/09/in-todays-china-to-get-rich-is-perilous First, I talk about my first miserable night in Ningxia, then the two (literal) darkest experiences of my life and losing my brakes on a family road trip across China, and finally hitchhiking with two of my young kids after stupidly running out of gas on a cold night. Finally, here’s the testimony of the sacrificial missionary, Dr. George King, as well as the accident article I mentioned during this week’s China Compass Q&A about Chinese Road Trips: https://www.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/gansu/1927-george-king (Also see: www.BordenofYale.com) https://chinacall.substack.com/p/runaway-van-14700-feet

Welcome to the China Compass Podcast! After I defend my China bonafides, we begin by looking at the flights that are (and are not) available between the US and the Mainland this year … https://simpleflying.com/airlines-with-most-us-china-flights-summer-2024/ Next we look at why many of China’s millionaires are fleeing (and how they get their $ out), followed by why I think we shouldn’t be concerned about “most” of the US land being bought by Chinese nationals… https://www.newsweek.com/china-millionaires-leaving-country-1916427 https://nypost.com/2024/06/20/us-news/chinese-owned-farmland-next-to-19-us-military-bases/ CCP is brought to you by Pray for China (www.PrayforChina.us). Get daily prayer reminders on Insta or X: @chinaadventures. Here’s today’s post about Shizuishan in Ningxia… June 26 - Pray for Shizuishan (“Stony Beak Mtn”), in arid Ningxia (宁夏) Province in north-central China. Home to millions of Chinese Muslims, Ningxia is paired with western Missouri for prayer: https://prayforchina.us/states/missouri.html For more info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shizuishan https://www.asiaharvest.org/christians-in-china-stats/ningxia After explaining why Halal entrepreneurs in Ningxia are struggling, it's time for an extended story time… https://www.economist.com/china/2024/05/09/in-todays-china-to-get-rich-is-perilous First, I talk about my first miserable night in Ningxia, then the two (literal) darkest experiences of my life and losing my brakes on a family road trip across China, and finally hitchhiking with two of my young kids after stupidly running out of gas on a cold night. Finally, here’s the testimony of the sacrificial missionary, Dr. George King, as well as the accident article I mentioned during this week’s China Compass Q&A about Chinese Road Trips: https://www.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/gansu/1927-george-king (Also see: www.BordenofYale.com) https://chinacall.substack.com/p/runaway-van-14700-feet

Content warning for discussion of genocide, torture, mutilation, rape, and slavery Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 14 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 13 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. This week marks the 5th part of our mini series of currently ongoing genocides and humanitarian crises. Episode 2 was on Palestine, Episode 11 was on Congo, episode 12 was on Sudan, episode 13 was on Xinjiang, and today's episode will talk about the genocide of the Rohingya people of Myanmar. It's officially the end of week 2! We made it. Congratulations one and all on surviving 2 weeks worth of weeks. As a gift for you all we're going to visit the Alchemist's Table. Today;s libation is called Prohibition Sweet Tooth. It's 1.5 ounces each of Redemption Bourbon and Creme de Cacao, followed by .75 oz of Frangelico. Shake well and pour over ice. Officially the Rohingya genocide began around 2016 and continues to this day, but as we know from every other episode we've had so far, genocide's don't just pop up out of nowhere all of the sudden. There is context, there is a roadmap of hindsight that we can follow back to, if not a starting point at least a starting line. So, first, let's talk about Myanmar. There have been homonid species living on Myanmar for about 750,000 years, first in the form of Homo erectus and then Homo sapiens starting around 25,000 years ago. Then a whole lot of history happened that, while fascinating and important, isn't strictly relevant to what we're going to discuss today. Starting on January 1, 1886 Myanmar (then called Burma) was officially annexed by the British Empire under the control of the British East India Company. Burma would remain under British rule until 1948. Burma was officially declared an independent state by an act of Parliament, specifically the Burma Independence Act 1947. Burma then remained under a civilian government until 1962, at which point it was overthrown in a coup detat and Burma (which became Myanmar officially in 1989) has been under military rule since then. Between 1962 and 1974, Myanmar was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general. Almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalised or brought under government control under the Burmese Way to Socialism, which combined Soviet-style nationalisation and central planning. A long series of anti-government protests resulted in a popular uprising in 1988, sometimes called the 8888 Uprising. This would lead directly to the renaming of the country from Burma to Myanmar and the country's first free, multiparty elections in 30 years. So, as you can see Myanmar has had an interesting and contentious history born of a desire for a strong sense of national unity, stability, and growth. It was the instability of the civilian government, the lack of growth, the skyrocketing crime rates, and the fear of the disintegration of Burma into several smaller nations that would lead to the 1962 coup after all. When your country has such a strong, almost rabid desire for unity and strength and national identity it always goes hand in hand with a desire for a homogenous society. The Germans in World War 2 felt it. The Ottomans in World War 1 felt it. It's what nations who fear their own collapse DO. They look for the divisive elements, the ones who don't fit the majority mold and they say “Hey, these people won't fall in line. They're dividing out country, threatening it with their different religion, culture, values, etc. We can solve all of our problems, save our country if we just… get rid of them”. Myanmar is a Buddhist majority country, by an overwhelming margin. According to the 2014 Myanmar census 90% of the country's population (of about 56 million) is Buddhist. 6.3% is Christian and just over 2% is Muslim. The Rohingya people, the subjects of our episode for today and Mulsim, so let's dive back and take a look at the history of Muslim persecution in Myanmar. The first Muslim documented in Burmese history (recorded in the Glass Palace Chronicle) was Byat Wi during the reign of Mon, a Thaton king, circa 1050 AD. The two sons of Byat Wi's brother Byat Ta, known as Shwe Byin brothers, were executed as children either because of their Islamic faith, or because they refused forced labor. Throughout the premodern era various restrictions were placed on Muslim communities in Burma. The Burmese king Bayinnaung banned Islamic ritual slaughter, thereby prohibiting Muslims from consuming halal meals of goats and chicken. He also banned Eid al-Adha and Qurbani, regarding killing animals in the name of religion as a cruel custom. Burma having largely adopted Buddhism by the 12th century CE. Although, in a strange, cruel, and somewhat ironic twist King Bodawpaya from 1782–1819 arrested four prominent Burmese Muslim Imams from Myedu and killed them in Ava, the capital, after they refused to eat pork. According to the Myedu Muslim and Burma Muslim version, Bodawpaya later apologized for the killings and recognised the Imams as saints. During the "Burma for Burmese" campaign in the late 1930s, a violent demonstration took place in Surti Bazaar, a Muslim area. When the police, who were ethnically Indian (there was a lot of anti-Indian sentiment in Burma in the 1930s, and because most Indian people living in Burma were Muslim, this also affected Muslim Burmese people), tried to break up the demonstration, three monks were injured. Images of monks being injured by ethnically Indian policemen were circulated by Burmese newspapers, provoking riots. Muslim properties, including shops and houses were looted. According to official sources, 204 Muslims were killed and over 1,000 were injured. 113 mosques were damaged. Panglong, a Chinese Muslim town in British Burma, was entirely destroyed by the Japanese invaders in the Japanese invasion of Burma in World War 2. And, after the 1962 coup all Muslim troops were expelled from the Army.  And, of course, we need to talk about the 1997 Mandalay Riots. Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar. a mob of 1,000–1,500 Buddhist monks and others shouted anti-Muslim slogans as they targeted mosques, shop-houses, and vehicles that were in the vicinity of mosques for destruction. Looting, the burning of religious books, acts of sacrilege, and vandalizing Muslim-owned establishments were also common. At least three people were killed and around 100 monks arrested. The unrest in Mandalay allegedly began after reports of an attempted rape of a girl by Muslim men, though there's no way to know if that story is true or not. In 2001, anti-Muslim pamphlets, most notably The Fear of Losing One's Race, were widely distributed by monks. Many Muslims feel that this exacerbated the anti-Muslim feelings that had been provoked by the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. (The Buddhas are two giant statues in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan that daye from about the 6th century CE, they have long been considered a holy site by Buddhists and they were destroyed by the Talbian in 2001). And that's why on 15 May 2001, anti-Muslim riots broke out in Taungoo, Pegu division, resulting in the deaths of about 200 Muslims, in the destruction of 11 mosques and the setting ablaze of over 400 houses. On 15 May, the first day of the anti-Muslim uprisings, about 20 Muslims who were praying in the Han Tha mosque were killed and some were beaten to death by the pro-junta forces. Now, something that we need to discuss before I forget to is that since 1982 the Rohingya have been denied voting rights and citizenship within Myanmar thanks to the 1982 Citizenship Law. The law created three categories of citizenship: the first category applied to ethnic Burmans and members of the Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Arakan Buddhists, Shan, and any other ethnic group present in Myanmar prior to 1823 (though they did not include Rohingya Muslims, rendering them stateless), granted them full citizenship. The second category granted partial “associate” citizenship to the children of mixed marriages where one parents fell into the first category, as well as to individuals who had lived in Myanmar for five consecutive years, or to individuals who lived in Myanmar for eight out of the ten years prior to independence. Associate citizens could earn an income, but could not serve in political office. The third category applied to the offspring of immigrants who arrived in Myanmar during the period of British colonial rule. When we look at the state of Myanmar during the 20th century we can very clearly see Levels 3 and 4 of the Pyramid of Hate. The Pyramid of Hate was created in the mid aughts and was based on the Alport Scale of Prejudice created by psychologist Gordon Alport in the 1950s. Simply put the five levels, going from bottom to top are thoughts, words, discriminatory policy, violence towards individuals because of their membership to the group and violence against the cultural markers of the group, and finally genocide. Myanmar, very obviously has and had discriminatory policy and violence towards individuals and their cultural markers. Massacres, riots, burning Qurans and mosques all fit under level 4. But, of course, things can and did get worse. There was the 2012 Rakhine State riots. Sectarian violence erupted between the Rakhine ethnic group and the Rohingya and ended with most of the Rohingya population of Sittwe, the capital of the Rakhine State being expelled. Over the course of the riots that lasted most of June and erupted again in October a little over 160 people were killed and over 100,000 Rohingya were displaced. We are now in our time of rapid escalation of violence as the next major anti Rohingya event would occur in March of 2013. But before we talk about the 2013 riots we need to talk about the 969 Movement. The 969 is a violently Islamophobic Buddhist Nationalist organization founded and run by Ashin Wirathu. Time for a slight diversion for a fun fact: The three digits of 969 "symbolize the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist community". The first 9 stands for the nine special attributes of the Buddha and the 6 for the six special attributes of his Dharma, or Buddhist Teachings, and the last 9 represents the nine special attributes of Buddhist Sangha (monastic community). Those special attributes are the Three Jewels of the Buddha. Wirathu claims that he does not advocate for violence against Muslims and that all he wants is peace, and yet in a Time magazine article he had this to say: "You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog", Wirathu said, referring to Muslims. "If we are weak", he said, "our land will become Muslim". The 2013 riots were particularly brutal. One incident involved several Muslim teenagers dragging a Buddhist man off of his bike and setting him on fire. As well as the deadliest incident of the riot which occurred when a Buddhist mob attacked and torched the Mingalar Zayone Islamic Boarding School. While outnumbered security forces stood by, rioters armed with machetes, metal pipes, chains, and stones killed 32 teenage students and four teachers. Now, while 2016 would be the “official” start of the genocide we would be remiss if we skipped over the 2015 refugee crisis. In 2015, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh fled from religious persecution and continued denial of basic rights in their home countries by means of boat travel, often through previously existing smuggling routes among the Southeast Asian waters. Many Rohingyas fled to Indonesia and Malaysia, which both adopted a stance open to acceptance of the Rohingya refugees still at sea in mid-May. And now we're at the genocide itself, though before we do that, let's take a look at that the US State Department had to say about Myanmar and Rakhine shortly before the shit hit the fan. The situation in Rakhine State is grim, in part due to a mix of long-term historical tensions between the Rakhine and Rohingya communities, socio-political conflict, socio-economic underdevelopment, and a long-standing marginalisation of both Rakhine and Rohingya by the Government of Burma. The World Bank estimates Rakhine State has the highest poverty rate in Burma (78 per cent) and is the poorest state in the country. The lack of investment by the central government has resulted in poor infrastructure and inferior social services, while lack of rule of law has led to inadequate security conditions. Members of the Rohingya community in particular reportedly face abuses by the Government of Burma, including those involving torture, unlawful arrest and detention, restricted movement, restrictions on religious practice, and discrimination in employment and access to social services. In 2012, the intercommunal conflict led to the death of nearly 200 Rohingya and the displacement of 140,000 people. Throughout 2013–2015 isolated incidents of violence against Rohingya individuals continued to take place. In 2016 a Rohingya resistance group known as Harakah al-Yaqin formed and attacked several border police posts leaving 9 officers dead and looting as many munitions as they could. In response to this the government of Myanmar immediately began cracking down on all Rohingya people as quickly and viscously as they could. In the initial operation, dozens of people were killed, and many were arrested. Casualties increased as the crackdown continued. Arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killings, gang rapes, brutalities against civilians, and looting were carried out. Media reports stated hundreds of Rohingya people had been killed by December 2016, and many had fled Myanmar as refugees to take shelter in the nearby areas of Bangladesh. Those who fled Myanmar to escape persecution reported that women had been gang raped, men were killed, houses were torched, and young children were thrown into burning houses. Boats carrying Rohingya refugees on the Naf River were often gunned down by the Burmese military. In a report published in March 2024, the IIMM stated the military had in a "systematic and coordinated" manner "spread material designed to instil fear and hatred of the Rohingya minority". The report found military was used dozens of seemingly unrelated Facebook pages to spread hate speech against the Rohingya prior before the 2017 Rohingya genocide. This is similar in intent to the use of radio stations to spread constant anti Tutsi propaganda during the Rwandan genocide, though obviously as information technology advances methods get more sophisticated. Though I hesitate to call Facebook sophisticated.. In August 2018, a study estimated that more than 24,000 Rohingya people were killed by the Burmese military and local Buddhists since the "clearance operations" which had started on 25 August 2017. The study also estimated that over 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls were raped, 116,000 Rohingyans were beaten, and 36,000 Rohingyans were thrown into fires. It was also reported that at least 6,700 to 7,000 Rohingya people including 730 children were killed in the first month alone since the crackdown started. In September 2018, the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar released a report stating that at least 392 Rohingya villages in Rakhine State had been razed to the ground since 25 August 2017. Earlier, Human Rights Watch in December 2017 said it had found that 354 Rohingya villages in Rakhine state were burnt down and destroyed by the Myanmar military. In November 2017, both the UN officials and the Human Rights Watch reported that the Armed Forces of Myanmar had committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the Rohingya Muslim women and girls for the prior three months. HRW stated that the gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of the military's ethnic cleansing campaign while Pramila Patten, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said that the Rohingya women and girls were made the "systematic" target of rapes and sexual violence because of their ethnic identity and religion. In February 2018, it was reported that the Burmese military bulldozed and flattened the burnt Rohingya villages and mass graves in order to destroy the evidence of atrocities committed. These villages were inhabited by the Rohingya people before they were burnt down by the Burmese military during the 2017 crackdown. Since the 25 August incident, Myanmar blocked media access and the visits of international bodies to Rakhine State. Rakhine State has been called an information black hole. According to the Mission report of OHCHR (released on 11 October 2017 by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), the Burmenese military began a "systematic" process of driving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar in early August 2017. The report noted that "prior to the incidents and crackdown of 25 August, a strategy was pursued to": Arrest and arbitrarily detain male Rohingyas between the ages of 15–40 years; Arrest and arbitrarily detain Rohingya opinion-makers, leaders and cultural and religious personalities; Initiate acts to deprive Rohingya villagers of access to food, livelihoods and other means of conducting daily activities and life; Commit repeated acts of humiliation and violence prior to, during and after 25 August, to drive out Rohingya villagers en masse through incitement to hatred, violence, and killings, including by declaring the Rohingyas as Bengalis and illegal settlers in Myanmar; Instill deep and widespread fear and trauma – physical, emotional and psychological, in the Rohingya victims via acts of brutality, namely killings, disappearances, torture, and rape and other forms of sexual violence. In addition to the massive and horrific amounts of violence that are occuring, even now, inside Myanmar there is also the refugee crisis we mentioned earlier. There are over 700,000 Rohingya people who have been displaced from their homes and are living in refugee camps in surrounding countries. Most fled to Bangladesh while others escaped to India, Thailand, Malaysia, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. On 12 September 2018, the OHCHR Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar published its report to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Following 875 interviews with victims and eyewitnesses since 2011, it concluded that "the [Burmese] military has consistently failed to respect international human rights law and the international humanitarian law principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution." Even before the most recent incident of mass Rohingya displacement began in 2011, the report found that the restrictions on travel, birth registration, and education resulting from Rohingya statelessness violated the Rohingya people's human rights. During the mass displacement of almost 725,000 Rohingya by August 2018 to neighbouring Bangladesh, as a result of persecution by the Tatmadaw, the report recorded "gross human rights violations and abuses" such as mass rape, murder, torture, and imprisonment. It also accused the Tatmadaw of crimes against humanity, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. The mission report recommended that six Burmese generals in the Tatmadaw stand trial in an international tribune for atrocities committed against the Rohingya. Despite all this the UN refuses to do anything substantive. Instead they are still trying to cooperate with the Tatmadaw and convince them to stop committing genocide. The UN has always been a useless tool of appeasement, Western imperialism, and white supremacy that refuses to hold anyone accountable. Of course, if the UN held genocidal regimes accountable they'd have to arrest the entire permanent Security Council so, the lack of accountability isn't surprising. It's why cops don't arrest other cops. You may have noticed that the dates in this episode stop after 2018, you also might remember that Myanmar has been called an information black hole. The genocide is still ongoing, nothing has gotten better and it's probably gotten worse, but getting verifiable information out of Myanmar is all but impossible at this point. Keep Myanmar in your sight. That's it for this week folks. No new reviews, so let's get right into the outro. Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. If you want to see/hear more of me you can find me on Tiktok @thehistorywizard or on Instagram @the_history_wizard. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you  for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day, and Free Rakhine.    

Content warning for discussion of genocide, torture, mutilation, rape, and slavery Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 13 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 12 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. This week marks the 4th part of our mini series of currently ongoing genocides and humanitarian crises. Episode 2 was on Palestine, Episode 11 was on Congo, episode 12 was on Sudan and today's will be on a very widely denied genocide, especially in left wing political circles. The Uyghur Genocide. But first, let's fortify ourselves with the waters of life and remember that part of our activism needs to always be finding joy in life and getting ourselves a little treat. It's time for the Alchemist's Table. Today's libation is called a Rumsberry Breeze. In your shaker muddle some raspberries with half an ounce of simple syrup. Add two ounces of dark rum. Shake well and double strain over ice. Top with ginger beer and enjoy. The genocide of the Uyghur people and the longer history of ethnic tensions between Han Chinese and the Uyghur peoples has centered around Xinjiang for as long as it's been around. First thing's first. Let's dive a bit into the history of the Uyghur people. The Uyghur are an ethnically Turkic people living, mostly in the Tarim and Dzungarian Basins in East Turkestan (what is sometimes called Uyghurstan) today. Xinjiang, sometimes also called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has been under Chinese control since it was conquered from the Dzungar Khanate in around 1759. Now, how long have the Uyghur people been living in the area? Well, that's a matter of some contention and the answer you get will depend on what sources you go with. The history of the Uyghur people, including their ethnic origin, is an issue of contention between Uyghur nationalists and Chinese authorities. Uyghur historians view Uyghurs as the original inhabitants of Xinjiang, with a long history. Uyghur politician and historian Muhammad Amin Bughra wrote in his book A history of East Turkestan, stressing the Turkic aspects of his people, that the Turks have a 9,000-year history, while historian Turgun Almas incorporated discoveries of Tarim mummies to conclude that Uyghurs have over 6,400 years of history. The World Uyghur Congress has claimed a 4,000-year history. However, the official Chinese view, as documented in the white paper History and Development of Xinjiang, asserts that the Uyghurs in Xinjiang formed after the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in ninth-century CE Mongolia, from the fusion of many different indigenous peoples of the Tarim Basin and the westward-migrating Old Uyghurs. Regardless of which timeline we go with, the Uyghur people have certainly been living in the region for far longer than the Chinese Empires that have been dominating them for hundreds of years. And, make no mistake, modern day China is still very much imperial. Something that we'll cover in more detail later, as it is very relevant to the current genocide, is that the Uyghur people are, as a general rule, Muslim. The earliest records we have indicate that before this conversion to Islam around the 10th century CE the Old Uyghur people (Old Uyghur is meant to differentiate the Pre-Chinese Uyghur population from the modern one) followed the Tocharian religion. We don't really have any details about what, exactly, that religion entailed, but today most of the Tocharian inscriptions are based on Buddhist monastic texts, which suggests that the Tocharians largely embraced Buddhism. The pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Tocharians are largely unknown, but several Chinese goddesses are similar to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European sun goddess and the dawn goddess, which implies that the Chinese were influenced by the pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Tocharians when they traveled on trade routes which were located in Tocharian territories.  The history of China's abuses over the peoples they conquered is a long one, but details on the exact situation of the Uyghur people are somewhat few and far between. However two of the most important parts of Uyghur-Chinese history in the region come from the 19th century CE with the Dungan Revolt and the Dzungar genocide. Something we need to note right now is that the modern Uyghur Ethnic group wasn't called the Uyghur before the Soviet Union gave them that name in 1921, although the modern Ughurs are descended from the Old Uyghurs, at the time of the Dungan Revolt and the Dzungar Genocide they were known by the Chinese as Turki or Taranchi. So if you're ever reading sources about these two events, you might not ever see the word Uyghur, despite them being involved in both events. The Dungan Revolt lasted from 1862 until 1877 and saw a roughly 21 million people killed. According to research by modern historians, at least 4 million Hui were in Shaanxi before the revolt, but only 20,000 remained in the province afterwards, with most of the Hui either killed in massacres and reprisals by government and militia forces, or deported out of the province. It has its roots in the ongoing ethnic tensions between the Hui (Muslim) minorities of China and the ethnic Han peoples. It also stemmed from economic conflicts as Han merchants were known to greatly overcharge Hui peoples and there was massive corruption and fiscal instability resulting from the Taiping Rebellion that led to the peoples of Xinjiang being heavily burdened by unfair taxes.  All of these tensions would explode into a riot in 1862 (some sources say over inflated pricing on bamboo stalks). As a result of this there was a massacre of Han people's by the Hui and everything snowballed from there. With the start of the revolt in Gansu and Shaanxi in 1862, rumors spread among the Hui (Dungans) of Xinjiang that the Qing authorities were preparing a wholesale preemptive slaughter of the Hui people in Xinjiang, or in a particular community. Opinions as to the veracity of these rumors vary: while the Tongzhi Emperor described them as "absurd" in his edict of September 25, 1864, Muslim historians generally believe that massacres were indeed planned, if not by the imperial government then by various local authorities. Thus it was the Dungans who usually revolted in most Xinjiang towns, although the local Turkic people—Taranchis, Kyrgyzs, and Kazakhs—would usually quickly join the fray. The revolt would rage for 15 years, with many Muslim people of Xinjiang and China been slaughtered or forced to convert away from Islam. Though these reprisal killings and forced conversions really only took place in areas that were in active revolt. There were many Chinese Muslims in the Qing armies during the pacification of the Revolt and many also received great acclaim and promotions once the war was over.  Although, it needs to be stated that there were some cities that were actively committing genocide, such as the city of Kashgar which carried out a preemptive slaughter of their Hui population in 1864. So, there was a genocide of the Hui people, as genocide is defined as actions taken with intent to destroy in whole or in part a particular national, racial, ethnic or religious group. Hell, the Taranchi Turkic peoples, our modern Uyghurs, originally aided the Hui, but wound up turning against them to join the Qing armies once they learned that the Hui wanted to put Xinjiang under their specific rule. I technically did these events out of order, but I'm not going to fix that. We've got to dip 100 years into the past to find the Dzungar Genocide. This genocide happened at the end of Mongol Rule in Xinjiang and around the time the Qing initially came in. We're going to talk about this very briefly, as we still have all our modern issues to discuss. The main reason we even need to bring up the Dzungar genocide in a podcast episode on the Uyghur Genocide is that the Uyghurs participated in this genocide on the side of the Qing army as part of an uprising against the Dzungar Khanate. The Dzungar Genocide killed between 70 and 80% of their original population of about 600,000. The Qianlong Emperor had this to say when ordering the extermination of the Dzungari people. "Show no mercy at all to these rebels. Only the old and weak should be saved. Our previous military campaigns were too lenient. If we act as before, our troops will withdraw, and further trouble will occur. If a rebel is captured and his followers wish to surrender, he must personally come to the garrison, prostrate himself before the commander, and request surrender. If he only sends someone to request submission, it is undoubtedly a trick. Tell Tsengünjav to massacre these crafty Zunghars. Do not believe what they say." So, Xinjiang was once again under Qing rule and would remain so until the Wuchang Uprising overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China (not to be confused with the modern day Republic of China, which is actually the nation of Taiwan under Chinese imperialist control.  All of this context is to show that relations between the Chinese government and the various Muslim ethnicities within its borders have always been one of Master and Slave. The Chinese government has always treated non-Han peoples as lesser, and the presence of Muslim Chinese peoples was only tolerated for as long as they worked in lock step with Beijing. Once they didn't, they were prime targets for reprisal massacres and forced conversion. We would see this scenario play out again during the time of the Chinese Republic in 1931 with the Kumul Rebellion.  The Kumul Rebellion began because of the actions of Jin Shuren, the governor of Xinjiang from 1928 until 1933. Jin was notoriously intolerant of Turkic peoples and openly antagonized them. Such acts of discrimination included restrictions on travel, increased taxation, seizure of property without due process and frequent executions for suspected espionage or disloyalty. However, the event that would spark the rebellion would be the annexation of the Kumul Khanate, a semi autonomous region in northern Xinjiang. At the end of the Rebellion Jin was dead and the First East Turkestan Republic was established around the city of Kashgar in the far west of Xinjiang. The First East Turkestan Republic would only last for a year before being conquered by a Chinese warlord named Shen Shicai, who had backing and support from the Soviet Union. In 1937, specifically to coincide with Stalin's own Great Purge, Shicai planned and executed the elimination of "traitors", "pan-Turkists", "enemies of the people", "nationalists" and "imperialist spies". His purges swept the entire Uyghur and Hui political elite. The NKVD provided the support during the purges. In the later stages of the purge, Sheng turned against the "Trotskyites", mostly a group of Han Chinese sent to him by Moscow. It's estimated that he killed between 50 and 100,000 people in these purges. Shicai would eventually betray the Soviets to join with the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, which would lead to the Soviets backing the Uyghur people in the Ili Rebellion leading to the creation of the Second East Turkestan Republic, which would eventually get folded into Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China in 1949. From the 1950s to the 1970s China enacted two main policies against the Uyghur people. They instituted mass migrations of Han Chinese people into Xinjiang as well as passing various laws designed to infringe and smother Uyghur ethnic and religious identity. Uyghurs are barred from freely practicing their religion, speaking their language, and expressing other fundamental elements of their identity. Restrictions apply to many aspects of life, including dress, language, diet, and education. The Chinese government closely monitors Uyghur religious institutions. Even ordinary acts such as praying or going to a mosque may be a basis for arrest or detention. While repression of Uyghur cultural beliefs and identity had existed from day 1 on the PRC, it was in 1990 that everything started to go pear shaped. The Barin Uprising took place between the 4th and 10th of April, 1990. Violence began on the evening of 4 April, when a group of 200 to 300 Uyghur men attempted to breach the gates of the local government office in a protest against alleged forced abortions of Uyghur women and Chinese rule in Xinjiang. Following the uprising in an unprecedented move, Chinese authorities arrested 7,900 people, labelled "ethnic splittists" and "counter-revolutionaries", from April to July 1990. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s there were various terrorist attacks committed by Uyghur resistance groups and freedom fighters, leading to further crackdowns and tightening of police control in Xinjiang throughout the years. Until 2001 Beijing spoke about these attacks as isolated incidents and made no broad statements of all Uyghur being terrorists, despite regularly arresting thousands of Uyghur people for no real reason. Many of those arrested Uyghur people wound up in Laogai (reform through labor) camps or in laojiao (re-education through labor) camps scattered throughout China. But, after the 9/11 attacks on the United States the tone shifted and more and more anti-Uyghur rhetoric started to become anti-terrorist rhetoric. This type of shift in language always precedes an uptick in genocidal violence. Now that all Uyghur are being labeled as terrorists, all Uyghur can be arbitrarily arrested and put in camps or even merely killed and no one will really care because it's not ethnic based discrimination. It's an anti terrorism campaign designed to protect the people from violent thugs.  After 2001 Beijing Sided with the U.S. in the new “global war against terrorism,” the Chinese government initiated an active diplomatic and propaganda campaign against “East Turkestan terrorist forces.” This label was henceforth to be applied indiscriminately to any Uighur suspected of separatist activities. There has been no sign of any attempt by the Chinese authorities to distinguish between peaceful political activists, peaceful separatists, and those advocating or using violence. Although, it needs to be said that violence is a perfectly valid political tool when resisting genocide and imperialism. This leads us to China's Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism and the creation of their “vocational education and training centers” (both laogai and laojiao allegedly closing down in around 2013, although satellite evidence says that's bullshit).   In early 2014, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang launched the renewed "strike hard" campaign around New Year. It included measures targeting mobile phones, computers, and religious materials belonging to Uyghurs. The government simultaneously announced a "people's war on terror" and local government introduced new restrictions that included the banning of long beards and the wearing of veils in public places. Over the life of the camps it is estimated, by various sources that between a few hundred thousand and 1.8 million people have been arbitrarily detained in these camps and subjected to forced labor as a method of reformation. This is part of a Chinese government policy called hashar and includes many public works projects in Xinjiang. Beyond the simple fact of these slave labor camps, the state also began imposing harsh penalties for violations of birth limits. It also implemented an aggressive campaign of mass sterilization and intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) implantation programs. Chinese government officials justify this by equating high birth rates with religious extremism. Chinese academics have argued that ethnic minority population growth threatens social stability and national identity.  Leaked government documents show that violations of birth limits are the most common reason Uyghur women are placed in a detention camp. Women have testified to being sterilized without their consent while in detention. Other women have testified that they were threatened with detention if they refused sterilization or IUD implantation procedures. So, in summation, since the 1950s at least the Chinese government has been engaging in forcible assimilation practices. Something that the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (a legally non binding resolution passed in 2007) says Indigenous people have a right to not be subjected to. As well as forced sterilization and forced abortions for violating China's family planning laws. And arbitrary detention and forced labor on invented charges of religious extremism and separatist activities. And then also having their children taken away from them and placed into something akin to the residential school system of the US, Canada, and Australia where they are forbidden from even speaking the Uyghur language. Under the UN CPPCG China is guilty of genocide in the form of causing severe bodily or mental harm to the group, imposing measures designed to prevent births within the group, and transferring children of the group to another group. The Uyghur Genocide is one of the more difficult ones to talk about online, especially if you frequent leftist political circles and spaces like I do as anything anti-China is seen often seen as Western propaganda and part of Cold War policies of anticommunism, as if China doesn't have roughly 814 billionaires controlling the majority of their means of production. The wealthiest man in China is Zhong Shanshan. He privately owns a bottled water company and is worth over 60 billion dollars. China isn't a communist country, it's not even socialist. It's just fascist and capitalist. But that's a rant for a different day. The Uyghur Genocide is real and verifiable, although it can be difficult to do so as there is a lot of misinformation and propaganda regarding it on both sides of the discussion. None of that changes the fact of the genocide or of the destruction of Uyghur culture in Xinjiang.  That's it for this week folks. No new reviews, so let's get right into the outro. Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. If you want to see/hear more of me you can find me on Tiktok @thehistorywizard or on Instagram @the_history_wizard. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you  for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day, and Free Xinjiang.  

Find me and the show on social media @DrWilmerLeon on X (Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Drwilmerleonctd   FULL TRANSCRIPT Announcer (00:06): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Wilmer Leon (00:15): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon. I am Wilmer Leon. Here's the point. We have a tendency to view current events as though they occur in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historical context in which most events take place. During each episode, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between current events and the broader historic context in which these events occur. This enables you to better understand and analyze these events that impact the global village in which we live. On today's episode. The issues before us are, what are the three steps leading to war, and what's the real story behind the so-called Uyghur genocide or oppression in China? My guest today is a peace activist, a writer, a teacher, a political analyst, KJ Noh. KJ, welcome to the show. Speaker 3 (01:22): Thank you. Pleasure to be with you. Wilmer Leon (01:24): So in talking with you yesterday, you had expressed this concept that there are three steps leading to war. You talked about an information war, you talked about shaping of the environment and provocation. As we look at what's transpiring between the United States and Russia, as we look at what's transpiring more specifically between the United States and China over Taiwan, walk us through these steps and how these steps apply to where we are today. Speaker 3 (02:03): Yes, this is exactly what is going on. So the first thing to understand is that before the US goes to war, there is an information campaign, which we can understand as both manufacturing consent and stirring up people's emotions to demonize and to other the opponent. And so we see that very, very clearly in China. That's been ongoing for many years now. But if you look at all the polls, everybody is convinced that China is a threat. So the first step is information warfare, which is the pre kinetic sube dimension of war. The second dimension is shaping the environment. The US never likes to go to war without shaping the environment first. So in order to do that, it wants to weaken the adversary and it wants to bring as much force to bear as possible against its opponents. So we see that right now with the United States. (03:08) It's created a vast set of alliances against China, Aus Jaas, JAAS, the Quad, NATO plus, and then you can see that there is the first island chain, which it has completely militarized, and it is prepositioning supplies, materials, troops, all along it, including troops, right on Gman Island of Taiwan, which is less than three miles from the mainland. So you see the constant shaping of the environment. Also, you will see preparations for war in terms of massive military exercises. You see this in Korea, which spent 200 days out of the past year in constant military exercises. You see the military exercises all over the Pacific, which are essentially nonstop. And then the last step is the provocation. That is you want to provoke the other side to fire the first shot. You want to wrong foot them so that then you can build on all the demonization and the ally building that you've created and then use that as a ally to start the war. (04:25) And we see these provocations happening more and more frequently. We see the provocations by the Philippines against the Chinese overtaking their boats, trying to cut them off and seeing if they'll get rammed. You see the provocations on the Korean peninsula where there's this constant in your face provocation against North Korea, threatening to decapitate, sending the message to Korean troops to shoot first and report later, shoot, first report later. And you see the provocation, as I just mentioned, in Jinman Island where you have US special forces troops parked permanently three miles away from the Chinese mainland. Imagine if the PLA stationed Chinese troops on Key West or Galveston Island or the Farone Island just right up against the nose of right up against the US coast. Would that be considered provocative? I would think so. And so essentially we see all these three steps happening, the information warfare, the hatemongering, the shaping of the environment, the very, very deliberate shaping of the environment for war, and then the constant provocation. So this is why I think that we have to be very, very careful that it will just take one small misstep in this minefield for something to go off, and that will create a chain reaction that will affect the entire Pacific. Wilmer Leon (06:06): So we saw in the seventies, we saw Nixon go to China. Henry Kissinger helped to orchestrate that entire process and a development of a reproach mon with China. And one of the objectives of that was to be sure that China stayed on our side of the equation as the United States was still involved in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. When we got to, I think it was the Obama administration, that's where this whole idea of the pivot towards China started to manifest itself. What, first of all, do I have my history? And then secondly, if so, what is it that or who was in the American foreign policy elite that decided that this pivot needed to take place? Speaker 3 (07:09): Yeah, that's a really, really good question. I have to go back to a little bit of the history. You absolutely are about Nixon. Nixon tried to peel China off away from the Soviet Union as part of their Cold War strategy, and then they engaged with China, and then they dumped Taiwan, which previous to that had been considered the legitimate China, but they were always hedging, so they always kind of had their foot partially on Taiwan because they didn't want to give it up completely. Wilmer Leon (07:43): They who Speaker 3 (07:44): The US establishment didn't want to give it up completely as a US outpost. And so they always kept a little foot in there. And so this is what they call strategic ambiguity. But the official line was the one China policy. The Shanghai communicates essentially there's only one China. The PRC is the legitimate government of China. Taiwan Island is a part of China, and any issues between Taiwan province and China are to be resolved amongst themselves. The US is going to withdraw troops, it's going to withdraw arms, and it's not going to be involved. That was the agreement, and that was the foundation of the relationship between the US and China. All of that is now completely dissolved. It's gone. There is no defacto one China policy anymore. But who started this war? That is the $64,000 question. In 1992, Paul Wolfowitz, the NeoCon Mino, Greece, he wrote a document called the Defense Planning Guidance Document, and essentially it was declaration that the United States would be the uni polo global hegemon, regardless, and at any measure, uni polo global hegemon simply means that it would be the boss of the world and it would take any measure, it would go to war, et cetera, as necessary. (09:12) This document, the defense planning guidance document, became the project for a new American century. The project for a new American century was unquote disavowed, but it's simply mutated, and then it was picked up again by a group of people at Center for a New American Security. And those two words, new American, they are not a coincidence. The CNA or Center for New American Security is a kind of a reestablishment of the neocons who started pen A. And so you see this entire chain of ideology continuing from Wolfowitz and the people around him, the neocons around him, the Cheney, Wilmer Leon (09:57): Dick Cheney, Speaker 3 (09:59): Yes, Wilmer Leon (10:00): Richard Pearl, Speaker 3 (10:01): Richard Pearl, all of these neocons, they simply bequeathed their legacy onto a younger group of neocons, the neocons who are associated with the Center for New American Security. Wilmer Leon (10:13): In fact, let me jump in. I'm sorry. Just really quickly on the pen side with Wolfowitz and Pearl, I think Scooter Libby, when George HW Bush was in the White House, that crew came to him and wanted to promote all of this rhetoric. He referred to them as the crazies and said, and this is from Ray McGovern who was in the White House at the time with the CIA said, get these crazies out of here and keep them away from me. And I think it was George HW that by pushing them out, that moved them to Form P NAC and all of that. Speaker 3 (11:02): Absolutely. And remember, these crazies also wanted to go to war against China in the early two thousands. So it was actually, and Wilmer Leon (11:12): They also wanted Bill Clinton to overthrow Saddam Hussein. They sent, and folks, you can go and look on the, you can Google this and you can pull up the letter and see all the signatories to the letter. They sent a letter to Bill Clinton when he was president, asking him to invade Iraq. And he said, no, Speaker 3 (11:35): Exactly. And then nine 11 happened, and the Pen Act document actually said, we need something like a Pearl Harbor in order to be able to trigger our plans. And so then conveniently, nine 11 happened, and then Iraq was invaded. But anyway, these crazies never went away. They went into various think tanks, but one of the key think tanks is CNAs, which is an outcome. It's a kind of an annex of CSIS itself, one of the deep state think tanks. And starting 2008, they drew up a plan for War against China specifically. There's an organization called CSBA, which is, it's a kind of a think tank. It's a procurement and strategy think tank associated with the Pentagon. And it was once again, related to another deep state think tank inside the Pentagon that does long-term strategic planning. And they came up with something called Air Sea Battle, which is the doctrine of war against China. (12:48) So since then with Air Sea Battle, air Sea Battle is actually, it's derived from Air land battle, which was the doctrine of war against the Soviet Union, which is why it has a similar resonance to it. And that itself was derived from the Israeli doctrine of war from the Yom Kippur war where they did massive aggressive strikes deep inside their opponents infrastructure. And that became Airland battle. Airland battle was never used against the Soviet Union, but it was used in Iraq, in Kosovo, et cetera. Colloquially, it's known as shock and awe. And they created a shock and awe version for China called Air Sea Battle. And that was developed in earnest starting around 2009. And then remember 2012, the US declared the pivot to Asia. So this is the Obama administration. They essentially declared in so many terms that we are going to make sure that China does not develop any further. (14:06) We're going to encircle China, we're going to station troops in Australia. It was declared in Adelaide. We're going to encircle the entire, essentially it was a plan to encircle China all along the first island chain from the corals to Japan, to Okinawa to Taiwan Island along the Philippine Archipelago, and then all the way to Indonesia. This very, very deliberate plan to encircle and to escalate to war against China. 2008 and 2009 was really the turning point, because it was the time of the change. It was the global financial crash, and the people who engaged with China, they engaged with China under the conceit that China would essentially be absorbed into the US capitalist system. That is, it would become a tenant farmer on the US capitalist plantation. Wilmer Leon (15:11): That's what they tried to do with the Soviet Union. Speaker 3 (15:13): Exactly, exactly. Wilmer Leon (15:15): Under Gorbachev, Speaker 3 (15:16): Exactly right. Yes. So we would become a tenant under the global US capitalist plantation, or it would collapse. That was what they believed. And then in 2008, the Western Catalyst financial system collapsed on itself, and it turned out that China was not going to collapse. It was actually incredibly strong, incredibly resilient, and they actually had to go hat in hand to China to beg for support, in order to prop up the system and then to do a controlled demolition on the backs of the working class here. And so when that became clear that China was not going to collapse and it was not going to be subordinated, then the DCAS came out and explicit doctrine of war started to be prepared. This is what I referred to as Air Sea baffle. So that doctrine of war was created inside various think tanks, CSBA, and then supported by css, CNAs, et cetera. (16:18) And then when the Obama administration transition, those plans were simply kept alive with CNAS, and some of it was incorporated into Trump's strategy, but Trump had neo mercantile tendencies, so he was not as aggressive as they would like him to be. And then when Biden came back, the pivot to Asia was rebranded as the Indo-Pacific Strategy, and it's gone full tilt since then. So we see this constant escalation, as I said, the information warfare, the shaping, the environment, the exercises, the alliances, the prepositioning, and then we see the constant provocation. So we are well on the way to war. Henry Kissinger said that we were in the foothills of a cold war. No, we are high up in high altitude and very, very close to kinetic war. Wilmer Leon (17:14): I think I said when I made the reference to Russia that that's what they try to do with Gorbachev, but I think it was Yeltsin to Gorbachev is where all of that financial intrigue was taking place. And I think it was Gorbachev who realized the danger on the horizon and shifted the game plan on the United States, which is why one of the reasons why Gorbachev Gorbachev had to go leading us into where we are now with President Putin. But that's another, I hope I have again, that history, right? Yes, (17:50) Absolutely. So with all that you've just laid out, and before we get into some of the specifics about the info war, as all of this is going on, what we also have is the de-industrialization of the United States and the offshoring or outsourcing of American manufacturing to China. So how do you, on the one hand, offshore or outsource your manufacturing, particularly as a capitalist economy, going to China in search of cheaper labor to make more profit, but then at the same time, you're planning to go to war with the people that are manufacturing a whole lot of the stuff that your country consumes? Is that a good question? Speaker 3 (18:53): Yeah, no, it's absolutely valid. I mean, it's a very, very good point. That's the core contradiction. The US has outsourced Wilmer Leon (19:00): Needs, and by the way, the country that you go to buy your bonds so that your economy can stay afloat. Speaker 3 (19:07): Absolutely. Absolutely. Right. So not only has China financed the United States and supported or propped up the US dollar as the global reserve currency, but also the US exported its industrial base to China because it thought that it could simply exploit the hell out of the Chinese worker at the cost of the US worker, Wilmer Leon (19:33): The sick man of Asia mentality, and we can just play these Chinese people for fools. Speaker 3 (19:38): Exactly. Exactly. So exploit the hell out of them, make a killing, and then eventually China would be completely absorbed into the US capitalist system, or it would collapse, right? It was either collapse or be absorbed. This is what Bill Clinton believed. So that was the plan, except that China developed on its own terms, and it showed that not only is it possible to develop that it doesn't have to become subjugated to the west, to the western institutions, that's when the daggers came out. But now there is the contradiction that on the one hand, the US wants to go to war against China. On the other hand, it's significantly, it's so deeply enmeshed with Chinese industry and the Chinese economy that it is not easy. And so it's trying this very delicate operation of what they refer to as de-risking, but it's really decoupling, and they're trying to separate themselves from China as you would try to separate conjoined twins. (20:43) Except the problem is that China has the beating heart, the beating heart of the industry. So if you separate that out, then you're going to give yourself a lot of problems. And so they have not thought this through, but these are people who are not known for their clear thinking. As I said, they're neocons, they're neo neocons, they're crazies. They are drunk with power. They do not want to give up their power and their dominance over the planet, certainly not to China, and they would rather end the planet than see the end of their hegemony, of their dominance. And that's the really dangerous moment that we're in. I've referred to it as a drunk who as the bar is closing and your credit cards are being rejected, you've struck out with everybody. You're just spoiling for a fight, a fight. You're not going to go home without a fight. And that's currently what it looks like right now. Wilmer Leon (21:44): So the first element of the three that you mentioned is the info war. So we're being told that President Xi is an authoritarian. We're being told that China has stolen American manufacturing secrets and has exploited American manufacturing processes. We're being told that China is trying to take over Africa. There are a number of stories that get repeated ATD nauseum, very little if any evidence to support them. But this is the info drumbeat that you keep hearing on M-S-N-B-C and CNN and Fox News. So let's start with the G is a authoritarian, and he's the dictator of China. China is a communist country, and therefore everything is evil that comes from China. Speaker 3 (22:48): Yeah, I mean, this is warmed over Cold War rhetoric. It's essentially a red scare plus yellow peril, right? I mean, we've heard this stuff before. I mean, if you go to China, you realize that there's nothing authoritarian about it. Actually. You feel much freer and much more at liberty to do what you want and to be who you are than you do here. It's not at all an authoritarian state. It's simply the US plasters, the label authoritarian against any country that it doesn't like and where it's usually planning to go to war against. So that is a very, very clear signal. I mean, just from a kind of statistical polling standpoint, the Chinese government is the most popular government on the planet. It ranks in the 90th percentile, and this is Wilmer Leon (23:42): High 90, I think 96 was the last number I saw, Speaker 3 (23:47): Something like that. Yes, certainly in above 90 percentile. And this is from Harvard University, correct? With longitudinal studies. So clearly they have the trust and the full faith of its people. Wilmer Leon (24:01): Repeat that, because most people, when they hear, I know this, when I say that to listeners or if I'm in conversation and I say, well, when you poll the Chinese people, they back their government at around 96%. And of course, the response I get is, well, of course they would, because that's Chinese polling, and that's Xi telling them what to think. And if they don't do what Xi tells them to do, then they wind up missing. Speaker 3 (24:30): No, no, no, that's sorry. Yeah, I mean, it's good. It's what people think, but first it is not Chinese polling. It is US polling, it's Harvard University doing this over a longitudinal study, I think over 10. It's over a decade, maybe 15 years long. And so it's us polling, not Chinese polling. The second thing is that over 150 million Chinese travel abroad every year, they travel all over the world. They go as tourists, they go as students, et cetera, and then almost every single one of them goes back home. You would not get that in an authoritarian state. You think that if you live in a prison or a concentration cab that you go free and then you come back of your own volition? No, that's not possible. It's absurd. So as I said, the Chinese travel all over the world, and then they simply come back because that's where they want to be. (25:34) So this notion that Chinese are authoritarian, that it's an authoritarian state, nobody's allowed to do anything that's completely fault. It does contrast, for example, with the east block where it was very, very difficult to travel abroad, and once when people did travel abroad, they did defect. That much is true. That is certainly not the case with China. As I said, 150 million people travel abroad and then go back home. So that is a lie from top to bottom. I mean, of course you have a few people who defect. I think the defection rate from China is about the same number of people who defect from the United States. So if you want to, oh, really? Wilmer Leon (26:16): Yes. Speaker 3 (26:16): Okay, Wilmer Leon (26:17): I didn't know that. Speaker 3 (26:17): Yes. So it's about the same. So it's a kind of a net zero. So anything that says otherwise is usually an exaggeration or a misconstrue of the actual numbers Wilmer Leon (26:30): To this idea of authoritarian, and I was just thinking about this as you were talking. I think one of the great misnomers is the conflation of a planned economy versus an authoritarian government. I don't think I'm off base to say that China is very, very focused on planning its economy, and that makes it very nimble. That makes it, in my opinion, easier for the government to shift as world economic dynamics shift. Also, because it doesn't have predatory capitalism in China, corporations in China and the Chinese government that owns corporations, they reinvest their money into their economy as opposed to into stock buyback programs and high executive compensation packages. Hence, we wind up with a lot of technological advancements coming out of China, which to a great degree is what is scaring the hell out of the United States government. Yeah, Speaker 3 (27:49): You're absolutely right. Yeah. So the Chinese system is planned, but it's planned in a very rational way. Most of the leaders are unlike the United States, most of the leaders in the US are lawyers or failed business people in China. Most of the leadership are scientists and engineers, and they go through an incredibly complex vetting process where they have to show their capacity and show their ability over and over again before they even reach to the level of becoming a city or a province governor. And then from there, it just gets harder and harder. So you really make sure that the top people are leading. And then there's a system where there's a constant process of feedback and consultation with the people. So the government makes sure that it's doing what the people wants. And so it's planned Wilmer Leon (28:42): In political science. That's the Easton model, I think James Easton model of the feedback loop, how effective governments are supposed to function. They implement policy, they get feedback from the populace on how that policy is being implemented. They then translate that into better policy. That's the eastern model of called the policy feedback loop. Speaker 3 (29:18): Yes, exactly. There's this policy feedback loop, and once again, as I said, the Chinese leadership are scientists, so they do this thing called a trial spot. What is when they have a policy, they try it out in one city or one area, and if it works, then they scale it up and they try it again in a larger province on a larger scale. And if it works, they scale it up even further, et cetera. So it's a very kind of scientific method that they use called trial spots where they're essentially using the scientific method and a vast system of feedback and consultation in order to see if something works or not. That's why they're, for example, creating sustainable cities, sustainable energy generation, mass transit, et cetera, all sorts of public goods. But the problem with this is that the Western concede is that if it's not liberal capitalists, that is if you don't let the capitalists do whatever they want to, this is an infringement on freedom, and that's the framing that they use. (30:23) If you don't let the predatory capitalists do anything and everything, they want to, you have infringed upon their freedom. And so that's where this authoritarian trope comes from. The thing to notice once again is as you do this extensive planning, what you get to do is you build out the foundations, and those foundations are in public health and in public housing and infrastructure and transportation and education. Once you build out all of those foundations, then you can build up real human capacity, and then you build up a real powerful economy. And so for example, if you look at the 20 largest corporations on the planet, the majority of them are Chinese. But the other thing about those large corporations is the majority of them are state owned corporations. That is to say they're owned by the people. For example, the largest banks in the world are Chinese banks. (31:25) How much do the leaders of these banks make? Well, they make probably they wouldn't make enough to rent an apartment in San Francisco, maybe two times, three times max, what their average income of their average worker is, as opposed to Jamie Diamond, who makes 18,000 times what his lowest workers make. And so it's a very, very different system where you bring up the highest most qualified people. At the same time, you do not reward them for greed. You do not reward them for, with exorbitant pay, essentially, you give them a decent salary, not an exorbitant salary, but a salary, which is good enough for a decent level of standard of living in China. You may give them an apartment and you may give them, there may be a canteen where they can get discount meals, but that's about it. But it's understood that you are going to really work to improve your country, serve the people, serve your countrymen, and then make a better society. (32:39) And you see this real kind of whole society effort to improve the country, which is why over the last 30, 40 years, wages have flatlined in the United States, but wages in China have gone up anywhere five to 10 to 15 times for your average worker, for your average blue collar worker. I mean, they see their lives improving, and also you see the bottom being lifted up where they essentially ended poverty. You go to China, you will not see any slums. I mean, it's kind of astonishing. You go to almost any city in the world, you will see homeless. Or if you don't see homeless, you will see slums in China, you will see neither. And in the past few decades, they brought 850 million people out of poverty. 850 million people were brought out of poverty. This is the world's greatest economic accomplishment in the history of the world. (33:43) And essentially, they show that poverty is a policy choice. You don't have to have poor people. The Bible says the poor will always be with us. No, it's not true. It's an ideological choice, and you can end poverty in a country, and for all of these reasons, by showing that a planned economy where there's reasonable and systematic feedback can have deliver better results. This is why this example is why the western liberal elite class feels the need to destroy China because it cannot have that example, cannot have an example, which puts the lie to the massive exploitation and mystification and deceit that this system is built on. The suffering that we undergo on a daily basis is not necessary. Wilmer Leon (34:45): I want to go back to the point. China has brought 800 million people out of abject poverty over about what? The last 10 to 15 years Speaker 3 (35:03): Over the last, I would say over the past 40 years. Okay, 40 years ago, China was poorer per capita than Haiti. Wilmer Leon (35:14): That's poor. Speaker 3 (35:15): And now there's no comparison, right? Wilmer Leon (35:17): The United States has on the upper end, in terms of what the government numbers are, not 800 million unhoused, 800,000, Speaker 3 (35:32): Yeah. Somewhere in that range. Wilmer Leon (35:34): And so me being from Sacramento, California, you go to north side of Sacramento near the American River near the Sacramento River, people living under bridges, you go to Oakland, people living under overpasses, you go to San Francisco, people living under overpasses, people can't even afford the middle class in San Francisco, can't even afford to rent an apartment that people that work in San Francisco can't afford to live in San Francisco. Okay, pick a city, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia. Pick one. You see people standing in the medians of intersections with signs and cups begging for money. 800,000 people homeless in the United States. We can't fix it, but China brings 800 million people out of poverty. Folks do the math. Speaker 3 (36:37): Yeah, I mean, it's pretty astounding. I mean, the 800,000 homeless is probably an under count because it's hard to count. Wilmer Leon (36:44): Sure. That's why I said it's a government number. Speaker 3 (36:47): Yes, it's a government number. But even without looking at the homeless, think about the fact that 60% of the people in the United States do not have $500 to their name. That means if they get a flat tire, if they need to change their tires, fix their car, or get a parking ticket, they are in real trouble, right? I mean, there's just no margins. And so the vast majority of working people in the United States are struggling, and they see no light at the end of the tunnel at the same time that they expect their children to have even worse conditions. No longer housing is no longer, nobody can think of housing anymore. Now its cars are no longer affordable. Right? When I taught in community college, I was told that 80% of the students were housing insecure. When I taught, most of the students would come to class and they couldn't focus because they were hungry. (37:52) I mean, you have adjunct professors living out of cars. So this is the level of ridiculous, absurd maldistribution of wealth that you can do everything right, work your rear off, and still end up with nothing, just barely be treading water if even that. And on the other hand, you have a country like China where if you work, you will see your life constantly improving from year to year. On average, your worker has been seeing their wages increase 8% every year for the past 20, 30, 40 years. I mean, that's astounding. Wilma, have you had an 8% increase in your salary for the past 30 years? Wilmer Leon (38:45): Can't say that I have. Speaker 3 (38:48): You must be doing something wrong then. Wilmer Leon (38:50): I can't say that I have. Let's move to element number two, shaping the environment. What are the techniques and what are some of the tangible elements that we can point to in terms of shaping the environment? Speaker 3 (39:05): Okay, the first thing about shaping the environment is creating alliances. So the US is creating multiple alliances. That's alliance between the United States, Korea, and Japan. I refer to it as jackass or jackass. You see the alliance between Australia, the United States, uk, to prepare for war, nuclear war against China, Aus. You see the Japan, Philippines, US Alliance, and the South China Sea jaas, which is once again unthinkable as it is with Korea, that the colonial dominator, Japan would be creating a military alliance with the colonized. But all of this is mediated and midwife by the United States. And then you see NATO coming into Asia. So already when the US does military exercise in the Pacific, you see the LFA flying over. You see NATO exercises. You see that Korea is linking up to the NATO intelligence system, B-I-C-E-S, bcs. And that Taiwan is getting the link 16 tactical data link, which allows the US to create a common tactical and operational picture of the Warfield in order to create what they refer to as a transnational kill chain. (40:29) That is, you're using all of these countries for combined joint all domain command and control. It's simply one large military machine, all of these different countries together. So that's one part of shaping the environment. Another part of shaping the environment is pre-positioning troops, pre-positioning material, and also doing these constant military exercises and escalating to industrial war footing, which is what they are talking about. They're saying the US has to shift immediately to an industrial war footing. Certainly South Korea and Japan are already expected to do this. The plans to use shipyards in Korea for to repair us battle damage, and then the constant escalation into what I refer to as the third offset. The third offset is that China has the capacity to respond. If the US and the US has over 300, probably close to 400 bases right around China, China has the capacity to fire missiles and keep the United States at bay. (41:50) It has the Don Feng missiles that are very, very precise. And the US offset to that has been to disperse its troops all around the first island chain, prepare for island hopping, prepare for Ace agile deployment, and essentially to attack China through diffused, distributed, dispersed warfare. All of this is preparation. And then the other way, which is traditionally the environment is shaped, is through information warfare and economic warfare, trade warfare, tech warfare. The idea is that you are going to try and try to create as much disruption inside China itself, create as much descent inside China itself, and also try and degrade its economy before you go into war. Ideally, you want to level sanctions on it before you go in, but in the case of Russia, for example, they will level sanctions after the war starts. But the idea is to degrade the economy and the will to fight, and the capacity to fight as much as possible so that you enter into the battle with an unfair advantage, an overmatch. (43:12) The analogy that I sometimes think of is that when a matador goes into the ring to fight a bull, what they've done is they've drug the bull, they've starved it, they've beaten it, they've dehydrated it, et cetera. And then you go to war, and then you have this theatrical presentation of how you've dominated the bull. In the bull fight, usually the US tries to do this kind of degrading before it enters into war. So for example, it sanctioned Iraq for a decade before it blew it up into smithereens, et cetera. So you see all of these things happening in terms of the hybrid war, the preparations, the alliances, the exercises, the prepositioning and the military preparation. Wilmer Leon (43:58): In fact, the sanctions regime that you've just talked about as it relates to Iraq is exactly what the United States has been trying to do with Russia, has been trying to do with Iran has tried to do with China. And what the reality that the United States now finds itself dealing with is that sanctions regime has forced those sanctioned countries to establish relationships amongst themselves and relationships amongst themselves. So they've entered into trade agreements. They've entered into the bricks, for example, the Chinese development Bank. There are a number of elements now where China and Russia have developed trade agreements, have developed defense cooperation agreements. So really what the United States has done through this sanctions regime is really shot itself in the foot because what it thought it could do with economic pressure and other types of sanctions has actually created a much bigger problem than the United States ever could have imagined. Speaker 3 (45:15): Well, I mean, the US has sanctioned what something close to one third of the countries on the planet or something approaching that. I mean, the idea is that it's simple. A sanction is like a siege. It's like you're building a wall around a country. The problem is if you build a wall around a country, you're also building a wall around yourself, and eventually you're walling yourself in, which is what the United States is doing here. And so with the financial sanctions, with the trade sanctions and economic sanctions, essentially it's strengthening China, Russia, Iran, and the countries of the global south, and it's weakening itself. And so that is the contradiction there. But they don't understand that, and they think that they're still capable of destroying, for example, Russia. I mean, they still believe that they almost brought Russia to its knees, and it's just a matter of applying a little bit more pressure. They're not reading the situation directly. But yes, this is what they want to do, and they consider this to be part of shaping the environment. Wilmer Leon (46:24): And one quick example of that is the whole chip sanction where the United States figured that it could cripple the Chinese economy from a technology side by prohibiting China's access to high processing chips. What did China do? They figured it out. They make their own and better than the ones that they were getting from Taiwan. And an example of that is the Huawei made 60 telephone. A lot of people in the West think that the iPhone is the greatest phone on the planet. No folks, it's a phone that we can't get in the United States. It's the Huawei mate, 60 plus, which not only is a cell phone, but is a satellite phone as well. Speaker 3 (47:15): Yes, it's an extraordinary piece of technology, incredible engineering, and it just goes to show that when the US tries to sanction China or even a single Chinese company by putting it in a choke hold, and its CFO, China just responds with even greater strength and better technology. So it's not happening. It's not happening to an individual corporation, and it's not going to happen to China in general, which is why the US wants to pull the trigger on war. I think there's a part of the NeoCon elite that are so desperate, they see that kinetic war is the only thing that it's the only Trump card that they have left. Wilmer Leon (48:00): And I've been saying for a while to Jake Sullivan and to the Secretary of State, to the President, be careful what you pray for because you might get it even with the hypersonic missile technology. I want to say that, what was it last year or about a year and a half ago, the United States War gamed against China 25 times and lost 25 times. Speaker 3 (48:38): Yes, each time it lost and it lost faster, and then eventually they had to deposit all kinds of hypotheticals that didn't exist in order to give themselves some kind of pretext of winning. Clearly, if they do the math and if they do the simulations, it's not going to work out for them. But the really dangerous thing here, and I'll be very, very honest here, the dangers is that because the US no longer has overmatch and none of these offsets work, it's going to go back to the final first offset, which is mass a bigger bomb, which is to say that they're going to go nuclear on this war and going nuclear against another nuclear power is a very, very bad idea. The US is doctrine of counterforce, which essentially argues that in order for us to prevail, we have to strike first with nuclear weapons. (49:30) That's the idea. It's not counter value. Counterforce. We strike with nuclear weapons first. We knock out as many nuclear targets as possible, and that way we come out ahead and we can shoot down anything that's left. This is the US nuclear position, the nuclear posture. And this is very, very dangerous because it's clearly an act of madness. But as I said before, the ruling, ruling elite, the imperial elite believes that they signal that they would rather see the end of the world than the less than the end of their power, than the end of their domination. Because for them, the end of their domination is the end of their world, not the end of their world, but the end of their world, and they're very happy to bring down the rest of the world with them. Wilmer Leon (50:21): Provocation is the third. We've talked about the info war. We've talked about shaping the environment. And now the third element is the provocation. And we are seeing this play itself out damn near daily, right before our very eyes. And thank God that President Rai in Iran, that President Xi, that Kim Jong-un in North Korea and President Putin, thank God that these are sensible, sensible people that are not reactionary and engage in knee jerk responses to provocation. Because if they weren't as thoughtful as they are, we'd be in a much, much different world circumstance than we are right now. Speaker 3 (51:12): I agree with you. I mean, I think it's the sober sanity of US opponents, which is keeping the world from exploding into war. Just as during the Cold War, it was Russian officers who understood US culture and for example, understood that when there were signals of a nuclear attack being launched, they also understood that the World Series was happening at the same time, and they thought it was unlikely the US would launch a nuclear attack during the World Series. But this is predicated on the idea that you have cultured intelligent, calm people who are able to make clear distinctions. And we see that in RACI and President Xi and President Putin, who are very, very measured in their responses. And they're not seeking war. They're seeking diplomacy and peace. And you can see that there is a constant attempt to provoke them and to demonize them and to trigger war, but they understand that time is on their side, and these are the mad thrashings of a dying empire, and their approach is not to engage. (52:34) The problem is that the provocations become even more extreme, more and more extreme as they become more and more desperate. And there's another piece of the information war that I didn't touch on, but I think it's worthwhile touching on, is one of the key tropes of information warfare is that the other country is a threat to the people of your country. Not simply a threat, but an existential threat, A WMD type of threat, a genocidal threat. We saw that WMD type of language when it was alleged that Covid was a Chinese bio weapon, which somehow was being paid for by the United States. So that doesn't make any sense that research was being funded by the United States. So how is the US funding that research for China to attack us? Nobody seems to be able to explain that piece, but so they're WMD type allegations, and then the China is genocidal in intent, and this is most commonly demonstrated by the allegations of a genocide happening in Xinjiang. Now, just to go over the facts, there Wilmer Leon (53:51): Is, wait, wait a minute. Before we get to that, I want to touch on one thing you mentioned not firing the missile. And I want to say that that was a Russian technician, Vasili arch, about what, 65 years ago, who was looking at his radar screen, saw what most would've perceived to be an incoming nuclear missile from the United States on his screen. And the protocol was you got to push the button. And he, to your point, said, wait a minute. This doesn't make sense right now. This might be a mistake, and thank God he was right. It was a mistake. I wanted to make that point because you kind of glossed over that point. But it's very important for people to understand how perilous the circumstances are that we're in today. Speaker 3 (54:55): Absolutely. I mean, there were so many close shaves during the Cold War, and they're even more now, and the world owes a debt of gratitude to vestly ov. I think he's one of the unsung heroes of world history, but we can't rely on the fact that there will always be a vasili arch of a patient measured, well-informed, educated person on the other side who exercises prudent caution. There's no guarantee of that. And everything that we are doing on our side is simply escalating the danger that that will not happen and that this could end in a nuclear conflagration. Wilmer Leon (55:41): Final point on that, then we'll go to the Uyghur issue. And that is, that's one of the points that President Putin was making about NATO and why his perception was a uk, a Ukraine in NATO means NATO missiles in Ukraine, which means his response time to a message of incoming would be cut more than in half. And he was saying, we can't do that. You can't put these missiles on my border and cut my response time from 16 or 17 minutes down to seven minutes. That means if my system say incoming, I got a button to push. I don't have a phone to pick up. I don't have questions to ask. I got a fire on receipt. Speaker 3 (56:37): Absolutely, yes. Launch on warning, Wilmer Leon (56:39): Launch on warning. Speaker 3 (56:41): Yes. And that's exactly the danger. And this is why this was so important that by bringing NATO right up into Ukraine, the Soviet Union, well, Russia lost all of its strategic debt that it had no cushion with which to make a rational decision. And that is a very, very dangerous thing to do against a nuclear superpower that you have designated as an official enemy. So yes, it's absolutely correct, and this is both the danger and what we are seeing replicated in against China. Once again, the US used to have nuclear weapons in Taiwan Island. Right now, they're probably preparing more nuclear weapons, certainly the tomahawks that are being prepared for Japan or nuclear capable, they can carry nuclear warheads. And if you take US troops and place them right three miles from China's mainland, I mean, you've essentially said that you either have to preempt the attack or you are going to be annihilated. So that is the danger here. Wilmer Leon (57:58): The other great myth, one of the other great myths is the genocide of the Uyghurs and the oppression of the Uyghurs who are a group of Chinese Muslims in a region of China. And also if they're not being genocided, then they're being put into reeducation and concentration camps. Where did this myth come from? Speaker 3 (58:28): It was started by a guy called Adrian Zant, working for the victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, which is extreme far right organization, fascists, Nazis, anti-communist, who essentially have it on their banner head to destroy communism. Adrian ZZ himself believes that it is God's mission, his mission from God to destroy Chinese communism. And he essentially pulled those figures and those facts out of, pardon my French, his rear end. And so initially, so Wilmer Leon (59:07): Actually French kg would be ass, he pulled those data, excuse my French, out of his ass. Speaker 3 (59:14): I think the French word is true or football. Wilmer Leon (59:20): But Speaker 3 (59:21): Yes, the BBC asked him to do the research. He said, I can't do it. And then they offered him more money, and then suddenly all of a sudden he was pulling numbers out of his rear end. Apparently there were perhaps a few dozen people that were interviewed. A small percentage of them said that certain things happened to us, and then they extrapolated that, and all of a sudden we have 1 million, 2 million, 3 million, 5 million, 7 million uighurs either in concentration camps or being genocided. Okay, Wilmer Leon (01:00:00): So how does that jive with the population of Xinjiang, which I think is the western part of China, which is where these folks are supposed to be. Speaker 3 (01:00:09): There are about 12 million Uyghurs. And so if you had even a million that had been disappeared or in concentration camps, you wouldn't have a functioning society. You would have almost every adult male in prison. And that's certainly not the case. 200, 250 million people visited Xinjiang last year, and it was fine. The people in Xinjiang were doing fine. It's a vibrant, multicultural society that is thriving and happy, and anybody can go there. You and I could go there. Anybody listening to this podcast could go there tomorrow. You don't even have to. A visa. China allows Americans to go to China without a visa now for a short period of time, and you could go immediately to Xinjiang and see for yourself. But essentially the fact is there is no Chinese genocide happening in Xinjiang because there's not a single shred of credible evidence. Let me emphasize that. Not a single shred of credible evidence. This is the only genocide in history that one has no deaths. Nobody can point to a body, no refugees. Wilmer Leon (01:01:24): Well, that's, they've been disappeared. They've been taken up by the mothership, and I guess they're floating around in the nuclear. I mean the, what do you call this? The nebula Speaker 3 (01:01:38): In the fifth? Wilmer Leon (01:01:39): Yeah, they're in the nebula somewhere, Speaker 3 (01:01:41): Right? Right in the fifth space, time war somewhere. But look, there are five Muslim majority countries. China has borders with 14 countries, and Xinjiang itself has borders with five Muslim majority countries, very porous borders. If there were any credible oppression, you would see massive refugees going to all these countries right next to it. But it's not. Instead, what you see is preferential treatment of the Uyghurs. For example, they were exempt from the one child policy. They had two, three, sometimes more children. They received preferential treatment in school, admissions and employment. The population has increased sixfold since the start of the PRC, and the life expectancy has increased 150%, and you can look high and low and you will see no hate speech and no tolerance of hate speech against Muslims, and no messages or rhetoric targeting the group whatsoever. In fact, the organization of Islamic Corporation, which represents the rights of 2 billion Muslims in 56 countries, commended China for its exemplary treatment of Muslim minorities. (01:03:00) So this is completely and totally fraudulent. There are 24,000 mosques in the region. People live their own lives, they speak their own language. And then here's the contrast, or here's the test case, because when you want to make a proposition, you also want to make a test group against that. Okay? In Gaza, there is a real genocide happening, either sheer unspeakable, barity and atrocity, the daily massacre of men, women, children, infants, starved to death, unimaginable privation and starvation and suffering, and compare that. And nobody can get into Gaza, right? Nobody can get into Gaza. Anybody can get into Xinjiang any day of the day or night. So really this fraud about Xinjiang being some kind of genocide, this is as much a signal of the dying empire as the real genocide in Palestine, it's foundationally mating, and it's a foundationally violent lie, but it's the other side of the same coin that is you are enabling and covering up a real genocide while you were fraudulently concocting a non-existent one. But the thing we have to understand is the invention of a false genocide cannot cover up a real one. Those of us on the right side of history, we know what to believe and we know how to act, and we know who's responsible, who's covering up what and why they're doing it. Wilmer Leon (01:04:53): And the United States is also trying to foment another genocide in Haiti. So there's a false one in Xinjiang. There's a real one in Gaza, and there's another one on the horizon in Haiti, and thank you United States because it's our tax dollars that are fanning the flames and funding all three kj. No, my brother. Thank you, man. I really, really, really appreciate the time that you gave this evening and for you coming on connecting the dots, because as always, kj, you connected the dots, man. Thank you for joining me today. Speaker 3 (01:05:39): Thank you. Always a pleasure and an honor to be with you. Wilmer Leon (01:05:43): And folks, I want to thank you all so much for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wiler Leon. Stay tuned for new episodes every week. Also, please follow and subscribe, leave a review, share the show, follow us on social media. You can find all the links below. Go to Patreon. Please contribute. Please, please contribute because this is not an inexpensive venture to engage in. And remember, this is where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge, talk without analysis is just chatter, and we don't chatter on connecting the dots. See you again next time. Until then, I'm Dr. Woman Leon. Have a great one, peace and blessings to y'all. Announcer (01:06:40): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.

China is not only home to around 20 million Muslims, it is also home to a variety of different Islamic traditions, and of various ethnic groups who follow those different versions of Islam. In this episode we focus on the Chinese-speaking (or ‘Sinophone') Muslims rather than the better-known Turkic-speaking (or Uyghur) Muslims. From the medieval period onwards, these Chinese-speaking followers of Islam developed their own religious traditions by drawing on classical Sufi mystical works and Hanafi legal texts written outside of China and applying them to local conditions, which often involved translating or writing religious texts in Chinese. Yet despite occasional contacts with the wider Muslim world, it wasn't till the late nineteenth century that these Sinophone Muslims established regular ties with their coreligionists in the Middle East. Those new contacts set in motion a century of religious change that was also shaped by political events as China was transformed from an empire to a nationalist republic, then a communist People's Republic. This episode traces the outcomes of these twentieth-century links between Muslims in China and Middle East. Nile Green talks to Mohammed Al-Sudairi, author of “Traditions of Maturidism and Anti-Wahhabism in China: An Account of the Yihewani Hard-liners of the Northwest,” Journal of Islamic Studies 32, 3 (2021).

On banners, in the streets, and through cyberspace: people in China are speaking out. For a regime constantly flaunting its "over 90% approval rate," what does dissent really look like in China—from angry flood victims smashing the walls of state buildings, to a seven-year high in Chinese factory strikes?   Faith versus police: a standoff between residents and officers in a Chinese Muslim town. What does the apparent unrest signify for China's future?   ⭕️ Watch in-depth videos based on Truth & Tradition at Epoch TV

In China, protesters have clashed with the police over the planned demolition of a mosque's dome in a largely Muslim town in Yunnan, a southern province which is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the country. Social media videos showed crowds outside the 13th-century Najiaying Mosque in Nagu town this week and it's reported that the clashes were sparked when the community was told to take down its dome and minarets. Twenty-five years after the Good Friday Agreement, education in Northern Ireland is still more than ninety percent segregated by religion. Now the Westminster government is trying to encourage the creation of integrated schools, but at the same time funding is being cut for "shared education" activities that attempt to bridge the sectarian divide. The Ugandan government has passed legislation that further criminalises gay people with penalties that include imprisonment and even the death penalty for so-called aggravated cases. It has generated an outcry from the international community. Campaigners have suggested that foreign aid to the country should be withdrawn. Is there a moral case for stopping aid to countries that pass laws regarded by others as intolerant and harsh? Producers: Catherine Murray & Peter Everett Production Coordinator: David Baguley Editor: Jonathan Hallewell

Episode #145: Who am I?” Valerie remembers asking herself this question while sitting in a meditation hall at Aung Lan Monastery late one evening. “Why are we seeking and loving so much about having this attraction and attachments? What is going on? And so, that's how I started out.”Born in Myanmar to a Chinese Muslim family and a later convert to Buddhism, Valerie eventually relocated to California. There she became involved in the beauty pageant circuit and modeled, and was employed as manager of a commercial lending bank. But when an acquaintance she was due to meet suddenly died, her life priorities were shaken and she decided to attend a meditation course in the Thae Ingu tradition.Her first retreat was excruciating. The pain at one point became so severe she began to fear she was dying. But she was determined and eventually became able to detach from her pain. Her mind sharpened, she delighted in the subtle detail that only a penetrative mind is able to reach. She began to sit for longer and longer periods, examining the origin of suffering and the identification with body, and the conditionality of self. The course had a profound effect on Valerie, as she discovered when she returned home. She stopped modeling, and in fact barely attended to her appearance at all, which led to interventions from management at her bank and alarmed her friends.Then the military coup in Myanmar happened. And as deep as her spiritual journey had taken her, Valerie also found herself unable to sit at all following the coup because of the horrors being perpetrated by the Tatmadaw. Valerie became involved with the democracy movement and began to question her practice in light of the military's brutality. While fully aware that the ultimate cause of suffering is inside, Valerie also feels strongly that seeking out a peaceful inner life is not possible in the wake of the excruciating harm the military is inflicting on the Burmese people. Valerie felt compelled to choose between prioritizing spiritual or worldly liberation, and temporarily has chosen the latter. Her reasoning is that the singular cause of so much intense suffering on the outside needs to be taken care of in the short term before conditions can again arise that support widespread meditation practice in the future, when peace eventually does return to the Golden Land.For now, her present pathway is clear. “We will try to support those people who are inside the country and fighting for the people, who are fighting for fairness, and fighting for the truth.”

Last time we spoke Hong Xiuquan had gathered a rabble of peasants, named them the god worshippers and declared war upon the Qing dynasty. He gave titles to his closest comrades forming the North, South, East, West and Flank Kings who led the great Taiping armies on a march towards the secondary capital of China, Nanjing. Countless cities fell the Taiping and the Qing desperately tried to encircle and quell the menace. But the Taiping never stayed in any given place long enough to be captured and even when they were dealt significant losses, they simply moved on and recruited more and more to their cause. Their armies grew exponentially and so did their conquests until they reached the secondary capital of China, Nanjing. Nanjing was put through a brutal siege and taken, her citizens put to the sword and now the Taiping held a grand capital city.   #26 This episode is The Taiping Rebellion part 3: The Heavenly Kingdom of Tianjing   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.   14 years after his first vision, Hong Xiuquan alongside an incredible 2 million followers had captured the secondary capital of China, Nanjing. Hong Xiuquan, the heavenly king, Yang Xiuqing the East King and the surviving Taiping leadership had developed their military based on the work of the late Feng Yunshan and their combined experiences from the march from the Thistle Mountains all the way to Nanjing. Much like the military structure the new capital would have 4 families linked to every corporal's family and 25 family units linked under every sergeant. These communities would build the public granaries, chapels for worship and so forth. The sergeants would dwell in chapels, the corporals would take their family and those families under their command to sabbath to worship. Every sabbath day, all senior officers, from generals to captains would visit one of the great churches of the sergeants to pray and work hard obeying the Ten commandments.    By day people would work the land, all serving in some form, whether it was pottery, ironwork, carpentry, masonry, whatever according to their skills. The land under Taiping rule was divided up amongst all with one full share for every man and women aged 16 and older and half a share for children below 16. All of the land was graded according to its productivity and when land was insufficient for the peoples needs, the people were moved to land that was plentiful. Of the products of labor, each corporal saw to it that every family under him had food, but all the rest went to the public treasuries. Sergeants checked the books and tallied the accounts, presenting records to superiors “ for all people on this earth are as the family of the Lord their God on High, and when people of this earth keep nothing for their private use but give all things to God for all to use in common, then in the whole land every place shall have equal shares, and every one be clothed and fed. This was why the Lord God expressly sent the Taiping Heavenly Lord to come down and save the world.”   The public treasuries would give gifts to every family at times of birth, marriage and death according their needs, but never in excess of one thousand copper cash or one hundred catties of grain. Surpluses had to be maintained incase of famine or war. Every family unit with a living male head had to give a soldier to the army, but the Taiping would not take widowers, widows, orphans or childless, nor weak or sick. With births came new families and every 5th family gave a new corporal, and every 25th a new sergeant and so on. All officers and officials, even the highest would be reviewed every 3 years and promoted or demoted according to performance. This was the system pushed out upon Nanjing when it was taken. As you can imagine it was a goliath task to meet these demands, thus the system could not actually be implemented all at once, but they were diligent to starting the listing and recording keeping to establish it. Not everyone flocked eagerly to the Taiping ranks. Many households were reluctant to register their members and hid for weeks, countless fled Nanjing.    The Taiping burnt down countless Taoist and Buddhist architecture, smashed statues and image and stripped or killed priests. Everyone was to conform to the new Taiping religion. Notably though the Chinese Muslims in Nanjing were not attacked and their mosques were allowed to stand. One group in Nanjing that were in a position of particular ambiguity were the catholics who numbered around 200. At least 30 catholics were burned in their homes or cut down in the streets during the early chaos. The Taiping found the catholic survivors in a catholic church, but when pressed they refused to recite Taiping liturgy. The Taiping authorities gave them 3 days to comply, then they burst into the church and destroyed the cross and overturned their altar. 70-80 catholic men had their arms tied behind their backs and were given a trial before a Taiping judge and condemned to death unless they said Taiping prayers. They refused opting for martyrdom, but in the end 25 eventually recited the Taiping prayers and the rest were sent to be vanguard forces in the army. In order to push the movement, the Taiping had to seize the Nanjing printing industry to distribute their sacred texts to all the sergeants for reading and preaching. Back when the Taiping captured Yangzhou in april of 1853 they acquired printing press craftsmen, so they brought them to Nanjing.   Hong Xiuquan makes 3 major strategic decisions, the first was to select Nanjing as the new Taiping Capital now known as Tianjing, the second was to create the printing system to promote the Taiping program and the 3rd was to alter name places in China. Hong Xiuquan proclaimed henceforth the city of Beijing was to be named “Yaoxue- demon's den” and the province of Zhili “criminal's province”. When all the Manchu demons were destroyed, Beijing's name could be restored and Zhili once its people repented for their sins and began worshiping the heavenly father. “The world has long been deluded by these demonic Tartars, and it is imperative that they be soon destroyed. But before we destroy these people, we must first destroy their bases. And before we can destroy the power of their bases, we must first destroy the bases' names.” Emperor Xianfeng by definition was the leader of earthly demons and Hong Xiuquan changed his name that meant “united in glory” to have a dog component added and he also did this to terms referring to Manchu.   The Taiping followers in Nanjing were told the time to end sexual separation had not come yet, any men who forced themselves on women, whether they be veterans or new would be executed. Those who worked as prostitutes would not only be executed, but also their families. Male homosexuality was severly punished, if partner were both aged 13 or older they would be beheaded. If you were under 13 you could be spared unless it was proven you were an active partner. The city of Nanjing was divided similar to what the Taiping did in Wuchang, with blocks for men and those for women and children. Those skilled in specific types of labor lived amongst another, for example carpenters with carpenters tailors with tailors.    Hong Xiuquan had a ceremonial hat made with a fan shaped front, decorated with twin dragons and twin phoenixes. The other kings were allowed to have twin dragons as well but only one phoenix. On the upper part of Hong Xiuquans hat he alone had written “the mountains and river are unified and the heavens are filled with stars”. The 3 surviving kings each had one line embroidered on their hats; for the East king Yang Xiuqing “long phoenix perching in the clouds”, for the north king Wei Changhui “long phoenix perching on the mountain peak” and for the flank king Shi Dakai “lone phoenix perching on the peony”.   Hong Xiuquan had 10,000 people work for 6 months to built him a palace in the former site of the governor generals mansion in the center of the northern side of the main residential city. Within mere days of taking Nanjing, the Qing began counter attacks leading to the gates of Nanjing being reinforced with additional gates built in front or behind the existing ones. Cannon emplacements and palisades for gunners are created en masse. Forward defensive encampments, wooden watch towers as high as 30 or even 40 feet are created. Smaller towns surrounded nanjing are reinforced. Large swathes of area have ditches dug, palisades erected, felled, honeycombed networked of small round holes with straw placed over them and bamboo spikes underneath. Its a regional fortress built with the purpose of overthrowing the Qing.   Now until the capture of Nanjing, the Taiping had been a mobile force whose success for a large part was simply because they would seize a major city and move on before the Qing could get them. The establishment of their Tianjing Capital meant the core of the Taiping movement, its leadership and central army were now in a fixed position. The Qing could finally plan and coordinate large scale action directed at their capital. Interestingly enough, the decision to hunker down in Nanjing is what many scholars regard as the crucial reason for their eventual failure. If they had simply done what they done best and took Nanjing for perhaps a month or so and moved on to Beijing they could have very well toppled the Qing. None the less, the Taiping were in a good position in Nanjing compared to that on Beijing. It is estimated in 1853 Nanjing held 18 million taels of silver, while Beijing was depleted to a possible 3 million. The Nanjing granaries by the end of 1853 totalled 1,270,000 piculs of unhulled rice and 750,000 hulled rice, sufficient to feed the Taiping for many months. An American missionary named E.C Bridgman visited Nanjing in may of 1854 and reported “all the people we saw were well-clad, well fed and well provided for in every way. They all seemed content, and in high spirits as if sure of success”. The surrounding areas continued to supply Nanjing with grain and the Yangtze river continued to serve as its artery of communication and trade.   Now once they had Nanjing the Taiping set out to accomplish their ultimate goal, the final defeat of the Manchu demons in Beijing. But when the Taiping took Nanjing a lot of internal strife began to grow. While Hong Xiuquan was the bonafide religious and political leader to the Taiping, he was never alone and although many of the great figureheads had died, a few large ones remained. Yang Xiuqing the east king, Wei Changhui the north king and Shi Dakai the flank king were the 3 largest leaders alongside Hong Xiuquan. Yang Xiuqing established himself as the highest ideological leader, above that of Wei Changhui and in many aspects above hong Xiuquan. When Xiao Chaogui the West King died, Hong Xiuquan made a proclamation that granted Yang a supervisory power over the 4 other kings, clearly promoting him above the rest. When Xiao Chaogui died, Shi Dakai sort of filled the dead kings space in many ways and when  Nanjing was captured he was the only king constantly occupied in the field, directing and personally leading western campaigns. Hong Xiuquan as the spiritual leader, began to gradually isolate himself within his palace only acting through proclamations. Wei Changhui the north king, acted as the coordinator for the defense of the region around the capital and was responsible for food supplies. This left general administrative supervision in the hands of Yang Xiuqing who also acted as the coordinator of all military campaigns. Now Yang Xiuqing back in the early days of 1851 had coalesced the Taiping when he began in trance-like states to state he was the mouthpiece of God the father. Likewise Xiao Chaogui had these trances where he said he was the mouthpiece of Jesus, hmmmmm. Oh and there was a lot of roleplay in this by the way, when Xiao Chaogui spoke to Hong Xiuquan in a trance state he would refer to him as “younger brother” like wise Yang would refer to him as son. Both Yang and Xiao it seems were in league with another using this unique trance behavior to raise their status. But when Xiao died, there was a lot of confusion, leading Yang to stop messing around for awhile as the voice of god the father. But in december of 1853 Yang once again began to speak publicly as the voice of god. Yang began a campaign where he attempted to humiliate the heavenly king using trances as the voice of god. Yang begins a campaign to humiliate Hong where he uses the voice of god to accuse the Heavenly King of growing to be too harsh and indulgent with his power. That he is harsh to women who serve him and far too indulgent of his 4 year old son. One accusation in particular was that 4 of Hong's palace women were treated so badly that they should be released from Hong's palace and instead should live at Yang's palace. Yang says Hong orders women under him to work in rain or snow and allows his concubines to sneer and scold the other women, oh yes despite all the laws and such Hong and many of the Taiping leaders have concubines. Remember when I said the Taiping rebellion was like a proto marxist one? Yes just like any good marxist they dont live the way they preach, shots fired. Yang continues to argue the women officials are prevented from their duties by the mean concubines and that Hong Xiuquan had even kicked some of them in anger and punished pregnant concubines similarly, something that is a serious crime. You don't kick pregnant women. He follows this up saying in God's voice that the heavenly king should receive 40 blows of the rod for his derelictions. To this Hong publicly prostrated himself to receive said blows, so god would forgive him. Hong's 4 year old son is said to be too self-indulgent and willful because he plays in the rain, and smashes presents given to him…..weird. God states he must stop all of this because it will lead him to abuse the people in the future when he leads.   Yang Xiuqing did not stop at attacking Hong, he also went after two others in particular: the north king Wei Chanhui and marquis Qin Rigang, both men who had been with Hong since the earliest days at Thistle mountain. Wei was an educated man, Qin was a miner who studied military arts and proved himself a formidable strategist. For years both men handled key military assignments for Hong, Qin was regarded as the senior ranking Taiping officer after the surviving kings. Yang began to use the voice of god to humiliate Wei in many ways. Whenever his trances began, Yang's woman attendants would summon Wei at once using drum calls and if Wei was late the women would berate him. Wei was forced to kowtow to Yang when he was in trance and when Yang was in trance he moved by sedan chair while Wei was forced to walk beside it. Yang kept his attendants on Wei's ass also disturbing him. Qin had to endure similar humiliations and was forced to help carry Yangs sedan chair up the palace stairs a few times. To give some more flavor, here is one story about a clash that occurred in december between Yang and Wei.    Yang one day in public suggested that Hong had more than enough embroideries and robes in his palace and should economize for a time instead of getting more. Wei ignored what Yang said and told Hong “You, our second elder brother, are the true Sovereign of all nations of the world, and you are rich in the possession of all within the four seas; although robes and garments are sufficient, it will still be necessary to be constantly engaged in making up more.” Upon hearing this Yang responded “I beseech you, our second elder brother, to pardon this younger brother's crime and permit this younger brother to memorialize straightforwardly. If apparel were insufficient, then it would be necessary to make up more; but if it is said it is sufficient, it will be better to delay the making up of more, and then we can see the second elder brother's virtues of economy and love of man. Why should our younger brother Zheng [the North King] memorialize on the necessity of constantly making up more clothing?” To both of them Hong replied “Brother [Yang Xiu]Qing! You are certainly what the ancients called a bold and outspoken minister. And you, brother Zheng, although you may have a sincere regard for your elder brother, are not so straightforward and open in your statements as our brother Qing; for which he is to be much more commended. Later, in the reign of the Young Monarch, all who are ministers should imitate the example of our brother Qing in speaking straightforwardly as he has done this day; thus will they fulfill their duty as ministers.”   Some of the events I just talked about occur a bit later on, but I wanted to give you the idea that in the background, Yang was humiliating others and doing whatever he could to take more and more power. Now of the 5 kings, 3 survived and the administrative staffs of the former 2 simply were distributed amongst the 3 survivors. But after Nanjing was captured the kings would not be the solo ruling leaders anymore. Additional “princes” were added, they were similar to the kings, just lesser so. They held lesser rank than the kings, but were above the Taiping military rank structure. They come about at different times but there would be the Zhong price: Li Xiucheng, Ying prince: Chen Yucheng, Jun Prince: Lai Wenkwok, Fu Prince: Hong Renda, An Prince: Hong Renfa, Yong Prince: Hong Rengui, Fu Prince: Hong Renfu and the Gan Prince: Hong Rengan, yes our old friend Rengan will come to this story but much later on. It seems Yang orchestrated the creation of these princes and the multiplicity of administrative staffs to make it easier for him to weaken the authority of his most senior rivals.    Yang Xiuqing acting as commander in chief of the Taiping military sent out 4 offensives, 2 towards the north against Beijing and 2 up the Yangtze river into western China. Yang Xiuqings overall plan was to use the northern and western expeditionary forces to create a large pincer to capture the whole of northern and western China. According to Missionary Bridgman “ The Taiping had four armies in the field, carrying on active aggressive operations: 2 of these had gone northwards: they were designed to cooperate and after storming and destroying Peking, to turn westwards and march through Shanxi, Shensi, Kansuh, into Szechuan, where they are expected to meet their other 2 armies, which from Kingsi and the Lake provinces are to move up the great river and along through the regions on its southern bank'.    The northern expedition of around 80,000 men was led by 2 commanders, Li Kaifang and Lin Fengxiang who led the vanguard to take Yangchow on April the 1st. By May the 8th they left Yangchow after receiving reinforcements and advanced towards Ch'u-chou in Anhwei province. As their forces went into Anhwei and Henan province they were bolstered by local bandits, particularly the Nian rebels, who were performing the Nian rebellion simultaneously. Following the same strategy applied to the Hunan campaign and the Yangtze valley, they moved rapidly through Anhwei and Henan without leaving behind garrisons nor supply stations. At first, they did not attempt to take any city that proved to be well defended. However at Huaiqing in Henan at the border of Shanxi, they used their 80,000 strong force to besiege the prefectural city, believing it held rich military supplies.    The siege lasted 2 months, but the Taiping failed to capture it and had to move on. The delay in their march as the result of failing at Huaiqing seems to be a decisive turning point for the northern expedition as a whole. The Taiping suffered terrible losses in both shock troops and officers, while the Qing court in Beijing gained valuable time to prepare against the impending Taiping attacks. The Taiping gradually penetrated Zhili via Shanxi province and reached the suburbs of Tianjin, and it was here another large mistake was made for the second time. The Taiping could have simply marched on Beijing, but yet against chose to attack a secondary target. The northern expeditionary force was tiny compared to that of the entire Taiping army which should have been consolidated and marched upon Beijing. The Taiping were greatly hindered by northern chinas winters, because do remember most of the Taiping were from southern china. The Qing had begun a war of attrition, making sure to take away food stuffs in the path of the northern expedition. The Taiping found it extremely hard to forage and on top of this the Qing even broke dikes in the grand canal to flood the Taiping out.   Emperor Xianfeng also released what would be his greatest weapon, the Mongolian prince Senggelinqin. Prince Seng was from the Horqin left back banner of inner Mongolia and a member of the Borjiqin clan. He was a 26th generation descendant of Qasar brother to Genghis Khan. His name Sengge Rinchen was made up of two tibetan words meaning Lion and Treasure. When he was just a child he was adopted by Sodnamdorji a Jasagh “head of a mongol banner” of the Horqin left back banner and Junwang, second rank prince under the Qing dynasty. He would inherit his adoptive fathers titles during the reign of Emperor Daoguang. It was at the 1853 battle for Tianjin where Prince Seng would earn his fame.    The Taiping expeditionary force had fought its way bitterly from Nanjing to Tianjin, leaving just 80 miles between them and Beijing. Prince Seng rushed to the scene aided greatly by a valuable ally, winter. The winter ravaged the Taiping, many of them had never seen snow in their lives and this forced them to fall upon a village fortification to survive it causing an immediate stalemate. When the weather broke in spring, Prince Seng ordered his troops to build a dirt and stone wall to encircle the entire Taiping army camp from a distance while a crew of 1000 laborers spent a month digging a series of trenches to connect it, via a dry riverbed to the grand canal over 40 miles away. When they broke the dikes, the canal water rushed in flooding the Taiping camp to its rooftops, drowning a considerable amount of the army and forcing their submission. Being a Mongol, Prince Seng and those he commanded preferred the bow and arrow as their chief weapon, something they had overwhelming supremacy over the southern chinese. The Taiping could have overwhelmed Prince Sengs cavalry units, if they had western firearms, but they did not. The Taiping forces were dispersed and destroyed. Lin Fengxiang was captured at Lichen in Zhili province on march 7th of 1855 and Li Kaifang was captured at Fengkuat'un in Shandong on March the 31st of 1855. This was the ultimate end to the north expedition. Had the Taiping marched on Beijing at the rate they were going, it is argued they could have taken down the Qing. Tactical blunders, logistical issues, severe weather and the capability of Qing commanders such as Prince Seng ultimately put an end to the Taiping threat to Beijing, though they were certainly nowhere near defeated.   While the northern expedition was going on there was also a western expedition that left Nanjing on May 19th of 1853, just 11 days after the northern expedition launched from Yangzhou. The objective of the western expedition as conceived by Yang Xiuqing was to follow the Yangtze river and ultimately meet up with the northern expedition in Sichuan province. This would have resulted in a pincer maneuver that could swallow up all of western and northern China. On June 10th the western forces recaptured the vital city of Anqing which had been taken back by Qing forces. They were able to provision up from there and divided the force into several armies to march through the Yangtze valley. One army was commanded by Hu Yiguang who set out north of the Yangtze to conquer Anhwei province. Lai Hanyang took another army south to conquer Jiangxi. A 3rd mobile force led by Zeng Tianyang began to independently attack cities south of the Yangtze.    Hu Yiguang's force got as far as Luzhou, the new capital of Anhwei province at the time. Luzhou was guarded by one of the most capable Qing commanders, Jiang Zhongyuan, a Hunanese native from Xinning. He became the magistrate of Xiushi and Lishui, earning a reputation for being a great scholar and military leader. Zeng Guofan recommended Jiang for a higher office in 1850 to Emperor Xianfeng, but when he was supposed to leave for Beijing his father died and he had to return home to mourn. When the Taiping rebellion began, Jiang was appointed to assist the Grand secretary Sha-Shan-a in quelling the insurrection. Jiang began a campaign of gathering Hunanese volunteers who for the first time fought outside Hunan. It was one of the first waves of local forces led by a gentry class to fight the Taiping menace, something that influenced future Yung-Ying armies. Jiang won a great battle in Guangxi and was promoted to the rank of first class sub prefect. When the Taiping were invading Guilin in 1852, Jiang led his men from his home of Xinning to attack them. He won 3 major battles and managed to lift the Taiping siege of Guilin earning the rank of prefect. After this Jiang thwarted a Taiping naval invasion of Hunan province. He dammed the Xiang river near Suoyi ford and ambushed the Taiping Navy causing massive casualties upon them. It was the battle I mentioned where 10,000 Taiping men and Feng Yunshan perished. He thwarted the Taiping overland invasion of Hunan and besieged the Taiping stronghold of Chenzhou for a month before they fled to attack Changsha, the capital of Hunan. Jiang was one of those who helped defend Changsha earning the promotion of provincial judge of Hubei and then by 1853 assistant commander of the Qing armies in Jiangnan. He then aided in the defense of Nanchang which was besieged from June 22 to september 24th of 1853. For this he was appointed governor of Anhui which is what led him to the battle over Luzhou. When word came that the Taiping sought to attack Luzhou, Jiang rushed over with a small force to try and defend the new capital. He found himself outnumbered and outgunned, especially in siege mining technology that the Taiping had dramatically improved by this point in time. The Taiping took the city by January the 15th and in the process Jiang was wounded and he opted to commit suicide by drowning himself. The Qing lost an important capital city and one of their finest commanders who had proven himself successful at defeating Taiping using local militia forces.    Lai Hanying's army besieged Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi from june to september of 1853, but ultimately failed to take the city. This resulted in Lai losing his command and his army divided in 2 to hit Hubei and Hunan under the leadership of Wei Jun and Shi Zhenxiang. The high point of their campaigns led to the capture of Xiangtan on April 24th of 1854. After a year of taking Nanjing, the Taipings expeditions had run out of momentum. The northern expedition was a failure, the western had gained limited success, but not enough to extend their reach to the upper Yangtze and that of western china. The Taiping riverine forces dominated the Yangtze up into Hunan allowing them to use it for provisioning, logistics and most importantly further recruiting. But the original lightning speed drive of the Taiping had faded and the Qing were beginning to recover from the blitzkrieg. Now the offensives became see-saw's which allowed the Qing more time to recover, reorganize and build up new leadership that could effectively face the Taiping menace. Being a Pacific War specialist, its very much like the situation during the Guadalcanal campaign. Prior to this, the Japanese ran rampant on offensive controlling the when and where actions would occur, but after the horrible loss at Midway and Guadalcanal, the Japanese had gone past their logistical capabilities and lost the initiative, for the rest of the Pacific War the allies controlled the initiative. This is what we call the turning point, and it was here a year after taking Nanjing and losing the window of opportunity to take Beijing that was the Taiping rebellion's turning point. It is not to say they could not win the war, but the initiative was now in the hands of the Qing.   Although the campaign to take Beijing failed and the western campaign only held limited successes near the Yangtze, the Taiping were steadily extending their territory and thus were gaining additional manpower and supplies from the greater Yangtze region. The Taiping were struggling to consolidate their gains to establish better rule. Their offensives were being hampered by both political and religious confusion, often orchestrated by the efforts of Yang Xiuqing. The Taiping structure threatened Chinese traditions and saw backlash particularly from the Gentry class. I would note the gentry and landowner types probably were not the keenist on a group who sought land/wealth redistribution haha. The Taiping were a threat to Chinese social order as much as it was a threat to the Qing rule. Thus the gentry of China began to put their resources together to help the war effort resulting in a large push to the creation of Yung-ying militia groups such as Zeng Guofan's Xiang army. On top of the external actors trying to destroy the Taiping, the Taiping were having a ton of inner conflict as well. A violent and bloody power struggle had emerged destroying the unified political and military command established under Yang Xiuqing.   Now although I spoke about the formation of the new armies, I need to go into it a bit further, especially in regards to Zeng Guofan. While I explained how Zeng Guofan created his force, I did not talk about how this all looked from the Qing dynasties point of few. In late 1852 and early 1853 a number of edicts were made by Emperor Xianfeng leading to the appointment of 43 supervisors of new local corps in the provinces of Hunan, Anhwei, Jiangsu, Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Fujian. Amongst the appointed was Zeng Guofan. The Qing government sought to have these organized smaller forces led by the gentry class so they could be loyal and relied upon. These forces were set up in each district to contest the Taiping. Zeng Guofan's Xiang army proved themselves to be highly effective, but Zeng Guofan chose to be very cautious when reporting back to the Qing court. This was because his military organizational building was strongly autonomous and could be seen as a threat to the Qing military. There had been numerous local militia groups that shifted from pro-government to banditry. The establishment of these armies was obviously a last resort means, and definitely could be a threat to the dynasty, they were not so unalike to the bandit armies created in the 17th century to fight the Daxi or Dashun armies afterall.    Zeng Guofan did not state exactly what he was doing to the Qing court, in one of his first memorial he simply reported back that he was enlisting men from the countryside to establish a large military corps at its capital to be trained. It looked like Zeng Guofan was building a personal army, one that could be led on campaigns outside its local area. He sent more memorials stating that local corpsmen could not be relied upon in critical moments and that it was better to recruit from these local corpsmen an official militia, whose rations could be paid from public funds. When he was building the Xiang army he was consciously departing from the Qing courts authorization. He realized that local defense corps that had sprung up all over China were useful against local bandits and small raiders, but they were not large nor strong enough to withstand attacks from larger organized armies such as the Taiping. The Taiping were only growing larger, more organized, better armed. They simply could not be stopped by just local corps, what the Qing needed was a mobile army that could be used for offensive campaigns throughout larger areas.   Now the way Zeng Guofan made the Xiang army was based strongly on personal loyalty, the units were recruited, led and paid for by their commander. The commanders were loyal to Zeng Guofan, thus more or less the Xiang army was a personal army at his command. Zeng Guofan also assembled a number of future leaders who would go on to create their own versions of the Xiang army. Such men were Zeng Zongtang and Li Hongzhang of Anhwei province. By the end of the century, Zeng Guofan's example led to most provinces being dominated by regional forces under military organizations over whom the Qing central government had only minimal control. In many ways Zeng Guofan was a symptom of the ailing dynasty, the Qing were gradually losing control and there was emerging a threat to the political and social order in china. Zeng Guofan say the Taiping menace as a threat to traditional chinese society. He made many proclamations stating as such. “The Taiping rebels have stolen the ways of the foreign barbarians when they distort family relations by calling all people brothers and sisters, when they declare that all land belongs to the heavenly king and that all profit also belongs to him. They force scholars to give up the COnfucian classics to read instead the so called teaching of Jesus. They wipe away our moral standards, the very way we conduct ourselves as humans, the classics, and the institutions that have existed in CHina for several thousands of years. This is not only a tragedy for the Qing dynasty but a great tragedy for the whole of “ming-chiao” Chinese tradition and causes confucius and Mencius to weep bitterly in the underworld. How could any educated person remain sitting, hands in sleeves, without doing something about it”.    Zeng Guofan kept bringing up how the Taiping destroyed Buddhist and Taoist temples, that they were angering the gods who would take revenge. To right these terrible wrongs he said he was under Qing orders to advance his troops by land and water, not just to ease the Qing monarchs but also to console Confucious and Mencius, to avenge the slaughter of millions of Chinese. Appealing to the masses, Zeng Guofan began to ask for recruits, financial support and the surrender of any who decided to join the Taiping. Now I said he paid his army handsomely compared to that of the Green standards and such, but a lot of the funds were not under Qing control. The Gentry class were strongly supporting those like Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan began to ask and obtain permission from the Qing government to sell certificates of academic degrees, official titles and office appointments to sell to these said Gentry. The sale of all these degrees and titles increased gentry contributions, but also increased their influence and it began to build a new gentry role in leadership.    Another major source of income for the Xiang army was new internal custom taxes introduced in 1853. And although the Qing government permitted this new tax, it held no control or supervision over it. Zeng Guofan and other commanders of regional armies were gaining control over regular provincial taxes and were using them to build their armies. The combined income from the gentry class and regional taxes made men like Zeng Guofan basically warlords. Their forces were not really governmental troops although they were fighting for said government. The other side, the Taiping failed to gain any support from the Gentry class because of their alienating religious and economic beliefs. Fundamentally the Taiping were a revolutionary group breaking the stratum of Chinese society, and a large part of that was the Chinese gentry class.    Now Zeng Guofan began with a army of just a thousand men in 1853, composing 3 battalions. When they began to really clash with the Taiping they were soon 20,000 strong with naval and cavalry units. Later on they would become 120,000 men strong and Zeng Guofan had planned to use them for a long drawn out campaign despite pressure coming from Beijing to smash the rebels. Now the first major engagement between the Xiang army and the Taiping came in early 1854 and the Taiping defeated them. But on May 1st of 1854, the Xiang army defeated the Taiping at Xiangtan forcing them to withdraw. Then in a battle at Yuzhou in Hunan in July, the Xiang army on land and river gained a major victory. This victory gained Zeng Guofan great prestige and demonstrated the effectiveness of his army. The battle cost the Taiping more than half their fleet of boats and thus the loss of control over the central Yangtze river area. It was the first serious setback for the Taiping and it reduced their perimeter of military operations. Following up this victory, the Xiang army entered Hubei province and quickly recaptured Wuchang and Hanyang by october of 1854. Soon Zeng Guofans forces began to penetrate into Hubei and Jiangxi provinces marking the failure and end to the Taiping western expedition.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me.  The Northern expedition was a complete bust, the Taiping had lost the opportunity to claim the dragon throne. But the western expedition proved fruitful and gradually the heavenly kingdom was growing, and perhaps it could eclipse the Qing.  

PATREON EXCLUSIVE. In the regular episode, we talked about Dyah Gitarja, the third monarch of the Majapahit Empire. The Majapahit Empire lasted from the 1200s until the late 15th or early 16th century. Around 1500, there was a Chinese-Muslim trader who rose to prominence in that part of the world. This is a bonus episode about Shi Daniang, better known as Nyai Gede Pinateh, the Harbourmaster of Gresik.

Follow Dr Naoki Yamamoto on Twitter @NaokiQYamamotoIslam in China by James D Frankel https://www.amazon.co.uk/Islam-China-James-D-Frankel/dp/1784539813/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1CC92TO34KAK5&keywords=Islam+in+China+James+Frankel+%28Author%29&qid=1657045709&sprefix=islam%2520in%2520china%2520james%2520frankel%2520+author+%2Caps%2C60&sr=8-2Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction0:18 - Background of Dr. Naoki0:47 - Topics to be covered2:45 - The Forgotten Islamic History of East Asia5:52 - Islam in China6:45 - Studying Chinese Islam as a Japanese9:07 - Islam in Japan11:26 - Revert Story of Dr. Naoki16:55 - Reasons for accepting Islam18:14 - The Journey of being a Muslim20:44 - Islamic History of China23:36 - Muslims in China25:35 - Muslim regions in China27:20 - 4 Schools, 4 Tariqa30:37 - Qīngzhēnsi Masjids in China33:12 - History of Chinese Islam35:32 - Ming Dynasty and the Muslims37:12 - Hongwu Emperor's Eulogy for Muhammad ﷺ39:50 - Was Hongwu Emperor of China a Muslim?43:39 - Intellectual Tradition of Chinese Islam46:34 - Emergence of Chinese Islamic Literature48:22 - Use of the word "Kitab" in Islamic Civilisations49:49 - The Han-Kitab52:19 - Recommended Books on the Han-Kitab53:11 - The Chinese Islamic Scholarship: Explaining Islam in Chinese Vocabulary55:49 - The Legacy of the Chinese Islamic Scholar: Liu Zhi 57:54 - Islamic Philosophy: Hellenistic & Confucianistic Tradition1:00:34 - Islam and Confucianism1:06:54 - Kung Fu and Islam1:10:47 - Actual Context of the Japanese Tea Ceremony1:13:13 - Chinese Muslims as a Minority1:14:06 - Loneliness as a Minority1:15:41 - Jin Tianzhu: Eliminating Doubts against Islam1:20:49 - Muslims being closer to the teachings of Confucius & Jesus1:23:02 - Jin Tianzhu's criticism of Buddhist Monks1:24:28 - Jin Tianzhu being a Proud Chinese Muslim1:25:15 - Lessons from the Chinese Muslims1:30:05 - Role of Muslims in Modern Europe1:32:26 - Using Local Vocabulary & Cultural Traditions to propagate Islam1:34:50 - "Islam in China" by James Frankel1:36:06 - Academic Aspirations of Dr. Naoki1:39:33 - The Issue of Nation-State Mindset1:41:56 - Reconstructing the Islamic Kitab Civilisation1:43:19 - Brother Paul praises Dr. Naoki1:44:10 - Need for Recognition of the Kitab Tradition of China1:44:57 - East vs West Islamic Civilisations1:47:04 - Closing RemarksYou Can Support My Work on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/BloggingtheologyMy Paypal Link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bloggingtheology?locale.x=en_GBSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/blogging-theology/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/central-asian-studies

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Columbia UP, 2021) draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world.

For today's episode I will be looking into some parts of the rich history of Islam in China and how it represents both Chinese Muslims and Muslims that are in China (I'll explain the difference in the episode). In doing so I hope to bring a greater understanding of how Islam has been influential in China as well as its interactions with previous Chinese governments.

Do you want to 10X your salary, and have the option to live the life you want or take a career break without having to worry about money?In my money blueprint for Women Leaders book, I will be sharing with you the secrets that I used to overcome my 5 figure debt, retrenchment and still able to achieve financial success. Download at www.janetaisyahquek.com/money. As T Harv Eker says, either you control your money , or it will control you. Welcome to Woman Leadership show. I'm Janet Aisyah and in this episode, I will be sharing with you on our journey as Chinese Muslim as couple.Would you like to share how you feel when you know that I have set my mind to revertHow did you get to accept my decision?What are the changes you need to adapt?What are your advice to those who like to convert?Key TakeawaysDiscuss as couple what are our thoughtsThink about family and outcomePray Whatever is Allah's will I hope that through my sharing, it draws inspiration and personal reflection for you. I believe every woman has the potential to be a leader in your own way.Do you want to influence, inspire and motivate others even without a title?Do you desire to build your brand and pivot your career or business?If that's you, Go to www.janetaisyahquek.com/coaching. Remember, breakthroughs happen, when limiting thoughts and behaviors are challenged. Linkedin:www.linkedin.com/in/janetquekFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/janetaisyahquekMoney Blueprint for Women Leaders linkhttps://janetqcc.clickfunnels.com/financialblueprinthttp://www.janetaisyahquek.com/money21 Ways to be Headhuntedhttp://www.janetaisyahquek.com/headhuntedPodcast Coaching for C-suiteshttps://shor.by/leaderonline

6.00 am Beijing, China is hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics but has also been at the heart of controversy for their reported treatment of the Uighur, or Chinese Muslims. Ed Clancy, Director of Outreach Aid to the Church in Need discusses Religious Persecution in China. 6.20 am Rome Correspondent, Ashley Noronha, News from Rome 6.40 am It takes a man to raise a daughter and parenting correctly is an art form. Catholic author Alan Migliorato summarizes his book, "The Manly Art of Raising a Daughter."

Alhamdulillah! I had a wonderful conversation with @The3Muslims on this podcast. Jazakallahu Khairan, thanks for inviting me to the show. I enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to meeting all of them face to face one day, InsyaAllah (God Willing). May Allah (swt) reward them abundantly for all the hard work they put into this and their efforts in sharing the beauty of Islam. May all my brothers and sisters in Islam be under the protection and mercy of Allah (swt) always, InsyaAllah. Insyallah, may we all reunite in Jannatul Firdaus.Timestamps ⬇️ 0:00 Coming Up 1:08 Intro 1:38 Patreon Snippet 3:30 Guest Introduction 3:59 Journey To Islam 15:30 The Dream That Lead Him To Islam 17:16 Miracle Of The Quran 25:00 Refuting Atheism 32:20 Fatherhood 34:29 How His Parents Reacted 40:17 Advice To Reverts About Parents 41:49 Being A Leader 45:06 Logic Vs Emotion 45:37 Ferdaus's Advice 49:29 Formal Islamic Education 55:17 Patreon Snippet 57:02 OutroIf you like their podcast, and want to support them, join as a member on their patreon. You will get their realest unfiltered content and helps them keep going and also a huge slice of the reward for them doing the hard work to spread truth as Sadaqah (charity) is one of the best forms of spending money. Also available on all streaming platforms including: #Shaherald #Revert #RevertStory #The3Muslims #Dawah #Muslim *Republished with permission granted

Find us on YouTube: The3Muslims, which is twice the fun of only listening! Become a patron at www.patreon.com/the3muslims to support the movement. As always, thanks for listening!

Assalamu'alaikum everyone! In today's episode for our ongoing October Series called “Am I ready?” we're joined with a Brother Darren Mak @ Aadam, a first gen Chinese Muslim convert, who shares how his dream about the Ka'bah, at a time when he did not know what it was, led to his conversion into Islam about 4 years later

"The Western World. It doesn't like China and it doesnt' like Muslims. But they really care about Chinese Muslims" On this week's Bonus Episode George Galloway is joined by Political Commentator Daniel Dimbrill From Covid 19 to concentration camps, it seems we hear a new sinister whisper about what is happening in China every day. Daniel Dimbrill discusses the ongoing global propaganda campaign against China and what it really means, and what is the endgame of this global tit for tat? Is it to disguised the hurt ego of the U.S or does it have a more sinister undertone. One that could lead to war? You can follow Daniel Dumbrill's Youtube Channel below: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielDumbrill "The Mother of all Talk Shows" is broadcast live every Sunday 7pm GMT on Youtube and Sputnik Radio. MOATS is the open university of the airwaves to millions of people all over the world @moatstv This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

As Khwaja Ahmad Abbas spends his last evening in Shanghai, he observes there is a large population of Muslims in Shanghai who are nationalists just like the other Chinese but quite liberal as well. They drink alcohol and yet follow their religion. Abbas finds the Chinese Theatre a bit primitive and as bad as the Hindustani Theatre. 'Musafir Ki Diary' is based on a travelogue in Urdu by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, the legendary journalist, screenwriter and filmmaker, known for writing films such as Neecha Nagar, Awara, Bobby and Hina. This podcast is presented by Pervaiz Alam and produced by Achala Sharma for Cineink in association with Khwaja Ahmad Memorial Trust.

How did Jesus and the early Church engage with people of other faiths? What does the Christian idea of salvation look like in a multi-faith context? Why is being a better neighbour part of living out our Christian calling? How might the Christian mandate for justice challenge the Church's in-action on discrimination and prejudice?  Dr Gerard Charles spent 10 years working in China connected to a missionary society. He undertook doctoral research on the challenges of identity for Chinese Muslims. He now lecturers on  cross-cultural ministry including at Cranmer Hall. For more info about Gerard see here.

Zheng He & Co. have left the station and are sailing out! They leave the safety of the Yangtze River and set their compasses southbound and down, first to Fujian, then to Vietnam, Java, Sri Lanka, and finally all the way to India, all in the name of trade and riches. But the return journey will turn out to be anything but a pleasure-cruise. Between pirate raiders adn deadly storms, they might need a miracle to pull this off... Time Period Covered: 1405-1407 CE Major Historical Figures: Grand Admiral Zheng He [1371-1433/5] Chen Zuyi, Pirate Lord Extraordinaire [d. 1407] Ma Huan, Chinese Muslim translator & chronicler [1380-1460] Major Sources Cited: Chan, Hok-lam. “The Chien-wen, Yung-lo, Hung-xi, Hsüan-te Reigns” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part I.
 Levathes, Louise. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433. Pregadio, Fabrizio (2004). The Encyclopedia of Taoism.

Zheng He & Co. have left the station and are sailing out! They leave the safety of the Yangtze River and set their compasses southbound and down, first to Fujian, then to Vietnam, Java, Sri Lanka, and finally all the way to India, all in the name of trade and riches. But the return journey will turn out to be anything but a pleasure-cruise. Between pirate raiders adn deadly storms, they might need a miracle to pull this off...Time Period Covered:1405-1407 CEMajor Historical Figures:Grand Admiral Zheng He [1371-1433/5]Chen Zuyi, Pirate Lord Extraordinaire [d. 1407]Ma Huan, Chinese Muslim translator & chronicler [1380-1460]Major Sources Cited:Chan, Hok-lam. “The Chien-wen, Yung-lo, Hung-xi, Hsüan-te Reigns” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part I.Levathes, Louise. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433.Pregadio, Fabrizio (2004). The Encyclopedia of Taoism.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, Rustin and Ali interview Dr. Kelly Anne Hammond, Assistant Professor of East Asian History in the Department of History at the University of Arkansas, about her book, China’s Muslims and Japan’s Empire: Centering Islam in World War II (University of North Carolina Press, November 2020). During World War II, Sino-Muslims (Hui Muslims) were an important focal point for Imperial Japanese propaganda. Japanese imperial officials saw Sino-Muslims as crucial intermediaries that could help not only defeat nationalist and communist opposition in China, but also help bolster an image of the empire as anti-Western protectors of Islam. Building on an older academic tradition of Islamic Studies in Japan, knowledge of Islam was put into imperial service. Combined with the patronage of Muslim schools, mosques, and hajj pilgrimage, the empire aimed to create transnational Muslim networks that were centered in Japan and used Japanese as their new lingua franca. Dr. Hammond shows that these efforts were met with limited success due to the community’s religious and political diversity, as well as the military defeat of Imperial Japan. Even those who were receptive to Japanese efforts ultimately had to ally themselves with other powers following the end of the war, yet the legacy of their role as intermediaries remained even in the Cold War era.

In this episode, Rustin and Ali interview Dr. Kelly Anne Hammond, Assistant Professor of East Asian History in the Department of History at the University of Arkansas, about her book, China's Muslims and Japan's Empire: Centering Islam in World War II (University of North Carolina Press, November 2020). During World War II, Sino-Muslims (Hui Muslims) were an important focal point for Imperial Japanese propaganda. Japanese imperial officials saw Sino-Muslims as crucial intermediaries that could help not only defeat nationalist and communist opposition in China, but also help bolster an image of the empire as anti-Western protectors of Islam. Building on an older academic tradition of Islamic Studies in Japan, knowledge of Islam was put into imperial service. Combined with the patronage of Muslim schools, mosques, and hajj pilgrimage, the empire aimed to create transnational Muslim networks that were centered in Japan and used Japanese as their new lingua franca. Dr. Hammond shows that these efforts were met with limited success due to the community's religious and political diversity, as well as the military defeat of Imperial Japan. Even those who were receptive to Japanese efforts ultimately had to ally themselves with other powers following the end of the war, yet the legacy of their role as intermediaries remained even in the Cold War era.

I interviewed "Temur" who goes by Twitter handle @steelmuslim about growing up Chinese Muslim in Australia, media portrayal of China and growing Sinophboia Down Under, nefarious Aussie think tank ASPI and failson of Australia's ex-Prime Minister

A new rule in China means Muslims who want to visit Mecca must go on government-approved trips, further tightening rules that had already made individual trips to the haj near-impossible.

In our latest podcast, we are joined by Mukhlis Mah, an Australian Chinese Muslim who has been studying the Arabic language for over 6 years.In this discussion, we go over a range of topics including the history of Islam in China, his journey in studying the Arabic language, the social media obsession with Asian Muslims, the contribution of non-Arabs to Arabic, the wisdom of the Quran being in Arabic, and Mukhlis's esteemed academic background in Geochemistry.

Today, we have Siddique Lim, an SMU undergraduate, who will be sharing with us his experiences as a Chinese Muslim and a convert in a community that is made up of a Malay-Muslim majority. In this episode, he shared stories of encounters he had with both Muslims and Non-Muslims and how he had navigated the path into being comfortable with his own identity.

Ever wonder what it's like to be dating someone from another Race in Singapore? In this episode, we recount the experiences of an Indian-Muslim man (Firdaus) dating & marrying a Chinese-Muslim lady (Arie). We dive into the kinds of perceptions they had about dating other races, some of the reactions they got from the public while they were dating, and shared some of the challenges they faced from their families and friends as they progressed into marriage despite the difference in cultures and practices. Find out what it takes to make an inter-racial marriage work, right here on Deep Culture! DeepCulture: Anchor Podcast: Anchor.fm/DeepCulture Spotify: Deep Culture (Podcast) Facebook: @inspireyoutooDeepCulture Instagram: @inspireyoutoo_DeepCulture Firdaus & Arie: Instagram: @f_i_daus Instagram: @Lifeasanarie Firdaus Spotify: F!D --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/deepculture/support

Security researchers reveal a months-long, indiscriminate campaign targeting the iPhones of Chinese Muslims.

TRANSCRIPT FOR EP15:Welcome to Woman Leadership show. I'm Janet and in this episode, I will be sharing with you my journey as a Chinese Muslim.I converted 10 years ago with the same husband I got married. I would receive questions such as did I remarry or I married a Malay Muslim. My husband is also Chinese Muslim and he converted around the same time as me in the same year. I grew up in Buddhist /Taoist background and I used to go to church in younger days but I have been going with Budhhism/Taoism till I got to know more about Islam from a Malay Masseur who did massage for me after my confinement. I started to learn more about the religion, listen to audio and started lessons on quran reading . I tried fasting before my official conversion. Many people were surprised with my conversion including all my friends who have known me for many years and new people I met. I would share with them my journey how I found Islam. Some would not accept it and started to distance away from me. I found new friends in my religion and those who accepted me as who I am.Our stories were published in the media and newspaper. It was a touching moments for us and also to share with others Muslim is a religion but not a race. There are many international muslims around the world such as Australian, European, American , Korean, Japan, Taiwan, China and so on. Just that in Singapore as there is very few minority as Chinese Muslims, we were being mistaken that we have conver to be Malay and have Malay name. Being a Muslim has changed my relationship with my mum. Because of my faith, I was more patient and understanding towards her. My inlaws side was very accepting of our conversion and though there would be still doubts about my conversion, I would try to answer their questions and letting everyone know that I am still me. I am still Chinese and have an Arabic name not Malay name. This is a big change for me with regards to dressing, food, prayers, fasting and some friends and ex colleagues would felt that those are too difficult. To me, whatever religion, it is about knowing why we are doing this. Once we know Why, we will be willing to do whatever it takes to have the life that we want. Learn to accept not everyone will accept my decision and that is okay. I do not need to please everyone by doing things that they think is right. This is my life and I have the right to .I hope that through my sharing, it draws inspiration and personal reflection for you. I believe every woman can be a leader in your own way. I look forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will be sharing with you tips and ways to realize your full potential as a leader on Woman Leadership. 

Practising a religious faith in communist China has always been hard. Uighur Muslims face incarceration in re-education camps. But other Muslims have seen repression under communism too.Things were particularly tough in the 1960s during Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution. Then there was a brief period in the 1980s when the state seemed to ease its pressure on believers. Rebecca Kesby has been speaking to two Chinese Muslims about their lives and worship. Photo: A child waits during prayers at a ceremony to mark the Eid-al-Fitr Festival in the Niujie Mosquein in Beijing, China. The Niujie Mosque is the largest mosque in China's capital and dates back to the 10th century. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

On today’s show we will be speaking to Chinese Muslim activist TEMÜR (TI-MUH-R), a union member, and ex-Labor member who has written for the Guardian and Crikey in the past. We will be talking about the impacts of racism and Sinophobia on the Chinese diaspora in Australia and possible reasons why mainstream media have chosen to exaggerate problems China is currently facing.

Brother Hadi Tan is a 64 year-old Chinese Muslim who took his Shahadah 29 years ago in 1991. His story is towards Islam is a story of brotherhood and accentuates the huge impact that all of us have on the people around us. We learn that brotherhood goes beyond building bonds but also about spreading the beauty of Islam through our behavior and grace.

The first episode of a Career Ender Podcast, it is pretty bad but we talked about, politics, Chinese Muslim genocide, the fun stuff. Not really family-friendly.

join us as we break down sovereignty with a quick history lesson and then sees how it plays a role in our world today , then join me as we try to find a way to stay positive through all the negativity in our world.  IG: @Kay.Vazquez --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaylyn-vazquez/support

Sayragul Sauytbay is an ethnic Kazakh from Xinjiang in western China. In 2016, she was happily married with two children and loved her job as a head teacher at a kindergarten. But a year after – amidst a crackdown on Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim population – she says she was summoned to teach in a different facility, one of many camps set up to “re-educate” Chinese Muslims like her. The Chinese government claims these camps offer voluntary education and training. But the UN has called them 'internment camps'; Sayragul calls them 'concentration camps'. She says she was held there, and was forced to teach Chinese propaganda under strict surveillance. Eventually she escaped the country to be with her family in Kazakhstan. But her ordeal wasn’t over; she faced trial and deportation back to China where she feared severe punishment for spilling state secrets. Sayragul tells Jo Fidgen her story. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Maryam Maruf Picture: Prisoners in blue boiler suits inside Xinjiang camp - photo posted to the WeChat account of the Xinjiang Judicial Administration, April 2017.

Barstool Sports Daily News PodcastSupport Hard Factor & ‘Pop The Clutch'™ on a Shirt » Merch: http://bit.ly/HF-Merch----------------------------On today's episode…China's Got a Few Million People in Prison Camps You're not going to to believe this, but it appears the Chinese government is treating people poorly. As many as 1 million Chinese Muslims are believed to have been sent to “re-education” schools in the region of Xinjiang over the past three years. No word yet from Lebron James on this one.Elon Musk Breaks a Bunch of Shit Elon has to stand trial and face the British guy he accused of being that “pedo guy.” Also in a failed “pressurization” test in Boca Chica, TX last Wednesday his 65 foot prototype starship blew up. Then he capped off his week by having the worst demonstration in the history of demonstrations when a guy threw a metal ball threw the windows of his new nerdy looking truck that was supposed to have bullet resistant glass, right in front of him on stage.News Buffet 82 Year old award winning body building grandmother beat down a home invader California Representative Devin Nunes is suing CNN and the Daily Beast for publishing a story that outs him for being deeply involved in Ukraine Gate personally The fucking balloons at the fucking Macy's Day Parade might be grounded on Thanksgiving due to wind A soon to be dead man gets caught by the cops with 1.9 million dollars of meth in plain sight during a routine traffic stop Brought to you by PredictIt – Go to http://bit.ly/2Mcuq0c to get your first $20 deposit matched in the stock market of politics!Go to Movember.com/bartsool to join our team, grow your moustache, and fundraise for your chance to win the grand prize.----------------------------Follow us on Twitter: @HardFactorNews: http://bit.ly/HFTWIT@HardFactorMark: http://bit.ly/MarkCats@HardFactorPat: http://bit.ly/PatHF@HardFactorWes: http://bit.ly/WesTwit@HardFactorWill: http://bit.ly/HFwillFollow us on Instagram: @HardFactorNews: http://bit.ly/InstagHFSee how sweaty we look » Youtube: http://bit.ly/HardFactorYT

We are chatting with Ali Azimov of Lagman House about his family's restaurant, and introducing our listeners to Dungan cuisine. As Ligaya Mishan pointed out in The New York Times, "Lagman House is likely the first and only restaurant in the city to offer the food of the Dungans, Chinese Muslims descended from seventh-century Arab and Persian Silk Road traders who married Han Chinese." Doron Wong of River and Hills Hospitality Group will also join us to share his experiences cooking and eating in Kazakhstan. Photo courtesy of Lagman House. Feast Meets West is powered by Simplecast.

On Tuesday's Mark Levin Show, 77 Years ago today the Battle of Midway ended the threat of Japan on the Pacific coast. This decisive victory was key on winning, yet so many of us don't know about it. We must know our history because if we lose our history we will lose our country. While that is our history, others around the world still suffer. Today also marks the 30th Anniversary of the courageous stand taken by the man who faced down the Communist Chinese Army tanks in Tiananmen Square. Despite his stand against despotism, Chinese Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists are still being detained and tortured by the Chinese government. Then, Chris Cuomo says that President Trump is taking America toward despotism because we've never had a president that called for a boycott on a company that he doesn't like. What Cuomo said is a historical lie; we've had presidents like Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama whom all abused their power and have called for much worse than a boycott, as noted in "Unfreedom Of The Press." Later, Manhattan prosecutor Cy Vance has requested the transfer of Paul Manafort to New York's Rikers Island in an effort to destroy him under the guise of pursuing NY state crimes just in case Trump pardons him. Afterward, seven Republicans voted for amnesty for DACA recipients and a Robert Mueller investigation witness, George Nader, was arrested on charges related to child pornography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday's Mark Levin Show, 77 Years ago today the Battle of Midway ended the threat of Japan on the Pacific coast. This decisive victory was key on winning, yet so many of us don't know about it. We must know our history because if we lose our history we will lose our country. While that is our history, others around the world still suffer. Today also marks the 30th Anniversary of the courageous stand taken by the man who faced down the Communist Chinese Army tanks in Tiananmen Square. Despite his stand against despotism, Chinese Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists are still being detained and tortured by the Chinese government. Then, Chris Cuomo says that President Trump is taking America toward despotism because we've never had a president that called for a boycott on a company that he doesn't like. What Cuomo said is a historical lie; we've had presidents like Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama whom all abused their power and have called for much worse than a boycott, as noted in "Unfreedom Of The Press." Later, Manhattan prosecutor Cy Vance has requested the transfer of Paul Manafort to New York's Rikers Island in an effort to destroy him under the guise of pursuing NY state crimes just in case Trump pardons him. Afterward, seven Republicans voted for amnesty for DACA recipients and a Robert Mueller investigation witness, George Nader, was arrested on charges related to child pornography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The UN reports at least 1 million Uighurs, an ethnic muslim minority group in China, are being held in “internment camps.” Despite calls from the international community for China to stop, there appears to be no end in sight.

During the so-called ‘Dark Ages’, the Islamic world was undergoing was period of cultural enlightenment; at the same time, another empire, further east, was also flourishing. Historian Hassam Munir tells Zara about the cultural exchange between the Muslim and Chinese worlds. He talks about the history of Islam in China, explaining how and when it first reached the region and whether or not a Companion of the Prophet (pbuh) ever visited China. He also tells us about the Uyghur people and their history, as well as the influence of prominent Chinese Muslim scholars and the scholarship they produced.  Shownotes

A daily look at the relevant information security news from overnight.Episode 85 - 15 February, 2019GandCrab hits via remote - https://www.zdnet.com/article/gandcrab-ransomware-gang-infects-customers-of-remote-it-support-firms/Emotet continues to evolve - https://threatpost.com/emotet-evasion-tactic-xml/141862/Proof of oncept for Intel flaw - https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/researchers-developed-a-proof-of-concept-attack-which-allows-them-to-hide-malware-in-intels-software-guard-extensions-sgx/Chinese Muslim tracking database exposed - https://www.zdnet.com/article/chinese-company-leaves-muslim-tracking-facial-recognition-database-exposed-online/Coffee Meets Bagel schmeared - https://gizmodo.com/dating-apps-reputation-schmeared-by-data-breach-1832621624

This week Keegan and Madigan discuss the awful Chinese Muslim internment camps, Michael Flynn, Pete Davidson's cry for help on Instagram, the Natalie Portman and Jessica Simpson "feud", and the new Netflix movie Dumplin'. Send us your AMA Questions! January 21st will be our POD-IVERSARY EPISODE and we need YOUR help! Don't forget to REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE on iTunes! Have a #SisterSolidarity Story you'd like to share? Email us at neighborhoodfeminist@gmail.com Find us on social media: Instagram: @angryneighborhoodfeminist Twitter: @YANFPodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angryneighborhoodfeminist Music: Lee Rosevere

There has been a lot of news going around lately about Muslims in concentration camps inside of China. Eugene shares an update on the Uyghurs inside of western China.

Episode 365with John Chenhosted by Shireen Hamza and Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn the early twentieth century, Muslim modernizers all over the world were making new claims about Islam, and the Muslims of China were no exception. In this episode, we discuss the relationship of Southeast Asia to the emergence of a modern Chinese Islam. In a period often characterized in terms of non-Arab Muslims' rediscovery of the Middle East, John Chen shows how connections between Chinese Muslims (Hui) and diverse groups across the Indian Ocean also shaped the new Chinese Islam. The processes often considered to be Arabization were in fact multiregional exchanges. Delving especially into the histories of Islamic medicine in China, John illustrates how Chinese Muslim leaders, imams, and historians took to print, radio, and even to sea routes, to articulate new visions of identity in an emerging nation-state and a changing Islamic world. « Click for More »

Episode 365with John Chenhosted by Shireen Hamza and Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn the early twentieth century, Muslim modernizers all over the world were making new claims about Islam, and the Muslims of China were no exception. In this episode, we discuss the relationship of Southeast Asia to the emergence of a modern Chinese Islam. In a period often characterized in terms of non-Arab Muslims' rediscovery of the Middle East, John Chen shows how connections between Chinese Muslims (Hui) and diverse groups across the Indian Ocean also shaped the new Chinese Islam. The processes often considered to be Arabization were in fact multiregional exchanges. Delving especially into the histories of Islamic medicine in China, John illustrates how Chinese Muslim leaders, imams, and historians took to print, radio, and even to sea routes, to articulate new visions of identity in an emerging nation-state and a changing Islamic world. « Click for More »

We cannot thank you, our supporters, enough - especially our GateKeepers. Your support keeps BTJ Partners working in the deepest unreached areas of the world. Eugene wants to bring you news from some of those unreached areas in this podcast. Tune in!

Ethnic Chinese make up an estimated 1-2 percent of Indonesia's population. Of this group, a tiny minority are Muslim. As such, ethnic Chinese Muslims occupy a unique and significant position where the religious majority intersects with this ethnic minority, which has long assumed a role of economic middleman and been used as political scapegoat. In many ways Chinese Muslims in Indonesia disturb both their religious and ethnic identity groups. At its best, their position in society serves to highlight the inclusivity and diversity possible within Indonesian nationalism, and at its worst, to expose the undeniable limitations therein. Who are Indonesia's ethnic Chinese Muslims? What is their history and situation in contemporary Indonesia? Is there a Chinese way of being Muslim? What can their story tell us about religious tolerance and cultural diversity in Indonesia today? Jemma Purdey explores these issues with Dr Hew Wai Weng, a fellow in the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, National University of Malaysia (UKM). Photo by Masjid Cheng Ho.

Eugene turns 40, loses a podcast, and shares about his recent visits in Western China!

7 foot tall, Chinese Muslim eunuch badass sails around the world collecting giraffes and beating people up. What are you gunna do about it? Nothing. Zheng He.  

Introduction So when I was growing up, one of my favorite types of fairy tales were the kind of stories in which some supernatural being would drop into an ordinary person's life and offer them one wish or, even better, three wishes. Wasn't long before thinking myself more clever than any other child, I came up with the idea of asking for unlimited wishes, like I were the only one that ever thought of that. I'm sure you thought of it too. But there are all kinds of stories like the fisherman and his wife, and he catches a supernatural fish who grants him ever increasingly better homes to live and mansions. Or the tree, the woodsman who is about to cut down a tree fairy's favorite oak tree and she offers him three wishes and all of that. But of all of those stories, I think the most popular and well known is Aladdin and his magic lamp. It's one of the thousand and one nights, the Arabian Nights. And in that story, this Chinese Muslim young man comes in possession of a mysterious lamp, he doesn't understand its powers. And he starts to polish it because it's a bit dingy. And suddenly a genie appears before him and says, “I am the slave of whoever holds the lamp. Ask whatever you wish and it'll be done for you.” And it's interesting in the story, I re-read it last night and just trying to remind myself of the details, but he really just little by little starts to use the power of this genie. Just asked for food initially, 'cause he's hungry. And as the story unfolds he starts to use the genie’s power more and more, gains more and more wealth and power and influence and eventually marries the sultan's daughter. Happy ending. But we, as we grow up, we start to realize this is just a fairy tale and no supernatural being's ever gonna drop into your life and stand in front of you and say, “Ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.” You have to work for what you get, you have to labor with your own hands, everything you get will come as a result of your efforts and your energy. And then you read the New Testament. And here is Jesus the Son of God giving us lavish commands and promises on prayer, many of which I prayed back in my prayer. If you believe, you'll receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Ask and it will be given to you that your joy may be full. Ask and you will receive. Over and over these kinds of promises. And in our passage today though it's not directly about our prayer life I think it is relevant the point of connection to us today is that Jesus still stands in front of us and asks this question, “What do you want me to do for you?” And how different is Jesus from Aladdin's genie. Aladdin's genie is just mindless supernatural power that does whatever the human being wants. That is not the God of the Bible, my friends. Thanks be to God that we don't get everything we ask for. Thanks be to God that neither I nor you run the universe. God in his wisdom will filter our requests and our prayers and do what is best for us. Now, I've known that for a long time. I believed from the beginning of my Christian life that God is sovereign, he's providential, he rules over all things, orchestrates them for his own power and glory. So how do my prayers fit into that? God's gonna do what God's gonna do and it's going to be good and right so why should I ask him for anything? Now when Jesus stands in front of us and says, “What do you want me to do for you?” Most people in the world in effect say, “Absolutely nothing. I want nothing from Jesus.” Either they don't believe he really exists or can do anything or he's irrelevant to their situation, they ask nothing of Jesus, literally nothing. Some sinners recognize their dire straits and they ask simply for salvation. They want forgiveness of sins, they wanna live with Christ forever. In the providence of God, Uta’s converting text, I get to preach on today, isn't that sweet? He asked me, “Did you do that on purpose?” I said “No, that was the sovereign hand of God.” Oh the joys of expositional preaching. I didn't orchestrate that, God did. But that can happen. Just an unbeliever standing before God and in effect Jesus is saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I wanna, I wanna live forever. I want my sins forgiven.” So they ask and he forgives. But I say to you, there's not a single Christian in this room that asks enough of Jesus. We, all of us, under ask. We ask for less than we should. We ask with less specificity. We ask with less confidence than we should and my desire is to reverse that today by the power of the Word of God that we can picture Jesus continually standing in front of us and saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” knowing that he will filter our requests and do what's best according to his will and his purpose but we should be asking more and more with greater and greater intensity. So what do you want Jesus to do for you today? The Context of the Healing: Jesus Passes Through Jericho The End of a Major Section, the Beginning of a New Chapter Now, the context of this healing Jesus is passing through Jericho. This is the end of a major section in Matthew's gospel and the beginning of the final section. The overall theme of Matthew's gospel is the king of the kingdom of heaven, presents Jesus as the King and the realm that he rules over called the Kingdom of Heaven. The beginning of Jesus' preaching ministry in Matthew 4:17, “From that time on he began to preach ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Now, everything in the gospel of Matthew exists, I think either to establish Christ as the King of the kingdom of heaven, what he's like, what kind of king he is, or to tell us the nature of the kingdom of heaven or to exhort us as sinners to enter the kingdom of heaven or to live according to kingdom principles. That's what the gospel of Matthew is about. So in the first three and a half chapters from Matthew 1:1 through 4:11, we have the prologue of Jesus' ministry. We have the genealogy establishing Jesus' right to rule as the king of the Jews. We have the birth narrative with the gifts of the Magi and all that. We have John the Baptist’s ministry in Jesus' baptism and then Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. All of this just setting the stage for the central section which we are just completing today from Matthew 4:12 to 20:34, Jesus' ministry in Galilee and his journey to Jerusalem. We see teachings, we see miracles, we see the calling of the first disciples as he walked by the Sea of Galilee or as he calls Matthew from his tax collector's booth. We see the Sermon on the Mount and we start to understand the nature of the kingdom life that Jesus would have for us. A life of the heart, of the spirit that transforms from within. We see more miracles, the training of the twelve, they're sent out on mission, trained and prepared. We see the ongoing and the increasing rejection of Christ by the Jewish leaders and by some of the people. We see the parables in which Jesus uses that form of teaching to tell us about the kingdom of heaven and what it's like. And the end of Jesus' ministry in Galilee, including his acceptance by some and rejection by others. And then the journey which we're on now, the journey to Jerusalem always under the shadow of the cross in which he is increasingly preparing his apostles for his own death, making it very plain what's going to happen when he gets to Jerusalem. And so in the final section of Matthew's gospel, Matthew 21 through 28, we will see Jesus' basically the final week of his life. Eight chapters of Matthew's gospel devoted just to the final week of Jesus' life. His ministry there in Jerusalem, his trial, his crucifixion and death and then his glorious resurrection and the Great Commission. En Route to Jerusalem: On the Way to the Cross So we're on route here in this account to Jerusalem, on the way to the cross. This is the time of the Passover in Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are making their way to the city of Jerusalem and Jesus and his disciples are among them. But for Jesus, it is a unique and painful time. He would be the Passover lamb. His blood would be shed finishing therefore the animal sacrificial system. His blood would be shed for the sins of the world. Jesus had just warned in verses 17 through 19 of Matthew 20, his disciples about his impending death. He took his disciples aside and told them very plainly what was going to happen. “We are going to Jerusalem and the Son of man will be betrayed to the chief priest and the teachers of law. They will condemn him to death and turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And on the third day he will be raised to life.” He's also instructed them about the importance of humility in his kingdom. You remember how James and John took Jesus aside and asked that he might grant them the right to sit at his right and his left at the kingdom. So they're jockeying for position. We talked about that last time. And Jesus instructs his twelve apostles, at that point, about the nature of greatness in the kingdom. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them, not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” So the last two sections that we looked at focused on Jesus' death. Jesus is thinking about it all the time. As I said, he's traveling to Jerusalem under the shadow of the cross. Now, this is the last detailed healing account in Matthew's gospel. We do have a passing reference in Matthew 21:14, but it's just a general statement. This is the last healing account we get. Jericho: A Historic and Beautiful City Now, as he's passing through Jericho, he's passing through a historic and a beautiful city. The Jericho of Jesus' day lay somewhat south of the ruins of the Old Testament Jericho that was destroyed by Joshua at the time of the crossing and the entrance into the promised land by the Jews. This city of Jericho rebuilt now, locates, is located 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built up on a series of mountain ridges up on Mount Zion, it's called, Mount Moriah, and was 3,300 feet higher than Jericho. Thus in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus speaks of going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, this man that's beaten by these robbers. Jesus is making the opposite journey. He's going up from Jericho, up to Jerusalem. Now Herod the great and later Archelaus had strengthened and beautified the city of Jericho. They gave it an amphitheater, villas and a public bath. It was a little paradise with an oasis of fresh water, with palm trees and rose gardens, lavish crops of fig and citrus and other fruits. It's winter climate was delightful. Josephus said that when it was snowy in Jerusalem, Jericho was by contrast warm and pleasant. And thus Herod built a winter palace there. Now, as I mentioned, it's a historic city of course, you know about Joshua and the walls of Jericho falling down. And there was saved Rahab, the prostitute, who was Jesus' ancestress whose name is mentioned in Jesus' genealogy in Matthew chapter 1. It was also near here that Jesus went out into the desert for 40 days of temptation by the devil. So it's historic even in Jesus' life. Synoptic Problems Now, as we come to this account, there are problems in harmonizing it with Mark and Luke's account, that I think it's reasonable for us to mention. One of the hardest things to do in New Testament studies is to harmonize Matthew, Mark and Luke in their accounts. And I don't often mention this to you, but this time I think it's worthy of mention because in Mark's gospel, you just have one blind man, Bartimaeus, he's named and it's not mentioned that there are two. And in one of the accounts Jesus is going out of Jericho, in another account he's going in. Well, I'm not gonna burden you with all of the details in the different ways that these things can be harmonized. I think simply, there were two beggars. Whenever any gospel account gives us additional information, you add the additional information on as true and try your best to harmonize it with the simpler accounts. And so I think there were two beggars and one of them was named Bartimaeus. Concerning Jesus leaving or entering Jericho, I know this, that it was right around this time in Luke 19 that he sees Zacchaeus up in the tree. So it could be that it was just his intention to be leaving Jericho and he goes back into the city to have a meal with Zacchaeus. So it is possible to harmonize all of these things. But let's concentrate on the story primarily as Matthew gives it to us. Jesus Heals Two Blind Men Beginning at verse 29 it says, “As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside and when they heard that Jesus was going by they shouted, ‘Lord, son of David have mercy on us!’ The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet but they shouted all the louder, ‘Lord, son of David have mercy on us!’ Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. Lord, they answered, we want our sight. Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.” Now, Matthew heightens the sense of intensity here by saying as they're going by the road “behold” or “look, two blind men sitting there.” So suddenly there they are. He wants us to see them with our minds eye as we really read the text. Their Wretched Condition And they were in a wretched condition. First of all, they were blind. Modern surveys list blindness as one of the greatest medical fears that anyone has. Many of us probably fear that more than any loss that could happen to our bodies. We rely so much on our vision for our lives in the world. Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness then how great is that darkness?” Blindness was very common in the Middle East in Jesus' day. Many were blind from venereal diseases gotten from their mothers through the birth process. There's no cure for that. Other infants became blind though trachoma, a virulent form of conjunctivitis. Of course, there were accidents and other things that could happen. Reading between the lines, it seems that these men had at one point been able to see and had lost their sight. So they're unlike, I think, the man born blind in John chapter 9. They knew what they were missing, at least in part, and they yearned to have their sight again. Now, Jericho was apparently a haven for blind people since it is reported that there was a special balsam wood bush, that would grow there that had healing powers for some types of blindness. So there actually was a very large population of blind people that would be there to be treated. But these men were not only blind, they were beggars. And the two don't necessarily go together. You become a beggar if you don't have a family system around you to care for you with sufficient resources or compassion to take care of you. So these men were cast adrift in the world as blind men and only if they would beg, could they eat. There's a sense of desperation. And like most beggars they would congregate outside the city to interact with those going in and out of the city. And so they cried out to Jesus. They could not see Jesus but they heard that he was coming. They had heard reports about him, they of course it would be of great interest to them to know that there was a prophet from Nazareth and Galilee who seemed to be able to do anything. Including it was told, healing blind men. Something that had never been done in the Old Testament. There's never an account of it in the Old Testament, something Jesus alone seemed to be able to do. So they knew about Jesus. They'd heard reports about him but now their ears are telling them that Jesus himself is passing by now. This might be their last and best chance ever to have their sight restored by miraculous power. And so with a great intensity they cry out, “Lord, son of David have mercy on us!” Now I would imagine that blind beggars must learn not to be shy about asking for anything. Being shy doesn't get you anywhere. They had needs and they wanted to make their needs known and so they cried out. And notice they used this beautiful messianic title Lord, son of David. I don't know that they really fully knew everything about Jesus but I think by the end of this encounter they had been given not only physical sight but also a spiritual sight to see who Jesus really was. But I think they're already beginning to wonder if perhaps he might be the Messiah. And notice also what they're begging for. Could sum it up in one word, “Lord, son of David have mercy!” Have mercy on us. Oh, how we need mercy. We don't deserve it. It's not a matter of justice, we can't demand it, it is given freely or it's not given at all but we need mercy. And they knew that they needed mercy. They're crying out for mercy. Their Added Burden But they have an additional burden and that is the surrounding crowd. Look at verse 31, “The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet.” This was particularly cold and vicious of this crowd. Oh, how cold our hearts are and how much we violate the second great commandment to love our neighbors as ourself or the golden rule, to do to others what we would have them do to us. I can't understand why the crowd would do this, maybe they just didn't wanna be bothered by the shrillness of this cry or by dealing with their problems. Maybe they didn't want these blind men to hinder Jesus, probably noticed Jesus always seems to stop. Everybody gets what they need from Jesus and maybe they were in a hurry to get on to Jerusalem, who knows. But I tell you this, if any of these annoyed, impatient, cold-hearted crowd had been in their situation, they would have done the exact same thing and cried out for mercy. How hard it is to forget that we are suffering too, and to remember how merciful God's been to us. Their Commendable Persistence But you noticed that it doesn't seem to bother these guys? They just have to shout louder, that's all. If you're gonna tell me to be quiet, then I'm gonna have to shout even louder. “Lord, son of David have mercy on me!” Louder and louder they're shouting, they will not be denied. Shout it even louder. With great intensity, with commendable persistence, pictures of Jesus most poignant parables on the need for persistence in prayer. To always pray and never give up. They would not stop, but they kept crying out, “Lord, son of David have mercy on us.” Jesus’ Essential Question And so we come to the essential point, the essential question of this text. Jesus stopped and called them and he asked them, “What do you want me to do for you?” Now at one level this could be the strangest moment in the entire encounter, alright. Could it be that Jesus was really that obtuse? Could it be that he was really that dense? Everyone knew what these blind men wanted. It could be like sometimes there are these geniuses that just don't function well in every day life, but they can do special things really well, to an nth degree maybe they call them idiot savant. Now, we know Jesus isn't one of those, but maybe he just doesn't know kind of every day life type of things, and he's really not sure what these blind men want. Maybe he's distracted, maybe he's thinking about the cross and the pressure of that is on his mind all the time. I read an account about Albert Einstein and how he used to go out in the winter, in Princeton, New Jersey, without any footwear at all, no socks, no shoes, no boots, nothing. His beloved sister had to run out after him and be sure that he wasn't trudging in the snow and ice in his bare feet thinking about something great. Well, is that the picture you get of Jesus in the New Testament? It's not the picture I get, not at all. There's always a purpose to what Jesus does. There was a reason why, He knew very well what they wanted, He knew very well what was in their mind, what the pressure on their lives was and yet he asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” I think this is the essential issue. Jesus makes us ask him for what we want. He makes us ask for what we want. He already knows exactly what we need, he knows far better than we do, what we need. He has searched our hearts, he has studied our lives, he knows the world better than we do. He knows our past, our present, and he knows our future better than we do, he knows exactly what we need. Jesus already taught on this in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount, verse 7 and 8, “And when you pray, do not be like the pagans who keep on babbling for they think they'll be heard for their many words. Do not be like them for your Heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask him.” And yet, for all of that, he still wants us to ask, to put it into words, to make our request specifically known to Jesus. And so they give a simple, specific answer. Their Simple, Specific Answer Verse 33, “‘Lord,’ they answered, ‘we want our sight.’” They knew exactly what they wanted. Literally in the Greek it's, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened, open our eyes, Lord.” It was crystal clear in their own minds, they'd dreamed of recovering their sight from the time they lost it, to see again the blue sky, the white wispy clouds, maybe a breeze blowing the clouds across the sky, to see that same breeze tickle the leaves of palm trees, to see the color of the roses, to see the faces of children, not just hear their musical laughter, but to see their faces, their facial expressions, to see the faces of loved ones, of wives, of parents perhaps. This was no small gift really. But I say to you like everything Jesus does, it would have taken no effort whatsoever for him to do it. Isn't that amazing how God can create the universe in six days with no effort at all. Don't imagine he needed to rest on the seventh day like he was exhausted. It wasn't anything like that. It was a theological resting as a king on his throne, that's what it was, he wasn't exhausted by the effort, and it was no effort for Jesus to heal these blind men. The Astonishing Compassion and Power of Jesus So, see the astonishing compassion and power of Jesus, verse 34, “Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes, immediately they received their sight and followed him.” The more I go on in my Christian life, I'm not sure which is more astonishing: his compassion or his power. I think they're really equally astonishing. As I see just how wretched we are in our sin, and how high and holy and lifted up he is, his compassion is infinite, and infinitely astonishing to me. And when you consider what was going on in Jesus's mind, in his soul, in his life, remember I'm telling you, he's making every step up that 3,300 foot incline to Jerusalem under the shadow of the pressing weight of the cross. He says in Luke 12, “I have a baptism to undergo and it's like I'm in a straight jacket until I undergo it. How distressed I am until it is completed.” And yet, for all of that, interestingly, he never stopped caring about the needs of others. That other-centered attitude would come to its greatest fruition while Jesus hung on the cross. I counted three statements he makes from the cross, which are other-centered and compassionate in nature. Of those who crucified Him, He said, “Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing.” To the thief on the cross who said, “Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” And concerning his mother and the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, he connected them together so that John would take care of his mother from that day forward. Three of Jesus' seven statements were other-centered, and he was suffering under the wrath of God. Can I just pause for a moment and urge you not to complain if you're sick, if you're hurting don't complain, serve others, pray for others, think about there are probably others worse than me. I could actually be praying for others, I could use this grief I'm going through to minister to others. I'm not saying we can't grieve, we can't hurt, we can't go to the doctor or any of those, I'm just saying it's so sweet to look at how Jesus died and get our minds off of our own suffering and start ministering to others. And so, Jesus' compassion is endlessly astonishing to me. Compassion is the number one emotion that Jesus displays, to be moved with the feeling in the situation of others. Scriptures reveal that Jesus is a high priest who is deeply moved with our infirmities. Hebrews 4:15 says, “We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.” And so Jesus is moved with compassion and he reaches out and touches them. Jesus could have healed anyway he chose, frankly, he heals a lot of different ways. The centurion servant, he heals him remotely and the centurion’s servant doesn't even know how he's getting healed, he's just healed. From a great distance Jesus did it. In John 9, he spits on the ground and makes mud and smears it on the man's eyes, and the man goes and washes off the mud, and he can see. I think it's remarkable that when we consider the centurion's healing that Jesus could have banished blindness from the face of the earth with a word, he could still do that today, he has that kind of sovereign power. All he has to do is say, “Blindness be gone,” and every person on the face of the Earth will be able to see perfectly right now, he has that kind of power. But yet how many times in his healing does he wanna touch people, does he want that encounter with them, that touch. Do you remember the woman who was bleeding for 12 years, and she touches the hem of his garment, and Jesus wants to have that encounter with her, “Who touched me?” And he wants to force that encounter, even though it brings her some embarrassment he wants to connect with her. He touches Peter's mother-in-law, she's lying in bed with a fever, he touches the leprous man, and he's cured, he loves to touch people, and so he touched these blind men and instantly they received their sight. How easy it is after all of this time, to minimize the power of God, to minimize what Jesus can do. If you minimize Jesus's power, you won't get the point of my sermon, because I'm gonna say in a few moments that you need to ask him for what you want. And if you think he can't do anything you ask then, you won't ask. But he can do infinitely more than all you can ask or imagine. Now, that's amazing. And so we see both the compassion and the power of Christ. The Results of the Healing And what are the results of the healing? Well, they were healed physically, they received their sight, but I think more than that happened to them that day. It says in Mark 10:52, “Jesus said unto him,” this is in the KJV, “‘Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.’” The Greek word could mean a simple healing, but it is the word most consistently used for salvation, and what's especially important is that they followed Jesus after the healing, and they were praising and glorifying God. I think this man blind Bartimaeus became a well-known disciple of Jesus, I think that's why he was named, and I think he became a follower of Jesus. The deepest need that we have is not for physical sight, even if we're blind, the deepest need that we have is for forgiveness of sins. To be saved from sin, to be healed from sin, to be freed from sin's penalty that we might not sink under it for eternity. And so Jesus stood in front of them and said, “What you want me to do for you?” and he healed them I think to the infinite degree of bringing them to salvation. Spiritual Lessons for Us Every Miracle of Jesus is a Parable of Spiritual Truth Now, what are some spiritual lessons for us from this account? Well, first of all, every miracle of Jesus is a parable of spiritual truth. All miracles of healings are pictures of human weakness and inability, combined with God's power, divine power, always the blind man cannot, he cannot see. Jesus has the power to heal, he can. The lame man cannot walk, Jesus has the power and He can heal him. The deaf man cannot hear, but Jesus has the power to heal him. The dead man cannot do anything and Jesus can raise him from the dead. So every miracle is a picture of Jesus' sovereign power come face to face with human complete weakness and inability. Thus each of these healings also translates into a spiritual realm. We are weak, and Jesus is strong, we are unable, and Jesus is able, we are paralyzed, Jesus can move us. We therefore must be spiritual beggars. Blessed are the spiritual beggars, Matthew 5:3, Those that know that they're destitute, that they cannot, that they have no resources, and they cry out to God and he moves powerfully. So Jesus stands in front of you today and says, “What do you want me to do for you?” And if you're lost, the Bible says you're dead in your transgressions and sins, and it could be that this sermon you can hear Jesus' voice cutting through the haze, the satanic blindness, and you're able to see for the first time a light, a savior, Jesus shed his blood on the cross. He suffered under the wrath of God, he died. And in that, you can be forgiven, the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins, and not only that, but God raised him from the dead, His death, His resurrection can be yours through simple faith. Maybe for the first time you're seeing that. And so now, Jesus is standing in front of you saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” And like Uta, answer, “I want you to forgive my sins. I want you to take me with you, forever to heaven. I wanna live with you, I don't wanna go to hell, I don't wanna get what I deserve for my sins. I wanna live with you forever.” Then tell him. It's really not that hard. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, just tell him. It doesn't matter what words you use, what matters is what's in your heart, what do you want Him to do for you? I want you to forgive my sins. Our Blindness And what of our blindness? Well, blindness is especially a metaphor for the darkened state of our hearts. God is light, God's truth. The Bible is a lamp for our feet, and a light to our path, Christ is the light of the world, the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his being. He is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, you can see it in his face, and in his life, and in his actions. Well, let me tell you something, this specific divine supernatural light, is the very thing that Satan wants to keep you blinded from seeing. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” So ask him and say, “Lord I want my sight. I wanna be able to see you. I wanna see you in your glory. I wanna see you high and lifted up. I wanna see you with my own eyes.” It says in Revelation, “They will see His face.” I wanna see his face, but even we Christians, our sight isn't totally restored. Did you know that? We see through a glass what? Darkly, then we shall see face-to-face. If our eyes are good, our whole body will be what? Full of light. Someday we will be filled with light, because our eyes will be good at last, and we will see God, perfectly. We will see him face-to-face, we will see him as he is, and we will be transformed and made just like him, and our whole being will be filled with the light of his glory. But I think it behooves us as it says in 1 John 3: 3, “Everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself just as he is pure.” Get pure by seeing more and more of that divine Supernatural Light. Ask God, say, “Lord, increase, improve, my spiritual vision. Open the eyes of my heart, Jesus, so I may see you better. I wanna see you right now in my heart. I don't have to see you physically, but I need to see you standing here at the moment of temptation. When I'm being tempted and pulled toward the flesh, I wanna see you in my mind's eye that I might not sin against you. Open the eyes of my heart. I wanna see my heavenly reward. I want it to drive out lust of the eyes, and lust of the flesh, and boastful pride of life.” Our Intense Cry for Mercy The account talks about an intense cry for mercy. How's your prayer life? I've often thought of prayer as like a rod of iron being put into a coal bed in a big bellows, and blowing that air. Like that, and then the black, cold, hard iron gets hotter and hotter and brighter and brighter and starts to shine. And then the master can take it and shape it whatever way he wants. That's prayer. How is your prayer life? Is it cold and distant and formal or is it hot? So maybe Jesus stands in front of you and says, “What do you want me to do for you?” Say, “Lord, give me a heart to pray, give me intensity in prayer, I don't care about things like I should. Give me intensity in prayer.” Or maybe you need perseverance. “I start praying and then I kind of give up. I pray for a little while, and I stop. You told that prayer in Luke 18, that we should always pray and never give up, the persistent widow. I'm not the persistent widow. I try once or twice and then I get frustrated. Oh God, give me persistence in prayer.” Jesus stands in front of us and says, “What do you want me to do for you?” Change my heart and make me persistent in prayer, do that for me, Lord, transform me. Finally, I'd like to say that you need to get specific in prayer. No more of this bless brother so-and-so, bless sister so-and-so. How will you know whether it got done? Could we get specific, say, “Bless brother so-and-so, give them a heart for the Word of God so that they plainly transform in their love for it and read through the Bible in a year, and actually start talking Bible verses, so we can actually see that they love the Word of God. And give them a heart to memorize a chapter, even a book of the Bible, in Jesus's name, amen.” Pray that until they do it, pray specific things, not just pray that somebody would be healed, that's specific enough. We can tell whether, but do more than that, God's doing more than that in the sickness. If they're lost say, “Lord I pray that this physical sickness would be used by you to bring them to saving faith. God use it, and God use me to bring it about.” Pray specifically. George Muller prayed specifically for orphans, he cared for 10,000 orphans in his life. He wrote down 50,000 specific prayer requests. 50,000. How specific are you in your requests? Do you know whether God's even blessed the world or not, “Bless the world in Jesus name.” I wouldn't think that would cover it, wouldn't you? “Bless the world in Jesus' name, amen.” What else do we need, right? Well, I think we need a lot more, be very, very specific in prayer. And then how about the boldness of these blind men? Do you need some boldness? Jesus stands in front of you and says, “What do you want me to do for you?” Say, “Lord, I'm a coward. I don't do what I should. I'm afraid of the crowd, I'm afraid of what people say. I wanna be a witness for you, Lord. I wanna be able to lead someone to Christ, I wanna see them get baptized. I wanna see them grow, I wanna be part of it Lord, include me. Give me boldness. Give me boldness Lord, to speak and to live for the glory of God, that's what I want. The Unchanging Compassion and Power of Jesus Jesus Christ never changes. I think in this text, through this sermon, he is in fact standing before you today, spiritually, and saying, “What do you want? Do you want anything from me? Is there anything I can do for you? What do you want me to do for you?” Now this week, I saw a van advertising one of the local churches. And it was, I perceived, I hadn't seen the van before, or the name of the church before, but I perceived it was a health and wealth kind of church. And on the side of the van, they were advertising their church that if you came to their church and got involved you would have... And this is the big phrase, in big letters, “guaranteed success.” Well, I was thinking I just wanted to go to see how they're gonna do it. “Guaranteed success.” But I have a suspicion that it isn't the kind of success that the New Testament talks about, away with that, away with it. Jesus isn't Aladdin's genie, giving you wealth, and lasting power and all of that, He's not doing that. Ask for this, “Lord, make my heart like yours, make my life well pleasing to you that I might live for your glory and so not be ashamed, on judgment day, but have a whole array of beautiful fruit to show you for my life.” Close with me in prayer.

Introduction Turn in your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 9. We're looking this morning at Verses 35 through 38, the compassion of the Lord of the harvest. I remember I can still see in my mind's eye a harvest so plentiful that I wondered, being a city boy, how they were ever going to take it in. I used to drive from Louisville up to Grand Rapids, Michigan, through the corn fields of Indiana. I remember one farm so huge that it just stretched until the Earth curved, the corn was getting ripe, and it was almost time for the harvest. I remember commenting to the friend that I was driving up with, "How are they going to take it all in?" He said, “They have big combine machines.” I said, "What's that?" He said, "You've never seen one? They just kind of churn through and they're able to just harvest in an incredible way." I was overwhelmed that day. I was amazed and I was thinking, "How are they going to take in this harvest, how can it be done?" I think the same thing is true if you ever go to one of those huge wheat farms out in Kansas or in other places, you just see it as far as the Earth goes. The harvest is plentiful. How are they going to take it in? But I had the same feeling another day and it was on a mission trip when I was in the far, far western part of China in a city called Kashgar. It's an ancient city. It's right on the Silk Road where Marco Polo went. It developed and thrived in that time, but it seems literally in the middle of nowhere. You have to travel three days by bus on one of the most dangerous bus rides I've ever taken in my life. We were driving along a ravine and I looked down and saw a bus just like the one I was on at the bottom of the ravine 500 feet down. It wasn't even rusty yet. And there was the driver chugging along, sometimes falling asleep a little bit, and well, we prayed a lot and we were trusting God to get us there. We finally got to Kashgar. They told us that the bazaar was coming up. It was a monthly thing, and people would come from miles around to the big bazaar. We were excited. It was on a Sunday, and we went by donkey cart. We went and there were a couple hundred people at this bazaar. I said, "This is not that impressive." The driver said, "No, this isn't THE bazaar. You have to go downtown to the center of the city." Well, we went there and then we saw what they were talking about. Probably tens of thousands of Uyghur people. There are Chinese Muslims that were there, so many people that I was immediately overwhelmed. I felt like I was in a sea of humanity. I was overwhelmed first of all with feeling like I was a drop in an endless sea of humanity, and I thought, "How can it be true what David wrote in Psalm 139, “Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from a far.” How can that be true of all of us? How can you know us that well?" It boggled my mind and made me feel sick to my stomach. I thought to myself, "More than that, we are here as pseudo-missionaries, not real missionaries.” We were only there for a week. We couldn't really speak the language. We knew that the Uyghur people did not really know Jesus. They knew of a Jesus in the Muslim accounts, but they didn't know the Jesus who really is the creator of the ends of the earth, the savior of the world. They didn't know him, and they were lost. I stood there feeling overwhelmed, and I said, "How can you do it?" I guess, to some degree, I want to put that feeling inside you today. "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask, beseech the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” We're supposed to feel amazed. We're supposed to feel overwhelmed, and then we're supposed to get on our knees, on our faces before God, and ask him to do something about it. The Comprehensive Ministry of Jesus First, we have to have a glimpse into the heart of the king of the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus Christ, because it all begins with compassion, doesn't it? Jesus has compassion. He looks out, he sees them in a way that no one else can. For me personally, it all begins with having the compassion of Jesus, and we only get it as we read in the scripture. We see in verse 35 of Matthew an assessment of Jesus' comprehensive ministry. It says that Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom of Heaven and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. Jesus is there ministering and it’s a comprehensive ministry that he's doing. We've been seeing in Matthew's gospel how Matthew has been giving us the credentials of Jesus Christ as the king of the kingdom of Heaven, that Jesus is fit to be king of the kingdom of Heaven. We've seen that in one of those summary statements after all the miracles that he's been showing us in Matthew 8 and in Matthew 9— the healing of the centurion's servant, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law from a fever, the stilling of the storm, the healing of the demoniac of the Gadarenes, so powerful he could break chains, iron chains, a legion of demons inside him, 5,000, 6,000 demons, and Jesus cast them out with a single word. We've seen the power of Jesus Christ, we've seen his compassion. After giving us all this evidence, he sums it up here in Verse 35, giving a glimpse of Christ's comprehensive ministry. Jesus did everything that the heavenly father wanted him to do. Isn't that incredible? Have you ever had a day in which you finished and you laid your head on your pillow, and you could say to the heavenly Father, "Father, I did everything you wanted me to do today. I didn't leave anything out. All of the work that you had for me to do today, I did it." Can you think of one day in which you could have said that honestly to God? Jesus lived his whole life that way. So at the end of his life, in John 17:4, he prays to his heavenly father, saying, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." Isn't that amazing? Not just a day, not a month, not a year, but a whole lifetime of works. And Jesus did them all perfectly. Comprehensive in Scope His ministry was comprehensive in scope in that he went to every town. Jesus was not sent into the entire world at that point, understand this. His ministry was focused. It was concentrated on the Jews, the people of Israel. He says in Matthew 15, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." He has a very concentrated focus. He knows he's not sent to the Gentiles at this point, but within His call, he was comprehensive. He went to every town. He went to every village. Verse 35 in the Greek, "he was continually traveling about, going from town to town.” He had an itinerating ministry. He didn't stay in one place. As a matter of fact, as I read through the gospel accounts, especially Matthew, Mark and Luke, I only find one time that people come to Jesus with a need and he chooses not to meet it, and that was a time that he began in his preaching ministry in Luke Chapter 4. Jesus goes out into a solitary place. The people in that town are looking for him and they come and say, "Come back in our town and stay here and preach." They wanted him as their private prophet, I guess. Jesus said, "I can't. I was sent by God to preach to every town and village and that's what I must do." And so he left that area and went to the next town. A comprehensive ministry, he was reaching out. Comprehensive in Content It was comprehensive also in content. What did he do as he went from place to place? He was teaching and he was preaching the kingdom of Heaven. We undervalue teaching and preaching today. There are certain types of churches that are getting away from preaching. They're getting away from teaching, it's too authoritative. People instead want entertainment, they want skits, they want videos, they want other things. Jesus did not undervalue teaching and preaching, not at all. As a matter of fact, in a parallel account in Mark's gospel, he landed at one point and saw a huge crowd. Let me read so that you see the parallel here. In Mark 6:34, "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, so he began teaching them many things." Do you see the significance of that? Jesus's compassion flowed out through his teaching ministry. That's how he showed his compassion is by teaching them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, they needed teaching. What was the next thing he did in Mark's gospel? He fed the 5,000. Do you see the priority structure in Jesus? Give them the teaching first, the eating will wait. He taught them and then he fed them. We see the comprehensive teaching ministry of Jesus. Now, what was the focus? What was the content? It was the kingdom of Heaven. It was a comprehensive topic. What does this mean, the kingdom of Heaven? It's the place where God rules over willing subjects. The place where God rules over people who are delighted to have God rule over them. God is sovereign over the whole surface of the Earth, is he not? The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Everything belongs to him. But the kingdom of Heaven advances when people willingly, gladly turn and put their lives and subjection to his rule. That's the advancement of the kingdom of Heaven. And so it's the place wherever God rules over people who are glad that he's ruling over them. Are you glad today that Jesus is your king? If you are, you're a Christian. You're delighted that you have such a king as Jesus Christ. You want to hear more about him, you want to find out more about his attributes and his nature, because he is the absolute perfect king for the kingdom of Heaven, and you're part of it. Everywhere Jesus went, he preached the kingdom from the beginning. In Matthew 4:17, from that time on, it says Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near." Then in Matthew 4:23, Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom. He begins the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit or the spiritual beggars for," for what? "Theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." He's preaching the kingdom. He warned at one point about the Pharisees. He said in Matthew 5:20, "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of law, you will by no means enter into the kingdom of Heaven." So the kingdom of Heaven is something you enter into. He said to people who are tempted to be anxious about what they eat and what they wear, he said, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all of these things will be added to you as well." The kingdom of Heaven was the focus of Jesus' teaching ministry. Later on in Matthew, in chapter 13, he's going to preach a number of parables and all of them are focused on the kingdom, aren't they? The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and then hid it again, and then in his joy went out and sold everything he had and bought that field. The kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl of great value. When a man found it, he sold everything he had and bought that pearl. All of these things were designed to teach us about the kingdom. It was the center of the content of his teaching. As he went about from place to place in Judea, he was preaching in all their synagogues, one place after another, the kingdom. Comprehensive preaching ministry. Comprehensive in Healing Power But it was also a comprehensive ministry in terms of healing power. Matthew tells us he was healing every disease and every sickness among the people. Not only did he teach them powerfully, but he did powerful acts, powerful miracles, the very likes of which nobody had ever seen before. The power of Jesus Christ. He just touches their blind eyes and instantly they can see. How many of you are worried about the West Nile virus? The Center for Disease Control will tell us all kinds of diseases that are incurable. Nobody knows what to do about AIDS, nobody knows what to do about Ebola or mad cow disease which people can get. And they don't know how to cure them. Jesus could cure anything, every disease, every sickness, there was never a disease he met that he couldn't cure. He could just touch an AIDS victim right now, just touch them and they're instantly cured. There was no limit to his healing power. It was comprehensive. He stresses it. Look at it again in verse 35, "Healing every disease, healing every sickness." There was nothing he could not do. The comprehensive ministry of Jesus Christ. And so we have a summary, a life of kingly power in word and deed. Comprehensive in Compassion In the world kings are known for their power, but our king is known for more than just power, is he not? He's known also for compassion, and to that Matthew now turns. It's a very interesting shift we get, because this is the end of a concentrated account of Jesus' teaching and preaching ministry. Later we're going to see how Jesus begins to involve his disciples in his worldwide work. The advance of the kingdom of Heaven is going to be done through other people. We are called on to advance his kingdom. He's going to involve them, first in the prayer ministry, and then he's going to send out twelve men in Matthew 10 to do ministry in his name. Jesus begins it all, though, with a compassionate vision. Look at verse 36: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” It all began with a specific vision that only Jesus had, an ability to look right down into your heart and see what your real needs are. He could look at a person and see things that no one else could see. In John Chapter 1 when Nathaniel comes to Jesus and Jesus says of him, "Now, Nathaniel, here is a true Israelite in whom there's no guile. He's not a con artist, he is what he appears to be.” "That's very interesting, Jesus. How do you know me?" "Well, when Philip called you under the fig tree, I looked at you. I looked at you and I knew you completely. I know your heart just by looking. In John chapter 2, it says, "Many people were acclaiming Jesus.” They were saying they believe in Jesus, but Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about what was in man, because he himself knew what was in their hearts. He knew who they were. He had a specialized vision, and when he looked out over that crowd, he saw things no one else could see. He looked with a compassionate vision. He looked at their souls, and he was torn up inside over it. John MacArthur says, "The divine eyes of Jesus saw infinitely greater need in their lives, a need that far surpassed a withered arm or a bleeding body, a possessed mind, blind eyes or deaf ears, far greater than that. He sympathized with their physical pains too and would have been deeply moved had that been their only afflictions, but in seeing the multitudes, Jesus saw the deepness and pervasiveness of their sin and the desperate plight of their spiritual blindness and lostness, and consequently he felt compassion for them as only God can feel. He cared for them because he was God incarnate, and it is God's nature to love because God is love." That's the compassionate vision of Jesus Christ. He could see things that no one else could see. It says he was literally moved with compassion. In the Hebrew mindset, the heart is the seat of the logic, it's the seat of the will, the seat of the choosing. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. It was the bowels that were the seat of emotion and passion. We get an indication of that in the Greek, that Jesus was moved in his gut, as it were. He had a gut reaction, a feeling inside of compassion. It moved him physically. He was hurting for them. The ancient Greeks had their gods just up in Olympus, Mount Olympus, and they prized something about them which was their “apathea”, their inability to be moved by what was going on on Earth. They were just so far separate from mortals, they were up in the heavenlies. We get the word “apathetic” from this. The Greek gods were apathetic. They didn't feel anything. Hindu God's the same way, no compassion. Buddhism teaches that we have to get away from suffering and pain and so there's no desire whatsoever for compassion. Islam says that Allah is compassionate, but the trail of blood that Islam has left through history belies the fact. The fact of the matter is, however, our God is gracious and compassionate, is he not? He's a compassionate being. God said to Moses, "I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I'm concerned about them, about their slavery and their suffering. So I'm going to send you to get them out." What does he say to the Prophet Jonah about the Ninevites? "Nineveh has over 120,000 men who cannot tell their right hand from their left and women and children, and a great many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” Compassionate for the Jews, compassionate also for the Gentiles. So it is that when Jesus came as a perfect reflection of his father that he would demonstrate compassion as well. Christ stood over Jerusalem and wept. He wept in front of Martha and Mary at the death of their brother Lazarus. He was a compassionate being. He felt deeply. For that reason, I think Jesus was constantly touching people. He was touching their blind eyes, he was touching their withered hands, or their leprous flesh. He was touching them because he was compassionate. He was moved. He wanted to interact with them, that's the way he was, but what moves him here? It's the sheep's condition. Look at verse 36. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.” People, in the Bible at least, are like sheep. Does that offend you? Does that hurt your self-esteem that God thinks of you like sheep? We were at a conference this week and one of the speakers said that sheep have 2D problem, they're dumb and they're defenseless. I would add a third, they are delicious. So you've got a threefold problem. They're very, very ready and fit for the prey right. The wolves are surrounding them and they're ready to devour them.There's nothing they can do about it, and meanwhile they're just following their nose to the next tuft of grass, just the next thing. They get themselves tangled up in briers or surrounded by packs of dogs or wolves and there's nothing that they can do, they're dumb and they're defenseless, and they're delicious. In this way, they need a shepherd. We are like sheep, are we not? God says so. David struck this theme again and again in his Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd.” What does that make you? It makes you a sheep. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” That's the Shepherd that we have, or Psalm 100:3-4 "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture." Isaiah takes it to another level. He speaks about our sin in Isaiah 53, “All we like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned his own way and the Lord has laid on him, Christ, the iniquity of us all.” When Jesus died on the cross, when he was there, suffering and dying, when his blood was flowing out and when he was under the wrath of God, it was because we're like sheep going astray through our sinfulness and wickedness. Jesus took our wrath, our punishment on himself because of our sheep-like nature. If we're sheep that means we need shepherds. God provided that there would be under-shepherds; Israel's kings were called to be Shepherds. David shepherded God's people it says in one scripture. And so also the Levites, the priests were meant to shepherd the people through their hearts to a teaching of the Word of God. The problem was, for the most part, the shepherds of Israel failed them. The kings were wicked. The Levites and the priests were ignorant and wicked and selfish so the people were very frequently like sheep without a shepherd. Israel's shepherds were judged for how they shepherded the flock. In Ezekiel 34, "The word of the Lord came to me, son of Man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says, "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves.”’” This was a consistent repeated theme in Israel's history. God's response through the prophets was, "I'm going to raise up somebody to shepherd them in integrity of heart and it's going to be a son of David, David will shepherd them." Micah 5:2 says, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah though, you are least among the rulers of Israel out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” Who is that? That's Jesus Christ, the son of David. In Jeremiah 23 Jeremiah says the same thing. "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord," he says, "The days are coming when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, a King who will reign wisely and do it as just and right in the land and in his days, Judah be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which that Shepherd, will be called, the Lord our Righteousness." Jesus came to be a shepherd to people who had no shepherd, they were harassed and they were helpless. The NAS translation is very strong about this, "distressed and downcast”. The word “harassed” means flayed, like their flesh is being ripped apart. Imagine, if you would, briers that are long and dig into the sides of the sheep. If they move in any direction, it tears their skin, it tears their flesh. That's the picture that Jesus has. These are sheep that are tormented. They're tormented politically. The Romans dominate them and see them only as silent slaves to row in their galleys, perhaps, and as sources of tax money. They were tormented physically by disease and death over which they had no power. They were tormented religiously by people like the House of Annas. He was more like a mafia leader with his hands financially in every pot, and all of it was for his own wealth. That's why Jesus twice cleansed the temple, because the temple had been made into a den of robbers. They had no shepherd, they were tormented spiritually. If you could have seen in the spiritual realm, this large group of people had a demonic host around them like flies. They were harassed by demonic forces of evil, by Satan himself, harassed and helpless. More than anything, though, what was the greatest danger? It was the wrath of God. They were under the wrath of God for their sins. There was a record of each of their lives, so accurate and so careful, that nothing was missed, as as long as your arm and 50 times longer of each act of sin, each thought, each word. They stood under the wrath of God, and there was nothing that they could do. They were harassed and they were helpless, defenseless against the coming wrath. The apostle Paul puts it this way, in Ephesians 2, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts, and like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. Do you know what that means? As an object of wrath, you're designed for destruction. Like a lightning rod ready to be struck by the wrath of God, harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Two Harvests Jesus had that vision of their condition, but he didn't leave it there. He was moved by compassion and he spoke to his disciples in verse 37. By the way, I feel he's speaking today, isn't he? If you're a disciple of Jesus Christ, he's talking to you today. What is he saying? "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Realize Christ's strategy. He's not going to just come and die on the cross and be raised from the dead. A gospel is going to be preached, the gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus says, in Matthew 24:14, "To every tribe and language and people and nation. And then the end will come." He turns very strategically in verse 37 to his disciples and says to them, "The harvest is plentiful." Do you see this key moment? It's not just me[Jesus]. When Isaiah says, "I've trodden the wine press alone." There were some things only Jesus could do, but in this matter, the matter of the ministry of reconciliation, he turns to his disciples and involves them. "The harvest is plentiful,” he says to them, “but the workers are few." From the very beginning, that's why he called them. In Matthew 4:19, walking by the sea, he sees Peter and John and James, and Andrew working by the sea, and he says, "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Right from the beginning, this was his strategy and his intention. The Harvest of Wrath What does he mean when he says, "The harvest is indeed truly plentiful." What does he mean by that? There's two different themes in the scriptures about the harvest. One of them is the harvest of wrath and of judgment. In Joel 3:13-14, it says, "Swing the sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come trample the grapes, for the wine press is full and the vats overflow, so great is their wickedness. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the Day of the Lord is near, in the valley of decision." There is going to be a harvest of judgment in which God will visit on all the wicked, their sins. So also when John the Baptist is preaching about Jesus in Matthew 3:12, speaking of Christ and he says, "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering up the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with unquench-able fire," — the harvest of wrath. The Harvest of Souls I don't think that that's what's in Christ's mind at this particular moment. The scripture speaks of another harvest, a harvest of souls for eternal life. Do you remember the account when he is witnessing to the Samaritan woman at the well? Jesus has sent his disciples on mission. Their particular view point of the mission is, "We need to go into that filthy Samaritan village and buy some food fit for us to eat." That was their view of the mission. For them as Jews to go into the village and buy some food. They come back and said essentially, ”We got the food. Let's eat." This is a paraphrase, it's not really in the NIV translation but that's about what happened.”Master have something to eat," and he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." I could almost stick in the word, "I have food to eat that you apparently know nothing about." Why could I stick the word “apparently”, in there? Because of how they behaved. What do they come back from that village with? What did they bring back from that village? Food. What else? Nothing, they bought nothing back. The Samaritan woman goes into the village and what did she bring back? The whole town to come listen to Jesus. He said, "I have food to eat, you know nothing about.” "Could someone have brought him food," they thought. "Maybe he's got a food source. But then why did he send us then to that village to buy it?" “My food”, said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and finish his work. Do you not say four months more, and then comes to harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields they are ripe for harvest.” What harvest is Jesus talking about there? Some people think that the village was coming out at that point and he points to them and he says, "Look at them, they're ready, they're ready." And they were ready, they came to faith in Christ when Jesus preached to them. There are thousands and thousands of people coming to Christ every single day. Some people estimate as many as 30,000 a day, 2,300 every hour coming to faith in Christ. Nobody really knows, 20 million a year, 40,000, a day, who can really say, but there's a vast harvest out there of people who will respond to the gospel, if somebody will just proclaim it to them. It's prophecy. Revelation 7: 9-10, "After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were crying out. Salvation belongs to the Lamb and all the glory of Jesus for salvation." That's what they're doing, they're standing around. How do they come to faith in Christ? In Romans chapter 10, "They cannot come unless they call in the name of the Lord, unless they say, ‘Lord save me.’” Who is the Lord? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So unless somebody goes and preaches to them, they can't be saved. That's the whole logic of Romans 10:14-15. "How can they call on the one of whom they've never heard and how can they hear unless somebody goes and preaches to them, and how can they preach unless they are sent." As the Scriptures says, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news." The harvest is plentiful, but we have a problem. The workers are few. I saw a movie one time called “Places in the Heart” with Sally Field. It was a story of a woman who lost her husband and in order to try to survive during the Depression, she decides to plant a huge crop of cotton. Things are incredibly tight, and basically the only way she can save her farm is if she somehow manages to get the first bale of cotton to the gin before anybody else. Finally, the harvest time has come. She's there with her two little kids, a blind guy, and one worker. They're working steadily picking the cotton and putting in the bag, and then the camera just starts to pan back further and further, higher and higher and higher. There's this sea of white and by the time the shot is done, you can't see them anymore. That's what I think of when I think of this passage. There are some people out there, working for the Lord, but the work is so overpowering, so overwhelming, so great that they'll never get it done by themselves. The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the workers are few. At present the International Mission Board has 5,400 missionaries. What's exciting is over a thousand of them have been appointed in the last year. That's amazing, and so more and more people are coming but understand this, that 5,400 represents 0.03% of the total number of Southern Baptists in this country. That doesn't mean three out of every 100 or three out of every 1,000. It means three out of every 10,000 is a missionary supported by our churches. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. What does Jesus tell us to do? Verse 38 says, "Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into the harvest field." This is amazing. Christ first command, isn't, "We got to get going. You need to move.” There's a sense of urgency, a sense of desperation. “Don't you see that crowd out there? Don't you see those people. They're lost, they're dying, you better go.” That's not the first thing he tells them to do. What is the first thing he tells them to do? “Pray. Ask the Lord of the harvest, get down on your knees and why, because your praying is far more effective than your going. It is true, you will accomplish more on your knees, than going.” But,of course, they must go. Later we see that Jesus sends them out. But he says, "First we need to pray.” We Americans are so in love with our plans and our schemes, and our strategies and our promotions and our videos and all kinds of things. That is not what is going to get it done. So get down on your face and ask the Lord of the harvest to, “Thrust out, eject, evict workers into the harvest field.” Some people have to be ripped from their lives and sent out into the harvest field. I don't know what it's like, maybe it's like a harvest for yourself, where you're hanging on to them, you get pulled out and sent into the harvest field, he says, "Get on your face and begin asking the Lord of the harvest." Who's the Lord of the harvest? Did not God the Father send his son into the world? Yet, at the same time, Jesus said, in John 20, "As the Father has sent me even so what? I am sending you." So it could it be that Jesus at this present time is the Lord of the harvest. So we pray to the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, and we ask that he would send out laborers into the harvest field. Application Now what application can we take for this text? First of all, it would be wrong for me to read over this text and assume that every single person listening to me has trusted in Christ, all the things that I said about you, if you're not a Christian, you're under the wrath of God, you're a vessel of wrath and you must trust in Christ. Could it be that you are right now actually part of the harvest, that you've never given your life to Jesus Christ? You can't let today go by without trusting in Jesus. I heard it said recently that in every pew, there is a broken heart. Who's got the broken heart? I don't really know if it’s true but I tell you this, Jesus is compassionate. He is able to see your heart, he's able to look to whatever it is you're facing, whatever issue and he's able to minister to it, There is nothing that he cannot do, so I would urge you to come to the Lord of the harvest first for healing for a broken heart or for whatever issues you're facing. But now, I want you to get your eyes up off yourself. So much of the grief we face is because we're not in God's will, we're not living the way God wants us to live. Is it not clear from this text that God is calling us as a people? Calling this church, First Baptist Church, to be involved in the harvest that he's involved in? I've given you five steps. God has brought this church through a lot of things in last two years. I think it's all been about unity for the purpose of the harvest. As I think about it, it's been about unity for the purpose of a great harvest, a harvest so great that a divided church that isn't quite sure what to do with the word of God cannot do it. It's not about this or that or the other issue, it's about this harvest, isn't it? I want to challenge you to think again about your own life. I want you to think about your own contribution to the advancing Kingdom of Heaven. I want you to realize that God desires that each one of his disciples be involved in his harvest. What is your ministry to the harvest? How are you involved personally? What are you doing? It’s easy to stand up and say applications is always the same, missions. You don't even need to think about it, it is always the same application. Pray, give and go, right? Always the same. No, it's more complex than that now. We need the whole body of Christ, using all of their spiritual gifts in order to accomplish all the mission that God has for us to do. He's given us a comprehensive ministry as well. He's called us to minister to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. I believe that's a paradigm for how every local church should see its contribution to the advancing Kingdom of Heaven. What is our Jerusalem? We've got work to do right in this area. It could be that some of the broken hearts are because we're off of God's plan and we're not using our time and our energy and our money for what God would have us to do. Come and you give your strength and your gifts and your time to the Lord and you'll never regret it. You're on a winning team, it's in prophecy, you're going to win. If you come and help Jesus build his kingdom, every tribe and language and people and nation will most certainly trust and believe. What are you doing? Are you using your gifts? This church is like a grist mill by a river, and as the water runs by and turns that big wheel and it turns the other cranks, then wheat is ground into flour.The more water runs by, the more we can grind. If it's a drought, that wheel doesn't turn very fast, does it? And when we don't grind much wheat, we can't do many ministry projects, we can't do much. We need more water to flow by. So if we're going to keep the analogy going, I feel like that there's a bunch of blocks of ice further up and they need to thaw under the heat of the conviction of God. Then there's going to be water flowing down by that factory and it's going to and we'll be able to minister to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest field. Could it be that some of you sitting in these pews right now, right today, are called by God to go as a cross-cultural missionary to an unreached people group. Don't excuse yourself too quickly, because we actually had a family go out right in mid-career, bringing four young kids to go to an unreached people group. Right in the middle of a career. It can be done. Could be the college students who come thinking, "I'm going to do this or that," but God is calling him or her to a cross-cultural mission. Could it be that senior adults that have reached the point where they have more freedom than they’ve ever had in their lives before. God is calling you to be a cross-cultural worker, perhaps to support a missionary, or maybe even to go in a way that you could never have even imagined. Could it be that God is calling you to be part of the harvest? Might you say to God, "Lord, I feel that I've been like that block of ice, I have not used my gifts, my talents, my money, as would glorify your kingdom. I've not been sold out for you the way I want to." Pay for the harvest and for your role in harvesting.

In this episode, Rustin and Ali interview Dr. Kelly Anne Hammond, Assistant Professor of East Asian History in the Department of History at the University of Arkansas, about her book, China's Muslims and Japan's Empire: Centering Islam in World War II (University of North Carolina Press, November 2020). During World War II, Sino-Muslims (Hui Muslims) were an important focal point for Imperial Japanese propaganda. Japanese imperial officials saw Sino-Muslims as crucial intermediaries that could help not only defeat nationalist and communist opposition in China, but also help bolster an image of the empire as anti-Western protectors of Islam. Building on an older academic tradition of Islamic Studies in Japan, knowledge of Islam was put into imperial service. Combined with the patronage of Muslim schools, mosques, and hajj pilgrimage, the empire aimed to create transnational Muslim networks that were centered in Japan and used Japanese as their new lingua franca. Dr. Hammond shows that these efforts were met with limited success due to the community's religious and political diversity, as well as the military defeat of Imperial Japan. Even those who were receptive to Japanese efforts ultimately had to ally themselves with other powers following the end of the war, yet the legacy of their role as intermediaries remained even in the Cold War era.