Podcasts about Jing

Dr. Shan Shan Jing is a Consultant Plastic and Hand Surgeon working in a Major Trauma Centre in London, where she has spent years treating patients with devastating injuries, restoring nerves, vessels, and soft tissues after life-altering trauma. In 2022, while working abroad during the pandemic, she experienced trauma from the other side when she survived a high-speed collision that killed her partner and left her hospitalized with multiple injuries. Her recovery involved navigating profound grief, neurological healing, and the identity shift of becoming a trauma patient within the very healthcare system she had dedicated her career to serving.This experience transformed her understanding of post-traumatic growth, the nervous system's response to catastrophic loss, and the hidden burdens carried by healthcare professionals, deepening her belief in what she calls the “Holy Trinity” of health: the physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of healing.In this episode: Dr. Shan Shan's websiteDr. Shan Shan on IGCritical: Between Life and Death (Netflix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k83a5EkFwbM (episode 4)SameYou — brain injury advocacy https://www.sameyou.org/portrait_shan_shanBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.---Thank you to our Sponsors: Jane App - use code GUY1MO at https://janesoftware.partnerlinks.io/ngvcwcxqt2jx-4afv8i (https://jane.app/book_a_demo)Beducated - Complete the quiz for one month free https://beduc.at/pd2640-traumatherapist

Thanks for sticking with the program. Twenty-one more episodes to go till the end of the series. This time in part 4, we pick up with the aftermath of Liu Bang's passing in 195BC. This includes the infamous story of Empress Lü. Also covered will be the peak years of the Western Han under Emperors Wen and Jing. There's also an interlude that examines the long life of Zhao Tuo and his Nanyue Kingdom in the south. Then, the life and times of one of China's great emperors, Han Wudi, will be presented along with the adventures of Zhang Qian. I'll also introduce Dong Zhongshu and show how Confucianism triumphed at the imperial court and became part of the ruling structure. This will be followed by the story of Wang Mang, an old family favorite that also includes the fall of the Western Han, the Xin Dynasty, and the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The episode will conclude with the Eastern Han in pretty bad shape. We'll finish up with the takedown of the Ten Attendants and the introduction of Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao. So, with a lineup like that, you know you're in for a lot of action. From the death of Liu Bang to the rise of Cao Cao, that's a lot of ground to cover. I hope you enjoy.Here's a list of most of the Chinese names from this episode:Lǚ Tàihòu 吕太后, Qì Jī 戚姬, Rú Yì 刘如意, Liú Yíng 刘盈, Hàn Huìdì 汉惠帝, Qiánshào 汉前少, Hòushào 汉后少, Liú Héng 刘恒, Hàn Wéndì 汉文帝, Wáng Zhāojūn 王昭君, Dòu Huánghòu 窦皇后, Liú Qǐ 刘启 / Hàn Jǐngdì 汉景帝, Cháo Cuò 晁错, Zhōu Yàfū 周亚夫, Liú Ché 刘彻 / Hàn Wǔdì 汉武帝, Zhào Tuó 赵陀, Zhào Mò 赵眜, Zhào Yīngqí ,赵婴齐, Sīmǎ Tán 司马谈, Sīmǎ Qiān 司马迁, Dǒng Zhòngshū 董仲舒, Gōngsūn Hóng 公孙弘, Zhāng Qiān 张骞, Gānfù 甘父, Huò Qùbìng 霍去病, Wèi Qīng's 卫青, Lǚ Jiā 吕嘉, King Zhào Xīng 赵兴王, Queen Dowager Jiū 樛太后, Zhào Jiàndé 赵建德, Sīmǎ Xiāngrú 司马相如, Zhuó Wénjūn 卓文君, Liú Hè 刘贺, Huò Guāng 霍光, Han Emperor Zhāo 汉昭帝, Liú Bìngyǐ 刘病已 / Hàn Emperor Xuān 汉宣帝, Hàn Yuándì 汉元帝, Liú Aò 刘骜 / Hàn Chéngdì 汉成帝, Empress Wáng Zhèngjūn 王政君, Liú Xīn 刘欣 / Hàn Emperor Āi 汉哀帝, Wáng Mǎng 王莽, Hàn Pingdì 汉平帝, Rúzǐ Yīng 孺子婴, Liú Yīng 刘婴, Liú Yǎn 刘

Thanks for sticking with the program. Twenty-one more episodes to go till the end of the series. This time in part 4, we pick up with the aftermath of Liu Bang's passing in 195BC. This includes the infamous story of Empress Lü. Also covered will be the peak years of the Western Han under Emperors Wen and Jing. There's also an interlude that examines the long life of Zhao Tuo and his Nanyue Kingdom in the south. Then, the life and times of one of China's great emperors, Han Wudi, will be presented along with the adventures of Zhang Qian. I'll also introduce Dong Zhongshu and show how Confucianism triumphed at the imperial court and became part of the ruling structure. This will be followed by the story of Wang Mang, an old family favorite that also includes the fall of the Western Han, the Xin Dynasty, and the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The episode will conclude with the Eastern Han in pretty bad shape. We'll finish up with the takedown of the Ten Attendants and the introduction of Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao. So, with a lineup like that, you know you're in for a lot of action. From the death of Liu Bang to the rise of Cao Cao, that's a lot of ground to cover. I hope you enjoy.Here's a list of most of the Chinese names from this episode:Lǚ Tàihòu 吕太后, Qì Jī 戚姬, Rú Yì 刘如意, Liú Yíng 刘盈, Hàn Huìdì 汉惠帝, Qiánshào 汉前少, Hòushào 汉后少, Liú Héng 刘恒, Hàn Wéndì 汉文帝, Wáng Zhāojūn 王昭君, Dòu Huánghòu 窦皇后, Liú Qǐ 刘启 / Hàn Jǐngdì 汉景帝, Cháo Cuò 晁错, Zhōu Yàfū 周亚夫, Liú Ché 刘彻 / Hàn Wǔdì 汉武帝, Zhào Tuó 赵陀, Zhào Mò 赵眜, Zhào Yīngqí ,赵婴齐, Sīmǎ Tán 司马谈, Sīmǎ Qiān 司马迁, Dǒng Zhòngshū 董仲舒, Gōngsūn Hóng 公孙弘, Zhāng Qiān 张骞, Gānfù 甘父, Huò Qùbìng 霍去病, Wèi Qīng's 卫青, Lǚ Jiā 吕嘉, King Zhào Xīng 赵兴王, Queen Dowager Jiū 樛太后, Zhào Jiàndé 赵建德, Sīmǎ Xiāngrú 司马相如, Zhuó Wénjūn 卓文君, Liú Hè 刘贺, Huò Guāng 霍光, Han Emperor Zhāo 汉昭帝, Liú Bìngyǐ 刘病已 / Hàn Emperor Xuān 汉宣帝, Hàn Yuándì 汉元帝, Liú Aò 刘骜 / Hàn Chéngdì 汉成帝, Empress Wáng Zhèngjūn 王政君, Liú Xīn 刘欣 / Hàn Emperor Āi 汉哀帝, Wáng Mǎng 王莽, Hàn Pingdì 汉平帝, Rúzǐ Yīng 孺子婴, Liú Yīng 刘婴, Liú Yǎn 刘

Brasserie Margot at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta introduces Poulet & Bubbles, a weekly Tuesday dinner experience designed for two. Inspired by the traditional French family meals of Chef de Cuisine Christophe Truchet's childhood, the $76 sharing menu features a whole roasted chicken infused with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and onion, served alongside potato purée, Margot Salad, and an optional glass of Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve Champagne for $10. Bridging his French heritage with six years of Southern living, Chef Truchet also offers an unexpected savory-sweet peanut butter gravy alongside traditional chicken jus. The offering is available every Tuesday during dinner service for $76 for two guests, with an optional add-on of Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve Champagne for $10 per glass. The menu components include a whole roasted chicken presented with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and onion before being carved, served with potato purée, Margot Salad, and a choice of traditional chicken jus or a signature Southern-inspired peanut butter gravy. The concept stems directly from Chef Truchet's upbringing on his parents' farm in France, where Sunday was marked by a family gathering around a centerpiece poulet rôti with potatoes grown by his father. Bringing that sense of French brasserie generosity and conviviality to Atlanta, Chef Truchet added a unique local twist: a peanut butter gravy inspired by his time in the South and introduced to him by his North Florida-raised wife. This cross-cultural touch marries the traditional herbs of his French roots with a beloved Southern staple. In addition to Poulet & Bubbles, Brasserie Margot features a diverse lineup of weekly and weekend culinary offerings, including Margot Girl Dinner on Thursdays—a localized take on the viral dining trend featuring Salade César, oysters, unlimited house fries, and a martini for $35 per person with an optional caviar add-on. Weekdays feature an Express Lunch for $35 including one hors d'oeuvre, one entrée from Le Grill, and a selection of sorbet or ice cream. Saturdays and Sundays bring weekend brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. with French favorites, house-made pastries, and cocktails, while Afternoon Tea from 1 to 4 p.m. pairs pâtisserie and savory bites with custom-sourced JING teas and specialty coffees. Brasserie Margot is located at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, 75 Fourteenth Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30309. For reservations and additional information, visit brasseriemargot.com or fourseasons.com/atlanta, and follow @brasseriemargotatl and @fsatlanta on Instagram. Ready to ignite the spark that levels up your entire life? Meet Ash Brown—the American powerhouse, motivational architect, and ultimate hype-woman dedicated to your personal and professional evolution. Ash is far more than a voice in the personal development space; she is a trusted ally who delivers a masterclass in real-talk wisdom and infectious energy. Whether you are navigating a crossroads or ready to scale your grandest ambitions, Ash fuels your journey with a high-octane blend of heart and hustle.

As the squished funnel of the AI shopping conversation continues to proliferate, we are seeing strong data that indicates conversion rates are higher than traditional search-based journeys. And with studies showing that 60% of consumers blame the brand itself, not the site or retailer they got the information on, the stakes for getting answer engine optimization right are rising. So Jing Feng, Co-founder and COO at AI marketing platform Bluefish joined us to share best practices and the cross-organizational orchestration required to win the recommendation.

自從8月初UniGirls安琪的一日店長活動後，小枚的IG版面就被表情豐富的安琪攻佔啦XD 在(不知道多久的)以後邀安琪上節目前，邀請從慕獅女孩到UniGirls一路追蹤安琪動態、以鏡頭記錄她各種鬼靈精怪表情的Jing，來聊聊場邊與鏡頭中的球場風景。被中信兄弟打爆沒關係，看球還是要好心情喔！   *Intro & ending music使用獅隊2026年度主題曲：鬥陣起行，感謝球團授權使用！   *節目內容時間軸可能因為平台插入動態廣告，有10~30秒誤差，僅供參考。   ★   (01:20) 歡迎大萊賓 feat. Jing   *身為桃猿球迷的Jing：樂天桃猿迷突然被小枚邀請會覺得莫名其妙嗎／ (09:05) 又要重提林智平棒打陳韻文的三分砲／樂天今年球季的起伏／ (14:45) 是本質迷還是應援迷／從只是手機隨拍起步的攝影   *身為安琪粉絲的Jing： (20:20) 為什麼成為安琪粉絲／籃球啦啦隊好拍還是棒球好拍／上班族怎麼追班表到處看比賽／ (28:30) 球賽日行程／安琪會主動找鏡頭嗎／整理每場近千張安琪照片&社群互動／ (40:38) Jing眼中好拍與難拍的球場／喜歡安琪哪一種髮型／獅隊大巨蛋賽事經營／ (49:54) 最後不忘呼籲大家多追蹤安琪IG   (50:45) 獅子抵叨位   *賽事追蹤(8/18-8/23，2勝3敗)： (53:50) 突破黃子鵬封鎖的大局與林子豪滿貫砲／隔天勝利組被一局爆打5分／ (56:04) JLions主題周觀賽心得／從天堂掉到地獄的滿壘大中計／林志穎很用心的賽後表演／鍾允華繼續收下救援成功／江少慶與胡智為還能期待嗎／全年度第三名依然有機會   *近期賽事(8/25-8/30)：在台南vs味全／在台北vs樂天   (1:14:40) 聽友萊留言   ★   | 永豐銀行合作推廣 |   永豐SPORT卡是一張用汗水賺回饋的信用卡，每月登錄《大咖DACARD APP》【支持運動Podcast】活動，以客戶當月一般消費金額計算1%，由永豐銀行贊助指定Podcast節目！   申辦永豐SPORT卡 | 活動詳情 | 下載大咖DACARD APP   ★   | 贊助大叔野球543 |   「每月抖內254，大叔野球有意思” “月月贊助254，台灣棒球有好事！」   嘖嘖贊助方案傳送門 希望用每月贊助的方式，能讓節目更好，也讓大叔們有更多力量支持台灣棒球！   ★   有興趣合作的廠商歡迎私訊或email聊聊   email：baseballuncle543@outlook.com －－－－以下為 SoundOn 動態廣告－－－－ 這一集，聽北醫楓杏服務隊分享： 為什麼願意年年搭船出發？ 一句「你還會再來嗎？」背後藏著什麼？ 一位失智奶奶，為什麼唯獨記得那個來探望她的男孩？

In this episode, VLOW and Nicole sit down with Truth Calkins, a Taoist herbalist and holistic health coach who has spent more than 26 years studying health, longevity, consciousness, and what he calls the fallacies of the Matrix.We start with Jing, the Taoist concept of primal essence, and explore Truth's perspective on why modern life may be leaving us depleted. We get into stress, sleep, stimulants, coffee, longevity, minerals, ancient wellness practices, and what it actually means to preserve your energy. Question everything. Decide for yourself.Welcome back to Matrix Assassins.

In this episode Qiological celebrates its ninth anniversary. For nine years new conversations on East Asian medicine and methods have appeared in your podcast feed each Tuesday morningAnita Chopra, our guest from episode 429, joins us again not just to discuss face reading, but to give us a demonstration of how she uses severeal of the basic maps that chart the face.We're also joined by Angela Hunt, the winner of our drawing to appear on this episode and receive a face reading.Listen in for a conversation that touches on mentorship, practice building, being authentically who we are clinical work, a bit of Qiological's backstory, and reflections on the journey that has brought the podcast to its ninth anniversary.

Please check out this entire series-arc, re-written, expanded, & re-recorded as of Aug 2026:- Ep. 306: Dead Men Tell No Tales: https://megaphone.link/ARML5251369441- Ep. 307: Murders & Acquisitions, Mostly: https://megaphone.link/ARML6215286599 - Ep. 308: The Shadow State: https://megaphone.link/ARML7890860851 Bottled up in Tung Chung Bay, subsisting for three weeks on caterpillars & boiled rice, the largest pirate fleet in the history of the world meets six Portuguese ships and the arithmetic that finishes it. What follows is the biggest criminal amnesty the world had yet seen, and a question very few pirates ever get to ask themselves: what does a cutthroat do with retirement? Time Period Covered: 1809–1844 CE Major Historical Figures: Red Flag Confederation: Zheng Yi Sao (AKA Ching Shih, née Shi Yang), Commander of the Red Flag Confederation [1775–1844]Zhang Baozai (Cheung Po Tsai), Fleet Commander of the Red Flags, later Qing navy vice-commander at Penghu [1783–1822]Guo Podai, Commander of the Black Flag Fleet [178?–181?]Mei Ying, a captive of the Red Flag Fleet [d. 1809] Qing Empire: The Jiaqing Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Yongyan) [r. 1796–1820]The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]Bailing (Zhang Bailing), Governor-General of Liangguang [1748–18??]Sun Quanmou, Provincial Fleet CommanderZhou Feixiong, physician of MacauWu Yaonan, government official [fl. 1810–1840]Lin Zexu, Viceroy of Liangguang [1785–1850] Portuguese Empire: Miguel José de Arriaga Brum da Silveira, Ouvidor of MacauCaptain José Pinto Alcoforado de Azevedo e Sousa, Commander of the Macau FlotillaGonçalves Carocha, pilot British East India Company: Richard Glasspoole, second mate of the Marquis of Ely [1788–1846] Major Sources Cited: Andrade, Tonio. The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Antony, Robert J. Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China. Glasspoole, Richard. A Brief Narrative of My Captivity and Treatment Amongst the Ladrones (1809); see also Owen Rutter, ed., Mr Glasspoole and the Chinese Pirates (Golden Cockerel Press, 1935).Leonard, Jane Kate. “Maritime China in Transition, 1750–1850,” in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 9, Part 2: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800. Murray, Dian H. Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790–1810. Van de Ven, Hans J. Breaking with the Past: The Maritime Customs Service and the Global Origins of Modernity in China. Yuan Yonglun. Jing hai fen ji (靖海氛記, 1830), translated by Karl Friedrich Neumann as History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea, 1807–1810 (London, 1831). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've probably heard that your ovaries age 2.5x times faster than the rest of your body. I went looking for that study. It does not exist. In this episode I trace that number back to an uncited supplement company blog post, and then I give you the one that is real: ovarian aging shows up 15 to 20 years earlier than in any other tissue in your body. Your ovaries are not a fertility organ. They are the organ that sets the pace for your bones, your heart, your brain and how long you live. This is the first episode built on my four pillars: Nourish, Stack, Live and Align. I also share what is changing behind the scenes, including my practice, my planner, and where this brand is going next. Work with me one on one as a women's longevity practitioner and holistic nutritionist: https://biohackingbrittany.com/pages/clients WHAT I COVER The 2.5x ovarian aging myth and where it actually came from Why the Stanford organ aging clocks never included an ovary Senescence and fibrosis: it is not that the seeds run out, it is that the soil goes hard Why less than 2 percent of venture funding goes to women's health, and 90 percent of that goes to fertility Your full lab panel: AMH by age, antral follicle count, day 3 FSH and estradiol Why AMH does not predict whether you will get pregnant this month The birth control trap: if you are on hormonal contraception your AMH is wrong by 14 to 55 percent PMOS and why a high AMH is not extra time Cysts: functional, hemorrhagic, dermoids, and why the pill does not shrink one you already have Endometriomas, and what cystectomy actually costs your ovarian reserve Premature ovarian insufficiency, the 2024 criteria change, and why POI is not early menopause What the food research does and does not support CoQ10, melatonin, inositol, DHEA, vitamin D, NMN and omega 3, ranked by real human evidence Rapamycin, the VIBRANT trial, and ovarian tissue freezing The pelvic bowl in the classical Sanskrit text, and what it actually describes Jing, Tian Gui, and how Chinese medicine predicted the end of fertility at 49 How misalignment shows up in the body, and the guardrail I insist on Why clinical hypnosis is the woo that actually works TIMESTAMPS 08:03 The 2.5x ovarian aging myth, and what is actually true 13:23 Your ovaries are an endocrine organ, not a fertility organ 19:54 The labs to run, and AMH by age 23:55 If you are on birth control, your AMH is wrong 28:03 Cysts, dermoids, and what the pill does not do 32:24 Endometriomas and what surgery costs your ovarian reserve 34:20 Premature ovarian insufficiency 36:43 Nourish and Stack: food, CoQ10, melatonin, inositol, NMN 47:06 Rapamycin and ovarian tissue freezing 49:22 Align: the pelvic bowl, Chinese medicine, and how misalignment shows up 1:00:18 Clinical hypnosis, and my full protocol MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE 1:1 client consults: https://biohackingbrittany.com/pages/clients The LongHer Life community, where this was recorded live: https://biohackingbrittany.com/pages/longherlife Her Stack Planner: https://biohackingbrittany.com/products/her-stack-planner Shop: https://biohackingbrittany.com/collections/shop Questions for the next live Q&A: info@biohackingbrittany.com CONNECT Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biohackingbrittany/ Website: https://biohackingbrittany.com This episode is for education only and is not medical advice.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Shanghai Serenade: A Journey from City Lights to Serenity Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-08-13-22-34-02-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 夏天的黄昏，外滩的灯光在水面上闪烁。En: On a summer evening, the lights from the The Bund flickered on the water's surface.Zh: 微风轻轻吹过，带来丝丝凉意。En: A gentle breeze blew by, bringing a hint of coolness.Zh: 静与伟漫步在熙熙攘攘的人群中，感受着城市的繁华。En: Jing and Wei strolled amidst the bustling crowd, experiencing the city's vibrancy.Zh: 静是一名年轻的白领。En: Jing was a young professional.Zh: 表面上，她习惯了繁忙的都市生活，但内心渴望逃离。En: On the outside, she seemed accustomed to the hectic urban life, but deep down she longed to escape.Zh: 她梦想着与世无争的简单生活。En: She dreamed of a simple life away from the world's troubles.Zh: 相比之下，伟对都市生活心满意足，他喜欢这座城市的节奏。En: In contrast, Wei was content with city life; he enjoyed the city's rhythm.Zh: 他们的生活中出现了一个新朋友，莲。En: A new friend, Lian, had appeared in their lives.Zh: 莲和静一样，渴望宁静。En: Like Jing, Lian longed for tranquility.Zh: 他们一起聊天时，静常常表达自己的向往，虽然这些话很少在伟面前提起。En: When they chatted together, Jing often expressed her aspirations, though she seldom mentioned these thoughts in front of Wei.Zh: 那天晚上，静决定与伟在外滩散步，En: That night, Jing decided to stroll along the The Bund with Wei.Zh: 借着这浪漫的氛围，她希望能开口讲出自己的心声。En: Using the romantic atmosphere as a backdrop, she hoped to finally voice her true feelings.Zh: “伟，这里的夜景真美啊，”静轻声说。她试图找到一个方式来表达自己的真实想法。En: "Wei, the night view here is really beautiful," Jing said softly, attempting to find a way to express her true thoughts.Zh: 伟微笑着点头，“是啊，上海的夜晚总是让人流连忘返。”En: Wei smiled and nodded, "Yes, Shanghai's nights are always unforgettable."Zh: 静深吸一口气，感到心中有种激动，“你有没有想过，离开城市，去一个安静的地方生活呢？”En: Jing took a deep breath, feeling a rush of excitement within her,"Have you ever thought about leaving the city to live in a quiet place?"Zh: 伟愣了一下，“你是认真的吗？”En: Wei was taken aback, "Are you serious?"Zh: “是的，我真的有这个想法。”静的话语带着一丝犹疑，但更多的是坚定。En: "Yes, I really have this thought." Jing's words carried a hint of hesitation, but mostly they were firm.Zh: 伟皱起眉头，“但是我们在这里生活得很好不是吗？为什么突然想到要离开？”En: Wei furrowed his brows, "But aren't we living well here? Why suddenly think of leaving?"Zh: 这个问题使静的心里涌现出一阵烦乱。En: This question stirred a turmoil in Jing's heart.Zh: 她犹豫着，不知道如何解释清楚。En: She hesitated, unsure how to clearly explain.Zh: “我只是……觉得我们应该有别的选择，也许能过上更简单的生活。”静终于说出口，心里感到一阵轻松。En: "I just... feel we should have other options. Maybe we could live a simpler life." Jing finally said, feeling a sense of relief.Zh: 伟思索了一会儿，似乎在认真考虑，“我明白你的感受，但改变是件大事。我们需要更多了解可能。”En: Wei pondered for a moment, seemingly in deep thought, "I understand your feelings, but change is a big deal. We need to learn more about the possibilities."Zh: 两人继续在外滩走着，En: The two continued walking along the The Bund.Zh: 静感到伟的话是种理解。En: Jing felt Wei's words were a form of understanding.Zh: “你愿意和我一起探索这些选择吗？”En: "Would you be willing to explore these options with me?"Zh: 伟点了点头，“当然，我愿意。”他握住了静的手，“我们可以慢慢地考虑。”En: Wei nodded, "Of course, I am willing." He held Jing's hand, "We can consider it slowly."Zh: 这一刻，静意识到，表达真实的自己是多么重要。En: In that moment, Jing realized how important it was to express her true self.Zh: 沟通是他们感情的桥梁。En: Communication was the bridge of their relationship.Zh: 而伟的理解与支持，是他们关系的支柱。En: And Wei's understanding and support were the pillars of their bond.Zh: 夏天的夜晚依旧美丽，外滩的灯光在他们心中打下了永恒的印记。En: The summer night remained beautiful, and the lights of the The Bund left an everlasting impression in their hearts. Vocabulary Words:flickered: 闪烁breeze: 微风bustling: 熙熙攘攘vibrancy: 繁华accustomed: 习惯hectic: 繁忙aspirations: 向往backdrop: 氛围turmoil: 烦乱strolled: 漫步troubles: 与世无争content: 心满意足rhythm: 节奏tranquility: 宁静expressed: 表达sea: 海backdrop: 氛围unforgettable: 流连忘返hesitation: 犹疑firm: 坚定furrowed: 皱起eyebrows: 眉头hesitated: 犹豫pondered: 思索explore: 探索support: 支持bond: 关系pillar: 支柱everlasting: 永恒的impression: 印记

What if there were two Jesuses to choose from? Eugene explores the story of Pastor Jing Dianying and the Jesus Family in China, revealing how Jing was forced to choose between a kingdom built through force and one built through love, sacrifice, and faith. He connects this choice to the surprising story of Jesus Barabbas and asks which Jesus we are choosing today.

Welcome to Academia Unlocked, our literary deep-dive series on Book Talk for BookTok! In this episode, we kick off our three-part series discussing The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. With over 13 years of combined academic training in literature and creative writing, we walk listeners through the foundational tools of reading beyond the surface. The book community talks about the "decline of literacy" constantly, but almost no one stops to define what literary literacy actually is or how to build it. This series exists to change that. One of the most common ways readers come to The Joy Luck Club is as an immigrant family drama, a moving novel about mothers and daughters caught between two cultures. And it is that. But Amy Tan built something more architecturally daring: sixteen interlocking stories, four mothers and four daughters, arranged around a mahjong table so the structure itself mirrors the divide it describes. This series digs into both. Whether you first read this novel because it was assigned to you, came to it through the 1993 film and never picked up the book, or only know Jing-mei Woo's name from a Google search, this series will give you the critical lens to engage with Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club with more depth, more confidence, and a lot more to say. Sponsor: Joan Road Beauty For a limited time our listeners are getting a FREE full sized Mascara on their first purchase when they use code BOOKTALK at checkout. Just head to ⁠Jonesroadbeauty.com⁠. Share your thoughts for a chance to be featured! Submit them at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠booktalkforbooktok.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a future mini-episode or exclusive Patreon discussion. Support the Show:  Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/booktalkforbooktok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Etsy Store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social: Instagram: @BookTalkForBookTok TikTok: @BookTalkForBookTok YouTube: @BookTalkForBookTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Right, we're kicking off this new series on the Three Treasures - Jing, Qi, and Shen - and I've brought in an absolute legend to help us navigate this. Benny is a fixture around here, living just a stone's throw from the studio, and he's the perfect guide for this series. He comes from a hardcore performance background - sports, movement, the works - but he's spent years deep in the trenches of neurosomatic movement and nervous system work, which makes him the perfect bridge between high-level performance and ancient Taoist principles. We're starting with Jing, but forget the dusty, abstract textbook definitions. Benny's all about the "slow melt." He's here to talk about why we've all been drifting out of alignment and calling it "normal." We've basically turned the health space into another arena of performance where we're constantly searching for the next "optimal" diet or training style to fix us, while our nervous system - the canary in the coal mine - is trying to whisper that we're burning the candle at both ends. We're overriding fatigue, pushing through tension, and treating our body like a project rather than a relationship. Benny's work is all about coming back home to the body. He challenges us to stop treating stillness as just another "de-stress" ritual to check off a packed calendar. Instead, he reframes cultivation as gardening: it's about pulling the weeds - those unresolved tensions and habits - so you can actually grow something. It's not about adding more; it's about clearing space. We dig into why we're so good at ignoring those early signals, and how to stop treating your body like a problem to solve. It's an eye-opening conversation on remembering what's already there - protecting your base, honoring the whispers, and building a life that doesn't drain you dry. It's not easy, but it is real. Let's get to it. Key Points We Touch On Why the Three Treasures offer a different way of understanding health Cultivation as a lifelong relationship, not another wellness practice Coming home to your body instead of outsourcing your health Why stillness is essential for self-awareness The body as a relationship, not a problem to solve Learning to listen before trying to fix Protecting your essence in a world that constantly drains it How identity, conditioning, and performance disconnect us from ourselves Authenticity as the foundation of genuine health Preparing the ground for the journey through Jing, Qi, and Shen Resources: Websites / Platforms movementmonk.xyz - Benny's website Courses / Programs The Body Trust Experience - a new offering Benny's launching to help establish the foundations of this work Explore Our Transformative Program Onboarding/intro courses Practice Material  (EP#56) Embodied Movement with the Movement Monk Benny Fergusson

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Lost at Mount Tai: A Journey Beyond the Summit Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-07-27-22-34-02-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 莲望着泰山，一层薄雾笼罩着古老的石阶。En: Lian gazed at Mount Tai, a thin mist shrouding the ancient stone steps.Zh: 夏日的热气弥漫在空气中，她的心情满是期待。En: The summer's heat filled the air, and her heart was full of anticipation.Zh: 这是七夕节，她从小就向往的节日。En: It was the Qixi Festival, a festival she had longed for since childhood.Zh: 朝日之光，在泰山顶上有一种特别的意义。En: The morning sunlight had a special significance atop Mount Tai.Zh: 她的朋友强就在旁边，微笑着。En: Her friend Qiang was beside her, smiling.Zh: “莲，我们会成功的。”En: "Lian, we will succeed."Zh: “对，我们要赶在日出前到顶峰参加七夕的仪式”，莲回答道，声音充满了期待和一丝紧张。En: “Yes, we need to reach the peak before sunrise to attend the Qixi ceremony,” Lian replied, her voice filled with anticipation and a touch of nervousness.Zh: 他们的导游靖是一位当地人，熟知山路。En: Their guide, Jing, was a local, familiar with the mountain paths.Zh: 他领着他们沿着蜿蜒的小径。En: He led them along the winding trails.Zh: “注意安全，泰山的空气对一些人来说可能太稀薄。”En: "Be careful, the air on Mount Tai might be too thin for some people."Zh: 姜升起的催促，他们脚步越来越快。En: As the urge to move quickly rose, their pace quickened.Zh: 但爬到一半时，莲开始觉得头晕，呼吸也渐渐急促起来。En: But halfway up, Lian began to feel dizzy, her breath gradually becoming short.Zh: 莲停下脚步，靠在一棵松树上，额头渗出细汗。En: Lian stopped, leaning against a pine tree, her forehead beading with sweat.Zh: 她闭上眼睛，努力平复心跳。En: She closed her eyes, trying to calm her racing heart.Zh: 强立刻上前：“你还好吗？”En: Qiang immediately stepped forward: "Are you okay?"Zh: “我...我不知道。”莲的声音微弱，面色苍白。En: “I... I don't know.” Lian's voice was weak, her complexion pale.Zh: 她知道这是高原反应的症状。En: She knew these were symptoms of altitude sickness.Zh: “我们得停下来。”强坚定地说。En: "We have to stop," Qiang said firmly.Zh: “不行，我要继续，”莲坚持道。En: “No, I want to continue,” Lian insisted.Zh: 然而，身体的虚弱让她无法如愿。En: However, her body's weakness made it impossible for her to persevere.Zh: 她深吸一口气，摇摇欲坠。En: She took a deep breath, feeling unsteady.Zh: 就在此刻，靖走了过来。En: At that moment, Jing came over.Zh: “千万别勉强自己。”他的目光稳重而关切。En: "Don't push yourself too hard." His gaze was steady and concerned.Zh: 莲犹豫着，她知道再坚持下去后果难以预料。En: Lian hesitated, knowing that continuing might have unpredictable consequences.Zh: 终于，她在靖和强的劝说下，决定稍作休息。En: Finally, persuaded by Jing and Qiang, she decided to rest for a while.Zh: 她挪步到一块石头上坐下，闭上眼睛，拼命呼吸着山间清新的空气。En: She moved to sit on a rock, closed her eyes, and desperately breathed in the fresh mountain air.Zh: 突然，强大喊：“莲！”En: Suddenly, Qiang shouted, "Lian!"Zh: 她感觉到自己的身体在倒下，接着是黑暗的袭来。En: She felt her body falling, followed by a cloak of darkness.Zh: 当她醒来时，太阳已经升起。En: When she awoke, the sun had already risen.Zh: 虽然她错过了山顶的日出，但她坐在山腰，仍能看到东方的第一缕阳光洒在泰山的土地上，浸透出金色的光芒。En: Although she missed the sunrise at the mountain's peak, sitting halfway up the mountain, she could still see the first rays of sunlight in the east, casting a golden glow over Mount Tai's land.Zh: 靖和强在她身边守护着，强握着她的手。En: Jing and Qiang were by her side, Qiang holding her hand.Zh: “你没事吧？你吓死我们了。”En: "Are you okay? You scared us to death."Zh: 莲疲倦但微笑，她点了点头。En: Lian was tired but smiled, nodding.Zh: “谢谢你们，我们没能到达山顶，但我感受到了你们的友谊和支持，比任何仪式更重要。”En: "Thank you both. We didn't reach the summit, but I felt your friendship and support, which is more important than any ceremony."Zh: 在这一刻，她望着散开在山岳之间的晨曦，心里一种意想不到的平静油然而生。En: In that moment, looking at the dawn spread among the mountains, a sense of unexpected peace welled up in her heart.Zh: 莲明白了，有时候，旅途的意义不在于目的地，而在于旅途中的每一个瞬间，每一个同伴。En: Lian understood that sometimes the meaning of a journey lies not in the destination but in every moment along the way, every companion beside her.Zh: 她吸了口清凉的山风，微笑着说：“有你们在，这里已经是我心灵的最高点了。”En: She took in the cool mountain breeze and smiled, saying, "With you both here, this is already the highest point for my heart."Zh: 而泰山似乎也在回应着，微风拂过，传来一阵松涛，仿佛是在答应着她的心愿。En: It seemed as though Mount Tai was responding as well, a gentle breeze bringing a rustling of pines, as if agreeing with her heartfelt wish.Zh: 尽管没能到达山顶，但这一刻的醒悟与宁静是她此行最大的收获。En: Although they hadn't reached the summit, the insight and tranquility in that moment were the greatest rewards of her journey. Vocabulary Words:gazed: 望着mist: 薄雾shrouding: 笼罩着anticipation: 期待Qixi Festival: 七夕节significance: 意义peak: 顶峰ceremony: 仪式guide: 导游winding: 蜿蜒的trails: 小径urge: 催促dizzy: 头晕symptoms: 症状altitude sickness: 高原反应persevere: 坚持unsteady: 摇摇欲坠gaze: 目光persuaded: 劝说consequences: 后果unpredictable: 难以预料intently: 专心地unconscious: 无意识的tranquility: 宁静insight: 醒悟companion: 同伴welling: 油然而生cloak: 袭来breeze: 微风rustling: 松涛

Welcome to Academia Unlocked, our literary deep-dive series on Book Talk for BookTok! In this episode, we kick off our three-part series discussing The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. With over 13 years of combined academic training in literature and creative writing, we walk listeners through the foundational tools of reading beyond the surface. The book community talks about the "decline of literacy" constantly, but almost no one stops to define what literary literacy actually is or how to build it. This series exists to change that. One of the most common ways readers come to The Joy Luck Club is as an immigrant family drama, a moving novel about mothers and daughters caught between two cultures. And it is that. But Amy Tan built something more architecturally daring: sixteen interlocking stories, four mothers and four daughters, arranged around a mahjong table so the structure itself mirrors the divide it describes. This series digs into both. Whether you first read this novel because it was assigned to you, came to it through the 1993 film and never picked up the book, or only know Jing-mei Woo's name from a Google search, this series will give you the critical lens to engage with Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club with more depth, more confidence, and a lot more to say. Sponsor: VIONIC Use code BOOKTALK at checkout for 15% off your entire order at ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vionicshoes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ when you log into your account. Share your thoughts for a chance to be featured! Submit them at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠booktalkforbooktok.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a future mini-episode or exclusive Patreon discussion. Support the Show:  Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/booktalkforbooktok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Etsy Store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social: Instagram: @BookTalkForBookTok TikTok: @BookTalkForBookTok YouTube: @BookTalkForBookTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chinese philosopher Songzi (382 BCE – 305 BCE) maintained that the appropriate response to insults was indifference, not aggression. Jing Hu, a philosopher at Concordia University, Montreal puts his thinking about insults and about the related concept of shame in context, and explains his ideas about the ethics of interpersonal relations.  This episode was supported by the Ideas Workshop, part of the Open Society Foundations

Welcome to Academia Unlocked, our literary deep-dive series on Book Talk for BookTok! In this episode, we kick off our three-part series discussing The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. With over 13 years of combined academic training in literature and creative writing, we walk listeners through the foundational tools of reading beyond the surface. The book community talks about the "decline of literacy" constantly, but almost no one stops to define what literary literacy actually is or how to build it. This series exists to change that. One of the most common ways readers come to The Joy Luck Club is as an immigrant family drama, a moving novel about mothers and daughters caught between two cultures. And it is that. But Amy Tan built something more architecturally daring: sixteen interlocking stories, four mothers and four daughters, arranged around a mahjong table so the structure itself mirrors the divide it describes. This series digs into both. Whether you first read this novel because it was assigned to you, came to it through the 1993 film and never picked up the book, or only know Jing-mei Woo's name from a Google search, this series will give you the critical lens to engage with Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club with more depth, more confidence, and a lot more to say. Sponsor: VIONIC Use code BOOKTALK at checkout for 15% off your entire order at ⁠⁠⁠www.vionicshoes.com⁠⁠⁠ when you log into your account. Share your thoughts for a chance to be featured! Submit them at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠booktalkforbooktok.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a future mini-episode or exclusive Patreon discussion. Support the Show:  Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/booktalkforbooktok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Etsy Store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social: Instagram: @BookTalkForBookTok TikTok: @BookTalkForBookTok YouTube: @BookTalkForBookTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly leans into the discomfort with Jia Jiang, author of “Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things.” You may have heard of Jia, as his story has been told in numerous books on how to successfully handle adversity through a concept called “Rejection Therapy.” Over 100 days, Jia put himself in a position to […]

Fresh out of the studio, Jing Yang, Asia Bureau Chief at The Information, joins us to explore how China is building frontier AI under chip constraints, state capital, and open source ambition. Jing breaks down her scoop on DeepSeek's $7.4 billion round at a $50 billion valuation, unpacking a deal structure in which the founder wrote two-fifths of the check and outside investors got no voting rights. She explains why Chinese AI valuations trail US labs, why seven to eight language model players refuse to consolidate, and why DeepSeek chose Huawei chips before Huawei knew about it. Last but not least, Jing shares the indicators she is watching from now to 2027."This is one of the things that really surprised me when I was working on this story: DeepSeek had spent a lot of time last year retrofitting their models and software with Huawei chips. I think a lot of people assumed it's because the government ordered DeepSeek to work with Huawei to embrace the domestic ecosystem, but it's actually the opposite. It was DeepSeek that voluntarily started using Huawei, experimenting with the Huawei chips, and Huawei actually only found out after. Then they started sending people to DeepSeek to help..." - Jing Yang, Asia Bureau Chief, The InformationEpisode Highlights:[00:00] Quote of the Day by Jing Yang from The Information[01:30] What changed since September: the ByteDance mystery resolved[03:00] Why China's AI must be read on its own terms[04:10] Breaking the story of DeepSeek on their 7.4B fundraise[05:40] How the valuation went from $10 to $50 billion[08:30] The lab that became famous for rejecting scaling laws[10:15] Unpacking the DeepSeek deal structure: four types of investors[12:40] Five-year lock-up and no secondary market trading[14:20] Reverse due diligence: DeepSeek vetting its own investors[16:40] Balancing open source, AGI research and IPO pressure[17:45] The irony: inclusive vision, exclusive deal structure[20:35] How Anthropic's Mythos preview changed Liang's mind[21:30] Why Chinese AI valuations look tiny next to US labs[23:00] Why Chinese founders go consumer when they go global[26:45] "The worst of customers" — price sensitivity and zero loyalty[27:45] The compute constraint that caps every Chinese lab[28:40] New labs in China: weaker infrastructure, harder exit[30:30] Can China leapfrog on hardware the way it did on models?[32:50] Stricter compliance, not political muscle[34:30] Founder power when your company becomes strategic[36:40] Junyang Lin's new lab and the scarcity premium[38:00] Open source influence versus sustainable commercial models[39:30] Zhipu versus MiniMax: how sentiment diverged after IPO[42:30] What is the right mental map for China's AI ecosystem?[43:20] The consolidation that still hasn't happened[45:00] Seven to eight serious players and nobody giving up[46:40] The one thing Jing wishes people would ask[47:20] Nobody ordered DeepSeek to use Huawei chips[50:00] Indicators to watch from now to 2027[55:30] ClosingProfile: Jing Yang, Asia Bureau Chief from The InformationThe Information Profile: https://www.theinformation.com/u/JingYangLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jing-yang-33548123/X: https://x.com/jingyanghkPodcast Information: Bernard Leong hosts and produces the show. The proper credits for the intro and end music are "Energetic Sports Drive." G. Thomas Craig mixed and edited the episode in both video and audio format.

When China removed import tariffs on goods from all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations earlier this year, many hailed the move as a breakthrough that could boost African exports and help narrow the growing trade imbalance between the two sides. While tariff-free access makes it easier for African products to enter the Chinese market, experts caution that tariffs are only one piece of the puzzle. The bigger challenge, says Jing Gu, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, is ensuring that African exporters are truly prepared to compete in one of the world's most demanding markets. Jing joins Eric and Géraud to explain why African governments, businesses, and trade institutions need to strengthen their understanding of the Chinese market, build closer commercial relationships, and develop the logistics, distribution networks, and market expertise needed to succeed in China.

Send us Fan MailIn today's episode, I interview Ran Jing, director of the short film “Imprint,” a look at how topics like immigration, class, and advancing technology can all be intertwined.Listen to hear about the genesis for the story out of a conversation she had with a friend, how the film addresses the common fear of falling behind in our society, and the challenge of casting a young actor who needed to cover a wide array of talents in the film.Books mentioned in this episode include:Gone with the Wind by Margaret MitchellOur Missing Hearts by Celeste NgThe City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki MurakamiA Guardian and a Thief by Megha MajumdarFilms and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:“Imprint” directed by Ran JingThe Matrix directed by Lana and Lilly WachowskiGone with the Wind directed by Victor FlemingThe Nightmare Before Christmas directed by Henry SelickLust, Caution directed by Ang LeeAmélie directed by Jean-Pierre JeunetMy Neighbor Totoro directed by Hayao MiyazakiFollow Ran on Instagram @ranjing0108.Support the show

Your packaging may be costing you sales, attention, and margin before a customer even tries your product. In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene interviews Jason Wong, Founder and CEO of Paking Duck, who discusses his transition from selling products to manufacturing custom packaging for consumer brands. He explains how factory-direct production, e-commerce experience, and attention to design details can help brands improve packaging quality while reducing costs. Jason also shares how packaging can support social media marketing, strengthen the customer experience, and help growing brands prepare for retail scale. Key Takeaways:→ Packaging can influence marketing performance. → Better packaging can enhance product presentation.→ Packaging should enhance the unboxing experience.→ Strong design details can increase perceived value. → Factory-direct sourcing can reduce packaging costs. Jason Wong is an operator with a background spanning growth marketing, operations, and manufacturing. He is the CEO and founder of Pughaus, a holding company for a portfolio of consumer brands and supply chain service providers. Under the Pughaus umbrella, Jason launched Saucy, a full-service sourcing and logistics firm that helps brands identify the right supply-chain partners and drive cost efficiencies. In 2023, he introduced Paking Duck, Saucy's packaging manufacturing arm, delivering factory-direct pricing and production solutions tailored to emerging brands. Jason's CPG investments focus on backing category challengers led by AAPI founders. Notable investments include Doe Lashes, Fly by Jing, Nectar Hard Seltzer, Kaja Beauty, and Awkward Essentials. He has also invested in e-commerce martech companies, including Triple Whale, Postscript, Skio, Icon, Octane AI, Siena CX, Social Snowball (acquired), and Lyvecom (acquired). Connect With Jason:Website: https://www.pug.haus/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pugTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pugX: https://x.com/eggroli

This episode explores the startling similarities between Chinese Medicine's Three Treasures (Qi, Jing and Shen) with Alchemy's Three Primes (Salt, Sulphur and Mercury) and we discuss how these both point to a common understanding of the transformational nature of reality. Dr Phi also shares some incredible stories of using lucid dreaming to learn directly from plants in the aetheric realms. Dr. Phiona Gitsham is a Dr of Chinese medicine with 25 years experience alongside her education in Functional medicine, nutritional genomic biochemistry, spagyric alchemy, astrology and lucid dreaming practices. She has a background in dance and music, informing how we inhabit our bodies and has undertaken a healing apprenticeship with a First Nations healer, from the Delaware / Cherokee nations. While studying she worked as a Chef and now combines her medical, nutritional and spagyric alchemy knowledge into a unique approach to ingredient extractions in her medicine making lab and business BioHerboloQi.  Phiona co-produced and co-hosted the Heavenly Qi podcast, about Chinese medicine and has since guested on many other pods. She consults part time as an Acupuncturist & Chinese medicine practitioner, focusing on TCM dermatology, with her skincare range and acupuncture clinic, while also offering Astrology & Lucid dreaming guidance. Phiona has guided large groups of up to 5000 people in collective meditations for healing, intent and peace. Phiona launched BioHerboloQi in USA in 2019 and has returned permanently to Australia, with the BioHerboloQI lab in the gorgeous Byron Hinterland. BioHerboloQi products are distributed through the USA and Canada, made in Australia and available in Australia, NZ, Europe, Nth America and anywhere else you want to order from.Phiona is currently focusing on making innovative Chinese herbal products for her business BioHerboloQi. She also has a substack called ALCHEMICAL DELIQUENSCENCE where she writes about Astrology planetary alchemy, herbal medicine, spagyrics and lucidity. There's a variety of herbal products, meditations and astrology classes in the shop, with an ever expanding line of goodies to come. bioherboloqi.comFB Phiona Gitsham or Bio HerboloQi.  IG @bio_herboloqi https://substack.com/@phi33bioherboloqi

In this episode of LAB the Podcast, Zach Elliott sits down with Mixed Media Artist Jing Herman, an Official America 250 Commemorative Artist, former Forbes 30 Under 30 investment banker, and creator of The Beautiful Country: 50 Flags for 250 Years.Born in Beijing and now an American citizen, Jing shares her remarkable journey from growing up under communism to discovering faith, embracing the American dream, and using art to invite hope, unity, and conversation. Through her innovative mixed-media American flags, she explores freedom, identity, nature, history, and the beauty that can still bring people together.This conversation is an invitation to slow down, see the beauty around us, and rediscover hope for our country through the eyes of an artist.Connect with Jing Herman: https://www.jingherman.com/originalsShop America 250: https://store.america250.org/search?q=jing&options%5Bprefix%5D=lastSupport / Sponsor: https://vuvivo.com/supportFor More Videos, Subscribe: @VUVIVOV3 | https://www.youtube.com/@VUVIVOV3Follow: @labthepodcast | @vuvivo_v3 | @zachjelliott | @jinghermanartLike:  https://www.facebook.com/vuvivo.v3#LABthePodcast #JingHerman #America250 #AmericanArt #FaithAndArt #Beauty #TheBeautifulCountry #ChristianArtist #MixedMedia #AmericanDream #zachelliottSupport the show

In this episode, we have on Acupuncturist Physician and Chinese Medicine Herbalist Erika Weber to dive deep into everything Traditional Chinese Medicine. Drawing on over twenty years of clinical experience and fifteen years of leading a private practice, Erika is an incredible source of information. If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I've found myself in a TCM hole lately and this conversation was exactly the educational and digestible conversation I've been craving to have. What we cover: How TCM and eastern medicine differs from western medicine Discussing Erika's view that TCM is "a spiritual system wearing clinical clothes"Unpacking the 5 elementsHow to recognize your dominant element and how to use your element for optimal healthWhat element the collective is currently most disconnected fromTangible explanations for what Qi and the organ clock areHow TCM views emotional storageWhat hyper productivity is doing to our bodies from a TCM lensThe concept of Jing and how this impacts your lifeWhat true optimal health looks like The role of acupuncture in our overall health and wellnessA simple practice you can implement today to help your health journeyConnect with Erika:Instagram: @erikaweber_apWebsite: www.the5elementmethod.comConnect with me:Instagram: @beccnichollsTiktok: @beccanichollsWebsite: www.beccanicholls.comSubscribe to my email listYouTube: BECCAIt would mean the world to me if you would subscribe, rate and review this podcast to help support the show. If you enjoy this podcast, share it on your stories and tag me or share it with a friend. Let's build this community, together! ⚡️

我們對於親密關係的想像與實踐，如何受家庭、社會、文化的影響？在父權架構中，我們又是如何發展出「自我意識」的呢？小夜與Jing在這一集節目中，探討自己實踐「非典型」親密、情慾關係時的各種反思與疑問：性別研究與女性主義的文本不提供絕對的答案，而是給了我們分析結構、權力關係、與個人慾望的能力。   本集重點： →　性別研究的訓練如何改變了我們對親密關係的想像？ →　「女性主義者」經歷「非典型」情慾關係時的分析與掙扎。 →　約砲不是為了快感（而已）。 →　在龐大社會框架與不平等權力關係中，如何實踐我們想要的性？   更多內容相關資訊請參考：https://queerology.net/2026/07/03/q064/ 支持我們：感謝你的收聽。如果你喜歡我們的節目，歡迎你透過以下的方式支持我們。你可以點下訂閱，期待我們下一集的節目；留下五星評價，讓我們知道你的喜歡；也可以將我們的節目分享給更多人知道。如果你願意給我們更多支持，歡迎你透過這裡 https://tinyurl.com/5xsecc9z 請我們喝杯咖啡。

Fertility health affects conception and reproductive planning in important ways. Jennifer Ashby, DAOM, and Maren Shapiro, MD, explain how East Asian medicine principles and daily habits shape fertility optimization. Ashby examines Jing, Blood, Qi, Yin/Yang balance, and stress, while Shapiro examines sleep, nutrition, exercise, supplements, timing intercourse, and when to seek additional support, helping clarify how the body can be supported before pregnancy. This work helps explain conception readiness and points toward practical strategies for reproductive health. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41546]

Fertility health affects conception and reproductive planning in important ways. Jennifer Ashby, DAOM, and Maren Shapiro, MD, explain how East Asian medicine principles and daily habits shape fertility optimization. Ashby examines Jing, Blood, Qi, Yin/Yang balance, and stress, while Shapiro examines sleep, nutrition, exercise, supplements, timing intercourse, and when to seek additional support, helping clarify how the body can be supported before pregnancy. This work helps explain conception readiness and points toward practical strategies for reproductive health. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41546]

Fertility health affects conception and reproductive planning in important ways. Jennifer Ashby, DAOM, and Maren Shapiro, MD, explain how East Asian medicine principles and daily habits shape fertility optimization. Ashby examines Jing, Blood, Qi, Yin/Yang balance, and stress, while Shapiro examines sleep, nutrition, exercise, supplements, timing intercourse, and when to seek additional support, helping clarify how the body can be supported before pregnancy. This work helps explain conception readiness and points toward practical strategies for reproductive health. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41546]

Fertility health affects conception and reproductive planning in important ways. Jennifer Ashby, DAOM, and Maren Shapiro, MD, explain how East Asian medicine principles and daily habits shape fertility optimization. Ashby examines Jing, Blood, Qi, Yin/Yang balance, and stress, while Shapiro examines sleep, nutrition, exercise, supplements, timing intercourse, and when to seek additional support, helping clarify how the body can be supported before pregnancy. This work helps explain conception readiness and points toward practical strategies for reproductive health. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41546]

Fertility health affects conception and reproductive planning in important ways. Jennifer Ashby, DAOM, and Maren Shapiro, MD, explain how East Asian medicine principles and daily habits shape fertility optimization. Ashby examines Jing, Blood, Qi, Yin/Yang balance, and stress, while Shapiro examines sleep, nutrition, exercise, supplements, timing intercourse, and when to seek additional support, helping clarify how the body can be supported before pregnancy. This work helps explain conception readiness and points toward practical strategies for reproductive health. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41546]

Fertility health affects conception and reproductive planning in important ways. Jennifer Ashby, DAOM, and Maren Shapiro, MD, explain how East Asian medicine principles and daily habits shape fertility optimization. Ashby examines Jing, Blood, Qi, Yin/Yang balance, and stress, while Shapiro examines sleep, nutrition, exercise, supplements, timing intercourse, and when to seek additional support, helping clarify how the body can be supported before pregnancy. This work helps explain conception readiness and points toward practical strategies for reproductive health. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41546]

What are the “Three Mountains” of men's health?In this episode, Yvonne Lau explores benign prostatic hyperplasia, erectile dysfunction, and male infertility through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Drawing from a translated interview with Dr. Guo Jun, Director of the Department of Andrology at Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, this episode examines the treatment principles, lifestyle recommendations, and holistic strategies used to support some of the most common men's health challenges.Special thanks to Dr. Guo Jun, reporters Gao Qing and Zhao Rui of Life Times, and Xiyuan Hospital for sharing this valuable perspective.Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) Chinese Medicine Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia  Kai Kit Wan for Men over 50 Erectile Dysfunction (ED) Erectile Dysfunction and TCM TCM Approaches for Elderly Men's Health Male Infertility Treating Blood and Jing in Male Infertility  Men's Health: Male Factor Infertility  A Clinical and Philosophical Exploration of Jing 精 See our Monthly Practitioner Discounts https://www.mayway.com/monthly-specialsSign up for the Mayway Newsletterhttps://www.mayway.com/newsletter-signupFollow ushttps://www.facebook.com/MaywayHerbs/https://www.instagram.com/maywayherbs/

Last time we spoke about the Hubei-Henan Campaign of 1940-1941. In November 1940, a Central Hubei operation using multiple task forces aimed to exploit Chinese dispersal, achieving only local successes and no lasting territorial gains. The Japanese then tried again in late January 1941 with a major offensive into southern Henan. Despite concentrating a large force, the campaign failed strategically. After the Henan failure, Japan attempted to regain momentum in spring 1941 by attacking western Hubei around Yichang on the Yangtze. Despite an initial barrage and rapid early gains, Japanese forces became exposed in a narrow salient. The Chinese reorganized their river defenses and launched a converging counteroffensive, driving the invaders back and ending the engagement where it began, with the Japanese suffering heavy casualties and their westward push thwarted.   #206 The Battle of Shanggao 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. The year 1940 had brought a particular humiliation. In August of that year, Communist General Peng Dehuai had launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive — a massive, coordinated assault across North China that shattered Japanese rail and supply lines, embarrassed Imperial General Headquarters, and demonstrated that the Chinese were far from finished. Japan's response had been brutal, the infamous "Three Alls" campaign of reprisals across the countryside. But the damage had been done, and the attention of Imperial General Headquarters shifted northward. The autumn of 1940 had also seen the First Battle of Changsha, where the Japanese 11th Army under General Sonobe Yahachirō pushed south into Hunan Province expecting to overwhelm the Chinese defenders and finally deal a decisive blow to Chiang Kai-shek's armies. Instead, General Xue Yue — the "Tiger of Changsha" — had allowed the Japanese to advance deep into his prepared killing ground before counterattacking from multiple directions. The Japanese had been forced to retreat in disorder, and the front in Hunan and Jiangxi settled once again into sullen stalemate. It was in this atmosphere of frustrated ambition and strategic inertia that the seeds of Shanggao were sown. By February 1941, Imperial General Headquarters had decided to redeploy the 33rd Division — then garrisoned in the town of Anyi, in northwestern Jiangxi — to North China. The transfer was scheduled to begin in early April, and it made strategic sense: the north required reinforcement, and the front in Jiangxi had been quiet enough that one division could be spared. The problem was that the 33rd Division's departure would leave a gap in Japanese dispositions, and no significant offensive operation had yet been conducted to weaken the Chinese forces that would be left facing a thinned-out Japanese line. Lieutenant General Ōga Shigeru, the energetic commander of the Japanese 34th Division, saw opportunity in the window that existed before the 33rd departed. His division was concentrated around Xishan and Wanshou Palace, astride the Xiang–Gan Highway — the main road running westward through Jiangxi — and across that highway lay the town of Shanggao and the Chinese forces defending it. Ōga proposed exploiting the presence of both divisions for a coordinated strike: a sharp, limited offensive to crush Chinese field forces around Nanchang and the Jiangxi interior before the 33rd Division's train north. The 11th Army headquarters, now commanded by General Marube, endorsed a cautious concept — a "quick strike" with limited objectives. But the 34th Division's staff, energized by Ōga's ambition, had already run well ahead of this guidance. Large-scale requisitioning of coolies for logistics was underway; training exercises aimed at the specific terrain around Shanggao had been conducted; planning had progressed in far more detail than a "limited" operation warranted. This eagerness would prove to be the Japanese undoing before the first shot was fired. Chinese intelligence networks, always attentive to the movement of porters and the telltale preparations that preceded a Japanese offensive, quickly detected the scale of these preparations and reported them to General Luo Zhuoying, commander of the Chinese 19th Army Group. By the time the Japanese columns were forming up to march, Luo had already hardened his defenses and laid the groundwork for a trap. General Luo Zhuoying was not a passive commander. He served simultaneously as commander of the 19th Army Group and as Deputy Commander of the 9th War Zone — the latter post placing him directly under General Xue Yue, the victor of Changsha. Luo had spent the lull after Changsha doing what Chinese commanders across the theater had learned was essential: reorganizing, retraining, and above all improving the defensive architecture of his sector. The plan Luo devised for meeting the anticipated Japanese offensive was elegant in its simplicity and demanding in its execution. Rather than contesting the Japanese advance at the frontier, he would allow the enemy to push westward, yielding ground through three successive defensive lines while bleeding the attackers at every step. The first and second lines would slow the Japanese, exact casualties, and stretch their logistics. The third line — anchored at Shanggao itself — would be the killing ground. There, the Chinese forces would hold fast while other formations swung around the Japanese flanks and rear to close the encirclement. The Japanese, having marched deep into Chinese-held territory with their supply lines thinning and their flanks exposed, would find themselves surrounded rather than victorious. For this plan to work, each Chinese formation had to perform its role with discipline. The 70th Corps, deployed in the north along the arc from Shitou Street through Fengxin to Jing'an, would have to conduct a controlled fighting retreat — yielding ground but making the Japanese pay for it, never breaking and running. The 49th Corps would hold the southern flank and create conditions for flanking action. And the 74th Corps — General Wang Yaowu's elite formation, comprising the 51st, 57th, and 58th Divisions — would hold the final line at Shanggao and serve as the anvil upon which the Japanese advance would shatter. The 74th Corps was by 1941 one of the most battle-hardened formations in the Nationalist Army. It had fought at Shanghai in 1937, at Wuhan in 1938, and in the hills and valleys of Jiangxi through the years since. Its men knew the terrain around Shanggao. They had prepared positions in depth, studied the approaches, and rehearsed the defensive plan Luo had designed. When the Japanese came, they would be ready. Against the Chinese 70,000 — distributed across eleven divisions in four corps, with additional provincial security forces for local coverage — the Japanese would throw roughly 20,000 men: three major formations advancing in coordinated columns. The disparity in numbers was stark, but the Japanese had the advantages of offensive initiative, air superiority, and the formidable fighting quality that the Imperial Army had demonstrated throughout the war in China. The question was whether those advantages would be enough to overcome a prepared defense wielded by a commander who had invited the attack. The operational plan devised by the Japanese 11th Army called for three columns to converge simultaneously on Shanggao from north, center, and south — a classic encirclement concept that, if executed with precision, would catch the Chinese defenders in a tightening vice. In the north, the main force of the 33rd Division under Lieutenant General Sakurai Shōzō would drive westward from its bases around Anyi and Ganzhoujie, descending the Liao River valley to threaten the Chinese right flank and prevent the 70th Corps from interfering with operations in the center.In the center, Ōga's 34th Division would advance along the Xiang–Gan Highway — the direct route from Nanchang toward Shanggao — capturing the town of Gao'an along the way and pressing relentlessly westward until it reached the main defensive positions. This was the principal striking force, the column designed to crack open the Chinese defenses and seize the objective.In the south, the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade under Major General Ikeda would cross the Jin River and advance along its south bank, eventually swinging north to link up with the 34th Division and complete the encirclement of whatever Chinese forces remained in the Shanggao area. The plan was coherent on paper. But it contained a structural flaw so serious that, in retrospect, it is difficult to understand how the 11th Army's staff allowed it to proceed uncorrected. The success of any converging operation depends on synchronization — on each column hitting its objectives on schedule and maintaining communication with the others so that each can react to developments on the other prongs. Yet the 11th Army headquarters made no recorded effort to coordinate the 33rd and 34th Divisions before the battle began. There was no forward command post established to oversee the operation. General Marube remained at Hankou, hundreds of miles to the north, throughout the battle — as remote from the fighting as a Tokyo bureaucrat. Operational decisions were left entirely to the individual divisions, with no mechanism to coordinate their actions if something went wrong. Something was going to go wrong. Luo Zhuoying had seen to that. On the morning of March 15, 1941, all three Japanese columns stepped off simultaneously, advancing into the misty hills and rice paddies of northwestern Jiangxi. In the north, Sakurai's 33rd Division moved briskly from Anyi toward Fengxin. The town fell by noon, and the division pressed westward in good order. The Japanese infantry moved confidently along the Liao River valley, experienced soldiers who had fought across China and had no particular reason to expect what was coming. The Chinese 70th Corps gave ground — as it had been ordered to — but did so on its own terms, occupying and then abandoning successive pieces of high ground along both banks of the river, making the Japanese advance uncomfortable and costly. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, the 33rd Division was being drawn forward into terrain that favored the defender. By March 18 and 19, the 33rd Division had pushed all the way to Guzhu'ao and Huamenlo — a considerable advance, but one that had taken the division far from its base at Anyi. And it was here, far from support and with flanks increasingly exposed, that the Chinese blocking forces closed in. Chinese infantry, who had been waiting in prepared positions in the high ground overlooking the river valley, launched coordinated counter-attacks that struck the 33rd Division from multiple directions. The fighting was fierce and costly. In two days of close combat, the division suffered more than 2,500 casualties — a grievous toll that represented a significant fraction of its effective strength. The northern column had been stopped dead. On March 19, Sakurai ordered the 33rd Division to reverse course. By March 23, after four days of painful withdrawal under pressure, it had pulled back to Anyi — the same place it had started. The northern prong of the Japanese offensive had accomplished nothing except the loss of thousands of men. In the south, the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade had a rougher start. Its initial attempt to cross the Gan-Jin river junction at noon on March 15 was repulsed by Chinese defenders, and it was only under cover of darkness that the brigade managed to force a crossing. Once across, it moved westward along the south bank of the Jin River, but progress was slow and contested. A detachment — the Gan River Detachment — ran into fierce resistance from the 26th Division of the Chinese 49th Corps on March 19. The brigade's main body meanwhile fought its way through the 51st Division of the 74th Corps, but the 107th Division and elements of the 51st managed to contain the advance at the Laichunling–Zhutoushan line. On the night of March 20, the main body of the 20th Brigade crossed the Jin River at Huifu to link up with the 34th Division — but a portion of its troops, cut off on the south bank, was destroyed by Chinese forces. The southern column was across the Jin River, but it had taken losses and was already engaged in ways its planners had not anticipated. In the center, the 34th Division fared best in the early going. Ōga's division moved westward from Xishan along the Xiang–Gan Highway on March 16, and by the 17th had captured Gao'an — a meaningful early success. The Chinese 74th Corps, executing Luo's plan faithfully, dispatched only screening forces east of the Tangpu River to slow the Japanese advance rather than contesting it decisively. The main body of the 74th Corps fell back to the third-line positions at Sixi, Guanqiao, and Tangpu, preparing the killing ground that Luo had designated. Simultaneously, the 26th Division and most of the 105th Division from the 49th Corps were shifted across the Gan River to operate south of the Jin River on the Japanese left flank, and the 72nd Corps was ordered to maneuver on a wide envelopment around Daxia and south of Ganfang. By March 20–21, the 34th Division had pressed forward to attack the Chinese positions at Sixi and Guanqiao. Ōga's men were confident — they had taken Gao'an, they were moving, and the objective of Shanggao lay within reach. But as the division pushed toward Shangjijia, it ran squarely into the 57th and 58th Divisions of the 74th Corps, fighting with a tenacity that told the Japanese plainly enough: this was where the Chinese intended to stand. The week of March 21–24 brought the battle to its crisis. The 34th Division hammered at the Chinese positions defending Shanggao itself, while on the flanks, the fighting took on a character that neither side had entirely anticipated. On March 21, General Wang Yaowu — commanding the 74th Corps from his headquarters in Shanggao — decided it was time to do more than absorb Japanese blows. He ordered General Li Tianxia to clear Japanese forces from the south bank of the Jin River and advance on Gao'an, with the aim of cutting the 34th Division's supply line and threatening its rear. It was an aggressive move, and if it had worked, it might have produced a decisive result earlier than history would record. It did not work — at least not immediately. That very evening, the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade, which had been reorganizing after the chaos of the river crossing, launched a powerful offensive at dawn on the 22nd. Li Tianxia's lead elements had barely set out from Shitou Street when they collided head-on with the main force of the 20th Brigade, which had crossed back from the north bank of the Jin River. The Japanese thrust was coordinated and aggressive: one column circled wide to attack Lazhu Mountain; another swung south of Hu Family west of Shitou Street to strike Li's division in the flank and rear; and nine aircraft with four artillery pieces bombarded the Chinese positions from north to south. Li's division could not hold against this convergent assault and fell back to the high ground southwest of Shitou Street. Wang Yaowu reacted quickly. He ordered Li's main body to wheel left to face the new threat and simultaneously dispatched the Army's Field Supplementary Regiment — held in reserve near Yintang — on a forced march to Huayang to block the Japanese westward drive. This regiment, racing down roads strafed by nine enemy aircraft, covered 15 li per hour and seized Huayang and the high ground to its northeast by around seven in the morning. By nine, the 20th Brigade arrived in strength and — supported by more than ten aircraft — launched a fierce assault on the regiment's positions. The regiment's officers and men held firm, taking heavy casualties but refusing to break. Frustrated at Huayang, the 20th Brigade shifted its effort to the Kuang Family area, linking up with over a thousand men who had crossed from Baichetou to the south bank and pushing along the river toward Xiongfang in an attempt to outflank the Chinese left wing. The Supplementary Regiment sent its 1st Battalion with a mortar company to meet this threat, and the two forces met in a fierce engagement. When the Japanese reinforced their assault and deployed incendiary bombs and poison gas, Xiongfang fell by early afternoon — but Li Tianxia immediately sent two regiments from his right flank to take it back, and by midnight the position was in Chinese hands again. Shitou Street and Jigong Ridge were simultaneously recaptured. The Independent Mixed 20th Brigade now found itself in an increasingly uncomfortable position, fighting with the Jin River at its back and the initiative slipping away. Meanwhile, the main event was being fought in the rubble and ridgelines around Shanggao itself. From March 22 to 25, the 34th Division and whatever remnants of the 20th Brigade could contribute threw themselves repeatedly at the defensive line anchored on Stone Arch Bridge, Xia Po Bridge, Xu Lou, Pan Family Bridge, Cloud Head Mountain, and Lei Family Mountain. This was not the fluid, mobile warfare that the Japanese had envisioned but brutal, grinding attritional combat for individual strongpoints and ridgelines, with positions changing hands multiple times in a single day. The Japanese air arm was deeply involved. Ōga's division had close air support that could operate even in poor weather, and Group 3 of the Japanese Air Force hammered the Chinese positions with sustained effort. On the morning of March 24, after the 34th Division fed in more than 3,000 additional troops transferred across the Jin River, the Air Force dispatched over seventy aircraft that dropped more than 1,700 bombs, largely destroying the defensive positions of Liao Lingqi's division. The Japanese exploited the resulting chaos and twice broke through gaps in the line — but were driven out each time by Chinese counterattacks. At noon, enemy aircraft bombarded in relays and Japanese infantry broke through at Xia Po Bridge. It was at this moment that Li Hanqing, commanding the Chinese infantry defense in that sector, did what officers throughout history have done when systems fail and only personal example can stem the tide: he personally led his officer cadre in repeated counter-attacks, hand-to-hand fighting in the rubble until the Japanese were finally expelled. By this point, the 34th Division's offensive capacity was nearly spent. At the same time — and this was the critical shift that would determine the battle's outcome — General Luo Zhuoying recognized that the moment to spring the trap had arrived. The northern column had already been broken and sent reeling back toward Anyi. The southern column was pinned against the Jin River with its back to the water. The central column was bled white against the defenses of Shanggao. Luo now ordered all his armies to close in from multiple directions. On the morning of March 22, he had already begun revising his orders; by noon on the 23rd, the forces of Liu Duoquan and Li Jue had occupied Shitou Street, Guanqiao Street, and Yanggong Market, pressing on Huifu and Gaoyao. The encirclement of the 34th Division was not yet complete, but its shape was unmistakably forming. By March 25, the 34th Division knew it was in mortal danger. Surrounded on three sides, its ammunition running low and its casualty lists growing by the hour, the division urgently appealed to the 11th Army for rescue. The message that arrived in Hankou was a shock. General Marube and his staff, who had remained at their distant headquarters throughout the battle without establishing a forward command post, had not properly grasped the scale of the disaster unfolding in Jiangxi. The lack of coordination between the 33rd and 34th Divisions — the structural flaw that had been built into the operation from its conception — had allowed Luo Zhuoying to defeat each column separately, and now the central column faced annihilation. The 11th Army responded in a scramble. Chief of Staff Kinoshita was dispatched by aircraft to Nanchang with Operations Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Yamaguchi and Captain Ōne to organize a relief operation. The 33rd Division — barely recovered from its own battering in the north — was ordered to sortie immediately and fight its way to the 34th Division's relief. Sakurai organized his battered 33rd Division into three rescue columns. Infantry Brigade Commander Araki Shōji took the right column, leading Infantry Regiment 215 with one mountain artillery battalion. Infantry Regiment 214 formed the left column. The divisional commander himself led the central column with the main divisional force. On March 24 and 25, all three columns sortied from strongpoints at Niuxing, Fengxin, and other positions, attacking across the Wuqiao River and through Cunqian Street toward Tangpu and Guanqiao. The relief operation brought the battle to its most complicated moment. On the morning of March 25, the 33rd Division launched a fierce assault on the forces that Luo Zhuoying had positioned to tighten the encirclement from the north — striking Zhang Yanchuan's division at Kengkou Leng, Jiezipo, and Nancha Luo. Zhang's division, struck simultaneously from the front and rear, withdrew at dusk to near Tu Di Wang Temple, where it linked up with Tang Boyin's division. What happened next became one of the most controversial decisions of the entire battle. Zhang Yanchuan was serving as deputy army commander in the absence of Li Jue from the front. Surveying the situation — his own division under heavy pressure, the 33rd Division's relief columns pushing aggressively — Zhang concluded that the position was untenable. On his own authority, without authorization from Luo Zhuoying or any superior commander, he withdrew both his own and Tang Boyin's divisions to Fenghuang Market and Zhuangfang. The consequence was immediate and severe. The withdrawal opened a corridor through which the 33rd Division entered Guanqiao and linked up with the encircled 34th Division. An encirclement that had taken days of blood and sacrifice to construct was torn open by a single unauthorized decision. Luo Zhuoying, when he received word of Zhang's withdrawal the following morning, was furious — but he could not change what had already happened. He could only adapt. The breakout itself was an ordeal. A portion of the 34th Division that attempted to escape to the east was intercepted near Huifu by a division of the 49th Corps and lost roughly half its strength before being compelled to turn back. The main body ultimately broke out on March 27, withdrawing in march order that told its own story of disaster: headquarters, baggage, artillery, casualties, field hospital, rear guard — all moving in what the records describe as "a wretched state." On the night of March 27, Japanese troops escorting the 34th Division's field hospital — a field artillery company of the 8th Battery — were completely annihilated in a Chinese night attack. When the division reached Longtuan Xu on March 28, the stretcher-bearer column carrying the wounded stretched some seven to eight kilometers along the road. That same day, the 33rd Division's Infantry Regiment 214 finally made contact with the 34th Division's headquarters, completing what amounted to a rescue of men who had already endured their defeat. The 33rd Division's mountain artillery batteries exhausted their entire ammunition supply covering the retreat and required emergency aerial resupply drops to continue. The 34th Division limped back to its original garrison on April 2. Despite the setback caused by Zhang Yanchuan's unauthorized withdrawal, Luo Zhuoying did not abandon his design. Assessing his situation on the morning of March 26, he found reason for cautious optimism: Wang Yaowu's army was still making progress at Shanggao; the Japanese south of the Jin River had largely been cleared; and Sichuan Army and Northeastern Army units that had been moving to reinforce the battle had now reached the field, meaning Chinese forces retained significant numerical superiority. He resolved to execute a second encirclement. At nine in the morning of March 26, Luo issued strict orders: Zhang Yanchuan's and Tang Boyin's divisions were to immediately comply with their original orders and block the enemy near Guanqiao; Yu Chengwan's division was to attack northward via Pan Family Bridge; Liao Lingqi's and Song Yingzhong's divisions were to press toward Guanqiao with full force; Wang Kejun's division was to strike the enemy's flank and rear east of Guanqiao; Fu Yi's division was to advance south of Jiang Family Isle; and Chen Liangji's division was to swing southeast via Changpu to complete the enemy's destruction. The second ring was being drawn. On March 28, as the 34th Division's battered column trudged eastward toward survival, Wang Kejun's division advancing from Yanggong Market moved to intercept it. The Chinese occupied high ground north and south of Yanggong Market and along Mozi Ridge, and what followed was a grinding all-day battle that fixed the Japanese column at the Xiama Bei–Huxing Ridge line. Part of the 20th Brigade, moving up from Gao'an to assist the withdrawing 34th Division, was blocked near Long Tu Market. Liao Lingqi's division pursued the enemy rear guard to the Changling–Manmei high ground, where the fighting erupted with renewed intensity. At noon, part of Li Tianxia's division arrived and deployed along the Shangluoxiang–Shanyuan–Fangtounao line to harass the Japanese right flank; part of Yu Chengwan's division reached Longxing Mountain and outflanked Guanqiao Street from the south. The surviving Japanese defenders in Guanqiao withdrew into the town for a last stand, and after Liao's division pressed the assault, street fighting raged until five in the afternoon, when over 600 defenders were annihilated. Over 2,000 troops of the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade conducted a fighting withdrawal from Long Tu Market and Yanggong Market, covered by Japanese aircraft bombing to shield the 34th Division's retreat. By noon on March 30, the Japanese had abandoned both strongpoints and scattered northeastward. One group of over 600 men fled directly into the main positions of Zhang Yanchuan's division — an ironic fate, given Zhang's earlier withdrawal — and were largely annihilated. The encircling forces had been essentially dispersed, and the two pursuit columns now pressed forward under the overall direction of General Xue Yue, who had assumed personal coordination of the chase. On March 27, Luo Zhuoying — confident that victory was secured — issued a general order for a final offensive and announced substantial cash rewards to his troops: prizes offered for the capture of Japanese officers, artillery pieces, regimental colors, and other materiel. The rewards were both a practical incentive and a mark of how far the battle had tipped. By midnight on March 31, Chen Hongshi's advance column had recovered Gao'an; Wang Tiehan's division had recovered Xiangfu Guan. On April 2, the divisions of Zhang Yanchuan and Song Yingzhong recovered Fengxin; that afternoon Wang Tiehan's division took back Xishan and Wanshou Palace — the very base from which the 34th Division had launched its offensive. By April 3, the pursuing armies had reached the vicinity of Dacheng and Ganzhoujie. On April 8 and 9, the 70th Corps recovered the outpost strongpoints around Anyi before halting operations. The Japanese had retreated into their original positions and were defending from prepared terrain. The pursuit was over. The Battle of Shanggao had lasted nineteen days and nights. No battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War was ever free of the fog of competing claims, and Shanggao was no exception. On March 29, before the pursuit had even concluded, Luo Zhuoying telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek with his accounting of the victory. His numbers were dramatic: Major General Iwanaga, the Japanese infantry commander, killed; regimental commander Colonel Hamada, killed; over 15,000 Japanese killed or wounded in total. Chinese losses, Luo reported, exceeded 20,000. Ten guns, over a thousand rifles, and numerous machine guns had been captured. His superior, General Xue Yue, was skeptical. In a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek on April 5, Xue reduced Luo's numbers by twenty percent, reporting 12,520 Japanese killed or wounded and 14 prisoners captured. The discrepancy between two Chinese commanders reporting on the same battle speaks to the difficulty of battlefield accounting in any era, and suggests something of the competitive pressures that shaped how Chinese commanders reported their victories to Chongqing. The official Chinese histories, compiled after the war in the History of the War of Resistance, reported approximately 15,000 Japanese killed or wounded, 17 prisoners taken, and significant quantities of captured materiel: 6 mountain guns, 1 mortar, 24 light machine guns, 408 rifles, 24 grenade launchers, and over 111,717 rounds of various ammunition. Chinese casualties, by the same records, were 17,119 killed or wounded and 2,814 missing. Japanese records for the battle do not survive — a consequence of the wholesale destruction of Imperial Army documentation at the war's end. Contemporary scholars, working from other sources, estimate actual Japanese combat losses at approximately 5,500 killed and wounded. This is substantially lower than the Chinese claims, as was nearly always the case in the war, but represents a significant defeat by any measure: roughly a quarter of the force committed, many of them veterans impossible to replace. Chiang Kai-shek subsequently awarded the victorious Chinese units a commendation prize of 150,000 yuan — a substantial sum that marked the battle's significance in Nationalist eyes. The outcome at Shanggao was not accidental. Several interlocking factors combined to produce a Chinese victory, and each deserves consideration. The most fundamental was Luo Zhuoying's defensive plan. The decision to trade space for time — to absorb the Japanese advance through three successive defensive lines rather than contest the frontier — required both tactical confidence and a willingness to accept initial setbacks that could easily be misread as defeat. Chinese forces had to give ground, and they did. They had to suffer through the early days of Japanese advance without breaking and running, drawing the enemy forward and allowing the encirclement to take shape. That they largely succeeded in executing this plan reflects the improving quality of the Nationalist Army by 1941: better trained, better led at the operational level, and — critically — equipped with a strategic design that matched the actual balance of forces. The defeat in detail of the Japanese columns was equally important. By neutralizing the 33rd Division in the north before it could contribute to the central effort, and by pinning the 20th Brigade against the Jin River with its back to the water, Luo's forces ensured that the 34th Division faced the third-line defenses essentially alone — outnumbered, overextended, and unsupported. The Japanese operational concept had been a three-pronged convergence; what actually materialized was a single exhausted division hammering at a prepared defense while two other columns were rendered ineffective. The absence of coordination within the Japanese 11th Army was a gift that kept giving throughout the battle. No forward command post. No mechanism for the divisions to adjust their operations in response to each other's situations. No ability to recognize, in real time, that the northern column was being destroyed and redirect resources accordingly. General Marube's decision to remain at Hankou while his men died in Jiangxi was not merely an administrative failure; it was an operational catastrophe. Japanese commanders acknowledged this failing explicitly after the battle, but the acknowledgment changed nothing for the dead. Zhang Yanchuan's unauthorized withdrawal — the single most consequential individual decision of the battle — ultimately prevented a complete annihilation of the 34th Division rather than affecting the battle's outcome. The 34th Division escaped; but it did so in a "wretched state," having lost enormous numbers of men and equipment. It broke out, not triumphed. The encirclement Luo had constructed was torn open, but the Japanese paid dearly for the breach. The consequences of Shanggao rippled outward in ways that shaped the subsequent course of the war in central China. The transfer of the 33rd Division to North China — the original logistical rationale for the entire operation — was delayed by the division's involvement and subsequent losses at Shanggao. When it finally arrived at the Battle of Central Plains  the following month, it did so on the eve of battle with no time for preparation or orientation, entering combat under severely disadvantaged conditions. The operation that was supposed to facilitate a smooth redeployment had instead damaged one of the two units involved and delayed the other. For the Chinese 74th Corps, Shanggao had an ironic consequence. The Japanese 11th Army, following the battle, formally designated the 74th Corps as a priority target — a "standing enemy" and directed its forces to seek out and destroy it in future operations. At the First Battle of Changsha that September, the 11th Army specifically oriented its forces against the 74th Corps, a testament to the lasting impression that corps's fierce resistance at Shanggao had made on its adversaries. The compliment of being specifically targeted by the enemy was one the 74th Corps had earned in blood at Shanggao's ridgelines and shattered bridges. More broadly, the battle was widely regarded at the time, and has been regarded since, as one of the most significant Chinese tactical victories of the first four years of the War of Resistance. Its significance lay not only in the casualties inflicted — those were contested and probably inflated in the Chinese records — but in what it demonstrated. The improving tactical and operational competence of the Nationalist Army was on display. The deliberate defense, the layered withdrawal, the coordinated encirclement — these were not the operations of an army that had been fighting desperately for survival since 1937 and had learned nothing. They were the operations of an army that had studied its defeats and adapted. Shanggao did not change the strategic situation in China. The front in Jiangxi remained where it had been; the Japanese still occupied Nanchang and the major cities; Chiang Kai-shek was still in Chongqing and the war was still far from over. But it demonstrated something important: that the Chinese Army, given capable commanders, a sound plan, and the discipline to execute it, could do more than survive Japanese offensives. It could reverse them, encircle them, and pursue them back to where they came from. 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 March–April 1940, Japanese forces attacked Shanggao with a limited, multi-pronged plan. Chinese troops used elastic defense and coordinated counter-moves, turning initial advantages into a trap. After intense fighting and air strikes, a coordinated encirclement and timely breakout routed the Japanese, forcing retreat despite their numbers in a costly battle.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Lihua's Leap: How a Festival Transformed an Artist Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-06-14-22-34-01-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 在一个春日的傍晚，舞动着光影的富丽堂皇之家迎来了年度灯笼节。En: On a spring evening, a splendid house bustling with shadows welcomed the annual denglong Festival.Zh: 那里的每个人都怀揣着对艺术的热爱，整个空间被五彩斑斓的灯笼和各式各样的艺术作品装点得如梦似幻。En: Everyone there harbored a love for art, and the entire space was adorned with colorful denglong and various works of art, making it feel like a dream.Zh: 这是学年末的庆祝活动，学生们纷纷聚集在这里，分享自己一年的努力和创意。En: This was the end-of-year celebration, and students gathered here to share their year's efforts and creativity.Zh: 在这群人中，丽华显得有些局促不安。En: Among them, Lihua appeared somewhat uneasy.Zh: 她是一个充满创造力的高中生，梦想成为一名画家。En: She was a highly creative high school student dreaming of becoming a painter.Zh: 但内心的自我怀疑总是让她对自己的作品失去信心，她害怕他人的指责和评论。En: However, her inner self-doubt often made her lose confidence in her work, fearing criticism and comments from others.Zh: 丽华的朋友美琳和晶都对她充满了期待。En: Lihua's friends, Meilin and Jing, had great expectations for her.Zh: 她们知道丽华的作品很棒，希望她能在灯笼节上展示出来。En: They knew Lihua's work was excellent and hoped she would display it at the denglong Festival.Zh: 然而，丽华仍犹豫不决，不确定自己是否应该把画作展出。En: However, Lihua was still hesitant, unsure if she should exhibit her paintings.Zh: "丽华，你的画真的很漂亮。相信自己，试着让别人看到你的天赋吧。"美琳温柔地鼓励道。En: "Lihua, your paintings are really beautiful. Believe in yourself, and try to let others see your talent," Meilin gently encouraged her.Zh: "对啊，你的作品一定会受到大家的关注的！"晶也支持着说。En: "Yeah, your work will definitely attract everyone's attention!" added Jing supportively.Zh: 随着夜幕降临，灯笼一个个点亮，给整个场地增添了无尽的色彩和欢快的气氛。En: As night fell, the denglong lit up one by one, adding endless color and a joyful atmosphere to the whole venue.Zh: 看到大家的热情，丽华内心的挣扎愈发激烈。En: Seeing everyone's enthusiasm, Lihua's internal struggle grew more intense.Zh: 她站在自己的画前，心里充满了矛盾。En: She stood in front of her painting, her heart full of contradictions.Zh: 就在这时，一个念头闪过——如果不试试，她永远不知道自己的作品会得到怎样的反馈。En: At that moment, a thought flashed through her mind—if she didn't try, she would never know what kind of feedback her work might receive.Zh: 于是，在一瞬间，她下定决心，把画提交给了节庆的展示。En: So, in an instant, she made up her mind and submitted her painting for display at the festival.Zh: 她的画是一片繁花似锦的春景，象征着新的开始和希望。En: Her painting depicted a spring scene bursting with blooming flowers, symbolizing a new beginning and hope.Zh: 几分钟后，她的画被放在展览的中心位置，引来了不少观众驻足欣赏。En: A few minutes later, her painting was placed at the center of the exhibition, attracting many viewers to stop and appreciate it.Zh: 不少人对丽华的色彩运用和细腻笔触赞不绝口。En: Many praised Lihua's use of color and meticulous brushwork.Zh: 陌生人的称赞和朋友的肯定让丽华脸上绽放出自信的笑容。En: The commendations from strangers and affirmation from friends brought a confident smile to Lihua's face.Zh: "丽华，你看！我就知道大家会喜欢你的画的！"美琳开心地说道。En: "Lihua, see! I knew everyone would love your painting!" Meilin said happily.Zh: "是啊，刚刚那位老爷爷还特别喜欢呢，他说你的画让他想起了小时候的春天。"晶附和着说道。En: "Yeah, even that old gentleman particularly liked it. He said your painting reminded him of spring in his childhood," Jing echoed.Zh: 此时，丽华的心中充满了暖意，她感受到了一种从未有过的自信。En: At this moment, Lihua's heart was filled with warmth, and she felt a newfound confidence she had never experienced before.Zh: 过去的自我怀疑仿佛被这温暖的光芒驱散。En: The past self-doubt seemed to be dispelled by this warm glow.Zh: 她明白，这只是她艺术旅程的起点，而她已经做好准备，勇敢地迈向未来。En: She understood that this was just the starting point of her artistic journey, and she was ready to bravely stride into the future.Zh: 灯笼在夜空中摇曳，映衬着丽华满足和坚定的神情。En: The denglong swayed in the night sky, reflecting Lihua's content and determined expression.Zh: 她知道，从今往后，她会坚定地追逐自己的艺术梦想，毫不畏惧。En: She knew that from now on, she would steadfastly pursue her artistic dreams without fear. Vocabulary Words:splendid: 富丽堂皇bustling: 舞动harbored: 怀揣uneasy: 局促不安inner: 内心self-doubt: 自我怀疑criticism: 指责hesitant: 犹豫不决exhibit: 展出encouraged: 鼓励attract: 吸引enthusiasm: 热情struggle: 挣扎contradictions: 矛盾flash: 闪过depicted: 描绘blooming: 繁花似锦affirmation: 肯定commendations: 赞不绝口content: 满足determined: 坚定pursue: 追逐artistic: 艺术的feedback: 反馈venue: 场地meticulous: 细腻exhibition: 展览viewers: 观众appreciate: 欣赏stride: 迈向

The egg that will ovulate three months from now is starting to mature right now. In this solo episode, Michelle dives into one of the most hopeful conversations in fertility: the 90 day window of egg development. Both ancient wisdom and modern science agree that what you do during this window can directly influence the quality of the egg that eventually releases. Michelle walks you through what's actually happening inside your ovaries during those three months, bridges the modern research on mitochondria with the Chinese medicine concepts of Jing and Blood, and shares the five practical pillars she uses with her patients to support egg quality from the inside out. Whether you're trying to conceive naturally, preparing for IVF, or thinking about your fertility for the future, this episode is a foundational one. You have far more influence over your fertility than you've ever been told, and this episode shows you exactly how to work with your body during the window that matters most. Key Takeaways: • Egg development spans roughly a 90 day window, and the environment of your body during those three months directly shapes the quality of the egg that ovulates. • Eggs are the most mitochondria-rich cells in the body, which is why mitochondrial health is the foundation of egg quality. • The Chinese medicine concepts of Jing (essence) and Blood are describing the same phenomenon modern research calls mitochondrial health and ovarian blood flow. • Pillar 1 — Nourish with real food: prioritize protein, healthy fats, antioxidant-rich vegetables, iron-rich foods, and warming cooked meals. • Pillar 2 — Protect your mitochondria: CoQ10 (ideally Ubiquinol), omega 3s, consistent 7 to 9 hours of sleep, and personalized supplementation under a practitioner's guidance. • Pillar 3 — Support blood flow: acupuncture, gentle movement, abdominal massage (like Mayan or Arvigo), warmth over the lower belly and back, and no ice water around your cycle. • Pillar 4 — Regulate your nervous system: extended exhale breath work, time in nature, reduced screen time, pockets of silence. You cannot out-supplement a dysregulated nervous system. • Pillar 5 — Reduce your toxic load: swap plastic for glass, upgrade skincare and cleaning products, eat organic from the dirty dozen, filter water, and skip handling receipts. • Your body is asking for partnership, not perfection. One day does not make or break an egg; a pattern of loving care over 90 days is what shapes the environment. Disclaimer: The information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your health or fertility care. Fertility Detox (free ebook) https://www.michelleoravitz.com/fertility-detox The Wholesome Fertility Journey (memberships + calls) https://www.michelleoravitz.com/the-wholesome-fertility-journey Ready to discover what your body needs most on your fertility journey? Take the personalized quiz inside The Wholesome Fertility Journey and get tailored resources to meet you exactly where you are:  https://www.michelleoravitz.com/the-wholesome-fertility-journey For more about my work and offerings, visit: www.michelleoravitz.com Curious about ancient wisdom for fertility? Grab my book The Way of Fertility: https://www.michelleoravitz.com/thewayoffertility Join the Wholesome Fertility Facebook Group for free resources & community support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/ Connect with me on social: Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertilityFacebook: The Wholesome Lotus

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Mystery in Yiheyuan: Mei's Secret Dragon Boat Adventure Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-06-02-07-38-19-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 阳光明媚的春天里，颐和园的柳树吐露新绿，湖面上漂浮着五彩缤纷的龙舟。En: In the sunny and beautiful spring, the Yiheyuan's willows are sprouting new green, and colorful dragon boats float on the lake.Zh: 空气中弥漫着粽子的香气，使人感到节日的喜悦。En: The air is filled with the aroma of zongzi, making people feel the joy of the festival.Zh: 梅，一个充满好奇心和冒险精神的年轻女子，正享受着这美好的时光。En: Mei, a young woman full of curiosity and adventurous spirit, is enjoying this wonderful time.Zh: 梅正在沿着长廊漫步，观赏那些古老的壁画。En: Mei is strolling along the long corridor, admiring the ancient murals.Zh: 忽然，她感到包里许有异样。En: Suddenly, she feels something unusual in her bag.Zh: 她一边打开包，一边心里嘀咕：“奇怪，我明明没有放什么重东西。En: As she opens her bag, she mutters to herself, "Strange, I didn't put anything heavy in here."Zh: ”不料，在包底发现了一封奇怪的信。En: Unexpectedly, she discovers a strange letter at the bottom of the bag.Zh: 信上满是古怪的符号和指示，这让梅感到兴奋不已。En: The letter is full of peculiar symbols and instructions, which excites Mei greatly.Zh: 梅知道自己需要帮助解开这个谜，于是她找到了景，一个对古老传说和历史充满兴趣的当地历史学家。En: Knowing she needs help to unravel this mystery, she finds Jing, a local historian with a keen interest in ancient legends and history.Zh: 两人站在长廊的阴影下，研究着信上的内容。En: The two stand in the shadows of the corridor, studying the letter's contents.Zh: “我真的想解开这个谜团，体验一场难以忘怀的冒险，”梅热切地对景说。En: "I really want to solve this mystery and experience an unforgettable adventure," Mei eagerly tells Jing.Zh: 景被梅的决心打动，决定与她共进退。En: Impressed by Mei's determination, Jing decides to join her.Zh: 信上的指引似乎将他们带往宫中一些禁止入内的区域。En: The letter's guidance seems to lead them to some restricted areas of the palace.Zh: 尽管冒险重重，他们还是决定跟随指引，用尽办法避开了园内的保安，逐步揭示谜题。En: Despite the numerous risks, they decide to follow the clues, using every means to avoid the park's security and gradually unlock the mystery.Zh: 最终，他们在一处隐藏的门口停下。En: Eventually, they stop at a hidden doorway.Zh: 梅轻推石门，门后竟是一间被遗忘的密室。En: Mei gently pushes the stone door, revealing a forgotten secret chamber.Zh: 就在他们深入探查时，意外触发了一个隐藏的警报。En: Just as they delve deeper into exploring, they accidentally trigger a hidden alarm.Zh: “快走！En: "Let's go!"Zh: ”景低声催促。En: Jing whispers urgently.Zh: 梅和景迅速逃离现场，心脏砰砰直跳。En: Mei and Jing quickly flee the scene, their hearts pounding.Zh: 幸运的是，景在密室内拍下了一些碑文图片。En: Fortunately, Jing manages to take some photos of the inscriptions in the chamber.Zh: 那天晚上，坐在北京的星空下，梅感到自己发生了变化。En: That night, sitting under the stars in Beijing, Mei feels she has changed.Zh: 她开始意识到，探索历史秘密正是她的热情所在。En: She starts to realize that exploring historical secrets is her true passion.Zh: 而景则计划将那些碑文图片研究到底，也许这样不至于冒险，但仍然能发现新的秘密。En: Meanwhile, Jing plans to study the photos of the inscriptions thoroughly—perhaps not as daring, but still capable of uncovering new secrets.Zh: 这个龙舟节，梅和景不仅参与了一场探险，也找到了新的方向和灵感。En: This Dragon Boat Festival, Mei and Jing not only embarked on an adventure but also found new directions and inspiration.Zh: 他们的友情因这场冒险更加深厚，而颐和园的春天也将永远铭刻在他们的记忆中。En: Their friendship has deepened through this adventure, and the spring in Yiheyuan will be forever etched in their memories. Vocabulary Words:willows: 柳树sprouting: 吐露muttered: 嘀咕peculiar: 古怪symbols: 符号unravel: 解开historian: 历史学家keen: 热切shadows: 阴影impressed: 打动restricted: 禁止入内numerous: 重重clues: 指引security: 保安doorway: 门口chamber: 密室trigger: 触发alarm: 警报flee: 逃离pounding: 砰砰直跳etch: 铭刻murals: 壁画adventurous: 冒险精神unusual: 异样instructions: 指示delve: 深入探查inspiration: 灵感exploring: 探索forgotten: 被遗忘inscriptions: 碑文

In this episode, we sit down with writer and director Jing Ai Ng to discuss her feature directorial debut, Forge. Fresh off its world premiere at SXSW, this stylish crime dramedy dives into the neon-lit underworld of Miami's art scene, exploring the thin line between authenticity and ambition.

This week on BEHIND THE LENS, we turn our attention to the Miami art world and first-time feature director JING AI NG with her film FORGE. I thoroughly enjoyed this film from a story perspective and from a directorial and production perspective. As I've been seeing in quite a few films of late from first-time feature directors, once again, production values are high, but story and character are at the center of it all. On seeing FORGE, I would never believe that this was Jing's first feature directorial effort. And she is the screenwriter, as well! FORGE is written and directed by JING AI NG and stars Kelly Marie Tran, Andie Ju, Brandon Soo Hoo, and Edmund Donovan, among others. Some fabulous artisans showcasing their talents on FORGE, including cinematographer Leo Purman, editor Briana Chmielewski, production designer Arielle Ness-Cohn, and composers Marco Carrion & Ian Chang. BUT I'm not only talking about FORGE today, how about some DUTTON RANCH?? And yes, I did watch the first two episodes four times on Friday, starting at midnight on Paramount+ when it released, and then on linear television at 8pm Friday night on Paramount Network. This is THE series to watch. This is everything you love about "Yellowstone" and more. Fingers crossed for a Season Two announcement sooner rather than later. http://eliasentertainmentnetwork.com

This week on BEHIND THE LENS, we turn our attention to the Miami art world and first-time feature director JING AI NG with her film FORGE. I thoroughly enjoyed this film from a story perspective and from a directorial and production perspective. As I've been seeing in quite a few films of late from first-time feature directors, once again, production values are high, but story and character are at the center of it all. On seeing FORGE, I would never believe that this was Jing's first feature directorial effort. And she is the screenwriter, as well! FORGE is written and directed by JING AI NG and stars Kelly Marie Tran, Andie Ju, Brandon Soo Hoo, and Edmund Donovan, among others. Some fabulous artisans showcasing their talents on FORGE, including cinematographer Leo Purman, editor Briana Chmielewski, production designer Arielle Ness-Cohn, and composers Marco Carrion & Ian Chang. BUT I'm not only talking about FORGE today, how about some DUTTON RANCH?? And yes, I did watch the first two episodes four times on Friday, starting at midnight on Paramount+ when it released, and then on linear television at 8pm Friday night on Paramount Network. This is THE series to watch. This is everything you love about "Yellowstone" and more. Fingers crossed for a Season Two announcement sooner rather than later. http://eliasentertainmentnetwork.com

A GIRL UNKNOWN (2026), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, succeeds on multiple levels: as a work of art about the struggle of life and the potential for rebirth; an eye-opening journey of a young girl trying to find her place in the world; a statement about the policies of China without falling into tired stereotypes; and ultimately, as a phenomenal film that challenges the viewer about how we should think of families, parenthood, and relationships.We talked about all of this for this exceptional episode of the podcast.In this episode, we talk about:how she made such a soulful film, through the prism of an ending that could have gone five different directions;why the topic of a young woman looking for her place in the world appeals to her and how this film builds off her award winning short LILI ALONE (2021);breaking away from the typical tropes of a Chinese filmmaker where one is either viewed as a government plant or a revolutionary;her strategy of bringing this film to Cannes;how she hopes to inspire future generations of female filmmakers.Links:Follow Zou Jing On InstagramWatch LILI ALONE (2021) ScreenDaily's Review Of A GIRL UNKNOWN

「性愛教練」都教些什麼？在台灣，當性愛教練需要哪些必備的知識與技能？在這一集的節目中，小夜訪問了性愛教練兼手天使工作者Jing。對Jing來說，性愛教練不只是份工作，也是社會實踐。由個人的經驗淺談不同文化如何塑造出情慾經驗的多重樣貌和權力關係，並正式歡迎Jing加入Queerology！   本集重點： →　性愛教練除了「做更好的愛」還教些什麼？ →　做「性別研究」學到了什麼？軟知識與技能 →　由工作、日常生活中的情慾關係分析性別、性愛政治與社會架構 →　以情慾實踐作為文化觀察的工具？之後我們想聊些什麼   更多內容相關資訊請參考：https://queerology.net/2026/05/15/q062/ 支持我們：感謝你的收聽。如果你喜歡我們的節目，歡迎你透過以下的方式支持我們。你可以點下訂閱，期待我們下一集的節目；留下五星評價，讓我們知道你的喜歡；也可以將我們的節目分享給更多人知道。如果你願意給我們更多支持，歡迎你透過這裡 https://tinyurl.com/5xsecc9z 請我們喝杯咖啡。

Lisa Nan, Beauty Editor at Jing Daily, joins The Negotiation to break down what's really happening in China's beauty and luxury markets right now. From the rise of C-beauty brands challenging international players to the unexpected virality of Kris Jenner as China's 'money goddess,' Lisa tracks the trends that are reshaping how brands sell in the world's largest beauty market.In this episode, Lisa covers the hottest brands and sub-categories driving growth, the emergence of male beauty and the silver beauty market (50+ consumers), and the decline of mega-anchors in China's livestreaming ecosystem. She explains which domestic and foreign brands are winning, what's replacing the mega-anchor model, and how moments like the Winter Olympics and viral memes reveal deeper shifts in Chinese consumer behavior.Lisa also discusses the current state of China's overall beauty and luxury markets, functional beauty trends like scalp care and science-backed skincare, and the emerging developments international brands should be monitoring closely. Whether you're a brand considering China entry or navigating the market's rapid evolution, this conversation offers actionable insights from one of the industry's sharpest observers. Discussion Points·       Current state of China's beauty market: strengths, weaknesses, and key dynamics shaping 2026·       Overall luxury market health: which brands are cutting stores, which are doubling down, and why·       Hottest domestic C-beauty brands (Proya, Florasis, Winona) and foreign brands succeeding in China·       Fastest-growing sub-categories: scalp care, fragrance, functional beauty, and science-backed products·       Male beauty market expansion: how brands are approaching male consumers differently·       Silver beauty market (50+) finally taking off: who's getting it right and what's driving demand·       Decline of mega-anchors in livestreaming: what happened and what's replacing the mega-anchor model·       Kris Jenner as China's 'money goddess': what viral memes reveal about Gen Z consumer engagement·       Winter Olympics impact: Eileen Gu, Su Yiming, and how brands leverage winter sports moments·       Emerging trends to watch: what's on the radar that international brands might be missing

What happens when a mum of three with zero experience decides she doesn't want to go back to her 9–5?In this episode, Matt Raad sits down with Jing Liu and Matt Jones to break down how they built a six-figure digital agency from scratch, while raising three young kids and transitioning out of corporate life.Jing started the business during maternity leave with no technical skills, while Matt stayed in his accounting role and gradually reduced his hours before making the leap.Together, they've built a location-independent business that gives them income, flexibility, and the ability to prioritize family.Tune in to hear:How to transition out of corporate without taking big risksBuilding a digital agency that becomes a real assetAvoiding the trap of building another jobCreating a family-first lifestyle without sacrificing incomeIf you're looking for a practical, realistic path to leaving corporate and building something of your own… this episode is a must-listen. To see the full-interview, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgGR0QffNY8Want To Learn How To Digital Skills That Can Replace Your Income and Buy Back Your Lifestyle?You don't need tech skills or prior experience, just the right strategy and a proven plan. Learn how 6-figure earners are buying profitable online businesses (the smart and safe way in 2026): https://www.ebusinessinstitute.com.au/dip

Last time we spoke about the battle of West Suiyuan. The Ma Clique, Muslim warlords controlling Northwest China, led by Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin, rebuffed Japanese overtures to ally, citing historical grievances like the 1900 invasion. Driven by patriotism, they aligned with the Nationalists, reorganizing forces into the 17th Army Group. In 1938, Ma Hongbin commanded West Suiyuan defenses, building fortifications in harsh desert and mountain terrain, blending cavalry tactics with modern training despite equipment shortages. In January 1940, Japanese and puppet troops advanced from Baotou, occupying Wuyuan and Linhe. Chinese forces, including Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army and Ma's 81st Army, employed guerrilla and mobile warfare. A major counterattack in March recaptured Wuyuan, killing Lt. Gen. Mizukawa and thousands, forcing Japanese retreat. Through ambushes and night raids, the Chinese recovered territories, securing Soviet aid routes and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region. Over 2,000 Ningxia soldiers perished, their sacrifices underscoring peripheral fronts' role in national resistance.   #200 The battle of Yaoyi 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. After capturing Wuhan, the Japanese army had already stretched itself dangerously thin. Most regular and Class A reserve divisions were committed to the front, yet they failed to annihilate the main Chinese force. Despite losing its core industrial and resource regions, the Nationalist government in Chongqing refused Japan's peace terms. Japan now found itself trapped in the very protracted war it had desperately sought to avoid. The logical Japanese response was to halt major advances, consolidate control over occupied areas, and conduct limited offensives to pressure Chiang Kai-shek into negotiations—essentially repeating the post-Nanjing strategy of late 1937. But the situation had deteriorated sharply: occupied territory had at least doubled, Japanese garrisons were inadequate, and strategic reserves were nearly exhausted. What might have been prudent a year earlier had become plainly unwise by late 1938.   To stabilize the front, Japan reorganized its China Expeditionary Army at the end of 1938. Large numbers of newly raised independent mixed brigades and lower-quality Class B reserve divisions were sent to relieve veteran regular and Class A divisions. The relieved units were either demobilized back to Japan or shifted north to reinforce the Kwantung Army against the Soviet threat.   By early 1940 Japan maintained roughly 24 divisions, 21 independent mixed brigades, and 2 cavalry brigades in China proper (excluding Manchuria), totaling nearly 800,000 ground troops. The enormous scale and expense strained the home economy severely. Even so, the vast occupied zones could not be effectively controlled: divisions often held only a single mobile battalion while dispersing the rest into scattered platoon- and squad-sized outposts. Guerrilla activity by both Nationalist and Communist forces not only persisted but intensified, occasionally clashing with each other in "friction" incidents.   Beyond mere occupation, Japan sought to wear down Chinese strength. With most elite Central Army units held in reserve in the southwest or around Wuhan, Japanese local offensives targeted the Fifth and Ninth War Zones, aiming to methodically destroy Chiang's best troops. Thus, while other Japanese armies focused on garrison relief and brigade substitution, the 11th Army—still holding Wuhan with seven divisions and three brigades—remained the main offensive instrument. In 1939 it captured Nanchang, then mounted major operations against the Fifth War Zone (Suizao Campaign) and Ninth War Zone (First Battle of Changsha). Except for the seizure of Nanchang, however, these offensives inflicted only limited and temporary damage on Chinese forces.   Japan's domestic economy was in even worse shape. In early 1937, it had approved a massive 2.4 billion yen naval and army rebuilding program aimed at countering the United States and Russia, but implementation had barely started when the Sino-Japanese War erupted. The conflict generated enormous war costs while military expansion continued unabated, rapidly draining the Bank of Japan's gold reserves. By the end of 1938, those reserves (valued at just 1.35 billion yen) had shrunk by more than two-thirds. To fund the Battle of Wuhan that year, Japan postponed key elements of the rebuilding plan. After Wuhan fell, the Army revised its wartime reorganization: the original target of forty divisions grew to fifty-five by early 1938, then to sixty-five divisions plus 164 Army Air Force squadrons by 1942. The funding required to equip and stockpile for this expansion escalated steadily; the 1939 expansion budget alone demanded 1.8 billion yen, pushing Japanese finances to the breaking point.   Japan repeatedly sought a way out of China, but its peace terms remained far beyond what Chongqing would accept, leaving negotiations stalled. Efforts to install puppet regimes in North and Central China—culminating in the Wang Jingwei government in 1940—aimed to "use Chinese to control Chinese" and undermine Nationalist influence, yet produced disappointing results.   The 11th Army's 1939 campaigns yielded only mediocre outcomes, hampered by chronic troop shortages. Even its divisions were tied down in occupation duties; mounting a serious offensive required pulling garrison forces, leaving no reserves to hold the line unless new units arrived. Sustained large-scale operations to seriously weaken Chinese strength demanded a major troop increase—otherwise, Japan was limited to shallow, localized attacks. Lt. Gen. Yasuji Okamura, commanding the 11th Army, recognized this clearly. In a December 1939 report, he argued that diplomacy and small offensives were futile and urged a large-scale operation backed by substantial reinforcements. His superiors, however, were preoccupied with funding the broader military buildup and could offer no extra men. The post-Wuhan "defensiveization" of operations was largely a cost-saving measure to support that expansion. Japanese ground strength in China, which peaked near 850,000 after Wuhan, had already dropped by about 50,000. Full-strength regular or Class A divisions numbered roughly 22,000 men (four regiments), while newer garrison divisions had only about 15,000 (three regiments), and independent mixed brigades just 6,000. Okamura's proposal was sensible but politically impossible; high command was even contemplating slashing China troop levels to 400,000.   The Chinese Winter Offensive of December 1939, together with counterattacks at Nanning and Kunlun Pass, inflicted serious losses and exposed the limited damage done to Chinese forces in 1939 operations. The recapture of Wuyuan in March 1940 signaled the start of a new phase. Shortly afterward, intensified Chinese guerrilla raids deep into Japanese rear areas prompted large Japanese "mop-up" operations in southern Shanxi, central Hubei, southern Jiangxi, and northern Hunan. In the Wuhan sector, repeated blows from the Winter Offensive heightened fears of Chinese forces in the Dahong and Tongbai Mountains, which threatened control over the vital Jianghan Plains rice-producing region. In mid-April 1940, the Japanese abandoned outposts at Macheng (eastern Hubei), Fengxin, and Jing'an (northern Jiangxi), withdrew elements of the 6th Division (northern Hunan), 40th Division (northern Jiangxi), and the 3rd, 13th, and 39th Divisions (Hubei), and concentrated them around Zhongxiang, Suixian, and Xinyang for a maximum-effort push.   These setbacks finally forced Tokyo to abandon deep troop reductions in China and approve reinforcements of two regular divisions for a major 1940 offensive. The revised end-1940 target became 740,000 troops in China. In spring 1940, the 11th Army—backed fully by Imperial General Headquarters and the China Expeditionary Army—began detailed preparations for a large-scale assault on China's Fifth War Zone.   On February 25, 1940, the 11th Army issued its "Guiding Strategy for the Campaign." The operational goal was to defeat the main force of China's Fifth War Zone along both banks of the Han River before the rainy season, inflict further heavy losses on Chiang Kai-shek's army through decisive victory, and thereby advance Japan's overall political and strategic position vis-à-vis China. The guiding principle called for the quickest possible preparations, with the offensive to begin around early May: first destroy Chinese forces on the left (east) bank south of the Baihe River, then completely annihilate the core units on the right (west) bank near Yichang. On April 7, under the new commander Lt. Gen. Sonobe Kazuo (who replaced Okamura Yasuji), the 11th Army produced a more detailed plan. On April 10, Imperial General Headquarters Order No. 426 ("Continental Order") authorized the China Expeditionary Army to conduct operations in central and southern China during May–June, even beyond established boundaries, to fulfill current objectives.   Japanese planners viewed the Fifth War Zone—roughly 50 divisions encircling Wuhan—with its main strength concentrated along the Han (Xiang) River in northwestern Hubei. Striking Yichang would deliver a severe blow to the zone. As the gateway to Sichuan, only 480 km from Chongqing, Yichang held immense strategic value: an inland port, Three Gorges logistics hub, and key base for air raids on Chongqing. Capturing it would directly threaten the Nationalist wartime capital and southwestern rear, advancing political leverage. Still, long-term occupation was not pre-decided; initial plans stressed inflicting maximum damage followed by withdrawal, in line with the post-Wuhan policy of avoiding permanent overextension. China, aware that holding the Jianghan Plain's rice-producing areas enabled sustained attrition against Japan, deployed guerrilla units to harass Japanese rear areas (increasing occupier losses) while tasking the River Defense Force to hold key front-line points: Jingmen, Shashi, and Yichang.   To achieve these aims, the 11th Army committed as much as possible of its seven divisions and four brigades (88 battalions total). Core units included the 3rd Division (Maj. Gen. Yamakoshi Masataka; regiments 6, 18, 34, 68), 13th Division (Maj. Gen. Tanaka Shioichi; 58, 65, 104, 116), 39th Division (Maj. Gen. Murakami Keisaku; 231–233), elements of the 40th Division, detachments from the 33rd and 34th Divisions, and others. Reinforcements comprised the Ikeda Detachment (three battalions from 6th Division), Ishimoto Detachment (four–five from 40th), Ogawa Detachment (two from 34th), and Provisional Mixed Brigade 101. Supporting assets included the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, 7th and 13th Tank Regiments, 3rd Air Group, Navy 1st China Dispatch Fleet, and 2nd Combined Air Team. The China Expeditionary Army transferred seven battalions from the 15th and 22nd Divisions (13th Army, lower Yangtze). The main effort north of the river involved roughly 48–54 battalions, or 80,000–110,000 men, making the Zaoyi (Zaoyang–Yichang) Campaign the largest Japanese operation on the central front since Wuhan. Sonobe's staff structured the offensive in two phases. Phase One targeted the Fifth War Zone's main force around Zaoyang (east of the Han River) through converging pincer movements: right flank from Xinyang (reinforced 3rd Division), left flank from Zhongxiang (reinforced 13th Division), and central thrust by the reinforced 39th Division from Suixian. The plan exploited terrain—Dahong and Tongbai Mountains—for encirclement. After seizing Minggang (right flank) and advancing from Zhongxiang (left), the pincers would close on Zaoyang, with the center (along the Xianghua Highway from Suixian) drawing Chinese forces into the trap for envelopment. Diversionary attacks south of the Yangtze, propaganda hinting at limited scope, and planted false orders helped mask intentions. Japanese radio intelligence—intercepts and direction-finding of Chinese headquarters signals—provided critical advantages, especially in later stages.   By March 1940, Chinese intelligence had already detected the 11th Army's intent to mount a major offensive from Xinyang and Wuhan into northwestern Hubei. On April 10, Chiang Kai-shek telegraphed Li Zongren and other Fifth War Zone commanders, urging immediate preparations for a preemptive strike against any push toward Shapingba and Yichang. He emphasized proactive flanking attacks on Japanese rear areas via Wusheng Pass and threats to the Pinghan Railway, while keeping main forces east of the Han River for decisive engagement once the enemy committed.   Following Military Commission directives, the Fifth War Zone devised a plan that used part of its strength for forward advances and deep raids into Japanese rear areas to harass and divert. The bulk of forces would hold the rear, seizing chances for preemptive strikes and a decisive battle east of Zaoyang or south of Jingmen–Dangyang. Deployments included: the 33rd Army Group garrisoning the Xiang River; in the center, the 45th Corps (22nd Army Group) west of Luoyangdian–Suixian and the 84th Corps (11th Army Group) north of Suixian–south of Gaocheng; in southern Henan, the 30th Corps east of Tongbai and the 68th Corps north of Pingchangguan–Minggang; the 41st Corps in reserve near Xiangyang; the 29th Army Group (with part garrisoning north of Tongqiao Zhen–Sanyangtien) concentrated in the Dahong Mountains; and the 31st Army Group positioned between Queshan and Ye Hsien as the mobile force to strike invaders. River Defense Army commander Guo Chan controlled the 26th, 75th, and 94th Armies, the 128th Division, and the 6th and 7th Guerrilla Columns. Total Chinese strength approximated 350,000–380,000 men across roughly 50–54 divisions. To mask preparations and mislead, the Japanese conducted a late-April "mop-up" near Jiujiang, staged naval feints on Poyang and Dongting Lakes, and bombed key points in Hunan and Jiangxi, simulating an imminent Ninth War Zone operation.   With forces assembled, the Japanese offensive began May 1, 1940, from Xinyang, Suixian, and Zhongxiang. The advance split into five routes: (1) Changtaiguan–Minggang–Biyang–Tanghe; (2) Xinyang–Tongbai; (3) Suixian–Zaoyang; (4) Suixian–Wujiadien; (5) Zhongxiang–Shuangkou. Employing flanking with central breakthrough, the reinforced 3rd Division (right flank, including Ishimoto Detachment from 40th Division with tanks and engineers) spearheaded from Xinyang toward Biyang, breaching the Chinese Second Army front on day one. By May 1, elements of the 3rd and 40th Divisions captured Minggang, Lion's Bridge, and Xiaolintien; on May 5 they took Biyang and Tongbai. The Chinese 31st Army Group (northeast of Biyang) linked with the 68th and 92nd Corps to hit Japanese flanks and rear. Leaving some forces west of Tongbai to press the enemy, the main 30th Corps struck Japanese flanks. After seizing Tanghe on May 7, the Japanese pushed south toward Zaoyang. On May 8–9, the 31st Army Group retook Tanghe and Xinye, pursuing vigorously. On May 8, the Japanese left flank (13th Division) attacked from Zhongxiang, breaking through the 33rd Army front the same day.   On May 3, the Japanese 13th Division—supported by over 20 tanks, 40 aircraft, artillery, and cavalry—advanced north from Zhongxiang, capturing Changshoudian and Tianjiachi. It seized Fengyao and Changjiachi by May 6. Chinese 33rd Army Group forces used favorable terrain to intercept, while the 29th Army Group struck Japanese flanks and rear at Changjiachi and Wangjiadian, and the 41st Corps fought tenaciously to halt the advance. By May 7, Japanese spearheads reached Changjiachi on the Zaoyang–Xiangyang Highway, with elements entering Shuangkou; their rear cavalry took Xinye on May 8. Fifth War Zone commander Zhang Zizhong personally led attacks along Tianjiachi–Huanglongtang, supported by fierce 29th Army Group assaults on Japanese rear.   The Japanese 39th Division and a 6th Division brigade delayed their assault on the Chinese 11th Army Group until May 4 from Suixian. After overrunning Gaocheng and Anchu on May 5, Chinese forces withdrew to Huantan–Tang Hsien–north of Gaocheng. As the 33rd Army Group faltered, part of the 11th Army Group reinforced it; the 175th Division held at Tang Hsien while the main body fell back toward Zaoyang. During the maneuver, Japanese tanks enveloped at Tang Hsien, cutting the Zaoyang–Xiangyang Highway and forcing bitter fighting by the 174th Division. To break out, Chinese abandoned Zaoyang, using the 173rd Division for rearguard resistance while the bulk shifted west of the Tang and Bai Rivers. Japanese captured Suiyangdian and Wujiadien on May 7, Zaoyang on May 8; the 173rd Division suffered heavy losses, including the death of its commander, Gen. Zhong Yi.   On May 10, Japanese completed an encirclement east of Xiangdong along the Tang and Bai Rivers—but it collapsed as Chinese exterior forces outflanked both Japanese wings and compressed the center, trapping much of the Japanese in the Xiangdong Plains. The Chinese 2nd and 31st Army Groups plus 92nd Corps pressed south, 39th and 75th Corps east, and 33rd and 29th Army Groups north against the pocket. The 94th Corps advanced along the Han–Yichang Highway deep into Jingshan, Zaoshi, Yingcheng, and Yunmeng to sever Japanese rear communications. Meanwhile, the 7th Corps and eastern Hubei guerrillas seized Jigong Shan, Lijiachai, and Liulin station on the Beijing–Hankou Railway. The 92nd and 68th Corps retook Zaoyang, Tongbai, and Minggang, encircling four Japanese divisions in the Xiangdong Plains. By May 11, battered Japanese retreated eastward under pursuit, Chinese flanking and rear attacks leaving many dead on the field. The 31st Army Group recovered Zaoyang on May 16. Chinese reports claimed 45,000 Japanese casualties, plus capture of over 60 guns, 2,000+ horses, 70+ tanks, and 400+ trucks. The 33rd Army Group fought fiercely to intercept retreating columns, driving large Japanese remnants toward Nanguadian.   Tragically, on May 16 noon, Gen. Zhang Zizhong—personally commanding his Guard Battalion and main 74th Division—was killed in action. With pressure eased on the Japanese left, they counterattacked and retook Zaoyang on May 17. Chinese forces withdrew to Xinye on the Tangbai River's west bank and north of the Tang River, regrouping for a renewed counteroffensive.   The Military Commission anticipated a Japanese withdrawal to original lines, likely along the rain-impassable Xianghua Road. Exploiting the enemy's supply shortages, exhaustion, and retreat difficulties, it ordered Fifth War Zone units to encircle and annihilate Japanese forces near the battlefield, then pursue toward Yingcheng–Huayuan. The zone promptly launched a counteroffensive. By nightfall on May 8, Japanese pincers neared junction, having inflicted serious damage on the Chinese 84th Army but achieved little else. Nonetheless, the 11th Army ordered frontline divisions to withdraw to the Tanghe–Baihe line after reaching it, preparatory to encircling Chinese forces west of the Han River. Chongqing issued general offensive orders at 8 PM and 11 PM that night. By then, six divisions of the 31st Army Group advanced south from Nanyang in the north, five from the 33rd Army Group pressed from the south, and five from the 45th and 94th Armies pursued in the southeast—nearly completing the Japanese encirclement. Intense combat erupted.   On May 10, retreating Japanese first clashed with the advancing 33rd Army Group from the south. Seizing the moment, they ordered the 13th and 39th Divisions plus Ikeda Detachment south to smash it, with the 3rd Division covering the northern flank. Full-scale battle broke out on May 12: two Japanese divisions assaulted five Chinese divisions of the 33rd Army Group, plunging them into desperate fighting. Japanese radio intercepts—including telegrams between the Military Commission and Fifth War Zone, plus Zhang Zizhong's report to Chiang on his five divisions' movements—revealed exact positions and plans. Sonobe Kazuo concentrated the 13th and 39th Divisions to strike south along the Han's east bank against Zhang's army group, while ordering the 3rd Division (south of Xinye) back to Zaoyang to guard the rear. Direction-finding had long pinpointed the 33rd Army Group headquarters radio (call signs and bearings) about 10 km northeast of Yicheng. With air support, the Japanese encircled it. On the night of May 15, the 39th Division advanced from Fangjiaji and Nanying toward Nanguadian, completing tactical encirclement by dawn on May 16. Artillery-supported four-sided assaults followed. The defending 74th Division resisted fiercely with repeated counterattacks. Fighting raged into the afternoon, with the Special Service Battalion joining. Japanese attackers swelled to over 5,000, backed by concentrated artillery and 20+ aircraft for a final push. Zhang Zizhong, wounded multiple times, continued commanding calmly until a severe chest wound killed him heroically. The exhausted, isolated 74th Division and battalion suffered devastating losses. That day, the 13th Division also routed the main 33rd Army Group force, breaking the southern encirclement. Japanese then redeployed, concentrating around Zaoyang.   In the north, 17 divisions (including six from the 31st Army Group) attacked the isolated Japanese 3rd Division from east, south, and north, severing its supply lines. With limited ammunition and no resupply, the division faced crisis; its 29th Brigade telegram pleaded: "Enemy fighting spirit extremely high... safe return very difficult; request battalion reinforcements." Yet southern Chinese forces remained undestroyed amid chaos. Japanese choices narrowed to independent 3rd Division retreat or holding for relief. They opted to lure pursuers: ordering the division southeast toward Zaoyang to draw Chinese into pursuit. From May 16–18, the 3rd Division fought a delaying retreat; relentless Chinese pursuit inflicted limited damage due to insufficient firepower, allowing escape. By evening May 18, it reached northeast of Zaoyang and prepared offensives. The 13th and 39th Divisions, after defeating the 33rd Army Group, also advanced north to the Zaoyang line.   The 3rd Division's retreat shortened Japanese lines and hastened convergence. Unsuspecting Chinese pursued to Zaoyang. After a successful counterattack northeast of Yicheng, the 13th and 39th Divisions rejoined the 3rd Division there. On May 19 morning, three Japanese divisions attacked abreast, forcing decisive battle along the Tang River. Chinese divisions collapsed within hours; the 75th Army took heavy losses, others significant casualties. Fifth War Zone ordered hasty retreat. Japanese pursued vigorously. By May 21, the 3rd Division reached Dengxian, 13th east of Laohekou, 39th Fancheng. Early that day, the 39th Division—crossing the Baihe—met fierce west-bank fire, losing Regiment Commander Kanzaki Tetsujiro and over 300 men. That evening, the 11th Army halted pursuit, ending east-bank (Xiang River) fighting. The 20+ day operation east of the Han inflicted heavy Japanese losses, far exceeding the planned duration, leaving troops exhausted. After halting, units withdrew to Zaoyang vicinity for rest and reorganization rather than immediate return to base positions. Commanders debated proceeding to Yichang west of the Han: abandoning the plan would signal Phase One failure, eroding authority and imperial trust. Most argued troop fatigue and casualties should not deter continuation. Over 1,000 tons of supplies rushed forward via six motor companies. Following east-bank termination, Japanese consolidated for the next phase targeting Yichang. Reinforcements arrived: the 4th Division from Manchuria and 18th Independent Brigade from Wuning. The 4th Division assumed Shayang–Zhongxiang positions east of the Xiang River.   The Japanese bombarded the west bank of the Han River for ninety minutes before forcing a crossing at Wangji north of Yicheng. That midnight, the 3rd Division also crossed southeast of Xiangyang. Both met little resistance and completed crossings before dawn. The 11th Army left the 40th Division at Dahongshan for rear-area mopping-up and assigned the Xiaochuan and Cangqiao Detachments to guard mobile supply depots. On May 31 night, the 3rd and 39th Divisions crossed the Xiang River at Yicheng and Oujiamiao. After seizing Xiangyang on June 1 night, the main force split into columns crossing westward. By June 3, Japanese captured Nanzhang and Yicheng. The Chinese 41st Corps fiercely counterattacked, retaking part of Xiangyang while its main body battled around Nanzhang; the 77th Corps also struck hard. On June 4, Chinese recovered Nanzhang, forcing Japanese retreat southward. Meanwhile, the 13th Division and elements of the 6th Division forced a crossing on the Han–Yichang Highway near Jiukou and Shayang to link with southern columns for a joint push. The Chinese River Defense Force shifted its main strength to key positions, using terrain to block southward advances. The 2nd and 31st Army Groups pursued south separately. Chinese abandoned Shayang on June 5; Japanese took Jingmen, Shilipu, and Shihujiao on June 6. The 77th Corps and river defense units resisted stubbornly from Jingmen to Jiangling. After retaking Yicheng, the 2nd Army Group continued pursuit. Japanese concentrated around Jingmen–Shilipu as Jiangling fell.   On June 9 morning, Japanese launched joint air-ground assaults from Dongshi to Dangyang and Yuanan. By afternoon, penetrating the Chinese right flank forced a night withdrawal to Gulaobei–Shuanlianshi–Dangyang along the Zu River to Yuanan. June 10 saw Japanese capture Gulaobei and Dangyang, pushing Chinese to Yichang outskirts. After days of heavy fighting and prohibitive losses, Chinese abandoned Yichang on their own initiative. The 2nd and 31st Army Groups then reached Dangyang north of Jingmen. On June 16, they mounted a general offensive. By June 17, Chinese briefly retook Yichang; the 2nd Army Group linked with the 77th Corps against Dangyang, while the 31st Army Group severed Dangyang–Jingmen communications and assaulted Jingmen violently. South of the Yangtze, the 5th and 32nd Divisions crossed to hit Shayang and Shilipu. By June 18, Japanese main force held stubbornly from Dangyang to the Xiang River with superior equipment. Chinese, fighting on exterior lines, formed an encirclement from Jiangling–Yichang–Dangyang–Zhongxiang–Suixian–north of Xinyang while maintaining surveillance. Thus, the Zaoyi (Zaoyang–Yichang) Campaign ended. No prior decision existed on holding Yichang long-term. Per post-Wuhan Imperial General Headquarters policy, even extended operations aimed only to inflict severe blows and erode Chinese resistance, not expand occupation. On capture day, the 11th Army declared objectives achieved, ordering reorganization, destruction of Yichang military facilities, and dumping irremovable captured supplies into the Yangtze preparatory to withdrawal. At 10 PM June 15, formal orders withdrew to the Han's east bank: 3rd and 39th Divisions first to Dangyang–Jingmen to cover, then the 13th Division. The 13th began retreating from Yichang at midnight June 16, reaching Tumenya (10 km east) by 7 AM June 17. Chinese counterattacked along the route; the 18th Army pursued and retook Yichang morning of June 17. Japanese held Yichang only four days.   Intense debate erupted between frontline commanders and Imperial General Headquarters over retaining Yichang. With Nazi Germany's Western Europe offensive underway—Paris fell June 12, the day Yichang was taken—global upheaval intensified Japanese urgency to resolve China swiftly and free resources for wider competition. Many in high command and China Expeditionary Army argued long-term occupation would threaten Chongqing more directly, aid political maneuvers, and hasten settlement, offering immense strategic value. This swayed the Emperor, who inquired at the June 15 Imperial Conference about securing it. Backed by imperial support, high command ordered temporary retention (one month) on June 16. By transmission through Expeditionary Army and 11th Army channels, the rearguard 13th Division had withdrawn 52 km. With 3rd Division cooperation, it reversed, broke Chinese resistance, and retook Yichang afternoon June 17. On July 1, to offset expanded 11th Army responsibilities, General Headquarters transferred the 4th Division from Kwantung Army (Jiamusi, Heilongjiang) to 11th Army control. July 13 orders confirmed long-term Yichang retention, redefining Wuhan-region operations to Anqing–Xinyang–Yichang–Yueyang–Nanchang. The 11th Army assigned: 13th Division to Yichang, 4th Division to Anlu, 18th Independent Mixed Brigade east/west of Dangyang; remaining units returned to original defenses.   Post-recapture, Chinese continued counterattacks on Yichang and rear lines until ordered to halt: "To adapt to international changes, preserve National Army combat strength, and facilitate reorganization, Fifth War Zone cease attacks on Yichang immediately." A stalemate followed along lines encircling Yichang, Dangyang, Jiangling, Jingmen, Zhongxiang, Suixian, and Xinyang. To shield Chongqing and Sichuan, Nationalists re-established the Sixth War Zone (briefly created post-First Changsha, abolished April 1940), appointing Chen Cheng commander-in-chief with 33rd and 29th Army Groups, River Defense Army, and 18th Army covering western Hubei, western Hunan, eastern Sichuan. The Zaoyi campaign thus concluded. Japanese combat power again proved markedly superior. Official Japanese records (11th Army/China Expeditionary Army) reported 2,700 killed, ~7,800 wounded (total ~10,500; some phases ~1,403 killed/4,639 wounded). Chinese admitted heavy losses: 36,983 killed, 50,509 wounded, 23,000 missing (total >110,000 in some accounts). Wartime Nationalist claims inflated Japanese casualties to 45,000 killed/wounded with major captures (60+ guns, 70+ tanks, 400+ trucks), likely propagandistic; Japanese sources show far lower equipment losses. With 56 battalions deployed, Japanese suffered 12–15% combat casualties; Chinese (54 divisions, ~380,000 men) incurred 25–30% or higher—underscoring firepower/equipment disparity. Japan achieved tactical success by securing Yichang long-term (as a Chongqing bombing base) but failed to annihilate the main Chinese force or compel peace. Chinese resistance thwarted full encirclement and imposed attrition, albeit at crippling cost to the Fifth War Zone—severely weakened and never fully recovering until war's end. Japanese aims were realized to a significant, though not decisive, degree.   The Fifth War Zone's operational plan was fundamentally sound. Chinese intelligence detected Japanese intentions early, accurately predicted the attack axis, and deployed accordingly. The plan included preemptive strikes at Wusheng Pass and the Guangshui section of the Pinghan Railway to harass Japanese rear areas, threaten Wuhan, gather reconnaissance, and disrupt enemy preparations. Though well conceived, these actions never materialized. In the first phase (Xiangdong operations), Chinese forces resisted while shifting the main body to outer lines, securing mobile flanking positions. This frustrated Japanese encirclement efforts in the Xiangdong Plains. Exploiting the enemy's retreat, China launched a timely counteroffensive that encircled the Japanese 3rd Division. Despite breakout support from over 100 aircraft and 200 tanks, the poorly equipped Chinese inflicted heavy casualties during the three-day siege, blunting the division's momentum.    On the southern front, the 33rd Army Group's intercepting deployment was appropriate, but insufficient strength and compromised communications allowed the Japanese 13th and 39th Divisions to counterattack decisively, inflicting major losses and claiming the heroic death of Commander-in-Chief Zhang Zizhong—whose steadfast patriotism remains a lasting source of national pride. Overall, Chinese assessments and deployments in Phase One were largely correct. The battlefield showed China retained initiative and was not wholly dominated by Japanese plans. The core issue was overestimation of Chinese combat power amid severe shortages of heavy weapons. At least three corps suffered heavy attrition, yet Japanese captured only twenty-three mountain/field guns. Relying on manpower for brute force left Chinese units critically undergunned, enabling repeated encirclement attempts but preventing decisive destruction or severe damage to encircled enemies like the 3rd Division.   Phase Two, by contrast, was entirely passive. The initial Japanese Han River crossings were largely feints, yet the west bank received scant attention in overall planning—leaving Yichang virtually undefended as main forces deployed east of the river. Post-Phase One, Japan reinforced the 11th Army with three infantry battalions and one mountain artillery battalion from the 13th Army (lower Yangtze), plus six motor transport companies rushing massive supplies forward. Chinese intelligence missed these moves, remaining complacent in expectation of Japanese withdrawal eastward. After regrouping, Japan abruptly pivoted west with rapid advances. The Military Commission and Fifth War Zone, caught unprepared, made frantic, chaotic adjustments that failed to mount effective defense. The loss of strategically vital Yichang was inevitable, complicating the resistance both militarily and psychologically. This stemmed directly from command misjudgment of Japanese strategic and operational aims. Had plans anticipated a westward thrust and retained strong reserves—or detected the 10-day regrouping window to readjust deployments—China could have retained greater initiative, inflicted more damage, and reduced its own losses.   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. Japan's 11th Army launched an offensive in Hubei to encircle Chinese forces in the Fifth War Zone and seize Yichang for bombing Chongqing. Chinese troops countered effectively, encircling Japanese divisions and inflicting heavy losses, though General Zhang Zizhong was killed in action. After intense fighting east of the Han River, Japanese crossed west, captured Yichang, briefly withdrew, then retook and held it long-term. 

Ang oras na ginugugol mo sa pagsama sa iyong mga magulang ay isang regalo na hindi kailan man mabibili kahit saan. Pakinggan ang kwento ni Jing sa Barangay Love Stories.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Finding Clarity Among Dragon Terraces: Jing's Journey Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-04-22-22-34-02-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 在广西龙胜的梯田，春天的阳光洒在大地上，梯田像一条条长长的龙，顺着山势蜿蜒而下。En: In the terraced fields of Guangxi Longsheng, the spring sunshine spills over the land, and the terraces resemble long dragons winding their way down the mountain slopes.Zh: 水已经开始注入田间，微风轻拂，水面反射出天的蔚蓝，稻苗开始探出嫩绿的芽。En: Water has already started to flow in the fields; a gentle breeze caresses, and the water's surface reflects the azure blue of the sky as rice seedlings begin to sprout tender green shoots.Zh: 今天是清明节，景和他的朋友梅站在田边。En: Today is the Qingming Festival, and Jing and his friend Mei stand by the fields.Zh: 他们来这里是因为景希望在这里找到内心的宁静，也为了在墓前敬拜自己的祖先。En: They came here because Jing hopes to find inner peace and to worship his ancestors at their graves.Zh: 景是一个常常沉思的人，他的朋友梅则很实际，愿意陪伴在景的左右。En: Jing is someone who often reflects deeply, while his friend Mei is more practical, willing to accompany Jing.Zh: 他们跟随一位当地的向导雷，他对这个地方了如指掌。En: They follow a local guide, Lei, who knows this place inside out.Zh: 雷充满热情，讲述着这片土地的历史和传统。En: Lei is full of enthusiasm, narrating the history and traditions of this land.Zh: 他们踏上小路，混杂着泥土和植物的气息，耳边是鸟鸣和溪水的轻声絮语。En: They embark on a path filled with the scents of soil and plants, with birdsong and the gentle whisper of streams in their ears.Zh: 平时，景总是很认真，但今天，他心中充满了疑惑和不安。En: Usually, Jing is very serious, but today, his heart is full of doubt and unease.Zh: 他努力观察着周围的美景，然而他的内心仍然动荡不安。En: He tries hard to observe the surrounding beauty, but his mind is still tumultuous and restless.Zh: 关于未来、家庭，以及自己的职责，这些思绪交织在一起，让他无法平静。En: Thoughts about the future, family, and his duties weave together, leaving him unable to find calm.Zh: 走着走着，景决定带着梅和雷走上一条鲜有人走的路。En: As they walk, Jing decides to take Mei and Lei on a rarely traveled path.Zh: 路的尽头是一片古老的墓地，让景可以在这片静谧之中，独自沉思。En: At the end of the path lies an ancient cemetery, allowing Jing to contemplate alone in this tranquility.Zh: 他想在那里找到自己的方向，与过去和解。En: He hopes to find his direction there and reconcile with the past.Zh: 终于，他们来到了一座古墓。En: Finally, they arrive at an old tomb.Zh: 名字清晰地刻在石碑上，那是他所未曾见过的祖先的名字。En: Names are clearly carved on the tombstone, names of ancestors Jing has never seen.Zh: 景站在那儿，被这些名字深深打动，感受到一种从未有过的连接感。En: He stands there, deeply moved by these names, feeling a connection he's never experienced before.Zh: 他意识到，他与这些先辈有一种血脉相连的力量，这让他感到意外的坚定。En: He realizes that he shares a bond of blood with these ancestors, which unexpectedly gives him a sense of strength.Zh: 太阳渐渐西沉，橙色的光辉洒满整片山谷。景默默地站在墓前，梅和雷在他旁边，三人一同沉浸在这片宁静之中。En: As the sun gradually sets, casting orange light across the entire valley, Jing silently stands in front of the tomb, with Mei and Lei beside him, all three immersed in the tranquility.Zh: 他明白了，尽管生活有时复杂艰难，他并不孤单。En: He understands now that, although life is sometimes complex and difficult, he is not alone.Zh: 先辈留给他的力量将引领他前行。En: The strength left by his ancestors will guide him forward.Zh: 景有了一种新的平和感。En: Jing finds a new sense of peace.Zh: 他感到了焕然一新的决心，仿佛内心的迷雾已被驱散，带着这样的清晰和勇气，他准备面对未来的挑战。En: He feels renewed determination, as if the fog in his heart has been dispelled, and with this clarity and courage, he is ready to face future challenges.Zh: 当最后一缕阳光消失在地平线，景和他的朋友们一同离开，心中满载着力量与宁静。En: As the last ray of sunlight disappears from the horizon, Jing and his friends leave together, their hearts filled with strength and tranquility.Zh: 梯田在晚风中轻轻摇曳，仿佛在低语着古老的秘密。En: The terraces sway gently in the evening breeze, as if whispering ancient secrets.Zh: 现如今，景明白了自己生活的意义，并与遗留给他的传统深深相连。En: Now, Jing understands the meaning of his life and is deeply connected to the traditions left for him. Vocabulary Words:terraced: 梯田breeze: 微风caresses: 轻拂azure: 蔚蓝seedlings: 稻苗sprout: 探出tender: 嫩graves: 墓前worship: 敬拜reflects: 沉思practical: 实际guide: 向导enthusiasm: 热情embark: 踏上scents: 气息tumultuous: 动荡不安restless: 不安doubt: 疑惑unease: 不安reconcile: 和解carved: 刻tombstone: 石碑connection: 连接感bond: 血脉相连tranquility: 宁静valley: 山谷reassure: 坚定determination: 决心dispelled: 驱散clarity: 清晰

【團購時間✨萬萬兩水餃x偷聽史多利】即日起~4/30專屬賣場連結

Were they flops – or just ahead of their time? In this episode, the hosts dig into one of the food and beverage industry's most intriguing debates: whether discontinued products failed because they were poorly conceived, or because the market simply wasn't ready. From drinkable soups and early functional shots to better-for-you snacks and non-alcoholic cocktail concepts, they revisit ideas that may have been too forward-thinking for their moment.  The conversation expands into how today's shifting trends, like functional ingredients and alcohol-free innovation, could give these once-shelved products a second chance at success, where timing, not taste, may have been the real barrier. Show notes: 0:20: A Week Away. Real Chocolate Debate. Never Had A Shot/Ahead Of Its Time. Chips & I.V. – Ray gives a final call to register for Taste Radio's NYC meetup. Melissa highlights The Hershey Company's plan to return all Reese's and Hershey's products to classic milk and dark chocolate recipes by 2027, sparking a discussion about whether a shift back to "real" ingredients could reshape consumer expectations and premium chocolate demand. The hosts then explore discontinued products, debating whether they failed due to poor execution or were simply ahead of their time, including drinkable soup, better-for-you fruit snacks, non-alcoholic cocktails, and functional shots. They wrap with notable new products, including refreshed pita chip branding, a non-alcoholic "brew," and a quirky collaboration between Grillo's Pickles and Liquid I.V. Brands in this episode: Hershey, Reese's, Culture Pop, Feastables, Nantucket Nectars, Terranean, Just Ice Tea, Honest Tea, Poland Spring, Liquid IV, Grillo's, Fly By Jing, Fishwife, Justin's, Butterfinger, Tony's Chocolonely, Eat the Change, Welch's, Proposition Cocktail Company, Taki Mai, Spacho, Ahhmigo, Karma, Activate, Mello, Coca-Cola, GoodBelly, Cheribundi, Rhinestone, Poland Spring, Daily Crunch, Fly by Jing, Fishwife, Evergreen, V8, Superfoodio