Podcasts about Kashgar

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2025 46:04

This episode we will finish up the travels of Xuanzang, who circumnavigated the Indian subcontinent while he was there, spending over a decade and a half travelings, visiting important Buddhist pilgrimage sites, and studying at the feet of learned monks of India, and in particular at Nalanda monastery--a true center of learning from this period. For more, check out our blogpost page: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-122 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua and this is episode 122: Journey to the West, Part 3 The courtyard at Nalanda was quiet. Although hundreds of people were crowded in, trying to hear what was being said, they were all doing their best to be silent and still. Only the wind or an errant bird dared speak up. The master's voice may not have been what it once was—he was definitely getting on in years—but Silabhadra's mind was as sharp as ever. At the front of the crowd was a relatively young face from a far off land. Xuanzang had made it to the greatest center of learning in the world, and he had been accepted as a student of perhaps the greatest sage of his era. Here he was, receiving lessons on some of the deepest teachings of the Mahayana Buddhist sect, the very thing he had come to learn and bring home. As he watched and listened with rapt attention, the ancient teacher began to speak…. For the last two episodes, and continuing with this one, we have been covering the travels of the monk Xuanzang in the early 7th century, starting around 629 and concluding in 645. Born during the Sui dynasty, Xuanzang felt that the translations of the Buddhist sutras available in China were insufficient—many of them had been made long ago, and often were translations of translations. Xuanzang decided to travel to India in the hopes of getting copies in the original language to provide more accurate translations of the sutras, particularly the Mahayana sutras. His own accounts of his journeys, even if drawn from his memory years afterwards, provide some of our most detailed contemporary evidence of the Silk Road and the people and places along the way. After he returned, he got to work on his translations, and became quite famous. Several of the Japanese students of Buddhism who traveled to the Tang dynasty in the 650s studied under him directly and brought his teachings back to Japan with them. His school of “Faxiang” Buddhism became known in Japan as the Hosso sect, and was quite popular during the 7th and 8th centuries. Xuanzang himself, known as Genjou in Japan, would continue to be venerated as an important monk in the history of Buddhism, and his travels would eventually be popularized in fantastic ways across East Asia. Over the last couple of episodes we talked about Xuanzang's illegal and harrowing departure from the Tang empire, where he had to sneak across the border into the deserts of the Western Regions. We then covered his time traveling from Gaochang, to Suyab, and down to Balkh, in modern Afghanistan. This was all territory under the at least nominal control of the Gokturk empire. From Balkh he traveled to Bamyan, and then on to Kapisa, north of modern Kabul, Afghanistan. However, after Kapisa, Xuanzang was finally entering into the northern territories of what he knew as “India”, or “Tianzhu”. Here I would note that I'm using “India” to refer not to a single country, but to the entirety of the Indian subcontinent, and all of the various kingdoms there -- including areas now part of the modern countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The Sinitic characters used to denote this region are pronounced, today, as “Tianzhu”, with a rough meaning of “Center of Heaven”, but it is likely that these characters were originally pronounced in such a way that the name likely came from terms like “Sindhu” or “Induka”. This is related to the name of the Sindh or Indus river, from which India gets its name. Xuanzang's “Record of the Western Regions” notes that the proper pronunciation of the land should be “Indu”. In Japan, this term was transmitted through the Sinitic characters, or kanji, and pronounced as “Tenjiku”. Since it featured so prominently in the stories of the life of the Buddha and many of the Buddhist sutras, Tenjiku was known to the people of the Japanese archipelago as a far off place that was both real and fantastical. In the 12th century, over a thousand stories were captured for the “Konjaku Monogatarishu”, or the “Collection of Tales Old and New”, which is divided up into tales from Japan, China, and India. In the famous 9th or 10th century story, “Taketori Monogatari”, or the “Bamboo-Cutter's Tale”, about princess Kaguya hime, one of the tasks the princess sets to her suitors is to go to India to find the begging bowl of the Buddha. Records like those produced by Xuanzang and his fellow monks, along with the stories in the sutras, likely provided the majority of what people in the Japanese archipelago knew about India, at least to begin with. Xuanzang talks about the land of India as being divided into five distinct parts—roughly the north, south, east, west, and center. He notes that three sides face the sea and that the Snow Mountains—aka the Himalayas—are in the north. It is, he says, “Wide in the north and narrow in the south, in the shape of a crescent moon”. Certainly the “Wide in the north and narrow in the south” fit the subcontinent accurately enough, and it is largely surrounded by the waters of what we know as the Indian Ocean to the west, the east, and the south. The note about the Crescent Moon might be driven by Xuanzang's understanding of a false etymology for the term “Indus”, which he claims comes from the word for “moon”. Rather, this term appears to refer to the Indus River, also known as the Sindh or Sindhus, which comes from an ancient word meaning something like “River” or “Stream”. Xuanzang also notes that the people of the land were divided into castes, with the Brahman caste at the top of the social hierarchy. The land was further divided into approximately 70 different countries, according to his accounts. This is known broadly as the Early Medieval period, in India, in which the region was divided into different kingdoms and empires that rose and fell across the subcontinent, with a total size roughly equivalent to that covered by the countries of the modern European Union. Just like Europe, there were many different polities and different languages spoken across the land – but just as Latin was the common language in Europe, due to its use in Christianity, Sanskrit was the scholarly and religious language in much of India, and could also be used as a bridge language. Presumably, Xuanzang understood Sanskrit to some extent as a Buddhist monk. And, just a quick note, all of this was before the introduction of Islam, though there were other religions also practiced throughout the subcontinent, but Xuanzang was primarily focused on his Buddhist studies. Xuanzang describes India as having three distinct seasons—The hot season, the rainy season, and the cold season, in that order. Each of these were four month long periods. Even today, the cycle of the monsoon rains is a major impact on the life of people in South Asia. During the rainy season, the monks themselves would retreat back to their monasteries and cease their wanderings about the countryside. This tradition, called “Vassa”, is still a central practice in many Theravada Buddhist societies such as Thailand and Laos today, where they likewise experience this kind of intensely wet monsoon season. Xuanzang goes on to give an in depth analysis of the people and customs of the Indian subcontinent, as he traveled from country to country. So, as we've done before, we'll follow his lead in describing the different locations he visited. The first country of India that Xuanzang came to was the country of Lampa, or Lamapaka, thought to be modern Laghman province in Afghanistan. At the time it was a dependency of Kapisa. The Snow Mountains, likely meaning the Hindu Kush, the western edge of the Himalayas, lay at its north, while the “Black Mountains” surrounded it on the other three sides. Xuanzang mentions how the people of Lampa grow non-glutinous rice—likely something similar to basmati rice, which is more prevalent in South Asian cuisine, as compared to glutinous rice like more often used in East Asia. From Lampa he headed to Nagarahara, likely referring to a site near the Kabul River associated with the ruins of a stupa called Nagara Gundi, about 4 kilometers west of modern Jalalabad, Afghanistan. This was another vassal city-state of Kapisa. They were still Mahayana Buddhists, but there were other religions as well, which Xuanzang refers to as “heretical”, though I'm not entirely sure how that is meant in this context. He does say that many of the stupas were dilapidated and in poor condition. Xuanzang was now entering areas where he likely believed the historical Buddha had once walked. In fact, Lampa was perhaps the extent of historical Buddha's travels, according to the stories and the sutras, though this seems unlikely to have been true. The most plausible locations for the Historical Buddha's pilgrimages were along the Ganges river, which was on the other side of the subcontinent, flowing east towards modern Kolkatta and the Bengal Bay. However, as Buddhism spread, so, too, did stories of the Buddha's travels. And so, as far as Xuanzang was concerned, he was following in the footsteps of the Buddha. Speaking of which, at Nagarahara, Xuanzang mentions “footprints” of the Buddha. This is a Buddhist tradition found in many places. Xuanzang claims that the Tathagatha, the Englightened One, or the Buddha, would fly, because when he walked the land itself shook. Footprint shapes in rock could be said to be evidence of the Buddha's travels. Today, in many Buddhist areas you can find footprints carved into rock conforming to stories about the Buddha, such as all the toes being of the same length, or other various signs. These may have started out as natural depressions in the rock, or pieces of artwork, but they were believed by many to be the actual point at which the Buddha himself touched down. There are famous examples of these footprints in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and China. Of course there are also traditions of creating images of the footprint as an object of worship. Images of footprints, similar to images of the Great Wheel of the Law, may have been some of the earliest images for veneration, as images of the Buddha himself did not appear until much later in the tradition. One of the oldest such footprints in Japan is at Yakushiji temple, and dated to 753. It was created based on a rubbing brought back by an envoy to the Tang court, while they were in Chang'an. Like Buddha footprints, there are many other images and stories that show up multiple times in different places, even in Xuanzang's own narrative. For example, in Nagarahara Xuanzang also shares a story of a cave, where an image of the Buddha could be just barely made out on the wall – maybe maybe an old carving that had just worn away, or maybe an image that was deliberately placed in the darkness as a metaphor for finding the Buddha—finding enlightenment. This is not an uncommon theme in Buddhism as a whole. In any case, the story around this image was that it had been placed there to subdue a naga. Now a naga is a mythical snake-like being, and we are told that this particular naga was the reincarnation of a man who had invoked a curse on the nearby kingdom, then threw himself from a cliff in order to become a naga and sow destruction. As the story went, the man was indeed reborn, but before he could bring destruction, the Buddha showed up and subdued him, convincing him that this was not right. And so the naga agreed to stay in the cave, where the Buddha left an image—a shadow—to remind the naga any time that its thoughts might turn to destruction. Later in his travels, at a place name Kausambi, Xuanzang mentions another cave where the Buddha had subdued a venomous dragon and left his shadow on the cave wall. Allowing for the possibility that the Buddha just had a particular M.O. when dealing with destructive beings, we should also consider the possibility that the story developed in one region—probably closer to the early center of Buddhism, and then traveled outward, such that it was later adopted and adapted to local traditions. From Nagarahara, Xuanzang continued to the country of Gandhara and its capital city of Purushapura, aka modern Peshwar. This kingdom was also under vassalage to the Kapisan king. Here and elsewhere in the journey, Xuanzang notes not only evidence of the historical Buddha, but also monasteries and stupas purported to have been built by King Kanishka and King Asoka. These were important figures who were held in high regard for spreading Buddhism during their reign. Continuing through the region of Gandhara, he also passed through Udakhand and the city of Salatura, known as the birthplace of the ancient Sanskrit grammarian, Daksiputra Panini, author of the Astadhyayi [Aestudjayi]. This work is the oldest surviving description of classical Sanskrit, and used grammatical and other concepts that wouldn't be introduced into Western linguistics for eons. Daksiputra Panini thrived around the 5th or 4th century BCE, but was likely one of the reasons that Sanskrit continued to be used as a language of scholarship and learning even as it died out of usage as the day to day language of the common people. His works and legacy would have been invaluable to translators like Xuanzang in understanding and translating from Sanskrit. Xuanzang continued on his journey to Kashmira, situated in the Kashmir Valley. This valley sits between the modern states of Pakistan and India, and its ownership is actively disputed by each. It is the namesake of the famous cashmere wool—wool from the winter coats of a type of goat that was bred in the mountainous regions. The winter coat would be made of soft, downy fibers and would naturally fall out in the spring, which the goatherds harvested and made into an extremely fine wool. In the 7th century and earlier, however, the region was known not as much for its wool, but as a center for Hindu and Buddhist studies. Xuanzang ended up spending two years in Kashmira studying with teachers there. Eventually, though, he continued on, passing through the country of Rajpura, and continuing on to Takka and the city of Sakala—modern day Sialkot in the Punjab region of modern Pakistan. Leaving Sakala, he was traveling with a group when suddenly disaster struck and they were accosted by a group of bandits. They took the clothes and money of Xuanzang and those with him and then they drove the group into a dry pond in an attempt to corral them while they figured out what they would do—presumably meaning kill them all. Fortunately for the group, there was a water drain at the southern edge of the pond large enough for one man to pass through. Xuanzang and one other went through the gap and they were able to escape to a nearby village. Once they got there, they told the people what had happened, and the villagers quickly gathered weapons and ran out to confront the brigands, who saw a large group coming and ran away. Thus they were able to rescue the rest of Xuanzang's traveling companions. Xuanzang's companions were devastated, having lost all of their possessions. However, Xuanzang comforted them. After all, they still had their lives. By this time, Xuanzang had certainly seen his fair share of life and death problems along the road. They continued on, still in the country of Takka, to the next great city. There they met a Brahman, and once they told him what had happened, he started marshalling the forces of the city on their behalf. During Xuanzang's stay in Kashmira, he had built a reputation, and people knew of the quote-unquote “Chinese monk”. And even though the people in this region were not necessarily Buddhist—many were “heretics” likely referring to those of Hindu faith—the people responded to this pre-Internet “GoFundMe” request with incredible generosity. They brought Xuanzang food and cloth to make into suits of clothes. Xuanzang distributed this to his travel companions, and ended up still having enough cloth for 50 suits of clothes himself. He then stayed at that city a month. It is odd that they don't seem to mention the name of this location. Perhaps there is something unspeakable about it? Still, it seems that they were quite generous, even if they were “heretics” according to Xuanzang. From the country of Takka, he next proceeded to the kingdom of Cinabhukti, where he spent 14 months—just over a year—studying with the monks there. Once he had learned what he could, he proceeded onwards, passing through several countries in northern India until he came to the headwaters of the sacred Ganges rivers. The Indus and the Ganges rivers are in many ways similar to the Yellow River and Yangzi, at least in regards to their importance to the people of India. However, whereas the Yellow River and Yangzi both flow east towards the Pacific Ocean, the Indus and Ganges flow in opposite directions. The Indus flows southwest, from the Himalayas down through modern India into modern Pakistan, emptying into the western Indian Ocean. The Ganges flows east along the base of the Himalayas and enters the eastern Indian Ocean at Kolkatta. At the headwaters of the Ganges, Xuanzang found a Buddhist monk named Jayagupta and chose to spend the winter and half of the following spring listening to his sermons and learning at his feet. From there he continued his travels, and ended up being summoned by King Harshavardhana of Kanyakubja, known today as the modern city of Kannauj. Harshavardhana ruled an immense state that covered much of the territory around the sacred Ganges river. As word of this strange monk from a far off land reached him, the King wanted to see him for himself. Xuanzang stayed in Kannauj for three months, completing his studies of the Vibhasha Shastra, aka the Abhidarmma Mahavibhasha Shastra, known in Japanese as the Abidatsuma Daibibasharon, or just as the Daibibasharon or the Basharon, with the latter two terms referring to the translations that Xuanzang performed. This work is not a sutra, per se, but rather an encyclopedic work that attempted to speak on all of the various doctrinal issues of its day. It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE, and was influential in the Buddhist teachings of Kashmira, when that was a center of Orthodoxy at the time. This is what Xuanzang had started studying, and it seems that in Kannauj he was finally able to grasp everything he felt he needed to know about it in order to effectively translate it and teach it when he returned. That said, his quest was not over. And after his time in Kannauj, he decided to continue on. His next stop was at the city of Ayodhya. This was—and is—a city of particular importance in Hindu traditions. It is said to be the city mentioned in the epic tale known as the Ramayana, though many argue that it was simply named that later in honor of that ancient city. It does appear to be a city that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, visited and where he preached. It was also the home of a famous monk from Gandhara who authored a number of Buddhist tomes and was considered, at least by Xuanzang, a proper Boddhisatva. And so Xuanzang spent some time paying homage to the places where the Buddha and other holy figures had once walked. “Ayodhya” appears in many forms across Asia. It is a major pilgrimage center, and the city of “Ayutthaya” in Thailand was named for it, evoking the Ramayana—known in Thai as the Ramakien—which they would adopt as their own national story. In Silla, there is a story that queen Boju, aka Heo Hwang-ok, wife to the 2nd century King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, traveled to the peninsula all the way from the foreign country of “Ayuta”, thought to mean Ayodhya. Her story was written down in the Gaya histories and survives as a fragment found in the Samguk Yusa. Members of the Gimhae Kim, Gimhae Heo, and Incheon Yi clans all trace their lineage back to her and King Suro. From Ayodhya, Xuanzang took a trip down the Ganges river. The boat was packed to bursting with some 80 other travelers, and as they traveled towards a particularly heavily forested area, they were set upon by bandits, who rowed their ships out from hiding in the trees and forced the travelers to the shore. There the bandits made all the travelers strip down and take off their clothing so that the bandits could search for gold or valuables. According to Xuanzang's biography, these bandits were followers of Durga, a Hindu warrior-goddess, and it is said that each year they would look for someone of particularly handsome features to sacrifice to her. With Xuanzang's foreign features, they chose him. And so they took him to be killed. Xuanzang mentioned that he was on a pilgrimage, and that by interrupting him before they finished he was worried it might be inauspicious for them, but he didn't put up a fight and merely asked to be given time to meditate and calm his mind and that they perform the execution quickly so that he wouldn't even notice. From there, according to the story, a series of miracles occurred that ended up with Xuanzang being released and the bandits worshipping at his feet. It is times like this we must remember that this biography was being written by Xuanzang's students based on stories he told them about his travels. While being accosted by bandits on the river strikes me as perfectly plausible, we don't necessarily have the most reliable narrators, so I'm going to have to wonder about the rest. Speaking of unreliable narration, the exact route that Xuanzang traveled from here on is unclear to me, based on his stated goals and where he was going. It is possible that he was wandering as opportunities presented themselves —I don't know that he had any kind of map or GPS, like we've said in the past. And it may be that the routes from one place to another were not always straightforward. Regardless, he seems to wander southeast for a period before turning again to the north and eventually reaching the city of Shravasti. Shravasti appeared in our discussion of the men of Tukhara in Episode 119. With the men of Tukhara there was also mentioned a woman from Shravasti. While it is unlikely that was actually the case—the names were probably about individuals from the Ryukyuan island chain rather than from India—it is probably worth nothing that Shravasti was a thriving place in ancient times. It was at one time the capital city of the kingdom of Kosala, sharing that distinction with the city of Ayodhya, back in the 7th to 5th centuries BCE. It is also where the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was said to have spend many years of his life. This latter fact would have no doubt made it a place of particular importance to Xuanzang on his journeys. From there he traveled east, ending up following the foothills of the Himalayas, and finally came to some of the most central pilgrimages sites for followers of the historical Buddha. First, he reached Lumbini wood, in modern Nepal, said to have been the birthplace of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. And then he visited Kushinagara, the site where the Buddha ascended to nirvana—in other words, the place where he passed away. From there, he traveled to Varanasi, and the deer park monastery, at the place where the Buddha is said to have given one of his most famous sermons. He even visited the Bodhi tree, the tree under which Siddhartha Gautama is said to have attained enlightenment. He spent eight or nine days there at Bodhgaya, and word must have spread about his arrival, because several monks from the eminent Nalanda Monastery called upon him and asked him to come to the monastery with them. Nalanda Monastery was about 80 km from Bodhgaya. This was a grand monastery and center of learning—some say that it was, for a time, the greatest in the world. It had been founded in the 5th century by the Gupta dynasty, and many of the Gupta rulers and others donated to support the monastery, which also acted as a university. After the fall of the Gupta dynasty, the monastery was supported by King Harsha of Kannauj, whom Xuanzang had visited earlier. It ultimately thrived for some 750 years, and is considered by some to be the oldest residential university—meaning that students would come to the temple complex and stay in residence for years at a time to study. According to Xuanzang, Nalanda hosted some 10,000 monks. Including hosts and guests. They didn't only study Buddhist teachings, but also logic, grammar, medicine, and divination. Lectures were given at more than 100 separate places—or classrooms—every day. It was at Nalanda, that Xuanzang would meet the teacher Silabhadra, who was known as the Right Dharma Store. Xuanzang requested that he be allowed to study the Yogacharabhumi Shastra—the Yugashijiron, in Japanese. This is the work that Xuanzang is said to have been most interested in, and one of the works that he is credited with bringing back in one of the first full translations to the Tang dynasty and then to others in East Asia. It is an encyclopedic work dedicated to the various forms of Yogacara practice, which focuses on the mental disciplines, and includes yoga and meditation practices. It has a huge influence on nearly all Mahayana schools, including things like the famous Zen and Pure Land schools of Buddhism. The Yogacharabhumi Shastra is the earliest such encyclopedic work, compiled between the 3rd and 5th centuries—so even if the monk Faxian had brought portions of it back, it was probably not in the final form that Xuanzang was able to access. Silabhadra, for his part, was an ancient teacher—some put his age at 106 years, and his son was in his 70s. He was one of the few at Nalandra who supposedly knew all of the various texts that they had at the monastery, including the Yogacarabhumi Shastra. Xuanzang seems to have been quite pleased to study under him. Xuanzang stayed at the house of Silabhadra's son, Buddhabhadra, and they welcomed him with entertainment that lasted seven days. We are told that he was then given his own lodgings, a stipend of spices, incense, rice, oil, butter, and milk, along with a servant and a Brahman. As a visiting monk, he was not responsible for the normal monastic duties, instead being expected to spend the time in study. Going out, he was carried around by an elephant. This was certainly the royal treatment. Xuanzang's life at Nalandra wasn't all books: south of the monastery was the city of Rajagrha, the old capital of the kingdom of Magadha, where the ancient Gupta kings had once lived, and on occasional breaks from his studies, Xuanzang would venture out to see the various holy sites. This included the famous Mt. Grdhrakuta, or Vulture Peak, a location said to be favored by the historical Buddha and central to the Lotus Sutra, arguably the founding document of Mahayana Buddhist tradition. After all, “Mahayana” means “Greater Vehicle” and it is in the Lotus Sutra that we see the metaphor of using different vehicles to escape a burning house. We've already talked a bit about how the image of Vulture Peak had already become important in Japanese Buddhism: In Episode 112 we talked about how in 648, Abe no Oho-omi had drums piled up at Shitennoji in the shape of Vulture Peak. But although the sightseeing definitely enhanced his experience, Xuanzang was first and foremost there to study. He spent 15 months just listening to his teacher expound on the Yogacarabhumi Shastra, but he also heard expositions on various other teachings as well. He ended up studying at Nalandra Monastery for 5 years, gaining a much better understanding of Sanskrit and the various texts, which would be critically important when it came to translating them, later. But, Xuanzang was not one to stay in any one place forever, and so after 5 years—some 8 years or more into his journey, he continued on, following the Ganges east, to modern Bangladesh. Here he heard about various other lands, such as Dvarapati—possibly referring to Dvaravati, in modern Thailand, as well as Kamalanka and Isanapura. The latter was in modern Cambodia, the capital of the ancient Chenla kingdom. Then Mahacampa—possibly referring to the Champa region of Vietnam—and the country of Yamanadvipa. But there was still more of India for Xuanzang to discover, and more teachings to uncover, and so Xuanzang decided instead to head southwest, following the coast. He heard of the country of Sinhala, referring to the island of Sri Lanka, but he was urged not to go by ship, as the long journey was perilous. Instead he could stay on relatively dry land and head down to the southern tip of the subcontinent and then make a quick hop from there across to the island. He traveled a long distance, all the way down to Kancipuram, the seat of the Pallava dynasty, near modern day Chennai. From the seaport near Kancipuram, it was only three days to Sinhala—that is to say Sri Lanka—but before he could set out, he met a group of monks who had just arrived. They told him that the king of Sinhala had died , and there was a great famine and civil disturbances. So they had fled with some 300 other monks. Xuanzang eventually decided not to make the journey, but he did talk with the monks and gathered information on the lands to the south, on Sri Lanka, and on the islands south of that, by which I suspect he may have meant the Maldives. While Sri Lanka is an area important to Buddhist scholarship, particularly to the Theravada schools, this likely did not impress Xuanzang, and indeed he seemed to feel that his studies in Nalanda had more than provided him what he needed. Sri Lanka, however, is the source of the Pali canon, one of the most complete early canons of Buddhism, which had a huge influence on Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. So Xuanzang took plenty of notes but decided to forego the ocean voyage and headed northwest, instead. He traveled across the breadth of India to Gujarat, and then turned back east, returning to pay respects once more to his teacher in Nalanda. While there he heard of another virtuous monk named Prajnabhadra at a nearby monastery. And so he went to spend several months with him, as well. He also studied with a layman, Sastrin Jayasena, at Stickwood Hill. Jayasena was a ksatriya, or nobleman, by birth, and studied both Buddhist and non-Buddhist texts. He was courted by kings, but had left to continue his studies. Xuanzang studied with him for another couple of years. Xuanzang remained at Nalanda, learning and teaching, expounding on what he had learned and gathering many copies of the various documents that he wished to take back with him, though he wondered how he might do it. In the meantime, he also acquired quite the reputation. We are told that King Siladitya had asked Nalanda for monks who could refute Theravada teachings, and Xuanzang agreed to go. It isn't clear, but it seems that “Siladitya” was a title, and likely referred to King Harsha of Kannauj, whom we mentioned earlier. Since he was a foreigner, then there could be no trouble that was brought on Nalanda and the other monks if he did poorly. While he was waiting to hear back from Siladitya's court, which was apparently taking time to arrange things, the king of Kamarupta reached out to Nalanda with a request that Xuanzang come visit them. While Xuanzang was reluctant to be gone too long, he was eventually encouraged to go and assuage the king. Kamarupta was a kingdom around the modern Assam region, ruled by King Bhaskaravarman, also known as King Kumara, a royal title. This kingdom included parts of Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. Bhaskaravarman, like so many other regents, seems to have been intrigued by the presence of this foreign monk, who had traveled all this way and who had studied at the famous Nalanda Monastery in Magadha. He invited Xuanzang to come to him. Xuanzang's teacher, Silabhadra, had exhorted him to spread the right Dharma, and to even go to those non-Buddhists in hopes that they might be converted, or at least partially swayed. King Bhaskaravarman was quite taken with Xuanzang, wining and dining him while listening to him preach. While there, Xuanzang learned about the country of Kamarupta. He also learned about a path north, by which it was said it was a two month journey to arrive at the land of Shu, in the Sichuan Basin, on the upper reaches of the Yangzi – a kind of shortcut back to the Tang court. However, the journey was treacherous—possibly even more treacherous than the journey to India had been. Eventually word reached the ears of King Siladitya that Xuanzang was at the court of King Bhaskaravarman, and Siladitya got quite upset. Xuanzang had not yet come to *his* court, so Siladitya demanded that Bhaskaravarman send the monk to him immediately. Bhaskaravarman refused, saying he'd rather give Siladitya his own head, which Siladitya said he would gladly accept. Bhaskaravarman realized he may have miscalculated, and so he sailed up the Ganges with a host of men and Xuanzang to meet with Siladitya. After a bit of posturing, Siladitya met with Xuanzang, who went with him, and eventually confronted the members of the Theravada sect in debate. Apparently it almost got ugly, but for the King's intervention. After a particularly devastating critique of the Theravada position, the Theravada monks are blamed for trying to use violence against Xuanzang and his fellow Mahayana monks from Nalanda, who were prepared to defend themselves. The King had to step in and break it up before it went too far. Ultimately, Xuanzang was a celebrity at this point and both kings seem to have supported him, especially as he was realizing it was about time to head back to his own country. Both kings was offered ships, should Xuanzang wish to sail south and then up the coast. However, Xuanzang elected to take the northern route, hoping to go back through Gaochang, and see that city and its ruler again. And so the Kings gave him money and valuables , along with wagons for all of the texts. They also sent an army to protect all of the treasures, and even an elephant and more – sending him back in style with a huge send-off. So Xuanzang retraced his earlier steps, this time on an elephant. He traveled back to Taxila, to Kashmir, and beyond. He was invited to stay in Kashmira, but because of his retinue, he wasn't quite at leisure to just go where he wanted. At one point, near Kapisa—modern Bagram, north of Kabul—they had to cross a river, and about 50 of the almost 700 documents were lost. The King of Kapisa heard of this and had his own monks make copies to replace them based on their own schools. The King of Kasmira, hearing that he was in Kapisa, also came to pay his respects. Xuanzang traveled with the King of Kapisa northwest for over a month and reached Lampaka, where he did take some time to visit the various holy sites before continuing northwest. They had to cross the Snow Mountains—the outskirts of the Himalayas, and even though it wasn't the highest part of the range it was still challenging. He had to dismount his elephant and travel on foot. Finally, after going over the high mountains and coming down, he arrived back in the region of Tukhara, in the country of Khowst. He then came to Kunduz, and paid his respects to the grandson of Yehu Khan. He was given more guards to escort him eastward, traveling with some merchants. This was back in Gokturk controlled lands, over a decade later than when he had last visited. He continued east to Badakshan, stopping there for a month because of the cold weather and snow. He eventually traveled through the regions of Tukhara and over the Pamir range. He came down on the side of the Tarim Basin, and noted how the rivers on one side flowed west, while on the other side they flowed east. The goings were treacherous, and at one point they were beset by bandits. Though he and the documents were safe, his elephant panicked and fled into the river and drowned. He eventually ended up in the country of Kashgar, in modern Xinjiang province, at the western edge of the Taklamakan desert. From there he had two options. He could go north and hug the southern edge of the Tianshan mountains, or he could stay to the south, along the northern edge of the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau. He chose to go south. He traveled through Khotan, a land of wool and carpets. This was a major trade kingdom, and they also grew mulberry trees for silkworms, and were known for their jade. The king himself heard of Xuanzang and welcomed him, as many others had done. While he was staying at the Khotanese capital, Xuanzang penned a letter to the Tang court, letting them know of his journey, and that he was returning. He sent it with some merchants and a man of Gaochang to deliver it to the court. Remember, Xuanzang had left the Tang empire illegally. Unless he wanted to sneak back in his best hope was that the court was willing to forgive and forget all of that, given everything that he was bringing back with him. The wait was no doubt agonizing, but he did get a letter back. It assured him that he was welcome back, and that all of the kingdoms from Khotan back to the governor of Dunhuang had been made aware and were ready to receive him. With such assurances, Xuanzang packed up and headed out. The king of Khotan granted him more gifts to help see him on his way. Nonetheless, there was still a perilous journey ahead. Even knowing the way, the road went through miles and miles of desert, such that in some places you could only tell the trail by the bleached bones of horses and travelers who had not been so fortunate. Eventually, however, Xuanzang made it to the Jumo River and then on to Dunhuang, from whence he was eventually escorted back to the capital city. It was now the year 645, the year of the Isshi Incident in Yamato and the death of Soga. Xuanzang had been gone for approximately 16 years. In that time, the Tang had defeated the Gokturks and taken Gaochang, expanding their control over the trade routes in the desert. Xuanzang, for his part, was bringing back 657 scriptures, bound in 520 bundles carried by a train of some 20 horses. He was given a hero's welcome, and eventually he would be set up in a monastery where he could begin the next part of his journey: Translating all of these books. This was the work of a lifetime, but it is one that would have a profound impact on Buddhism across East Asia. Xuanzang's translations would revolutionize the understanding of Mahayana Buddhist teachings, and students would come from as far away as the Yamato court to study under him and learn from the teacher who studied and taught at none other than Nalanda monastery itself. His school would become popular in the Yamato capital, and the main school of several temples, at least for a time. In addition, his accounts and his biography would introduce many people to the wider world of central and south Asia. While I could go on, this has already been a story in three parts, and this is, after all, the Chronicles of Japan, so we should probably tune back into what is going on with Yamato. Next episode, we'll look at one of the most detailed accounts we have of a mission to Chang'an. Until then, I hope that this has been enjoyable. Xuanzang's story is one of those that isn't just about him, but about the interconnected nature of the entire world at the time. While his journey is quite epic, there were many people traveling the roads, though most of them didn't write about it afterwards. People, artifacts, and ideas traveled much greater distances than we often consider at this time, well before any kind of modern travel. It was dangerous, but often lucrative, and it meant that various regions could have influence well beyond what one might expect. And so, thank you once again for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan

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Gulnihal - gtalks! radio x NEW INC w/ elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ

G Talks!

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2025 59:45

#gtalksradio x NEW INC present: elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ, a collaborative research-based group consisting of Thai diaspora, Bangkok-born, Brooklyn-based artists, Nitcha Fame Tothong & Kengchakaj. @elekhlekha delves into subversive storytelling by exploring non-hegemonic sounds and visual archives, historical research–decoding, and unlearning biases. Their works span performing documents, multimedia, and technology centers to interrogate, experiment, explore, and define decolonized possibilities. elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ is a Thai word that means chaos, dispersedness, entropy, and non-direction to break free our practices from being labeled through a Western lens. Tracklist: Kengchakaj — Uneven Geographies Of Sound Gerald Cleaver — Jackie's Smiles Matana Roberts — we said B35 บรม๓๕ — Nora35 มโนราห์๓๕ Photo Credit — https://www.instagram.com/gbrme/ Each episode is a peek into the practice of storytellers through different mediums. Curating advice and visibility for communities navigating the emerging landscape of art, technology, and entrepreneurship. Between conversations, featured guests share a playlist of their most played recent tunes, as a sonic backdrop to their creative process. The show is recorded in the NEW INC office, reimagined as a vessel for dissecting the intersectionality of art, design, and technology through individual conversations. The series' jingle is the work of composer and sound artist Etienne Mason, known professionally as MAYSUN. MAYSUN, recognized for his unique fusion of drumming and immersive soundscapes, has crafted a piece that features a sampled string riff from the Uyghur Sataer, ساتار. This riff was recorded by Gulnihal during her recent visit to Kashgar, China. elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ Website: https://www.elekhlekha.xyz/ elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ IG: https://www.instagram.com/elekhlekha/ Artist (Keng) Website: https://kengchakaj.info/ Artist (Keng) IG: https://www.instagram.com/kengchakaj/ Artist (Fame) Website: https://www.nitcha.info/ Artist (Fame) IG: https://www.instagram.com/nitchafame/ Radio IG: www.instagram.com/gtalksradio/ Dublab: www.dublab.com/shows/gtalks-radio Sound Artist: www.instagram.com/maysun.music/

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Journey to the West, Part 2

new york china bay area curating radio x new museum sound artist dublab artist website kashgar new inc

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2025 49:37

This episode we continue to follow the monk Xuanzang on his path along the silk road. From Gaochang, he traveled through the Tarim Basin, up over the Tianshan Mountains, to the heart of the Western Gokturk Qaghanate. From there, he traveled south, through the region of Transoxania to Bactria and the land of Tukhara. He pushed on into the Hindu Kush, witnessing the stone Buddha statues of Bamiyan, and eventually made his way to the land of Kapisa, near modern Kabul, Afghanistan. From there he would prepare to enter the Indian subcontinent: the home of the historical Buddha. For more discussion and some photos of the areas along this journey, check out our podcast blog at https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-121 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is Episode 121: Journey to the West, Part 2 The cold winds blew through the travelers' doubled up clothing and thick furs. Cold, wet ground meant that even two sets of boots were not necessarily enough after several days. The frozen mist would often obscure everything except for the path immediately in front, hiding the peaks and making the sky a uniform white. In many places, the path would be blocked by rock, ice, or snow—the remnants of an avalanche, which could easily take an unsuspecting traveler. And there was the elevation. Hiking through the mountains, it was easy enough to reach heights of a mile or higher, and for those not accustomed to that elevation the thin air could take a surprising toll, especially if you were pushing yourself. And the road was no less kind to the animals that would be hauling said travelers and their gear. And yet, this was the path that Xuanzang had agreed to. He would continue to push through, despite the various deprivations that he would be subjected to. No doubt he often wondered if it was worth it. Then again, returning was just as dangerous a trip, so why not push on? Last episode we introduced the monk Xuanzang, who traveled the Silk Road to India in the 7th century and returned to China. He brought back numerous sutras to translate, and ended up founding a new school, known as the Faxian school—or the Hossou school in Japan. As we mentioned last time, Xuanzang during his lifetime met with students from the archipelago when they visited the continent. The records of his travels—including his biography and travelogue—are some of the best information we have on what life was like on the silk road around this time. In the last episode, we talked about Xuanzang: how he set out on his travels, his illegal departure from the Tang empire, and his perilous journey across the desert, ending up in Gaochang. There, King Qu Wentai had tried to get him to stay, but he was determined to head out. This episode we are going to cover his trip to Agni, Kucha, and Baluka—modern Aksu—and up to the Western Gokturk Qaghanate's capital of Suyab. From there, we'll follow his footsteps through the Turkic controlled regions of Transoxania and into Tukhara, in modern Afghanistan. Finally, we'll cover the last parts of his journey before he reached the start of his goal: India. From Gaochang, Xuanzang continued on, through the towns he names as Wuban and Dujin, and into the country of Agni—known today as the area of Yanqi—which may also have been known as Wuqi. The route was well-enough known, but it wasn't necessarily safe. At one point, Xuanzang's caravan met with bandits, whom they were fortunately able to pay off. The following night they encamped on a river bank with some merchants who also happened to be traveling the road. The merchants, though, got up at midnight and headed out, hoping to get to the city early so that they could be the first ones to the market. They only made it a few miles down the road, however, before they encountered more bandits, who slaughtered them and took their goods. The following day, Xuanzang and his retinue came upon the merchants' remains lying in the road and saw the aftermath of the massacre. This was an unforgiving land, and the road was truly dangerous, even for those who traveled it regularly. And yet Xuanzang was planning to travel its entire length until he reached India. So with little alternative, they carried on to the royal city of Agni. Agni, or Yanqi, sits on the southwestern edge of the basin, west of Bositeng lake, on the border between the Turfan basin and the larger Tarim Basin. The name is thought to be a Tocharian—or Turfanian—name for the city, which is also known as Karashr. According to the biography by Huili, Xuanzang and his party didn't stay long in Agni. Apparently Agni and Gaochang were not exactly on friendly terms, and even though the King of Agni and his ministers reportedly came out to greet Xuanzang and welcome him to their city, they refused to provide any horses. They spent a single night and moved on. That said, Agni still made an impression on Xuanzang. He noted how the capital was surrounded by hills on four sides, making it naturally defensible. As for the people, he praises them as honest and straightforward. They wore clothing of felt and hemp cloth, and cut their hair short, without hats or any kind of headwear. Even the climate was pleasant, at least for the short time he was there. He also notes that they used a script based on India—likely referring to the Brahmic script, which we find in the Tarim basin. However, as for the local lord, the King of Agni, he is a little less charitable. Xuanzang claimed he was brave but “lacked resourcefulness” and he was a bit of a braggart. Furthermore, the country had “no guiding principles or discipline and government orders are imperfect and not seriously implemented.” He also mentioned the state of Buddhism in the country, noting that they were followers of Sarvastivada school, a Theravada sect popular along the Silk Road at the time. Xuanzang was apparently not too pleased with the fact that they were not strict vegetarians, including the “three kinds of pure meat”. From Agni, Xuanzang continued southwest, heading for the kingdom of Kucha. He seems to have bypassed the nearby kingdom of Korla, south of Agni, and headed some 60 or 70 miles, climbing over a ridge and crossing two large rivers, and then proceeding another 200 miles or so to the land of Kucha. Kucha was a kingdom with over one hundred monasteries and five thousand monks following a form of Theravada Buddhism. Here, Xuanzang was welcomed in by the king, Suvarnadeva, described as having red hair and blue eyes. While Xuanzang was staying in Kucha, it is suspected that he probably visited the nearby Kizil grotto and the Buddhist caves, there, which include a painting of King Suvarnadeva's father, King Suvarnapuspa, and his three sons. You can still visit Kucha and the Kizil grottos today, although getting there is quite a trek, to be sure. The ancient Kuchean capital is mostly ruins, but in the Kizil caves, protected from the outside elements, you can find vivid paintings ranging from roughly the 4th to the 8th century, when the site was abandoned. Hundreds of caves were painted, and many still demonstrate vibrant colors. The arid conditions protect them from mold and mildew, while the cave itself reduces the natural bleaching effect of sunlight. The paintings are in numerous styles, and were commissioned by various individuals and groups over the years. They also give us some inkling of how vibrant the city and similar structures must have been, back when the Kuchean kingdom was in its heyday. The people of Kucha are still something of a mystery. We know that at least some of them spoke an Indo-European language, related to a language found in Agni, and both of these languages are often called Tocharian, which we discussed last episode. Xuanzang himself noted that they used Indian writing, possibly referring to the Brahmi script, or perhaps the fact that they seem to have used Sanskrit for official purposes, such as the inscription on the cave painting at Kizil giving the name of King Suvarnapuspa. The Kucheans also were clothed in ornamental garments of silk and embroidery. They kept their hair cut, wearing a flowing covering over their heads—and we see some of that in the paintings. Xuanzang also notes that though we may think of this area as a desert, it was a place where rice and grains, as well as fruit like grapes, pomegranates, plums, pears, peaches, and almonds were grown. Even today, modern Xinjiang grows some absolutely fantastic fruit, including grapes, which are often dried into raisins. Another point of interest for Xuanzang may have been that Kucha is known as the hometown of none other than Kumarajiva. We first mentioned Kumarajiva back in episode 84. Kumarajiva was one of the first people we know of who translated many of the sutras from India that were then more widely disseminated throughout the Yellow River and Yangzi river basins. His father was from India and his mother was a Kuchean princess. In the middle of the 4th century, when he was still quite young, he traveled to India and back with his mother on a Buddhist pilgrimage. Later he would start a massive translation project in Chang'an. His translations are credited with revolutionizing Chinese Buddhism. Xuanzang was initially welcomed by the king, his ministers, and the revered monk, Moksagupta. They were accompanied by several thousand monks who set up tents outside the eastern gate, with portable Buddha images, which they worshipped, and then Xuanzang was taken to monastery after monastery until sunset. At one of the monasteries, in the southeast of the city, there were several tens of monks who originally came from Gaochang, and since Xuanzang had come from there, they invited him to stay with them. The next day he met and feasted with the King, politely declining any meat, and then went to the monastery in the northwest to meet with the famous monk: Moksagupta. Moksagupta himself had made the journey to India, and had spent 20 years there himself. It seems like this would have been the perfect person for Xuanzang to talk to about his plans, but instead, the two butted heads. Moksagupta seems to have seen Xuanzang's Mahayana faith as heretical. He saw no reason for Xuanzang to travel all the way to India when he had all the sutras that anyone needed there in Kucha, along with Moksagupta himself. Xuanzang's response seems to have been the Tang dynasty Buddhist version of “Okay, Boomer”, and then he went ahead and tore apart Moksagupta's understanding of his own sutras—or so Xuanzang relayed to his biographers. We don't exactly have Moksagupta's side, and, let's face it, Xuanzang and his biographers are not necessarily reliable narrators. After all, they followed Mahayana teachings, which they considered the “Greater Vehicle”, and they referred to the Theravada teachings as the “Hinayana” or “Lesser Vehicle”. Meanwhile, Theravada Buddhists likely saw many of the Mahayana texts as extraneous, even heretical, not believing them to actually be the teachings of the Buddha. It must have been winter time, as the passes through the mountains on the road ahead were still closed, and so Xuanzang stayed in Kucha, spending his time sightseeing and meeting with various people. He even went back to see Moksagupta, but the older monk shunned him, and would get up and exit the room rather than engaging with him, so they had no more conversations. Eventually, Xuanzang continued on his way west, following along the northern rim of the Tarim basin. Two days out from Kucha, disaster struck. Some two thousand or so Turkish bandits suddenly appeared—I doubt Xuanzang was counting, so it may have been more or less. I imagine that memories of what had happened to the merchants near Agni must have gone through Xuanzang's mind. Fortunately, for him, they were fighting over loot that they had pillaged from various travelers, and since they couldn't share it equally, they fell to fighting each other and eventually dispersed. He travelled for almost 200 miles after that, stopping only for a night at the Kingdom of Baluka, aka Gumo—the modern city of Aksu. This was another Theravada Buddhist kingdom. Xuanzang noted tens of Buddhist temples, and over 1000 Buddhist monks. The country was not large—about 200 miles east to west and 100 miles north to south. For reference that means it was probably comparable in size with Kyushu, in terms of overall area, or maybe the size of Denmark—excluding Greenland—or maybe the US state of Maryland. Xuanzang described the country as similar to Kucha in just about every way, including the written language and law, but the spoken language was different, though we don't get many more details. From Baluka, he crossed northward through the Tianshan mountains, which are classified as an extension of the Pamirs known as the Ice Mountains. Had he continued southwest, he would have hit Kashgar and crossed over between the Pamir and Tian Shan ranges into the Ferghana valley, but instead he turned north. We don't know exactly why he took this perilous option, but the route that may have been popular at the time as it was one of the most direct routes to the seat of the Western Gokturk Empire, which he was currently traveling through. The Tian Shan mountains were a dangerous journey. Avalanches could block the road—or worse. Xuanzang describes the permanent ice fields—indeed, it is the ice fields and glaciers of the Tian Shan that melt in the summer and provide the oasis towns of the Tarim Basin with water, even to this day. In Xuanzang's day, those glaciers were likely even more prevalent than today, especially as they have been recorded as rapidly disappearing since 1961. And where you weren't on snow and ice, the ground was probably wet and damp from the melt. To keep warm, you would wear shoes over your shoes, along with heavy fur coats, all designed to reduce exposure. Xuanzang claims that 3 or 4 of every 10 people didn't survive the crossing—and that horses and oxen fared even worse. Even if these numbers are an exaggeration, the message is clear: This was a dangerous journey. After about seven days, Xuanzang came out of the mountains to the “Great Pure Lake”, the “Da Qing Hai”, also known as the Hot Sea or the Salt Sea, which likely refers to Issyk Kul. The salt content, along with the great volume of water it possesses, means that the lake rarely freezes over, which is likely why it is seen as “hot” since it doesn't freeze when the fresh water nearby does. This lake is the second largest mountain lake in the world, and the second deepest saltwater lake. Traveling past the lake, he continued to Suyab, near modern Tokmok, in Kyrgyzstan, just west of the modern capital of Bishkek. This was an old Sogdian settlement, and had since become the capital of the Western Gokturks. Sogdians—like Xuanzang's guide, Vandak—were integral to the Gokturk kingdom. Their language was the lingua franca of the Silk Road, and at the time of the Gokturk Khaganate, it was also the official court language, and so when Xuanzang appeared at the court of the Great Khagan of the Western Gokturks, it was likely the language of diplomacy. When we think of Turkic people, many in the English speaking world think of Turkiye, and perhaps of the mighty Ottoman empire. Some may think of Turkmenistan, Kazhakstan, Kyrgyzstan, or Uzbekistan, among others. And of course, there are the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. All of these people claim roots in the ancestral Turkic homeland in the Altai mountains, which sit largely in western Mongolia, north of China's Xinjiang region. Much like the Xiongnu and the Mongols, they were pastoral nomads, moving their herds across the steppes, often covering great distances. They would regularly move through different regions, perhaps returning each season, though sometimes not returning for years at a time. They were often seen as barbarians by settled people living in cities, and yet their goods and horses were highly prized. Nomad and sedentary lifestyles would often collide. Farmers would turn pastureland into fields, and when the nomadic people returned on their circuits, they would find walls and fences where there was once open land, and the people there would claim to “own” the land, a concept often foreign to people who were always on the move. Nomadic people, such as the Gokturks, were not necessarily keeping vast libraries of records about themselves and their histories, and so much of what we get comes from external sources, which do not always have incredibly reliable narrators. To many of the settled agriculturalists, groups like the Turks were marauders who raided their villages and farms. They were a great bogeyman of the steppes, which required the firm hand of strong defenses to keep out—or so their opponents would want people to think. While they were known for their warfare, which incorporated their mobility, but they were keenly interested in trade, as well. They understood the value of the trade routes and the various cities and states that they included in their empire. Thus, the Sogdians and the Gokturks seem a natural fit: the Sogdians were more settled, but not entirely so, as demonstrated by their vast trade networks. And the Sogdians also were part of the greater central Eurasian steppe culture, so the two cultures understood each other, to a degree. They are even depicted similarly in art, with slight differences, such as long hair that was often associated with Turks over the Sogdians. In some areas of the Gokturk empire, Sogdians would run the cities, while the Gokturks provided military aid and protection. Xuanzang's description of the people of Suyab, or the “City of Suye River”, doesn't pick out anyone in particular, and he even says that it was a place where traders of the Hu, or foreign, tribes from different countries mingle their abodes. He mentions the people here as being called Suli, which is also the name given to the language—this may refer to “Sogdian” in general. They write with an alphabet that is written vertically rather than horizontally—this may refer to a few scripts that were written this way, possibly based off Syriac or Aramaic alphabets that were adapted to Sogdian and other Iranian languages, but it isn't clear. We are told that the people dressed in felt and hemp clothing, with fur and “cotton” garments. Their clothes fit tightly, and they kept their hair cut short, exposing the top of their heads—though sometimes they shaved it completely, tying a colored silk band around the forehead. He goes on to describe these people as greedy liars, possibly a reference to the mercantile nature of many of the people at the time. Something to note: The Turks of this time had not yet encountered Islam, which was just now starting to rise up in the Middle East. The Prophet Muhammad is said to have been born around the end of the 6th century CE and was preaching in the early 7th century, though his teachings would begin to spread outward soon enough. But that means that the Gokturks were not an Islamic empire. Rather, their own traditions seem to have focused on the worship of Tengri, an Altaic personification of the universe, often simplified as a “sky god”. Tengrism can be found amongst the Xiongnu, Mongols, and others, and it was the national religion of the Gokturks themselves, but there were many who also adopted other religions that they encountered, including Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Buddhism. In fact, Xuanzang notes that the Turks he met in Suyab would not sleep or sit on beds made of wood because wood was thought to contain the spirit of fire, which he says they worshipped. That sounds similar to Zoroastrian beliefs, where fire is associated with Ahura Mazda, who is also worshipped as a sky god. These may have been beliefs inherited from their Eastern Iranian Sogdian partners. In Xuanzang's biography, we are given more details about his visit to Suyab. Apparently, as he was headed to the city, he met a hunting party, which we are told was the retinue of Yehu Khan. Hunting was an important part of life on the steppes, and it continued to be a favorite sport of the Gokturk nobility. Yehu Khan—possibly Yagbhu Khan, though that is up for some debate—is described as being dressed in a green silk robe, with his hair exposed, and wearing a turban of white silk about ten feet long that wrapped his forehead and hung behind his back. His “hunting” expedition wasn't just a couple of the guys. It included about 200 officials, all with plaited hair and dressed in brocade robes—they weren't exactly out there roughing it. He also had his soldiers, dressed in furs, felt, or fine woolen clothes, and there were so many cavalry that they stretched out of sight. The Khan seemed pleased to meet Xuanzang, but his hunt was expected to last another couple of days, at least, so he sent an attendant named Dharmaja to take Xuanzang back to wait for the Khan to return. Three days later, Xuanzang was given an audience. The khan was seated in a large yurt. Xuanzang noted the seeming incongruity between the khan, sitting there in the tent, decorated with golden flowers, with the officials dressed in magnificent brocade garments sitting in two long rows in front of him and the armed guards behind him, compared to the simple felt walls of the tent. A ”yurt” is a common feature of nomadic life on the steppes. It wasn't exactly a single person operation to haul them around, but they can be taken down and put up with relative ease. And while yurts could be relatively simple, there are examples of much more elaborate structures. There is little reason they couldn't be made larger, perhaps with some extra support. In later centuries, there are examples of giant yurts that seem like real construction projects. Use of tents, even in a city, where they had permanent palace buildings, was likely a means of retaining the nomadic steppe traditions, even while enjoying the benefits of city life. Whom exactly Xuanzang met with is a matter of debate. His records seem to indicate that it was Tong Yabghu Qaghan of the Western Gokturk Khaganate, but other sources say that Tong Yabghu Qaghan died in 628, and the earliest Xuanzang could have been meeting with him was 630, two years later, so if that is the case, he must have met with Tong Yabghu's son, Si Yabghu Qaghan. It is likely that Xuanzang, who was dictating his accounts years after, mentioned the Qaghan and then, when they looked up who it was, they simply made a mistake. Remember, Xuanzang would have had everything translated through one or two languages. He did know what he saw, however, and he recounted what he remembered. Tong Yabghu Qaghan oversaw the height of the Gokturk Qaghanate, and appears to have favored the Buddhist religion, though there were many different religions active in their territories at the time. They oversaw an extremely cosmopolitan empire covering huge swaths of central Eurasia, including the lucrative silk road. Xuanzang notes that at the court there were individuals from Gaochang and even a messenger from the Han—which is to say the Tang Empire. One wonders if Xuanzang—or anyone at that time—realized just how tenuous the Khan'sposition was. After Tong Yabghu's death, the Qaghanate would decline, and less than a decade later it would fall to the Tang dynasty, who took Suyab and made it their western outpost. In fact, Suyab is thought to have been the birthplace, over a century later, of a young boy who would find a love of poetry. That boy's name was Li Bai, or Ri Haku, in Japanese. He would become one of the most famous poets in Chinese history, and his poems were even known and studied in Japan. And it was largely through Japanese study of Li Bai's poems that his works came to the English speaking world: first through Ernest Fenollosa, who had studied in Japan, and then by the celebrated Ezra Pound, who had used Ernest's notes to help with his own translations of the poems. This was, though, as I said, over a century after Xuanzang's journey. At the time of our story, the Qaghan was throwing a feast, including Xuanzang and all of the foreign envoys. Xuanzang comments on the food and drink—his hosts provided grape juice in lieu of wine, and cooked a special vegetarian feast just for him, while the other guests ate a feast of meat, such as veal, lamb, fish, and the like. There was also the music of various regions along the Silk Road, which Xuanzang found to be catchy, but of course not as refined as the music he was used to, of course. After dinner Xuanzang was asked to expound upon the Darma, largely about the basic principle that you should be kind to one another—I doubt he was getting into the deep mysteries of Buddhist philosophy. Xuanzang stuck around the court for three more days, during which time the Qaghan tried to get him to stay, but Xuanzang insisted that he had to make it to India. And so the Qaghan relented. He found men in his army who could translate for Xuanzang along his journey, and had letters of introduction written to at least as far as the state of Kapisa, in modern Afghanistan. And so, armed with the Qaghan's blessing and a fresh translator, Xuanzang struck out again. They headed westward for over one hundred miles, eventually reaching Bingyul, aka the Thousand Springs. This is the area where the Qaghan and his court would spend his summers, and the deer in the area were protected under his orders, so that they were not afraid of humans—which sounds similar to the situation with the deer in Nara. Continuing on another fifty miles or so—the distances are approximate as Xuanzang's primary duty was not exactly to map all of this out—Xuanzang arrived at the city of Taras, in modern Kazakhstan, another place where the cultures of the Silk Road mixed and mingled. Xuanzang didn't have much to say about Taraz, apparently, though it is one of the oldest cities in Transoxania, founded near the beginning of the Common Era. A few miles south of there, Xuanzang reportedly found a village of re-settled ethnic Han that had been captured by the Gokturks and settled here. They had adopted the dress and customs of the Turkic people, but continued to speak a version of Chinese. Southwest of that he reached the City of White Water, likely referring to Aksukent. This is the same “Aksu” as the city in Xinjiang, both of which mean “White Water” in Turkic, but this one is in the south of Kazakhstan. Xuanzang found the climate and products an improvement over what he had experienced in Taras. Beyond that, he next arrived at the city of Gongyu, and then south again to Nujkend, and then traveling westward to the country of Chach, aka Tashkent. Both Nujkend and Chach were large cities in nations of smaller, mostly autonomous city-states, which made up a lot of the political geography of Transoxania. I would note that Xuanzang's notes here are much more sparse than previously. This may be because these were outside of the Tarim basin and therefore of less interest to individuals in the Tang empire. Or perhaps he was just making his way more quickly and not stopping at every kingdom along the way. From Tashkent, he continued southeast to the Ferghana valley—the country of Feihan. Oddly, this country doesn't appear in Xuanzang's biography, even though the Ferghana Valley seems to have been fairly well known back in the Tang Empire—it was known as the home of some of the best horses, which were one of its first major exports. In fact, the Han dynasty even mounted a military expedition to travel to Ferghana just to obtain horses. Xuanzang is oddly silent on this; however, he does talk about the fertile nature of the land. He mentions that their language here is different from the lands he had been traveling through up to this point, and also points out that the people of the Ferghana valley were also visibly different from others in the area. From the Ferghana valley, Xuanzang headed west for about 300 miles or more to the land of Sutrushana—perhaps referring to the area of Ushrusana, with its capital of Bunjikat. This country was also largely Sogdian, and described as similar to Tashkent. From there, he traveled west through a great desert, passing skeletons, which were the only marker of the trail other than a view of the far off mountains. Finally, they reached Samarkand, known as the country of “Kang” in Chinese, which was also the term used to mark Sogdians who claimed descent from the people of Samarkand. Samarkand is another of the ancient cities of Central Asia, and even today is the third largest city in modern Uzbekistan. Human activity in the region goes back to the paleolithic era, and the city was probably founded between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Samarkand was conquered by Alexander the Great, and during the Achaemenid Empire it was the capital of Sogdiana. During Xuanzang's visit, Samarkand was described as an impenetrable fortress with a large population. For all of his travel, Samarkand was the first place Xuanzang notes as specifically not a Buddhist land. In fact, there were two monasteries, suggesting that there had been Buddhists, but if any monks tried to stay there then the locals would chase them out with fire. Instead, they worshipped fire—likely meaning Ahura Mazda and Zoroastrianism. This leads to a story that I have to wonder about, given the reliability of our narrators. It is said that Xuanzang was met by the King with arrogance, but after staying the night Xuanzang was able to tell the King about Buddhism and its merits. The king was intrigued, and asked to observe the Precepts, and treated Xuanzang with hospitality and respect. So when two of Xuanzang's attendants went to the monasteries to worship, they were chased out with fire. When the king heard about this, he had the people arrested and ordered their hands to be cut off. Xuanzang could not bear to witness such suffering, however, and he intervened to have them spared. So instead the king had them flogged and banished from the city. Ever since then, all the people believed in Buddhism. Some parts of this strike true. It was likely that the king would entertain this strange wanderer who had arrived with letters from the great Qaghan—that may have even explained why Xuanzang had been encouraged to make the dangerous journey to Suyab in the first place, so that he could obtain such permission. And it would not be strange for the king to listen to his teachings. If Xuanzang's attendants were attacked, that would have been a huge breach of hospitality, and however the King felt about it, he no doubt had to do something about it. And so all of that sounds somewhat believable. Does that mean everyone suddenly converted to Buddhism? I don't know that I'm quite willing to go that far. It is also likely that there were Buddhists there already, even if the majority religion was Zoroastrianism. From Samarkand, Xuanzang traveled farther southwest, to the country of Kasanna, which seems to have been the edge of what we might call Sogdiana. According to his biographers, however, there was a little more to all of this. Rather, he headed west to Kusanika. Then he traveled to Khargan, and further on to the country of Bukhara, and then to Vadi. All of these were “An” in Chinese, which was the name element used for Sogdians from this region. He then continued west to the country of Horismika, on the other side of the Amu Darya, aka the Oxus River of Transoxanian fame. From there he traveled further southwest, entering into the mountains. The path here was often such that they had to travel single-file, and there was no food or water other than what you brought with you. Eventually they came to a set of doors, known as the Iron Gate. This was a Turkic fortress. It was no doubt fortuitous that he had come from his meeting with the Qaghan, and likely had permission to pass through. From there, they entered the country of Tukhara. As we noted in Episode 119, Tukhara was in the region of Bactria. It was bordered by the Pamir range in the east, and the Persian empire in the west. There were also the Great Snow Mountains in the south, likely referencing the Hindu Kush. Tukhara had been conquered by the Gokturks just within the past couple of decades, and Xuanzang notes that the country had been split into largely autonomous city-states as the local royalty had died without an heir many years before. With the Gokturk conquest, it was now administered by Tardu Shad, the son of Tong Yabghu Qaghan. “Shad” in this case was a local title. Here, Xuanzang's narrative gets a little dicey, especially between his biography and his records. The records of the Western Regions denotes various countries in this area. It is unclear if he traveled to all of them or is just recounting them from records he obtained. He does give us at least an overview of the people and the region. I would also note that this is one of the regions he visited, again, on his return trip, and so may have been more familiar with the region than those areas he had passed through from Suyab on down. For one thing, he notes that the language of the region was different from that of the “Suli”, which appears to refer to the Sogdians. This was the old territory of the Kushan empire, and they largely spoke Bactrian. Like Sogdian, it was another Eastern Iranian language, and they used an alphabet based largely on Greek, and written horizontally rather than vertically. They also had their own coins. This region had plenty of Buddhist communities, and Xuanzang describes the cities and how many monasteries they had, though, again, it isn't clear if he actually visited all of them or not. These are countries that Li Rongji translates as “Tirmidh”, “Sahaaniyan”, “Kharuun”, “Shuumaan”, etc. It does seem that Xuanzang made it to the capital city, the modern city Kunduz, Afghanistan. Xuanzang actually had something specific for the local Gokturk ruler, Tardu Shad. Tardu Shad's wife was the younger sister of King Qu Wentai of Gaochang, whom we met last episode. Qu Wentai had provided Xuanzang a letter for his younger sister and her husband. Unfortunately, Xuanzang arrived to learn that the princess of Gaochang had passed away, and Tardu Shad's health was failing. It does seem that Tardu Shad was aware of Xuanzang, however—a letter had already come from Qu Wentai to let them know that Xuanzang was on his way. As I mentioned last episode, letters were an important part of how communities stayed tied together. Of course, given the perils of the road, one assumes that multiple letters likely had to be sent just in case they didn't make it. The US Postal Service this was not. Tardu Shad, though not feeling well, granted an interview with Xuanzang. He suggested that Xuanzang should stick around. Then, once the Shad had recovered from his illness, he would accompany Xuanzang personally on his trip to India. Unfortunately, that was not to be. While Xuanzang was staying there, he was witness to deadly drama. Tardu Shad was recovering, which was attributed to the recitations by an Indian monk who was also there. This outcome was not exactly what some in the court had wanted. One of the Shad's own sons, known as the Tagin prince, plotted with the Shad's current wife, the young Khatun, and she poisoned her husband. With the Shad dead, the throne might have gone to the son of the Gaochang princess, but he was still too young. As such, the Tagin Prince was able to usurp the throne himself, and he married his stepmother, the young Khatun. The funeral services for the late Tardu Shad meant that Xuanzang was obliged to stay at Ghor for over a month. During that time, Xuanzang had a seemingly pleasant interaction with an Indian monk. And when he finally got ready to go, he asked the new Shad for a guide and horses. He agreed, but also made the suggestion that Xuanzang should then head to Balkh. This may have meant a bit of backtracking, but the Shad suggested that it would be worth it, as Balkh had a flourishing Buddhist community. Fortunately, there was a group of Buddhist monks from Balkh who happened to be in Kunduz to express their condolences at the passing of Tardu Shad, and they agreed to accompany Xuanzang back to their hometown, lest he end up getting lost and taking the long way there. The city of Balkh is also known as “Baktra”, as in “Bactria”, another name of this region. A settlement has been there since at least 500 BCE , and it was already an important city when it was captured by Alexander the Great. It sits at the confluence of several major trade routes, which no doubt were a big part of its success. Xuanzang's biography notes that it was a massive city, though it was relatively sparsely populated—probably due to the relatively recent conquest by the Gokturks, which had occurred in the last couple of decades. That said, there were still thousands of monks residing at a hundred monasteries in and around the city. They are all characterized as monks of Theravada schools. Southwest of the city was a monastery known as Navasamgharama, aka Nava Vihara, or “New Monastery”. Despite its name, the monastery may have actually been much older, going back to the Kushan emperor Kaniska, in the 2nd century CE. Ruins identified as this “New Monastery” are still visible south of Balkh, today. The monastery is described as being beautifully decorated, and it seems that it had a relic—one of the Buddha's teeth. There are also various utensils that the Buddha is said to have used, as well. The objects would be displayed on festival days. North of the monastery there was a stupa more than 200 feet in height. South of the monastery was a hermitage. Each monk who studied there and passed away would have a stupa erected for them, as well. Xuanzang notes that there were at around 700 memorial stupas, such that they had to be crammed together, base to base. It was here that Xuanzang met a young monk named Prajnaakara, who was already somewhat famous in India, and well-studied. When questioned about certain aspects of Buddhism, Xuanzang was impressed by the monk's answers, and so stayed there a month studying with the young monk. Eventually, Xuanzang was ready to continue on his journey. He departed Balkh towards the south, accompanying the teacher Prajnakara, and together they entered the Great Snow Mountains, aka the Hindu Kush. This path was even more dangerous than the trip through the Tian Shan mountains to Suyab. They eventually left the territory of Tukhara and arrived at Bamiyan. Bamiyan was a kingdom in the Hindu Kush, themselves an extension of the Himalayan Mountain range. It Is largely based around valley, home to the modern city of Bamyan, Afghanistan, which sits along the divide between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Today it is a major center for individuals of the Hazara ethnic group, one of the main ethnic groups in Afghanistan, which is a multi-ethnic state that includes, today, the Pashtun, Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek people, along with a number of smaller ethnic groups. Today they largely reside in the mountainous areas of the Hindu Kush. Bamiyan made an impact on our protagonist. Their language was slightly different from that in Tukhara, but using the same—or similar enough—writing system. Buddhism was thriving in the capital, and we are told of a rock statue of the standing Buddha, over a hundred feet in height, along with a copper statue of the standing Buddha nearby. There was also another reclining Buddha a mile or two down the road. There were multiple monasteries with thousands of monks, and the ruler of that kingdom received Xuanzang well. Xuanzang wasn't the first monk to travel to Bamiyan from the Middle Kingdom—in this he was, perhaps unwittingly, on the trail of the monk Faxian. Faxian likely did not see these statues, though, as we believe they were built in the 6th and early 7th century—at least the stone Buddha statues. They were a famous worship site until February 2001, when the Taliban gave an order to destroy all of the statues in Afghanistan. Despite this, they were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Fortunately, we have images from before their destruction. These statues were a blend of Greco-Buddhist and Gandharan art styles—appropriate as it stands between the Hellenistic area of Tukhara and the ancient region of Gandhara—including the modern city of Kandahar and into the Indus Valley region of Pakistan. Continuing east through the mountains, Xuanzang eventually came out at the kingdom of Kapisa. This may have had its capital around modern-day Bagram, north of modern Kabul, but the country seems to have been quite large. Kapisa over saw some tens of other countries, and it is thought that at one time its influence extended from Bamyan and Kandahar to the area of modern Jalalabad. Their language was even more different than that of Tukhara, but they were still using the same writing system. The king of Kapisa is said to have been of Suli ethnicity—which would seem to indicate that he was Sogdian, or at least descended from people of the Transoxanian region. Xuanzang notes that the ruler, as rough and fiery as he is described—as a true warlord or similar—he nonetheless made a silver image of the Buddha, eighteen feet in height, every year. He also gave charity to the poor and needy in an assembly that was called every five years. There were over one hundred monasteries and some 6000 monks, per Xuanzang's recollection, and notably, they were largely following Mahayana teachings. For the most part the monks that Xuanzang had encountered on this journey were Theravada—Xuanzang refers to them as “Hinayana”, referring to the “Lesser Vehicle” in contrast to Xuanzang's own “Mahayana”, or “Greater Vehicle”. “Theravada” refers to the “way of the elders” and while Mahayana Buddhism largely accepts the sutras of Theravada Buddhism, there are many Mahayana texts that Theravada Buddhists do not believe are canonical. We discussed this back in Episode 84. There was apparently a story of another individual from the Yellow River being sent as a hostage to Kapisa when it was part of the Kushan Empire, under Kanishka or similar. Xuanzang recounts various places that the hostage, described as a prince, lived or visited while in the region. Xuanzang's arrival likely stirred the imagination of people who likely knew that the Tang were out there, but it was such a seemingly impossible distance for most people. And yet here was someone who had traveled across all of that distance. One of the monasteries that claimed to have been founded because of that ancient Han prince invited Xuanzang to stay with them. Although it was a Theravada monastery, Xuanzang took them up on the offer, both because of the connection to someone who may have been his countryman, but also because of his traveling companion, Prajnakara, who was also a Theravada monk, and may not be comfortable staying at a Mahayana monastery. Xuanzang spends a good deal of ink on the stories of how various monasteries and other sites were founded in Kapisa and the surrounding areas. He must have spent some time there to accumulate all of this information. It is also one of the places where he seems to have hit at least twice—once on the way to India, and once during his return journey. The King of Kapisa is said to have been a devotee of Mahayana Buddhism. He invited Xuanzang and Prajnakara to come to a Mahayana monastery to hold a Dharma gathering. There they met with several leading figures in the monastery, and they discussed different theories. This gathering lasted five days, and at the end, the king offered Xuanzang and the other monks five bolts of pure brocade and various other gifts. Soon thereafter, the monk Prajnakara was invited back to Tukhara, and so he and Xuanzang parted ways. And it was about time for Xuanzang to continue onwards as well. From Kapisa, he would travel across the “Black Range” and into Lampaka. This may refer to the area of Laghman or Jalalabad. Today, this is in modern Afghanistan, but for Xuanzang, this would have been the northwestern edge of India. He was almost there. And so are we, but we'll save his trip into India for next episode. Until then thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

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Gulnihal - gtalks! radio x NEW INC w/ Mattaniah Aytenfsu

G Talks!

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2025 60:17

#gtalksradio present: Mattaniah Aytenfsu, a new media artist and engineer from the Bay Area, now based in New York. Using software as her primary medium, Mattaniah creates artifacts and experiences that explore the humanistic and expressive potential of computation. Her practice spans across design, science and culture. Tracklist: Janet Jackson – Someone to Call My Lover Quinteto Ternura – Baby Maryyx2 – RING!!! Nala Sinephro – Continuum 6 Caroline Polachek – Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth 4am Kru – High Time Special series @gtalksradio at NEW INC brings together the diasporic approach of gtalks! radio and the experimental ethos of NEW INC, the first museum-led incubator for art, design, and technology founded by the New Museum in 2014. Each episode is a peek into the practice of storytellers through different mediums. Curating advice and visibility for communities navigating the emerging landscape of art, technology, and entrepreneurship. Between conversations, featured guests share a playlist of their most played recent tunes, as a sonic backdrop to their creative process. The show is recorded in the NEW INC office, reimagined as a vessel for dissecting the intersectionality of art, design, and technology through individual conversations. The series' jingle is the work of composer and sound artist Etienne Mason, known professionally as MAYSUN. MAYSUN, recognized for his unique fusion of drumming and immersive soundscapes, has crafted a piece that features a sampled string riff from the Uyghur Sataer, ساتار. This riff was recorded by Gulnihal during her recent visit to Kashgar, China. Artist IG: https://www.instagram.com/muhtanya/ Artist Website: https://mattaniah.online Radio IG: www.instagram.com/gtalksradio/ Dublab: www.dublab.com/shows/gtalks-radio Sound Artist: https://www.instagram.com/maysun.music/

The Question of "Tukara"

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2025 39:10

This episode we are taking a trip down the Silk Road--or perhaps even the Spice Road--as we investigate references in this reign to individuals from "Tukara" who seem to have arrived in Yamato and stayed for a while. For photos and more, see our podcast webpage: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-119 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. This is episode 119: The Question of “Tukara” Traveling upon the ocean was never exactly safe. Squalls and storms could arise at any time, and there was always a chance that high winds and high waves could capsize a vessel. Most people who found themselves at the mercy of the ocean could do little but hold on and hope that they could ride out whatever adverse conditions they met with. Many ships were lost without any explanation or understanding of what happened to them. They simply left the port and never came back home. And so when the people saw the boat pulling up on the shores of Himuka, on the island of Tsukushi, they no doubt empathized with the voyagers' plight. The crew looked bedraggled, and their clothing was unfamiliar. There were both men and women, and this didn't look like your average fishing party. If anything was clear it was this: These folk weren't from around here. The locals brought out water and food. Meanwhile, runners were sent with a message: foreigners had arrived from a distant place. They then waited to see what the government was going to do. We are still in the second reign of Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tenno. Last episode we talked about the palaces constructed in Asuka, as well as some of the stone works that have been found from the period, and which appear to be referenced in the Nihon Shoki—at least tangentially. The episodes before that, we looked at the expeditions the court sent to the far north of Honshu and even past Honshu to Hokkaido. This episode we'll again be looking past the main islands of the archipelago to lands beyond. Specifically, we are going to focus on particularly intriguing references to people from a place called “Tukara”. We'll talk about some of the ideas about where that might be, even if they're a bit far-fetched. That's because Tukara touches on the state of the larger world that Yamato was a part of, given its situation on the far eastern edge of what we know today as the Silk Road. And is this just an excuse for me to take a detour into some of the more interesting things going on outside the archipelago? No comment. The first mention of a man from Tukara actually comes at the end of the reign of Karu, aka Koutoku Tennou. We are told that in the fourth month of 654 two men and two women of “Tukara” and one woman of “Sha'e” were driven by a storm to Hiuga. Then, three years later, the story apparently picks up again, though possibly referring to a different group of people. On the 3rd day of the 7th month of 657, so during the second reign of Takara Hime, we now hear about two men and four women of the Land of Tukara—no mention of Sha'e—who drifted to Tsukushi, aka Kyushu. The Chronicles mention that these wayfarers first drifted to the island of Amami, and we'll talk about that in a bit, but let's get these puzzle pieces on the table, first. After those six people show up, the court sent for them by post-horse. They must have arrived by the 15th of that same month, because we are told that a model of Mt. Sumi was erected and they—the people from Tukara—were entertained, although there is another account that says they were from “Tora”. The next mention is the 10th day of the 3rd month of 659, when a Man of Tukara and his wife, again woman of Sha'e, arrived. Then, on the 16th day of the 7th month of 660, we are told that the man of Tukara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, desired to return home and asked for an escort. He planned to pay his respects at the Great Country, i.e. the Tang court, and so he left his wife behind, taking tens of men with him. All of these entries might refer to people regularly reaching Yamato from the south, from a place called “Tukara”. Alternately, this is a single event whose story has gotten distributed over several years, as we've seen happen before with the Chronicles. . One of the oddities of these entries is that the terms used are not consistent. “Tukara” is spelled at least two different ways, suggesting that it wasn't a common placename like Silla or Baekje, or even the Mishihase. That does seem to suggest that the Chronicles were phonetically trying to find kanji, or the Sinitic characters, to match with the name they were hearing. I would also note that “Tukara” is given the status of a “kuni”—a land, country, or state—while “sha'e”, where some of the women are said to come from, is just that, “Sha'e”. As for the name of at least one person from Tokara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, that certainly sounds like someone trying to fit a non-Japanese name into the orthography of the time. “Tatsuna” seems plausibly Japanese, but “Kenzuhashi” doesn't fit quite as well into the naming structures we've seen to this point. The location of “Tukara” and “Sha'e” are not clear in any way, and as such there has been a lot of speculation about them. While today there are placenames that fit those characters, whether or not these were the places being referenced at the time is hard to say. I'll actually start with “Sha'e”, which Aston translates as Shravasti, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala, in modern Uttar Pradesh. It is also where the Buddha, Siddartha Gautama, is said to have lived most of his life after his enlightenment. In Japanese this is “Sha'e-jou”, and like many Buddhist terms it likely comes through Sanskrit to Middle Chinese to Japanese. One—or possibly two—women from Shravasti making the journey to Yamato in the company of a man (or men) from Tukara seems quite the feat. But then, where is “Tukara”? Well, we have at least three possible locations that I've seen bandied about. I'll address them from the most distant to the closest option. These three options were Tokharistan, Dvaravati, and the Tokara islands. We'll start with Tokharistan on the far end of the Silk Road. And to start, let's define what that “Silk Road” means. We've talked in past episodes about the “Western Regions”, past the Han-controlled territories of the Yellow River. The ancient Tang capital of Chang'an was built near to the home of the Qin dynasty, and even today you can go and see both the Tang tombs and the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi and his terracotta warriors, all within a short distance of Xi'an, the modern city built on the site of Chang'an. That city sits on a tributary of the Yellow River, but the main branch turns north around the border of modern Henan and the similarly sounding provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi. Following it upstream, the river heads north into modern Mongolia, turns west, and then heads south again, creating what is known as the Ordos loop. Inside is the Ordos plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin. Continuing to follow the Yellow river south, on the western edge of the Ordos, you travel through Ningxia and Gansu—home of the Hexi, or Gansu, Corridor. That route eventually takes to Yumenguan, the Jade Gate, and Dunhuang. From there roads head north or south along the edge of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim basin. The southern route travels along the edge of the Tibetan plateau, while the northern route traversed various oasis cities through Turpan, Kucha, to the city of Kashgar. Both routes made their way across the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush into South Asia. We've brought up the Tarim Basin and the Silk Road a few times. This is the path that Buddhism appears to have taken to get to the Yellow River Basin and eventually to the Korean Peninsula and eastward to the Japanese archipelago. But I want to go a bit more into detail on things here, as there is an interesting side note about “Tukara” that I personally find rather fascinating, and thought this would be a fun time to share. Back in Episode 79 we talked about how the Tarim basin used to be the home to a vast inland sea, which was fed by the meltwater from the Tianshan and Kunlun mountains. This sea eventually dwindled, though it was still large enough to be known to the Tang as the Puchang Sea. Today it has largely dried up, and it is mostly just the salt marshes of Lop Nur that remain. Evidence for this larger sea, however, can be observed in some of the burials found around the Tarim basin. These burials include the use of boat-shaped structures—a rather curious feature to be found out in the middle of the desert. And it is the desert that was left behind as the waters receded that is key to much of what we know about life in the Tarim basin, as it has proven to be quite excellent at preserving organic material. This includes bodies, which dried out and naturally turned into mummies, including not only the wool clothing they were wearing, but also features such as hair and even decoration. These “Tarim mummies”, as they have been collectively called, date from as early as 2100 BCE all the way up through the period of time we're currently talking about, and have been found in several desert sites: Xiaohe, the earliest yet discovered; Loulan, near Lop Nur on the east of the Tarim Basin, dating from around 1800 BCE; Cherchen, on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, dating from roughly 1000 BCE; and too many others to go into in huge detail. The intriguing thing about these burials is that many of them don't have features typically associated with people of ethnic Han—which is to say traditional Chinese—ancestry, nor do they necessarily have the features associated with the Xiongnu and other steppe nomads. In addition they have colorful clothing made from wool and leather, with vivid designs. Some bodies near Hami, just east of the basin, were reported to have blonde to light brown hair, and their cloth showed radically different patterns from that found at Cherchen and Loulan, with patterns that could reasonably be compared with the plaids now common in places like Scotland and Ireland, and previously found in the Hallstadt salt mine in Central Europe from around 3500 BCE, from which it is thought the Celtic people may have originated. At the same time that people—largely Westerners— were studying these mummies, another discovery in the Tarim basin was also making waves. This was the discovery of a brand new language. Actually, it was two languages—or possibly two dialects of a language—in many manuscripts, preserved in Kucha and Turpan. Once again, the dry desert conditions proved invaluable to maintain these manuscripts, which date from between the late 4th or early 5th century to the 8th century. They are written with a Brahmic script, similar to that used for Sanskrit, which appears in the Tarim Basin l by about the 2nd century, and we were able to translate them because many of the texts were copies of Buddhist scripture, which greatly helped scholars in deciphering the languages. These two languages were fascinating because they represented an as-yet undiscovered branch of the Indo-European language family. Furthermore, when compared to other Indo-European languages, they did not show nearly as much similarity with their neighbors as with languages on the far western end of the Indo-European language family. That is to say they were thought to be closer to Celtic and Italic languages than something like Indo-Iranian. And now for a quick diversion within the diversion: “Centum” and “Satem” are general divisions of the Indo-European language families that was once thought to indicate a geographic divide in the languages. At its most basic, as Indo-European words changed over time, a labiovelar sound, something like “kw”, tended to evolve in one of two ways. In the Celtic and Italic languages, the “kw” went to a hard “k” sound, as represented in the classical pronunciation of the Latin word for 100: Centum. That same word, in the Avestan language—of the Indo-Iranian tree—is pronounced as “Satem”, with an “S” sound. So, you can look at Indo-European languages and divide them generally into “centum” languages, which preserve the hard “k”, or “Satem” languages that preserve the S. With me so far? Getting back to these two newly-found languages in the Tarim Basin, the weird thing is that they were “Centum” languages. Most Centum languages are from pretty far away, though: they are generally found in western Europe or around the Mediterranean, as opposed to the Satem languages, such as Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Armernian, or even Baltic Slavic languages, which are much closer to the Tarim Basin. So if the theory were true that the “Centum” family of Indo-European languages developed in the West and “Satem” languages developed in the East, then that would seem to indicate that a group of a “Centum” speaking people must have migrated eastward, through the various Satem speaking people, and settled in the Tarim Basin many thousands of years ago. And what evidence do we have of people who look very different from the modern population, living in the Tarim Basin area long before, and wearing clothing similar to what we associated with the progenitors of the Celts? For many, it seemed to be somewhat obvious, if still incredible, that the speakers of this language were likely the descendants of the mummies who, in the terminology of the time, had been identified as being of Caucasoid ancestry. A theory developed that these people were an offshoot of a group called the Yamnaya culture, which may have arisen around modern Ukraine as an admixture between the European Hunter Gatherers and the Caucasian Hunter Gatherers, around 3300-2600 BCE. This was challenged in 2021 when a genetic study was performed on some of the mummies in the Tarim basin, as well as several from the Dzungarian basin, to the northeast. That study suggested that the people of the Dzungarian basin had genetic ties to the people of the Afanasievo people, from Southern Siberia. The Afanasievo people are connected to the Yamnayan culture. It should be noted that there has long been a fascination in Western anthropology and related sciences with racial identification—and often not in a healthy way. As you may recall, the Ainu were identified as “Caucasoid” by some people largely because of things like the men's beards and lighter colored hair, which differ greatly from a large part of the Japanese population. However, that claim has been repeatedly refuted and debunked. And similarly, the truth is, none of these Tarim mummy burials were in a period of written anything, so we can't conclusively associated them with these fascinating Indo-European languages. There are thousands of years between the various burials and the manuscripts. These people left no notes stashed in pockets that give us their life story. And Language is not Genetics is not Culture. Any group may adopt a given language for a variety of reasons. . Still, given what we know, it is possible that the ancient people of the Tarim basin spoke some form of “Proto-Kuchean”, but it is just as likely that this language was brought in by people from Dzungaria at some point. So why does all this matter to us? Well, remember how we were talking about someone from Tukara? The Kuchean language, at least, is referred to in an ancient Turkic source as belonging to “Twgry”, which led several scholars to draw a link between this and the kingdom and people called Tukara and the Tokharoi. This leads us on another bit of a chase through history. Now if you recall, back in Episode 79, we talked about Zhang Qian. In 128 BCE, he attempted to cross the Silk Road through the territory of the Xiongnu on a mission for the Han court. Some fifty years earlier, the Xiongnu had defeated the Yuezhi. They held territory in the oasis towns along the north of the Taklamakan dessert, from about the Turpan basin west to the Pamirs. The Xiongnu were causing problems for the Han, who thought that if they could contact the remaining Yuezhi they could make common cause with them and harass the Xiongnu from both sides. Zhang Qian's story is quite remarkable: he started out with an escort of some 99 men and a translator. Unfortunately, he was captured and enslaved by the Xiongnu during his journey, and he is even said to have had a wife and fathered a child. He remained a captive for thirteen years, but nonetheless, he was able to escape with his family and he made it to the Great Yuezhi on the far side of the Pamirs, but apparently the Yuezhi weren't interested in a treaty against the Xiongnu. The Pamirs were apparently enough of a barrier and they were thriving in their new land. And so Zhang Qian crossed back again through Xiongnu territory, this time taking the southern route around the Tarim basin. He was still captured by the Xiongnu, who spared his life. He escaped, again, two years later, returning to the Han court. Of the original 100 explorers, only two returned: Zhang Qian and his translator. While he hadn't obtained an alliance, he was able to detail the cultures of the area of the Yuezhi. Many feel that the Kushan Empire, which is generally said to have existed from about 30 to 375 CE,was formed from the Kushana people who were part of the Yuezhi who fled the Xiongnu. In other words, they were originally from further north, around the Tarim Basin, and had been chased out and settled down in regions that included Bactria (as in the Bactrian camel). Zhang Qian describes reaching the Dayuan Kingdom in the Ferghana valley, then traveling south to an area that was the home of the Great Yuezhi or Da Yuezhi. And after the Kushan empire fell, we know there was a state in the upper regions of the Oxus river, centered on the city of Balkh, in the former territory of the Kushan empire. known as “Tokara”. Geographically, this matches up how Zhang Qian described the home of the Da Yuezhi. Furthermore, some scholars reconstruct the reading of the Sinic characters used for “Yuezhi” as originally having an optional reading of something like “Togwar”, but that is certainly not the most common reconstructed reading of those characters. Greek sources describe this area as the home of the Tokharoi, or the Tokaran People. The term “Tukhara” is also found in Sanskrit, and this kingdom was also said to have sent ambassadors to the Southern Liang and Tang dynasties. We aren't exactly certain of where these Tokharan people came from, but as we've just described, there's a prevailing theory that they were the remnants of the Yuezhi and Kushana people originally from the Tarim Basin. We know that in the 6th century they came under the rule of the Gokturk Khaganate, which once spanned from the Liao river basin to the Black Sea. In the 7th and 8th centuries they came under the rule of the Tang Empire, where they were known by very similar characters as those used to write “Tukara” in the Nihon Shoki. On top of this, we see Tokharans traveling the Silk Road, all the way to the Tang court. Furthermore, Tokharans that settled in Chang'an took the surname “Zhi” from the ethnonym “Yuezhi”, seemingly laying claim to and giving validation to the identity used back in the Han dynasty. So, we have a Turkic record describing the Kuchean people (as in, from Kucha in the Tarim Basin) as “Twgry”, and we have a kingdom in Bactria called Tokara and populated (according to the Greeks) by people called Tokharoi. You can see how this one term has been a fascinating rabbit hole in the study of the Silk Roads and their history. And some scholars understandably suggested that perhaps the Indo-European languags found in Kucha and Turpan were actually related to this “Tokhara” – and therefore should be called “Tocharian”, specifically Tocharian A (Kuchean) or Tocharian B (Turfanian). The problem is that if the Tokharans were speaking “Tocharian” then you wouldn't expect to just see it at Kucha and Turpan, which are about the middle of the road between Tokhara and the Tang dynasty, and which had long been under Gokturk rule. You would also expect to see it in the areas of Bactria associated with Tokhara. However, that isn't what we see. Instead, we see that Bactria was the home of local Bactrian language—an Eastern Iranian language, which, though it is part of the Indo European language family, it is not closely related to Tocharian as far as we can tell. It is possible that the people of Kucha referred to themselves as something similar to “Twgry”, or “Tochari”, but we should also remember that comes from a Turkic source, and it could have been an exonym not related to what they called themselves. I should also note that language is not people. It is also possible that a particular ethnonym was maintained separately by two groups that may have been connected politically but which came to speak different languages for whatever reason. There could be a connection between the names, or it could even be that the same or similar exonym was used for different groups. So, that was a lot and a bit of a ramble, but a lot of things that I find interesting—even if they aren't as connected as they may appear. We have the Tarim mummies, which are, today, held at a museum in modern Urumqi. Whether they had any connection with Europe or not, they remain a fascinating study for the wealth of material items found in and around the Tarim basin and similar locations. And then there is the saga of the Tocharian languages—or perhaps more appropriately the Kuchean-Turfanian languages: Indo-European languages that seem to be well outside of where we would expect to find them. Finally, just past the Pamirs, we get to the land of Tokhara or Tokharistan. Even without anything else, we know that they had contact with the court. Perhaps our castaways were from this land? The name is certainly similar to what we see in the Nihon Shoki, using some of the same characters. All in all, art and other information suggest that the area of the Tarim basin and the Silk Road in general were quite cosmopolitan, with many different people from different regions of the world. Bactria retained Hellenic influences ever since the conquests of Alexander of Macedonia, aka Alexander the Great, and Sogdian and Persian traders regularly brought their caravans through the region to trade. And once the Tang dynasty controlled all of the routes, that just made travel that much easier, and many people traveled back and forth. So from that perspective, it is possible that one or more people from Tukhara may have made the crossing from their home all the way to the Tang court, but if they did so, the question still remains: why would they be in a boat? Utilizing overland routes, they would have hit Chang'an or Louyang, the dual capitals of the Tang empire, well before they hit the ocean. However, the Nihon Shoki says that these voyagers first came ashore at Amami and then later says that they were trying to get to the Tang court. Now there was another “Silk Road” that isn't as often mentioned: the sea route, following the coast of south Asia, around through the Malacca strait and north along the Asian coast. This route is sometimes viewed more in terms of the “spice” road If these voyagers set out to get to the Tang court by boat, they would have to have traveled south to the Indian Ocean—possibly traveling through Shravasti or Sha'e, depending on the route they chose to take—and then around the Malacca strait—unless they made it on foot all the way to Southeast Asia. And then they would have taken a boat up the coast. Why do that instead of taking the overland route? They could likely have traveled directly to the Tang court over the overland silk road. Even the from Southeast Asia could have traveled up through Yunnan and made their way to the Tang court that way. In fact, Zhang Qian had wondered something similar when he made it to the site of the new home of the Yuezhi, in Bactria. Even then, in the 2nd century, he saw products in the marketplace that he identified as coming from around Szechuan. That would mean south of the Han dynasty, and he couldn't figure out how those trade routes might exist and they weren't already known to the court. Merchants would have had to traverse the dangerous mountains if they wanted to avoid being caught by the Xiongnu, who controlled the entire region. After returning to the Han court, Zhang Qian actually went out on another expedition to the south, trying to find the southern trade routes, but apparently was not able to do so. That said, we do see, in later centuries, the trade routes open up between the area of the Sichuan basin and South Asia. We also see the migrations of people further south, and there may have even been some Roman merchants who traveled up this route to find their way to the Han court, though those accounts are not without their own controversy. In either case, whether by land or sea, these trade routes were not always open. In some cases, seasonal weather, such as monsoons, might dictate movement back and forth, while political realities were also a factor. Still, it is worth remembering that even though most people were largely concerned with affairs in their own backyard, the world was still more connected than people give it credit for. Tang dynasty pottery made its way to the east coast of Africa, and ostriches were brought all the way to Chang'an. As for the travelers from Tukhara and why they would take this long and very round-about method of travel, it is possible that they were just explorers, seeking new routes, or even on some kind of pilgrimage. Either way, they would have been way off course. But if they did pass through Southeast Asia, that would match up with another theory about what “Tukara” meant: that it actually refers to the Dvaravati kingdom in what is now modern Thailand. The Dvaravati Kingdom was a Mon political entity that rose up around the 6th century. It even sent embassies to the Sui and Tang courts. This is even before the temple complexes in Siem Reap, such as Preah Ko and the more famous Angkor Wat. And it was during this time that the ethnic Tai people are thought to have started migrating south from Yunnan, possibly due to pressures from the expanding Sui and Tang empires. Today, most of what remains of the Dvaravati kingdom are the ruins of ancient stone temples, showing a heavy Indic influence, and even early Buddhist practices as well. “Dvaravati” may not actually be the name of the kingdom but it comes from an inscription on a coin found from about that time. The Chinese refer to it as “To-lo-po-ti” in contemporary records. It may not even have been a kingdom, but more of a confederation of city-states—it is hard to piece everything together. That it was well connected, though, is clear from the archaeological record. In Dvaravati sites, we see coins from as far as Rome, and we even have a lamp found in modern Pong Tuk that appears to match similar examples from the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century. Note that this doesn't mean it arrived in the 6th century—similarly with the coins—but the Dvaravati state lasted until the 12th century. If that was the case, perhaps there were some women from a place called “Shravasti” or similar, especially given the Indic influence in the region. Now, given the location of the Dvaravati, it wouldn't be so farfetched to think that someone might sail up from the Gulf of Thailand and end up off-course, though it does mean sailing up the entire Ryukyuan chain or really running off course and finding yourself adrift on the East China sea. And if they were headed to the Tang court, perhaps they did have translators or knew Chinese, since Yamato was unlikely to know the Mon language of Dvaravati and people from Dvaravati probably wouldn't know the Japonic language. Unless, perhaps, they were communicating through Buddhist priests via Sanskrit. We've now heard two possibilities for Tukara, both pretty far afield: the region of Tokara in Bactria, and the Dvaravati kingdom in Southeast Asia. That said, the third and simplest explanation—and the one favored by Aston in his translation of the Nihon Shoki—is that Tukara is actually referring to a place in the Ryukyu island chain. Specifically, there is a “Tokara” archipelago, which spans between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima. This is part of the Nansei islands, and the closest part of the Ryukyuan island chain to the main Japanese archipelago. This is the most likely theory, and could account for the entry talking about Amami. It is easy to see how sailors could end up adrift, too far north, and come to shore in Hyuga, aka Himuka, on the east side of Kyushu. It certainly would make more sense for them to be from this area of the Ryukyuan archipelago than from anywhere else. From Yakushima to Amami-Oshima is the closest part of the island chain to Kyushu, and as we see in the entry from the Shoku Nihongi, those three places seem to have been connected as being near to Japan. So what was going on down there, anyway? Well, first off, let's remember that the Ryukyuan archipelago is not just the island of Okinawa, but a series of islands that go from Kyushu all the way to the island of Taiwan. Geographically speaking, they are all part of the same volcanic ridge extending southward. The size of the islands and their distance from each other does vary, however, creating some natural barriers in the form of large stretches of open water, which have shaped how various groups developed on the islands. Humans came to the islands around the same time they were reaching the Japanese mainland. In fact, some of our only early skeletal remains for early humans in Japan actually come from either the Ryukyuan peninsula in the south or around Hokkaido to the north, and that has to do with the acidity of the soil in much of mainland Japan. Based on genetic studies, we know that at least two groups appear to have inhabited the islands from early times. One group appears to be related to the Jomon people of Japan, while the other appears to be more related to the indigenous people of Taiwan, who, themselves, appear to have been the ancestors of many Austronesian people. Just as some groups followed islands to the south of Taiwan, some appear to have headed north. However, they only made it so far. As far as I know there is no evidence they made it past Miyakoshima, the northernmost island in the Sakishima islands. Miyako island is separated from the next large island, Okinawa, by a large strait, known as the Miyako Strait, though sometimes called the Kerama gap in English. It is a 250km wide stretch of open ocean, which is quite the distance for anyone to travel, even for Austronesian people of Taiwan, who had likely not developed the extraordinary navigational technologies that the people who would become the Pacific Islanders would discover. People on the Ryukyu island chain appear to have been in contact with the people of the Japanese archipelago since at least the Jomon period, and some of the material artifacts demonstrate a cultural connection. That was likely impacted by the Akahoya eruption, about 3500 years ago, and then re-established at a later date. We certainly see sea shells and corals trade to the people of the Japanese islands from fairly early on. Unlike the people on the Japanese archipelago, the people of the Ryukyuan archipelago did not really adopt the Yayoi and later Kofun culture. They weren't building large, mounded tombs, and they retained the character of a hunter-gatherer society, rather than transitioning to a largely agricultural way of life. The pottery does change in parts of Okinawa, which makes sense given the connections between the regions. Unfortunately, there is a lot we don't know about life in the islands around this time. We don't exactly have written records, other than things like the entries in the Nihon Shoki, and those are hardly the most detailed of accounts. In the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tennou, we see people from Yakushima, which is, along with Tanegashima, one of the largest islands at the northern end of the Ryukyu chain, just before you hit Kagoshima and the Osumi peninsula on the southern tip of Kyushu. The islands past that would be the Tokara islands, until you hit the large island of Amami. So you can see how it would make sense that the people from “Tokara” would make sense to be from the area between Yakushima and Amami, and in many ways this explanation seems too good to be true. There are a only a few things that make this a bit peculiar. First, this doesn't really explain the woman from “Sha'e” in any compelling way that I can see. Second, the name, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna doesn't seem to fit with what we generally know about early Japonic names, and the modern Ryukyuan language certainly is a Japonic language, but there are still plenty of possible explanations. There is also the connection of Tokara with “Tokan”, which is mentioned in an entry in 699 in the Shoku Nihongi, the Chronicle that follows on, quite literally to the Nihon Shoki. Why would they call it “Tokan” instead of “Tokara” so soon after? Also, why would these voyagers go back to their country by way of the Tang court? Unless, of course, that is where they were headed in the first place. In which case, did the Man from Tukara intentionally leave his wife in Yamato, or was she something of a hostage while they continued on their mission? And so those are the theories. The man from “Tukara” could be from Tokhara, or Tokharistan, at the far end of the Silk Road. Or it could have been referring to the Dvaravati Kingdom, in modern Thailand. Still, in the end, Occam's razor suggests that the simplest answer is that these were actually individuals from the Tokara islands in the Ryukyuan archipelago. It is possible that they were from Amami, not that they drifted there. More likely, a group from Amami drifted ashore in Kyushu as they were trying to find a route to the Tang court, as they claimed. Instead they found themselves taking a detour to the court of Yamato, instead. And we could have stuck with that story, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be a good time to reflect once again on how connected everything was. Because even if they weren't from Dvaravati, that Kingdom was still trading with Rome and with the Tang. And the Tang controlled the majority of the overland silk road through the Tarim basin. We even know that someone from Tukhara made it to Chang'an, because they were mentioned on a stele that talked about an Asian sect of Christianity, the “Shining Religion”, that was praised and allowed to set up shop in the Tang capital, along with Persian Manicheans and Zoroastrians. Regardless of where these specific people may have been from, the world was clearly growing only more connected, and prospering, as well. Next episode we'll continue to look at how things were faring between the archipelago and the continent. Until then thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

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3.136 Fall and Rise of China: Ishiwara Kanji #1: The Man who Began WW2?

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2025 34:42

Last time we spoke about the reunification of Xinjiang. In Yarkland, chaos erupted as inflation soared, forcing Chinese officials to retreat to fortified New City. As insurgents advanced, Colonel Chin's forces looted and fled, igniting violence against Uyghurs and Hindu moneylenders. By April, rebels captured Kashgar, fracturing Chinese control. Amid shifting alliances, Abdullah revealed a conflict among Muslim troops, leading to a brief Uyghur-Kirghiz unity against the Chinese. After the execution of leader Temur, Abdullah seized Yarkland, while Tawfiq Bay rallied forces, leaving the Tungans besieged amidst chaos. In the tumultuous landscape of 1930s Xinjiang, Ma Chongying's Tungan forces, alongside young Uyghur conscripts, captured Kumul and advanced toward Urumqi. Despite fierce battles, including a significant clash at Kitai, Sheng Shihtsai struggled to maintain control amid shifting loyalties and external pressures. As the TIRET emerged under Khoja Niyas Hajji, internal conflicts and Soviet interventions escalated. Ultimately, Ma Chongying retreated to Russia, leaving Sheng in power, but the region remained fraught with tension and uncertainty. #136 Ishiwara Kanji Part 1: The Man who Began WW2? 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 board is set, the pieces are moving. We come to it at last, the great battle of our time.” Famously said by Gandalf the White. 1931 was the year the Japanese initiated a 15 year long war with China. For those of you who perhaps joined this podcast recently and don't know, I am Craig and I operate the Pacific War Channel on Youtube. I have been covering the 15 year long China War forever it seems, so when we finally reached this part in our larger story I sat down and thought about how to first tackle this. One thing I really believe needs to be said at the beginning, is a lot of what happened was put into motion by one man, Ishiwara Kanji. For those of you who joined my patreon or later listened to my Ishiwara Kanji series on my channel, this one might be a bit of a refresher. But for those of you who have never heard the name of this man, well let me tell you a story about how a single man caused WW2. Kanji Ishiwara was born on January 18, 1889, in Tsuruoka, located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. He was the second son of a policeman who hailed from a lineage of samurai that had historically served the Shonai Domain. This domain had a notable history, particularly during the Boshin War, where Ishiwara's clan supported the Tokugawa Shogunate. Following the defeat of the Shogunate, clans like Ishiwara's found themselves marginalized in the new political landscape of Meiji Era Japan. The power dynamics shifted significantly, with domains such as Choshu and Satsuma gaining the majority of influential governmental positions, while those that had aligned with the Shogunate were largely excluded from power. At the young age of 13, Ishiwara embarked on his military career by enrolling in a military preparatory school in Sendai. He continued his education for two years at the Central Military Preparatory School in Tokyo, where he honed his skills and knowledge in military affairs. In 1907, he entered the Imperial Japanese Military Academy as a member of its 21st class. After two years of rigorous training, he graduated in July 1909, receiving a commission as a Lieutenant and taking on the role of platoon commander in an infantry regiment stationed in the Tohoku region. In 1910, following Japan's annexation of Korea, Ishiwara's regiment was deployed to the Korean Peninsula, where he served in a small garrison in Ch'unch'on. His time there involved two years of occupation duty, during which he gained valuable experience in military operations and leadership. After returning to Tohoku in 1912, Ishiwara pursued further education and successfully passed the examinations required for entry into the Army Staff College in 1915. His dedication and exceptional performance were evident throughout his studies, culminating in his graduation at the top of his class in November 1918. This achievement earned him a prestigious place among the elite ranks of the Gunto Gumi, a distinguished group within the Japanese military, and he was honored with the imperial sword, a symbol of his status and accomplishments. In 1920, Ishiwara found himself facing a challenging assignment within the Department of Military Training. Eager for a change, he applied for service in China and was subsequently assigned to the Central China Garrison in Hankow. Over the course of a year, he traveled extensively through central China, immersing himself in the culture and landscape before returning to Tokyo in 1921. Upon his return, he took on the role of lecturer at the Army Staff College, where he shared his knowledge and experiences with aspiring military leaders. Despite his desire for another assignment in China, Ishiwara's superiors redirected him to Europe, a common practice for promising young officers at the time. He spent three years in Germany, where he dedicated himself to studying languages and military history. By 1925, at the age of 36 and having attained the rank of Major, he received a prestigious assignment to the faculty of the Army Staff College, where he lectured on the history of warfare. From the outset, Ishiwara distinguished himself as an unconventional officer. His eccentricities were well-known; he was often seen as argumentative and struggled with numerous health issues, including recurrent kidney infections, gastrointestinal problems, tympanitis, and other ailments that plagued him throughout his career. Additionally, his ancestry played a significant role in his military life, particularly in the context of the Japanese military's values during the 1930s. Officers from disgraced clans often felt compelled to demonstrate exceptional loyalty to the Emperor, striving to overcome the stigma associated with their lineage, a legacy of distrust that lingered from the early Meiji period. Ishiwara's character was marked by a certain oddity; he was a nonconformist with a fiercely independent spirit. Many biographers note that while he excelled academically, he often disregarded military decorum, particularly in terms of his dress and personal appearance. Early in his career, he voiced his concerns about perceived inequalities within the military, particularly the favoritism shown towards graduates of the staff college. Such outspoken criticism was considered reckless, yet it reflected his deep-seated beliefs. An avid reader, Ishiwara immersed himself in a wide range of subjects, including politics, religion, history, and philosophy, revealing a restless and inquisitive mind. His unconventional behavior and intellectual pursuits garnered attention from his peers, many of whom regarded him as a brilliant thinker. While military personnel are typically required to study military history, few pursue it with the same fervor as Ishiwara. He developed a profound obsession with understanding military history beyond the standard curriculum. His critical examination of the Russo-Japanese War led him to conclude that Japan's victory was largely a matter of luck. He believed that Japan had adopted the von Moltke strategy of annihilation, but the sheer size of Russia made it impossible to defeat them swiftly. Ishiwara posited that had Russia been better prepared, Japan would likely have faced defeat, and it was only through a unique set of circumstances that Japan avoided a protracted conflict. This realization prompted Ishiwara to advocate for a significant shift in Japan's defense planning, emphasizing the need to adapt to the realities of modern warfare. His studies extended to World War I, where he critically analyzed the distinctions between short and prolonged conflicts. He recognized that extended wars often evolved into total wars, where political, economic, and social factors became as crucial as military strategy. This line of thinking led him to categorize wars into two types: “kessenteki senso” (decisive war) and “jizokuteki senso” (continuous war). Ishiwara viewed these categories as part of a cyclical pattern throughout history, with each type influencing the other in a dynamic interplay. During his time in Germany, Ishiwara immersed himself in the study of prominent military theorists such as Carl von Clausewitz, Helmuth von Moltke, and Hans Delbrück. He found himself particularly captivated by Delbrück's concepts of Niederwerfungstrategie, or "strategy of annihilation," which emphasizes the importance of achieving victory through decisive battles, and Ermattungsstrategie, meaning "strategy of exhaustion," which focuses on wearing down the enemy over time. These theories resonated deeply with Ishiwara, as he recognized parallels between his own ideas and the insights presented in these influential works. This realization prompted him to analyze historical conflicts, viewing the Napoleonic Wars as the quintessential example of annihilation warfare, while interpreting the campaigns of Frederick the Great as emblematic of exhaustion warfare. As Ishiwara advanced in his studies, he became increasingly convinced, much like many of his contemporaries, that Japan and the United States were inevitably on a collision course toward war, driven by conflicting power dynamics and ideological differences. He anticipated that such a conflict would not be swift but rather a drawn-out struggle characterized by a strategy of exhaustion. However, this led him to grapple with a pressing dilemma: how could Japan effectively prepare for a prolonged war when its natural resources were evidently insufficient to sustain such an endeavor? This predicament prompted him to rethink the broader context of Asia. Ishiwara held a strong belief that Asia was a distinct entity, fundamentally different from the West, and he envisioned a future where Asian nations would liberate themselves and unite in solidarity. His enthusiasm was particularly ignited during the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, while he was a young cadet stationed in Korea. The prospect of China revitalizing itself filled him with hope. However, his later experiences in China led to a profound disillusionment. Throughout the 1920s, he encountered rampant banditry, conflicts during the warlord era, and pervasive chaos and disorder. The widespread poverty and instability he witnessed shattered his earlier optimistic vision of China's potential for progress and reform, leaving him with a more sobering understanding of the challenges facing the region. He wrote this during that time “Looking at the situation in China, I came to harbor grave doubts as to the political capacities of the chinese race and came to feel that, though they were a people of high cultural attainment, it was impossible for them to construct a modern state”. Despite his profound disappointment with the political issues plaguing China, he was equally appalled by the way his Japanese colleagues treated the Chinese people. He vividly recalled feelings of shame when he witnessed fellow colleagues in Hankow disembarking from rickshaws and carelessly tossing coins at the feet of the rickshaw pullers. This behavior struck him as not only disrespectful but also indicative of a broader attitude of racial superiority that he believed needed to be addressed. He frequently expressed in his writings that the Japanese needed to abandon their feelings of racial superiority. Ironically, he often juxtaposed this belief with his conviction that Japan had a duty to guide nations like China toward their rightful destiny. While he advocated for racial equality between Japan and China, he held a markedly different view regarding China's political landscape. Like many of his contemporaries, he believed that China required significant reform and modernization, which he felt Japan was uniquely positioned to facilitate. To Ishiwara, the pressing issue was that if Japan did not assist China in its development, Western powers would aggressively intervene, further subjugating the nation. He viewed Japan's role as one of liberation for China, rather than domination. Additionally, Ishiwara connected the impending conflict between Japan and the United States to the broader dynamics of Japan-China relations, suggesting that the outcome of this war would significantly impact the future interactions between the two nations. Ishiwara, like many Japanese military officers of his time, subscribed to the concept of Kokutai, a complex and multifaceted cultural phenomenon that served as a spiritual driving force within the Japanese military. The Kokutai can be understood as the essence of Japan's national character. Japan operated as a constitutional monarchy, embodying both the Kokutai (the national body or character) and Seitai (the governmental structure). This duality created a unique ideological framework: one aspect emphasized the traditional reverence for the emperor, while the other focused on the official government apparatus. To simplify this intricate relationship, one might say, “Japan is governed simultaneously by the emperor and the government.” However, this characterization is inherently confusing, as it encapsulates a significant contradiction. Article 4 of the former Japanese constitution stated, “The emperor is the head of the empire, combining in himself the right of sovereignty, uniting the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, although subject to the consent of the imperial diet.” This provision suggests the existence of an absolute monarch who is nonetheless expected to heed the advice of democratically elected representatives, creating a paradox that would contribute to the tensions leading to the Pacific War. A critical issue that arose from this constitutional framework was that the military was explicitly stated to be under the control of the emperor, rather than the political diet. Consequently, many military leaders perceived themselves as being beholden to the Kokutai, an ideology that evolved significantly from the Meiji era into the Showa era. For instance, consider a high-ranking military officer who views the political elite as corrupt individuals who have effectively taken the emperor hostage, acting against his will and, by extension, against the will of the Japanese people. Such a perspective could lead to radical actions, including attempts to overthrow the government to restore what they believed to be the rightful authority of the emperor. This ideological conflict presents a fascinating and complex rabbit hole that merits further exploration. Ishiwara had a unique view of the Kokutai. In his early education he wrote this about his doubt on understanding it as a principal. “Even though I, myself, because of my training…had come to have an unshakeable faith in the kokutai I began to lack confidence that I could imparts this belief to others –to the common soldier, to the civilian, to non-Japanese”. Ishiwara grappled with a profound question: how could the concept of Kokutai—the national essence of Japan—be relevant beyond the borders of Japan? He pondered how its significance could extend beyond the specific national interests of Japan. If a Japanese soldier were to lay down his life for the Kokutai, what meaning would that sacrifice hold for individuals of different races and nationalities? Furthermore, he sought to understand how the Kokutai's universal value could be connected to other ideologies outside Japan. In his quest for answers, Ishiwara turned to Nichiren Buddhism. This spiritual framework allowed him to weave together his thoughts on warfare, historical narratives, and the national purpose of Japan. Interestingly, Ishiwara did not come from a religious background; he had briefly explored Christianity but did not pursue it further. Similarly, Shintoism did not fully resonate with his beliefs. Nichiren Buddhism, however, presented a compelling alternative. It is characterized by a strong sense of patriotism and an apocalyptic vision, positioning itself as a holy mission intended for all of humanity, with Japan at its center. This belief system embodies a quasi-ideology of world regeneration, casting Japan as a moral leader destined to guide others. Given this context, it is easy to see how the Kokutai and Nichiren Buddhism complemented each other seamlessly. By leveraging the principles of Nichiren Buddhism, Ishiwara envisioned a way to elevate the Kokutai from a strictly nationalistic doctrine to a more universal ideology that could resonate globally. His introduction to these ideas came through Tanaka Chigaku, a prominent figure in the Kokuchukai, or "National Pillar Society," which was a nationalist organization rooted in Nichiren Buddhism and based in Tokyo. This connection provided Ishiwara with a framework to articulate a vision of Japan that transcended its geographical boundaries, linking the Kokutai to a broader, more inclusive mission. After attending a public meeting held by Tanaka, he quickly converted to Kokuchukai and he would write down in his journal “I was attracted to the Nichiren faith's view of the kokutai”. Nichiren buddhism. One element of Kokuchukai's Nichirenism that strongly attracted Ishiwara was its aggressive passages. He justified much of Japan's military actions on the Asian continent by drawing parallels to Nichiren's concept of wielding the sword to uphold righteousness. He frequently quoted Nichiren's assertion that “the significance of the art of war appears in the wonderful law.” Ishiwara became deeply immersed in Nichiren's teachings and came to believe in its prophecy of a “Zendai mimon no dai toso,” or a titanic world conflict unprecedented in human history, akin to a global Armageddon. Following this conflict, he envisioned a period of universal and eternal peace under the harmony of “the wonderful law.” While in Germany, Ishiwara became convinced that if Japan and the United States were destined for war and the U.S. emerged victorious, the kokutai would be obliterated. He traveled back to Japan via the Trans-Siberian Railway, stopping in Harbin, where he met with Nichiren followers. He shared his thoughts on a “final war,” asserting that it would arise from religious prophecy and his military analysis. He cautioned that Japan must prepare for this impending conflict, declaring that “the final war is fast approaching.” Upon returning to Japan in 1925, he was filled with determination to lecture at the Army Staff College about this final war. His audience consisted of the army's promising young officers, to whom he taught about Frederican and Napoleonic campaigns, Moltke, World War I, and, of course, his insights on the looming conflict. The Army Staff College repeatedly requested him to expand his lectures due to their popularity. In 1927, he drafted an essay titled “Genzai oyobi shorai Nihon no kokubo / Japan's Present and Future National Defense,” in which he discussed the inevitable war between the U.S. and Japan. This essay garnered significant attention from his colleagues. Later, in April 1931, he briefed his fellow Kwantung officers using this essay, advocating for decisive action on the Asian mainland. In 1928, he was scheduled to give another course on European warfare, but he contracted influenza and had to take a leave of absence. As he was recovering, he developed tympanitis in his ear, which required a six-month hospitalization. This was just one of many health issues that would affect him over time. Eventually, he became involved in an elite study group focused on war theories, led by Major Suzuki. This group included young reformist officers who discussed political and military matters. He continued his work on the concept of total war and ultimately wrote “Sensoshi taikan / General Outline of the History of War,” which he presented as a lecture to Kwantung officers in Changch'un, Manchuria, on July 4, 1929. The work underwent revisions in 1931 and 1938 and was published as a book of the same title after 1941. As he began lecturing using Sensoshi taiken he also circulated amongst an inner circle within the Kwantung army “kokuun tenkai no konpon kokusakutaru man-mo mondai kaiketsuan / Plan for the solution of the Manchuria and Mongolia problem as a basic national policy to revolutionize our country's destiny”, what a title. As you might guess the plan called for occupying Manchuria in preparation for the upcoming war with America. By the way, all of his lectures and works would gain so much fame, he was asked in 1936 to adapt the materials for a text on military history for Emperor Hirohito. The 1930s were a particularly tense period for Japan. The Japanese leadership perceived Marxism as a pervasive threat, believing it was undermining the nation. Many liberal voices argued that the military budget was excessive and called for cuts. To Ishiwara, this was madness; he questioned how Japan could afford to disarm. While Marxists claimed that communism would rescue Japan, liberals argued that true democracy was the answer. In contrast, Ishiwara and many in the military believed that the Kokutai would be Japan's salvation. Ishiwara advocated his final theories of warfare, asserting that the impending apocalypse would not lead to an American synthesis, but rather a decisive victory for the Japanese Kokutai that would unify the world. “Japan must be victorious not for the sake of her own national interest, but for the salvation of the world. The last war in human history is approaching, Nichiren's titanic world conflict, unprecedented in human history”. From the outset of his initial theories, Ishiwara was convinced that the final war would be characterized by a strategy of exhaustion. However, World War I and the advancements of the 1920s introduced new technologies like tanks, poison gas, and airplanes. The airplane, in particular, led Ishiwara to believe that the defensive stalemate observed in World War I was nearing its end. He argued that airpower could deliver bomb loads beyond all known defenses, including naval surface units, fortifications, and armies equipped with automatic weapons. Ishiwara predicted that the final war would unleash unimaginable horrors on the world's greatest cities. Cities like London, Shanghai, Paris, and even Tokyo could be devastated within a single day of the outbreak of hostilities. Air bombardment would deliver victory and he would be quite right about that in regards to what would happen to Japan. He believed such a war would be waged only once and “we will enter an age where war will become impossible because of the ultimate development of war technology”. Ishiwara contended that Japan should exert direct or indirect control over Manchuria and, to a lesser extent, certain regions of China. He claimed that Japan had a moral responsibility to the Asian continent and a unique connection to Manchuria and China. He emphasized the need to stabilize China, as its people faced threats from chaos, corruption, and conflict. Ishiwara argued that Japan would ultimately need to take a more proactive role in stabilizing China, especially in Manchuria, for the sake of peace and the well-being of the Chinese population. He wrote in 1930 “To save China, which has known no peace, is the mission of Japan, a mission, which, at the same time, is the only means for the salvation of Japan itself. To accomplish this task it is an urgent matter that the interference of the United States be eliminated”. Ironically, he was advocating that in order to prepare for a conflict with the US, Japan must take a stronger hand in Manchuria and China…which would probably force the United States to confront her. He advocated against the strategy of a decisive battle at sea, instead emphasizing a continental strategy. “If the worst comes about and the war at sea turns against us, if proper measures have been taken, Japanese forces on the Asian mainland can be made self-sufficient and the war continued.” Above all else, Manchuria was the key, alongside parts of Mongolia and China. In 1931, he started advocating for reforms in China, suggesting that it would be beneficial for the country to accept guidance from Japan. He viewed China as Japan's most important ally in the event of a conflict with the United States. He argued that Japan should make every effort to avoid getting involved in a war with China and should strive to prevent any actions that might provoke such a situation. Yet as he continued his writing he began to see the diplomatic issues play out between China and Japan and came to the conclusion, “every attempt should be made to avoid provoking China, but in the event that it is impossible to bring about China's understanding, then Nanking should be swiftly attacked and north and central China occupied” way to go 0-60. His attitudes to Britain and Russia were quite similar, every effort should be made to remain friendly, but in the case of war Hong Kong and Malaya should be quickly occupied or in the case of the USSR, predetermined objectives inside Siberia should be seized quickly. Let's delve into the historical landscape of Manchuria during the late 1920s, a period marked by intense geopolitical maneuvering among Russia, China, and Japan. The region found itself caught in a complex struggle for dominance, exacerbated by the fragmentation of Chinese authority due to rampant warlordism. This instability effectively severed Manchuria's ties to the rest of China, creating an opportunity for Japan to solidify and expand its influence. The situation in Manchuria, often referred to as the "Manchurian Problem," revolved around a pivotal question for Japanese policymakers: How could Japan consolidate its hold over Manchuria and further its interests in the face of an increasingly assertive China? Japan identified three primary strategies to address this challenge: Control of the South Manchuria Railway: Securing this vital transportation artery would grant Japan significant leverage over southern Manchuria. However, this strategy was fraught with complications, as it necessitated ongoing confrontations with Chinese political forces that opposed Japanese dominance. Utilization of the Kwantung Army: This military force stationed in Manchuria was crucial for projecting Japanese power. Members of the Kwantung Army were particularly concerned about the Northern Expedition led by Chiang Kai-shek, which threatened the stability of their ally, Zhang Zuolin, known as the "Tiger of Manchuria." While Zhang had been cooperative and acted in Japan's interests, his support could not be guaranteed indefinitely. Japanese Colonization: This approach involved encouraging Japanese settlers to move into Manchuria, thereby establishing a demographic presence that could help legitimize Japan's claims to the territory. This method, often likened to a “filibuster,” aimed to create a Japanese cultural and economic foothold in the region. Each of these strategies presented distinct pathways forward, each with its own implications for the future of Manchuria and its relationship with China. The Kwantung Army, in particular, was increasingly alarmed by the rise of anti-Japanese sentiment as the Northern Expedition advanced northward. The army viewed Manchuria not only as a territory of strategic interest but also as a crucial buffer against the Soviet Union. The growing instability posed by Chiang Kai-shek's forces and the potential loss of influence over Zhang Zuolin were significant threats that needed to be addressed. Ultimately, many within the Kwantung Army believed that the only viable solution to secure Japan's interests in Manchuria would be to formally detach the region from China, a move that would likely require military intervention. This belief underscored the precarious balance of power in Manchuria during this tumultuous period and foreshadowed the escalating conflicts that would shape the region's future. In June 1927, senior officers of the Kwantung Army were summoned to a crucial meeting convened by Premier Tanaka Giichi. The primary objective of this gathering was to establish Japan's strategic policy regarding China and Manchuria. Within the ranks of the Kwantung Army, a more radical faction led by Colonel Komoto Daisaku was determined to eliminate Zhang Zuolin, who had increasingly become perceived as a significant barrier to Japanese ambitions in Manchuria. This faction's resolve culminated in the assassination of Zhang Zuolin in 1928, an event infamously known as the Huanggutun Incident, where a bomb was placed on the train tracks to ensure his demise. However, the outcome of this assassination did not unfold as the Kwantung Army officers had anticipated. Instead of the anticipated rise of their chosen puppet leader, General Yang Yuting, control of Manchuria fell to Zhang Zuolin's son, Zhang Xueliang. Unsurprisingly, Zhang Xueliang was deeply angered by the murder of his father and was far from compliant with Japanese interests. Consequently, the Kwantung Army found itself in a precarious position, as their aggressive policies in Manchuria backfired, leading to a situation that was even more unfavorable than before. The investigation into the assassination was notably half-hearted, resulting in the dismissal of Colonel Komoto from his position. This political fallout also led to the collapse of Tanaka's cabinet, leaving the Kwantung Army feeling both embarrassed and enraged over their diminished influence in Manchuria. The Japanese colonists residing in Manchuria, feeling increasingly threatened, began to call upon the Kwantung Army for protection against Chinese nationalists who sought to expel them from the region. In this climate of uncertainty, the Kwantung Army was left scrambling for strategies to detach Manchuria from Chinese control. In 1928, Lieutenant Colonel Ishiwara was consulted extensively by Kwantung officers regarding his perspectives on the Manchurian situation. Although he had not yet fully developed his Final War theory at this time, he articulated the fundamental principles behind it, emphasizing the urgent need for decisive action to assert control over Manchuria. Over the following years, Kwantung officers made concerted efforts to shape policy in favor of their interests in Manchuria, with Ishiwara's ideas gaining traction and stimulating discussions among his high-ranking peers. By October 1928, Ishiwara successfully secured a position on the Kwantung Army staff as an operations officer, with Colonel Komoto Daisaku as his primary supporter. Komoto recognized Ishiwara as the dynamic force needed to advance the aggressive Manchurian policies that the Kwantung Army sought to implement. This collaboration marked a significant turning point in the Kwantung Army's approach to Manchuria, as they aimed to solidify their control and influence in the region amidst growing tensions. When Ishiwara arrived at Port Arthur, he encountered a chaotic and demoralized atmosphere at the headquarters of the Kwantung Army. This turmoil was largely a consequence of the disastrous bombing of Zhang Zuolin, which had resulted in significant operational failures. The investigation into this assassination triggered numerous changes within the Kwantung Army's leadership, many of which were quite restrictive and stifling. Despite the catastrophic impact of the Zhang Zuolin incident on Komoto's career, he continued to advocate for a forceful resolution to the escalating Manchurian crisis. Ishiwara appeared to share this perspective, and during the early months of 1929, he collaborated closely with Komoto to devise military operations aimed at countering Chinese forces in the Mukden region. However, by the spring of 1929, Komoto's position became increasingly precarious, leading to his official dismissal. By May, he had been reassigned to a relatively insignificant divisional post in Japan, and by June, he was completely removed from the army. Nevertheless, this did not signify the end of his influence over Manchurian affairs. His successor was Lieutenant Colonel Itagaki Seishiro, a longtime associate of Ishiwara from their days at the Sendai Military Preparatory School. This connection suggested that while Komoto may have been sidelined, the strategic direction in Manchuria would continue to be shaped by familiar faces and longstanding relationships. 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. A young, brilliant but perhaps insane man named Ishiwara Kanji began a fruitful military career. After spending considerable time in China, Ishiwara came to a dramatic conclusion, China needed to be saved, and to do so Japan needed to invade Manchuria. He began lecturing like minded youth and built a cult following, directing Japan towards war with China.

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3.135 Fall and Rise of China: Kumul Rebellion #4: Reunification of Xinjiang

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2025 41:13

Last time we continued to speak about the insane battle over Southern Xinjiang. In Yarkland, chaos erupted as inflation soared, prompting Chinese officials to retreat to fortified New City. Panic led to desperate measures, including the use of dummy figures for defense. As insurgents advanced, Colonel Chin's forces looted and fled, sparking violence against Uyghurs and Hindu moneylenders. By April, rebel forces captured Kashgar, fracturing Chinese control. Amid shifting alliances, Ma Chanzeng sought power, but internal strife among leaders like Temur culminated in further violence and betrayal, with power ultimately shifting to the Khotanlik provisional government under Muhammad Amin Bughra. Abdullah's revelation ignited conflict among Muslim troops. The Uyghurs and Kirghiz briefly united against the Chinese, ultimately capturing the New City. As tensions rose, massacres occurred, fracturing alliances and leading to a power struggle. After the execution of Uyghur leader Temur, Abdullah seized control of Yarkland, while charismatic Tawfiq Bay rallied forces against the Tungans. Eventually, the Khotan Amirs dominated the region, achieving unity amidst chaos, leaving only the besieged Tungans at bay. #135 Kumul Rebellion part 4: The reunification of Xinjiang Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Do you remember Ma Chongying, basically the guy that started most of this madness? Following him getting severely wounded at Liaotun in autumn of 1932, he had withdrawn the majority of his forces to his old domain in northwestern Gansu. He set up a HQ at Anxi and through his subordinates began expanding territory and increasing recruitment via conscription. The British missionaries Mildred Cable and Francesca French were living in Tunhuang at the time and wrote extensively about Ma Congying's recruitment efforts “The town was robbed of everything in the nature of food, goods and money ... next to food the most coveted possessions of the oases were the young, vigorous, hardy men ... These were the men whom Ma Chung-ying wanted for gun fodder, and orders were issued to the press-gang to fetch them in from every farm of the neighborhood, and collect them in Tunhuang City. Every day we saw them being rounded up. The ropes which they themselves had twisted from desert grass were used to tie their hands behind their backs, and to noose their necks in a running-knot. Roped together in droves of twenty to thirty, according to the success of the raid, they were brought to town by captors who rode the horses levied from these boys' own stables. Thrust behind the high palings of temple courtyards, the imprisoned youths lined the barriers, looking out for some passers-by who might belong to their own group of farmsteads and would take a report home that son or husband had been captured”. After initial training at Tunhuang, the recruits were taken to Anxi for further training. Cable and French were ordered to Anxi to aid Ma Chongying with his wounds and to take care of other Tungans who reportedly had been injured by fire arrows during the siege of Kumul Old City. They did a good job as within a short amount of time Ma Chongying was able to ride again. Back in Xinjiang, following the failed Uyghur led rebellion at Kumul and facing another imminent Tungant invasion in the Turfan area Jin Shujen turned increasingly to the USSR for help. In September of 1931 he bought two biplanes for the Soviets at 40,000 Mexican silver dollars each. The planes came with two Russian pilots and on October 1st, Jin signed a secret trade deal with the USSR allowing 8 Soviet trading agencies to set up shop in Urumqi, Chuguchak, Kashgar, Kulja, Aksu, Kucha, Khotan and Yarkland. Customs duties on Soviets goods were reduced and a new Xinjiang-Soviet telegraph line and radio communications were established. Jin signed these deals illegally without notifying Nanjing and in return received economic and military assistance from the Soviets. In July of 1932 he would receive another 8 aircraft. Yet despite the Soviet assistance, Jin's provincial forces with the exception of Peppengut's White Russian detachment remained ill trained and ill officered. Following the relief of Kumul Old City and Ma Chongyings retreat back to Gansu, Chang Peiyuan, the provincial commander in chief and military governor of Ili went to Urumqi. It appears that Jin did not fully trust Chang Peiyuan, possibly fearing that the victory at Kumul had stirred up dangerous ambitions in Chang. This distrust seemed to be mutual, as Chang, upon receiving orders to transfer to the provincial capital, chose to defy them and returned to Ili in an act bordering on open rebellion. In response, Jin appointed Sheng Shihtsai, Chang's Chief-of-Staff during the Kumul campaign, as the new Provincial Commander-in-Chief. This decision would have significant implications both for Jin's future and for the future of Xinjiang. Sheng Shihtsai was born in 1895 in Liaoning Manchuria. He was the son of a small landowner. In 1917 he traveled to Japan to study political economics at Waseda University and came back to China in 1919 to participate in the May 4th movement. During that time he developed radical and anti-Japanese stances. He then joined the military training school in Guangdong and later enrolled in the northeastern military academy. He entered military service under Guo Songling, haha that old cry baby, who was deputy under Zhang Zuolin. Sheng Shihtsai rose through the ranks becoming a Lt Colonel. In 1924 Guo Songling sponsored Sheng's admission to the Shikan Gakko military academy in Japan. Sheng returned briefly to help Guo Songlings failed coup against Zhang Zuolin, but was able to escape imprisonment with support from Feng Yuxiang and Chiang Kai-Shek. They got him a ticket back to Japan, and he returned to China in 1927 to participate in the northern expedition as a staff officer attached to Chiang Kai-Sheks HQ. After the northern expedition, he was made chief of war operations section of the General staff at Nanjing, but in 1929 resigned as he did not get along with his superiors. After all of this he took an interest in China's border defences. At the time a delegation from Xinjiang visited Nanjing searching for financial aid. Jin Shujen had instructed one of his delegates, Kuang Lu the deputy General secretary of Xinjiang, to find an able bodied officer to help reorganize Xinjiang's military. Kuang Lu fished around and found Sheng who looked like a very promising man. Sheng then traveled via the USSR arriving to Urumqi in the winter of 1929. His initial welcome was a luke warm one as Jin was suspicious of this highly qualified overseas educated man, obviously seeing him as a potential threat. Moreover, Jin's brother Jin Shuxin hated Sheng's appointment because the man outshined him. Despite the jealousy, Jin was basically grasping at straws and needed the help so he made Sheng the chief of staff over the Xinjiang Frontier Army and also the instructor at the provincial military college. In the words of historian Chan Fooklam “Sheng's appointment was like Jin burying a time bomb under his bed, he had brought upon himself his own doom”. Despite receiving aid from the Soviets and British, Jin's grip over Xinjiang was slipping away. In May of 1932 Ma Chongying had dispatched Ma Shuming to take over the Tungan operation against Turfan. As we talked about, Ma Fuming, leading the provincial forces at Turfan simply defected. Also at this time Chang Peiyuan's insubordination was breaking out, easing the way for Sheng to be promoted to commander in chief. Sheng was directing an unsuccessful campaign against Uyghur insurgents at Karlik Tagh. Following news of Ma Fumings defection and the Tungan capture of Turfan, Sheng advanced west from Kumul to try and prevent the combined Muslim forces from marching upon Urumqi. After a bloody two day battle he recaptured Turfan, but this has little effect over Ma Shuming who had already moved his HQ to Kara Shahr. During mid-winter, Ma Shuming's Tungan cavalry and Ma Fumings Turkic insurgents began an advance to Urumqi. At some point a force of provincial troops sent to Urumqi by Jin, specifically to guard the Dawan Cheng Pass were ambushed and annihilated by the Tungans. Meanwhile full scale rebellions had broken out at Kucha led by Temur and at Khotan led by the Amirs. To this Jin responded by expanding Pappenguts White Russian detachment from its original strength of 250 to 1500 men. The White Russians, most of whom came from Ili Valley, had literally no choice but to enlist. Alongside threatening any White Russians with deportation to the USSR, Jin also arrested many Russian women to compel their husbands to enlist. By early January of 1933, Ma Shumings Tungans had crossed the Dawan Cheng and were now operating at will in the Chaiwupao corridor, to the immediate south of the capital. Wu Aichen the political envoy on behalf of Nanjing reported on January 29th, that the city gates were suddenly closed and a month of food shortages and communal tensions rose. Wu Aichen would witness the brutality of the war. In his reports, the Tungans advanced towards the city during the night, seizing the Great West Bridge after a heavy fight. The Provincial commander defending the city only had 700 troops under him and if it was not for 300 White Russian troops suddenly arriving, the city most likely would have fallen then. Wu Aichen described the White Russian troops as superb fighters, albeit savagely drunk as they drove back the Tungan and Uyghurs during two days of hand to hand combat. Meanwhile Tungans had captured the radio station and a nearby height called Devil's Hill which overlooked the Urumqi suburbs. The Chinese officials feared letting in any more Muslim civilians to the Old City, thus they kept the city gates causing large numbers of refugees from the suburbs to gather outside the walls. This was particularly evident at the west gate which became the focal point of the fighting. Wu Aichen witnessed much of it and had this to say. “In times of peace this street was one of the most prosperous in the city, but now it was crowded With innocent fugitives, whose plight was terrible indeed. There was was worse to come, however, for now the advancing rebels came to this quarter and seizing the houses made loop-holes in the walls. In the flat roofs they set up machine-gun posts which could enfilade Government positions on either side of them. I could see for myself that the situation was desperate and that our troops would be pinned against the walls. General Pai, who was in command, did not hesitate. He gave the order that the street of the small religion should be set on fire. Then followed a scene so frightful that the reader's imagination must suffice. As the flames swept down the long lane of wooden structures they became an inferno of horror, for the roar of the conflagration was added to the rattle of gunfire, .and the hideous shrieks of those who were trapped. The rebels sought safety in flight, and as they crossed the open were machine-gunned from the Red Mountain; but the fugitives had nowhere to fly to and perished to the last man, woman and child. Nevertheless the city was saved, and when at last the flames died down the approach to the West Bridge was strewn with the bodies of our assailants. On the evening of the second day I had completed ten thousand words of copying. I asked how many were dead. I was told at least two thousand. Once again I returned to my task, reflecting that a human life had been taken at every fifth word”. Following the defeat, the Muslim forces had to pull back from the West Gate area, however, they still held control over the West Bridge, a mere half mile northwest. This gave them a great launchpad for night raids and many would be killed trying to scale the walls under the mouths of guns. The White Russian troops emerged as the backbone of the defenses, holding the city walls and making occasional sorties. Urumqi would have fallen if it was not for Sheng Shihtsai who came to her aid with his troops from Turfan. Upon seeing his relief forces the Muslim insurgents broke off their attack and withdrew into the surrounding countryside. With winter coming to an end, with fear of a cholera outbreak looming the Chinese went to work burying the dead. Wu Aichen was one of those who helped with the burials and wrote a horrifying description about the conditions of the city. Over 1000 bodies were buried in a single mass grave within the suburbs and the final death toll was estimated to exceed 6000. Following the relief of Urumqi, the Muslim insurgents seized all they could in the countryside such as Dawan Cheng, the districts of Fukang and parts of Santopao where an estimated 900 Han Chinese were killed. The insurgents burned the stocks of rice that usually fed the capital and on March 1st a detachment of 100 provincial troops were ambushed and annihilated at Chitaowan. The situation throughout the province deteriorated; to the south Ma Shaowu had isolated Kashgar and in the north a Kazakh rebellion broke out in the Sahara Sume region under Sharif Khan. The Kazakh uprising convinced the Soviets that Jin Sujen was going to inevitably lose Xinjiang. They acted without any notice to Nanjing by dispatching forces to help hold up Urumqi. Fate would have it, 2000 battle hardened Chinese troops had recently been driven over the Heilongjiang border into Siberia by the Japanese during the invasion of Manchuria. So Stalin signed off on sending them over the trans-siberian and Turk-sib railways to the Xinjiang frontier of Chuguchak. This force designated the Northeast National Salvation Army consisted of regular soldiers who were well trained and held good morale. They arrived to Urumqi on March 27th of 1933, substantially bolstering the provincial military, more particularly that of the new Provincial commander in chief, Sheng Shihtsai who just so happened to also be a Manchurian. Sheng led the new forces to push back the invading Tungans of Ma Shuming who was forced over the Dawan Cheng back to his HQ at Kara Shahr. The Uyghur insurgents were demoralized and Khoja Niyas Hajji who controlled a belt around the Xinjiang-Gansu frontier began begining for assistance from Ma Chongying. Meanwhile Jin basically was undermined by Sheng and was seeing further unrest in Urumqi. The White Russians who had bore the brunt of the fighting to defend Urumqi were royally pissed off as they had not all been paid and were provided the worst horses and ammunition of all the defenders. Moreover Jin's popularity with all nationalities, even Han Chinese had fallen dramatically because his brother Jin Shuxin had reportedly exorted the granaries during the siege. Following the relief of Urumqi, Pappengut and the other White Russians approached the leaders of the northeast national salvation army with grievances against Jin Shujen and were given assurances of support to mount a coup against him. On April 12th, around 400 White Russians stormed the capital with 200 of them seizing the city gates and yamen. Jin managed to escape over the city walls and fled to the USSR via Chuguchak. From there he returned to China via the Turk-Sib and Trans-Siberian. Meanwhile his younger brother Jin Shuxin was captured and executed. Sheng Shihtsai was encamped at Uruba at the time of the coup and insisted in his future memoirs he had nothing to do with the coup and that it was all the USSR's doing. Regardless after the coup Sheng was urged to go to Urumqi where negotiations began with Liu Wenlung who was appointed Provincial Chairman while Sheng was made Tupan or “border defense commissioner”. Ie; Sheng was made the de facto ruler of Xinjiang. After Ma Shumings failure to take Urumqi and Khoja Niyas Hajji's pleas for help, Ma Chongying determined to reenter the fray in person. Despite the setbacks, the Tungans had crossed the Dawan Cheng and nearly taken the capital, coupled with the seizure of Kashgar, Ma Chongying most likely believed there was still a great chance to take it all. He had spent 18 months rebuilding his army and better yet, because of the USSR's illegal move to save Urumqi, Nanjing officially recognizing his Tungan forces as the 36th division of the NRA. Ma Chongying moved his HQ from Anxi to Suzhou and really improved his military. A German engineer named Vasel working with him described him as a man who admired Napoleon, Bismarck and Hindenburg and who “was frequently to be seen running at the head of his troops during training, even in sub-zero temperature. Military training was pursued with a spartan rigour, pushed to the verge of utter ruthlessness. Desertion was punishable by death, and on one occasion I saw Ma personally behead five such offenders. In one of those sudden fits of exuberance that were typical of him, snatching up casually some hand grenades, which he had made himself, and hurling them, one by one, against the lofty clay-coloured walls of the city. And then he laughed heartily when he saw his men fling themselves flat on the ground as splinters of steel hurtled in all directions. He scorned to seek safety by throwing himself on the ground, and was quite delighted when he saw that I too did not seek cover”. During spring of 1933, Ma Chongying prepared to reinvade Xinjiang. A Swedish man named Bexeill was working along the Gansu-Qinghai border and noted Ma Chongying heavily taxed his territory in northwestern Gansu to the limits of the peasants endurance. He apparently even sent troops into Qinghai to illegally tax them. By May of 1933 his army departed Suhou for Yumen and Vasel gives us this description of them. “A dark mass of human beings, camels and oxen, was pouring out of the city gate towards the west amid clouds of dust. There were hundreds of heavily-laden camels, the bells on their necks clanging monotonously, their drivers easily discernible by their gaudy headgear. In the rear followed high-wheeled ox-carts, flanked on either side by infantry. Behind them again came a company of cavalry, which presently galloped past the lumbering camels and oxen along the track through the desert ... and now I had an opportunity of seeing at close range General Ma's famous cavalry riding past me and keeping its post at the head of the marching columns. This was the famous white cavalry regiment of which General Ma was especially proud. The broad iron swords of the dragoons clanked as they rode along on their magnificent white horses, while on their shoulders they carried carbines of the most varied and antiquated patterns. Next came the brown regiment, while in the rear followed the black regiment, comprising some two thousand horsemen. A short distance behind the cavalry came the infantry - regiment after regiment, headed by the Chinese (Kuomintang) standard. On they swept, platoon after platoon, followed by their officers, with their mausers at the ready. The columns strode along, keeping perfect time with their shrill, high-pitched, mournful, Asiatic marching songs. Sandwiched between some of these trained and trustworthy soldiers I saw large drafts of recruits who had been compelled to join General Ma's forces. These raw levies were constantly kept under very close observation'. On Top of Ma Chongyings new Tungan army, young Uyghurs were also conscripted into his ranks. 2500 Tungans under the command of his younger brother Ma Chongjie captured Kumul in May with little opposition. This was because the area was dominated by Ma Chongyings ally Khoja Niyas Hajji. After this Ma Chongjie issued bilingual proclamations to the people of Kumul, stating they were free of Jin Shujen's tyranny, who at the time was in the USSR. Meanwhile Sheng hurriedly prepared a force of 5000 to meet the invaders near Urumqi. Ma Chongying advanced upon Qiqiaoqing unopposed, getting even further west than his first invasion of 1931. Instead of taking the main road to Turgan, the Tungans crossed the narrow defile between Barkul Tagh and Bogdo Ula to hit the garrison town of Kitai. The first major battle broke out near Mulei, due east of Kitai on May 15th. Two days later a mixed force of 4000 Tungans and Turkic Muslims attacked Kitai led by Ma Chongjie. On May 26th Sheng sortied from Urumqi at the head of 5000 men, 1000 of whom were White Russians. Sheng planned to hold Santai, the halfway point between Urumqi and Kitai. Sheng's men attacked the invaders around Kitai, but lost the battle for the city, though Ma Chongjie was killed in battle. Sheng then retreated back to Urumqi by June 1st. Things looked dire for Sheng, he was unsure how Nanjing would react to the coup against Jin Shujen, his position was threatened to the east by Ma Chongying now headquartered at Kitai and to the west by Chang Peiyuan the military governor of Ili whom he suspected was not loyal to Urumqi and in league with the Tungans. Ma Chongying was now within striking distance of Urumqi, when he suddenly halted his attack and sent a telegram with terms. It turns out Ma Chongying had no idea Jin Shujen had been overthrown, so he was unsure how to proceed. This bought Sheng more time to raise defenses, sending the White Russians to hold Fukang as he dispatched Wu Aichen on a peace mission to Kitai. Wu Aichen's mission failed, so Sheng went to Fukang to take personal command of the army and to meet Ma Chongying around the hamlet of Zuniquan. During the battle of mid June, the provincial forces managed to gain the upper hand due to severe weather conditions for which the lightly clothed Tungans were ill prepared for. The Uyghurs forces of Khoja Niyas Hajji also took no part in the fighting despite being in the immediate area. The Tungans were defeated at Zuniquan, but not routed. Ma Chongyings men managed to retreat in well order to Qiqiaoqing and from there advanced to Turfan joined Tungan forces under Ma Shuming. Combined the Tungans marched to Dawan Cheng. At the same time a Pacification Commissioner, Huang Musung was sent by Nanjing to Urumqi. His mission was to establish peace between the provincial forces and Ma Chongying, both of whom claimed loyalty to Nanjing. Sheng was suspicious of Huang Musung and felt Nanjing might be simply backing the Tungans. Thus Sheng had Huang Musung placed under house arrest. Then Sheng accused three Xinjiang officials of plotting with Huang Musung, Chang Peiyuan and Ma Chongying to overthrow him and had them all executed via a firing squad. Thus Sheng clearly had distanced himself from Nanjing and turned 100% to the USSR for help. During early Autumn Ma Chongying was still in Turfan reorganizing the forces while Sheng was consolidating his position in Urumqi and quelling the Kazakh rebellion. Meanwhile Khoja Niyas Hajji was growing uneasy with his alliance to Ma Chongying and began to open up secret negotiations with Sheng and soon was appointed Chief Defense commissioner for Southern Xinjiang. He then took his Uyghurs across the Dawan Cheng and occupied Toksun only to be surprise attacked and decisively defeated by Tungans under Ma Shuming. By late July Khoja Niyas Hajji took his battered survivors and fled for Kucha. At this point Huang Musung managed to secure his release from house arrest by telegramming Nanjing the recommendation that Sheng Shihtsai and Liu Wenlung be confirmed in their posts as the chief military and civil authorities over Xinjiang. Nanjing had really no options other than to comply. On September 2nd Lo Wenkan, the foreign minister of Nanjing, came to Urumqi and officially confirmed Sheng into office and then mediated between Sheng and Ma Chongying. To compensate Ma Chongying he was offered the post of Garrison Commander of Eastern Xinjiang which he accepted, thus gaining control over Kumul, Barkul and part of Turfan. After Lo Wenkan departed in early October, suddenly Sheng announced the discovery of a new plot against him. He accused Liu Wenlung of conspiring with Ma Chongying, Chang Peiyuan and Lo Wenkan to overthrow him. Liu Wenlung was forced to resign and was replaced as the provincial chairman by Zhu Juixi. Sheng then prepared a final hammer blow against Ma Chongying. However Ma Chongying had secretly been working with Ma Shuming to deliver a lighting stroke against Urumqi which came in December of 1933. Tungan forces passed Dawan Cheng and began attacking the capital. Likewise in response to the constant accusations, Chang Peiyuan finally threw his support to the Tungans. He led his troops across the Talki Pass into Zungharia and attacked the Provincial forces stationed at Wusu. Meanwhile encouraged by the advance of the Gansu Tungans, the indigenous Tungans of Zungharia rose en masse to Ma Chongyings banner. In late december a detachment of the 36th NRA led by Ma Shuming bypassed Urumqi and attacked Chuguchak. Vasel happened to witness this and described the battle as such “The sun's rays, by this time, were shining obliquely across the street and showed us the Tungan army entering the town ... Stirrup to stirrup, the young regular soldiers in their smart uniforms looked a well-disciplined, trim and efficient force. r recognised one of their officers, Ma Shih-ming, the Commander-in-Chief's adjutant, who had frequently been my guest in Soochow. These regular soldiers rode past on beautiful horses, while huge red flags floated in the breeze above their heads, bearing the character 'Ma' in black letters on a white ground. At a short distance followed a horde that was tolerably well equipped . . . I saw needle-guns, blunderbusses and muzzle-loaders ... In their rear dense clouds of dust, which shut out the light, billowed onward, and then came the infantry. . . men with wild eyes and matted hair. . . outlaws who had nothing to lose and everything to gain from the upheaval that was going on. After the infantry followed a huge horde of camels, with their rhythmical swaying gait, laden with produce and goods of every conceivable type ... the breath came from their mouths like smoke - their necks were craned forward, and their heads kept bobbing up and down.”With the Tungans taking Zunghaira, the Khotan Amirs running amok in the south and Chang Peiyuan joining the fray, Sheng's position at Urumqi was hopeless. While Ma Chongying and Sheng Shihtsai continued their struggle in the north, in the south Muhammad Amin Bughra woo'd Khoja Niyas Hajji to become president of a new secessionist Islamic state. Thus was born the Turkic Islamic Republic of Eastern Turkestan ie TIRET. While Khoja Niyas Kajji was the quote president, this was simply symbolic, the real leadership remained with the Amirs. Amir Abdulah retained control over Yarkland, Amir Nur Ahmad Jan over Yangi Hissar and Kashgar and Bughra over Khotan. Shari a law was implemented, a national flag with a white star and crescent over a blue ground was made and the new state sought aid and recognition from Britain. But the TIRET would never receive said recognition or aid, for Britain respected Nanjing's government as the sole authority in Xinjiang. TIRET turned next to Turkey, but found no real help. Then they turned to Afghanistan who likewise could not help them. TIRET was doomed from the very beginning. Meanwhile the battles raged between Sheng and Ma Chongying. Sheng knew Nanjing would not assist him so he turned to the USSR. Sheng dispatched diplomats Chen Teli and Yaoxiong to Moscow pleading for assistance. The Soviets were sympathetic and quite concerned with events such as the rise of TIRET and the possibility of Ma Chongying capturing Urumqi as they suspected him and TIRET to have ties to the Japanese. Weary of Germany and Japan, the USSR took up a policy of curbing any influence from either, especially in her Central Asian frontiers. The Soviets sent this warning to Nanjing “'We do not mind if you Chinese develop [Eastern] Turkestan. But if you permit [Eastern] Turkestan to become a second Manchuria, we must act to protect ourselves. '” Thus in late 1933, following pleas for help from Sheng Shihtsai, the Soviets chose to intervene on behalf of Sheng, whom was known to be a loose cannon and unreliable, but atleast was anti-Japanese. The USSR appointed Apresoff as the new consul-general at Urumqi and upon his arrival Sheng conducted a purge. Officers from the Northeast National Salvation army and White Russian volunteers were arrested and shot, including Pappengut. The White Russians units were reorganized under the command of new Soviet officers. Sheng signed a secret deal with the USSR to allow them to build a railway from Sergiopol, through Chuguchak to Urumqi. Sheng also announced 6 new principles going forward (I) anti-imperialism, (2) kinship to Sovietism, (3) racial or national equality, (4) 'clean' government, (5) peace, and (6) reconstruction. The Soviets were pleased and after receiving approval from Nanjing dispatched two brigades, numbered some 7000 men supported by tanks, artillery and aircraft against the insurgent positions at Kulja and Chuguchak. The Soviets had orders to “clear the roads and liquidate the rebellion”. They rapidly overwhelmed the forces of Chang Peiyuan who committed suicide in shame. The Tungans of Ma Shuming put up a better fight but were dislodged from the Chuguchak area. According to Vasel, the Tungans managed to beat back some attacks during 30 days of battle. In one instance the Tungans foiled a Soviet pincer attack by “crawling through the snow, camouflaged by reversed sheepskins, and storming, from a very short distance, Soviet machine-gun posts whilst wielding the characteristic curved sword of Islam”. The main battle broke out on the frost-bound banks of the Tutun River, 30 miles northwest of Urumqi. According to The Times correspondent Peter Fleming , “the Battle of the Tutun River 'raged for several days; but the Tungans' unskilled ferocity was no match for a mechanised foe, and the troops ... were badly demoralised by gas bombs dropped by the Soviet airmen”. Both the Soviets and Tungans took heavy casualties, but ultimately the Soviets won, forcing Ma Chongying to retreat from Urumqi to the Dawan Cheng, pursued by a mixed force of Soviets, White Russians and Chinese. The Tungans attempted to make a stand at Dawan Cheng, but according to Vasel “a detachment of Soviet troops supported by armoured cars was attacked by a force of some 500 Tungans. After savage hand-to-hand fighting the Soviet forces were driven back, and their armoured cars were rolled off the mountainside by the victorious Tungans. At this juncture, by a strange twist of fate, the surviving Soviet troops were relieved by a force of White Russian 'volunteers', and Ma Chung-ying was forced to continue his retreat through Toksun to Korla”. Meanwhile in Southern Xinjiang, the Soviets tried to break the TIRET. A Soviet backed force of irregulars known as the “Tortunjis” was set up at Ulug Chat, led by Yusuf Jan. The Soviets also negotiated secretly with Khoja Niyas Hajji who despite being the president of the TIRET had taken all of his forces to Aksu. As a result Khoja Niyas Hajji received Soviet arms in return for turning against his anti-soviet colleagues. Yet despite Soviet support, Khoja Niyas Hajji's Uyghur forces were decisively defeated by 800 Tungans under Ma Chongying. Khoja Niyas Hajji had to abandon his HQ at Aksu fleeing for Kashgar with 1500 men on January 13th of 1934. The Tungans soon besieged Kashgar New City forcing Khoja Niyas Hajji and local forces under Sabit Damullah to withdrew towards Yangi-Hissar, then held by Nur Ahmad Jan. Within 24 hours the Tungan advance guard led by Ma Fuyuan entered Kashgar meeting little resistance. According to British Consulate General Thomson-Glover “'some 800 Tungans and 1,200 conscripts caused nearly 10,000 rebel troops to flee from Kashgar'” To make thing more complicated at this time Ma Shaowu assumed senior military and civil control on behalf of Nanjing and at the request of Ma Chanzeng and Ma Fuyuan. Thus the capital of TIRET was recaptured for Nanjing, but not by their approved forces under Sheng, but of those under Ma Chongying. Following the fall of Kashgar, TIRET moved its administration to Yangi-Hissar. Meanwhile Khoja Niyas Hajji fled to Irkeshtam on the Soviet border and there signed a treaty with the USSR to dissolve the TIRET and relinquished his forces to be used by the Xinjiang provincial authorities against the Tungans and Khotan Amirs. For this he was rewarded Civil Governor for life over Xinjiang with Sheng Shihtsai retaining military governorship. On February 14th, the Khotanlik forces tried but failed to recapture Kashgar. In response for two days the Tungans systematically looted Kashgar old city while they massacred nearly 2000 of its citizenry. Then Ma Chanzeng and Ma Fuyuan advanced to Yangi-Hissar where on March 28th looted its old city and killed everyone they got their hands on. In the face of the Tungan onslaught, Amir Nur Ahmad Jan fled into Yangi Hissar New City and Sabit Damullah fled for Yarkland. Nur Ahmad Jan led a fierce resistance at the New City until April 2nd when Amir Abdullah arrived from Yarkland with several thousand troops. However caught out in the open, Abdullah's men were obliterated by the Tungans and Abdullah was cut down and his severed head was sent to Kashgar to be exhibited outside the Id-gah Mosque. Yangi-Hissar New City continued to resist, “wielding only rifles and conserving their scanty ammunition and rolling back the attackers scaling the walls by means of large stones and tree trunks”. The Tungans took New City on April 12th, putting 500 of its defenders and Nur Ahmad Jan to the sword. Meanwhile the administration of TIRET received word of Khoja Niyas Hajji's deal with the Soviets and refused to dissolve. Thus Khoja Niyas Hajji went to Yarkland to try and convince Amir Muhammad Amin Bughra to dissolve the TIRET. He arrived there in Mid April, only a few days before the Tungas would. Bughra fled towards Khotan as Khoja Niyas Hajji looted Yarkland taking Sabit Damullah prisoner and advanced to Aksu. The Tungans arrived at Yarkland on the 20th and immediately pursued Khoja Niyas Hajji. Khoja Niyas Hajji managed to get to Aksu where he handed over Sabit Damullah who was promptly hung. Meanwhile Ma Chongying arrived at Kashgar with 10,000 men on April 6th where he denounced Sheng Shihtsai as a Soviet Puppet and stressed loyalty to Nanjing to its population. Other Tungan forces captured Sarikol and together marched upon Khotan. Khotan was taken on June 12th without a fight and unlike at Kashgar and Yangi-Hissar, the Tungans did not loot, but instead hunted down Muhammad Amin Bughra who had escaped with 3000 troops towards Keriya. Bughra managed to give them all the slip and fled with several ponies carrying hold to Ladakh in British India where he received permission to travel to Srinagar. Thus ended the TIRET experiment as Ma Chongying claimed he had recaptured southern Xinjiang for Nanjing. Ma Chongying then met with Thomson Glover “that he had come to Kashgar 'to try and save south Sinkiang from Russian influence', and continued to stress his loyalty to Nanjing”. Meanwhile Ma Chongying set up a defensive line at Maral Bashi and Fayzabad with his brother in law, Ma Hushan in command. During May and June of 1934 Ma Chongying tried to gain sympathy from the British for his cause, but they refused to get involved. In a surprising turn of events, as told to us by Thomson Glover “Ma Chung-ying left Kashgar for Irkeshtam early on 7th July with three or four of his officers. . . and an escort of some 50 Tungans and one or more members of the USSR Consulate or Trade Agency. Arrived near the border to Russia the escort were met by Russian or Russian-employed troops. The Tungan escort dispersed or handed over their arms to some of Khoja Niyas' levies, and Ma Chung-ying disappeared into Russia”. Why the courageous Tungan threw in the towel is a mystery. He had not yet been deceive beaten, he could have taken his Tungan force and held out for 3 years before returning back to Gansu. Regardless the Soviets had offered him sanctuary and he just took it. His fate is a complete mystery, some say he was killed by the Soviets, some say he rotted in a dungeon, that he lived a life of luxury as a Soviet guest, and one claim is that in 1938, when Sheng Shihtsai visited Moscow, Stalin had him executed as a gift. Ma Chongyings command passed to Ma Hushan who set up a HQ at Khotan and carved out a sphere of influence extending from Karghalik to CHarkhlik. The provincial forces did nothing to stop him, and instead signed a truce, ending the wars with the Tungans. Sheng Shihtsai had won, he now held absolute power over Xinjiang, though as we will see much later on, Xinjiang was certainly not done seeing battles. 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. Thus in the end, after all of these different groups of people formed uprisings, betrayed one another and fought this large game of thrones for Xinjiang, it was Sheng Shihtsai who prevailed above all. Xinjiang was by no means stable and would continue to see chaos well into WW2 however.

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3.134 Fall and Rise of China: Kumul Rebellion #3: Game of Thrones in Southern Xinjiang

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Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2025 35:48

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

china japan fall british chinese government fighting russian kings turkey game of thrones facing discovering muslims id islam believing southern swedish karma rebellions prime minister oasis islamic soviet faced firing hindu hq ussr morale umar generals commander in chief king of the hill xinjiang new city uyghur jin mosque abd prophet muhammad hafiz old city nanjing uighur quranic shaykh cnr pacific war uzbek swe ghazi british indian uthman turkic fitzmaurice han chinese guma urumqi between march temur aksu china podcast altin chinese muslims kashgar tungan qadi british consul general craig watson amirs tarim basin tien shan turkic muslims amir abdullah kulja

英语新闻丨China's parcel delivery on record high

China Daily Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2025 5:45

China's parcel delivery industry shattered all previous records in 2024, handling a staggering 174.5 billion packages—equivalent to more than 124 per person in the country. The rapid expansion of the sector underscores not only the growing dependence of Chinese consumers on e-commerce, but also the increasing role express delivery plays as a barometer of the economy.2024年，中国快递业打破了所有历史纪录，处理了1745亿件包裹，相当于全国人均包裹数超过124件，业务量惊人。该行业的迅速扩张不仅凸显出中国消费者对电商的日益依赖，也反映出快递作为经济晴雨表的作用日益增强。This explosive growth comes as no surprise. The total volume of express delivery services last year reached 174.5 billion parcels, marking a 21 percent increase over the previous year. Meanwhile, business income from these services surged to 1.4 trillion yuan ($191 billion), reflecting a 13 percent growth.这一爆炸式增长并不令人意外。去年，快递业务总量达到1745亿件，同比增长21%。同时，快递业务收入飙升至1.4万亿元人民币（1910亿美元），同比增长13%。"The postal and express delivery industry has become a driving force in China's logistics sector, and for 11 straight years, it has ranked first globally in delivery volume," said Zhao Chongjiu, head of the State Post Bureau of China, at the bureau's annual conference on Wednesday in Beijing.1月8日，中国国家邮政局局长赵冲久在北京举行的全国邮政工作会议上介绍：“邮政快递业已成为中国物流业的驱动力，并且连续11年在全球快递业务量上稳居第一。”"The integration of express delivery into daily life has been profound. It now serves as a vital indicator of both economic vitality and development," he added.“快递已深刻融入日常生活中。它现在是经济活力和发展的重要指标，”他补充说。As more parcels move through the country's vast logistics network, it is clear that express delivery is no longer just about transporting packages from point A to point B—it has become a powerful symbol of China's thriving economy.随着越来越多的包裹在全国庞大的物流网络中流通，显然，快递已不仅是将包裹从A点运送到B点的简单行为——它已成为中国经济繁荣发展的有力象征。Across the nation, particularly in the central and western regions, delivery networks have been rapidly expanding. In 2024, express delivery volumes in these regions grew by 30 percent and 35 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year. This expansion has significantly helped bridge the development gap between urban and rural areas.在全国范围内，特别是在中西部地区，快递网络扩张迅速。与上一年相比，2024年中部、西部快递业务量分别增长了30%、35%。这一扩张显著缩小了城乡发展差距。Subsidized shipping policies to remote villages, such as those in the Xinjiang Uygur and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, have brought e-commerce services to areas that once struggled with limited access to goods and services.针对偏远乡村（如新疆维吾尔族自治区和内蒙古自治区的乡村）实施的补贴运输政策，让那些原本获取商品和服务受限的地区也能享受电商服务。This growth has also unlocked new economic opportunities, enabling businesses in emerging sectors such as livestreaming e-commerce and cross-border trade to thrive. Online retail sales of physical goods soared last year, and the delivery industry played a crucial role in facilitating these transactions. This makes it an essential partner in the ongoing digital transformation of the economy.快递业务的增长也催生了新的经济机遇，使直播电商和跨境贸易等新兴行业得以蓬勃发展。去年，实物商品网络零售额飙升，快递行业在其中发挥了至关重要的作用，并成为持续推进经济数字化转型的重要力量。The result of this booming logistics network is felt in every corner of the country—transforming not only how businesses operate, but also how ordinary people live.蓬勃发展的物流网络带来的影响遍及全国各个角落——不仅改变了企业的运营模式，也改变了普通人的生活方式。One striking example is the story of Zilati, a young man from the Tajik ethnic group who married last year in a remote village in Tashikurgan Tajik autonomous county, Xinjiang.一个典型的例子是来自塔吉克族的小伙子兹拉提，去年他在新疆塔什库尔干塔吉克自治县的一个偏远村庄举行了婚礼。As he prepared for his wedding, Zilati was able to purchase nearly everything online—from decorations to large appliances such as a refrigerator—and have it delivered directly to his home. In the past, such a task would have required a long and arduous journey to Kashgar, the nearest big city. Thanks to the expanding logistics network, he was able to concentrate on enjoying his special day.在筹备婚礼时，兹拉提几乎能够在网上购买所有物品——从装饰品到冰箱等大家电——并直接送货到家。在过去，需要长途跋涉到距离最近的大城市喀什才能完成这些事情。得益于不断扩大的物流网络，他可以专心享受自己的特别日子。"I never imagined that my wedding could be this easy," Zilati said. "It's so convenient. I bought the wedding chocolates and decorations online. In the past, we had to travel to Kashgar, which took more than 10 hours. Now, thanks to online shopping, I was able to focus on celebrating my wedding rather than worrying about logistics."“我从未想过我的婚礼能这么轻松，”兹拉提说。“真是太方便了。我在网上买了婚礼巧克力和装饰品。过去，我们得花10个多小时跑去喀什。现在，多亏了网购，我可以专心庆祝婚礼，而不必担心物流问题。”In 2024, the average Chinese consumer received over 120 parcels annually, with the country's delivery network processing more than 5,500 every second.2024年，中国消费者人均一年收到120多个包裹，全国快递网络每秒处理5500多个包裹。Looking ahead, the industry is showing no signs of slowing down. In 2025, express delivery volume is projected to reach 190 billion, with corresponding revenue of 1.5 trillion yuan.展望未来，该行业仍将继续保持稳步上升态势。预计2025年快递业务量将达到1900亿件，相应快递业务收入将达到1.5万亿元。"The key growth drivers for the express delivery industry in 2025 will mainly come from the domestic e-commerce market, which continues to grow rapidly, especially with emerging e-commerce platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou driving market expansion. Internationally, cross-border e-commerce will be a major driver, with express delivery companies accelerating their global expansion, contributing to the growth of national delivery services," said Zhou Zhicheng, director of the Research Office of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.中国物流与采购联合会研究室主任周志成表示：“2025年快递行业增长的重要驱动力将主要来自国内电商市场，该市场将持续快速增长，尤其是抖音、快手等新兴电商平台将推动市场扩张。在国际上，跨境电商将成为主要驱动力，快递公司加速全球扩张，推动国家快递服务增长。”As China's express delivery sector continues to expand, it is clear that the logistics industry is not only driving economic growth, but is also becoming an integral part of everyday life for millions.显然，随着中国快递行业的持续扩张，物流行业不仅驱动着经济增长，也正成为数百万人日常生活不可或缺的一部分。barometern.晴雨表，标志arduousadj.艰难的,费力的

3.133 Fall and Rise of China: Kumul Rebellion #2: Uprisings in southern Xinjiang

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2025 31:37

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Kumul Rebellion. In 1931, tensions in Kumul escalated after a Muslim girl spurned Han tax collector Chang Mu, leading to his violent death at a family dinner. Enraged, Uyghurs retaliated against Chinese officials, igniting a rebellion. Chaos ensued as rebels targeted Han settlers, ultimately capturing Kumul with little resistance. Amidst the unrest, Yulbars Khan sought support from military leader Ma Chongying, who planned to mobilize his forces to help the Uyghurs. What began as a local incident spiraled into an all-out revolt against oppressive rule. In 1931, young warlord Ma Chongying sought to establish a Muslim empire in Central Asia, leading a small force of Tungan cavalry. As his army attempted to besiege Kumul Old City, they faced fierce resistance from Chinese troops. Despite several assaults, the lack of heavy artillery hampered Ma's progress. Eventually, Ma faced defeat due to a serious injury. After his recuperation, his forces joined with Uyghur insurgents, sparking a guerrilla war against oppressive provincial troops, leading to increasing unrest and rebellion. #133 Kumul Rebellion part 2: Uprisings in southern Xinjiang Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So in the last episode we spoke about the beginning of the Kumul Rebellion. Now the Kumul Rebellion is actually a series of other rebellions all interlaced into this larger blanket known as the Xinjiang Wars. To be blunt, Xinjiang was the wild west from the 1930s until basically the formation of the PRC. We briefly went over the various groups that inhabit northwestern China, they all had their own interests. I want to start off by looking at the situation of southern Xinjiang. Back in June of 1924, Ma Fuxing, the T'ai of Kashgar was executed. His executioner was Ma Shaowu who had just received the post of Taoyin over the oasis city of Khotan. There was of course always tension, but southern Xinjiang was relatively peaceful in the 1920s. Then Governor Yang Zengxin was assassinated in July of 1928. During the last years of his rule, southern Xinjiang often referred to as Kashgaria, remained entrenched in the British sphere of influence after the collapse of Tsarist Russia and the subsequent closure of the Imperial Russian consulate-General at Kashgar. Going further back in time, in August of 1918, Sir Geoerge Macartney, the long standing British Consul General to Kashar had retired. His successor was Colonel P. T Etherton, a hardcore anti-communist who actively was cooperating with anti-Soviet Basmachi guerillas in the western portion of Turkestan. One of his missions was to curb Soviet influence in southern Xinjiang. Yang Zengxin understood the British policy towards Xinjiang was to push the Soviets out via enabling the survival of his independent Han led regime. Thus Yang Zengxin was very friendly to the British and allowed them to exercise considerable political influence in Tien Shan. Despite this Soviet influence spread in Ili and Zungharia. This prompted Yang Zengxin to secretly cooperate with the British in Kashgar to counter the looming red growth north of his province. Now by 1924, through a combination of military necessities and the re-emergence of Soviet Russia as Xinjiang's largest trading partner, this forced Yang Zengxin to push away the British. Following the Sino-Soviet agreement of 1924 which effectively saw the establishment of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Beijing, the Soviet government at Omsk dispatched an envoy to Xinjiang to discuss mutual consular representation. Both sides reached an agreement on October 6th, providing for an exchange of consulate-generals between Tashkent and Urumqi and for Soviet consulates in Chuguchak, Kulja, Shara Sume and Kashgar. The new Soviet presence in Kashgar was quite upsetting for the British. It also allowed the Soviets direct access to the densely populated oases of Tarim Basin, the source of nearly all Xinjiang's revenue. Shortly after the Soviet Consulate in Kashgar officially opened on October 10, 1925, a local power struggle emerged involving Max Doumpiss, the Soviet Consul, of Latvian origin, Major Gillan, the British Consul-General at that time, and the Taoyin of Kashgar. Sino-Soviet relations in southern Xinjiang took a troubled turn in November 1925 when large quantities of silver bullion were discovered hidden in thirty-four boxes labeled as Soviet 'diplomatic bags,' intended for the Kashgar consulate. The Kashgar Taoyin, who was reportedly offended by the 'subtle spread of Soviet propaganda' in the southern oases, retaliated by expelling several suspected Russian agents. In March 1926, significant riots erupted in Kashgar, which the Chinese authorities attributed to an interpreter at the Soviet Consulate named Akbar 'Ali. The unrest was quelled by a force of 400 local Tungan troops, and Akbar 'Ali was imprisoned; the Taoyin ignored subsequent Soviet demands for his release. The rapid increase in the number of European consular staff from around fifteen in 1925 to between thirty and forty by 1927 also alarmed Chinese officials. All these developments were likely reported to Governor Yang Tseng-hsin in Urumchi, who was likely dealing with similar situations at the newly established Soviet Consulates in Kulja, Chuguchak, and Shara Sume. It appears that, with discreet British support, Yang decided to take actions to curb the expansion of Soviet influence in Kashgar. The Kashgar Taoyin then took up a strong anti-soviet stance. Alongside this Yang Zengxin's nephew, the officer in command of Chinese troops along the Kashgar northern frontier, suddenly became a frequent visitor to the British consulate General at Chini Bagh. After the death of the old Taoyin in 1927, Ma Shaowu came over from Khotan to replace him and with this came heightened anti-soviet policies in southern Xinjiang. Ma Shaowu first began by imprisoning 60 alleged local communists and tightened Chinese control over Kashgars northern frontier. The freedom of the Soviet Consul team to travel within southern Xinjiang was tightened to the extreme and all Kashgar citizens suspected of pro-soviet sympathies became targets for confiscation of their property or deportation to other oases. Yang Zengxin backed Ma Shaowu's attempts to limit Soviet influence in Tarim Basin by imposing severe tax on Muslims leaving southern Xinjiang to go on Hajj via the USSR. Similarly, new legislative was unleashed requiring merchants going into the USSR to deposit large sums of money to the Chinese authorities in Kashgar who would forfeit if the depositor failed to return to Xinjiang within 60 days. These policies did not completely insulate southern Xinjiang from Soviet influence; however, they did ensure that at the time of Yang Zengxin's assassination in 1928, the southern region of the province—especially Ma Shao-wu's domain around Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan—maintained a significant degree of independence from the Soviet Union. This stood in stark contrast to areas like the Ili Valley, Chuguchak, and Shara Sume, where Soviet influence became dominant shortly after 1925, and even to the provincial capital of Urumqi, where, by the spring of 1928, the Soviet Consul-General had considerable sway. It was likely due to Ma Shaowu's anti-Soviet position and the persistent dominance of British influence in southern Xinjiang during the final years of Yang Zengxin's administration that Kashgar emerged as a hub of conservative Muslim opposition to Chinese governance in the 1930s. Yang Zengxins intentional efforts to sever southern Xinjiang from Soviet influence resulted in the Uighurs and, to a lesser extent, the Kirghiz of the Tarim Basin being less influenced by the 'progressive' nationalist propaganda from Soviet-controlled Western Turkestan compared to the Turkic-speaking Muslims of the Ili Valley and Zungharia. This is not to imply that the socialist nationalism promoted by the Jadidists after 1917 was entirely ineffective south of the Tien Shan; however, Kashgar, situated outside the Soviet zone in northwestern Sinkiang, became a natural refuge for right-wing Turkic nationalists and Islamic traditionalists who opposed Chinese authority yet were even more fiercely against the encroachment of 'atheistic communism' and its Soviet supporters in Central Asia. Many of these right-wing Turkic-speaking nationalists were former Basmachi guerrillas, primarily of Uzbek, Kazakh, and Kirghiz descent, but also included several Ottoman Turks and, according to Caroe, "old men who had fought against the Chinese at Kashgar." Among the most notable Basmachi leaders who sought refuge in Kashgar was Janib Beg, a Kirghiz who would play a significant role in the politics of southern xinjiang during the early 1930s. Following Yang Zengxin's assassination in July 1928, Soviet influence in southern Xinjiang began to grow rapidly; nevertheless, at the onset of the Kumul Rebellion in 1931, reports of forced collectivization and the suppression of nomadic lifestyles in Western Turkestan led many Turkic Muslims in southern Xinjiang to be wary of Soviet intentions. If, during the late 1920s and early 1930's, the Turkic Muslims of southern Xinjiang were divided in their approach towards the Soviets and the newly formed Turkic-Tajik SSR's in western Turkestan, they all were united in their attitude towards their Tungan brethren to the east. Unlike the Turkic Muslim rebels of Kumul, the Uyghurs and Kirghiz of southern Xinjiang were far too distant from Gansu to appeal for assistance from the Tungan warlords, such as the 5 Ma Clique. Besides the Han Chinese officials, rule over the oases of Tarim Basin had long been held by Tungans. Ma Fuxing, the Titai of Kashgar had ruthlessly exploited his Turkic Muslim subjects between 1916-1924. He himself was a Hui Muslim from Yunnan, as was Ma Shaowu. The Turkic Muslims of southern Xinjiang therefore had zero illusions of any “muslim brotherhood” with their Tungan brethren. It was Tungan troops who intervened to suppress any demonstration against Chinese rule. The Tungans of Tarim Basin were allies to the Han Chinese administration and thus enemies to the Turkic Muslim peoples. The western rim of Tarim Basin was in a unique political situation during the later half of Yang Zengxins rule as a large part of its Turkic Muslim population looked neither to the progressive Muslim leadership of western Turkestan nor the Tungan warlords of Gansu. Instead they looked at the regimes in Turkey and Afghanistans, both quite conservative. Contacts in these places were sparse ever since the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WW1, contact ceased to exist at all. Emotional links to what once was however lingerd, and the nationalist revolution of Ataturk sprang something of a Turkish renaissance inspiring Turkic peoples from Crimea to Kumul. As for Afghanistan, there existed more concrete religious and political contacts with southern Xinjiang. In 1919, Amir Aman Allah, the last Muhammadzay ruler of Afghanistan had taken the throne after the death of his father. He became an impetuous ruler who brought forth his own downfall through a series of radical reforms that caused a revolution by 1928. Yet in his first years of rule he had widespread support of Muslim peoples in central asia, especially after he began the Third Afghan war against Britain, combined with a Jihad for Afghan independence. Because of this the British were forced to recognize Afghanistan's right to independent foreign policy. During this period, it is rumored Amir Aman Allah had toyed with the idea of forming an Islamic Confederacy which would have included Afghanistan, Bukhara, Khiva and Khokand. He would have also been interested in influence over Xinjiang where numerous Afghan merchants resided under British protection. Following Britains recognition of Afghanistan's right to independent foreign policy, with the 1919 treaty of Peshawar, British diplomatic protection for Afghan citizens in Xinjiang was lifted. Amir Aman Allah then established independent diplomatic links between Kabul and Urumqi, sending a delegation in 1922 led by Muhammad Sharif Khan. The Chinese officials regarded the Afghan mission as a trade delegation, but Muhammad Sharif Khan carried with him printed visiting cards styling himself as Afghanistan's Consul-General in Xinjiang. Alongside this he brought draft agreements demanding full extraterritorial rights and other privileges for Afghan subjects in Xinjiang and the right to import opium freely into the province. It is to no surprise Yang Zengxin refused to recognize the mission causing a dispute that would drag on for years. It became a long standing issue for th Turkic speaking Muslims of southern Xinjiang. There were many who looked to Afghanistan to help them against Chinese oppression. Now getting back to our timeline, with the initial outbreak of the Kumul Rebellion and the Tungan invasion, Jin Shujen had made every effort to prevent news of these events occurring mostly in the northeast from getting into the south. But of course one cannot stop the flow of information completely. Rumors and reports of the rebellious activities northeast flooded into the oases of Tarim Basin, invigorating anti-Chinese zeal, from peoples already suffering from increased taxation and inflation caused by unbacked paper currency paying for Jin's war efforts. Jin was well aware of the discontent south in his province, but he was emboldened by his victory of Ma Chongying as well as the recent delivery of 4000 rifles and 4 million rounds of ammunition from British held India. Thus he determined to maintain his current stance. It would prove to be a very fateful decision. The Kumul Rebellion was not crushed by any means. In fact the brutality following the relief of Kumul Old City caused outrage amongst the Turkic speaking peoples and sent refugees westwards towards Turfan. By May of 1932, Ma Chongying had dispatched a young Tungan Lt, Ma Shihming to take command over his Tungan forces remaining in Xinjiang. Ma Shihming quickly established his HQ in Turfan and began to cooperate with the Turkic speaking Muslim insurgents who owed their allegiance to Yulbars Khan and Khoja Niyas Haiji. It's also believed he made contact with Ma Fuming, a Tungan officer in command of the Xinjiang provincial forces at Turfan. By mere coincidence, in May of 1932, Jin had also elected to seek revenge against Tsetsen Puntsag Gegeen, the Torgut Mongol regent inhabiting Tien Shan. That same guy he had asked for military aid from who simply took his army away. Tsetsen Puntsag Gegeen was invited to come back to Urumqi where he was to attend an investigation into the assassination plot laid against him. On May 21st, shortly after his arrival, he alongside two Torgut officers and the young Torgut Prince were all invited to an official banquet at Jin Shujens yamen. Now you might be thinking, who in their right mind would fall for that shit? Especially given the Yang Zengxin banquet story. Well according to R.P Watts, the British Vice Consul General at Kashgar who happened to be in Urumqi at the time. “While drinking the usual preliminary cup of tea the regent and the two military officers were led out into a courtyard and executed. According to Chinese custom in such matters proper observance was accorded to the high rank of regent even at the moment of execution. A red carpet was spread on the ground on which he was invited to seat himself. He was then killed by being shot through the head from behind by one of the governor's special executioners. His two companions being men of inferior rank were not given the privilege of a red carpet to sit on whilst being executed.” The young Torgut prince was allowed to return to Kara Shahr, man that must have been an awkward desert. So Jin hoped the harsh action would terrify the young prince into submission. As you may have guessed, Jin actions were quite toxic for the Torgut Mongols. Might I add the Torgut Mongols were probably the only non Chinese group in Xinjiang that may have sided with Jin against the Turkic peoples? So to tally up things a bit here. Jin pissed off the Uyghurs and Tungans of Turfan, the Kirghiz of Tian Shan and now the Torguts. In early 1932, Turkic Muslim opposition to forced collectivization and suppression of nomadism by Stalin in the Kazakh and Kirghiz regions of Soviet Central Asia, saw many spill over into Xinjiang. By March of 1932, large numbers of Kirghiz fled the border and were pursued by Soviet forces. A series of skirmishes and raids broke out in the border region. The Soviet Kirghiz naturally received aid from the Xinjiang Kirghiz and in June a Chinese official was killed by Kirghiz insurgents in Tien Shan. The Chinese were outraged, prompting Ma Shaowu to unleash 300 troops from Kashgar New City and 200 troops from Kashgar Old City to defend the frontier area. These units were soon joined by another 100 troops from Opal and 200 from Uch Turfan all under the leadership of Brigadier Yang, the nephew to the late Yang Zengxin. In July Yang's men began joint operations with the Soviets against the Kirghiz insurgents who were led by Id Mirab. The Chinese forces were said to quote “The Chinese forces had been suffering badly from want of opium', and reportedly behaved very badly towards Kirghiz, a number of whom were driven to take refuge in Russian territory”. To try a force the submission of the Kirghiz, Yang's forces took 70 hostages from Kirghiz families and brought them to imprisoned them the oases of Khotan, Keriya and Charchan. Thus Jin and Ma Shaowu had succeeded within a few months of Ma Chongyings withdrawal back into Gansu in both alienating the Turkic speaking and Mongol nomads of Tien Shan. The Sino-Soviet cooperation against the Kirghiz had also not gone unnoticed by other Muslim groups. Meanwhile the Kumul Rebellion had spread westwards. By Autumn of 1932, months after the arrival of Ma Shihming to Turfan, Ma Fuming joined the rebels cause. Wu Aichen wrote it was his belief that Ma Fuming's decision was based on the continuing flow of Muslim refugees from Kumul to Turfan combined with reports of mass executions being carried out by Xing Fayu. But like I had mentioned, there is also strong evidence Ma Shihming probably negotiated an alliance with Ma Fuming. Wu Aichen wrote Ma Fumings first rebellious action was to send a telegram to Jin requesting he dispatch reinforcements while he also sent a letter to Xing Fayu over in Kumul to come quickly to Turfan. The reinforcements arrived at the oasis without suspecting a thing and were “shot down to the last man” by Ma Fumings forces as they passed the city gates. A few days later another detachment of 100 men led by Xing Fayu reached Turfan only to suffer the same fate. Xing Fayu was taken captive and “tortured to death in public with every refinement of cruelty and vileness of method”. Following Ma Fumings official defection, the Turfan Depression quickly emerged as the main center of Muslim rebellion in northeastern Xinjiang. Kumul which had been laid to ruin by Jin was abandoned to the Turkic Muslim insurgents and a handful of Tungan troops. A large portion of Tungan forces consisting of those following Ma Fuming and Ma Sushiming massed at Turfan preparing to march upon Urumqi, lying 100 miles northwest. The storm brewing in Turfan was followed up by a series of uncoordinated uprisings amongst the Turkic speaking Muslims of southern Xinjiang. The Uyghurs of Tarim Basin and Kirghiz of Tien Shan realized Jin's grip over the province was weakening and the presence of Tungan forces in Turfan effectively cut off the oases of the south from Urumqi and Jin's White Russian troops, whom otherwise may have scared them into submission. The White Russians and other provincial forces were hard pressed by Ma Fuming and Ma Shihming. Reports also spread that Ma Chongying would soon re-enter the fray in person and that Chang Peiyuan, the Military commander over at Ili had fallen out with Jin. Thus the Turkic speaking Muslims of southern Xinjiang knew the time was ripe to rebel against Chinese rule. In the winter uprising began at Pichan, just east of Turfan and at Kara Shahr about 175 miles southwest. Lack of Torgut support at Kara Shahr following the murder of Tsetsen Puntsag Gegeen basically sealed the fate of the Chinese forces within the city. The new Tungan leader, Ma Chanzeng emerged the commander of rebel forces in the region. Disregarding the increasingly intense conflict between Ma Shih-ming and the provincial forces along the Turfan-Urumqi road, Ma Chan-ts'ang moved westward, seizing Bugur in early February and progressing to Kucha. There, he formed a strategic alliance with Temiir, the local Uyghur leader, who was noted by Wu Aichen as "a capable individual who had managed the mule wagon service." After occupying Kucha without any resistance, the combined forces of Ma Chanzeng and Temiir continued their advance toward Aksu, capturing the small town of Bai along the way. Ma Shaowu was the Taoyin of Kashgar and second most powerful official in the provincial administration after Jin, thus found himself cut off from Urumqi by two separate armies of Muslim rebels each composed of Tungan and Turkic factions. One of these armies held a small but militarily competent Tungan force led by Ma Chanzeng with a large contingent of poorly armed Uyghur peasants owing their allegiance to Temur. This force advanced southwest towards Aksu, while the other army consisting of a loose coalition of competent Tungan troops under Ma Shihming and Ma Fuming with Turkic speaking Muslim peasants owing allegiance to Khoja Niyas Haiji and Yulbars Khan pressed their attack directly upon Urumqi. In February of 1933 to add further confusion in the south, the rebellion against the Chinese spread southwards across the Tarim Basin to its southern rim. Uprising against the Chinese administration broke out simultaneously amongst the gold miners of the southern oases who had long resented the provincial governments fixed rate for the purchase of gold in Xinjiang alongside brutal working conditions. The spiraling inflation from Jin's worthless currency which was used to pay for the gold only made things worse. By spring their patience had run out, the Uyghurs led by Ismail Khan Khoja seized control of Kara Kash killing a large number of Han Chinese. Meanwhile the Uyghurs at Keriya seized control over the Surghak mines and threatened to take control over the whole oasis. Prominent rebel demands included a fair price for gold and silver and prohibition of the purchase of precious metals with paper currency. More urgent demands were lowering taxes, ending government tyranny, introducing Shari a law and stationing Muslim troops in every city. Now these demands were very real, they were willing to stand down if they were met. One anonymous writer of the demand notices placed at Karakash was as follows “A friend for the sake of friendship will make known a friend's defects and save him from the consequences of his defects. You, who are supposed to rule, cannot even realize this, but try to seek out the supporter of Islam to kill him. Foolish infidels like you are not fit to rule ... How can an infidel, who cannot distinguish between a friend and a foe, be fit to rule? You infidels think that because you have rifles, guns ... and money, you can depend on them; but we depend upon God in whose hands are our lives. You infidels think that you will take our lives. If you do not send a reply to this notice we are ready. If we die we are martyrs. If we survive we are conquerors. We are living but long for death”. Ma Shaowu elected to first move against the Muslim insurgents threatening Aksu, most likely reasoning that if Ma Chanzeng and Temur were defeated the weaker rebel forces at KaraKash and Surghak would just crumble. There also was the fact Ma Shihmings men at Turfan had severed the telegraph line between Urumqi and Kashgar, and that line had been re-routed via Aksu, but if Aksu fell to the rebels, communications with the capital would only be possible via the USSR. At this point its estimated Brigadier Yang had a mixed army of 280 cavalry and 150 infantry as he set out for Aksu on February 6th. Ma Shaowu's position was not good. On February 9th, Jin Shujen's younger brother, Jin Shuqi the commander in chief at Kashgar New City suddenly died of illness. He was replaced with a Chinese officer called Liu who took command of his three detachments of cavalry, about 480 men and a single detachment of artillery, about 160 men. Ma Shaowu held control over two regiments of cavalry, 700 men and 3 detachments of infantry, around 300 men all stationed at Kashgar Old City. In mid february reports reached Kashgar that Brigadier Yang was heavily outnumbered by the rebels under Ma Chanzeng and Temur and had fallen back from Aksu to a defensive line at Maral Bashi. On the 23rd celebrations were held at Kashgar to mark Jin handing Ma Shadowu the new title of Special Commissioner for the Suppression of Bandits. During the celebration, salutes were fired at the yamen and KMT flags were flown from buildings throughout the city. Afterwards all of Liu's forces were sent to Maral Bashi to bolster Yang. Now in a bid to suppress the uprisings at Surghak and KaraKash before a full scale uprising could develop on the southern road, 200 men led by Colonel Li were dispatched to Khotan, while another force under Colonel Chin was dispatched to Yarkland. Because of these movements of troops to Khotan and Maral Bashi, there was a serious depletion of defenders for Kashgar. Thus Ma Shaowu ordered a raising of Kirghiz levies and recalled some Chinese troops from the frontier districts west of Kashgar. Thus the Chinese garrison at Sarikol pulled out to Kashgar, leaving the region's Tajik population to their own devices. At Kashgar, troops posted on the walls of both cities had strict orders to close all gates at 7pm, with major curfew laws set into place.Despite all of this the provincial troops proved very inept at stemming the rebel advance along both the north and south roads into Kashgar. On the 25th, the rebels entered Aksu Old City, shooting up all its Chinese residents, seized their property, stormed the arsenal and looted the treasury. Later on Ma Changzeng and Temur led an estimated 4700 ill armed Uyghur irregular army to advance on Maral Bashi and Kashgar. In the Keriya, the Chinese officials consented to convert to Islam and to surrender their possessions; however, on March 3, thirty-five Chinese individuals, including top officials, were executed, with their heads displayed in the marketplace. On February 28, the Old City of Khotan fell into the hands of rebels with little resistance, while the New City of Khotan was besieged before capitulating to the insurgents on March 16th. Following the rebel successes in Khotan, it was reported that 266 Han Chinese converted to Islam, and both the treasury and arsenal of the New City—containing "thousands of weapons and nearly a ton of gold"—were seized by the insurgents. Additionally, uprisings led by a Uighur named ‘Abd ai-Qadir took place in Chira, and in Shamba Bazaar, several Han Chinese and two Hindu moneylenders were killed. Further afield from Keriya, the town of Niya succumbed to the rebel forces from Khotan, while even farther east, at the isolated oases of Charchan and Charkhlik, reports indicate that peaceful insurrections occurred after a small Tungan contingent loyal to Ma Shih-ming entered the region via a little-used desert route connecting Kara Shahr and Lop. Meanwhile, to the west of Khotan, Uighur forces under Isma'il Khan Khoja obstructed the main route to Yarkand at the Tokhta Langar caravanserai, repelling all but two delegates sent from Kashgar by Ma Shao-wu, who aimed to negotiate with the rebel leaders in Khotan. No further news was received from the two Begs allowed to continue to Khotan, and with their diplomatic mission's failure, the entire southern route from the eastern outskirts of the Guma oasis to the distant Lop Nor fell out of Chinese control. To fortify their position against potential counterattacks from Kashgar, the rebel leaders in Khotan destroyed roadside wells in the desert east of Guma and began establishing a clearly Islamic governance in the areas they had liberated. By mid March, Ma Shaowu's control over southern Xinjiang was limited to just a wedge of territory around Kashgar, Maral Bashi and Yarkland. Moral was so low, Ma Shaowu asked the British Indian government for military assistance as it seemed apparent no help would come from Urumqi. Ma Shaowu had received 3 telegrams from Jin via the USSR lines; the first confirmed his position as Commander in Chief; the second relayed Jin's brothers death and the third directed Jin Kashgar representatives to remit a large sum of money to his personal bank account in Tientsin. That last signal must have been a banger to read. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Kumul Rebellion quicked off a storm of different groups' grievances and Jin Shujen did a banger job of pissing off…pretty much every single group. In the southern portions of Xinjiang massive uprisings began and it seemed a tidal wave would hit the entire province.

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3.132 Fall and Rise of China: Beginning of the Kumul Rebellion

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2024 29:36

Last time we spoke about the complicated story of Xinjiang. Xinjiang, though part of China since the Han dynasty, has a distinct cultural and geographic identity aligned more with Central Asia than China's east. Its remote, mountainous landscapes divide its regions and isolate its ethnic groups, which include Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Hui Muslims. Yang Zengxin, Xinjiang's Republican governor, ruled with shrewd, divisive tactics, maintaining peace by balancing loyalties but alienating many. His rule ended in 1928, when an ambitious subordinate, Fan Yaonan, assassinated him, marking a turning point. Yang attended a banquet hosted by Fan, where disguised soldiers fired on him, mortally wounding him. Fan seized power but was soon defeated and executed by Jin, who succeeded Yang as ruler of Xinjiang. Jin enforced strict policies, favoring Han Chinese officials and worsening the economy. He raised taxes, restricted Muslim customs, and monopolized industries. His annexation of the Kumul Khanate in 1931 incited unrest among the local Uyghurs, setting the stage for rebellion. #132 The Beginning of the Kumul Rebellion Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So last we left off, things had reached a boiling point in Kumul. The explosion at Kumul would begin mostly as a result of a religious and cultural slight against the Muslim population both Turkic speaking and Tungan. They became offended and banded together against the Chinese officials. As a result of the new administration and annexation of the Kumul Khanate, a young Han named Chang Mu from Gansu, was appointed tax collector and chief of police over the small village of Xiaopu, lying due north of Kumul. According to the Nanjing official Wu Aichen “this Chang Mu was a 'wastrel' whose conduct soon became a public scandal”. In early 1931, Chang Mu met a pretty Turkic Muslim girl in Xiaopu and tried to force her father, a Uyghur called Salih, to give him her hand in marriage. Now for those unaware shari law specifically prohibits marriage between Muslim women and men of other religions. What followed is described in two differing accounts. The first account has it that on April 4th of 1931, Chang Mu was invited to eat at the girls house, allegedly in honor of the forthcoming wedding. During the dinner, Chang Mu was attacked by Uyghur's and slaughtered alongside 32 members of his personal bodyguard. It was further implied by our friend Wu Aichen, Chang Mu had already seduced the girl and that the ulama, those being islamic scholars who act as a sort of authority under shari law, upon discovering so, took it upon themselves to correct the situation. On the night of the proposed ceremony a mob appeared in the streets of Xiaopu. Chang Mu and his guard detail were already thoroughly drunk and easily overcome by the pissed off Uyghurs. All were killed, including the poor Uyghur girl. The Uyghurs then took 30 rifles from the dead and turned their attention towards the Gansu Chinese who were said to number in about a hundred families in the area. All of them were massacred and “had their heads buried in the soil of their farms”. Following this the Uyghurs marched upon the Chinese outposts at Tuluhu and Laimahe killing their garrisons and tax collectors while acquiring even more weapons. Better armed, the Uyghurs elected to make a move against Kumul. Kumul held an overwhelming Uyghur majority and easily fell into the hands of the rebels with little to no fighting. Most of the Han fled into the fortified Old City barring its gates. The Han caught outside the Old City were massacred brutally. Soon the rebel forces controlled Kumul's Muslim part of the city and the surrounding countryside, but the provincial forces remained secure within the Old city and its key arsenal. It is unclear whether the Xiaopu incident was carefully planned prior or simply just came into being. Regardless it was a spark that ignited a much larger rebellion. According to Mildred Cable and Francesca French, two members of the China inland Mission, who resided in Xiaopu at the time, it was indeed a systematically planned rebellion. “While officials surreptitiously transferred their wealth to a place of safety, the instigators of trouble were equally persistent in their secret preparations for war. Camels and mules were requisitioned to transport weapons, ammunition and stocks of food over little-known tracks, that they might be stored in mountain caves known only to the few. Steady streams ofsmall caravans carrying ammunition to the mountains came from the South Road, from Tunhwang and across the most lonely tracks of the desert connecting Kansu with Barku!. All these converged on the Khan's summer palace grounds in AraHim, and the stronghold of Bardash was stocked with huge supplies of food and firearms”. Yulbars Khan, the former chancellor of Maqsud Shah claimed he was in the Tien Shah escaping heat when the fighting began. Many speculate he had a hand in planning the uprising. Cable and French argued the Tungan population of Kumul also joined the rebellion early on. The insurgents of Kumul were quickly joined by neighboring Kirhiz of the Karlik Tagh who also held grievances against Jin as he had imposed Chinese officials upon them in 1929. According to Wu Aichen the Barkul and Kazakhs in the area also joined the rebellion. Thus Jin had succeeded in alienating the Turkic speaking peoples of northeastern Xinjiang now had a full scale Muslim rising on his hands. Jin reacted with a strong show of force despite his Commissioner of Education Liu Wenlung and Commissioner for Reconstruction Yen Yushan both arguing for a policy of conciliation. Jin ordered troops to crack down on the rebels without mercy. Meanwhile back in Kumul the rebels were unable to breach the Old City so they fanned out into the countryside hunting Han settlers and soldiers down. According to the British Vice Consul General at Kashgar, R.P Watts, an initial detachment of 300 troops sent by Jin relieved Kumul Old City were ambushed and killed nearly to a man. Its also implied they had lost so easily because many of them were sleeping off the effects of opium. Despite the initial success, the rebels were unable to prevent provincial forces led by Zhu Juiqi, the Taoyin of Aksu from relieving the Old City. By late April the siege was lifted, Zhu Juiqi occupied the Old City and ordered his second in command Xiong Fayu to occupy Kumul's Muslim quarters. The rebels still controlled the countryside and were harassing Zhu's forces whenever they strayed a bit too far from their forts, but overall were not much of a match. Meanwhile Chinese troops under the leadership of Xiong Fayu began a series of reprisal massacres against Muslim civilians in Kumul and the surrounding villages. The Uyghur leaders quickly determined they needed external help in their rebellion against Jin. According to testimony from Yulbars Khan, they sent an appeal to the KMT government in Nanjing. Then in June of 1931 Yulbars was chosen, most likely because he was fluent in Mandarin, to head out secretly to Nanjing to carry the appeal. Along the way, Yulbars went to Suzhou to meet with Ma Chongying, known as the youngest and most extreme of the 5 Ma Tungan warlords. Ma Chongying was a Gansu native. Very little is known about his early years nor about his father, but he shared the same paternal grandfather of the Gansu/Qinghai warlords Ma Puqing and Ma Pufang. He was also distantly related to the Gansu/Ningxia warlords Ma Hongkuei and Ma Hungpin. Altogether the 5 were known as the 5 Ma warlord clique. Ma Congying entered military service in 1924 at the age of 14 when he joined a local Muslim militia. A year later the Guominjun forces of Feng Yuxiang invaded Gansu, but the Tungan warlords of western Gansu remained for the most part untouched. Ma Chongying became an officer for the forces of his uncle Ma Kechong and laid a siege and captured the important city of Huzhou on his own initiative. His troops easily defeated reinforcements sent to relieve the city under the command of Ma Lin. With this great victory, at the age of 16, Ma Chongying earned the reputation of a military genius and the nickname Ga Ssuling or “little commander”. His triumph would be short lived however for his superior Ma Kuchung had not ordered the seizure of Huzhou and dismissed his nephew for insubordination. Thus Ma Chongying took his men to Xining in Qinghai and there began building a private army. The Guominjun eventually left Gansu after devastating it. In 1927 the northwestern parts of Gansu was hit by a massive earthquake and this combined with Feng Yuxiang's regional commander Liu Yufen using much of its land for opium cultivation led to a mass famine. In the spring of 1928, the northwestern Tungans began a revolt against the Guominjun led by the Muslim General Ma Tingxiang. Ma Chongying tossed his lot into the fighting leading to three successive attacks against the Guominjun at Huzhou. According to Robert Ekvall, an American traveler in the region “The revolt had by this time assumed all the aspects of a holy war. Chanting prayers, forty or fifty thousand fighters went into battle with fanatical zeal ... the young rebel leader Ma Chong-ing [sic] seemed to bear a charmed life and by his reckless courage gained the utmost in obedience and devotion from his ruffian troops. The Chinese were panic-stricken at the desperate courage of the Moslems, but eventually, by machine gun fire and light artillery, proved superior”. Alongside this American diplomats reported that the famine and war in Gansu had reduced many to cannibalism with a possible two million people dying between 1926-1929. One of the many to die was Ma Chongyings father who was executed by Liu Yufen as a reprisal against him for his actions in 1929. That year Ma Chongying had strengthened his position by defeating several Guominjun forces. He traveled to Nanjing where he enrolled briefly at the military academy there. Rumors had it there he offered his services to the KMT on the understanding that if he could win control over Xinjiang that they recognize him. After departing Nanjing he traveled to Chongwei along the Yellow River where he joined his army before marching across the southern friends of the Ala Shan desert to head into northwestern Gansu. There he seized control over 4 districts; Kanzhou, Suzhou, Anxi and Tunhuang. Thus by the time of the Kumul uprising in April of 1931, Ma Chongying had established himself the Tungan warlord over northwestern Gansu. In June of that year, Yulbars Khan visited him at Suzhou while enroute to Nanjing. After a dinner, Ma Chongying asked Yulbars what was going on with the Kumul rebellion and the state of Kumul. Ma Congying then proceeded to criticize Jin Shujen whom he thought was unfit to govern Xinjiang. Upon hearing this Yulbars disclosed why he was going to Nanjing. Yulbars told him that many in Gansu did not support Jin and that he was appealing to Nanjing to see if Jin could be replaced with a new governor. Ma Chongying sat silently for some time before asking if Yulbar's had any personal contacts in Nanjing, to which he replied he did not. He then advised Yulbars to not go to Nanjing because of three reasons: 1) The Kuomintang had just completed its Northern Expedition and was in need of stability, so it was not in a position to replace its frontier governors, despite any shortcomings they had.2) Even if the Nanking government agreed to remove Chin Shu-jen, implementing the decision would likely take two or three years due to the vast distances involved. 3) Furthermore, Chin's greed would likely make him unwilling to step down, and he might even seek support from a foreign power to secure his position. Under these conditions, Sinkiang could potentially come under foreign control. The points were sound, however Yulbars stated the people had sent him to Nanjing, what should he do if he failed? Ma Congying replied “I have a way ... I can meet the needs of the Uighurs of Ha-mi ... In the name of Muslim brotherhood, I shall take my army into Sinkiang. First I shall alleviate the suffering of the Uighurs of Ha-mi, then I shall drive Chin Shu-jen from the stage by force of arms.” A lot of this is conjecture, as it would seem impossible Ma Chongying spontaneously decided to invade Xinjiang over dinner. Ma Chongying was interested in the Kumul uprising long before the arrival of Yulbars in Suzhou and based on other sources it seems Yulbars was well aware of this prior to his visit. Ma Chongying most likely had decent information on the political ongoings of Xinjiang as two Muslim Turks from Istanbul had traveled to northwestern Gansu from Urumqi in early 1931 and entered Ma Chongying's military HQ. One was Kamal Kaya Efendi who went on to become his chief of staff. Ma Chongying was also gun running to places like Kumul, meaning he would have a lot of intel. Ma Chongyings powerbase in Kanzhou was also temporary. As pointing out by Mildred Cable and Francesca French “based on the assumption of the paralysing effect of frightfulness in action, and as a method of temporary invasion it answered his purpose well, but it never served him as a basis of true conquest, nor did he ever establish rule over one single acre of the land which he invaded. His was the method of the locust. . . and his army was always viewed as a plague. It came, it devoured, and when it had passed over, the patient, constructively minded peasants instantly began to repair the damage done to their fields, and to begetsons to replace those who had been swept away in his train” In 1931 Ma Chongyings private army was not a large one, it was perhaps no more than 1000 men and given the account of Mildred Cable and Francesca French, his army had to roam around like locusts to survive. Ma Chongying was a very ambitious and young warlord who like many in this part of China dreamed of carving out a Muslim empire in central asia. In the spring of 1931, Ma Chongying had only two possible directions to take. One was through China proper where he would most likely face his uncle Ma Pufang, whom at the time he was in this sort of propaganda war with. The other was to go through Xinjiang, where it seemed he could receive aid from other Muslim groups seeking to be rid of Jin Shujen. Ma Chongying assembled a force of 500 Tungan cavalry and swiftly crossed the desert between Anxi and Kumul during the full heat of midsummer, arriving in the oasis on the 28th of June, at around the same time as the French Citroen expedition. The French Citroen expedition got to see an encounter between Ma Chongyings Tungan Cavalry and some Chinese machine gun detachment outside of the village of Yikoshu. The French account indicated the Chinese forces also had some Mongol soldiers with them decisively beating back the Tungan riders. After witnessing this the French headed for Kumul's Old City which they found in a state of chaos. Everyone within the city was busy organizing defenses. The French were taken immediately to the local Chinese commander, Zhu Juichih. As they made their way they could see anxious Muslims peering out of their windows and on telegraph poles were heads, hearts and livers, most likely from captured insurgents. Commander Zhu gave the French permission to continue to Urumqi, stating they could do so at their own risk. Most of the French departed on July 1st, leaving behind 3 members at the Old City who would become eyewitnesses to Ma Chongyings attack. On July 3rd, Ma Chongying dispatched two messangers to Zhu Juichich baring the following message. “By order of the National Government of China I have been appointed commander-in-chief of all military forces of Kansu and Sinkiang. Having assumed my new occasional pistol shot could be heard as hand-to-hand fighting began on the wall Its self ... Just when the place seemed to be doomed a machine gun, which up to this had been silent ... suddenly came to life. Emplaced in a blockhouse flanking the wall, It opened fire, mowing down the assault, and the glacis was soon cleared except for heaps of corpses”. Ma Chongyings Tungan cavalry force lacked heavy artillery necessary to breach the Old city walls. Three separate attacks were made on the night of the 3rd, all beaten back. Zhu Juichih, a military veteran had zero intention of surrendering to the so called “little commander” whom he dismissed as a “thieving cub”. Ma Chongying seemed to have little stomach for siege warfare so on the 5th he led a large portion of his Tungan cavalry away from Kumul Old City. By doing so he had left roughly 1000 Uyghur insurgents with a handful of Tungans to continue a siege against the Kumul Old City who had 2000 provincial troops. Zhu Juichih was unaware of Ma Chongyings true purpose so he elected not to sortie fearing a trap. Meanwhile Ma Congying led his riders over the Karlik Tagh to Barkul surprising its defenders. Barkul would end up surrendering without much of a struggle. The commander at Barkul named Hedin handed over 2000 rifles and opened the Barkul arsenal to Ma Chongying. Ma Chongying left a hundred man garrison to capture the town as he turned south. According to Wu Aichen, the sudden small victories of the young commander emboldened other groups to join his cause such as the Kazakhs and Tungans north of Karlik Tagh. By mid-July Muslim insurgents were effectively controlling the entire territory of the Old Kumul Khanate, from Xingxingxia to Iwanquan. Groups of invading Tungans from Gansu formed an alliance with the Muslims of Xinjiang, notably from Xingxingxia and Barkul to hold the siege of Kumul Old City. Ma Chongying seemed to also hold the full support of indigenous Muslims of the area whether it be Hazakh, Kirghiz, Uyghur or Xinjiang Tungans. Jin Shujen's received word of the young commander leading a force of Tungan cavalry attacking various places. It seemed his next target was to be Qiqiaoqing. Jin appointed his chief secretary, Lu Xiaozu to be his commander in chief of the provincial forces; Tu Qikuo and Sheng Shihtsai were to be his joint chiefs of staff. Lu Xiaozu was a younger brother to Jin Shujen, a civilian with little to no military experience and was the bitter rival of the current commissioner for military affairs at Urumqi, Jin Shuxin. Lu Xiaozu mustered a force roughly 1000 strong of men almost all lacking any military training or experience. They were immediately tossed over to Qiqiaoqing with orders to halt the Tungan advance pending further reinforcements. Shortly after their arrival, the troops were met by a surprise night attack and killed nearly to a man. Their commander Tu Qikuo committed suicide in disgrace. According to Kamal Kaya Efendi, the Tungans were led personally by Ma CHongying during the daring attack. He had taken his forces into the oasis through little known trails in Karlik Tagh and Bogdo Ula after his capture of Barkul. Following this victory, Ma Chongying returned to Kumul Old City to see if the siege was providing any results. This was a rather bizarre decision as Jin Shujens capital of Urumqi was basically open for the taking, but perhaps the young commander had overestimated his enemy. When Ma Congying arrived at Kumul Old City, the besiegers' morale improved greatly. Between July 3rd to October 16th over 43 attacks had been levied against the Chinese garrison. The Tungans dug trenches and built barricades trying to storm the walls. Meanwhile within the old city walls the besieged people were forced to eat their camels, horses and mules to survive. By October 1st the defenders were reduced to a ration of 750 grammes of kaoliang floor per day and were expected to run out by the end of the month. Likewise ammunition was running low, prompting Zhu Juichih to resort to more archaic weapons such as fire arrows and Dao swords that the men had found preserved in the arsenal going back to the time of Zuo Zungtang's campaign in the 19th century. One of the French expeditionaries reported the only thing being sold in the bazaars was opium. One could not even obtain oil as it was boiled and hurled over the walls at the attackers. The Tungans attempted numerous times to breach the walls using mines, but they lacked sufficient powder to create large enough explosions. On one occasion a breach was made in the walls, but the defenders were quickly able to block the hole with wool before the attackers could get through. Afterwards a ditch was dug around the walls and flooded so the Tungan trenches would be unable to continue mining. Siege warfare is neat isn't it? Horrible to be sure, but so much ingenuity. By Mid-October the defenders were very desperate. According to the French expeditionaries inside after 108 days of siege, the defenders sortied out of the town on October 16th and tried to reach Urumqi. “What sustained the men was opium. They could not have held out without it, and so long as it lasted and no strenuous effort was demanded of them, they could get along on practically no food. At night the opium lamps of the sentries could be seen sparkling like little stars the length of the ramparts. The whole garrison was in fact intoxicated. It was fantastic!” It is quite probable the defenders chose to make a break for it because they were a majority Han Chinese and greatly feared their fate if the Tungans got in. If you know Islamic history, well you know. Ma Chongying had refused any terms other than unconditional surrender and given the feelings of Kumuls Muslim insurgents, it seemed highly unlikely any prisoners would be taken. Regardless, the siege had delayed the Tungans for a long time, allowing Jin Shujen to hastily organize provincial forces at Urumqi. After his first military campaign had failed horrendously, Jin now orderedTsetsen Puntsag Gegeen, the “living Buddha” of Xinjiang of the Torgut Mongols to lead his famous Torgut Cavalry regiment against the Tungans at Kumul. The Turgot troops were by far the best available at the time to Jin, and the most capable to go one on one with Tungan cavalry. However Tsetsen Puntsag Gegeen was one of the many Torguts who had grievances with Jin over his policy of enforcing Han Chinese officials upon his people to take positions of leadership. Moreover a plot had recently been discovered that one of his subordinates had been paid off to assassinate him. Tsetsen Puntsag Gegeen suspected Jin Shujen to be the culprit to the plot and when the said assassins fled to Urumqi, Jin refused to hand them over for justice, all but confirmed his suspicions. Thus Tsetsen Puntsag Gegeen refused to become involved in the war over Kumul and instead took his forces to Kara Shahr as a demonstration of power. Lacking sufficient numbers or reliable Han Chinese troops, Jin turned next to the White Russian community. Lu Xiaozu who proved himself an imbecile at military matters was replaced with Chang Peiyuan, the Military commander of the Ili Region which also happened to be the region where most White Russians resided. Chang Peiyuan went to work rallying White Russian volunteers who more or less refused to fight for the Chinese, until Jin threatened to repatriate them to Stalin's USSR. In late September Chang Peiyuan had a force headed by 250 White Russians under the leadership of Colonel Pappengut with the mission of relieving Kumul Old City. During this time Ma Chongying decided to march upon the capital, drawing most of his Tungan cavalry away from Kumul heading westwards along the Qiqiaoqing road. This took him directly into the path of the advancing White Russians who began skirmishing around the village of Liaotun. At some point Ma Chongying was seriously wounded, shot through both of his legs. Despite this both sides had negligible casualties. Yet as a result of his grievous injury a large portion of Ma Congying's Tungan riders retreated back into northwestern Gansu. Rumor has it, at this time Ma Congying was bought off by Jin Shujen, regardless he had to take a prolonged time to recuperate and was away from the front lines. Once safely across the Gansu-Xinjiang frontier, Ma Chongying handed control of his four districts of Tunhuang, Anxi, Yumen and Suzhou to his uncle Ma Pufang. Meanwhile Chang Peiyuans forces with Pappenguts White Russians in the spearhead were still advancing towards Kumul Old City. They managed to relieve it on November 1st. The victorious Chinese troops sacked Kumul as a reward, that was denied to the White Russian forces. The provincial troops then performed a systematic destruction of large parts of Kumul, levelling entire villages and terrorizing the population. Zhu Juichih had returned to Urumqi, but his Lt Xing Fayu had remained at Kumul and began a series of mass executions. The reprisals were so heinous, all of the Uyghurs who had remained neutral during the ordeal threw their lot in with the rebellion. Refugees began to pour westwards towards Turfan while Uyghur insurgents withdrew to Karlik Tagh, notably to their well stocked mountain fort at Bardash. Those who went to Bardash unleashed a guerilla war against Jin troops in collaboration with Ma Chongyings Tungans who awaited their leader in Xinjiang. A communication network led from Bardash and Anxi for this purpose. While Ma Chongying was licking his wounds he reorganized his forces. 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. Thus the Kumul Rebellion had just been unleashed. Those who were oppressed were gradually forming a rebellious coalition against Jin Shujen. Although Ma Chongying had literally been cut down at the legs so to say, he was not down for the count. The Rebellion had only just begun.

3.131 Fall and Rise of China: Complicated Story about Xinjiang

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Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2024 34:46

Last time we spoke about the Long March. Amidst escalating conflicts, the Red Army, led by the newly empowered Mao Zedong, faced immense pressures from the Nationalist Army. Struggling through defeats and dwindling forces, they devised a bold retreat known as the Long March. Starting in October 1934, they evaded encirclement and crossed treacherous terrain, enduring heavy losses. Despite dire circumstances, their resilience allowed them to regroup, learn from past missteps, and ultimately strengthen their strategy, securing Mao's leadership and setting the stage for future successes against the KMT. During the Long March (1934-1936), the Red Army skillfully maneuvered through treacherous terrain, evading the pursuing National Revolutionary Army. Despite harsh conditions and dwindling numbers, advances and strategic ploys allowed them to cross critical rivers and unite with reinforcements. Under Mao Zedong's leadership, they faced internal struggles but ultimately preserved their unity. By journey's end, they had transformed into a formidable force, setting the stage for future victories against their adversaries and solidifying their influence in China. #131 The Complicated Story about Xinjiang Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. I've said probably too many times, but theres one last major series of events I'd like to cover before we jump into the beginning of the 15 year war between China and Japan. When I say Xinjiang I imagine there are two responses from you in the audience, 1) what the hell is Xinjiang or number 2) oh what about that place in northwest China. That pretty much sums it up, the history of this province, or region if you want to call it that is almost never spoken about. It was a place as we have seen multiple times in the series, where conflicts come and go like the weather. But in the 1930's things really heated up. What I want to talk about is collectively part of the Xinjiang Wars, but more specifically I want to talk about the Kumul Rebellion. There's really no way to jump right into this one so I am going to have to explain a bit about the history of Xinjiang. Xinjiang in a political sense is part of China and has been the cornerstone of China's strength and prestige going back to the Han dynasty over 2000 years ago. In a cultural sense however, Xinjiang is more inline with the Muslim dominated middle-east. It's closer to th Turkic and Iranian speaking peoples of Central Asia. From a geographical point of view Xinjiang is very much on the periphery. It is very isolated from western asia by the massed ranks of the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, the Tien Shan, the Indian Subcontinent of Karakoram, Kunlun, the Himalaya ranges and of course by the Gobi desert. It neither belongs to the east or west. As a province of China its the largest and most sparsely populated. It can be divided into two main regions, the Tarim Basin and Zungharia and then into two lesser but economically significant regions, the Ili Valley and Turgan Depression. The Tien Shan mountain range extends roughly eastward from the Pamir Massif, creating a formidable barrier between Zungharia and the Tarim Basin. This natural obstacle complicates direct communication between the two regions, particularly during winter. The Ili Valley, separated from Zungharia by a northern extension of the Tien Shan, is physically isolated from the rest of the province and can only be easily accessed from the west. This western area came under Russian control in the mid-nineteenth century and now forms part of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Now it has to be acknowledged, since the formation of the PRC in 1949, Xinjiang changed in size and ethnic composition. The CCP drove a massive Han migrant wave over. Regardless, Han's make up a minority and according to some population statistics taken during the 1940s, Xinjiang was dominated by 7 Muslim nationalities, roughly 3.5 million people out of a total population of 3.7 million. 200,000 of these were Han settlers, while 75,000-100,000 were Mongols, Russians, Tunguzic peoples (those being Sibo, Solon and Manchu), a few Tibetans, Afghans and Indians. Among the various indigenous Muslim nationalities of Xinjiang, the Uighurs stand out as the most numerous and politically important. This Turkic-speaking group primarily consists of sedentary agriculturalists who reside in the oases of the Tarim Basin, Turfan, Kumul, and the fertile lowlands of the Hi Valley. In the late 1940s, the Uyghur population in Xinjiang was estimated to be approximately 2,941,000. Following the Uyghurs, the second-largest Muslim nationality in the region is the Kazakhs, with an estimated population of around 319,000 during the late Republican Period. Kirghiz come in third, with an estimated population of about 65,000 at the same time. Both the Kazakhs and Kirghiz in Xinjiang are nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples, with the Kazakhs primarily found in the highland areas of Zungharia and the Hi Valley, while the Kirghiz inhabit the upland pastures of the Tien Shan and Pamirs. There also exist a small group of Iranian-speaking 'Mountain' Tajiks living in the upland Sarikol region in the far southwest, with an estimated population of 9,000 in the mid-1940s; a primarily urban group of Uzbeks residing in larger oasis towns and cities of the Tarim Basin, numbering approximately 8,000 in the mid-1940s; and a smaller group of Tatars settled mainly in Urumqi and the townships near the Xinjiang-Soviet border, estimated at 5,000 during the same period. Lastly, it is important to mention the Hui, a group of Chinese-speaking Muslims dispersed throughout China, particularly in Zungharia and Kumul within Xinjiang, as well as in the neighboring northwestern provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia. Known as 'Tungan' in Xinjiang, the Hui population was estimated at around 92,000 in the mid-1940s and held significant political and military influence during the Republican Period. Excluding the Ismaili Tajik's of Sarikol, the Muslim population of Xinjiang, whether Turkic or Chinese speaking, are Sunni following the orthodox of Hanafi Madhhab. As for the non Muslim population, excluding the Mongols who numbered roughly 63,000 and inhabit a narrow strip of land along the northeastern frontier between Xinjiang and the Mongolian People's Republic, Tien Shan, Ili Vally and Chuguchak, most were newcomers, migrants from the mid 18th century while the region was being conquered. Again according to the same statistics from the 1940s I mentioned, Hans represented 3-4 % of the population. Although the Han population disproportionately held power with the main administrative areas, they had no sizable territorial enclaves. The Han population can basically be divided into 5 groups; descendants of exiled criminals and political offenders; Hunanese settlers who came over after Zuo Zungtang's conquests; Tientsin merchants who were supplying Zuo's army; Shanxi caravaneers who came to trade and Gansu colonists. Lastly there were the Tunguzic Peoples and Russians. The Tunguzic speaking Sibo, Solon and Manchu settled mostly in the Ili region. The Russians also tended to live in the Ili region. These were mostly White Russian refugees from the civil war. Xinjiang's first Republican governor was Yang Zengxin, a Yunnanese native. He had previously worked as the district magistrate in Gansu and Ningxia earning a reputation as a good manager of the local Tungan Muslim population. In 1908 he was transferred to Xinjiang and quickly found himself promoted to by the last Qing governor of Xinjiang. He held out his post after the Xinhai revolution and quelled a Urumqi rebellion soon after. Yang Zengxin's survived politically by always siding with whichever faction he thought was winning. For example in 1917, President Li Yuanghong dispatched Fan Yaonan to watch over Yang and try to replace him if possible. Yang recognized quickly whichever Warlord faction held power over the Beiyang government should be courted. Thus Yang held out for a long time and his province was comparably peaceful compared to most of warlord era China. To maintain his power, Yang enacted a divide and rule style, trying to placate the conflicts between certain groups within Xinjiang, but made sure to exclude Russian influence. Basically Yang tried his best to keep groups who could come into conflict away from each other, keeping the Uyghurs of southern Xinjiang away from the pastoral nomads of Zungharia and Tien Shan. Above all Yang considered the Bolshevik Russians to be the greatest threat to his regime, in his words “The Russians ... aimed at ... isolating the country from all outside influence, and at maintaining it in a state of medieval stagnation, thus removing any possibility of conscious and organised national resistance. As their religious and educational policy, the Russian administrators sought to preserve the archaic form of Islam and Islamic culture. . . Quranic schools of the most conservative type were favoured and protected against any modernist influence”. During his 16 year of power, Yang established himself as a competent autocrat, a mandarin of the old school and quite the capable administrator. Yet his economic policies were long term exploitative causing hardship and exhausting the province. Yang realized he was reached the threshold of what the population was willing to endure and endeavored to allow corruption to emerge within his administration provided it remained within acceptable limits. IE: did not spring forward a Muslim revolution. He opened junior positions in the administration to Muslims which had a duel effect. It made the Muslim community feel like they were part of greater things, but placed said officials in the path of the populations anger, insulating senior Han officials. Ironically it would be his fellow Han Chinese officials who would become angry with him. Some were simply ambitious of his power, others felt that Xinjiang should be more closely inline with China proper. Rumors have it that after a dinnr party, Yang deliberately surrounded himself with opium addicts, stating to his subordinates “the inveterate opium smoker thinks more of his own comfort and convenience than of stirring up unrest among his subordinates”. Needless to say, Yang later years saw him seriously alienating senior officials. By 1926 he claimed “to have created an earthly paradise in a remote region” so he seemed to be quite full of himself. That same year he turned against his Tungan subordinates. He accused many of conspiring with Ma Qi, a Tungan warlord of Xuning in Qinghai, whom he also thought were driven by Urumqi. Deprived of his formerly loyal Tungans, Yang found himself increasingly isolated. A expedition was sent to Urumqi in 1926, whr G. N Roerich noted “The Governor's residence consisted of several well-isolated buildings and enclosed courtyards. The gates were carefully guarded by patrols of heavily armed men ... The Governor's yamen seemed to us to be in a very dilapidated condition. The glass in many of the windows on the ground floor was broken and dirty papers and rags had been pasted on the window frames. Numerous retainers roamed about the courtyards and villainous bodyguards, armed with mauser pistols, were on duty at the entrance to the yamen.” It seems likely Yang had decided to leave Xinjiang at that point. He had amassed a immense personal fortune and sent much of it to his family in China proper and also to Manila where he had a bank account. Further evidence of this was provided by Mildred Cable and Francesca French, two members of the China inland Mission who reported 'Wise old Governor Yang ... as early as 1926 ... quietly arranged a way of escape for his family and for the transference of his wealth to the security of the British Concession in Tientsin. Later in the same year, accompanied by several 'luggage cases of valuables', Yang's eldest son was sent out of Sinkiang, travelling incognito, in the company of these missionaries”. It was also at this time Yang erectd a statue of himself in th public gardens at Urumqi. According to Nicholas Roerich, this memorial was paid for with forced contributions 'from the grateful population'; by all accounts the statue was in execrable taste . While the NRA was marching upon Beijing in June of 1928, Yang ordered the KMT flag to be raised in Xinjiang. This gesture indicated to all, Yang was about to depart the province. One of Yang's most dissident subordinates, a Han named Fan Yaonan decided to act. Fan Yaonan was an ambitious modernist who received his education in Japan and someone Yang distruste from day one. Fan was appointed the post of Taoyin of Aksu by the Beijing government, an appointment Yang could have easily ingored, but was grudgingly impressd by Fans abilities. Fan proved himself very useful to Yang and was soon promoted to the Taoyin of Urumqi alongside becoming the Xinjiang Provincial Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. It seems Fan and Yang mutually disliked each other. At some point in 1926 Fan got together with a small group of like minded officials, such as the engineer at Urumqi's telegraph station and the Dean of the local school of Law, and Fan told them he wanted to assasinate Yang. Some believe Fan sought to gain favor with the KMT as motivation. Regardless on July 7th of 1928, 6 days after Yang took the post of Chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial Government under the KMT, Fan attacked. On that day, Yang was invited to a banquet to celebrate a graduation ceremony at the Urumqi law school. Fan had arranged the banquet, with 18 soldiers present, disguised as waiters wearing “red bands around their arms and Browning pistols in their sleeves”. During the meal, Fan proposed a toast to the health of Yang at which time “shots rang outsimultaneously, all aimed at the Governor. Seven bulletsin all were fired, and all reached their mark. Yang, mortally wounded, but superb in death, glared an angry defiance at his foes, 'who dares do this?' he questioned in the loud voice which had commanded instant obedience for so many years. Then he fell slowly forward, his last glance resting upon the face of the trusted Yen, as though to ask forgiveness that he had not listened to the advice so often given to him”. According to Yan Tingshan who was also wounded, Fan Yaonan finished Yang Zengxin off with two shots personally. After the assassination, whereupon 16 people were killed or wounded, Fan went to Yang official residence and seized the seals of office. He then sent a letter summonig Jin Shujen, the Commissioner for Civil Affairs in Xinjiang and Yang's second in command. Jin called Fan's bluff and refusing to come, instead sending soldiers to arrest the assassin. It seems Fan greatly miscalculated his personal support as a short gun battle broke out and he was arrested by Jin and shortly thereafter executed with his complices on July 8th. And thus, Jin Shujen found himself succeeding Yang, a less able man to the job. Jin Shujen was a Han Chinese from Gansu. He graduated from the Gansu provincial academy and served for a time as the Principal of a Provincial normal school. He then entered the Imperial Civil Service, where he came to the attention of Yang, then working as the district Magistrate at Hozhou. Yang took him on as district magistrate and Jin rose through the ranks. By 1927 Jin became the Provincial Commissioner for Civil Affairs at Urumqi. After executing Fan, Jin sent a telegram to Nanjing seeking the KMT's official recognition of his new role. Nanjing had no real options, it was fait accompli, they confirmed Jin into office and under the new KMT terminology he was appointed Provincial Chairman and commander-in-chief. In other words an official warlord. Following his seizure of power, Jin immediately took steps to secure his newfound power. His first step was to double the salaries of the secret police and army. He also expanded the military and acquired new weaponry for them. Politically, Jin maintained the same old Qing policies Yang did, pretty much unchanged. Jin did however replace many of the Yunnanese followers under Yang with Han CHinese from Gansu. Jins younger brother, Jin Shuxin was appointed Provincial Commissioner for military affairs at Urumqi and his other brother Jin Shuqi was given the senior military post at Kashgar. His personal bodyguard member Zu Chaoqi was promoted to Brigade Commander at Urumqi. Jin maintained and expanded upon Yang's system of internal surveillance and censorship, like any good dictator would. According to H. French Ridley of the China Inland Mission at Urumqi “people were executed for 'merely making indiscreet remarks in the street during ordinary conversation”. Jin also introduced a system of internal passports so that any journey performing with Xinjiang required an official passport validation by the Provincial Chairman's personal seal, tightening his security grip and of course increasing his official revenue. Travel outside Xinjiang became nearly impossible, especially for Han officials and merchants seeking trade with China proper. Under Jin Xinjiang's economy deteriorated while his fortune accumulated. Yang had introduced an unbacked paper currency that obviously fell victim to inflation and Jin upted the anty. Within a process of several stages, he expanded the currency, causing further inflation. Under Yang the land taxes had been a serious source of the provincial revenue, but Yang was not foolish enough to squeeze the Turkic peasantry too hard, he certainly was intelligent enough to thwart peasant revolts. Jin however, not so smart, he tossed caution to the win and doubled the land taxes, way past what would be considered the legal amount. Jin also emulated Ma Fuxiang, by establishing government monopolies over various profitable enterprises, notably the gold mine at Keriya and Jade mine at Khotan. He also monopolized the wool and pelt industry, using his police and army to force the sale of lambskins at a mere 10% of their market value. Just as with Yang's regime, wealth flowed out of the province in a continuous stream, straight into banks within China proper. According to George Vasel, a German engineer and Nazi agent hired to construct airfields in Gansu during the early 1930s, he knew a German pilot named Rathje who was secretly employed by Jin to fly a million dollars worth of gold bullion from Urumqi to Beijing. Jin did his best to keep all foreign influence out of Xinjiang and this extended also to KMT officials from China proper. Jin also of course did his best to conceal his corrupt regime from Nanjing. For all intensive purposes Jin treated Xinjiang like a feudal, medieval society. He tried to limit external trade to only be through long distance caravans. All was fine and dandy until Feng Yuxiang occupied Gansu and thus disrupted the traditional trade routes. Alongside this the Soviets had just constructed a new railroad linking Frunze, the capital of Kirghiz with Semipalatinsk in western siberia. This railroad known as the Turksib was aimed primarily to develop western Turkstan, integrating it within the new soviet system. The railroad was constructed 400 miles away from the Xinjiang frontier, on purpose to limit any activities with capitalists. When the railway was completed in 1930 it virtually strangled Xinjiang. China's share of Xinjiang's market dropped by 13% and the value of trade with the Soviets which had dropped to zero since the Russian civil war was not rising past 32 million roubles by 1930. The Soviet trade gradually was seizing a monopoly over Xinjiang and this of course affected the merchants and workers who were unable to compete. The revenue of the merchants and workers declined as new taxes were levied against them. Meanwhile alongside an increase in Soviet trade, the new railway also increased Soviet political influence over Xinjiang. It was also much faster and easier to travel from China proper to Xinjiang via Vladivostok, the trans-siberian railway and Turksib than across the North-West roads of China. For the Turkic speaking Muslims of Xinjiang, it was quite impressive and many wanted to do business and mingle with the Soviets. However to do so required a visa, and thus KMT officials in Nanjing held the keys. Jin's policies towards the Turkic Muslims, Tungans and Mongols were extremely poor from the very beginning. It seems Jin held prejudice against Muslims, some citing bad experiences with them in Gansu. Whatever the case may be, Jin rapidly antagonized both his Turkic speaking and Tungan Muslim citizens by introducing a tax on the butchering of all animals in Xinjiang and forbidding Muslims to perform the Hajj to Mecca. Some point out he did that second part to thwart a loophole on leaving Xinjiang for trade. Obviously the Muslim majority of Xinjiang and the military powerhouse of Torgut Mongols in the Tien Shan bitterly resented Jin. Despite wide scale hostility against him, the first challenges at his autocratic rule came not from various minority groups, but some ambitious Han officers under his command. Palpatin would say it was ironic. In May of 1929 the Taoyin of Altai attempted a coup against Jin, but he was forewarned and able to confine the fighting to the Shara Sume area. In the spring of 1931 troubles broke out in Urumqi as discontented Han officers and soldiers attacked Jin's yamen. The attack failed, and the instigators of the plot were all executed. The same year, Jin annexed the Kumul Khanate, known to the Chinese as Hami, finally pushing the Turkic speaking Muslims into open rebellion. Going back in time, after Zuo Zengtangs reconquest of Xinjiang in the 1870s, a few local principalities were permitted to survive on a semi-autonomous basis. Of these Kumul was the most important and was ruled by a royal family dating back to the Ming Dynasty and descended from the Chaghatay Khans. The Khanate of Kumul dominated the chief road from Xinjiang to China proper and was therefore of strategic importance to the Chinese. It extended from Iwanquan northwards to the Barkul Tagh and along the mountains to Bai and south to Xingxingxia along the Xinjiang-Gansu border. During the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, Maqsud Shah was sitting on the throne of Kumul. He was known to the Chinese as the Hami Wang, to his subjects as Khan Maqsud or Sultan Maqsud and to Europeans as the King of the Gobi. He was the last independent Khan of Central Asia as the rest were tossing their lot in with the progress of the times. During Yangs regime he was content with allowing Kumul to train its semi autonomous status, mostly because Maqsud Shah was very friendly towards the Chinese. He spoke Turkic with a marked Chinese accent and wore Chinese clothes. On the other hand he had a long whit beard and always wore a turban or Uyghur cap. He was a staunch Muslim ruling a petty oasis kingdom from an ancient and ramshackle palace in Kumul proper, one of three towns making up the capital of Kumul, known to the Chinese as Huicheng. He had a bodyguard consisting of 40 Chinese soldiers armed with mausers and had a Chinese garrison billeted in fortified Chinese town. The third city in his domain was known as New City or Xincheng, populated by a mix of Chinese and Turkic peoples. By 1928, shortly after the assassination of Yang, it was estimated Maqsud Shah ruled over roughly 25,000-30,000 Kumulliks. He was responsible for levying taxes, dispensing justice and so forth. His administration rested upon 21 Begs, 4 of whom were responsible for Kumul itself, 5 others over plains villages and the other 12 over mountain regions of Barkul and Karlik Tagh. Maqsud Shah also maintained a Uyghur militia who had a reputation as being better trained than its Chinese counterpart at Old City. Throughout Yangs regime, Kumul remained relatively peaceful and prosperous. Maqsud Shah paid a small annual tribute to Urumqi and in return the Xinjiang government paid him a formal subsidy of 1200 silver taels a year. Basically this was Yang paying for the Sultans compliance when it came to moving through his strategic Khanate. For the Uyghurs of Kumul, they were free from the typical persecution under Chinese officials. The only tax paid by citizens of Kumul was in livestock, generally sheep or goats, given annually to the Khan. The soil of the oasis was rich and well cultivated. Everything was pretty fine and dandy under Yang, but now was the time of Jin. In March of 1930, Maqsud Shah died of old age. His eldest son Nasir should have inherited the throne of Kumul, but Jin and his Han subordinates stationed in Kumul Old City had other plans. Shortly after Maqsud Shah's death, Nasir traveled to Urumqi, most likely to legitimize his rise upon the throne. Nasir was not very popular amongst his people, thus it seemed he needed Jin's aid to bolster him. However there also was the story that it was Jin who ordered Nasir to come to Urumqi to perform a formal submission. Now at the time of Maqsud Shah's death, Li Xizeng, a Han Chinese divisional commander stationed in Kumul suggested to Jin that the Khanate should be abolished and annexed officially. There was of course a great rationale for this, if Jin took control over Kumul it would offer increased revenue and new positions for his Han Chinese officials. Thus Jin ordered a resolution be drawn up by his ministers to abolish the Khanate, dividing Kumul into three separate administrative districts, Hami centered around the capital, I-ho and I-wu. When Nasir arrived in Urumqi he was given the new position of Senior Advisor to the provincial government, but forbidden to return to Kumul. Basically it was the age old government via hostage taking. Meanwhile another official named Yulbars was sent back to Kumul with a group of Chinese officials to set up the new administration. While the people of Kumul had no love for Nasir and were taxed pretty heavily by his father, this did not mean that they wanted the Khanate to end. For the Turkic Muslims the Khanate held a religious significance. For Uyghurs there was a question of national pride associated with it. Of course there were economic issues. Within Xinjiang Han were allowed to settle, but in the Khanate there were restrictions. In the words of the Nanjing Wu Aichen on the situation “subject peoples obstinately prefer self-government to good government”. Well Jin's government was definitely not good, so what outcome does that give? The newly appointed Han administration upset the people of Kumul from the very minute of its installation. When it was announced the privilege of being except from direct taxation by Urumqi was to be abolished, ompf. To add insult to injury, one years arrears of taxes were to be collected from the Uyghurs. On top of that, Kumul was tossed wide open to Han settlers who were incentivized to settle by giving them a tax exemption for two years. Yeah that be some wild policies. To add even more misery, Kumul being situated on the chief road from northwestern Gansu to Xinjiang saw an enormous flow of refugees from famine and warfare going on in Gansu. A column of these refugees were seen by Berger Bohlin of the Sino-Swedish Expedition of 1931. His account is as follows “During my stay at Hua-hai-tze I witnessed a curious spectacle. The Chen-fan region had for a number of years been visited by failure of the crops and famine, and large numbers of people therefore emigrated to more prosperous tracts. Such an emigration-wave now passed Hua-hai-tze. It consisted of a caravan of 100 camels, transporting 150 persons with all their baggage to Sinkiang, where it was said that land was being thrown open”. It seemed to Bohlin that the refugees looked carefree and happy and that the ruler of Xinjiang, Jin Shujen, a Gansu man himself was enthusiastic to have them come settle his province. Jin had his official in charge of I-ho district Lung Xulin provide land for the would-be settlers coming from Gansu. Lung Xulin responded by forcing his Uyghur population to leave their cultivated land and simply handed it over to the refugees. The expropriated Uyghurs were compensated for their land by being given untilled lands on the fringe of the desert where most soil was barren. The Uyghurs were also assessed for their land tax based on their old holdings. To make this even worse hear this, untilled land was exempt from taxation for two years, so they didn't even get that, while the Gansu refugees were excused from tax payments for three years. So yeah the Kumul people quickly organized a petition and sent it to the yamen in Urumqi. There was zero acknowledgement from the yamen it was received and nothing was done to address the long list of grievances, especially from the Uyghurs. Instead the Gansu settlers kept flooding in and with them the price of food skyrocketed, largely because of the enormous amount of provincial troops sent in to watch over everybody. Now for the moment the Turkic speaking Muslims in the region remained relatively peaceful, and this perhaps lulled Jin into a false sense of security. But according to Sven Hedin of the Sino-Swedish Expedition “Discontent increased; the people clenched their teeth and bided their time; the atmosphere was tense and gloomy. Inflammable matter accumulated, and only a spark was needed to fire the powder magazine.” I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The history of Xinjiang is unbelievably bizarre, complicated and quite frankly really fun. Before researching this I had no idea about anything and am really enjoying this as I write it. The next episode is going to be on the Kumul Rebellion, so buckle up buckaroo.

starting china japan mission law fall travel chinese european german russian kings mountain nazis republicans struggling muslims wise islam principal rumors governor republic hans beijing commissioners iranians complicated khan needless islamic soviet indians northwest chen yang ironically senior advisor nra sultans numerous mecca manila tibetans foreign affairs ccp mao politically central asia browning himalaya generals commander in chief afghans soviets xinjiang sibo new city uyghur provincial jin hajj yen warlord sunni mao zedong prc begs mongols excluding gobi bai hui red army old city qing white russians magistrate nanjing solon uighurs deprived quranic long march vladivostok pacific war ili ming dynasty kmt hua manchu turkic hami han chinese indian subcontinent gansu hindu kush altai shanxi urumqi kazakhs karakoram civil affairs kun lun tatars aksu ningxia china podcast bohlin qinghai china inland mission rathje kashgar nicholas roerich tungan uzbeks inflammable craig watson tajiks xinhai pamirs brigade commander semipalatinsk tarim basin tien shan turkic muslims sinkiang

Deep Energy 1715 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2024 47:37

Background Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage, Yoga, Studying and Therapy …… Hi everyone, this is Jim Butler and welcome to the Deep Energy Podcast - 1714 and 1715 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Parts 1 and 2 ………….. Please remember to turn on automatic downloads, like and subscribe, tell a friend, share with your family and leave a review. All of those things help build the podcast. Thank you so much!! ………. This podcast is ad supported. All ads are in front of the podcast so the integrity of the music is never compromised or interrupted! ……………………….. Links for all of the podcasts in the Deep Energy Podcast Network: Deep Energy Podcast (Current Episodes) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-energy-podcast-music-for-sleep-meditation-yoga/id511265415 https://open.spotify.com/show/1DhN56DzDKc0FhQqR23v9c Deep Energy Classics - All of the ORIGINAL Episodes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-energy-classics-original-episodes/id1734274408 https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/deep-energy-classics-original-episodes--6108618 https://open.spotify.com/show/7BjEFnqcyKWUkHcYdtFS25?si=05aeab39b5bc4a00 Deep Energy Daily Affirmations - Daily Affirmations to get you through the day https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-energy-daily-affirmations/id1729162791 https://open.spotify.com/show/0oaA8dRsWDQLkqeXmykGvu?si=461c7b47417b4e55 Deep Energy Guided Meditations - Guided Meditations to help through your day https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-energy-guided-meditations-with-michelle-davis-jim/id1732674561 https://open.spotify.com/show/1Kg2LTaFux10Ul94phybp8?si=ebbbf33757d64c13 https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/deep-energy-guided-meditations-with-michelle-davis-jim-butler--6098026 Slow Piano for Sleep - Solo Piano Pieces https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slow-piano-for-sleep-music-for-sleep-meditation-and/id1626828397 https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/slow-piano-for-sleep-music-for-sleep-meditation-and-relaxation--5572963 ………… www,jimbutlermusic.com jimbutlermusic@gmail.com All Social Media (FB - IG - YT - TT) is: @jimbutlermusic Merch: www.deepenergy.threadless.com Bandcamp Monthly No Ads Subscription/Patreon: www.jimbutler.bandcamp.com Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/newagemusicstore Custom Made Music: jimbutlermusic@gmail.com ………………….. Thank you for listening. All music is created, performed and composed by Jim Butler. AI IS NEVER USED TO CREATE MY MUSIC. Until the next time, please be kind to one another, peace, bye… …….. Original Image by the Dream App (not sponsored) or Canva (not sponsored) …………………. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/deep-energy-podcast-music-for-sleep-meditation-yoga-and-studying--4262945/support.

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

Hành Lang Kinh Tế Trung Quốc –Pakistan : Bắc Kinh trước thách thức Hồi giáo cực đoan Nam Á

TẠP CHÍ KINH TẾ

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2024 9:23

Thủ tướng Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif vừa kết thúc chuyến công du Trung Quốc trong 5 ngày (04-08/06/2024) với trọng tâm là khởi động giai đoạn 2 công trình CPEC-Hành Lang Kinh Tế Trung Quốc-Pakistan, nối liền vùng tự trị Tân Cương với tỉnh Baloutchistan mở ra Ấn Độ Dương. Chính vì lợi thế này mà Bắc Kinh đã đầu tư 62 tỷ đô la vào dự án và nóng lòng muốn thấy CPEC nhanh chóng cất cánh sau hơn một chục năm giậm chân tại chỗ vì những bất ổn chính trị và an ninh tại Pakistan. Hành Lang Kinh Tế Trung Quốc -Pakistan -CPEC bao gồm những gì, đâu là lợi ích về kinh tế và nhất là chiến lược của mỗi bên ? Đang mang nợ 100 tỷ đô la mà 30 % trong số đó do Trung Quốc nắm giữ, thủ tướng Shehbaz Sharif kỳ vọng nhiều vào hành lang kinh tế này để phát triển đất nước, vực dậy một nền kinh tế bên bờ vực thẳm bị thiên tai và các nhóm khủng bố hoành hành.Nhưng liệu Islamabad có thể làm được gì để bảo đảm an ninh cho các công trường của Trung Quốc ? Để trả lời các câu hỏi trên, RFI tiếng Việt tham khảo ý kiến của nhà nghiên cứu Laurent Pinguet, chuyên gia về khu vực Himalaya, Đài Quan Sát Pháp về Dự Án Con Đường Tơ Lụa Mới (OFNRS). CPEC là một trong những trục chính của dự án Một Vành Đai Một Con Đường, hay còn được gọi là Con Đường Tơ Lụa Mới, Bắc Kinh khởi xướng từ 2013. Hành Lang Kinh Tế Trung Quốc Pakistan xuất phát từ thành phố Kashgar, Tân Cương, đến thủ đô Islamabad và điểm đến cuối cùng là thành phố cảng Gwadar miền nam Pakistan, nhìn ra Biển Ả Rập -Ấn Độ Dương.Gwadar là cảng nước sâu, từ 2015 Pakistan đã cho Trung Quốc « thuê trong 40 năm ». Bắc Kinh có tham vọng đến năm 2055 biến thành phố nghèo nàn này thành một lá phổi kinh tế quốc tế trong khu vực, với nhiều công trình đồ sộ như một sân bay quốc tế, bờ kè dài hơn 50 km, một khu vực trải rộng trên hơn 900 hecta nơi mà các doanh nghiệp được hưởng nhiều khoản ưu đãi về thuế khóa để phát triển.... Trả lời RFI Việt Ngữ, nhà Laurent Pinguet trước hết nói đến những lợi ích về kinh tế của công trình :« Về phương diện kinh tế, hành lang này cho phép nhiều công ty Trung Quốc bắt rễ vào Pakistan, một thị trường với hơn 230 triệu dân. Theo bảng xếp hạng hồi năm 2021 của Fortune Global 500, gần một nửa các doanh nghiệp Trung Quốc trong danh sách này hiện diện tại Pakistan, chủ yếu trong các lĩnh vực như năng lượng, công nghệ thông tin. Bên cạnh đó có một số hãng xe hơi và các tập đoàn xây dựng. Đối với Pakistan, đây là cơ hội để đem lại nhiều đổi mới và hiện đại hóa kinh tế tại quốc gia Nam Á này. Pakistan cần phát triển hệ thống cầu đường, cần xây thêm đập thủy điện … ».Tránh sự nhòm ngó của MỹTrong bài nghiên cứu của Đài Quan Sát về Dự Án Con Đường Tơ Lụa Mới (OFNRS) chuyên gia Pinguet nhấn mạnh đến tầm mức quan trọng của « cánh cổng mở ra Ấn Độ Dương », đến « sự gần gũi về địa lý với eo biển Hormuz nơi 40 % dầu hỏa của thế giới đi qua". Làm chủ hay được tuyến đường giao thông này cho phép « thu ngắn lộ trình 10.000 km khi cần đưa hàng của Trung Quốc sang các nước trong vùng Vịnh, tránh phải đi qua eo biển Malacca, giảm thiểu mật đô giao thông trên những tuyến đường hàng hải có sự hiện diện của Hạm Đội 7 Hoa Kỳ và nhất là tránh phải đi qua một số căn cứ quân sự của Mỹ có thể muốn giám sát tàu thuyền của Bắc Kinh ».… Và bắt rễ vào một vùng đất giàu tài nguyên của Pakistan Không phải tình cờ mà dự án Hành Lang Kinh tế Trung Quốc -Pakistan kết thúc tại cảng Gwadar trong vùng Baloutchistan : Gwadar còn là cửa ngõ dẫn vào các mỏ khí đốt còn trinh nguyên tại một vùng đất có diện tích tương đương với 43,6 % của cả nước, trải rộng từ miền tây và tây nam Pakistan. Baloutchistan có nhiều quặng mỏ : đây là nơi có 1 trong 5 mỏ vàng lớn nhất thế giới ; khí đốt địa phương bảo đảm 36 % nhu cầu tiêu thụ cho cả nước ; 80 % dầu hỏa Pakistan được khai thác từ các giếng dầu ở Baloutchistan. Nhiều mỏ đồng, chì, uranium hay than đá còn đang chờ được khai thác …Điều đó không cấm cản Baloutchistan là vùng đất nghèo nhất của Pakistan, 96 % dân số trong vùng sống dưới ngưỡng nghèo khó, tức với chưa đầy 2 đô la thu nhập mỗi ngày. CPEC và những tính toán về địa chính trị của Bắc Kinh Năm 2013 ngay khi khởi động dự án Con Đường Tơ Lụa thế kỷ 21, Bắc Kinh đã đặc biệt quan tâm đến Pakistan vì những tính toán địa chính trị. Đối với Islamabad vốn có nhiều hiềm khích và tranh chấp lãnh thổ với nước láng giềng sát cạnh là Ấn Độ, thì khi được đề nghị tham gia hành lang kinh tế CPEC chẳng khác nào « buồn ngủ mà gặp chiếu manh ». Laurent Pinguet giải thích :« Hành lang này cho phép Trung Quốc mở được cánh cửa xuyên ra biển Ả Rập, dễ tiếp cận hơn với các nguồn năng lượng dầu khí, tránh được phần nào Ấn Độ và nhất là ít bị phụ thuộc vào Biển Đông trong các tuyến đường giao thương (...) Hơn nữa nhờ hợp tác với Pakistan trong khuôn khổ dự án CPEC Trung Quốc tăng cường hiện diện tại một số vùng đang có tranh chấp chủ quyền lãnh thổ từ thập niên 1960 như trong vùng Aksai Chin, gần Tây Tạng và thung lũng Shaksgam. Đây chính là lý do vì sao Ấn Độ đã ba lần tẩy chay hội nghị quốc tế Con Đường Tơ Lụa Mới. Về phía Pakistan, CPEC cho phép Islamabad có một điểm tựa vững chắc trong trường hợp phải đối đầu với Ấn Độ. Đây là một mối hợp tác mang tính sống còn đối với chính quyền Pakistan. Trong khu vực này, từ lâu nay Trung Quốc là đồng minh có trọng lượng duy nhất của Pakistan. Tôi muốn nói đến những hỗ trợ của Bắc Kinh từ thập niên 1970 giúp Islamabad chế tạo bom nguyên tử, làm đối trọng với cường quốc hạt nhân sát cạnh là Ấn Độ. Dự án này cũng cho phép Pakistan củng cố vị thế trên vấn đề tranh chấp chủ quyền với New Delhi ở vùng Cachemire ».Cũng trong cuộc trả lời dành cho RFI Việt ngữ nhà nghiên cứu Pháp Laurent Pinguet lưu ý thêm là CPEC cho phép Trung Quốc tăng cường hiện diện và kiểm soát chặt chẽ hơn ngay hai vùng lãnh thổ của chính mình là Tây Tạng và Tân Cương. Tây Tạng được mệnh danh là bồn nước của châu Á mà Trung Quốc cần kiểm soát. Còn Tân Cương là khu tự trị với đa số dân cư theo đạo Hồi. Cũng chính vì dự án này mà Pakistan, « tuy là quốc gia Hồi Giáo nhưng hoàn toàn im lặng trước việc Bắc Kinh đàn áp người Duy Ngô Nhĩ ở Tân Cương. Islamabad còn đồng ý trục xuất những người Duy Ngô Nhĩ về Trung Quốc xin tị nạn tại Pakistan ».CPEC trước thách thức của các nhóm Hồi giáo cực đoan tại Pakistan Trong chuyến công du Trung Quốc dài ngày vừa qua, thủ tướng Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif đã chứng kiến lễ khởi công giai đoạn 2 của dự án CPEC, mở rộng hành lang kinh tế này đến nhiều lĩnh vực từ « phát minh đến năng lượng xanh… ». Islamabad và Bắc Kinh ký kết « hàng chục » thỏa thuận nghi nhớ nhưng theo hãng tin Anh Reuters, trên thực tế Trung Quốc đã không đặt bút ký thêm bất kỳ một hợp đồng đầu tư nào mới vào Pakistan. Điều này phản ánh một sự chậm trễ trong hợp tác song phương, một sự tê liệt trong dự án Hành Lang Kinh Tế gắn kết hai quốc gia này. Laurent Pinguet, đài quan sát OFNRS của Pháp phân tích :« Dự án dậm chân tại chỗ tại vì theo nhiều nhân chứng, ngay tại Gwadar khu vực được coi là mũi nhọn của CPEC, đường phố vẫn còn vắng tanh, tỷ lệ nghèo khó cao ngút ở ngưỡng 40 % và bên cạnh đó thành phố này đang ngồi trên một núi nợ khổng lồ. Tình trạng mất an ninh là lý do vì sao dự án không thể cất cánh. Các nhà đầu tư nản lòng. Gần đây, hồi tháng 3 vừa qua, một vụ khủng bố tự sát nhắm vào một công trường đã cướp đi sinh mạng của 5 kỹ sư Trung Quốc. Vụ tấn công nói trên do quân Taliban tại Pakistan TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) tiến hành. Tình trạng mất an ninh đó xuất phát từ nhiều yếu tố : một là do tại Pakistan có nhiều nhóm Hồi giáo cực đoan muốn lật đổ chính phủ ở Islamabad và chủ trương Pakistan cần áp dụng triệt để luật Hồi giáo rất khắt khe Charia. Lý do thứ nhì là có những phong trào nổi dậy ở bang Balouchistan. Dân cư tại đây là một sắc tộc thiểu số họ truy bức và bị cướp đất đai cho các dự án phát triển CPEC. Lý do thứ ba là Islambad đang sợ rằng dân tộc Pashtoune ở phía tây bắc Pakistan cũng sẽ đi theo con đường bạo động của người Balouchistan. Cuối cùng là thành phần Taliban từ Afghanistan tràn sang và định cư hẳn ở Pakistan. Số này có khuynh hướng tham gia các tổ chức Hồi giáo cực đoan của Pakistan »… Trung Quốc bị lôi vào vòng xoáy Theo các thống kê chính thức tại Islamabad, năm 2023 đã có 129 vụ tấn công nhắm vào các cơ sở của Trung Quốc tại Pakistan, 82 % trong số đó do nhóm Taliban TTP và các tổ chức nổi dậy của thiểu số Baloutchistan tiến hành. Vẫn theo nghiên cứu của chuyên gia Pháp về khu vực chung quanh dẫy núi Himalaya, Laurent Pinguet trong mắt dân cư địa phương, các doanh nghiệp Trung Quốc đến đây hoạt động không để khai thác hay mở mang vùng lãnh thổ nghèo nàn nay cho Pakistan, mà mục đích là nhằm « cướp đi các nguồn tài nguyên của Baloutchistan ».Từ 2019 các cơ sở của Trung Quốc đã nhiều lần bị tấn công. Đối với Pakistan, bài toán vãn hồi « an ninh » trên lãnh thổ Pakistan để trấn an các nhà đầu tư nước ngoài, chủ yếu là Trung Quốc càng thêm nan giải từ khi quân Taliban trở lại cầm quyền ở Afghanistan. Chuyên gia Pháp Pinguet ghi nhận " từ 2021 số lần TTP tiến hành khủng bố trên lãnh thổ Pakistan tăng 60 % và các đợt khủng bố tự sát đã được nhân lên cấp 5 lần".Tương lai nào cho CPEC ? Bắc Kinh đã hết kiên nhẫn trước tình trạng bất ổn kéo dài tại Pakistan. Tháng 3 vừa qua ngoại trưởng Vương Nghị trong chuyến công du Islamabad đòi Pakistan bảo đảm an toàn cho các cơ sở và công trường của Trung Quốc. Lần này tại Bắc Kinh, chủ tịch Tập Cận Bình cũng đã nhắc lại điều này. Bắc Kinh thậm chí yêu cầu thủ tướng Sharif triển khai quân đội để bảo vệ các cơ sở của Trung Quốc. Theo chuyên gia Laurent Pinguet cho dù đe dọa khủng bố vẫn rất lớn nhưng cả đôi bên cùng không thể quay lưng lại với dự án Hành Lang Kinh Tế Trung Quốc –Pakistan :« Theo tôi Pakistan và Trung Quốc không thể từ bỏ mối hợp tác này trong mọi trường hợp. Bằng mọi giá đôi bên phải gắn chặt với nhau. Đây mới chính là mối liên kết bất di bất dịch, nhất là vào lúc cả hai càng ngày càng có khuynh hướng tách rời khỏi cộng đồng quốc tế. Trong trường hợp của Trung Quốc, thì Bắc Kinh còn có Nga và vẫn duy trì đối thoại với phương Tây. Pakistan thực sự không biết phải trông vào ai nếu xảy ra xung đột với Ấn Độ hay với Afghanistan ngay sát cạnh. Islamabad chỉ có thể trông chờ vào Trung Quốc. Do vậy bằng mọi giá Pakistan phải duy trì dự án hành lang kinh tế với CPEC với Trung Quốc ».Nợ nước ngoài của Pakistan lên tới 100 tỷ đô la, hơn 30 tỷ trong số đó là nợ Trung Quốc, lạm phát trên dưới 40 % và gần 40 % dân số sống trong cảnh bần cùng, chắc chắn là Islamabad không có nhiều lựa chọn và muốn trông thấy Hành Lang Kinh Tế Trung Quốc Pakistan là một chiếc phao để thoát nạn.Một trong những phương án tái lập an ninh cho Pakistan theo giới phân tích, có thể là lôi kéo Afghanistan trong tay phe Hồi giáo Taliban vào dự án CPEC dưới sự giám sát của nhà chủ nợ là Trung Quốc. Song đây cũng không phải là chuyện dễ làm khi mà những hiềm khích giữa hai quốc gia Hồi giáo ở nam Á này còn quá lớn, đặc biệt là trên vấn đề hồi hương người hai triệu rưỡi người tị nạn Afghanistan đang sống trên lãnh thổ Pakistan.Islambad có kế hoạch trục xuất 1,7 triệu người về nước để diệt trừ hiểm họa số này tham gia hàng ngũ khủng bố Taliban TTP … Tới nay Pakistan đã thực hiện được gần 1/3 mục tiêu đề ra và dương như « an ninh vẫn không được cải thiện ».

song afghanistan pakistan taliban lang bi gi nh new delhi ng tl nam himalaya chuy sharif rfi islamabad trong nhi nga ttp hormuz kinh ngh th ch malacca fortune global hoa k trung qu ninh cachemire shehbaz sharif cpec kashgar gwadar aksai chin rfi vi

英语新闻丨Xinjiang trade zone to drive region's growth

China Daily Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2024 3:47

More targeted policies and business potential are expected for the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone this year, to boost foreign trade in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.今年，中国（新疆）自由贸易试验区有望出台更多针对性政策和挖掘商业潜力，以促进新疆维吾尔自治区对外贸易的发展。The regional government expects to make the FTZ a hub for reform and opening-up, where major projects and leading companies are introduced, and innovative measures taken in facilitating investment and trade, Erkin Tuniyaz, chairman of the regional government, said when delivering the government work report at the opening ceremony of the second session of 14th Xinjiang People's Congress on Tuesday.2024年1月30日，新疆维吾尔自治区政府主席艾尔肯·吐尼亚孜在第十四届新疆人民代表大会第二次会议开幕式上作政府工作报告时表示，自治区政府期望将自贸区打造为改革开放的枢纽，引进重大项目和龙头企业，并采取创新措施促进投资和贸易便利化。The three subzones in Kashgar prefecture, Urumqi and Horgos will implement half of the 129 pilot reforms planned for this year, according to the report.报告指出，喀什地区、乌鲁木齐和霍尔果斯三个片区今年将实施129项计划中的一半试点改革。Xinjiang borders eight countries including Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, and has the longest borders and most land ports in China.新疆与俄罗斯、哈萨克斯坦、塔吉克斯坦和巴基斯坦等八个国家接壤，拥有中国最长的边境线和最多的陆路口岸。The FTZ, established on Nov 1 last year and covering almost 180 square kilometers, has become a driving force to boost China's opening-up to Central Asia, West Asia and South Asia.自贸区于去年11月1日成立，覆盖面积近180平方公里，已成为推动中国向中亚、西亚和南亚开放的重要力量。Since the unveiling of the Kashgar subzone on Nov 11, a total of 86 companies have registered with an investment of more than 12.59 billion yuan ($1.75 billion), according to Dong Youhua, deputy director of the development and reform commission of Kashgar prefecture, who is also a deputy to the congress.据喀什地区发展和改革委员会副主任、大会代表董有华介绍，自喀什片区于11月11日揭牌以来，已有86家公司在该片区注册，投资超过1259亿元人民币（合17.5亿美元）。A series of innovative modes of operation are underway. Cargo inspected at Kashgar Customs will be able to pass Turgart port directly to avoid a second inspection and improve logistics efficiency from February.一系列创新的运营模式正在进行中。从2月起，喀什海关检验的货物将能够直接通过图尔尕特口岸，以避免二次检验，提高物流效率。Xinjiang's first one-stop exported vehicle industrial park opened in Kashgar on Jan 3. An industrial park built for Kyrgyzstani companies was established in Kashgar. The prefecture also opened cargo flights to Moscow, according to Dong.1月3日，新疆首个一站式汽车出口产业园在喀什开园。喀什还建立了为吉尔吉斯斯坦公司服务的产业园，并开通了至莫斯科的货运航班。Li Yang, deputy general manager of Xinjiang Changxin Electronic Technology, a lighting equipment producer, said the FTZ has helped promote its foreign trade in many ways.新疆长新电子科技有限公司是一家照明设备生产商，其副总经理李阳表示，自贸区在多方面促进了公司的对外贸易。"Before that, we transported goods ourselves. Now we can share the same truck with other companies under the arrangement of the government, so that the logistics cost can be reduced," he said.他说：“在那之前，我们自己负责运输货物。现在，我们可以在政府的安排下与其他公司共用卡车，从而降低物流成本。”The government also helped the company build an overseas warehouse in Kazakhstan in December, so that customers can receive their goods faster at lower prices.政府还帮助该公司在哈萨克斯坦建立了一个海外仓库，于12月投入使用，以便客户能够更快、以更低的价格收到货物。He added the government will also organize trips for companies to visit foreign countries, in which he hopes to participate, so that the company can better know clients' needs.他补充说，政府还将组织企业出国考察，他希望能够参加，以便公司更好地了解客户的需求。Rayhangul Sudan, Party secretary of Kashgar Construction Engineering and a deputy to the congress, said Kashgar's fame increased significantly after the establishment of the FTZ, and many companies came to invest.喀什建工党委书记、大会代表热依汗姑丽·苏坦表示，自贸区成立后，喀什的知名度显著提升，吸引了许多公司前来投资。The group's Hualing international trade market, which is located in the subzone, has attracted about 300 companies, including world-renowned brands. "I've learned that Xinjiang's economy develops very fast. I'm fully confident for the future," she said.该集团位于片区内的华凌国际贸易市场已吸引了约300家公司入驻，包括世界知名品牌。她说：“我了解到新疆的经济发展非常迅速。我对未来充满信心。”Kashgar's foreign trade surged 71.2 percent to reach 83.6 billion yuan last year, contributing 23.4 percent to regional foreign trade, data from Kashgar Customs showed.据喀什海关数据显示，去年喀什对外贸易额激增71.2%，达到836亿元人民币，占地区对外贸易的23.4%。One-Stopn.一站式Surgev. 飙升Hubn.枢纽

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Shaftsbury photographer's book documents Uyghurs before Chinese crackdown

Vermont Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2023 17:01

Vermont photographer Kevin Bubriski's new book documents the everyday life of the Uyghurs in Kashgar in the 1990s.

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"My friends were arrested, or simply disappeared"

Outlook

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2023 35:50

Tahir Izgil is one of the most highly respected living Uyghur poets. Tahir was born near Kashgar, in Xinjiang province, and from an early age he was immersed in the poetry of his culture. When the Chinese state clamped down on the Uyghur community, he lived under constant threat of arrest, and says he couldn't even perform his poems. So he decided to try and escape his homeland. Tahir has a memoir out about his experiences called Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, translated by Joshua Freeman. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Andrea Kennedy

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Ooparts y humanoides en la Ruta de la Seda con Ángel Crespo

Podcast LA LUZ DEL MISTERIO

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2023 115:27

From London Esta semana el viaje de La Luz del Misterio, en London Radio World hemos hablado sobre las informaciones de la reunión de la Nasa para debatir la nueva hoja de ruta para el estudio de los ovnis: "Tengamos la mente abierta". Este miércoles hemos podido presenciar un pequeño adelanto de un informe que, si todo va bien, se publicará a finales del mes de julio. En este documento, 16 expertos de diferentes disciplinas y ámbitos profesionales presentarán una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar el estudio de estos enigmáticos fenómenos. "Muchos de los datos que tenemos sobre avistamientos de ovnis son incompletos, inconsistentes o con escasa documentación. Necesitamos mejorar la recogida de información para poder llevar a cabo investigaciones científicas de calidad y entender de qué se trata". Luego hemos viajado a la desconocida y misteriosa Ruta de la Seda, conociendo ooparts y humanoides en ella. De la mano de Ángel Crespo, nuestro intrépido explorador y colaborador, hemos conocido ¿Leyendas o realidad? La Ruta de la Seda evoca antiguos cuentos, historias de reinos orientales desconocidos para nosotros; regiones inexploradas por los occidentales y caminos llenos de peligros y aventuras. Samarkanda, Kashgar, Constantinopla, Antioquía o Bagdad se asociaban al misterio, a la magia de Oriente, a lo desconocido. A sus nombres se asociaban leyendas que los antiguos juglares llevaban de pueblo en pueblo y que convertían a la Ruta de la Seda en una senda más misteriosa de lo que realmente era. Síguenos a través de: edenex.es ZTR Radio.online London Radio World En Ivoox Itunes Spotify YouTube Si deseas apoyarnos: https://www.ivoox.com/ajx-apoyar_i1_support_29070_1.html SI DESEAS SALUDARNOS DESDE CUALQUIER PUNTO DEL PLANTA PUEDES HACERLO A TRAVÉS DE NUESTRO WHATSAPP 00 44 7378 880037 Más información: laluzdelmisterioradio.blogspot.com laluzdelmisterio@gmail.com #nasaovni #uap #rutadelaseda #humanoides #ooparts #angelcrespo #lalluzdelmisterio #laluzdelmisterio

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Ooparts y humanoides en la Ruta de la Seda con Ángel Crespo

PODCAST LA LUZ DEL MISTERIO CON JULIO BARROSO

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2023 115:27

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The Life of Yakoob Beg by Boulger

The Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2023 639:26

The Life of Yakoob Beg Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar

kashgar

3.38 Fall and Rise of China: Dungan Revolt

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2023 34:55

Last time we spoke about the modernization efforts of China, Japan and the Hermit Kingdom of Korea. China and Japan undertook very different paths to modernization, and little Korea was stuck in between them. Yet there was even another play joining the mix, the empire of Russia who was threatening all 3 of the Asian nations with her encroachment. The 3 Asian nations attempted to cooperate against the common threat, but Japan and China were growing ever more and more hostile towards another, particularly over the issue of who should influence Korea more. Yet today we are actually doing something a bit different, this will be sort of a side episode, for China had too many events going on during the 19th century to cohesively tell. One story goes often forgotten, yet it encompassed numerous groups, vast amounts of territory and a lot of bloodshed. #38 This episode is the Dungan Revolt 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. I am not going to lie, I have no idea where to even start with this one. Originally I wanted to write a single episode, perhaps a two parter, explaining how China and Japan find themselves going to war in the 1890's largely over Korea. Yet the late 19th century is probably one of the most jam packed time periods for Chinese history. So many uprisings, rebellions, wars with foreign states occurs for the Qing dynasty, there's simply no way to tell them all, but here I want to touch upon just a few. Now I keep bringing up but barely talk about, the Dungan Revolt of 1862-1877. If you go right now and please do, to the wikipedia article on the Dungan Revolt, check out the list of Belligerents. You will see the Qing, the Russian Empire, a short lived state called the Kashgaria, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire and an unbelievable number of Muslim rebel groups from all over the place. Events like this do not live in a bubble, as we say in the research world of neuroscience, this requires multivariable analysis. Well that's what I hope to accomplish, in a single episode. Now I expect when I say the Dungan Revolt, the first question that comes to mind for many of you is, who are Dungans? Its complicated. They can be described as Turkic or Chinese speaking, Hui Muslim people who inhabitant Xinjiang province, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and parts of modern Russia. Now you are saying, wait are they Turks or Chinese, thats a very politically motivated question haha. Today you could call them, Hui, Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Uzbeks, Tatars, etc. In essence they inhibit a part of the world that has so many different groups around and their history goes very deep, before the time of the Qing dynasty. When the Qianlong Emperor hit the scene in the early 18th century, he named the province Xinjiang, meaning “new frontier” and the people there were known by many as Hui, but specifically for those Chinese speaking muslims in the northwest, well they were often referred to as Dungans. Prior to the Qing rule, Xinjiang was ruled by the Oirat Mongols of the Dzungar Khanate. I am sure you veteran listeners before I came to this podcast know much of these peoples and their history, you probably could teach me a thing or two, as this is very much so out of my specialization. One thing you might remember that I touched upon I believe in the very first episode of this podcast series was the Dzungar genocide. As ordered by the Qianlong Emperor “"Show no mercy at all to these rebels. Only the old and weak should be saved. Our previous military campaigns were too lenient. If we act as before, our troops will withdraw, and further trouble will occur. If a rebel is captured and his followers wish to surrender, he must personally come to the garrison, prostrate himself before the commander, and request surrender. If he only sends someone to request submission, it is undoubtedly a trick. Tell Tsengünjav to massacre these crafty Zunghars. Do not believe what they say." It is estimated perhaps 80 percent of the 600,000 or so Dzungars were killed through war and disease between 1755-1758, enough to argue the annihilation of them as a people. Now with Xinjiang so devastated and depopulated, the Qing sponsored a large-scale settlement of Han, Hui, Uyghur, Manchu and other Chinese. Thus the demographics of the region changed dramatically, Xinjiang became mostly Uyghurs around 60% or so, followed by 30% Han and Hui and the rest of various minority groups like Manchu. The Qing did their best to unify Xinjiang, and one of their policies was to turn over 17,000 acres of steppe grassland over to Han Chinese to farm and colonize. Some historians point this out to be an attempt to replace Uyghurs, but in truth its messier than just that, as the Qing also banned Han Chinese from settled in Uyghur concentrated areas of the province. Now the Oirat Mongol's come back to the scene, this time in the form of the Kalmyk Khanate. They were mostly Tibetan Buddhists and in 1770, over 300,000 of them tried to seize control of parts of Xinjiang from the Qing. However when they began their great expedition, their traditional rivals the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz attacked them the entire way leading them to show up to Xinjiang, worn out, starving and ridden with disease. Many of them simply came and surrendered to the Qing upon arrival and managed to settle within Qing territory. Now these were nomadic people, but the Qing demanded they give up the nomadic lifestyle to take up farming, which was a deliberate policy to break them as a people. They utterly failed at becoming farmers and quickly fell into poverty, undergoing such horrors as selling their own children into slavery, becoming prostitutes, bandits, and such, terrible times. Alongside the terrible treatment of the new coming Kalmyks, Uyghurs were being abused by Manchu officials. It is said Manchu officials were gang raping Uyghur women, such as the official Su-cheng. A rebellion occurred, and the Qing violently quelled. There were reports of mass rape by Manchu troops causing even more hatred from the Uyghur population. Now fast forward to the Taiping Rebellion, during 1862 as Taiping forces approached Shaanxi province, the local population began to form militias known as the Yong Ying. The Yong Ying or “brave camps” were similar to our friend Zeng Guofans “Yung-Ying” Xiang army, just less well structured and terribly under equipped. If they were lucky the Qing government would hand over some Jingalls, but more or less the old sword and spear were their choice of weapon. Now the Yong Ying's being propped up by the Qing were Han Chinese, but around them were large populations of Muslim Chinese who, well lets just say were having PTSD episodes from the countless atrocities performed upon them by these same people for centuries now. So the Muslim groups formed their own Yong Ying's and this is where our story really begins. In 1862 sporadic conflicts such as skirmishes between groups, riots, smaller uprisings and such. They ran the gambit for reasons, could be just a barroom brawl as they saw, trivial type of stuff. During this time any rebel groups that emerged drew attention from the Qing and by proxy association were believed to be possibly working with the Taiping. To add some more chaos to the situation, the Green Standard army as you would assume took its recruits from populaces all over China. Their job much more as a police force than a real army was to keep things running smoothly in all the provinces of the Qing dynasty. In northwest China this meant numerous Hui and other muslim chinese groups were amongst their ranks and thus training for combat and armed, so keep that in mind. There were numerous incidents that sprung the Dungan revolt, but one in particular involved of all things the price of bamboo poles. Some Han merchants were overcharging Hui and this led to a major fight. Bamboo poles were traditionally used to make spears. During a time of major conflict and open rebellion suddenly the Hui communities began to buy large quantities of bamboo poles and this led to the belief they were planning to set up an Islamic state in northwestern China. Organized mosques run by popular mullahs in Shaanxi were purchasing more and more bamboo poles, which they were indeed making into spears. The Hui communities were worried about their safety, seeing all these local militias pop up meant there would be fighting over resources and such. Well the non muslim merchants, mostly Han saw the paint on the wall and were obviously worried about selling bamboo poles to people who might attack them, or better said might defend themselves. Thus many merchants began to increase the prices on bamboo poles and this led to a major uprising known as the Shengshan bamboo incident. Manchu general Duolongga, the same man we talked about during the Taiping Rebellion was leading a cavalry unit in the north when the Hui revolt suddenly turned into a siege laid against Xi'an in Shaanxi province. Duolongga led a campaign against the muslim bands and by 1863 the siege was lifted and the rebels were pushed out of Shaanxi into neighboring Gansu province. In Gansu the Muslim leaders began to spread rumors of an impending Qing crackdown on muslims. They spread fear that the Qing would soon massacre many and this allowed them to organize another siege, this time against Ling-chou, a large city 40 miles north from Jinjipu. Jinjipu happened to be the HQ of a major Muslim leader named Ma Hualong, more about him later. While Lingzhou was laid siege, another strategic city was also attacked by Muslim forces, the city of Lanchow. The Governor General at Lanchow, En-lin reacted by trying to apply a policy of reconciliation. He advocated to the Qing court to not alienate the Muslims and began sending edicts in Gansu reiterating non-discrimination policies towards Muslims. His efforts seem to have been all for naught, as the rumors of a Qing massacre upon the muslims won out the day and large scale violence just grew. Within Eastern Gangsu, many of the Shaanxi Muslim refugees formed the what became known as the “18 great battalions”. Their purpose was to train and arm themselves to take back their homes in Shaanxi. Now while Gansu and Shaanxi were kicking off the beginnings of the Dungan revolt, this also opened the door to more groups to join in. Yaqub Bek, was born in the town of Pskente in the Khanate of Kokand, today's Uzbekistan. There region he lived in was drawn into conflict continuously with outsiders like the Russian and from within as it was deeply factionalized. Yaqub Bek claimed to be a descendant of Timur Gurkani the Turco-Mongol conqueror of the Timurid Empire, probably a ruse to give himself more credibility as a great ruler. He conspired against factions such as the Qipchaqs, taking part in a horrible event known as the Qipchaq massacre. Eventually in the 1860's he fought for the Kokand khanate as a General against the Russians, but they defeated them in 1866 resulting in the major loss of Tashkent. The ruler of Khokand, Sadik Beg dispatched Yakub Beg to Kashgar to raise and find new troops amongst Muslim allies. Yaqub Beg instead invaded Kashgar, defeated its Chinese defenders and declared himself ruler. Now Yaqub Beh was stuck between the forces of the Russian, British and Chinese empires who were all vying for control of the surrounding area, this was part of something called “the great game” which I simply cannot get into for it is too great, pun intended. Thus Yaqub Beg began a campaign that basically saw him conquer Xinjiang province, and this drew the ire of the Qing as you can imagine. So the Qing were now dealing with multiple Muslim rebel groups in the northwest and on top of this some of them were foreigners, who held considerable backing. The Qing dynasty sent one of their most formidable Generals, Zuo Zongtang in 1867 to Shaanxi to pacify the region. Zuo Zongtang as you already know was instrumental in the downfall of the Taiping, working closely with Zeng Guofan. Zuo Zongtangs task was to restore the peace, promote agricultural output particularly that of grain and cotton and to promote Confucian education. As we have seen throughout the series, northwestern China is a rough place to live, stricken with poverty and thus Zuo Zongtang would not be able to rely on the resources of the territory he would have to look elsewhere. This led Zuo Zongtang to immediately demand the Qing court help fund the expedition as he personally began to take out major loans worth millions of taels from foreigners. Zuo Zongtang wanted to prepare massive amounts of supplies before going on the offensive, a smart move. Zeng Guofan likewise helped his subordinate by allocating him 10,000 Xiang forces, led by General Liu Songshan to bolster Zuo Zongtang's 55,000 man army. Zuo Zongtang's forces were mostly Hunanese, but there were also men from Henan, Anhui and Sichuan as well. Because of the Taiping Rebellion, Zuo Zongtang was a proficient army raiser now and he did his best to train the men in a western fashion and outfit them with western arms. As I had mentioned, Zuo Zongtang was one of the champions of modernization and established the Lanzhou arsenal in 1872 which produced Remington breech loading type rifles for his forces alongside artillery and munitions. Now that name, Ma Hualong I had mentioned comes up here a bit. He was the leader of the Jahriyya, known also as “the new teaching”. They were something of a Muslim sect in Gansu province and had been around since the 1760s.They periodically rebelled as a group and caused conflict with other groups, including muslim ones. When Ma Hualong took the leadership position in 1849 he gradually began to build up their forces and to do so he created a vast trade network using a caravan trade through Inner Mongolia and Beijing. His group became extremely wealthy and when the Dungan revolt heated up he began to use his trade network to purchase guns. Zuo Zongtang understandably was suspicious of the gun purchasing activity and deduced Ma Hualong sought to conquer parts of Inner Mongolia and rebel. Ma Hualong began collaborating with Muslim refugees fleeing Shaanxi for Gansu and this led to conflicts with the Qing. General Liu Songshan ended up dying in combat while campaigning against multiple Muslim militia groups, some of which were controlled by Ma Haulong. Meanwhile Zuo Zongtang was finishing up suppressing Shaanxi and establishing control over the province when he finally had a free hand to deal with Ma Hualong who had heavily fortified Jinjipu into a stronghold. Zuo Zongtang's forces erected a siege upon Jinjipu using Krupps field guns, the good old fashion sappers tunneling with mines tactic and the age old classic of starving out the enemy. After 16 months of siege, starvation took its toll upon the defenders prompting Ma Hualong to surrender his forces in January of 1871. Ma Hualong hoped to save the majority of his people, but Jinjipu saw a massacre, thousands lose their lives and the town was rape, plundered and raized. Zuo Zongtang ordered the execution of Ma Hualong, his son Ma Yaobang and 80 Muslim rebel leaders via “Lingchi / death by slicing”. This was a horrible form of execution where a sharp object like a knife was used to slowly remove portions of ones body over long periods of time until the person died. Once done with Ma Hualong, Zuo Zongtang set his eyes upon another Muslim rebel leader named Ma Zhan'ao. Ma Zhan'ao worked loosely with Ma Hualong, but his stronghold was at Hezhou, present day Linxia. He controlled the region west of Lanzhou and benefited from Ma Hualong's vast trade network managing to arm his rebel forces. Unlike Ma Hualong who was of the “new teaching” sect, Ma Zhan'ao was of the “Khafiya / old teaching” sect and they proscribing trying to peacefully exist amongst the non muslim Qing population. When the Dungan revolt began, Ma Zhan'ao escorted numerous Han Chinese to the nearest safe area of Yixin and he did not attempt to conquer the area nor molest them. Regardless he was one of the major muslim leaders purchasing arms and earned the attention of Zuo Zongtang who began an offensive against his forces in 1872. Initially his muslim defenders inflicted heavy losses upon Zuo Zongtang's army much to the frustration of Zuo Zongtang. But Ma Zhan'ao did not want war and he dispatched his General Ma Chun to try and negotiate with General Zuo Zongtang. He offered to surrender his stronghold to the Qing and provide assistance to the Qing dynasty in quelling the Dungan revolt. Zuo Zongtang suspected this all to be a ruse, but the Qing ordered him to abide by the mutual assistance and indeed Ma Zhan'ao did assist the Qing. Zuo Zongtang began to pacify other areas, while Ma Zhan'ao basically saved his people from annihilation. To this very day the area he controlled holds a muslim population who control the Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture. Many of Ma Zhan'ao's generals like Ma Qianling and Ma Haiyan defected to the Qing, including his son Ma Anliang who proved themselves instrumental to helping Zuo Zongtangs campaign. As Zuo Zongtang pacified the areas he was soon awarded governor generalship over Shaanxi and Gansu. At this point Zuo Zongtang loosely followed a strategy of divide and conquer. Those Muslim groups part of the New Teaching he violently massacred, but those of the old teachings he tried to persuade defection to the Qing. The Qing government likewise began to make edicts stating the Muslim rebels did not represent all muslim chinese, just as all the White Lotus rebels back in the early part of the century did not represent all buddhists. They advocated the Muslim community take up the old teachings over the new teachings. With the help of the Dungan people of Hezhou Zuo Zongtang then turned his gaze west towards Xinjiang to defeat the forces of Yaqub Beg. Zuo Zongtang was now joined by defected Dungan armies led by Generals like Ma Anliang, Dong Fuxiang. By 1875 Zuo Zongtang had assembled men and supplies along the Gansu corridor and the next year began his campaign by attacking Urumchi where he massacres their garrison. Next he besieged Manas for over a month until they surrendered. Allegedly the garrison were allowed to march out of the city with weapons, but it seemed to Zuo Zongtang's commanders in the field they were planning an armed break out so they were all put to the sword as well. The women and children were spared luckily. Zuo Zongtang established a HQ at Gucheng while the Russian Empire annexed the Khanate of Kokand, squeezing Yakub Beg further. In September of 1876, Yakub Beh received reports a Chinese army was on the march 700 miles to the east and he began to prepare his defenses. He built up fortifications at Turfan and in 1877 he was visited by Aleksey Kuropatkin. Kuropatkin was sent on a diplomatic mission to Yaqub Beg to try and resolve some Russian border claims over the Fergana Valley. Kuropatkin told him he had around 17,000 troops spread over the Fergana Valley region and that he could not hope to match them. Yaqub Beg was in a very bad situation. The Chinese army had entered Urumqi pretty much unopposed, many of his eastern forces were defecting over to the Qing and in the west they were defecting to the Russians. In the spring the Chinese attacked the fort of Davanchi which lay between Urumchi and Turfan. Simultaneously an army led by Chang Yao seized Pichuan just 50 miles east of Turfan. Yaqub Beg's forces were shrinking from lost battles, desertions and defections. The Qing forces attacked Turfan where Yaqub Beg's men were beaten badly, so he fled to Toksun. At Toksun the Qing pursued him quickly and defeated him again, so he fled to Karashar, and then Korla. All of the fleeing demoralized his troops causing further desertions and defections. It would be at Korla where Yaqub Beg died and historians are uncertain as to exactly how or when. The Qing claimed he died on May 22, while Aleksey Kuropatkin claimed it was May 29th. What he died of is a bit of a mystery. The Russians state he died of illness, multiple historians think it was poisoning. Some modern historians think it could have been a stroke. Regardless with Yaqub Beg dead this pretty much closed the curtain on his forces control over the area. In autumn of 1877, Zuo Zongtang had kept his forces around Turfan as it was the hot season and he wished to gather further supplies, when he received news of the death of Yaqub Beg. Yaqub Begs forces disorganized into multiple rebel groups without a real leader consolidating anything. Zuo Zongtang sent advance parties to occupy Karashar and Korla meeting limited resistance. Zuo Zongtans army pushed the rebels further west until he eventually seized Kashgar with barely a fight and this led notable cities like Yarkand and Kohtan to submit. Xinjiang was officially reconquered by the Qing. The rebel groups dissolved gradually and no large scale revolts would occur for some time in the northwest. In 1884 Xinjiang was established as a province officially again. Zuo Zongtangs Xiang army and other Han Chinese troops began purchasing Uyghur girls from their parents to take as wives, relying often on their Hui allies to work as translators. Countless Uyghur muslim women would be married off to Han Chinese in Xinjiang during the late 19th to early 20th century. This was not limited to Han Chinese under the Qing as plenty of Hindu, Armenians, Jews and Russians also did the same. A large rationale for the situation was the amount of male depopulation from the area which caused a vacuum of single women. The punishments for the leaders who caused the Dungan revolt were harsh. Many of the songs of the Muslim leaders were castrated by the Qing imperial household department once they hit 11 years of age and they were sent to work as eunuch slaves for Qing held garrisons in Xinjiang. Many of the wives of the Muslim leaders were likewise enslaved. To give you an idea of how prevalent this was, the Muslim leader Ma Guiyuan had 9 of his sons castrated by the Qing. The Muslim leaders themselves were mostly executed by Lingchi. Yaqub Beg and his son Ishana's corpses were burned in public view. Yaqub had 4 other sons who died imprisoned at Lanzhou, Gansu or were killed by the Qing authorities upon discovery. Even Yaqub Beg's grandchildren were hunted for, many of which were caught and executed or castrated. The Dungan revolt led to mass migration all over the place. Some Hui people fled to Russia, settling in places like Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Within the Qing dynasty, the Hui Generals who defected were all promoted by the Emperor such as Dong Fuxiang and Ma Anliang. The power of these pro Qing Hui forces would become quite important to the Qing military further down the road, particularly during the Boxer Rebellion. 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. Well I hope you enjoyed my butchering of the Dungan Revolt, again I did my best to tell it in regards to its significance to the history of China. In reality it was part of something known as the “great game” that had had a long lasting impact on many other nations history.

Ankan's Glass Bowl

Revue de presse française

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2023 35:08

This episode we look at some of the physical evidence from this period. In particular, since we are talking about the sovereign known as Ankan Tenno, we will look at a glass bowl, said to have come from his tomb, which appears to have made its way all the way from Sassanid Persia to Japan between the 5th and 6th centuries CE. Along the way we'll take a brief look at the route that such an item may have taken to travel across the Eurasian continent all the way to Japan. For more on this episode, check out https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-79 Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is Episode 79: Ankan's Glass Bowl. We are currently in the early part of the 6th century. Last episode was our New Year's wrapup, but just before that we talked about the reign of Magari no Ōye, aka Ohine, aka Ankan Tennō. According to the Chronicles, he was the eldest son of Wohodo, aka Keitai Tennō, coming to the throne in 534. For all of the various Miyake, or Royal Grannaries, that he granted, his reign only lasted about two years, coming to an unfortunate end in the 12th month of 535. The Chronicles claim that Ohine was 70 years old when he died, which would seem to indicate he was born when his father, Wohodo, was only 13 years of age. That seems rather young, but not impossibly so. It is said that Ankan Tennō was buried on the hill of Takaya, in the area of Furuichi. And that is where my personal interest in him and his short reign might end, if not for a glass bowl that caught my eye in the Tokyo National Museum. Specifically, it was the Heiseikan, which is where the Tokyo National Museum hosts special exhibitions, but it also hosts a regular exhibition on Japanese archaeology. In fact, if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend checking it out. I mean, let's be honest, the Tokyo National Museum is one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in Tokyo. I think there is always something new—or at least something old that I find I'm taking a second look at. The Japanese archaeology section of the Heiseikan covers from the earliest stone tools through the Jomon, Yayoi, Kofun, and up to about the Nara period. They have originals or replicas of many items that we've talked about on the podcast, including the gold seal of King Na of Wa, the Suda Hachiman mirror, and the swords from Eta Funayama and Inariyama kofun, which mention Wakatakiru no Ōkimi, generally thought to be the sovereign known as Yuuryaku Tennō. They also have one of the large iron tate, or shields, on loan from Isonokami Shrine, and lots of bronze mirrors and various types of haniwa. Amongst this treasure trove of archaeological artifacts, one thing caught my eye from early on. It is a small, glass bowl, round in shape, impressed throughout with a series of round indentations, almost like a giant golf ball. Dark brown streaks crisscross the bowl, where it has been broken and put back together at some point in the past. According to the placard, this Juuyo Bunkazai, or Important Cultural Property, is dated to about the 6th century, was produced somewhere in West Asia, and it is said to have come from the tomb of none other than Ankan Tennō himself. This has always intrigued me. First and foremost there is the question of provenance—while there are plenty of tombs that have been opened over the years, generally speaking the tombs of the imperial family, especially those identified as belonging to reigning sovereigns, have been off limits to most archaeological investigations. So how is it that we have artifacts identified with the tomb of Ankan Tennō, if that is the case? The second question, which almost trumps the first, is just how did a glass bowl from west Asia make it all the way to Japan in the 6th century? Of course, Japan and northeast Asia in general were not strangers to glassmaking—glass beads have a long history both on the Korean peninsula and in the archipelago, including the molds used to make them. However, it is one thing to melt glass and pour it into molds, similar to working with cast bronze. These bowls, however, appear to be something different. They were definitely foreign, and, as we shall see, they had made quite the journey. So let's take a look and see if we can't answer both of these questions, and maybe learn a little bit more about the world of 6th century Japan along the way. To start with, let's look at the provenance of this glass bowl. Provenance is important—there are numerous stories of famous “finds” that turned out to be fakes, or else items planted by someone who wanted to get their name out there. Archaeology—and its close cousin, paleontology—can get extremely competitive, and if you don't believe me just look up the Bone Wars of the late 19th century. Other names that come to mind: The infamous Piltdown man, the Cardiff Giant, and someone we mentioned in one of our first episodes, Fujimura Shin'ichi, who was accused of salting digs to try to claim human habitation in Japan going back hundreds of thousands of years. This is further complicated by the fact that, in many cases, the situation behind a given find is not necessarily well documented. There are Edo period examples of Jomon pottery, or haniwa, that were found, but whose actual origins have been lost to time. Then there are things like the seal of King Na of Wa, which is said to have been discovered by a farmer, devoid of the context that would help to otherwise clear the questions that continue to surround such an object. On top of this, there are plenty of tombs that have been worn down over the ages—where wind and water have eroded the soil, leaving only the giant stone bones, or perhaps washing burial goods into nearby fields or otherwise displacing them. So what is the story with the tomb of Ankan Tennō, and this glass bowl? To answer this, let's first look at the tomb attributed to Ankan Tennō. The Nihon Shoki tells us in the 8th century that this tomb was located at Takaya, in the area of Furuichi. This claim is later repeated by the Engi Shiki in the 10th century. Theoretically, the compilers of both of these works had some idea of where this was, but in the hundreds of years since then, a lot has happened. Japan has seen numerous governments, as well as war, famine, natural disaster, and more. At one point, members of the royal household were selling off calligraphy just to pay for the upkeep of the court, and while the giant kofun no doubt continued to be prominent features for locals in the surrounding areas, the civilian and military governments of the intervening centuries had little to no budget to spare for their upkeep. Records were lost, as were many details. Towards the end of the Edo period, and into the early Meiji, a resurgence in interest in the royal, or Imperial, family and their ancient mausoleums caused people to investigate the texts and attempt to identify mausoleums for each of the sovereigns, as well as other notable figures, in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. Given that many of those figures are likely fictional or legendary individuals, one can see how this may be problematic. And yet, the list that eventually emerged has become the current list of kofun protected by the Imperial Household Agency as imperial mausolea. Based on what we know, today, some of these official associations seem obviously questionable. Some of them, for instance, are not even keyhole shaped tombs—for instance, some are circular, or round tombs, where the claim is often made that the other parts of the tomb were eroded or washed away. Still others engender their own controversy, such as who, exactly, is buried in Daisen-ryō, the largest kofun, claimed to be the resting place of Ōsazaki no Mikoto, aka Nintoku Tennō. Some people, however, claim that it is actually the sovereign Woasatsuma Wakugo, aka Ingyō Tennō, who is buried there, instead. What is the truth? Well, without opening up the main tomb, who is to say, and even then it is possible that any evidence may have already been lost to the acidic soils of the archipelago, which are hardly kind to organic matter. By the way, quick divergence, here—if you look up information on Daisen-ryō, aka Daisen Kofun, you may notice that there are drawings of a grave, including a coffin, associated with it. That might get you thinking, as I did at one point, that Daisen kofun had already been opened, but it turns out that was a grave on the slopes of the square end of the kofun, and not from the main, circular burial mound. Theoretically this may have been an important consort, or perhaps offspring or close relative of the main individual interred in the kofun, but most likely it is not for the person for whom the giant mound was actually erected. So, yes, Daisen kofun remains unopened, at least as far as we know. As for the kofun identified for Ankan Tennō, today that is the tomb known as Furuichi Tsukiyama Kofun, aka Takaya Tsukiyama Kofun. While the connection to Ankan Tennō may be somewhat unclear, the kofun has had its own colorful history, in a way. Now most of the reports I could find, from about '92 up to 2022, place this kofun, which is a keyhole shaped kofun, in the correct time period—about the early to mid-6th century, matching up nicely with a 534 to 535 date for the reign given to Ankan Tennō. But what is fascinating is the history around the 15th to 16th centuries. It was just after the Ounin War, in 1479, when Hatakeyama Yoshihiro decided to build a castle here, placing the honmaru, the main enclosure, around the kofun, apparently incorporating the kofun and its moats into the castle design. The castle, known as Takaya Castle, would eventually fall to Oda Nobunaga's forces in 1575, and most of the surrounding area was burned down in the fighting, bringing the kofun's life as a castle to an end. Some of the old earthworks still exist, however, and excavations in the area have helped determine the shape of the old castle, though there still have not been any fulsome excavations of the mound that I have found. This makes sense as the kofun is designated as belonging to a member of the imperial lineage. There are, however, other keyhole shaped kofun from around the early 6th century that are also found in the same area, which also could be considered royal mausolea, and would seem to fit the bill just as well as this particular tomb. In addition, there are details in the Chronicles, such as the fact that Magari no Ohine, aka Ankan Tennō, was supposedly buried with his wife and his younger sister. This is, however, contradicted by records like the 10th century Engi Shiki, where two tombs are identified, one for Ankan Tennō and one for his wife, Kasuga no Yamada, so either the Chronicles got it wrong, or there were already problems with tomb identification just two centuries later. So we still aren't entirely sure that this is Ankan Tennō's tomb. But at least we know that the glass bowl came from a 6th century kingly tomb, even if that tomb was only later identified as belonging to Ankan Tennō, right? Well, not so fast. The provenance on the bowl is a bit more tricky than that. You see, the bowl itself came to light in 1950, when a private individual in Fuse, Ōsaka invited visiting scholar Ishida Mosaku to take a look. According to his report at the time, the bowl was in a black lacquered box and wrapped in a special cloth, with a written inscription that indicated that the bowl had been donated to a temple in Furuichi named Sairin-ji. There are documents from the late Edo period indicating that various items were donated to Sairin-ji temple between the 16th to the 18th centuries, including quote-unquote “utensils” said to have been washed out of the tomb believed to be that of Ankan Tennō. Ishida Mosaku and other scholars immediately connected this glass bowl with one or more of those accounts. They were encouraged by the fact that there is a similar bowl found in the Shōsōin, an 8th century repository at Tōdai-ji temple, in Nara, which houses numerous artifacts donated on behalf of Shōmu Tennō. Despite the gulf of time between them—two hundred years between the 6th and 8th centuries—this was explained away in the same way that Han dynasty mirrors, made in about the 3rd century, continued to show up in burials for many hundreds of years afterwards, likewise passed down as familial heirlooms. Still, the method of its discovery, the paucity of direct evidence, and the lack of any direct connection with where it came from leaves us wondering—did this bowl really come from the tomb of Ankan Tennō? Even moreso, did it come from a 6th century tomb at all? Could it not have come from some other tomb? We could tie ourselves up in knots around this question, and I would note that if you look carefully at the Tokyo National Museum's own accounting of the object they do mention that it is quote-unquote “possibly” from the tomb of Ankan Tennō. What does seem clear, however, is that its manufacture was not in Japan. Indeed, however it came to our small group of islands on the northeastern edge of the Eurasian continent, it had quite the journey, because it does appear to be genuinely from the Middle East—specifically from around the time of the Sassanian or Sassanid empire, the first Iranian empire, centered on the area of modern Iran. And it isn't the only one. First off, of course, there is the 8th century bowl in the Shousoin I just mentioned, but there are also examples of broken glass found on Okinoshima, an island deep in the middle of the strait between Kyushu and the Korean peninsula, which has a long history as a sacred site, mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, and attached to the Munakata shrine in modern Fukuoka. Both Okinoshima and the Shōsōin—at least as part of the larger Nara cultural area—are on the UNESCO register of World Heritage sites, along with the Mozu-Furuichi kofun group, of which the Takaya Tsukiyama kofun is one.. Okinoshima is a literal treasure trove for archaeologists. However, its location and status have made it difficult to fully explore. The island is still an active sacred site, and so investigations are balanced with respect for local tradition. The lone occupant of the island is a Shinto priest, one of about two dozen who rotate spending 10 days out at the island, tending the sacred site. Women are still not allowed, and for centuries, one day a year they allowed up to 200 men on the island after they had purified themselves in the ocean around the island. Since then, they have also opened up to researchers, as well as military and media, at least in some instances. The island is apparently littered with offerings. Investigations have demonstrated that this island has been in use since at least the 4th century. As a sacred site, guarding the strait between Kyushu and the Korean peninsula, fishermen and sailors of all kinds would make journeys to the island and leave offerings of one kind or another, and many of them are still there: clay vessels, swords, iron ingots, bronze mirrors, and more. The island's location, which really is in the middle of the straits, and not truly convenient to any of the regular trading routes, means that it has never really been much of a strategic site, just a religious one, and one that had various religious taboos, so it hasn't undergone the centuries of farming and building that have occurred elsewhere. Offerings are scattered in various places, often scattered around or under boulders and large rocks that were perhaps seen as particularly worthy of devotion. Since researchers have been allowed in, over 80,000 treasures have been found and catalogued. Among those artifacts that have been brought back is glass, including glass from Sassanid Persia. Pieces of broken glass bowls, like the one said to have come from Ankan's tomb, as well as what appear to be beads made from broken glass pieces, have been recovered over the years, once more indicating their presence in the trade routes to the mainland, although when, exactly, they came over can be a little more difficult to place. That might be helped by two other glass artifacts, also found in the archaeological exhibit of the Heiseikan in the Tokyo National Museum: a glass bowl and dish discovered at Niizawa Senzuka kofun Number 126, in Kashihara city, in Nara. This burial is believed to date to the latter half of the 5th century, and included an iron sword, numerous gold fittings and jewelry, and even an ancient clothes iron, which at the time looked like a small frying pan, where you could put hot coals or similar items in the pan and use the flat bottom to help iron out wrinkles in cloth. Alongside all of this were also discovered two glass vessels. One was a dark, cobalt-blue plate, with a stand and very shallow conical shape. The other was a round glass bowl with an outwardly flared lip. Around the smooth sides, the glass has been marked with three rows of circular dots that go all the way around, not dissimilar from the indentations in the Ankan and Shōsōin glass bowls. All of these, again, are believed to have come from Sassanid Persia, modern Iran, and regardless of the provenance of the Ankan bowl, it seems that we have clear evidence that Sassanian glassworks were making their way to Japan. But how? How did something like glass—hardly known for being the most robust of materials—make it all the way from Sassanid Persia to Yamato between the 5th and 8th centuries? To start with, let's look at Sassanid Persia and its glass. Sassanid Persia—aka Sassanid or Sassanian Iran—is the name given to the empire that replaced the Parthian empire, and is generally agreed to have been founded sometime in the early 3rd century. The name “Sassanid” refers to the legendary dynastic founder, Sassan, though the first historical sovereign appears to be Ardeshir I, who helped put the empire on the map. Ardeshir I called his empire “Eran sahr”, and it is often known as an Iranian or Persian empire, based on their ties to Pars and the use of the Middle Persian, or Farsi, language. For those not already well aware, Farsi is one of several Iranian languages, though over the years many of the various Iranian speaking peoples would often be classified as “Persian” in English literature. That said, there is quite a diversity of Iranian languages and people who speak them, including Farsi, Pashto, Dari, Tajik, and the ancient Sogdian language, which I'm sure we'll touch on more given their importance in the ancient silk road trade. Because of the ease with which historical “Iranian” ethnic groups can be conflated with the modern state, I am going to largely stick with the term Persian, here, but just be aware that the two words are often, though not always, interchangeable. The Sassanid dynasty claimed a link to the older Achaemenid dynasty, and over the subsequent five centuries of their rule they extended their borders, dominating the area between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, eastward to much of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, running right up to the Hindu Kush and the Pamir mountains. They held sway over much of Central Asia, including the area of Transoxiana. With that they had access to both the sea routes, south of India and the overland routes through the Tianshan mountains and the northern and southern routes around the great Taklamakan desert – so, basically, any trade passing between Central and East Asia would pass through Sassanid territory. The Persian empire of the Sassanids was pre-Islamic—Islamic Arab armies would not arrive until about the 7th century, eventually bringing an end to the Sassanid dynasty. Until that point, the Persian empire was largely Zoroastrian, an Iranian religion based around fire temples, restored after the defeat of the Parthians, where eternal flames were kept burning day and night as part of their ritual practice. The Sassanids inherited a Persian culture in an area that had been dominated by the Parthians, and before that the Hellenistic Seleucids, and their western edge bordered with the Roman empire. Rome's establishment in the first century BCE coincided with the invention of glassblowing techniques, and by the time of the Sassanid Empire these techniques seem to have been well established in the region. Sassanid glass decorated with patterns of ground, cut, and polished hollow facets—much like what we see in the examples known in the Japanese islands—comes from about the 5th century onward. Prior to that, the Sassanian taste seems to have been for slightly less extravagant vessels, with straight or slightly rounded walls. Sassanid glass was dispersed in many different directions along their many trade routes across the Eurasian continent, and archaeologists have been able to identify glass from this region not just by its shape, but by the various physical properties based on the formulas and various raw materials used to make the glass. As for the trip to Japan, this was most likely through the overland routes. And so the glass would have been sold to merchants who would take it up through Transoxiana, through passes between the Pamirs and the Tianshan mountains, and then through a series of oasis towns and city-states until it reached Dunhuang, on the edge of the ethnic Han sphere of influence. For a majority of this route, the glass was likely carried by Sogdians, another Iranian speaking people from the region of Transoxiana. Often simply lumped in with the rest of the Iranian speaking world as “Persians”, Sogdians had their own cultural identity, and the area of Sogdia is known to have existed since at least the ancient Achaemenid dynasty. From the 4th to the 8th century, Sogdian traders plied the sands of Central Eurasia, setting up a network of communities along what would come to be known as the Silk Road. It is along this route that the glassware, likely packed in straw or some other protective material, was carried on the backs of horses, camels, and people along a journey of several thousand kilometers, eventually coming to the fractious edge of the ethnic Han sphere. Whether it was these same Sogdian traders that then made their way to the ocean and upon boats out to the Japanese islands is unknown, but it is not hard imagining crates being transferred from merchant to merchant, east, to the Korean Peninsula, and eventually across the sea. The overland route from Sogdia is one of the more well-known—and well-worn—routes on what we modernly know as the Silk Road, and it's very much worth taking the time here to give a brief history of how this conduit between Western Asia/Europe and Eastern Asia developed over the centuries. One of the main crossroads of this area is the Tarim Basin, the area that, today, forms much of Western China, with the Tianshan mountains in the north and the Kunlun Mountains, on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, to the south. In between is a large desert, the Taklamakan desert, which may have once been a vast inland sea. Even by the Han dynasty, a vast saltwater body known as the Puchang Sea existed in its easternmost regions. Comparable to some of the largest of the Great Lakes, and fed by glacial run-off, the lake eventually dwindled to become the salt-marshes around Lop Nur. And yet, researchers still find prominent boat burials out in what otherwise seems to be the middle of the desert. Around the Tarim basin were various cultures, often centered on oases at the base of the mountains. Runoff from melting ice and snow in the mountains meant a regular supply of water, and by following the mountains one could navigate from watering hole to watering hole, creating a natural roadway through the arid lands. In the middle of the Basin, however, is the great Taklamakan desert, and even during the Han dynasty it was a formidable and almost unpassable wasteland. One could wander the sands for days or weeks with no water and no indication of direction other than the punishing sun overhead. It is hardly a nice place and remains largely unpopulated, even today. While there were various cultures and city-states around the oasis towns, the first major power that we know held sway, at least over the northern route, were the Xiongnu. Based in the area of modern Mongolia, the Xiongnu swept down during the Qin and early Han dynasties, displacing or conquering various people. An early exploration of the Tarim basin and its surroundings was conducted by the Han dynasty diplomat, Zhang Qian. Zhang Qian secretly entered Xiongnu territory with the goal of reaching the Yuezhi—a nomadic group that had been one of those displaced by the Xiongnu. The Yuezhi had been kicked out of their lands in the Gansu region and moved all the way to the Ferghana valley, in modern Tajikistan, a part of the region known as Transoxiana. Although Zhang Qian was captured and spent 10 years in service to the Xiongnu, he never forgot his mission and eventually made his way to the Yuezhi. By that time, however, the Yuezhi had settled in to their new life, and they weren't looking for revenge. While Zhang Qian's news may have been somewhat disappointing for the Han court, what was perhaps more important was the intelligence he brought back concerning the routes through the Tarim basin, and the various people there, as well as lands beyond. The Han dynasty continued to assert itself in the area they called the “Western Regions”, and General Ban Chao would eventually be sent to defeat the Xiongnu and loosen their hold in the region, opening up the area all the way to modern Kashgar. Ban Chao would even send an emissary, Gan Ying, to try to make the journey all the way to the Roman empire, known to the Han court as “Daqin”, using the name of the former Qin dynasty as a sign of respect for what they had heard. However, Gan Ying only made it as far as the land of Anxi—the name given to Parthia—where he was told that to make it to Rome, or Daqin, would require crossing the ocean on a voyage that could take months or even years. Hearing this, Gan Ying decided to turn back and report on what he knew. Of course if he actually made it to the Persian Gulf—or even to the Black Sea, as some claim—Gan Ying would have been much closer to Rome than the accounts lead us to believe. It is generally thought that he was being deliberately mislead by Parthian merchants who felt they might be cut out if Rome and the Han Dynasty formed more direct relations. Silks from East Asia, along with other products, were already a lucrative opportunity for middlemen across the trade routes, and nobody wanted to be cut out of that position if they could help it. That said, the Parthians and, following them the Sassanid Persians, continued to maintain relationships with dynasties at the other end of what we know as the Silk Road, at least when they could. The Sassanid Persians, when they came to power, were known to the various northern and southern dynasties as Bosi—possibly pronounced something like Puasie, at the time, no doubt their attempt to render the term “Parsi”. We know of numerous missions in both directions between various dynasties, and Sassanian coins are regularly found the south of modern China. And so we can see that even in the first and second centuries, Eurasia was much more connected than one might otherwise believe. Goods would travel from oasis town to oasis town, and be sold in markets, where they might just be picked up by another merchant. Starting in the fourth century, the Sogdian merchants began to really make their own presence known along these trade routes. They would set up enclaves in various towns, and merchants would travel from Sogdian enclave to Sogdian enclave with letters of recommendation, as well as personal letters for members of the community, setting up their own early postal service. This allowed the Sogdian traders to coordinate activities and kept them abreast of the latest news. I'm not sure we have a clear indication how long this trip would take. Theoretically, one could travel from Kashgar to Xi'an and back in well under a year, if one were properly motivated and provisioned—it is roughly 4,000 kilometers, and travel would have likely been broken up with long stays to rest and refresh at the various towns along the way. I've personally had the opportunity to travel from Kashgar to Turpan, though granted it was in the comfort of an air conditioned bus. Still, having seen the modern conditions, the trip would be grueling, but not impossible back in the day, and if the profits were lucrative enough, then why not do it—it is not dissimilar to the adventurers from Europe in the 16th century who went out to sea to find their own fortunes. And so the glass bowl likely made its way through the markets of the Tarim basin, to the markets of various capitals in the Yellow River or Yangzi regions—depending on who was in charge in any given year—and eventually made its way to the Korean peninsula and from there to a ship across the Korean strait. Of course, those ships weren't simply holding a single glass vessel. Likely they were laden with a wide variety of goods. Some things, such as fabric, incense, and other more biodegradable products would not be as likely to remain, and even glass breaks and oxidizes, and metal rusts away. Furthermore, many of the goods had likely been picked over by the time any shipments arrived in the islands, making things such as these glass bowls even more rare and scarce. Still, this bowl, whether it belonged to Ankan or not, tells us a story. It is the story of a much larger world, well beyond the Japanese archipelago, and one that will be encroaching more and more as we continue to explore this period. Because it wasn't just physical goods that were being transported along the Silk Road. The travelers also carried with them news and new ideas. One of these ideas was a series of teachings that came out of India and arrived in China during the Han dynasty, known as Buddhism. It would take until the 6th century, but Buddhism would eventually make its way to Japan, the end of the Silk Road. But that is for another episode. For now, I think we'll close out our story of Ankan and his glass bowl. I hope you've enjoyed this little diversion, and from here we'll continue on with our narrative as we edge closer and closer to the formal introduction of Buddhism and the era known as the Asuka Period. Until then, thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to Tweet at us at @SengokuPodcast, or reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

women new year europe english starting china japan japanese rome afghanistan middle east iran tokyo dark chronicles hearing records glass korean pakistan wa bowl pieces iranians buddhism sh xi unesco persian investigations imperial goods offerings mongolia archaeology great lakes tibetans kofi bce silk road central asia east asia fuse black sea runoff edo tenn eurasia farsi basin persians persian gulf eurasian tajikistan theoretically provenance fukuoka korean peninsula anxi magari shinto comparable yamada pars yamato meiji world heritage parthians kyushu qin parsi west asia zoroastrian caspian sea tajik silks han dynasty pamir yellow river bone wars gansu hindu kush oda nobunaga pashto dunhuang bosi cardiff giant piltdown yayoi western china eastern asia parthia tarim xiongnu jomon kashgar achaemenid ankan kojiki central eurasia sassan pamirs sassanid yangzi tarim basin yuezhi sogdia

À la Une: Pékin tente de museler les protestataires

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2022 4:13

Après les manifestations de ces derniers jours en Chine, « la reprise en main par le pouvoir n'a pas tardé, pointe Libération. Au Xinjiang, des arrestations ont eu lieu, comme à Kashgar, grande ville du Sud, théâtre de nouvelles protestations dimanche. À Pékin, les berges de la rivière Liangma n'étaient occupées hier soir que par des dizaines de véhicules de police. La place Tiananmen, théâtre de la répression meurtrière du printemps 1989, était également déserte, et des policiers contrôlaient l'identité des rares passants et même des cyclistes. Cette forte présence des forces de l'ordre a dissuadé des manifestants d'organiser un nouveau rassemblement. (…) Selon des témoignages, poursuit Libération, la police a lancé des opérations pour fouiller les téléphones, à la recherche de VPN, ces logiciels qui contournent la censure, et d'applications de messagerie étrangères interdites comme WhatsApp, Twitter ou Instagram. (…) Plusieurs manifestants pékinois, dont l'identité n'a pas été contrôlée dimanche, ont été appelés par la police ce lundi, démonstration des capacités de surveillance atteintes par l'État-Parti. (…) Inédit depuis 1989, relève encore Libération, ce mouvement social dépasse la seule contestation des mesures anti-Covid. Il se nourrit de la désillusion des jeunes Chinois, interdits de quitter le territoire, contraints dans leur vie quotidienne alors que le taux de chômage des 16-24 ans dépasse les 20 % et que l'économie est au bord de la récession. » Dissimulations… « Il est indéniable, reconnait Le Figaro, que le Parti communiste chinois a réussi, au cours des quarante dernières années, une spectaculaire modernisation de la Chine. Mais il a oublié que les êtres humains ne vivaient pas que de pain, qu'ils aspiraient aussi à la dignité, à la justice, à la liberté. Or, pointe Le Figaro, quand on dissimule à son peuple - comme au reste de la planète - les circonstances exactes de la naissance du Covid à Wuhan à l'automne 2019, c'est qu'on ne veut pas le traiter avec dignité. Les télévisions d'État chinoises ont retransmis une partie des séances du plénum du PCC le mois dernier. Mais elle ne parvient plus à convaincre la population cette chorégraphie politique surannée, où l'on a vu l'ancien président Hu Jintao se faire sortir de la salle par des gorilles, pour mieux inaugurer le règne sans partage de Xi Jinping. » Respirer la liberté ! Alors, « les Chinois ont-ils une autre perspective que celle de l'écrasement ? », s'interroge La Croix. « Leur énergie, qui est au sens propre celle du désespoir, nous renseigne sur la nature première de la liberté. Ce que nous disent ces femmes et ces hommes – (notamment) dans ce geste paradoxal qui consiste à brandir des feuilles blanches dépourvues du moindre slogan –, c'est que la liberté, avant d'être une idée, est une convulsion, un débordement. Une pulsion qui jaillit de la certitude d'être entravé, violenté, violé. Ce qui traverse ces femmes et ces hommes, c'est un réflexe contre l'étouffement, affirme encore La Croix. Ils aspirent à la liberté. Ou plus précisément : ils veulent la respirer. Ils la réclament comme on demande de l'air, après des mois d'enfermement justifiés par une politique zéro Covid aussi radicale qu'injuste. Peu de chance, à ce stade, que l'étincelle "mette le feu à la plaine", selon le proverbe cher à Mao. Mais, relève le quotidien catholique, quand bien même ils seraient voués à l'échec, ces mouvements contredisent de manière spectaculaire la critique du Parti communiste chinois à l'égard de nos démocraties. La propagande du PCC affirme volontiers que les peuples, attachés avant tout à la prospérité et la sécurité, font peu de cas des libertés. Nous en avons sous les yeux un démenti criant. » En sursis ? « La Chine a soif de liberté », renchérit Sud Ouest. « La force des dictatures du XXIe siècle est d'avoir mis toutes les ressources modernes de la surveillance au service de leur survie. Et l'on mesure quel courage, quelle ingéniosité, il faut aux manifestants à Pékin mais aussi à Téhéran, Moscou ou encore Istanbul, pour braver ces régimes. Persuadés de pouvoir mater toutes les contestations, ces derniers donnent pourtant l'impression d'être en sursis, face à l'irrépressible et saine demande de liberté. » Résultat, conclut La Charente Libre, « plus qu'une impasse, Xi Jinping se retrouve dans un étau qu'il a lui-même resserré, mois après mois. Comme sa population qui réclame de l'air, il est aussi en manque d'oxygène et de solutions ».

090I_Matthew McCartney, professor of development economics and researcher at the Charter Cities Institute

What is The Future for Cities?

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2022 62:52

Interview with Matthew McCartney, professor of development economics and researcher at the Charter Cities Institute. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, the pace of urbanisation, economic concepts in urban areas, intratrade in Africa, and many more. Professor Matthew McCartney spent twenty years as an academic at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London (2000-2011), and at the University of Oxford (2011-21). He has been a visiting Professor at Universities in China, Pakistan, India, Japan, South Korea, Poland, and Belgium. He is a development economist by background with a teaching and research specialization in the economic development of India and Pakistan after 1947. He has published, supervised, and taught on economic issues relating to industrialization, technology, trade, the role of the state, investment and economic growth, and human development issues relating to nutrition, employment, education, poverty, and inequality. He has also worked for the World Bank, USAID, EU, and UNDP in Botswana, Georgia, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Jordan, Bosnia, and Zambia. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge, an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. in Economics from SOAS, University of London. His latest book is the outcome of two years of research-based in China and Pakistan ‘The Dragon from the Mountains: The CPEC from Kashgar to Gwadar' and was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew through these links: Matthew McCartney at the Charter Cities Institute; Interview with Matthew McCartney and Junaid Qureshi, the director of European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) about Pakistan, China and CPEC Matthew McCartney speaking at EFSAS Seminar on CPEC in EU Parliament; The Dragon from the Mountains book by Matthew McCartney, published by Cambridge University Press; The Dragon from the Mountains book by Matthew McCartney on Amazon; Connecting episodes you might be interested in: No.060I - Interview with Gala Camacho about responsible technologies; No.072I - Interview with Tamás Mezős about urban characteristics; No.087I - Interview with Paul Brookbanks about the rate and pace of urbanisation; What wast the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the shownotes are also available. I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in. Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Kinas strategi för att ducka FN:s rapport om Xinjiang

Kinapodden i P1

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2022 35:57

I sista sekund kom den FN:s rapport om övergrepp mot uigurer i Xinjiang. Men kommer FN-rapporten att kunna förändra något? Kina gick till omedelbar motattack och avfärdar alltihop som lögn. FN:s rapport om övergrepp och människorättsbrott mot minoriteter i Xinjiang har föregåtts av ett omfattande spel. Kina har försökt stoppa rapporten och trycket på FN:s avgående högkommissarie för mänskliga rättigheter, Michelle Bachelet, har varit enormt. Så hur skarpa formuleringar blev det i slutändan? Och vilken tyngd kan rapporten få? Kinapoddens gäster har läst och analyserar.Kina kontrar med motrapport och samlar allieradeFN tar upp tvångsarbete, tvångssteriliseringar, interneringsläger och övervakning i Xinjiang. Kina kan ha begått brott mot mänskligheten, enligt rapporten. Det kinesiska kommunistpartiet kallar FN-rapporten för "desinformation" och "lögn" och kontrar med en egen omfattande motrapport. Och i FN samlar Kina sina allierade för att få stöd. Kommer Kina att lyckas sopa undan den graverande kritiken? Vilka formella vägar finns för att nu agera mot Kina? Hör också om hur stadens Kashgar och levnadsvillkoren för uigurer i Xinjiang förändrats över tid.Medverkande:Axel Kronholm, programledareHanna Sahlberg, Ekots KinakommentatorFredrik Fällman, sinolog vid Göteborgs universitetMaja Åberg, sakkunnig på internationella organisationer på Amnesty

men att rapport vilka kina amnesty xinjiang fn strategi kinas michelle bachelet kashgar

Escaping Xinjiang, with Nury Turkel

Intelligence Squared

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2022 38:27

In recent years China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur ethnic group in the northwestern region of Xinjiang province. Nury Turkel was born in a re-education camp in Kashgar, Xinjiang in 1970. In 1995 he had the opportunity to leave China as a student and was never to return to his home and family. Nury has since dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of Uyghurs – he is Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, specialising in national security and foreign policy. His new book is No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs. Turkel is joined in conversation by our host for this discussion, Yasmeen Serhan, staff writer at The Atlantic, where she focuses on populism and nationalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Francesco Cavallo "Cucina d'amore e libertà"

il posto delle parole

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2022 22:30

Francesco Cavallo"Cucina d'amore e libertà"L'eros e l'arte di volersi beneMandragorahttps://www.mandragora.it/Può un libro di ricette parlare della relazione che intercorre tra Eros e Cibo? Certamente, specie se le ricette si chiamano “Boiling Moonlight Risotto”, “Le carni di Kashgar”, “La polpa di Aisha”, “Cheek to Cheek”, “La bistecchina amorosa”, “Un amore del cavolo”.Il legame tra piacere e buona tavola è strettissimo. A rendere eccitante un piatto non è solo la chimica dei suoi ingredienti, quanto l'atmosfera che si crea durante la sua preparazione. La cucina può richiamare odori, sensazioni tattili, suoni e immagini di luoghi vicini e legati alla nostra tradizione culinaria, oppure esotici, provenienti da paesi lontani, visitati nel passato ma il cui ricordo rivive improvvisamente in un sapore. Le mille associazioni sono in grado di creare un clima di attesa ed eccitazione.Il suggerimento che l'autore, Francesco Cavallo, ci dà è quello di non avere fretta: il gioco erotico inizia ben prima di sedersi a tavola. Gli ingredienti si possono toccare, guardare, trasformare in inebrianti profumi, e infine comporre con cura e delicatezza.Le ricette diventano pretesto per raccontare storie di luoghi pittoreschi, dai boulevard parigini, ai barrios spagnoli, dai vicoli di Napoli, al Bazar di Damasco. E storie di amori, come la donna ammaliatrice vista al casinò o la bellissima Aisha nelle strade di Marrakech.Perché a sedurre non è solo la cucina, ma è soprattutto la Parola, che si veste delle sonorità della grande letteratura, in un intrigante gioco a due, tra l'uomo e la donna, tra il Cibo e l'Eros, tra l'Eros e la scrittura e tra il lettore e la pagina. Ma senza prendersi troppo sul serio, per carità, che la serietà non ha mai migliorato la vita di nessuno.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

perch napoli francesco eros libert gli amore pu cheek marrakech passione cibo certamente parola bazar cucina damasco cavallo mandragora kashgar

4/4: No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs, by Nury Turkel.

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2022 6:51

Photo: Child working in the handicraft center; Kashgar, Xinjiang, China. 4/4: No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs, by Nury Turkel. Hardcover – May 10, 2022 https://www.amazon.com/No-Escape-Chinas-Genocide-Uyghurs/dp/1335469567 In recent years, the People's Republic of China has rounded up as many as three million Uyghurs, placing them in what it calls “reeducation camps,” facilities most of the world identifies as concentration camps. There, the genocide and enslavement of the Uyghur people are ongoing. The tactics employed are reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, but the results are far more insidious because of the technology used, most of it stolen from Silicon Valley. In the words of Turkel, “Communist China has created an open prison-like environment through the most intrusive surveillance state that the world has ever known while committing genocide and enslaving the Uyghurs on the world's watch.” As a human rights attorney and Uyghur activist who now serves on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Turkel tells his personal story to help explain the urgency and scope of the Uyghur crisis. Born in 1970 in a reeducation camp, he was lucky enough to survive and eventually make his way to the US, where he became the first Uyghur to receive an American law degree. Since then, he has worked as a prominent lawyer, activist, and spokesperson for his people and has advocated strong policy responses from the liberal democracies to address atrocity crimes against his people. The Uyghur crisis is turning into the greatest human rights crisis of the twenty-first century, a systematic cleansing of an entire race of people in the millions. Part Anne Frank and part Hannah Arendt, No Escape shares Turkel's personal story while drawing back the curtain on the historically unprecedented and increasing threat from China.

american china child silicon valley republic true stories genocide xinjiang uyghur hannah arendt cultural revolution communist china no escape international religious freedom us commission turkel nury turkel kashgar china's genocide no escape the true story

2/4: No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs, by Nury Turkel.

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2022 7:54

Photo: One of the many donkeys for sale at the open air bazaar; Kashgar, Xinjiang, China. 2/4: No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs, by Nury Turkel. Hardcover – May 10, 2022 https://www.amazon.com/No-Escape-Chinas-Genocide-Uyghurs/dp/1335469567 In recent years, the People's Republic of China has rounded up as many as three million Uyghurs, placing them in what it calls “reeducation camps,” facilities most of the world identifies as concentration camps. There, the genocide and enslavement of the Uyghur people are ongoing. The tactics employed are reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, but the results are far more insidious because of the technology used, most of it stolen from Silicon Valley. In the words of Turkel, “Communist China has created an open prison-like environment through the most intrusive surveillance state that the world has ever known while committing genocide and enslaving the Uyghurs on the world's watch.” As a human rights attorney and Uyghur activist who now serves on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Turkel tells his personal story to help explain the urgency and scope of the Uyghur crisis. Born in 1970 in a reeducation camp, he was lucky enough to survive and eventually make his way to the US, where he became the first Uyghur to receive an American law degree. Since then, he has worked as a prominent lawyer, activist, and spokesperson for his people and has advocated strong policy responses from the liberal democracies to address atrocity crimes against his people. The Uyghur crisis is turning into the greatest human rights crisis of the twenty-first century, a systematic cleansing of an entire race of people in the millions. Part Anne Frank and part Hannah Arendt, No Escape shares Turkel's personal story while drawing back the curtain on the historically unprecedented and increasing threat from China.

american china silicon valley republic true stories genocide xinjiang uyghur hannah arendt cultural revolution communist china no escape international religious freedom us commission turkel nury turkel kashgar china's genocide no escape the true story

Xinjiang files: The human cost of Uyghur detention

Newshour

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2022 48:42

We hear about a huge batch of hacked data from China's secretive system for the mass imprisonment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province. The files show there are long sentences for almost any sign of Islamic belief. Also on the programme: calls for a naval coalition-of-the-willing to end the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports; Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan is branded a disaster and a betrayal by a parliamentary committee; and jackdaw democracy. (Photo: Police officers patrol in the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China in 2021 Credit:REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

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Uyghur Congress critical of UN visit to Xinjiang

Newshour

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2022 48:37

The UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, is visiting Xinjiang this week, as new evidence emerges of the widespread abuse of the native Uyghur population by Chinese authorities. Our correspondent John Sudworth reports on the leaked Xinjiang files, and Rahima Mahmut, the British spokeswoman for the World Uyghur Congress, says the UN trip will do more harm than good. Also in the programme: can British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survive the latest allegations of lockdown parties at the heart of British government; and the race to transport wounded Ukrainians to safety from the Donbas front in the war with Russia. (Photo: Armed police officers stand guard in a street in Kashgar, Xinjiang, May 4, 2021. Credit: REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

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#PRC: The Facebook billionaire and the Uyghurs. @CliffordDMay @FDD

china western silicon valley billionaires uyghur prc chamath palihapitiya uyghur muslims east turkestan kashgar

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2022 9:07

Photo: The Silicon Valley billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya has said he doesn't care about China's human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims. Here: Two Uyghur men selling vegetables in the open-air bazaar in Kashgar, East Turkestan, Western, China. #PRC: The Facebook billionaire and the Uyghurs. @CliffordDMay @FDD https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jan/25/to-the-fashionably-woke-uyghur-lives-dont-matter/

Turquestan Oriental, Santa Fe de Nou M

Els viatgers de la Gran Anaconda

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2021 53:21

Durant anys, molts viatgers han observat atentament aquest territori i s'han q

barcelona kevin durant bangkok santa fe igual oriental els xina aquell kashgar tampoc

El Turquestan Oriental, un pa

Els viatgers de la Gran Anaconda

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 24, 2021 2:24

Durant anys, molts viatgers han observat atentament aquest territori i s'han q

kevin durant oriental els periodista sergi sota ramis xina aquell kashgar tampoc

Deep Energy 693 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Part 2 - Background Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage, Yoga, Studying and Therapy

Dark Ambient 2.0

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2021 64:39

Background Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage, Yoga, Studying and TherapyHi everyone my name is Jim Butler and welcome to Deep Energy Podcast 693 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Part 2If you would like to find out more about me and my music, head on over to www.jimbutlermusic.com or you can e-mail me at jimbutlermusic@gmail.com. On the website you will find links to all of my social media including FB, FB fan page, IG and Twitter and any live appearances I am making in the Keene, NH area. My YouTube page has all of the podcasts if you like listening that way, plus various other videos. https://www.youtube.com/user/JimButlerMusicI now have a merchandise store with a collection of mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, hoodie's and a ton more… you can find it at www.deepenergy.threadless.com This podcast is ad supported, if you would like to listen to the podcast without ads or speaking, please go to my Bandcamp page and most of the podcasts are there. If you would like a podcast and you don't see it, just send me an e-mail and I will get it uploaded ASAP.www.jimbutler.bandcamp.com Please share, subscribe, rate and review (helps more people find the podcast) through however you listen to the podcast including:Spreaker, Stitcher, Apple Podcast App, Castbox, Pandora, Spotify, Luminary, iHeart Radio, Radio.com, Deezer, YouTube, Alexa and Siri and many other podcast providers.Thank you for listening. Until the next time, please be kind to one another, peace, bye…Image by: @porstocker via Twenty20https://www.twenty20.com/photos/e6a8682e-5102-48df-bfdc-0e5f0dcf886f

Deep Energy 693 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Part 2 - Background Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage, Yoga, Studying and Therapy

Deep Energy 2.0 - Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage and Yoga

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2021 64:39

Deep Energy 692 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Part 1 - Background Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage, Yoga, Studying and Therapy

Dark Ambient 2.0

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2021 55:23

Background Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage, Yoga, Studying and TherapyHi everyone my name is Jim Butler and welcome to Deep Energy Podcast 692 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Part 1If you would like to find out more about me and my music, head on over to www.jimbutlermusic.com or you can e-mail me at jimbutlermusic@gmail.com. On the website you will find links to all of my social media including FB, FB fan page, IG and Twitter and any live appearances I am making in the Keene, NH area. My YouTube page has all of the podcasts if you like listening that way, plus various other videos. https://www.youtube.com/user/JimButlerMusicI now have a merchandise store with a collection of mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, hoodie's and a ton more… you can find it at www.deepenergy.threadless.com This podcast is ad supported, if you would like to listen to the podcast without ads or speaking, please go to my Bandcamp page and most of the podcasts are there. If you would like a podcast and you don't see it, just send me an e-mail and I will get it uploaded ASAP.www.jimbutler.bandcamp.com Please share, subscribe, rate and review (helps more people find the podcast) through however you listen to the podcast including:Spreaker, Stitcher, Apple Podcast App, Castbox, Pandora, Spotify, Luminary, iHeart Radio, Radio.com, Deezer, YouTube, Alexa and Siri and many other podcast providers.Thank you for listening. Until the next time, please be kind to one another, peace, bye…Image by: @Leonevondizic via Twenty20https://www.twenty20.com/photos/e7ada0aa-639f-4ed3-9f4c-b76ba9f8d68f

Deep Energy 692 - Slow Walk to Kashgar - Part 1 - Background Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage, Yoga, Studying and Therapy

Deep Energy 2.0 - Music for Sleep, Meditation, Relaxation, Massage and Yoga

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2021 55:23

Episode 245 - Kashgar, on the Old Silk Road

Kated Travel Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2021 13:10

Kashgar, a mysterious and legendary stop on the Old Silk Road, a city between north and south, east and west. Located in East Turkistan (now the Xinjiang region of China), Kashgar is home to the Uighur people. Your host Stephen Bailey recalls a trip to Kashgar and the incredible life and culture he found in the city's markets. For Stephen, it's important to share positive stories about sidelined people and cultures. And travel is a conduit from which to learn from different people and cultures around the world.

china silk road xinjiang uighur stephen bailey kashgar

2.49. History of the Mongols: Chagatai Khanate #3

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2021 25:37

Our previous two episodes have taken you through an overview of the history of the Chagatai Khanate, the middle ulus of the Mongol Empire. From its establishment following Chinggis Khan's western campaign in the 1220s, through rebuilding efforts by Mahmud Yalavach and Mas'ud Beg, to the turmoil of the 1260s and 70s with the Mongol civil wars and then consoldiation under Qaidu and Du'a, then the many successions of Du'a's sons to the throne in the first three decades of the fourteenth century. At the end of the last episode, the sixth and last of Du'a's sons to rule the Chagatais, Tarmashirin Khan, was murdered in the early 1330s, killed in a rebellion led by his nephew Buzan, supported by emirs from the eastern half of the Chagatayids. Over the period we saw the slow spread of Islam among the Mongols and their khans, as well as a widening gap between the western half of the Khanate, in Transoxania, and the Eastern half, Moghulistan. Today, both of trends continue as the Chagatai Khanate descends into anarchy following Tarmashirin's murder, finally culminating in Emir Temur seizing control of the western half of the ulus Chagatay in 1370, and forever changing the face of western Asia. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest. Tarmashirin Khan's murder in 1334 had a significant impact on the Chagatai Khanate. The last in the long lateral succession of Du'a Khan's sons, his death essentially opened up the throne to any willing claimant. His antagonizing of the Mongols of the eastern half of the khanate, particularly through his Islamic policies, supposedly abandoning of the laws of Chinggis Khan and leaving them out of government, ensured his reign ended bloodily. The Mongol chiefs of the eastern half of the Khanate rose up behind Buzan, Tarmashirin's nephew, who had allied with other grandsons of Du'a. They invaded Transoxania hunting down and killing Tarmashirin and causing a flight of pro-Tarmshirin, Islamic Mongol chiefs to the Ilkhanate and Delhi Sultanate in India. Buzan, according to most sources, was not a Muslim, though ibn Battuta wrote of him as a ‘tainted Muslim.' Most sources accuse him of being anti-Muslim and strongly pro-Christian, though it seems more likely he was just religiously tolerant, simply allowing Jews and Christians to rebuild their religious structures. It seems he wanted to rule in a more traditional, steppe based fashion, a strong counter reaction to Tarmashirin's rule.. At least he would have, if Buzan wasn't murdered only a few months into his reign by a cousin, Changshi, another grandson of Du'a. If we believe ibn Battuta, Buzan was strangled by a bowstring. The thing about violently overthrowing your predecessor, is that it does not leave a lot of the legitimacy that is needed to prevent you being overthrown in turn by the next power-hungry individual. What we start to see in this period is princes refusing to recognize the legitimacy of these new Khans, and deciding to remedy this by replacing these new Khans with themselves. So begins an exceptionally chaotic period in the Chagatai realm. The new Khan of the Chagatais, Changshi, did not take the throne because he was a supporter of Tarmashirin. Like Buzan, Changshi sought to bring the center of power back to the steppe and Almaliq, the traditional capital of the Chagatais, rather than having it based in the more sedentarized, Islamic Transoxania as Tarmashirin had sought to do. He was apparently a devout Buddhist, ordering the construction of many Buddhist and temples and supposedly, ordering sculptures of the Buddha painted in mosques throughout the Khanate. Yet he also showed great favour to Christians, especially Catholic Franciscans. He was apparently cured of a cancer through the prayers of one Franciscan, and in response heaped rewards on them. Changshi had at least one of his sons baptized, taking the name of Johannes, and placed the Franciscan in charge of their education. A bishopric was established at Almaliq in the 1320s and flourished under Changshi. At Almaliq, Changshi also met with Nicholas, the newly appointed Archbishop of Khanbaliq, who was on his way to China. Changshi gave Archbishop Nicholas authorization to preach freely throughout the Chagatai lands, to repair and build churches and provided him lands on which to build a friary. News of Changshi's friendship to the Christians reached Pope Benedict XII, who sent a letter to Changshi in 1338. This was not the first letter between the popes and the Khans of Central Asia. In 1289 Pope Nicholas IV sent letters to Qaidu Khan; in 1329 Pope John XXII sent a letter to Eljigidei Khan in response to a message of friendship Eiljigidei had sent prior; and Benedict XII's letter in 1338 urged Khan Changshi to build stronger relations with Christianity and sponser the growth of the faith in his kingdom. Changshi never received the letter, for in 1337 he and his four sons were killed by his brother, Yesun-Temur. Many islamic sources portray Yesun-Temur Khan as fanatically anti-Muslim and an absolute madman. Not just murdering his own brother, he was accused of cutting the breasts off his mother, among other unsavoury actions. Whether any of this is warranted is difficult to tell, as he may have been so strongly pro-Buddhist and continued Changshi's policy of sponsoring Christian missionaries that it left Islamic chronclers little good to say about him. There is circumstantial evidence of a somewhat capable administrator, demonstrated by survival of government documents from his reign from Turfan and an apparent increase in money circulation under him as well. He was challenged though by rounds of epidemics, particularly in the Issyk Kul region. Things took another shift again when Yesun-Temur was deposed in 1339 by ‘Ali Sultan bin Uruk Temur. ‘Ali Sultan differed from his predecessors in two important ways: he was a fanatic Muslim, and was not a Chagatayid, but a descendant of Ogedai. The fact that an Ogedeid was even able to take the throne of the Chagatayids demonstrates the extent to which access to the succession had been opened up. ‘Ali Sultan's reign was brief, less than a year. In that time, the most notable action he did, other than usurp the throne, was unleash violent programs against the Christians in his empire. Those who refused to convert to Islam, be they Nestorian or Catholic, were to be killed. The Nestorian Christian community in the Issyk Kul region was almost totally exterminated by ‘Ali Sultan's effort, either by forced conversion or by the sword. The bishopric of Almaliq was destroyed, its clergy put to death on ‘Ali Sultan's order. The martyred Bishop, Richard of Burgundy, had only taken the post a year prior. The brief introduction of Cathololicism died out in the region by the end of the fourteenth century. ‘Ali Sultan Khan's Ogedeid usurpation greatly undermined the integrity of the Khanate. In 1340 the Khan of the Golden Horde, Ozbeg, invaded the Chagatai Khanate, an invasion which only halted due to Ozbeg's death in 1341 but did nothing to unite the conflicting tension within the Khanate. Even before ‘Ali Sultan's death in 1340, it seems in the southern part of the western half of the Chagatai Khanate a great-grandson, or great-great-grandson of Du'a Khan, Muhammad bin Bolad, or Muhammad Bolad, declared himself Khan. Around 1342 Muhammad Bolad Khan briefly reigned in Almaliq, while in the western half of Chagatai power was taken by Khalil Sultan bin Yasawur, who may be the same figure as Qazan Khan, who may have also been Khalil Sultan's brother and co-ruled with him. By1343-1344, Qazan was the sole ruler of the Chagatai khanate, though whether he exerted much power in the eastern half of the realm is uncertain. Qazan Khan, if you don't mind a minor spoiler, often appears as a “bad last ruler,” in sources of the Timurids, a despot who preempted a final period of anarchy. Whatever the truth, he did usher in some stablization, and increased the power of the Chagatais over Khurasan, taking advantage of the collapse of the Ilkhanate into rival powers. He likely did little less in his reign except fight off rivals, with a particularly tough opponent in the form of Qazaghan, the chief of the Qara'unas. The Qara'unas were descendents of Mongols stationed in Afghanistan or who had fled there following the outbreak of war between Berke and Hulegu in 1262. They had remained a largely independent, rebellious force resisting efforts by the Ilkhanate and the Chagatai Khanate to bring them under control. Not until the 1290s did the Chagatais succeed in doing so, and the Qara'unas became a useful arm of the Chagatayid miltiary. Often, prominent heirs or brothers, especially under the reigns of Du'a and his sons, were placed in command over the Qara'unas. They were a major military element in the western half of the Chagatai Khanate, and once their chief, the ambitious Qazaghan, began challenging Qazan Khan, it was no easy task for the precariously perched Qazan. After some considerable effort, in 1347 Qazaghan finally killed Qazan, the final effective Khan in the Western Chagatai Khanate. The Emir Qazaghan then became the true power in Transoxania, though as he was not a descendant of Chinggis Khan, he could not rule in his own right. Wisely, he continued to appoint puppet Khans who ruled in name only. These Khans were total figureheads, some not even of the line of Chagatai, but of Ogedai. Doing so was absolutely necessary. While there could be argument over the legitimacy of a particular Khan, if he was a good candidate or from the right lineage, among the Turko-Mongolian military elite it was still undebatable that the only legitimate ruler had to be descended from Chinggis Khan; it was to the house of Chinggis that the right to rule the world had been given, and no Qara'unas chief, no matter how powerful, could claim that throne if he had not even a drop of Chinggisid blood in him. While Qazaghan seized power in Transoxania and ushered in a brief period of stability, an important event happened concurrently in the eastern half of the Khanate. In 1347, as Qazaghan killed Qazan Khan, a descendant of Chagatai and grandson of Du'a named Tughluq Temur was also declared Khan. With now two major rival claimants for power, 1347 becomes the usual date in scholarship for the division of the Chagatai Khanate into two realms: Transoxania in the west, sometime still called the Chagatai Khanate, and Moghulistan east of the Syr Darya River. Tughluq Temur was raised to the throne by a coalition of the powerful Mongol chiefs of the eastern half of the Khanate. Mentioned briefly in the last episode, these were the chiefs who felt out of power by the Khans more interested in sedentarized and Islamic culture, while at the same time finding themselves under less and less direct influence of the Khan. The result was the chiefs who became more powerful and more dissatisfied with the ruler in the west. The usurption of power by the non-Chinggisid Qazaghan and his appointment of puppet Khans was the final straw for these chiefs. Of the tribes in the eastern Chagatai realm, the mightiest were the Dughlats. A proud Mongol tribe, the Dughlat leaders made themselves rich through control of the altı shahr, the six cities in Turkish. These were the rich trade cities along the silk routes through the western Tarim Basin and eastern Turkestan; Kashgar, Yangi Hisar, Yarkand, Khotan, Ush-Turfan, Aksu. The heads of these tribes, including the Dughlats, were qarachu, ‘blackboned,' or commoners. That is, they were not of the altan urag, not descendants of Chinggis Khan and like Qazaghan of the Qara'unas they could not claim the throne themselves. The head of the Dughlats, called the ulusbegi or beylerbey as the most powerful of the eastern chiefs, acted as a sort of spokesperson for them. The Dughlat, while the single most powerful tribe, were not strong enough to totally overpower the others and had to act in concert with them. Thus, in 1347 in cooperation with the other tribal heads, the ulusbegi Bulaji Dughlat, enthroned the 18 year old Tughluq Temur as Chagatai Khan, a blatant refusal to recognize Qazaghan or his puppet khans. Both halves of the Chagatai khanate considered themselves the true heirs of Chagatai, and referred to the other with disparaging terms. To the easterners in Moghulistan, the westerners were qara'unas, a term which had connotations to the Mongols of half-breed, according to Marco Polo when he learned of them. They saw the westerners as corrupted by sedentary culture ruled by a petty non-Chinggisid. To the western half in Transoxania, the easterners were jatah, a term at its kindest reffering to ne'er-do-wells and rascals, and at its worst robbers and thieves. The westerners saw the east as little more than raiders, for such was their interaction with them. Tughluq Temur Khan is often considered the first Khan of Moghulistan. Moghul, being the Persian word for Mongol, is generally what the scholarship uses to refer to Moghulistan's nomadic inhabitants to distinguish them from true Mongols, a reflection of the primary source usage where the eastern Chagatayids and their lands are the Moghuls of Moghulistan. While there is evidence for use of the Mongolian language in the chancellery of Moghulistan until the end of the 1360s, various forms of Turkic had replaced Mongolian in day-to-day life. Largely still nomadic, many still adhering to the old religion and seeing themselves as true Mongols, Islam had begun to spread among them. Thus it was not surprising that in 1354, Tughluq Temur converted to Islam. Islam was a source of legitimacy for him; there is some indication that Tughluq Temur was of some uncertain paternity, due to conflicting reports on the identity of his father, so converting to Islam was an additional means to shore up his position. Unlike ‘Ali Sultan, Tughluq Temur was no fanatic; he is still recorded asking for Buddhist Lamas from Tibet as teachers for him and his sons. He did promote Islam though and his conversion was an important stage for the spread of Islam east of the Syr Darya. Statements that everyone in the area became Muslim under him are overplayed, as it took many decades still for Islam to drive out the local religious beliefs, be they Nestorian Christianity, Buddhism or Mongolian shamanism. Tughluq Temur's 16 year reign saw the most consolidation of power under a Chagatai Khan in years. He was aided in part by the death of the ulusbegi Bulaji soon after Tughluq's enthronement. Had Bulaji lived longer, he may have played more of a kingmaker role and controlled more of Tughluq Temur's actions. But Bulaji's death, and tensions within the Dughlat tribe, led to Bulaji's 7 year old son Khudaidad becoming the ulusbegi. Bulaji's brother, Qamar al-Din Dughlat, petitioned Tughluq Temur for the position as he had no support from other members of the Dughlats. Qamar al-Din was a man of violent temperament, and many of the emirs of the Dughlat seem to have desired greater freedom than they had been allowed under Bulaji. Tughluq Temur was of similar opinion; why place an ambitious man like Qamar al-Din as ulusbegi, who would certainly prove a hindrance to Tughluq Temur's power, when Tughluq Temur could instead have a malleable child in the position? And so Tughluq Temur ignored Qamar al-Din's petition and confirmed the enthronement of young Khudaidad, a matter which Tughluq Temur's heirs would rue dearly. Khan Tughluq Temur continued to strengthen his position in Moghulistan, weakening the hegemony of the Dughlats and bringing other tribal heads to heel. He apparently killed a number of them, both those who refused to convert to Islam or resisted his efforts. By 1360, Tughluq Temur was the single most powerful Chinggisid in the entire former Mongol Empire, which placed him in a very good position to take advantage of misfortune in Transoxania. The Emir Qazaghan had paid tribute to Tughluq Temur, in large part to pay him off against attacking Transoxania. Qazaghan was a capable enough figure, keeping control, if at times tenuously, on the various disparate elements of the region, until he was murdered in 1358. Qazaghan's son ‘Abd Allah took his position, but lacked his father's capability. As tensions from warlords in Transoxania and Khurasan bubbled up, among other poor decisions, ‘Abd Allah chose to halt the payment of tribute to Tughluq Temur. For the Khan in Moghulistan, this was all the excuse he needed. In 1360 and 1361, Tughluq Temur invaded Transoxania twice in order to oust ‘Abd Allah and reunite the Chagatai Khanate. ‘Abd Allah fled and was killed, and Tughluq Temur installed his son Ilyas as the regional governor. Many tribal leaders joined Tughluq Temur, while others fled, including Hajji Beg, the chief of the Barlas, a Turkified Mongolian tribe near Samarkand. One member of the upper echelons of the Barlas did not flee, and he was able to convince the conquering Tughluq Temur Khan to appoint him as head of the Barlas in Hajji Beg's absence. This was the first appearance of Temur, though you may perhaps know him better by the nicknames given to him later in life to refer to his limp: Aksak Temur, in Turkish, Temur-i-lang in Persian, which in English became Temur the Lame: Tamerlane. Temur was at this point 30 years old and given his first position of relative importance, one he soon surpassed. Tughluq Temur Khan did not long enjoy his conquest, for like all good Chinggisid monarchs, he suddenly died in his early 30s in 1363. So powerful had he been though, that his descendants would continue to rule in parts of Moghulistan until the 17th century. Without his father's backing, Ilyas was driven out of Transoxania in 1365 by a coalition of forces under Qazaghan's grandson, Amir Husayn, and Temur of the Barlas. Back in Moghulistan, Ilyas was soon killed, perhaps by Qamar al-Din Dughlat. Either before or after Ilyas' death, Qamar al-Din had his revenge for Tughluq Temur's denial to make him ulusbegi. He launched a revolt, killed some 18 Chagatai princes and declared himself Khan. No puppet khans, no indirect rule, Qamar al-Din was the first non-Chinggisid to try and claim the title of Khan, and rule in his own right, since the Mongol conquests. If Qamar had thought he would find support for this action, he was sorely mistaken. Not even the Dughlat tribe themselves were willing to recognize Qamar's usurption, and few of the other tribes in Moghulistan did either. Qamar al-Din faced stiff resistance as warfare broke out across Moghulistan. For the next 25 years, Qamar al-Din fought enemies within Moghulistan and from Transoxania. The other sons of Tughluq Temur were sent into hiding to keep them out of Qamar al-Din's hands, and never did he enjoy a moment of stability until his disappearance in the 1380s. Only then would Tughluq Temur's son, Khidr Khwaja, be enthroned in 1389 as the Chagatai khan after a nearly 30 year interregnum. The great consequence of Qamar al-Din's usurption is that it facilitated the rise of Tamerlane. After Ilyas was ousted around 1365, Qazaghan's grandson Amir Husayn had resumed power over the region, but was undermined by the power hungry Barlas leader, Temur. Despite having married Husayn's sister, Temur began conspiring with other regional powers, and when Husayn moved his capital to Balkh and fortified it, Temur convinced them that Husayn was their enemy, having moved his capital out of the traditional region and preparing to defend it against them. So, Transxonia revolted against Husayn, eventually resulting in Husayn's death. Now the figure of real power in Transoxania, Temur had carefully observed the failures of Qazaghan, ‘Abd Allah, Husayn and of Qamar al-Din. At a quriltai in April 1370, Temur oversaw the enthronement of a Khan of the Chagatayids, a descendant of Ogedai named Soyurghatmish. Temur himself only took the title of emir, and officially was a guardian and adviser to the Khan. Marrying a Chinggisid princess, Emir Temur also took the title of güregen, a son-in-law to the house of Chinggis Khan. However, Temur was the real power, and from 1370 he began to campaign against his local enemies. One of his first campaigns was against Qamar al-Din of Moghulistan. Though never able to catch Qamar al-Din, Temur repeatedly invaded Moghulistan, wreaking great destruction, taking thousands of prisoners and further undermining the fragile powerbase Qamar had. If there had been an actual reigning Khan in Moghulistan, perhaps a figure could have rallied the tribes to resist and defeat Temur early in his career. But Qamar's illegal rule ensured there could be no rallying behind his name, and Emir Temur only grew in might. Under him, the last vestiges of Chagatai rule in Transoxania were washed away. Though a Chagatai Khan was appointed in Moghulistan in the last years of the fourteenth century, the Temurids never recognized them as such. Tughluq Temur and his successors were always the ulus-i-Moghul or ulus-i-Jatah, as far as Temurid historians were concerned. The fifteenth century became a century of Temurid rule, and it would not be until the 1500s that Chinggisids would again rule in Transoxania; but these were descendants of Jochi, not of Chagatai. The career of Temur and later history of Moghulistan is a topic for a later series, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast to follow. If you enjoyed this and would like to help us continue bringing you great content, please consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one.

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2.48. History of the Mongols: Chagatai Khanate #2

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2021 29:21

While the Chagatai Khanate, the division of the Mongol Empire encompassing much of Central Asia and Northwestern China, has a reputation as the Mongol Khannate to fragment into infighting first, this would not have been the view for an observer on the ground in the early fourteenth century. Following the death of Qaidu, the Ogedeid master of Central Asia in the last decades of the thirteenth century, his former ally Du’a, Khan of the Chagatais, stood dominant, particularly with the Great Peace he achieved between the Khanates in 1304. Picking up from our previous episode, we take you through the history of the Chagatai Khanate in the early fourteenth century, from Du’a’s singular rule in 1301 through the reigns of the six of his sons who became Khan, ending with Tarmashirin in 1334. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest. At the close of the previous episode, Qaidu Khan was dead. Qaidu was a descendant of Great Khan Ogedai, and as we covered thoroughly in episode 41, had from 1271 until 1300 been the most influential figure in Central Asia. Over the 1270s he came to dominate the Chagatai Khanate, finally consolidating his hold over them in 1282 when he appointed Du’a, a grandson of Chagatai, as their Khan. Du’a and Qaidu worked well together, ushering in a period of rebuilding for the Chagatai Khanate after the tumultuous 1260s and 70s. Qaidu was definitely the senior partner in the relationship, and led their wars against Khan Khubilai in northwestern China and western Mongolia. But with Qaidu’s death in 1301, Du’a had had enough of the fighting. Du’a had been injured and forced to retreat before the Yuan armies. Only the year before, his eldest son Qutlugh Khwaja was killed fighting in India, and the Khan of the Blue Horde, the eastern wing of the Golden Horde, was attempting to rally the other Khanates into making a joint attack on the Ogedeids and Chagatayids. For the Central Asian Khanates, such a coalition would be absolutely disastrous. A combined Golden Horde, Ilkhanate and Yuan assault from all directions would be unstoppable. Du’a wanted to rest, recoup his strength and throw Mongol energies away from each other, and against unconquered lands like India. Interfering with the Ogedeid succession after Qaidu’s death, Du’a ensured Qaidu’s less compentent son Chapar was on the throne, then sent an embassy to the Great Khan Temur Oljeitu offering to recognize his authority. Temur Oljeitu was delighted, immediately accepted and over 1304 and 1305 messengers were sent across the Mongol Empire, inviting the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate to once more recognize the Great Khan. The Great Rapproachment saw the resumption of tribute and revenues back and forth across the empire, reconstruction and expansion of postal stations, the travelling of envoys and merchants, and the true start of a pax Mongolica. Against the Delhi Sultanate of India Du’a sent more armies, though no joint-Mongol campaign against India ever materialized. Du’a made good use of the partnership with the Yuan, for he was soon skirmishing, and then at war with, the Ogedeids. Many of the Ogedeid princes had not taken kindly to Du’a efforts to divide them, and had begun to oppose him. In 1306 Du’a, in conjunction with a Yuan army under the future Khaghan Qaishan, defeated a Ogedeid army under Qaidu’s sons Chapar and Orus. Chapar surrendered, and the Ogedeis were left splintered. Chagatai horsemen were unleashed to hunt down those princes who still resisted; it is in these raids that Qaidu’s famous daughter Qutulun was likely killed. Du’a would have wiped out the last of the Ogedeids, had he not died the next year in 1307. So ended the life of the longest reigning Chagatai Khan, who had overseen a recovery of the weakened ulus. Realigning their diplomatic position with their Mongol kinsmen, the Chagatais seemed poised to enter a new period of strength. Du’a was succeeded by his son Konchek, who continued his father’s policies until his sudden death in 1308. Power was then seized by a distant cousin, Naliqo’a. Naliqo’a was the brother of a man who had briefly been Khan in the 1270s before Du’a took the throne, and was a great-grandson of Chagatai via his son Buri. Naliqo’a’s reign as Khan was a shock to the Khanate. Firstly was the fact that he was not of the line of Du’a Khan. Du’a had been Khan for many years, and had many sons desiring the throne. Many within the Chagatai Khanate, especially those same sons, felt the throne belonged to the line of Du’a, and that Naliqo’a was thus a usurper despite his Chagatai heritage. Additionally, he was a Muslim, and sought to impose islamisizing policies upon the Chagatais. While the Chagatai Khanate is often dismissed as one of the Khanates which immediately converted to Islam, the conversion of the Chagatai realm was a slower and more difficult process than in either the Golden Horde or Ilkhanate. Mubarak Shah, during the few months he had been Khan in the previous episode, may have been a Muslim, but had not reigned long enough for that to matter. Baraq Khan allegedly converted to Islam just before his death in 1271, but this had no impact on his reign. No Chagatai Khan since had been a Muslim, and for many in the Khanate, particularly in the eastern half where there was little contact with Muslims, the strong pro-Islam stanch of Naliqo’a Khan was seen as inherently conflicting to the yassa of Chinggis Khan. Khan Naliqo’a thus received stiff resistance. By 1309 he was murdered at banquet in a coup led by one of Du’a’s son, Kebek. Kebek was a clever man but did not want to be Khan, inviting his brother Esen-Buqa to take the throne. This upheaval in the Chagatai Khanate prompted a last ditch attempt by the Ogedeid princes to rebel against the Chagatais, which Kebek and Esen-Buqa, with difficulty, crushed by 1310. With the last of the Ogedeid princes fleeing to the Yuan Dynasty, the Khanate of the house of Ogedei was finally dissolved, its territory split between the Chagatai and the Yuan. The popular image of the Mongol Empire dividing into four Khanates -the Golden Horde, the Ilkhanate, Yuan Dynasty, and Chagatai Khanate- only truly existed from 1310 onwards with the dissolution of the Ogedeids, domination of the Blue Horde by the Golden Horde, and the Qara’unas in Afghanistan largely coming under Chagatai control. Later authors, both medieval and modern, would anachronistically throw this back to the time of Mongke’s death, or even Chinggis’ division of the empire amongst his sons, but it was a gradual evolution in no-way planned. The “four successor khanates” of the Mongol Empire did not exist in their popularly imagined way until the first decade of the fourteenth century. Without the Ogedeis as a common enemy, the Chagatai and Yuan were soon squabbling over the border. In the process of dividing up the Ogedeid territory, in which the Yuan took the land east of the Altai mountains and the Chagatai the west, some of the Chagatayid pasture lands came under Yuan control. Khan Esen-Buqa sought to get the Yuan border garrisons to redraw the border, but they would not budge. The Yuan garrison commander refused to recognize the legitimacy of Esen-Buqa’s status as a Khan. Esen-Buqa began to fear that the Yuan and the Ilkhanate were planning a joint attack on the Chagatayids, and began to make his own plots. He tried to ally with the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Ozbeg, and in 1312 sent his nephew to attack Ilkhanid Khurasan, where he was repusled. Tensions mounted, and in 1313 Esen-Buqa detained Yuan envoys to the Ilkhanate, and finally in 1314 he assaulted the Yuan border outposts. The garrison commander was a veteran though, who had warnings of the plot. Moving the families of his men back, Esen-Buqa’s forces were met only by a crack tumen of troops who forced the Chagatais back. Esen-Buqa tried to offset his losses in the northeast by launching an attack on the Ilkhanate with his brother Kebek in 1315. The campaign was cut short when they learned that the Great Khan Ayurburwada, furious at Esen-Buqa’s provacations, had ordered an all out invasion of the Chagatai Khanate. Esen-Buqa had, in his fear, created the situation he had so dreaded. The armies of the Yuan advanced as far as Lake Issyk Kul and Talas before withdrawing, and strengthened their border positions. The situation remained strained; after the invasion one of the Chagatai princes in Transoxania, a Muslim named Yasawur, defected with 30-40,000 troops to the Ilkhanate, while the Yuan prince Qoshila, son of Qaishan, fled to the Chagatais. Sporadic border fighting continued, and threat of an open resumption of hostilities remained until both Esen-Buqa and Great Khan Ayurburwada were dead by 1320. Their successors, Esen-Buqa’s brother Kebek and Ayurburwada’s son Shidebala, proved more amenable to peace, and by 1323, after being convinced that there was no plot to overrun inner Asia, Kebek Khan recognized the supremacy of Great Khan Shidebala, though as you’ll recall from episode 44, Shidebala did not have long to remark on the triumph. Sending two princesses for Kebek Khan to marry and resuming trade and tribute, the Yuan and Chagatai relationship remained amicable for the remainder of Yuan rule in China. Kebek Khan was a competent and able ruler. Almost immediately after becoming Khan, the new Ilkhan Abu Sa’id invited Kebek Khan to attack the rebel Chagatai prince Yasawur, who had since revolted against the Ilkhans. The campaign was successful and Yasawur was killed, but Kebek was then assured of his military strength and the weakness of the Ilkhans. In 1321 he ordered attacks on the Delhi Sultanate in India, and in 1322 invaded the Ilkhanate in a joint effort with the Golden Horde Khan Ozbeg, who was in the midst of repeated rounds of conflict with the young Ilkhan Abu Sa’id. The campaigns were failures. Both Ozbeg and Kebek found themselves hampered by weather and a skillful defence by the teenage Abu Sa’id and his amir, Choban. When Kebek moved his brother Tarmashirin into Ghazna in Afghanistan in 1326, the Ilkhan’s suspected another attack, and Choban’s son was sent to deliver a crushing defeat onto Tarmashirin and occupied Ghazna. Despite the fact Tarmashirin recaptured Ghazna later that year, it did little to offset the frustration at the setbacks. While Kebek’s military ventures were never really successful, in internal matters he proved himself a capable administrator. Unlike the previous Chagatai Khans who ruled from the steppes and based themselves around Almaliq, Kebek moved himself into Transoxania, or Mawarannahr. At Qarshi he built a new capital, and oversaw efforts to revitalize and improve agriculture and trade. Minting new denominations of coins, he also consistently minted these coins in his name unlike previous Chagatai Khans. The coins were, due to this, known as kebeks, and became a widely used currency in Central Asia. Arguments have been made that these are the origin of the Russian word for a certain denomination of the ruble, the kopek. Khan Kebek sought to limit the power of regional princes, dividing the realm into new administrative units, tumens. Essentially, districts which could support the raising of 10,000 men for war. His reforms and control of power garnered him a reputation and legacy as a just, respectable ruler, even among Muslims. The famous Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, who passed through the Chagatai Khanate in the early 1330s, recorded anecdotes of Kebek’s just nature and friendliness to Islam. The reign of Kebek had other, unforeseen consequences for the Chagatai Khanate though. Kebek spent his reign in the western half of the Khanate, Transoxania. This was the more densely populated half of the Chagatai Khanate between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the heart of the former Khwarezmian Empire. The great cities of Bukhara and Samarkand sat here, and the influence of both Islam and Persian culture were great. There were nomads living here of course, but in close proximity to the sedentary population. The nomads here also owned mills, gardens, villages and benefitted from agriculture. Many of the Mongol noyans and princes who settled here converted to Islam first. Culturally, this was a region very distinct from the eastern half of the Khanate. This was a diverse range of territory, stretching east of the Syr Darya and Ferghana Valley, the Chagatais controlled up to the Tarim Basin and at times, the Uighur lands in Turfan. Some of this was rugged mountain, the northern stretches of the Pamirs and the Tienshan mountains; some was inhospitable desert, as in the Tarim Basin and the frightful Taklamakan desert. The region north of the Tienshan was home to open steppe, the lakes Balkhash and Issyk Kul and lower reaches of the Irtysh River, rolling hills, and low mountains that lay west and south of the Altai Mountains, bordering on the western edge of Mongolia. Today it forms parts of northern Xinjiang, eastern Kazakhstan and western Mongolia. Often, it is called Dzungaria or the Dzungar Basin, after the Oirat kingdom based in the region in the 17th century famous for their wars against the Qing Dynasty. Before the Mongol conquests, this was the realm of the Qara-Khitai. From the 14th century until the Dzungar conquests though, this broad expanse of land was Moghulistan; land of the Mongols. In these steppe lands, a great many Mongols had migrated during the conquest period. The existing agricultural settlements in the steppe here had largely been destroyed and turned over to pasture for Mongol imperial usage in the mid-thirteenth century. Settlements were few and far between; even in the Tarim Basin, famed trade cities like Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan hugged the borders of the fearsome Taklamakan, and were under the thumb of Mongol chiefs. The sedentary world held no mastery over the Mongols here, who remained true to their ways. Islam only slowly came to the region. To be the ruler here, a man needed to be a mighty steppe warlord. If not living there, the Chagatai Khan had to make yearly trips to hold council with the local Mongol chiefs to make sure they felt included. Kebek’s decision to move his government into the heart of Transoxania began a rift between the Khan and the Mongols in Moghulistan. Feeling left out of power by Khans more interested in sedentarized and Islamic culture, while also under less and less direct influence of the Khan, the chiefs of the eastern half of the Khanate became more powerful. Of these, the mightiest would be the Dughlats. A proud Mongol tribe that made themselves wealthy by controlling many of the trade cities of the Tarim Basin, the Dughlats were to become a dominant player in Chagatai politics after the end of Du’a’s sons, The might of the Dughlats will be something we will return to next episode, though they were observers to the events we describe today. Kebek’s reign saw the division into Transoxania and Moghulistan begin, but it took decades to widen. He died in 1327, succeeded by his brother Eljigidei, a more typical steppe Khan who returned the court to the traditional capital around Almaliq. A devout Buddhist, he was a proponent of religious toleration and was friendly to Christian missionaries in his lands. The most notable action of his reign was his support for the Yuan prince Qoshila. As you may recall from episode 44 when Eljigidei had his brief cameo, whe the Yuan Emperor Yesun-Temur died, a coup by the Qipchaq officer El Temur resulted in the disappearance of Yesun-Temur’s young son and successor. El Temur and Qoshila’s brother, Tuq Temur, invited Qoshila to return and take the throne, and the Chagatai Khan Eljigidei accompanied Qoshila into Mongolia proper. Eljigidei was present at Qoshila’s enthronement north of Karakorum in February 1329, the first Chagatai Khan to return to Mongolia in decades. Eljigidei then returned to the Chagatai Khanate, where he was understandibly quite annoyed to learn of Qoshila’s murder later that year, but did nothing about it, due to his death in 1330. Eljigidei was succeeded by another brother, Dore-Temur, who reigned less than a year before being succeeded by his brother, Tarmashirin, one of the most famous Chagatai Khans. In 1331, Tarmashirin became the sixth and last of Du’a’s sons to be Khan. An experienced soldier from fighting the Ilkhanate and Delhi Sultanate, Tarmashirin moved the court back to Transoxania and continued to promote trade and agriculture as Kebek had done. Unlike Kebek, Tarmashirin was a Muslim, the first Muslim Khan since the brief reign of Naliqo’a over twenty years prior. Like Naliqo’a, he enacted a number of pro-Muslim policies. So well known was his Islam that even in the Mamluk Sultanate he was reported as a devout adherent to sharia. It’s unclear when he converted to Islam. His name, Tarmashirin, is Buddhist, suggesting that he was probably, like many of his brothers, raised in a Buddhist environment. Professor Michal Biran suggested that Tarmashirin may have converted to Islam as late as 1329. Only the year before, Tarmashirin had led an attack on India, and a letter from the Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq survives from this time asking the Ilkhan Abu Sa’id to ally with him against the enemies of Islam coming from the Chagatai khanate. Tarmashirin may have converted in order to preempt an alliance between the Ilkhanate and Delhi and open his own friendly relations with the Delhi Sultante, and to make himself stand out among candidates to the Chagatai throne. There certainly had been a growth in Islam among the Mongols of the Chagatai ulus since Naliqo’a’s reign, largely in the western half of the Khanate. Among the Turkified Mongolian tribe of Barlas, situated near Samarkand and the ancestors of Amir Temur, by the 1330s, 50-70% of the Barlas commanders listed in the sources bore Islamic names of Arab origin. Tarmashirin, who certainly favoured Transoxania, may have hoped to appeal to these Mongols for support, particularly since there is some indication he may have seized the throne from his brother Dore-Temur. An embassy from Tarmashirin arrived in the Yuan Dynasty in 1331 announcing his enthronement, and only four months later an embassy alleging to be from Dore-Temur is recorded as arriving in the Yuan realm. Tarmashirin was in a rocky position where, for many of the military elite, adherence to the yassa of Chinggis Khan mattered a great deal more than adherence to sharia. Ibn Battuta met Tarmashirin in 1333 during his trek from the Golden Horde to India, and his brief interaction with this famous author is probably in large part why Tarmashirin is more well known than his brothers. Battuta thought highly of the Khan, writing of him: “He is the exalted sultan ‘Ala al-Din Tarmashirin, a man of great distinction, possessed of numerous troops and regiments of cavalry, a vast kingdom and immense power, and just in his government. His territories lie between four of the great kings of the earth, namely the king of China, the king of India, the king of al-’Iraq and the [Khan Ozbeg], all of whom send him gifts and hold him in high respect and honour. He succeeded to the kingdom after brother [Eljigidei]. This [Eljigidei] was an infidel and succeeded his elder brother Kabak, who was an infidel also, but was just in government, showing equity to the oppressed and favour and respect to the Muslims.” Ibn Battuta then writes of his interactions with Tarmashirin, depicting him as a pious man who never missed prayer, listened intently to the complaints of his subjects and was generous: on Battuta’s departure from Tarmashirin after 54 days, the Khan gave Battuta some 700 silver dinars, a sable coat worth another 100 as well as horses and camels. This generosity was evidently not extended to the chiefs of the eastern half of the ulus, who felt betrayed by the shift of power to the sedentary and Islamic western half. It was not just a betrayal of themselves, but of the yassa of Chinggis Khan. Ibn Battuta describes Tarmashirin violating certain aspects of the yassa, with the most notable violation coming from never visiting the eastern half of the Khanate, and never convening toi, or feasts, annual meetings with the chiefs there. The Mamluk historian al-Safadi goes further, writing that Tarmashirin entirely abolished the yassa and insulted it. For Mongol chiefs who held their identity as Mongols dear (despite the fact they largely spoke Turkic by now) it was an unforgivable crime. His favouring of Islam and apparent refusal to allow Christians and Jews within his empire rebuild their churches suggests he did not adopt the much espoused Mongol religious pluralism, implying another disavowment of the yassa. Accusations from some sources that Tarmashirin even tried to have Mongols practice agriculture and abandon nomadism would have pushed these tensions even further. There is another factor at play, emphasized by Michal Biran. As you may have noticed throughout our series, succession among the Mongols, though generally restricted to a specific lineage, could be a free-for-all within that lineage. In this case, the lineage was that of Tarmashirin’s father Du’a. Succession in many Turkic and Mongolian states could be linear, that is, father-to-son, or laterally, that is, brother-to-brother. Often, succession would not be linear until the lateral line of succession had been exhausted. Only once all surviving brothers had died, could the succession pass to the next generation. Tarmashirin, as the last son of Du’a, was therefore the last khan before all the sons of his brothers could throw their names in for the khanate. Tarmashirin may have pushed his brother from the throne, alienated the militarized half of the khanate by ignoring them, becaming Muslim and favouring sedentary society, and was the last obstacle before many of these annoyed princes could make their own claims for the Khanate. Tarmashirin essentially set himself up to be violently overthrown. In summer 1334, a few months after ibn Battuta’s departure from Tarmashirn and only three years into his reign, rebellion arose in the eastern half of the Khanate, led by Tarmashirin’s nephews. A number of chiefs and princes declared Tarmashirin’s nephew Buzan the new Khan. Buzan was a son of Dore-Temur, the brother who Tarmashirin may have pushed from the throne, and was supported by other grandsons of Du’a. They invaded the western Chagatai realm with a large force, and a frightened Tarmashirin fled south, seemingly to Ghazna, where he had previously been stationed and may have had allies. However, Tarmashirin was captured and brought to Buzan, who had Tarmashirin executed near Samarkand sometime in fall 1334. So ended the reign of Tarmashirin Khan, last of the sons of Du’a. … or was it? Ibn Battuta records that a man claiming to be Tarmashirin later appeared in India. A number of former retainers of Tarmashirin, including a physician, had also fled to the Delhi Sultante following the rebellion of Buzan. These retainers, when sent to identify this Tarmashirin, vouched for his identity. The physician claimed this man even bore the same scar from a boil the physician had removed from the back of Tarmashirin’s knee. However, Tarmashirin’s son and daughter had fled to the Delhi Sultanate, and it was decided that, based on their account of their father’s death, that this man had to be a fraud. So, the faux-Tarmashirin was exiled from India, finally making his way to Shiraz in Iran. Ibn Battuta passed through Shiraz some time later and tried to meet this Tarmashirin for himself, but was blocked from doing so, and could therefore not confirm the identity of the so-called Tarmashirin. Though Tarmashirin has been often remarked upon for his conversion to Islam, his religion did not usher in a transformation of the Ilkhanate into an Islamic state. Indeed, his religion likely played a large role in his ultimate dismissal. Tarmashirin could not be the Ilkhanate’s version of Ghazan of the Ilkhanate or Ozbeg of the Golden Horde. Rather, Tarmashirin’s conversion was an indication of the gradual conversion of the western half of the Chagatai Khanate, where he spent much of his life and his entire reign. The Khanate, that is some of the Mongols, was marginally more Muslim than it had been during the reign of Naliqo’a, for instance, but it the most dangerous element, the nomadic military elite and Mongol chiefs in the east, Moghulistan, were not Muslims. It was this elite that any man hoping to rule would need to placate, but no Chagatai Khan after Tarmashirin could rule comfortably now. The rebellion, as we will cover in our next episode, had dramatic consequences for the Chagatai Khanate, and brought about a period of anarchy which ultimately contributed to the rise of Amir Temur, or Tamerlane, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals Podcast to follow. If you’d like to help us continue bringing you great content, then consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I’m your host David, and we’ll catch you on the next one.

1423: Boycott the Olympics because of the Uyghurs? Reggie Littlejohn and Gordon Chang @GordonGChang

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2021 11:45

Photo: Founding of the First East Turkestan RepublicThe Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (IRET) was a short-lived breakaway Islamic republic founded on 12 November 1933; it was the first state to style itself an "Islamic republic." It was centred on the city of Kashgar in what is today China-administered Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The ETR was primarily the product of an independence movement of the Uyghur population living there and more broadly of Turkic-ethnicity in character, including Kyrgyz and other Turkic peoples in its government and its population.

china olympic games islamic boycott uyghur little john gordon chang turkic etr kyrgyz reggie littlejohn xinjiang uyghur autonomous region kashgar gordongchang

New Zealand condemns China’s treatment of Uyghurs but won't call it ‘genocide’

Global Security

Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2021

New Zealand has joined other countries in calling out China for its mistreatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Last Wednesday, New Zealand’s Parliament voted unanimously to declare that “severe human rights abuses” are taking place there, joining some 40 countries that have previously passed similar nations, such as the US, Canada and the UK. Related: Uyghur mothers in Turkey walk for miles to ask politicians for help locating their children in ChinaRights groups allege Beijing has detained up to 1 million people in sprawling internment camps in the region, where they say forced labor, reeducation and even the sterilization of Uyghur women have been reported. China denies the accusations of abuse, insisting that the massive vocational and training camps are necessary to combat terrorism and poverty.However, many feel New Zealand’s condemnation fell short because it didn’t include the word “genocide.” “New Zealand could do more but they didn’t. They refused to say genocide."Shawudan Abdul-Gopur, Auckland, New Zealand“New Zealand could do more but they didn’t. They refused to say genocide,” said 41-year-old Shawudan Abdul-Gopur of Auckland. Originally from Kashgar, located in Xinjiang’s far west, he is intimately familiar with what’s happening to Uyghurs in the region — because it happened to him. Related: A Uyghur poem travels from Chinese internment camp to New Jersey‘I really miss my family’Abdul-Gopur says in 2009 when violent clashes between Uyghur protesters and the Chinese military broke out in the Xinjiang capital city of Urumqi, he was working as a cameraman for a local TV station. “It was heartbreaking, I saw so many stuff [sic],” he said. “The government, how they treated Uyghurs, it’s the same as the animal.”Some of what Abdul-Gopur filmed during the riots ended up getting published by foreign media, and the Chinese government didn’t approve. He got a call from Beijing about the footage a year after he recorded it. Luckily, Abdul-Gopur said he was in New Zealand going to school for English training when he got the call, during which Chinese authorities said they knew he had taken the footage and wanted him to come back to China — immediately.Abdul-Gopur refused and instead applied for asylum in New Zealand. However, the nightmare didn’t end there. In 2016, his mother and three brothers were taken to an internment camp.“April 2016 she called me and said, ‘Never call me again,’” Abdul-Gopur said. “After that, I lost contact.”His mother and two of his brothers were finally released in 2020, but Abdul-Gopur’s eldest brother remains detained. And while he’s heard from his 80-year-old mother since she got out, it’s still too dangerous for them to have regular contact. They could all wind up back in prison. Abdul-Gopur said everyone in the Auckland Uyghur community has lost someone to the internment camps, which is why he is disappointed in the recent vote held in the New Zealand Parliament concerning China’s alleged abuses. Initially, the word “genocide” was included in the proposal that Member of Parliament Brooke van Velden first introduced in late April. But by the time it reached Parliament for a vote on May 5, the word had been stripped out. “I started with the same motion as the British, but then had to dilute it and soften it to gain the approval of New Zealand’s governing [Labor] party.”Member of Parliament Brooke van Velden“It’s important for people to know how we got to debating the motion before us today,” van Velden said on the floor the day of the vote. “I started with the same motion as the British, but then had to dilute it and soften it to gain the approval of New Zealand’s governing [Labor] party.”Related: US bans cotton products from Uyghur region of ChinaStraddling a 'middle ground'The motion ultimately passed unanimously, but with the phrase “severe human right abuses” in place of the word genocide. “It essentially was watered down,” said Geoffrey Miller with the Wellington-based think tank Democracy Project. He said New Zealand has noticeably taken a softer stance against China compared to the rest of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which also includes Australia, Canada, the UK and the US.“New Zealand is trying to straddle a middle ground between these two big power blocks. ... And New Zealand is just too heavily dependent on trade with China and is very, very vulnerable.”Geoffrey Miller, Democracy Project“New Zealand is trying to straddle a middle ground between these two big power blocks,” he said. “And New Zealand is just too heavily dependent on trade with China and is very, very vulnerable.”China is by far New Zealand’s No. 1 trading partner, with two-way trade exceeding $24 billion, according to government figures. Miller said New Zealand exports many nonessential items to China such as milk powder, fruit and meats, which means Wellington needs Beijing more than the other way around. Meanwhile, 11% of New Zealand’s tourists before the pandemic came from China. After the motion was passed, the Chinese Embassy in Wellington lashed out at what it called “groundless” accusations.But Miller said the question is whether Beijing will take any action, particularly like what they’ve done with Australia. Beijing and Canberra have been locked in an economic tit-for-tat since 2018, and as a result, trade is down between the two. China is also Australia’s largest trading partner. “So, New Zealand looks on and sees what has happened to Australia and worries that the same thing could happen to it,” Miller said. New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has defended the decision not to use the word. She told Reuters that her government didn’t think the situation in Xinjiang constituted as genocide. Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said governments are just reluctant to use that word. “...[I]t is hard to do business as usual with the government you have accused of ...[genocide]."Sophie Richardson, China director, Human Rights Watch“Because it is hard to do business as usual with the government you have accused of doing that,” she said. “It’s sort of further complicated by the reality that, in principle, using that term can trigger certain kinds of legal obligations but very few people have been prosecuted on genocide.” Still, Richardson said the passage of the motion is meaningful, as New Zealand joins over 40 countries around the world to make similar statements. She hopes the momentum will mobilize the United Nations to call for an international investigation.

History of the Mongols SPECIAL: Rabban Bar Sauma

Akbar's Chamber - Experts Talk Islam

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2021 29:35

“There was a certain man who was a believer, and he was a nobleman and a fearer of God. He was rich in the things of this world, and he was well endowed with the qualities of nature; he belonged to a famous family and a well-known tribe. His name was SHIBAN the Sa'ora. He dwelt in the city which is called [...] KHAN BALIK , [...] the royal city in the country of the East. He married according to the law a woman whose name was KEYAMTA. And when they had lived together for a long time, and they had no heir, they prayed to God continually and besought Him with frequent supplications not to deprive them of a son who would continue [their] race. And He who giveth comfort in His gracious mercy received their petition, and He showed them compassion. For it is His wont to receive the entreaty of those who are broken of heart, and-to hearken unto the groaning of those who make supplications and petitions [to Him]. [....] Now God made the spirit of conception to breathe upon the woman Keyamta, and she brought forth a son, and they called his name " SAWMA.” And they rejoiced [with] a great joy, neighbours of his family and his relations rejoiced at his birth.’ So begins the history of Rabban bar Sauma, as translated by E. Wallis Budge. There were a number of travellers, missionaries, diplomats and merchants who made journey from Europe to China during the height of the Mongol Empire. While Marco Polo is the most famous of these, we have also covered a few other travellers in previous episodes. Yet, there were also those who made the harrowing journey from China to the west. Of these, none are more famous than Rabban bar Sauma, the first known individual born in China who made the journey to Europe. Rabban bar Sauma was a Turkic Christian monk who travelled from Khanbaliq, modern-day Beijing, across Central Asia, the Ilkhanate, the Byzantine Empire, Italy, all the way to the western edge of France, visiting Khans, Emperors, Kings and Popes. Our episode today will introduce you to Rabban Sauma and his incredible journey across late 13th century Mongol Eurasia. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest. Sauma was born around 1225 in the city of Yenching, on which Beijing now sits. Yenching of course, we have visited before, when it was known as Zhongdu, the capital of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty. The Mongols took the city after a bloody siege in 1215, which we covered back in episode 7 of this season. Sauma was born to Turkic parents, either Onggud or Uighur, two groups which had long since recognized the supremacy of Chinggis Khan. Sauma’s parents were Christians of the Church of the East, often called, rather disparagingly, Nestorians. Nestorius was a 5th century archbishop of Constantinople who had argued, among other things, the distinction between Christ’s humanity and his divinity, and that Mary was mother of Jesus the man, but not of Jesus the God. For if God had always existed, then he could not have had a mother. For this Nestorius was excommunicated at the Council of Ephesus in 431 and his followers scattered across the east. From the Sassanid Empire they spread across Central Asia, reaching China during the Tang Dynasty. By the 12th century, the adaptable Nestorian priests converted several of the tribes of Mongolia, from the Naiman, the Kereyit to the Onggud, to which Sauma likely belonged. These Eastern Christian priests stayed influential among the Mongols for the remainder of the 13th century, with a number of prominent Mongols adhering to their faith. Sorqaqtani Beki, the mother of Great Khans Mongke and Khubilai, was perhaps the best known of these. The young Sauma took his Christian faith seriously; so seriously, his parents sought to dissuade him, fretting the end of their family line if their son became a monk. Refusing fine meats and alcohol, Sauma instead hungered for ecclestical knowledge and purity. Accepted into the Nestorian clergy of Yenching in 1248, at age 25 he donned the tonsure and garb of the monk. Developing a reputation for asceticism beyond even his fellow monks, he largely secluded himself in his own cell for 7 years before leaving the monastery for the mountains. His devotion to Christ made him famous among the Nestorians of North China and Mongolia, attracting the attention of a young Onggud Turk named Markos. From the Onggud capital of Koshang in modern Inner Mongolia, Markos was mesmerized by the stories of the holiness of Sauma. The 15 year old Markos marched by himself to Sauma in 1260. Impressed by the youth’s tenacity even as he attempted to dissuade him from joining the monastery, Sauma eventually took Markos under his wing. Markos proved himself an excellent student, and within three years was accepted into the Nestorian monastic life. Sauma and Markos became fast friends and pillars of the Nestorian community around Yenching, which by then was the capital of the new Great Khan, Khubilai, and renamed to Dadu, “Great City,” or Khanbaliq, “The Khan’s City,” to Turkic and Mongolian speakers. Khanbaliq is the origins of Marco Polo’s somewhat distorted version of Cambulac. While Sauma was happy to spend his life in the mountains near Dadu, Markos was much more energetic, and sought to convince his friend to partake in the most difficult of journeys; to the holy city of Jerusalem to be absolved of their sins. Sauma tried to scare Markos off this goal, and it was not until around 1275 that Sauma was convinced to accompany his friend. They went to Khanbaliq for an escort and supplies, and here news of their mission came to the most powerful monarch on the planet, Khuiblai Khan. Several sources, such as the Syriac Catholicos Bar Hebraeus, attest that Sauma and Markos were sent west by Kublai to worship in Jerusalem or baptize clothes in the River Jordan. Such a task is similar to the orders Kublai gave to Marco Polo’s father and uncle, instructed to bring back Catholic priests and sacred oil from Jerusalem for Yuan China. Khubilai often tried to appear a friend to all religions within his realm, and may have felt the need to honour his own mother’s memory, as she had been a Christian. That Sauma and Markos went with the blessings of the Great Khan holding his passport (paiza) would explain the favoured treatment they received over their voyage. Interestingly though, the main source for Bar Sauma’s journey, a Syriac language manuscript compiled shortly after his death from notes and an account he had made in his life, makes no mention of Khubilai’s involvment. Historian Pier Giorgio Borbone suggests it was deliberately left out, instead playing of the religious aspect of the pilgrimage as emerging from Markos and Sauma themselves, rather than imply they only made the journey on the order of Khubilai. Setting out around 1275, Sauma, Markos and an escort began their journey to the west. Through the Yuan Empire they were met by ecstatic crowds of Nestorians coming out to see the holymen, showering them with gifts and supplies. Two Onggud nobles, sons-in-laws to the Great Khan, provided more animals and guides for them, though they warned of the dangers now that the Mongol Khanates were at war. They followed one of the primary routes of the Silk Road, via the former territory of the Tangut Kingdom, the Gansu Corridor, to the Tarim Basin, cutting south along the desolate Taklamakan desert, the harshest stretch of their journey. After staying in Khotan, they moved onto Kashgar, shocked to find it recently depopulated and plundered, a victim of Qaidu Khan. Passing through the Tien Shan mountains to Talas, they found the encampment of that same Khan. Here they minimized any connections they had to Khubilai, instead portraying themselves on a mission of personal religious conviction and prayed for the life of Qaidu and his well being, asking that he provid supplies to assist in their journey. Qaidu let them through, and Sauma and Markos continued on a seemingly uneventful, but strenuous trip through Qaidu’s realm, the Chagatai Khanate and into the Ilkhanate. Sauma and Markos’ journey to Jerusalem halted in Maragha, chief city of the Ilkhanate. There, the head of the Nestorian Church, Patriarch Mar Denha, found use for these well-spoken travellers affiliated with the Khan of Khans. Mar Denha had not made himself many friends within the Ilkhanate, in part for his hand in the violent murder of a Nestorian who had converted to Islam. As a result the Il-Khan, Hulegu’s son Abaqa, had not provided letters patent to confirm Denha in his position, wary of alienating the Muslims of his kingdom. Mar Denha believed monks sent from Abaqa’s uncle Khubilai would be most persuasive. Abaqa Il-Khan treated Sauma and Markos generously, and perhaps influenced by his Christian Byzantine wife, on their urging he agreed to send Mar Denha his confirmation. In exchange, Mar Denha was to provide an escort for Sauma and Markos to reach Jerusalem, but the roads were closed due to war between the Ilkhanate and the Mamluk Sultanate. When Markos and Sauma returned to Mar Denha, he told them visiting his own Patriarchate was just as good as visiting Jerusalem, and gave them new titles. Both were made Rabban, the Syriac form of Rabbi. Markos was made Metropolitan of the Nestorians of Eastern Asia, essentially a bishop, and given a new name: Yabhallaha, by which he is more often known, while Rabban bar Sauma became his Visitor-General. Suddenly promoted but unable to return east due to a breakout of war between the Central Asian Khanates, Rabban Sauma and Mar Yabhallaha stayed in a monastery near Arbil until the sudden death of Mar Denha in 1281. His experience with the Mongols and knowledge of their language made Yabhallaha a prime candidate to succeed Mar Denha, and the other Metropolitans anointed him Patriarch of the Nestorians. Wisely, Rabban Sauma encouraged Yabhallaha to immediately seek confirmation from Abaqa Il-Khan, who appreciated the move and rewarded Yabhallaha and the Nestorians of the Ilkhanate with gifts, such as a throne and parasol, as well as tax privileges. Abaqa soon died in 1282, and Yabhallaha and Sauma faced scrutiny under Abaqa’s successor, his Muslim brother Teguder Ahmad. Accusations were made that the Nestorians were defaming Teguder Il-Khan in letters to Khubilai. Placed on trial before the Il-Khan, the two friends fought for their innocence and outlasted him. In 1284 Teguder was ousted and killed by Abaqa’s son Arghun. Mar Yabhallaha immediately paid homage to Arghun, in him finding a firm supporter. With Arghun’s backing, Yabhallaha removed his enemies from within the Nestorian church and strengthened his power. Desiring to complete the war with the Mamluk Sultanate, under Arghun efforts to organize an alliance with Christian Europe against the Mamluks reached new heights. Since the days of Arghun’s grandfather Hulegu, the Il-Khans had sent envoys to Europe in an effort to organize a Crusader-Mongolian alliance against the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt. Despite some close attempts, there had not yet been successful cooperation. Arghun was determined to change this and organize the coalition which would finally overcome the Mamluks. Desiring the most effective envoy possible, Arghun turned to Mar Yabhallaha to suggest an influential, well travelled and respectable Christian to send to spur Crusading fervour, aided by promises that Arghun would restore Jerusalem to Christian hands. Yabhallaha had just the man. Turning to his longtime friend, Yabhallaha asked Rabban bar Sauma to carry the Il-Khan’s messages westwards. Provided letters for the Kings and Popes, as well as paizas, gold, animals and provisions, in the first days of 1287, after a tearful goodbye with Mar Yabhallaha, the 62 year old Rabban Sauma set out, accompanied by at least two interpreters from Italy in his escort. The first steps of his route are unclear, likely taking the caravan routes from northern Iraq to somewhere along the southeastern Black Sea coast. From there they took a ship to Constantinople and met the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II. As recorded in the Syriac history of Rabban Sauma, quote: “And after [some] days he arrived at the great city of CONSTANTINOPLE, and before they went into it he sent two young men to the Royal gate to make known there that an ambassador of [Khan] Arghon had come. Then the [Emperor] commanded certain people to go forth to meet them, and to bring them in with pomp and honour. And when RABBAN SAWMA went intothe city, the [Emperor] allotted to him a house, that is to say, a mansion in which to dwell. And after RABBAN SAWMA had rested himself, he went to visit the [Emperor, Andronikos II] and after he had saluted him, the [Emperor] asked him, "How art thou after the workings of the sea and the fatigue of the road?" And RABBAN SAWMA replied, "With the sight of the Christian king fatigue hath vanished and exhaustion hath departed, for I was exceedingly anxious to see your kingdom, the which may our Lord establish!" Emperor Andronikos II politely welcomed the embassy, dining them and providing a house for their stay. Giving the gifts and letters from Arghun, Rabban Sauma met his first frustration as efforts to broach military aid led nowhere. The Emperor Andronikos provided gifts, excuses, and promised exactly no military aid for the Il-Khan. Whatever disappointment Rabban Sauma felt was offset with a tour of the sites of Constantinople, especially the great church of Hagia Sophia. In his homeland churches were small buildings or even mobiles tents; in Ani, in Armenia, he saw a city famous for its many churches. But nothing could compare to the majesty of the Hagia Sophia, the quality and colour of its marble, its 360 columns, the great space and seemingly floating roof. The mosaics, the shrines and relics alleged to date to the earliest days of Christianity, all captured Sauma’s heart. Of the church’s famous dome, Sauma wrote: “As for the dome of the altar it is impossible for a man to describe it [adequately] to one who hath not seen it, and to say how high and how spacious it is.” In his often laconic account of his travels, it is these icons of Christianity which earn the greatest description, and stood out to him more than his usually unsuccessful diplomatic efforts. Departing Constantinople, by sea he set out for Rome. The voyage was rough, and on 18th June 1287 he was greeted by a terrifying spectacle, the eruption of Mt. Etna where fire and smoke ascended day and night. Passing Sicily he landed at Naples, where he was graciously welcomed by Charles Martel, the son of the Napolese King Charles II, then imprisoned in Aragon. From the roof of the mansion Sauma stayed at, on June 24th he watched Charles’ forces be defeated by the Aragonese fleet in the Bay of Sorrento. Sauma remarked with surprise that the Aragonese forces, unlike the Mongols, did not attack the noncombatants they came across. European chroniclers attest that later in June, after Sauma had moved onto Rome, the Aragonese began ravaging the countryside anyways. In Rome later in 1287, Sauma’s hopes to meet the Pope were dashed as Pope Honourius IV had died in April that year. Finding the Cardinals in the midst of a long conclave to choose his successor, Sauma was welcomed before them as the envoy of the Il-Khan. Unwilling to commit to any alliance without a Pope, the Cardinals instead asked where Sauma came from, who the Patriarch of the East was and where he was located. Avoiding Sauma’s attempts to get back to his diplomatic purpose, the Cardinals then shifted to theological matters, grilling Sauma on his beliefs. The Nestorian impressed them with his knowledge of the early church, and managed to deftly slide past the disputes which had caused the excommunication of Nestorius some 860 years prior. Finding no progress on the diplomatic mission, Sauma engaged in a more personal interest, exploring the ancient relics and monuments to Christendom. The account of Sauma’s journey indicates he visited “all the churches and monasteries that were in Great Rome.” At times, he misunderstood the strange customs of the locals, believing the Pope enthroned the Holy Roman Emperor by using his own feet to lift the crown onto his head. With no progress to be made in Rome until the new Pope was elected, Sauma searched for Kings of the Franks most known for Crusading. After a brief tour of Tuscany, by the end of September 1287 Sauma was in Paris, there greeted with a lavish reception by King Phillip IV, who hosted a feast for this illustrious envoy. In Rabban Sauma’s account, he wrote” “And the king of France assigned to Rabban Sawma a place wherein to dwell, and three days later sent one of his Amirs to him and summoned him to his presence. And when he had come the king stood up before him and paid him honour, and said unto him, "Why hast thou come? And who sent thee?" And RABBAN SAWMA said unto him, "[Khan] ARGHON and the Catholicus of the East have sent me concerning the matter of JERUSALEM." And he showed him all the matters which he knew, and he gave him the letters which he had with him, and the gifts, that is to say, presents which he had brought. And the king of FRANCE answered him, saying, "If it be indeed so that the MONGOLS, though they are not Christians, are going to fight against the Arabs for the capture of JERUSALEM, it is meet especially for us that we should fight [with them], and if our Lord willeth, go forth in full strength.” Moved by the willingness of the Mongols to restore Jerusalem to Christian hands, Phillip promised to send a nobleman alongside Rabban Sauma to bring his answer to Arghun. With at least one king seemingly onboard, Sauma spent the next month touring Paris, visiting churches and impressed by the great volume of students within the city. Phillip showed Sauma the private relics of the French Kings, including what Phillip claimed was the Crown of Thorns, sold to his grandfather by the Emperor of Constantinople in 1238. Around mid-October 1287, Rabban Sauma had moved across France to Gascony, where the King of England Edward I, old Longhsanks himself, was staying at Bordeaux. Edward was known to the Mongols, having gone on an inconclusive Crusade to Syria in 1271. Abaqa Il-Khan had attempted to coordinate movements with Edward during his campaign, but neither side had been able to line up their forces. Edward, then just the crown prince of England, had succeeded in doing little more than carry out small raids, assist in organizing a treaty between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Mamuk Sultan Baybars. and survive an assassination attempt. Abaqa had sent envoys in 1277 apologizing to Edward for being able to provide sufficient aid and asked for him to return, but to no avail. Edward, by then the King of England, was by then rather more concerned with France and the conquest of Wales. Ten years in early 1287, Edward had promised to take up the Cross again, and was excited by the arrival of Rabban Sauma late that year. Promising assistance, he invited Rabban Sauma to partake in the Eucharist with him, gave him leave to visit the local churches, and provided gifts and assistance when Sauma went back on the road to Rome. Feeling himself successful, by the time he returned to Rome in early 1288 a new Pope had been elected, Nicholas IV. The first Pope from the Franciscan Order, Nicholas was a man keenly interested in missionary efforts and the restoration of the Holy Land to Christian hands. It was under his aegis that John de Monte Corvino would travel to Dadu to establish a Catholic archbishopric there. Having interacted with each other during Sauma’s first visit to the Cardinals, Sauma and the new Pope got on splendidly. Kissing the hands and feet of Pope Nicholas, Sauma was provided a mansion for his stay in Rome and invited to partake in the feasts and festivities around Easter. Sauma on occasion led in the Eucharist beside the Pope, drawing crowds from across Rome eager to see how this foreign Christian undertook Mass. Though the language differed, the crowds were ecstatic that the rites themselves seemed the same. Despite their friendship, no promises of organizing a crusade against the Mamluks were forthcoming. The Pope lacked the influence to send a large body of armed men on yet another disatrous journey. The crusades of the 13th century to the Holy Land had been catastrophes. The most thoroughly organized crusades of the century were those organized by King Louis IX of France. The first had ended in his capture by the Mamluks in Egypt in 1250, while the second had resulted in his death outside of Tunis in 1270. If even this saintly, highly prepared king had been met with failures, then what chance would any other force have? Nicholas wanted to convert Muslims and retake Jersualem, yes, but was very aware of the practicalities involved by this point. And so, Rabban Sauma decided to return to the Ilkhanate. Nicholas asked Sauma to stay in Rome with him, but Sauma insisted he was only there as a diplomat, and it was his duty to return east. The Nestorian did convince the Head of the Catholic Church to give him, somewhat reluctantly, holy relics: a piece of Jesus’ cape, the kerchief of the Virgin Mary, and fragments from the bodies of several saints. Along with those were several letters for the Il-Khan, Mar Yabhallaha and Rabban Sauma. Copies of these letters survive in the Vatican archives, and though the letter to Yabhallaha confirms him as head of the Christians of the East, it is surprisingly condescending, explaining basic tenets of Christianity. Embracing Rabban Sauma one final time, he was dismissed and by ship, returned to the Ilkhanate. On his return, he was warmly welcomed by his longtime friend Mar Yabhallaha and the Il-Khan Arghun. Arghun hosted a feast for them, personally serving them and richly rewarding the old man for his great efforts. Yet his efforts came to naught. The Pope had provided no assurances, and despite continued correspondence neither Phillip nor Edward committed men to the Holy Land, too preoccupied with their own conflicts. Arghun sent an embassy in 1289 telling the two monarchs that he would march on Damascus in January 1291 and meet them there. Distracted by turmoil on his borders, Arghun instead died of illness in March 1291. Acre, the final major Crusader stronghold, was taken by the Mamluks two months later, ending the Crusader Kingdoms and the possibilities of European-Mongol cooperation. Despite some outrage in connected circles in Europe, the fall of Acre merited no revival of any Crusader spirit for the region. Rabban Sauma largely retired to his own church for his last years, but along with Mar Yabhallaha continued to visit the court of the Il-Khans, particularly Geikhatu who continued to patronize minority religions of the Ilkhanate. Perhaps in 1293 they met another international traveller; Marco Polo, who spent much of that year in the Ilkhanate during his return from China. We have no way of confirming this, though we can imagine Geikhatu Il-Khan introducing two men who had both travelled across the continent, humoured by the individuals brought together by Mongol rule. Polo had arrived in China around the same time that Rabban Sauma and Markos had begun their own western journey. As Marco had spent much of his time in China in Bar Sauma’s city of birth, perhaps Polo told him of the things he had missed in the last twenty years, what had changed in Dadu and what had stayed the same, stirring memories in Rabban Sauma of land and family that he never saw again. Rabban Sauma died in January 1294, leaving his friend Mar Yabhallaha alone in an Ilkhanate that, after the death of Geikhatu and conversion of the Ilkhans to Islam, grew increasingly mistrustful and hostile to non-Muslims. By the time of Mar Yabhallaha’s death in 1317, the brief flourishing of the Nestorian church under Ilkhanid patronage was over, and their influence across Central Asia dissipated with the continued conversion of Mongols across the region. The journey of Rabban Sauma was forgotten. His persian diary on his voyages was translated into Syriac not long after his death but was lost until its rediscovery in the 19th century. Translated now into several languages, Sauma’s journey shines another light on the integration of East and West under the Mongols, when for the first time a Christian Turk from China could travel to the Pope and Kings of Europe. Our series on the Mongol Empire in the late thirteenth century and fourteenth century will continue, so be sure to subscribe to our podcast. If you’d like to help us keep bringing you great content, please consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals, or consider leaving us a review on the podcast catcher of your choice, or sharing this with your friends. All your efforts help immensely. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I’m your host David, and we’ll catch you on the next one.

god jesus christ history head church lord europe china france england giving west kingdom christians european christianity italy cross turning kings developing rome east jerusalem muslims catholic iraq council mt crown islam mass passing wales pope syria beijing cardinals bay moved catholic church khan ephesus rabbi emperor vatican damascus wisely bordeaux accepted refusing promising kissing distracted naples conquest polo mongolia thorns armenia eucharist accusations holy land virgin mary crusade franks ani marco polo silk road impressed arabs central asia metropolitan tuscany christendom desiring black sea mongolian acre aragon popes copies constantinople crusader patriarch unwilling tunis emperors mongol mongols etna hagia sophia uighur byzantine empire great city sorrento river jordan khans conquests markos mongol empire tang dynasty talas inner mongolia syriac genghis jack wilson naiman holy roman emperor turkic crusading christian europe charles martel eastern asia north china jersualem mamluks gascony nestorius kublai dadu kashgar great khan nestorian amirs king louis ix patriarchate aragonese tarim basin tien shan jalut subutai

Uyghur mothers in Turkey walk for miles to ask politicians for help locating their children in China

Global Security

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2021

A group of five Uyghur mothers stood next to a United Nations building in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, holding signs bearing images of their missing children. These mothers say they were separated from their families by the Chinese government’s campaign of forced labor camps and surveillance, which has targeted the ethnic Uyghur minority living in the Xinjiang autonomous region since 2017. The women insist that they will wait there until Turkish officials agree to a meeting with them — they want the country’s leaders to pressure China to help find their kids. China’s foreign minister is visiting with Turkish officials this week, and the mothers said they plan to participate in protests with the Uyghur community there. Related: ‘All of us have been arrested at least once’: Kurdish press in Turkey walk a fine lineThe women, who began their sojourn to the capital city of Ankara on foot from Istanbul on March 8 — International Women’s Day — walked for two weeks before being picked up by police and driven to Ankara this past Saturday.“We can’t stay home, doing nothing. We feel that we have no choice.” Kalbinur Tursun, Uyghur mother in Turkey “We can’t stay home, doing nothing. We feel that we have no choice,” said Kalbinur Tursun, who has had no news of her five eldest children in almost five years. In addition to getting help reuniting with their children, the women hope that by putting their message out in a public way, their children will know they were looking for them. Many Uyghurs living in the diaspora have heard no word from their relatives in China since 2017, when people who made calls or sent messages abroad began receiving harsh prison sentences. The US, Canada and the European Union have designated China’s treatment of the Uyghurs a genocide, and imposed sanctions on several high-level government officials this week. China’s crackdown on the Uyghurs was billed to the rest of the world as a fight against domestic terrorism, known as “Strike Hard.” It quickly became clear that isolated incidents of violence by Uyghur nationalists were being used to justify arbitrary detentions, torture and invasive, high-tech surveillance techniques to control Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority. Turkey, bolstered by refugees who have fled in recent years, hosts one of the largest Uyghur diasporas in the world. Local nonprofits estimate at least 50,000 Uyghurs live in the country. Many families, particularly those with several children, were forced to arrive in Turkey separately. Often, one parent would stay behind to sell a home or acquire passports for younger children while the others fled to safety. In the process, relatives say, the family members remaining in China were sentenced to reeducation camps or forced labor programs, their children’s whereabouts unknown. The issue in Turkey is so dire that a boarding school in Istanbul houses and educates dozens of unaccompanied Uyghur children whose parents were arrested in China. Related: In Turkey, a boarding school cares for Uighur children separated from their parentsInformal groups of Uyghurs often gather with others from the same hometown, sharing any news they have heard from relatives still in the country. Dozens of parents say their minor children remain in China, and have spent the past years begging the Turkish government to help locate them. “I’ve been fighting for [my daughter] for a year, and nothing has happened,” said Fatima Emir, whose daughter was 18 months old when she left her in the care of relatives to leave for Turkey. “I can’t believe that in 2021, I can’t get any information. I’m tired.” Separated from family members in China For many of the mothers, their decision to move to Turkey began not with Strike Hard, but with China’s family planning policies. In most cases, Chinese couples are permitted to have two children, but one or two more are permitted if the family lives in a rural area or is a member of an ethnic minority. This is a relaxation of a previous rule, which allowed most families to have just one child before 2015. These mothers say they were separated from their families by the Chinese government’s campaign of forced labor camps and surveillance, which has targeted the ethnic Uyghur minority living in the Xinjiang autonomous region since 2017. Credit: Durrie Bouscaren/The World While living in a rural part of Xinjiang, near Turpan, Meryem Ablimit, 47, said she complied with these policies, terminating eight pregnancies in all. “I cooperated with the government. They threatened that they would take our land. But the doctor told me that if I had another abortion, it would threaten my life.”Meryem Ablimit, Uyghur mother in Turkey “I cooperated with the government. They threatened that they would take our land,” Ablimit said. “But the doctor told me that if I had another abortion, it would threaten my life.” So, Ablimit decided to move to Turkey. She arrived in Turkey in February of 2016 with her two youngest children. She was pregnant with her fourth. Her husband stayed behind with their eldest daughter. But after Ablimit left, her husband and daughter’s passports were revoked, and they were stuck. According to an investigation by The Associated Press, a campaign of pregnancy checks, forced abortions and sterilizations made birth rates plummet in predominantly Uyghur areas of China by as much as 60% between 2015 and 2018. Related: New novel offers a window into Turkey’s insular Rum communityChinese officials rejected the claims, saying birth control measures in China are more lenient toward ethnic minorities and that women who told the AP they had been forcibly sterilized were hired actors.But Kalbinur Tursun, who is among the protesting mothers, remembers that in her hometown of Kashgar, women were required to use an IUD and have their doctor check it every month. Having more than two children in an urban area required official permission and the payment of a fine. “For us, it was a humiliation. Why should we have to go and get permission to give birth?” she recalled.Tursun and her husband, both deeply religious, decided they wanted more than just two kids. She hid her third pregnancy, only leaving the house at night in a car with tinted windows. And then, she had her fourth. And a fifth. In all, she and her husband have seven children together. “As a Muslim, we could feel our Islamic culture, our values were under pressure. I wanted to have more children and educate them, and raise them with our Islamic values. To keep our identity,” she said. It was almost a way of affirming herself as a person — through motherhood. But the children would have to be split between family homes in Xinjiang’s largest city of Urumqi, and the family’s hometown of Kashgar. “We couldn’t live as a family together,” Tursun said. “It wasn’t a life for us.” This also meant that sometimes, she’d have to leave her older children home alone. One day in 2015, Tursun’s 13-year-old son went out playing with his friends, fell into a lake and drowned. The grieving parents were wracked with guilt. “I felt like I couldn’t even protect my son,” Tursun said. “So, when I got pregnant again, I felt it was my duty to come to Turkey.” Tursun and her husband decided that she would move to Turkey first, while he waited behind to secure passports for all of their children. She made the journey with her youngest son while she was seven months pregnant — giving birth alone at a hospital in Istanbul. Not too long after that, she learned that her husband in China had been arrested.“The police came and arrested him, put a bag on his head as if they were kidnapping him right from his shop,” Tursun said. Relatives told her he was given a 15-year prison sentence for trying to send money out of China — something that isn’t unusual for most of the country’s citizens but can trigger an arrest if you’re Uyghur. Related: An American journalist was murdered in Turkey. Why didn’t the US investigate?Tursun’s in-laws took the kids back home to keep them safe. The news came intermittently, but it grew more and more alarming. Massive reeducation camps were being built on the edge of town, and people were being detained for offenses as mundane as making a phone call abroad.“The last time I spoke with my sister-in-law, she said that there were new rules,” Tursun said. “She would have to clean the street in front of the house, and the inside of the house every day, and government officials would come to check. Her husband was going to a mandatory reeducation course from morning until night.” Then, all contact stopped. A walk to beg for informationKalbinur has spent four years trying to get the Turkish government to help her locate her children in China, and get them back. She’s written letters to the United Nations and asked Turkish businessmen traveling to China to try to get information. And, she’s scoured social media apps like Douyin, China's local version of TikTok, hoping for glimpses of what’s going on. She’s convinced she found a video of her daughter, Ayşe, in a boarding school for children whose parents have been detained. She shared her story with WIRED, hoping it would help her find her kids. “For me, right now, the big thing is just knowing that they’re alive,” she said, as she and the other protesting mothers walked along a highway near Gebze, an industrial district just east of Istanbul. After sitting on a patch of grass for a light lunch of bread and raisins, the women explained why they had to leave China without their children. The walk to Istanbul had been an exhausting ordeal — their feet were swollen and there had been several days of cold rain. They donned bright yellow knee-length rain jackets and continued on. “I cannot bear it anymore,” said Amine Muhemmed, 30, of Hotan. “The pain of missing my children is not like any other kind of pain.” She left her three eldest children, ages 13, 11 and 9, with their father when she left for Turkey in January of 2017, she explained. She had become pregnant again, and feared that officials would force her to terminate the pregnancy, which had happened to her cousin. “It’s a very normal thing in Hotan. If they find out that you’re pregnant more than you’re allowed to, they’ll force you to have an abortion,” Muhammed said. When she begins to speak, her voice quickly grows into a long, emotional tirade, finally cutting off when she can’t stop crying. Her husband, she says, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after her departure. Her youngest children who are in Turkey with her, she says, keep asking where their father is. “They ask me why everyone has a father except for them,” she said. “It breaks my heart into pieces.” Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name Fatima Emir. It has been updated.

Episodio 57 - Divulgación de juegos de mesa con Chema Pamundi

Ciudadano Meeple

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2021 128:33

Episodio 57 de Ciudadano Meeple Hoy se pasa a charlar con nosotros Chema Pamundi, conocido por los video tochos de su canal de youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/ChemaPamundiysuYeti/featured) y como colaborador del podcast “Que rico el mambo”. Con él charlaremos sobre la divulgación sobre juegos de mesa. Esperamos que os guste. Detalle del episodio 00:33:41 Comentarios y noticias 01:36:40 Charleta Divulgacion con Chema Pamundi 01:36:47 Cubirds 01:37:46 Arquitectos del reino del oeste 01:39:09 Familia Hort 01:40:15 Tussie Mussie 01:42:14 Kashgar 01:44:19 Venganza 01:48:07 Pan Am 01:51:28 Ascension 01:55:39 Santorini 01:58:49 Flick'em up dead of Winter 02:03:55 Pescar Peces 02:06:53 Despedida En la mesa de pruebas hablamos de: • Cubirds • Arquitectos del reino del oeste • Familia Hort • Tussie Mussie • Kashgar • Venganza • Pan Am • Ascension En el plan malvado comentamos los siguientes juegos: • Santorini • Flick'em up dead of Winter • Pescar Peces Os recordamos los medios de contacto. Medios de contacto Mecenazgo: Ciudadano Meeple – Tipeee Blog: http://www.ciudadanomeeple.com Twitter: @ciudadanomeeple Correo: ciudadano.meeple@gmail.com Telegram: https://t.me/Ciudadanomeeple Instagram: ciudadanomeeple

panam medios flick comentarios santorini venganza detalle divulgaci arquitectos juegosdemesa kashgar tussie mussie chema pamundi

The Sacred Muslim Geographies of Chinese Central Asia

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2021 57:47

The Uyghurs of the Xinjiang region of China have been the focus of much media attention in the past few years. In this episode, we journey beyond the headlines to explore the religious and cultural history of the Turkic Muslim people who in the modern era came to be called Uyghurs. We’ll pay special attention to their relationship with their homeland by looking at the many places of pilgrimage that, over the course of a millennium, emerged around such oasis towns as Kashgar, Yarkand and Turpan, as well as in remote regions of the Taklamakan desert. These shrines became the focus for Uyghur historical memory through manuscripts in Turki and Persian that linked local people and places to the wider sacred geography of the Muslim world. Through the history of the Uyghurs, both before and since the Qing imperial conquests of the 1750s, we’ll consider the changing ways in which Muslims have identified with the places where they live. Nile Green talks to Rian Thum, author of The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History (Harvard University Press, 2014).

china chinese muslims sacred geography persian central asia xinjiang uyghur qing turki kashgar nile green rian thum

Live From Progzilla Towers - Edition 367

Live From Progzilla Towers

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2020 179:12

Welcome to Live From Progzilla Towers Edition 367. In this edition we heard music by Promises, Wagakki Band, Mostly Autumn, Circu5, Frutería Toñi, Andy Tillison Diskdrive, Netherworld, Eloy Fritsch, Steve Vai, Antony Kalugin, Nick D’Virgilio, Qüassi, Led Zeppelin, Kashgar , Robert Reed, Bent Knee, Pekka Pohjola, Gandalf’s Fist, Checking For Echo, Iamthemorning, Phil Lively.

promises led zeppelin fist towers gandalf steve vai netherworld robert reed kashgar bent knee mostly autumn iamthemorning progzilla

Inside the Xinjiang city on coronavirus lockdown

Inkstone

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2020 10:06

The ancient city of Kashgar in Xinjiang has gone into lockdown as it fights to keep a coronavirus outbreak at bay. Our reporter offers a window inside the deserted city.

xinjiang coronavirus lockdown kashgar

2.32. History of the Mongols: Toluid Civil War

Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2020 27:18

Mongke Khaan was dead. Over his 8 year reign, he had ruled the Mongol Empire firmly, strengthening government and renewing the conquests. Yet had not solved the tensions and problems which had been simmering below the surface since the death of Ogedai. Having not designated a successor, Mongke’s brothers Kublai and Ariq Böke would stand in to fill the void, with disastrous results for the empire. In the aftermath of Mongke’s death, the Mongol Empire was irrevocably torn apart, ending the dreams of Chinggis Khan for Mongolian unity. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest. Before we carry on with our narrative, we must note that following events are highly coloured by who won- quite literally a case of history being written by the victors seeking to justify their victory. Based on recent scholarship and recognition of these biases, we will try to offer a slight reinterpretation of the events, though the outcome remains the same. Mongke died in August 1259 while on campaign in China, fighting the Song Dynasty in Sichuan. His plan to overwhelm the Song came to a crashing halt, bogged down in sieges and mud, before his demise caused his army to fall back. Perhaps the sole safe guard left in place in event of his death was his youngest brother, Ariq Böke, left as regent in the imperial capital, Karakorum, while Mongke marched on China. Intended to keep the empire running smoothly in Mongke’s absence, it’s possible Mongke, as with so much of his reign, had tailored this as reaction to the regencies after the deaths of Ogedai and Guyuk. Rather than repeat the chaotic periods of control by Torogene and Oghul Qaimish, Mongke may have wanted Ariq to seamlessly step up and guide the empire to an organized quriltai, rather than rely on conniving mothers to do it themselves. Thus was Ariq brought to the forefront of the world stage. So who was Ariq Böke? The youngest son of Tolui and Sorhaktani Beki, he was born sometime in the early 1220s, putting him in his early forties at Mongke’s death. Unlike his older brother Kublai, Ariq never showed any affinity to Chinese culture, despite being provided Confucian advisers. Instead, he is generally portrayed as a proud supporter of Mongolian culture, priding himself as a nomad uncorrupted by the sedentary world. The second part of his name, Böke, is an epithet, which means variously ‘bull, strong/unbreakable, wrestler.’ Evidently, he was a man of quite some physical prowess, perhaps a star in that favourite Mongol pastime of wrestling. He seems to have had an affinity to Christianity: the Franciscan Friar, William of Rubruck, during his visit to Mongke’s court in 1254 interacted with Ariq and noted that he listened to Christian oratory several time, made the sign of the cross and stated that he knew the Messiah is God. Considering that Rubruck remarked on Mongke’s own refusal to convert to Christianity or Islam and his personal failures to convert anyone, there’s no reason to think he lied on Ariq’s interest in the religion. Ariq’s mother Sorhaktani and at least one of his sons, Mingliq-Temur, were Christians. His chief wife was an Oirat princess, Elchiqmish (el-chiq-mish), described as very tall and as a granddaughter of Chinggis Khan via his daughter Chechiyegen (Chech-ee-yeg-en), she was also Ariq’s cousin. They had no children, but Ariq is said to have loved her very much. One of Mongke’s sons who accompanied him on the campaign into China, Asutai, brought his father’s body to Mongolia in autumn 1259. Immediately, Ariq Böke stepped into his duties as regent. Messages were sent across the empire to alert princes and notables of the Great Khan’s demise: Kublai, Mongke’s brother closest in age and also campaigning in China, learned of his death in September. Their third brother, Hulegu, learned of it in spring 1260. Representatives of the family were told to come to Mongolia in order for Ariq to arrange a quriltai and decide who would succeed Mongke. But trouble came from a perhaps expected direction: Kublai, their brother who had often butted heads with Mongke, now refused to return to Karakorum. Over Mongke’s reign, Kublai had been a repeated problem for both the Khan and his chief officials. After his return from the Dali campaign in 1254, Kublai began administering a large swath of northern China. There he showed what some modern authors interpret as inclinations to independence; or at the very least, pretensions to greater autonomy. The first sign was Kublai butting heads with the head of the Secretariat for China, the long-time servant of the Central Government, Mahmud Yalavach. Yalavach was reappointed to the position in 1251, and nominally in charge of tax assessment and collection, but found his efforts challenged by Kublai and his Chinese advisers who desired a more ‘Confucian,’ and local method of taxation and governance. Yalavach was never on good terms with the Chinese, and found many enemies among Kublai’s faction. Accused of malfeasance by Kublai’s followers, around 1254 Yalavach was removed from his post and soon died, though the exact details are murky. So ended the long career of a man who had once served as Chinggis Khan’s envoy to the Khwarezmshah. Without Yalavach’s meddling, Kublai could strengthen his local influence and position. Most apparent was in the building of a city in 1256 in what is modern Inner Mongolia, on the very edge of the steppe and north China. Called Kaiping, it was built in Chinese style and looked rather suspiciously like a capital city, a rival to Karakorum. The next year, some of Mongke’s ministers under Alandar led an investigation into Kublai’s administration, finding numerous infractions. Kublai’s authority was curtailed, his powers of tax collection rescinded, and some of his men executed. But there were further concerns, most identifiable in Kublai’s affinity for Chinese culture. Filling his staff with Buddhist and Confucians, Kublai’s administration looked a little too Chinese for Mongke’s tastes. The Mongol Empire needed to be ruled by Mongols, afterall, and placing more power into the hands of the Chinese simply would not do. Kublai remained in Mongke’s bad graces until 1258, when Mongke needed him for the oncoming campaign against the Song Dynasty. Provided one of the main armies, Kublai led his force through Central China to O-chou, modern Wuhan, where he learned of Mongke’s death in September 1259. Ariq Böke’s officials were there to get Kublai to move north for the quriltai, only for Kublai to spurn them. While Kublai’s official excuse was that he could not depart with his task unfinished, an alternative explanation is often provided by modern authors. That is, that Kublai saw this as his chance to take the throne, but needed to beef up his military credentials with victories- so far unearned in that campaign. Ariq Böke, to our knowledge, had not led any armies, making this perhaps the one area Kublai could one-up his brother in the eyes of the Mongol aristocracy. Keep in mind how Ariq’s epithet stressed his strength and ability as a wrestler. In comparison, Kublai suffered from gout and may have already been overweight. Already seen as soft for his interest in Chinese culture and known for having lost Mongke’s trust as an administrator, Kublai needed every advantage he could get in an election against Ariq. If he could paint himself as the better, more experienced military commander, that could be all the edge he needed. Since elections took a while to be called to allow for the appropriate princes and representatives to return to Mongolia, Kublai e predicted he had plenty of time to take a few cities and score some victories of his own. Kublai spent the next two month crossing the Yangzi River and taking O-chou, linking up with another commander, Uriyangqadai, the son of the illustrious Subutai. The news of Kublai’s continued campaigning was not well met back in Karakorum. Two members of Mongke’s keshig were particularly displeased by this: Alandar, the official who investigated Kublai’s administration, and most importantly, Bulghai, the chief judge of the empire, a Nestorian Christian and Mongke’s #2. Neither was friendly with Kublai. As brother closest in age to the late Khan, Kublai was a prime candidate for the throne, albeit one too interested in Chinese culture and a threat to the current top men of the empire. Therefore, Bulghai and Alandar began to organize the election of Ariq as the next Khan of Khans, if Ariq had not already begun to encourage this himself. With the burial of Mongke, his son Asutai and his generals returned and presented Mongke’s jade seal to Ariq. Part of organizing a quriltai was getting the appropriate bribes -again, sorry, gift giving- out in time to ensure the princes voted for the right candidate. It had taken Torogene a matter of years to organize the proper support for Guyuk’s coronation, and this was not a process done in secret. That Ariq was left as regent in Karakorum suggests he had a good relationship with those top officials of the Central Secretariat. Having these men and their government institutions on his side made for a powerful campaigning apparatus. Quickly, it seems Ariq gathered widespread support, particularly from the imperial administration and Mongke’s family, especially his sons Asutai and Urungtash who, for reasons we cannot discern, do not seem to have ever been considered as candidates. In November 1259, messages reached Kublai from his wife, Chabi, at that time in Kaiping. Kublai highly valued Chabi’s advice, and when she sent word that Ariq looked to be moving to claim the Khanate, Kublai was forced to give up his advance to China. That this exchange occurred suggests Kublai’s primary interest was not carrying out the expansion, but securing his own claim for the throne. Withdrawing north to Kaiping, he left only a token force behind to guard his conquests, which was soon crushed when an army was sent by the Song chancellor, Jia Sidao. Sidao portrayed it as a great victory, playing it up to secure his newly taken place at the head of the Song court. Kublai could only send envoys seeking a diplomatic settlement, who were imprisoned by the chancellor, an anticlimactic end to Kublai’s effort at military glory in time for the election. Returning to Kaiping in Inner Mongolia in the first days of 1260, Kublai watched the support for Ariq’s election continually grow. Having been forced to give up his military conquests in the south, and therefore not creating a reputation as a great conqueror, Kublai may have felt he lost the chance to win an election on Ariq’s term. Perhaps fearful that Ariq may try to arrest him if he approached Karakorum with a small entourage, yet knowing approaching with a larger escort would look like he was attacking the city, Kublai felt he had only one choice: declare himself Khan first, on ground of his choosing. In April or May 1260, at his own city of Kaiping, did Kubla Khan a stately reign decree, and in doing so signed the death warrant for Mongol imperial unity. By all standards, it was illegal: Kublai had neither the support of the four branches of the family and the election was not in the Onon-Kerulen region, the homeland of Chinggis Khan, but in his Chinese-style city. Kublai Khan had just usurped the throne. He had one small feather in his cap; Kublai could boast he was already recognized by a foreign power. When moving northwards, Kublai met the travelling Crown Prince of Korea, Wang Chon. Having been sent as a royal hostage to Mongke’s court, his timing was poor: while on the road, both Mongke and Wang Chon’s father, King Kojong, died. Korean sources assert that upon learning of Mongke’s death, like a good loyal subject Wang Chon sped to recognize Kublai as the rightful Khan. The idea that Wang Chon had any choice of the matter is generally dismissed by modern scholars. As part of Kublai’s entourage, he witnessed Kublai’s election and was soon sent back to Korea to be installed as the new King, Wonjong. A powerful opening move, it was the beginning of a decades-long close relationship between Kublai, Wonjong and their descendants. Kublai followed up his election with official messages to the Song and official proclamations; that his goals were to feed the hungry, reduce taxes and burdens on the people. Within days of becoming Great Khan, Kublai took a Chinese era name. In Chinese imperial tradition, emperors denoted sections of their reign as eras, which was used for year identification. It’s the kind of thing one does if they want to be associated with Chinese customs of leadership. From the start, Kublai Khan did not just hold an illegal election, but a shockingly Chinese one as well. For Ariq’s faction in Karakorum, this was a shocking demonstration against the legacy of Chinggis Khan. More immediately, it was a dangerous grab for power. In reaction, in July of 1260 Ariq Böke finally held his election and was declared Khan in an appropriately placed, decidedly non-Chinese process. Ariq held a better claim to legitimacy, for it seems he actually had the support of the branches of the family. The regent of the Chagatai Khanate was the popular Orghina Khatun, sister of Ariq’s beloved wife Elchiqmish, who gave her support. The Jochid Khan, Berke, sent his support, as did some Ogedeid princes, and it seems so did Kublai and Ariq’s brother, Hulegu, whose son Jumqhur attended. Mongke’s sons Asutai and Urungtash, his widows, his keshig and the Central Secretariat led by Bulghai and Alandar, sided strongly with Ariq, and so did the venerable Shigi Qutuqu, an adopted son of Chinggis Khan now well into his 70s. Over summer 1260, as tensions heightened, messengers sped between the two brothers. Each wanted the other to submit and recognize their rule. Neither yielded. While Ariq had the official support, Kublai was decidedly in the advantage in terms of position. Kublai could exert his hold across northern China, ousting officials who had declared for Ariq and allying with Qadan, a son of Ogedai and the prince holding the Uighur territories around Beshbaliq. Between them, they sought to close off access to north China to Ariq. For Ariq in Karakorum, this placed him in an unsustainable position. Karakorum could not support itself, requiring hundreds of cartloads of supplies daily, largely from northern China. With his army stationed there, this was even more imperative. In a contest of resources, Kublai’s hold of north China was a trump card. To further starve out Karakorum, Kublai sought to install a new Chagatai Khan loyal to him, a great-grandson of Chagatai named Abishgha. With a small party, Abishgha was sent to oust Orghina Khatun and take power there, denying the Chagatai ulus’ resources and men to Ariq. Abishgha and his small party were captured and brought to Ariq. Tensions boiled. It was a diplomatic impasse. By autumn, it was war. Kublai began to occupy Mongolia, while Ariq sent an army under Alandar to seize the former Tangut territory, the Gansu corridor, the conduit which links north China to Central Asia. In October, Alandar was killed and his army defeated by Kadan and Kublai’s loyalists. Kublai could now exert control across the northern Chinese right to Kadan in Uighuria. At a similar time, part of Ariq’s army was also defeated by Kublai’s troops at an unknown site called Baski. A panicked Ariq had Ahishgha executed, then moved his army from the untenable position at Karakorum, falling back to the Yenisei River valley. Northwest of Mongolia proper, the Yenisei is a valuable region producing wheat, millet, barley and craftsmen, but no place to conquer China from. Sending messages of peace to Kublai, Ariq managed to diplomatically hold off Kublai, stopping him from seizing Karakorum and providing Ariq time to think of new plans. With the start of 1261, Ariq implemented his new schemes. While popular in the Chagatai ulus, Orghina Khatun, regent for her young son Mubarak Shah, was not a war leader. Ariq had her replaced by Alghu, a grandson of Chagatai who could hopefully rally the ample resources of the Middle ulus for Ariq’s needs with loss of access to resources of China. In the summer, Ariq sought to wrest control of Mongolia from Kublai’s men. Ariq won the first engagement, but Kublai merely sent another army against his brother. In November 1261, at Shimu’ultu Lake in southeastern Mongolia, Ariq Böke Khan’s army was defeated and forced to retreat. Ariq had to abandon Mongolia for good, falling back to the Yenisei River. Ariq could never come back from the defeat at Shimu’ultu. He lacked the manpower to engage in any attrition with Kublai, and over 1262 the chance of victory was wrenched from his grasp. That year Kublai’s forces entered Karakorum, though his direct actions against Ariq were limited due to an uprising within his Chinese territory. In the west, Ariq’s ally Berke was unable to provide support with the opening of war between him and Hulegu over the Caucasus. Alghu, Ariq’s appointee in the Chagatai realm, started to attack Jochid possessions in Khwarezm and Tranosxiana, ousting Berke’s representatives. Killing Ariq’s envoys, by the end of the year Alghu declared for Kublai. Ariq’s only chance at securing anything depended on the resources of the Chagatais, and in 1263 from his base on the Yenisei he attacked Alghu. Alghu won in the first two engagements, but Ariq had the better of the third, forcing Alghu to flee to Kashgar. Ariq took the Chagatai capital of Almaliq, in modern Xinjiang close to the border with Kazakhstan. It was here that Ariq spent the final days of his reign. An incredibly harsh winter in 1263 brought famine to men and horses on the steppe. A frustrated Ariq Böke took his anger out on captured Chagatai prisoners. Harsh treatment of fellow Mongols alienated Ariq’s supporters and coupled with the conditions, led to desertion. Hulegu’s son Jumghur left, as did Mongke’s son Urungtash, who brought his father’s seal to Kublai. The omens were bad: harsh winds tore Ariq’s tent right from its pegs, causing it to crash about and injure many. At its end and with an ever decreasing circle of supporters, Ariq knew the gig was up. In August of 1264, he came in person before Kublai at Kaiping, now renamed to Shangdu. Per the account of the Ilkhanid historian and vizier Rashid al-Din, Ariq waited in front of Kublai’s ger for permission to enter, and upon coming face to face with his brother burst into tears. An emotional Kublai asked, “my dear brother, during this strife and contention, were we right or were you?” To which, as written by Rashid al-Din, Ariq Böke replies “we were then. But you are today.” Blame was placed onto Ariq’s generals, who were accused of instigating Ariq’s “revolt.” 10, including Bulghai, were executed. Ariq was to be put on trial before the other heads of the family, but all of them- Berke, Hulegu and Alghu, refused to come. Yet Kublai’s generals demanded punishment. The problem was fixed when illness very conveniently struck down the erstwhile healthy Ariq Böke. The timing was certainly handy, and accusations fall on Kublai. Yet it’s possible that a depressed Ariq, brought down by a difficult and fruitless civil war, drunk himself to an early grave. So it was that Kublai was the sole claimant as Khan of Khans. Having won the war, Kublai lost the empire. Only Hulegu provided his nominal support, but neither he nor Berke or Alghu ever made an attempt to submit in person. Over 1265 and 1266, the three of them died. Hulegu’s successor, his son Abaqa, received an official investiture from Kublai, but Kublai had no power to depose or appoint him or his successors. Kublai sent another descendant of Chagatai, Baraq, to take Alghu’s place, but Baraq soon operated independent of the Great Khan, and fought with the rising prince of the Ogedeids, Qaidu. By 1269, a brief peace was organized between Baraq, Qaidu and the new Jochid Khan, Mongke-Temur. The Peace of Qatwan as it’s known, saw territorial distribution and allotment totally without Kublai’s consideration, circumventing utterly the Great Khan’s authority. Kublai’s rule as Great Khan was nominal in the western half of Mongol territory, a spectre of illegitimacy hanging over him. By 1271, we can speak in earnest of the divisions of the Empire as independent entities, khanates: the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate and the Yuan Dynasty, the latter being the Chinese dynastic name Kublai gave to his reduced empire. As well, there is the matter of the Ogedeid Khanate under Qaidu, the Neguderis and the Blue and White Horde, but we will illuminate these in future episodes. Most of our sources from within the Mongol Empire come from areas ruled by the descendants of Kublai and Hulegu, the Yuan Dynasty and the Ilkhanate. In the Yuan Dynasty, the need to justify Kublai’s election as legitimate is obvious. The most influential of Ilkhanid authors was the vizier Rashid al-Din, whose Compendium of Chronicles is among the most valuable of all medieval sources on the Mongols. Writing around 1300, Rashid was personally informed of the events of the 1260s from Bolad Chingsang, one of Kublai’s judges who took part in the trials against Ariq and his generals. This pro-Kublai bias strongly affected Rashid al-Din’s work, who dubbed the war as “Ariq’s revolt.” Like so many other figures of the Mongol Empire, only by carefully sifting through the surviving sources can we hope to see through the biases of the winning side. Doubtless, had Ariq had won, Kublai’s name would have been the one tarnished. But Kublai secured his empire, and now the long reign of Kublai Khan was to begin. The Mongol Empire as a united entity ceased to exist by Kublai Khan’s victory in 1264, but it’s history does not end there. Our future episodes will discuss the other great breakup of the empire, the Berke-Hulegu war, and the continued histories of the successor Khanates, so be sure to subscribe to our podcast. If you’d like to help us continue bringing you great content, consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. I’m your host David, and we’ll catch you on the next one!

Who will save the Uyghurs from genocide?

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2020 21:11

President Donald Trump's anti-China posturing and the US China standoff threatens world attention being shifted further away from the plight of the Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province, suffering under forced labour, mass detention, the removal of children and forced sterilisation.

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La liberazione dello Xinjiang

Musica

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2020 10:10

L’ultimo capitolo delle rivolte Dungan vede come protagonisti i civili dello Xinjiang, decisi più che mai liberarsi di Yaqub Beg, trasformatosi in poco tempo da liberatore a tiranno.Seguici anche su fb, ig e sul nostro sito https://mediorientedintorni.com/ , ogni giorno, il meglio della cultura di Medio Oriente e Mondo islamico

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Yaqub Beg, signore della Kashgaria

Musica

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2020 8:34

Finalmente iniziamo a parlarvi davvero della Rivolta dei Dungan, partendo da uno dei suoi personaggi particolari e controversi: Yaqub Beg, il signore della Kashgaria.Seguici anche su fb, ig e sul nostro sito https://mediorientedintorni.com/ , ogni giorno, il meglio della cultura di Medio Oriente e Mondo islamico

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La guerra santa degli Afaq Khoja (pre-Dungan)

Musica

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2020 12:30

Per comprendere al meglio una guerra, bisogna conoscere cosa fu a scatenarla, di modo da poter avere un quadro globale e complessivo su temi che sconvolsero la vita di milioni di persone. Proprio per questo, iniziamo con la guerra santa degli Afaq Khoja, combattutasi pochi anni prima della grande rivolta Dungan. Seguici anche su fb, ig e sul nostro sito https://mediorientedintorni.com/ , ogni giorno, il meglio della cultura di Medio Oriente e Mondo islamico

You Can Check Out Anytime You Like, But You Can Never Leave

The Colin McEnroe Show

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2020 48:47

Most of the characteristics we associate with hotels - the welcoming yet alienating effect they have on our psyches - we absorbed from the artists, musicians, and filmmakers who have long been fascinated with the relationship between our physical travels and our spiritual journeys. Hotels like Mariott and Hilton are jumping into the microhotel market that up to now, has been dominated ro by small operators like Arlo, YOTEL, and Pod, for the past decade. But millennial demand for more communal spaces, smaller rooms, and lower cost is forcing the big chains to freshen up their brand and drop their costs. Today, a look at hotels. GUESTS: Hannah Sampson is a staff writer at The Washington Post where she reports on travel news. Suzanne Joinson is British author and a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester in West Sussex, England. She’s the author of A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar and The Photographer’s Wife. She is a contributor to The New York Times. Leo Mazow is the Cochrane curator of American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the author of Edward Hopper and the American Hotel Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 5 - The Episode Where We Lose Track of Time

Board Together Games

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2019 88:59

In this action-packed episode, the BTG team talk about our recent plays of Port Royal, Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails and The Reckoners. We also reveal our favorite hobbies and why you should make time for them in a world struggling to keep us busy and distracted.Finally, we discuss the underrated Kashgar: Merchants of the Silk Road in our Where Is the Love segment and we get an idea for how to cull our board game collections.Thanks for listening! Please subscribe and share with your family and friends.Website: https://boardtogethergames.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/board2getherFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/board2gether/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BoardTogetherGamesTheme music created using BandLab.com

China correspondent Emily Feng: From the FT to NPR

Sinica Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2019 59:14

Emily Feng is one of the rising stars among China reporters. She’s about to take up her post in Beijing as National Public Radio’s correspondent after an illustrious run with the Financial Times. In a show taped a few months ago, Emily speaks with Kaiser and Jeremy about her most recent reporting for the FT, covering important topics related to Xinjiang and technology. She also reflects on why, as a Chinese American, she feels like she’s under added pressure to present accurate and balanced reporting on China. What to listen for on this week’s Sinica Podcast: 14:02: Emily discusses the changing scope of topics that have garnered media coverage recently: “This year, rather than having conversations about #MeToo or Black Lives Matter, which, I think, really dominated discussions in the past two years, it's been about Chinese students [and] Chinese identity.” She also discusses a scandal at Duke University — Emily’s alma mater — in which an assistant professor at Duke University urged Chinese students via email to “commit to speaking English 100 percent of the time.” “Chinese Americans have always been very politically quiet. And I come from a Chinese-American family, [so] this is what has been taught to me: Don’t stick your head up. But I think that with what’s happening in the U.S.-China relationship, Chinese Americans are going to have to figure out what their stance is to partake more in political discussions happening on campuses [and] at the local government level.” 18:49: Emily, who has reported extensively on Xinjiang, reflects on her trips there in 2017 and 2018, and the rapidly deteriorating conditions for Uyghur Muslims in the region. “It was very, very evident that things were different. People [in 2017] could still talk freely about what was happening. You would talk to people in taxis, in restaurants — I met up with a number of Uyghur friends and they talked quite comfortably, but fearfully, about how their phones were being hacked and people were going to jail because of content they had shared that was vaguely Muslim from four or five years ago.” Outside of the capital of Urumqi, things were different, she explains. “I went to Hotan and Kashgar in October 2017, and Hotan was just another level. It was a police state. There were tanks and cars on the streets. There were checkpoints maybe every three or four blocks within the city. It was incredibly segregated.” 38:34: Emily wrote a deep-dive story on Hikvision, a Chinese CCTV company, which touches on the moral entanglement that U.S. companies face in supplying authoritarian governments with the nuts and bolts needed to monitor and sometimes oppress or imprison individuals abroad: “There are only a handful of companies out there that can make the type of commercially competitive semiconductors, components, [and] memory hard drives that go into the electronics we use every day — including the type of surveillance technology that China uses. So, that gives American companies a huge amount of power in saying, ‘This is whom we will sell to and this is whom we will not.’ But they’re understandably reluctant in making that distinction and making what they see as political decisions because their focus is the bottom line.” Recommendations: Jeremy: Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast, by Joshua Weilerstein. Emily: The show Schitt’s Creek, available with a Netflix subscription. Kaiser: Another Netflix show, Russian Doll.

64. William Sutcliffe; 'Are You Experienced?' Author on India, Israel the Bolivian Salt Flats and Creating the Travel Book of a Generation

The Big Travel Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2019 59:54

William Sutcliffe’s hilariously cynical take on backpackers and travellers, 'Are You Experienced?' is still inspiring globe-trotters all over the world. He instantly regretted a solo trip to Pakistan to get the train to Beijing, was horrified by the realities of life on the West Bank, ate nothing but marmalade sandwiches for days when travelling to the remote salt flats in Bolivia and yes a lot of the stories in Are You Experienced are autobiographical. And yes I do dare to ask him about that pretty graphic description of being unwell in India. William Sutcliffe is on the Big Travel Podcast. On this episode we cover: His new book The Gifted, the Talented and Me How Adrian Mole and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are still great books for teens How living with teenagers is funny The era of sending postcards and Poste Restante How social media is stressful The difference between travel pre and post internet How travel used to be a way to reinvent yourself How you can reinvent yourself publicly every day How people make friends fast when travelling Lonely Planet being a guide to finding other Westerners Receiving letters in Kathmandu The lack of self-awareness in 18 year old travellers Travellers being at their most pretentious The two ways which travellers react to India How Lonely Planet still recommends his book over 20 years later Monish Rajesh saying it’s her favourite book about India Lisa visiting India in luxury How India can be hard work Lisa’s first time ever asking a guest whether they’ve s*it themselves in a hostel How travellers use the book to put them off India It being easier to go to Spain than India His life-changing solo trip to Pakistan Saving cash for travel by working in HMV The weird travel grant The Karakoram Highway built by China and Pakistan The long-standing dispute over the India China border Wanting to shake up his happy home life A one way ticket to Karachi and a return via Beijing to Moscow Russian invading Afghanistan Landing in Karachi, age 19, and being terrified The actually very hospitable ‘dangerous’ lands of the Peshawar in Pakistan Lisa fighting of an ear-cleaner in Bangalore Ear drum piercing versus Hepatitis Travelling to the Khyber Pass The German gun fan who took him to the gun town Not wanting to shoot a gun in the mountains the Mujahideen Lisa being offered a gun in Phnom Penh The incredible desert frontier town of Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uyghur in China’s far west The oppression of Uighur muslims in China The atmospheric Kashgar Sunday Bazaar Those travel moments out of Kashgar The weird awakening crossing the border from Pakistan to China Saddam as superman ‘death to America’ on a t shirt Feeling unwelcome in communist China British and American politeness A certain admiration for a total lack of any ingratiation Cycling towards Tiananmen Square in a huge boulevard of bikes How hardships when travelling can make you feel good about yourself The ‘deep thoughts’ of teenagers His book The Wall based on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict Feeling he needed an opinion on Israel coming from a Lithuanian Jewish family The max exodus of the Pogroms from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia His family moving from Lithuania to South Africa His mother’s white South African guilt Travel to Israel, Egypt Sinai Peninsula and Jordan Staying in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian side The world increasingly being divided into haves and have nots Being horrified by the brutality and injustice of the occupation ‘The power of the un-fired gun’ The Israeli hilltop settlements Green Olives tours and revelations Lisa taking the boat from Israel to Egypt and crossing very serious borders What the Israel/Palestinian wall really looks like up close The Salar de Uyuni, amid the Andes in southwest Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flat Everything being the size of Wales The town of Atacama where it hasn’t rained for 200 years A remote 3 day drive through the desert Nothing to eat but bread and marmalade Feeling like you’re on a U2 album cover His wife, author Maggie O’Farrell Taking it in turns to write and look after the kids The scene in Are You Experienced when Dave is listening to Pink Floyds Comfortably Numb Being a massive music fan and listening to music when writing Switching off from music when travelling His perfect travel music moment with the amazing drumming from a wedding party in Rajasthan

59: TMS Specials: Paintings of the Himalayas with Medhavi Gandhi

The Musafir Stories - India Travel Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2019 35:52

This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to Medhavi Gandhi, the founder of Heritage Lab (heritagelab.in), a unique media platform for citizens to interact with museums! Today's destination: The Indian Himalayas in paintings by Nicholas Roerich! Nearest Airport: NA Nearest Railway Station: NA Length of the itinerary: 5-8 years, 25,000 kms Itinerary Highlights: - Medhavi takes us on the Himalayan expedition covered by Nicholas Roerich and his family in the early 20th century (1923) in search of the mythical kingdom of Shambala, that is believed to be home to the King who will bring peace and harmony to humanity. Roerich's expedition started from Sikkim through Punjab, Kashmir, Ladakh, the Karakoram Mountains, Khotan, Kashgar, Qara Shar, Urumchi, Irtysh, the Altai Mountains, the Oyrot region of Mongolia, the Central Gobi, Kansu, Tsaidam, and Tibet" with a detour through Siberia to Moscow in 1926. The journey was done on horses and mules, with minimal resources and it is during this expedition that Roerich painted more than 500 marvellous paintings of the himalayan landscapes, architecture and people. Roerich also uses very novel ways to paint, using crushed rocks minerals in his paintings to give them a unique finish. The expedition wasn't witout controversy - Roerich was often accused of being on a spy mission and was also detained in Tibet for over 5 months in very harsh climatic conditions. After the expedition, Roerich settles down in Naggar, Kullu in Himachal Pradesh - it is now converted into a house museum and run by the Naggar trust and still houses a lot of his important paintings. Other important paintings of Roerich can be found in the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York. A huge collection of his paintings is also available in National Gallery of Modern Art, Allahabad Museum, International Roerich Trust, Naggar - Himachal Pradesh, Government Museum and Art gallery, Chandigarh, Shri Jaganmohan palace, Mysore, Chitrakala parishad, Bangalore. Some of his paintings that were passed on to his son, have been the subject of a legal tussle for his estate that has gone of for the longest time, with paintings worth several lakhs reportedly stolen and sold abroad. Over his lifetime Roerich made over 7000 paintings, but his Himalayan paintings and the mystery of the expedition live one! Some notable paintings from Roerich's Himalayan expedition detailed in Medhavi's blog A view of Kanchenjunga from Sikkim (Tashi view point) A view of Kanchenjunga from Darjeeling (Tiger hill) Tashiding Monastery, Sikkim (Bhumchu festival/Banners of the east) Mt Kailash (tibet) Kinner Kailash (HP, 28 colors of the ranges) Lahual (Himachal), Rohtang Pass; Buddhist MOnks, Sissu waterfalls Ladakh - shooting star in Changthang plateau Buddhist sculptures on boulders (Zanskar range) Maitreyi Buddha, near Mulbek monastery lamayaru Monastery, Leh (Yuru Kabgyata festival, masked dance) Lake sheshnag, Kashmir (enroute amarnath yatra, Shiva's serpent) Naggar, Kullu Links: Link to Medhavi's website: http://www.theheritagelab.in/ Link to the blog post: http://www.theheritagelab.in/himalayas-paintings-roerich/ Twitter: @medhavigandhi @theheritagelab Instagram: @theheritagelab Facebook: @heritagelab Image Credit : The Heritage Lab, Painting at Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York Follow the Musafir stories on Twitter Facebook Instagram website: www.themusafirstories.com email: themusafirstories@gmail.com itunes - https://apple.co/2LPtTA3 Google podcasts - http://bit.ly/2toY7lj or voice or google search "Ok Google, play The Musafir stories podcast" website - http://bit.ly/2xFZqOV Saavn - https://bit.ly/2J5rIqi Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2HLPSVi pocketcasts - https://bit.ly/2xu3Ewg castbox - https://bit.ly/2sqBDQi Overcast - https://bit.ly/2LN9wnf Stitcher Radio - https://bit.ly/2JiBbhw audioBoom - https://bit.ly/2oZZowS TuneIn - https://bit.ly/2xyQH4a RadioPublic - https://bit.ly/2snY9u0 iHeartradio - https://ihr.fm/2xvOG8R Deezer - https://bit.ly/2L7GmOo

Small Island Stories: Laganas by George Linehan

Small Island Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2019 3:04

Upper Fifth (Year 11) pupil Lili Longden reads Laganas, a short story by Bede's pupil George Linehan. The piece won the 2018-19 First Year Travel Writing competition, which was presented in the Autumn Term by professional travel writer Suzy Joinson, author of The Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar and The Photographer's Wife.

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Board Game Buffet #35 Wingspan; Azul Stained Glass; Pandemic: Fall of Rome

Board Game Buffet

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2019 72:02

Join Graeme and Dean with special guest Lella as they discuss Wingspan, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, Pandemic: Fall of Rome and Kashgar. They also discuss the Kickstarter projects War of Worlds: The New Wave and AVGhost Paranormal Investigations. They have some coffee talk about 10x10 Challenges and finally their leftovers of Airlines Europe, Memoir 44 and the Knizia Lord of the Rings.

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Episode 31 - It's Just A Beige Blob (Featuring Mechs vs. Minions, Charterstone, Kashgar, House of Danger, Night Night Kisses, Just One, and a GIVE-AWAY!

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2018 76:38

Welcome to Episode 31 of All The Bits, AKA the cursed episode. We finally take to the fake radio airwaves to discuss Mechs vs. Minions, Charterstone, House of Danger, and Kashgar. We drool over the bits in Night Night Kisses and Just One. We shine a spotlight on the BGG Thread "What is Important in a Game Box?". We also have all the usual fun of AtB... And oh yeah..A GIVE-AWAY! Woot! A big thank you to our show sponser, Board Game Bliss (www.boardgamebliss.com). A store where you can find an amazing selection of games from around the world! Bringing joy to you and your love ones!* Visit our brand new website: www.allthebitspod.com Like us and follow us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/allthebitspod/ Tweet us: @allthebitspod Follow us on Instagram: @allthebitspod Email us: allthebitspodcast@gmail.com Leave us an itunes review: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-the-bits-board-game-podcast/id1254767438?mt=2 Time Stamps 2.10 – Ask Me Anything bit 8.15 - Guess the Game bit 12.31 - Roar: King of the Pride give-awawy! Social media your picks for the new bit name to #allthebitsbitname. This give-away is available to residents of North America. 16.37 - What we've been playing Shaun: Mechs vs. Minions, Kashgar: Merchants of the Silk Road Michelle: Charterstone, House of Danger 49.36 - BGG Thread Spotlight: What's Important to you ina game box? https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2085696/what-important-game-box 58.48 - All The Bits bit Shaun: Night Night Kisses https://www.boardgamebliss.com/products/night-night-kisses?variant=12750193819699 Michelle: Just One 64.38 - Next Up Bit Shaun: Oceans - An Evolution Game; Pax Unplugged https://www.northstargames.com/blogs/secret-fun/call-for-oceans-playtesters Michelle: Endeavor: Age of Sail; Brixx

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Episode 31 - It's Just A Beige Blob (Featuring Mechs vs. Minions, Charterstone, Kashgar, House of Danger, Night Night Kisses, Just One, and a GIVE-AWAY!

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2018 76:38

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Planeta de Juegos 98 - Euros duros

Planeta de juegos

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2018 129:37

¡Hola, Jugadores! Nuestro programa de hoy toca algún tema que hacía tiempo que teníamos en la recamara. Traemos un jugador avezado en la afición como es para Angel "Macklau" que nos hable de sus euros duros favoritos. Nos contará cómo y por qué los definimos así, a qué llamamos un juego "duro" y como nos enfrentamos a ellos cuando un juego tiene más peso de lo normal. Igualmente, os contamos lo que estamos planeando para nuestro programa número 100. Tendremos además nuestras secciones habituales: -Cápsula de escape – 00:04:32 Hablamos y reflexionamo acerca de lo que nos ha interesado últimamente alrededor del mundo de los juegos de mesa. –Campo de asteroides – 00:34:19 Hablamos con Angel Macklau de Euros duros. –Torre de control – 01:21:34 Hablamos de los juegos que hemos jugado en las últimas semanas: Above and Below, X-Wing 2.0, Shifting Realms, Kashgar y Endeavor (2018). – Sala de comunicaciones – 01:45:54 Con vuestros comentarios del último programa. ¡Que lo disfrutéis!

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Planeta de Juegos 98 - Euros duros

Planeta de juegos

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2018 129:37

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Första intrycket, del 42 – Kashgar

Vems tur är det?

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2018 32:32

Kashgar är ett lekbyggarspel där du inte bygger en lek. Jo, det är sant! The post Första intrycket, del 42 – Kashgar appeared first on Vems tur är det?.

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TDT # 559 - Origins 2018 Preview

The Dice Tower

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2018 102:59

In this episode, we talk about Magic Maze Kids, Boomerang, Kashgar, Pursuit of Happiness: Community, Way of the Panda, and My Little Scythe. We also talk about the upcoming show Origins 2018! Mandi and Suzanne go over ten different games they are interested in checking out, and Tom talks about some tips for first timers!

BGA Episode 171 - BGG Hotness Review

Board Gamers Anonymous

Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2018 36:00

It's the end of May, and that means time to look back at the hotness for this month and why some games have jumped into the limelight (and others remain). First up this week, we're talking about our World Cup contest for Sci Fi games, coming up in 2 weeks. You can enter the contest here for a chance to win a free sci fi board game. 2018 World Cup of Science Fiction Board Games Contest Our question of the week this week asked everyone what games they have replaced components for and why (in honor of the horrible little coins in Nusfjord). For our acquisition disorders, Anthony looked at the new Vital Lacerda game, On Wars, and Chris looked at the recently SdJ nominated Luxor: Forgotten Treasures. At the Table, Anthony reviews Kashgar and Chris looks at 7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon. Finally, we delve into the 15 games at the top of the BGG Hotness during the week of 5/25. Question of the Week: 7:43 Acquisition Disorders: 11:05 Kashgar Review: 17:36 7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon Review: 21:26 BGG Hotness Review: 27:15 If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Twitter (http://twitter.com/bgapodcast), and on our website (www.boardgamersanonymous.com). You can support the show as well by donating on Patreon (www.patreon.com/bga), or using our Amazon affiliate link.

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Episode 2- Uwe Threw Up On My Game Mat

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2017 71:25

In episode 2, we decide to ask each other some random questions, Drive By games such as Lorenzo il Magnifico, A Feast for Odin, and Kashgar, look at the BGG thread titled "Strangest Reason for Board Game Night to be Canceled", check out the bits of Manhattan Project: Energy Empire and something to carry them in, get rollin' with the Gen Con hype, and discuss how we justify our purchases! Keep the conversation going.... ** _twitter: @allthebitspod_** ** _email: allthebitspodcast@gmail.com_** 03:42 Ask Me Anything 08:27 Drive By: Lorenzo il Magnifico 13:13 Drive By: Unlock: The Formula 16:38 Drive By: Sea of Clouds 20:23 Drive By: Las Vegas The Card Game 25:23 Drive By: A Feast for Odin 30:34 Drive By: Kashgar ***Oh look, just in time to make Shaun look like a fool!** 33:35 BGG Thread Spotlight: Strangest Reason for Board Game Night to be Canceled 38:52 All the Bits: Caseling Extra Large Hard Case CAH [https://www.amazon.ca/Caseling-Expansions-Moveable-Dividers-Cards/dp/B017237OJW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500068054&sr=8-1&keywords=caseling+extra+large](https://www.amazon.ca/Caseling-Expansions-Moveable-Dividers-Cards/dp/B017237OJW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500068054&sr=8-1&keywords=caseling+extra+large) 43:25 All the Bits: Manhattan Project Energy Empire 46:10 Next Up: Merlin 48:35 Next Up: Wasteland Express Delivery Service 52:44 Next Up: Legends of Andor 54:50 Next Up: Shaun is going to GENCON! 56:24 Hot Topic: How We Justify Our Purchases 1:09:54 See you next time! ** _ _**

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Episode 2- Uwe Threw Up On My Game Mat

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2017 71:25

In episode 2, we decide to ask each other some random questions, Drive By games such as Lorenzo il Magnifico, A Feast for Odin, and Kashgar, look at the BGG thread titled "Strangest Reason for Board Game Night to be Canceled", check out the bits of Manhattan Project: Energy Empire and something to carry them in, get rollin' with the Gen Con hype, and discuss how we justify our purchases! Keep the conversation going.... * _twitter: @allthebitspod_* * _email: allthebitspodcast@gmail.com_* 03:42 Ask Me Anything 08:27 Drive By: Lorenzo il Magnifico 13:13 Drive By: Unlock: The Formula 16:38 Drive By: Sea of Clouds 20:23 Drive By: Las Vegas The Card Game 25:23 Drive By: A Feast for Odin 30:34 Drive By: Kashgar *Oh look, just in time to make Shaun look like a fool! 33:35 BGG Thread Spotlight: Strangest Reason for Board Game Night to be Canceled 38:52 All the Bits: Caseling Extra Large Hard Case CAH https://www.amazon.ca/Caseling-Expansions-Moveable-Dividers-Cards/dp/B017237OJW/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&qid=1500068054&sr=8-1&keywords=caseling+extra+large 43:25 All the Bits: Manhattan Project Energy Empire 46:10 Next Up: Merlin 48:35 Next Up: Wasteland Express Delivery Service 52:44 Next Up: Legends of Andor 54:50 Next Up: Shaun is going to GENCON! 56:24 Hot Topic: How We Justify Our Purchases 1:09:54 See you next time!

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【专题】慢速英语（英音）2017-06-12

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2017 24:59

2017-06-12 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.China&`&s new cyber security law, which went into effect recently, is not aimed at limiting foreign companies&`& access to the Chinese market.China&`&s Internet regulator said the law is designed to safeguard China&`&s cyberspace sovereignty, national security, public interest, as well as the rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations.The Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement that it does not restrict foreign companies or their technology and products from entering the Chinese market, nor does it limit the orderly, free flow of data. The document said China is entitled to make laws and rules to regulate its cyberspace sovereignty following international practice.The law was passed in November 2016 at a bimonthly session of the National People&`&s Congress Standing Committee after a third reading.A regulation requiring Internet products and services that may affect national security to undergo a security review will go into effect on the same day as the cyber security law.Reviews focus on whether the products or services are secure and sufficiently managed, and on assessing the risk of illegal control, disruption or interruption.They also evaluate the risk of providers using their products or services to illegally gather, store, process or make use of user information.This is Special English.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called on Germany to help China-developed large passenger plane C919 get an airworthiness certificate from the European Union.Li made the call during his talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. He was on an official visit to Germany for an annual meeting between the two heads of government, a mechanism that has been in place since 2004.The twin-engine C919 made its maiden flight on May 5 in Shanghai with five crew members on board but no passengers. The success makes China the fourth jumbo jet producer after the United States, Western Europe and Russia.With a standard range of 4,075 kilometers, the narrow-bodied jet is comparable with the updated Airbus 320 and Boeing&`&s new generation 737 planes, signaling the country&`&s entry into the global aviation market.China has taken pride in developing the homegrown jumbo jet, regarding it as a symbol of national strength.In 2007, the State Council approved plans to develop a large passenger jet. In November 2015, the first C919 jet rolled off the assembly line. More than 200,000 technicians worked on the project.A total of 23 foreign and domestic customers, including China&`&s national carrier Air China, had placed orders for 570 aircraft as of May 5.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.U.S. space firm SpaceX has launched supplies to the International Space Station, including an experiment from a Chinese university that will test the effects of space environments on DNA.The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft lifted off on the company&`&s Falcon 9 rocket at 5:07 p.m. local time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Around 10 minutes later, the rocket&`&s first stage achieved a successful landing at SpaceX&`&s Landing Zone 1, just south of the launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.On this trip, the Dragon will deliver almost 2,700 kilograms of supplies, including solar panels, tools for Earth-observation and equipment to study neutron stars.Among the cargo is a 3.5-kilogram device from the Beijing Institute of Technology that seeks to answer questions including "Does space radiation and microgravity cause mutations among antibody-encoding genes and if so, how does it happen."There is a U.S. law in place, known as the Wolf amendment, that bans cooperation between the U.S. space agency NASA and Chinese government entities, but this deal is purely commercial and therefore considered legal.NASA spokesperson Kathryn Hambleton confirmed to China&`&s Xinhua News Agency that there is a Chinese experiment that has been launched on this mission, known as SpaceX CRS-11.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.China&`&s manned submarine Jiaolong has conducted its first dive of the year in the Yap Trench.Jiaolong began diving at 8:43 a.m. local time on a rainy day on 4th of June, reaching a depth of 4,177 meters.A staff member on board said Jiaolong was not afraid of the bad weather, but the rain did make it a bit more difficult for the dive. He said they cannot hear each other clearly due to the rain, so they have to be extra careful during the operation.There will be five dives for Jiaolong in the Yap Trench, with the last dive being planned for June 12.According to scientists on the ship, the dives will focus on research in deep-sea biotic communities and gene resources.Jiaolong completed a series of dives in the Mariana Trench on June 1 and was transferred aboard its support ship to the Yap Trench afterwards.The Mariana and Yap trenches are located in the west Pacific Ocean. The Yap Trench has a depth of 8,527 meters, and the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point of Earth&`&s oceans, has a depth of 11,034 meters.Named after a mythical dragon, Jiaolong reached its deepest point of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012. This is Special English.A network of remote sensing satellite ground stations that cover all of China&`&s territory and 70 percent of Asia has passed its final acceptance examination.The network is headquartered in Beijing and features three ground stations in a suburb in Beijing, in Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Sanya in Hainan Province.According to the examination committee, it will be used to support various remote-sensing systems, especially for the western part of the country and the South China Sea. The project began in 2007. You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to crienglish.com. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. Now the news continues.India has launched its heaviest rocket, along with a satellite, that is now believed to be able to send humans into space in the future.The domestically-produced rocket, named Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle or Mark III, lifted off from the southern spaceport in Andhra Pradesh state at 5:28 p.m. local time.The state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation said the communication satellite that the rocket carried weighs more than three tonnes.The countdown for the launch of the 640-tonne rocket began on Sunday.In another development, India has successfully test fired its first all-weather tracked-chassis Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile.India&`&s state-run broadcaster All India Radio said the missile was launched from a mobile launcher in the Integrated Test Range off the Odisha coast at Chandipur at around 12:39 p.m. local time.The broadcaster reported that the test was carried out for validating various parameters of the sophisticated weapon system to further strengthen its air defence system. This is Special English.A survey of the California Current System along the U.S. West Coast of the United States found persistent, highly acidified water throughout the ecologically critical nearshore habitat.Led by Francis Chan, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University, researchers participating in the survey said conditions will continue to worsen because the atmospheric carbon dioxide primarily to blame for the increase in acidification has been rising substantially in recent years.While the findings of the study, which was published recently in Nature Scientific Reports, identified "hotspots" of pH, or the potential of hydrogen, measurements as low as any oceanic surface waters in the world, there were "refuges" of more moderate pH environments that could become havens for some marine organisms to escape more highly acidified waters.The threat of ocean acidification is global and though it sometimes seems far away, it is happening on the West Coast of the United States and those waters are already hitting the beaches. Chan said that ten years ago, they were focusing on the tropics with their coral reefs as the place most likely to be affected by ocean acidification. But the California Current System is getting hit with acidification earlier and more drastically than other locations around the world.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation has raised concerns that meadows and pastures are becoming increasingly endangered in Germany and has released a new red list to the German Press Agency.The new red list of endangered biotypes, serves as a handbook for future conservation plans and is an update from the previous 2006 red list.Federal Minister for the Environment Barbara Hendrick from the Social Democratic Party of Germany, presented the findings that indicated almost two-thirds of the 863 species present in habitats in Germany are under severe threat from intensive agriculture, among other causes. The threat has particularly worsened in pastures or grasslands; meadows are also under increasing pressure.The Federal Office for Nature Conservation has reported some positive developments in coastal regions as well as next to rivers and streams which are benefiting from restoration or environmental protection plans as well as better sewage treatment plants. However, figures are much less positive for groundwater due to high nitrogen pollution caused by fertilizers from intensive farming. Many stagnant water volumes are also affected.There are many types of natural habitats in Germany including 46 types of water environments and 20 types of arable and fallow arable land. This is Special English.A study on young female mice reveals how puberty hormones might trigger changes in neural communication in the frontal cortices and impede some aspects of flexible youthful learning.Scientists have found that the onset of puberty hits something like a "switch" in the brain&`&s frontal cortex that can reduce flexibility in some forms of learning.The study was led by Linda Wilbrecht, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, and the senior author of the study published in the journal Current Biology.The changes occurred in a region of the frontal brain that is associated with learning, attention and behavioral regulation.Overall, children have been found to have greater brain flexibility or "plasticity" than adults, enabling them to more easily master multiple languages and other elementary scholastic pursuits.While they continue to learn after puberty, their cognitive focus in adolescence is often redirected to peer relationships and more social learning.The study noted that if hormonal changes start as early as second or third grade, when children are tasked with learning basic skills, a shift in brain function could be problematic.Puberty onset is occurring earlier and earlier in girls in modern urban settings, driven by such factors as stress and the obesity epidemic, and has been associated with worse outcomes in terms of school and mental health.This is Special English.America&`&s first Nutella Cafe opened recently in downtown Chicago, with more than 400 customers lining up for their favorite treat.This is the first standalone Nutella Cafe owned by parent company Ferrero. Its menu items include grilled baguettes, fresh-roasted hazelnut, gelato and some Italian specialties.Noah Szporn, head of marketing at Nutella North America says there&`&s an incredible dining culture in the city, and Nutella is all about the idea of sharing good food with friends and family; and they thought that Chicago would be the perfect place to do that.（文稿请浏览周六微信。）

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【专题】慢速英语（美音）2017-05-30

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2017 25:00

This is Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.The United States Senate has voted 82-13 to approve the Iowa Governor Terry Branstad to be the new U.S. Ambassador to China.In a statement after the confirmation, Branstad said he looks forward to working with leaders of both countries for the mutual benefit of the rest of the world.He said that never in his wildest dreams did he think that a boy from a small farm in Leland, Iowa, would one day have the opportunity to represent his country on the world stage, working closely with one of the world&`&s most influential countries and one of America&`&s largest trading partners.Seventy-year-old Branstad is the longest-serving governor in the United States. He has nurtured a close relationship with China and has visited China multiple times.He served as the governor of Iowa from 1983 to 1999, and again since 2011. He was nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump to be the next U.S. ambassador to China in December last year.During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Branstad said that if confirmed, he would work to "positively influence" the U.S.-China relationship.He said that as Governor of Iowa, he saw first-hand the importance of a positive and healthy trade relationship between the two countries.This is Special English.With housing prices and sales stagnating in China&`&s major cities following tough property controls, smaller cities are starting to join in.Property sales were restricted in several second and third-tier cities, as speculators shift their attention to these areas. Around 30 cities have introduced sales restrictions to different extents.In Baoding city in north China&`&s Hebei Province, certain properties are subject to a 10-year lock-up before they can be resold.In Jiaxing city in east China&`&s Zhejiang Province, non-residents will not be able to resell houses within two years of buying them.With such restrictions, speculators who use to borrow money to invest may have to reconsider, as it now takes much longer for the houses to generate returns and pay back the loans.Analysts say smaller cities have become the main battleground as China strives to contain housing price as they rises through restrictions on purchases and increased minimum down payments.In Beijing, the down payment ratio for second homes has raised to 60 percent in mid-March, a measure considered "unprecedented".You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. A new study has found that the rare but spectacular eruptions of super volcanoes can cause massive destruction and affect climate patterns on a global scale for decades.In addition, the super eruption sites may experience ongoing, albeit smaller eruptions for tens of thousands of years after.In the study published recently in the journal Nature Communications, Oregon State University researchers said they were able to link recent eruptions at Mt. Sinabung in northern Sumatra in Indonesia, to the last eruption on Earth of a super volcano 74,000 years ago at the Toba Caldera some 40 kilometers away.This is the first time that researchers have been able to pinpoint what happens following the eruption of a super volcano. To qualify as a super volcano, the eruption must reach at least magnitude 8, which means the measured deposits for that eruption are greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers.When Toba erupted, it emitted a volume of magma 28,000 times greater than that of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was so massive, it is thought to have created a volcanic winter on Earth lasting years, and possibly triggering a bottleneck in human evolution.This is Special English.A study led by the University of Washington indicates that neighborhoods with greater poverty and disorganization may play a greater role in the problem of drinking in the availability of bars and stores that sell hard liquor.The findings were based on local neighborhood data and published online in the Journal of Urban Health. It suggests that while socioeconomics are more powerful environmental factors than even access to the substance itself, improving a neighborhood&`&s quality of life can yield a range of benefits.In examining the combination of multiple neighborhood factors on alcohol use, researchers turned to an ongoing study the university has followed for decades, by interviewing more than 500 of the adult participants.The researchers found that residents of neighborhoods primarily characterized by high poverty and disorganization tended to drink twice as much in a typical week as those in other types of neighborhoods. Binge-drinking, generally defined as more than four drinks at a time for women, five for men, occurred in these high-poverty, highly disorganized communities about four times as frequently as in other types of neighborhoods.These findings are consistent with previous research indicating that people in lower income neighborhoods may be at greater risk for alcohol-related problems.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Russian Security Council said Russia&`&s crucial information infrastructure suffered no severe damage caused by the global WannaCry melware attack thanks to an effective anti-cyberattack state system.Russia has been creating a system to detect, prevent and eliminate the consequences of computer attacks on the information resources of the Russian Federation. The program was previously approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a decree.The Security Council said Russia has managed to avoid serious damage due to the mentioned state system. The critical information infrastructure was ready to resist a massive spread of this virus.Russia&`&s critical information infrastructure includes the information systems in these sectors of defense, healthcare, energy, transport, communications, banking and finance.A massive number of organizations across the globe have been targeted by the WannaCry malware. Hackers used the Trojan encryptor to lock computers and demand a payment for the decryption. So far, the WabbaCry ransom ware attacked has spread to 150 countries, crippling hospitals, schools, governments and businesses.This is Special English.Nepal has hosted the "Chinese Bridge" language proficiency competition for college students in Kathmandu, the nation's capital.This is the fourth Nepali edition of the global contest.This year&`&s competition was organized by the Confucius Institute at Kathmandu University and the Chinese embassy in Nepal.According to the organizers, over 50 students had taken part in the initial round and 14 students were selected from three educational institutions in Nepal.Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong attended the ceremony to present awards to the winners. She said she was happy to see the increasing interest of Nepali students in Chinese language and culture.In the preliminary round of the competition, 14 college students went through rounds of tests and demonstrated their language skills.Two Bachelor students representing Kathmandu University were declared winners, who will travel to China to represent Nepal at the finals to be held later this year.The Chinese proficiency competition is held annually in different countries for non-Chinese students to encourage them to learn about China.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to crienglish.com. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. Now the news continues.The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, has rolled out an app in which users can learn about the museum through building their own imperial residence.In this app, users choose a vacant site for their imperial palace and upgrade it by publishing and reading articles or completing tasks.The museum says the app makes news and information more accessible to the public. Users are no longer mere visitors, but also architects of the museum.The Forbidden City will release high-definition images of its cultural relics, making them available to more people worldwide.Established in 1925, the Palace Museum is located in the imperial palace of the consecutive dynasties from the 13th century to 1911. The complex&`&s architecture and imperial collections make it one of the most prestigious museums in the world. This is Special English.China will build more theme parks in the coming years.Tourism officials say that by 2020, China will encourage tourist areas to integrate with recreation facilities, theaters, and performing centers.Branded theme parks from overseas will be introduced into China, while domestic theme parks are also encouraged to expand overseas.A fantasy adventure indoor theme park opened to the public recently in Shanxi Province in north China. With laser technology and 3-D effects, the theme park aims to offer tourists immersive experiences.Entertainment companies are strongly encouraged to use hi-tech equipment.According to a development plan for the tourism industry, China will improve tourism infrastructure and public service facilities while pushing forward innovative development of theme parks. You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. In the Chinese animation "The Tales of Effendi", a cute donkey from Kashgar in northwest China&`&s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region becomes famous as he carries his master around.In reality, donkeys don&`&t usually have such noteworthy lives. They mostly plod around carrying heavy loads and doing tedious chores. But in Kashgar&`&s Yopurga County, farmer Abdul Kerim has turned the braying beast of burden into a cash cow.Kerim says he had been doing various jobs to support his family since he was laid off ten years ago. Last year, he decided to go into the donkey business after hearing that donkey milk could be very profitable.Kerim and four of his neighbors poured almost all of their savings into setting up a cooperative last year. They bought 38 donkeys of a cross-breed between the region&`&s native donkeys and those from northwest China&`&s Shaanxi Province. They built stables and stockpiled bales of hay.After a year of hard work, the biggest donkey milk processing company in the region bought the cooperative&`&s first batch of milk for 28 yuan, roughly 4 U.S. dollars, per kilo.Donkey farms are now springing up in this previously impoverished area. Around 27,000 donkeys are being raised for their milk, which is expected to generate an annual revenue of 250 million yuan. This is Special English.20th Century Fox&`&s "Alien: Covenant" topped North American box office with an estimated 36 million U.S. dollars during its debut weekend, dethroning "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" with a narrow victory.Movie analysts say that featuring a terrific cast, this R-rated space adventure harkens back to the first "Alien" film that blew audience&`&s minds with its gritty dark intensity back in 1979.The sixth installment in the "Alien" franchise directed by Ridley Scott cost 97 million U.S. dollars to make and opened 29 percent behind the first prequel, "Prometheus", which debuted to over 51 million U.S. dollars in North America in August 2012.Disney and Marvel&`&s "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" moved to second place with an estimated 35 million U.S. dollars in North America after two weeks at the top of the charts. The Marvel&`&s superhero sequel has earned a whopping 733 million U.S. dollars globally.Warner Bros.&`& teen romance "Everything, Everything" opened in third place with an estimated 12 million U.S. dollars in its debut weekend. The PG-13 rated film is about a young woman with an illness that prevents her from leaving the protection of her sealed environment and who falls in love with the boy next door. The film is based on the bestselling book of the same name.（全文见周日微信。）

united states america university donald trump movies earth china disney washington russia chinese marvel north america tales journal iowa alien vladimir putin mt ambassadors indonesia apple podcast governor property north american hackers beijing pacific northwest analysts nepal warner bros pg tourism washington state established users donkey ridley scott binge prometheus seventy century fox branded trojan guardians of the galaxy vol alien covenant oregon state university united states senate kathmandu sumatra mount st russian federation nepali security council helens wannacry nature communications forbidden city kerim confucius institutes urban health chinese ambassador effendi ryan price kashgar zhejiang province hebei province special english branstad chinese bridge

The Little Hunchback

The Folktale Project

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2017 18:31

In the kingdom of Kashgar, which is, as everybody knows, situated on the frontiers of Great Tartary, there lived long ago a tailor and his wife who loved each other very much. One day, when the tailor was hard at work, a little hunchback came and sat at the entrance of the shop, and began to sing and play his tambourine. The tailor was amused with the antics of the fellow, and thought he would take him home to divert his wife. The hunchback having agreed to his proposal, the tailor closed his shop and they set off together.

hunchback kashgar

【专题】慢速英语（英音）2017-02-27

From Our Own Correspondent Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2017 25:00

2017-02-27 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.New kinds of vaccines for the H7N9 strain of bird flu virus have been approved for clinical trials by China&`&s top drug regulator.The Beijing Food and Drug Administration said it will continue to provide assistance and guidance for clinical trials of the vaccines so they can enter the market as soon as possible.The vaccines have been developed by a state-owned enterprise in Beijing. There are currently no vaccines for the H7N9 strain of bird flu available on the market in China or overseas. The flu is most active in winter and spring. Two human cases of H7N9 have been reported in Beijing this year, with both patients suspected of having been exposed to live poultry. Both are in critical condition.One woman died after being infected with the bird flu in southwest China&`&s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.The central government has intensified measures to control the spread of the flu, including shutting down live poultry markets.This is Special English.The World Health Organization says the shortsightedness rate among Chinese juveniles ranks first in the world, with 70 percent of high school and college students being shortsighted. The rate is almost 40 percent in primary school students, while it is only 10 percent for their peers in the United States.A World Health Organization research report says the number of shortsighted people in China has reached 600 million, approaching half of the country&`&s total population.Experts attribute the soaring shortsightedness rate in China to the unhealthy lifestyles and learning styles which parents impose on their children.On the one hand, to achieve high scores in exams, children spend too much time studying indoors and don&`&t enough time outside in the sunlight. On the other hand, a growing number of high-tech products, including smart phones and tablet PCs, make children focus their eyes and attention on fluorescent screens for long periods of time, resulting in excessive eye fatigue.Experts suggest that youngsters maintain a proper balance between study and rest so as to protect their eyesight, and parents should play a correspondingly active role in the process.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.China will launch its most advanced communications satellite in April. The new satellite will be part of a huge network to expand the nation&`&s Wi-Fi access.The satellite and its large capacity network will enable passengers on planes and high-speed trains to access the internet.The satellite weighs around 5 metric tons. It will stay in a geostationary orbit around 36,000 kilometers above Earth for 15 years.This is the most powerful communications satellite China has ever developed. Its transmission capacity will double that of the current ones, allowing more television channels and clearer signals to be transmitted; and internet user costs will be reduced.China plans to establish a constellation of advanced communications satellites by 2025. After the plan is fulfilled, users will be able to access high-quality Wi-Fi services anywhere and anytime, including on bullet trains and planes.Scientists say China still needs to catch up with the top developers in the United States and Europe, when it comes to satellite technology and capacity.This is Special English.China&`&s deep-sea manned submarine "Jiaolong" has departed its home port in Qingdao in eastern China to start its longest mission to date, a 124-day expedition.The submarine is scheduled to explore northwest part of the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Mariana Trench in the Western Pacific during this oceanic exploration mission. The trip is set to conclude on June 9.Organized by the National Deep Sea Center, the mission will be carried out by more than 150 researchers from around 20 scientific research institutions nationwide.The expedition will cover the widest range of investigation area with diversified tasks. The submarine will dive 31 times, including seven times below 6,000 meters. The submarine holds China&`&s manned diving record. It reached a depth of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in 2012.According to the mission plan, it will perform a task in the northwest Indian Ocean polymetallic sulfides zone for the first time.The Qingdao-based National Deep Sea Center is a supportive station for deep sea facilities. It is one of the five such deep sea centers in the world. You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.Beijing and its neighboring city Tianjin are planning a monthly pass for high-speed intercity trains linking the two cities. The two sides are also considering canceling expressway toll fees.The mayor of Tianjin says the move will facilitate the integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. The outline was given in 2015 to improve transportation links in the area. It also includes moving some of Beijing&`&s low-end industries to neighboring areas.The high-speed intercity trains aim to build a modern transportation system. A unified smart prepaid traffic card has been used in 12 cities in the region, and more cities will be included by the end of the year.In addition, a network of high-speed trains covering the whole region has been approved; and another intercity railway linking Beijing and Tianjin&`&s Binhai New Area is expected to be completed by 2020.The Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway was the first of its kind in China. With a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour, a single trip between the two cities will be kept within 40 minutes. The trains will depart and arrive every 10 to 15 minutes.This is Special English.In 2015, every student at China&`&s almost 3,000 universities spent an average of 1,100 yuan, roughly 160 U.S. dollars, on online purchases. Each of them received 16 parcels on average last year, making university campuses key areas of competition for express delivery companies. The volume of deliveries and on-campus management of the companies&`& operations pose problems for college administrators. Two years ago, parcels delivered to university campuses accounted for 5 percent of the national total, which helped to create 70,000 jobs. A report says that without unified and centralized distribution terminals, the "last kilometer transport" to campuses remains chaotic in many universities.More than 65 percent of express companies in Guangdong Province conduct their on-campus business via a "stall model". Parcels are scattered on the ground in the care of a courier who waits to pass them on to the recipients. Different companies&`& stalls open at different times and in random locations. This means that many students do not receive their parcels on time. The report says that the situation is the same in Beijing, which has the largest overall campus delivery business in China.The report suggests that on campus courier stations should be designated as public welfare facilities and should be part of the campus infrastructure serving teachers and students. You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to crienglish.com. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. Now the news continues.Pakistan is to start exporting seafood to China&`&s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, using a land route that China will also use to ship oil and natural gas from the Middle East.The journey is around 1,500 kilometers. Frozen seafood will depart Pakistan&`&s Gwadar Port on the shores of the Arabian Sea in container trucks and enter China via the Khunjerab Pass, a land port in southern Xinjiang&`&s Kashgar prefecture. Regular shipments are to start on April 1, after a successful trial last month. Normally, it takes more than 30 days to transport seafood by sea from Pakistan to ports in South China&`&s Guangdong province. Now it takes only around 10 days for the seafood to be transported and cleared by customs on the land route.The wholesale price of those seafood products will drop by 10 to 20 percent after the shipments become regular.China is Pakistan&`&s biggest seafood importer, with around 75 percent of the country&`&s shrimp products sold to China. China will provide 1 billion U.S. dollars in loans for three new road projects, to further enhance the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor along the land route.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Despite winds and deep winter chills, snow-covered areas in north China have seen quick growth in tourism during the Spring Festival holiday.The China National Tourism Administration reported a record 340 million domestic visits paid by mainland travelers during the seven-day holiday which started on January 27th. This marks an increase of 14 percent compared with last year. Total tourism revenue reached 420 billion yuan, roughly 62 billion U.S. dollars.The administration said ice-and-snow tourism is gaining in popularity as Beijing gears up to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. For example, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region received 15 million travelers in the seven days, an increase of 20 percent, compared with last year. The total tourism revenue reached 1.6 billion yuan, up almost 22 percent. Xinjiang shares a common border with countries including Russia, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.In northeast China, a national forest park in Heilongjiang province, known sometimes as the Snow Town, received more than 20,000 tourists in a single day on Jan 31.China has invested heavily in the development of winter sports and recreation. There are over 200 skating rinks and 500 ski resorts spreading across 25 provinces. Around 30 million people have participated in winter sports and related activities in these areas. China plans to build a total of 650 skating rinks and 800 ski resorts by 2022.This is Special English.After three days of searching, an injured finless porpoise has finally been found in central China&`&s Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the country.Volunteers discovered the injured animal through a long-focus lens. It was seen to have a large fishhook in its back. But it was soon out of sight and disappeared before people could offer any help.The authorities and scientists conducted a search for the animal in an area of the lake which was 400-meter in diameter and 20 meters under the water.The finless porpoise is a mammal similar to the dolphin. It is an endangered species with a total population of around 1,000, fewer than the giant panda. Around 450 of them are found in Poyang Lake. You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.East China&`&s Zhejiang Province used to be a "Jurassic Park", with a great number of dinosaurs some 100 million years ago. According to a six-year research project, 82 dinosaur fossil sites have been found in the area. The fossils came from a dozen species, eight of them new in China.The research covered an area of 11,000 square kilometers in the province. Various study techniques were adopted in the research, making it one of the most comprehensive in China.The study shows that there were many dinosaurs in the area during the Cretaceous Period around 100 million years ago. Zhejiang has the largest number of dinosaur fossils among other southeastern provinces.Scientists say the discoveries also support the idea that a comet or asteroid was the cause for the extinction of the dinosaurs.This is Special English.More than 100 plant seed grains dating back 2,000 years have been unearthed at an ancient tomb in northern China&`&s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.According to the regional institute of archaeology, the discovery was made during the excavation of a civilian tomb in western Inner Mongolia.（全文见周六微信。）

Truly Myrtle Podcast - Episode 44 : living around the edges of craft

Truly Myrtle

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2016

Welcome to the Truly Myrtle Podcast! SPOIL YOURSELF MAKE ALONGWe've wrapped up our month of spoiling with more wonderful prizes! Thank you to everyone who took part and thank you to all of our generous sponsors!I wonder if you won a prize? Pop over to the Ravelry thread to find out :) THAT MEAN VOICEWe've been chatting more about our mean voices in the Ravelry group and I was reminded of some good books that I can heartily recommend:Bird by Bird - Ann LamottBig Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert (whoops forgot her name in the podcast!) NEEDLE TALKKeen to try new needles or hear what I think about some I've tried? Check out the November mini-mag. LIVING AROUND THE EDGES OF CRAFTI've made Zoë the Belladone dress from Deer and Doe. I bought the pattern from the lovely online shop Miss Maude.Zoë is sewing the City Gym Shorts from Purl SohoThe kids are learning to cook and we're using Jamie's 30 Minute Meals and Kitchen Thug 101 NEW PATTERN!Ripple Dancer is the 2nd pattern in my Colours of Light collection. It's a crescent shawl with a rippling textured border and rolled top edge and comes in two sizes.I used 1 skein of Starboard from Dark Harbour (Horace) for the small blue shawl and,2 skeins of Kashgar from Happy Go Knitty (Calluna) for the large lilac shawl.Ripple Dancer is on sale until Midnight Sunday - use the code RIPPLEDANCER for a 20% discount. As usual, the fabulous theme song is "Casting On" by Mr Roberelli

pop craft deer zo colours edges ravelry starboard kashgar minute meals

The Cupboard is Bare

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2016 27:44

Reporters with the news behind the news. In this edition: it used to be Cuba, but today Venezuela is the more troubled of the two socialist allies and the country the US president prefers to visit; there's a portrait of the city of Venice, of the quarters where the tourists don't visit, where houses are boarded up as more and more residents move away; exotic Kashgar used to be one of the key stop-overs on the ancient Silk Route. Today the modern and the ancient are coming into conflict there as China tries to bring the restive region under control; countries in southern Africa face a damaging drought after another year of insufficient rainfall - we're in landlocked Lesotho, where food supplies are now at risk; and why do we develop loyalties to one particular part of a city? In Paris, there's acute rivalry between neighbourhoods on the north and south of the River Seine. Our man in the great city climbs on his bike to sample life on the other side ...

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La Carretera del Karakorum, con Jorge Traver.

La Maleta Azul

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2015 68:12

Este mes viajamos por una de las carreteras más peligrosas del mundo, la Carretera del Karakorum, que une la mítica ciudad de Kashgar, en el tramo chino de la Ruta de la Seda, hasta la capital de Pakistán, Islamabad. La recorreremos con Jorge Traver, guía experto en viajes fuera de ruta. Con él llegaremos además hasta Nueva Delhi, atravesando algunas de las zonas más conflictivas y militarizadas del planeta. Vamos a viajar también a través de la palabra; esta vez con “El mundo de equipaje”, un libro que recoge 55 relatos firmados por casi una treintena de periodistas y escritores de la revista digital “Viajes al Pasado”. Ricardo Coarasa, uno de los responsables de la web y coautor del libro, estará con nosotros para descubrirnos esta propuesta literaria. No te lo pierdas!

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【专题】大美新疆

Spiele-Podcast.de - Gesellschaftsspiele im Test

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2014 24:00

Known as the home of singing and dancing, the land of fruits, and the place of gold and jade stones, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China boasts a vast expanse, beautiful landscape and unique folk customs. Xinjiang is a place that features on many people's travel wish list. So on today's program, let's take a trip to Xinjiang. We will sample the local food and music, and meet some wonderful people in the charming land. Stay with us. ------ Some of China's best wines are from Xinjiang. The very best ones are from Turpan, in the Taklimakan Desert, where the temperatures regularly hit 50 degrees in the summer and -20 in winter. Under such an extreme climate, one local plant in particular is highly valuable, namely, the vine. The vine obviously grows grapes, and of course where people grow grapes �C they inevitably turn to making wine. Xinjiang wines therefore have a long, noble and romantic history. China's thirst for wine has grown in recent years. Over 270 million liters were imported into the country in 2012, over 10% more than the year before. So do wine producers in Xinjiang have what it takes to compete in this lucrative market? Dominic Swire visits one vineyard in Xinjiang to find out. ------------ The Tianshan Mountain divides the northern and southern part of Xinjiang, with the two areas characterized by very different climates and landscapes. Southern Xinjiang is believed to be relatively poor compared to the north, where the Karamay Oilfields and fertile Ili River valley are situated. Over the past few decades, China has invested heavily to reduce poverty in southern Xinjiang. Of all the sectors demanding more resources, education has been a top priority. Rpt: 13 year old Merhaba is from the Kashgar region in southern Xinjiang. She is now studying in No.66 Middle School in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang. The 8th grader is among some 15,000 ethnic minority students from underdeveloped areas who are receiving free education in the region's developed cities. "After graduating from junior high school, I hoped that I could go to a big city outside Xinjiang for further education. After that, I will return to my hometown of Kashgar. Kashgar has many great tourist sites. We have the best fruits in the world. I hope more people will know about Kashgar and how great our fruits are. " Merhaba says that back in her hometown, educational resources are scarce and drop-out rates are high. But here in Urumqi, students have better teachers, textbooks, and better learning facilities. Merhaba say the enthusiasm for these classes is high and competition is fierce. She was enrolled into the No. 66 Middle School in Urumqi a year ago after excelling at the fierce entrance examination. Cherishing the opportunity of studying in such an advanced school, Nerhaba quickly got over her homesickness: "I didn't know anyone when I first came. I felt lonely and homesick. It was very unlike home here and the weather was also different. Everything was different. But my teachers and classmates helped me a lot and I got used to the new environment pretty fast. Teachers help us with daily matters, and they teach us about everything. We have many interesting in-class and extracurricular activities and it is easy to adapt to my new life." Merhaba is now the leader of the Campus TV in Urumqi No. 66 Middle School. Filming her classmates' daily life and some important campus activities has become a big part of her life and she is happy about that. Merhaba's elder brother is a graduate of the school and went to Shanghai to receive senior high school education. Merhaba is very proud of her brother. "I want to go to Shanghai. My brother is in Shanghai now and he often sends us pictures. It looks so developed. I really want to go there and see the beautiful city myself." Teachers at the school say that at least half of their graduates will go to high schools in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. A teacher surnamed Zhang says that though far away, graduates still keep in touch with their alma mater: "I am glad that these children come back often to visit us during their vacations. There is a strong bond between them and the school. Some often send us postcards from the cities where they now reside, and send us short messages to tell us about their lives: not only in terms of how great they are doing but also the problems they are encountering. Sometimes they write to us about how they miss the old days at school. It is quite touching. Most of them will be back to Xinjiang after college, by which time they'll be pillars of the local community." For 13 year old Merhaba, she doesn't have much time to look into the distant future. But she knows 'no pain, no gain". The native Uyghur speaker has learned to talk in fluent mandarin, and now, together with her class, she's struggling to master another language, English. Meng Lang is the principal of No. 66 Middle School in Urumqi. He says multilingual education helps to bridge communication divides and facilitate understanding between people of different ethnic groups in Xinjiang, where 60 percent come from ethnic minorities, including Uygur, Kazak, Russian and Mongolian groups. "It is very necessary for the children to know more than one language. If they can write and speak in their own ethnic tongue, Mandarin and English at the same time, that will help them better integrate with the outside world." The principle says schools like the one he serves have mushroomed in Xinjiang. In Urumqi alone, there are already four, with ten thousand students graduating each year. Teachers here are dedicated, not only to teaching, but also to the breakdown of ethnic barriers.

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Kashgar - Händler der Seidenstraße (Kosmos): Spiele-Podcast Nr. 203

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2014 19:20

Kashgar (Kosmos): Spiele-Podcast Nr. 203 - Ein bisschen Dominion mit offenen Karten. Die Rezension auch als Video: YouTube.

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Garrett's Games 390 - Glass Road and Kashgar

Garrett's Games and Geekiness

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2013 28:51

kashgar glass road garrett's games

Boom and Gloom

Films — Affairs

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2013 2:18

Kashgar may look like just another Chinese boomtown but the city is riven with ethnic tensions. Monocle visits a frontier where tradition is clashing with change.

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Apex Express – July 9, 2009

KPFA - APEX Express

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 9, 2009 8:58

Stuffed & Starved, a talk with author Raj Patel about overfeeding/ undernourishment and why. Also, a police video targeted Raj Jayadev. But has this hurt or helped Silicon Valley De-bug, that helps low-wage workers and families in a high tech world? Plus, violence in the Uyghur region: revealing tensions including a look at the endangered city of Kashgar in a talk with Alim Seytoff. The post Apex Express – July 9, 2009 appeared first on KPFA.

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The Stairway to Heaven (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2003

sermon transcript The Need for a Stairway to Heaven Andy read the scripture beautifully for us. This morning, I came up to him during the break and asked if he would also add the John reading. I was just going to have him read Genesis, but we really have before us the Old Testament shadow and the New Testament reality. We have the Old Testament vision and dream fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and we had to read both of them, didn’t we? And to have a clear sense of how Jesus Christ is for us the stairway to Heaven. The ladder that Jacob dreamed about has come true. There is a way for sinful people like you and me to go to Heaven. Isn’t that the central message of Christmas? That people like you and me, sinners, we can go to heaven because Jesus descended from Heaven to lift us up. And to me, that’s the joy and delight of this season. And all the other things are either blessings or distractions, depending on how you look at them. I choose to look on them as blessings and they’re a delight and a pleasure, and that’s a good thing. But the center of it all is that people like you and me, sinners, can be lifted up out of the dust, really, end up in the glory of Heaven. When I think of Christmas, I think of it as a season of dreams. I remember when I was a child, I had a hard time sleeping. I don’t know if you remember that. I was always waiting for Christmas. We were a home and a family that talked a lot about Santa Claus, I’m not speaking at all on that topic this morning, but I do know that I was wanting to be the one that would see him, and I had a hard time sleeping. I knew that I had passed on from childhood to adulthood when I collapsed in bed, Christmas Eve, delighted at last for a chance to sleep and didn’t want to be awoken early the next morning. Now I know I’m an adult, all I want is a good night’s sleep. But when I was growing up, it was just a time of dreams. And they weren’t sleeping dreams, there were wakeful dreams, excited to think about what the day would bring. Now, the dreams were always materialistic, I have to be honest with you. There were things that I wanted, there were certain things, and also even now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. To be with relatives and friends, to have occasions together, memorable occasions, times with loved one, all of those things are good things. But I think that ultimately Christmas is a story of a dream fulfilled, and we’re looking this morning at Jacob’s dream, a vision of a stairway to heaven. Jacob’s Flight and Nathanael’s Unbelief Now, to begin with, we have to understand why we need a stairway to heaven. Well, why is it necessary? And I think a good place to start is with the character of Jacob himself. Why was Jacob in that place that he eventually named Bethel? He was traveling through the desert, and he lay down on the ground with a rock for a pillow. Now, I’m going to say more about that in a moment, but he was literally running for his life. And why? Because he was a con artist, he was a schemer, a deceiver, and he had burned his bridges at home, and so he was running for his life. The name Jacob literally means one who grasped the heel, and in Jewish idiom, that’s a sense of a deceiver, a con artist. And his brother, Esau, had said, “Rightly is he named deceiver, the one who grasped the heel because he has swindled me twice.” He swindled Esau out of his birthright when Esau was famished and he was willing to trade it for a bowl of stew, Jacob was more than willing to make the exchange. Actually, he somewhat goaded him into it, suggested it. But even worse, just before his flight that led to this vision, he lied to his father, his blind and dying patriarchal father. He lied to him that he might steal Esau’s first-born blessing. “I am Esau, your first-born,” he said to his father. That’s a lie. And as a result of that, his bridges were burned, specifically with Esau more than anything. Esau wanted to kill him, and so Jacob was fleeing for his life. In Genesis 28:10, it says, “Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran, and when he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.” The big problem was not Esau, the big problem was his own sinfulness, his own wickedness. Michael Cardon, in writing a song about this, said, “A stone for a pillow as hard as his head, he lay on holy ground.” But I don’t really think that Jacob’s problem was a hard head, I think it was a hard heart. It was a hard heart. And Jacob was a sinner, and he needed a Savior. The same is true of Nathaniel in the New Testament story. Now, Nathaniel is the best that Israel has to offer. Jesus said, “Now, here is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile.” He’s exactly the opposite of Jacob. He’s really the best that Israel had to offer. And yet he also needed a Savior. Nazareth, can anything good come from there? Come and see, he was told. An initial disposition of disbelief. Now, I don’t blame him for it. There was nothing in the Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah coming from Nazareth. But I guess my point is that even the best that Israel had to offer, he needed a Savior as well. And this is why we must have a ladder to heaven, a stairway to heaven, because God lives in a high and lofty place. God is Exalted and Lives in a High and Holy Place Look at the verse in your outline there in Isaiah 57:15, this is a magnificent verse. It says, “This is what the high and lofty one says. He who lives forever, whose name is holy, I live in a high and a holy place.” I’ll stop there. The rest of the verse is magnificent. But this is a statement of God’s exalted nature. He is a high and lofty God, He is the God above all gods, the name above all names. And it says that he lives in a high and holy place. High and lifted up. That’s the way Scripture portrays our God. Isaiah 6:1, “In the year the King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.” This is our God, a high and exalted God. And the Scripture says He’s exalted far above all other gods, which we know are false gods, really demons masquerading as deities. Psalm 97:9 says, “For you, O Lord, are most high above all the earth. You’re exalted far above all gods.” He’s an exalted God, and He’s exalted above all the puny nations of earth. Psalm 113:4, “The Lord is high above all nations. His glory is above the heavens.” And then Isaiah 40 makes this very clear, “Surely the nations are like a drop in the bucket. They are regarded as dust on the scales. He weighs the islands, as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires nor all of its animals for burnt offerings. Before him, the nations are as nothing. They’re regarded by him as less than nothing. To whom then will you compare God or who is his equal? He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people before him are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and lays them out like a tent to live in. He reduces the princes of the world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground than he blows on them and they wither and become like dust.” Dust, dust, dust. That’s what the nations are to God. They’re nothing, they’re small. This is our God. He’s a high and exalted God, far above all gods and far above all the nations of men. And he lives, it says, in a high and holy place. Now, for myself, I love history. I like to read about exploration in particular. I like to read, for example, the journeys of Marco Polo as he went along what became the Silk Road. And I’ve been to Kashgar in China and some other places where Marco Polo traveled. Well, he ended up in the capital city of the greatest empire in terms of land mass that the world had ever seen, the grandson of Genghis Khan, the great Kublai Khan. And he ended up in a province in Northern China called Shantou, we know it is Xanadu, and there was this magnificent palace in which 6000 guests could come and have all their needs and wants met. And this is what Marco Polo wrote. He said it was a huge palace of marble and other ornamental stones. There are fully 16 miles of parkland well watered with streams and springs diversified with lawns. Within the parkland grazed animals of all sorts, such as heart and stag and roebuck, which the Khan kept for recreation and sport. Musicians would play, entertainers, dancers. The palace hall was richly adorned with tapestries from all over the region. A magnificent place, the kind that just defies description. But if you tried to get in there without an invitation, those Mongol warriors would shoot you down. They were the best archers in the world. Impossible to get in and see it if you were not welcome. Now, God regards that like dust on the scales. That’s nothing. How then will you, a sinner, get to heaven? How are you going to get there? He lives in a high and holy place. He lives, it says, in unapproachable light. You can’t get close to him. You can’t see his face and live. Now, how are we going to get close to this lofty God? How are we going to see him? How much more? If you can’t get to see the Kublai Khan, how much more can you not see the high and holy God? That’s why we need a stairway to heaven. Heaven is Closed to Sinners Now, the angels that were ascending and descending on that staircase, they were awesome, much more powerful than the Mongol warriors. Their arrows more deadly and more sure. But how much more powerful is God Himself? Look at the vision in verses 12 and 13. He had a dream, Jacob had a dream, in which he saw a stairway resting on the Earth with its top reaching to Heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord and He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father, Abraham, and the God of Isaac.” And so he had a vision and a dream of God standing at the top of the stairway to heaven, looking down at him. And this holy God looks on us sinners and sees us as we really are. God will not accept us just as we are. We must be atoned for. We must be cleansed of our sins. We must have a way to be lifted up off the dust and make it up to this high and holy place. The Deceptive Stairway to Heaven Now, we have this sense inside us, don’t we, of a separation between us and God? And along with it, an equally strong pride that we’re going to overcome that separation, we’re going to build ourselves our own stairways. False stairway #1: Human Religions And so, we make these deceptive stairways. For example, human religion. Human religion, the essence of that is building your own way up to the holy God, a stairway to heaven made through your own good works and achievements and religious regulations and observances and duties and prayers, all of these things. And sometimes you can see it even in the architecture. Like in Central America, you look at some of the Mayan temples, they’re pyramids with stairs going really right up to the heavens, 91 stairs on a side, the top platform, four times 91 plus the last one, 365, one for each day of the year. They were great astronomers. And they were looking at the stars, which we are testifying to them of their own puniness, testifying to them of the greatness of God, and yet the priests, as they would go with every step, would offer a sacrifice to the serpent God that they were worshipping. They’re building a stairway to heaven, so they think. Closer to home, something we would be perhaps more familiar with, Medieval Roman Catholicism, a system of works, a system of obediences set out by the Pope and by the councils that they would follow. In Rome, there was an actual staircase, the Scala Sancta, the holy staircase. Supposedly, Jesus had gone up these stairs to be judged by Pilate, and I guess the idea is that in the Crusades, they were actually removed to Rome, and you could go there. And the Pope offered an indulgence: Nine years for each prayer prayed on each step on your knees, and you could work your way or you could work your loved one’s way out of purgatory step by step. Perhaps some of you saw the Martin Luther film this summer, it was out, and Luther himself did it. He went up that stairway step by step, praying to God for the indulgence, to get the nine years for each step, and then he could go back and start it again and again and again, just like a machine reducing time in purgatory, a stairway to heaven. False stairway #2: Human Achievements and Acquisitions Another stairway would be human achievements, accomplishments. It’s a different kind of heaven, the heaven of earthly pleasure and pride. Perhaps ultimately, heaven itself. As Psalm 73 says, “They lay claim both to Earth and to heaven, the wealthy oppressors.” But there was a stairway to wealth and riches during the Klondike gold rush in 1898. They called it The Golden Staircase. 1500 steps cut in ice and rock, very steep, very slippery. And these gold rushers were climbing up it step by step with heavy packs on their backs, hoping to make something of themselves, make something of their lives. Every step perilous. At any moment, they might slip right back down to the valley and be killed. A stairway, a golden staircase to a different kind of heaven. Perhaps the most famous stairway to heaven of all in the Bible is the Tower of Babel. Human achievement and accomplishment. “Come, let us build bricks and bake them thoroughly, and make a tower that reaches up to heaven and make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the earth.” That’s what we’ll do. And so they made a stairway to heaven, so they thought. And God said, “Well, let’s go down and see that little tower that they’re making. Let’s go all the way down and see how much progress they’ve made.” Now, they never did reach heaven that way, and they won’t. False stairway #3: Human Experiences Or you could follow Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Start with physiological needs, and then your needs for love and belonging, and then your needs for esteem, and ultimately the highest pinnacle of that pyramid, self-actualization. Being all you can be. It sounds like the army, but that’s literally what it was, that you would be everything you could be. A stairway to a different kind of heaven. Or human experiences, just collecting them in life, whether religious experiences like meditation with Zen and all that kind of thing, or pilgrimages, you could do that, or just travel, been there and done that. Collecting a life full of experiences, a different kind of staircase. The Builder of False Stairways: The Devil Himself Now, behind all of these false staircases is the ultimate stairway-to-heaven builder himself: The devil. Isaiah 14, he said, “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.” And he’s the one that’s suggesting all of these false ways that none of them will get us to Heaven. The true stairway to Heaven, the vision was had by Jacob himself. Look again at the text in Genesis 28. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the Earth with its top reaching to Heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it, and there above it stood the Lord, and He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth.” Interesting phrase, “And you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you, and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.” The True Stairway to Heaven Understanding Jacob’s Vision: An Unfinished Dream Look at Jacob’s lowliness. He’s lying on the ground, on the dust of the ground. He’s got a rock under his head for a pillow. He is corrupted inside, he’s a deceiver and a con artist. He’s running from his own family, he has an uncertain future. And to this man, God appears. And it says that the stairway was resting on the earth right near him. It came right down to where he was, right down to the dust of the earth, that’s where the stairway reached. And it successfully reached all the way up to God, and there were angels ascending and descending, moving from the hidden heavenly realms to the lowly, dusty, earthy realm, and the Lord himself at the top of the ladder looking down at him. And along with it comes a magnificent promise, the promise of God. I am the God of Abraham and Isaac, I am the God of the covenant. I am the God who will give you a vast number of descendants, as numerous as the dust of the earth. But even within this, there’s a hint of Jacob’s lowliness. Do you remember what God said to Adam in the curse? He said, “By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.” Moses said in Psalm 90:3, “You turn men back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, O sons of men.’” In Ecclesiastes, it says, “Man’s fate is like that of the animals. The same fate awaits them both. As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place. All come from dust and to dust, all return.” So we have a vision of a stairway that reaches from the dust and from a dusty man all the way up to the glories of heaven, but you know it’s just a vision. It’s just a dream. Interestingly in his dream, he doesn’t actually get to ascend the staircase, he wakes up lying on the ground because it’s not yet been fulfilled. The prophecy is fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the seed through whom all nations will be blessed, He is the one who came to earth to Nazareth. He is the one who ministered physically, took on a human body. Understanding Christ’s Statement: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (John 1:46-51) Now, Nathanael, look over at John Chapter 1, Nathanael had utter disdain for Nazareth. He said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” This was a small precursor of the kind of reception that Jesus would get from the Jews, from his own people. “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.” Phillip says the right thing, “Come and see.” So he’s doing evangelism, “Come and see, come and look at this one who we think is the messiah, come and see.” And so he came and saw. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Now, here is a true Israelite in whom there’s nothing false, in whom there is nothing false.” Not, “Here is an Israelite who is about 5 foot 8 inches tall,” or “Here’s an Israelite who’s wearing a red turban,” or “Here’s an Israelite who’s got three sheep with him.” No, “Here’s an Israelite in whom there’s no guile, no trickery.” Well, that’s rather striking. Nathanael doesn’t deny that it’s true. So Nathanael wasn’t that kind of guy. He wasn’t going to play a game saying, “Oh, it isn’t me, I’m not really like that.” He wasn’t that way, that’s exactly who he was. But the question in Nathanael’s mind is, “How do you know me? How do you know me? We’ve never met.” Very much like later with the Samaritan woman at the well, He knew everything about her. He knew that the man that was waiting for her at home wasn’t her husband. He knew that. And Nathanael has the same question, “How do you know me?” And Jesus said, “I saw you, I saw you while you were under the fig tree.” Now, we don’t really know, and Spurgeon goes on at length about what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree. We could sit down and kind of debate, “What was he doing under the fig tree? We don’t have any idea what he was doing.” It was a secret between him and Jesus, perhaps he was on his face praying that the Messiah would come. We have no idea. But he said, “I watched you while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Well, that was enough for Nathanael, and he gave him lavish praise. “Rabbi,” he said, “You were the Son of God, you are the king of Israel.” Jesus also is a true Israelite in whom there’s no guile. He’s not going to say, “No, it isn’t so.” He’s going to say, “I wonder how you believe with so little evidence. You believe because I told you I saw you while you were under the fig tree, you shall see greater things than that.” What a magnificent promise, because Jesus has come to earth because of the miracle of Bethlehem, because of the incarnation, you believers in Jesus, you’re going to see greater things than you have ever seen in your life. You shall see greater things than that. He can say that no matter what you would say to him. No matter what your reasons are for believing right now, no matter what your testimony, you shall see greater things than that, no matter what it was that ultimately led you to faith in Christ, you shall see greater things than that. You who believe, you shall see, and that Greek is plural, “you all,” all of you will see heaven opened, and you will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. O come, Lord Jesus. Aren’t you hungry to see it? Heaven opened the veil between us and the invisible world removed, and the welcoming God at the top of the stairway, saying, “Come, enter into your rest. Enter into the joy of your Master. Come up here,” Revelation 4:1. Enter and come in. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now gained introduction and access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 5:1-2). And so, He says, you’re going to see greater things than that, you will see heaven itself, and so he makes this astonishing promise, and He speaks of heaven open and the angels ascending and descending. And so it was in Christ’s life, the angels were all over Christ’s life, just like they were all over the staircase. They descended on the night He was born, there were shepherds watching their fields out at night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord, this will be assigned to you, you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rest.” When the angels had left them and gone back into heaven, do you see the ascending and descending? When they had gone back into heaven, they said, “Come, let’s go see in Bethlehem this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” And so, the angels descended that night to announce Christ’s birth, the angels descended to minister to Jesus when He was suffering and tempted in the wilderness, the angels descended to minister to Jesus when He was wrestling, and great drops of blood were coming from him in Gethsemane. The angels came down and announced his great resurrection when He had risen from the dead, the angels were there, and then when Jesus ascended from his chosen apostles and was going up to heaven, and the cloud hid Him from their sight, the two men in white, two angels came and said, “Jesus will return in the same way you’ve seen Him go.” The angels were ministering all over the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, but the magnificent central truth is Jesus is Jacob’s stairway. Christ’s Credentials: Heaven-Descended, Heaven-Ascending He is the stairway to heaven, the angels of God ascend and descend on the Son of Man, and they wouldn’t be coming if it weren’t for me, they’d be coming with judgment and wrath, but not as ministering spirits, because that’s what they are. What are Christ’s credentials? Well, he’s heaven descended. He’s come down from heaven. It says in John Chapter 6, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but shall raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Do you understand? Jacob’s vision, left him in the dust with a stone for a pillow, Jesus raises us up and takes us to heaven. “I will raise them up in the last day, I’ll take you not just from the dust of Palestine, I’ll take you from the dust of the grave. And when you see heaven open with your own eyes, no longer by faith, but now at last by sight, you will know how great I am, and then you will say, ‘Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel,’” and the evidence will be complete. “You will know when I take you to heaven, that I am the Stairway to Heaven. When I lift you up from the very dust of the grave, when I give you resurrection bodies, and when you live with me forever, from the dust of the grave to the glory of Heaven, I am the Stairway to Heaven, I and no other.” Hebrews 4, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are. He came down to earth and walked the walk we walk in every way, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace.” What was forbidden for us in the old covenant is now commanded in the new: “Let us approach the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Hebrews 10:“Therefore brothers, since we have confidence now to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way open for us through the curtain, let us draw near to God.” But we’re not there yet, are we? We still got a journey to travel. We’re still more dusty than glorious. Christ’s Achievement: Building a Stairway to Heaven The transition hasn’t fully occurred yet, and you feel the dust of Jacob, don’t you? You feel the sin and the pull downward, and Jesus knows all about that, and so He has ministered to you and He will continue to minister to you. As a matter of fact, he’ll even send the angels as ministering spirits to help those who will inherit salvation. And so, the angels will be around and they’ll ascend and descend and they’ll be busy around you your whole life, protecting you and keeping you safe, and he’s going to send them one more time. It says in Matthew 24:31, “He will send His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other.” And so the angels will be sent forth that final time to gather up his children and they’ll take you to heaven, and so then you will see that Jesus is that stairway to heaven. He is the way, He is the truth and the life, and no one ascends to heaven except through Him. And what are we going to do about it? How are we going to understand this? Application Well first, trust in Christ, not in your own Stairway to Heaven. Can you build a stairway to heaven through your religious efforts, through your achievements, through your experiences, through all of the things you do? It’s high and lofty, you’ll never get there. And the Scripture testifies that every building you do is a stairway down descending away because of arrogance and pride. Give it up. Through simple faith in Christ, trust in Him that you might have eternal life. If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ today, can I ask for the rest of the holidays, focus on the promise that He gives in John Chapter 1. You shall see heaven opened. You’re going to be there. What was just a vision in the Old Testament, well, for you will be fulfilled sight; now we walk by faith, not by sight, but some day you will see with your own eyes Jesus sitting on his throne, and then just worship Christ, worship Him constantly as the angels do, that’s their number one job in heaven. And frankly, all their ministry to us is just a subset of their worship of Him, they love Him and they do what He says. And so focus on Him and worship Him as they do, make Christ the center. He is the only one who can take you from the dust of the earth to the glory of Heaven.

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The Compassion of Lord of the Harvest (Matthew Sermon 34 of 151) (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2002

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

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A Tale of Two Empires, Part 2 (Habakkuk Sermon 5 of 9) (Audio)

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Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2002

I. Wreckage of a World of Empires I'd like to ask if you would, take your Bibles and open to Habakkuk 2, continuing our series on Habakkuk. And this is the second time that we're looking at these verses, which culminated in one of the greatest verses, I think, in the entire Bible. Verse 14, "The Earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." We are surrounded everyday by the evidence of the two great empires that are being built right in front of us. We have the empire of the glory of man, and we have the empire of the glory of God. Now, Babylon represents the first, the empire of the glory of man. And yet, it's not just military empires that are around us. Yes, the lines are drawn on the map as a result of conquest and military action of the past, but not much of that is going on right now. It went on 55-60 years ago during World War II, but right now nations are not seeking to expand their borders. And yet there are still the effects of past conquests, military and otherwise, around us all the time, because there are other empires being built. There are, for example, financial empires. I've been doing some research now on 100 years ago. There was a group of people called Robber Barons, these were a powerful industrialists who were sometimes called captains of industry. I guess it depends how you look on it, but they would organize an industry to its nth degree, and monopolize it so that they could gain control, complete control over that industry, because they wanted no competition. And ultimately they organized America for business. It's true, but they wielded such incredible power that they had to step up and the government had to break apart some of those trusts and those monopolies. I'm thinking for example of Andrew Carnegie who organized the steel industry, or Cornelius Vanderbilt, the commodore who organized the railroad industry, JP Morgan who organized finances. By the way, we got a discover bill, I'm not going to tell you what was in it, but I turned over in the back and there was the word Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, The House of Morgan is still with us. We're still surrounded by the effects of these empires. And then there's perhaps the greatest of all, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, which in its hey day controlled 90% of the oil industry in the United States, 90%. How did he do it? Well, he had special deals with the railroad, so they gave him kickbacks and information and little by little, he was able to put smaller competitors out of business, an empire was built, step-by-step, not very different from the military conquest that we've talked about. As a matter of fact, he frequently, in his writings and his journal, compared himself to Napoleon. And so we have the effects of empires all around us even to this very day. Ruthless men who sweep the earth, those that use their power and their strength and their intellect and their ability for their own glory. No, I'm not saying each of those did that, but I'm saying that there is building and structuring and empire building going on all the time. Now, the same was going on in Habakkuk's day. Habakkuk looked at his own people and he saw a little mini empires, little mini emperors. There were people within Jewish society that were using their position for their own advancement. They were using their position as a judge to accept bribes, for example, and not render justice where it was due. And so they would get wealthy. Other businessmen were using unjust tactics to crush competitors and to crush the poor and they're adding And Habakkuk looked at that and just lifted up his hands and said, "How long O Lord, is this going to go on? Why do you remain silent? Why are you doing nothing when there's just corruption and injustice among your own people? Why?" Well, God answered, and said, "Look at the nations. Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed for I'm going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people. They'll allot to themselves and promote their own honor. They're coming, Habakkuk, the Babylonians are coming, and they're going to destroy you just like they destroyed the Assyrians and the Egyptians before them, they're going to destroy you too." Well, this was a deeper problem, wasn't it? Habakkuk said, "How can this be? I was intending that you just fix the problem, not that you erase the nation. How can it be that you're going to use this wicked pagan godless people to come in and erase the people of God, the Jews? Now, I admit we have our problems, we have our sins, but it's not that bad, is it? How can it be?" And so he asked the why question even deeper. Habakkuk 1:13, he says, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? Why God are you not acting on the unrighteousness in human history? Why do you hold back? Why are you quiet while these empires get built?" Habakkuk chapter two, is God's timeless answer to that question. Now, that's a big picture question, isn't it? What is going on in human history with the rise and fall of the nations? For Habakkuk, he wanted a specific question. What is going on with the Babylonians? What are you going to do with the Babylonians? God gives a four-part answer to Habakkuk in Habakkuk chapter two. First he says, and we talked about this last time, Babylon will be destroyed in turn. That's the first answer. Secondly, Babylon represents a cycle of human history, so that one nation rises and then falls and the next one comes and takes its place, and all of that is going to amount to dust in the wind, all of the human labor of self-glorifying empire building will amount to nothing. It's going to be fuel for the fire, it's going to be dust in the wind. Because thirdly, God is building his own empire. And it will last forever and ever. You see the two juxtaposed in Verses 13 and 14, look again at them. "Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Do you see it? You see the human empire building and it's going to amount to fuel for the fire. You see God filling the whole world with His own glory, just as the waters cover the sea. That's the third answer. And then fourthly, it's really the first one he covers, but logically the fourth. We've got the big picture all of the empires rising and following God's glory. Well, what about the individual, what about the lowly person? What about the single prophet for example, like Habakkuk? What about the righteous in the land? What about individual people? He answers that in Habakkuk 2:4 look again at it, he says there, "The righteous will live by his faith." By faith alone do you survive the ebbs and flows of human history. By faith alone do you enter that Kingdom of God's glory. By faith in Jesus Christ has God's redemptive plan unfolded. By faith in Christ alone, will you survive history and ultimately judgement day. That's the four part answer that he gives. II. The Law of the Boomerang: Babylon Will Be Destroyed in Turn Now, last time, we talked about the first of these, that is that Babylon will be destroyed in turn. Now, recently, my children and I were listening to a Patch The Pirate tape, we love Patch The Pirate. Some of you that are younger parents have heard it. He's great and he talks about... He takes these biblical principles and weaves them into an interesting story. And this particular one was said in Australia. And he taught what he called the Law of the boomerang. The law of the boomerang. How many of you've ever seen a boomerang? It's a curved pieces of stick with a twist on one side and a twist on the other, and if you throw it in a certain way, it flies through the air and if you're good at it, it ends back in your hand. If you're not good at it, it ends in the neighbor's window. So you need to be very, very careful. You need a huge yard or don't use it. Well, the aborigines out in the outback know exactly how to throw it so that it goes around accomplishes its task, or it comes back into their hand. Now what, according to Patch The Pirate is the law of the boomerang? Well, it's got to do with the golden rule, do to others as you would have them do you. And the flip side of that is however you do to others, it's going to come back on you. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 7:12. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." Matthew 7:2 says, "The measure you use is the measure that will be measured to you." This is a consistent biblical principle, isn't it? Consistent warning, look at, listen to Psalm 7:15-16, it says, "He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made. The trouble he causes recoils on Himself, his violence comes down on his own head." Proverbs 26:27, says, "If A man digs a pit, he'll fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him." The schemes that you make, the way you treat others, that's what's going to come back on you. If you dig a pit you're going to fall into it. Concerning military conquest, Jesus put it this way. He said to Peter, "Put your sword away for whoever draws the sword will die by the sword." If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. That's the law of the boomerang. Common everyday way of speaking is what goes around comes around, right? And so if you are a Babylonian empire builder and you sweep in and conquer your neighbors, what are they going to do when the time is right and your time has finished on the world stage? The empire that you have built will crumble because the people you have dominated will come back, and will conquer you. Babylon will get there’s too. Look at verses 7-8. It says "Will not your debtors suddenly arise, will they not wake-up and make you tremble then you will become their victim because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you, for you have shed man's blood, you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them." Then again, look at Verse 15-17, it says "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunks so that he can gaze on their naked bodies." He's talking there about conquest, about the wine of conquering. And He says, "You poured it out for your neighbors, guess what? The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around to you." It's the law of the boomerang. You gave it out, now it's coming back on your head, "Drink and be exposed. The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around to you and disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you've done to Lebanon will overwhelm you and your destruction of animals will terrify you, for you have shed man's blood, you've destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them." It's the law, isn't it? The law of the boomerang. The way you treat others is the way it's going to be treated back on you. The measure you use is the measure you'll receive. Well, Habakkuk says, "Sounds good. Babylon will be destroyed in turn. They'll get it." And so in chapter 3:16, he says, "Okay, that's worth waiting for." He says, "I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us." I'm waiting now for Babylon to get theirs. But you know something, it goes a lot deeper than that, doesn't it? III. All Human Empires Are Fuel for the Fire The second point is that, you know something, Babylon is going to get there is by another empire that's going to rise, it's the empire of the Medes and the Persians. And they're going to ride it for a while, aren't they? They're going to be on the crest of the wave for a while. And so on and so on. "Nation will rise against nation," Jesus said, "and kingdom against kingdom, until the end comes." So really Habakkuk two echoes through all of human history. Look again at chapter 2:2-3, "Then the Lord replied, 'write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets, so that a Herald may run with it.'" Look at verse 3, "For the revelation awaits an appointed time. It speaks of the end." Do you see that" it's speaking of the end. The end of what? Well, the end of the Babylonians but it speaks to the end of history, doesn't it? Because this cycle just keeps on going and going. One Nation rises and another falls. If you look throughout chapter two, you don't see the word Babylon anywhere, do you? Woe to him who... Woe to the one who does this. If the shoe fits, wear it. If this is what you have done to your neighbor, then the woes of Habakkuk two come down on you. It's universal language written to any military conqueror who rides out with wicked motives, even perhaps to the owner of a monopoly or a trust that uses their power to squelch or to push out other smaller businesses so that they alone stand as the dominator. Look at Verse Six, it says, "Woe to him who piles up stolen goods, and makes himself wealthy by extortion." You see how it works. It's not just military conquerors but anyone who deals in this way with his neighbor. And so the Lord gives us general language in Verse 13, "Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing." It literally says, "Is it not from the Lord? It is from the Lord that the people's labor ends up to nothing, it is God's decree because God will have no competition. In the end, his glory will stand alone. It's not an accident that the empires have come and gone and there's very little show for them. It's not an accident that there's almost nothing to show of Napoleon's empire. It's not an accident that there's very little to show of Genghis Khan's empire, by the way, the biggest that the world has ever seen, in terms of land mass, and nothing to show for it except for records in history. The reason is that Babylon itself is a symbol of human glory, and God opposes human glory with all of His being. He hates it. Well, you glorify yourself, if you elevate yourself arrogantly pridefully, you will be cast down. He who exalts himself will be humbled, the Bible says so. Now Babylon has a past, an ancient past. Babylon, it also says in Scripture, has a future. Very interesting. Where did Babylon come from? It was founded by a man named Nimrod. Genesis Chapter 10 refers to him. He was, I believe, probably the first military conqueror potentate type. Genesis 10. It says that Cush, Noah's grandson was the father of Nimrod and he grew to be a mighty warrior on the Earth, He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. The first centers of His kingdom, Genesis 10:10, were Babylon, Eruch, Akkad, Calneh and Shinar. From there he went on to Assyria and built Nineveh. So he built Babylon and he built Nineveh. And so he was a world-conquering guy. This is Nimrod. It wasn't long after that in Genesis 11 that the people that inhabited Babylon built the tower of Babel for their own glory. They built a tower, and it rose higher and higher, for their own glory. And God came down and confused the languages and cast them down, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. In New Testament times however the mantle of Babylon had passed to the Romans. And so in 1 Peter 5:13, it says this, Peter writing, I believe church tradition places him in Rome at the time of his death. He died in Rome. And Peter said this, "She who is in Babylon, [the church] chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son, Mark." Babylon meant Rome. You see the mantle of Babylon had passed to the Roman Empire at that point. They'd wear it for a while and then they'd pass Babylon on to the next conquering nation, and so it went on and on. Well, Babylon also has a future. It's mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 14:8, "a second angel followed and said, 'Fallen fallen is Babylon the great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.'" And then in Revelation 18:1-2, "After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority and the Earth was illuminated by his splendor, with a mighty voice, he shouted, 'Fallen fallen is Babylon, the great. All the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.'" and so in the end, Babylon the symbol of human glory, gets judged by the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus comes back and destroys Babylon. He destroys the city of human glory. And in Revelation 18:9 and following, this is what it says this is the lament of the Earth over Babylon the Great. "When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry, 'woe, woe, oh great city, oh Babylon, City of power, in one hour your doom has come, the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes, anymore. Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen, purple silk and scarlet cloth, every sort of citron wood and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and carriages, and bodies and souls of men." What is that? That is the truck and trade of Babylon the great. It is the stuff of this earth. It is human glory and all of the human comforts that that glory brings. The final incarnation of Babylon the great is the rule of anti-Christ on the Earth. He. 2 Thessalonians 2, sets himself up in God's temple, make himself equal to God whom Jesus Christ, it says, will overthrow with his breath and with the glory of His second coming. Jesus will come back with his glory. So in summary of the second point, Babylon represents all of human glory and in the end God fights against human glory and overthrows it. IV. God’s Eternal Empire Well, what does he overthrow it with? Well, with the kingdom of His own glory, the glory of Jesus Christ who will reign forever and ever. Somebody say, Amen. The glory of Jesus Christ and he comes and establishes a kingdom and the world-wide scope of that kingdom is laid out in Verse 14. Look at it again. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is a prophecy, is it not? It's speaking of the future, it speaks of the end. It's not been fully fulfilled at this point. It's going on, it's advancing but it's not complete yet. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Now, look at the first word in Verse 14. It says, "For the Earth will be filled," what is that? It's a connection to verse 13. Well, all of the labor of human glory is going to be fuel for the fire. What is that? At the clearing of the building site, you got to remove just like What's going on down at ground zero of 911, they've got to remove all of that twisted melted wreckage and get it out of there, if they want to build something else. And so it is with human glory, it must be removed, utterly removed if the kingdom of God is going to stand in all of its glory. You've got to remove it for the earth will be filled instead with the glory of God, the knowledge of the glory of God. You've got to remove all of that human glory. What is Glory? Now, what is his glory? Well, let me tell you something. The Glory of God already fills the earth. Did you know that? We've talked about it before, but this is what it says in Isaiah 6, The prophet Isaiah in his call, it says "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple," this is Isaiah seeing Jesus glory. "Above him there were seraphs, each with six wings. With two wings, they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is filled with His glory now.'" It's already here. Well, how did it get there? Well, He wove it into creation. It was there at the start. He made this world glorious. He put his fingerprints on everything he did. But he had a higher plan. He intended not only that the Earth be filled with His glory, but according to Habakkuk 2:14, that the Earth be filled with the knowledge of His glory. And for that, you need people, don't you? Worms and eagles and trees and babbling brooks and clouds cannot know God. And so, he said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…" Male and female, He created them in the image of God, that they would know His glory, that they would be creatures after his own mind so that they could see a babbling brook or a worm or an eagle or a cloud or a forest and say, "God made that, to God be the glory." But something happened, didn't it? Sin entered the world and perverted everything. And so the mind of man was twisted and perverted, and instead of seeing glory of God everywhere, it saw instead, things to be worshipped. Romans 1:20-23, "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, and birds, and animals and reptiles." They exchanged the glory of God for something created, God therefore cursed the world. And we had therefore diminished glory. He subjected the created world to futility, to frustration. And we were born with darkened minds so that we could not see the glory of God in creation. But all that's going to change. All that is changing now, and why? Because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ reverses that whole thing, and why? Because the Holy Spirit comes with the Gospel of God's glory and changes your mind. We did pretty well, biologically filling the world, didn't we? There are people everywhere, even the most remotest places are filled with people. But is the world filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea? Have you ever been down to the sea? Have you seen how completely the waters cover that territory? Do you realize that in some parts of the ocean it's six miles deep? Do people know God's glory that much? Is the earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord now that way? No. But it's changing, isn't it? The kingdom of God is advancing step-by-step through missionary endeavor, through you going out and sharing the gospel with your neighbors and co-workers with other people, and what happens. Well, I'll tell you what happens. You share that powerful gospel, the apostle Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it's got power…" it's got power to put it back the way it used to be, the way it was meant to be, that we would know God's glory. It's got power. The gospel comes through your lips and an unbeliever hears and their hearts are changed. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, it says, "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness…'" that's glory, in Creation, isn't it? The same God who did that "made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." That's called conversion, folks, and it comes by believing the Gospel. So you hear the Gospel and your heart is changed. Immediately, you start seeing the world differently, don't you? Look at an unbeliever in Irian Jaya, Stone-Age tribe. He has been an idle worshiper all his life. The missionaries come, Don Richardson, let's say, shares the Gospel and they come to faith in Christ. They repent and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God comes into their mind. Everything's different. The next morning the sun comes up like it always has. But it's different now, isn't it, for that individual? What does he see in the sun rays as they go across in the pink early morning sky? Does he just see a sunrise? Does he believe that his god of stone did it? No, he understands this is my Father's world. God made that. God made it. It changes everything. It changes it for a scientist. Scientist goes into the laboratory and sees some principle of scientific technique. Does he say, "Oh, how smart I am," no that's idolatry. Instead he says, "God made it that way. Everything changes." The Earth starts getting filled more and more with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea The kingdom of Jesus Christ is spreading. But it's got a future, doesn't it? We're not going to see it completed in this world. Forces of darkness are still strong and there's still a future for Babylon isn't there? But when Jesus Christ comes back, he's going to destroy this present world, everything not built for the glory of God will go. All of it. Everything will go. And he will create, it says in Revelation 21:1, "A new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and there was no longer any sea." Isn't that interesting? Why is there no longer any sea? Well, in the Book of Revelation, where do all the beasts come from that rule over the earth? They come up out of the sea, don't they? The churning mass of pagan nations, all of this churning mass of rise and fall of the world, rise and fall, that's gone. It's gone. There's only one kingdom now, the Kingdom of God's glory, it's the only one left. A new heaven and a new earth are perfected in glory. And not only that, we will be perfected. We'll have new eyes to see and a new heart to understand. And we will see a glory such as we have never seen before, there'll be no sun, there'll be no moon, no need for stars, no need for a lamp, just the glory of God shining in that new place. And Jesus Christ is the lamp. That's the future. And at that point, it will be fulfilled what Habakkuk said so long ago, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. VI. Review and Application Now, by way of review. Habakkuk asks a question, "God, how can you stand and look at history, at the rise and fall of the Nations and all these wicked people and do nothing?" Answer, "I'm not doing nothing. I'm ruling over the whole thing. I'm raising up the Babylonians and when their day is over, I'm going to raise up the Persians, and when their day is over, I'm going to raise up the Greeks, I'm running the whole thing. And in the middle of it all, I'm building a kingdom for my glory. It's hidden, only the believers can see it now, but it's coming. And righteous people will enter that Kingdom, simply by faith in Jesus Christ." That's what he says in Habakkuk 2. What can we say then in response? I think number one, come out of Babylon. Come out. What business has the church in Babylon? What do we want to be in there anyway? This what it says in Revelation 18:4-5, "Then I heard another voice from Heaven say Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues for her sins are piled up to heaven and God has remembered her crimes. Come out of her." Now, we can't leave the world but come out of the way of thinking. Don't do your work for your own glory, do it for God. Don't be a mother for your own glory, be a mother for the glory of God. Don't be a father for your own glory, do it for God's glory. Don't be a businessman, don't own a business, don't be an employee in a business except for the glory of God. Everything you do, do it all for the glory of God. Come out of her also, and that don't share in her track, don't share in her stuff. What do we want with that? It's all going to pass away. The desires of this world will pass away but the one who does the will of God will last forever. So therefore do not love the world or anything in the world, for anything in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, that comes not from the Father but from the world, and it's going to disappear. Secondly, enter and live by faith in Christ. What do I mean by enter? You enter through the narrow gate, you enter the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We've already shared in Babylon's sins, haven't we? And therefore, we have judgment on us if we're not Christians, we will be judged by the wrath of God. The cross is God's answer. Jesus Christ came to take away our punishment for our sins. By simple faith, not by accomplishments or great achievements, but by simple faith in Christ, you enter the Kingdom of God's glory. That's all. But then you live in it, don't you? The moment you come to faith in Christ, you go up into the kingdom of glory. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Of course, you'll be taught to be a pastor, because you've only been pastoring unbelievers all the time, right? As soon as they come to faith, they're gone. God has ordained that we stay on Earth, for a while. We've got some good deeds to do by faith in Christ, we must do them for his glory, we must live by faith, the righteous will live by faith. Thirdly, I want to exhort you to be ambitious. There's a lot of ambition and backache too, isn't there? But it's all self-ambition, self-glory. I think God's put kingdom building in our hearts, that's why we keep perverting it into earthly kingdoms. Now, let it be sanctified and build the kingdom for the glory of God. Do you realize some of the great figures in church history have been incredibly ambitious people? Hudson Taylor threw himself on a map of China and said God give me China or I'll die. Now that's ambition. Now, I think Coca-Cola threw itself on the map but didn't say God give me China or I die. I went to Kashgar, China and there was Coca-Cola, the most remote place I've ever been. They're ambitious, but not for the glory of God. You see Hudson Taylor was ambitious. Every bit as ambitious, but for the glory of God. C.T Studd, said this, attempt great things for God, expect great things from God. I'm calling you to be ambitious, but ambitious for the glory of God to build a kingdom for His glory. And where does it start? We have to start by conquering right at home, your own body. Control yourself and your own passions, your own lusts. That's why Paul said, "I beat my body and make it my slave." You want to conquer something? Conquer yourself, and once you've conquered yourself, keep it conquered. He said, "I beat my body and I keep it my slave, lest after I've preached to others, I myself may be disqualified." Alright, after you've conquered yourself then move out, start with your family and with your group. And I'm talking, conquering for the glory of God. It's a whole different kind of conquer. Jesus is servant, loved conquering. That's how it works, and it goes on from there to the ends of the earth through the power of the gospel. And why? Because the Earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. You do that labor and your work will last forever.

The Son of Man: Human and Divine (Daniel Sermon 11 of 17) (Audio)