Podcasts about Qin

  Last time we spoke about the February 26th incident. Within the turbulent “ government of assassination” period of 1936 Japan, a faction of discontented junior officers, known as the Kodoha, believed that their emperor, Hirohito, was being manipulated by corrupt politicians. In a desperate bid for what they termed a "Showa Restoration," they meticulously plotted a coup d'état. On February 26, they launched a rebellion in Tokyo, attempting to assassinate key figures they deemed responsible for undermining the emperor's authority. The young officers executed coordinated attacks on prominent leaders, resulting in several deaths, while hoping to seize control of the Imperial Palace. However, their plan unraveled when their actions met with unexpected resistance, and they failed to secure strategic locations. Dark snow blanketed the city as Hirohito, outraged by the violence, quickly moved to suppress the uprising, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Kodoha faction and solidified the military's grip on power, ushering in a new era marked by militarism and radicalism.   #151 The Suiyuan Operation 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 with the February 26th incident breaking out in Japan, but now I would like to return to China. Now we spoke a little bit about some influential Japanese politicians in the previous episode. Prime Minister Satio Makoto oversaw Japan from May 1932 to July 1934, succeeded by Prime Minister Keisuke Okada from July 1934 to March 1936. The foreign policy of Japan towards China during the Saitō and Okada administrations exhibited a notable paradox, characterized by two conflicting elements. On one hand, Foreign Minister Hirota championed a diplomatic approach that emphasized friendship, cooperation, and accommodation with China. On the other hand, the military actively undermined the authority of the Nationalist government in northern China, creating a significant rift between diplomatic rhetoric and military action.    The Okada cabinet then endorsed the Army Ministry's "Outline of Policy to Deal with North China" on January 13, 1936. This policy document explicitly proposed the eventual detachment of five provinces, Hubei, Chahar, Shanxi, Suiyuan, and Shandong from the Nationalist government in Nanking. The approval of this outline marked a pivotal moment, as it represented the first official government endorsement of the military's longstanding agenda and underscored the army's evolution from a mere rogue entity operating in the region to the de facto authority dictating the course of Japan's policy towards China. Despite this, on January 22, during the 68th Diet session, Hirota reaffirmed his dedication to fostering better ties with China, to which a representative from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded positively. The Nationalist government in Nanjing also expressed interest in engaging in formal negotiations. However, this diplomatic initiative quickly faltered, and the expected discussions in Nanjing never took place. Shortly thereafter, a mutiny by young army officers on February 26, 1936, led to the fall of the Okada cabinet. Following Prince Konoe Fumimaro's refusal of the imperial mandate to form a new government, Hirota stepped in to establish a cabinet on March 9. General Terauchi Hisaichi was appointed as the Minister of the Army, Admiral Nagano Osami took charge of the Navy Ministry, and Baba Eiichi became the finance minister. Hirota briefly served as foreign minister until Arita Hachirö, who had just submitted his credentials as ambassador to China on March 6, returned to Japan. The Hirota Koki cabinet, established immediately following the February 26 incident further entrenched military influence in politics while allowing interservice rivalries to impede national objectives. In May 1936, Hirota, influenced by army and navy ministers, reinstated the practice of appointing military ministers solely from the ranks of high-ranking active-duty officers. He believed this would prevent associations with the discredited Imperial Way faction from regaining power. By narrowing the candidate pool and enhancing the army's power relative to the prime minister, Hirota's decision set the stage for army leaders to leverage this advantage to overthrow Admiral Yonai's cabinet in July 1940. Arita began his new job by meeting with Foreign Minister Chang Chen while hearing views from the Kwantung Army chief of staff General, Itagaki Seishiro. Yes, our old friend received a lot of promotions. Itagaki had this to say about the Kwantung Army's policy in China "The primary aim of Japan's foreign policy, is the sound development of Manchukuo based upon the principle of the indivisibility of Japan and Manchukuo. If, as is probable, the existing situation continues, Japan is destined sooner or later to clash with the Soviet Union, and the attitude of China at that time will gravely influence operations [against the Soviet Union]." The Kwantung Army's was growing more and more nervous about the USSR following its 7th comintern congress held in July and August of 1935. There it publicly designated Japan, Germany and Poland as its main targets of comintern actions. Japanese intelligence in the Red Army also knew the Soviets were gradually planning to expand the military strength so they could face a simultaneous west and east front war. This was further emboldened by the latest USSR 5 year plan. Alongside the growing Red northern menace, the CCP issued on August 1st a declaration calling upon the Nationalist Government to end their civil war so they could oppose Japan. By this time the CCP was reaching the end of its Long March and organizing a new base of operations in Yenan in northern Shanxi. The developments by the USSR and CCP had a profound effect on Japan's foreign policy in China. The Kwantung Army believed a war with the USSR was imminent and began to concentrate its main force along the border of Manchukuo. The Kwantung Army's plan in the case of war was to seize Vladivostok while advancing motorized units towards Ulan Bator in Outer Mongolia, hoping to threaten the Trans-Siberian Railway near Lake Baikal. Their intelligence indicated the USSR could muster a maximum of 250,000 troops in eastern Siberia and that Japan could deal with them with a force two-thirds of that number. The IJA at that point had inferior air forces and armaments, thus urgent funding was needed. The Kwantung Army proposed that forces in the home islands should be reduced greatly so all could be concentrated in Manchuria. To increase funding so Kwantung leadership proposed doing away with special allowances for Japanese officials in Manchuria and reorganizing the Japanese economic structure. The Kwantung leaders also knew the submarine base at Vladivostok posed a threat to Japanese shipping so the IJN would have to participate, especially against ports and airfields. All said and done, the Kwantung Army planned for a war set in 1941 and advised immediate preparations. On July 23, 1936, Kanji Ishiwara presented the army's document titled “Request Concerning the Development of Industries in Preparation for War” to the Army Ministry. He asserted that in order to prepare for potential conflict with the Soviet Union, Japan, Manchukuo, and North China must have the industries critical for war fully developed by 1941. Ishiwara emphasized the urgent need for rapid industrial growth, particularly in Manchukuo. He followed this request on July 29 with a draft of a “Policy on Preparations for War” regarding the Soviet Union, advocating for immediate reforms to Japan's political and economic systems to facilitate economic expansion and lay the groundwork for future fundamental changes. However, he cautioned that if significant turmoil erupted in economic sectors, Japan must be ready to execute a comprehensive overhaul without delay. At the same time, the Hirota cabinet initiated a review of its policy towards China. In the spring of 1936, a secret committee focused on the Current Situation was formed, consisting of officials from the Army, Navy, and Foreign ministries. Their discussions led to the adoption of the "Measures to Implement Policy toward China" by the Four Ministers Conference on August 11, along with the "Second Outline of Policy to Address North China," which the cabinet approved as part of the "Fundamentals of National Policy" on the same day. The first of these documents outlined the following actionable steps: “1. Conclusion of an anti-Communist military pact. a) To prepare for the conclusion of such a pact, a special secret committee of military experts from both countries should be organized. b) Their discussions should cover the scope and substance of the pact and ways and means of realizing the objectives of the pact.  2. Conclusion of a Sino-Japanese military alliance. A special secret committee, composed of an equal number of delegates from each nation, should be organized to prepare for the conclusion of an offensive and defensive alliance against attack by a third country.  3. Acceleration of solutions of pending questions between China and Japan. a) Engagement of a senior political adviser: The Nationalist government should engage a senior Japanese political adviser to assist in the conduct of the domestic and foreign affairs of the Nationalist government. b) Engagement of military advisers: The Nationalist government should engage military advisers, along with military instructors. c) Opening of airline services between China and Japan: Airline services between China and Japan should be opened immediately. To realize such a service, various means should be used to induce the Nanking authorities to establish an airline corporation in North China, to begin flights between Formosa and Fukien province, and to start test flights between Shanghai and Fukuoka. d) Conclusion of a reciprocal tariff treaty: A reciprocal tariff treaty should be concluded promptly between China and Japan, on the basis of the policy approved by the ministries concerned, with regard to the abolition of the special trade in eastern Hopei province and the lowering of the prohibitively high tariffs. For this purpose Japan should, if necessary, propose the creation of a special committee composed of Japanese and Chinese representatives.  4. Promotion of economic cooperation between China and Japan. Japan should promote cooperation with the common people of China to establish realistic and inseparable economic relations between China and Japan that will promote coexistence and co-prosperity and will be unaffected by changes in the Chinese political situation. “ The document also included suggestions for Japan's economic expansion into South China. This included tapping into the natural resources of the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, building a railway between Guangzhou and Swatow, and establishing air routes between Fuchoz and Taipei, which would connect to services in Japan and Thailand. It also called for survey teams to be dispatched to explore the resources of Sichuan, Gansu, Xinjiang, and Qinghai provinces, and for support to be provided to the independence movement in Inner Mongolia. However, these initiatives presented significant challenges. The preface to the "Second Outline of Policy to Deal with North China" cautioned, "In implementing this policy, we must carefully consider the Nanking government's prestige and avoid actions that could prompt it to adopt an anti-Japanese stance in response to the desires of the Chinese people."  On September 19th, six fundamental points for a settlement in North China were dictated to China to “establish a common defense against communism, promoting economic cooperation, lowering tariffs, initiating an airline service between the two nations, employing Japanese advisers, and controlling subversive Koreans." September 22 was set as the deadline for a response from China. While agreeing to some Japanese requests, the Chinese included several counter-demands that the Japanese found completely unacceptable. These demands required Japan to “(a) refrain from using armed intervention or arbitrary actions in its dealings with China, (b) recognize China as an equal and sovereign state, (c) avoid leveraging antigovernment groups or communist elements, and (d) remove any derogatory references to China from Japanese textbooks. The Chinese also insisted that any agreement regarding North China “must precede the annulment of the Tanggu and Shanghai cease-fire agreements, the disbanding of the East Hopei regime, a prohibition on unauthorized Japanese flights over North China, a ban on smuggling activities by Japanese, the restoration of China's right to control smuggling, and the disbandment of the illegal East Hopei government along with the armies of Wang Ying and Prince De in Suiyuan”. Now that mention of a Prince De in Suiyuan brings us to a whole new incident. This podcast series should almost be called “the history of Japanese related incidents in China”. Now we've spoken at great lengths about Japan's obsession with Manchuria. She wanted it for resources, growing space and as a buffer state. Japan also had her eyes set on Inner Mongolia to be used as a buffer state between Manchukuo, the USSR and China proper. Not to mention after the invasion of North China, Inner Mongolia could be instrumental as a wedge to be used to control Northern China. Thus the Kwantung Army began fostering a Mongolian independence movement back in August of 1933. They did so through a special organ led by chief of the general staff Koiso Kuniaki. He began work with the Silingol League led by Prince Sonormurabdan or “Prince So” and another influential Mongol, Prince Demchukdongrob or “Prince De”. Prince De was the West Sunid Banner in Northern Chahar. Likewise the Kwantung Army was grooming Li Xuxin, a Mongol commoner born in southern Manchuria. He had been a bandit turned soldier absorbed into Zhang Xueliangs army. Li had distinguished himself in a campaign against a group of Mongols trying to restore the Qing dynasty to further establish an independent Mongolia. During Operation Nekka Li had served in a cavalry brigade under Zu Xingwu, reputed to be the best unit in Zhang Xueliangs Northeastern border defense army. He led the army's advance unit into western Shandong. Afterwards Li suddenly became friends with Major Tanaka Hisashi, the head of the Special Service Agency at Dungliao where he defected to the Kwantung Army. He soon was leading a force too strong to be incorporated into the Manchukuo Army, thus it was disbanded, but his Kwantung Army buddies encouraged him to move to Tolun in Rehe province. At one point during the Nekka campaign, Li's army was threatened by a strong Chinese counterattack, but they had Manchukuo air support allowing them to capture Tolun. This victory launched what became the East Chahar Special Autonomous District with Li becoming a garrison commander and chief administrator.  Back in time, upon the founding of the Chinese Republic, the affairs of Inner Mongolia fell upon the Bureau of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs. This was reorganized in 1930 into the Commission on Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs when the provinces of Chahar, Suiyuan and Ningxia were organized. Prince De had been a member of a nationalist group known as the Young Mongols, although his aim was self-determination for Inner Mongolia within China, not independence. The Nationalist government's support for Chinese settlement in Mongol territories and its disregard for Mongol perspectives quickly triggered a rise in Mongol nationalism and anti-Chinese feelings. This was exacerbated by the government's introduction of a law on October 12, 1931, requiring local Mongolian administrative units to consult with hsien officials on matters concerning their administration. The nationalist sentiment was further fueled by the presence of the neighboring Mongolian People's Republic in Outer Mongolia and the establishment of Xingan province in western Manchuria by Manchukuo authorities in March 1932. This new province included the tribes of eastern Inner Mongolia and granted them greater autonomy than other Manchukuo provinces while banning Chinese immigration into it. When Nanjing did not react to these developments, Prince De and his supporters took steps toward gaining autonomy. On July 15th, 1933, Mongol leaders from western Inner Mongolia gathered at Pailingmiao for two weeks to deliberate on a declaration for regional independence. Although many princes were initially hesitant to take this step, they reconvened on August 14 and sent a cable to Nanjing announcing their decision to create an autonomous Mongolian government. The cable was signed by Prince So and Prince De. Over the following two months, additional conferences at Pailingmiao were held to organize the new government, which would operate under Nanking's guidance but without involvement from provincial chairmen. On October 22, Prince Yun, head of the Ulanchap League and a close ally of Prince De, was elected to lead the new regime, with Prince De assuming the role of chief of its political affairs bureau. After receiving a cable from the Mongolian leaders in August, Nanjing quickly sent Minister of the Interior Huang Shao-hung and Xu Qingyang, head of the Commission on Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs, to halt the movement. However, the Mongols declined to travel to Kalgan or Kueisui to meet Huang. In November, as the leader of a special commission appointed by Nanjing, Huang reached an agreement with Yun De and other Mongolian leaders concerning a proposal that abandoned the Mongols' demand for an autonomous government. This agreement was later altered by Nanjing, and its essential points were excluded from a measure approved by the Central Political Council of the Kuomintang on January 17, 1934. The dispute reignited, fueled by the Nationalist government's rising concerns over the anticipated enthronement of Pu Yi in Manchukuo. On February 28, the Central Political Council enacted a measure that outlined "eight principles of Inner Mongolian autonomy" and created the Mongolian Local Autonomous Political Council. Since these principles did not grant authority over foreign and military affairs, powers explicitly reserved for the central government in the January measure, they were seen as a concession to the Mongols and were accepted. On March 7, the central government issued regulations to establish a semi autonomous regime for Inner Mongolia, which was officially launched at Pailingmiao on April 23. Although the council was led by three moderate princes, Prince Yun, supported by Princes So and Sha, the real administrative authority was held by Prince De, who served as the secretary-general. Most of the twenty-five council members were of Mongolian royalty, through whom Prince De aimed to fulfill his objectives. Nevertheless, the Nationalist government seemed to consider the council merely a token gesture to placate De, as Nanking never provided the promised administrative funds outlined in the "eight principle declaration." Was not much of a shock Prince De sought support from the Kwantung Army, which had established contact with him as early as June 1934. Japanese pressures in North China were starting to alter the power dynamics, and after the first Western incident in Jehol in February 1935, it compelled the relocation of Sung Queyuan's army from Chahar to Hopei, providing encouragement to Prince De. In May, he met with Kwantung Army Vice Chief of Staff Itagaki Seishirö, Intelligence Section Chief Kawabe Torashirö, and staff officer Tanaka Ryükichi, where he was officially informed for the first time about the Kwantung Army's intention to assist him. On July 25, the Kwantung Army drafted its "Essentials of Policy toward Inner Mongolia," which regarded Japanese support for cooperation between De and Li Xuxin as part of their strategic preparations for a potential conflict with the Soviet Union. Shortly after this policy was adopted, a conflict arose over who had the authority to appoint the head of the Mongol Xukung banner, situated north of the Yellow River and Paot'ou. Following the death of the previous administrator, Prince Xu declared that he had taken control of the position. In response to a request from the local abbot, Prince Yun, acting in his capacity as chairman of the Mongolian Political Council, dismissed Xu. Xu then turned to Nanking through Suiyuan Provincial Chairman Fu Zuoyi, arguing that the central government held the authority to appoint heads of administrative units. In retaliation, Prince De dispatched troops to Xukung. On November 10, Fu presented a mediation proposal, which was rejected since it not only failed to acknowledge Shih's dismissal but also demanded the withdrawal of De's forces. De refused to pull back, further intensifying his hostility toward the Nanking government. In December, the Kwantung Army attempted to move Li's forces from eastern Chahar into the six Xun to the north of Kalgan, which serves as Chahar's granary. Following the Qin-Doihara agreement, Matsui Gennosuke from the Kalgan Special Service Agency secured a deal to separate these six districts from the southern region predominantly populated by Chinese; a Mongolian peace preservation corps was tasked with maintaining order in the northern area, while a Chinese corps was responsible for the south. During the discussions for an autonomous regime centered around Song Queyuan in North China in November 1935, Kwantung Army troops were concentrated around Gubeikou. To exert pressure on Song's rear, the Kwantung Army proposed replacing the Chinese peace preservation unit in the area north of Kalgan with Li Xuxin's army, which would establish this territory as its base.   The operation commenced on December 8. In a surprise attack just before dawn, Li captured Paochang. By December 12, despite facing strong Chinese resistance and the heaviest snowfall in sixty years, Li, aided by Kwantung Army planes disguised as those of the Manchukuo Airline Corporation, had taken control of Kuyuan. Further advances were halted by an order from Kwantung Army headquarters, and on December 13, it was reported that, had the operation not been stopped, Tokyo would have issued an imperial command. The operation had faced opposition from the Tientsin army, which feared it would weaken Song Queyuan's position just as they were informing Tokyo that the autonomy movement was going smoothly. Additionally, both Britain and the United States publicly expressed strong opposition to the Kwantung Army's involvement in the autonomy movement. However, the directive was ultimately prompted by the emperor's anger upon discovering that a unit of the Kwantung Army led by Colonel Matsui Takurö had advanced to Tolun to support Li's progress. Although Li's advance was halted, the operation undeniably contributed to the formation of the Hopei-Chahar Political Council.   Although the operation was halted, the Kwantung Army remained committed to its objectives. They contended that Li's army's advance into the six districts north of Kalgan was merely a peace preservation unit moving into territory within the truce line established by the Tanggu Agreement. Consequently, on December 29, they ordered Li to advance southward. Li peacefully occupied Changpei the following day and entered Shangtu on December 31. Manchukuo civil officials were appointed to oversee the six districts, and the currency of Manchukuo was introduced, although the existing tax system initially remained unchanged. The Kwantung Army allocated silver worth 6 million yuan to support administrative expenses. This outcome, known as the Eastern Chahar incident, marked a complete success for the Kwantung Army, which then redirected its focus toward Suiyuan Province. Each year, the Kwantung Army developed a secret plan for covert operations for the following year. The 1936 plan included strategies to secure air bases for routes connecting Europe and Asia, targeting Tsinghai and Sinkiang provinces, Outer Mongolia, Western Mongolia, and even remote areas of Ningxia province. In January 1936, staff officer Tanaka Ryūkichi formulated a document titled "Essentials of Policy Toward (Northwestern) Inner Mongolia." This document advocated for the establishment of a Mongolian military government to facilitate Japanese operations in northwestern Mongolia and suggested pushing Fu Tso-yi out of Suiyuan into Shansi province. Tanaka's proposals were incorporated into the final plan of the Kwantung Army, ultimately leading to the Suiyuan incident of November 1936. In February 1936, a meeting at Pailingmiao, where Prince De proposed the independence of Inner Mongolia, resulted in the departure of Prince So and several other Mongolian leaders from the coalition. They sought to establish a rival political council at Kueisui under the protection of Fu Zuoyi. By April, De and his supporters decided to form a military government at Tehua in Chahar, which was officially inaugurated in June as the Inner Mongolian government, headed by De with Li Shou-hsin as his deputy. This new government quickly signed a mutual assistance treaty with Manchukuo, and the emperor granted De the title of prince.   In July, at a conference in Tehua, Tanaka was appointed as the head of the Special Service Agency for Inner Mongolia with the mission of implementing the army's Intelligence Section plans. He traveled to Pingtiqüan alongside Chief of Staff Itagaki and Intelligence Chief Mutō Akira to propose a local anti-Communist agreement to Fu. After failing to convince Fu, he attempted to persuade Sun Tien-ying to form a puppet army but managed to recruit only a bandit from Suiyuan, Wang Ying. The February 26 mutiny in Tokyo heightened anti-Japanese sentiments in China, resulting in increased violence. By August, the construction of an airplane hangar in Paot'ou was halted due to riots by local Chinese residents. On August 13, a group of fifteen Japanese, led by Nakajima Manzo, was ambushed while delivering ammunition to a pro-Japanese leader who was shortly thereafter assassinated. Chinese soldiers from Wang Qingkuo's 70th Division carried out the attack, and tensions escalated as the arrival of ammunition and Japanese laborers in Kalgan prompted border villages to strengthen their defenses.   By late September, Tanaka's "Guidelines for the Execution of the Suiyuan Operation" received approval, with operations set to commence in early November. The plan evolved from a covert mission into a personal initiative by Tanaka, financed largely through funds from the Kwantung Army's secret services and profits from special trading in eastern Hopei. Tanaka claimed to have transported 600,000 yen to Tehua in October and later sent 200,000 yuan into Inner Mongolia, estimating total expenses at approximately 6 million yen. He acquired new weaponry from the disbanded Northeast Army and established three clandestine forces: Wang Ying led 500 men, including artillery; Qin Xiashan commanded 3,000 from Sun Tienying's army; and Chang Futang also led 3,000 specialized units. During strategic meetings, Tanaka dismissed proposals for unified command and refusing to integrate secret units into the Mongolian army. He advocated for the slogan "Overthrow Chiang Kai-shek," while Matsui managed to include "Independence for Inner Mongolia."   The Japanese had developed the entire battle strategy. The 1st Army, commanded by Li Xuxin, would serve as the left flank, while the 2nd Army, led by Demchugdongrub, would be positioned on the right. Wang Ying's forces were designated as the central force. Their initial targets would be Hongort, Xinghe, Tuchengzi, and Guisui city, followed by a division to seize Jinging, Baotou, and Hetao. On November 13, Prince Demchugdongrub's and Wang Ying's forces left Shandu in two columns to assault Xinghe and Hongort. By the 15th, 1,500 troops reached Hongort, where they engaged the 1st Cavalry Division led by Peng Yubin. The next day, Ryukichi Tanaka, Demchugdongrub's chief advisor, sent two cavalry brigades and one infantry brigade to capture the town, effectively overrunning its defenders. Meanwhile, Wang Ying dispatched a smaller group to secure Tuchengzi.   Fu Zuoyi established his headquarters in Jining that same day. After assessing the situation, he concluded that if the enemy secured Hongort, it would diminish his defenders' morale. Consequently, he launched a counterattack. Peng Yubin led a joint force of the 1st Cavalry Division and Dong Qiwu's 218th Brigade to confront around 400 of Wang Ying's men defending Hongort and Tuchengzi. By 7 AM on the 18th, Tuchengzi was reclaimed, and at 8:30 AM, the 1st Cavalry Division entered Hongort, charging through 500 of Wang Ying's soldiers. The struggle for Hongort persisted for over three days, resulting in nearly 1,000 casualties before Fu Zuoyi regained control.   As the tide shifted against the invaders, Fu Zuoyi initiated an offensive toward the Bailing Temple, the rear base of the enemy, well-stocked and defended by 3,000 men under Prince Demchugdongrub. Fu Zuoyi ordered the 2nd Cavalry Division, along with the 211th and 315th Brigades, the 21st Artillery Regiment, and a convoy of 20 trucks and 24 armored vehicles to assault the Bailing Temple as quickly as possible. Taking advantage of the Mongolian chaos, Fu Zuoyi's 35th Brigade executed a flanking maneuver west of the Bailing Temple amid a severe snowstorm.   At 1 AM on the 24th, the battle for the Bailing Temple commenced as the Chinese engaged the Mongolians for the fortified positions around the temple. From 2 to 4 AM, the Chinese advanced closer to the temple walls, facing artillery and machine-gun fire. They launched desperate frontal assaults against the city gates, suffering heavy losses. A fierce stalemate ensued, with Japanese aerial bombardments causing significant casualties to the Chinese forces. Fu Zuoyi subsequently ordered all armored vehicles to converge at the main city gate. Despite intense fire, the armored cars managed to breach the gate, allowing Chinese infantry to flood into the temple area. The resulting carnage within the temple walls led to 900 Mongol deaths, with 300 captured as the rest fled. The Chinese suffered 300 casualties but secured the strategically vital rear base, along with a substantial stockpile of provisions, including 500 barrels of petrol, 600 rifles, 10 machine guns, vehicles, and field guns. Following the devastating defeat at Bailing Temple, the invaders regrouped at Xilamuleng Temple. On the 28th, the Japanese sent 100 vehicles to transport 3,000 troops to prepare for a significant counteroffensive to recapture Bailing Temple. On the 29th, Wang Ying personally led 2,000 cavalry north of Shangdu to Taolin in an attempt to contain the enemy. However, after he left the bulk of his forces at Xilamuleng Temple, officers from the Grand Han Righteous Army secretly began negotiating to defect to the Chinese side, undermining the forces needed for the counterattack against Bailing Temple.   The counteroffensive commenced on December 2nd, with 10 armored vehicles and 1,000 Mongol troops leading the charge at 6 AM. They were pushed back by the heavily fortified 211th Brigade, which was well-supplied with machine guns and artillery. The following day, at 3 AM, the Mongols attempted a surprise attack but faced an ambush as they crept toward the temple. They incurred hundreds of casualties, with 230 men either captured or having defected. After this, the counterattack stalled, as the Mongol forces couldn't approach within 3 miles of the temple. Subsequently, the Chinese 2nd Cavalry Division launched a pincer maneuver, causing significant casualties among the invaders. By 9 AM, the enemy had suffered 500 casualties and was in retreat. At 7 PM, Fu Zuoyi ordered another counteroffensive. By the next morning, hundreds more had been lost, and several hundred soldiers were captured. With such heavy losses, the defense of Xilamuleng Temple weakened significantly, prompting more officers to defect to the Chinese. Late on the 4th, Fu Zuoyi assembled a force comprising two cavalry regiments, one infantry regiment, one artillery battalion, four armored vehicles, and a squadron of cars to launch a nighttime assault on Xilamuleng Temple.   Meanwhile, the 2nd Cavalry Division clashed with Wang Ying's cavalry 30 miles northeast of Wulanhua. Wang Ying's 2,000 cavalry had been raiding nearby villages to create diversions, drawing enemy forces away from the Bailing-Xilamuleng theater. By the 9th, Wang Ying's cavalry were encircled in Xiaobei, where they were nearly annihilated, with Wang escaping with around a hundred guards toward Changpei. On the 7th, some Grand Han Righteous Army officers set in motion plans to defect to the Chinese side. Early on the 9th, these officers led their men to invade the residence of Japanese advisors, killing all 27 Japanese officers under Colonel Obama. Simultaneously, Fu Zuoyi's forces executed a flanking maneuver against the Xilamuleng Temple amidst the chaos. With mass defections, the Chinese forces surged into the temple area, resulting in the invader army disintegrating in confusion and surrender. After seizing the temple, the invaders were routed, their lines of communication severed, and only isolated pockets continued to resist. Taking advantage of the confusion, Fu Zuoyi launched simultaneous attacks, attempting to capture Shangdu. However, Yan Xishan sent him a telegram, ordering him to halt, stating that Shangdu fell under the jurisdiction of Shanxi and not Suiyuan.   In response to the loss, Tanaka planned a counteroffensive with Qin's troops, but Chiang kai-shek commanded a strong defense of Pailingmiao, successfully outmaneuvering Tanaka's strategies. The resurgence of Chinese forces led to the disintegration of Qin's troops, who revolted and eventually joined the Nationalist army. The Kwantung Army aimed to redeploy its forces for recovery but faced opposition from Tokyo, which criticized the situation. After Chiang kai-shek was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang on December 12, Tanaka and Prince De seized the opportunity to reassess their strategy. Ultimately, the Kwantung Army decided to abandon efforts to reclaim Pailingmiao, marking the official end of hostilities on December 21. The Suiyuan incident ultimately strengthened Chinese resolve against Japan and increased international distrust.   The defeat of Japan's proxy forces inspired many Chinese to advocate for a more vigorous resistance against the Japanese. The triumph in Suiyuan was celebrated throughout China and surprised the international media, marking the first occasion where the Chinese army successfully halted a Japanese unit. Delegations traveled from as distant as southern Chinese provinces to encourage the defenders to continue their fight. Captured Japanese weapons and equipment served as proof of Japan's involvement in the conflict, despite Japan's Foreign Minister Hachirō Arita claiming that "Japan was not involved in this conflict in Suiyuan at all." After his defeat, Prince Demchugdongrub and his Inner Mongolian troops retreated to northern Chahar, where he had to reconstruct his army due to significant losses. The Japanese implemented new regulations for the Mongolian Army to enhance its effectiveness, and efforts to recruit new soldiers commenced.   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. More incidents and more battles to seize territory raged in North China. However things did not go according to plan for the Japanese and their puppets. The tides had turned, and now a more angry and invigorating China would begin lashing out against the encroachment. It was only a matter of time before a full blown war was declared. 

The Yongzheng Emperor brings Peace, Justice, & Security to his new Empire. Time Period Covered: 1723-1728 CE Major Works Cited: Perdue, Peter C. China marches west: the Qing conquest of Central Eurasia. Qin, Han Tang (秦漢唐). 不同於戲裡說的雍正皇帝 [A different Yongzheng from the work of fiction]  Rowe, William T. China's last empire: the great Qing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

En 1974, un campesino descubrió por casualidad el primero de los ocho mil soldados que custodiaban la tumba del primer emperador de China. Entre la ladera del monte Li y el río Wei, en la provincia china de Shaanxi, un túmulo con forma de pirámide se eleva más de 40 metros sobre la planicie. Bajo su cúspide, hoy hundida, un palacio subterráneo alberga los restos de uno de los personajes más fascinantes de la historia de China: Zhao Zheng, rey de Qin y primer unificador de China, al que conocemos como Qin Shihuang di, «el primer emperador» (259-210 a.C.).

Xi Jinping har stöpt om Kina och vill se en ny världsordning. Hör om Xis väg till makten och hur Donald Trump kan ge Kina mer spelrum och inflytande. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Under det senaste decenniet har Xi Jinping tagit Kina tillbaka till ett utpräglat kontroll- och övervakningssamhälle. Han har cementerat sin maktposition och gjort sig av med fiender. Men varifrån kommer Xi Jinping och varför blev just han det kinesiska kommunistpartiets generalsekreterare och därmed Kinas högsta ledare? Konflikt berättar om Xis väg till makten, hur han förändrat det kinesiska samhället och hur han vill förändra världen. När USA under Trump nu drar sig undan internationella samarbeten kan det ge utrymme för Kina att kliva fram, och redan idag syns hur Kina med framgång kan samla ett stort politiskt stöd i omvärlden. I avsnittet hör du Sveriges Radios nuvarande och tidigare Kinakorrespondenter göra nedslag som beskriver Xi's Kina. Följ med Moa Kärnstrand till turistbutikerna i Peking där det är svårt att köpa Xi-souvenirer. Följ med till Toronto i Kanada där Hanna Sahlberg möter en barnfamilj som lämnat Kina på grund av den ökade repressionen under Xi och hör Björn Djurberg, en av få som på senare år kommit nära Xi.Reportrar: Moa Kärnstrand, korrespondent i Peking. Hanna Sahlberg, Ekots Kinareporter och tidigare korrespondent i Peking och Björn Djurberg, tidigare Kinakorrespondent. Medverkande: Malin Oud, direktör för Kinaprogrammet vid Raoul Wallenberg institutet (RWI). Oscar Almén, forskare och Kinaexpert vid Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut (FOI). Adrian Geiges, journalist och författare och tidigare Kinakorrespondent för tyska Stern. Zinn, tidigare verksam vid en organisation för kvinnors rättigheter i Kina och Zhou, tidigare byggnadsingenjör i Kina (båda nu i Toronto). Qin och Joe, cafébesökare i Toronto.Programledare: Fernando Ariasfernando.arias@sr.seProducent: Therese Rosenvingetherese.rosenvinge@sr.seLjudtekniker: Emilia Ström

I de mänskliga imperiernas historia intar Kina en särställning. I mer än två millennier har det stora östasiatiska landets politik kännetecknats av en kejserlig makttradition, präglad av starkt centralstyre, konfuciansk byråkrati och kontinuerlig strävan efter riksenhet och sammanhållning mot omvärlden. Medan Europa, Indien, Afrika, Mellanöstern och Sydöstasien har varit till synes ohjälpligt splittrade har Kinas dynastier följt på varandra i tre- eller fyrahundraåriga sjok av nationell dominans och enhet.Kina har haft många ryktbara kunga- och kejsardynastier, från den halvhistoriska Xia via de mäktiga Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang och Song, men en av de mest legendomsusade och ryktbara i vår del av världen är utan tvekan Ming, som härskade från mitten av 1300-talet till mitten av 1600-talet. Det var under Mingkejsarna som det berömda blåvita porslinet tillverkades och Stora muren fick sitt nuvarande utseende, och det var nu de imponerande gravkomplexen (”Minggravarna”) anlades inte långt därifrån. Det var också vid denna tid som européerna på allvar lärde känna den kinesiska kulturen genom att jesuiter som Matteo Ricci tog sig in i landet och vann så stor respekt att de kom att ingå i huvudstadens lärda överskikt.I detta avsnitt av podden Harrisons dramatiska historia samtalar Dick Harrison, professor i historia vid Lunds universitet, och fackboksförfattaren Katarina Harrison Lindbergh om de kinesiska dynastiernas historia, framför allt om Mingdynastin på 1400- och 1500-talen.Bild: Kejsar Hongwu, som gjorde klassresan från fattig bonde till kejsare och grundare av Mingdynastin. Okänd upphovsman. Wikipedia, Public Domain.Klippare: Emanuel LehtonenProducent: Urban Lindstedt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. An independent nation to the rest of the world, it is considered a rogue province by the PRC. Previous governments have tried to conquer the island using economic force and diplomatic pressure, but new Chinese President Li Jian Jun is done fooling around. He's devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only one man knows how to stop Li's mad and bloody plan for reunification and that's Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West. To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she's under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders' plan for her father to exploit. For his part, President Jack Ryan may have the power of the entire US military at his disposal, but what he really needs are Li's secret plans from Defense Minister Qin so he can stave off war. Otherwise, America's Defense Protocol could lead to a game of mutual destruction that could cost the lives of thousands of young soldiers, sailors, special operators as well as his daughter. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

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.  

Almost 2400 years ago, Hippocrates said "All disease begins in the gut"; and he was right. With modern scientific methods and studies to prove it, we can see exactly how and why all dieases begin in your gut, and what you can do to stop them. 93% od the leading causes of death are connected to your gut, and this episode is going to explain why that it, how it happens and to give you the tools you need to not only protect yourself and your loved ones, but even to reverse almost any diease.   TOPICS DISCUSSED: Reversing 93% of the leading causes of death The machanisms of how all diease begins in your gut How endotoxins (gut toxins) circulate around your body What they do to your organ systems and your body How to heal and seal your gut Reverse chronic inflammatory diseases How to heal from almost anything   Leave us a Review: https://www.reversablepod.com/review   Need help with your gut? Click the link, or visit gutsolution.ca for help: Get help now   Supplements: Get 15% off Practitioner Grade Supplements (forever) by creating an account   Contact us: reversablepod.com/tips    SOCIAL MEDIA: Instagram  Facebook  YouTube     STUDIES FOR REFERENCE: 1. LPS and Liver Disease: ·       Key Study: Lipopolysaccharides promote hepatic steatosis by activating the TLR4-NF-κB pathway in hepatocytes (Cai et al., 2012, Hepatology). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22025365/ 2. LPS and Kidney Disease: ·       Key Study: Role of lipopolysaccharide in the pathogenesis of kidney injury in sepsis (Matsushita et al., 2021, Nephrology). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33460487/ 3. LPS and Diabetes: ·       Key Study: Gut-derived endotoxin and metabolic inflammation in type 2 diabetes (Cani et al., 2007, Diabetologia). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17471239/ 4. LPS and Cancer: ·       Key Study: Gut microbiota-mediated inflammation in obesity: A link with gastrointestinal cancer (Cani et al., 2018, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29348450/ 5. LPS and Cerebrovascular Disease: ·       Key Study: LPS-induced systemic inflammation exacerbates brain damage in ischemic stroke (Chen et al., 2016, Stroke). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26846899/ 6. LPS and Parkinson's Disease: ·       Key Study: Lipopolysaccharide induces neuroinflammation and dopaminergic neuron loss in Parkinson's disease models (Qin et al., 2007, Journal of Neuroscience). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17360907/ 7. LPS and Hypertension: ·       Key Study: Role of gut-derived endotoxemia in systemic inflammation and hypertension (Tang et al., 2017, Hypertension). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28209750/ 8. LPS and Colon/Gut Diseases: ·       Key Study: Lipopolysaccharides promote intestinal inflammation by disrupting the epithelial barrier (Schmidt et al., 2015, Gut). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25691570/ 9. Studies Supporting LPS's Role in Alzheimer's: ·       Study 1: Microbiome-derived lipopolysaccharide enriched in the perinuclear region of Alzheimer's disease brain (Zhao et al., 2017, Frontiers in Immunology). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28928740/ ·       Study 2: Lipopolysaccharides cause neuronal death and cognitive decline (Molecules, 2022). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35011994/ ·       Study 3: Neuroinflammation and Alzheimer's disease: Mechanisms of action (Nature Neuroscience, 2019). Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30842661/

This week we are discussing the 2002 wuxia epic: Hero (英雄). Join us as we talk about the stunning visuals, colorful chapters, understanding martial arts films, political readings, Indy's love of Tony Leung (and most of the cast, really), Chinese history, and a bunch of other things I've already forgotten.   I Love This You Should Too is hosted by Samantha and Indy Randhawa   Hero (Chinese: 英雄; pinyin: Yīngxióng) is a 2002 wuxia martial arts film[3] directed, co-written, and produced by Zhang Yimou, and starring Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen and Chen Daoming.[4] The cinematography was by Christopher Doyle, and the musical score composed by Tan Dun. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards. The historical background of the film refers to the Warring States Period in ancient China, when China was divided into seven states. In 227–221 BC, the Qin state was about to unify the other six states, assassins from the six states were sent to assassinate the king of Qin. One of the most famous incidents was Jing Ke's attempted assassination of the King of Qin.

Global warming is the primary reason for China recording above-average temperatures, a meteorological expert said, as data showed that 2024 was the warmest year since 1961, when the country began compiling complete meteorological observation records.气象专家表示，全球变暖是导致我国气温高于平均水平的主要原因。数据显示，2024年是我国自1961年开始编纂完整观测记录以来最暖的一年。The nation's average temperature reached 10.92 C last year, 1.03 C higher than the historical average, making it the warmest year on record, according to the China Meteorological Administration.据中国气象局介绍，去年我国平均气温达到10.92℃，较历史平均值偏高了1.03℃，成为有记录以来最暖的一年。Data from Weather China, the public weather service center of the CMA, shows that the average temperatures recorded across all provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland last year ranked among the highest temperatures recorded during the top four warmest years in the country's observation history.中国气象局公共气象服务中心“中国天气网”的数据显示，去年我国大陆所有省级行政区的平均气温均位列我国观测史上最高气温记录的前四名。The past four years were actually China's top four warmest years, while the country's top 10 warmest years have all been recorded in the 21st century, according to Weather China.据中国天气网称，过去四年实际上是我国历史上最热的四年，而我国历史上前十暖的年份全都出现在21世纪。"Global warming has led to phenomena such as rising sea levels and glacier melt, which continue to impact China. For instance, it has significantly increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, resulting in more frequent and prolonged heat waves while reducing the occurrence of cold events," said Shi Ying, a researcher at the National Climate Center.国家气候中心研究员石英表示：“全球变暖导致海平面上升、冰川融化等现象，持续影响中国。例如，它显著增加了极端气候事件的频率和强度，导致热浪事件更频繁、更持久，同时减少了寒潮事件的发生。”Natural climate variability such as the El Nino phenomenon—the unusual warming of water surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean—has also played a role in rising temperatures.自然气候变率，如厄尔尼诺现象（即太平洋海面温度异常升高），也在气温上升中发挥了作用。"During the decaying phase of an El Nino event, typically the following year, global average temperatures tend to rise, potentially increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events and magnifying global warming," Shi said.石英说：“在厄尔尼诺事件消退阶段，通常是次年，全球平均气温往往会上升，可能会增加极端气候事件的频率和强度，加剧全球变暖。”The El Nino event, which began in May 2023, has continued to influence China, contributing to its above-average temperatures last year, she added.她补充说，始于2023年5月的厄尔尼诺事件已持续影响中国，助长了去年高于平均水平的气温。On Dec 30, the World Meteorological Organization also announced that 2024 is set to be the warmest year on record, capping a decade of unprecedented heat fueled by human activities.12月30日，世界气象组织也宣布，2024年将成为有记录以来最热的一年，标志着人类活动引发的前所未有的高温十年达到顶峰。In his recent New Year's message, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world has "endured a decade of deadly heat", with 2024 capping 10 years of unprecedented temperatures.联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在最近的新年致辞中表示，世界已经“忍受了十年的致命高温”，2024年标志着十年前所未有的高温达到顶峰。WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo described the year 2024 as a sobering wake-up call. "Every fraction of a degree of warming matters, and increases climate extremes, impacts and risks," she said.世界气象组织秘书长席列斯特·绍罗认为2024年是令人警醒的一年。“升温的每一度都很重要，都会增加气候的极端性、影响和风险，”她说。Yu Li, another researcher at the National Climate Center, warned that a 1 C increase in the average temperature could lead to significant and widespread effects on ecosystems. This 1 C increase is associated with an approximately 2.3-meter rise in sea level over time, threatening coastal ecosystems, she noted.国家气候中心另一位研究员于莉警告说，平均气温上升1℃可能会对生态系统产生重大而广泛的影响。她指出，这1℃的上升与长期内海平面上升约2.3米有关，威胁着沿海生态系统。"Rising temperatures affect the genetic diversity of wild crop species and increase the prevalence of pests. Some species may face extinction due to their inability to adapt to rapid climate changes," Yu said.于莉说：“气温上升影响了野生作物品种的遗传多样性，并加剧了害虫的肆虐。一些物种可能因无法适应快速的气候变化而面临灭绝。”A study shows that a 1.58 C rise in the average global surface temperature could lead to the extinction of over 10 percent of species, she added.她补充说，一项研究表明，全球地表平均气温上升1.58℃可能导致超过10%的物种灭绝。Qin Yun, a senior engineer at the National Climate Center, emphasized the impact of rising temperatures on human activities such as agricultural production.国家气候中心高级工程师秦云强调了气温上升对农业生产等人类活动的影响。"Some regions may see temporary increase in crop yields due to warmer temperatures. However, in the long term, agricultural production will likely face greater fluctuations and potential declines," Qin said.秦云说：“气温升高可能会使一些地区作物产量暂时增加。然而从长远来看，农业生产可能会面临更大波动和潜在减产。”Uneven precipitation patterns caused by global warming could lead to decreased rainfall in some areas, resulting in water shortages. "It's estimated that a 1 C rise could increase the number of people affected by water scarcity by 400 million to 1.7 billion," Qin said.全球变暖导致降水模式不均，可能会使一些地区降雨量减少，造成水资源短缺。秦云说：“据估计，气温每上升1℃可能会导致受水资源短缺影响的人数增加4亿至17亿。”Rising temperatures also elevate the risks of heat-related illnesses such as heatstroke and heat exhaustion, contributing to higher mortality rates, she added.她补充说，气温上升还会增加中暑和热衰竭等热相关疾病发生的风险，导致死亡率上升。The year 2025 has also begun with warmer-than-average temperatures. On Wednesday afternoon, much of the area south of the Yangtze River experienced temperatures exceeding 15 C, which is far from the biting cold typically expected during winter.2025年也以高于平均水平的气温开始。1月1日下午，长江以南大部分地区的气温超过15℃，与冬季通常的严寒相去甚远。A cold front for the whole country was forecast from Jan 2, but due to its weak intensity, most areas will experience above-average temperatures despite some mild fluctuations until Jan 12, the National Climate Center said.据国家气候中心称，全国性寒潮预计从1月2日开始，由于强度较弱，尽管气温会有小幅波动，但大部分地区的气温仍将高于平均水平，直至1月12日。Researcher Shi said that extreme heat events in China are projected to increase in frequency, with longer duration and broader impact.研究员石英表示，预计我国极端高温事件发生频率更高、持续时间更长、影响范围更广。"Under high emission scenarios, an extreme heat event that currently occurs once in 50 years could occur every one or two years by the end of the 21st century," Shi said.石英说：“在高排放情景下，目前50年一遇的极端高温事件到21世纪末可能变为1-2年一遇。”She suggested developing early-warning systems for climate risks, focusing on the spatial-temporal patterns of extreme events such as heat waves. "We need to conduct detailed assessments of the impacts of extreme weather events on key sectors."她建议建立气候风险早期预警系统，重点关注热浪等极端事件的时空格局。“我们需要详细评估极端气候事件对关键行业产生的影响。”Measures should also be taken to develop monitoring and risk-warning technologies, as well as for enhancing societal resilience to climate change, she added.她补充说，还应采取措施开发气候监测和风险预警技术，并增强社会对气候变化的适应能力。variabilityn.多变性

Last year, China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, suddenly disappeared. Qin was a rising star in Chinese politics and a protegé of China's strongman leader, Xi Jinping. In the first episode of our three-part investigation, we chart Qin's rise and begin to untangle the mystery of his disappearance. This series was originally published in October. Further Listening:- Episode 2: The Affair - Apple | Spotify - Episode 3: The Downfall - Apple | Spotify We'll be back with something new on January 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dear Arroe,  I hope all is well!  I'm reaching out on  TOM CLANCY DEFENSE PROTOCOL, the 25th novel in the New York Times bestselling Jack Ryan series (Putnam; On Sale: December 3, 2024).  by acclaimed thriller authors Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (Andrews & Wilson), who deftly continue Clancy's legacy a decade since Clancy's passing.   As former US Navy submarine (Brian Andrews) officer and US Navy surgeon and jet pilot (Jeffrey Wilson) who actually served on and operated the war fighting platforms featured in this series, Andrews & Wilson have the credentials to shepherd the Jack Ryan series, one of the most successful thriller franchises in history, into the hands of contemporary readers. A Netgalley is linked here: TOM CLANCY DEFENSE PROTOCOL NETGALLEY.  A PDF can be accessed HERE.  Please let me know if you'd like a finished book as those will be available shortly or would like to speak with the authors around publication. More info on the book / authors below.  All best,Katie Katie Grinch,  Associate Director of Publicity – PutnamP: 212-366-2574 | C: 201-739-4605 (she/her)   For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. An independent nation to the rest of the world, it is considered a rogue province by the PRC. Previous governments have tried to conquer the island using economic force and diplomatic pressure, but new Chinese President Li Jian Jun is done fooling around. He's devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only one man knows how to stop Li's mad and bloody plan for reunification and that's Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West. To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she's under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders' plan for her father to exploit. For his part, President Jack Ryan may have the power of the entire US military at his disposal, but what he really needs are Li's secret plans from Defense Minister Qin so he can stave off war. Otherwise, America's Defense Protocol could lead to a game of mutual destruction that could cost the lives of thousands of young soldiers, sailors, special operators as well as his daughter.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Space Nuts Episode 474 Q&A: Cosmic Constellations, Comet Mysteries, and Citizen ScienceJoin Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson as they explore the wonders of the universe in this Q&A edition of Space Nuts. From the shifting constellations as you journey through Space to the enigmatic nature of comets and the age of the universe, this episode is packed with celestial insights and intriguing questions from our audience.Episode Highlights:- Constellations from Afar: Discover how the constellations we know would appear from different vantage points in Space. How far must you travel before the familiar star patterns become unrecognisable?- Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS: Delve into the story of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, its recent appearance in our skies, and the question of whether it has visited our solar system before. Learn about the signs that indicate a comet's history and its journey from the Oort Cloud.- Age of the Universe: Uncover the methods used to determine the age of the universe, including the role of the Hubble constant and the importance of measuring cosmic distances. How close are we to knowing the exact age?- Citizen Science Opportunities: Explore the world of citizen science and how you can contribute to astronomical discoveries. From asteroid occultations to light curve data, find out how you can be part of the scientific community.For more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on facebook, X, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite platform.For more Space and Astronomy News Podcasts, visit our HQ at www.bitesz.com.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/aboutStay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.00:00 - Space Nuts Q and A edition with Professor Fred Watson01:29 - Roger asks how far can you go before constellations start getting disoriented07:45 - Professor Fred and Andrew answer your questions about the Space Nuts podcast09:13 - On the nights I was best able to observe it, it was cloudy10:49 - Could this comet be its first visit into the inner solar system13:47 - How did we measure how old the universe is? Thanks, Fred19:16 - Sandy asks what is the greatest astronomical discovery by a citizen scientist✍️ Episode ReferencesSpace Nuts Podcast[Space Nuts Podcast](https://www.spacenutspodcast.com)New Horizons[New Horizons](https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html)Zooniverse[Zooniverse](https://www.zooniverse.org)DreamLab App[DreamLab](https://www.vodafone.com.au/about/news-centre/dreamlab)Unistellar[Unistellar](https://unistellaroptics.com)Galaxy Zoo[Galaxy Zoo](https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zookeeper/galaxy-zoo)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts--2631155/support.

Vi backar bakåt i tiden på alla sätt, första stoppet är januari 2016 då vi satte oss ned för att prata om Kina. Men inte i det dåtida nuet, utan vi for ännu längre tillbaka och landade först runt 200-talet f.kr då dagens Kina bestod av en rad olika stridande stater. Det här handlar om hur Qin blev Kina, på köpet blir det filosofisk statsmannakonst, bokbål, intriger och åtminstone några minuter om en viss terrakotta-armé. Lyssna på våra avsnitt fritt från reklam: https://plus.acast.com/s/historiepodden. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1M4ODqxthw&t=973sIn this episode of the London Fintech Podcast, Tony Clark sits down with Qin En Looi, a leading figure in the Asia fintech space, to explore the future of digital assets and the convergence of fintech and blockchain technology. Qin shares his journey from a traditional Singaporean upbringing to becoming a successful entrepreneur and investor, co-founding Glints and leading Saison Capital. He reflects on how these experiences shaped his understanding of fintech's potential in Southeast Asia. The conversation covers blockchain's evolution, the growing institutional interest in digital assets, and the importance of trust within the crypto space. Qin emphasises the role of tokenisation in the future of finance, particularly in streamlining transactions and overcoming the limitations of traditional systems like SWIFT. They also discuss how fintech innovation is accelerating in Southeast Asia, the challenges of tokenised assets, and the critical importance of choosing the right technology and jurisdiction for protection. Qin also offers practical advice for entrepreneurs in fintech, stressing the importance of learning to sell, building strong distribution networks, and how financial discipline is crucial as the fintech sector undergoes a phase of consolidation. Topics Covered: • Qin's background, dropping out and then completing a Stanford degree in half the time (and achieving top marks!)• The potential of digital assets and blockchain technology in fintech • The rise of tokenisation and its impact on the financial industry • Importance of trust and regulatory clarity for blockchain adoption • Challenges and opportunities for startups in the digital asset space • Insights into fintech's growth in Southeast Asia and global liquidity trends • The convergence of fintech and blockchain technology • Practical advice for entrepreneurs: mastering sales and distribution • The role of institutional finance in the digital asset ecosystem Learn More:  Chinen Lui: https://www.linkedin.com/in/looiqinen/Saison Capital: https://www.saisoncapital.com/ Tony Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/  NextWave: www.nxwave.com

This episode we look at the Hakuchi era.  Specifically, the implementation of something called the "Equal Fields" system, which seems to be what the court was trying to implement in some of their early Ritsuryo edicts.  And then we'll see why this era is the "Asuka" period and not the "Naniwa" period, despite the grand temple to government erected in that area of ancient Osaka. For more, check out https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-114 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is Episode 114: Public Lands and Remote Work   In the early evening, Karu paced through the halls of the inner palace.  The grand scale of the construction was impressive, and it was built and furnished with the finest materials available.  In all aspects it was the shining jewel.  The center of the Yamato world.  The entire thing still felt new. And yet, for all of that, it now felt strangely empty.  So many of those who had previously graced its halls were only memories.  Karu looked over the halls and wondered:  Was it worth it?    He had worked with his nephew and others to build a Kingdom worthy of the name.  They had instituted reforms to model themselves after the major powers of the day.  They had a built a palace to last the test of time.  This wasn't just another place to be abandoned—this was meant to be the bedrock on which the new State would stand.  It was the center of ritual and of the government. But was it?  The government was more than just buildings.  It was the people who made up the offices and the ministries.  It was the entire royal family.  It was the scholars and the officials, debating just how things should work. What would happen when Karu was gone?  Would this system last the test of time?  Or would it disappear, to be replaced by something new?  For centuries, every sovereign had made a new home for themselves every time the previous sovereign passed away.  Is that what would happen to Karu as well? As the sun set, and darkness set in, Karu could only wonder what the future might hold. So here we are in the Hakuchi era, during the reign of Karu, aka Ame Yorodzu Toyohi, which is to say between the years 650 and 654.  The era of Great Change was now the era of the White Pheasant – listen to our last couple of episodes to understand why -- and all of the changes weve been discussing were starting to really come together.  Front and center of those changes was the Nagara Toyosaki Palace, a physical manifestation of the new bureaucratic system of government that the sovereign, Karu; the Crown Prince, Naka no Oe; and others had put into place.  The work of this government was happening on a stage much grander than anything that had previously been seen in the islands. This was the start of what we know as the Ritsuryo Era, and it was finally coalescing.  In this episode we'll talk about how, in the Hakuchi era, we see the implementation of the continental system known as the “Equal Field System”, and how the bureaucratic government was extended down to the individual household.  This was all part of what we've come to know as the Ritsuryo state, which we talked about back in Episode 108 as we started all of these changes.  We are now seeing the foundations of that new state, and we are several years into its implementation, seeing those early edicts finally starting to bear fruit.All of this, of course, was focused on the seat of government in Naniwa. And yet, spoiler alert, this is not called the “Naniwa Era”.  We are still in what many refer to as the Asuka Era.  So what happened?  Towards the end of the episode we'll talk about what happened as the era came to a close, or at least as much as we know. To kick us off, let's talk about where we stand in the Hakuchi era, and look at the culmination of these early Ritsuryo changes we've been talking about. Whatever else had happened, various good omens, crises, and so on – the work of the government was continuing.  Once again, we see records of various envoys from the continent —and we'll get into the international situation, later—but for now, let's focus on what was going on in the archipelago itself.  Specifically, I want to talk about something called the Equal Field System, another innovation that Karu and his administration introduced to Yamato. The Equal Field System goes back to at least the Northern Wei dynasty, over on the continent, in the late 5th century.  It attempted to solve several issues regarding how the government could make sure that land was being worked—and that the government was also getting its cut.  To that end, let's back up a bit and talk about concepts of public versus private land, and how they apply to Yamato at the time. The concept of “private” land may seem simplistic, as we have an idea of what it means today.  Your “private” land is land you own, of course.  “Public” land belongs to the government.  But in Japan—and in much of East Asia—those concepts weren't necessarily the same.  In many early theories of land ownership, all land belonged to the State—individuals were simply using it.  To a certain degree, even today, land is often held only so long as you have a deed or other proof of ownership that is recognized by the State, but concepts like eminent domain can supercede that ownership. So for our purposes, here, Private land was land where all the produce went to a private individual or private interest,  such as a family—or even a temple or shrine.  If it was truly privately-owned land, then all of the produce of that land went to the owner.  Even if the government technically owned the land, the land could still be considered private, meaning that it wasn't  considered taxable by the government – whoever controlled the land got all the produce. In contrast to that, public land was land where the government was owed some or all of the produce.  It might have been worked by individuals, but was still taxable in part or full.  An early system that goes back to at least the Zhou dynasty was known as the Well Field System.  In this system, land was ideally divided into nine squares.  The eight squares of land on the outside of the square would all be held and worked by private farmers, who were able to keep whatever they produced on the land.  In return, they were to provide labor on the public land in the center, the produce of which went to the State, which could then be stashed away in case of famine or used to help increase the State's coffers and thus pay for other amenities. Of course often it just went into the pockets of various aristocrats.  I also wonder just how much effort was actually put in to working the public land in the Well Field System. That name, by the way, comes from how the whole schematic looked when drawn out.  The hanzi, or kanji, for a “well”—as in a place where you draw water—is much like a modern hashtag mark.  Think two horizontal and two vertical lines, like a tic-tac-toe board.  This comes from the fact that wells were often square or rectangular holes, the sides of which could be reinforced with wood.  At the top, the well frame was often formed with overlapping wooden beams, forming a shape similar to a hashtag.  And so in the Well Field System, the center of the tic-tac-toe board was the public land, and everything else was private.  This system fell apart with the fall of the Zhou during the Summer and Autumn periods, though there were attempts to revive it.  After all, it had been mentioned in the Book of Rites, the Liji, and it was praised by Mengzi—the famous scholar and philosopher we known to the West by his latinized name of  “Mencius”.  As such, it was officially documented as a “good idea” and so there were often attempts to revive it. The Northern Wei, however, took a slightly different approach.  In the late 5th century, they were looking for a way to curb the power of aristocratic families.  Since the Qin dynasty and onwards, they had seen the growth of families accumulating land and thus wealth and power.  These powerful families were both necessary and a threat, as they held the power to prop up or tear down a government.  Farmers would need to rent land from the powerful landowners, paying them a portion of their harvest as rent. To counter this, the Northern Wei instituted the Equal Field system.  Under this system, they claimed government ownership of vast swaths of land and then provided equal parts of that government land to every adult person.  Upon a person's death, their land would revert back to the government, who could then redistribute it to others.  The peasants would then be expected to provide a portion of the harvest as tax—they would provide food-rent for the land, as well as payment in cloth and a set number of days of corvee labor.  The key was that all of this payment was due to the government, and not to private aristocratic families. After the Northern Wei fell, the Equal Field system was reinvigorated by the Sui and Tang dynasties, who extended the system across their territories—or at least within the Yellow River and Yangzi River basins.  The system did have some allowances for inheritance—especially in instances like mulberry groves, which would be maintained by successive generations.  In general, however, most of the land was to be reclaimed by the government upon a person's death or at the point that they reached 60 years of age, and then it would be redistributed. This is still a relatively simplistic overview, and there were plenty of different adjustments and changes to the system over the years.  Key for us, though, is looking at the adoption of the Equal Field concept in the archipelago. Up to this point, land ownership in Yamato, such as it was, fell under various family groups.  They would own the land and whatever was produced on it, so it was truly private land.  “Yake” were set up by the families as central storehouses and administrative centers.  In this case, the royal family was, in many ways, just another landowner, and their “yake” are indicated in the Chronicles with the royal “mi” honorific—hence the “miyake”. As the reformers went about making changes in the period between 645-650, they adopted the concept of the Equal Field System.  Prominent figures such as Naka no Oe himself gave up their private fields, and the royal lands were turned into government lands.  They instituted the concept that all land in the archipelago nominally belonged to the State, and that others worked it at the Sovereign's pleasure. As we talked about in the past several episodes, this made the Sovereign and the State more prominent in people's lives, and it built bonds with the peasants in that they were granted land on which to work and make a livelihood.  They didn't necessarily have to work out a separate arrangement with some noble family, and the fields and taxes were “equal” for every person. Of course, surveying the land, taking a census, and distributing the land to the people didn't happen overnight, and it isn't even clear how well it occurred outside of the lands originally owned by the royal family, at least initially.  We are told that even though the project had kicked off years earlier, back in 646, it wasn't until the second month of 652 that we are told that the distribution of rice-land had been completed.  30 paces of land—Aston notes that it was 30 paces long by 12 paces wide—made up a single TAN of rice-land, and 10 TAN made up a CHOU.  Each TAN or land a person was granted was expected to provide back to the government a sheaf and a half of rice, with each CHOU providing 15 sheaves. This effort simplified taxation, in a way—everyone owed the same thing, based on their household and how much land they had been granted.  However, it also would have required an enormous bureaucratic engine.  Scribes would have been in high demand—anyone who could read and write.  Without modern computers, they would need to hand count everything in a given district, then send those numbers up to the governor, and then send them again to the capital.  Hence the giant government complex set up in Naniwa to oversee all of this and to ensure that the government worked as intended. In the fourth month of 652, the work continued.  We are told that the registers of population were prepared—presumably based on the information that had been previously acquired from around the provinces and sent to the court.  The earlier edicts from 646 that outlined this system—which we mentioned back in Episode 109—was finally put in force.  As we noted back in that episode, 50 houses made up a township, or RI—the character used is also pronounced “SATO”, today, and often refers to a village.  Each RI had an appointed elder, or head, using the term “CHOU”.  This term is still found today in modern parlance:  The head of a company, or “KAISHA” is the “SHACHOU”, while the head of a division, or BU, within said company would be the BUCHOU.  KAICHOU is the head of an association, or “KAI” and the “GAKUCHOU” is the head of a “DAIGAKU”, a university—basically the University President.  In this case the “CHOU” of the “RI” would be the “RICHOU”, using the Sino-Japanese On'yomi pronunciation, though in the vernacular they probably would have been called the “Sato-osa”.  All of this just means village head or village chief. So 50 houses made up a RI, with one RICHOU at the head.  In addition, each house would have a senior member appointed as the official head of household, or KACHOU.  From there, houses were associated together in groups of five for mutual protection, with one head, or CHOU, per group of five.  And okay, so they were creating groups of people for administrative purposes?  Who cares?  Well, the thing about this is that it was encoded into the new legal system, and it had several implications.  Chief among them was the implication of primogeniture: Since the most senior person was made the KACHOU or head of household (and by “person” I think we can assume that “man” was a given, unless there were no men in the house for some reason), this meant that the eldest person in the household was automatically the one who inherited that position, along with the status and control that came with it.  As we've seen, up to this point, it was not necessarily the case that the most senior person would inherit in ancient Yamato tradition.  Inheritance could pass from a younger brother to an older brother, or to a younger son of a younger son.  While there was some apparent concern over lineage and making sure that the individual was of the proper bloodline, at least for royal inheritance, there was not an automatic assumption of precedence for who would inherit. Of course, as we've seen, this set off all sorts of disputes and problems, especially among the elite where wealth and power was involved.  However, I think it is fair to assume that these problems weren't relegated purely to the upper levels of society.  Inheritance is always tricky, even in cases where it seems like it should be straightforward. I imagine that the institution of primogeniture as a legal concept would have had consequences beyond just inheritance.  It set up ideas of who was “important” in the family, and the family is often a microcosm of society at large.  Primogeniture meant that age and masculinity were both valued over youth and femininity.  That isn't to say that pre-Taika Ritsuryo was a bastion of equality, but we do see more instances where men and women seem to be on closer to equal footing. In the concept of primogeniture, I believe we can also see the institution of Confucian values—not surprising as this whole thing is cribbed from the continent, with a lot of it being taken from the Tang court.  We've discussed Confucian concepts of filial piety and how that fed into patriarchal—and frankly monarchical—ideas.  The Father and Son, the Ruler and Subject, the Husband and Wife, Elder Brother and Younger Brother, etc.  These were the relationships that were important and they defined much of the way people were expected to interact. As the new system being instituted copied the form of continental government, it would have also been preaching many of its values, as well.  Scholars will continue to debate how widespread the changes actually were.  Did the equal-fields system exist all the way out to the edge of Emishi territory?  Did it cover the mountainous regions of Honshu?  How about to the West of Yamato?  We don't know, but nonetheless, we do see both the expansion and centralization of Yamato power, so there seems to be something to it. By all accounts, the work that had taken place in this era appears to have been a smashing success.  The Taika reforms had taken hold, and the Ritsuryo state seemed to be off to a roaring start.  At the center of it was the newly built Nagara Toyosaki Palace, a giant stage for carrying out the business and ritual of the State.  One would think that the founders of this new State would have been overjoyed.  Naka no Oe, Nakatomi no Kamatari, and the sovereign, Karu, among them.  And yet, the story doesn't seem quite that simple. The first Ministers of the Right and Left had already passed away.  Abe no Oho-omi had passed of what appears to be natural causes, but Soga no Oho-omi, aka Ishikawa no Maro, was undone by slander, accused of treason, and took his own life rather than being killed by the government forces sent after him.  And in the 6th month of 653, the sovereign was told that the Priest Min had passed away. Min—Aston sometimes transcribes it as “Bin”—was one of the sources for much of the information about the continental systems of government.  We've mentioned him on and off for the last 5 or 6 episodes, though you may not have always caught the reference.  Also, since even Aston switches between pronunciations at times, I apologize if I haven't been consistent.  If I said Priest “Min” or “Bin”, we're talking about the same person.  He was a Buddhist priest who had traveled to the Sui dynasty in 608, spending 24 years there, witnessing the change from the Sui to the Tang, returning to Yamato in 632.  He was consulted on various omens, and he and Takamuko Kuromaro, who had also been made a State Scholar, or Hakase, at the same time, both worked to set up the eight ministries of the state, the core of the Ritsuryo bureaucracy. The death of Min was felt across the organs of state.  Both the Queen Dowager and Naka no Oe, the Crown Prince, sent messengers to offer condolences.  The sovereign commanded the painters, Koma no Tachibe no Komaro, Funado no Atahe, and others to make a large number of figures of the Buddha and Boddhisatvas.  They were to be placed in the temple of Kawaradera, though other sources say Yamadadera.  Both of these are in Asuka—although the capital had moved to Naniwa, and there was the temple of Shitennoji there, just south of the palace, I can't help but notice that many of the established temples remained in and around the old capital at Asuka. 653 saw something else, which also seems a bit odd, given the apparent success of the government.  We see that in this year the Crown Prince, Naka no Oe, petitioned his uncle, the Sovereign, to move the royal residence back to the Yamato capital, which is to say Asuka—in the heartland of Yamato as opposed to outside the Nara Basin, like Naniwa.  This is quite the request.  They had just finished establishing a large palace complex in Naniwa.  Why would they pull up stakes and move everything back to Asuka? So the sovereign, Karu, denied Naka no Oe's petition.  Regardless, Naka no Oe took his mother, the Queen Dowager, as well as Karu's own Queen, Hashibito and the younger royal princes, and he moved all of them back to Asuka, moving into the temporary palace of Kawabe.  The ministers and the various Daibu all followed him.  He basically moved the royal family and the court back to Asuka, without Karu's permission, and everyone followed him. We aren't told why this happened.  Was there a falling out between Naka no Oe and the Sovereign?  Was there some other issue that caused Naka no Oe to want to abandon the capital they had worked so hard to build? Karu was understandably upset by this apparent betrayal.  He expressed himself in a poem which he sent to his wife: KANAKITSUKE / AGAKAFU KOMA WA / HIKIDESEZU AGAKAFU KOMA WO / HITO MITSURAMUKA The pony which I keep/ I put shackles on / And led it not out Can anyone have seen / The pony which I keep? And if it wasn't enough that the people had left. We see once more, on the New Year's Day of 654, that the rats likewise left Naniwa and migrated towards Asuka.  This last one I certainly question as to whether or not it happened, but the meaning and symbolism is clear.  The Chroniclers are telling us that the effective capital was moving back to Asuka.  The time in Naniwa was limited. This doesn't appear to have negatively affected the fortunes of Naka no Oe and his supporters.  On the contrary: Nakatomi no Kamatari no Muraji, on this same New Year's Day, was granted the Shikwan, the purple cap, and his fief was increased.  The Toushi Kaden, the History of the Fujiwara House, says that it was increased by 8,000 households. It seems that the business of the government continued apace through 654, though it is a bit unclear just how things worked, given the split between Asuka and Naniwa.  Was Karu left alone in the giant complex he had built?  Or was it still where all of the government work happened?  If so, just how much were the high ministers missed, or were they working remotely, via messenger and post-horse? Whatever the situation, it would resolve by the end of the year.  On the 1st day of the 10th month, Naka no Oe learned that his uncle, the Sovereign, had taken ill.  Naka no Oe and the entire court returned to Naniwa to see him.  Nine days later, on the 10th day of the 10th month, Karu passed away in the state bedchamber he was around 57 or 58 years old.  He was temporarily interred in the southern courtyard, and Mozu no Hashi no Muraji no Doutoko oversaw the palace of temporary interment.  He would be buried in the Ohosaka Shinaga Tomb, which was built near the site of tombs associated with Kashikiyahime and others, south of the Yamato river, on the west side of the mountains that separate the Kawachi plain from the Nara basin. Two months later, Naka no Oe and his mother made it official, and formally moved to the temporary palace of Kawabe in Asuka.  Naka no Oe's mother, Takara Hime, would come to the throne on the third day of the first month of the new year, 655.  It would be her second time on the throne.   Since she reigned twice, the Chroniclers actually gave her two posthumous regnal names.  For the first reign they named her “Kougyoku Tennou”.  In the second reign they named her “Saimei Tennou”, to distinguish from her first reign on the throne.  As far as I know this has only happened twice—the second time being with Kouken, aka Shoutoku, Tennou in the late 8th century. Why she took the throne again is not addressed.  She had been the sovereign, stepping down during the Isshi Incident, when Soga no Iruka was killed in front of her.  At that time, Naka no Oe had been urged to take the throne, but he decided against it.  After all, Furubito no Oe was still around at that time, and seems to have had his own claim.  Naka no Oe couldn't take the throne while Furubito was still alive and, at the same time, claim to be the filial person that Confucian theory said he should be.  And so his uncle, Karu, took the throne, since nobody could really say anything against it.  Now, though, Furubito no Oe and Karu were both deceased.  Why didn't Naka no Oe, the Crown Prince, ascend the throne?  Again, we aren't given an answer.  There is one other thing that is possibly worth noting, however: Karu had a son.  This may be whom they are referring to as the “younger princes” who were brought to Asuka when everyone moved there.  This was Prince Arima.  He is believed to have been born in 640, so he would have been about 15 years old at the time of his father's death.  Naka no Oe was the Crown Prince, but did Arima also have a claim?  He was, after all, the male son of the most recent sovereign, Karu, and his queen, Hashibito hime.  This is something that we will definitely look at in a future episode. It should be noted that Naka no Oe was born in 626.  He would have been 18 or 19 years old during the time of the Isshi incident, and was only ten years old, 29 years old, when his mother took the throne for the second time, in 655.  She, on the other hand, was about 62 years old when she took the throne the second time.  The consensus is that even though she reigned as sovereign, the true power continued to rest with the young Naka no Oe and his clique, and they would continue to direct the government for the next several decades. And with that we largely bring to a close the Hakuchi era.  The era ended with Karu's death, and no new era was declared for Takara Hime's reign.  The period from the Hakuchi era to the start of the Nara period is often referred to as the Hakuho period.  An unofficial name taken from the names of the nengo on either side of it.  It often is used specifically to reference the art of the period, as more and more continental influence continued to pour in. Next episode, we'll take a look at the various interactions with the continent and go a little more into the politics of the time.  Takara Hime's second reign—for which she was posthumously given the name “Saimei Tennou”—dealt a lot with the continent, among other things.  Things on the Korean peninsula were heating up, and the Tang was continuing to push against those on their borders, both along the Silk Road to the West, but also against states like Goguryeo, in the northeast.  And yet it wasn't a time of constant warfare, either.  We'll do our best to look at what was happening. 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.

In this insightful episode of Lab Rats to Unicorns, Steve Lehmann sits down with Dr. Zhenpeng Qin, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Bioengineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Qin shares his groundbreaking work in biomedical engineering, focusing on the development of nanomaterials to advance diagnostics and therapeutic delivery. From innovations in nanoparticle technology to exploring the blood-brain barrier for treatment delivery, Dr. Qin's journey reveals the power of interdisciplinary research. This episode dives into the evolution of his career, his shift from traditional mechanical engineering to medical applications, and his vision for the future of biomedical technology.

Le "Zizhi Tongjian" (资治通鉴), ou "Miroir complet pour aider au gouvernement", est une œuvre monumentale de l'historien chinois Sima Guang, achevée en 1084. Cette œuvre est considérée comme extrêmement ambitieuse pour plusieurs raisons : 1. Envergure historique : Le Zizhi Tongjian couvre près de 1 400 ans d'histoire chinoise, depuis 403 avant notre ère jusqu'à 959 de notre ère. Cette période inclut les dynasties Zhou, Qin, Han, les périodes des Trois Royaumes, et plusieurs autres périodes fragmentées. Ce vaste projet historique offre une vue complète et continue sur l'histoire de la Chine ancienne. 2. Volume : L'œuvre contient 294 chapitres (ou juan) et comprend des millions de caractères chinois. C'est un travail massif, nécessitant de nombreuses années de recherche et de compilation par Sima Guang et une équipe de savants. La création de cette œuvre a duré 19 ans, montrant l'ampleur de l'effort consacré. 3. Perspective unique : Contrairement à de nombreux écrits de l'époque qui se concentraient sur des récits dynastiques spécifiques, le Zizhi Tongjian adopte une perspective chronologique (plutôt que thématique ou dynastique), permettant de suivre les événements de manière linéaire et continue. Cette approche visait à fournir aux dirigeants des leçons historiques pratiques pour la gouvernance. 4. Ambition morale et politique : Sima Guang a écrit ce texte dans un objectif d'éducation politique et morale. L'ouvrage est conçu comme un guide pour les empereurs et les fonctionnaires, offrant des exemples historiques de bonnes et mauvaises décisions politiques. Il encourage les dirigeants à apprendre des erreurs et succès de leurs prédécesseurs pour assurer une gouvernance stable et juste. Et, caractère unique du Zizhi Tongjian, il est structuré pour être utilisé comme un manuel de gouvernance en temps réel. Sima Guang a conçu son œuvre pour que les dirigeants puissent se référer à des exemples historiques de décisions politiques, militaires, et administratives tout en gouvernant. Chaque événement et décision est présenté avec une analyse critique de leurs conséquences, offrant aux lecteurs des leçons pratiques pour faire face à des situations similaires. De plus, Sima Guang a délibérément inclus des histoires de trahison, d'intrigue, et de complots politiques pour montrer les dangers potentiels et les dilemmes auxquels les dirigeants pouvaient être confrontés. Il ne s'agit donc pas seulement d'une compilation de faits historiques, mais aussi d'un guide moral et philosophique sur les valeurs de leadership. C'est ainsi que le Zizhi Tongjian est devenu non seulement un document historique mais aussi un manuel de référence pour les empereurs successifs, influençant la politique et la gouvernance de la Chine pendant des siècles.En raison de sa portée, de son ampleur, de sa méthodologie novatrice et de son objectif éducatif, le Zizhi Tongjian reste l'un des travaux les plus impressionnants et influents de l'historiographie chinoise. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Last year, China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, suddenly disappeared. Qin was a rising star in Chinese politics and a protegé of China's strongman leader, Xi Jinping. In the first episode of our three-part investigation, we chart Qin's rise and begin to untangle the mystery of his disappearance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the second episode of our investigation, we examine the life and career of Fu Xiaotian: the prominent Chinese TV host who had an affair with Qin Gang. Like Qin, Fu was sharp and ambitious, but her high-flying career would come to an abrupt halt. And like Qin, she would also mysteriously disappear.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our final episode, we get a break in the case of the missing minister: According to our sources, Chinese officials were told that Qin disappeared due to an explosive allegation. We dig into that story and its consequences for Fu and for Qin – Xi Jinping's trusted aide.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we complete Qin's two part story. The first part can be found in episode 109. In this week, we discuss Qin growing up in crushing poverty, how her mother held the family together, her father's political arrests, her family's incredible perseverance, and Qin's studies and eventual departure for America. Please join us for the conclusion of this amazing and inspiring story!Visit Qin's website: http://www.qinsunstubis.com/Purchase Qin's book: https://a.co/d/4E3HV0iSad Times Website: www.sadtimespodcast.comLearn more about Kevin's Professional Speaking and Acting at www.kevincrispin.comFollow Sad Times on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/373292146649249Follow Sad Times on Instagram: @sadtimespodcastGet your very own “Sad Schwag”: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hysteria51/albums/253388-sad-times-podcast?ref_id=9022 Editorial note: Sad Times is committed to sharing various stories from generous guests. The hope is to allow any number of stories to be shared to help people feel less alone and, perhaps, more empathetic. It is important to clarify that the guests' stories, perspectives, and sentiments do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of Sad Times in any way. Please note that Sad Times is in no way a substitute for medical or professional mental health support.

What happens when conflict breaks out in the church? How can we peacefully resolve issues with fellow believers? Why is it important to squash grumblings in the church before the gossip spreads? How can disagreements in the church affect our witness in the community?qIn his sermon “The Spirit-Filled Seven,” centered on Acts 6:1-7, Pastor Josiah answered these questions and others like them as he explained the importance of being unified as a church around the gospel. Whenever issues or problems arise in the church, it is important that we seek reconciliation and understanding with others.If left unchecked, small frustrations can become huge disagreements that split the church and destroy our Christian witness in the community. It is important that as believers, we look to Christ and seek to be more like Him each day. This sermon was preached on October 13th, 2024. Copyright 2024. For more information, please visit RedeemingLifeUtah.org.

Año 240 antes de Cristo, Roma lucha contra Cartago por la posesión del Mediterráneo, el resultado de las guerras púnicas determinará el destino del mundo occidental. En el otro extremo del mundo, en un lugar que no será descubierto por occidente hasta 1000 años después, se libra una guerra aún más épica, siete ancestrales reinos chinos han estado luchando entre sí encarnizadamente durante más de 500 años, los más poderosos eran Han, Chu y Qin. Desde la capital Xianyang, Qin Huang gobierna el reino de Qin, lo que lo distingue de los otros gobernantes es su juventud y su gran ambición, una ambición que le llevará años después a ser el primer emperador de la China unificada.

This week we welcome Qin for part one of a two part series. In this first part, we learn about her grandmother's belief that her father was cursed before he was born, how her parents met, the work they did in the western part of China, the great famine that decimated China from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, and finally, about Qin's birth and her family's desperate living situation. Please join us for this incredible story of love and perseverence.Visit Qin's website: http://www.qinsunstubis.com/Purchase Qin's book: https://a.co/d/4E3HV0iSad Times Website: www.sadtimespodcast.comLearn more about Kevin's Professional Speaking and Acting at www.kevincrispin.comFollow Sad Times on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/373292146649249Follow Sad Times on Instagram: @sadtimespodcastGet your very own “Sad Schwag”: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hysteria51/albums/253388-sad-times-podcast?ref_id=9022Editorial note: Sad Times is committed to sharing various stories from generous guests. The hope is to allow any number of stories to be shared to help people feel less alone and, perhaps, more empathetic. It is important to clarify that the guests' stories, perspectives, and sentiments do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of Sad Times in any way. Please note that Sad Times is in no way a substitute for medical or professional mental health support. 

En lo último en salud y fitness edición de septiembre 2024, hablaremos sobre cómo el HIIT afecta a las personas con diabetes tipo 2 y la relación entre el sueño y el gusto por los dulces. También veremos cómo el entrenamiento de resistencia beneficia a los adultos mayores y compararemos el ayuno intermitente con los medicamentos tradicionales para controlar el azúcar en sangre.   Atajos del Episodio 01:40 - HIIT como herramienta para mejorar el metabolismo en personas con diabetes tipo 21 05:39 - ¿Dormir menos nos hace preferir lo dulce?2 09:08 - Beneficios duraderos del entrenamiento de resistencia intensa en adultos mayores3 13:09 - Ayuno intermitente vs. medicamentos antidiabéticos para el control del azúcar en sangre4 17:18 - Alimentación con Tiempo Restringido y Ejercicio: Un Combo Eficaz para la Salud Metabólica5   Referencias: Feng, J., Zhang, Q., Chen, B., Chen, J., Wang, W., Hu, Y., Yu, J., & Huang, H. (2024). Effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise on glucose and lipid metabolism in type 2 diabetes patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in endocrinology, 15, 1360998. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2024.1360998 Tucker, R. M., Tjahjono, I. E., Atta, G., Roberts, J., Vickers, K. E., Tran, L., Stewart, E., Kelly, A. H., Silver, B. S., & Tan, S. Y. (2024). The influence of sleep on human taste function and perception: A systematic review. Journal of sleep research, e14257. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14257 Bloch-Ibenfeldt, M., Theil Gates, A., Karlog, K., Demnitz, N., Kjaer, M., & Boraxbekk, C. J. (2024). Heavy resistance training at retirement age induces 4-year lasting beneficial effects in muscle strength: a long-term follow-up of an RCT. BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 10(2), e001899. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2024-001899 Guo, L., Xi, Y., Jin, W., Yuan, H., Qin, G., Chen, S., Zhang, L., Liu, Y., Cheng, X., Liu, W., & Yu, D. (2024). A 5:2 Intermittent Fasting Meal Replacement Diet and Glycemic Control for Adults With Diabetes: The EARLY Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA network open, 7(6), e2416786. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.16786 Dai, Z., Wan, K., Miyashita, M., Ho, R. S., Zheng, C., Poon, E. T., & Wong, S. H. (2024). The Effect of Time-Restricted Eating Combined with Exercise on Body Composition and Metabolic Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 15(8), 100262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100262

Author of her family memoir “Once Our Lives”, Qin Sun Stubis, shares lessons she learned from her Chinese mom Yan. Yan was given away by her mother as a baby, and struggled keeping her four daughters from starvation while her husband was a political prisoner for 14 years. We learn about the history of China, and about the Chinese historical bias against female children (the worst version being female infanticide). Yan teaches us about the power of education to break generational patterns; that we're much stronger than we can imagine; that we can find a way – even to survive – by being creative and not giving up. Qin also talks about her mother, like many mothers, not being able to teach her self-care and self-esteem. And she talks about the holy responsibility mothers have, and the power to transform next generations through connecting with their children.    To learn more about Qin and her book, please visite her website.  Subscribe to Ana's new "Mama Loves…” newsletter here.  To contact Ana, to be a guest, or suggest a guest, please send your mail to: info@thankyoumama.net To learn more about "Thank You, mama" creative writing workshop, visit here. For more about “Thank You, Mama", please visit: http://www.thankyoumama.net Connect with Ana on social media: https://www.instagram.com/anatajder/ https://www.facebook.com/ana.tajder  

China will ratchet up resources to accelerate the building of basic systems for data and leverage innovative digital technologies to bolster industrial upgrading, part of a broader push to promote the high-quality development of the economy and foster new quality productive forces, said officials, company executives and experts.专家表示，中国将加大资源投入，加快数据基础体系建设，利用创新数字技术促进产业升级，推动经济高质量发展，培育新质生产力。Heightened efforts should be made to boost the deeper integration of the digital and real economies, vigorously develop the core industries of the digital economy, and advance the digital transformation of industries, said Qin Boyong, vice-chairwoman of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body.全国政协副主席秦博勇表示，希望进一步用好数博会平台，更好推动数字中国建设，为贵州高质量发展和现代化建设贡献力量。Qin made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2024, which kicked off on Wednesday in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province.8月28日，秦博勇于贵阳开幕的2024中国国际大数据产业博览会开幕式上发表了讲话。She stressed the need to speed up the construction of basic systems for data and data infrastructure, press ahead with reforms related to the market-oriented allocation of data elements, use digital technologies to drive the urban digital transformation and the development of digital villages, and expand international cooperation in the digital economy domain.她强调，要持续促进实体经济和数字经济深度融合，加快推进数据基础制度和基础设施建设，以数字化转型全方位赋能经济社会发展，筑牢数字安全屏障，主动拓展国际合作，全面推动数字经济高质量发展。Xu Lin, Party secretary of Guizhou, said the province will make more efforts to build intelligent computing industrial clusters with a key focus on artificial intelligence technology, nurture a batch of industry-specific large language models, push forward the construction of data centers and expand the application scenarios of data elements in more fields.省委书记、省人大常委会主任徐麟表示，贵州将以人工智能技术为重点，把发展数字生产力作为发展新质生产力的重要突破口，聚焦算力、赋能、产业三个关键，着力构建算力协同发展机制，培育以人工智能为驱动的智算发展新模式。Often dubbed China's big data hub, the mountainous province of Guizhou is the country's first national big data comprehensive pilot zone, and has been promoting the big data industry as the backbone of the province's high-quality social and economic development.贵州作为数字经济发展的先行者，是全国首个国家大数据综合试点区，一直把大数据产业作为全省经济社会高质量发展的支撑力量。Xu said that Guizhou's total computing power has reached 40 EFLOPS, making it one of the regions with the strongest intelligent computing capabilities nationwide. EFLOPS is a unit of the speed of computer systems, equal to one quintillion floating-point operations per second.徐麟表示，全省总算力规模40 EFLOPS，贵州已成为全国智算能力最强的地区之一。 EFLOPS表示每秒执行一千万亿次的浮点运算。Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, said the administration is working with relevant departments to study and formulate policies concerning the data industry, in order to unleash the value of massive data resources and improve the competitiveness of China's data industry.国家数据局局长刘烈宏在开幕式上表示，国家数据局正会同有关部门研究制定产业发展政策，将从优化产业布局、培育多元经营主体、强化政策保障等三个方面系统布局培育壮大数据产业。"As a new type of production factor, data has been deeply integrated into various areas of the economy and society," Liu said, while emphasizing the significance of the cultivation of the data industry in fostering new quality productive forces and driving the country's high-quality economic growth.“数据产业是一个新兴产业，主要是指利用现代信息技术对数据资源进行开发，推动其流通应用，以实现数据要素价值。”刘烈宏表示，培育数据产业对培育新质生产力、推动我国经济高质量增长具有重要意义。Chen Zhongyue, chairman of China Unicom, said the company is beefing up efforts to promote the construction of new types of infrastructure, facilitate the development of next-generation wireless communication technology, and accelerate the industrial applications of its self-developed large language model, called Yuanjing.中国联通董事长陈忠岳表示，公司正加大力度推进新型基础设施建设，促进下一代无线通信技术发展，加快自主研发的“元景”大模型的产业应用。Chen said the company has developed 35 industry-specific Yuanjing models, which have benefited urban governance, information consumption and industrial manufacturing, adding that more efforts are needed to make breakthroughs in the key technologies of big data and LLMs, and provide more intelligent, convenient digital services in Guizhou.陈忠岳表示，目前公司已研发出35个行业“元景”模型，赋能城市治理、经济运行、信息消费、工业制造等领域成效明显。下一步，公司还需加大大数据、大语言模型等关键技术的突破，为贵州提供更加智能、便捷的数字服务。Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Chinese cybersecurity company Qi-Anxin Technology Group, said that as new cybersecurity-related challenges, such as privacy and data leakage, have appeared along with the development of AI and data sharing, safeguarding data security is important in bolstering data transactions and developing the digital economy.中国网络安全公司奇安信集团董事长齐向东表示，在大数据时代，数据的共享和传播能产生更多价值，但数据被窃取会导致企业核心竞争力丧失。因此，数据安全是数字经济和数据交易的核心问题，只有解决了安全疑虑，数字经济才能快速发展。

The world was astonished when 8000 terracotta soldiers were unearthed in 1974 by Chinese farmers digging a well; the warriors opened a window to the first dynasty of China unlike anything seen before.Dan travels to the mausoleum of the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang in China to discover what this clay army and his enormous mausoleum can tell us about life in the court of the First Emperor. Dan also goes in search of the mass graves of the workers who toiled to their deaths to build the mausoleum and traces the chaotic fall of the Qin and how the Emperor's pursuit of eternal life led to a gruesome and premature death.This episode was produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore. The translator was Ellen Xu and the fixer was Chao.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign up HERE for 50% off for 3 months using code ‘DANSNOW'.We'd love to hear from you - what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our listener survey here.

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

Is "Hero" truly a masterpiece or just a visually stunning puzzle? Join us as we dissect the 2002 Chinese film "Hero," which was introduced to U.S. audiences with the help of Quentin Tarantino in 2004. Despite its high regard among cinephiles, we share our candid, mixed feelings about the film. Listen as we praise the exceptional cinematography and Jet Li's captivating performance while also expressing our confusion over certain aspects of the film. Our conversation delves into the challenges of connecting with "Hero's" complex narrative structure and multiple storytelling layers. We also highlight the film's visual beauty and deeper meanings, even as we navigate our struggles with its story structure and character motivations. As we share our final ratings, we ponder if "Hero" is a must-watch film, but first urge you to watch "Hero" before diving into our spoiler discussion at the end of the episode to form your own opinion on its artistic merits firsthand.Letterbox'd Synopsis:  A defense officer, Nameless, was summoned by the King of Qin regarding his success of terminating three warriors.

Discover the spiritual connections between ancient China and biblical narratives. Explore Deuteronomy 32 worldview, territorial powers, and the sons of God. Check out another insightful video on our channel: https://youtu.be/GI0ia-V3srY Join us as Brian Godawa delves into the Deuteronomy 32 worldview, the concept of territorial powers and principalities over nations. Discover how the nations of the world have spiritual powers governing them, known as the sons of God, and how these beings are referred to as gods in the Bible but are not on the same level as the one true God. The conversation also touches on the influence of the Tower of Babel on the development of different cultures and mythologies, including Chinese dragon imagery. Godawa's novel "Qin" and its companion book explore these concepts in the context of the first emperor of China and his connection to the ancient world. Brian Godawa discusses the divine council, the role of pagan gods and demons in ancient religions, and the contrasting depictions of dragons in Eastern and Western cultures. He explains how the biblical worldview differs from other ancient religions and sheds light on the fallen angels and the Nephilim through the book of 1 Enoch. As a screenwriter, Godawa brings a concise and action-packed approach to his novels, embedding biblical themes without being preachy. He shares his favorite scripture from Ecclesiastes and discusses his latest book project on the Maccabees. BUY ME A COFFEE LINK https://buymeacoffee.com/sensiblehippie If you like to be on the show or have guest suggestions please email me sensiblehippie@gmail.com ⁠instagram.com/sensiblehippie⁠ You can follow my guest  https://godawa.com Brian's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@BrianGodawa Brian's YouTube book trailer link: https://youtu.be/yn23MATuzbM?si=Ofn8h0CJm2ySTki4 Beginning music from Moments: Fugue Frenzy Intro music: ImaginationPALA Middle Music: And More by: Neon Beach Outro music: LNDÖ Just Look Up End song: Hypnotized Cira Grandi --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sensiblehippie/support

A client cancels her massage therapy appointment because she has hand, foot, and mouth disease. Her therapist is grateful but wants to know when it will be safe to work with the client again. Oh, by the way, the client also has strep throat and lupus. Does that make a difference? Find out on this episode of “I Have a Client Who . . .” Pathology Conversations with Ruth Werner. Sponsors:     Books of Discovery: www.booksofdiscovery.com   Anatomy Trains: www.anatomytrains.com  MassageBook: www.massagebook.com Elements Massage: www.elementsmassage.com/abmp   Host Bio:                    Ruth Werner is a former massage therapist, a writer, and an NCBTMB-approved continuing education provider. She wrote A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology, now in its seventh edition, which is used in massage schools worldwide. Werner is also a long-time Massage & Bodywork columnist, most notably of the Pathology Perspectives column. Werner is also ABMP's partner on Pocket Pathology, a web-based app and quick reference program that puts key information for nearly 200 common pathologies at your fingertips. Werner's books are available at www.booksofdiscovery.com. And more information about her is available at www.ruthwerner.com.                                        Resources:    Pocket Pathology: https://www.abmp.com/abmp-pocket-pathology-app   Acropustulosis: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, and More (2017) Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/acropustulosis (Accessed: 3 July 2024).   Diagnostic Department and Public Health Laboratories, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece. et al. (2023) ‘A case of hand-foot-and-mouth disease in a systemic lupus erythematosus patient presenting as late complication onychomadesis', Open Journal of Clinical and Medical Case Reports, 9(39). Available at: https://doi.org/10.52768/2379-1039/2150.   Disease Alert: Foot-and-Mouth Disease (no date). Available at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/cattle/foot-and-mouth (Accessed: 3 July 2024).   Faulkner, C.F. et al. (2003) ‘Hand, foot and mouth disease in an immunocompromised adult treated with aciclovir', The Australasian Journal of Dermatology, 44(3), pp. 203–206. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-0960.2003.00679.x.   Hand-Foot Syndrome: What It Is, Causes & Treatment (no date). Available at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24105-hand-foot-syndrome (Accessed: 3 July 2024).   ‘Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease (HFMD): Practice Essentials, Background, Pathophysiology' (2024). Available at: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/218402-overview (Accessed: 3 July 2024).   It's Not Strep Throat: Treating Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease | University of Utah Health (2018). Available at: https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/kids-zone/all/2018/11/its-not-strep-throat-treating-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease (Accessed: 3 July 2024).   Li, Z., Jiang, N. and Xu, Y. (2016) ‘The concurrence of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus and hand-foot syndrome in a patient undergoing capecitabine chemotherapy', Australasian Journal of Dermatology, 57(1), pp. e14–e16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajd.12224.   Qin, L. et al. (2019) ‘Identification of immune and metabolic predictors of severe hand-foot-mouth disease', PLoS ONE, 14(5), p. e0216993. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216993.  

In this episode of the ongoing Mics and Minds series we meet Qin Sun Stubis, an accomplished writer, newspaper columnist, and the award-winning author of “Once Our Lives.” Born during the tumultuous era of the Great Chinese Famine in a Shanghai shantytown, Qin's early years were marked by hardship. As the first foreign student to graduate from her university's Department of Communications, Qin has dedicated herself to advocating for the voiceless and fostering cross-cultural understanding through her writings. Stay tuned and listen to the episode with our host Payal Nayar to discover Qin's powerful narratives.Qin's journey is a testament to resilience. Her thirst for knowledge led her to read forbidden books and secure a place at one of China's top universities, where she graduated with a degree in English and English Literature. Not only that but with the support of the U.S. Senator Qin emigrated to the United States, becoming the first foreign student to graduate from her university's communications department. For the past 15 years, Qin has enriched readers as a newspaper columnist, delving into Asian cultural heritage and universal human connections. Her diverse literary contributions, including poems, essays, short stories, and original Chinese tall tales, have appeared in over 200 publications worldwide. Tune in now to discover more about Qin and her storytelling with our host Payal Nayar. Episode available on all podcast streaming platforms and on YouTube.Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/2Vf8vv8⠀Spotify: https://buff.ly/2Vf8uHA⠀Google Podcasts:https://buff.ly/2Vds6LX⠀-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reservedDo support the show with reviews, shares and a one time donation to help bring you a lot more important content.https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meltingpotcollective Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/melting-pot. https://plus.acast.com/s/melting-pot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For 20 years Qin was doing something that could've "unalived" her at any moment!! That's why this is a Setting the Bar story! If you can manage to make it through the day without mistakenly using a grenade as a hammer… you're doing OK! Source: https://www.odditycentral.com/news/woman-uses-hand-grenade-as-a-hammer-for-20-years-lives-to-tell-the-tale.html

Season 9 is starting to wind down. For the ninth chengyu of the season, we take Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" and open to the chapter on Xiang Yu. This time we look at the story of Xiān Fā Zhì Rén 先发制人. In this well-known story from the fall of the Qin Dynasty, we see Xiang Yu and his uncle Xiang Liang seizing the day and the hour to attack Qin forces and bring the dynasty to an end. But before they do that, they first weigh their options by talking with the governor of a local commandery. After one short meeting with this guy, Xiang Liang decides not to wait to see what happens next. He realized 先发制人. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 9 is starting to wind down. For the ninth chengyu of the season, we take Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" and open to the chapter on Xiang Yu. This time we look at the story of Xiān Fā Zhì Rén 先发制人. In this well-known story from the fall of the Qin Dynasty, we see Xiang Yu and his uncle Xiang Liang seizing the day and the hour to attack Qin forces and bring the dynasty to an end. But before they do that, they first weigh their options by talking with the governor of a local commandery. After one short meeting with this guy, Xiang Liang decides not to wait to see what happens next. He realized 先发制人. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 9 is starting to wind down. For the ninth chengyu of the season, we take Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" and open to the chapter on Xiang Yu. This time we look at the story of Xiān Fā Zhì Rén 先发制人. In this well-known story from the fall of the Qin Dynasty, we see Xiang Yu and his uncle Xiang Liang seizing the day and the hour to attack Qin forces and bring the dynasty to an end. But before they do that, they first weigh their options by talking with the governor of a local commandery. After one short meeting with this guy, Xiang Liang decides not to wait to see what happens next. He realized 先发制人. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 9 is starting to wind down. For the ninth chengyu of the season, we take Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" and open to the chapter on Xiang Yu. This time we look at the story of Xiān Fā Zhì Rén 先发制人. In this well-known story from the fall of the Qin Dynasty, we see Xiang Yu and his uncle Xiang Liang seizing the day and the hour to attack Qin forces and bring the dynasty to an end. But before they do that, they first weigh their options by talking with the governor of a local commandery. After one short meeting with this guy, Xiang Liang decides not to wait to see what happens next. He realized 先发制人. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 9 is starting to wind down. For the ninth chengyu of the season, we take Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" and open to the chapter on Xiang Yu. This time we look at the story of Xiān Fā Zhì Rén 先发制人. In this well-known story from the fall of the Qin Dynasty, we see Xiang Yu and his uncle Xiang Liang seizing the day and the hour to attack Qin forces and bring the dynasty to an end. But before they do that, they first weigh their options by talking with the governor of a local commandery. After one short meeting with this guy, Xiang Liang decides not to wait to see what happens next. He realized 先发制人. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 9 is starting to wind down. For the ninth chengyu of the season, we take Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" and open to the chapter on Xiang Yu. This time we look at the story of Xiān Fā Zhì Rén 先发制人. In this well-known story from the fall of the Qin Dynasty, we see Xiang Yu and his uncle Xiang Liang seizing the day and the hour to attack Qin forces and bring the dynasty to an end. But before they do that, they first weigh their options by talking with the governor of a local commandery. After one short meeting with this guy, Xiang Liang decides not to wait to see what happens next. He realized 先发制人. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of History 102 delves deeply into the ancient history of China, from its foundation around 2000 BC to the fall of the Han Dynasty around 200 AD. WhatifAltHist creator Rudyard Lynch and Erik Torenberg also explore the rise and fall of the Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, uncovering the political and social forces that shaped ancient Chinese history. Discover how ancient China evolved in isolation, developing its own unique civilization, institutions, and beliefs, with surprising parallels to other world powers. -- SPONSORS: BEEHIIV Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 

In 259 BC, a boy named Ying Zheng was born in the state of Qin in modern-day China.  He was born into the royal family of the kingdom and ascended to the throne at the age of 13.  For most people, becoming king would be the pinnacle of their achievements. However, this was not to be the case with the King of Chin. He would go on to achieve a status that there wasn't even a word for. Learn more about Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, his life, and his legacy on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond at your local store. Find out more at heavenhilldistillery.com/hh-bottled-in-bond.php Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free offer and get $20 off. Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month. Use the code EverythingEverywhere for a 20% discount on a subscription at Newspapers.com. Visit meminto.com and get 15% off with code EED15.  Listen to Expedition Unknown wherever you get your podcasts.  Get started with a $13 trial set for just $3 at harrys.com/EVERYTHING. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Mark Parthun from Ohio State University about his work on the role of Hat1p in chromatin assembly. Mark Parthun shares insights into his pivotal paper in 2004 that explored the link between type B histone acetyltransferases and chromatin assembly, setting the stage for his current research interests in epigenetics. He highlights the role of HAT1 in acetylating lysines on newly synthesized histones, its involvement in double-strand break repair, and the search for phenotypes associated with HAT1 mutations. The discussion expands to a collaborative research project between two scientists uncovering the roles of HAT1 and NASP as chaperones in chromatin assembly. Transitioning from yeast to mouse models, the team investigated the effects of HAT1 knockout on mouse phenotypes, particularly in lung development and craniofacial morphogenesis. They also explored the impact of histone acetylation on chromatin dynamics and its influence on lifespan, aging processes, and longevity.   References Parthun, M. R., Widom, J., & Gottschling, D. E. (1996). The Major Cytoplasmic Histone Acetyltransferase in Yeast: Links to Chromatin Replication and Histone Metabolism. Cell, 87(1), 85–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81325-2 Kelly, T. J., Qin, S., Gottschling, D. E., & Parthun, M. R. (2000). Type B histone acetyltransferase Hat1p participates in telomeric silencing. Molecular and cellular biology, 20(19), 7051–7058. https://doi.org/10.1128/MCB.20.19.7051-7058.2000 Ai, X., & Parthun, M. R. (2004). The nuclear Hat1p/Hat2p complex: a molecular link between type B histone acetyltransferases and chromatin assembly. Molecular cell, 14(2), 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1097-2765(04)00184-4 Nagarajan, P., Ge, Z., Sirbu, B., Doughty, C., Agudelo Garcia, P. A., Schlederer, M., Annunziato, A. T., Cortez, D., Kenner, L., & Parthun, M. R. (2013). Histone acetyl transferase 1 is essential for mammalian development, genome stability, and the processing of newly synthesized histones H3 and H4. PLoS genetics, 9(6), e1003518. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003518 Agudelo Garcia, P. A., Hoover, M. E., Zhang, P., Nagarajan, P., Freitas, M. A., & Parthun, M. R. (2017). Identification of multiple roles for histone acetyltransferase 1 in replication-coupled chromatin assembly. Nucleic Acids Research, 45(16), 9319–9335. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx545 Popova, L. V., Nagarajan, P., Lovejoy, C. M., Sunkel, B. D., Gardner, M. L., Wang, M., Freitas, M. A., Stanton, B. Z., & Parthun, M. R. (2021). Epigenetic regulation of nuclear lamina-associated heterochromatin by HAT1 and the acetylation of newly synthesized histones. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(21), 12136–12151. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab1044   Related Episodes Regulation of Chromatin Organization by Histone Chaperones (Geneviève Almouzni) Effects of Non-Enzymatic Covalent Histone Modifications on Chromatin (Yael David) scDamID, EpiDamID and Lamina Associated Domains (Jop Kind)   Contact Epigenetics Podcast on X Epigenetics Podcast on Instagram Epigenetics Podcast on Mastodon Epigenetics Podcast on Bluesky Epigenetics Podcast on Threads Active Motif on X Active Motif on LinkedIn Email: podcast@activemotif.com

This episode we look at the reign of Tamura, aka Jomei Tenno. For references and more, check out https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-105   Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 105: Onsen and Uprisings The general paced back and forth behind the walls of the fortress.  Glancing around, he couldn't help but notice how empty it now seemed.  The palisades were holding, but most of the soldiers had gone, disappearing in the night.  Outside the walls of the fortress, he could hear the Emishi laughing and singing.  They were in good spirits—and why wouldn't they be?  The great army of Yamato sent to chastise them had been routed, and they had besieged them in their fortress, built in these still wild lands of northeastern Honshu, on the edge of an area known to many as Michi no Oku, roughly: the end of the road. And for the general, it looked like this might be the end of the road for him.  His options were limited, and he was clearly outnumbered.  It was beginning to look like his troops had the right idea.  Of course, it meant leaving his wife and other women to fend for themselves, but fear can do a lot to motivate someone.  The general eyed the walls and the trees beyond.  If he could slip past the besieging forces in the darkness, perhaps he could escape.  It wouldn't be the most honorable way out of this situation, but it would at least leave him with his head.  And so, as night fell, he decided to make his move… Greetings everyone, and welcome back!  Before I get into it, a quick shout out an thank you to YamiRaven for supporting us on Patreon, and thanks to Johnny for a supporting us on Ko-Fi.com.  If you'd like to join them, and help us keep this thing going, we'll have more info at the end of the episode. Speaking of: This episode we are going to be talking about events during the reign of Prince Tamura, also known as Okinaga Tarashi-hi Hiro-nuka, or by the name given to him by the 8th century chroniclers: Jomei Tennou.  As we discussed back in episode 103, Prince Tamura came to power in an interesting turn of fate.  The grandson of Nunakura Futodamashiki, aka Bidatsu Tenno, his father, Prince Hikobito no Ohoye was killed during the tumultuous period following Nunakura's death.  After several short-lived reigns, it was Kashikiya Hime, wife to Nunakura, who took the throne, known to us as Suiko Tennou. Kashikiya Hime had named an heir, Crown Prince Umayado, aka Shotoku Taishi, but he died before she did and by the time that Kashikiya Hime passed away, there was nobody clearly set up to take the throne, though two candidates did stand out.  There was Prince Yamashiro no Ohoye, the son of Crown Prince Umayado, whom a strict lineal succession might seem to indicate was next up to inherit, but Yamato inheritance tradition was not so cut and dried.  Soga no Emishi, the son of Soga no Umako, the powerful Oho-omi who helped run the government during Kashikiya Hime's reign, campaigned to put Prince Tamura on the throne, rather than Yamashiro no Ohoye, despite—or perhaps because of—the fact that Yamashiro no Ohoye was actually a close relative to Emishi. Now Prince Tamura was on the throne and Soga no Emishi was the Oho-omi, taking his father's place. And yet, despite the chaotic start to the reign in 629, the majority of it was almost tame and nondescript.  Don't get me wrong, Tamura, as I'll keep referring to him, was on the throne for a respectable thirteen years, and during that time there were certainly events that move our narrative forward in many ways.  However, much of the years of his reign are filled with discussions of things like rain storms and celestial phenomena.  In fact, the only thing that apparently happened in all of 634 was that they saw a comet in the sky.  The year before that, in 633, the only entry was the return of envoys from the Tang.  For two years, then, there is hardly a mention of politics and anything else going on.  And yet, this is a period that would set the stage for what was coming next. Shortly after Tamura was appointed sovereign, he appointed his consort, Princess Takara, as his queen.  Takara was, herself, a great-great grand-daughter of Nunakura Futodamashiki, a granddaughter of Prince Hikobito and daughter of Prince Chinu—presumably niece to Tamura, then, which is basically par for the course.  She was also a royal descendant on her mother's side, tracing back to Nunakura's father, Ame Kuniyoshi, aka Kinmei Tennou.  In fact, her mother, Kibitsu Hime, is said to have been buried in her own kofun at the head of Ame Kuniyoshi's kofun—and today it is the site of the 7th century saruishi figures that I mentioned in the talk about traveling around Asuka. Takara would give birth to three children of note.  The first was her eldest son, Prince Katsuraki, who would, spoiler alert, later be known as Crown Prince Naka no Ohoye.  He was around three years old when his father took the throne.  He had a sister by Takara, named Hashibito, and a brother, whose name you may have heard me mention previously:  Oho-ama. Yes, Naka no Ohoye and Oho-ama are the future sovereigns Tenji and Temmu, but for now they are still relatively young.  In fact, Oho-ama wouldn't be born until several years into his father's reign, in 631. Some of the early events of the reign were carryover from Kashikiya Hime's time on the throne.  In 629, for instance, Tanabe no Muraji went to Yakushima, returning the following year, and with people coming to Yamato from Yakushima the year after that. There were also a fair number of foreign embassies, including an Embassy from Goguryeo and Baekje.  These may have been missions of condolences and congratulations—typical international diplomacy at the time when a neighboring ruler passed away and a new one ascended the throne, it would seem.  They arrived in the third month of 630 and departed in the 9th month of that same year—a 6 month visit, all told. We also have the first actual account of ambassadors sent off to the Tang dynasty: Inugami no Mitasuki and Yakushi no E'nichi, each of Dainin rank.  These are some of the first true kentoushi, or Ambassadors to the Tang court, that were sent, but over time their influence would be felt across Yamato and the archipelago. These ambassadors—or at least Mitasuki—would return in 632 with a Tang ambassador, Gao Biaoren, along with student-priests Ryou'un and Soumin, as well as Suguri no Torikahi.  Perhaps most tellingly, they would arrive with Silla escort envoys, which would seem to indicate that passage to the Tang court was not done without Silla's assistance.  As you may recall, Silla had entered into a nominal alliance with the Tang against Goguryeo.  The Tang Ambassadors eventually reached Naniwa, where they were met with boats decked out with drums, flutes, and flags, and where they exchanged formal greetings before being escorted into the official residence.  The Nihon Shoki takes pains to note the different individuals involved in the duties, from the initial greeting, guiding them to the residence, and then preparing them in the residence, along with a welcome drink of sake brewed on temple rice land. And then, three months later, they depart once more.  Nothing else is said of their visit. Meanwhile, in the time between when Mitasuki went to the Tang court and when he returned with Gao Biaoren and company, a few things had happened.  For one we get a note about Tamura moving to a new palace complex known as Okamoto no miya, supposedly at the foot of Asuka hill, hence the name, which means “foot of the hill”.  This would not have been much of a change from Kashikiya Hime's palace, still within the sacred area defined by the Soga temple of Asukadera as well as various other temples being stood up in that area as well.  A move was to be expected, though in this case it is interesting that he didn't go very far. There is also mention, still in 630, of the repairing the official residences in Naniwa where ambassadors from the continent would be quartered during their trips to Yamato 631 opens with something of a treat – so it would seem, anyway.  We are told that in the third month of Tamura's third year on the throne, Prince Pung—named Pungjang in the Chronicles—was sent to the Yamato court by his father, King Wicha of Baekje.  On the one hand, the Korean sources do agree that Prince Pung was, indeed, sent to Yamato, where he would live as a guest and diplomatic hostage.  We've talked about this practice in the past, which seems to have strengthened bonds between nations, although we rarely hear of Yamato returning the favor by sending hostages to the continent.  It may have also helped keep a potential heir out of harm's way in case of a coup or other such politics.  Several times, heirs returned to Baekje to be enthroned with Yamato assistance, if the Chronicles are to be believed. Except that this entry is probably not quite right.  You see, Wicha wouldn't even come to the throne until 641—he wasn't even made Crown Prince until 632—so why would he send his son as a diplomatic hostage in 631?  Johnathan Best, translating the Baekje records of the Samguk Sagi, suggests that perhaps the Chroniclers were off by a factor of 10 or 12 years.  You see, as we mentioned earlier, the East Asian calendrical system was based on a series of ten stems and twelve branches.  The stems represented the elemental forces, and the branches were identified with the twelve signs of the zodiac.  Incrementing each one each year led to a series of 60 years before it started repeating, and based on the way that the records for this reign are dated, it looks like the records the Chroniclers were drawing from used this system for their dates.  However, if you misread—or even miswrite—one of these characters it can change your date by ten or even twelve years.  It would make much more sense for Prince Pung to have arrived twelve years later, in 643.  Similarly, we find other records, particularly having to do with Baekje, which may be a bit jumbled, possibly indicating they came from a similar source that either had things in the wrong chronological order or was simply vague or poorly scribed so that the Chroniclers had to figure out exactly what was happening when—which they may have made mistakes with, from time to time. So Prince Pung arriving as a hostage is probably misplaced, and likely didn't happen during Tamura's reign.  Which means that other than people from Yakushima showing up in 631 the only other major event of the year was Tamura going to the hot springs of Arima, in Settsu, where he stayed for about three months. Now I know I've mentioned hot springs, or onsen, before in the narrative.  After all, the volcanic islands that make up the Japanese archipelago are full of them, and it isn't like they were suddenly discovered during this reign, but it does look like this might be the first formal mention of them in the Nihon Shoki—which gives Arima, in the mountains north of Kobe, some serious bona fides to be considered the oldest known hot spring town in Japan. And that would be a cool side note in most reigns, but for Tamura it seems to have been a habit.  He apparently went for a dip at least three times in his reign—the second time, in 638, he apparently went to the “Arima no Miya”, or the Arima Palace, which suggests that he had something built specifically for his visits.  And then, in 639, he headed to the hot springs in Iyo. The country of Iyo is better known today as Ehime prefecture, on the western edge of the island of Shikoku.  The largest city in Ehime is Matsuyama, home to the famous Dougou Onsen, which also lays a claim to being the oldest operating hot springs in the archipelago.  Dougou Onsen is not only the traditional place in Iyo where Tamura, aka Jomei Tennou, took the waters, as they might say in the west, but in the Iyo Fudoki it is said that its fame goes back even further.  As we mentioned back in Chapter 18, it is said that the legendary figures Ohonamuchi and Sukuna Bikona met there, back in ancient times.  In more recent times, relatively speaking, Dougou Onsen was the inspiration behind the fantastical bathhouse created by Hayao Miyazaki in the Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away. For all that these visits to the hot springs are somewhat interesting, they don't exactly tell us a lot about what was happening with government, and in fact tend to make it seem almost as though Tamura was skipping out, at least in the fall to early winter.  And to be honest, can you blame him?  Winter is one of the best times to go take advantage of the volcanic springs. Many of the other records appear to be natural phenomena, mostly having to do with the heavens: rain, storms, lightning, and more.  Some of the more intriguing are comets—stars with “long tails” that appeared in the skies.  There are also mentions of eclipse and what may have been a meteor—a star in 636 “floated east to west, with a noise like thunder.”  The Priest Soumin, from the Tang, said it was the sound of the Celestial Dog, a creature from the ancient Han or possibly pre-Qin text, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, a fantastical account of mythical geography and various animals, including the nine tailed fox and the celestial dog, whose bark was said to be like Thunder.  This book was considered to be a true account up through the Tang dynasty. One could probably track the celestial phenomena and see if there is any correlation with known sightings, but it is also just as likely that some of it was taken from continental records and inserted into the Chronicles as appropriate. Besides such phenomena, there were accounts of more missions, especially from Baekje.  Yamato was still using the cap rank system attributed to Prince Umayado during Kashikiya Hime's reign, and some of the envoys were given cap rank, or granted a promotion—a gesture that was likely pure diplomacy, as the rank wouldn't necessarily convey any special rights back in their home country. There are a few more things of note.  First, in 636, we are told that all those who had affairs with the uneme at court were put on trial and punished—which likely means they were put to death.  The uneme, as you may recall, were women sent to serve at the court, and as such they were apparently off-limits, at least while they were serving.  That clearly didn't stop people from having some late night escapades, though. The main reason it likely comes up, though, is that we are told that one of the accused was a man named Miwa no Kimi no Osazaki, and that he took his own life by stabbing himself in the throat because the examination—by which I'm sure they meant torture—was too much to bear.  And here I have to wonder how similar Yamato's sense of justice was to that of their neighbor, the Tang dynasty.  In the case of the latter, there was often a suspicion that any person accused of a crime must be guilty of at least something—after all, why would they have been accused if they didn't do something to upset the peace, even if it was just that they didn't get along with their neighbors.  It was considered de rigeur to submit suspected criminals to torturous ordeals with the idea that this would elicit a confession.  Unfortunately, this idea that harsh and torturous examinations can be used to uncover the truth often still persists, despite evidence that, under enough duress, most people will say anything.   In this case, it drove Osazaki to take his own life. Later in that same year, the Okamoto palace caught fire and burned down, and so Tamura moved to a new palace, called the Tanaka palace, or the Palace in the Middle of the Rice Fields.  We also have a little more court action, as Prince Ohomata, a son of Nunakura Futodamashiki by one of his consorts, reached out to Soga no Emishi—called in this record the Toyoura no Oho-omi, likely because his mansion was in or near Toyoura, in Asuka. Prince Ohomata suggested to Soga no Emishi that the ministers had not been attending court properly.  He suggested that they should be there by roughly 5 or 6 AM—an hour before daybreak—and they should stay until 10 or 11 AM.  Specifically he mentioned the hour of the hare and the hour of the serpent, as each ancient hour was actually two, with twelve hours making up the day, each named for one of the twelve signs of the Asian zodiac. To enforce all of this, Ohomata also recommended having a bell rung that would let people know that it was time to start or end work.  This was all common practice in the continental courts of the day, and it wasn't like they were asking for a modern 40 hour work week, even:  the court ministers would literally be serving for maybe 5 to 6 hours at court, with the rest of the time to handle their own affairs.  Still, Soga no Emishi apparently didn't think much of the idea and so was not inclined to support it. All of this is kind of an odd mention.  First, Ohomata is an obscure Prince—he's only mentioned three times in the Chronicles, and once just in a list of Nunakura's children.  Second, the idea doesn't go anywhere.  Third, they don't call Soga no Emishi by the name they used in both the previous or the next reign, but use Toyora no Ohoomi, for whatever reason.  It just sticks out as odd, and I wonder if it was added to show that Soga no Emishi was resistant to change and new ideas. At the same time, it does give us a clue that Soga no Emishi was still running things.  His name may not have been on a lot, but then again, neither was Tamura's, so we can only infer what was actually going on during this period.  It's  almost a lacuna in the history. There were a few other events worth noting, however, one of which took more than a bit of the Chroniclers' ink, and this was a rebellion by the Emishi people. First off, because it can be confusing:  There is no apparent link between Soga no Emishi and the Emishi people that I'm aware of.  Emishi, of course, is the name given to the people living outside of the Yamato cultural sphere in the northeast, from modern Ibaraki prefecture north.  They were apparently expected to pay tribute at court, and are clearly treated differently from other outside groups, like Baekje and Silla.  Some of them were likely members of the groups that had lived in the region since the Jomon period, who never fully adopted the Yayoi and later Kofun lifeways, and they may be related to the Ainu people who still live in modern Hokkaido, though there is also evidence that some of the Emishi may have been ethnic Wa people who had gone to live outside the Yamato court's reach—though that is more evident in later centuries than in the current narrative. I would also note that “Emishi” is an exonym—that is a name given by outsiders, in this case, by the Wa people of Yamato.  In fact, other than what we can see in the archaeological record, what we know of the Emishi comes from Yamato sources, which are almost entirely biased.  We don't really have any good telling of their story from their own perspective.  For instance,did they feel oppressed by Yamato in general, and not think they should have to keep bringing tribute?  Or was there a more specific event that occurred, much like the conflicts we see later between the Wajin, the ethnic Japanese, and the Ainu up in Hokkaido? It is unclear. To subdue the Emishi, and bring them back under Yamato hegemony, the court appointed Kamitsukeno no Kimi no Katana, a courtier of Dainin cap rank, as general. Spoiler alert: he's the general in the story at the beginning of this episode.  Based on his name, it would seem he was from the family in charge of Kamitsukenu, later shortened to Kozuke Province in modern Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo.  As such, he would have been well positioned to know something of the Emishi on his border.  That said, he apparently didn't know them so well that it gave him an advantage.  His forces were routed and they retreated back to their fortress, where they were besieged by the Emishi. Now when I say “fortress” please don't picture some grand castle, like Himeji, Azuchi, or Matsumoto.  In fact, don't really picture a castle at all.  More likely than not, this was simply an area enclosed by a wall—possibly some earthworks and maybe a moat, but perhaps just a quickly erected palisade structure.  True castle structures wouldn't come until later.  For those familiar with American history, this may have been something like the fort at Jamestown or even the quickly assembled and ill-fated Fort Necessity—though perhaps a little larger if it was capable of housing the forces and the noncombatants that had accompanied them. And so, when some of Katana's soldiers decided they didn't really want to be there any longer they apparently just up and left.  Presumably they found a time when nobody was looking and just yeeted themselves over the walls and did their best to hide from the surrounding Emishi forces.  Pretty soon just about all of the able-bodied soldiers had taken this approach, and Katana was thinking about joining them.  In fact, he was getting ready to when his own wife noticed what he was doing. That's right, his wife was there with him.  Whether she was a combatant or simply part of the train it isn't entirely clear, but she wasn't going to have her husband run off and abandon his post.  She poured out sake for him to drink and as he did so, she took his sword and girded it to herself.  She then went and found all of the bows and handed them out to all of the other women and people who had been left behind when the soldiers deserted, and they started pulling the bowstrings back and making a sound like they were being shot. Upon seeing this, Katana roused himself, grabbed a weapon himself, and advanced out of the fortress. The besieging Emishi were not sure what to make of this.  They could hear the twang of bows, and it sounded as though there was quite a force, so as general Katana stepped out of the fortress they pulled back, thinking that there was a much bigger force than he actually had.  As they did that, some of Katana's own forces, who had escaped, but not too far, started to gain hope.  They regrouped and attacked the Emishi with fresh energy, eventually defeating them. Of course, Katana's wife remains nameless throughout this whole episode, even though she was the one who helped turn the tide—first by turning her husband, but then by organizing the others to make it seem like they had a lot more people than they did. After this fascinating story, the Chronicles getback to the normal records of storms, of fruit trees blossoming, of hot springs, and tribute.  It wasn't until two years later, in 639, that we get something interesting that we might easily overlook.  This was the start of a new temple on the banks of the Kudara River, known to us as Kudara dera, or Kudara Temple. Kudara Temple is definitely a bit of an enigma.  It is mentioned quite heavily in later records, and yet it would eventually disappear without a trace, or so it seemed.  It wasn't until modern times that archaeologists identified a temple that we believe is Kudara dera.  We are told that it had a nine-story pagoda, which may reflect ideas from Tang or Silla practice—somewhat ironic given that “Kudara” is a name used to refer to Baekje.  In this case, the name seems to have come from the Kudara River, on whose banks the temple was built.  From the 80s through the 2000s there were a series of excavations at the site of Kibi Pond north of Asuka, closer to the center of Sakurai.  Here a temple was found, which we believe to be the site of Kudara dera.  The pond itself was dug at a later point in time, on the site of the temple, which was likely moved.  Today, there is a small Kudara temple to the northwest of the old site, but it isn't nearly as grand as it once was. By all accounts, the construction of Kudara temple took years, in contrast to the building of royal palaces, which went up relatively quickly.  This is because the palaces, for all of their size, were still being made using largely local construction methods.  Posts were placed directly into the ground and the roofs were thatched.  Being made of wood, these buildings went up relatively quickly, which was good seeing as how every reign the sovereign and court would move to a new palace.  Of course, I also wonder if the tradition of moving didn't come from the fact that the palace would likely have started rotting away on its own after a while.  Then again, even in a single reign you might change palaces multiple times, as Tamura did. In contrast, we have temple construction from the mainland.  Here, rocks were set down, and the posts were placed on those, which gave a firm foundation and prevented water from easily getting in and ruining the base of the pillar.  Packed earth and stone construction were used in places, along with heavy tile roofs, for which thousands of rooftiles had to be constructed.  Centuries of architectural knowledge were used to design and create structures that were meant to outlast any patrons who helped to build them. Add on to that the nine story pagoda.  If you consider that the beautiful and imposing tenshukaku, or main keep, of Himeji castle, built in the early 17th century, is six stories and rises over 46 meters, or about 152 feet, this pagoda may have been about the same height or even a bit higher, assuming that relative proportions were similar to those in other pagodas from the time, such as that of Yakushiji.  It must have been a towering beacon at the time, and the temple is considered one of the four great temples of the Asuka era, at least by some. That this temple was commissioned by Tamura and not by Soga no Emishi is something that may indicate some unspoken tensions at the time.   Tamura's previous palaces were in Asuka, near Asuka temple, the chief temple of the Soga family, and situated in a Soga stronghold.  Kudara temple was built significantly outside of this area, though still within walking distance, so not so far as to be a complete move—it isn't like he moved it up to lake Biwa or anything, wink wink. In 640, Tamura returned from his trip to the hot springs in Iyo—again, modern Ehime prefecture—and came back to a new palace at Umayazaka, but just six months later he moved into the Kudara palace, which was presumably nearby Kudara temple, effectively moving the court out of—or at least to the periphery of—Soga controlled territory. Unfortunately, his stay at Kudara palace would only last about a year, as he passed away there in the 10th month of 641.  He was roughly 48 years old.  His son, and heir apparent, Prince Hirakasuwake, aka Naka no Oe, pronounced the funeral elegy. And just like that, the throne was vacant again.  There was an heir apparent, but Naka no Oe was only 16 years old, and so his mother, Takara, would take the throne, presumably until he was ready.  She would be known as Ame Toyo Takara Ikashi-hi Tarashi Hime, aka Kougyoku Tennou, and her reign was anything but quiet.  To give some context: if we had a little over 50 or so events recorded during the 13 years that Tamura was on the throne, while we have over 60 events recorded in just the first year of Takara's reign.   So, you know, there's that. But I'm going to have to ask you to wait a little bit for us to dig into that.  For one thing, the politics are going to start getting hot and heavy, as anyone who may recognize the name “Naka no Oe” likely knows.  As this young prince was coming into his own he was going to come face to face with the power of the Soga family.  All that, starting next episode. 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.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for her 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.

In this episode, Dr. Jonas Bjärehed from Lund University in Sweden walks us through his research on nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) that he began in 2007 as part of his dissertation project. For example, he shares high prevalence rates of NSSI in Sweden (~40%) and discusses gender differences of NSSI among adolescents in 2007 compared to 2023. He also explains the results of a 10-year longitudinal study in which he surveyed individuals as adolescents about their self-harm and then surveyed the same group as adults 10 years later.Learn more about Dr. Bjärehed's research here and connect with him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jonasbjarehed. Below are a couple of his publications along with a couple papers on "phubbing."Wångby-Lundh, M., Lundh L.-G., Claréus, B., Bjärehed, J.,& Daukantaitė, D. (2023). Developmental pathways of repetitive nonsuicidal self-injury: predictors in adolescence and psychological outcomes in young adulthood. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 17(1), 116.Daukantaitė, D., Lundh, L.-G., Wångby-Lundh, M., Claréus, B., Bjärehed, J., Zhou, Y., & Liljedahl, S. I. (2021). What happens to young adults who have engaged in self-injurious behavior as adolescents? A 10-year follow-up. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(3), 475–492.Liu, S., Wu, P., Han, X., Wang, M., Kan, Y., Qin, K., & Lan, J. (2024). Mom, dad, put down your phone and talk to me: how parental phubbing influences problematic internet use among adolescents. BMC Psychology, 12, 125.Lv, H., Ye, W., Chen, S., Zhang, H., & Wang, R. (2022). The effect of mother phubbing on young children's emotional and behavioral problems: A moderated mediation model of mother–child attachment and parenting stress. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 16911.Follow Dr. Westers on Instagram and Twitter/X (@DocWesters). To join ISSS, visit itriples.org and follow ISSS on Facebook and Twitter/X (@ITripleS).The Psychology of Self-Injury podcast has been rated #1 by Feedspot  in their list of "10 Best Self Harm Podcasts" and #5 in their "20 Best Clinical Psychology Podcasts." It has also been featured in Audible's "Best Mental Health Podcasts to Defy Stigma and Begin to Heal."If you or someone you know should be interviewed on the podcast, we want to know! Please fill out this form, and we will be in touch with more details if it's a good fit.

Last time we spoke about the end of WW1 and China's bitter experience at the Paris Peace conference. Yes it WW1 brought a lot of drama to China. Yuan Shikai and later prominent figures like Duan Qirui took the poor habit of making secret deals with the Japanese that would very much bite them in the ass later in Paris. The Chinese delegation came to Paris hoping to secure major demands, most notably to solve the ongoing Shandong Problem. Instead they quite literally found out there were secret deals between China and Japan that completely hindered their war aims. To add insult to injury the western powers, notably Britain had also made secret double dealings with Japan. In the end Japan got her way, China did not, it was so embarrassing the Chinese delegation did not bother signing the Treaty of Versailles. Things could not possible get any worse eh?   #92 The New Culture Movement   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. To say this is a big event in Modern Chinese history is certainly an understatement. I have to acknowledge over on my personal channel the Pacific War channel I made an episode on this topic. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I am very glad I tackled it. It was the first time a large portion of Chinese audience members came forward and thanked me for covering the subject. I was honestly a bit baffled, the episode picked up steam, I thought, hmmm why is this getting views, its a rather boring, non battle more political episode. Well case and point, this story is really the birth of modern China. If you go searching for books on this subject you will find so many of its impact on just about every facet of China today and even on other nations. Now there is two major subjects at play here, the May fourth movement and the New Cultural movement. I am going to do my best to try and cohesively tell this, but its a rather difficult one to be honest. For the sake of cohesion and to be blunt while writing this I just don't think I will manage to fit both subjects into one episode, I first am going to tackle what exactly the “New Cultural Movement” was and I am guessing I will have to leave the May Fourth Movement for next episode.  The New Cultural Movement is intertwined with the May Fourth Movement, or you could call it the progenitor. In essence it was a progressivist movement that sprang up in the 1910's and would continue through the 1920's criticizing traditional Chinese ideology and promoting a new culture. This new culture was influenced by new age science and modern ideals. It's during this period you find many of China's big scholars start speaking out and making names for themselves. Now we have been talking in length about numerous issues that hit China during the 1910's such as WW1, Yuan Shikai's craziness, secret deals getting leaked to the public, the Shandong Problem, the Treaty of Versailles and all of these summed up were just more and more humiliation for China. The people of China were fed up. The people of China wanted change. Now its hard to encompass all that was sought out, but there are 6 large themes of this New Cultural movement that I shall list.  The first change the public wanted was because of their outdated writing system, they wanted a more vernacular one. Second the confucian based tradition patriarchal family model was very outdated and it was a hindrance against individual freedom and women's rights. Third the people wanted China to be a real nation, one amongst the other nations of the world, not stuck in its Confucian model. Fourth the people wanted China to adopt a more scientific approach to things rather than the traditional confucian belief system. Fifth, the Chinese people wanted democracy human rights, all of the enlightened values other nations had. Lastly China had always been a nation who looked at the past rather than towards the future, this had to end.  Now before we hit each of these lets summarize a bit of this time period, the environment and feeling of the day. The Qing Dynasty had fallen during the Xinhai revolution seeing the rise of Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai stamped down on all opposition, this included intellectuals also, many were exiled. There of course was a lot of animosity to Yuan Shikai, he was after all the guy who for a lack of better words, stole the leadership from Dr Sun Yat-Sen and he crushed the second revolution. One of these intellectual exiles found himself in Tokyo, Zhang Shizhao, there he founded a political magazine called The Tiger. The Tiger ran for about a year in 1915 and would have a significant impact on other political journals in China. The Tiger was known for probing political questions of the day, its writers often grappled with how underlying cultural values and beliefs shape politics. It inspired others to write similar magazines, notably, Chen Duxiu Now also in 1915 as we know, the Twenty-One Demands were issued, Yuan Shikai was forced to sign the Thirteen demands and all of this got leaked to the public. In 1915, Chen Duxiu founded the magazine “Jinggao qingnian” “New Youth”and he would have future intellectuals as editors of it such as Li Dazhao, Hu Shih and Lu Xun. In its first issue titled Jinggao qingnian literally translate as “letter to Youth”, it encouraged young people to “be independent and not enslaved, be progressive and not conservative, be in the forefront and not lagging behind, be internationalist and not isolationist, be practical and not rhetorical, and be scientific and not superstitious.” Chen Duxiu advocated for science and democracy, these would become rallying cries often in the form of “Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science”. This would spring forth more literature like “Xinchao” “the Renaissance” founded by the Renaissance Society in 1918 whose members included Beijing students directly inspired by Chen Duxiu, Hu Shih and Li Dazhao. The Renaissance promoted western political and social ideology, encouraging the youth of China to embrace progressive politics. The New Youth was by far the most influential magazine. In 1917 Chen Duxiu and Zhang Shizhao moved to Beijing University where they became acquaintances and alongside others built up a community that would usher in the New Culture Movement. At this time the intellectual powerhouses were Peking University and Tsinghua University in Beijing and Shanghai which had a booming publishing industry. Many scholars who would contribute to the New Culture movement would be found at Peking University such as Cai Yuanpei, who served as president of the University in 1916. Cai Yuanpei was a colleague of our old friend Li Shizeng whom both founded the Diligent Work-Frugal Study movement, sending worker-students to France. It was Cai Yuanpei who recruited those like Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Hu Shih. Chen Duxiu served as the dead of the School of Arts and Letters at the university; Li Dazhao became its librarian and Hu Shih helped translate and perform numerous lectures.  These men would lead the fight for “baihua wenxue” or the Vernacular Literature Movement. Yes there's a lot of movements in this episode. Now Baihua is a form of written Chinese based on the numerous varieties of Chinese spoken in the country vs, “classical Chinese”. This probably sounds a bit confusing, but think of it this way. Going all the way back to the Shang dynasty a process of creating Chinese characters was gradually standardized by the time of the Qin dynasty, so thats 1200 BC to 206 BC. Over the following dynasties the Chinese calligraphy is created, however what also occurs is the evolution of language. The Chinese language branched off into numerous dialects, thus all over China people are speaking different but related forms of Chinese, yet the way they write is using this “classical Chinese writing”. As you might imagine, by the time of the 20th century, the classical chinese writing is so vastly different from what people are speaking, by this time its Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and many many more. Classical Chinese had become extremely outdated.  Chinese intellectuals in the early 20th century were looking to reform the literary system. Two of the big proposals that came about were to simplify Chinese characters and create a Chinese writing system using the latin alphabet. Professor at Peking University, Qian Xuantong was a leading figure on the Latinization movement. Chen Dixiu on the topic of Chinese characters had said  “backward, difficult to recognize, and inconvenient to write”. He blamed them for China being stuck in conservatism and having lacked modernization. There was a movement to switch to pinyin to spell out Chinese characters, for those who don't know Pinyin is alphabetically written Chinese, aka the only way Craig is able to read most of his sources haha. The plan to formalize this never occurred, but there was a real fight for it. Many scholars began writing in Baihua, one of the most famous works was Lu Xun's “A Madman's Diary”. In essence it was a short story criticizing early 20th century Chinese society, trying to challenge its audience into conventional thinking vs traditional understanding. The story has Lu Xun's madman seeing family and village members around him performing cannibalism which he has attributed to some confucian classics. Basically he implies China's traditional culture was mentally cannibalistic. Building somewhat on this theme, Chen Duxiu wrote in the New Youth how Mr. Confucius needed to be replaced by Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy. Meanwhile Hu Shih argued “a dead language cannot produce a living literature”. He further argued a new written format would allow the Chinese people with less education to read texts, articles, books and so forth. It was classical Chinese that was holding the less educated back. Basically he was criticizing how scholars basically held a monopoly on information. Hu Shih was highly praised for his efforts, one man named Mao Zedong would have a lot to say about how grateful China should be to him. Mao Zedong of course was a assistant at Peking University's library at the time. Now alongside the battle to change the written language of China, there was a feminist movement as well. Women suffered greatly under the traditional system. Prior to the 20th century Women in China were considered essentially different from Men as you can imagine. Confucius argued that an ordered and morally correct society would refrain from the use of force. Violence and coercion were deviant and unwelcomed. Instead a correct person would aim to become “junzi” meaning gentleman or a person of integrity. For society to remain stable, it was crucial correct hierarchies were established. Servants obey masters, subjects obey rulers, children obey parents and women obey men.The association of Women with Yin and Men with Yang, two qualities considered important by Daoism, still had women occupying a lower position than men in the hierarchical order. The I Ching stated “Great Righteousness is shown in that man and woman occupy their correct places; the relative positions of Heaven and Earth”. Women of course were supposed to be submissive and obedient to men, normally forbidden to participate in politics, military and or communal aspects. The traditional Confucian led Chinese society simply valued men over women. To get into the most hardcore aspect of this, did you know China had a near 2000 year history of female infanticide? It was written by many Christian missionaries arriving in the late 16th century to China that they witnessed newborns being thrown into rivers or in the rubbish. The primary cause of this practice was poverty, shortages of food. Confucianism influenced this practice quite a bit. Male children were to work, provide and care for their elders, while females were to be married off as quickly as possible. During the 19th century “ni nu” to drown girls was widespread, because of the mass famines. Exposure to the elements, strangulation, tossing a child into a basket and casting it off were normalized. Buddhists would build these things called “baby towers” for people to dump children at. Later on in 1930, Rou Shi a famous member of the May Fourth movement would write a short story titled “A Slave-Mother” portraying how extreme poverty in rural communities led to female infanticide. Hell turn the clock even more to the 1970's and we got the One-Child Policy where females were often aborted or abandoned. Alongside this infant girls at the age of 5 or 6 would often have the feet bound, a centuries old practice that would increase their marriageability. This hobbled them for life. When women married, their families pretty much abandoned them. Often this marriages were arranged and the new wife could expect to be at the autocratic mercy of her mother in law henceforth. If her husband died there was great social pressure for her to remain unmarried and chaste for the rest of her life. It goes without saying, suicide rates in China were the highest among young women. During the late 19th century the ideal woman was “xiangqi liangmu /a good wife and loving mother”. During the early 20th century the new ideal was becoming “modeng funu / modern woman”. Women wanted to pursue education and careers outside the home. Whether it was by choice or a financial necessity, Chinese women increasingly left the domestic sphere. They entered the workforce in all available forms, typically but not limited to factories, offices, and the entertainment industry. Yet the traditional social norms limited their opportunities in work, education and politics. Women according to the traditional system were not supposed to make speeches in the streets. But those like Liang Qichao began calling for the liberation of women, to let them be educated, allow them to participate in Chinese society.  The confucian social order held the hierarchy of husband over wife, but within the New Culture Movement that criticized Confucianism and traditions, now there was a deep want for women to be seen as human beings, as independent people who should become actors in the public sphere. When those like Chen Duxiu began writing and lecturing about tossing aside the old and looking at the new, this also included women. Thus the New Culture Movement had a large aspect of gender equality and female emancipation. There was also the aspect of dress. By the 1920's women would abandon traditional garments of embroidered hip or knee length jackets and trousers. They began wearing short jackets, skirts and the qipao, a one piece dress. Unlike the traditional women's clothing that hung loosely around the body, the Qipoa was form fitting. A women's suffrage movement began, though it would take some time. So you might be seeing the theme here, the old, traditional, confucian past, was needing a new replacement. The written language needed to be updated, women needed to be more equal to men. How about the nation of China itself? The New Culture leaders wanted to see China as a nation amongst nations, not one culturally unique. They began doing what many nations did around the turn of the century, they looked outwards. They looked at foreign doctrines, particularly those that emphasized cultural criticism and were nation building. Many of these intellectuals were the lucky few who went abroad, received foreign educations. They took western and Japanese ideas, seeing what could be used to create a new model for China and her vast population. Many were enthralled by President Woodrow Wilson's 14 points and ideals of self-determination. The Xinhai revolution had ushered in a Chinese nationalist spirit which demanded resistance to foreign impositions and the elimination of domestic autocracy. They had overthrown the Manchu, now they wanted to overthrow the global powers who had been encroaching upon their nation since the mid 19th century. So many of these intellectuals had hoped with the end of the war would come an end to their national disgrace.  The intellectuals argued China's failure to modernize was caused by both external and internal factors. Externally, foreign powers had been encroaching upon China for decades. Foreign powers had gone to war and defeated China, forcing her to sign unequal treaties. Internally China's economy, social system and cultural values were holding her back. This brought forward the need for a “new culture” to kick start the development of a new state. They argued China needed educational and social progress to remedy the states diplomatic weakness and endemic poverty. China's economy, social fabric and international standing needed to be improved, and the answer was programs of public education. Yet to do so, the less educated needed to be able to read and participate, ie: vernacular writing.  Liang Qichao was a huge influence on ideas to build China as a modern state. He created the “Xinmin Congbao / new citizen”, a biweekly journal first publishing in Yokohama Japan back in 1902. The journal covered numerous topics like politics, religion, law, economics, geography, current affairs and such. Basically Li Qichao was showing the Chinese public never before heard theories. Liang Qichao got Chinese people to think about the future of China. What did it even mean to identify as Chinese? He allowed more Chinese to look out into the world, so they could see many different paths and ideas. There were countless, Darwinism, liberalism, pragmatism, socialism all these new “isms” could be the tools to a realization of a strong and unified China. And of course there was Marxism, many Chinese laborers who went to Russia saw first hand what the Bolsheviks had accomplished. The principal of Peking University, Cai Yuanpei would resign on May 9th, 1919 causing a huge uproar. What once united all these intellectual New Culture movement types, gradually changed after the May fourth movement. Hu Shih, Cai Yuanpei and liberal minded intellectuals urged for protesting students to return to their classrooms, but those like Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao urged for more radical political action. Marxist study groups would form and with them the first meetings of the Chinese Communist Party. This is of course a story for future podcasts, but it should be noted there would be a divide amongst these intellectuals as to how China should be “modern”. Li Dazhao for example advocated for fundamental solutions, while Hu Shih criticized such thinking “calling for the study of questions, less study of isms”. Those like Chen Dixiu and Li Dazhao would quickly find followers like Mao Zedong.  Now the overall theme here has been “toss out Confucius!” but it was not all like that. Part of the movement much like the Meiji restoration, was to usher in some new, but to incorporate the old so to not lose ones entire culture. For those of you who don't know I began my time on youtube specifically talking about the history of Tokugawa to Showa era Japan. The Meiji restoration was an incredible all encompassing hyper modernization, that for the life of me I can't find a comparison to. But an interesting aspect of it was the “fukko / restore antiquity”. It often goes unmentioned, but the Japanese made these enormous efforts to crop out the outside influences such as Confucianism, Buddhism and such, to find the ancient cultures of their people. This eventually led to an evolution of Shintoism, thus Japan not only wanted to adopt new ideas from the rest of the world, they wanted to find the important aspects of their own cultural history and retain it, make sure they did not lose what made them Japanese. The same can be said of China here.  Yigupai or the “doubting antiquity school” was a group of scholars who applied a critical historiographical approach to Chinese historical sources. They took their ancient texts and really analyzed them to see what was truly authentic, what should be kept. Hu Shih initiated the movement. He had studied abroad and was deeply influenced by western thinking and argued at Peking University that all Chinese written history prior to the Eastern Zhou, that is the second half of the Zhou dynasty needed to be carefully dissected. Many were concerned with the authenticity of pre-Qin texts and began questioning the writers of past dynasties. There was also Gu Jiegang who formed the “Gushibian / Debates on Ancient history” movement and published magazines of the same name. Later in 1922 there was the Critical Review Journal, involving numerous historians. Their work dismantled many beliefs or at minimum cast some doubt on ancient textual writings that had been around for millennia. For example there was the belief Yu the Great or Yu the Engineer who was the first to make real flood control efforts during the Xia Dynasty was an animal or deity figure. There was the notion of peaceful transition of power seen from the Yao to Shun dynasties, but the group found evidence this was all concocted by philosophers of the Zhou dynasty simply to support their political philosophy. They were basically detectives finding the bullshit in their ancient history and this had a profound effect on the current day thinking. The doubting antiquity group's proved the history of China had been created iteratively. Ancient texts had been repeatedly edited, reorganized, hell many had fabricated things to make ends meet for themselves, you could not take their word at face value. They argued all of the supernatural attributes of historical figures had to be questioned, a lot of it was not possible and thus not authentic versions of their history. But the group also were victims of their own criticisms. Many of them would criticize parts of antiquity history simply to get rid of things they didn't like or that got in the way of current day issues. There was also another element to the doubting antiquity movement. Students were pushed to look over things in ancient Chinese history, chinese folklore that Confucian schools dismissed or ignored.  Within the background of the Twenty-One Demands, the Sino-Japanese Treaty, the double promising of Britain and other secret deals made over the future of China had angered her people greatly. The common people of China did not feel represented nor heard at all. Japan was encroaching upon them in Manchuria and now Shandong. Their leadership were either making secret deals to secure their own objectives, or they were completely powerless to other nations and crumbling, such as the case at Versailles. With so many students and laborers going abroad witnessing the civilizations of other nations in the west and Japan, they yearned for the things those people had. Democratic and egalitarian values were at the very forefront of the New Culture Movement. Western science, democracy, bills of rights, racial equality, equality of opportunity, opportunity to venture into politics, the list can go on, these were things alien to China. The people began to enchant the masses with such ideas, while simultaneously criticizing traditional Chinese ethics, her customs, literature, history, philosophy, religion, social and political institutions and such. Liberalism, pragmatism, utilitarianism, anarchism, socialism, communism were thrown around like yardsticks so the people could measure China's traditional culture against them. How did such “isms” match up? Within the current crisis in China which one of these isms might benefit them the most? Overall the movement kept up the greatest theme of needing to look forward. China had always looked to the past. They had suffered so immensely, they were after all enduring the century of humiliation as it would famously become known. It was humiliation after humiliation. How could they change so the past would stop haunting them? Things like the Boxer Protocol, how could China rid itself of these humiliating indemnity payments? Britain's Opium had ushered in a poison that still plagued them, how could they finally rid China of it? The war and encroachment of nations like Britain, Russia and Japan, how could they stop them from continuing these actions? China could not stay the way she was anymore, she had to change. Thus overall within every facet of the movement's ideology, they kept emphasizing to stop looking in the past for answers for today. Today would require looking abroad and within and it would not be easy.  This episode and I do apologize it must be all over the place for you, encompasses a lot of the thoughts and feelings, but its part of a great event known as the May Fourth movement of 1919. China is basically for the first time really going to try and adopt fundamental changes, to become a real modern state. If it were not for lets say, the descent into warlordism, perhaps the Chinese Republican dream could have been started in 1919. Regardless, China will see an incredible amount of change in a short amount of time.  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 New Culture Movement saw numerous intellectuals rise up and challenge the prevailing social and political order of their nation. They tried to give the public new answers to old questions, and above all else hope. Hope for a better tomorrow. It was to be a arduous journey, but students would be the vanguard into a new age for China.

The Warring States period in China (c. 481-221 BC) was an era of mass-mobilization warfare unlike any other the world had seen to that point. Armies of hundreds of thousands of men fought on an increasing scale for centuries, wiping out state after state until only one - Qin - would remain to rule all of China.Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. And check out Patrick's new podcast The Pursuit of Dadliness! It's all about “Dad Culture,” and Patrick will interview some fascinating guests about everything from tall wooden ships to smoked meats to comfortable sneakers to history, sports, culture, and politics. https://bit.ly/PWtPoDListen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistorySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Last time we spoke about the invasion of Sakhalin and the Portsmouth Treaty. The Japanese had defeated their enemy upon the land and sea, yet the reality was, both empires were ailing. They were both verging bankruptcy, but Russia held the edge in more troops and deeper allied pockets for loans. The Japanese sought the aid of President Theodore Roosevelt to usher a peace, but more importantly one that favored Japan's war aims. With his advice, Japan seized Sakhalin to improve their poker hand. At the Portsmouth negotiations, the Japanese would be rather shocked to find their American hero somewhat championed the Russian side when it came to war indemnities. In the end Japan signed the Portsmouth Treaty and would face an outraged population back home. The Hibiya riots erupted, and now the Japanese felt betrayed by America. Yet what of China, how was this going to affect her?   #85 Old Ways Meet New Policies    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 turn of the 20th century saw the Qing government face an unprecedented national crisis. The Boxer Rebellion did not go well. The Empress Dowager Cixi and the Beijing government literally fled the capital, not a good look. On January 29th of 1901, Empress Dowager Cixi, from her refuge in Xi'an issued an imperial edict in the name of Emperor Guangxu “After we moved out of the capital city, the empress has been constantly busy with state affairs. As emperor, I deeply regret my mistakes. In the past decades, problems have accumulated and been papered over as we mindlessly followed the old ways, leading to the calamity we face today. Now that peace negotiations are underway, we should reform all political affairs so that the country can become strong and prosperous”. To the Qing government she issued this “submit suggestions regarding reform measures within two months. The suggestions should be based on the current situation with reference to both Chinese and Western experience. Reform proposals should cover law, administration, people's livelihood, education, the examination system, military affairs, and public finance. What should be continued and what changed? What should be eliminated and what combined? What should be done to strengthen China, develop human talent, reach fiscal balance, and build a strong army?'. Thus the Qing officials busied themselves looking into the matters and expressed their opinions in countless memorials. The most influential of these opinions would come from three memorials jointly submitted by the Governor General of Jiangnang, Liu Kunyi and the governor general of Hubei-Hunan, Zhang Zhidong.  The first memorial proposed 4 methods for improving education. It advised setting up schools of liberal arts and military academies. To reform the civil examination system, abolish the military examination system and encourage studies abroad. The second memorial proposed 11 measures to reform the administration. They should promote frugality, abandon outdated rules, cease the sale of office, reform official salaries, eliminate clerks and runners, bring more leniency to criminal punishments, change the policies for official selection, find new ways to support the livelihood of Manchu serving in the eight banners, eliminate garrisons, eliminate the Green Standard army and simplify literary formalities. The third memorial proposed 12 reforms based on Western practices. To dispatch intellectuals to tour the world, to adopt foreign military practices, a new military strengthening program, improve agriculture, further industrialize, enact some new laws on mining/transport and commerce, revise the criminal code, introduce silver coins, introduce a stamp tax, create a modern postal service, learn foreign medicine practices and translate more foreign books.  These memorials were approved by Cixi and would become the blueprint for the New Policy Reforms of the late Qing dynasty. On July 20th, Cixi issued another edict to affirm these ideas would be implemented ‘“For the sake of the dynasty and people, the emperor and I have no other choice.” The Zongli Yamen was officially changed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Outdated posts were eliminated, such as the director general of the Yellow River and Grand Canal, governorship over Hubei, Yunnan and Guangdong provinces whom already held governor-generals, the court of sacrificial worship and the court of banqueting, those 2 last ones are something else arent they. For the military, traditional troops were disbanded or retrained as a reserve army or for police forces. The military examination system was abolished, new military academies were created. A military training bureau was created to train the “New Army” and a Ministry of Police took charge of public security instead of the wonky Green Standard system. To further economic development, a Ministry of Commerce was created. New regulations for chambers of commerce were promulgated. Business laws and provisional regulations for corporate registration were both promulgated. An exhibition center to encourage industrialization was set up in Beijing; vocational colleges were created; the Board of Revenue Bank was also created. On September 7th of 1901, the Qing government signed the humiliating Boxer Protocol and on the 6th of October Cixi made her glamorous return to the capital. China began a new approach with the west. On January 28th of 1902, the Qing court invited foreign ministers to the Imperial Palace ““The audience was conducted throughout with more formality and dignity and with greater outward show of respect for the foreign representatives than heretofore; the event was especially noteworthy as being the first occasion on which the empress dowager has openly appeared in an audience, and not behind the screen of gauze”. Qing officials of all ranks followed suit, trying their best to please the foreign representatives. The term walking on eggshells applies, the Boxer Rebellion had greatly pissed off most of the powerful nations. Thus the Qing dynasty was doing its very best to please both the foreign powers and its people, trying desperately to maintain its ailing rule. Yet the damage beginning all the way in the 1830's was too much. The Qing government also did not outright abandon its autocratic ruling system, in many ways it was providing band aid solutions in the form of reform measures. In a rather dramatic fashion, in 1902 during the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi a poem was read y Gu Hongming, the aide to Zhang Zhidong “Everywhere people sing about loving the state, but nobody sings about loving the people.The emperor enjoys longevity, and the people pay the bill; the emperor lives forever, and the people suffer.”Everyone gasped in shock. Moments like this highlight the reality of the situation. While the Qing government was tossing reforms left and right, they were not far reaching enough. There were also countless provincial and local officials who refused to adopt the reforms. One example was the governor of Guangdong, Shanxi, Henan and governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, yes the age old classic of too many titles on a single person, Zhang Renjun. Zhang was a hardcore conservative and thought the reforms would increase government expenditures and thus further aggravate the populace, in his words “The people are already exhausted and catastrophe will come if we keep exploiting them.” He also believed the dynasty would not benefit from the reforms. He was against the organization and training of a modern army, establishing chambers of commerce and sending intellectuals abroad to study. To the last point he believed the Chinese students going abroad would have their minds poisoned and come back ushering in revolution, he would not be too wrong there. Above all else, he had been a Qing official a long time and knew fundamentally most Qing officials were greedy morons. He was basically the Ron Swanson of the Qing Dynasty haha. He was stuck in some ways, but brought up pretty good glaring problems with the reforms.  After 1905 further reforms were established and there was talk of preparing for constitutionalism, perhaps setting up provincial assemblies with a national assembly, introducing local self-government and such. Yet dramatic change required dramatic change, ca-ching, it would be a heavy financial burden. The Qing government assigned the expense for the reforms upon the provinces, whom in turn apportioned costs upon prefectures and counties. Ultimately the money was being extracted from the common people, whom were already paying enormous indemnities for the Boxer Protocol. Alongside this government stipends for their officials were spearing, as the greedy morons, in Zhang's words of course, lived lavishly. As you can imagine, the age old practice of fleecing the populace ran rampant. Qing officials were exploiting the populace for self gain. A German missionary working in China at the time, Richard Wilhelm had this to say “The Manchu aristocracy made use of the new chaotic conditions in order to feather their [sic] own nest. One reform crowded out another. A great deal of money was spent and nothing substantial was achieved. This state of affairs led to far-reaching dissatisfaction throughout the Empire. The officials, who were not given a clear and uniform lead by the authorities, were placed in the most awkward positions as a result of having to find money locally in accordance with the various edicts of reform which followed rapidly one upon another”. There were numerous flaws in the implementation of the reforms. A large reason for this was a lack of comprehensive planning. In terms of public financing, the reforms simply cost too much. For example, the cost for policing of a small province was something like 2 million taels, for larger provinces it was 3 million. A Qing official named Daungfang said of the situation ‘“As China is vast, if there were only two policemen per square kilometer, the annual expenditure for police nationwide would approach half a billion. The annual state revenue is insufficient to afford this expense, not to mention other reforms.” French diplomats aiding Beijing's Police and military reform programs at the time had this to say “At least we can say that the Qing empire lacks wisdom and foresight, as it decided to establish 36 divisions and to regroup the navy in a great hurry, but failed to consider how to finance these large annual expenses.” Alongside the enormous costs of the reforms, there were those trying to profit from them as well. In 1911, the American sociologist Edward Alsworth Ross had this to say “In an educational center far up the Yangtse the authorities kept bringing out American teachers at great expense under a year contract and then at the end of the year replaced them with others no better qualified. Inasmuch as every shift calls for an allowance of $300 for travel money, the knowing ones suspect that some official gets “squeeze” on the travel money and that is the reason for the incessant changing of teachers”.  As reformed institutions were created, many officials seized the opportunities to get their friends and family positions forming cliques. One account had Tang Shaoyi, one of the Chinese who got to go abroad to study, received the appointment of General director over the Shanghai-Nanjing railway, the Beijing-Wuhan Railway and Vice Minister of Communications, it was said of his tenure “Into every vacant place in the Customs or the railways or in the ministry that came to his bestowal he stowed one of his own relatives by blood or marriage or one of his own Cantonese clan. Out of 400 appointments in the Ministry of Communications made during his tenure of office 350 were jobs for which he could be called to account'.  A lot of new taxes were introduced in the name of the “New Policies”, some added by the Qing government directly, some by local officials, hell even local gentry got involved in the fleecing. An imperial edict acknowledged it “In recent years, the people have been exhausted. In addition, provinces have extracted reparations from the people, robbing Peter to pay Paul, so that the people's livelihood is ever more precarious. … Provincial governors have used all means to collect funds to finance local administration and pushed the people to desperation” A lot of schools sprang up all over China, nearly all of them offering studies in the natural sciences. Colleges of liberal arts and law offered Western social sciences, and this in particular opened new avenues to the Chinese. As the students embraced all kinds of new knowledge, they also took a critical eye to their society and current affairs. Many who were sent to study abroad came back and taught at universities, bringing with them revolutionary ideology.  On September 24th of 1905, Empress Dowager Cixi dispatched 5 ministers abroad; Zhen Prince Zaize, Minister of Finance Dai Hongci, Minister of the Military Xu Shichang, Governor of Hunan Duanfang and Prime Minister of the Business Department Shaoying. On November 25th, the Qing government set up a special institution to study constitutional governments of foreign nations, to provide guidance on their own constitutional reform. It was quite similar to what the Japanese did during the Meiji restoration, albeit quite late. Dai Gonci and Duanfang were the first to depart, traveling to the US to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt. Then Zaize led the rest to depart. At the end of 1906 they all submitted a report stating “the only way for the state to be powerful is constitutionalism”. This prompted Cixi to promulgate a decree on September 1st of 1906 announcing the “preparatory imitation of constitution”. By 1907 the preparatory office of the “Zizhengyuan Institute” Ie: parliament was created. Ming Lun and Sun Jiaxuan were appointed presidents of it. After this, constitutional guilds were established in all major cities within China. By 1908 a constitutional outline was published, showcasing civil rights and obligations; essentials of parliament and election law essentials.  Now for the military, in 1905 the Beiyang Army was reorganized into the New Army. Initially the Qing government planned to establish it as 500,000 regular troops over the course of 10 years, but they would only managed to train roughly 190,000 by 1911. By 1909 a Ministry of War was established to control the new army. Now back in 1904 a study was done, looking into what needed to be done for the New Army. The report indicated China should dispatch government officials to the provinces to make sure imperial decrees were being followed, this might seem like an obvious thing to do, but it had not really been enforced previously. There was a lot of huff and puff over who controls New Army units and a concession was made to allow provinces to raise them, but ultimately they took orders from the Qing court. The 8 banners were excluded from the reform. The report argued the need for specialized and educated officers for both the front lines and staff. Officer pay was increased in an attempt to thwart corruption. Officers were given detailed regulations and were expected to lead their men, not their drill instructors, who due to a lack of qualified officers were often employed to instruct the men. Officers therefore were pretty useless in battle and the soldiers had very little faith in their officers. The report called for standardization of weaponry and for the army to be divided into 3 categories as per the norms of western armies: the standing army was to be 1st class reserves; second class reserves for the regulars would serve 3 years, then they would return home and enroll in the first reserve for another 3-4 years. The army would organize into corps with 2 divisions each consisting of 2 brigades of infantry, 1 regiment of cavalry and artillery, 1 battalion of engineers and transport units. It was estimated each corp would cost nearly 3 million taels and divisions about 1.3 million. With an expected 36 divisions this would amount to 50,000,000 taels annually to grow the new army.  Taking a look at the political reforms, on July 28th the governor-general of Zhili province, Yuan Shikai submitted a 10 point memorial. He suggested creating a national assembly, Zizhengyuan, at the central level, while provincial assemblies would be set in provincial capitals and other assembles would be set up in prefectures and counties. For legislatures, he suggested finding qualified members of the provincial assemblies to be promoted to the national assembly. Now he was one of many to make suggests, others like Cen Chunxuan also made proposals. By October of 1907 an imperial decree was made “Provincial governors should promptly set up provincial assemblies in provincial capitals; fair-minded and enlightened officials and gentry should be prudently selected to take charge; and qualified gentry and citizens should select capable persons as members of provincial assemblies. … Local governments should carry out reforms, and the decisions made by assemblymen should be implemented by provincial governors. Provincial governors should report significant events to the provincial assemblies before they take initiatives. In the future, provincial assemblies shall promote some of their members to the National Assembly. If the National Assembly conducts inquiries, it shall send official documents to provincial governors to ask them to pass on the information, and also directly ask the provincial assemblies for response. If provincial assemblies have some issues, they shall inform the provincial governors and report directly to the national assembly for investigation”. In the end the Qing court favored Yuan Shikai's ideas. Though they endorsed the ideas, the Qing court also had no plan to implement them. Because of this the provincial governors had no idea what to do. Lackluster and inconsistency resulted, prompting the Qing court to issue a Charter for the Provincial assemblies and election of provincial assemblymen on July 22nd of 1908. The Qing court basically gave the provinces a year to set up the assemblies. Now elections had never before occurred in China, officials and peoples had no experience with them. The process of preparing provincial assemblies, verifying the qualifications of voters, first, second round elections, organizing the sessions all required a lot of people and a lot of money. There was no way they were going to pull it off in a year. The Qing court began harassing the provincial officials and the first session of the provincial assemblies would convene on October 14th of 1909. There would be two regular sessions held prior to 1911. After pulling off the first session, provincial governors were under a lot of pressure to produce action. Ultimately most were too afraid to act on specific issues, corrupt or incompetent and this led to a large dissatisfaction. When the second annual session of provincial assemblies occurred there was a large amount of conflict. Issues like finally banning opium were hotly debated, many argued its poisoning effect on their society, while others argued the government would lose too much revenue from opium taxes. We haven't talked about opium in quite some time eh? It honestly was a large problem until Mao Zedong's reign. The provincial assembly system had a lot of problems. The governor of Zhejiang province, Zengyun described much of them in a report he made in 1910 “One year after it was established, the provincial assembly has still accomplished little. … Assemblymen can point out problems, but few can articulate the reasons for them. … As China did not have this system before, legislators are confused. They do not know what issues should be discussed. A few persons with exposure to the law and politics of other countries have only a partial understanding and cannot cite appropriate precedents or articulate them clearly. Moreover, they cannot communicate well with others as most people are rather ignorant. Therefore, although decisions are made by majority vote, the assemblymen rarely support or reject proposals appropriately. During the thirty to forty days of the session, more than half of the assemblymen have not spoken at all. Constitutionalism was introduced with the aim of fostering communication between the government and people. I fear that if such problems persist, the government and people will be further estranged. It is particularly worrisome that the outcome would deviate so much from our initial aim”. There were countless reasons for conflicts between the provincial assemblies and governors. First the provincial officials tended to have a weak idea of constitutionalism and tended to not allow the provincial assemblies participate in public administration. Secondly, the new restrictions upon governors within the constitutional order hindered action. Thirdly the transition to constitutional rule was messy, for example the respective powers of provincial officials and assemblies were very vague. Fourth provincial assemblies tended to be insensitive to the real problems faced by governors. Fifth governors and assemblies had very different positions, responsibilities and thus priorities, conflict was inevitable. Lastly, the provincial assemblies often focused too much on trivial issues such as etiquette. Simultaneously while all of these reforms and debates were going on, something else was brewing, revolutionary fever. In September of 1905, a revolutionary named Wu Yue set off a bomb trying to assassinate the 5 ministers who were about to be sent abroad to study constitutionalism. On July 6th of 1907 Xu Xilian led a failed revolt in Anqing, but was successful in killing its governor. This incident sparked a lot of attention from the Qing court and provincial officials. The Qing government was in a tough spot, to them it seemed there were revolutionaries pushing for constitutionalism and those pushing against it. There were countless revolutionaries and revolutionary groups that had formed throughout the Qing Dynasty's history. Many sought to re-establish a Han-led government, you know all those pesky Ming types. I obviously cant talk about them all, but there is one in particularly thats worth mentioning. In 1891 one man studying to become a doctor, met some friends in Hong Kong, many of whom were revolutionaries. One was named Yeung Ku-wan, and he was the leader of the Furen Literary Society calling to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The man went on to become a doctor and wrote a 8000 character petition to our old friend Li Hongzhang in 1894. His petition presented ideas for modernizing China. He traveled to Tianjin to try and personally meet Li Hongzhang and give him the petition, but was not granted an audience. It seems from the experience, Sun Yat-Sen's heart turned to revolution. He departed China and traveled to Hawaii, a place that was basically a second home to him, he was educated there and had family living in Honolulu. In 1894 in Hawaii he founded the Xīngzhōnghuì “Revive China Society”. This would be the first Chinese nationalist revolutionary society and each person admitted to it would swear the following oath “Expel Tatar barbarians, revive Zhonghua, and establish a unified government”. Sun Yat-Sen returned to Hong Kong in 1895 and met up again with Yueng Ku-wan. Both men viewed the First Sino-Japanese war situation as a huge opportunity and resolved to merge their societies. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen became the secretary of the newly merged group while Yeung Ku-wan was the president. They had Lu Haodong design a flag for their society, the Blue sky with a white Sun flag. If you pull up a picture of the flag, the 12 rays of the white sun represent 12 months and 12 traditional chinese hours, it symbolizes the spirit of progress. Soon their society began to brush shoulders with some old friends of ours, the Tiandihui “heaven and earth society” and even the triads. Dr Sun Yat-Sen was associating with such groups to gain funds and aid in his global travel to support a revolution.  In 1895, the Xīngzhōnghuì unleashed their planned uprising in Guangzhou, thus earning the name the “first Guangzhou uprising”. On October 26th , Yeung Ku-wan and Dr Sun Yat-sen led Zheng Shiliang and Lu Haodong to Guangzhou intending to capture the city in a single strike. However their plans were leaked to Qing authorities. The Qing arrested many of the revolutionaries, including Lu Haodong who would later be executed. The uprising was a complete failure. Yeung Ku-Wan and Dr Sun Yat-sen were both sent into an exile for 5 years. Dr Sun Yet-sen spent his exile promoting revolution within China abroad. He went to Japan, the US, Canada and Britain. While in Britain Dr Sun Yat-sen was seized by the Chinese secret service and nearly smuggled back to CHina in an effort to be executed. James Cantlie working with the globe, the times and foreign office managed to get Dr Sun Yat-sen released. James was a former teacher of Sun at Hong Kong college for medicine and a lifelong friend. When Sun made his way to Japan in 1897 he befriended the Japanese politician Tōten Miyazaki who motived him towards Pan-Asianism. Sun would also befriend Mariano Ponce, a diplomat of the first Philippine Republic. During the Philippine Revolution and Philippine-American War, Sun helped Ponce procure weapons from the IJA. Sun hoped to help the Filipinos win back their independence so the Philippines could be used as a staging point for another Chinese revolution. Ultimately the Americans won and thus Sun's dreams of allying with the Philippines vanished. On October 8th of 1900 Sun ordered the launch of another uprising, this time in Huizhou. A revolutionary army led by Zheng Shiliang, around 20,000 men strong, began a coup. This led his force to fight against the local Qing forces, with Sun working out of Taiwan promised to supply his men with ammunition from the Japanese. However, the Japanese got cold feet and the Japanese Prime Minister prohibited Sun Yat-sen from carrying out revolutionary activities on Taiwan. Sun tried to turn to the triads for help, but it simply did not pan out, thus after a month of fighting, Zheng Shiliang had no choice but to order the army to disperse.  After this Sun traveled to Bangkok in 1903 trying to secure funds. On Yaowarat Road in Bangkok's Chinatown Sun issued a famous speech claiming “overseas Chinese were the mother of the revolution”. Yaowarat road would later be commemorated as Sun Yat Sen Street. In 1905 Sun Yat-sen went to Singapore and merged his Xinzhongwei with the Guangfuhui “restoration society” and a few other smaller groups to form the Tongmenghui. Sun then created the three principles of the people: Minzu “nationalism”, minquan “democracy” and minsheng “welfare”. With Minzu, Sun sought national independence, as during his time China was under threat from imperialist powers. China needed to break the unequal treaties and harmonize the differing peoples of the nation. This led to the development of the Five races under one Union: Han, Mongol, Tibetan, Manchu and Muslim. For Minquan, he sought for the people to have real say in governance, and for Minsheng he sought for the government to take care of its peoples needs.  The Tongmenghui rapidly grew, finding support all over the world. With this rapid growth came more and more uprisings. On December 1st of 1907, Sun led an uprising in Zhennanguan against the Qing forces at the Friendship Pass. If you remember all the way back to when we were covering the Franco wars in indochina, the Friendship Pass is the border of China-Vietnam In Guangxi-Lang Son provinces. The uprising failed after 7 days of fighting, but Sun never gave up. In 1907 he launched more failed uprisings such as the Huanggang uprising, the Huizhou seven women lake uprising and Qinzhou uprising. In 1908 even more came, the Qin-lian uprising and Hekou uprising. And these were those backed by Sun Yat-Sen, there was a hell of a lot more going on such as the Great Ming Uprising in 1903, the Ping-liu-li uprising, the Anqing uprising. Then in 1910 Sun unleashed the second Guangzhou uprising, seeing a few hundred revolutionaries break into the residence of the Qing viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. This one was initially pretty successful,but the Qing gathered forces and turned the tide of battle. 72 revolutionaries out of 86 dead bodies were identified and revered as the 72 martyrs. To say revolutionary fever was at an all time high is an understatement. China was about to change forever, in the year 1911. 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 Qing government was in full panic mode. Too much damage had been dealt to the empire, China had lost face. To quell the outside world she signed humiliating treaties, but to quell her own people, now that was more challenging. The old ways gradually fell to new policies, but can an old dog learn new tricks?