Podcasts about qing dynasty china

To welcome the Year of the Snake, we’re launching a new series looking at belief in China. Young Chinese people are increasingly turning to spirituality - even online manifestations of it - and feng shui, in this moment of high unemployment and economic stress. For a Party guided by materialism, this spike in spiritual interest presents a dilemma: how to regulate something you purport not to believe in. To discuss the state's use of spirituality from the Qing to now, we’re joined by Tristan Brown, a historian at MIT and author of Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China and Haoyang Zhai, a researcher at the University of Melbourne. Image: “May The Snake Be With You” c/- Juliette Baxter Episode transcripts available at https://www.thechinastory.org/lrp/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/architecture

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.”

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/geography

Welcome to another episode of New Books in Chinese Studies. I am your host, Julia Keblinska, and I am speaking today to Prof. Tristan Brown about his book, Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China (Princeton UP, 2023). Brown's book considers fengshui, that is, the knowledge of orienting structures, such as graves and houses, in accordance with well-established cosmological principles, as an administrative technology and language of power that was intrinsic to governance through the Qing legal code. Fengshui has long been dismissed as a “superstition” whose historical significance is limited to its obstruction of (narrowly) infrastructural development and (broadly) modernization. Laws of the Land instead pushes us to understand fengshui as a form of knowledge production that allowed the state to govern in an era of increasing resource scarcity and crisis.  The book covers cases related to land use (and misuse) in relation to graves, examination success, and mining concerns. It introduces readers to a cast of claimants, defendants, and legal “experts,” including clerks who meticulously mapped conflicted landscapes and geomancers who gave evidence in court. In his analysis of fengshui and Qing dynastic collapse, Brown builds upon the work of other scholars who reject narratives of Chinese “reaction” to Western influence and incursion; he posits instead the legal system's entanglement with fengshui shows a vibrant interaction of various epistemological systems. I am very much looking forward to my conversation with Prof. Brown about the “life and death of Qing landscape.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

In this episode, the Treaty of Nanjing and the other Unequal Treaties are discussed, as well as the growth of foreign concessions in China. During the Second Opium War, also known as the Anglo-French Expedition to China, the Imperial Summer Palace is looted and burned. China losses vast territories to Russia. These events were humiliating to China but the treaties freed its resources to battle the many rebellions growing in Qing Dynasty China.Image: "China ChengDe - Qing Summer Report & Palace" by Toby Simkin is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let's continue our previous episode's theme of Russia.The nationalist narrative of recent Chinese history often emphasizes the so-called "Century of Humiliation" from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, during which Western imperial powers as well as Japan foisted many "unequal treaties" upon China.But the same narrative often notes one exception: the one modern treaty that Qing Dynasty China entered into that the Chinese do not regard as "unequal."It was the Treaty of Nerchinsk concluded in 1689 between the Qing Court of Emperor Kangxi and the Russian Empire under Tsar Peter the Great, two giant figures of world history who probably would've been good friends if they'd only had a chance to meet. The treaty demarcated the border between Russia and China for the next 170 years or so and was a remarkable example of cross-cultural negotiations.And, as we now live in a time when we all ought to try our best to understand both of those countries, it was a fascinating episode in the history of their interactions with each other.

Sam Yuen Sam Yuen is one of the larger-than-life characters that drive the historical narrative of the LA Chinatown massacre. Historical sources paint a picture of a laconic, stoic-minded business leader whose traditional methods and lack of adaptability made him and his company vulnerable to disruption.  Sam Yuen was the leader of a conservative faction who thought that the Chinese community should restrict its contact with outsiders as much as possible. They were willing to provide services to wealthy non-Chinese residents of the surrounding area, but they did not go into business with people of different backgrounds. It was this attitude against which the upstart, Yo Hing was rebelling when he split off from the original Sze Yup company. By collaborating with wealthier and more influential Anglo and Latino business partners, Yo Hing aimed to fundamentally change the structure of Chinatown's economic system. Traditionalists like Sam Yuen saw this as excessively risky. Tying up their money in joint ventures with “Gwailo,” who could turn on them at any moment was a grave cause for concern among the traditionalists, who were badly traumatized by the ethnic and political conflicts which had torn apart Qing Dynasty China.  Though he rarely spoke to the press, Sam Yuen was influential enough that certain aspects of his personality come down to us. He was indicted for fist fighting with Yo Hing on multiple occasions, though other than that, his criminal record seems to have been relatively clean. In one particularly famous incident, Sam Yuen managed to get several of Yo Hing's associates jailed for the egregious maltreatment of an enslaved Chinese prostitute, who was working for them. Yo Hing's actions in the case of Yut Ho and Lee Yong were probably partially motivated by a desire to retaliate.  Sam Yuen's most famous quotation was given in an interview with the Los Angeles Star newspaper: “That brave fellow Yo Hing will be killed by those he has insulted and maligned.” Sam Yuen endeavored to make good on this public threat. Clearly, he was not averse to using force or violence in order to get his way. He was also a dangerous man with a six-shooter, as we shall see. Information about the historical Sam Yuen can be found in Scott Zsech's wonderful book, The Chinatown War, which also contains a fantastic bibliography that can be used to locate primary sources.  Micah's personal spin on Sam Yuen is to play up certain aspects of a socially conservative strain, which exists in Chinese culture. This style of relating to the world is a vestige of a militaristic outlook, which was instrumental in securing and retaining power under feudal, imperial rule. Like American masculine culture of the early 20th century, Qing dynasty “conservatives” were preoccupied with physical and mental strength above all things. This preoccupation was paired with a meritocratic belief that the strongest had a natural right to rule over everybody else. In China, this type of outlook was severely impacted by contact with the West, whose superior military technology took away the title of strongest from the warrior class who had held it for millennia. This led to an obtusely anachronistic pride in hand-to-hand fighting skills, which persists to this day as a negative stereotype about Chinese and East Asian men. For this reason, Micah wrote Sam Yuen as a practitioner of external martial arts in Blood on Gold Mountain.  If you have questions, thoughts, your own family stories, or historical context to share, please send us a message at @bloodongoldmountain on http://www.facebook.com/bloodongoldmountain (Facebook) or http://www.instagram.com/bloodongoldmountain (Instagram).  ----- Blood on Gold Mountain is brought to you by https://services.claremont.edu/holmes-endowment/ (The Holmes Performing Arts Fund of The Claremont Colleges), https://www.pomona.edu/administration/pacific-basin-institute (The Pacific Basin Institute of...

Having had enough of Libertarian dystopias for a while, Sean and Cody are ready to zen out in late imperial China and break themselves emotionally with another Ang Lee-directed drama, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a multinational Chinese-language production from 2000. When Green Destiny, the magic sword once owned by martial arts master Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) gets filched by a masked bandit who's apparently secured an exemption from the laws of gravity, Li and security consultant Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) go off to get it back. In the meantime, spoiled brat Jen (Zhang Ziyi) is still hopelessly stuck on her ex, the dashing Mongol bandit Dark Cloud (Chang Chen). These plots do come together, leaving not a dry eye in the house. Environmental issues discussed include hunting, frontier settlement and ethnic environmentalism in Qing Dynasty China and the lavish landscapes seen in this and other Chinese martial arts pictures. Why are the Qing (Manchus) so crucial in the environmental history of Asia? What happened to all the tigers in China? What's the deal with those funky hairstyles on all the men? What's the difference between “Inner” and “Outer” Mongolia? Did the Chinese have a western frontier analogous to what existed in the United States? What does the title of this film mean? Why does the story of the author who wrote the book this film is based on sound like it would make a really great movie in its own right? Is this the saddest film we've ever done on the show? Is the world ready for Sexy Dr. Yueh? All these questions and more are dancing in the crowns of the bamboo forest in this deeply philosophical episode of Green Screen. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190332/ Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon/ Next Movie Up: Lords of Dogtown (2005) Additional Materials About This Episode

Guest Jayashree Kamble, romance scholar is back to discuss My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas. This novel is a cross between Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and a passing narrative, and layers in discussion of Chinese culture and the history British imperialism. Jayashree explored the Wuxia influence and transculturalism in a paper published in March 2020 in the Journal of Popular Romance Studies.-Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.com58 Romance Novellas For A Quick Hit of HopeCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Jayashree KambleHumanities Commons | Twitter | Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance FictionNotes:We discuss Jayashree Kamble's article from JPRS: When Wuxia Met Romance: The Pleasures and Politics of Transculturalism in Sherry Thomas’s My Beautiful EnemyCharacters:MC 1: Ying-Hua aka Ying-Ying aka Catherine Blade.  Stepfather: Da-RenMC 2: LeightonVillain: Lin aka The CentipedeVocabulary - as an American English speaker, I was unfamiliar with some of these pronunciations so providing a bit of a guide based on how I heard Jayashree pronounce things to help you match the spelling of these words to what you heard in the episode. I'm sure I'm missing lots of nuance here, so grain of salt and all that:Wuxia - pronounced "Woo-shya"Qing Dynasty China - pronounced "Ching"Bao and Baoying - pronounced "bah-oh" and "bah-oh-ying"Video with Sherry Thomas from the Popular Romance ProjectAlso Jayashree has videos too!Love Between the Covers DocumentaryIASPR Digital Showcase 2020 Conference: View every presentation here! Several of these discussions that happened just before Jayashree and I spoke are referenced in the episode.Become a member! I became a member as an "independent scholar" for just $25.Thank you to this episode's beta listeners Madison and Kelsey. I appreciate your help!

To answer a few questions in one hit, the Genchitaofu Baguazhang system is about allowing the baguazhang practitioner to experience baguazhang in their everyday life outside of the dojo club or boxing ring. When I first began baguazhang, my goals centred around wanting to be a bonafide martial artist, and healing my body from the corruption of the modern consumerist lifestyle. Compared to most people, I had a legs up on the wannabe competition because I was already doing a bit of martial arts from other styles, for over a decade I was an I-Ching master, and for the guangxi, I was married to a Chinese woman. And... Just like every other style or form, at some point a practitioner comes across a question like this: What's this style good for? It's a very good question when a person takes the time to really think about it. It pops up all the time in different forms, and it has led many martial artists to end up in arguments and fights. For me, the question came up in the form of: How can a martial art style created almost 200 years ago, during Qing Dynasty China, by guys living in a cultural society that has no relevance to my modern life in Australia help me? People can't just go around starting fights just to work these things out. You spend years and years perfecting a specific technique, but when will you get the chance to use it? Honestly, it just doesn't happen. Not even in the boxing ring. And if it did, you probably wouldn't even notice it. Real life isn't a martial arts movie. And if, through experience, what I'm talking about: Congratulations! You're part of the ten percent that has actually been in a fight. Most men typically talk a big game but are lacking in details. I say 'men' because most women tend to be more honest about real life and fighting. In fact, for men, unless they're an active participant in a zone of conflict like a war or something. Or are in a bully-victim relationship, or practice in a dojo, the chances of trying out a move are next to nothing. It's all bullshit and jellybeans. Women, on the other hand, come across violence far too often. Case-in-point: Wing Chun. Regardless of what you believe I think about the style, and I have been threatened by practitioners (who practice the style) to shut up and stop disrespecting it, the truth is: I respect Wing Chun a lot. During my M.A.G.S. years, it was the going style. Everybody around me was learning it. And this was before the Ip Man movies. Wing Chun is its own unique style. While Crane style promotes itself as light and delicate to women in the belief that women are the fairer sex. Wing Chun was created by a Shaolin nun (a woman) to help defend her disciple called Wing Chun (also a woman) from an abusive man, in the small cramped up kitchens and alleyways of a Chinese town or village. Domestic violence is not a new thing. To reinforce this history, it was said that a woman's place in the home was the kitchen. Well why do you think the iconic weapons of Wing Chun are the butterfly knives? Most men see butterfly knives and think short stubby swords. Women see the kitchen chopper. Not the western meat cleaver but the Chinese all-purpose chopper, every Chinese home has. The digression into Wing Chun was to illustrate the importance of walking the circle because baguazhang is a thinking man's martial art. The circle represents the depth of knowledge and understanding symbolised by how deep the circle had become. For most practitioners the grass has barely moved. As the depression gets deeper and deeper, one's understanding grows deeper. Every baguazhang master of worth knows the moment of reaching dirt and realising the profoundness of it. The Genchitaofu system of Baguazhang is meant to train a practitioner to go deeper than the superficial and really grasp their art too, by having everyday experiences that allow them to transmute their skills to some more practical worth, in the environment and times they are in.

Think that Wall Street has nothing to do with the real economy? You are probably not alone in that regard. But it turns out, you are wrong. As William N. Goetzmann demonstrates in his Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible (Princeton University Press, 2016), the tools of finance were as important for the rise of civilization as were the soldiers, castles and battles. Were it not for property contracts, agreements over imports and exports of grain, how to manage risk in increasingly complex economic ventures, etc we are still living in small agricultural communities eaking out an existence, and with no engagement of the wider world beyond the next village over. For finance professionals, Money Changes Everything offers an additional lesson: you have a history. People have been confronting for millenia the same intellectual and operational challenges that you face today. It might make sense to become familiar with how your predecessors in Ancient Sumeria and Rome and Qing Dynasty China and early modern Europe defined and worked out those same problems. You might be surprised how much you can learn from your predecessors. Daniel Peris is Senior Vice President at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh. Trained as a historian of modern Russia, he is the author most recently of Getting Back to Business: Why Modern Portfolio Theory Fails Investors. You can follow him on Twitter @Back2BizBook or at http://www.strategicdividendinvestor.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think that Wall Street has nothing to do with the real economy? You are probably not alone in that regard. But it turns out, you are wrong. As William N. Goetzmann demonstrates in his Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible (Princeton University Press, 2016), the tools of finance were as important for the rise of civilization as were the soldiers, castles and battles. Were it not for property contracts, agreements over imports and exports of grain, how to manage risk in increasingly complex economic ventures, etc we are still living in small agricultural communities eaking out an existence, and with no engagement of the wider world beyond the next village over. For finance professionals, Money Changes Everything offers an additional lesson: you have a history. People have been confronting for millenia the same intellectual and operational challenges that you face today. It might make sense to become familiar with how your predecessors in Ancient Sumeria and Rome and Qing Dynasty China and early modern Europe defined and worked out those same problems. You might be surprised how much you can learn from your predecessors. Daniel Peris is Senior Vice President at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh. Trained as a historian of modern Russia, he is the author most recently of Getting Back to Business: Why Modern Portfolio Theory Fails Investors. You can follow him on Twitter @Back2BizBook or at http://www.strategicdividendinvestor.com

Civilizations die by suicide, not murder. That’s what almost every historian who has studied the topic has concluded. The paths of societal decline are often similar, including poor governance decisions, overpopulation, and breakdown of societal trust. Today, these factors afflict both America and the world, and we call them Democrises: Democracy, Demography, and Demoralization. This episode begins with the fall of Qing Dynasty China in the 19th century, and proceeds to examine many other civilizations that followed or are following the same path… See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest for this episode is Mark Koyama of George Mason University. Our topic is a recent paper titled, "States and Economic Growth: Capacity and Constraints," which Mark coauthored with Noel Johnson. Just recorded at great podcast with @GarrettPetersen on my work on state capacity (with @ndjohnson). — Mark Koyama (@MarkKoyama) May 24, 2017 As stated in the paper, "state capacity describes the ability of a state to collect taxes, enforce law and order, and provide public goods." That said, state capacity does not mean big government. A state may have the power to impose rules across its territory, but it doesn't have to use that power in a tyrannical way. Another way of saying that is to say that having a high state capacity is compatible with Adam Smith's desire for "peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice." One metric that researchers use to measure state capacity is tax revenue per capita. But as Mark is careful to point out, a state with less state capacity can still sometimes achieve a relatively high income through tax farming. This is the practice in many pre-modern states of auctioning off the right to extract tax revenues to local elites in different regions. We discuss the rise of modern nation-states in various regions, and why some states developed more state capacity than others going into the twentieth century. In particular, we discuss Europe's transition away from a feudal system ruled in a decentralized way by monarchs who held power based on their personal relationships with local lords. England's Glorious Revolution of 1688 allowed it to develop its state capacity earlier than other European nations, with a centralized tax system controlled by parliament. By contrast, continental powers like the French Ancien Régime and the Hapsburg Empire were legally and fiscally fragmented, leading them to develop their state capacity much later than England. We also discuss the development of state capacity in Asia, and why Meiji Japan was able to develop its state capacity much faster than Qing Dynasty China.  

In this first part of a two-part series, we examine the forgotten life of William Mesny. Drawing from author David Leffman's 2016 book "The Mercenary Mandarin," Laszlo discusses an unknown character from the bad old days of late Qing Dynasty China. Though he never made it to the history books, he nonetheless witnessed and took part in a lot of it. Through Mesny we can once again wander through some of Imperial China's worst years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first part of a two-part series, we examine the forgotten life of William Mesny. Drawing from author David Leffman's 2016 book "The Mercenary Mandarin," Laszlo discusses an unknown character from the bad old days of late Qing Dynasty China. Though he never made it to the history books, he nonetheless witnessed and took part in a lot of it. Through Mesny we can once again wander through some of Imperial China's worst years.  

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite,... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite,... Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite,... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First things first: Matthew H. Sommer‘s new book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of China and/or the history of gender. Based on 1200 legal cases from the central and local archives of the Qing dynasty, and focusing on the rural poor rather than the elite, Polyandry and Wife-Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions (University of California Press, 2015) looks carefully at polyandry, wife sale, and a variety of intermediate practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual & reproductive labor to help support her family. In a series of chapters that use fascinating stories and documents to transform how we understand what constitutes Qing law, Sommer’s book compellingly argues for the impossibility of maintaining a clear-cut, binary distinction between sex work and marriage in the Qing. The records on which Sommer bases this magisterial account are full of stories that are themselves worth the price of admission, sensitively rendering the lives of husbands, wives, children, and their communities as they attempted to navigate difficult, complex, and moving circumstances. This is a book that will change not only how we understand marriage, gender, family, and sex in late imperial China, but also how we think about these and related concepts more broadly conceived. Highly recommended! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ching Shi is hands down the most successful pirate ever, and you've (probably) never heard of her. From humble beginnings in a floating brothel in Qing Dynasty China, she went on to masterfully command a massive fleet of ships, with the Empire and its allies at her mercy. We think she's a little scary, and a lot impressive!

Hello and welcome to our weekly feature, Horizons on Newsplus Radio. I'm your host Du Lijun. Snacking is deeply woven into the fabric of daily life in Taiwan. The plethora of snack foods available on the island is a window to local culture. And one of the quickest ways to experience the local flavor of Taiwan is to visit one of the island's many night markets, where visitors can sample authentic Taiwan-style food. A stroll inside any night market is a sure to get your mouth watering and tempt your taste buds. With today's Horizons, we will sample some popular Taiwan snacks as we make our way through some of the most popular night markets in the island. Then we will head to Hangzhou, the provincial capital of east China's Zhejiang; and find out about its bike-sharing system which is the largest of its kind in the world. Please stay tuned. Anchor: Snacking is deeply woven into the fabric of daily life in Taiwan. The plethora of snack foods available on the island is a window to local culture. And one of the quickest ways to experience the local flavor of Taiwan is to visit one of the island's many night markets, each with a tempting array of mouth-watering delicacies. At each market, visitors can sample a wide selection of snack foods made with locally sourced ingredients. So now, let's follow our reporter Li Jing, as we make our way through some of the most popular night markets in Taiwan. Reporter: As dusk falls on the towns and cities of Taiwan, many of the island's locals start to get busy. Some of them are beginning to work, while others are relaxing after a long day. Those starting their day are the people who work in Taiwan's many night markets. Night markets are great places to shop for bargains and feel the pulse of Taiwan's after-hours life. The markets are bustling with noise and energy, with friendly restaurant owners calling out their menus, stall holders calling out their wares, and crowds of curious onlookers, shoppers and diners mingling together in the night air. A wide variety of goods including clothing, household items, watches, jewelry, toys and much more are sold at surprisingly low prices. Night markets are also where visitors can sample authentic Taiwan-style food. A stroll inside any night market is a sure to get your mouth watering and tempt your taste buds. "The stinky tofu here is tasty." "We are queuing here for da-chang-bao-xia-chang." Among all the night markets in Taiwan, Feng Chia Night Market in Taichung city may be the biggest. During the weekday evenings, there are usually around 30-thousand to 40-thousand shoppers, while on the weekends or holidays, the number can rise to 100-thousand shoppers. Feng Chia Night Market is best known for its prices and variety, as well as a lot of snacks, which were invented locally by the owners of these food stalls and restaurants. A lot of innovative snacks now seen in Taiwan's other night markets were originally created at Feng Chia. Among the most favored snacks of the shoppers-turned-foodies are stinky tofu and a Taiwan version of sausage in sticky rice-- da-chang-bao-xia-chang. Literally translated as "little sausage inside big sausage," this Taiwan snack is a superstar at night markets. It's like a hot dog, but instead of a bread, sticky rice is stuffed inside sausage casing to make an oversized "bun." Then, that's slit open, grilled and a pork sausage is put inside. Stinky tofu, a popular fermented snack that assaults the nose, but pleases the palate, is also a culinary obsession for the locals in Taiwan. Known affectionately as the blue cheese of tofu, stinky tofu can be served grilled, stewed, braised, steamed or deep fried. Each method has a distinctive odor, taste, texture and color, and an entire afternoon could be spent sampling the different styles. Though stinky tofu can be found at many night markets in Taiwan, the best place to try this often misunderstood delicacy is on the Shenkeng Old Street in the town of Shenkeng, just a few kilometers east of Taipei. The locals have been identifying this narrow street with stinky tofu for many years. And after a newly-completed restoration project that spanned three years, the street is now as big a draw as the food. Rows of late-19th-to-early-20th-century red brick shops with lattice windows, hanging eaves, arcade-style walkways, all interspersed with ornate temples or European-Chinese fusion-style mansions, adorn the street. And of course, almost all food vendors are serving one just thing: variations of stinky tofu! "We serve sticky tofu of different flavors: spicy tofu, garlic-flavored tofu and stewed tofu. The traditional recipe is a stew with fermented tofu cooked for more than 40 minutes in a broth seasoned with 30 different ingredients." The stewed stinky tofu can also be served with congealed duck's blood and stock broth, which has a pleasant aroma, with a mild peppery bite and varied textures. The stink caused by the fermentation process, which can take several days to a week to complete. Restaurants are fiercely protective of their recipes for the brine in which they ferment the tofu; it can contain anything from Chinese cabbage and tea leaves to meat, shrimp or milk. Tales of the origins of stinky tofu are as diverse as the dish itself. Many legends say it was an accidental creation by a careless vender in Qing Dynasty China who left his tofu stewing for an entire season, but found the foul-smelling outcome to be tasty. Regardless of its true origins, stinky tofu has won converts both inside and outside the Chinese-speaking world and even made CNN's list of the world's most delicious foods in 2011.