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In Economic Thought in Modern China: Market and Consumption, c.1500–1937 (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Margherita Zanasi argues that basic notions of a free market economy emerged in China a century and half earlier than in Europe. In response to the commercial revolutions of the late 1500s, Chinese intellectuals and officials called for the end of state intervention in the market, recognizing its power to self-regulate. They also noted the elasticity of domestic demand and production, arguing in favour of ending long-standing rules against luxury consumption, an idea that emerged in Europe in the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. Zanasi challenges Eurocentric theories of economic modernization as well as the assumption that European Enlightenment thought was unique in its ability to produce innovative economic ideas. She instead establishes a direct connection between observations of local economic conditions and the formulation of new theories, revealing the unexpected flexibility of the Confucian tradition and its accommodation of seemingly unorthodox ideas. Margherita Zanasi is Professor of Chinese History at Louisiana State University. She has published widely on different aspects of modern China's history, including her first book Saving the Nation: Economic Modernity in Republican China (University of Chicago Press, 2005). She also serves as the editor of the journal Twentieth Century China.  Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. 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

The early twentieth century was a particularly tumultuous time in Chinese history, complete with new conflicts, new technologies, and — as Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) shows — new ways to represent women.  Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China by Sandy Ng looks at how women were portrayed in advertisements, photographs, and film in Republican China, all against the backdrop of the rise of print and visual media and debates over the role and image of “modern” women. This book argues that visual portrayals of women not only displayed women, but that such modern images of women allowed women to assert their own individual identities. Filled with images from collections in the UK, Hong Kong, and the United States, this book is sure to interest readers curious about modern Chinese history and the history of design, as well as anyone looking to be inspired by art and material culture.  Interested listeners should also keep an eye out for Sandy's next project: The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency, co-edited with Dr.Megha Rajguru (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025): “Focusing on the 20th century onwards, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia. The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities. Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The early twentieth century was a particularly tumultuous time in Chinese history, complete with new conflicts, new technologies, and — as Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) shows — new ways to represent women.  Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China by Sandy Ng looks at how women were portrayed in advertisements, photographs, and film in Republican China, all against the backdrop of the rise of print and visual media and debates over the role and image of “modern” women. This book argues that visual portrayals of women not only displayed women, but that such modern images of women allowed women to assert their own individual identities. Filled with images from collections in the UK, Hong Kong, and the United States, this book is sure to interest readers curious about modern Chinese history and the history of design, as well as anyone looking to be inspired by art and material culture.  Interested listeners should also keep an eye out for Sandy's next project: The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency, co-edited with Dr.Megha Rajguru (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025): “Focusing on the 20th century onwards, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia. The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities. Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The early twentieth century was a particularly tumultuous time in Chinese history, complete with new conflicts, new technologies, and — as Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) shows — new ways to represent women.  Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China by Sandy Ng looks at how women were portrayed in advertisements, photographs, and film in Republican China, all against the backdrop of the rise of print and visual media and debates over the role and image of “modern” women. This book argues that visual portrayals of women not only displayed women, but that such modern images of women allowed women to assert their own individual identities. Filled with images from collections in the UK, Hong Kong, and the United States, this book is sure to interest readers curious about modern Chinese history and the history of design, as well as anyone looking to be inspired by art and material culture.  Interested listeners should also keep an eye out for Sandy's next project: The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency, co-edited with Dr.Megha Rajguru (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025): “Focusing on the 20th century onwards, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia. The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities. Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.” 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

The early twentieth century was a particularly tumultuous time in Chinese history, complete with new conflicts, new technologies, and — as Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) shows — new ways to represent women.  Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China by Sandy Ng looks at how women were portrayed in advertisements, photographs, and film in Republican China, all against the backdrop of the rise of print and visual media and debates over the role and image of “modern” women. This book argues that visual portrayals of women not only displayed women, but that such modern images of women allowed women to assert their own individual identities. Filled with images from collections in the UK, Hong Kong, and the United States, this book is sure to interest readers curious about modern Chinese history and the history of design, as well as anyone looking to be inspired by art and material culture.  Interested listeners should also keep an eye out for Sandy's next project: The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency, co-edited with Dr.Megha Rajguru (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025): “Focusing on the 20th century onwards, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia. The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities. Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

The early twentieth century was a particularly tumultuous time in Chinese history, complete with new conflicts, new technologies, and — as Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) shows — new ways to represent women.  Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China by Sandy Ng looks at how women were portrayed in advertisements, photographs, and film in Republican China, all against the backdrop of the rise of print and visual media and debates over the role and image of “modern” women. This book argues that visual portrayals of women not only displayed women, but that such modern images of women allowed women to assert their own individual identities. Filled with images from collections in the UK, Hong Kong, and the United States, this book is sure to interest readers curious about modern Chinese history and the history of design, as well as anyone looking to be inspired by art and material culture.  Interested listeners should also keep an eye out for Sandy's next project: The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency, co-edited with Dr.Megha Rajguru (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025): “Focusing on the 20th century onwards, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia. The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities. Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

The early twentieth century was a particularly tumultuous time in Chinese history, complete with new conflicts, new technologies, and — as Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) shows — new ways to represent women.  Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China by Sandy Ng looks at how women were portrayed in advertisements, photographs, and film in Republican China, all against the backdrop of the rise of print and visual media and debates over the role and image of “modern” women. This book argues that visual portrayals of women not only displayed women, but that such modern images of women allowed women to assert their own individual identities. Filled with images from collections in the UK, Hong Kong, and the United States, this book is sure to interest readers curious about modern Chinese history and the history of design, as well as anyone looking to be inspired by art and material culture.  Interested listeners should also keep an eye out for Sandy's next project: The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency, co-edited with Dr.Megha Rajguru (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025): “Focusing on the 20th century onwards, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia. The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities. Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The early twentieth century was a particularly tumultuous time in Chinese history, complete with new conflicts, new technologies, and — as Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) shows — new ways to represent women.  Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China by Sandy Ng looks at how women were portrayed in advertisements, photographs, and film in Republican China, all against the backdrop of the rise of print and visual media and debates over the role and image of “modern” women. This book argues that visual portrayals of women not only displayed women, but that such modern images of women allowed women to assert their own individual identities. Filled with images from collections in the UK, Hong Kong, and the United States, this book is sure to interest readers curious about modern Chinese history and the history of design, as well as anyone looking to be inspired by art and material culture.  Interested listeners should also keep an eye out for Sandy's next project: The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design-Material Culture and Social Agency, co-edited with Dr.Megha Rajguru (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025): “Focusing on the 20th century onwards, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia. The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities. Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

**REUPLOAD**In today's episode we're going to pick up where we left off, at the very beginning of the new Republic of China. We'll look at the rise of Yuan Shikai and the descent of China into a period of warlordism. We will explore the changing nature of China's politics and culture, right up until the next big event to hit the Chinese stage, the May 4th movement.Some famous people we will be discussing include Sun Yatsen, Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, and some of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, and Mao Zedong.Support the showSign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod

In Japan, a country popularly perceived as highly secularized and technologically advanced, ontological assumptions about spirits (tama or tamashii) seem to be quite deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric. From ancestor cults to anime, spirits, ghosts, and other invisible dimensions of reality appear to be pervasive. In Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), international scholars from various backgrounds consider together this “invisible empire” and highlight the “agency of the intangible.” The contributors of this edited volume approach spirits and animism in contemporary Japan from diverse perspectives. Satō Hiroo opens the book with a chapter on the transformation in Japanese visions of the afterlife, the status of the dead, and regional traditions of memorialization. Andrea De Antoni looks further into the ontology of spirits via an investigation into recent cases of spirit possession (tsuki, hyōi) that is treated at the Kenmi Shrine in Shikoku. Jason Josephson-Storm traces both the European and Japanese genealogies of theorizing “primitive” civilizations and their beliefs in spirits, magic, and an animated nature. In Fabio Rambelli's chapter, a unique type of epistemological system for understanding the existence of spirits is introduced: Minataka Kumagusu's “Minakata mandala,” which involves Buddhist philosophy, Western science, and an awareness of the Japanese folk tradition all at the same time. In Ellen Van Goethem's chapter, she explores how and why there were widespread assumptions about how the city of Kyoto was animated by invisible agencies such as guardian spirits and the flow of qi (Jp. Ki). Carina Roth continues the discussion on enchanted landscapes by drawing our attention to “power spots” (pawā supotto) and “healing” forests as recent developments in contemporary Japanese religiosity. Focusing on the role of media in the public perceptions of new religious movements (NRMs) and their animistic positions, Ioannis Gaitanidis shows how the media paradoxically both helps to normalize animism as part of “traditional” Japanese culture while chastising animistic NRM's egregious behaviors. Concerning spirits in modern Japanese fiction, another type of powerful media in contemporary Japanese society, Rebecca Suter identifies in her chapter a “fantastic hesitation” that authors take on, which opens doors to the “undecidability of reality” that seems to be a main gateway to the spirit world. Centering on the media arts scene in Japan, Mauro Arrighi in his chapter highlights how animism serves as one of the main creative sources for contemporary artists. Then, Jolyon Thomas turns our focus to anime and their depictions of humanity's connection with nature. In doing so, he invites us to reflect on the term “animism” and how the spirits of anime are really rooted in late capitalist modernity with its attendant pleasures and woes. In the closing chapter, Andrea Castiglioni points out a growing tendency in recent Japanese films to focus on violent spirit entities (araburugami), rather than benign figures. He argues that this perhaps is related to the emergence of a new kind of national identity for Japan as a country that is uniquely able to control the unpredictability of nature and malignant invisible agencies. In this podcast episode, I spoke with the editor of this edited volume, Dr. Fabio Rambelli. Fabio Rambelli is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Daigengna Duoer is a PhD student at the Religious Studies Department, University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation researches on transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. 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

In Japan, a country popularly perceived as highly secularized and technologically advanced, ontological assumptions about spirits (tama or tamashii) seem to be quite deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric. From ancestor cults to anime, spirits, ghosts, and other invisible dimensions of reality appear to be pervasive. In Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), international scholars from various backgrounds consider together this “invisible empire” and highlight the “agency of the intangible.” The contributors of this edited volume approach spirits and animism in contemporary Japan from diverse perspectives. Satō Hiroo opens the book with a chapter on the transformation in Japanese visions of the afterlife, the status of the dead, and regional traditions of memorialization. Andrea De Antoni looks further into the ontology of spirits via an investigation into recent cases of spirit possession (tsuki, hyōi) that is treated at the Kenmi Shrine in Shikoku. Jason Josephson-Storm traces both the European and Japanese genealogies of theorizing “primitive” civilizations and their beliefs in spirits, magic, and an animated nature. In Fabio Rambelli's chapter, a unique type of epistemological system for understanding the existence of spirits is introduced: Minataka Kumagusu's “Minakata mandala,” which involves Buddhist philosophy, Western science, and an awareness of the Japanese folk tradition all at the same time. In Ellen Van Goethem's chapter, she explores how and why there were widespread assumptions about how the city of Kyoto was animated by invisible agencies such as guardian spirits and the flow of qi (Jp. Ki). Carina Roth continues the discussion on enchanted landscapes by drawing our attention to “power spots” (pawā supotto) and “healing” forests as recent developments in contemporary Japanese religiosity. Focusing on the role of media in the public perceptions of new religious movements (NRMs) and their animistic positions, Ioannis Gaitanidis shows how the media paradoxically both helps to normalize animism as part of “traditional” Japanese culture while chastising animistic NRM's egregious behaviors. Concerning spirits in modern Japanese fiction, another type of powerful media in contemporary Japanese society, Rebecca Suter identifies in her chapter a “fantastic hesitation” that authors take on, which opens doors to the “undecidability of reality” that seems to be a main gateway to the spirit world. Centering on the media arts scene in Japan, Mauro Arrighi in his chapter highlights how animism serves as one of the main creative sources for contemporary artists. Then, Jolyon Thomas turns our focus to anime and their depictions of humanity's connection with nature. In doing so, he invites us to reflect on the term “animism” and how the spirits of anime are really rooted in late capitalist modernity with its attendant pleasures and woes. In the closing chapter, Andrea Castiglioni points out a growing tendency in recent Japanese films to focus on violent spirit entities (araburugami), rather than benign figures. He argues that this perhaps is related to the emergence of a new kind of national identity for Japan as a country that is uniquely able to control the unpredictability of nature and malignant invisible agencies. In this podcast episode, I spoke with the editor of this edited volume, Dr. Fabio Rambelli. Fabio Rambelli is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Daigengna Duoer is a PhD student at the Religious Studies Department, University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation researches on transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/folkore

In Japan, a country popularly perceived as highly secularized and technologically advanced, ontological assumptions about spirits (tama or tamashii) seem to be quite deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric. From ancestor cults to anime, spirits, ghosts, and other invisible dimensions of reality appear to be pervasive. In Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), international scholars from various backgrounds consider together this “invisible empire” and highlight the “agency of the intangible.” The contributors of this edited volume approach spirits and animism in contemporary Japan from diverse perspectives. Satō Hiroo opens the book with a chapter on the transformation in Japanese visions of the afterlife, the status of the dead, and regional traditions of memorialization. Andrea De Antoni looks further into the ontology of spirits via an investigation into recent cases of spirit possession (tsuki, hyōi) that is treated at the Kenmi Shrine in Shikoku. Jason Josephson-Storm traces both the European and Japanese genealogies of theorizing “primitive” civilizations and their beliefs in spirits, magic, and an animated nature. In Fabio Rambelli's chapter, a unique type of epistemological system for understanding the existence of spirits is introduced: Minataka Kumagusu's “Minakata mandala,” which involves Buddhist philosophy, Western science, and an awareness of the Japanese folk tradition all at the same time. In Ellen Van Goethem's chapter, she explores how and why there were widespread assumptions about how the city of Kyoto was animated by invisible agencies such as guardian spirits and the flow of qi (Jp. Ki). Carina Roth continues the discussion on enchanted landscapes by drawing our attention to “power spots” (pawā supotto) and “healing” forests as recent developments in contemporary Japanese religiosity. Focusing on the role of media in the public perceptions of new religious movements (NRMs) and their animistic positions, Ioannis Gaitanidis shows how the media paradoxically both helps to normalize animism as part of “traditional” Japanese culture while chastising animistic NRM's egregious behaviors. Concerning spirits in modern Japanese fiction, another type of powerful media in contemporary Japanese society, Rebecca Suter identifies in her chapter a “fantastic hesitation” that authors take on, which opens doors to the “undecidability of reality” that seems to be a main gateway to the spirit world. Centering on the media arts scene in Japan, Mauro Arrighi in his chapter highlights how animism serves as one of the main creative sources for contemporary artists. Then, Jolyon Thomas turns our focus to anime and their depictions of humanity's connection with nature. In doing so, he invites us to reflect on the term “animism” and how the spirits of anime are really rooted in late capitalist modernity with its attendant pleasures and woes. In the closing chapter, Andrea Castiglioni points out a growing tendency in recent Japanese films to focus on violent spirit entities (araburugami), rather than benign figures. He argues that this perhaps is related to the emergence of a new kind of national identity for Japan as a country that is uniquely able to control the unpredictability of nature and malignant invisible agencies. In this podcast episode, I spoke with the editor of this edited volume, Dr. Fabio Rambelli. Fabio Rambelli is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Daigengna Duoer is a PhD student at the Religious Studies Department, University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation researches on transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

In Japan, a country popularly perceived as highly secularized and technologically advanced, ontological assumptions about spirits (tama or tamashii) seem to be quite deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric. From ancestor cults to anime, spirits, ghosts, and other invisible dimensions of reality appear to be pervasive. In Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), international scholars from various backgrounds consider together this “invisible empire” and highlight the “agency of the intangible.” The contributors of this edited volume approach spirits and animism in contemporary Japan from diverse perspectives. Satō Hiroo opens the book with a chapter on the transformation in Japanese visions of the afterlife, the status of the dead, and regional traditions of memorialization. Andrea De Antoni looks further into the ontology of spirits via an investigation into recent cases of spirit possession (tsuki, hyōi) that is treated at the Kenmi Shrine in Shikoku. Jason Josephson-Storm traces both the European and Japanese genealogies of theorizing “primitive” civilizations and their beliefs in spirits, magic, and an animated nature. In Fabio Rambelli's chapter, a unique type of epistemological system for understanding the existence of spirits is introduced: Minataka Kumagusu's “Minakata mandala,” which involves Buddhist philosophy, Western science, and an awareness of the Japanese folk tradition all at the same time. In Ellen Van Goethem's chapter, she explores how and why there were widespread assumptions about how the city of Kyoto was animated by invisible agencies such as guardian spirits and the flow of qi (Jp. Ki). Carina Roth continues the discussion on enchanted landscapes by drawing our attention to “power spots” (pawā supotto) and “healing” forests as recent developments in contemporary Japanese religiosity. Focusing on the role of media in the public perceptions of new religious movements (NRMs) and their animistic positions, Ioannis Gaitanidis shows how the media paradoxically both helps to normalize animism as part of “traditional” Japanese culture while chastising animistic NRM's egregious behaviors. Concerning spirits in modern Japanese fiction, another type of powerful media in contemporary Japanese society, Rebecca Suter identifies in her chapter a “fantastic hesitation” that authors take on, which opens doors to the “undecidability of reality” that seems to be a main gateway to the spirit world. Centering on the media arts scene in Japan, Mauro Arrighi in his chapter highlights how animism serves as one of the main creative sources for contemporary artists. Then, Jolyon Thomas turns our focus to anime and their depictions of humanity's connection with nature. In doing so, he invites us to reflect on the term “animism” and how the spirits of anime are really rooted in late capitalist modernity with its attendant pleasures and woes. In the closing chapter, Andrea Castiglioni points out a growing tendency in recent Japanese films to focus on violent spirit entities (araburugami), rather than benign figures. He argues that this perhaps is related to the emergence of a new kind of national identity for Japan as a country that is uniquely able to control the unpredictability of nature and malignant invisible agencies. In this podcast episode, I spoke with the editor of this edited volume, Dr. Fabio Rambelli. Fabio Rambelli is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Daigengna Duoer is a PhD student at the Religious Studies Department, University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation researches on transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

In Japan, a country popularly perceived as highly secularized and technologically advanced, ontological assumptions about spirits (tama or tamashii) seem to be quite deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric. From ancestor cults to anime, spirits, ghosts, and other invisible dimensions of reality appear to be pervasive. In Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), international scholars from various backgrounds consider together this “invisible empire” and highlight the “agency of the intangible.” The contributors of this edited volume approach spirits and animism in contemporary Japan from diverse perspectives. Satō Hiroo opens the book with a chapter on the transformation in Japanese visions of the afterlife, the status of the dead, and regional traditions of memorialization. Andrea De Antoni looks further into the ontology of spirits via an investigation into recent cases of spirit possession (tsuki, hyōi) that is treated at the Kenmi Shrine in Shikoku. Jason Josephson-Storm traces both the European and Japanese genealogies of theorizing “primitive” civilizations and their beliefs in spirits, magic, and an animated nature. In Fabio Rambelli's chapter, a unique type of epistemological system for understanding the existence of spirits is introduced: Minataka Kumagusu's “Minakata mandala,” which involves Buddhist philosophy, Western science, and an awareness of the Japanese folk tradition all at the same time. In Ellen Van Goethem's chapter, she explores how and why there were widespread assumptions about how the city of Kyoto was animated by invisible agencies such as guardian spirits and the flow of qi (Jp. Ki). Carina Roth continues the discussion on enchanted landscapes by drawing our attention to “power spots” (pawā supotto) and “healing” forests as recent developments in contemporary Japanese religiosity. Focusing on the role of media in the public perceptions of new religious movements (NRMs) and their animistic positions, Ioannis Gaitanidis shows how the media paradoxically both helps to normalize animism as part of “traditional” Japanese culture while chastising animistic NRM's egregious behaviors. Concerning spirits in modern Japanese fiction, another type of powerful media in contemporary Japanese society, Rebecca Suter identifies in her chapter a “fantastic hesitation” that authors take on, which opens doors to the “undecidability of reality” that seems to be a main gateway to the spirit world. Centering on the media arts scene in Japan, Mauro Arrighi in his chapter highlights how animism serves as one of the main creative sources for contemporary artists. Then, Jolyon Thomas turns our focus to anime and their depictions of humanity's connection with nature. In doing so, he invites us to reflect on the term “animism” and how the spirits of anime are really rooted in late capitalist modernity with its attendant pleasures and woes. In the closing chapter, Andrea Castiglioni points out a growing tendency in recent Japanese films to focus on violent spirit entities (araburugami), rather than benign figures. He argues that this perhaps is related to the emergence of a new kind of national identity for Japan as a country that is uniquely able to control the unpredictability of nature and malignant invisible agencies. In this podcast episode, I spoke with the editor of this edited volume, Dr. Fabio Rambelli. Fabio Rambelli is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Daigengna Duoer is a PhD student at the Religious Studies Department, University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation researches on transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

In Japan, a country popularly perceived as highly secularized and technologically advanced, ontological assumptions about spirits (tama or tamashii) seem to be quite deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric. From ancestor cults to anime, spirits, ghosts, and other invisible dimensions of reality appear to be pervasive. In Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), international scholars from various backgrounds consider together this “invisible empire” and highlight the “agency of the intangible.” The contributors of this edited volume approach spirits and animism in contemporary Japan from diverse perspectives. Satō Hiroo opens the book with a chapter on the transformation in Japanese visions of the afterlife, the status of the dead, and regional traditions of memorialization. Andrea De Antoni looks further into the ontology of spirits via an investigation into recent cases of spirit possession (tsuki, hyōi) that is treated at the Kenmi Shrine in Shikoku. Jason Josephson-Storm traces both the European and Japanese genealogies of theorizing “primitive” civilizations and their beliefs in spirits, magic, and an animated nature. In Fabio Rambelli's chapter, a unique type of epistemological system for understanding the existence of spirits is introduced: Minataka Kumagusu's “Minakata mandala,” which involves Buddhist philosophy, Western science, and an awareness of the Japanese folk tradition all at the same time. In Ellen Van Goethem's chapter, she explores how and why there were widespread assumptions about how the city of Kyoto was animated by invisible agencies such as guardian spirits and the flow of qi (Jp. Ki). Carina Roth continues the discussion on enchanted landscapes by drawing our attention to “power spots” (pawā supotto) and “healing” forests as recent developments in contemporary Japanese religiosity. Focusing on the role of media in the public perceptions of new religious movements (NRMs) and their animistic positions, Ioannis Gaitanidis shows how the media paradoxically both helps to normalize animism as part of “traditional” Japanese culture while chastising animistic NRM's egregious behaviors. Concerning spirits in modern Japanese fiction, another type of powerful media in contemporary Japanese society, Rebecca Suter identifies in her chapter a “fantastic hesitation” that authors take on, which opens doors to the “undecidability of reality” that seems to be a main gateway to the spirit world. Centering on the media arts scene in Japan, Mauro Arrighi in his chapter highlights how animism serves as one of the main creative sources for contemporary artists. Then, Jolyon Thomas turns our focus to anime and their depictions of humanity's connection with nature. In doing so, he invites us to reflect on the term “animism” and how the spirits of anime are really rooted in late capitalist modernity with its attendant pleasures and woes. In the closing chapter, Andrea Castiglioni points out a growing tendency in recent Japanese films to focus on violent spirit entities (araburugami), rather than benign figures. He argues that this perhaps is related to the emergence of a new kind of national identity for Japan as a country that is uniquely able to control the unpredictability of nature and malignant invisible agencies. In this podcast episode, I spoke with the editor of this edited volume, Dr. Fabio Rambelli. Fabio Rambelli is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Daigengna Duoer is a PhD student at the Religious Studies Department, University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation researches on transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies

Book review: Interesting Times: Some New Zealanders in Republican China by Chris Elder.

Last time we spoke about the Wuchang Uprising and the Xinhai revolution. The revolutionary armies formed a massive assault, managing to seize Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou. However, the Qing Dynasty had a card up their sleeve in the form of Yuan Shikai and his Beiyang Army. Yuan Shikai defeated the rebel armies with ease, but when the time came to eradicate them for good, he held back. Instead he plotted with the revolutionaries, to coerce the emperor to abdicate in order for himself to be made president over the new Republic. In a masterstroke Yuan Shikai seized the presidency and immediately went to work consolidating his power. Through the use of policial abuses, bribery, threats and assassination, Yuan Shikai was securing his control over the new republic. However all of his actions were met with outraged from the public and particularly the KMT. Now Dr Sun Yat-Sen would unleash a second revolution to save the republic.   #88 A Great War and the Siege of Tsingtao   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. When Yuan Shikai became provisional president he was hailed by the senate  “of all the presidential elections in world history, only [George] Washington enjoyed unanimous approval. Now, you [Yuan], sir, have repeated Washington's record. To the world, you are the second Washington in this regard. To our Republican China, you are the first.” A few days later, Manchu elite troops, the Eight Banners, delivered Yuan a letter, which read that the “people in North China regard you as China's first Washington; the people from South China see you as the world's second Washington. There is no doubt how much the entire country adores you”. Now the original abdication edict given to Yuan Shikai read like this “Yuan Shikai holds the absolute authority along with the civilian army [ minjun – the south] to organize the provisional republican government and discuss the approach for achieving the unification of the country.” But Yuan Shikai revised the edict “Yuan Shikai holds the absolute authority to organize the provisional republican government and discuss the approach for unifying the country along with the civilian army.” In early 1912, Dt Sun Yat-Sen had set 3 conditions for Yuan Shikai's assumption of the provisional presidency: Nanjing would be the national capital, he would assume his presidency in Nanjing, and he would have to respect the Provisional Constitution. As mentioned in he previous episode, Yuan Shikai performed some false flag-like operations to make sure Beijing became the capital, where he and his Beiyang Army had the strongest position. It is estimated in 1912 China had roughly a million soldiers. This was a enormous financial burden on the government and quite a threat to the regime as many of these soldiers began to join cliques that were loyal to local warlords. When soldiers pay is delayed they tend to mutiny, thus Yuan Shikai demobilized them in late april of 1912. He sought to reduce the military to half a million in 50 divisions. He disbanded 16 divisions in Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan and Sichuan. Within Nanjing he made sure 100,000 troops under the command of Huang Xing were ordered to step down. By june of 1912 Nanjing's force would be a third its original size. Now while the number of troops were reduced everywhere, this did not hinder his own Beiyang Army, for they were an army of quality over quantity. It was the pro-KMT forces that would suffer the most and this was intentional. To prevent local forces from becoming regional powers, Yuan Shikai began enforcing a policy of separating powers between military command and civilian administration in the provinces. Yet as we mentioned in the last episode, as Yuan Shikai weakened the other forces he strengthened his own. He took foreign loans in secrecy, known infamously as the  shanhoudajiekuan or Reorganization loan. The Chinese public were outraged at the humiliating situation, and the KMT were the most furious. In early May General Li Chun led the 8th division from Baoding to Wuhan while also dispatching crack troops to reinforce Shanghai. On June 9th, Yuan Shikai removed the pro KMT governor of Jiangxi, Li Liejun and replaced him with Vice President Li Yuanhong. On June 13th, Yuan Shikai replaced the pro-KMT military governor of Guangdong Hu Hanman with Chen Jiongmin. Then on June 30th pro-kmt governor of Anhui Bai Wenwei was dismissed and on that same day Li Yuanhong performed a mass arrest of many party leaders in Wuhan. Yuan Shikai then dispatched the 6th division under Li Chun into Jiangxi on July 3rd. It was obvious to the KMT what was going on. All of the political maneuvering coupled with the assassination of Song Jiaoren prompted Dr Sun Yat-Sen to unleash a second revolution. On July 12th, Li Liejun issued an anti-Yuan declaration which effectively began the second revolution. With this Jiangxi claimed its independence. 3 days later Haung Xing scrambled to Nanjing where he organized an anti-yuan force and announced Jiangsu independent. 2 days after this the previous governor of Anhui Bai Wenwei declared his province independent. The next day Chen Qimei announced Shanghai's independence, this was followed by Guangdong under Chen Jiongming, then Fujian. Of course the KMT actions drew a quick response from Yuan Shikai. He had of course already preemptively moved his forces as I mentioned to key locations where they would easily dominate their KMT opponents. Yuan Shikai had been given ample time and ample funding in 1913. Meanwhile the revolutionary forces were divided, poorly organized, poorly armed, they lacked the same fever they held during the first revolution. Yuan Shikai also used propaganda to demonize the KMT and justify his military campaign. Yuan Shikai accused Dr Sun Yat-Sen of “revolutionary proclivity” meaning he only knew who to bring chaos and destruction. Yuan Shikai remarked  “Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing have no real ability besides causing disturbances and bringing troubles.” On July 22nd anti-yuan forces were defeated around Xuzhou by the 2nd division led by Feng Guozhang and Zhan Xun. They fled to Nanjing and from the 22nd to the 28th, rebel groups attacked the Manufactural bureau of Jiangan. The Beiyang navy came to help the army and repelled the attack. On the 30th, 2 forces led by Long Jiguang, Li Yaohan joined up around Zhaoqing and advanced upon the Sanshui district. The next day a Beiyang force led by Ni Sichong attacked Fengtai. By the 2nd of august Fengtai fell to the beiyang forces. When Sichuan declared independence on August 4th, Yuan Shikai ordered Yunnan's warlord Tang Jiyao to attack the Sichuan rebels. On August 5th, Beiyang forces attacked Shou country, 2 days later many Anhui forces deserted the revolutionaries to join Yuan Shikai and on the 11th the capital of Anqing was taken. That same day He Haiming led 2000 to try and defend Nanjing against the Beiyang Army; as Long Jiguang seized Guangzhou. The next day Hunan canceled their independence movement as the Beiyang navy captured Wusong. On September 1st, Nanjing fell, prompted Sun Yat-Sen, Huang Xing and Chen Qimei to flee to Japan. On September 11th, Chongqing's defenders simply dispersed, and the second revolution had collapsed. There were many reasons why Yuan Shikai won. The strength and disparity between his forces and the revolutionaries was vast. His army was well trained, the reorganization loan had greatly boosted them. The revolutionaries were very divided, there was certainly many vying for power. The general public were so tired of war and conflict. They loathed the assassination of Song Jiaoren, they simply wanted peace. National mood simply favored Yuan Shikai. Dr Sun Yat-sen yet again, went to work strengthening his KMT abroad. The foreign powers threw their support to Yuan Shikai's government. Yuan Shikai now exacted all effort to eliminate revolutionaries with firm support from the progressive party. Its estimated 1000 activists were killed and many more were arrested. The purge saw countless accused without a fair trial, some not even a trial at all. Freedom of speech was stamped out, countless newspapers ordered censored.  Yuan Shikai's military victories during the second revolution saw him secure positions in Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Guangdong and Fujian. Though local forces persisted to be a problem, Yuan Shikai was dramatically centralizing power. After crushing the second revolution, Yuan Shikai passed the Presidential election law on October 5th of 1913. It is said Yuan Shikai resorted to using citizen corps to besiege Congress, harassing and threatening them into voting for him. In the first round Yuan Shikai received 471 ballots, in the second 497, but neither were enough. The third round of voting saw him win 507, just enough to become president. He refused to take the oath in Congress and instead did a ceremony in the former imperial palace. He sat in the emperors throne in his military uniform before he had a grand parade on the Tiananmen Rostrum with 20,000 of his loyal troops.  Yuan Shikai dissolved Congress on January 10th of 1914 because “it lacked a legitimate quorum due to the expulsion of Nationalist legislators; it was not effectively organized; it was not operating efficiently or achieving much; and it was deliberately fostering nationwide chaos” He literally gave them all 400$ and told them to go home. After this he ordered the suspension of all provincial assemblies and local autonomous organs. In other words he made himself a dictator. He did create a Political Council called Zhengzhuhuiyi but it was nothing more than an advisory body. On January 26th the Political Council convened a Constitutional drafting conference. On March 14th of 1914 the conference drafted the Constitution of the Republic of China which Yuan Shikai proclaimed in effect on May 1st.  The new Constitution gave Yuan Shikai paramount power to convene and shut down legislature. No clear lines were drawn between the executive, judicial and legislative branches, basically Yuan Shikai controlled all 3. Yet Yuan Shikai's authority all rested upon one thing, his military power. To assert control over all the provinces, he promoted military governors. These military governor would have civil authority and control over their own armies. For those of you who know the next period of Chinese history, yes the Warlords were being born. Yet while the beginnings of the warlord era were approaching, the year of 1914 brought something else to China. World War One began at a time when China was in complete disarray. She was militarily weak, in financial chaos and very unstable politically. Yuan Shikai attempted keeping China neutral during the war, but the war came to her door nonetheless. On August 6th of 1914, China proclaimed its neutrality and prohibited warring states from undertaking any military actions on her soil. However with so many different world powers holding concessions on her territory, well it was going to happen one way or another. By the way what I am about to talk about is known as the Siege of Tsingtau, its actually an incredible historic event, multiple firsts in history occur. If you want to see a visualization of this go over to my youtube channel the pacific war channel and check it out alongside my entire series/documentary on Asia during WW1.  Going back in time somewhat, in 1902 Britain and Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Because of this, when WW1 broke out, the alliance basically encouraged the Japanese Empire to enter the war on the side of Britain for mutual defense. At the outbreak of the war, Britain feared the German East Asiatic Squadron would raid her merchant shipping and planned to run the Germans out by destroying their bases and communications. If you want to learn more about the honestly courageous and badass German raiders of the Pacific during WW1, again check out the pacific war channel, I particularly liked making the episode on German Raiders. Within the first week of the war, Britain requested assistance from Japan to identify German shipping. I must emphasize the word “assistance”, Britain in no way wanted Japan to start attacking and seizing German colonial possessions in China and the Asia-Pacific. You see the German empire held numerous islands out in the pacific and notably the port city of Tsingtao, current day Qingdao. Yes the place that makes the delicious beer, honestly a personal favorite of mine. Well in the face a a extremely weak German presence in the pacific, and all these goodies just sitting around, the Japanese empire was not going to let the opportunity slip. Japan held larger ambitions in the Asia-Pacific, so she instead offered to enter the war and join the Entente. Britain did not want this, but the German raiders were causing absolute havoc upon her and Anzac shipping, so she reluctantly accepted this, but privately warned Japan not to seize German islands in the south Pacific, because she desired them to be taken by Australia and New Zealand.  Japan's war aims were to first capture the German base at Tsingtao, then the Marshall, Caroline, and Marianas islands and secondly to hunt down the East Asiatic Squadron. On August 15th Japan issued an ultimatum to Germany demanding her warships withdraw from Chinese and Japanese waters and transfer control of Tsingtao to Japan. When the ultimatum expired on the 23rd Japan declared war on Germany. The Germans hoped their garrison would be able to hold out until the war in Europe was won and done, so they instructed governor of the leased territory of Jiāozhōu, Alfred Meyer-Waldeck to defend Tsingtaoto the last. Kaiser Wilhelm II exact words to Admiral Alfred Meyer-Waldeck were "... it would shame me more to surrender Tsingtao to the Japanese than Berlin to the Russians"   When the war broke out, most of the warships of the East Asia Squadron led by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee were dispersed across the Pacific. Meyer-Waldeck assembled all the available warships he could; the torpedo boat S90, unprotected cruiser Cormoran, Auxiliary cruiser Cormoran, steamer Ryazan, gunboats Luchs, Tiger, Jaguar, Iltis and the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth. Obviously Tsingtao's warships would be absolutely dwarfed by the Imperial Japanese Navy who dispatched the 2nd squadron under Vice Admiral Sadakichi Kato on August 27th, supported by some British warships.   Tsingtao's defenses consisted of the port, town and three defensive lines, the first extending from the Kaiserstuhl to the Litsuner Heights. The second line lay across the steep hills from Prinz Heinrich to Kuschan. The third line consisted of three fortified hills, Mount Moltke, Mount Bismarck and Mount Iltis, each equipped with guns of various caliber; Fort Moltke had two 240mm guns; Fort Bismarck had four 280 mm howitzers; Fort Iltis had two 240mm guns. Tsingtao's towns seaward and landward defenses were 4 batteries and 5 redoubts. Meyer-Waldeck had at his disposal, 1300 marines of the 3rd Seebataillon, 750 naval gunners, 180 naval personnel staff, 400 sailors, 1500 reservists and 100 Chinese policemen, totalling nearly 4000 men. They had 90 guns of various calibers, 120 machine guns, 28 automobiles and two Etrich Taube aircraft. By the way this is 1914, very early days of WW1 and the aircraft literally look like something Leonardo Davinci would have sketched.   You might be asking, what is China doing during all of this, since they proclaimed neutrality and demanded other nations not fight on their soil. Just like the Russo-Japanese War, China yet again took the humiliation. The Chinese government initially protested against the Japanese warfare on her soil against the Germans, however given Japan simply did not care, Yuan Shikai begrudgingly had no choice but to permit the Japanese encroachment against Qingdao. The battle for Tsingtao would be the only acts of war on Chinese soil during the first world war.   On August 22nd the SMS Lauting and S90 were attacked by the HMS Kennet led by Lt Commander F. A Russel of the China squadron. The Germans raced back to port with the S90 scoring two hits on Kennet, before she peeled off when a Tsingtao 4 inch shore battery began to fire upon her. On the 27th the IJN 2nd squadron led by Vice-Admiral Sadakichi Kato began a naval blockade of Jiaozhou. The fleet quickly seized 3 coastal islands and began minesweeping operations. On the 30th a storm drove the IJN destroyer Shirotaye aground on a coastal island, allowing the HMS Jaguar to surge out of the port and destroy her. On September 2nd the Japanese began landing 23,000 soldiers of Major General Mitsumo Kamio's 18th infantry division along with 142 pieces of artillery. They fanned the area, finding no enemy north of the Paisha River. The region was experiencing a terrible flood making it a muddy nightmare. It was at this point, the local Chinese protested the breach of neutrality, but offered no real opposition. By the 7th an advance guard was riding to Tsingtao. Meanwhile the British were suspicious the Japanese intended to seize all of Shandong province, so they dispatched a symbolic force of 1500 men led by Brigadier General Nathaniel Walter Barnardiston from Tientsin. They would be followed up by 500 men of the 36th Sikhs.    Meyer-Waldeck responded to the landings by withdrawing his forces to the two inner defensive lines. On the 5th the IJN Wakamiya launched a Farman seaplane that scouted the port and town. The pilot reported the East Asiatic squadron was absent, prompting the IJN to dispatch two fast squadrons to hunt them down. The next day, the Wakamiya launched another Farman who unsuccessfully attacked the Jaguar and Kaiserin Elisabeth in Jiaozhou bay with bomblets. This would be the second air-sea battle to occur in history. The first occurred during the Balkan wars in 1913. In response both cruisers had guns removed from them to be added to the land defenses, establishing Battery Elisabeth.    On 13th, Japanese cavalry ran into a German outpost at Jimo causing them to flee after a short skirmish. The Japanese seized the small town of Jiaozhou and on the 14th cut the Shandong railway. You really have to imagine how pathetic the Chinese government looked during all of this. Now the weather conditions were abysmal, the flooding and mud was so terrible, Kamio knew it would take weeks to move his entire division over the peninsula, so instead he took a calculated risk. Kamio ordered his 24th infantry brigade, whom were just landing ashore at the time, to re-embark as his cavalry, engineers and 23rd infantry brigade continued their advance to Jimo, thus abandoning the bridgehead. Kamio ordered the rest of his forces to land in Lau Schan Bay. On the 17th, the Japanese attacked Wang-ko-huang, 13 miles from Jimo causing the Germans to withdraw from the town during the night. The next day the Japanese arrived at Jimo exhausted and nearly starving as IJN cruisers bombarded the empty beaches of Lau Shan Bay allowing the 23rd infantry brigade to land. With Jimo secured, Kamio ordered his forces to seize the Hotung pass, driving back another small German outpost. After a cavalry company of the 24th brigade made contact with the forces at Jimo, Tsingtao was now effectively surrounded.   On the 19th the Japanese seized Mecklenburg House, a mountain spa, and broke through the outermost defensive line. Kamio now figured the Germans would only mount a defense within the city's fortifications, so he ordered his forces to close in, causing the German patrols to withdraw inwards. Because of the terrible terrain conditions, the Japanese began constructing piers at Lau Schan and an airfield at Jimo. On the 21st the Imperial Japanese Army launched four Farmans from Jimo to survey, bomb and if possible shoot down German aircraft. In late September Japanese Farmans would perform the first night-time bombing raid in history. The Germans had accidentally crashed one of their Taubes, leaving only one to be operated by legendary Lt Gunther Plüschow. Plüschow performed daily reconnaissance flights and attempted to bomb Entente vessels. Plüschow would become the first aviator in history to be fired upon and receive damage by flak from naval ships. In late September according to Plüschow, he ran into a Farman performing reconnaissance over Tsingtao harbor and he claims he shot the pilot with his pistol causing the aircraft to crash. If this was true, this would be the first aerial victory or first over claiming aerial victory in history. Again the Siege of Tsingtao is full of many history firsts, yet honestly hardly anyone knows about this event.   Meyer-Waldeck realized the Japanese were maneuvering past the mountain line unmolested, so he ordered a counter attack as his artillery began firing up to 1500 shells upon the incoming enemy per day. On the 25th a German force of 130 men, 2 field guns and 4 machine guns raided an outpost on Kletter Pass. The Japanese stood their ground and forced the Germans back, meanwhile the British began landing at Lau Schan. On the 26th, Kamio ordered a general advance, causing the Germans to completely pull back to their second line. The Japanese crossed the river Paisha early in the day, swiftly crossing the seven-mile lowland plain and reached the northern bank of the Litsun. To help their withdrawal, the Jaguar and S90 came up the harbor side and bombarded the Japanese right flank. The outer mountain outposts fell one by one, nearly bloodlessly. The Kaiserin Elisaeth, Jaguar and S90 continued to shell the harbor flank, prompting Kamio to assign a field battery to engage them. The German ships managed to destroy an observation post and neutralized the battery. Kamio then requested Vice Admiral Kato begin a bombardment of the German land batteries to cover his advance, but Kato instead bombarded the German sea batteries. The infamous interservice rivalry between the IJA and IJN was blossoming. Meyer-Waldeck knew they would soon have to abandon the second line. He ordered his engineers to prepare a small outpost on the crest of Prinz Heinrich Hill. They connected a telephone and heliograph to its heavy land batteries. 60 men with 4 machine-guns manned the outpost with provisions for a 2-month siege.   On the night of the 27th, Kamio ordered the 46th infantry regiment, reinforced with an engineer platoon, to scale the hill, right in the middle of a typhoon. The men reached the crest by dawn, but were quickly pinned down by German machine gun fire. The Japanese charged the outpost numerous times, receiving heavy casualties, until the German CO decided to negotiate. He offered to surrender the peak, if the Japanese would allow his men to withdraw back to Tsingtao. The Japanese commander simply refused and seized the CO by force. The Germans surrendered after suffering 6 deaths with 54 men captured, the Japanese suffered 24 deaths, with 150 total casualties.   Meanwhile the Kaiserin Elisabeth, Leopard and S90 continued to shell the Japanese right flank, prompting the IJN and IJA field artillery to counter fire. On the 28th, the Japanese were closing in on the German inner line, as their engineers began constructing concrete platforms upon Prinz Heinrich Hill for heavy artillery deployment. Meyer-Waldeck ordered the land batteries and Plüschow to hit the Japanese rear. That same day the Cormoran, Iltis and Luchs were scuttled, lest they become prizes of war. On October 2nd, 3 German companies performed a night raid against the Japanese right flank. It quickly fell apart, seeing 29 Germans killed and 6 captured. The Japanese began digging trenches a km away from the German line as the British finally advanced to the front line. A large issue began where the Japanese had a difficult time with friendly fire as they could not tell the British and Germans apart, kind of funny if you ask me. To remedy this the British were given Japanese overcoats, to distinguish them from the Germans.   On 6th and 10th Entente blockading ships dueled with Tsingtao's coastal batteries, but were driven off. On the 14th, the entire fleet performed a massive bombardment, seeing HMS Triumph take some light damage. On the 15th flash floods drowned 25 Japanese within their trenchwork, showcasing how terrible the typhoon weather was. On the 17th Meyer-Waldeck ordered S90 to attempt an escape. The S90 slipped out of the harbor during the night, but ran into the IJN cruiser Takachiho. S90 fired a torpedo, detonating her magazine, sinking the cruiser and claiming the lives of 256 men. The S90 then attempted to flee, but would be interned at a Qing port further down the coast. On the 21st, the 36th Sikh landed at Lachan Bay.   On the 22nd Meyer-Waldeck ordered another raid seeing 80 Germans creep towards the Japanese trenches only to be turned back when sentries opened fire. By the 25th the IJA artillery were all in position, each with 15 days worth of ammunition. Kamio ordered them all to fire 80 shells per day, beginning on the 31st. Meanwhile Japanese engineers formed special platoons with rifle grenades and bamboo tubes filled with explosives. Many lessons had been learnt during the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese sapping and trench warfare was quite advanced for 1914 standard. The Entente fleet drew close and on October 31st, the birthday of Emperor Taisho, 100 field guns and naval guns began a mass bombardment, directed by balloons, Farmans and the observation post atop Prinz Heinrich Hill. It was truly a very advanced battle, showcasing how much war had changed at the turn of the century.The first day destroyed Tsingtao's land batteries as sappers drew 300 meters forward. The Redoubts were particularly hit hard by artillery and to the left of the German line, 100 Chinese in the village of Taotungchien were unfortunately caught in shell fire. Yet again like the Russo-Japanese War, little attention was paid to the Chinese victims.  The next day Meyer-Waldeck had Kaiserin Elisabeth and Jaguar scuttled as their crews joined the garrison.    After Tsingtao's land batteries were neutralized, the Japanese bombardment targeted redoubts and barbed wire fields. On November 2nd the sappers advanced another 300 meters. On the 3rd, redoubts were systematically pulverized, barbed wire was flattened and the Tsingtao power station was obliterated. By the 4th the Japanese had a parallel assault line dug and at dawn Japanese infantry and engineering platoons assaulted the water pumping station. They seized the station, capturing 21 prisoners, now Tsingtao had no well water, basically she was doomed. That same night the Japanese sappers advanced another 300 meters, while their British counterparts holding a rather difficult section of the line failed to keep up with them. The British suffered 26 casualties from small arms fire. On 5th the Entente Fleet closed in to point-blank range and the IJN Suwo destroyed the Huitschuen huk, killing 8 men and that of the last sea battery. Barbed wire lay crushed, redouts pulverized or abandoned, Tsingtao lay defenseless by land and sea. On the night of the 6th, the Japanese dug their final assault line running between 100 to 1000 meters from the German trenches.    On the 6th Meyer-Waldeck knew it was the end and ordered Plüschow to fly his final dispatches back to Berlin. Plüschow flew 250 km's before crash landing in a rice paddy. He burned his Taube and began advancing on foot. Plüschow walked all the way to Daschou where some locals erected a party for him. He managed to obtain a pass to cross China as well as a junk to sail down a river to Nanjing. Plüschow felt he was being watched, he assumed he would be arrested at any moment so he leapt aboard a rickshaw and traveled to the local railway station. There he bribed a guard and slipped aboard a train to Shanghai. AtShanghai, Plüschow met up with a friend who provided him with documents as a Swiss national, as well as some money and a ticket on a ship sailing for Nagasaki, then Honolulu, and, finally, to San Francisco. In January 1915, he crossed the United States to New York City. He was reluctant to approach the German consulate there, as he had entered the country under a false identity. Worse, he read in a newspaper that he was presumed to be in New York. Luck favored him again, this time he met with a friend from Berlin who managed to get him travel documents for a ship that sailed on January 30, 1915, for Italy. After crossing the Atlantic Plüschow's ship docked at Gibraltar, where the British arrested him as an enemy alien. To their amazement they discovered he was the famous aviator of Tsingtao.   You would think that would be the end of his incredible story, but no. On May 1, 1915, Plüschow was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Donington Hall in Leicestershire. On July 4, 1915, he escaped during a storm and headed for London. Scotland Yard began hunting him down, issuing an alert, asking the public to be on the lookout for a man with a "dragon tattoo" on his arm. Plüschow disguised himself as a worker and felt safe enough to take souvenir photographs of himself at the London docks. He then occupied his time by reading books about Patagonia, and also visited the British Museum. Now this was wartime, so there were no notices  published announcing the departure of ships, but by observing the riverway, Plüschow saw the ferry Princess Juliana, sailing for the neutral Netherlands and managed to sneak aboard. He arrived safely and finally reached Germany, where he was at first arrested as a spy since no one believed he could have possibly accomplished such a feat. Plüschow became the only German combatant during either World War to have successfully escaped from a prison camp in the British Isles. Once he was identified, Plüschow was acclaimed as "the hero from Tsingtao". He was decorated, promoted, and assigned command of the naval base at Libau in occupied Latvian Courland. In June 1916, in an airplane hangar at Libau, Plüschow got married. There he wrote his first book, “The Adventures of the Aviator from Tsingtau”. It sold more than 700,000 copies.    Back at Tsingtao, Kamio gave the British sappers time to dig their approach next to his parallel line as his units probed the German lines for weak points. A Japanese company led by Major General Yoshimi Yamada the commander of the 24th infantry brigade assaulted Redoubt 4 causing the Germans to launch a bayonet charge pushing them back. Meyer-Waldeck ordered reinforcements to quickly head over to Redoubt 4, but before they arrived a second Japanese company surrounded Redoubt 4 forcing their surrender. 200 prisoners were seized and the rising sun flag was hoisted. The German reinforcements arrived to the scene and performed a counter attack, but were crushed quickly. Meanwhile the Japanese stormed Redoubt 3, surrounding and firing into its loopholes and cracks until the Germans surrendered. A local German reserve force launched a counter-attack, overwhelming a Japanese flank outpost before the main force crashed down upon them. Japanese platoons then spread out along the trench lines. Redoubt 2 was attacked from both flanks and rear, falling quickly. 3 hours of battle saw numerous courageous bayonet charges from both sides, as all the Redoubts were stormed and captured, excluding Rebouts 1 and 5 who held out desperately. Kamio then ordered the general assault to begin as the Japanese forces charged through a gap in the German center line.   At 5:10am on the 7th, the north battery of Shaotan Hill was captured, half an hour later the east battery of Tahtungehin and Fort Chungchiawa, the base for the German right wing were seized. As the Japanese surged forward a company stormed up Iltis Hill. Searchlights poured down upon them and soon the Japanese wielding bayonets and Katana's charged into the Germans , fighting in hand to hand combat. Two opposing officers dueled Katana against German dress sword, seeing the Japanese officer cut down his opponent. After this the Germans upon Iltis surrendered. Another company stormed Bismarck Hill seeing a quick surrender as men atop Iltis cheered. Meyer-Waldeck knew it was over and seeking to save lives, ordered Major von Kayser with a small force to march out of Redoubt 1 and 5 waving white flags. On the morning of the 7th, on an ironically beautiful day, Japanese and British troops entered Tsingtao with shouts of Banzai.   Its said as the Japanese entered the city, the Germans looked on with curiosity, but upon seeing the British, the Germans turned their backs and spat in contempt. The Japanese had suffered 733 deaths, 1282 wounded; the British 12 deaths with 53 wounded; the Germans 199 deaths and 504 wounded and 98 Chinese civilians were killed, 30 wounded and countless incidents of rape against Chinese women by Japanese soldiers were reported. A memorial service was held in Tsingtao as the Germans buried their dead. 4700 Germans were taken to POW camps in Japan and were famously treated well until 1919. 170 of the German prisoners would remain in Japan having found wives or new lives. To this day little  remains of German influence in Qingdao. Yet the old brewery in Qingdao still produces the pre-war-style German beer titled “Tsingtao”. It was another brutal humiliation against China. Unfortunately it was just the start to such abuses during the great war. 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. Yuan Shikai was now the defacto dictator or better said Father of Warlords over China. World War One, was not something China wanted to be a part of, but they would have absolutely no choice when the war literally came to their door. Japan was the first to start encroaching and they were nowhere near done.

Switching gears in China, today I switch to covering Mao and the CPC's misadventures in southern China. The stretch of time between the end of the 20s and the start of the Long March were filled with false starts and missed opportunities as competing interests among the Communists squandered the victories over Chiang Kai-shek's encirclement campaigns.    Bibliography for this episode:    Short, Philip Mao, A Life Henry Holdt and Company LLC 1999 Fairbannk, John K & Albert Feuerwerker The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1983 Wilson, Dick The Long March 1935: The Epic of Chinese Communism's Survival The Viking Press 1971 Chung-gi, Kwei The Kuomintang-Communist Struggle in China 1922-1949 Martinus Nihoff 1970   Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

OK, so there's a lot more to this episode than the Xi'an Incident, but it's the most dramatic. Other than that, we've got secret societies, half-baked ideologies, and the false impression that things could get better in KMT China.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983 Fairbannk, John K & Albert Feuerwerker The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1983 Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975 Taylor, Jay The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China Harvard University Press 2011 Wakeman Jr, Frederick Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service University of California Press 2003   Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

With the Japanese outright occupying Chinese territory, Chiang Kai-shek had to move fast. A war was guaranteed, but preparations still needed to be made and domestic enemies still needed to be taken care of.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983 Fairbannk, John K & Albert Feuerwerker The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1983 Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975 Taylor, Jay The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China Harvard University Press 2011 Van de Ven, Hans J. War and Nationalism in China, 1925-1945 Routledge 2003 Qidong, Zheng A Brief History of Inflation in China Paths International Ltd 2013   Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Today the focus shifts back to the misadventures of Chiang Kai-shek and the Nanjing government. The Central Plains War had been won, and it looked for the briefest of moments that things were going to be fine for them. Then the new campaigns against the Communists fell into disarray, and in September 1931 the Japanese invaded Manchuria. For Chiang, there would be no breaks. Ever.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983 Fairbannk, John K & Albert Feuerwerker The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1983 Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975 Taylor, Jay The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China Harvard University Press 2011 Van de Ven, Hans J. War and Nationalism in China, 1925-1945 Routledge 2003   Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

We get the real-deal history underway with some very familiar material: a warlord showdown. Except this would be bigger than ever, and would decide if Chiang Kai-shek's centralizing policies even had a prayer.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983 Fairbannk, John K & Albert Feuerwerker The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1983 Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975 Taylor, Jay The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China Harvard University Press 2011 Van de Ven, Hans J. War and Nationalism in China, 1925-1945 Routledge 2003   Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Last season I left off my China coverage with the successful conclusion of the Northern Expedition. But just because that long campaign was successful didn't mean that Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT had everything go their way. To kick off this new mini-series I'll be spending some time re-introducing some older friends, as well as newer groups and factions that were going to play a larger role in the years to come.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983 Fairbannk, John K & Albert Feuerwerker The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1983 Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975 Taylor, Jay The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China Harvard University Press 2011 Van de Ven, Hans J. War and Nationalism in China, 1925-1945 Routledge 2003   Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

The legend of the "James Bond" of Republican China and how his fictional codename became a household name.Support the show

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. 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

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/southeast-asian-studies

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For more than a century before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British Empire. Set against the tumult of the postwar period, Boats in a Storm: Law, Migration, and Decolonization in South and Southeast Asia, 1942-1962 (Stanford UP, 2023) centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization. Even as nascent citizenship regimes and divergent political trajectories of decolonization papered over migrations between South and Southeast Asia, migrants continued to recount cross-border histories in encounters with the law. These accounts, often obscured by national and international political developments, unsettle the notion that static national identities and loyalties had emerged, fully formed and unblemished by migrant pasts, in the aftermath of empires. Drawing on archival materials from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, and Singapore, Kalyani Ramnath narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations of credit, capital, and labor, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land. Ultimately, Ramnath shows how decolonization was marked not only by shipwrecked empires and nation-states assembled and ordered from the debris of imperial collapse, but also by these forgotten stories of wartime displacements, their unintended consequences, and long afterlives. Kalyani Ramnath is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, with research and teaching interests in legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational history, and questions of archival method. Kelvin Ng is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at Yale University. His research work brings together the social history of migration and the intellectual history of internationalism in four linked Indian Ocean spaces: British India, Republican China, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. His dissertation examines three intertwined strands of anti-imperial thought—communist internationalism, pan-Islamism, and anti-caste radicalism—in relation to an oceanic political economy of unfree labor and uneven development. Ahmed Yaqoub AlMaazmi is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of law, the occult sciences, and the environment across the Western Indian Ocean. He can be reached by email at almaazmi@princeton.edu or on Twitter @Ahmed_Yaqoub. Listeners' feedback, questions, and book suggestions are most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first monograph devoted to women artists of the Republican period, The Golden Key: Women Artists and Gender Negotiations in Republican China (1911-1949) (Brill, 2020) , authored by Amanda Wangwright, recovers the history of a groundbreaking yet forgotten force in China's modern art world. Through its detailed examination of the lives and careers of six female artists—Guan Zilan, Qiu Ti, Pan Yuliang, Fang Junbi, Yu Feng, and Liang Baibo—this book argues that women were central to the emergence of modernist art in early twentieth-century China and to the nation's larger modernization project. Amanda S. Wangwright's analysis of a wealth of primary sources demonstrates how these women constructed public personas, negotiated space within art societies, applied feminist thought to their artistic praxis, and surmounted obstacles to their careers—wielding art as the “golden key” to professional advancement and gender equality. Huiying Chen is an Assistant Professor in History at Purdue University. She is interested in the circulation of people, goods, and ideas and how societies in history and today cope with the challenges wrought by increased travel in aspects of culture, politics, commerce, law, science, and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The first monograph devoted to women artists of the Republican period, The Golden Key: Women Artists and Gender Negotiations in Republican China (1911-1949) (Brill, 2020) , authored by Amanda Wangwright, recovers the history of a groundbreaking yet forgotten force in China's modern art world. Through its detailed examination of the lives and careers of six female artists—Guan Zilan, Qiu Ti, Pan Yuliang, Fang Junbi, Yu Feng, and Liang Baibo—this book argues that women were central to the emergence of modernist art in early twentieth-century China and to the nation's larger modernization project. Amanda S. Wangwright's analysis of a wealth of primary sources demonstrates how these women constructed public personas, negotiated space within art societies, applied feminist thought to their artistic praxis, and surmounted obstacles to their careers—wielding art as the “golden key” to professional advancement and gender equality. Huiying Chen is an Assistant Professor in History at Purdue University. She is interested in the circulation of people, goods, and ideas and how societies in history and today cope with the challenges wrought by increased travel in aspects of culture, politics, commerce, law, science, and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The first monograph devoted to women artists of the Republican period, The Golden Key: Women Artists and Gender Negotiations in Republican China (1911-1949) (Brill, 2021) , authored by Amanda Wangwright, recovers the history of a groundbreaking yet forgotten force in China's modern art world. Through its detailed examination of the lives and careers of six female artists—Guan Zilan, Qiu Ti, Pan Yuliang, Fang Junbi, Yu Feng, and Liang Baibo—this book argues that women were central to the emergence of modernist art in early twentieth-century China and to the nation's larger modernization project. Amanda S. Wangwright's analysis of a wealth of primary sources demonstrates how these women constructed public personas, negotiated space within art societies, applied feminist thought to their artistic praxis, and surmounted obstacles to their careers—wielding art as the “golden key” to professional advancement and gender equality. Huiying Chen is an Assistant Professor in History at Purdue University. She is interested in the circulation of people, goods, and ideas and how societies in history and today cope with the challenges wrought by increased travel in aspects of culture, politics, commerce, law, science, and technology. 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

The first monograph devoted to women artists of the Republican period, The Golden Key: Women Artists and Gender Negotiations in Republican China (1911-1949) (Brill, 2020) , authored by Amanda Wangwright, recovers the history of a groundbreaking yet forgotten force in China's modern art world. Through its detailed examination of the lives and careers of six female artists—Guan Zilan, Qiu Ti, Pan Yuliang, Fang Junbi, Yu Feng, and Liang Baibo—this book argues that women were central to the emergence of modernist art in early twentieth-century China and to the nation's larger modernization project. Amanda S. Wangwright's analysis of a wealth of primary sources demonstrates how these women constructed public personas, negotiated space within art societies, applied feminist thought to their artistic praxis, and surmounted obstacles to their careers—wielding art as the “golden key” to professional advancement and gender equality. Huiying Chen is an Assistant Professor in History at Purdue University. She is interested in the circulation of people, goods, and ideas and how societies in history and today cope with the challenges wrought by increased travel in aspects of culture, politics, commerce, law, science, and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

The first monograph devoted to women artists of the Republican period, The Golden Key: Women Artists and Gender Negotiations in Republican China (1911-1949) (Brill, 2020) , authored by Amanda Wangwright, recovers the history of a groundbreaking yet forgotten force in China's modern art world. Through its detailed examination of the lives and careers of six female artists—Guan Zilan, Qiu Ti, Pan Yuliang, Fang Junbi, Yu Feng, and Liang Baibo—this book argues that women were central to the emergence of modernist art in early twentieth-century China and to the nation's larger modernization project. Amanda S. Wangwright's analysis of a wealth of primary sources demonstrates how these women constructed public personas, negotiated space within art societies, applied feminist thought to their artistic praxis, and surmounted obstacles to their careers—wielding art as the “golden key” to professional advancement and gender equality. Huiying Chen is an Assistant Professor in History at Purdue University. She is interested in the circulation of people, goods, and ideas and how societies in history and today cope with the challenges wrought by increased travel in aspects of culture, politics, commerce, law, science, and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

The first monograph devoted to women artists of the Republican period, The Golden Key: Women Artists and Gender Negotiations in Republican China (1911-1949) (Brill, 2020) , authored by Amanda Wangwright, recovers the history of a groundbreaking yet forgotten force in China's modern art world. Through its detailed examination of the lives and careers of six female artists—Guan Zilan, Qiu Ti, Pan Yuliang, Fang Junbi, Yu Feng, and Liang Baibo—this book argues that women were central to the emergence of modernist art in early twentieth-century China and to the nation's larger modernization project. Amanda S. Wangwright's analysis of a wealth of primary sources demonstrates how these women constructed public personas, negotiated space within art societies, applied feminist thought to their artistic praxis, and surmounted obstacles to their careers—wielding art as the “golden key” to professional advancement and gender equality. Huiying Chen is an Assistant Professor in History at Purdue University. She is interested in the circulation of people, goods, and ideas and how societies in history and today cope with the challenges wrought by increased travel in aspects of culture, politics, commerce, law, science, and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/art

The first monograph devoted to women artists of the Republican period, The Golden Key: Women Artists and Gender Negotiations in Republican China (1911-1949) (Brill, 2020) , authored by Amanda Wangwright, recovers the history of a groundbreaking yet forgotten force in China's modern art world. Through its detailed examination of the lives and careers of six female artists—Guan Zilan, Qiu Ti, Pan Yuliang, Fang Junbi, Yu Feng, and Liang Baibo—this book argues that women were central to the emergence of modernist art in early twentieth-century China and to the nation's larger modernization project. Amanda S. Wangwright's analysis of a wealth of primary sources demonstrates how these women constructed public personas, negotiated space within art societies, applied feminist thought to their artistic praxis, and surmounted obstacles to their careers—wielding art as the “golden key” to professional advancement and gender equality. Huiying Chen is an Assistant Professor in History at Purdue University. She is interested in the circulation of people, goods, and ideas and how societies in history and today cope with the challenges wrought by increased travel in aspects of culture, politics, commerce, law, science, and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Considered a Chinese Robin Hood by his followers and a “common pest” by his enemies — to say nothing of bandit, murderer — Bai Lang achieved notoriety and power during the early years of Republican Era China. He may have been the country's last famous bandit.Click here tor read the article by James Carter.Narrated by John Darwin Van Fleet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the early days of Republican China, the domestic tourism industry was mostly tailored to foreigners who wanted to escape from the cities. This changed in the 1920s, when China's nationalistic awakening provided an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to attend to the needs of Chinese tourists.Click here to read the article by James Carter.Narrated by John Darwin Van Fleet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Defections from the People's Republic of China (PRC) were an important part of the narrative of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan during the Cold War, but their stories have previously barely been told, less still examined, in English. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the ROC government paid much special attention to these anti-communist heroes (fangong yishi). Their choices to leave behind the turmoil of the PRC were a propaganda coup for the Nationalist one-party state in Taiwan, proving the superiority of the "Free China" that they had created there.  In Defectors from the PRC to Taiwan, 1960-1989: The Anti-Communist Righteous Warriors (Routledge, 2022), Morris looks at the stories behind these headlines, what the defectors understood about the ROC before they arrived, and how they dealt with the reality of their post-defection lives in Taiwan. He also looks at how these dramatic individual histories of migration were understood to prove essential differences between the two regimes, while at the same time showing important continuities between the two Chinese states. A valuable resource for students and scholars of 20th century China and Taiwan, and of the Cold War and its impact in Asia. Andrew D. Morris is Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and studies the modern histories of Taiwan and China. He is the author of Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan (University of California Press, 2010) and Marrow of the Nation: A History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China (University of California Press, 2004). He edited the volume Japanese Taiwan: Colonial Rule and Its Contested Legacy (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), and co-edited the volume The Minor Arts of Daily Life: Popular Culture in Taiwan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004, with David K. Jordan and Marc L. Moskowitz). Li-Ping Chen is Postdoctoral Scholar and Teaching Fellow in the East Asian Studies Center at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. 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

Defections from the People's Republic of China (PRC) were an important part of the narrative of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan during the Cold War, but their stories have previously barely been told, less still examined, in English. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the ROC government paid much special attention to these anti-communist heroes (fangong yishi). Their choices to leave behind the turmoil of the PRC were a propaganda coup for the Nationalist one-party state in Taiwan, proving the superiority of the "Free China" that they had created there.  In Defectors from the PRC to Taiwan, 1960-1989: The Anti-Communist Righteous Warriors (Routledge, 2022), Morris looks at the stories behind these headlines, what the defectors understood about the ROC before they arrived, and how they dealt with the reality of their post-defection lives in Taiwan. He also looks at how these dramatic individual histories of migration were understood to prove essential differences between the two regimes, while at the same time showing important continuities between the two Chinese states. A valuable resource for students and scholars of 20th century China and Taiwan, and of the Cold War and its impact in Asia. Andrew D. Morris is Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and studies the modern histories of Taiwan and China. He is the author of Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan (University of California Press, 2010) and Marrow of the Nation: A History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China (University of California Press, 2004). He edited the volume Japanese Taiwan: Colonial Rule and Its Contested Legacy (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), and co-edited the volume The Minor Arts of Daily Life: Popular Culture in Taiwan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004, with David K. Jordan and Marc L. Moskowitz). Li-Ping Chen is Postdoctoral Scholar and Teaching Fellow in the East Asian Studies Center at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Defections from the People's Republic of China (PRC) were an important part of the narrative of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan during the Cold War, but their stories have previously barely been told, less still examined, in English. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the ROC government paid much special attention to these anti-communist heroes (fangong yishi). Their choices to leave behind the turmoil of the PRC were a propaganda coup for the Nationalist one-party state in Taiwan, proving the superiority of the "Free China" that they had created there.  In Defectors from the PRC to Taiwan, 1960-1989: The Anti-Communist Righteous Warriors (Routledge, 2022), Morris looks at the stories behind these headlines, what the defectors understood about the ROC before they arrived, and how they dealt with the reality of their post-defection lives in Taiwan. He also looks at how these dramatic individual histories of migration were understood to prove essential differences between the two regimes, while at the same time showing important continuities between the two Chinese states. A valuable resource for students and scholars of 20th century China and Taiwan, and of the Cold War and its impact in Asia. Andrew D. Morris is Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and studies the modern histories of Taiwan and China. He is the author of Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan (University of California Press, 2010) and Marrow of the Nation: A History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China (University of California Press, 2004). He edited the volume Japanese Taiwan: Colonial Rule and Its Contested Legacy (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), and co-edited the volume The Minor Arts of Daily Life: Popular Culture in Taiwan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004, with David K. Jordan and Marc L. Moskowitz). Li-Ping Chen is Postdoctoral Scholar and Teaching Fellow in the East Asian Studies Center at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. 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

After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, history under him was retold: for example, the Cultural Revolution was rebranded as “Ten Years of Chaos” and its policies were deemed “ultra-left.” In comparison to these changes in national narratives, how was the local history of Tibet under Mao retold after his death and in the subsequent decades of economic reform? To answer this question, the edited volume Conflicting Memories: Tibetan History under Mao Retold (Brill, 2020) explores the writings of a range of both Han-Chinese and Tibetan writers, including official historians, unofficial autobiographers, memoirists, filmmakers, fiction-writers, and oral raconteurs. In addition to providing translated extracts from their work, the volume contains chapters of essays by renowned scholars of modern Tibetan history discussing the narratives produced, what types of people were producing them, what means they used, what aims they pursued, and in what ways did Tibetan accounts differ from those of Han-Chinese writers. Robert Barnett is currently a Professorial Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and an Affiliated Lecturer at King's College, London. He founded and directed the Modern Tibetan Studies program at Columbia University in New York from 1999 to 2018 and was the author and editor of a number of books on modern Tibet. Françoise Robin teaches Tibetan language and literature at Inalco (French National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations). She has been engaged in Tibetan studies for the last 25 years, observing the evolution of Tibetan society under the political, economic, linguistic, and cultural domination of China. Her Ph.D. was the first to explore contemporary Tibetan Literature and its relevance to our understanding of today's Tibetan society. Benno Weiner is an Associate Professor of Chinese History at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier, which came out in 2020 with Cornell University Press. His other writings include, most recently, an essay entitled “Centering the Periphery: Teaching about Ethnic Minorities and Borderlands in PRC History,” which was published by The PRC History Review. Daigengna Duoer is a Ph.D. candidate in the Religious Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation is a digital humanities project mapping the history of transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting early twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. 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

After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, history under him was retold: for example, the Cultural Revolution was rebranded as “Ten Years of Chaos” and its policies were deemed “ultra-left.” In comparison to these changes in national narratives, how was the local history of Tibet under Mao retold after his death and in the subsequent decades of economic reform? To answer this question, the edited volume Conflicting Memories: Tibetan History under Mao Retold (Brill, 2020) explores the writings of a range of both Han-Chinese and Tibetan writers, including official historians, unofficial autobiographers, memoirists, filmmakers, fiction-writers, and oral raconteurs. In addition to providing translated extracts from their work, the volume contains chapters of essays by renowned scholars of modern Tibetan history discussing the narratives produced, what types of people were producing them, what means they used, what aims they pursued, and in what ways did Tibetan accounts differ from those of Han-Chinese writers. Robert Barnett is currently a Professorial Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and an Affiliated Lecturer at King's College, London. He founded and directed the Modern Tibetan Studies program at Columbia University in New York from 1999 to 2018 and was the author and editor of a number of books on modern Tibet. Françoise Robin teaches Tibetan language and literature at Inalco (French National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations). She has been engaged in Tibetan studies for the last 25 years, observing the evolution of Tibetan society under the political, economic, linguistic, and cultural domination of China. Her Ph.D. was the first to explore contemporary Tibetan Literature and its relevance to our understanding of today's Tibetan society. Benno Weiner is an Associate Professor of Chinese History at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier, which came out in 2020 with Cornell University Press. His other writings include, most recently, an essay entitled “Centering the Periphery: Teaching about Ethnic Minorities and Borderlands in PRC History,” which was published by The PRC History Review. Daigengna Duoer is a Ph.D. candidate in the Religious Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation is a digital humanities project mapping the history of transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting early twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, history under him was retold: for example, the Cultural Revolution was rebranded as “Ten Years of Chaos” and its policies were deemed “ultra-left.” In comparison to these changes in national narratives, how was the local history of Tibet under Mao retold after his death and in the subsequent decades of economic reform? To answer this question, the edited volume Conflicting Memories: Tibetan History under Mao Retold (Brill, 2020) explores the writings of a range of both Han-Chinese and Tibetan writers, including official historians, unofficial autobiographers, memoirists, filmmakers, fiction-writers, and oral raconteurs. In addition to providing translated extracts from their work, the volume contains chapters of essays by renowned scholars of modern Tibetan history discussing the narratives produced, what types of people were producing them, what means they used, what aims they pursued, and in what ways did Tibetan accounts differ from those of Han-Chinese writers. Robert Barnett is currently a Professorial Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and an Affiliated Lecturer at King's College, London. He founded and directed the Modern Tibetan Studies program at Columbia University in New York from 1999 to 2018 and was the author and editor of a number of books on modern Tibet. Françoise Robin teaches Tibetan language and literature at Inalco (French National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations). She has been engaged in Tibetan studies for the last 25 years, observing the evolution of Tibetan society under the political, economic, linguistic, and cultural domination of China. Her Ph.D. was the first to explore contemporary Tibetan Literature and its relevance to our understanding of today's Tibetan society. Benno Weiner is an Associate Professor of Chinese History at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier, which came out in 2020 with Cornell University Press. His other writings include, most recently, an essay entitled “Centering the Periphery: Teaching about Ethnic Minorities and Borderlands in PRC History,” which was published by The PRC History Review. Daigengna Duoer is a Ph.D. candidate in the Religious Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation is a digital humanities project mapping the history of transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting early twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. 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

China's Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao was one of the most staggeringly brutal events in recent human history. Tom and Dominic are joined by historian Rana Mitter, who specialises in the history of Republican China. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When we think of pre-Buddhism Chinese philosophy, ideas such as filial piety and “the Dao” might come to mind. But what was at stake in the philosophical debates of early Chinese thinkers, from Confucius to Zhuangzi? What were the epistemic legacies that they have left for the world? In Origins of Moral Political Philosophy in Early China (Oxford University Press 2021), Tao Jiang remaps the intellectual landscape of early Chinese philosophy (6th to 2nd centuries BCE) and reveals that most if not all of the classical Chinese philosophers, from Confucius to Zhuangzi, engaged with the three ideas of humaneness, justice, and personal freedom in one way or another to construct their visions of the world. By charting the trajectory of core philosophical values in early China and beyond, Jiang makes the case in the book that the philosophical dialectics between the partialist humaneness and the impartialist justice formed the fundamental dynamics underlying the mainstream moral-political project of early China, with the musing on personal freedom as the outlier. Historically, the flourishing of these “various masters and hundred schools” (zhuzi baijia) was situated within the period between the collapse of the Zhou order, which had represented the ideal of peace and prosperity, and the rise of the Qin state, which eventually consolidated a centralized government. Jiang points out that “Almost all classical thinkers of this period were trying to reconstitute a lost order by appealing to ritual (or tradition), (human)nature, objective standards that included moral and penal codes, or some combination of these, in order to imagine, conceptualize, and construct a new world that was morally compelling and/or politically alluring.” Professor Tao Jiang is a scholar of classical Chinese philosophy and Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. He is the author of this new book, Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China (Oxford University Press 2021), and Contexts and Dialogue: Yogācāra Buddhism and Modern Psychology on the Subliminal Mind (University of Hawai'i Press 2006), as well as the co-editor of The Reception and Rendition of Freud in China (Routledge 2017). He chairs the Department of Religion and directs the Center for Chinese Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. He is a co-chair of the Neo-Confucian Studies Seminar at Columbia University. Daigengna Duoer is a Ph.D. candidate in the Religious Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation is a digital humanities project mapping the history of transnational and transregional Buddhist networks connecting early twentieth-century Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Republican China, Tibet, and the Japanese Empire. 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