Podcasts about Tiananmen

L'émission 28 minutes du 06/09/2025 Ce samedi, Renaud Dély décrypte l'actualité avec le regard international de nos clubistes : Mariam Pirzadeh, rédactrice en chef à France 24, Daniele Zappalà, correspondant du quotidien "Avvenire" et docteur en géopolitique, Richard Werly, correspondant à Paris du quotidien suisse Blick.fr et le dessinateur de presse Pierre Kroll.La France a-t-elle un problème avec la taxation des plus riches ?Taxer les plus riches est devenu l'une des principales lignes de fracture politique. En France, les grandes fortunes et les grandes entreprises paient proportionnellement moins d'impôt que les PME et les contribuables. Cet état de fait avait conforté la proposition de loi du groupe écologiste pour mettre en place la taxe Zucman, qui entend imposer les 1 800 patrimoines les plus élevés à hauteur de 2 %. En juin, le Sénat l'a rejeté, ses détracteurs estimant qu'il allait favoriser l'exil fiscal et un ralentissement de l'économie. Pourtant, le Conseil d'analyse économique, un organisme rattaché au Premier ministre, a rendu des conclusions qui excluent ces conséquences, alors que cette taxe pourrait rapporter entre 15 et 25 milliards d'euros. Cette dichotomie est-elle typiquement française ? La Chine est-elle inarrêtable ?À l'occasion des 80 ans de la capitulation du Japon, le président chinois a organisé un défilé militaire en grandes pompes sur la place Tiananmen, à Pékin. Accompagné de Vladimir Poutine et Kim Jong-Un, le président chinois a profité de cette procession martiale pour affirmer que "la renaissance de la nation chinoise est inarrêtable". Une annonce qui intervient quelques jours après la fin du sommet de l'Organisation de coopération de Shanghai, qui a réuni de nombreux pays asiatiques ainsi que la Russie pour renforcer la coopération entre ces nations. Une séquence diplomatique intense pour la Chine, qui tente ainsi de conforter son leadership face à un camp occidental fragilisé. Ce dernier doit-il se méfier d'une Chine qui se rêve en superpuissance, ou acter qu'elle est un partenaire indispensable dans un monde multipolaire ?Nous recevons Germaine Acogny, chorégraphe et danseuse. La Sénégalaise de 81 ans, figure majeure de la danse contemporaine africaine, présente son spectacle "Joséphine" du 24 au 28 septembre au théâtre des Champs-Elysées, un hommage à Joséphine Baker, figure emblématique de la “Revue nègre"; créée il y a 100 ans. Valérie Brochard s'intéresse à nos chers voisins d'outre-Manche qui ont décidé d'interdire la vente de boissons énergisantes aux moins de 16 ans. L'annonce a été faite par Wes Streeting, le ministre de la Santé, avec l'objectif de protéger les plus jeunes des substance nocives et d'améliorer “leur santé physique et mentale". Olivier Boucreux décerne le titre d'employé de la semaine à Laurent Freixe, éphémère directeur général de Nestlé, licencié pour avoir entretenu "une relation amoureuse non déclarée avec une subordonnée directe". Le géant de l'agroalimentaire, qui avait défrayé la chronique cet été avec l'affaire Nestlé Waters, a justifié cette décision au nom des "valeurs de Nestlé" et de la "bonne gouvernance".Jean-Mathieu Pernin zappe sur la télé allemande où un néonazi condamné à de la prison ferme en 2023 a changé de genre avant son incarcération. Objectif double : bénéficier de conditions de détention plus souples dans un centre pénitentiaire féminin, et faire un pied-de-nez à la loi d'autodétermination de genre allemande, qui permet de changer de genre et de prénom sur simple demande. Natacha Triou s'interroge sur un changement de mode : après le tatouage, voici sa némésis : le détatouage. L'opération consiste à faire disparaître un tatouage à coups de laser. Utile pour faire fi d'erreurs de jeunesse, cette pratique témoigne aussi d'une nouvelle esthétique. Enfin, ne manquez pas Dérive des continents de Benoît Forgeard !28 minutes est le magazine d'actualité d'ARTE, présenté par Élisabeth Quin du lundi au jeudi à 20h05. Renaud Dély est aux commandes de l'émission le vendredi et le samedi. Ce podcast est coproduit par KM et ARTE Radio. Enregistrement 6 septembre 2025 Présentation Renaud Dély Production KM, ARTE Radio

durée : 00:36:26 - Cultures Monde - par : Julie Gacon, Mélanie Chalandon - Ce mercredi 3 septembre, la Chine a célébré les 80 ans de la capitulation du Japon à l'issue de la Seconde Guerre mondiale par un défilé militaire titanesque sur la place Tiananmen, en présence de plusieurs dirigeants étrangers, dont Vladimir Poutine et Kim Jong-un. - réalisation : Vivian Lecuivre - invités : Juliette Genevaz Maîtresse de conférence en science politique à Lyon 3 et chercheure à l'Institut Français de Recherche sur l'Aie de l'Est; François Bougon Journaliste, responsable du service international de Mediapart

Este miércoles se celebró en Pekín un desfile militar para conmemorar el octogésimo aniversario de la victoria de China sobre Japón en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Este evento, que se realiza todos los años desde 2014, es ya una tradición, pero este año tuvo un carácter especial por tratarse de un aniversario redondo y, sobre todo, por la voluntad de Xi Jinping de mostrar el recrecido poder militar chino y enviar un mensaje a Occidente sobre su influencia en todo el mundo. El desfile en la plaza de Tiananmen consistió en una gran exhibición de armamento moderno como misiles hipersónicos, drones y plataformas de combate no tripuladas. Junto a las máquinas desfilaron miles de soldados perfectamente uniformados. Xi Jinping, acompañado por líderes de 26 países, entre ellos Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un y Masoud Pezeshkian, el presidente de Irán, proyectaba la imagen de una China poderosa que cuenta con aliados estratégicos repartidos por todo el mundo. La presencia de estos líderes, especialmente Putin y Kim Jong-un, era todo un desafío a Estados Unidos y a Europa en un momento especialmente tenso en el ámbito geopolítico. En su discurso, Xi Jinping destacó la imparable ascensión de China y presentó al partido comunista como el garante de la soberanía nacional. El desfile buscaba despertar el orgullo patrio entre los ciudadanos chinos y consolidar el relato histórico del partido como artífice en la victoria contra Japón. Lo cierto es que esa guerra la combatieron todos los chinos durante una tregua en la guerra civil, pero eso el régimen lo oculta. Para el público internacional el evento era una demostración de poderío militar, político y diplomático reforzado por la asistencia de líderes de Asia Central y el Sudeste Asiático, regiones donde China ha ganado influencia frente a Estados Unidos. Pekín se engalanó con 200.000 banderas, parterres florales y un despliegue de seguridad que paralizó la ciudad. El día fue declarado festivo para animar a la participación ciudadana. La producción televisiva, con múltiples cámaras y planos aéreos, nos habla de una planificación muy esmerada con idea de amplificar el impacto propagandístico. La realidad es que China no atraviesa su mejor momento. La economía no marcha tan bien como le gustaría a Xi Jinping. El desempleo juvenil es alto, la deuda no hace más que crecer y la crisis inmobiliaria no da tregua. Además, las recientes purgas contra altos oficiales del ejército suscitan dudas sobre la preparación militar china, cuya última experiencia en combate data de 1979. El presupuesto militar chino, que se ha duplicado en la última década hasta alcanzar los 250.000 millones de dólares, es indicativo de su ambición por competir con Estados Unidos. China ha expandido su arsenal nuclear y su armada, para la que en breve estrenará un nuevo portaaviones con tecnología avanzada. A nivel diplomático, la presencia de mandatarios como Narendra Modi es muestra del atractivo de China como alternativa a la hegemonía estadounidense, especialmente tras la ofensiva arancelaria de Donald Trump. El desfile de Pekín y la cumbre de la Organización de Cooperación de Shanghái celebrada poco antes en la vecina Tianjin, le ha servido al régimen chino como plataforma para proyectarse como un pilar de estabilidad frente a un Estados Unidos que, según Xi Jinping, genera demasiada incertidumbre. Aunque los países asistentes no forman ni de lejos una alianza, la capacidad de China para reunirlos señala su emergente estatus como superpotencia. En La ContraRéplica: 0:00 Introducción 3:56 China exhibe músculo 32:35 El barco de Ada Colau 38:46 La heladería de Barcelona 44:07 La cría de pollos · Canal de Telegram: https://t.me/lacontracronica · “Contra la Revolución Francesa”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ · “Hispanos. Breve historia de los pueblos de habla hispana”… https://amzn.to/428js1G · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #china #xijinping Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

AICM recomienda a los pasajeros anticipar su llegada a la terminal aéreaXi, Putin y Kim encabezan desfile militar en Pekín por aniversario del fin de la Segunda GuerraMás información en nuestro Podcast

Ce mercredi Xi Jinping a célébré les 80 ans de la victoire chinoise sur le Japon avec un impressionnant défilé militaire sur la place Tiananmen. Vladimir Poutine et Kim Jong Un étaient présents. Dans son discours, le président chinois a insisté sur l'irréversibilité de la renaissance de la Chine. Donald Trump a réagi sur son réseau Truth Social, dénonçant une conspiration contre les États-Unis.

China ha exhibido este miércoles su músculo militar y tecnológico en un espectacular desfile conmemorativo de los 80 años del final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. El evento, considerado hasta la fecha como el mayor desfile militar en la historia de China, se desarrolló en la Plaza de Tiananmen con la presencia de líderes mundiales y miles de espectadores.

Este miércoles se celebró en Pekín un desfile militar para conmemorar el octogésimo aniversario de la victoria de China sobre Japón en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Este evento, que se realiza todos los años desde 2014, es ya una tradición, pero este año tuvo un carácter especial por tratarse de un aniversario redondo y, sobre todo, por la voluntad de Xi Jinping de mostrar el recrecido poder militar chino y enviar un mensaje a Occidente sobre su influencia en todo el mundo. El desfile en la plaza de Tiananmen consistió en una gran exhibición de armamento moderno como misiles hipersónicos, drones y plataformas de combate no tripuladas. Junto a las máquinas desfilaron miles de soldados perfectamente uniformados. Xi Jinping, acompañado por líderes de 26 países, entre ellos Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un y Masoud Pezeshkian, el presidente de Irán, proyectaba la imagen de una China poderosa que cuenta con aliados estratégicos repartidos por todo el mundo. La presencia de estos líderes, especialmente Putin y Kim Jong-un, era todo un desafío a Estados Unidos y a Europa en un momento especialmente tenso en el ámbito geopolítico. En su discurso, Xi Jinping destacó la imparable ascensión de China y presentó al partido comunista como el garante de la soberanía nacional. El desfile buscaba despertar el orgullo patrio entre los ciudadanos chinos y consolidar el relato histórico del partido como artífice en la victoria contra Japón. Lo cierto es que esa guerra la combatieron todos los chinos durante una tregua en la guerra civil, pero eso el régimen lo oculta. Para el público internacional el evento era una demostración de poderío militar, político y diplomático reforzado por la asistencia de líderes de Asia Central y el Sudeste Asiático, regiones donde China ha ganado influencia frente a Estados Unidos. Pekín se engalanó con 200.000 banderas, parterres florales y un despliegue de seguridad que paralizó la ciudad. El día fue declarado festivo para animar a la participación ciudadana. La producción televisiva, con múltiples cámaras y planos aéreos, nos habla de una planificación muy esmerada con idea de amplificar el impacto propagandístico. La realidad es que China no atraviesa su mejor momento. La economía no marcha tan bien como le gustaría a Xi Jinping. El desempleo juvenil es alto, la deuda no hace más que crecer y la crisis inmobiliaria no da tregua. Además, las recientes purgas contra altos oficiales del ejército suscitan dudas sobre la preparación militar china, cuya última experiencia en combate data de 1979. El presupuesto militar chino, que se ha duplicado en la última década hasta alcanzar los 250.000 millones de dólares, es indicativo de su ambición por competir con Estados Unidos. China ha expandido su arsenal nuclear y su armada, para la que en breve estrenará un nuevo portaaviones con tecnología avanzada. A nivel diplomático, la presencia de mandatarios como Narendra Modi es muestra del atractivo de China como alternativa a la hegemonía estadounidense, especialmente tras la ofensiva arancelaria de Donald Trump. El desfile de Pekín y la cumbre de la Organización de Cooperación de Shanghái celebrada poco antes en la vecina Tianjin, le ha servido al régimen chino como plataforma para proyectarse como un pilar de estabilidad frente a un Estados Unidos que, según Xi Jinping, genera demasiada incertidumbre. Aunque los países asistentes no forman ni de lejos una alianza, la capacidad de China para reunirlos señala su emergente estatus como superpotencia. En La ContraRéplica: 0:00 Introducción 3:56 China exhibe músculo 32:35 El barco de Ada Colau 38:46 La heladería de Barcelona 44:07 La cría de pollos · Canal de Telegram: https://t.me/lacontracronica · “Contra la Revolución Francesa”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ · “Hispanos. Breve historia de los pueblos de habla hispana”… https://amzn.to/428js1G · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #china #xijinping

Pekin uczcił 80. rocznicę zwycięstwa nad Japonią wielką defiladą. Putin, Kim i Łukaszenka wśród gości, Xi mówił o pokoju, a Chiny pokazały m.in. broń laserową i podwodne drony.W Pekinie odbyły się uroczystości upamiętniające 80. rocznicę zwycięstwa nad japońską agresją i światowym faszyzmem. Centralnym punktem obchodów była wielka defilada wojskowa na placu Tiananmen, w której uczestniczyło około 55 zagranicznych przywódców i delegacji. Jak relacjonował w Radiu Wnet Andrzej Zawadzki-Liang, szczególnie widoczny był Władimir Putin – jego wizyta w Chinach trwa już cztery dni i jest najdłuższą zagraniczną wizytą od lat. Towarzyszy mu kilkunastu ministrów i wicepremierów. Wraz z Xi Jinpingiem podpisał 20 porozumień, w tym dotyczące gazociągu Syberia 2, który ma prowadzić przez Mongolię do północnych Chin.Na uroczystościach obecni byli także m.in. Kim Dzong Un, premier Słowacji Robert Fico, prezydent Serbii Aleksandar Vučić oraz Aleksander Łukaszenka, dla którego była to już piętnasta wizyta w Chinach.

¡Ya comenzaron los pagos de programas sociales! Consulta fechas Congreso arranca sesiones con informe de Sheinbaum y nuevos ministros en la Corte  China lista para desfile militar conmemorativo por los 80 años del fin de la Segunda Guerra MundialMás información en nuestro Podcast

1.   Dos importantes marchas en Puerto Rico. Ayer sellevaron a cabo la marcha por la Independencia de Puerto Rico, y la marcha delcomediante Raymond Arrieta pro-fondos Hospital de Cáncer 2.   Miles marchan en San Juan y ciudades de EE. UU.por la independencia de Puerto Rico  yconverso con uno de los organizadores3.  Monumento al Descaro ola Plaza de los “Arrodillaos'', Un monumento de $200,000 bautizado como “Plazadel Creyente” que no honra la fe ni la cultura, sino la sumisión y lahipocresía política: un homenaje a los arrodillados, mientras artistas yescuelas de arte en Puerto Rico se caen a pedazos4.  Crisis en los medioscorporativos5.   Seis mujeres asesinadas en agosto6.   La Junta aprueba la reforma salarial delGobierno central de Puerto Rico7.   Denuncian abandono del Estado a niñossobrevivientes de feminicidios en Puerto Rico8.  Proponen nueva leypara prevenir muertes por ahogamiento en playas de Puerto Rico9.   Juez bloquea temporalmente la deportación deniños guatemaltecos por parte de Trump 10.     Premier de las Islas Vírgenes Británicas acusadode traficar cocaína11.     Una flotilla de 30 barcos zarpa desde Barcelonapara romper el bloqueo israelí y llevar ayuda humanitaria a Gaza 12.    Un desfile con pesogeopolítico: Xi, Putin y Kim listos para la foto en Tiananmen, China intentausar la inestabilidad generada por Trump para unir a 20 líderes incluidos losde Rusia, Irán e India13.    La historia del narcomexicano se escribe en los juzgados de Estados Unidos Este es un programa independiente y sindicalizado. Esto significa que este programa se produce de manera independiente, pero se transmite de manera sindicalizada, o sea, por las emisoras y cadenas de radio que son más fuertes en sus respectivas regiones. También se transmite por sus plataformas digitales, aplicaciones para dispositivos móviles y redes sociales.  Estas emisoras de radio son:1.    Cadena WIAC - WYAC 930 AM Cabo Rojo- Mayagüez2.    Cadena WIAC – WISA 1390 AM Isabela3.    Cadena WIAC – WIAC 740 AM Área norte y zona metropolitana4.    WLRP 1460 AM Radio Raíces La voz del Pepino en San Sebastián5.    X61 – 610 AM en Patillas6.    X61 – 94.3 FM Patillas y todo el sureste7.    WPAB 550 AM - Ponce8.    ECO 93.1 FM – En todo Puerto Rico9.    WOQI 1020 AM – Radio Casa Pueblo desde Adjuntas 10. Mundo Latino PR.com, la emisora web de música tropical y comentario Una vez sale del aire, el programa queda grabado y está disponible en las plataformas de podcasts tales como Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts y otras plataformas https://anchor.fm/sandrarodriguezcotto También nos pueden seguir en:REDES SOCIALES:  Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, Tumblr, TikTok BLOG:  En Blanco y Negro con Sandra http://enblancoynegromedia.blogspot.com  SUSCRIPCIÓN: Substack, plataforma de suscripción de prensa independientehttps://substack.com/@sandrarodriguezcotto OTROS MEDIOS DIGITALES: ¡Ey! Boricua, Revista Seguros. Revista Crónicas y otrosEstas son algunas de las noticias que tenemos hoy En Blanco y Negro con Sandra. 

Dan Wang at long last makes his solo ChinaTalk debut! We're here to discuss and celebrate his first book, Breakneck. We get into… Engineering states vs lawyerly societies, The competing legacies of the 1980s in China, the decade which saw brutal repression via the One Child Policy and Tiananmen alongside intellectual debate, cultural vibrancy, and rock and roll, Methods of knowing China, from the People's Daily and Seeking Truth to on-the-ground research, How to compare the values of China's convenient yet repressive society with the chaotic pluralism of the USA, What Li Qiang's career post-Shanghai lockdowns can tell us about the value of loyalty vs competence in Xi's China. Outro music: Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro (YouTube link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Wang at long last makes his solo ChinaTalk debut! We're here to discuss and celebrate his first book, Breakneck. We get into… Engineering states vs lawyerly societies, The competing legacies of the 1980s in China, the decade which saw brutal repression via the One Child Policy and Tiananmen alongside intellectual debate, cultural vibrancy, and rock and roll, Methods of knowing China, from the People's Daily and Seeking Truth to on-the-ground research, How to compare the values of China's convenient yet repressive society with the chaotic pluralism of the USA, What Li Qiang's career post-Shanghai lockdowns can tell us about the value of loyalty vs competence in Xi's China. Outro music: Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro (YouTube link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Hu Yaobang died in April 1989, throngs of mourners converged on the Martyrs' Monument in Tiananmen Square to pay their respects. Following Hu's 1987 ouster by party elders, Chinese propaganda officials had sought to tarnish his reputation and dim his memory, yet his death galvanized the nascent pro-democracy student movement, setting off the dramatic demonstrations that culminated in the Tiananmen massacre. Guest: Robert L. Suettinger (Author of The Conscience of the Party: Hu Yaobang, Chinas Communist Reformer) Interviewer: Professor James Leibold (Politics, La Trobe University) Recorded 16th June, 2025.

pWotD Episode 3017: 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 708,271 views on Tuesday, 5 August 2025 our article of the day is 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between the demonstrators and the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution, the Chinese government deployed troops to occupy the square on the night of 3 June in what is referred to as the Tiananmen Square massacre. The events are sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement, the Tiananmen Square Incident, or the Tiananmen uprising.The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu Yaobang in April 1989 amid the backdrop of rapid economic development and social change in post-Mao China, reflecting anxieties among the people and political elite about the country's future. The reforms of the 1980s had led to a nascent market economy that benefited some people but seriously disadvantaged others, and the one-party political system also faced a challenge to its legitimacy. Common grievances at the time included inflation, corruption, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy, and restrictions on political participation. Although they were highly disorganised and their goals varied, the students called for things like rollback of the removal of iron rice bowl jobs, greater accountability, constitutional due process, democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. Workers' protests were generally focused on inflation and the erosion of welfare. These groups united around anti-corruption demands, adjusting economic policies, and protecting social security. At the height of the protests, about one million people assembled in the square.As the protests developed, the authorities responded with both conciliatory and hardline tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership. By May, a student-led hunger strike galvanised support around the country for the demonstrators, and the protests spread to some 400 cities. On 20 May, the State Council declared martial law, and as many as 300,000 troops were mobilised to Beijing.After several weeks of standoffs and violent confrontations between the army and demonstrators left many on both sides severely injured, a meeting held among the CCP's top leadership on 1 June concluded with a decision to clear the square. The troops advanced into central parts of Beijing on the city's major thoroughfares in the early morning hours of 4 June and engaged in bloody clashes with demonstrators attempting to block them, in which many people – demonstrators, bystanders, and soldiers – were killed. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded.The event had both short and long term consequences. Western countries imposed arms embargoes on China, and various Western media outlets labeled the crackdown a "massacre". In the aftermath of the protests, the Chinese government suppressed other protests around China, carried out mass arrests of protesters which catalysed Operation Yellowbird, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic and foreign affiliated press, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests. The government also invested heavily into creating more effective police riot control units. More broadly, the suppression ended the political reforms begun in 1986 as well as the New Enlightenment movement, and halted the policies of liberalisation of the 1980s, which were only partly resumed after Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992. Considered a watershed event, reaction to the protests set limits on political expression in China that have lasted up to the present day. The events remain one of the most sensitive and most widely censored topics in China.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:52 UTC on Wednesday, 6 August 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Geraint.

Yesterday, the Canadian writer Diane Francis argued that Donald Trump should consider Xi Jinping's China a competitor rather than an enemy. Perhaps. But in this zero-sum “competition” between Trump and Xi for top tough guy, there can only be one winner. As Xi Jinping's father's biographer, Joseph Torigian explains, Xi had a brutally harsh upbringing. In his new book about Xi's father, Xi Zhongxun, Torigian explains that it was a childhood descent from privileged son of a communist party aristocrat to utter poverty, political exile and literal homelessness. That's the kind of tough guy that our self-styled “tough guy” President is competing with in today's Hobbesian bipolar world of international politics. I'm pretty sure that only one of these tough guys will come out on top. And it won't be the pampered middle son of a real-estate mogul from Queens.1. Xi Jinping's "Toughness" is Genuine, Not PerformativeUnlike privileged leaders who talk tough, Xi was forged by real hardship - his father was purged five times, spent 16 years in political exile, and Xi himself experienced homelessness, street battles, and rural exile. This created authentic resilience, not manufactured bravado.2. China's System Remains Dangerously Leader-DependentDespite assumptions about "collective leadership," Chinese politics never escaped the strongman model. Even Deng Xiaoping, supposedly constrained by colleagues, made unilateral decisions like Tiananmen. Xi isn't breaking the system - he's following its core logic that only a powerful "core" leader can hold China together.3. Taiwan is Personal, Not Just Political for XiHis father Xi Zhongxun was the party's leading "United Front" strategist who handled Taiwan relations in the 1980s through secret back-channels. For Xi, Taiwan represents both unfinished family business and his promise not to be "the one to lose" Chinese territory bequeathed by ancestors.4. Xi's Strategy is Patience, Not RecklessnessGrowing up watching his father navigate purges taught Xi when to act and when to "bide his time." Unlike Putin's sledgehammer approach, Xi moves "deliberately and competitively, but cautiously" - preferring to win without fighting rather than risk catastrophic failure.5. The Party's Biggest Fear is Losing the Next GenerationXi obsesses over whether young Chinese will remain loyal to the revolutionary cause without experiencing the hardship that dedicated his generation. With property crashes and youth unemployment, he's trying to recreate commitment through "national sacrifice" narratives - but it's unclear if this will work on a generation that expects prosperity, not suffering.1. Xi Jinping's "Toughness" is Genuine, Not PerformativeUnlike privileged leaders who talk tough, Xi was forged by real hardship - his father was purged five times, spent 16 years in political exile, and Xi himself experienced homelessness, street battles, and rural exile. This created authentic resilience, not manufactured bravado.2. China's System Remains Dangerously Leader-DependentDespite assumptions about "collective leadership," Chinese politics never escaped the strongman model. Even Deng Xiaoping, supposedly constrained by colleagues, made unilateral decisions like Tiananmen. Xi isn't breaking the system - he's following its core logic that only a powerful "core" leader can hold China together.3. Taiwan is Personal, Not Just Political for XiHis father Xi Zhongxun was the party's leading "United Front" strategist who handled Taiwan relations in the 1980s through secret back-channels. For Xi, Taiwan represents both unfinished family business and his promise not to be "the one to lose" Chinese territory bequeathed by ancestors.4. Xi's Strategy is Patience, Not RecklessnessGrowing up watching his father navigate purges taught Xi when to act and when to "bide his time." Unlike Putin's sledgehammer approach, Xi moves "deliberately and competitively, but cautiously" - preferring to win without fighting rather than risk catastrophic failure.5. The Party's Biggest Fear is Losing the Next GenerationXi obsesses over whether young Chinese will remain loyal to the revolutionary cause without experiencing the hardship that dedicated his generation. With property crashes and youth unemployment, he's trying to recreate commitment through "national sacrifice" narratives - but it's unclear if this will work on a generation that expects prosperity, not suffering. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

RUMOURS OF XI JINPING'S UPCOMING REBUKE JUST LIKE HIS FATHER: 1/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of XI Zhongxun, Father of XI Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by  Joseph Torigian  (Author) https://www.amazon.com.au/Partys-Interests-Come-First-Zhongxun/dp/1503634752/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 1949 XI ZHONGXUN China's leader, Xi Jinping, is one Cf the most powerful individuals inCtheCworld--and one of the least understood. Much can be learned, however, about both Xi Jinping and the nature of the party he leads from the memory and legacy of his father, the revolutionary Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002). The elder Xi served the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for more than seven decades. He worked at the right hand of prominent leaders Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. He helped build the Communist base area that saved Mao Zedong in 1935, and he initiated the Special Economic Zones that launched China into the reform era after Mao's death. He led the Party's United Front efforts toward Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Taiwanese. And though in 1989 he initially sought to avoid violence, he ultimately supported the Party's crackdown on the Tiananmen protesters. The Party's Interests Come First is the first biography of Xi Zhongxun written in English. This biography is at once a sweeping story of the Chinese revolution and the first several decades of the People's Republic of China and a deeply personal story about making sense of one's own identity within a larger political context. Drawing on an array of new documents, interviews, diaries, and periodicals, Joseph Torigian vividly tells the life story of Xi Zhongxun, a man who spent his entire life struggling to balance his own feelings with the Party's demands. Through the eyes of Xi Jinping's father, Torigian reveals the extraordinary organizational, ideological, and coercive power of the CCP--and the terrible cost in human suffering that comes with it.

Joseph Torigian's The Party's Interest Comes First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping is a monumental scholarly achievement — easily a contender for one of the best China books of the decade. Joseph's goal, in his own words, was to “shine as much light into the darkness of the past as possible” to understand the nature of authoritarian politics, and he succeeds beyond my wildest expectations. This biography gives me a feel for Chinese politics that I honestly thought I'd never have. It does an incredible job of digging deep to shed light on some of the most consequential moments in CCP history, as well as conveying what it was like to live as a senior official under Mao and Deng. Reading it was a powerful experience at both an intellectual and human level. We get memorable vignettes, like 15-year-old Xi Zhongxun attempting to assassinate a teacher, or General Peng Dehuai using his shoe to silence Xi Zhongxun's snoring in their shared bunk. In this interview, we discuss: What we can learn about authoritarianism, the CCP, and China's future from studying Xi's father, Torigian's methodology for uncovering hidden Party history, How the Party became an existential source of meaning, and how it weaponized suffering to paradoxically deepen political loyalty, The arc of Xi Zhongxun's life — from a young revolutionary to key advocate of reform — and his role during Tiananmen, The interplay of family, love, and career under the all-encompassing shadow of the Party, The role of “Surrogate fathers” and patronage in navigating political ascent, How literature shaped China's early revolutionaries, and even impacted the Party as we know it today. Co-hosting today is Jon Sine, former ChinaTalk intern. Outro music: The Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone (YouTube Link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joseph Torigian's The Party's Interest Comes First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping is a monumental scholarly achievement — easily a contender for one of the best China books of the decade. Joseph's goal, in his own words, was to “shine as much light into the darkness of the past as possible” to understand the nature of authoritarian politics, and he succeeds beyond my wildest expectations. This biography gives me a feel for Chinese politics that I honestly thought I'd never have. It does an incredible job of digging deep to shed light on some of the most consequential moments in CCP history, as well as conveying what it was like to live as a senior official under Mao and Deng. Reading it was a powerful experience at both an intellectual and human level. We get memorable vignettes, like 15-year-old Xi Zhongxun attempting to assassinate a teacher, or General Peng Dehuai using his shoe to silence Xi Zhongxun's snoring in their shared bunk. In this interview, we discuss: What we can learn about authoritarianism, the CCP, and China's future from studying Xi's father, Torigian's methodology for uncovering hidden Party history, How the Party became an existential source of meaning, and how it weaponized suffering to paradoxically deepen political loyalty, The arc of Xi Zhongxun's life — from a young revolutionary to key advocate of reform — and his role during Tiananmen, The interplay of family, love, and career under the all-encompassing shadow of the Party, The role of “Surrogate fathers” and patronage in navigating political ascent, How literature shaped China's early revolutionaries, and even impacted the Party as we know it today. Co-hosting today is Jon Sine, former ChinaTalk intern. Outro music: The Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone (YouTube Link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 423 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Joseph Torigian, an expert on the politics of authoritarian regimes and the Chinese Communist Party, with a particular focus on elite power struggles, civil-military relations, and grand strategy. Torigian is also the author of a widely discussed new book titled “The Party's Interests Come First,” a political biography and historical analysis of Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping,  the leader of China and the head of the Chinese Communist Party. In the first hour, Torigian and Kofinas trace the evolution, internal contradictions, and complex dynamics of political power and succession within the Chinese Communist Party, revealing the critical role that personal networks, ideological discipline, factional struggle, and narrative have played in shaping Chinese political history and culture. They explore several critical periods in Chinese communist party history, including Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, the period of reform and opening up under Deng Xiaoping, and the post-Tiananmen period following the 1989 crackdown. In the second hour, Kofinas and Torigian focus on China's current leader, Xi Jinping, examining the political lessons he has drawn from the struggles endured by his father while exploring how those experiences have shaped his party loyalties and reinforced his commitment to restoring China's greatness and securing its position on the global stage. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 06/17/2025

SHOW SCHEDULE TUESDAY 17 JUNE, 2025. Good evening: The show begins IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM at the Federal Reserve, waiting for the Fed board to see data that move it to reduce the high rate of borrowing -- the cost of money... 1917 EDERAL RESERVE BOARD https://substack.com/profile/222380536-john-batchelor?utm_source=global-search CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR FIRST HOUR 9:00-9:15 #Markets: What is the Fed waiting to see? Liz Peek The Hill. Fox News and Fox Business 9:15-9:30 #Markets: What was "No Kings?" Liz Peek The Hill. Fox News and Fox Business 9:30-9:45 1/2: Iran: The nuclear weapons makers. Andrea Stricker FDD 9:45-10:00 2/2: Iran: The nuclear weapons makers. Andrea Stricker FDD SECOND HOUR 10:00-10:15 #Berlin: Chancellor Merz success so far. Judy Dempsey, Senior Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Berlin. 10:15-10:30 #EU: Global Euro and its possibility. Judy Dempsey, Senior Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Berlin. 10:30-10:45 Harvard: The fail of 2020. Peter Berkowitz, Hoover Institution 10:45-11:00 PRC: Quiet remarks about its Iran oil supplier and weapons customer. Jack Burnham, FDD THIRD HOUR 11:00-11:15 #AUKUS at the G-7: Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs 11:15-11:30 #ECOWAS: In failure. Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs 11:30-11:45 Iran: After the fall down. Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs 11:45-12:00 Charles III: Modern kingship works. Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs FOURTH HOUR 12:00-12:15 5/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author) https://www.amazon.com.au/Partys-Interests-Come-First-Zhongxun/dp/1503634752/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 China's leader, Xi Jinping, is one of the most powerful individuals in the world—and one of the least understood. Much can be learned, however, about both Xi Jinping and the nature of the party he leads from the memory and legacy of his father, the revolutionary Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002). The elder Xi served the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for more than seven decades. He worked at the right hand of prominent leaders Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. He helped build the Communist base area that saved Mao Zedong in 1935, and he initiated the Special Economic Zones that launched China into the reform era after Mao's death. He led the Party's United Front efforts toward Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Taiwanese. And though in 1989 he initially sought to avoid violence, he ultimately supported the Party's crackdown on the Tiananmen protesters. The Party's Interests Come First is the first biography of Xi Zhongxun written in English. This biography is at once a sweeping story of the Chinese revolution and the first several decades of the People's Republic of China and a deeply personal story about making sense of one's own identity within a larger political context. Drawing on an array of new documents, interviews, diaries, and periodicals, Joseph Torigian vividly tells the life story of Xi Zhongxun, a man who spent his entire life struggling to balance his own feelings with the Party's demands. Through the eyes of Xi Jinping's father, Torigian reveals the extraordinary organizational, ideological, and coercive power of the CCP—and the terrible cost in human suffering that comes with it. 12:15-12:30 6/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author) 12:30-12:45 7/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author) 12:45-1:00 8/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author)

5/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of XI Zhongxun, Father of XI Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by  Joseph Torigian  (Author) https://www.amazon.com.au/Partys-Interests-Come-First-Zhongxun/dp/1503634752/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 1949 XI ZHONGXUN China's leader, Xi Jinping, is one Cf the most powerful individuals inCtheCworld--and one of the least understood. Much can be learned, however, about both Xi Jinping and the nature of the party he leads from the memory and legacy of his father, the revolutionary Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002). The elder Xi served the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for more than seven decades. He worked at the right hand of prominent leaders Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. He helped build the Communist base area that saved Mao Zedong in 1935, and he initiated the Special Economic Zones that launched China into the reform era after Mao's death. He led the Party's United Front efforts toward Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Taiwanese. And though in 1989 he initially sought to avoid violence, he ultimately supported the Party's crackdown on the Tiananmen protesters. The Party's Interests Come First is the first biography of Xi Zhongxun written in English. This biography is at once a sweeping story of the Chinese revolution and the first several decades of the People's Republic of China and a deeply personal story about making sense of one's own identity within a larger political context. Drawing on an array of new documents, interviews, diaries, and periodicals, Joseph Torigian vividly tells the life story of Xi Zhongxun, a man who spent his entire life struggling to balance his own feelings with the Party's demands. Through the eyes of Xi Jinping's father, Torigian reveals the extraordinary organizational, ideological, and coercive power of the CCP--and the terrible cost in human suffering that comes with it.

En l'espace d'un week-end, la Californie est devenue l'épicentre du combat politique aux États-Unis. Le face-à-face entre Donald Trump et les autorités démocrates de cet État virent au pugilat depuis la décision du président américain d'y envoyer l'armée. Des images dignes de Tiananmen… et pourtant non, nous sommes bien en Amérique. Simple comédie mise en scène par la Maison Blanche ou véritables ferments d'une guerre civile en gestation depuis le retour au pouvoir des Républicains ? Pour en parler, notre invitée : Marie-Cécile Naves, directrice de recherche à l'Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques (IRIS) et auteure de "Géopolitique des États-Unis" aux éditions Eyrolles.

Good evening: The show begins in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania with POTUS leading the steelworks in celebration of renovated mills. CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR 1904 PITTSBURGH FIRST HOUR 9:00-9:15 #KeystoneReport: Air Force One to West Mifflin PA. Salena Zito, Middle of Somewhere, @dcexaminer, salenazito.com 9:15-9:30 #PacificWatch: #VegasReport: Hollywood turned back. @jcbliss 9:30-9:45 #SmallBusinessAmerica: Slowing. @genemarks @guardian @phillyinquirer 9:45-10:00 #SmallBusinessAmerica: Optimism. @genemarks @guardian @phillyinquirer SECOND HOUR 10:00-10:15 #Ukraine: 101st Airborne D-Day veteran speaks. Colonel Jeff McCausland, USA (Retired) @mccauslj @cbsnews @dickinsoncol 10:15-10:30 #Ukraine: Is the IDF overstretched overtasked? Colonel Jeff McCausland, USA (Retired) @mccauslj @cbsnews @dickinsoncol 10:30-10:45 1/2: SCOTUS; Guns and hiring and worship, 9-0. Richard Epstein, Civitas 10:45-11:00 2/2: SCOTUS; Guns and hiring and worship, 9-0. Richard Epstein, Civitas Institute THIRD HOUR 11:00-11:15 1/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author) https://www.amazon.com.au/Partys-Interests-Come-First-Zhongxun/dp/1503634752/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 China's leader, Xi Jinping, is one of the most powerful individuals in the world--and one of the least understood. Much can be learned, however, about both Xi Jinping and the nature of the party he leads from the memory and legacy of his father, the revolutionary Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002). The elder Xi served the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for more than seven decades. He worked at the right hand of prominent leaders Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. He helped build the Communist base area that saved Mao Zedong in 1935, and he initiated the Special Economic Zones that launched China into the reform era after Mao's death. He led the Party's United Front efforts toward Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Taiwanese. And though in 1989 he initially sought to avoid violence, he ultimately supported the Party's crackdown on the Tiananmen protesters. The Party's Interests Come First is the first biography of Xi Zhongxun written in English. This biography is at once a sweeping story of the Chinese revolution and the first several decades of the People's Republic of China and a deeply personal story about making sense of one's own identity within a larger political context. Drawing on an array of new documents, interviews, diaries, and periodicals, Joseph Torigian vividly tells the life story of Xi Zhongxun, a man who spent his entire life struggling to balance his own feelings with the Party's demands. Through the eyes of Xi Jinping's father, Torigian reveals the extraordinary organizational, ideological, and coercive power of the CCP--and the terrible cost in human suffering that comes with it. 11:15-11:30 2/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author) 11:30-11:45 3/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author) 11:45-12:00 4/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by Joseph Torigian (Author) FOURTH HOUR 12:00-12:15 Lancaster Report: Slower shopping. Jim McTague, former Washington editor, Barron's. @mctaguej. Author of the "Martin and Twyla Boundary Series." #FriendsOfHistoryDebatingSociety 12:15-12:30 Italy: Mt. Etna spectacularly. Lorenzo Fiori. 12:30-12:45 NASA: The cutbacks. Bob Zimmerman behindtheblack.com 12:45-1:00 AM Sunspots: Plunge count. Bob Zimmerman behindtheblack.com

1/8 The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of XI Zhongxun, Father of XI Jinping Hardcover – 3 June 2025 by  Joseph Torigian  (Author) https://www.amazon.com.au/Partys-Interests-Come-First-Zhongxun/dp/1503634752/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 China's leader, Xi Jinping, is one Cf the most powerful individuals inCtheCworld--and one of the least understood. Much can be learned, however, about both Xi Jinping and the nature of the party he leads from the memory and legacy of his father, the revolutionary Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002). The elder Xi served the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for more than seven decades. He worked at the right hand of prominent leaders Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. He helped build the Communist base area that saved Mao Zedong in 1935, and he initiated the Special Economic Zones that launched China into the reform era after Mao's death. He led the Party's United Front efforts toward Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Taiwanese. And though in 1989 he initially sought to avoid violence, he ultimately supported the Party's crackdown on the Tiananmen protesters. The Party's Interests Come First is the first biography of Xi Zhongxun written in English. This biography is at once a sweeping story of the Chinese revolution and the first several decades of the People's Republic of China and a deeply personal story about making sense of one's own identity within a larger political context. Drawing on an array of new documents, interviews, diaries, and periodicals, Joseph Torigian vividly tells the life story of Xi Zhongxun, a man who spent his entire life struggling to balance his own feelings with the Party's demands. Through the eyes of Xi Jinping's father, Torigian reveals the extraordinary organizational, ideological, and coercive power of the CCP--and the terrible cost in human suffering that comes with it. 1910 MAO

Thirty-six years ago this week, the Chinese Communist Party crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square with tanks and bullets. The death toll? Certainly in the hundreds, probably in the thousands, and deliberately hidden by the Communist Party of China.How did that massacre reshape China's path, and what did it mean for Beijing's relationship with the U.S. and the West?Host Cliff May sits down with his FDD colleague Matt Pottinger, Chairman of our China Program, to discuss Tiananmen's legacy and global consequences.

Often I will find in a chronology or a biography, you know, official materials, evidence that because I have other evidence, it's meaningful in a way that maybe the people who edited those collections might not have expected. That's the idea of mosaic theory – you bring together many pieces of evidence, even small ones, to bring the full meaning out. — Joseph Torigian, NBN interview May 2025 In his new book, The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (Stanford University Press, 2025), Joseph Torigian leads readers deep into the complex work of historical reconstruction – a process he metaphorically describes as mosaic theory. Studying elite politics in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Torigian explains, isn't about uncovering one decisive document; it's about piecing together partial, often contradictory fragments like the Li Rui diaries, edited speeches, and scattered archival traces into a fuller, richer picture. Torigian's approach builds on foundational insights from political scientists like Paul Pierson and China historians Frederick Teiwes and Warren Sun, whose empirical rigor has long shaped the field of CCP elite politics. Following this tradition, Torigian resists simple or deterministic narratives, showing that even dramatic moments like the Tiananmen protests must be understood as products of internal fractures, improvisation, and deep uncertainty – not as inevitable climaxes. In this interview, Torigian discusses how his course “The Revisionists” invites students to wrestle with the ethical tension between judging and understanding. His own scholarship, he explains, aims to provide the tools, context, and historical reconstruction that allow readers to form their own moral judgments – without handing them a prefabricated verdict. Ultimately, Torigian's book and his public reflections invite us to step back from binaries of hero and villain, reformer and hardliner, or loyalist and dissenter, and to see history as a web of improvisation, contradiction, and meaning. He suggests that the historian's role is not to dictate the final moral judgment, but to parse the evidence by piecing together and coloring a mosaic that illuminates the pressures and choices that shaped the past – leaving the moral reckoning, and the hard questions, to the rest of us. 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

Thirty-six years ago this week, the Chinese Communist Party crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square with tanks and bullets. The death toll? Certainly in the hundreds, probably in the thousands, and deliberately hidden by the Communist Party of China.How did that massacre reshape China's path, and what did it mean for Beijing's relationship with the U.S. and the West?Host Cliff May sits down with his FDD colleague Matt Pottinger, Chairman of our China Program, to discuss Tiananmen's legacy and global consequences.

Dr Greg Popcak has advice for helping your kids express their emotions and Kitty Cleveland shares her father's story of going from prison to paradise.

FRANCE: RECALLING TIANANMEN TRAGEDY YEAR 0NE, 1990. SIMON CONSTABLE 1900 BOXERS

Often I will find in a chronology or a biography, you know, official materials, evidence that because I have other evidence, it's meaningful in a way that maybe the people who edited those collections might not have expected. That's the idea of mosaic theory – you bring together many pieces of evidence, even small ones, to bring the full meaning out. — Joseph Torigian, NBN interview May 2025 In his new book, The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (Stanford University Press, 2025), Joseph Torigian leads readers deep into the complex work of historical reconstruction – a process he metaphorically describes as mosaic theory. Studying elite politics in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Torigian explains, isn't about uncovering one decisive document; it's about piecing together partial, often contradictory fragments like the Li Rui diaries, edited speeches, and scattered archival traces into a fuller, richer picture. Torigian's approach builds on foundational insights from political scientists like Paul Pierson and China historians Frederick Teiwes and Warren Sun, whose empirical rigor has long shaped the field of CCP elite politics. Following this tradition, Torigian resists simple or deterministic narratives, showing that even dramatic moments like the Tiananmen protests must be understood as products of internal fractures, improvisation, and deep uncertainty – not as inevitable climaxes. In this interview, Torigian discusses how his course “The Revisionists” invites students to wrestle with the ethical tension between judging and understanding. His own scholarship, he explains, aims to provide the tools, context, and historical reconstruction that allow readers to form their own moral judgments – without handing them a prefabricated verdict. Ultimately, Torigian's book and his public reflections invite us to step back from binaries of hero and villain, reformer and hardliner, or loyalist and dissenter, and to see history as a web of improvisation, contradiction, and meaning. He suggests that the historian's role is not to dictate the final moral judgment, but to parse the evidence by piecing together and coloring a mosaic that illuminates the pressures and choices that shaped the past – leaving the moral reckoning, and the hard questions, to the rest of us. 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

Often I will find in a chronology or a biography, you know, official materials, evidence that because I have other evidence, it's meaningful in a way that maybe the people who edited those collections might not have expected. That's the idea of mosaic theory – you bring together many pieces of evidence, even small ones, to bring the full meaning out. — Joseph Torigian, NBN interview May 2025 In his new book, The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (Stanford University Press, 2025), Joseph Torigian leads readers deep into the complex work of historical reconstruction – a process he metaphorically describes as mosaic theory. Studying elite politics in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Torigian explains, isn't about uncovering one decisive document; it's about piecing together partial, often contradictory fragments like the Li Rui diaries, edited speeches, and scattered archival traces into a fuller, richer picture. Torigian's approach builds on foundational insights from political scientists like Paul Pierson and China historians Frederick Teiwes and Warren Sun, whose empirical rigor has long shaped the field of CCP elite politics. Following this tradition, Torigian resists simple or deterministic narratives, showing that even dramatic moments like the Tiananmen protests must be understood as products of internal fractures, improvisation, and deep uncertainty – not as inevitable climaxes. In this interview, Torigian discusses how his course “The Revisionists” invites students to wrestle with the ethical tension between judging and understanding. His own scholarship, he explains, aims to provide the tools, context, and historical reconstruction that allow readers to form their own moral judgments – without handing them a prefabricated verdict. Ultimately, Torigian's book and his public reflections invite us to step back from binaries of hero and villain, reformer and hardliner, or loyalist and dissenter, and to see history as a web of improvisation, contradiction, and meaning. He suggests that the historian's role is not to dictate the final moral judgment, but to parse the evidence by piecing together and coloring a mosaic that illuminates the pressures and choices that shaped the past – leaving the moral reckoning, and the hard questions, to the rest of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Often I will find in a chronology or a biography, you know, official materials, evidence that because I have other evidence, it's meaningful in a way that maybe the people who edited those collections might not have expected. That's the idea of mosaic theory – you bring together many pieces of evidence, even small ones, to bring the full meaning out. — Joseph Torigian, NBN interview May 2025 In his new book, The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (Stanford University Press, 2025), Joseph Torigian leads readers deep into the complex work of historical reconstruction – a process he metaphorically describes as mosaic theory. Studying elite politics in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Torigian explains, isn't about uncovering one decisive document; it's about piecing together partial, often contradictory fragments like the Li Rui diaries, edited speeches, and scattered archival traces into a fuller, richer picture. Torigian's approach builds on foundational insights from political scientists like Paul Pierson and China historians Frederick Teiwes and Warren Sun, whose empirical rigor has long shaped the field of CCP elite politics. Following this tradition, Torigian resists simple or deterministic narratives, showing that even dramatic moments like the Tiananmen protests must be understood as products of internal fractures, improvisation, and deep uncertainty – not as inevitable climaxes. In this interview, Torigian discusses how his course “The Revisionists” invites students to wrestle with the ethical tension between judging and understanding. His own scholarship, he explains, aims to provide the tools, context, and historical reconstruction that allow readers to form their own moral judgments – without handing them a prefabricated verdict. Ultimately, Torigian's book and his public reflections invite us to step back from binaries of hero and villain, reformer and hardliner, or loyalist and dissenter, and to see history as a web of improvisation, contradiction, and meaning. He suggests that the historian's role is not to dictate the final moral judgment, but to parse the evidence by piecing together and coloring a mosaic that illuminates the pressures and choices that shaped the past – leaving the moral reckoning, and the hard questions, to the rest of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Often I will find in a chronology or a biography, you know, official materials, evidence that because I have other evidence, it's meaningful in a way that maybe the people who edited those collections might not have expected. That's the idea of mosaic theory – you bring together many pieces of evidence, even small ones, to bring the full meaning out. — Joseph Torigian, NBN interview May 2025 In his new book, The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (Stanford University Press, 2025), Joseph Torigian leads readers deep into the complex work of historical reconstruction – a process he metaphorically describes as mosaic theory. Studying elite politics in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Torigian explains, isn't about uncovering one decisive document; it's about piecing together partial, often contradictory fragments like the Li Rui diaries, edited speeches, and scattered archival traces into a fuller, richer picture. Torigian's approach builds on foundational insights from political scientists like Paul Pierson and China historians Frederick Teiwes and Warren Sun, whose empirical rigor has long shaped the field of CCP elite politics. Following this tradition, Torigian resists simple or deterministic narratives, showing that even dramatic moments like the Tiananmen protests must be understood as products of internal fractures, improvisation, and deep uncertainty – not as inevitable climaxes. In this interview, Torigian discusses how his course “The Revisionists” invites students to wrestle with the ethical tension between judging and understanding. His own scholarship, he explains, aims to provide the tools, context, and historical reconstruction that allow readers to form their own moral judgments – without handing them a prefabricated verdict. Ultimately, Torigian's book and his public reflections invite us to step back from binaries of hero and villain, reformer and hardliner, or loyalist and dissenter, and to see history as a web of improvisation, contradiction, and meaning. He suggests that the historian's role is not to dictate the final moral judgment, but to parse the evidence by piecing together and coloring a mosaic that illuminates the pressures and choices that shaped the past – leaving the moral reckoning, and the hard questions, to the rest of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

PRC: TIANANMEN RECALLED. GREGORY COPLEY, DEFENSE & FOREIGN AFFAIRS 1902 BEHEADINGS

Hour 1 for 6/4/25 Drew was joined by Logan Church from Catholic vote to discuss the Anti-Catholic FBI Memo (3:56), family month (7:44), and Biden era abortion memo rescinded (9:30). Then, Steve Mosher covered the Tiananmen square massacre (26:55) the dangers of China today (42:33), and buying Chinese goods (48:27). Link: https://www.pop.org/

Am 4. Juni 1989 ging die chinesische Armee mit Panzern brutal gegen Studenten vor, die für Demokratie demonstrierten. Seither versucht Peking, „aktiv die Fakten zu zensieren“, wie US-Außenminister Rubio erinnert. Viele junge Menschen wissen nicht, was damals geschehen ist.

Informativo de primera hora de la mañana, en el programa El Remate de La Diez Capital Radio. El titular de hace hoy un año: Feijóo deja la puerta abierta a una moción de censura contra Sánchez tras las elecciones europeas … y hoy hace 365 día: Las mujeres canarias congelan cada vez antes sus óvulos …y hoy hace un año: Canarias, segunda región española con mayor absentismo con un 8,2%. Hoy se cumplen 1.195 días del cruel ataque e invasión de Rusia a Ucrania. 3 años y 88 días. Hoy es miércoles 4 de junio de 2025. Día Mundial de la Fertilidad. El 4 de junio se celebra el Día Mundial de la Fertilidad, con el objetivo de llamar la atención sobre los problemas de fertilidad que se presentan cada vez con más frecuencia en la población, y de identificar cuál sería el momento indicado para consultar a un especialista. Hablamos de infertilidad cuando no se produce un embarazo pasado un año de relaciones sexuales sin utilización de métodos anticonceptivos, o bien cuando hay una dificultad para mantener un embarazo. Es una enfermedad bastante común reconocida por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, que afecta a un gran porcentaje de parejas en edad reproductiva. 1878.- El sultán de Turquía cede la posesión de la isla de Chipre a Gran Bretaña. 1940.- Segunda Guerra Mundial: finaliza la evacuación aliada de Dunkerque. 1941.- Irak queda en poder de Gran Bretaña tras la ocupación de Mosul por las fuerzas británicas. 1944.- Segunda Guerra Mundial: entrada de los aliados en Roma. 1946.- El general Perón toma posesión de la Presidencia de la República Argentina. 1954.- Firma del tratado por el que Francia reconoce la independencia de Vietnam. 1989.- El Ejército chino dispara indiscriminadamente contra la multitud que ocupa la plaza de Tiananmen, en Pekín, causando decenas de muertos y cientos de heridos. 1989.- Elecciones en Polonia. Victoria de Solidaridad. 2013.- La ONU confirma el uso de armas químicas en Siria. 2018.- Arabia Saudí empieza a expedir permisos para conducir a las mujeres, actividad que tenían prohibida. Santoral para hoy, 4 de junio: santos Nicanor, Alejandro, Quirino y Optato, Rútilo y santa Saturnina. La extrema derecha de Wilders abandona a sus socios y deja caer el Gobierno de Países Bajos. Ucrania ataca con explosivos submarinos el puente de Kerch en Crimea. Estos son los 5 empleos que más crecerán en los próximos 5 años. Economía. El paro en la eurozona cae una décima en abril al 6,2% tras disminuir en 207.000 desempleados. El Gobierno garantiza al PP tratar sus temas en la Conferencia de Presidentes tras el amago de plantón de sus barones. El Estado impone abordar la migración con las autonomías tras la presión de Canarias. El Gobierno ataja el órdago del PP y acepta "todos los temas" que proponían para salvar la Conferencia de Presidentes. El turismo, imparable, marca otro récord en Canarias de 5,7 millones hasta abril. Visitantes internacionales alcanza en Canarias un nuevo máximo de 8.789 millones de euros en cuatro meses, un 25% de lo que desembolsan en toda España. El paro en Canarias cae en 2.473 personas en mayo hasta los 152.171 desempleados. Con la caída del paro en el mes de mayo, se acumulan ya tres meses consecutivos de descensos en el desempleo en la región. El Ayuntamiento de La Laguna logra que Aena se siente con los vecinos de la zona del aeropuerto Semanas atrás, el alcalde de La Laguna expresó su rechazo "firme y contundente" a la ampliación del horario de operaciones del aeropuerto Tenerife Norte. Felipe Miñambres asume la presidencia del CD Tenerife tras la destitución de José Daniel Díaz. La votación se produjo ayer en el consejo de administración y obtuvo un respaldo unánime de los asistentes. 4 junio 2000. En Atlanta, Bruce Springsteen toca por primera vez el tema American Skin (41 shots), Piel americana (41 disparos) una canción que escribió sobre el asesinato de Amadou Diallo a manos de la policía de Nueva York. Ocho días después, interpreta la canción en su concierto en el Madison Square Garden, que es protestada airadamente por algunos miembros de la policía de Nueva York.

Bienvenidos a La Diez Capital Radio! Están a punto de comenzar un nuevo episodio de nuestro Programa de Actualidad, donde la información, la formación y el entretenimiento se encuentran para ofrecerles lo mejor de las noticias y temas relevantes. Este programa, dirigido y presentado por Miguel Ángel González Suárez, es su ventana directa a los acontecimientos más importantes, así como a las historias que capturan la esencia de nuestro tiempo. A través de un enfoque dinámico y cercano, Miguel Ángel conecta con ustedes para proporcionar una experiencia informativa y envolvente. Desde análisis profundos hasta entrevistas exclusivas, cada emisión está diseñada para mantenerles al tanto, ofrecerles nuevos conocimientos y, por supuesto, entretenerles. Para más detalles sobre el programa, visiten nuestra web en www.ladiez.es. - Informativo de primera hora de la mañana, en el programa El Remate de La Diez Capital Radio. El titular de hace hoy un año: Feijóo deja la puerta abierta a una moción de censura contra Sánchez tras las elecciones europeas … y hoy hace 365 día: Las mujeres canarias congelan cada vez antes sus óvulos …y hoy hace un año: Canarias, segunda región española con mayor absentismo con un 8,2%. Hoy se cumplen 1.195 días del cruel ataque e invasión de Rusia a Ucrania. 3 años y 88 días. Hoy es miércoles 4 de junio de 2025. Día Mundial de la Fertilidad. El 4 de junio se celebra el Día Mundial de la Fertilidad, con el objetivo de llamar la atención sobre los problemas de fertilidad que se presentan cada vez con más frecuencia en la población, y de identificar cuál sería el momento indicado para consultar a un especialista. Hablamos de infertilidad cuando no se produce un embarazo pasado un año de relaciones sexuales sin utilización de métodos anticonceptivos, o bien cuando hay una dificultad para mantener un embarazo. Es una enfermedad bastante común reconocida por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, que afecta a un gran porcentaje de parejas en edad reproductiva. 1878.- El sultán de Turquía cede la posesión de la isla de Chipre a Gran Bretaña. 1940.- Segunda Guerra Mundial: finaliza la evacuación aliada de Dunkerque. 1941.- Irak queda en poder de Gran Bretaña tras la ocupación de Mosul por las fuerzas británicas. 1944.- Segunda Guerra Mundial: entrada de los aliados en Roma. 1946.- El general Perón toma posesión de la Presidencia de la República Argentina. 1954.- Firma del tratado por el que Francia reconoce la independencia de Vietnam. 1989.- El Ejército chino dispara indiscriminadamente contra la multitud que ocupa la plaza de Tiananmen, en Pekín, causando decenas de muertos y cientos de heridos. 1989.- Elecciones en Polonia. Victoria de Solidaridad. 2013.- La ONU confirma el uso de armas químicas en Siria. 2018.- Arabia Saudí empieza a expedir permisos para conducir a las mujeres, actividad que tenían prohibida. Santoral para hoy, 4 de junio: santos Nicanor, Alejandro, Quirino y Optato, Rútilo y santa Saturnina. La extrema derecha de Wilders abandona a sus socios y deja caer el Gobierno de Países Bajos. Ucrania ataca con explosivos submarinos el puente de Kerch en Crimea. Estos son los 5 empleos que más crecerán en los próximos 5 años. Economía. El paro en la eurozona cae una décima en abril al 6,2% tras disminuir en 207.000 desempleados. El Gobierno garantiza al PP tratar sus temas en la Conferencia de Presidentes tras el amago de plantón de sus barones. El Estado impone abordar la migración con las autonomías tras la presión de Canarias. El Gobierno ataja el órdago del PP y acepta "todos los temas" que proponían para salvar la Conferencia de Presidentes. El turismo, imparable, marca otro récord en Canarias de 5,7 millones hasta abril. Visitantes internacionales alcanza en Canarias un nuevo máximo de 8.789 millones de euros en cuatro meses, un 25% de lo que desembolsan en toda España. El paro en Canarias cae en 2.473 personas en mayo hasta los 152.171 desempleados. Con la caída del paro en el mes de mayo, se acumulan ya tres meses consecutivos de descensos en el desempleo en la región. El Ayuntamiento de La Laguna logra que Aena se siente con los vecinos de la zona del aeropuerto Semanas atrás, el alcalde de La Laguna expresó su rechazo "firme y contundente" a la ampliación del horario de operaciones del aeropuerto Tenerife Norte. Felipe Miñambres asume la presidencia del CD Tenerife tras la destitución de José Daniel Díaz. La votación se produjo ayer en el consejo de administración y obtuvo un respaldo unánime de los asistentes. 4 junio 2000. En Atlanta, Bruce Springsteen toca por primera vez el tema American Skin (41 shots), Piel americana (41 disparos) una canción que escribió sobre el asesinato de Amadou Diallo a manos de la policía de Nueva York. Ocho días después, interpreta la canción en su concierto en el Madison Square Garden, que es protestada airadamente por algunos miembros de la policía de Nueva York. - 🎙️ Sección de Actualidad en “El Remate” de La Diez Capital Radio. Hoy, en nuestra sección política con el analista Manuel Fernández, abordamos algunos de los temas más controvertidos del panorama nacional e internacional: 🔹 La eurodiputada Leire Díez, defiende que es periodista y no "fontanera" en una declaración reventada por Aldama al grito de "sinvergüenza" 🔹 El debate sobre el uso de las lenguas cooficiales españolas (catalán, vasco y gallego) en el Parlamento Europeo: ¿avanza la diversidad lingüística o se instrumentaliza políticamente? 🔹 Y, como tema central, el análisis del impacto de la ley de amnistía: implicaciones jurídicas, reacciones sociales y consecuencias políticas en el equilibrio institucional de España. Una conversación directa, sin filtros y con el análisis riguroso que caracteriza a “El Remate”, cada día en La Diez Capital Radio. - 🎙️ Entrevista en “El Remate” de La Diez Capital Radio. Hoy nos acompaña en el programa el Adjunto Primero de la Diputación del Común en Canarias, el doctor Antonio Alarcó, con quien repasamos la actualidad informativa desde una perspectiva institucional y social. Durante la entrevista, abordamos temas clave que afectan a la ciudadanía canaria, como los retos en sanidad, la defensa de los derechos fundamentales, el papel de la Diputación del Común en la protección del bienestar social y la necesidad de reforzar los canales de participación ciudadana. Una conversación comprometida, reflexiva y cercana, como cada día en El Remate, el espacio informativo de La Diez Capital Radio. - 🍝 Sección “Cocina sin vergüenza” en El Remate de La Diez Capital Radio. Hoy viajamos con el paladar hasta Italia, concretamente hasta Bolonia, donde nuestro chef canario Ramón Hernández nos sorprende con una fusión atrevida y deliciosa: pasta fresca con mojo rojo. En esta nueva entrega de Cocina sin vergüenza, Ramón nos enseña a preparar una receta que une lo mejor de la tradición italiana con el sabor inconfundible de Canarias. Una propuesta creativa, sencilla y sabrosa, perfecta para romper moldes en la cocina. Porque en El Remate, la gastronomía también se disfruta sin prejuicios... y con mucho sabor. Solo en La Diez Capital Radio. - 🎙️ Entrevista en “El Remate” de La Diez Capital Radio. En esta edición, conversamos con el analista de la actualidad política Clemente Afonso, con quien desgranamos las últimas encuestas electorales tanto a nivel nacional como en Canarias. Analizamos las tendencias de voto, los posibles escenarios de gobernabilidad y los factores que están marcando el pulso político de cara a las próximas elecciones. Un repaso detallado a la evolución de los partidos, el comportamiento del electorado y el papel de las formaciones emergentes en el nuevo mapa político. Un análisis riguroso, claro y sin adornos, como siempre en El Remate, el espacio de referencia en La Diez Capital Radio.

Dr Greg Popcak has advice for helping your kids express their emotions and Kitty Cleveland shares her father's story of going from prison to paradise.

Retour sur les événements de la place Tian'Anmen en Chine en 1989, où des millions d'étudiants ont manifesté pour plus de liberté avant d'être violemment réprimés par l'armée.Notre équipe a utilisé un outil d'Intelligence artificielle via les technologies d'Audiomeans© pour accompagner la création de ce contenu écrit.En 2025, Europe 1 célèbre ses 70 ans. 70 ans d'histoire, de rires, de partages et d'émotions.Pour marquer cet anniversaire, découvrez une collection inédite de podcasts : "70 ans d'Europe 1".Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

pWotD Episode 2875: 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 374,299 views on Sunday, 16 March 2025 our article of the day is 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between the demonstrators and the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution, the Chinese government deployed troops to occupy the square on the night of 3 June in what is referred to as the Tiananmen Square massacre. The events are sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement, the Tiananmen Square Incident, or the Tiananmen uprising.The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu Yaobang in April 1989 amid the backdrop of rapid economic development and social change in post-Mao China, reflecting anxieties among the people and political elite about the country's future. The reforms of the 1980s had led to a nascent market economy that benefited some people but seriously disadvantaged others, and the one-party political system also faced a challenge to its legitimacy. Common grievances at the time included inflation, corruption, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy, and restrictions on political participation. Although they were highly disorganised and their goals varied, the students called for things like rollback of the removal of "iron rice bowl" jobs, greater accountability, constitutional due process, democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. Workers' protests were generally focused on inflation and the erosion of welfare. These groups united around anti-corruption demands, adjusting economic policies, and protecting social security. At the height of the protests, about one million people assembled in the square.As the protests developed, the authorities responded with both conciliatory and hardline tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership. By May, a student-led hunger strike galvanised support around the country for the demonstrators, and the protests spread to some 400 cities. On 20 May, the State Council declared martial law, and as many as 300,000 troops were mobilised to Beijing.After several weeks of standoffs and violent confrontations between the army and demonstrators left many on both sides severely injured, a meeting held among the CCP's top leadership on 1 June concluded with a decision to clear the square. The troops advanced into central parts of Beijing on the city's major thoroughfares in the early morning hours of 4 June and engaged in bloody clashes with demonstrators attempting to block them, in which many people – demonstrators, bystanders, and soldiers – were killed. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded.The event had both short and long term consequences. Western countries imposed arms embargoes on China, and various Western media outlets labeled the crackdown a "massacre". In the aftermath of the protests, the Chinese government suppressed other protests around China, carried out mass arrests of protesters which catalysed Operation Yellowbird, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic and foreign affiliated press, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests. The government also invested heavily into creating more effective police riot control units. More broadly, the suppression ended the political reforms begun in 1986 as well as the New Enlightenment movement, and halted the policies of liberalisation of the 1980s, which were only partly resumed after Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992. Considered a watershed event, reaction to the protests set limits on political expression in China that have lasted up to the present day. The events remain one of the most sensitive and most widely censored topics in China.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:39 UTC on Monday, 17 March 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Jasmine.

Today, Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, guest hosts Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. official and China expert during the Bush One and Two Administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and founded Wide Fountain, a platform for in-depth geopolitical analysis.  In this the second of a two-part episode, Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So, let's get started.  Sam Cooper's The Bureau: https://www.thebureau.news/ Christopher Meyer's Wide Fountain platform: https://widefountain.substack.com/ --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association a and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Great news! Feedspot, the podcast industry ranking system rated One CA Podcast as one of the top 10 shows on foreign policy. Check it out at: https://podcast.feedspot.com/foreign_policy_podcasts/ --- Special thanks to Cozy Ambience for a sample of "February Cafe Jazz - Instrumental Bossa Nova Music for Work, Study and Relax - Background Music" retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmq8Ht-sNwQ --- Today, Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, guest hosts Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. official and China expert during the Bush One and Two Administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and founded Wide Fountain, a platform for in-depth geopolitical analysis.  In this the first of a two-part episode, Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So, let's get started.  Sam Cooper's The Bureau: https://www.thebureau.news/ Christopher Meyer's Wide Fountain platform: https://widefountain.substack.com/ --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association a and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Special thanks to Cozy Ambience for a sample of "February Cafe Jazz - Instrumental Bossa Nova Music for Work, Study and Relax - Background Music" retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmq8Ht-sNwQ --- Transcript 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the One CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. One CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. 00:00:44    SAM COOPER official and China expert during the Bush I and II administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the first of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:07    SAM COOPER Today I'm excited to introduce Chris Myers. Chris is a longtime China expert and former U .S. government diplomatic and economic issues officer, and he explains how military intelligence and influence networks embedded deeply with organized crime are a central feature of the global strategy employed by the families that really are running communist China. And when I say that, we're going to discuss your research on the family of Xi Jinping, the Xi family, and you call it the Yezi clique. But first, tell our viewers your background in getting into China and your career. 00:01:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Thank you very much, Sam. I started a keen interest in China when I was 16. And I read the history of the opium wars and I was outraged. And I decided I wanted a career to be involved in business and diplomacy between the U .S. and China. And then as an undergrad student, I did research on the special economic zones. This was in the early 80s and the special economic zones were just announced. And my research led me to see the geopolitical aspects. There were some. across from Macau, across from Hong Kong, and across from Taiwan. So I sort of had an eye to that. And then I did business. I was, for five years, I was with a Fortune 500 company. And I had the opportunity to do some business in Xiaomon. And I saw some things that set off alarm bells in my mind. And I kind of filed that. And I had some experiences that informed my research later. I worked in the government in Bush 1 and Bush 2. I was involved in Indo -Pacific affairs. really helping American companies do business in the region, and then became a consultant to part of the government that administered our territories in the Pacific. So I saw some things there that, again, set off alarm bells in my mind. And in 2016, I happened to cross an old colleague who kind of gave me some more information. And basically from 2016 until 2022, I conducted a lot of independent research. I decided I wanted to know exactly what was going on because proxies in the region seemed emboldened to take on the U .S. And they didn't have a government portfolio, but they acted like they did. And so my research sort of started in Micronesia. I had the great opportunity to come across your book. You totally informed. parts of what I was looking at and kind of put the spotlight on what happened in Canada. And I kind of worked the two sides to the middle and conducted most recently research that kind of takes us from Mao Zedong's death until the 90s. And I believe that there was a click. I call it the yes, she click. There were scores to settle. There were powerful families that were on the cusp of greatness or recognition for all their good work, and they were purged. And it led some individuals to become extremely militant in their conduct of political warfare against the U .S. So that sort of sets the table for what we might be talking about. 00:04:28    SAM COOPER Yeah. So to get into this, let's start with the Ye family. They're mysterious, but for experts, they're very clearly a clan that has tremendous kingmaking power in China. So maybe let's start with who they are and then bridge into how they connect with Xi's father. 00:04:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So the patriarch, Lie Jianying, was literally the kingmaker of Mao Zedong. He came from Guangdong province, and he was involved in the very earliest movements of the Communist Party in China. And he fled one of those, I think it was the Guangzhou uprising, with Zhou Enlai, and they escaped to Hong Kong. So Ye Jianying is one of the original revolutionaries in China, and he had the title of Marshal Ye. And when he crossed paths with Mao Zedong, he was actually the aide -de -camp to a very powerful Communist Party operator out of Beijing who had an army of tens of thousands. And he rolled up to Mao and his very small group of long marchers and said, follow us, we're going to Sichuan province. And Mao was like, no, I don't think that's a safe bet. The locals are going to tear you up. And Ye Jianying kind of heard a truth in Mao and he deserted this powerful general and with him brought the code books. So Mao gets Ye Jianying and the code books and he's able to communicate with the Comintern. And lo and behold, that general did get wiped out in Sichuan. He returned to Mao's base. With a few thousand troops from then, Mao became the most powerful leader in the communist ecosystem. So Ye Jianying had a very high regard for Mao. Mao called him the savior of the Communist Party and the Communist Revolution. And so fast forward it right through the revolution. Ye gets a very top position as the party secretary for Guangdong province, the largest and economically most powerful province in the country. And Mao wants to conduct his land reform in Guangdong, just as he does everywhere. And it's a violent thing where landowners are hunted down and put to death. Yeah, because he was a native Cantonese, understood that the landowners in Guangdong were not of the same ilk as those throughout China. They actually worked the lands. They had a very cooperative relationship with labor. And he tried to resist. But Mao forced Lin Biao into Guangdong. And Ye lost his government role. And if he hadn't been in the military, he would have been completely out of power. But because he had a military portfolio, he was able to stay on the peripheries. And he was actually part of the small group that brought down the Gang of Four and ended the Cultural Revolution. So Ye Jianying went through the Mao Zedong grinder, but he did it so early in the 50s that he was able to... maintain power and have it going forward. Another Long March hero was Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhong Chun. And his claim to fame in the Communist Party was he maintained security over the area where Mao was camped in Yan 'an. And he was able to provide Mao and his group with enough security that they could camp there through a winter and survive. Not only that, but he negotiated and he conducted diplomacy with the tribesmen in the Northwest, in Qinghai, in Xinjiang, and in Tibet. And he was loved. And he got a lot of rebels and insurgents among these minority populations to join the Communist Party. And Mao gave him great profs for that and referred to him as one of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms period. brilliant statesman who was able to ingratiate with the minorities and make them part of the Chinese nation. Unfortunately, though, Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhongchun, he was purged, but he was purged later. He was purged in 1962. And from Xi Jinping's age nine until he was 25, Xi Jinping's father was under arrest. Without trial, it was just the culture revolution. He was under arrest because his office published a book that was deemed not flattering to Mao Zedong. Basically, he was promoting some thought within the Communist Party that Mao didn't like. So Xi's father is in jail from 62 to 78. And because Ye Senior and Xi Zhongchun had a relationship, Ye Jianying kind of became a godfather of sorts for Xi Jinping. Xi was sent to work in the countryside and he escaped and he tried to get back to Beijing and it wasn't safe for him to be reunited with his family. And Ye intervened. And Ye made sure that Xi joined the Communist Party, even though these tragedies were all around him, and made sure that he got the semblance of an education, although he really never did. He was a guide for Xi Jinping throughout his younger years. in place of his father. 00:10:02    Sam Cooper Before we continue how those families dovetail together, can you describe in China's political economy, what is the power of Marshal Ye? 00:10:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So in the 50s, he was jettisoned out of the political arena. His main work was in the PLA. He was a marshal and he became minister of defense in China. And he was responsible for procurement. And to sort of give you a sense, when the Korean War started, the United Nations put a blockade on trade with China because they were arming the North Korean army. Marshal Yeh was responsible for making sure that supplies got to North Korea. And that was a big role that he fulfilled. And his sons kind of brought that along. So it's curious because Marshal Yeh was one of the most powerful stars in the communist lineup, but he was also a minority. He was from Guangdong and he was a Haka Chinese. So some people would say that Haka Chinese within China, there's a lid sometimes on their ability to move up. And so perhaps he was never considered for the echelon, but he did arise very high. But in some ways, and his sons adopted this even more so, they had to become very combative. in their political dealings. But no doubt about it, Marshal Yeh had a chance to handle huge volumes of military supplies, and there was an opportunity to skim and generate great wealth, which probably was the case. The way that Marshal Yeh fulfilled the supply chains for the North Korean army was through organized crime. And it just happened that two of The individuals, Henry Falk and Stanley Ho, were also Hakka Chinese. And they became the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Both of them are on record as saying they made their fortunes supplying the Korean War. 00:12:15    SAM COOPER Right. So people that read my book are very familiar with Stanley Ho, according to U .S. government intelligence. the absolute king of Chinese international mafia with connectivity to casinos, banking, political influence operations in Canada, triad leadership in Canada. So I think we've set the table for the 90s in Guangdong, Fujian. Xi Jinping is now starting to come on the scene politically there. The Ye family, who were partners essentially of Xi's father. had a little bit of a godfather eye on Xi's movements within the party. We can say that they're the power behind a throne that they want to see continue to rise. So can you take us into the 90s, the sort of Stanley Ho connectivity to Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and how that combines the Hong Kong tycoons slash triad leaders with the communist powers in Fujian? 00:13:21    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. Mao passed away in 78. Deng Xiaoping came to power. And Deng was all about economic reform and catching up to the West. So in southern China, Fujian and Guangdong province, Deng looked to Ye Jenying and his sons. His sons were in their 30s now. And he also looked to Xi Zhongshan. Xi Zhongshan became party secretary for Guangdong province. in the early 80s. And Deng kind of put together this group. The Ye's and the Xi's were family friends. They celebrated Chinese holidays together. The Xi's were northern Chinese, but they kind of encamped in Guangdong province after a certain amount of time. And that's where Xi's father retired. But in Guangdong, the son of Ye, his name was Ye Xuanping. Basically, he was mayor of Guangzhou and the governor of Guangdong. And very quickly, he was referred to as the emperor of the south. So in the 80s, he was running Guangdong province. And he became so powerful that the CCP sought to have him step down. And he actually threatened to withhold tax to Beijing from the province of Guangdong unless they negotiated with him. He wanted a vice chair of the CPPCC, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee. And he wants to be a vice governor of the CPPCC. And he wanted to be allowed to maintain his power base in Guangdong. And this is a rare case where the CCP actually deferred to these wishes. Just to get him out of running the most powerful province in China, they said okay. So he goes over the CPPCC. And he takes with him the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Stanley Ho never had a position, but Henry Falk and the other top lieutenants in these organized crime entities all wound up on the CPPCC. And to give you a sense of like, what was some of the magic Stanley Ho had when he won the monopoly on gaming in Macau? He devised this VIP room concept where... He owned the casino, but the VIP rooms were run by basically triads and junkets, powerful friends from mainland China and triads. And the triads conducted all kinds of crime that the Vancouver model got in a very big dose. So it was racketeering and prostitution and all kinds of things, but also collections. So Stanley Ho didn't have to work on collections because his muscle did it for him. But the strongest of these triad operators wound up in the CPPCC, as long as they were effective in what they were doing for the government. And 14K is dominated by Hakka Chinese. Most of the most powerful triads have a very strong Hakka element to it. And I don't mean to suggest that this wonderful race of Chinese called Hakkas is all bad. Lee Kuan Yew, the premier of Singapore, was Hakka Chinese. phenomenal Chinese, but there were also some very nefarious and very effective in their criminal activities that were Haka Chinese. So the Ye's were in the middle of this. And Chinese language social media accounts in Hong Kong will talk about the Ye's dominance over these gaming operators in Macau. 00:17:07    SAM COOPER Let's get into that and explore that more. I just want to ask a side question. As I'm aware of a very important figure, in what we call the Hoag Commission in Canada. I'm just going to leave it at that. This is our inquiry into foreign interference that stemmed from my investigative reporting. And there is a politician at the center of that that my sources close to them said went off to a haka conference in China for weeks or something like that, you know, while being an elected politician in Canada. Knowing what you know, and I'm just coming out of the blue with this question, is there anything good for Canada that they could be doing on that trip? 00:17:45    CHRISTOPHER MEYER There could be a lot of normal cultural activity, but I'll say one thing, that the powers that are doing the kinds of things that I'm concerned with are definitely represented in those groups. There might be a wink and a nod and things look very normal on the surface, but there's no free lunch in China. Everybody has to pay the piper, and the piper is the communist party of China. 00:18:11    SAM COOPER So let me ask you this. Viewers of the Bureau know that I've pressed away in journalism in explaining that the United Front Work Department and international money laundering and organized crime are synonymous. They're one and the same. The CIA says the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is really the core unit of the United Front. So what you're getting at... I think the Ye family, these power brokers that are behind Xi and his power in southern China, you're saying they essentially formed this United Front and organized crime compact as sort of a political tool, a smuggling tool, a military tool? 00:18:55    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. And I want to say that the United Front was an early Communist Party creation. And the thing about the Communist Party... They infiltrated the Kuomintang. When the Kuomintang had more power and they were the power base in China, the communists used political warfare to infiltrate them and really become their undoing. And the United Front is basically one way to get all parts of society under the control of the CCP. So within the United Front, the CPPCC is sort of the big leagues. And all the other organizations are the feeder groups. So if you get in a small united front group and you deliver in a big way, you can get promoted all the way to this PCC. And Ong Lapsung is an example of that. So the whole idea of the united front is to harness and control all the resources from academia, the private sector. from all aspects of society and to make them work for the Communist Party. And I feel that any united front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. 00:20:26    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U.S. relations, thank you all for what you're doing. your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes of One CA Podcast.   Episode 2 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the 1CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. 1CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U .S. 00:00:44    Introduction official and China expert during the Bush 1 and 2 administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U .S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the second of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:08    SAM COOPER I feel that any United Front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. And they should be labeled that way and they should be treated that way. And they're conducting operations for China. So to get back to the Ye family, I just want to say very briefly, so Deng Xiaoping taps the older brother, Ye, and he's in the government and he has a nine, 10 -year run in Guangdong. The younger brother, his name is Ye Xuanning. He's the dangerous one. He's a real interesting cat. So, yeah. was in college during the Cultural Revolution. And just to give you an idea of the thin ice that you could be skating on in China, he graduated from college and he was thrown in jail. And he was thrown in jail because, you know, Mao wanted to send a signal to the Ye family, I'm in control here. You're not in control. He got out of jail and he had a job in a radio factory or something like that. And he must have been so distraught, he lost his arm in an accident. throwing boxes into a crusher and he lost his arm. So he became a calligrapher with his left hand. And if you know Chinese, like every time you write calligraphy, your hand is going across what you're writing. If you're left -handed, I don't know how he did it. I'm left -handed. And he became an accomplished calligrapher with his left hand. So it just gives you a sense of the spirit of this guy. He's not your normal. person. I think he was a genius. I think he was extremely hardworking. And one of his first positions, he was involved in a small United Front operation in Beijing. Then he became secretary for Kang Xian, who was sort of the head of the oil faction in China. And he was a very powerful individual. And then he found himself in Guangdong. And when his brother was appointed head of the province and the city of Guangzhou, He got into Espionade, and he became the spymaster for the PLA, working in the GDP. And he really had it. He sort of hit his stride there, and that's how he ended his career. The spymaster for the PLA. I think any other rival couldn't even hold a candle to him. He was totally gifted. And his brother and he were able to leverage all of their... contacts with organized crime because he used them in operations around the world. And I think he's the one who weaponized it to the point where, number one, organized crime figures were making money for the military, a lot of it. And number two, they were almost pre -trained in operations. They were bold. They would go anywhere and do anything. And Aung La Pseung is a good example of that. 00:04:11    CHRISTOPHER MEYER I was going to say, because not everyone knows these names like you and I do, but Enlap Sang, nominally a real estate developer from Macau. My Files, he's a huge international organized crime figure known for the so -called Clinton Gate or White House visits. He's the guy that got next to the Clinton White House or got inside, you know, maybe five to ten times. He ends up getting done, as they say, in a United Nations corruption case, which of course connects to a very important guy in Australia that successfully sued my colleague, John Garneau, and yet is at the top of Chinese organized crime funding Australian politics. He was involved in that FBI case. So to bring it back, what I've picked up in my book and in my repeated reporting efforts at the Bureau is these international Chinese businessmen in real estate and casinos, tech these days, they go around the world, they get next to our politicians, and that's their job. They're being tasked by whoever the Ye family spymaster of today is, is sending them abroad to do that. At some point, Xi Jinping comes into this and says it's okay. 00:05:30    SAM COOPER okay. And it's still evolving. I mean, I came on to this. When I read your book and I saw your story of Lai Changxin, I said, holy shit, I have to get into this. You see the level of danger that it brings to a country like Canada and North America. But I think that Ye Xuen Ning created the mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, 00:05:51    SAM COOPER mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, number one, fund military operations. and other things, and to extend influence operations. Like the United Front is all about influence operations. But if you introduce organized crime elements into parts of the United Front, you can weaponize it and you can get a lot more bang for your buck using these nefarious creatures that you're managing, you're controlling them. And I want to mention something. How does the CCP have control over organized crimes? So I want to say, In the late 90s, Macau No. 1 was about to be returned from Portuguese administration to Chinese. And 2, the kind of monopoly of the casinos license was coming up in 2002. And what happened was these triad operators were starting to push back against Stanley Ho. Stanley Ho's right -hand man was shot in the face in Victoria Park during this period. And the Portuguese sent an official to try to calm down the situation. And that individual was shot when he arrived. And the Communist Party kind of went in and took control. When the monopoly came up, Stanley Ho and his family, they got the coverage. But that's because he's completely loyal to the CCP. And so the CCP has so much leverage over these entities. Completely, he devised the strategy to integrate organized crime. And then he passed away in 2016. And then the institutional steps took place after that. They had to transfer from sort of a control of one man to the government running it. And you can see examples around 2016 of a lot of large -scale Chinese operations having disruption during this period. One of the reasons they were able to do this for so long was that Ye Xuanning was completely secretive. I mean, he managed these operations in a very keen and brilliant way, and he was never identified. Xi Jinping's role is interesting. Ye Xuanning told his brothers to help Xi Jinping. And you can kind of see like an increase in their efforts when Xi's father... He was in Beijing, and he had a very high role. He pulled a bureau standing committee, and he was sent down because of Tiananmen. He was on the reformer side, and he publicly admitted it. He was a very admirable individual, and he said he was supporting Hua Guofeng. So he faced early retirement in 1993, and the Ye brothers were so upset about this, and probably Xi too. They sort of doubled down on their efforts on behalf of this political warfare. It's almost as if they were pissed off at the Communist Party, but they took it out on North America. It's like they had to become more radical in what they were doing because in order to get power in China, you had to outflank Li Peng and the hardliners. So there's an interesting element there. 00:09:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You talk about this combination of military intelligence and organized crime. and political warfare and global influence operations. Trade is obviously involved. Explain what you mean by radicalization of that tool in operations. 00:09:31    SAM COOPER So there were about 10 operations in the 1990s that I believe were masterminded by the Yeshi Clay and primarily Yeshi Ning. The most outrageous, there was one and probably several. smuggling of military -grade machine guns into the U .S. from China. And one of the groups that was set up, helped finance the military, was the Poly Group. And the Poly Group, they were on the bill of lading for these. They were labeled as something else, but they came into the port of Oakland. And the interesting thing was the CEO of Poly Group, who was a princeling himself, was meeting in the White House and had his photo taken with President Clinton. At the time, these machine guns were on the water. That's bold. Yes. And when I ponder this, it's like I know how much the Chinese love photographs. That photo shown by Xi Jinping to all the cronies in Beijing would get him a lot of brownie points. And these machine guns were being distributed to gangs in the area. Street gangs in California. So this kind of thing, right? Right. And so that one was uncovered. But how many others slipped by? And there have been cases similar magnitude in Tennessee and Florida. 00:10:57    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yeah, and this is where it gets into the leaked Sidewinder report that I touched on in the book. But yeah, that report refers to Pauley Group laundering 2 ,000 AK -47s into California. You're saying you believe that not only is Xi Jinping supported by this Ye family intelligence, who I have no problem believing are behind the United Front organized crime nexus. You're saying you think Xi Jinping is a mind involved in this kind of thing as well. 00:11:30    SAM COOPER Originally, as I was doing my research, I thought Xi was the mastermind. But as I did a deep dive to what his contemporaries said of him, The big knock on Xi was that he wasn't educated. Like age nine to age 25, his dad has been persecuted and locked up without trial. And he's forced to work in the countryside and he's not happy about it. I mean, he wasn't educated. And that's the biggest knock on Xi Jinping. And when you look at the history of Xi in Fujian, first of all, he goes to the Ministry of Defense and then doesn't do... anything of note there as a young man. But then he goes into Hebei province and he's working in Hebei province as a middle level provincial official. And he's not doing much. I mean, his big contribution was suggesting that they film a TV show in that province and kind of burned out. He wasn't favored by the Communist Party officials there. You know, he's brought to Fujian. Communist Party officials bounce around provinces and each time they have an increasing role. Well, he stays in Fujian for 17 years. And it's almost like he's being babysat by the Yehs. And I mean, the Yeh family compound was a two and a half hour drive from where she was in Fujian. And so I don't think he was the mastermind, but he was definitely the beneficiary. And I think that it was a long term project. And the Yeh brothers. put the pieces on the table to help promote Xi Jinping. And here's an interesting thing. In 1997, there was a big Central Party conclave, the 15th Central Party plenary meeting. And Ye wasn't even named as an alternate delegate. So you've got hundreds of delegates coming from all over the country. And he's a princeling. And he's been in provincial government for 12 years. And he's not even named. Somebody forced him onto the list of alternate delegates. There were 150. He was the 151st alternate delegate. He didn't receive one vote. He was pushed on. And I think somebody in the realm said, you know what? We're running all these operations and we're doing it so secretively. Nobody knows that this is for Xi Jinping. So they started gradually to kind of promote Xi as. the mastermind of this. And the years were okay with that. But Xi Jinping was on his way to becoming the leader of China by 2002. 00:14:08    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And I was over in Taiwan, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a year ago with international journalists. And we had kind of a dinner talk where their political intelligence expert was going to talk about some of this Klan details and things like that. And they said, yeah, within the princelings, Xi Jinping was the least likely, the least talented to reach chairman. 00:14:37    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And so, OK, you know, I'm not the expert. If someone from Taiwan is telling me that, you're saying that. So if true, and you're saying the power behind the throne is this Ye family that boosts him. And they're the ones you're saying that are the masterminds of what I'm going to call modern political Chinese communist warfare using proxies, organized crime, dirty tycoons. So this is where we're going. 00:15:06    SAM COOPER Yep, this is where we're going. And let me just touch on a few of the operations in the 1990s, just to give you a sense for what was going on and the fact that the Chinese were never completely called out on the carpet for it. Just let them continue doing it. And one of the themes of my research is it's time to call the Chinese out. And to do that, you have to be very specific. I think there needs to be a large group of countries that has their research done and they call out Xi Jinping for this political warfare that absolutely is hyper -destructive. 00:15:41    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So you're saying this is an intelligence operation? Yeah. For the last 10 minutes or so, In direct relationship to this network you're talking about, the 90s, 2000, aggressive combination of international organized crime, Hong Kong tycoons, Macau tycoons, in Chinese military influence operations, also people smuggling, also drug smuggling, illegal migration and, you know, fentanyl. There is a basis that Chinese triads and Mexican cartels are working together on those things and that Canada is a, you could call it, if this is a company, the controlling minds of a lot of this are in Vancouver and Toronto. Canadian ports are very deeply infiltrated by China, along with some Iranian mafia and intelligence. It's a fact. So where do we go from there? I myself, as a Canadian, the good countries of the world need to get together to combat this approaching, if not already into early stages of the access of China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. We're at loggerheads and they're using Canada, I believe, unfortunately. 00:17:01    SAM COOPER Right. And I do believe that Yeshua Ning is a genius and he looked at North America and he wants to inflict pain on the U .S. When he set up these plans in the early 90s, the Chinese GDP was a fraction of the U .S. So he had a lot of ground to make up. And he chose Vancouver because the resources to combat his efforts were probably deemed to be significantly less than the resources in the U .S. So I feel that the attack on Canada, the Vancouver model. if you will, which spread right across to Toronto and then down into Queens and across to LA and permeates everything. I believe that the US and Canada should try to get on the same page about this and to the extent possible, Mexico as well. And then the UK and Australia haven't been unaffected by this. There should be a big effort to get on the same page with the West because this is a totalitarian regime doing its level best to take us out. 00:18:07    CHRISTOPHER MEYER The controlling mind, I'm saying, of the Mexican cartels, I think it's Chinese triads. That's the real power there. 00:18:15    SAM COOPER I think we're both in agreement. If you want to draw a word picture that says what this is, picture that there's a really bad actor and he's throwing a really illegal party and selling drugs and he's bringing it all in. And the U .S. is going after the people who own the land where all of this took place. You have to go after China. And I believe that China is making 98 % of the precursors for fentanyl, and then they're laundering the money. That's the other piece. They're laundering it. They're operating this massive money laundering operation for the cartels. So I say the gloves do come off, but I would love to see them come off in unison. And all of these, at least in North America, Mexico, Canada, and the U .S., we're all on the same page. And we speak with one voice. And I'll add to this. Xi Jinping has been as painful towards his own population as he has been externally and internationally. So he's inflicted pain on the Chinese and he's about to go down. I mean, he's got his wings clipped in the last few months and he may not be in power very long. There's some serious movement in China. 00:19:30    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You sound like my friend Harry Tsang, the ambassador for Taiwan and Ottawa. He's bearish on Xi Jinping in a big way. 00:19:38    SAM COOPER Yeah. Well, I think it's a good time for the West to approach China and say, look, we got off on the wrong foot. Let's reboot. And by the way, there's some reparations needed here. 70 ,000 people have been dying a year from this, and it's a Chinese operation. You know, the cartels are definitely part of it, but... I think there's good reason for the West to get on the same page. 00:20:02    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Absolutely. So we will end it there for a first great chat. And I think next time we'll get into the juicy story of Lai Cheng Zing, the bigot China's supposed most wanted. Or what was he? So I'll leave it at that and we'll pick it up next time. You have to say, 00:20:21    SAM COOPER have to say, I'm sitting there doing my research. I get your book. And all of a sudden, within 50 pages, the lights are going off because you wrote about Lai Changxin and it just completed some thoughts that I was mulling over. And yeah, we're going to have an interesting conversation about Lai Changxin. 00:20:40    CHRISTOPHER MEYER That touches my heart because I've always been a brother of the United States and I've felt so disheartened that bad people have gotten in between us and we have to stop that. And as you say, we need to get together on this. I've reached some good thinkers in the US and there's now things brewing. So let's keep it going. You got it. 00:21:01    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field, working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U .S. relations. Thank you all for what you're doing. This is Jack, your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes, One CA Podcast.

Today, Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, guest hosts Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. official and China expert during the Bush One and Two Administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and founded Wide Fountain, a platform for in-depth geopolitical analysis.  In this the first of a two-part episode, Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So, let's get started.  Sam Cooper's The Bureau: https://www.thebureau.news/ Christopher Meyer's Wide Fountain platform: https://widefountain.substack.com/ --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association a and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Special thanks to Cozy Ambience for a sample of "February Cafe Jazz - Instrumental Bossa Nova Music for Work, Study and Relax - Background Music" retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmq8Ht-sNwQ --- Transcript 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the One CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. One CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U.S. 00:00:44    SAM COOPER official and China expert during the Bush I and II administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U.S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the first of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:07    SAM COOPER Today I'm excited to introduce Chris Myers. Chris is a longtime China expert and former U .S. government diplomatic and economic issues officer, and he explains how military intelligence and influence networks embedded deeply with organized crime are a central feature of the global strategy employed by the families that really are running communist China. And when I say that, we're going to discuss your research on the family of Xi Jinping, the Xi family, and you call it the Yezi clique. But first, tell our viewers your background in getting into China and your career. 00:01:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Thank you very much, Sam. I started a keen interest in China when I was 16. And I read the history of the opium wars and I was outraged. And I decided I wanted a career to be involved in business and diplomacy between the U .S. and China. And then as an undergrad student, I did research on the special economic zones. This was in the early 80s and the special economic zones were just announced. And my research led me to see the geopolitical aspects. There were some. across from Macau, across from Hong Kong, and across from Taiwan. So I sort of had an eye to that. And then I did business. I was, for five years, I was with a Fortune 500 company. And I had the opportunity to do some business in Xiaomon. And I saw some things that set off alarm bells in my mind. And I kind of filed that. And I had some experiences that informed my research later. I worked in the government in Bush 1 and Bush 2. I was involved in Indo -Pacific affairs. really helping American companies do business in the region, and then became a consultant to part of the government that administered our territories in the Pacific. So I saw some things there that, again, set off alarm bells in my mind. And in 2016, I happened to cross an old colleague who kind of gave me some more information. And basically from 2016 until 2022, I conducted a lot of independent research. I decided I wanted to know exactly what was going on because proxies in the region seemed emboldened to take on the U .S. And they didn't have a government portfolio, but they acted like they did. And so my research sort of started in Micronesia. I had the great opportunity to come across your book. You totally informed. parts of what I was looking at and kind of put the spotlight on what happened in Canada. And I kind of worked the two sides to the middle and conducted most recently research that kind of takes us from Mao Zedong's death until the 90s. And I believe that there was a click. I call it the yes, she click. There were scores to settle. There were powerful families that were on the cusp of greatness or recognition for all their good work, and they were purged. And it led some individuals to become extremely militant in their conduct of political warfare against the U .S. So that sort of sets the table for what we might be talking about. 00:04:28    SAM COOPER Yeah. So to get into this, let's start with the Ye family. They're mysterious, but for experts, they're very clearly a clan that has tremendous kingmaking power in China. So maybe let's start with who they are and then bridge into how they connect with Xi's father. 00:04:46    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So the patriarch, Lie Jianying, was literally the kingmaker of Mao Zedong. He came from Guangdong province, and he was involved in the very earliest movements of the Communist Party in China. And he fled one of those, I think it was the Guangzhou uprising, with Zhou Enlai, and they escaped to Hong Kong. So Ye Jianying is one of the original revolutionaries in China, and he had the title of Marshal Ye. And when he crossed paths with Mao Zedong, he was actually the aide -de -camp to a very powerful Communist Party operator out of Beijing who had an army of tens of thousands. And he rolled up to Mao and his very small group of long marchers and said, follow us, we're going to Sichuan province. And Mao was like, no, I don't think that's a safe bet. The locals are going to tear you up. And Ye Jianying kind of heard a truth in Mao and he deserted this powerful general and with him brought the code books. So Mao gets Ye Jianying and the code books and he's able to communicate with the Comintern. And lo and behold, that general did get wiped out in Sichuan. He returned to Mao's base. With a few thousand troops from then, Mao became the most powerful leader in the communist ecosystem. So Ye Jianying had a very high regard for Mao. Mao called him the savior of the Communist Party and the Communist Revolution. And so fast forward it right through the revolution. Ye gets a very top position as the party secretary for Guangdong province, the largest and economically most powerful province in the country. And Mao wants to conduct his land reform in Guangdong, just as he does everywhere. And it's a violent thing where landowners are hunted down and put to death. Yeah, because he was a native Cantonese, understood that the landowners in Guangdong were not of the same ilk as those throughout China. They actually worked the lands. They had a very cooperative relationship with labor. And he tried to resist. But Mao forced Lin Biao into Guangdong. And Ye lost his government role. And if he hadn't been in the military, he would have been completely out of power. But because he had a military portfolio, he was able to stay on the peripheries. And he was actually part of the small group that brought down the Gang of Four and ended the Cultural Revolution. So Ye Jianying went through the Mao Zedong grinder, but he did it so early in the 50s that he was able to... maintain power and have it going forward. Another Long March hero was Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhong Chun. And his claim to fame in the Communist Party was he maintained security over the area where Mao was camped in Yan 'an. And he was able to provide Mao and his group with enough security that they could camp there through a winter and survive. Not only that, but he negotiated and he conducted diplomacy with the tribesmen in the Northwest, in Qinghai, in Xinjiang, and in Tibet. And he was loved. And he got a lot of rebels and insurgents among these minority populations to join the Communist Party. And Mao gave him great profs for that and referred to him as one of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms period. brilliant statesman who was able to ingratiate with the minorities and make them part of the Chinese nation. Unfortunately, though, Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhongchun, he was purged, but he was purged later. He was purged in 1962. And from Xi Jinping's age nine until he was 25, Xi Jinping's father was under arrest. Without trial, it was just the culture revolution. He was under arrest because his office published a book that was deemed not flattering to Mao Zedong. Basically, he was promoting some thought within the Communist Party that Mao didn't like. So Xi's father is in jail from 62 to 78. And because Ye Senior and Xi Zhongchun had a relationship, Ye Jianying kind of became a godfather of sorts for Xi Jinping. Xi was sent to work in the countryside and he escaped and he tried to get back to Beijing and it wasn't safe for him to be reunited with his family. And Ye intervened. And Ye made sure that Xi joined the Communist Party, even though these tragedies were all around him, and made sure that he got the semblance of an education, although he really never did. He was a guide for Xi Jinping throughout his younger years. in place of his father. 00:10:02    Sam Cooper Before we continue how those families dovetail together, can you describe in China's political economy, what is the power of Marshal Ye? 00:10:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So in the 50s, he was jettisoned out of the political arena. His main work was in the PLA. He was a marshal and he became minister of defense in China. And he was responsible for procurement. And to sort of give you a sense, when the Korean War started, the United Nations put a blockade on trade with China because they were arming the North Korean army. Marshal Yeh was responsible for making sure that supplies got to North Korea. And that was a big role that he fulfilled. And his sons kind of brought that along. So it's curious because Marshal Yeh was one of the most powerful stars in the communist lineup, but he was also a minority. He was from Guangdong and he was a Haka Chinese. So some people would say that Haka Chinese within China, there's a lid sometimes on their ability to move up. And so perhaps he was never considered for the echelon, but he did arise very high. But in some ways, and his sons adopted this even more so, they had to become very combative. in their political dealings. But no doubt about it, Marshal Yeh had a chance to handle huge volumes of military supplies, and there was an opportunity to skim and generate great wealth, which probably was the case. The way that Marshal Yeh fulfilled the supply chains for the North Korean army was through organized crime. And it just happened that two of The individuals, Henry Falk and Stanley Ho, were also Hakka Chinese. And they became the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Both of them are on record as saying they made their fortunes supplying the Korean War. 00:12:15    SAM COOPER Right. So people that read my book are very familiar with Stanley Ho, according to U .S. government intelligence. the absolute king of Chinese international mafia with connectivity to casinos, banking, political influence operations in Canada, triad leadership in Canada. So I think we've set the table for the 90s in Guangdong, Fujian. Xi Jinping is now starting to come on the scene politically there. The Ye family, who were partners essentially of Xi's father. had a little bit of a godfather eye on Xi's movements within the party. We can say that they're the power behind a throne that they want to see continue to rise. So can you take us into the 90s, the sort of Stanley Ho connectivity to Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and how that combines the Hong Kong tycoons slash triad leaders with the communist powers in Fujian? 00:13:21    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. Mao passed away in 78. Deng Xiaoping came to power. And Deng was all about economic reform and catching up to the West. So in southern China, Fujian and Guangdong province, Deng looked to Ye Jenying and his sons. His sons were in their 30s now. And he also looked to Xi Zhongshan. Xi Zhongshan became party secretary for Guangdong province. in the early 80s. And Deng kind of put together this group. The Ye's and the Xi's were family friends. They celebrated Chinese holidays together. The Xi's were northern Chinese, but they kind of encamped in Guangdong province after a certain amount of time. And that's where Xi's father retired. But in Guangdong, the son of Ye, his name was Ye Xuanping. Basically, he was mayor of Guangzhou and the governor of Guangdong. And very quickly, he was referred to as the emperor of the south. So in the 80s, he was running Guangdong province. And he became so powerful that the CCP sought to have him step down. And he actually threatened to withhold tax to Beijing from the province of Guangdong unless they negotiated with him. He wanted a vice chair of the CPPCC, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee. And he wants to be a vice governor of the CPPCC. And he wanted to be allowed to maintain his power base in Guangdong. And this is a rare case where the CCP actually deferred to these wishes. Just to get him out of running the most powerful province in China, they said okay. So he goes over the CPPCC. And he takes with him the kingpins of organized crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Stanley Ho never had a position, but Henry Falk and the other top lieutenants in these organized crime entities all wound up on the CPPCC. And to give you a sense of like, what was some of the magic Stanley Ho had when he won the monopoly on gaming in Macau? He devised this VIP room concept where... He owned the casino, but the VIP rooms were run by basically triads and junkets, powerful friends from mainland China and triads. And the triads conducted all kinds of crime that the Vancouver model got in a very big dose. So it was racketeering and prostitution and all kinds of things, but also collections. So Stanley Ho didn't have to work on collections because his muscle did it for him. But the strongest of these triad operators wound up in the CPPCC, as long as they were effective in what they were doing for the government. And 14K is dominated by Hakka Chinese. Most of the most powerful triads have a very strong Hakka element to it. And I don't mean to suggest that this wonderful race of Chinese called Hakkas is all bad. Lee Kuan Yew, the premier of Singapore, was Hakka Chinese. phenomenal Chinese, but there were also some very nefarious and very effective in their criminal activities that were Haka Chinese. So the Ye's were in the middle of this. And Chinese language social media accounts in Hong Kong will talk about the Ye's dominance over these gaming operators in Macau. 00:17:07    SAM COOPER Let's get into that and explore that more. I just want to ask a side question. As I'm aware of a very important figure, in what we call the Hoag Commission in Canada. I'm just going to leave it at that. This is our inquiry into foreign interference that stemmed from my investigative reporting. And there is a politician at the center of that that my sources close to them said went off to a haka conference in China for weeks or something like that, you know, while being an elected politician in Canada. Knowing what you know, and I'm just coming out of the blue with this question, is there anything good for Canada that they could be doing on that trip? 00:17:45    CHRISTOPHER MEYER There could be a lot of normal cultural activity, but I'll say one thing, that the powers that are doing the kinds of things that I'm concerned with are definitely represented in those groups. There might be a wink and a nod and things look very normal on the surface, but there's no free lunch in China. Everybody has to pay the piper, and the piper is the communist party of China. 00:18:11    SAM COOPER So let me ask you this. Viewers of the Bureau know that I've pressed away in journalism in explaining that the United Front Work Department and international money laundering and organized crime are synonymous. They're one and the same. The CIA says the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is really the core unit of the United Front. So what you're getting at... I think the Ye family, these power brokers that are behind Xi and his power in southern China, you're saying they essentially formed this United Front and organized crime compact as sort of a political tool, a smuggling tool, a military tool? 00:18:55    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yes. And I want to say that the United Front was an early Communist Party creation. And the thing about the Communist Party... They infiltrated the Kuomintang. When the Kuomintang had more power and they were the power base in China, the communists used political warfare to infiltrate them and really become their undoing. And the United Front is basically one way to get all parts of society under the control of the CCP. So within the United Front, the CPPCC is sort of the big leagues. And all the other organizations are the feeder groups. So if you get in a small united front group and you deliver in a big way, you can get promoted all the way to this PCC. And Ong Lapsung is an example of that. So the whole idea of the united front is to harness and control all the resources from academia, the private sector. from all aspects of society and to make them work for the Communist Party. And I feel that any united front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. 00:20:26    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U.S. relations, thank you all for what you're doing. your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes of One CA Podcast.   Episode 2 00:00:01    Introduction Welcome to the 1CA Podcast. This is your host, Jack Gaines. 1CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on ground with the partner nation's people and leadership. Our goal is to inspire anyone interested in working the last three feet of foreign relations. To contact the show, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org. I'll have those in the show notes. Today we welcome Sam Cooper, founder of the news outlet The Bureau, as he interviews Christopher Meyer, a former U .S. 00:00:44    Introduction official and China expert during the Bush 1 and 2 administrations. Meyer currently serves as the head of the U .S. Micronesia Council and is the founder of Wide Fountain. a platform for in -depth geopolitical analysis. This is the second of a two -part episode. Sam and Christopher discuss PRC strategic corruption and political warfare. So let's get started. 00:01:08    SAM COOPER I feel that any United Front operation, and there's so many in Canada and the U .S., they should just be called assets of the Chinese government. That's one way for the Chinese to increase their headcount of diplomatic officers within any given country. And they should be labeled that way and they should be treated that way. And they're conducting operations for China. So to get back to the Ye family, I just want to say very briefly, so Deng Xiaoping taps the older brother, Ye, and he's in the government and he has a nine, 10 -year run in Guangdong. The younger brother, his name is Ye Xuanning. He's the dangerous one. He's a real interesting cat. So, yeah. was in college during the Cultural Revolution. And just to give you an idea of the thin ice that you could be skating on in China, he graduated from college and he was thrown in jail. And he was thrown in jail because, you know, Mao wanted to send a signal to the Ye family, I'm in control here. You're not in control. He got out of jail and he had a job in a radio factory or something like that. And he must have been so distraught, he lost his arm in an accident. throwing boxes into a crusher and he lost his arm. So he became a calligrapher with his left hand. And if you know Chinese, like every time you write calligraphy, your hand is going across what you're writing. If you're left -handed, I don't know how he did it. I'm left -handed. And he became an accomplished calligrapher with his left hand. So it just gives you a sense of the spirit of this guy. He's not your normal. person. I think he was a genius. I think he was extremely hardworking. And one of his first positions, he was involved in a small United Front operation in Beijing. Then he became secretary for Kang Xian, who was sort of the head of the oil faction in China. And he was a very powerful individual. And then he found himself in Guangdong. And when his brother was appointed head of the province and the city of Guangzhou, He got into Espionade, and he became the spymaster for the PLA, working in the GDP. And he really had it. He sort of hit his stride there, and that's how he ended his career. The spymaster for the PLA. I think any other rival couldn't even hold a candle to him. He was totally gifted. And his brother and he were able to leverage all of their... contacts with organized crime because he used them in operations around the world. And I think he's the one who weaponized it to the point where, number one, organized crime figures were making money for the military, a lot of it. And number two, they were almost pre -trained in operations. They were bold. They would go anywhere and do anything. And Aung La Pseung is a good example of that. 00:04:11    CHRISTOPHER MEYER I was going to say, because not everyone knows these names like you and I do, but Enlap Sang, nominally a real estate developer from Macau. My Files, he's a huge international organized crime figure known for the so -called Clinton Gate or White House visits. He's the guy that got next to the Clinton White House or got inside, you know, maybe five to ten times. He ends up getting done, as they say, in a United Nations corruption case, which of course connects to a very important guy in Australia that successfully sued my colleague, John Garneau, and yet is at the top of Chinese organized crime funding Australian politics. He was involved in that FBI case. So to bring it back, what I've picked up in my book and in my repeated reporting efforts at the Bureau is these international Chinese businessmen in real estate and casinos, tech these days, they go around the world, they get next to our politicians, and that's their job. They're being tasked by whoever the Ye family spymaster of today is, is sending them abroad to do that. At some point, Xi Jinping comes into this and says it's okay. 00:05:30    SAM COOPER okay. And it's still evolving. I mean, I came on to this. When I read your book and I saw your story of Lai Changxin, I said, holy shit, I have to get into this. You see the level of danger that it brings to a country like Canada and North America. But I think that Ye Xuen Ning created the mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, 00:05:51    SAM COOPER mechanism for the CCP to use and leverage organized crime to, number one, fund military operations. and other things, and to extend influence operations. Like the United Front is all about influence operations. But if you introduce organized crime elements into parts of the United Front, you can weaponize it and you can get a lot more bang for your buck using these nefarious creatures that you're managing, you're controlling them. And I want to mention something. How does the CCP have control over organized crimes? So I want to say, In the late 90s, Macau No. 1 was about to be returned from Portuguese administration to Chinese. And 2, the kind of monopoly of the casinos license was coming up in 2002. And what happened was these triad operators were starting to push back against Stanley Ho. Stanley Ho's right -hand man was shot in the face in Victoria Park during this period. And the Portuguese sent an official to try to calm down the situation. And that individual was shot when he arrived. And the Communist Party kind of went in and took control. When the monopoly came up, Stanley Ho and his family, they got the coverage. But that's because he's completely loyal to the CCP. And so the CCP has so much leverage over these entities. Completely, he devised the strategy to integrate organized crime. And then he passed away in 2016. And then the institutional steps took place after that. They had to transfer from sort of a control of one man to the government running it. And you can see examples around 2016 of a lot of large -scale Chinese operations having disruption during this period. One of the reasons they were able to do this for so long was that Ye Xuanning was completely secretive. I mean, he managed these operations in a very keen and brilliant way, and he was never identified. Xi Jinping's role is interesting. Ye Xuanning told his brothers to help Xi Jinping. And you can kind of see like an increase in their efforts when Xi's father... He was in Beijing, and he had a very high role. He pulled a bureau standing committee, and he was sent down because of Tiananmen. He was on the reformer side, and he publicly admitted it. He was a very admirable individual, and he said he was supporting Hua Guofeng. So he faced early retirement in 1993, and the Ye brothers were so upset about this, and probably Xi too. They sort of doubled down on their efforts on behalf of this political warfare. It's almost as if they were pissed off at the Communist Party, but they took it out on North America. It's like they had to become more radical in what they were doing because in order to get power in China, you had to outflank Li Peng and the hardliners. So there's an interesting element there. 00:09:13    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You talk about this combination of military intelligence and organized crime. and political warfare and global influence operations. Trade is obviously involved. Explain what you mean by radicalization of that tool in operations. 00:09:31    SAM COOPER So there were about 10 operations in the 1990s that I believe were masterminded by the Yeshi Clay and primarily Yeshi Ning. The most outrageous, there was one and probably several. smuggling of military -grade machine guns into the U .S. from China. And one of the groups that was set up, helped finance the military, was the Poly Group. And the Poly Group, they were on the bill of lading for these. They were labeled as something else, but they came into the port of Oakland. And the interesting thing was the CEO of Poly Group, who was a princeling himself, was meeting in the White House and had his photo taken with President Clinton. At the time, these machine guns were on the water. That's bold. Yes. And when I ponder this, it's like I know how much the Chinese love photographs. That photo shown by Xi Jinping to all the cronies in Beijing would get him a lot of brownie points. And these machine guns were being distributed to gangs in the area. Street gangs in California. So this kind of thing, right? Right. And so that one was uncovered. But how many others slipped by? And there have been cases similar magnitude in Tennessee and Florida. 00:10:57    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Yeah, and this is where it gets into the leaked Sidewinder report that I touched on in the book. But yeah, that report refers to Pauley Group laundering 2 ,000 AK -47s into California. You're saying you believe that not only is Xi Jinping supported by this Ye family intelligence, who I have no problem believing are behind the United Front organized crime nexus. You're saying you think Xi Jinping is a mind involved in this kind of thing as well. 00:11:30    SAM COOPER Originally, as I was doing my research, I thought Xi was the mastermind. But as I did a deep dive to what his contemporaries said of him, The big knock on Xi was that he wasn't educated. Like age nine to age 25, his dad has been persecuted and locked up without trial. And he's forced to work in the countryside and he's not happy about it. I mean, he wasn't educated. And that's the biggest knock on Xi Jinping. And when you look at the history of Xi in Fujian, first of all, he goes to the Ministry of Defense and then doesn't do... anything of note there as a young man. But then he goes into Hebei province and he's working in Hebei province as a middle level provincial official. And he's not doing much. I mean, his big contribution was suggesting that they film a TV show in that province and kind of burned out. He wasn't favored by the Communist Party officials there. You know, he's brought to Fujian. Communist Party officials bounce around provinces and each time they have an increasing role. Well, he stays in Fujian for 17 years. And it's almost like he's being babysat by the Yehs. And I mean, the Yeh family compound was a two and a half hour drive from where she was in Fujian. And so I don't think he was the mastermind, but he was definitely the beneficiary. And I think that it was a long term project. And the Yeh brothers. put the pieces on the table to help promote Xi Jinping. And here's an interesting thing. In 1997, there was a big Central Party conclave, the 15th Central Party plenary meeting. And Ye wasn't even named as an alternate delegate. So you've got hundreds of delegates coming from all over the country. And he's a princeling. And he's been in provincial government for 12 years. And he's not even named. Somebody forced him onto the list of alternate delegates. There were 150. He was the 151st alternate delegate. He didn't receive one vote. He was pushed on. And I think somebody in the realm said, you know what? We're running all these operations and we're doing it so secretively. Nobody knows that this is for Xi Jinping. So they started gradually to kind of promote Xi as. the mastermind of this. And the years were okay with that. But Xi Jinping was on his way to becoming the leader of China by 2002. 00:14:08    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And I was over in Taiwan, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a year ago with international journalists. And we had kind of a dinner talk where their political intelligence expert was going to talk about some of this Klan details and things like that. And they said, yeah, within the princelings, Xi Jinping was the least likely, the least talented to reach chairman. 00:14:37    CHRISTOPHER MEYER And so, OK, you know, I'm not the expert. If someone from Taiwan is telling me that, you're saying that. So if true, and you're saying the power behind the throne is this Ye family that boosts him. And they're the ones you're saying that are the masterminds of what I'm going to call modern political Chinese communist warfare using proxies, organized crime, dirty tycoons. So this is where we're going. 00:15:06    SAM COOPER Yep, this is where we're going. And let me just touch on a few of the operations in the 1990s, just to give you a sense for what was going on and the fact that the Chinese were never completely called out on the carpet for it. Just let them continue doing it. And one of the themes of my research is it's time to call the Chinese out. And to do that, you have to be very specific. I think there needs to be a large group of countries that has their research done and they call out Xi Jinping for this political warfare that absolutely is hyper -destructive. 00:15:41    CHRISTOPHER MEYER So you're saying this is an intelligence operation? Yeah. For the last 10 minutes or so, In direct relationship to this network you're talking about, the 90s, 2000, aggressive combination of international organized crime, Hong Kong tycoons, Macau tycoons, in Chinese military influence operations, also people smuggling, also drug smuggling, illegal migration and, you know, fentanyl. There is a basis that Chinese triads and Mexican cartels are working together on those things and that Canada is a, you could call it, if this is a company, the controlling minds of a lot of this are in Vancouver and Toronto. Canadian ports are very deeply infiltrated by China, along with some Iranian mafia and intelligence. It's a fact. So where do we go from there? I myself, as a Canadian, the good countries of the world need to get together to combat this approaching, if not already into early stages of the access of China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. We're at loggerheads and they're using Canada, I believe, unfortunately. 00:17:01    SAM COOPER Right. And I do believe that Yeshua Ning is a genius and he looked at North America and he wants to inflict pain on the U .S. When he set up these plans in the early 90s, the Chinese GDP was a fraction of the U .S. So he had a lot of ground to make up. And he chose Vancouver because the resources to combat his efforts were probably deemed to be significantly less than the resources in the U .S. So I feel that the attack on Canada, the Vancouver model. if you will, which spread right across to Toronto and then down into Queens and across to LA and permeates everything. I believe that the US and Canada should try to get on the same page about this and to the extent possible, Mexico as well. And then the UK and Australia haven't been unaffected by this. There should be a big effort to get on the same page with the West because this is a totalitarian regime doing its level best to take us out. 00:18:07    CHRISTOPHER MEYER The controlling mind, I'm saying, of the Mexican cartels, I think it's Chinese triads. That's the real power there. 00:18:15    SAM COOPER I think we're both in agreement. If you want to draw a word picture that says what this is, picture that there's a really bad actor and he's throwing a really illegal party and selling drugs and he's bringing it all in. And the U .S. is going after the people who own the land where all of this took place. You have to go after China. And I believe that China is making 98 % of the precursors for fentanyl, and then they're laundering the money. That's the other piece. They're laundering it. They're operating this massive money laundering operation for the cartels. So I say the gloves do come off, but I would love to see them come off in unison. And all of these, at least in North America, Mexico, Canada, and the U .S., we're all on the same page. And we speak with one voice. And I'll add to this. Xi Jinping has been as painful towards his own population as he has been externally and internationally. So he's inflicted pain on the Chinese and he's about to go down. I mean, he's got his wings clipped in the last few months and he may not be in power very long. There's some serious movement in China. 00:19:30    CHRISTOPHER MEYER You sound like my friend Harry Tsang, the ambassador for Taiwan and Ottawa. He's bearish on Xi Jinping in a big way. 00:19:38    SAM COOPER Yeah. Well, I think it's a good time for the West to approach China and say, look, we got off on the wrong foot. Let's reboot. And by the way, there's some reparations needed here. 70 ,000 people have been dying a year from this, and it's a Chinese operation. You know, the cartels are definitely part of it, but... I think there's good reason for the West to get on the same page. 00:20:02    CHRISTOPHER MEYER Absolutely. So we will end it there for a first great chat. And I think next time we'll get into the juicy story of Lai Cheng Zing, the bigot China's supposed most wanted. Or what was he? So I'll leave it at that and we'll pick it up next time. You have to say, 00:20:21    SAM COOPER have to say, I'm sitting there doing my research. I get your book. And all of a sudden, within 50 pages, the lights are going off because you wrote about Lai Changxin and it just completed some thoughts that I was mulling over. And yeah, we're going to have an interesting conversation about Lai Changxin. 00:20:40    CHRISTOPHER MEYER That touches my heart because I've always been a brother of the United States and I've felt so disheartened that bad people have gotten in between us and we have to stop that. And as you say, we need to get together on this. I've reached some good thinkers in the US and there's now things brewing. So let's keep it going. You got it. 00:21:01    Close Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, please like and subscribe and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you're interested in coming on the show or hosting an episode, email us at capodcasting@gmail.com. I'll have the email and CA Association website in the show notes. And now, most importantly, to those currently out in the field, working with a partner nation's people or leadership to forward U .S. relations. Thank you all for what you're doing. This is Jack, your host. Stay tuned for more great episodes, One CA Podcast.

Nuacht Mhall. Príomhscéalta na seachtaine, léite go mall. * Inniu an chéad lá de mhí Feabhra. Is mise Niall Ó Cuileagáin. Tharla timpiste eitleáin in Washington oíche Dé Céadaoin nuair a bhuail eitleán paisinéirí le héileacaptar Black Hawk. Bhí an t-eitleán de chuid American Airlines ag teacht anuas chuig an rúidbhealach nuair a tharla an tuairt leis an héileacaptar. Thit an dá aerárthach isteach san abhainn Potomac agus cuireadh tús le misean cuardaigh agus tarrthála ar an bpointe. Mar sin féin, is cosúil nar tháinig duine ar bith de na 60 paisinéirí eitleáin nó den triúr saighdiúirí sa héileacaptar slán ón dtimpiste. Tá sé tagtha chun solais go raibh go leor scátálaithe fíoracha ar an eitleán ag teacht thar n-ais go Washington tar éis craobhchomórtais in Kansas. D'fhógair an Kremlin sa Rúis go raibh na hiarchuraidh domhanda Yevgenia Shishkova agus Vadim Naumov ar bord an eitleáin. Tharla ócáidí comórtha ar fud an domhain dosna daoine a fuair bás agus a mhair tríd an Uileloscadh an tseachtain seo. Bhí an ócáid is mó ar siúl sa champa géibhinn in Auschwitz sa Pholainn. Saoradh an campa sin ar an 27 Eanáir 1945 agus mar gheallair sin, bíonn Lá Comórtha an Uileloiscthe ar siúl ar an lá sin gach bliain. Fuair sé mhilliún Giúdach bás san Uileloscadh, chomh maith le daoine de mhionlaigh eitneacha eile, mar thoradh ar na coireanna in aghaidh na daonnachta déanta ag na Naitsithe le linn an Dara Cogadh Domhanda. D'fhreastail an Taoiseach Micheál Martin ar an ócáid in Auschwitz agus réachtáladh ócáid chuimhneacháin i mBaile Átha Cliath chomh maith inar thug an tUachtarán Michael D. Higgins óráid. Tharraing a óráid conspóid, áfach, nuair a rinne sé tagairt don scrios in Gaza faoi láthair. Baineadh croitheadh as rialtas Mheiriceá agus as na comhlachtaí in Silicon Valley an tseachtain seo nuair a eisíodh samhail Intleachta Saorga nua sa tSín darb ainm DeepSeek. Is bota cómhrá é DeepSeek, cosúil le ChatGPT, agus tá saineolaithe ana-thógtha leis an dteicneolaíocht. Chuaigh an aip go barr na liostaí íoslódála, rud a chuir imní ar cheannairí teicneolaíochta i Meiriceá, toisc gur mhaígh DeepSeek gurchruthaíodar an tsamhail go saor i comparáid le samhlacha Meiriceánacha ar nós OpenAI. Tá DeepSeek níos saoire mar ní úsáideann sé mórán sliseanna agus de bhrí na nuachta san, chaill an comhlacht sliseanna, Nvidia, $600 milliún Dé Luain– an caillteanas margaidh is mó i stair na Stát Aontaithe. Léirigh an tUachtarán Trump a imní faoin dteicneolaíocht bíodh is gur cheiliúir rialtas na Síne an aip nua. Ach is léir nach bhfuil an Intleacht Shaorga so saor ón mbolscaireacht: nuair a chuir an BBC ceist air faoi na heachtraí i gCearnóg Tiananmen sa bhliain 1989, dúirt DeepSeek nach raibh sé ábalta an cheist a fhreagairt. * Léirithe ag Conradh na Gaeilge i Londain. Tá an aip ar fáil i d'aip phodchraolta. * GLUAIS aerárthach - aircraft scátálaithe fíoracha - figure skaters an Uileloscadh - the Holocaust coireanna in aghaidh na daonnachta - crimes against humanity samhail - prototype sliseanna - (computer) chips

Welcome to China Compass on the Fight Laugh Feast Network! I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. You can follow me on X (@chinaadventures) where I post daily reminders to pray for China (PrayforChina.us). You can also email me with any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com. You can also find easy links to everything we are involved in @ PrayGiveGo.us! Summary In today’s podcast, I begin by discussing how the “Family Guy” is now forbidden on Hong Kong (Chinese) TV, due to its mocking of Tiananmen (1:20). Next we dive into the background of Inner Mongolia (15:14), and I share a bunch of stories (21:45) about my journeys in the region over the past 20 years. Finally, we take a deep dive into the history of missionary efforts in Inner Mongolia (40:57), and the many martyrs who gave their lives there, especially in the year 1900. In the News: “Family Guy” Forbidden on Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific https://viewfromthewing.com/cathay-pacific-scrambles-to-remove-family-guy-episode-over-tiananmen-joke-beijing-wont-allow-in-the-skies/ https://hongkongfp.com/2024/12/04/cathay-pacific-pulls-family-guy-episode-with-tiananmen-crackdown-joke-apologises-and-vows-investigation/ Pray for China Province of the Week: Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia in northern China is matched up with both North and South Dakota for prayer. See which Chinese province your state is praying for @ PrayforChina.us! Inner Mongolia Overview Asia Harvest overview: https://www.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia Wikipedia profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Mongolia China Call Substack: Visa Running from Inner to “Outer” Mongolia https://chinacall.substack.com/p/visa-running-from-inner-to-outer SARS Craziness https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/the-pub/podcasts/30293/episodes/2 Ningxia (Hitchhiking w Kids in China): https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/the-pub/podcasts/30293/episodes/11 Inner Mongolia Martyrs https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/1900-protestant-martyrs-in-inner-mongolia https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/1900-martin-anna-nystrom-and-son https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/1933-enkh-bileg https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/2000-wang-zuomei https://www.vomcanada.com/cn-2024-08-01.htm Resource of the Day: Borden of Yale: The Millionaire Missionary No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regrets www.BordenofYale.com

Welcome to China Compass on the Fight Laugh Feast Network! I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. You can follow me on X (@chinaadventures) where I post daily reminders to pray for China (PrayforChina.us). You can also email me with any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com. You can also find easy links to everything we are involved in @ PrayGiveGo.us! Summary In today’s podcast, I begin by discussing how the “Family Guy” is now forbidden on Hong Kong (Chinese) TV, due to its mocking of Tiananmen (1:20). Next we dive into the background of Inner Mongolia (15:14), and I share a bunch of stories (21:45) about my journeys in the region over the past 20 years. Finally, we take a deep dive into the history of missionary efforts in Inner Mongolia (40:57), and the many martyrs who gave their lives there, especially in the year 1900. In the News: “Family Guy” Forbidden on Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific https://viewfromthewing.com/cathay-pacific-scrambles-to-remove-family-guy-episode-over-tiananmen-joke-beijing-wont-allow-in-the-skies/ https://hongkongfp.com/2024/12/04/cathay-pacific-pulls-family-guy-episode-with-tiananmen-crackdown-joke-apologises-and-vows-investigation/ Pray for China Province of the Week: Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia in northern China is matched up with both North and South Dakota for prayer. See which Chinese province your state is praying for @ PrayforChina.us! Inner Mongolia Overview Asia Harvest overview: https://www.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia Wikipedia profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Mongolia China Call Substack: Visa Running from Inner to “Outer” Mongolia https://chinacall.substack.com/p/visa-running-from-inner-to-outer SARS Craziness https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/the-pub/podcasts/30293/episodes/2 Ningxia (Hitchhiking w Kids in China): https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/the-pub/podcasts/30293/episodes/11 Inner Mongolia Martyrs https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/1900-protestant-martyrs-in-inner-mongolia https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/1900-martin-anna-nystrom-and-son https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/1933-enkh-bileg https://articles.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/inner-mongolia/2000-wang-zuomei https://www.vomcanada.com/cn-2024-08-01.htm Resource of the Day: Borden of Yale: The Millionaire Missionary No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regrets www.BordenofYale.com

Le 1er décembre 1944 a eu lieu le massacre de Thiaroye. 80 ans plus tard, Emmanuel Macron admet la responsabilité de la France dans cette tuerie dans une lettre au Président sénégalais Bassirou Diomaye Faye.  C'est l'histoire de soldats issus des colonies françaises qui réclamaient leur paye après avoir combattu pour la France. Ils refusent de quitter le camp militaire tant qu'ils ne sont pas payés. Le général Dagnan organise une répression avec l'aval de sa hiérarchie qui se solde par le massacre de ces soldats.  Qui sont les victimes du massacre de Thiaroye ? Quels événements ont mené à ce massacre ? Quel est le bilan humain de ce massacre ?  Écoutez la suite de cet épisode de Maintenant vous savez ! Un podcast Bababam Originals, écrit et réalisé par Hugo de l'Estrac. À écouter ensuite :  Qu'est-ce que le massacre de la place Tiananmen ? Qu'est-ce que la loi du mort-kilomètre ? A quoi servent les drones dans une guerre ? Retrouvez tous les épisodes de "Maintenant vous savez". Suivez Bababam sur Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Le 1er octobre 1949, sur la place Tiananmen de Pékin, Mao Zedong (1893-1976), chef de file du Parti communiste chinois, proclame la République populaire de Chine. Président de ce régime jusqu'à sa mort, celui que l'on surnommera bientôt le Grand Timonier lance la politique du “Grand Bond en avant” et la Révolution culturelle, entraînant la mort de millions de personnes. Dans un double récit inédit, Virginie Girod relate le parcours d'un dictateur du XXe siècle.Thèmes abordés : communisme, maoïsme, Chine, révolution, dictature Au cœur de l'Histoire est un podcast Europe 1- Présentation et écriture : Virginie Girod- Production : Armelle Thiberge et Morgane Vianey- Réalisation : Nicolas Gaspard- Composition des musiques originales : Julien Tharaud et Sébastien Guidis- Promotion et coordination des partenariats : Marie Corpet- Visuel : Sidonie Mangin Ressources en ligne :"Comment le Parti communiste chinois est-il né ?", Rétronews 1er octobre 1949 : la naissance de la Chine communiste - INA Chi-Hsi Hu, "Mao Tsé-toung, la révolution et la question sexuelle", Revue française de science politique,1973 Tania Angeloff, La société chinoise depuis 1949, La Découverte, coll. Repères, 2018 Qingya Meng, "Le petit livre rouge de Mao, une rhétorique au service de la révolution", TRANS, 28, 2022 Jérôme Doyon, "Que reste-t-il du communisme en Chine ?", Le Monde diplomatique, juil. 2021 À voir : Fabrice Gardel, Leys, l'homme qui a déshabillé Mao, 02B films, 2023Adrian Maben, Mao, une histoire chinoise, Adrian Maben, On Line Productions, 2006.

For this rerun episode, Elia Ayoub is joined by Kavita Krishnan, an Indian Marxist and Feminist who used to be a politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation who resigned over Ukraine. He is also joined by ⁠Promise Li⁠, a US-based Hong Konger organizer and part of the Left diaspora collective ⁠Lausan. Co-hosting this episode is ⁠Romeo Kokriatski⁠, a Ukrainian-American journalist, managing editor of the ⁠New Voice of Ukraine⁠ and co-host of the ⁠Ukraine Without Hype⁠ podcast. The topic: why the idea of multipolarity needs to be understood & critiqued, and why the left cannot abandon anti-authoritarianism and internationalism. Note: Due to Russia's ongoing bombardments of Ukraine, Romeo's power went out towards the end of the episode so we had to continue without him.  The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. How to Support: on Patreon or on Apple Podcasts. You'll get early access to all podcasts, exclusive episodes, an invitation to join our monthly hangouts, and more. Links: - My piece for Lausan Collective: ⁠The periphery has no time for binaries⁠- ⁠Majoritarian State: How Hindu Nationalism is Changing India by Angana P. Chatterji, Thomas Blom Hansen and Christophe Jaffrelot ⁠ (recommended by Kavita Krishnan)- ⁠Money Power and Financial Capital in Emerging Markets: Facing the Liquidity Tsunami by Ilias Alami (recommended by Promise Li)- Regular updates on India can be found on ⁠The India Cable⁠ Previous episodes with Romeo Kokriatski: Anti-Imperialism From the Periphery w/ Leila Al Shami & Dana El Kurd When War Gets Normalized, Or What's At Stake in Ukraine w/ Mariam Naiem Ukraine Series: 2. From Ukraine, with Love (and Anger) Russian Imperialism, Cynical Discourse and Life Amidst War w/ Mariam Naiem A View on Ukraine, Hong Kong & Tiananmen, from Taiwan w/ Wen Liu & Brian Hioe Previous episodes with Promise Li: From Hong Kong to Lebanon, Basebuilding Against Authoritarianism Transcriptions: Want to help our with transcribing episodes? ⁠Check out this link⁠. Follow: Follow The Fire These Times on the website, Twitter and Instagram  Follow From The Periphery on Patreon, the website and YouTube Follow Elia Ayoub on Substack, Mastodon, Twitter, Instagram, and Bluesky Follow Romeo Kokriatski on Bluesky, Twitter and New Voice of Ukraine. Check out Ukraine Without Hype Follow Promise Li on Twitter and Bluesky Follow Kavita Krishnan on Twitter Credits: Hosts: Elia Ayoub and Romeo Kokriatski | Guests: Kavita Krishnan and Promise Li | Producer: Elia Ayoub | Music: ⁠Rap and Revenge⁠ | Main theme design: ⁠Wenyi Geng⁠ | Sound editor: Elliott Miskovicz | Team profile pics: ⁠⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠ | Episode design: Elia Ayoub.

Last time we spoke about the Zhejiang-Fengtian War, part of the Anti-Fengtian War. Sun Chuanfang had rising through the ranks and quickly seized himself a powerbase in southeast China. Zhang Zuolin and his Fengtian commanders meanwhile became quite arrogant and began bullying and seizing as much territory as they could. This led the Fengtian forces to begin encroaching in Sun Chuanfang newfound territory of Zhejiang. Assuming Sun Chuanfang like the rest would not resist them, they were certainly surprised when he did. Sun Chuanfang formed a coalition with the warlords that controlled Jiangasu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui and his own Zhejiang to fight off the Fengtian menace. Sun Chuanfang went straight onto the offensive, surprising the Fengtian who were in a passive phase and ultimately defeating them, pushing them further north to Shandong. Sun Chuandfang's victory in the Zhejiang-Fengtian War marked the peak of his career, but peaks tend to fall.   #109 The Anti-Fengtian War Part 2: The Guominjun-Fengtian War 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. In the previous episode we spoke about the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. It was part of a larger war known loosely as the anti-fengtian war or third Zhili-fengtian war. To be blunt, if you look up the anti-fengtian war, they barely take notice of the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. Most of the focus is directed north, particularly with the conflict between the Guominjun and Fengtian. Certainly the Guominjun took the spotlight during this war as Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin were clearly fighting for dominance over Beijing. However Zhang Zuolin was simply too powerful and began to bully his way across China. Through Duan Qirui and the Beiyang government, Zhang Zuolin secured vital positions for his subordinates. The 5th Fengtian army commander Kan Chaoxi was ordered to take two Fengtian Mixed Brigades and occupy Rehe province as its governor. Li Jinglin the commander of the Fengtian 2nd army and a Hubei native, became the military inspector of Hubei. Zhang Zongchang was given the title of commander in chief of suppressing banditry in Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui which further led him to become the governor of Shandong. Yang Yuting was made governor over Jiangsu and Jiang Dengxuan over Anhui.. By 1925 the Fengtian military was 370,000 men strong across land, sea and air. By January of 1925, Fengtian forces began occupying Shanghai, threatening Sun Chuanfang who unleashed the Zhejiang-Fengtian War in retaliation As for Feng Yuxiang, he was unable to exert any real control in Beijing. He had received the title of inspector general over the northwest, effectively a military governorship. This saw him gain direct control over Rehe, Chahar and Suiyuan. In early 1925 he moved his headquarters to Kalgan. Through his subordinates and allies he also exerted control in Hunan, Shanxi and Gansu. Because of his recent acquisition of Soviet aid, his armies were growing in size, though declining in quality. He had gradually distanced himself from Zhang Zuolin. In January of 1925 Feng Yuxiang was being excluded by Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin. At this point Feng Yuxiang met Li Dazhao as Soviet military advisors were coming to help train his forces. In the late spring and summer Feng Yuxiang dispatch young officers to study in the Soviet Union. After a very strict examination period, presided over by Feng Yuxiang, 24 out of 300 students were enlisted into the Soviet Officer training corps. Another 24 were sent to Japan. When the May 13th incident broke out, Feng Yuxiang alongside some subordinates sent a telegram to Duan Qirui asking the Beiyang government to "take the external situation seriously and not to worry about it, and expressed his willingness to go to the front for the country". Feng Yuxiang then began supporting student demonstrations and on June 13th had his troops all wear black armbands to mourn the Shanghai martyrs. Feng Yuxiang pushed his men to donate to the Shanghai strike workers and personally donated 10,000 yuan. Feng Yuxiang watched costly the events unfold in the southeast. Upon discovering Sun Chuanfang was gaining the upper hand, Feng Yuxiang finally made his move. He began secretly extending his hand to just about anyone who would join with him to fight the Fengtian forces. Obviously Sun Chuanfang was immediately receptive. Feng Yuxiang then reached out within the Fengtian clique to see if any disgruntled commanders would defect. He flirted with Li Jinglin, the current governor over Hubei province. It seemed Li Jinglin was completely on board for the time being as another Fengtian commander welcomed the invitation. Guo Songling, holding the courtesy name Maochen, was born on December 25th of 1883 in Yuqiaozhai village of Dongling district in Liaoning province. In 1903 Guo Songling began studying under Mr. Dong Hanru in Changwangzhai. However he was soon forced to pull out of school because of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. In Autumn of 1905, General Zhao Erxun established the Fengtian Army Primary School at Dabeiguan in Fengtian. Guo Songling immediately joined up. The next year he met Fang Shengtao, a member of the Tongmenghui where he became exposed to revolutionary ideology. In 1907 Guo Songling graduated with honors and soon served as a sentry to the Shengjiang General's office. He was soon taken under the wing of commander Zhu Qinglan.  In 1909 Guo Songling was transferred to Chengdu, Sichuan alongside Zhu Qinglan. The next year Guo Songling joined the nationalist army of the Tongmenghui, joining the Tongmenghui as well. In 1911 the Sichuan Railway protection movement broke out and Guo Songling joined the uprising. By this point he was promoted to commander of the 2nd battalion of the 68th regiment, responsible for the defense of northern Chengdu. He persuaded the masses to lift the siege without bloodshed. The governor of Sichuan, Zhao Erfeng dismissed Guo Songlong, suspecting him to be colluding with bandits, but later restored him to his original post at the request of Zhu Qinglan. After the Wuchang uprising, various regions of Sichuan declared independence one after another. In Chengdu a new government formed with Zhu Qinglan as deputy governor. However sichuan generals soon instigated local troops to launch a mutiny, forcing Zhu Qinglan and many Hakka Generals to flee Sichuan. Guo Songling then decided to return to Fengtian province.  Back in Fengtian he joined another uprising movement led by Zhang Rong, but he was quickly arrested by the Qing government and beheaded. At this point one Han Shuxiu risked her life trying to stop the carriage carrying Zhang Rong to his execution. She was caught, but before they seized her, she told the police she was the fiance of Guo Songling, and this led them to let her go. She married Guo Songling shortly after. In 1912 Guo Songling entered the Beijing Officers institute and the next year he entered the army university. After graduating he served as a Beijing military academy instructor. In 1917 after Sun Yat-Sen established his military government in Guangzhou, Guo Songling joined up as the chief of staff to the Guangdong-Jiangxi-Hunan Border defense and became the battalion commander of the Guangdong provincial army. After Sun Yat-Sen saw some major defeats, Guo Songling departed Guangzhou, yet again returning to Fengtian where he took up a position as a tactical instructor for the military academy of Manchuria. It was here he met Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang soon recommended him to his dad who made him chief of staff and head of the 2nd regiment. By 1921 he was the head of the 8th Brigade.  During the first Zhili-Fengtian war of 1922, the eastern route force led by Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling shattered Wu Peifu's plan to break through Shanhaiguan. During the second Zhili-Fengtian war of 1924, Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling were serving as commander and deputy commander of the 3rd army. Alongside Jiang Dengxuan and Han Linchun commanding the 1st army, they soundly defeated the Zhili forces winning the war. Zhang Zuolin then appointed his son as commander of the BEijing-Yulin garrison with Guo Songling as his deputy commander. As Zhang Zuolin dispatched Fengtian commanders into China proper to occupy southern provinces. Guo Songling believed Zhang Zuolin and many of his commanders were becoming war mongers, and proposed a different strategy, emphasizing pulling back forces into China's interior to try and win over rural populations. Other commanders worked to politically exclude Guo Songling from Zhang Zuolin's ear, such as Yang Yuting, thus Guo Songling's proposal was rejected.  In 1925 Guo Songling took his wife to Japan to study military affairs. While in Japan Guo Songling learnt Zhang Zuolin was dispatched his troops south drawing Sun Chuanfang into a war. He also learned the extent of Zhang Zuolin's dealings with the Japanese and became disgusted with how he was seemingly selling out China. Now Guo Songling's wife Han Shuxiu was a graduate of Yenching University and a classmate of Feng Yuxiang's wife, Li Dequan. They had a good relationship and were close contacts. Han Shuxiu learned about Feng Yuxiang's dealings with the Soviets and told Guo Songling who became quite excited. Guo Songling had acquired quite a few grievances under Zhang Zuolin and wanted to overthrow him. Therefore he began to secretly negotiate with Feng Yuxiang. In November Guo Songling was recalled to China for the war effort. Instead of aiding the war effort, On November 22nd, Guo Songling raised an army in Luanzhou and sent a telegram stating he was rebelling against Zhang Zuolin. He called his force the “Northeast National Army”. Jiang Dengxuan rushed over to Luanzhou station to try and reason with Guo Songling, but was arrested upon entering the city. Guo Songling tried to persuade Jiang Dengxuan to join him to oppose Zhang Zuolin, but Jiang simply scolded him. Guo Songling then had him shot on November 26th. Guo Songling raised 70,000 troops who quickly captured Shanhaiguan. In the face of the onslaught, Zhang Zuolin only had 40,000 troops in the vicinity, as he had dispatched the vast majority of his forces into China proper to expand the Fengtian empire. Pretty ironic, the guy who told him to pull back his forces into the interior was now attacking his interior. Guo Songling's forces brushed aside the Fengtian armies, seizing Suizhong, Xingcheng and Jinzhou. The Fengtian forces were taken completely off guard and were quickly pushed towards the east bank of the Liaohe River. Guo Songling's main target was Mukden, which he soon erected a siege against. Guo Songling since November 22nd began repeatedly sending telegrams to Zhang Zuolin demanding he step down and allow his son Zhang Xueliang to take over. If Zhang Zuolin would simply do so, he promised to stop his rebellion. Zhang Zuolin panicked and began frantically placing a bounty over Guo Songling's head, up to 800,000 yuan. With no one to turn to, Zhang Zuolin ran with his tail between his legs to the Japanese asking if their Kwantung Army could stop Guo Songling. Zhang Zuolin knew very well the kind of man Guo Songling was. He knew the mans personality and vigor was a huge threat politically, allegedly Zhang Zuolin began the process of forming his resignation and peace talks. Zhang Zuolin was seen packing 29 cars with furniture and his valuables heading over to Dalian to flee, most likely for Japan. It is also said he had a ton of firewood and gasoline positioned around his mansion, so it could be burned down if Guo Songling got to it. Countless Fengtian civilian and military officials also began fleeing with their families, it was pure chaos. The Japanese were certainly not pleased with the situation. The Kwantung Army certainly did not want Guo Songling to gain power, it most certainly spelt doom over their dominance over Manchuria. Guo Songling was in league with Feng Yuxiang and to the Japanese this meant in one way or another, he was a communist sympathizer. The Japanese view of Guo Songling was “Guo's intention was to expel Zhang himself, clearly implement the Three Principles of the Kuomintang , involve the three northeastern provinces in war, attract Soviet forces into Manchuria, and induce a situation that Japan's national defense and Manchuria-Mongolia policy could not forgive." The president of the Manchuria railway company, Yasuhiro Banichiro believed “if Guo's rebellion was successful, the three northeastern provinces would be ravaged by the communist movement, and there might be a "free zone" without the Manchurian Railway and Kwantung Leased Territory." Consul General Yoshida Shigeru in Tianjin reported that if Guo Songling took over Manchuria, it was sure the Kuomintang would move in and the threat of communism with them. Thus the Japanese believed that Zhang Zuolin needed to stay in power. The Japanese began mediating a peace deal, highlighting how they wished both sides would recognize their empire's rights in Manchuria and Mongolia. They also added, if these demands were not respected they would go to war with either of them. Guo Songling slammed the table to this and shouted "How can this be! This is China's internal affairs! I don't understand what Japan's special rights are!" Then Zhang Zuolin made a secret agreement with the Japanese, caving into all their demands if the Kwantung army would send troops.  On december 8th, the Kwantung Army issued a warning to Guo Songling to stay 20 miles away from the south manchurian railway concession or they would get involved. The Kwantung army was taken measures to halt Guo Songling's advance and give Zhang Zuolin time to get his forces over. On the 9th the Japanese 10th divisional HQ moved from Liaoyang to Fengtian. The 63rd regiment,  1st artillery battalion and 1st Cavalry battalion of Gongzhuling alongside garrison units all converged upon Fengtian trying to intercept Guo Songling. On the 12th Guo Songling's vanguard arrived near Baiqibao. His right wing prepared an assault against Yingkou. On the 14th as they tried to enter Yingkou they were suddenly blocked by Japanese forces and issued another warning to back off. Guo Songling's men were thus banned from the urban area, forced to take the fighting along the Liaohe river. This was a huge obstacle between them at Fengtian, they would have to go 30 km's around the south manchuria railway to get to it. On the 15th the Japanese decided to withdraw part of the IJA 24th division from Korea and part of the 12th Division from Kurume to form a Manchuria expeditionary army that would be deployed in Fengtian to stop Guo Songling. On the 17th the main bulk of Guo Songling's army entered Baiqibao. On the 20th Guo Songling captured Xinmin and his vanguard was now arriving to the west bank of the Juliu river, due southwest of Mukden. Guo Songlings men could see the lights of Fengtian cities as they awaited the rest of the army to ford the river. The next day the main force arrived in Xinmen setting up a new HQ. The Fengtian defenses were led by Zhang Xueliang who deployed along the east bank of the Juliu river from Damintun to Gongzhutun. Wu Junsheng's 6th army, consisting mostly of cavalry were rushing south from Heilongjiang to take up a position on the Fengtian left wing while Zhang Zuoiangs 5th army was coming over from Jilin for the right wing. Zhang Xueliang personally led the 3rd army within the middle. Guo Songling set up his men along the west bank of the Juliu river, arranging them from north to south in the order of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th armies. On the 22nd Guo Songling gave the order for a general attack to take place the next day. The net day his army launched their attack against Zhang Xueliang's middle position, finding he was utilizing heavy Japanese weaponry. Zhang Zuoxiang attack with his right wing, quickly occupying Beigaotaizi, before hooking around to cut off Guo Songlings line of retreat. Then Wu Junsheng's left wing seized Liuhegou and assaulted Baiqibao where he burned Guo Songlings ammunition dumps, weaponry and provisions. Now Guo Songling's supply line was compromised and his rear was threatened. At this point Zhang Xueliang went out of his way to dispatch air forces to drop letters trying to get his friend to stop the rebellion. Without any response from Guo Songling, Zhang Xueliang took his force and began surrounding his army. That night Guo Songling held a meeting where his generals Zou Zuohua and Gao Jiyi advocated for a ceasefire and to go to the peace talks. Other generals such as Liu Wei and Fan Pujiang advocated to keep on fighting. In the end Guo Songling elected to keep the war going and decided to engage in a decisive battle on the 24th.  On the 24th, Guo Songling personally led the battle, launching three fierce attacks against the Fengtian forces. However Zuo Zuohua, his chief of staff defected, withdrawing an artillery brigade as he did so, greatly hampering the war effort. Guo Songling's army was defeated, he gave permission for his subordinates, even his personal guards to try and escape if they could during the night. Guo Songling and his wife Han Shuxiu were both captured by Wang Yongqing, the brigade commander of Wu Junshengs army. They were to be taken to Mukden for trial. On December 25th Wang Yongqing was escorting them when he received orders issued by Yang Yuting, Guo Songling's political rival. The orders were simply to shoot them on the spot. Now depending who you hear this story from, many claim it was actually Zhang Zuolin who sent the order. Historians believe Yang Yuting was worried Zhang Xueliang would rescue Guo Songling so he advised Zhang Zuolin it was best to simply kill him so the ordeal would not be repeated. At 10am Guo Songling and his wife were shot near Laodafang in Liaozhong county. Their bodies were transported to Mukden, which I should be calling Shenyang, I apologize the names change back and forth. Their bodies were left exposed in the Xiaoheyan stadium for three days. Thus ended the month long rebellion of Guo Songling. Now while all of that was breaking out in Manchuria, Feng Yuxiang had unleashed his war as well. In early december Feng Yuxiang led the Guominjun forces east launching a massive attack into Rehe province. Now if you recall, Feng Yuxiang had brokered a deal with Li Jinglin, and these parts of Rehe were his territory. Thus Li Jinglin saw this as a betrayal. He sent a telegram denouncing Feng Yuiang "He fooled his subordinates and used the heresy of communism to destroy the great defense and morality.I carry the sword for the country, not for party disputes or for profit, but only for this humanitarianism, in order to destroy the public enemy of the world and save our morality from the decline of five thousand years.It doesn't matter whether we are enemies or not, but only whether we are red or not.” Li Jinglin fought tenaciously against the Guominjun, however by December 23rd, Feng Yuxiang had seized Tianjin. Meanwhile alongside Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu had also joined the Zhili fight against the Fengtian forces, thus he was loosely allied to Feng Yuxiang. When Guo Songling's rebellion crumbled, it seemed clear to all, Feng Yuxiang was about to face the full brunt of Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian armies, who had withdrawn into the interior to meet his threat. While Feng Yuxiang dominated the Beijing area, it was only a matter of time before the Fengtian swarmed him. Wu Peifu had been quietly building up his powerbase in Hunan. While he appeared to be a good ally to the anti-Fengtian cause, he was anything but. The only person, Wu Peifu hated more than Zhang Zuolin, was of course Feng Yuxiang, the man who stabbed him in the back and ruined his Zhili dominated China dream. If Wu Peifu were to join Zhang Zuolin they would effectively surround and isolate Feng Yuxiangs pocket in the north. Wu Peifu knew if he wanted to rejoin the big boys club, he would have to kowtow to Zhang Zuolin and take up a subordinate position. If lets say Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin dominated Beijing again, they would be able to squeeze any funding away from Feng Yuxiang, shoving him back into the northwest, whence they could gradually beat him up. Thus Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin settled their differences and formed an alliance against the treacherous Feng Yuxiang. Its kind of funny but Feng Yuxiang had betrayed both men at some point so it was sort of the binding glue to their new found relationship. The Zhili and Fengtian cliques had united once again, this time calling themselves the Anti-Red coalition. Their objective was quite simple, they would surround and strangle Feng Yuxiang's army. On January 20th Feng Yuxiang had launched a battle against their new coalition at Shanhaiguan, Shandong and Henan simultaneously. Zhang Xueliang led his army to occupy Luanzhou before advancing towards Tianjin. Zhang Zongchang, whose army had withdrawn into Shandong after Sun Chuanfang had defeated them now attacked from the south. Zhang Zuolin dispatched a special envoy to officially form a alliance with Wu Peifu, asking him to attack Feng Yuxiang from his position and if possible see if Yan Xishan could be lured into the scuffle as well. Wu Peifu took his rather meager forces and marched north from Hubei into Hunan. His relatively weak army was assisted by the Red Spear Society. These were a rural self-defense movement that sprang up in Hebei, Henan and Shandong in the 1920s. They were local small land owners and tenant farmers trying to defend their lands or villages from roaming bandits, warlords, tax collectors and later on in history communists and Japanese. In many ways they were the spiritual successor to the Big Swords Society. This particular group of them had been abused by the Guominjun commander Yueh Weichun who presided over Hunan.  Back in the north, an incident broke out at the Taku forts. Feng Yuxiang having taken control of Tianjin and the Taku forts, seized some minor warships and began mining the seas. This was in violation of the Boxer Protocol and the IJN retaliated by bombarding his ships and even fired upon Feng Yuxiang's forces along the coast. Feng Yuxiang had his artillery fire back upon the IJN warships. In the face of the escalating situation, other foreign powers notified China they must stop what Feng Yuxiang was doing as it threatened to breach the Boxer Protocol. An ultimatum was given, prompting Duan Qirui to persuade Feng Yuxiangs forces to stop mining the waters. Then on March 18th, 1926, KMT and CCP members such as Xu Qian, Li Dazhao, Zhao Shiyan and others initiated a "National Congress against the Eight-Power Ultimatum" in front of Tiananmen, with Xu Qian served as the chairman of the presidium of the Congress. Mass demonstrations broke out in Tiananmen Square. They opposed the foreign ultimatum and called for an end to the unequal treaties, for foreign warships to depart their waters and for Feng Yuxiang to fight their imperial aggression. Li Dazhao took to the stage shouting "Don't be afraid, they dare not do anything to us!" Li Dazhao then led many to rush towards the state council. Duan Qirui panicked and ordered Beijing guards to fire upon them. A reporter at the scene stated stated that the marchers "the demonstrators attacked the State Council, poured oil, threw bombs, and attacked the military and police with pistols and sticks. The military and police were killed and injured in their legitimate defense." 47 demonstrators were killed, 150 more were wounded. Duan Qirui then ordered the arrest of the ring leaders, such as Li Dazho and Xu Qian who all fled. Back in the war for the north the Guominjun commander Lu Zhunglin now faced an offensive from Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang from Shandong and the main Fengtian forces coming from Manchuria. Li Jinglin began his advance in February of 1926, fighting Lu Zhunglin for several weeks. Feng Yuxiang realized they would lose the war at this rate and ordered the forces to pull out of Hubei and Henan into the Beijing area. Lu Zhunglin was forced to evacuate 100,000 man army by March 21st. Feng Yuxiang's took positions in the Beijing area where they would fight off the enemy for over a month, the enemy now including Wu Peifu who had advanced north from Hunan. Feng Yuxiang meanwhile arrested Duan Qirui and released Cao Kun on April 9th, trying to sow dissent between Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin. His idea was to declare he was once again willing to serve under Cao Kun, and sent word to Wu Peifu that they should join forces to destroy the Fengtian clique. Wu Peifu simply ignored this request. Lu Zhunglin leading the forces from the front knew he could not hope to hold back the onslaught any longer so on April 15th he evacuated the army to the Nankou Pass, roughly 30 miles northwest of Beijing. In the meantime the coalition led by armies under Zhang Zongchang, Zhang Xueliang, Li Jinglin and Wu Peifu occupied Beijing. They installed Yan Huiqing as a temporary figurehead as Duan Qirui was exiled to Tianjin under orders from Zhang Zuolin. The forces also sacked Beijing, so badly it would not recover until 1928. Now at the Nankou Pass, 90,000 Guominjun troops resisted the onslaught of over 450,000 of the enemy until August 16th. The Guominjun looking for another escape route dispatched a force led by Shi Yousan and Han Fuju into Shanxi. They were attacked near Datong by Yan Xishan's army. Despite being sympathetic to the Guominjun, as Yan Xishan was loosely associated with the KMT, his policy of neutrality had to be enforced, it was after all one of the ways he managed to survive this long. Feng Yuxiang's forces were quickly dislodged from Shanxi. Meanwhile Chahar fell to Zhang Xueliang's men as they advanced from Beijing and Suiyuan fell to Yan Xishan as his men advanced from Shanxi. The Guominjun put up a spartan-like resistance, but the Fengtian brought Japanese heavy artillery to the Nankou Pass where they blew away possibly 10,000 Guominjun. The Guominjun were forced to retreat into Gansu by August 15th.  Gansu at this time was being held by a bunch of lesser warlords whose domains were affected by religious divisions. Feng Yuxiang now took this time to go on a trip to the Soviet Union, announcing his resignation. Yet it was not actually a resignation, once in the USSR he began regaining control over his Guominjun army, winning back the favor of two of his best generals who had defected, Han Fuchu and Xu Yusan. Both these men had tossed their lot in with Yan Xishan temporarily. Feng Yuxiangs next goal was to recover his position in Shaanxi, where his forces had been under siege since April of 1926 by Liu Chenhua the previous warlord of Shaanxi. Liu Chenhua had been bolstered by Red Spear units from Hunan. Now Feng Yuxiang had basically united all the northern warlords in their hatred for him, so he pretty much had no one else to look to, except for of course, the Kuomintang.   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. Feng Yuxiang unleashed his Guominjun after securing many sneaky deals with those like Guo Songling, Sun Chuanfang, Li Jinglin and even Wu Peifu sort of. His plans all came to naught as he gradually lost the anti-fengtian war and now Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin were back in Beijing together, talk about Deja Vu.