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Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! "Programa exclusivo para mecenas que recoge la charla que Pablo Strubell hizo en El Almacen de viajes el 1 de febrero de 2025. Una charla sobre el viaje que hizo por Tayikistán y Kirguistán en bicicleta, en solitario, con todo el material de acampada, para poder llegar a alguna de las zonas más remotas del Pamir y del Tien Shan. Para más información sobre las actividades de El almacen de viajes: https://elalmacendeviajes.com/" "❤️ ¿Te gusta este podcast? APOYA ESTE PROGRAMA y conviértete en mecenas en iVoox o Patreon. Más info en: https://www.ungranviaje.org/podcast-de-viajes/apoya-podcast-un-gran-viaje/ Si sueñas con hacer un gran viaje como este te recomendamos NUESTROS LIBROS: ▪︎ 'Cómo preparar un gran viaje' (2ª ed.): https://www.laeditorialviajera.es/tienda/como-preparar-un-gran-viaje-2 ▪︎ 'El libro de los grandes viajes': https://www.laeditorialviajera.es/tienda/el-libro-de-los-grandes-viajes Si quieres conocer historias en primera persona de otros viajeros, NUESTRO EVENTO las 'Jornadas de los grandes viajes' te gustará: https://www.jornadasgrandesviajes.es ️GRABA TU COMENTARIO, pregunta o mensaje en 'Graba aquí tu mensaje de voz' que encontrarás en: https://www.ungranviaje.org/podcast-de-viajes/ Esperamos que te guste ¡Gracias por tu escucha!"Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de Un gran viaje. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/54794

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

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

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

The Himalaya are just one, albeit the longest and highest, of several mountain ranges between India and Central Asia. By world standards, these are massive ranges with some of the highest peaks on the planet.  The Karakoram boasts four of the world's fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, and the Hindu Kush, the Pamir, the Kunlun Shan, and the Tien Shan each have many peaks above 7,000 meters.  No mountain ranges outside this region have such high mountains.  Yet we seldom hear much about these ranges.  In the podcast, Mike Searle describes the origin and geology of six central Asian ranges and how they relate to the Himalaya and the collision of India with Asia. India continues to plow into Asia to this day. How is this movement accommodated? Searle explains the extrusion and crustal shortening models that have been proposed and describes the detailed mapping he and his colleagues conducted in the field in northern India that showed that both mechanisms are operating. Searle is Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford.

December 20th 2024 Yuriy recounts the chaos of the 2010 Kyrgyzstan revolution, culminating in a surprising interview with the interim president. Dressed in a dusty pair of cargo pants and a T-shirt featuring a stoned frog, our hero makes an unexpected impression that you won't want to miss. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)     It is December 20.  Let me tell you the promised story about the Kyrgyz president and the stoned frog. It happened in 2010. That year in April, there was a revolution in Kyrgyzstan corruption in power, poverty among the people, interethnic and inter-regional conflicts- all of these had been building up for a long time and finally exploded. I was sent there to cover the events. I remember arriving in the capital, Bishkek, just as the revolutionaries were seizing the large presidential administration building. The staff had set fire to a pile of documents in the basement and the tons of burning and paper filled everything with smoke.  The then president fled quickly to his homeland in southern Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan is divided in half by the Tien Shan mountain range. People from the south often don't get along well with those from the north and vice versa. The geography kept them separated and politicians often exploited this division for their own benefit, pitting people from different regions against each other. Long story short, after the revolution triumphed in the capital, the events shifted to the south where the ousted president was trying to consolidate power with the help of local elites and actual mafias. Naturally, I went there too.  Those were very tense weeks. I came under fire several times, was arrested by local security services on suspicion of collaborating with Al-Qaeda and the house I initially stayed in was burned to the ground. In short, it was the kind of real field journalism that makes the profession worth pursuing.  While I was running around the south the new interim government was established in the capital. A journalist friend of mine from Bishkek called to say that the new interim president just appointed by Parliament, wanted to give her first interview to my media outlet. At the time, I worked for an outlet, highly respected in Central Asia. I found a driver willing to take me to Bishkek, and off we went. The president's office agreed the interview would be the next day. That gave me time to recover a bit, wash my clothes and prepare questions.  But just as I checked into my hotel- I still remember its name, 'Dostuk' which means friendship in Kyrgyz- they called me to say plans had changed. Madame President Rosato BWA expected me in an hour.  The hotel was 40 minute walk from the interview location, leaving me almost no time. After several weeks in the fields, I had no clean clothes left. Well, almost none. The only clean item was a T-shirt I'd randomly packed. Someone had given it to me as a gift. I'd never have bought it myself. It featured the word 'Amsterdam' and a stoned frog holding a joint. With no other options. I put it on.  I thought I might buy something more appropriate on the way, but every shop was either looted or boarded up. So I arrived at the president office wearing the frog t-shirt and dusty cargo pants. The sophisticated and elegant woman tried her best to hide any surprise at my appearance, but trust me, it was nearly impossible not to be surprised. So I laid my cards on the table immediately, explaining what I had just arrived from the south an hour earlier after spending a lot of time observing events that nearly turned into a civil war. I told her I had no opportunity to find more appropriate clothing.  We've went out of the way the interview began. But for the first hour it was not me asking the questions, instead, Madame President was asking me about what had been happening in the south. By then the stoned frog didn't bother her anymore.

Shambala y Agartha con Noémi Rodriguez. Aunque este es el nombre más común para referirse a esta comunidad en las tradiciones hindues, en sánscrito significa "lugar de paz", existen muchos otros. También es llamado Shangri-La (la significa paso de montaña, el significado de Shangri es desconocido) por los budistas tibetanos y Olmolungring entre los seguidores de la antiquísima religión bon, mientras que en las leyendas chinas es Chang. También quizás pueda identificarse con el valle de Ergenekon de los pueblos turquicos, que la sitúan en los montes Altäi y no en el Tibet. Desconocemos si alguno de estos nombres son los que los propios habitantes dan a la ciudad, o si utilizan alguna otra denominación. Aunque rodeada de altas montañas siempre nevadas, la región de Shambhala está dotada de un clima sorprendentemente cálido y benigno gracias al Corazón de Shambhala; éste según las descripciones es una gema de gran tamaño, las descripciones varían entre los treinta centímetros y casi un metro de diámetro, y forma irregular que parece brillar desde su interior e incluso emitir un tono musical (según una descripción lo que se escucha es la pronunciación del mantra Ôm) Se dice que las radiaciones benéficas de la gema, así como la vida pacífica y contemplativa, también aseguran una gran longevidad a los habitantes del valle, que pueden llegar a vivir más de doscientos años. Algunas leyendas cuentan que los yetis o abominables son los guardianes de los caminos a Shangri-La, pero no nos atrevemos a afirmar nada en este sentido. Una tradición tibetana dice que Agharta se encuentra al sur de Lasha mientras que Shambhala se encuentra al norte. A mediados del siglo XVII, los sacerdotes portugueses Estevâo Cacella y Joâo Cabral, los primeros occidentales que nos dan noticia de la existencia de la ciudad que transcriben como Xembhala, también sitúan la ciudad hacia el norte del Tibet. El ocultista francés Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre afirmaba haber entrado en contacto telepático con enviados de Agharta, ciudad que situaba en una serie de cavernas bajo el Himalaya. En sus libros ayudó a popularizar esta noción en occidente, así como la de que era la sede de un gobierno sinárquico secreto del mundo. En época más reciente el viajero ruso Ferdinand Ossendowsky dice haber oído historias sobre una entrada a Agarthi (sic.) en la región del lago Nogan Kul, en Mongolia. Otras fuentes sitúan una u otra de las ciudades en puntos dispersos del desierto del Gobi, la región del Altai o los montes Tien Shan. Revista digital La tortuga Avui. www.latortugaavui.com Redes: Instagram: area-hermetica-radio. Facebook grupo Secrets del Pirineu Telegram: [https://t.me/.../FSW-COI...//t.me/joinchat/FSW-COI-ZiUtQ0Aj) Ràdio Caldes 107.8 fm, Radio Granollers a la carta, por TDT para las comarcas del Vallès canal 515 y por internet: www.radiocaldes.cat y Ràdio Granollers a la carta. areahermeticaradio@gmail

Do the work.Keep the faith.Give the horse its head.Flow.Writing process.All that and more in today's great interview with novelist Peter Heller, whose new book, The Last Ranger, hits shelves tomorrow.Peter Heller is a longtime contributor to NPR, and a former contributing editor at Outside Magazine, Men's Journal, and National Geographic Adventure. He is an award winning adventure writer and the author of four books of literary nonfiction.  He lives in Denver. Heller was born and raised in New York. He attended high school in Vermont and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he became an outdoorsman and whitewater kayaker. He traveled the world as an expedition kayaker, writing about challenging descents in the Pamirs, the Tien Shan mountains, the Caucuses, Central America and Peru. He was the first man, with a Kiwi paddler named Roy Bailey, to kayak the Muk Su River in the High Pamirs of Tadjikistan. The river was known as the Everest of Rivers in the Soviet Union, and the last team that had attempted it lost five of their eleven men. The run was 17 days of massive whitewater through a canyon inhabited by wolves and snow leopards.Peter Heller WebsiteThanks to our sponsors:NeuroReserve: www.neuroreserve.com/travismacy | Use code TRAVISMACY for 15% off RELEVATE by NeuroReserve: Core Dietary Nutrients for Lifelong Brain HealthThe Feed Instagram | Website- - - - - - - - - - -If you like this podcast, please consider our book, A Mile at A Time: A Father and Son's Inspiring Alzheimer's Journey of Love, Adventure, and Hope*30% off with discount code MACESubscribe: Apple Podcast | SpotifyCheck us out: Instagram | Twitter | Website | YouTubeThe show is Produced and Edited by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

In February, Tim embarked on a backcountry ski expedition into the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Along with a crew of five other skiers and snowboarders, he spent a week in a high-altitude yurt camp, ascending and descending 12,000-foot peaks and learning about Kyrgyz culture. When three Russian draft dodgers skied into camp one afternoon, the crew got a close-up perspective on how the mountains can provide a unifying force for good in a divided world.Relevant links: On a ski trip to Kyrgyzstan, epic lines combine with cultural immersion 40 Tribes Backcountry Tim's Instagram Eben's Instagram

Aina Margalef y Jordi Mojica durante siete meses fueron en bicicleta y transportes públicos de Georgia a Nepal cruzando algunas de las grandes cordilleras asiáticas como el, Cáucaso, Zagros, Pamir, Tien Shan e Himalaya en donde además aprovecharon para hacer trekkings en Nepal. Fermín Goñi publica la novela "Un día de guerra en Ayacucho". Tiene como escenarios los Andes de Perú donde en 1824 se enfrentaron más de 6000 soldados de cada bando. Fermín Goñi ha viajado a lo largo de la cordillera andina y ha estado en los campos de batalla de Ayacucho.

From the heart of the Mongolian steppe, to North China's loess plateaus; from the rugged edges of Northern India, to the hot sands of Syria and the Levant, to humid jungles in southeastern Asia, rocky islands off the coast of Japan, the high peaks of the Caucasus, Himalayas, Altai, Tien Shan and Carpathian Mountains, to the frozen rivers  in Rus' granting access to Eastern Europe, and everywhere in between.  Our series on the Mongol Empire has taken you across Eurasia, meeting all sorts of figures; the brutal Tamerlane, the indefatigable Sultan Baybars, the brave if shortsighted Jalal al-Din Mingburnu and his foolish father Muhammad Khwarezmshah; the cunning Jia Sidao, the silver-tongued Qiu Chuji, the thorough scholar Rashid al-Din, and travellers like John de Plano Carpini, William of Rubruck, and Ibn Battuta, to the exhausted but noble-hearted Yelü Chücai. And of course, the Mongols themselves: the powerful Öz Beğ, Khan of the Golden Horde; the thorough and pious convert Ghazan Il-Khan; the scheming Du'a of the Chagatais, the stout Qaidu Khan of the Ögedaids, to the Great Khans of the thirteenth century, the most powerful of men; Khubilai, whose hands scrambled for more until his body and empire failed his ambitions; his brother Möngke, whose steely determination sought to solidify the empire at all costs, no matter the bloodshed; Güyük, a reluctant and unfortunate man to ascend to the throne; his mother Törögene, whose fierce will forced her son to that same throne; Ögedai, a drunk who despite his failings built the infrastructure of the empire. And of course, Chinggis himself; once a scared boy in the steppes, turned into the greatest conqueror of them all. Today we end our journey with the Empire of the Great Khans, and reflect on the passage of the Chinggisids. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals, Ages of Conquest.       Back in our first episode, we highlighted certain trends to look for over the course of this series. The first emphasized looking for the middle ground between the Mongols as inherently evil or good forces, but as people whose expansion was rooted in historical events and personages. The second was the struggles that came with the management of a world empire, and the need to rely on non-Mongolian subject peoples—Chinese, Central Asian Muslims, Persians, Turks and others. The third was the struggle for the purpose of the empire; should it be continued conquest, or consolidation and serving the needs of the imperial princes. This was the balance between the Khan and his central government, or the Chinggisid and military aristocrats. The fourth was the steady assimilation, particularly Turkification, of the Mongols outside of Mongolia, as Mongolian was replaced as the language of administration, legitimacy and finally, among the ruling family itself, even while retaining the Mongolian imperial ideology.        Regarding the first theme, we have sought to highlight in our many discussions of sources their often complicated, conflicting portrayals or events and persons. While authors like Ibn al-Athir, Nasawi and Juzjani had little good to say about the Mongols or Chinggis Khan, and fit well with the popular model the destructive brute, we've also looked at many sources which had more positive portrayals of the khans. Some of these are rather obvious, imperial-produced sources such as the Secret History of the Mongols, but even sources from outside the empire could give glowing reviews of Chinggis Khan. For instance, the fourteenth century English writer Geoffrey Chaucer, in the Squire's Tale of his famous Canterbury Tales, opens with the following lines:   At Tzarev in the land of Tartary There dwelt a king at war with Muscovy Which brought the death of many a doughty man This noble king was known as Cambuskan And in his time enjoyed such great renown That nowhere in that region up or down Was one so excellent in everything; Nothing he lacked belonging to a king.       Written at the same time as Toqtamish Khan of the Golden Horde was fighting for control of that Khanate, here Chaucher remembered Chinggis Khan not as a bloodthirsty barbarian, but as a monarch embodying all ideal qualities of kingship. Chaucer continues thusly;   As to the faith in which he had been born He kept such loyalties as he had sworn, Then he was powerful and wise and brave, Compassionate and just, and if he gave His word he kept it, being honourable, The same to all, benevolent, and stable As is a circle's centre; and in fight As emulous as any squire or knight. Young personable, fresh and fortunate, Maintaining such a kingliness of state There never was his match in mortal man, This noble king, this Tartar Cambuskan.        For writers in fourteenth century England, obviously distant from the Mongol Empire itself, it was not unbecoming to idealize the portrayal of Chinggis Khan. This is not to say that Chaucher's description is accurate, or necessarily reflects any actual qualities about the man or any of his descendants. But rather, it reflects historical perception. How an individual is perceived by contemporaries, history, and modern people often bears little resemblance to actual details of the individual.  Instead, people will contort an image for whatever use suits their current purposes, context and political climate. Thus, warlords from the late imperial, and post-Mongol world styled Chinggis' image to suit their needs. In Central Asia Chinggisid descent remained one of the most prestigious, and necessary, requirements for rulership up until the nineteenth century in some areas. This was problematic though with the spread of Islam, given that Chinggis Khan's actual life produced very few episodes to nicely accommodate an Islamic narrative. Certain Persian writings during the Ilkhanate sought to fix this by making Chinggis a Muslim in all but name. On the tomb of Tamerlane, an inscription likely added during the reign of his grandson Ulugh Beğ, makes Tamerlane a descendant of both the Prophet Muhammad and of Chinggis Khan. Later post-imperial authors had a more direct solution; simply making Chinggis Khan outright a Muslim. As the destruction of the conquests slipped further back in time, this became easier and easier to accomplish.    Religion was not the only aspect which can be molded, for Chinggis' very status as a Mongol becomes malleable in state efforts to construct national mythos, in both medieval and modern settings. Today, you can find countries where official propaganda, or influential theorists, incorporate Chinggis into the desired story of their nation-state. In China, there remains a significant Mongolian population, largely in what the Chinese call the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, the land south of the Gobi desert but north of the mountains which divide it from the North China plain. The Chinese government has taken to presenting China's non-Han peoples, Mongols among them, more or less as Chinese minority peoples and actively encourages their adoption of the state-language, Mandarin, and Han Chinese culture. In this view, the Mongol conquests are sometimes presented as a period of national reunification rather than foreign conquest. The efforts of Khubilai Khaan to legitimize the Yuan Dynasty based on Chinese dynastic legal precedent becomes the quote-on-quote “historical evidence,” that Chinggis Khan was actually Chinese, or that in fact, the Mongol conquerors were fully assimilated into the Chinese population and culture. The borders of the Yuan Dynasty served to justify later Chinese territorial claims in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Manchuria, Tibet and Yunnan; places that were, before the Mongols, inconsistently in the Chinese sphere of influence, but since the conquests have often remained dominated by empires based in China. Not coincidentally, such narratives serve to support the narrative of 5,000 years of a continuous Chinese Empire, and remove the sting that may accompany the embarrassment of being conquered by perceived barbarians.    Likewise, various Turkic peoples, most notably Kazakhs, Tatars, and Anatolian Turks, have sought to claim Chinggis as their own, and there are even groups in Korea and Japan that will argue that Chinggis was actually one of theirs. The Japanese version has Chinggis as the Samurai Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who faked his death and fled Japan for the steppe! Khubilai's later invasions of Japan again become not foreign assaults, but attempts at national reunification or the efforts by Yoshitsune's descendants to return home. And of course, fringe groups even in Europe and Russia which, refusing to believe a barbarian horseman could conquer such great states, insist that Chinggis was actually a red-haired, green-eyed man of European ancestry. Such claims often include vague references to the mummies of the Tarim Basin, who bore some features associated with Caucasian populations. The fact that these mummies pre-date Chinggis by millenia is often conveniently left out. All of these people care much more about ethnic categorization than Chinggis himself likely ever did.        Just as religion or ethnicity can be forced to fit certain agendas, so too can portrayal as barbarian or saviour. In Mongolia today, Chinggis Khan's unification of the Mongols, his introduction of a writing system, religious tolerance, laws and stability are most heavily emphasized. For building a post-soviet national identity, obviously these are useful attributes to appeal to for the desired national character. But the Mongolian governmet also tends to gloss over the aspects less appreciated in the twenty-first century: namely, the destruction of people and property on a massive scale, mass-rapes, towers of skulls and wars of conquest. The fact that Mongolia's two neighbours, Russia and China, suffered particularly under Mongol onslaughts, also avoids some diplomatic hurdles to step past these military aspects. For most of the twentieth century during Mongolia's years as a Soviet satellite state, Chinggis was largely pushed aside, framed as a feudal lord. Instead, Mongolia's hero of the 1921 socialist revolution, Damdin Sükhbaatar, became the preferred national icon. After Mongolia was democratized in the 1990s after the fall of the USSR, Chinggis Khan has seen a massive resurgence in popularity. Today, Chinggis and Sükhbaatar remain national icons, with monuments to both throughout the country. Outside Mongolia's parliament, the main square has changed names from Sükhbaatar to Chinggis Square, and since back to Sükhbaatar square. An equestrian statue to Sükhbaatar sits in the middle of that square. More than a few foreign observers had mistakenly called this a statue of Chinggis. In fact, only a few metres away from the equestrian statue of Sükhbaatar sits a massive Chinggis Khan on a throne flanked by his generals, at the top of the steps leading into Mongolia's parliament. In a way it is metaphorical. No matter how prominent any later hero of Mongolia may be, he will always stand in the shadow of Chinggis Khan.  And that's not even mentioning the 40 metre tall silver monstrosity about 50 kilometres outside of Ulaanbaatar. Speaking of state narratives, much of the cost for this statue was covered by the company owned by Khaltmaagin Battulga, a former professional sambo wrestler who from 2017-2021 served as the fifth President of Mongolia.       Outside of Mongolia though, Chinggis and the Mongol Empire remain a top-point of reference to paint someone in the most unfavourable light. One of the highest level cases of recent years was when the President of Iraq, the late Saddam Hussein, compared former US President George W. Bush to Hülegü, Chinggis' grandson and conqueror of Baghdad. The American bombing and capture of Baghdad, and ensuing tragedies that Iraq as suffered in the aftermath of the campaign, have only solidified the connection for a number of Muslims.  Meanwhile Russian television and education tend to present the Mongols in a style comparable to Zack Snyder's film 300, such as the 2017 Russian film Легенда о Коловрате [Legenda O Kolovrate], also known as Furious. Like the Spartans in the film or Frank Miller's graphic novel, the Rus' soldiers are presented as formidable warriors fighting monstrous, untrained hordes from the east. Only through sheer numbers or trickery do the disgusting Orientals overcome the pasty-white heroes of the story— though few of the heroes in the Russian films have Scottish accents. Russia has turned the so-called Tatar Yoke into a catch-all to explain any perceived deficiencies compared to western Europe, from government absolutism to alcoholism. Not only the Russians have employed the comparison: “scratch a Russian and you'll find a Tatar,” Napoleon Bonaparte is supposed to have quipped. And in 2018 the Wall Street Journal released a particularly poorly written article, which compared the political machinations of current president Vladimir Putin as “Russia's turn to its Asian past,” accompanied by vague comparisons to the Mongols and an awful portrait of Putin drawn in Mongolian armour. In contrast, the Russian Defence Minister, at the time of writing, is Sergei Shoigu, a fellow of Tuvan descent who is alleged to enjoy comparisons of himself to Sübe'edei, the great Mongol general popularly, though inaccurately, portrayed as a Tuvan. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, essentially a good old-fashioned war of conquests accompanied by war crimes and destruction of cities, has also earned many comparisons to the Mongol conquests by many online commentators. Though unlike the Russians, the Mongols actually took Kyiv.   Somewhat surprisingly, most cinematic portrayals of Chinggis himself lean towards sympathetic or heroic. One of the most recent is a 2018 Chinese film entitled Genghis Khan in English, which features a slim Chinese model in the titular role, and one of his few depictions without any facial hair. In that film he battles a bunch of skeletons and monsters, and it could be best described as “not very good,” as our series researcher can, unfortunately, attest. One popular portrayal is the 2007 film Mongol, directed by Sergei Bodrov and starring a Japanese actor in the role of Chinggis. That actor, by the way, went on to play one of Thor's buddies in the Marvel movies.  Here, Chinggis is a quiet, rather thoughtful figure, in a film which emphasizes the brutal childhood he suffered from. Another sympathetic portrayal, and one perhaps the most popular in Mongolia, is the 2004 Inner Mongolian series where Ba Sen, an actor who claims descent from Chagatai and appeared in the previously two mentioned films, plays the role of Chinggis.       Hollywood does not tend to portray Chinggis Khan or the Mongols in films at all, but when it does, it really goes for a swing and a miss. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure has Chinggis essentially only a step above a cave-man in that film. Other Hollywood endeavours are infamous for having non-Asian actors in the role, such as Egyptian-born Omar Shariff in 1965's Genghis Khan, Marvin Miller in 1951's The Golden Horde and the most infamous of them all, the cowboy John Wayne in 1956's The Conqueror. That film's theatrical release poster bears the tasteful tagline of, “I am Temujin…barbarian… I fight! I love! I conquer… like a Barbarian!” The film was also produced by Howard Hughes, founder of Playboy Magazine, and was filmed near a nuclear testing site.  As you may suspect, that film bears as much resemblance to the historical events as an opium-induced fever dream.        The appearance and depiction of Chinggis and his successors varies wildly. The internet today loves the stories of Chinggis being the ancestor of millions of people, and killing so many people that it changed the earth's climate. The articles that made both of these claims though, rested on shaky evidence. In the first, which we dedicated an entire episode of this podcast too, the study claimed that high rates of a certain haplotype among the Hazara of Afghanistan demonstrated that Chinggis himself bore that haplotype, and Chinggis was extrapolated to be the ancestor of other peoples bearing such a haplotype. But the historical sources indicate Chinggis and his immediate descendants spent little time in Afghanistan, and the associated Haplotype was probably one associated with various populations leaving Mongolia over centuries, rather than specifically Chinggis himself.  Likewise, the study which spawned the claim that the Mongols killed enough people to cool the climate, firstly did not make that claim itself, but moreso incorrectly made the Mongol conquests last from 1206 to 1380, and presented it as an almost two-century period of population decline brought on by Mongolian campaigns; despite the fact that the major destructive Mongolian military campaigns largely halted after 1279. While campaigns continued after that, they were never on the level of the great-campaigns of conquest. Thus it's irresponsible to claim that any atmospheric carbon loss over the fourteenth century was brought on by continued Mongol military efforts.       What these two popular descriptions lend themselves to, is one of extremes. The internet loves extremes of anything. For instance, since 1999 the Internet has always sought to outdo itself in declaring the latest Star Wars product to actually be the worst thing ever made. And the Mongol Empire, as history's largest contiguous land-empire, responsible for immense destruction and long-ranging campaigns and forced migrations, can easily slot in this ‘extreme manner.' A “top-ten” list where the author writes about how the Mongols were the most extreme and destructive and badass thing ever, repeating the same 10 facts, probably gets released on the internet every other month. Just as national-myth makers in Ulaanbaatar, Beijing and Moscow set how to portray the Mongol Empire in the way most suited to them, so too does the internet and its writers choose an aspect of the empire to emphasis; be it religious tolerance, free-trade, brutality, multi-culturalism, Islam, clash of civilizations, human impact on climate, the territorial expanse of a certain country or its national identity, or whatever argument the author hopes to make.        The Mongol Empire though remains in the past, and should be treated, and learned about, as such.  The events which led to the rise, expansion and fall of the Mongol Empire do not fit into nice, sweeping modern narratives, but their own historical context and situation. The Mongol Empire was not predetermined to ever expand out of Mongolia, or to break apart in 1260; had Chinggis Khan been struck by an arrow outside the walls of Zhongdu, or Möngke lived another ten years, in both cases the empire, and indeed the world, would look dramatically different. History is not the things which ought to be or needed to happen or were supposed to happen; it is the things that did happen, and those things did not occur simply for the purposes of the modern world to exist. A million choices by hundreds of millions of individuals, affected by climate and geography with a healthy dose of luck and happenstance, resulted in the world as we know it. Reading backwards from the present to understand the course of the Mongol Empire, and attempting to make it fit into the political narratives we like today, only does a disservice to history. It should be seen not as a virtuous force bringing continental peace justified by easier trade, nor as a demonic horde, but as an event within human history, in which real humans took part, where great tragedy occured in the pursuit of empire.     History is not just written by the victor of the actual battles; as we've detailed across this series, we have no shortage of historical sources on the Mongol Empire; imperial approved sources, sources by travellers passing through the empire, to sources written by the peoples the Mongols crushed. Instead, the history learned in schools and passed down through historical memory and media is built on top of preferred state narratives, those made today and in the past.   Our series on the Mongol Empire concludes next week with a final afterward on Mongolia after 1368, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast to follow. If you enjoyed this was want to help us keep bringing you great content, then consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one. 

You leave the scifi dystopian city of Urumqi with your shepherd and rise into the freezing Tien Shan mountains. Here, you discover the Twilight Histories is real. But you still aren't sure if they're going to rob you. #scifi #sciencefiction #china #chinese #wormhole #timetravel #alternatehistory #fiction #story #audiodrama #radiodrama

How can we tell what is happening at the bottom of the lithosphere, especially in one of the most remote places on the planet? Peter Molnar describes how many diverse lines of evidence, from the fossil record to normal faulting point to abrupt elevation changes in Tibet, both before and well after India collided with it. He thinks this tells us that the bottom of the thickened lithosphere there is gravitationally unstable and hot enough to literally drip off into the asthenosphere below, after which the remaining lithosphere becomes more buoyant. Peter Molnar is Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has worked on a great many subjects, but especially on how mountain ranges are built and how climate on geological timescales is affected by topography and crustal movements. His research on mountain ranges has focused on the high terrain in Asia - the Himalaya, Tibet, and Tien Shan - all of which he has studied extensively in the field. For podcast illustrations, and to learn more about Geology Bites, go to geologybites.com.

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

Vasily Pivtsov is a Kazakh professional climber, master of sports of international class, honored master of sports in mountaineering, multiple champion and prize-winner of the CIS open championship in mountaineering in high-altitude technical (2000), technical (2001) and high-altitude classes (2000-2002).Vasily is a conqueror of all 14 eight-thousanders of the planet (2001-2011). He became the 26th member of Quest-14 and the 11th climber who was able to climb all these peaks without using artificial oxygen. Chevalier of the Kurmet Order of Honor (2007).Climbing the famous six-seven-thousanders1996, August 24 - Khan Tengri (7010 m) along the classic route 5B, Tien Shan.1997, July 19 - Khan-Tengri along the classic route 5B, Tien Shan.1999, July 29 - Khan Tengri along the classic route from the south 5A, Tien Shan.1999, August 24 - Pobeda Peak (7438 m) along the classic route 6A, Tien Shan.2000, August 9 - Khan Tengri in the top five of Denis Urubko in the center of the northern wall 6B, Tien Shan [6].2000, August 22 - Khan-Tengri, with Vladimir Suvig and Maksut Zhumayev as judges of the peak race within the framework of the Khan-Tengri-2000 Festival (spent 7 hours at the summit).2002 - Lenin Peak (7142 m) in the Pamirs in conjunction with M. Zhumaev.2004 - Pobeda Peak (7438 m) along the classic route 6A, Tien Shan.2008, June 5 - McKinley (6168 m) in Alaska with E. Ilyinsky and V. Ivanov.2008 - Khan-Tengri along the classic route 5A from the south, Tien Shan.2012, August 20 - Khan-Tengri, climbing the center of the northern wall with A. Sofrygin and I. Gabbasov, 6B.2013, May - Elbrus (5642 m), with Maksut Zhumaev.To obtain the title "Snow Leopard", it remains to conquer the peak of Communism (7495 m) and the peak of Korzhenevskaya (7105 m) in the PamirsAs part of the 7 Summits Club project, he climbed three peaks: Everest (8848 m, Asia), McKinley (6168 m, North America) and Elbrus (5642 m, Europe).Chronology of ascents of eight-thousandersOxygen-free ascents under the program "Kazakhstan's national team on all eight-thousanders of the world", all in conjunction with Maksut Zhumayev and the head of expeditions Yervand Ilyinsky:2001, August 13 - Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) (8068 m) along the classic route through the Japanese couloir.2001, August 20 - Gasherbrum II (8035 m) classical from the south-west.2002, May 13 - Kanchenjunga Main (8586 m) in classical style from the southwestern ridge.2002, October 25 - traverse Shishapangma Central (8008 m) - Shishapangma Main (8027 m), classic from the north, from the Chinese side.2003, June 17 - Nanga Parbat (8126 m), along the Diamir wall (Kinshofer route).2003, July 16 - Broad Peak (8048 m), along the western ridge.2004, May 22 - Makalu (8485 m), along the Western ridge (Parago route).2005, May 3 - Cho-Oyu (8201 m), along the north-western ridge, two Zhumaev - Pivtsov as part of an international expedition.2006, May 2 - Dhaulagiri (8167 m), classic along the northeastern ridge, two Zhumaev - Pivtsov in the Alpine style.2006, May 19 - Annapurna Main (8091 m), classic from the north along the French route, two Zhumaev - Pivtsov in the Alpine style.2007, April 30 - Everest (8848 m), classic through the North Col, two Zhumaev - Pivtsov in cooperation with the Moscow "7 Summits Club - Alpindustria".2008, October 2 - Manaslu (8163 m) along the classic route, paired with the Bulgarian Peter Unzhiev.2009, May - an unsuccessful attempt on Lhotse Main in the project "Traverse Lhotse - Everest", Sergey Samoilov died.2010, May 16 - Lhotse Home, the final ascent of the national team of Kazakhstan in the program "All 14 eight-thousanders of the world" consisting of Pivtsov, Zhumaev and Vladislav Chekhlov.2011, August 23 - K2 (Chogori, 8611 m) along the Japanese route from the north together with Maksut Zhumaev, Gerlinda Kaltenbrunner (Austria), Pole Dariusz Załuski.In total, he made 15 oxygen-free ascents of eight-thousanders, including two peaks Shishapangma (Central and Main).FIND VASILY ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook | VKontakte

I believe it was at the tail end of 2018 when Ben Staley came through Utah and I told him a few stories. This one, about two trips to the former-USSR I took in 1990 and 1991, was meant to be part of a larger piece that included a Zine and one or two podcast conversations on the subject. We got distracted by other ideas, and while I am not saying that the USSR multimedia project won't happen, it hasn't yet and this conversation is too good to let languish any longer. Trevor Thompson joined us for part of it, and we covered some good ground, focused mainly on a summer trip to the Pamirs with Ace Kvale in July 1990, and then another to the Tien Shan range, again with Ace and also John Falkiner and Michel Fauquet. We were hosted and joined on both trips by Alexey and Nicholai Shustrov (among others), both extraordinary climbers and adventurers in their own right. Sit back, relax, and enjoy a rather fun interview.

Qaidu was raised in Chinggis Khan’s camp, and after Ogedai Khaan he served in Mongke Khaan’s retinue. After him, he was with Ariq Boke, conspiring and amking efforts to elevate him to the khanate. When Ariq Boke went before Kublai Khaan and submitted to him, Qaidu was wary of Kublai Khaan because it was the law that no creature should change the Khaan’s command or decree, and any who did would be branded as criminals. He had transgressed the law and rebelled, and from that time until present, ona account of his rebellion, many Mongols and Tajiks have been annhilated, and flourishing land has been devastated.”       So our oft-cited friend Rashid al-Din describes, rather negatively, his contemporary Qaidu, Khan of the house of Ogedai and master of Central Asia in the late thirteenth century. Qaidu is best known for his daughter Qutulun, the wrestler-princess, his long resistance against his cousin Kublai, Great Khan of the Yuan Dynasty, and enjoys a popular image as a spirited defender of traditional Mongolian culture- or, for writers like Rashid al-Din, an image of little more than a brigand harassing settled regions. To explore Kublai’s failed attempts to exert power over the western half of the Mongol Empire, we will look at the long life of Qaidu, master of the uluses of Ogedai and Chagatai. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.   While Kublai Khan overcame his brother Ariq Boke to become Khan of Khans in 1264, that was not the end of his troubles from his Mongolian kinsmen. Many refused to recognize Kublai’s authority, or actively took up arms against him, most famously Qaidu, a grandson of Ogedai Khan who led a 40 year campaign of resistance against Kublai Khan. While most famous for stories of his warrior daughter Qutulun and for his own personal sternness and military ability, Qaidu’s reign has often been misportrayed as an effort to seize the title of the Great Khan. His main focus however, was securing the position of the descendants of Ogedai within a fragmenting Mongol Empire.       Chinggis Khan had granted parts of eastern Kazakhstan, Xinjiang and western Mongolia as personal ulus, or territory, to his son Ogedai, serving as a base for Ogedai’s family until the 1250s. The Toluid Revolution, which by now you should know very well, saw the seizure of the throne by the sons of Tolui, away from the line of Ogedai following the death of the final Ogedeid Great Khan, Guyuk, in 1248. After Tolui’s eldest son Mongke became Khan in 1251, he discovered an alleged conspiracy against him by Ogedai’s family. This served as pretext for a purge of the Ogedaids, killing many and confiscating their lands and armies, effectively dissolving the Ogedaid ulus, as explained back in episode 21 of this series. Those few who survived, such as the young Qaidu, were granted distant lands to appease them but which were too poor to serve as a base for resistance. Born only around 1235 or 6, Qaidu was only just entering manhood when Mongke carried out his purges, deemed too young to be a threat. In proper Ogedeid fashion Qaidu’s father, Ogedai’s fifth son Qashi, drank himself to an early death shortly before Qaidu’s birth, leaving Qaidu’s early years to quietly rule over what little people, herds, pastures and towns Mongke Khaan had allotted him around Qayaliq, in what is now southern Kazakhstan. We can only imagine Qaidu’s frustration and anger, a sense that everything that was his by right had been taken from him, anger at the theft by the house of Tolui- not of the Great Khanate, which Qaidu was unlikely to have ever inherited, but of the ulus of Ogedai itself, the personal territory Chinggis Khan had granted that line of the family. One tradition from Qaidu’s earliest youth that survives, recorded by Jamal al-Qarshi, is that Ogedai Khaan once held the young boy and was so impressed with the 5 year old, that he stated Qaidu would one day succeed him and ordered his every need to be provided for. Even if the story were true, it must be remembered that Ogedai indicated about half of his sons and grandsons should have succeeded him at various points, and anyways, Qaidu was no mroe than six years old at the time of Ogedai’s death. No, the young Qaidu was not ever destined, nor likely ever considered himself to be, for the throne of the Great Khan.       Qayaliq was too poor to offer a base of resistance on its own, but it did not stop Qaidu from pushing his boundaries. In 1256, Mongke Khaan sent a judge to Qaidu’s territory as an official imperial representative- the exact mission unclear in the sources- and the 20 year old Qaidu promptly captured him, holding him captive for the next two decades. No reaction is recorded from Mongke, who may have been preoccupied with his forthcoming assault on the Song Dynasty to divert attention to an annoying Ogedeid boy. Perhaps Mongke had been planning to deal with him upon his return from campaign, but as we know, he never got the opprotunity: Mongke died on campaign in August 1259, precipitating the conflict between two of his brothers, Ariq Boke and Kublai, for the imperial throne.        Qaidu was initially neutral in the war between Ariq Boke and Kublai, supporting Ariq only when his appointed ruler to the Chagatai Khanate, Alghu, revolted and attacked Qaidu’s territory. It seems Alghu attacked Qaidu for supporting Ariq Boke, which forms the only real evidence for Qaidu’s  actual support of Ariq. With Ariq’s surrender to Kublai in 1264, Qaidu turned to the Khan of the Golden Horde, Berke, for support against Alghu. Supposedly Berke found Qaidu’s horoscope favourable, and provided him an army and resources, and a promise for rule over the ulus of Chagatai if he was successful. Winning his first encounter against Alghu, Qaidu suffered a serious defeat in the second  and seemed to be placed on the backfoot. But Heaven showed Qaidu its favour when Alghu, Berke, and the Il-Khan Hulegu all died over 1265-1267 and Kublai was focused on the Song Dynasty. This created a sudden power vacuum all across Central Asia; while his neighbours sorted out matters of succession, Qaidu expanded his territory from Almaliq to Taraz to Beshbaliq; in rapid succession, Qaidu successfully reclaimed much of the former territory of Ogedai’s ulus. Many of Ariq Boke and Alghu’s former supporters joined Qaidu, including the brilliant finance minister Ma’sud Beg, whose skills helped with the economic rejuvenation of Qaidu’s ulus. Many of these men were dispossed by the changes in power over these years, and were happy to throw their lot in with a bright-eyed, up and coming warlord showing he had some favour from Heaven. When Kublai summoned Qaidu to him in order to affirm his vassalage, Qaidu refused, claiming the distance was too great to travel. Though Kublai tried to encourage him by sending him revenues from conquered Chinese territory, Qaidu was intent on preserving his independence and fragile ulus. Kublai’s capital was moved from Karakorum in central Mongolia to Shangdu on the border with China, and then into China proper at Khanbaliq, greatly limited his ability to control his kinsmen deep in the steppe. In the next years, Qaidu’s pretensions would increased dramatically.        In the Chagatai Khanate power was taken by Baraq, who ruled with Kublai’s approval and was almost immediately at war with Qaidu. With the aid of the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Mongke-Temur, Qaidu defeated Baraq near Khojand in 1267, after which Qaidu proposed a joint peace between the Central Asian Khanates. Likely on the Qatwan Steppe, just south of Samarkand, in 1267 or 69, Qaidu, Baraq, and Mongke-Temur’s representatives made agreements to divide the territory of Transoxania between them,  Qaidu and Baraq became anda (blood brothers) and agreed to a joint-attack the Ilkhanate in Khurasan. Notable about this meeting was a total disregard for Kublai’s authority. Though Kublai was nominally Great Khan, by the end of the 1260s each Khanate was now an independent state, the Khans all now meeting without his consultation. Recorded in the Yuan shi, the assembled Khans apparently sent a jointly written letter, of questionable veracity, to Kublai decrying his sinicization and ‘adoption of Han laws.’ As mentioned by historian Michal Biran, this is the only direct textual evidence of Mongolian, and specifically Qaidu’s, opposition to Kublai’s adoption of Chinese policy and custom. While often presented as a “defender of the old ways,” Qaidu’s agreements on the Qatwan Steppe and actions over his life were always directed at his own power and independence in the Ogedeid ulus, rather than  whatever laws the fat Khan in Khanbaliq tried to pass.     Qaidu did provide forces for Baraq’s assault on the Ilkhanate, but they were instructed to abandon Baraq before battle was met. Baraq’s army was crushed by the Il-Khan Abaqa at Herat in 1270, and his death shortly afterwards was Qaidu’s most important opportunity. Many of Baraq’s commanders and armies fled to Qaidu, and only a month after Baraq’s death Qaidu was declared Khan of the Ogedeid ulus. We must emphasize this: he was declared Khan of the territory belonging to the House of Ogedai. He was never declared Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, or Khan of the Chagatayid ulus. He never made pretensiosn to claim either of those thrones, and his conflict with Kublai was not over who should be the Great Khan, but over Qaidu’s personal autonomy- and his right to appoint the Chagatai Khan after Baraq’s demise. When Qaidu’s first appointee rebelled alongside the sons of Alghu and Baraq, Qaidu overcame them and chose Baraq’s son Du’a as Chagatai Khan in 1282. Du’a would be Qaidu’s right hand man for the next twenty years, and as co-rulers they dominated Central Asia from the Yenisei River to the borders of India, and from Transoxania to the Mongolian Altai, a border keeping Kublai’s control confined to the east.   Kublai’s campaign against the Song Dynasty kept him from interfering with Qaidu’s domination of the Chagatai Khanate, instead relying on defence. As early as the mid 1260s, Qaidu was raiding Kublai’s frontier: in 1268 Kublai’s armies had to push Qaidu’s forces from Beshbaliq and the Uighur lands. By the end of the 1260s, Kublai was posting a large garrison in Mongolia under his son Nomukhan. Nomukhan was not terribly successful: he was betrayed by his subordinates and sent over to the Golden Horde in 1276, and Karakorum fell into the hands of these rebellious princes. Qaidu played no role in this, distracted as he was at that time by trying to exert control over the ulus of Chagatai. In an effort to make the local garrisons self sufficient, Kublai spent considerable amounts attempting to expand agriculture and set up military colonies in the Tarim Basin, Gansu corridor and Mongolia, but only in Mongolia did he see limited success. Qaidu’s raids were too successful and the regions too arid, and Kublai only succeeded in throwing away huge sums of money and resources.   By the 1280s, Qaidu had a firm hold on Central Asia and loyal ally in his appointed Chagatai Khan, Du’a. Finally, they could take advantage of rebellions across Kublai’s frontier, such as that in Tibet in 1285 and of Nayan in Manchuria in 1287, with whom Qaidu tried to coordinate with. Kublai, realizing Mongolia itself was now threatened, took to the field himself. Sending an army west to counter Qaidu and an army into southern Manchuria to distract the other local Mongol dissident, Khadan, the aging Kublai led the third army from a platform mounted on the backs of four elephants. Nayan was swiftly caught and executed. Qaidu had advanced on the old Mongol capital of Qaraqorum as per the suggestion of Ariq Boke’s sons, but the threat of facing Kublai himself led to Qaidu’s withdrawal. This was the closest the two ever came to fighting one another in person. While Karakorum may have held symbolic value, strategically it would be nearly impossible for Qaidu to hold it, and as he was making no claim to the title of Great Khan, its symbolism was useless to him. Karakorum was but a brief flirtation for him, egged on by his allies to take advantage of Kublai’s perceived weakenss, rather than a long awaited goal. The aging Kublai had shown he still had teeth, and Qaidu would not make such an attempt again for the remainder of Kublai’s life.       Qaidu does not seem to have taken advantage of Kublai’s death in 1294, and Kublai’s successor, Temur Oljeitu, abandoned his grandfather’s foreign adventures, focusing greater resources on combating Qaidu along the northwestern frontier. In winter 1298, Qaidu’s Chagatai Khan Du’a attacked the Yuan frontier and captured Temur Oljeitu Khan’s brother-in-law Korguz, who died before he could be rescued. This was an embarrassment and insult for the new Khan of Khans, and Temur Oljeitu sprung into action, ordering his nephew Qaishan to Mongolia, where he assembled a great army and marched west to crush Qaidu in 1300.       In spring 1300, east of the Altai mountains at Kuobielie, Qaishan’s army overtook Qaidu. In a furious assault, they forced Qaidu to retreat west into the Altai mountains in western Mongolia. Qaishan was a cautious commander, only proceeding once he acquired sufficient provisions, which gave Qaidu time to call to Du’a for aid. Du’a initially refused, but did send two armies later that summer, a first to reinforce Qaidu while Du’a himself led a second. The onset of winter halted the campaign, and for most of 1301 Qaishan struggled to locate Qaidu’s smaller, highly mobile force in the Altai. Qaidu needed to hold out for the arrival of Du’a reinforcements, but couldn’t retreat lest he allow Qaishan to overrun his hard won ulus.       Finally in August 1301, Qaishan’s scouts informed him that Qaidu’s army was encamped at Mount Tiejiangu, and that Du’a’s reinforcements were close at hand. On the 3rd of September the Yuan army attacked. The Yuan assault was devastating: Qaidu’s smaller force was overrun, Qaidu himself wounded in the battle. Only nightfall forced the two armies apart, and Qaidu employed a tool of his great-grandfather. He ordered his men to each light several fires, and to the Yuan forces, it appeared that Du’a’s enforcements had suddenly arrived and lit their own campfires. Their enemy refusing to advance, Qaidu used this distraction to pull his forces back. When morning revealed the truth, Qaishan was hesitant to immediately pursue, fearing Qaidu would employ a feigned retreat. This provided Qaidu time to meet with forces sent by Du’a two days later at Qara Qada, along the Irtysh River. Learning of Du’a’s reinforcements, Qaishan split his force: one section would intercept Du’a and his army, while Qaishan took the rest of the Yuan forces to catch Qaidu.   When Qaishan arrived at Qara Qada, Qaidu was prepared. This time, the Yuan army was not as successful, though Qaishan himself broke through Qaidu’s lines, seizing his military supplies, rescuing captive princes and turning about to lead a rear assault on a section of Qaidu’s line. But Qaidu held firm, and his horse archers kept the Yuan back until nightfall once again split them apart. Not far away at an unidentified location called Wuertu, Yuan forces defeated and wounded Du’a, who then seems to have retreated back to his own territory.       The following day was the final confrontation. Qaidu, now approaching 70 years old, held his vetetan forces together against the Yuan’s superior numbers. Arrows filled the air, and the Yuan army was in an inconclusive engagement. An effort to pull the Yuan forces back and redeploy was foiled by a full charge by Qaidu, and the Yuan retreat now threatened to turn into a rout. Qaishan fought bravely as rearguard, and once more broke through Qaidu’s line, forcing them back and allowing the Yuan army to undertake an orderly retreat back to Qaraqorum, Qaishan burning the steppe behind them to hamper Qaidu’s pursuit. But Qaidu did not follow, instead falling back, given pause by his losses and his own injuries sustained, which were likely his cause of death a few weeks after the battle.       The Ogedeid ulus did not long survive Qaidu’s death. Qaidu’s lifetime of carving out a restored Ogedeid state within the Mongol Empire was undermined by his own longtime ally. Almost immediately, Du’a sabotaged Qaidu’s successors. Du’a, it seems, had had enough of war with the Yuan Dynasty, and desired peace in order to resume the Central Asian trade, as well as focus resources on the border with India. To do this though, he would need to break the ability of the house of Ogedai to control the Chagatayids. Qaidu had wanted his youngest son Orus to succeed him, but Du’a maneuvered Qaidu’s ineffective and unhealthy older son Chapar to become Khan, forming rifts within the ulus. Du’a furthered the division of the Ogedeid ulus into appanages, and infighting broke out among Qaidu’s heirs. A brief attempt  to unite the Ogedeyid princes against Du’a was crushed in 1306 by Chagatayid troops with Yuan backing, and many of the top princes and generals of the Ogedeyid ulus surrendered to Du’a or to the Yuan. Du’a unleashed his horsemen to track down those Ogedeyids who remained independent, and one such Chagatayid raid even resulted in the death of Qaidu’s famed daughter Qutulun.        Ah yes, Qutulun! She is worth a short digression, as she is most famous among Mongolian princesses of this period, and many of you have likely wondered why we have not yet mentioned her role in her father’s battles. Qutulun is usually most well known as the famed ‘wrestler-princess.’ In the version popularized in Marco Polo’s account, wherein she is called Ay Yaruq, moonshine in Turkic, she refused to marry any man who couldn’t best her in a wrestling match. In fact, she claimed the herds of every man she was able to throw to the ground. She was such a good wrestler that, according to Polo, she had a herd of 10,000 animals she had claimed over her career. To carry on the fable-like nature of his version, Polo has an unnamed prince of quite some wealth attempt to win her hand. Qaidu, having agreed to let Qutulun marry who she wanted but recognizing it was a powerful match, encouraged his daughter to let the man win. Qutulun instead threw the prince to the ground and claimed his horses. Polo also asserts that she would fight beside her father, riding into enemy formations to grab and steal men. It’s a bebrudging respect for evidently a highly skilled and dangeorus woman! What’s more, it’s a depiction of a woman of physical prowess and military capability which is actually backed up by some contemporary writers, such as the Ilkhanid author Rashid al-Din and ‘Abd Allah Qashani. The Ilkhanid vizer Rashid al-Din was less impressed than Marco Polo regarding Qutulun, writing the following:       “Qaidu had a daughter named Qutulun… he loved her the most of all his children. She went around like a boy and often went on military campaigns, where she performed valiant deeds. She was listened to by her father, and she handled the administration for him. Her father refused to marry her off, and people accused him of having relations with her… a few years ago, because of shame and the accusations people were making, he was forced to marry her off to a man named Aitqun of the Qorolas clan.”       Rashid al-Din, as we said at the start of the episode, had no fondness for Qaidu. Rashid’s employers, the Toluid Ilkhans, were often at war with him after all. Rashid al-din is too refined to openly say he agreed with such horrendous rumours about father and daughter, but was not above mentioning the fact people were spreading them. Qutulun in the end, but likely of her own choice, married a member of his father’s  keshig, one of his royal cooks. That the fellow’s name and lineage differs in the accounts, and Qutulun is still described leading her minghaans, units of a thousand, indicates that her new husband did little to overawe her military ability.   After Qaidu’s death, Qutulun staunchly supported her father’s chosen heir, Orus. She recognized early  Du’a effort to undermine the Ogedeyid ulus and spoke out against him at an assembly. Du’a dismissed her concerns thus, saying “Women’s opinions and talk should be about the spindle and spinning wheel, not on the crown and the khanate’s throne. What do you have to do with rulership and government?” The frustrated Qutulun found no support from her brothers and withdrew with her family and followers to the Tien Shan mountains, in what is now Kyrgyzstan, where she guarded her father’s tomb. Though she largely removed herself from the affairs of the Ogedeyid Khanate, when her brothers sought to make a stand against Du’a in 1306, the contemporary author Qashani mentions that Qutulun showed up to assist them, leading her 1,000 men beside them. Even with her assistance, a combined Chagatayid-Yuan army under Du’a defeated the Ogedeyid army. Generals and even her brothers began deserting to the Chagatayids or to the Yuan realm, and as mentioned Du’a sent raiding parties to track down those who escaped. Qutulun returned to her encampment near her father’s tomb, where she held out until 1307. That year, Qashani records, Chagatayid forces found them, drowning her husband and two sons.Qutulun’s final fate is unmentioned, but it is presumed she was killed sometime around then. The Ogedeyid Khanate did not long outlive her. By 1310 when Chapar submitted to the new Yuan Emperor, Qaishan, the Ogedeyid ulus ceased to exist, only some 60 years after Qaidu had restored it.        Du’a died in 1307, but his sons continued to dominate the Chagatayid ulus for the next 30 years, incorporating much of the former Ogedeid territory. After the death of the last of Du’a’s sons, the Chagatai Khanate entered a period of great instability, gradually breaking into two halves, a western based in Transoxania, and another east of the Syr Darya River, which came to be known as Moghulistan. In the western half, the authority of the Chagatai Khan weakened sooner, a power vacuum which led to the eventual rise of Amir Temur in Transoxania, better known in the west as Tamerlane. But that’s a topic for another day, so please consider subscribing to our podcast to follow for future episodes. If you’d like to help us continue bringign you great content, please consider supporting on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I’m your host David, and we’ll catch you on the next one.

In today's episode I explore the apple, one of the most common and easily accessible fruits on Earth. I discuss its history in both the magick and mundane world, from its origins in the Tien Shan mountains millions of years ago to its modern form, as well as its appearance in myths and legends around the world. I also talk about the apple's association with wisdom, sin, sensuality, beauty, and 'the otherworld', and how this factors into the fruit's(and its tree) magickal properties. I end the episode with some ideas about how to include this somewhat overlooked 'herb' into your magickal practices, and a delicious, tempting (and easy) recipe for Apple Crescent Dumplings.Check out my Mabon Blend, which features cinnamon and other fall flavors to draw the energies of the season into your life. Website: www.lavendermoonteas.comEtsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LavenderMoonTeasRecipes: Apple Crescent DumplingsCheck out my tarot podcast, Tea & Tarot with Lavender Moon. Intro & Outro Music:Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4710-midnight-taleLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Este episodio de Communio Sanctorum es titulado, "Y en el Oriente - Parte 2". En nuestro último episodio, tomamos un breve vistazo a la misión del Apóstol Tomás' a la India. Luego, consideramos la propagación de la fe hacia Persia. Para profundizar nuestro estudio de la Iglesia del Oriente tenemos que volver al Concilio de Calcedonia en el 5º siglo donde el Obispo Nestóreo fue condenado como un hereje.Como hemos visto, el debate acerca de la deidad de Cristo que fue central en el Concilio de Nicea en el año 325 d.C., declaró que Jesús era de la misma sustancia que el Padre. Pasaron otros cien años antes que el error del Arrianismo, que negaba la deidad de Jesús, fue finalmente revocado. Pero incluso entre los creyentes ortodoxos, católicos, que seguían el Credo de Nicea, la pregunta era sobre cómo entender la naturaleza de Cristo. Él es Dios – ¡ok lo entiendo! Pero también es humano. ¿Cómo podemos entender su doble naturaleza? Fue en el Concilio de Calcedonia en el 451, que la cuestión se decidió finalmente. Y la Iglesia de Oriente fue declarada de seguir una posición que no era ortodoxa.El debate fue sofisticado y complejo, y a grandes rasgos decidido más por política que por una preocupación por una teología pura. El perdedor en el debate fue el Obispo Nestóreo, Patriarca de Constantinopla. Para hacer una cuestión compleja mas simple, los que enfatizaban la unidad de las dos naturalezas llegaron a ser llamados Monofisitas = que significa una sola naturaleza. Consideraban a Nestóreo como un hereje porque el enfatizaba las 2 naturalezas como distintas; incluso llegando hasta el punto de decir que Nestóreo afirmaba que Jesús era de 2 PERSONAS. Eso no era lo que Nestóreo decía, pero eso lo que sus oponentes lograron hacer que todos, menos sus más cercanos seguidores, creyeran. De hecho, cuando el Consejo finalmente emitió su declaración y Credo, Nestóreo afirmo que ellos sólo redactaron lo que el siempre había enseñado. A pesar de que el Concilio de Calcedonia declaro al Nestorianismo como herégia, la Iglesia del Oriente siguió aferrada a su punto de vista sobre la doble naturaleza de Cristo, en oposición a lo que ellos consideraban como un punto de vista monofisita aberrante.Al amanecer del 6º siglo, había 3 ramas principales de la Iglesia Cristiana:la Iglesia de Occidente, que miraba a Roma y Constantinopla para el liderazgo.La Iglesia de África, con su gran centro de Alejandría y un nuevo centro en Etiopía;y la Iglesia de Oriente, con su centro en Persia.Como vimos en el último episodio, la Iglesia del Oriente fue impulsada desde Edesa en la frontera del Norte de Siria y Turquía Oriental. La escuela teológica se transfirió a Nisibi en Turquía Oriental en el año 471. Fue dirigida por el brillante teólogo Narsai. De esta escuela salieron miles de estudiantes para dirigir las Iglesias del Oriente. Varios esfuerzos misioneros también fueron lanzados desde Nisibi – de la misma manera que Iona fue una base para impulsar al Cristianismo Celta en el extremo noroeste. La Iglesia Oriental planto con éxito misiones entre la población nómadas del Medio Oriente y Asia Central entre los mediados 5º siglo al final del 7º siglo. Esto incluyo los esfuerzos plantando iglesias entre los Hunos. Abraham de Cascar que vivió durante el 6º siglo hizo mucho para plantar las comunidades monásticas en todo el Oriente.Durante los primeros 1200 años, la Iglesia del Oriente, creció tanto geográfica y numéricamente mucho más que la del Oeste. La razón principal fue porque en el Oriente, el trabajo misionero fue en gran medida un movimiento laico. Desde que Europa se había trasladado a la Edad Media con su estricto sistema feudal, nadie viajaba sin permiso, mientras que, en el oriente, el movimiento de comercio y negocios creció. Esto resultó en el movimiento de un gran número de personas que llevaban su fe con ellos.Otro motivo por el cual la Iglesia del Oriente creció fue la persecución. Como vimos la última vez, antes de Constantino, las persecuciones del Imperio Romano empujo a un gran número de creyentes hacia el Oriente. Entonces, cuando los Sasánidas comenzaron la Gran Persecución de los Cristianos en Persia, esto empujó a gran número de Fieles al sur y más al Este. Tras la persecución que vino bajo Sapor II, otra ronda mucho más grave de persecución estalló a mediados del 5ª siglo que vio a 10 obispos y 153,000 cristianos asesinados en pocos días.Cuando pensamos en Arabia, muchos piensan inmediatamente del Islam. Pero el Cristianismo había echado raíces en la península mucho antes de que Mahoma llegó a la escena. ¡De hecho, un Obispo de Qatar estaba presente en el Concilio de Nicea en el año 325! La Reina Árabe Mawwiyya, cuyas fuerzas derrotaron a los Romanos en el año 373, insistió en recibir a un Obispo Ortodoxo antes de que ella hiciera la paz. Hubo una misión en la región suroriental de Arabia, en lo que hoy es Yemen antes del nacimiento de Mahoma, tanto por misioneros Nestorianos y Monofisitas. Al comienzo del 6º siglo, había docenas de iglesias a lo largo de toda la costa Árabe del Golfo Pérsico.El surgimiento del Islam en el 7º siglo era tuvo consecuencias trascendentales para la Iglesia del Oriente. La capital Persa en Ctesifonte cayó en poder de los Arabes en el año 637. Desde que la iglesia en esa ciudad se había convertido en una especie de Roma a la Iglesia de Oriente, el impacto fue enorme. Los Musulmanes eran en ocasiones tolerantes de las minorías religiosas, pero sólo a la medida en que se quedaran en comunidades de los desposeídos conocidos como "dhimmi". Se convirtieron en ghettos despojados de su vitalidad. Al mismo tiempo que la Iglesia del Oriente estaba siendo desmenuzada por las conquistas Musulmanas, estaba tomando uno de sus pasos mas grandes hacia adelante, llegando a China a mediados del 7º siglo.Mientras que la Iglesia de Occidente creció principalmente por el trabajo de un clero entrenado y monjes misioneros del Cristianismo Celta, en la parte Oriental, muy a menudo, eran los comerciantes y artesanos cristianos, que propagaron la Fe. La Iglesia del Oriente tenia mucho enfoque en la educación y la lectura. Se entendía que generalmente que ser un seguidor de Jesús significaba una educación que incluia la lectura, la escritura y la teología. Cuando los laicos de la iglesia eran educados, esto significaba una abundancia de trabajadores capaces de propagar la fe - ¡y difundirlo lo hicieron! Los Cristianos a menudo encontraban empleos entre las personas menos avanzadas, sirviendo en las oficinas del gobierno, y también como profesores y secretarios. Ayudaron a resolver el problema del analfabetismo al inventar alfabetos simples basados en la Lengua Siriaca que enmarca su propia literatura y teología.Lo que al principio fue una bendición, al final, se demostró en ser un obstáculo. Los primeros misioneros no comprendían el principio de la contextualización; que el Evangelio esta sobre la cultura; trasciende las cosas como lengua y tradiciones. Los primeros misioneros que se movieron rápidamente en el Este de Siria suponían que su versión Sirio-Aramea de la fe era la UNICA versión y intentaron convertir a los que conocían a esa fe. Como consecuencia, mientras que unos pocos aceptaban la fe y aprendían el Sirio-Arameo, unas generaciones más tarde, las antiguas religiones y lenguas se reafirmaron por sí mismas y el cristianismo fue disipado o asimilado en la cultura que ya no reflejaba realmente el Cristianismo Bíblico.La edad de oro de las primeras misiones en Asia Central fue al final del 4º siglo hasta la última parte del 9ª siglo. Después de eso, tanto el Islam y el budismo llegaron a la escena.Al Noreste de Persia, la Iglesia tenía una pronta y amplia difusión alrededor del Río Oxus. A principios del 4º siglo las ciudades de Merv, Herat y Samarkand tenian obispos.Una vez que la Fe fue establecida en esta región, se extendió rápidamente más al Este a la cuenca del Río Tarim, en la zona norte de las Montañas Tien Shan, y el Tíbet. Se extendió a lo largo de esta ruta, ya que fue la principal ruta de las caravanas. Con tantos cristianos trabajando en el área de comercio, era natural que el Evangelio fue rápidamente plantado en las rutas de las caravanas y las ciudades que cruzaban.En el siglo 11 la Fe se comenzó a propagarse entre los pueblos nómadas de las regiones de Asia Central. Estos cristianos eran en su mayoría de los Tártaros y las tribus de los Mongoles de Keraits, Onguts, Uigures, Naimans y Merkits.No está claro exactamente cuando el Cristianismo llegó a Tíbet, pero lo más probable es que llegó para el 6º siglo. El territorio de los antiguos Tibetanos se extendía más al oeste y al norte que la nación actual, y tenían un amplio contacto con las tribus nómadas de Asia Central. Una Iglesia viva, existía en el Tíbet para el 8º siglo. El patriarca de la Iglesia de Asiria en Mesopotamia, Timoteo I, escribió desde Bagdad en el año 782 que la comunidad cristiana en el Tíbet era uno de los mayores grupos bajo su supervisión. Él designó a un Patriarca Tibetano para supervisar las muchas iglesias. El centro de la iglesia tibetana estaba ubicado en Lhasa y la iglesia creció allí hasta finales del siglo 13, cuando el Budismo arrasó con la región. Una inscripción tallada en una gran roca a la entrada del pase en Tangtse, que antes era parte del Tíbet, pero ahora esta en la India, tiene 3 cruces con algo escrito indicando la presencia de la Fe Cristiana. El pase fue uno de las antiguas rutas principales comerciales entre Lhasa y Bactria. Las cruces tienen el estilo de la Iglesia del Oriente, y una de las palabras parece ser "Jesús." Otra inscripción dice, "En el año 210 llego Nosfarn desde Samarcanda como emisario al Khan de Tíbet." Talvez esto no paresca como una referencia al Cristianismo hasta que tomamos un vistazo mas cercano a la fecha. ¡210! Esta sólo tiene sentido en referencia a la medida del tiempo desde el nacimiento de Cristo, que ya era una práctica en la Iglesia.El antes mencionado Timoteo I se convirtió en el Patriarca de la iglesia de Asiria alrededor del año 780. Su iglesia estaba situada en la antigua ciudad Mesopotámica de Selacia, la gemela más grande de la capital Persa de Ctesifonte. Tenía 52 años y esto ya pasaba la expectativa de vida de la gente de esa época. Timoteo vivió hasta los 90's, muriendo en el año 823. Durante su larga vida, se dedicó a la conquista espiritual tan enérgicamente como Alejandro el Magno lo hizo con la conquista militar. Mientras que Alejandro construyó un imperio terrenal, Timoteo buscó extender el reino de Dios.En cada elemento, la trayectoria de Timoteo destruye todo lo que creemos saber acerca de la historia del Cristianismo en ese momento. Él altera las ideas acerca de la distribución geográfica de la Fe, su relación con el poder político, su influencia cultural, y su interacción con otras religiones. En términos de prestigio y la extensión geográfica de su autoridad, Timoteo fue el más importante líder cristiano de su día; mucho más influyente que el Papa de Roma o el patriarca de Constantinopla. Una cuarta parte de los Cristianos del mundo lo miraban a él como un jefe político y espiritual.Ningún historiador responsable del Cristianismo dejaría fuera a Europa. Omitiendo a Asia de la historia es igual de impensable. No podemos entender la historia Cristiana sin Asia o la historia de Asia sin el Cristianismo. La Iglesia del Oriente no le importaba mucho los acontecimientos Europeos. Timoteo I sabía sobre su contemporáneo Europeo Carlomagno. Los gobernantes Francos intercambiaron misiones diplomáticas con el Califato Musulmán, un desarrollo de que el líder de la Iglesia del Oriente hubiera sido informado. Timoteo I sabía también que Roma tenía su propio líder llamado el Papa. Él ciertamente estaba consciente de las tensiones entre el Papa y el Patriarca de Constantinopla sobre quién era el líder del mundo cristiano. Timoteo pensó probablemente que sus peleas eran tontas. ¿No era obvio que la Iglesia de Oriente eran los verdaderos herederos de la iglesia primitiva? Si Roma señalaba su autoridad desde Pedro, Mesopotamia miraba a Cristo mismo. Después de todo, Jesús era un descendiente de esa antigua familia Mesopotámica de Abraham. ¿Y no fue Mesopotamia la fuente original de la cultura y la civilización?, y claro que igual se puede mencionar la ubicación probable del Jardín del Edén. Fue el Oriente, en lugar que el Oeste, que primero abrazó al Evangelio. El hogar natural del Cristianismo era en Mesopotamia y Puntos hacia el Este. Según la sabiduría geográfica de la época, Selacia se ubicaba en el centro de las rutas de comercio y comunicación del mundo, igualmente colocada entre las civilizaciones que veían respectivamente al Oeste y al Este.Sobre todas las tierras de lo que hoy es Irak e Irán, los creyentes construyeron iglesias grandes y perdurables. Debido a su posición cerca de la frontera Romana, pero suficientemente lejos para evitar interferencias, Mesopotamia mantuvo una cultura cristiana poderosa que duró hasta el siglo 13. A través de la Edad Media en Europa, la Iglesia Mesopotámica fue mucho mas una sede cristiana cultural y espiritual que Francia o Alemania, o incluso esa base misionera tan importante de Irlanda.Varias ciudades Mesopotámicas como Basora, Mosul, Kirkuk y Tikrit fueron florecientes centros del Cristianismo durante siglos después de la llegada del Islam. ¡En el año 800 d.C., estas iglesias y las escuelas que tenían eran bibliotecas de la educación clásica de los Griegos, Romanos y Persas a los cuales Europa Occidental no tendría acceso a por otros 400 años!Simplemente, no existió una "Edad Oscura" en la Iglesia del Oriente. Desde la perspectiva de Timoteo I, la cultura y erudición del mundo antiguo nunca se había perdido. Lo que es más importante, la Iglesia de Oriente no vivió ninguna interrupción entre ellos y la iglesia primitiva que se levantó en Jerusalén en el libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles.Considere esto: Fácilmente podemos ver el contraste entre el mundo latino feudal de la Edad Media Europea con la antigua Iglesia de Medio Oriente arraigado en una cultura que hablaba Griego y Arameo. La Iglesia Medieval de Europa se veía a sí misma como bastante alejada de la Iglesia primitiva. Tanto en el lenguaje y formas de pensamiento, eran culturalmente diferentes y distantes. Pero en el tiempo de Timoteo I, es decir, los principios de siglo 9º, la Iglesia del Oriente todavía habla Griego y Arameo. Sus miembros compartían la misma cultura de Medio Oriente y lo seguirían haciéndolo durante siglos. Tan tarde como el 13ª siglo, todavía se llamaban a sí mismos "Nazarenos", un título que los primeros cristianos usaban. Llamaban a Jesús "Yeshua." El Clero recibia el título de "rabban" que significa profesor o maestro, relacionado con el hebreo - "rabino."Los Teólogos Orientales utilizaban el mismo estilo literario que los autores del Talmud Judío en lugar que las obras teológicas de Europa Occidental. Como dice Philip Jenkins, si alguna vez quisiéramos especular sobre como la iglesia temprana se pudiera haberse visto, si se hubiera desarrollado evitando su alianza con el poder del estado Romano, solo tenemos que mirar hacia el Este.En repetidas ocasiones, nos encontramos con el Patriarca Timoteo I refiriéndose al hecho de que las Iglesias de Oriente utilizaban textos que fueron perdidos o olvidados en el Oeste. Debido a su proximidad a lugares donde se desarrollo la historia judía y cristiana primitiva, los Eruditos Orientales tenían acceso a abundantes textos y escrituras antiguas. Un indicio de lo que estaba disponible proviene de una de las cartas de Timoteo.Escrito en el año 800, Timoteo respondio a las preguntas de un Judío en el proceso de su conversión al Cristianismo. Este Judío le dijo al Patriarca de un reciente hallazgo de una gran cantidad de manuscritos antiguos, tantos bíblicos como apócrifos, en una cueva, cerca de Jericó. Los documentos habían sido adquiridos por la comunidad Judía de Jerusalén. Sin duda, esto fue uno de los primeros hallazgos en lo que más tarde llegó a ser conocido como los Pergaminos del Mar Muerto. ¡Gracias a Dios, que este hallazgo no impulso los cazadores de tesoros para saquear las otras cuevas de la zona! En cualquier caso, como ahora, los estudiosos estaban entusiasmados por el descubrimiento. Timoteo respondió con todas las preguntas adecuadas. Quería saber como el hallazgo podía arrojar una luz sobre algunos pasajes de las Escrituras por los cuales el tenia curiosidad. Él estaba ansioso por descubrir cómo los nuevos textos encontrados se comparaban con los textos de las versiones Hebreas del Antiguo Testamento. ¿Cómo se comparan con el Septuaginta Griega? Timoteo estaba encantado de oír que los pasajes de los cuales quería conocer mas existían realmente en los manuscritos antiguos.Las preguntas de Timoteo son impresionantes cuando se comparan con lo que los eruditos Occidental hubieran hecho con tal hallazgo. No tenían ni idea de las cuestiones planteadas por Timoteo. No podían ni siquiera leer la lengua de los manuscritos antiguos. Sólo un puñado de académicos Occidentales incluso hubieran tenido el conocimiento de cómo sostener los manuscritos: por ejemplo, ¿qué parte era la de arriba? ¿y cómo se leían? ¿de izquierda a derecha o viceversa?La Iglesia del Oriente que Timoteo I dirigió era devota a la educación y la actividad misionera. Mientras que la Iglesia Latina vio al Océano Atlántico como un muro bloqueando la expansión hacia el Oeste, la Iglesia del Oriente vio a Asia como una vasta región esperando a ser evangelizada.La Iglesia Oriental fue dividida en regiones conocidas como Metropolitanos. Un Metropolitano era como un arzobispo, bajo los cuales había varios obispos, a los cuales se reportaban un número de sacerdotes y sus iglesias. Para darle una idea de lo extenso de la Iglesia de Oriente - Timothy tenía diecinueve Metropolitanos y ochenta y cinco Obispos que se reportaban a él. En el Oeste, Inglaterra tenía dos arzobispos. Durante el tiempo de Timoteo como Patriarca, cinco nuevas sedes metropolitanas se crearon cerca de Teherán, en Siria, en Turquestán, Armenia, y una en el Mar Caspio. Arabia por lo menos cuatro obispos ordenados y Timothy uno nuevo en Yemen.Timoteo I fue a la Iglesia del Oriente lo Gregorio I había sido a la Iglesia del Occidente en términos de impulsar un celo misionero. El encargó a los monjes a llevar la fe desde el Mar Caspio hasta China. Informó sobre la conversión del gran rey Turco, llamado Khagan, quien gobernó la mayor parte de Asia central.En nuestro próximo episodio, echaremos un vistazo como el Evangelio alcanzo al Lejano Oriente.Quiero invitarles una vez más a que nos visiten en Facebook - simplemente hagan una búsqueda por la pagina de Communio Sanctorum- Historia de la Iglesia Cristiana, y denle a la página un “like” o "me gusta.” Al mismo tiempo dejen un comentario sobre el lugar donde viven.También quiero agradecer a aquellos suscriptores que han dejado un comentario en iTunes para el podcast. Sus comentarios han sido tan generosa y amables. Muchas gracias a todos. Más que nada, los comentarios en iTunes ayudan a conseguir que la gente conozca sobre el podcast.Y por último, al empezar esta revisión de la temporada 1 de CS y su traducción al Español, nuevos suscriptores escucharán la revisión, pero luego pueden en la versión en ingles llegar a episodios de la versión anterior que no se han traducido todavía. Así, que es posible que escuchen un comentario ocasional que CS no toma donaciones. No lo hicimos originalmente, y no necesitábamos porque yo era capaz de absorber los costos personalmente. Pero como el podcast ha crecido, no puedo lo puedo hacer solo, y ahora estoy tomando donaciones. En serio, lo que sea ayuda. Por lo tanto, si usted desea donar, vaya al sitio web de sanctorum.us y usar el link para donar. Gracias.

Hurray! Starting from August 24th i've joined Proton Radio with a monthly show Cosmic Picnic which is aired every 4th Monday of the month from 8am-9am ET (1pm-2pm UK). "Even in the most distant places of the world there are people who are passionate about music and always dream. Join a musical experience from the heart of Eurasia, where vast nomadic steppes meet high mountain ranges of Tien Shan, an experience called Cosmic Picnic." Tracklist: 1 @Kostyaoutta & @maxlosevmusic - Fantasy (@salskimusic Remix) [@oneofakindmuzik] 2 @kasperkoman - Wilder (Extended Mix) [@juiceboxmusic-in] 3 @khenmusic - A Hero (Original Mix) [@vivrantmusic] 4 @timengelhardt - Brought To Bare (Original Mix) [@watergaterecords] 5 @vidnoofficial - Cave (@mcslee Mark Slee'S Forgotten Dreams Remix) [@particles] 6 @larozcamelrider - Deepness And Motion (@theorganismmusic The Organism Remix) [@plattenbank] 7 @david-michael-mayer - Snake Dance (Original Mix) [@ouiemusic] 8 Tim Engelhardt - First Contact (@jacmemusic Remix) [@pokerflatrecordings] 9 @warungmusicofficial - Pensive (Original Mix) [W&O Street Tracks] 10 @noxvahn, Mimi Page - Dream Of Love (Original Mix) [@anjunadeep] 11 @samgoku - Return Of Life (Original Mix) [@interceptrecords]

150 Jahre Kalser Bergführerverein / Ein Porträt der Hüttenwirtin Caro Freisleben in den Hohen Tauern / Pfaffenberg & Rossberg - Wanderung über zwei unbekannte Würzburger Höhenzüge / Eine Trekkingtour im Tien Shan in Kirgisien

Jenny is passionate about human powered endurance challenges and loves combining this with her love of the mountains. At the moment, Jenny is making her way around the globe, running across a mountain range on every continent. In 2016 she ran across the Tien Shan of Kyrgyzstan, in 2017 she ran across the Atlas of Morocco, and most recently ran across the Bolivian Andes. In 2019 Jenny will be tackling her fourth expedition, the Southern Alps in New Zealand!  Jenny first came on the tough girl podcast in February 2017 when she shared more about her first challenge, exploring the Yukon of North Canada by cycling over 3,000 km. After her ride to Yukon, suddenly being fit enough to take on a running endurance challenge seemed like a possibility. Jenny decided to run solo, self-supported across Kyrgyzstan over 900km! On the Tough Girl podcast, Jenny Tough shared stories from several of her adventures and the lessons she learned along the way. Whether you’re thinking about a major challenge or want a little more adventure every day, you can learn something from this incredible woman. Show notes Her next big challenge  How the idea came about Loving the mountains and her passion for running Being looked after by local people Deciding on her 2017 challenge Getting into the zone Moving from the survival stage to the thriving stage The Atlas Mountains in Morocco The planning of the trip Making it up as she goes along (to a certain extent!) The excitement! Getting in shape for the challenge Getting injury proof The gear:- backpack - poles - shoes Fast packing Why weight is everything Mental preparation and dealing with the unknown The fear and doubt Be the expedition buddy you wish you had brought Tricking your brain Covering 55k on her first day Meeting the Berbers Over coming language barriers The beauty of the desert The challenges of North Africa Dealing with the Police Not being able to enter cafe and restaurants Helping to change attitudes Adventure blues and finishing the challenge Recovery time after a challenge Trying to get better at patience Her 3rd run- October 2018 heading off to Bolivia Dealing with the altitude Dealing with bad weather and storms Doing constant risk assessments Insurance Paying for the challenges Her plans for New Zealand - only 1200 km! Being an introvert and dealing with the remoteness Being more mindful when using a camera Social Media Check out Jenny’s website - www.jennytough.com Jenny is on Twitter @JennyTough  

Our latest Inspired Edinburgh guest is Jenny Tough. Jenny is an adventurer, endurance challenger, author, film maker, speaker and world traveller. She’s travelled six continents solo, cycled around Europe, paddled through the South American jungle, ran marathons on four continents, hiked throughout Asia, trekked in Patagonia, dived with sharks, surfed in the North Sea, competed in numerous adventure races, and lived in five countries! In 2016 she wrote her first book, ‘Keep The Sea To The Right’ which tells the tale of her solo 3,800-kilometre circumnavigation cycle of the Baltic Sea coastline and most recently she became the first person to run across Kyrgyzstan, an expedition which involved 25 days of running with a 12 kilogram rucksack, accessing ancient nomad trails high up in the Tien Shan mountains. Her goal in sharing her adventures is to inspire people to go find their own adventure!   00.00 Trailer 00.18 Introduction 01.50 When did Jenny start adventuring? 03.00 Living on a boat 04.00 Jenny’s career path 05.00 Why Jenny left the 9-5 06.20 Jenny’s lifestyle and diet 07.30 Jenny’s first big challenge 09.30 What did Jenny learn from this? 13.30 Not making emotional decisions 14.30 What does Jenny’s training look like now? 17.00 What does Jenny carry? 18.00 Jenny’s relationship with material possessions 19.30 What has been Jenny’s favourite challenge? 20.50 How does Jenny manage her mind? 22.20 Jenny’s view of ‘failure’ 24.00 Jenny on her biggest failure 26.50 Women in endurance sport 29.20 Jenny on film making 31.10 How has travelling the world impacted Jenny’s worldview 32.10 What does a day in the life of Jenny look like? 33.30 Edinburgh and the access to nature 34.20 Where would Jenny like to live? 35.50 How has Jenny evolved as a person throughout her life? 38.40 Is it more common for people to follow their passion? 39.20 Is there anything Jenny would have done differently? 40.40 Jenny on her life purpose 41.30 Jenny on her legacy 42.40 What irritates Jenny? 44.15 Jenny’s life philosophy 45.00 What is Jenny most grateful for? 46.00 If Jenny could master any skill or habit, what would it be? 47.20 Jenny’s definition of success 49.50 Who inspires Jenny? 50.50 Jenny’s life goals 52.10 Jenny’s favourite podcasts 54.00 Who has had the greatest influence on Jenny? 56.00 Best piece of advice 57.00 Jenny’s views on social media 58.30 What would Jenny say to her 20 year old self? 1.00.00 Jenny’s core values 1.01.00 Changing the world   You can find Jenny at: http://www.jennytough.com https://twitter.com/jennytough https://www.instagram.com/jennytough https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz19OCvmBVPT9m5kIm6hbYA   Find Inspired Edinburgh here: http://www.inspiredinburgh.com https://www.facebook.com/INSPIREDINBURGH https://www.twitter.com/INSPIREDINBURGH https://www.instagram.com/INSPIREDINBURGH

Jenny has travelled to six continents, solo. Cycled around Europe, paddled through the South American jungle, ran marathons on four continents, hiked throughout Asia, trekked in Patagonia, dived with sharks, surfed in the North Sea, competed in numerous adventure races, and lived in five countries. She believes everyone has the spirit of an explorer within them, and that adventures are constantly at our fingertips.  On September 18, 2016, Jenny ran through the city gates of Osh, in the southwest of Kyrgyzstan, having run just over 900 kilometres in 25 days from the northeast city of Karakol via the Tien Shan mountains, solo and self-supported. The expedition took her through both stunning and challenging landscapes, where she used ancient nomad trails to access mountain passes up to 4000m, while carrying all of her own supplies on her back!   “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” — T.S Eliot Show notes Growing up in Calgary, which is close to the Rocky Mountains in Canada. Where she would spend time out in the mountains connecting with nature. Moving down to the Caribbean when she was 10 years old and spending a year a half living on a boat with her family! Taking a gap year when she was 18 and spending time trekking and exploring in South America After university she decided she was going to cycle to the Yukon. A ride of 3,000 km to the North of Canada! Having respect for planning, but also wanting to let the adventure un fold naturally! Having the time and making the money to go away cycle touring and why her first adventure didn’t cost her a lot of money. Dealing with the fears of her friends and having to deal with her un-supportive friends and how their fears wore her down mentally  Cycling 100km on the first day of the adventure and how it motivated her to keep moving north.  The challenges she faced being on the open road and what she did to keep herself motivated and entertained Finding endurance sports, meditative and getting into the zone. After finishing her first cycle journey and deciding to try and live a normal life. It lasted a year before she decided to pack it all in and get back on her bike and go on another adventure Deciding to move to Scotland and why she loves it! Getting into running, how running made her feel and how her relationship with running changed over the years.  Running solo across Kyrgyzstan - 900k self supported! Why she wanted to do this challenge and how it came about Getting herself mentally and physically prepared for the challenge What it was like being in the country - meeting new people and dealing with their doubts about what she was doing. What Jenny has learned most from her Kyrgyzstan experience Why your friends really do matter and why you need to be careful of who you surround yourself with Her first book  - “Keeping the sea to the right” - when she decided to cycle around the Baltic Sea Tips and tricks to help you get over challenges and why breaking it down can make a massive difference Dealing with a family death while being away from her family and how she dealt with her grief Future challenges & final words of advice!   Check out Jenny’s website - www.jennytough.com Jenny is on Twitter @JennyTough   Support the tough girl podcast by becoming a Patron and donating $2 or $5 a month!!

Este episodio de Communio Sanctorum es titulado, "Y en el Oriente - Parte 2". En nuestro último episodio, tomamos un breve vistazo a la misión del Apóstol Tomás' a la India. Luego, consideramos la propagación de la fe hacia Persia. Para profundizar nuestro estudio de la Iglesia del Oriente tenemos que volver al Concilio de Calcedonia en el 5º siglo donde el Obispo Nestóreo fue condenado como un hereje.Como hemos visto, el debate acerca de la deidad de Cristo que fue central en el Concilio de Nicea en el año 325 d.C., declaró que Jesús era de la misma sustancia que el Padre. Pasaron otros cien años antes que el error del Arrianismo, que negaba la deidad de Jesús, fue finalmente revocado. Pero incluso entre los creyentes ortodoxos, católicos, que seguían el Credo de Nicea, la pregunta era sobre cómo entender la naturaleza de Cristo. Él es Dios – ¡ok lo entiendo! Pero también es humano. ¿Cómo podemos entender su doble naturaleza? Fue en el Concilio de Calcedonia en el 451, que la cuestión se decidió finalmente. Y la Iglesia de Oriente fue declarada de seguir una posición que no era ortodoxa.El debate fue sofisticado y complejo, y a grandes rasgos decidido más por política que por una preocupación por una teología pura. El perdedor en el debate fue el Obispo Nestóreo, Patriarca de Constantinopla. Para hacer una cuestión compleja mas simple, los que enfatizaban la unidad de las dos naturalezas llegaron a ser llamados Monofisitas = que significa una sola naturaleza. Consideraban a Nestóreo como un hereje porque el enfatizaba las 2 naturalezas como distintas; incluso llegando hasta el punto de decir que Nestóreo afirmaba que Jesús era de 2 PERSONAS. Eso no era lo que Nestóreo decía, pero eso lo que sus oponentes lograron hacer que todos, menos sus más cercanos seguidores, creyeran. De hecho, cuando el Consejo finalmente emitió su declaración y Credo, Nestóreo afirmo que ellos sólo redactaron lo que el siempre había enseñado. A pesar de que el Concilio de Calcedonia declaro al Nestorianismo como herégia, la Iglesia del Oriente siguió aferrada a su punto de vista sobre la doble naturaleza de Cristo, en oposición a lo que ellos consideraban como un punto de vista monofisita aberrante.Al amanecer del 6º siglo, había 3 ramas principales de la Iglesia Cristiana:la Iglesia de Occidente, que miraba a Roma y Constantinopla para el liderazgo.La Iglesia de África, con su gran centro de Alejandría y un nuevo centro en Etiopía;y la Iglesia de Oriente, con su centro en Persia.Como vimos en el último episodio, la Iglesia del Oriente fue impulsada desde Edesa en la frontera del Norte de Siria y Turquía Oriental. La escuela teológica se transfirió a Nisibi en Turquía Oriental en el año 471. Fue dirigida por el brillante teólogo Narsai. De esta escuela salieron miles de estudiantes para dirigir las Iglesias del Oriente. Varios esfuerzos misioneros también fueron lanzados desde Nisibi – de la misma manera que Iona fue una base para impulsar al Cristianismo Celta en el extremo noroeste. La Iglesia Oriental planto con éxito misiones entre la población nómadas del Medio Oriente y Asia Central entre los mediados 5º siglo al final del 7º siglo. Esto incluyo los esfuerzos plantando iglesias entre los Hunos. Abraham de Cascar que vivió durante el 6º siglo hizo mucho para plantar las comunidades monásticas en todo el Oriente.Durante los primeros 1200 años, la Iglesia del Oriente, creció tanto geográfica y numéricamente mucho más que la del Oeste. La razón principal fue porque en el Oriente, el trabajo misionero fue en gran medida un movimiento laico. Desde que Europa se había trasladado a la Edad Media con su estricto sistema feudal, nadie viajaba sin permiso, mientras que, en el oriente, el movimiento de comercio y negocios creció. Esto resultó en el movimiento de un gran número de personas que llevaban su fe con ellos.Otro motivo por el cual la Iglesia del Oriente creció fue la persecución. Como vimos la última vez, antes de Constantino, las persecuciones del Imperio Romano empujo a un gran número de creyentes hacia el Oriente. Entonces, cuando los Sasánidas comenzaron la Gran Persecución de los Cristianos en Persia, esto empujó a gran número de Fieles al sur y más al Este. Tras la persecución que vino bajo Sapor II, otra ronda mucho más grave de persecución estalló a mediados del 5ª siglo que vio a 10 obispos y 153,000 cristianos asesinados en pocos días.Cuando pensamos en Arabia, muchos piensan inmediatamente del Islam. Pero el Cristianismo había echado raíces en la península mucho antes de que Mahoma llegó a la escena. ¡De hecho, un Obispo de Qatar estaba presente en el Concilio de Nicea en el año 325! La Reina Árabe Mawwiyya, cuyas fuerzas derrotaron a los Romanos en el año 373, insistió en recibir a un Obispo Ortodoxo antes de que ella hiciera la paz. Hubo una misión en la región suroriental de Arabia, en lo que hoy es Yemen antes del nacimiento de Mahoma, tanto por misioneros Nestorianos y Monofisitas. Al comienzo del 6º siglo, había docenas de iglesias a lo largo de toda la costa Árabe del Golfo Pérsico.El surgimiento del Islam en el 7º siglo era tuvo consecuencias trascendentales para la Iglesia del Oriente. La capital Persa en Ctesifonte cayó en poder de los Arabes en el año 637. Desde que la iglesia en esa ciudad se había convertido en una especie de Roma a la Iglesia de Oriente, el impacto fue enorme. Los Musulmanes eran en ocasiones tolerantes de las minorías religiosas, pero sólo a la medida en que se quedaran en comunidades de los desposeídos conocidos como "dhimmi". Se convirtieron en ghettos despojados de su vitalidad. Al mismo tiempo que la Iglesia del Oriente estaba siendo desmenuzada por las conquistas Musulmanas, estaba tomando uno de sus pasos mas grandes hacia adelante, llegando a China a mediados del 7º siglo.Mientras que la Iglesia de Occidente creció principalmente por el trabajo de un clero entrenado y monjes misioneros del Cristianismo Celta, en la parte Oriental, muy a menudo, eran los comerciantes y artesanos cristianos, que propagaron la Fe. La Iglesia del Oriente tenia mucho enfoque en la educación y la lectura. Se entendía que generalmente que ser un seguidor de Jesús significaba una educación que incluia la lectura, la escritura y la teología. Cuando los laicos de la iglesia eran educados, esto significaba una abundancia de trabajadores capaces de propagar la fe - ¡y difundirlo lo hicieron! Los Cristianos a menudo encontraban empleos entre las personas menos avanzadas, sirviendo en las oficinas del gobierno, y también como profesores y secretarios. Ayudaron a resolver el problema del analfabetismo al inventar alfabetos simples basados en la Lengua Siriaca que enmarca su propia literatura y teología.Lo que al principio fue una bendición, al final, se demostró en ser un obstáculo. Los primeros misioneros no comprendían el principio de la contextualización; que el Evangelio esta sobre la cultura; trasciende las cosas como lengua y tradiciones. Los primeros misioneros que se movieron rápidamente en el Este de Siria suponían que su versión Sirio-Aramea de la fe era la UNICA versión y intentaron convertir a los que conocían a esa fe. Como consecuencia, mientras que unos pocos aceptaban la fe y aprendían el Sirio-Arameo, unas generaciones más tarde, las antiguas religiones y lenguas se reafirmaron por sí mismas y el cristianismo fue disipado o asimilado en la cultura que ya no reflejaba realmente el Cristianismo Bíblico.La edad de oro de las primeras misiones en Asia Central fue al final del 4º siglo hasta la última parte del 9ª siglo. Después de eso, tanto el Islam y el budismo llegaron a la escena.Al Noreste de Persia, la Iglesia tenía una pronta y amplia difusión alrededor del Río Oxus. A principios del 4º siglo las ciudades de Merv, Herat y Samarkand tenian obispos.Una vez que la Fe fue establecida en esta región, se extendió rápidamente más al Este a la cuenca del Río Tarim, en la zona norte de las Montañas Tien Shan, y el Tíbet. Se extendió a lo largo de esta ruta, ya que fue la principal ruta de las caravanas. Con tantos cristianos trabajando en el área de comercio, era natural que el Evangelio fue rápidamente plantado en las rutas de las caravanas y las ciudades que cruzaban.En el siglo 11 la Fe se comenzó a propagarse entre los pueblos nómadas de las regiones de Asia Central. Estos cristianos eran en su mayoría de los Tártaros y las tribus de los Mongoles de Keraits, Onguts, Uigures, Naimans y Merkits.No está claro exactamente cuando el Cristianismo llegó a Tíbet, pero lo más probable es que llegó para el 6º siglo. El territorio de los antiguos Tibetanos se extendía más al oeste y al norte que la nación actual, y tenían un amplio contacto con las tribus nómadas de Asia Central. Una Iglesia viva, existía en el Tíbet para el 8º siglo. El patriarca de la Iglesia de Asiria en Mesopotamia, Timoteo I, escribió desde Bagdad en el año 782 que la comunidad cristiana en el Tíbet era uno de los mayores grupos bajo su supervisión. Él designó a un Patriarca Tibetano para supervisar las muchas iglesias. El centro de la iglesia tibetana estaba ubicado en Lhasa y la iglesia creció allí hasta finales del siglo 13, cuando el Budismo arrasó con la región. Una inscripción tallada en una gran roca a la entrada del pase en Tangtse, que antes era parte del Tíbet, pero ahora esta en la India, tiene 3 cruces con algo escrito indicando la presencia de la Fe Cristiana. El pase fue uno de las antiguas rutas principales comerciales entre Lhasa y Bactria. Las cruces tienen el estilo de la Iglesia del Oriente, y una de las palabras parece ser "Jesús." Otra inscripción dice, "En el año 210 llego Nosfarn desde Samarcanda como emisario al Khan de Tíbet." Talvez esto no paresca como una referencia al Cristianismo hasta que tomamos un vistazo mas cercano a la fecha. ¡210! Esta sólo tiene sentido en referencia a la medida del tiempo desde el nacimiento de Cristo, que ya era una práctica en la Iglesia.El antes mencionado Timoteo I se convirtió en el Patriarca de la iglesia de Asiria alrededor del año 780. Su iglesia estaba situada en la antigua ciudad Mesopotámica de Selacia, la gemela más grande de la capital Persa de Ctesifonte. Tenía 52 años y esto ya pasaba la expectativa de vida de la gente de esa época. Timoteo vivió hasta los 90's, muriendo en el año 823. Durante su larga vida, se dedicó a la conquista espiritual tan enérgicamente como Alejandro el Magno lo hizo con la conquista militar. Mientras que Alejandro construyó un imperio terrenal, Timoteo buscó extender el reino de Dios.En cada elemento, la trayectoria de Timoteo destruye todo lo que creemos saber acerca de la historia del Cristianismo en ese momento. Él altera las ideas acerca de la distribución geográfica de la Fe, su relación con el poder político, su influencia cultural, y su interacción con otras religiones. En términos de prestigio y la extensión geográfica de su autoridad, Timoteo fue el más importante líder cristiano de su día; mucho más influyente que el Papa de Roma o el patriarca de Constantinopla. Una cuarta parte de los Cristianos del mundo lo miraban a él como un jefe político y espiritual.Ningún historiador responsable del Cristianismo dejaría fuera a Europa. Omitiendo a Asia de la historia es igual de impensable. No podemos entender la historia Cristiana sin Asia o la historia de Asia sin el Cristianismo. La Iglesia del Oriente no le importaba mucho los acontecimientos Europeos. Timoteo I sabía sobre su contemporáneo Europeo Carlomagno. Los gobernantes Francos intercambiaron misiones diplomáticas con el Califato Musulmán, un desarrollo de que el líder de la Iglesia del Oriente hubiera sido informado. Timoteo I sabía también que Roma tenía su propio líder llamado el Papa. Él ciertamente estaba consciente de las tensiones entre el Papa y el Patriarca de Constantinopla sobre quién era el líder del mundo cristiano. Timoteo pensó probablemente que sus peleas eran tontas. ¿No era obvio que la Iglesia de Oriente eran los verdaderos herederos de la iglesia primitiva? Si Roma señalaba su autoridad desde Pedro, Mesopotamia miraba a Cristo mismo. Después de todo, Jesús era un descendiente de esa antigua familia Mesopotámica de Abraham. ¿Y no fue Mesopotamia la fuente original de la cultura y la civilización?, y claro que igual se puede mencionar la ubicación probable del Jardín del Edén. Fue el Oriente, en lugar que el Oeste, que primero abrazó al Evangelio. El hogar natural del Cristianismo era en Mesopotamia y Puntos hacia el Este. Según la sabiduría geográfica de la época, Selacia se ubicaba en el centro de las rutas de comercio y comunicación del mundo, igualmente colocada entre las civilizaciones que veían respectivamente al Oeste y al Este.Sobre todas las tierras de lo que hoy es Irak e Irán, los creyentes construyeron iglesias grandes y perdurables. Debido a su posición cerca de la frontera Romana, pero suficientemente lejos para evitar interferencias, Mesopotamia mantuvo una cultura cristiana poderosa que duró hasta el siglo 13. A través de la Edad Media en Europa, la Iglesia Mesopotámica fue mucho mas una sede cristiana cultural y espiritual que Francia o Alemania, o incluso esa base misionera tan importante de Irlanda.Varias ciudades Mesopotámicas como Basora, Mosul, Kirkuk y Tikrit fueron florecientes centros del Cristianismo durante siglos después de la llegada del Islam. ¡En el año 800 d.C., estas iglesias y las escuelas que tenían eran bibliotecas de la educación clásica de los Griegos, Romanos y Persas a los cuales Europa Occidental no tendría acceso a por otros 400 años!Simplemente, no existió una "Edad Oscura" en la Iglesia del Oriente. Desde la perspectiva de Timoteo I, la cultura y erudición del mundo antiguo nunca se había perdido. Lo que es más importante, la Iglesia de Oriente no vivió ninguna interrupción entre ellos y la iglesia primitiva que se levantó en Jerusalén en el libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles.Considere esto: Fácilmente podemos ver el contraste entre el mundo latino feudal de la Edad Media Europea con la antigua Iglesia de Medio Oriente arraigado en una cultura que hablaba Griego y Arameo. La Iglesia Medieval de Europa se veía a sí misma como bastante alejada de la Iglesia primitiva. Tanto en el lenguaje y formas de pensamiento, eran culturalmente diferentes y distantes. Pero en el tiempo de Timoteo I, es decir, los principios de siglo 9º, la Iglesia del Oriente todavía habla Griego y Arameo. Sus miembros compartían la misma cultura de Medio Oriente y lo seguirían haciéndolo durante siglos. Tan tarde como el 13ª siglo, todavía se llamaban a sí mismos "Nazarenos", un título que los primeros cristianos usaban. Llamaban a Jesús "Yeshua." El Clero recibia el título de "rabban" que significa profesor o maestro, relacionado con el hebreo - "rabino."Los Teólogos Orientales utilizaban el mismo estilo literario que los autores del Talmud Judío en lugar que las obras teológicas de Europa Occidental. Como dice Philip Jenkins, si alguna vez quisiéramos especular sobre como la iglesia temprana se pudiera haberse visto, si se hubiera desarrollado evitando su alianza con el poder del estado Romano, solo tenemos que mirar hacia el Este.En repetidas ocasiones, nos encontramos con el Patriarca Timoteo I refiriéndose al hecho de que las Iglesias de Oriente utilizaban textos que fueron perdidos o olvidados en el Oeste. Debido a su proximidad a lugares donde se desarrollo la historia judía y cristiana primitiva, los Eruditos Orientales tenían acceso a abundantes textos y escrituras antiguas. Un indicio de lo que estaba disponible proviene de una de las cartas de Timoteo.Escrito en el año 800, Timoteo respondio a las preguntas de un Judío en el proceso de su conversión al Cristianismo. Este Judío le dijo al Patriarca de un reciente hallazgo de una gran cantidad de manuscritos antiguos, tantos bíblicos como apócrifos, en una cueva, cerca de Jericó. Los documentos habían sido adquiridos por la comunidad Judía de Jerusalén. Sin duda, esto fue uno de los primeros hallazgos en lo que más tarde llegó a ser conocido como los Pergaminos del Mar Muerto. ¡Gracias a Dios, que este hallazgo no impulso los cazadores de tesoros para saquear las otras cuevas de la zona! En cualquier caso, como ahora, los estudiosos estaban entusiasmados por el descubrimiento. Timoteo respondió con todas las preguntas adecuadas. Quería saber como el hallazgo podía arrojar una luz sobre algunos pasajes de las Escrituras por los cuales el tenia curiosidad. Él estaba ansioso por descubrir cómo los nuevos textos encontrados se comparaban con los textos de las versiones Hebreas del Antiguo Testamento. ¿Cómo se comparan con el Septuaginta Griega? Timoteo estaba encantado de oír que los pasajes de los cuales quería conocer mas existían realmente en los manuscritos antiguos.Las preguntas de Timoteo son impresionantes cuando se comparan con lo que los eruditos Occidental hubieran hecho con tal hallazgo. No tenían ni idea de las cuestiones planteadas por Timoteo. No podían ni siquiera leer la lengua de los manuscritos antiguos. Sólo un puñado de académicos Occidentales incluso hubieran tenido el conocimiento de cómo sostener los manuscritos: por ejemplo, ¿qué parte era la de arriba? ¿y cómo se leían? ¿de izquierda a derecha o viceversa?La Iglesia del Oriente que Timoteo I dirigió era devota a la educación y la actividad misionera. Mientras que la Iglesia Latina vio al Océano Atlántico como un muro bloqueando la expansión hacia el Oeste, la Iglesia del Oriente vio a Asia como una vasta región esperando a ser evangelizada.La Iglesia Oriental fue dividida en regiones conocidas como Metropolitanos. Un Metropolitano era como un arzobispo, bajo los cuales había varios obispos, a los cuales se reportaban un número de sacerdotes y sus iglesias. Para darle una idea de lo extenso de la Iglesia de Oriente - Timothy tenía diecinueve Metropolitanos y ochenta y cinco Obispos que se reportaban a él. En el Oeste, Inglaterra tenía dos arzobispos. Durante el tiempo de Timoteo como Patriarca, cinco nuevas sedes metropolitanas se crearon cerca de Teherán, en Siria, en Turquestán, Armenia, y una en el Mar Caspio. Arabia por lo menos cuatro obispos ordenados y Timothy uno nuevo en Yemen.Timoteo I fue a la Iglesia del Oriente lo Gregorio I había sido a la Iglesia del Occidente en términos de impulsar un celo misionero. El encargó a los monjes a llevar la fe desde el Mar Caspio hasta China. Informó sobre la conversión del gran rey Turco, llamado Khagan, quien gobernó la mayor parte de Asia central.En nuestro próximo episodio, echaremos un vistazo como el Evangelio alcanzo al Lejano Oriente.Quiero invitarles una vez más a que nos visiten en Facebook - simplemente hagan una búsqueda por la pagina de Communio Sanctorum- Historia de la Iglesia Cristiana, y denle a la página un “like” o "me gusta.” Al mismo tiempo dejen un comentario sobre el lugar donde viven.También quiero agradecer a aquellos suscriptores que han dejado un comentario en iTunes para el podcast. Sus comentarios han sido tan generosa y amables. Muchas gracias a todos. Más que nada, los comentarios en iTunes ayudan a conseguir que la gente conozca sobre el podcast.Y por último, al empezar esta revisión de la temporada 1 de CS y su traducción al Español, nuevos suscriptores escucharán la revisión, pero luego pueden en la versión en ingles llegar a episodios de la versión anterior que no se han traducido todavía. Así, que es posible que escuchen un comentario ocasional que CS no toma donaciones. No lo hicimos originalmente, y no necesitábamos porque yo era capaz de absorber los costos personalmente. Pero como el podcast ha crecido, no puedo lo puedo hacer solo, y ahora estoy tomando donaciones. En serio, lo que sea ayuda. Por lo tanto, si usted desea donar, vaya al sitio web de sanctorum.us y usar el link para donar. Gracias.