Podcasts about tujia

You won't believe what people in different countries do before, during, and right after their wedding day following age-old traditions. Here are some crazy rituals for celebrating love from around the world. While most brides-to-be spend arduous hours at the gym, young girls in Mauritania are fattened up in a practice known as “leblouh". For a child to become an adult and ready for marriage in Bali, they have to go through a special tooth filing ceremony. In a tradition that goes back hundreds of years, a Tujia bride starts crying a month before her big day and is later joined by her mother, grandmother, sisters and aunts. To break the spell that would make their prospective husband die early, some women India get married to trees first. In Scotland, friends and family gladly throw molasses, ash, feathers, flour and way more disgusting things all over the bride to scare off evil spirits and bring good luck. The newlyweds in Congo never smile during the wedding ceremony to show how serious their commitment to their future family is. Masai fathers have their own very special way of blessing their newlywed daughters by spitting on their heads and breasts. Music: Seahorse - Rondo Brothers Almost August - Dan Lebowitz Arc of the Sun — The 126ers Blue Skies — Silent Partner Yucatan Peninsula — Biz Baz Studio TIMESTAMPS Force-feeding future brides 0:24 Tooth-filing ceremony 1:22 Advice from a chicken liver 2:07 Whale tooth offering 2:40 Bridal tears 3:19 Married to a tree 4:04 Tar-and-feathering the bride 4:37 Smash it (and clean it up) 5:16 Fighting for shoes 5:48 Poker face 6:22 Human rug 6:47 A good luck spit 7:09 SUMMARY -In Mauritania, young girls and women are fattened up before marriage as their idea of female beauty is curves, layers of fat, and stretch marks. -Imagine this: the people of Bali go through a special tooth filing ceremony to “cut down” the six sins that live in every person. -The Daur people of China's Inner Mongolia cut open a baby chicken to pick the date for the big day. -In Fiji, young men not only have to ask for her father's permission, but also bring him a whale tooth to marry the girl of their dreams. -The Tujia brides in Southwest China start crying a month before the big day. Later, the female part of the family joins them. -Believe it or not, some women in India marry trees all because of their astrological sign. -Scottish brides go through a “blackening” ritual to scare off evil spirits and attract good luck. -The wedding guests in Germany get to smash porcelain and ceramic dishware, and the newlyweds have to clean it all up afterwards as their first shared chore together. -In India, the groom's side has to protect the shoes from being stolen by the bride's family. -If you're ever invited to a wedding in the Congo, don't expect the bride and groom to smile, they avoid it to show how serious the commitment to future family is. -Once the wedding ceremony is over in French Polynesia, all the guests on the bride's side lie face down in the dirt to make one long human rug. -Masai fathers try to trick fate by spitting on their daughters heads and breasts. Subscribe to Bright Side : https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook:   / brightside   Instagram:   / brightgram   5-Minute Crafts Youtube: https://www.goo.gl/8JVmuC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last time we spoke about the finale of the Northern Expedition, the reunification of China. In May the NRA advanced from the Yellow River bridgehead despite losing access to the Tianjin-Pukou railway, forcing a 60-mile march. General Chen Tiaoyuan captured Tehzhou on the 13th, as the NRA cleared northern Shandong. They then converged on Beijing, with Feng Yuxiang's 2nd Collective Army and Yan Xishan's 3rd Collective Army advancing from different directions. Yan Xishan fought the NPA, recapturing territories and capturing Nankou, which led to speculation he would enter Beijing first. Despite NPA counterattacks, the NRA forces continued their advance. By late May, the NRA's combined efforts and internal NPA issues led to a general retreat of the NPA forces. On June 6, Yan Xishan's troops entered Beijing. The NPA's Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by Japanese officers, leading to a power shift to his son Zhang Xueliang, who later aligned with Chiang Kai-Shek. By December 1928, China was unified under the KMT.   #118 The Chinese Civil War Draws First Blood 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 I said a few times during the northern expedition that I wanted to push aside the emerging Chinese civil war. Although we loosely covered a lot of the major events, this episode is going to try and narrow and focus it down. Now please note, up until this point I have to admit I had been using sources that were either skewed towards the Chinese nationalist views or were trying to be non biased. For some of these episodes I intentionally am using some CCP aligned sources, I will try my best to balance things out. Also a large part of this is going to be a retelling of the Shanghai Massacre, but more from the point of view of the CCP. All the way back in 1926, Chiang Kai-Shek had managed to seize power over the Kuomintang. He exerted control over the party and army as he unleashed the Northern Expedition. By November 9th Chiang Kai-Shek set up a new headquarters in Nanchang. Chiang Kai-Shek was determined to purge the party of communists and began to do so here. He began by recruiting a large number of right-wing Kuomintang members such as Dai Jitao and Wu Tiecheng. Dai Jitao was a member of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee and had served as the Minister of the KMT's propaganda department. After the death of Sun Yat-Sen, Dai Jitao had actively promoted an anti-communist movement, drawing support from warlords, right wingers and those the CCP would describe as “imperialists”. In May of 1925 with the support of Chiang Kai-Shek, Dai Jitao began an anti-communist campaign in Shanghai. He ran two successful pamphlets loosely translated in English as "The Philosophical Foundation of Sun Yat-senism" and "National Revolution and the Chinese Kuomintang”. Both worked to promote the teachings of Confucius and Mencius while distorting Sun Yat-sen's thoughts. Dai Jitao was arguing that Sun Yat-Sen's ideology chiefly came from Confucianism instead of western philosophy and that in fact the man was a traditionalist. He twisted Sun Yat-Sen's three principles, castrating them of revolutionary content. All of this quickly became a "banner" for the Kuomintang right-winger to carry out anti-communist activities. After Chiang Kai-Shek arrived in Nanchang, he immediately invited him to go north to jointly plan the purge of the party and anti-communism. Wu Tiecheng joined Dai Jitao, he was the director of the Guangzhou Public security Bureau and a well known KMT right-winger. Prior to the Zhongshan ship incident, Wu Tiecheng stated he had suggested to Chiang Kai-Shek that they impose sanctions on the CCP. In his words “with the registration materials of the special household registration of our Public Security Bureau, we can immediately arrest a dozen of the main Communist Party members, and then use a ship to transport them to a small island near Zhongshan County , or send them to Shanghai. As for the minor members, they will be temporarily detained." Chiang Kai-Shek said "I will think about it first." After the Zhongshan incident, Chiang Kai-Shek pretended to dismiss him from his post, but specially invited him later to Nanchang and dispatched him to Japan as a liaison. Another large figure who was invited over was Huang Fu, who had served as the Minister of Foreign affairs and Education for the Beiyang Government and as its Prime Minister. When Chiang Kai-Shek came to Nanchang he wrote to Huang Fu twice inviting him to come south. On December 31st, Zhang Jingjiang and Chen Guofu were also invited to Nanchang. Zhang Jingjiang was a member of the KMT's Central Supervisory Committee. After the secondary Plenary session of the second central committee, he became chairman of it. He used his authority and colluded with Chen Guofu, the Minister of Organization to dissolve the Guangzhou Municipal Party committee, which at the time was being led by left winger KMT. They did this by placing confidants in various positions to steal power. Simultaneously, they suppressed worker and peasant movements in Guangdong, even dispatching gangsters to kill their leaders and burn down the provincial and Hong Kong strike committee HQ. All of these people gathered at Nanchang formed a anti-communist cabal backing Chiang Kai-Shek. In January of 1927 these men went up Mount Lushan to a famous hotel called Xianyan where they plotted. After several days of meetings, as my source argues, mostly based on the advice of Huang Fu, these following decisions were obtained. Number 1, they would enact a policy of separating from the USSR and purging the party of CCP. Number 2, the NRA must settle the southeast by forming an alliance with the gentry and merchant class there. Number 3 in their diplomatic efforts they had to abandon the USSR and ally themselves to Japan. Number 4, to increase their military power they had to unite with Feng Yuxiangs Guominjun and Yan Xishan.   Upon returning to Nanchang, Chiang Kai-Shek took action, first by attacking Borodin. He sent a telegram to Xu Qian, the chairman of the Wuhan joint conference, stating Borodin had insulted him in public at Wuhan and demanded he be removed from his advisory position. He also recomended expell Borodin back to the USSR. The source I am reading states Chiang Kai-Shek had two rationales for going after Borodin. "Chiang Kai-Shek felt that except for Borodin, the Kuomintang leaders in Wuhan were all politically incompetent. ... As long as Borodin was there, he could not gain a dominant position. Secondly, he was using Borodin like a scape goat to hide his real anti-Soviet purpose'. At this time Chiang Kai-Shek was being labeled a USSR stooge by the NPA and a Japanese stooge by the CCP. In response, Chiang Kai-Shek stated publicly "Our alliance with Russia was left by the Prime Minister. Although its representatives have been arrogant for a long time and oppressed our party leaders in many ways, I believe that this has nothing to do with the Soviet Union's spirit of treating us equally. No matter what their personal attitudes are, we will never change our relationship with the Soviet Union towards Japan. Why should we unite with the Soviet Union? It is because the Soviet Union can treat China equally. Since the Soviet Union has not given up treating us equally, how can we give up the policy of alliance with Russia. ... Not only Japan, but any country, if it can treat China equally, then we will treat them the same way as we treat the Soviet Union. It is not impossible to unite with them. We unite with the Soviet Union to seek freedom and equality for China. It is completely based on the meaning of treating our nation equally, so we must unite with the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union does not treat us equally and oppresses us in the same way, we will also oppose them in the same way. I have said for a long time." In regards to the CCP Chiang Kai-Shek stated to his close confidants “When I was in Guangzhou, I was always paying attention to the actions of the CCP. I wanted to implement my proposal to overthrow the CCP in Guangzhou, however I did not do so. I was unable to do so because it could mean the end of the Kuomintang”. After the success of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-Shek lamented to his confidants “although our army has won a great victory, I still worry the enemy is not at our front but at our rear. The CCP is causing much trouble within, we must make sure it does not split out party or even collapse our army. There are thorns everywhere”. Publically Chiang Kai-Shek stated "Now there is a rumor that I distrust and alienate my Communist comrades and have a tendency to oppose them. In fact, it cannot be said that I will not oppose the Communist Party. I has always supported the Communist Party... But that is to say, if the Communist Party becomes strong in the future and its members are arrogant and tyrannical, I will definitely correct them and punish them. ... Now many Communist Party members are actually oppressing the Kuomintang members, showing an overbearing attitude, and tend to exclude Kuomintang members, making Kuomintang members embarrassed. In this way, I can no longer treat Communist Party members with the same preferential treatment as before. If I still have the same attitude as before, then I am not in the position of a Kuomintang member, and I cannot be a Kuomintang member. Although I am not a Communist Party member, from a revolutionary perspective, I have to take some responsibility for the success or failure of the Communist Party! I am the leader of the Chinese revolution, not just the leader of the Kuomintang. The Communist Party is a part of the Chinese revolutionary forces. Therefore, if Communist Party members do something wrong or act tyrannically, I have the responsibility and power to intervene and punish them." As you can see, publicly Chiang Kai-Shek was always walking on eggshells when attacking the CCP. If you know the old boiling frog analogy, it's more or less like Chiang Kai-Shek gradually getting the public to attack the CCP. At the ceremony where Li Liejun was appointed chairman of Jiangxi, Chiang Kai-shek once again gave a speech, saying that communism was only a method of economic development, which might be applicable in some countries, but if China adopted communism, it would be a great harm and would only lead to the overthrow and revolution of China. In late January, Chiang Kai-Shek met with Momuro Keijiro, a representative sent by Japan's minister of Finance and Navy at Lushan. Chiang Kai-Shek explained to Keijiro that he understood the importance of the political and economic relationship between Manchuria and Japan. He understood the Japanese had spilt a lot of blood there during the Russo-Japanese War. He believed Manchuria required special consideration and hoped the Japanese would correctly evaluate the KMT's struggle to reunify China. Chiang Kai-Shek then met with the Japanese consul General in Jiujiang, Edo Sentaro, explaining he did not only intend to abolish the unequal treaties but would try to respect the existing conditions as much as possible, such as guaranteeing the recognition of foreign loans and repayments and respecting foreign owned enterprises.  After these meetings Chiang Kai-Shek met with representatives of the Imperial Japanese Military such as Nagami Masuki and Matsumuro Takayoshi. It was Dai Jitao who set up these meetings. Chiang Kai-Shek began the talks by making it clear the KMT would not work with the CCP and was willing to work with Japan to prevent the spread of Communism in China. Chiang Kai-Shek also met with the Japanese politician Yamamoto Jotario who would go on to say in Beijing that he believed the Generalissimo was an outstanding military leader. Needless to say, as my source would put it “Chiang Kai-Shek was closely colluding with Japanese imperialism”. He was also establishing contacts with the US. He dispatched Wang Zhengting to Shanghai to meet the American consul general there. Wang Zhengting told him the KMT had washed their hands of the communists and that there would be nor more incidents such as the one that befell Hankou. The American consul general in Guangzhou was likewise contacted through the finance minister of Guangdong, Kong Xiangxi. What the American consuls told their government was “if the powers want to drive the Soviets out of China, they should establish direct contact with Chiang Kai-Shek”. Chiang Kai-Shek also publicly expressed regret to numerous nations for incidents such as the one in Nanjing. He was gaining a reputation as being the only leader in China capable of restoring order amongst the chaos. Many of these foreign diplomats privately told Chiang Kai-Shek that if he wanted to really brush shoulders with them he had to purge the communists and soon. To truly purge the communists Chiang Kai-Shek reaches a deal with the bourgeoisie of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They will support him economically if he helps suppress the worker movements in Shanghai. They fund Chiang Kai-Shek some 500,000 Yuan in early March, then on the 29th the Shanghai Commercial Federation pledges 5 million Yuan, with another 3 million on April 1st. Around this time Chiang Kai-Shek secretly send Wang Boling, the deputy commander of the 1st army; Yang Hu, chief of the special affairs department of the general HQ and Chen Qun the director of the political department of the eastern route army to Shanghai in disguise to meet Huang Jinrong. Huang Jinrong was a chief detective working in the French concession of Shanghai. He also happened to be one of the top three gangsters working under Du Yuesheng of the Green Gang. Huang Jinrong summoned Du Yuesheng and the other Green Gang leader Zhang Xiaolin, as they all discussed how to purge the communists. The Green Gang leaders seized the opportunity to help the KMT. They began monitoring the CCP, armed their gang members and began to attack anyone who was picketing. They formed the “China Progress Association”, which in reality was just Green Gang members. This association proceeded to attack the Shanghai General Labor Union, providing the perfect pretext for Chiang Kai-Shek to act.  On April 1st Wang Jingwei returns to Shanghai from aboard. By the 3rd Chiang Kai-Shek telegrams that Wang Jingwei is reinstated and holds secret talks with him. On the 8th Chiang Kai-Shek organizes a Shanghai Provisional Political Committee, stipulating it will decide all military, political and financial decisions and will replace the Shanghai special municipality provincial government that was established after the third Shanghai worker uprising. On the 9th he unleashes martial law prohibiting assemblies, strikes and marches, and established the Songhu Martial Law Command, with Bai Chongxi and Zhou Fengqi as the commander and deputy commander. Chiang Kai-Shek then takes his leave for Nanjing, leaving the job to Bai Chongxi who will supervise a coup in Shanghai. In a vain attempt Chen Duxiu tells the CCP to ease up on the Anti-Chiang Kai-Shek stuff. Then its announced to them that Chen Duxiu had managed to form a deal with Wang Jingwei. Chiang Kai-Shek send word from Nanjing to carry out the purge, in a very “execute order 66 fashion”.  April the 12th takes a wild turn in Shanghai. In the early morning a signal is raised over a warship anchored near the Gaochang temple. Hundreds of well armed Green Gang, Triads and some secret agents wearing blue shorts and white cloth  armbands with a black gongs on them, dispersed from the French concession in several cars. From 1 to 5am they attacked the picketing workers in Zhabei, Nanshi, Huxi, Wusong, Hongkou and other districts. The workers resisted immediately causing fierce street battles to break out. The 26th Army of the NRA, an old Sun Chuanfang unit that recently defected, came to forcibly confiscate guns while stating they were “mediating an internal strife amongst the workers”. Over 2700 armed workers in Shanghai were disarmed. More than 120 were killed with another 180 injured. The Shanghai General Labor Union club and all their associated pickets in the districts were occupied. Within the foreign concessions, foreign military and police forces arrested more than 1000 CCP members and workers who were immediately handed over to Chiang Kai-Shek's men. On the morning of the 13th, the workers from Shanghai's tobacco, silk factories, trams, municipal administration, postal services, sailors and various other industries went on strike. Over 200,000 workers took to the streets and the Shanghai General Labor Union held a mass rally in Qingyun Road Square in Zhabei with over 100,000 participants. They held a quick conference calling for resolutions. The first resolution was to hand over their weapons. Secondly those who destroyed their unions should be severely punished. Third the families of those killed needed to be compensated. Fourth protests should be made against the imperialists within the concessions. Fifth a telegram needed to be sent to the central government, then whole nation and world to demand assistance. Lastly the military authorities should be responsible for protecting the Shanghai trade unions. After the conference, the masses marched upon the headquarters of the 2nd division of the 26th army along Baoshan road to petition for the release of their comrades and for their weapons to be returned to them. They marched for a kilometer and upon reaching the Sandeli area of Baoshan road, soldiers of the 2nd division rushed out and opened fire upon them killing more than 100 on the spot. It was said Baoshan road was flooded with blood. That afternoon Chiang Kai-Sheks forces occupied the Shanghai General Labor Union and General Command of the Shanghai workers. They closed down and disbanded numerous revolutionary organizations and carried out searches and murders. Within 3 days after the Shanghai incident, more than 300 Shanghai CCP members were killed, another 500 were arrested and 5000 went “missing”. Like I said in the previous podcast on this very subject, I will leave it to you as to what missing meant. On the 15th of april the Kuomintang in Guangzhou launched their own coup. On that day more than 2000 CCP members and their supporters were arrested, 200 trade unions were closed. This all would b followed by similar activities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian and Guangxi where CCP members were purged. The NPA in the north would likewise crack down on communists. Li Dazhao had been placed on the Beiyang governments list of most wanted back in 1926 following the March 18th massacre. Since then he was hiding in the Soviet Embassy in Beijing, continuing to lead political maneuvers against the warlords. When the first united front collapsed as a result of Chiang Kai-Sheks purges, Zhang Zuolin ordered troops to raid the Soviet embassy. Li Dazhao, his wife and daughter were all arrested. Among 19 other communists, Li Dazhao was executed on April 28th of 1927 by strangulation. One of the behemoths who ushered in the New Culture Movement and was a founder of the CCP had become one of its greatest martyrs. The first united front was no more and in response to this the CCP declared "Chiang Kai-shek has become an open enemy of the national revolution, a tool of imperialism, and the culprit of the white terror of massacring workers, peasants and revolutionary masses”. This was followed by a call to mobilize, unite and form a solid front to fight the warlords and KMT. In May of 1927 the Communist International issued “the May Emergency Directive” to the CCP. (1) Without land revolution, victory is impossible; without land revolution, the Kuomintang Central Committee will become a pitiful plaything in the hands of unreliable generals. Excessive behavior must be opposed, but not by the army, but through the peasant associations. (2) It is necessary to make concessions to artisans, merchants and small landowners, and to unite with these strata. Only the land of large and medium-sized landowners should be confiscated; the land of officers and soldiers should not be touched. (3) Some old leaders of the KMT Central Committee will waver and compromise. We should recruit more new leaders of workers and peasants from below to join the KMT Central Committee and renew the KMT's upper echelons. (4) Mobilize 20,000 Communist Party members and 50,000 revolutionary workers and peasants in Hunan and Hubei to form several new armies and build our own reliable army. (5) A revolutionary military tribunal headed by prominent Kuomintang and non-Communists should be established to punish those officers who persecute workers and peasants.  Wang Jingwei obtained this document from Luo Yi, the representative of the Communist International. The high-ranking officials of the Kuomintang believed that this was the Communist International's armed seizure of power and they were determined to purge the party. Thus began the Wuhan-Nanjing war. However as we saw, Wang Jingwei would perform his own purge of the communists on May 21st as he found out the Soviets were pushing the CCP to seize control over his regime. In order to resist the KMT's massacres, or as the CCP put it “the white terror”, the CCP Central Committee reorganized itself on July 12th of 1927. Chen Duxiu and other early CCP leaders who had insisted on compromising with the KMT were dismissed from their posts and labeled right-wing capitulationists. The CCP formed an alliance with left wing KMT members forming a quasi second front where they planned an armed uprising in Nanchang hoping it would spark a large peasant uprising. They were led by He Long and Zhou Enlai. He Long a ethnic Tujia and Hunanese native was born to a poor peasant family. He received no formal education and worked as a cowherder during his youth. When he was 20 he killed a local Qing tax assessor who had killed his uncle for defaulting on his taxes. From this point he fled and became an outlaw, apparently his signature weapon was a butcher knife. In 1918 he raised a volunteer revolutionary army aligned with an emerging Hunanese warlord. By 1920 he joined the NRA and began brushing shoulders with CCP members. During the northern expedition he commanded the 1st division, 9th corps and served under Zhang Fakui. By late 1926 he joined the CCP. When the first united front collapsed he joined up with the CCP and took command of the 20th corps, 1st column of the Red Army. Zhou Enlai was born in Huai'an of Jiangsu in 1898. He was born to a scholarly family, many of them officials, but like many during the late 19th century in China suffered tremendously. Zhou Enlai was adopted by his fathers youngest brother Zhou Yigan who was also ill with tuberculosis. The adoption was more of a way to cover Zhou Yigans lack of an heir. Zhou Yigan died soon after and Zhou Enlai was raised by his widow Chen. He received a traditional literacy education. Zhou Enlai's biological mother died when he was 9 and Chen when he was 10. He then fell into the care of his uncle Zho Yigeng in Fengtian. Zhou Enlai continued his education at Nankai Middle School who were adopting an educational model used at the Philipps academy in the US. Zhou Enlai excelled at debate, acting, drama the sort of skill sets needed for public service. Like many students of his day he went to Japan in 1917 for further studies. He tried to learn Japanese to enter Japanese schools but failed to do so. He also faced a lot of racism in Japan, prompting him to become quite anti japanese. While in Japan he became very interested in news about the Russian Revolution. This led him to read works from Chen Duxiu.  In 1919 he returned to Tianjin where it is said he led student protests during the May Fourth movement, though a lot of modern scholars don't believe he did. Zhou Enlai then became a university student at Nankai and an activist. He led the Awakening Society and would find himself arrested. During this time he became familiar with Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu. Then in 1920 he went to study in Marseille. In 1921 he joined a Chinese Communist Cell while in Paris. By 1922 he helped found a European branch of the CCP. When the first United Front began he joined the KMT and in 1924 was summoned back to China. He joined the Political department of the Whampoa military academy. He was made Whampoa's chief political officer, but he also took the post as secretary of the CCP of Guangdong, Guangxi and served as a Major-General. Soon he became the secretary of the CCP's Guangdong Provincial committee. In 1925 he got his first taste of military command against Chen Jiongming, accompanying the Whampoa cadets as a political officer. When Chen Jiongming regrouped and attacked Guangzhou again that year, Chiang Kai-Shek personally appointed Zhou Enlai as director of the 1st corps political department. Soon after he was appointed a KMT party representative as chief commissar of the 1st corps. With the newfound position he began appointing communists as commissars in 4 out of the 5 corps divisions. However his work at Whampoa came to an end during the Zhongshan Warship incident as Chiang Kai-Shek began purging communists from high ranking positions. Whampoa was a significant part of his career providing him with skills and a network. Until the first united fronts collapse he worked to form numerous armed CPP groups. He was sent to Shanghai where he was part of the effort to stage an uprising there. During the massacre he was arrested and nearly killed if not for the work of Zhao Shu, a representative of the 26th army who released him. From there he fled to Hankou where he participated in the CCP's 5th national congress. When Wang Jingwei unleashed his purge, Zhou Enlai went into hiding. When the CCP called for an uprising in Nanchang, Zhou Enlai as a CCP secretary was in a unique position to lead it. The CCP designated Zhou Enlai, Li Lisan, Yun Daiying and Peng Pai to form a Front Committee. The troops available to them were the 24th and 10th divisions of the 11th army of the 2nd front army, the entire 20th army, 73rd and 75th regiment of the 25th division of the 4th army and part of the officer training corps of the 3rd army of the 5th front army led by Zhu De. He Long was the commander in chief of the 2nd front army, Ye Ting was his deputy and acting front line commander. Zhou Enlai was the chief of staff with Liu Bocheng as director of the political directorate. At this time, the main force of the 3rd Army of the 5th Front Army of the Kuomintang Wuhan Government was located in Zhangshu, Ji'an; the main force of the 9th Army was located in Jinxian and Linchuan; and the main force of the 6th Army was advancing to Nanchang via Pingxiang; the rest of the 2md Front Army was located in Jiujiang; only the 5th Front Army Guard Regiment and parts of the 3rd, 6th, and 9th Armies, totaling more than 3,000 people, were stationed in Nanchang and its suburbs. The CCP Front Committee decided to launch an uprising on August 1 before the arrival of reinforcements. At 2:00am on August 1st the Nanchang uprising began. The 1st and 2nd division of the 20th army launched attacks against the defenders of the Old Fantai Yamen, Dashiyuan street and the  Niuxing railway station. Meanwhile the 24th division of the 11th army attacked the Songbaixiang catholic church, Xinyingfang and Baihuazhou. The bloody battle lasted until dawn inflicting 3000 casualties and capturing more than 5000 small arms of various types, 700,000 rounds of ammunition and a few cannons. During the afternoon the 73rd regiment of the 25th division station at Mahuiling, 3 battalions of the 75th regiment and a machine gun company of the 74th regiment led by Nie Rongzhen and Zhou Shidi revolted and came to Nanchang by the 2nd of august.  For the moment it seemed the CCP had achieved a grand success at Nanchang. The CCP then began proclaiming Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei had betrayed the revolution and that of Sun Yat-Sens three principles by choosing to side with the imperialists and warlords. Meanwhile the CCP aligned military units began to gather in Nanchang requiring a reorganization. It was decided the uprising army would continue to use the designation of 2nd front army of the NRA with He Long serving as its commander in chief and Ye Ting as his deputy. Ye Ting would also command the 11th army consisting of the 24th, 25th and 10th divisions, Nie Rongzhen would be his CCP party representative; He Long would command the 20th Army consisting of the 1st and 2nd divisions with Liao Qianwu as his CCP party representative. Zhou Enlai with Zhu De as his deputy would lead the 9th army with Zhu Kejing as his CCP party representative. Altogether they were 20,000 strong and now very well armed. There was to be a great celebration, it seemed this was the grand moment the CCP would take the center stage. 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 Chinese Civil War had officially just begun. Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei purged their respective regimes of communists unleashing a white terror. In a scramble to survive the CCP reorganized itself and sought revenge with their first target being Nanchang. From here until 1949, the CCP and KMT would fight for the future of China.  

Last time we spoke about the first Guangdong-Guangxi War. The First Anhui-Zhili War not only affected northern China, it also put into motion many events in the south. Viceroy Lu Rongting, working for Duan Qirui and his Anhui Clique was sent south to take over the position as governor of Guangdong. But those already in the Guangdong Clique wanted nothing to do with the north, nor with Lu Rongting and this led to conflict. A bitter struggle emerged between the southern cliques, all seeking to influence the Guangzhou southern government. Forces from Guizhou, Guangxi and Yunnan invaded Guangdong and it looked like they would have their way, until Chen Jiongming entered the scene. Chen Jiongming led the Guangdong Clique beside the common people of the province to rid themselves of the invaders resulting in the first Guangdong-Guangxi war. This resulted in the near annihilation of the Old Guangxi Clique and the return of Dr Sun Yat-Sen to Guangzhou.   #100 The Spirit Soldier Rebellions   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. Hey before we jump into it, just wanted to acknowledge this is episode 100 for the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, sheesh. Thank you all for surviving this far into the wild story of China's Century of Humiliation, you are all awesome. Perhaps if you got a moment, could you do me a huge favor? Unlike Youtube with a built in comment section, its hard to get feedback for audio podcasts. If you get a second could you toss feedback, what you like, what you don't like, suggestions going forward anything. You can toss it to the Pacific War Channel Discord server or literally just comment any video over at the Pacific War Channel. Would mean a lot to me, lets get on with the show! As one can imagine, China's warlord era was not something one would refer to as stable. After the absolute mess Yuan Shikai made before his death he basically provided the perfect environment for any wannabe strongman to compete for their place amongst the warlords. The warlords fleeced their respective regions of control to pay for their private armies. They would overly tax, steal away funds and get involved in just about any means to acquire more money to pay their soldiers. Even after fleecing the population, these warlords would then allow their troops to plunder, rape and enslave. Combine this with the incredible amount of regionals wars, plus natural disasters, famine and an insane rise in banditry, it was not a great time to live in China to say the least. Some regions suffered more than others. The less developed provinces, the more remote areas of China, typically in the center, south and west were hit the worst. Here the common people were poor, more isolated and when major crises occurred, they were far less likely to see any outside assistance. The warlord armies in these regions were less equipped, less fed, less disciplined compared to their Northern or coastal counterparts. The troops of these warlords treated the citizenry especially bad. As a result of the unrelenting hardship, the peasants of these parts of China perceived the warlord soldiers, tax collectors and foreign state agents as literal parasites, hell wouldn't you? In a rather vain attempt to rid themselves of these parasites, the peasants launched a large number of uprisings, riots and protests. Some were tiny villages squabbles, others could bring down warlords. They often came directly after a bad harvest season. Some but not all saw peasants join secret societies, acting as self defense forces….yes it sounds exactly like the Yihetuan all over again. Yet in most cases these peasant groups were not coordinated enough to really make a dent, more often than naught, warlords crushed them. Now after the National Protection War against Yuan Shikai, the provinces of Hubei and Sichuan fell into miserable chaos. As we have talked about in the previous episode where I introduced the Southern Warlords, Sichuan province literally was cut up into pieces and dominated by a large number of what I would call Petty Warlords. Some of these Petty Warlords had little more than a few villages under their thumb, others led armies in the several tens of thousands. The situation in Hubei was not as bad, but comparable, seeing numerous warlords battle each other, resulting in hundreds of thousands of soldiers, militiamen and bandits roaming both provinces. To complicate things, these Petty Warlords in a means to try and bolster themselves often flirted with the Beiyang government. They did so similar to how the last episode saw figures trying to negotiate north-south resolutions, basically they would acknowledge the authority of the Beiyang government. The two provinces were also affected by socio-ethnic divisions. Within the valley and plains of Sichuan and Hubei were mostly Han Chinese, but in the highlands there were many non Han such as Miao and Tujia. For those interested, the Miao people speak Hmongic languages, a subfamily of the Hmong-Mien languages. Something notable about the Miao is how their women historically exercised more independence, especially in terms of socio-political mobility. Unlike the majority of asian cultures at the time, Miao women had the freedom to choose the men they marry. The Tujia people speak Tujia, a Sino-Tibetan language, they were at the zenith of their power under the Ming Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu basically adopted a carrot and stick approach to the Tujia, by gifting compliant chieftains and hindered non compliant ones. The Tujia resented any central body trying to exert control over them and during the Taiping Rebellion many flocked to the Taiping. These non han groups felt oppressed and historically had always resisted Han immigration into their lands. The highlanders were much more versed in organized self defense forces and thus prone more so to uprising.  The environments these people lived in were the type to foster ancestor worship and belief in magic, spiritualism, possession and such. Within the context of these people struggling for further autonomy this led to the development of “spirit soldiers”. Similar to the Yihetuan, this was the belief people could summon divine beings that would fight alongside or possess them, granting them power. These beliefs were also part of messianic and apocalyptic movements, think of the White Lotus apocalypse. There were many who believed the spirit soldiers would help establish a new and fair rule on earth. In 1920 there was a large power vacuum that hit western Hubei province. A 30,000 strong army commanded by the Warlords Li Tiancai, Bao Wenwei, Lan Tianwei and Wang Tianzong came into the area. The reason for this was because Wang Zhanyuan the governor of Hubei had evicted them from the Enshi-Hefeng area. Having suffered so greatly, the peasants of Hubei and Sichuan became increasingly discontent and in 1920, major conflicts emerged. A group of Taoist priests began a spiritual movement with a militant wing behind it. They were fighting against over taxation in Lichuan of Hubei province and the abuses upon them by warlord troops. In the beginning they were no more than 100 people chanting the slogan "Kill the Warlords and Out with Rotten Officials and Loafers". Their slogans were very appealing and as more people joined up the priests began to tell them they could bless them to become spirit soldiers through magical rituals. Again similar to the Yihetuan, these rituals consisted of acts like drinking special potions or consuming ashes of various things like burned amulets. Supposedly this would make the spirit soldiers invulnerable to gunfire and raise their bravery, so yeah it really does feel like the Boxer Movement 2.0. Of course these young males were emboldened and felt they could mount a serious rebellion against the warlord troops, who were vastly better armed. The spirit soldiers typically were armed with melee weapons such as spears or a dao. They quickly overran Lichuan county and killed the local magistrate there. Upon that success further uprisings sprang up like wildfire.  After the taking of Lichuan it is estimated the spirit soldiers numbered over 10,000 and they would only continue to grow. Given their numbers, they were gradually beginning to organize themselves seriously, though they would still operate in numerous cells, they never unified. Three main spirit armies emerged alongside countless militias. They rarely coordinated, lacked real military training, had very few firearms, no uniforms, but nonetheless tried to act like real armies. They implemented military ranks and identified as such with yellow bands around their left hands middle finger, the color yellow being their official movement color. Similar to the Taiping Rebellion, which they definitely took inspiration from. Major spirit soldier armies and militias wore distinct colors based on their region. For example in western Hubei, they wore red turbans and sashes, many also carried red flags with their leaders' names inscribed upon them or with slogans. Some of these slogans were about “heavenly kingdoms being established on earth” yes Hong Xiuquan would approve.  These spirit soldier groups did not want to seize power, nor did they have any real revolutionary ideologies. Even from a class point of view, they were not exactly championing the impoverished or anything, when they took over counties they did not change the counties social order. Typically they stormed a county, killed or replaced the magistrate with someone they deemed to be a fair person. Ironically this often led to an even more corrupt person taking the magistrate position, making the lives of people worse. But you know what, when these spirit soldiers showed up to your county, as a regular peasant you were probably pretty happy about it, because anything was better than being ruled by a warlord. The great thing about the Spirit armies was when they came to your town they fought the tax and rent collectors off alongside warlord troops and bandits. It was said, under spirit rule, the people could finally travel unarmed without fear. Now soldiers no matter what god or spirit resides within them need to eat, thus money was required. To make ends meet the Spirit armies fought bandits and warlords and seized control over salt and opium trade routes running from Sichuan and Guizhou through western Hubei. Just like the Yihetuan, the Spirit soldiers also persecuted christians and foreigners. Most of them were under the belief western modernization efforts and christianity were the reason for all of china's troubles.  Once the Spirit soldier rebellion began to see tens of thousands enlist, they gradually advanced west into Sichuan province. There lies a regional trade hub, the city of Wanzhou, lying on the upper reaches of the 3 gorges of the Yangtze River. In the late part of 1920, a spirit army from Lichuan approached Wanzhou, spreading slogans of their movement, such as "Stand Against Rents and Taxes, Kill the Grey Dogs". Gray dogs refers to warlord troops. Now they did not attack Wanzhou, instead they allowed members to infiltrate the city and the local towns to mass recruit. After a few months they managed to nearly gain 5000 new spirit soldiers. They also set up a military HQ at a local temple dedicated to Yama. For those unaware Yama is a deity shared by Hindus and Buddhists. This temple was dedicated to the Buddhist variety of Yama. Yama here is regarded as one of the 20-24 Devas, a group of protective Dharmapalas. If you were a spirit soldier, it would be an ideal location to set up shop, +20 to spirituality and such. They were armed mostly with bamboo spears when they assaulted Wanzhou on March 5th of 1921. The assault was performed in two waves of roughly 2000 spirit soldiers each. Despite being armed with firearms, the local warlord troops were terrified by the tenacity of the spirit soldiers who very much performed like Boxers. They fought bare chested, unafraid of bullets, some performed martial arts and incantations. Just like what happened to Qing militia's and green standard troops in 1900, the warlord troops were terrified the spirit soldiers might actually be wielding magic, and soon routed fleeing Wanzhou's outskirts to hide behind fortified walls in the inner city.  The Spirit troops stormed through Wanzhou quickly seizing most of the city, however unlike a warlord army who would have plundered and left or heavily fortified the city, well the spirit army was simply not that kind of army. As soon as they took footholds within, they began performing public incantations and rituals. Basically they were doing exactly what the Boxers had done, however the Boxers had been facing governmental forces who were not really keen on fighting back. For the spirit soldiers their enemy were warlords who relied on fleecing the population and Wanzhou was a major trade center, prime real estate. The warlord forces fortified parts of the inner city, hiding behind walls where the Spirit troops simply could not breach, nor did they try to do so. After 3 days, the Warlord leaders slapped their troops around, telling them not to be afraid of magic and they launched a counter attack on the 8th. That day saw brutal street to street fighting, which did benefit the melee wielding spirit warriors, but guns certainly would win the day. After an entire day of battle, the spirit forces were pushed out of the city. Nearly 500 were killed during the battle, the majority being spirit soldiers. On the 12th, the Warlord Chou Fu-yu after receiving distressed requests for help arrived in Wanzhou with reinforcements. Once he figured out they were holding up at the Yama temple he organized an offensive against their HQ. Chou Fu-yu's forces stormed the temple massacring over 1000 of them. Chou Fu-yu's men specifically hunted down their leadership, executing them publicly to send a message. After seeing the carnage the spirit army collapsed and fled the Wanzhou area swiftly, most would return to civilian life, though others would fight for another day. Those who chose to keep championing the cause formed small militia groups that honestly were more akin to Honghuzi. Local officials in Hubei and Sichuan would refer to them as such "the whole country districts [were] laid waste, by these rebels who plundered wherever they went". The spirit milita's did not attempt to seize any significant towns or cities, they simply stormed them hunting for christians and foreigners, before moving to the next. They would do this for years in the Hubei-Sichuan region with power bases located along their border. Now despite the major setback at Wanzhou, the spirit armies would continue to expand, but instead of heading westwards into Sichuan, they turned back to Hubei. This had a large effect on Hubei based warlords who sometimes were pushed out of their spheres of influence. Spirit armies seized Yichang, Badong, Xuan'en, Enshi and countless other counties. One Spirit leader, a farmers' work hand named Yuan declared himself the new Jade Emperor and attempted to seize most of western Hubei. From around 1920-1922, acting as an emperor he issued numerous edicts. For the most part he led a campaign against pretty much every class imaginable: students, farmers, business owners, land owners, merchants, the military, workers, missionaries, and more. He called for killing christians, placing blame upon them for all of China's problems, promising his followers once the Christians were all gone, China would be at peace. There were those amongst his flock and others who were Ming loyalists, the age old secret society types trying to restore the Ming Dynasty. Similar to the wannabe Jade Emperors belief that getting rid of Christianity would save China from her plight, the Ming loyalists saw the Ming Dynasty as a golden age that needed to be re-ushered in.  The Spirit armies were largely successful because of the fighting amongst the warlords of Hubei and to a lesser extent Sichuan. Western Hubei in particular was ripe with chaos, for there was not only Spirit armies and warlord armies, there were large groups of Honghuzi roaming the region. Now I could cut this story about the spirit soldiers here, but instead I will try to not allude to things in the future too much. But around 1921, armies of the Zhili Clique began to invade Hubei and Sichuan from their power base in Hunan province. The Zhili armies soon fought battles against both Hubei and Sichuan warlord armies and were gradually forced back north. In the process some Sichuan warlords seized Badong, Zigui and Xingshan, fleecing the populations for all they were worth before departing. The Sichuan warlord, Yang Sen, notably seized Lichuan and Jianshi in October of 1921 and would hold them until February of 1923. Yang Sen was a Taoist master and an avid polygamist. He met the Taoist Master Li Ching-yuen, who claimed he had lived to be 250 years old. He was quite famous, hell Wu Peifu while leading the Zhili clique would take Li Ching-yuen into his home trying to discover his secret method of living for so long. Li Ching-yuen died in 1933, but claimed he produced over 200 descendants and had 24 wives over the course of his very long life. Yang Sen wrote a famous book after his death titled “A Factual Account of the 250 Year-Old Good-Luck Man” Within the book he described Li Ching-yuen "He has good eyesight and a brisk stride; Li stands seven feet tall, has very long fingernails, and a ruddy complexion." Allegedly, Li was born in Qijiang county of Sichuan province back in 1677. At the age of 13 he embarked on a life of gathering herbs in the mountains amongst 3 elders of his village. At 51 years of age he served as a topography advisor in the army of General Yue Zhongqi. At 78 he retired from military service after fighting in a battle at the Golden River, whence he returned to a life of gathering herbs on Snow Mountain of Sichuan province. Due to his military service under Yue Zongqi, the government sent him a document congratulating him on his 100th birthday and this was done on his 150th and 200th. In 1908 Li co-wrote a book a disciple of his, Yang Hexuan called “the secrets of Li Qingyuns immortality”. In 1920 General Xiong Yanghe interviewed Li and published an article about him at the Nanjing university. In 1926 Wu Peifu took him under his home and Li took up a job teaching at Beijing university's Meditation Society branch. In 1927 General Yang Sen invited Li to Wanxian where the first known photograph of the man was taken, if you google him you can see it. After hearing about the famous 200+ year old man, General Chiang Kai-Shek requested he visit him in Nanjing, however when Yang Sen sent envoys to find Li at his hometown of Chenjiachang, his current wife and disciplines broke the news, he had died, the year was 1928. You might be raising an eyebrow, yes, after his supposed death, newspapers began writing pieces claiming he died in 1929, 1930, then the last report was in 1933, no one has ever verified how he died, they all just list natural cases. Now about this fascinating case of his age, Li Ching-yuen claimed he had been born in 1736, it was a professor at Chengdu University, Wu CHung-Chieh who asserted he was born in 1677. According to an article by the New York Times in 1930, Wu discovered imperial records from 1827 congratulating Li on his 150th birthday, then another one for his 200th birthday in 1877. In another New York Times article from 1928, correspondence wrote that many old men of Li's village asserted that their grandfathers all knew him as young boys and that he had been a grown man at the time. Now many researchers have pointed out his claim to be 256 years of age was a multiple of 8, considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. Many researchers also point out the prevalence of such myths as extreme old age to be very common in China and the far east. They believed he was just telling a tall tale like countless others before him. One of Li's disciplines, Master Da Liu said of his master, when Li was 130 years old he encountered an older hermit in the mountains claiming to be 500 years old. This old hermit taught him Baguazhang, that is a style of martial arts and Qigong, these are breathing, meditation and posturing exercises. Alongside dietary habits all combined was what gave the hermit his longevity. Du Liu would say “his master said that his longevity is due to the fact that he performed the exercises every day – regularly, correctly, and with sincerity – for 120 years." Sorry for the extreme side story, but I just found it fascinating haha.  So General Yang Sen had seized Lichuan and Jianshi and would be involved in numerous wars in Sichuan. He often fought the Governor of Sichuan, Xiong Kewu who was gradually defeated by 1923, where upon he took his armies into western Hubei. Yang Sen amongst other warlords exploited the absence of Xiong Kewu and invaded Sichuan. The departure of Xiong Kewu from Sichuan also allowed Petty warlord Kong Gen to seize territory and for a large Honghuzi army led by Lao Yangren to invade Yunxian. Things got so bad for Xiong Kewu, he turned to a very unlikely group to form an alliance, the Spirit Soldiers. Xiong Kewu allied the Spirit armies encamped at Enshi and Hefeng. In 1924 a large part of Xiong Kewu's army were advancing through the Wu Valley, trying to link up with him. The Wu valley was a strategic stronghold for the Spirit armies, thus in order to gain free passage he joined up with them. Chaos would reign supreme in both Hubei and Sichuan for many years, not aided much when General Yang Sen took the governorship over Sichuan. Once governor there he provoked several of his loose allies who all formed a coalition to oust him from his position by early 1925. Like Xiong Kewu, now it was Yang Sen retreating west into Hubei, eventually forming a base at Badong. One of his opponents, the Petty warlord Yuan Zuming, a member of the Guizhou clique invaded the region and seized Lichuan and Shinan, before setting his eyes on Hefeng. Meanwhile the Spirit Armies, bolstered by Xiong Kewu spread again into Sichuan where they offered protection to locals from warlord troops and Honghuzi. They fought a large battle around Wangying that allegedly turned the local river crimson red with blood. By early 1926 the Spirit movement had surged past 100,000 troops and dominated over 40 counties in Hubei. Yet they never fully centralized their organization, rarely coordinated between armies and differing groups and were not heavily armed with firearms. Honestly by becoming a larger force and by becoming more sedentary, it actually spelt their doom. While they were smaller and more mobile, they were harder to catch and less appetizing to warlord armies, now they were fully on the menu. In 1926 three divisions of warlord troops were sent against them. The Spirit armies were absolutely crushed in waves of one sided battles. Their leaders were hunted down and executed, that is if they did not die on the battlefield or simply off themselves prior to being caught. Yet 1926 would bring an entirely new element at play, it was when the Northern Expedition began and such a colossal event would save the Spirit soldiers from complete annihilation.  Don't want to give anything away, but the Northern Expedition would affect both Yang Sen and Xiong Kewu and by proxy the areas they controlled. This would cause further chaos in Hubei and Sichuan which in turn would be exploited by countless figures. For example a large Honghuzi army of Lao Yangren, perhaps 20,000 men strong or more ran rampant in both provinces. Honghuzi loved to follow behind warlord armies, exploiting areas they passed through since the rival warlords would have been kicked out. With the Northern Expedition brushing aside countless warlords in the area, both Honghuzi and Spirit soldiers expanded. Some Spirit Soldiers even decided to join up with a new group hitting the scene, Red Armies. The CCP were falling into a war with the KMT and they began to latch onto anyone who would join forces with them. Two prominent CCP figures, Xu Xiangqian and He Long worked with Spirit Soldiers. He Long came to view them as nothing more than another version of Honghuzi, but acknowledged they wanted to protect the local people which was admirable. Their quasi alliance allowed the Spirit Soldiers to expand into northern and central Sichuan, western Henan and eastern Guizhou well into the 1930s. Despite the incredible amount of wars that would occur over the decades, the last known Spirit Army rebellion would take place in February of 1959.  As you can imagine it was an anti-communist uprising, that occurred in Sizhuang county of Henan province. This was directly a result of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward enacted the year prior. For those who don't know, the Great Leap Forward encompassed a change of pretty much all aspects of Chinese society and it was disastrous to say the least. Mao sought to reconstruct the entire nation from an agrarian economy into a real industrialized society, but on fast forward mode. He did so via peoples communes, while decreeing every possible effort to increase grain yield must be done so they could bring industry to rural China. This resulted in one of the worst man made famines in history. Alongside this came an economic disaster, unbelievable governmental abuses upon the people. An estimated 15-55 million would die. Many resisted the government's actions, but the government had decreed no one could leave their village or farms, thus it made it extremely difficult to coordinate a resistance movement. Desperate peasants tried to resist, alongside countless secret societies. Numerous rebellions broke out, but they were quite small in scale. Armed resistance broke out in Henan in 1959, where large bandit groups began to steal weapons from armories and attacked major roadways. A secret society known as the “shenbingtuan / regiment of spirit soldiers” gathered 1200 fighters from hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi and began to attack government officers in Sizhuang county. It took the red army roughly 20 days to quell the uprising. Thus ended the Spirit Soldier movement. 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 Spirit Soldier Movement was a drop in the bucket for China's Warlord Era. They were a group amongst many others who tried to navigate a very cruel world. As comedic as they may come off, they were brave people who were trying to protect the population from what they deemed to be villains, many became twisted as a result.

Ban Ruiqi and her family recently took a trip to Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. Despite the extremely cold weather there, the tourists from Beijing skied, shopped and generally had a good time during the three-day New Year holiday.恰逢三天元旦假期，来自北京的班瑞琪和她的家人前往中国东北部黑龙江省哈尔滨旅行。虽然天气极其寒冷，他们依然体验了滑雪、购物，总体上玩得很开心。"We went to the Chinese-Baroque Historic Block in the morning, and the Harbin Ice and Snow World in the afternoon, where I saw some local souvenirs and specialties. I bought some for my friends and relatives back home. I especially liked the hand-drawn postcards," Ban said.班瑞琪说：“我们上午去了中国巴洛克历史街区，下午去了哈尔滨冰雪大世界，在那里看到了一些当地纪念品和特产，就给家里的朋友和亲戚买了一些。我特别喜欢手绘明信片。”As an increasing number of travelers show greater enthusiasm for winter tourism, Harbin's ice and snow economy is booming.随着冬季旅游受到越来越多游客的青睐，哈尔滨的冰雪经济也得以蓬勃发展。With the opening of various ice and snow-themed parks, the city has become popular among tourists. In the two weeks since the opening of the Harbin Ice and Snow World on Dec 18, the city's popularity in searches on China's travel website Mafengwo surged 300 percent, making it an "internet celebrity" city, data from the online platform showed.随着各种冰雪主题公园的开放，哈尔滨吸引来了众多游客。在线平台数据显示，自12月18日哈尔滨冰雪大世界开放以来的两周内，哈尔滨在中国旅游网站马蜂窝的搜索频次飙升了300%，成为了一座“网红城市”。According to Harbin Taiping International Airport, the airport realized an annual throughput of 20 million passenger trips on Dec 20, setting a record for the Northeast China region.哈尔滨太平国际机场的数据显示，12月20日该机场年旅客吞吐量达2000万人次，创下了中国东北地区的纪录。A report released by online travel agency Ctrip showed Harbin ranked on a list of hot New Year holiday tourism destinations in China this year.携程在线旅游发布的一份报告显示，哈尔滨在今年中国春节热门旅游目的地名单中名列前茅。During the three-day holiday period, air and train ticket bookings to Harbin grew by 631 percent year-on-year.在为期三天的假期期间，飞往哈尔滨的机票和火车票预订量同比增长了631%。The Harbin airport added 11 domestic routes, and operated 463 flights, on Dec 22, transporting over 70,000 passengers, setting a record for passenger flow.12月22日，哈尔滨机场新增11条国内航线，运营航班463架次，运送旅客7万余人次，创下客流纪录。On Dec 26, hotel bookings in Harbin for the New Year holiday on Beijing-based online travel agency Qunar surged 2,570 percent on a yearly basis, while those for bed-and-breakfast stays on homestay platform Tujia soared 2,700 percent.12月26日，北京在线旅游去哪儿网显示，哈尔滨元旦假期酒店预订量同比飙升2570%，而民宿平台途家的民宿预订量飙升2700%。“进入冬季旺季，尤其是哈尔滨冰雪大世界开业后，我们的房间预订一直保持满员状态，这种情况将持续到春节期间，”哈尔滨现代酒店总经理助理邓一波说。"Entering the winter peak season, especially after the opening of the Harbin Ice and Snow World, our room reservations have remained full, and the situation will last until the Spring Festival period," said Deng Yibo, general manager assistant at the Modern Hotel in Harbin. “进入冬季旺季，尤其是哈尔滨冰雪大世界开业后，我们的房间预订一直保持满员状态，这种情况将持续到春节期间，”哈尔滨现代酒店总经理助理邓一波说。"Tourism souvenirs have mostly been sold out, especially hand-drawn postcards. Postcards of various tourist spots are popular; so are candies and chocolates from Russia. The shelves are basically empty," said Meng Fanbo, a staff member at a gift shop in Harbin.哈尔滨一家礼品店的工作人员孟凡波说：“旅游纪念品大多卖完了，尤其是手绘明信片。各种旅游景点的明信片很受欢迎；来自俄罗斯的糖果和巧克力也很受欢迎，货架基本都被扫空了。”Wang Hongxin, head of the bureau of culture, broadcasting, TV and tourism of Harbin, said, "The winter tourism season in Harbin has been so popular that we expect such a 'heat' will last until the end of March."哈尔滨市文化广电旅游局局长王洪新表示，“哈尔滨的冬季旅游旺季非常受欢迎，我们预计这样的‘热度'将持续到3月底。”In January 2023, the China Tourism Academy issued a report on the development of Harbin's ice and snow tourism.2023年1月，中国旅游研究院发布哈尔滨冰雪旅游发展报告。It said that with a high concentration of ice and snow resources in China, Harbin has gone through the primary stage of serving human transportation through ice and snow, and entered the advanced stage of using ice and snow resources to drive urban development.报告显示，哈尔滨已经走过以冰雪运动服务人类交通运输的初级阶段，进入了运用冰雪资源驱动城市发展的高级阶段。In May 2022, Harbin launched a development plan for its ice and snow economy.2022年5月，哈尔滨市启动了冰雪经济发展规划。According to the plan, by 2025, total output value of the city's ice and snow industry should reach 75 billion yuan ($10.5 billion), taking up over a quarter of the province's total in the sector.根据规划，到2025年，全市冰雪产业总产值要达到750亿元（105亿美元），占全省冰雪产业总产值的四分之一以上。By 2030, that should take up over a third of the province's total and surpass 150 billion yuan.到2030年，冰雪产业总值将占全省GDP的三分之一以上，超过1500亿元。Huang Dawei, deputy head of the bureau of culture, broadcasting, TV and tourism of Harbin, said, "Through coordinating the development of four key ice and snow industry clusters — ice and snow sports, ice and snow culture, ice and snow equipment, and ice and snow tourism — Harbin was successfully granted the right to host the 9th Asian Winter Games 2025."哈尔滨市文化广电旅游局副局长黄大伟说：“通过协调冰雪运动、冰雪文化、冰雪装备和冰雪旅游四个重点冰雪产业集群的发展，哈尔滨成功获得了2025年第九届亚洲冬季运动会的主办权。”Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the e-commerce research institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said: "Harbin's ice and snow economy is on the rise, bringing real benefits to the local merchants. To promote the long-term development of the industry, it is suggested that the government offer more favorable policies, such as helping lower merchants' winter operating costs, and providing marketing platforms. Meanwhile, enterprises should offer high-quality goods and services to meet consumer demand against the backdrop of a consumption upgrade."商务部电子商务研究所副研究员洪勇表示：“哈尔滨的冰雪经济正在崛起，给我们本地商家带来了实实在在的好处。要促进行业的长期发展，政府还要提供更多优惠政策，如降低商家冬季运营成本、提供营销平台。同时，在消费升级的背景下，企业应该提供高质量的商品和服务来满足消费者需求。”homestay英 /ˈhəʊm.steɪ/ 美 /ˈhoʊm.steɪ/noun 寄宿，民宿boom英/buːm/ 美 /buːm/noun 蓬勃发展

China's major railway ticket booking platform 12306 showed that, as of 15:00 on Dec 17, tickets for a number of trains are sold out, including those departing from Beijing to Wuhan, Nanjing to Hefei, Hangzhou, Chengdu to Chongqing, and Xi'an, as train tickets officially went on sale on Dec 16, the first day available to book trains for the 2024 New Year's Day holiday, China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday.据《中国证券报》12月19日报道，中国铁路大型售票平台12306数据显示，截至12月17日15时，从北京出发前往武汉，南京出发前往合肥、杭州，以及成都出发前往重庆、西安等城市的多趟列车车次已显示“售罄”。12月16日，2024年元旦假期首日火车票正式开售。Data from Chinese travel agency Tongcheng Travel showed on the first day of the New Year's Day holiday (Dec 30), tickets for short-distance travel in urban areas such as Beijing to Tianjin, Shanghai to Nanjing, Shenzhen, Guangdong province to Guangzhou, and Chongqing to Chengdu are in high demand. The travel demand is mainly to visit relatives.国内旅行机构同程旅行数据显示，元旦假期首日（12月30日），核心城市群的短途线路车票较为紧俏，比较热门的线路主要有：北京至天津、上海至南京、深圳至广州、重庆至成都等，出行需求主要以探亲为主。According to research institute of Tongcheng Travel, travelers who are visiting relatives and ice-snow tourism will heat up destinations such as Harbin, Shenyang, Urumqi and Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia autonomous region in Northeast and Northwest China, as well as Zhangjiakou in North China.同程研究院认为，元旦假期探亲与旅游客流叠加，同时受冬季冰雪旅游热的带动，预计哈尔滨、沈阳、乌鲁木齐、呼伦贝尔以及张家口等冰雪游目的地人气将大幅上升。In terms of hotel booking, home stays and hotel rooms for New Year's Eve are popular choices for tourists. As of now, orders for 2024 New Year holiday home stays in popular cities on Tujia, a home stay online platform, increased nearly four times year-on-year. Data from travel portal Qunar also showed hotel rooms for Dec 31 - Jan 1 in Harbin, Nanjing, Wuhan, Shanghai and Beijing, especially those in luxury hotels, have higher bookings. Tickets for Universal Beijing Resort, Disneyland in Shanghai and Hong Kong, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai Guangdong province and Harbin Ice and Snow World are rapidly booking out in advance.从酒店预订情况来看，特色民宿和跨年夜酒店是游客的热门选择。截至目前，途家民宿平台上热门城市2024年元旦假期民宿的订单同比增长近4倍。旅游门户网去哪儿数据显示，哈尔滨、南京、武汉、上海和北京的跨年夜（12月31日-1月1日）酒店，特别是豪华型酒店预订量较高。北京环球度假区、上海迪士尼乐园、香港迪士尼乐园、珠海长隆海洋王国、哈尔滨冰雪大世界等景区的门票提前预订量较高。In addition, Tongcheng Travel's data also showed that the popularity of domestic islands travel on its platform for the New Year's Day holiday increased by 72 percent year-on-year, and the popularity of Southeast Asian islands travel increased by three times year-on-year.同城旅行数据还显示，平台上元旦假期国内海岛游热度同比上升72%，东南亚海岛游热度同比上升了3倍。Luxury hotelsn. 豪华型酒店

With summer drawing to a close, the tourism market has shown a surprisingly good performance with both domestic and outbound travel growing.暑期即将结束，旅游市场却呈现出令人惊喜的良好表现，国内游和出境游双双增长。The China Tourism Academy released a report last week, saying domestic destinations received nearly 1.84 billion visits from June to August, generating 1.21 trillion yuan ($167 billion) in revenue.中国旅游研究院上周发布报告称，6月至8月，国内旅游目的地共接待游客近18.4亿人次，实现旅游收入1.21万亿元（约合1,670亿美元）。According to China State Railway Group, trains in summer were up by 18.9 percent over the same period in 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The Civil Aviation Administration said a record 62.4 million passengers flew in July, a rise of 5.3 percent compared with July, 2019.根据中国国家铁路集团的数据，在新冠疫情袭来临之前，暑期列车发送量比2019年同期增长了18.9%。民航局称，7月份飞行旅客达到创纪录的6240万人次，与2019年7月相比增长了5.3%。Travel portal Trip.com Group said that as of Aug 23, sales of railway tickets on its platform rose 51 percent from the previous two months.旅游门户网站携程网称，截至8月23日，其平台上的火车票销售量比前两个月增长了51%。It said that family trips were the most popular among its users, with flights for family trips growing by nearly 56 percent as of Aug 23 from the same period of 2019.该公司表示，家庭出游最受用户欢迎，截至8月23日，家庭出游的航班比2019年同期增长了近56%。Online tourism services provider Tuniu said that around 51 percent of its users chose long-distance trips during the summer, with Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, Guangdong province the top choices.在线旅游服务提供商途牛表示，约51%的用户在暑期选择长途旅行，其中上海、北京和广州是首选。Tuniu said that Yunnan in Southwest China and Gansu and Qinghai provinces in the northwest saw a remarkable increase in summer travel.途牛表示，西南地区的云南和西北地区的甘肃、青海两省暑期出游人数显著增加。"The Palace Museum was the most crowded I've ever experienced," said 37-year-old Qi Yin from Jiangsu province, who brought her 6-year-old daughter to Beijing in July. "I've been to the city five or six times, but all for business trips. My daughter loves history and Beijing is a good choice for her to learn about it."来自江苏省的37岁的齐尹说：“故宫博物院是我去过的最拥挤的地方。”她在7月份带着6岁的女儿来到北京。“我去过北京五六次，但都是出差。我女儿喜欢历史，北京是她了解历史的好选择。”Homestay operator and booking platform Tujia said that homestay bookings at popular destinations like Beijing and Chongqing doubled on its platform during the summer compared with 2019, with the average price for homestay rooms reaching 423 yuan per night.民宿运营商、预订平台途家表示，暑期其平台上北京、重庆等热门目的地的民宿预订量较2019年翻了一番，民宿房间均价达到423元/晚。"The price of hotel rooms was around 450 to 500 yuan per night when I was on my business trips to Beijing in recent years, but the price rose to over 800 yuan per night when I booked the room for the summer trip," said Qi.“近几年我在北京出差时，酒店客房价格每晚在450元至500元左右，但暑期出差订房时，价格涨到了每晚800多元。”齐女士说。A report by the tourism academy said that the average price of hotel rooms it surveyed rose by nearly 47 percent year-on-year during the summer holiday, and prices for flights to domestic destinations rose more than 14 percent, while prices of domestic attractions climbed 4.6 percent.旅游研究院的一份报告称，暑假期间，其调查的酒店客房均价同比上涨近47%，飞往国内目的地的航班价格上涨超过14%，国内景点价格上涨4.6%。Outbound travel has seen stable growth this summer because of resumed flights. Trip.com Group said that as of Aug 23, cross-border flights departing and arriving on the mainland during summer recovered to 50 percent of that in 2019. Outbound flight ticket prices dropped by 66 percent year-on-year while still 15 percent higher than in 2019.由于航班恢复，今年暑期出境游实现了稳定增长。携程集团表示，截至8月23日，暑期内地出发和到达的跨境航班恢复到2019年的50%。出境游机票价格同比下降66%，但仍比2019年高出15%。The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Bangkok in Thailand and Tokyo in Japan were the top three choices for outbound trips by its users during the summer, according to Trip.com Group.根据携程集团的数据，香港特别行政区、泰国曼谷和日本东京是暑期用户出境游的前三大选择。Tourism英/ˈtʊərɪzəm/ 美/ˈtʊrɪzəm/n.旅游业，观光业Outbound英/ˈaʊtbaʊnd/ 美/ˈaʊtbaʊnd/adj.出境的

Huang Yongyu, one of the most productive and best-known artists in the second half of the 20th century in China, died on Tuesday, according to a statement from his family. He was 99.据黄永玉亲属声明，20世纪下半叶中国最多产和最著名的艺术家之一黄永玉于6月13日离世，享年99岁。Huang was recognized as a legendary figure in Chinese art and design. He basically taught himself to paint and write. His versatility has been acknowledged in woodcuts, ink painting, composing poems and essays and novels, and designing postage stamps.黄永玉被公认为中国艺术和设计界的传奇人物。他几乎是自学了绘画和写作。他在木刻、中国画、诗文和小说创作以及邮票设计方面极具才华，得到广泛认可。The comprehensiveness of Huang's artistic ability arose from his perseverance, self-learning and long-term accumulation of experiences by taking on different jobs in his early years and extensive traveling at home and around the world.黄永玉全面的艺术造诣源于他早年从事不同工作和海内外游历时的坚持不懈、自学自习和长期积累经验。Hailing from Fenghuang, Hunan province, and a member of the Tujia ethnic group, Huang was forced to drop out of school because of financial burdens. At age 14, he left his hometown and traveled across the country to earn a living.黄永玉是湖南凤凰县城人，土家族人，他因经济困难被迫辍学。14岁时，他背井离乡，游历全国谋生。He once worked at ceramic workshops, taught at primary schools, designed props for theater troupes and made illustrations for magazines. Not only did he land these jobs to support himself, but he was also able to hone his art skills to later establish a career as an artist.黄永玉曾在陶瓷作坊工作，在小学任教，为剧团设计道具，为杂志制作插图。他不仅找到这些工作来养活自己，而且还能够磨炼自己的艺术技能，以便以后发展自己的艺术家职业生涯。His gift and hard work won him recognition from leading figures like Xu Beihong, former dean of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, who invited Huang to be a professor at the school in the early 1950s.黄永玉的天赋和努力为他赢得了领军人物的认可，如中央美术学院前院长徐悲鸿，徐悲鸿曾在1950年代初邀请黄永玉担任中央美术学院的教授。What made Huang a household name was his designing of several sought-after stamps, including the "Golden Monkey Stamp", which was issued in 1980 to celebrate the Year of the Monkey, and the Year of Rabbit stamp set of two — among his last works — one of which shows a blue rabbit that drew divided opinions.黄永玉之所以家喻户晓，是因为他设计了多款广受欢迎的邮票，包括1980年为庆祝猴年而发行的“金猴邮票”和一套内含两枚的兔年邮票，兔年邮票是他最后作品之一，其中一枚画的是一只蓝色的兔子，引起了不同的意见。Huang once said: "I have achieved little in my lifetime. I didn't receive much formal education. But I dared not live a life without an aim or in laziness."黄永玉曾说：“我一辈子本事不大，受正式教育的机会不多，过日子倒是从来不敢苟且，不敢懒惰。”Artist英/ˈɑːtɪst/ 美/ˈɑːrtɪst/n.艺术家Stamp英/stæmp/ 美/stæmp/n.邮票

Demand on tourism bursts as the Minsu market's recovery speeds up with the upcoming the May Day holiday, ThePaper reported on Tuesday.4月18日，据澎湃新闻报道，随着五一假期的到来，民宿市场的复苏速度加快，旅游需求迸发。As of April 17, bookings of Minsu (a Chinese-style bed-and-breakfast establishment) surged twofold compared with same period of 2019, with average room price reaching 534 yuan ($77.64), according to data from online Minsu booking platform Tujia.根据在线民宿预订平台途家的数据，截至4月17日，民宿的预订量与2019年同期相比激增了两倍，平均房价达到534元（约合77.64美元）。During this past month, Zibo's barbecue in East China's Shandong province has gone viral and that has driven its Minsu market to boom with May Day holiday booking numbers jumping twelve-fold from 2019.在过去的一个月里，山东淄博烧烤走红推动了其民宿市场的繁荣，相较2019年，五一假期的淄博民俗预订人数猛增了12倍。According to the online booking platform, the booking number for Minsu increased threefold in Shandong province during the May Day holiday while its average room price of 522 yuan remains lower than national average level.据在线预订平台的数据，五一假期期间，山东的民宿预订数量增加了三倍，而其平均房价为522元，仍然低于全国平均水平。Moreover, other cities in Shandong province are also showing a auspicious performance on Minsu bookings, said Tujia platform.此外，途家平台表示，山东省其他城市的民宿预订情况也表现不俗。Among China's top 10 popular tourism destinations, Shandong has two cites with positions - Qingdao and Weihai - and Qingdao surpassed Chengdu and Chongqing for the first time to take the number one spot.在中国十大热门旅游目的地中，山东占两席——青岛和威海，而且青岛首次超过成都和重庆，占据了全国第一的位置。In addition, the booking numbers in Yantai, Jinan, Rizhao and Tai'an of Shandong province have also seen a good performance.此外，山东省的烟台、济南、日照和泰安的民俗预订量也表现良好。This year, seaside destinations are also seeing a spike in bookings.今年，海滨目的地的预订量也出现了激增。Ten cities' Minsu bookings surged fourfold in anticipation of the May Day holiday, with 8 cities located in the seaside, according to Tujia. Weihai takes the 1st spot with its booking number surging 14.6 times, followed by Rizhao, Fuzhou, Taizhou and Shantou.据途家报道，为了迎接五一假期，十个城市的民宿预订量激增四倍，其中八个城市位于海边。威海以其预订量激增14.6倍位居第一，其次是日照、福州、台州和汕头。The Minsu in rural areas are still popular, with the booking number accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total, said Tujia.途家表示，农村地区的民宿仍然很受欢迎，预订数量占总数的近40%。The top 10 cities with large booking numbers for Minsu in rural areas are Dali, Beijing, Xiamen, Lijiang, Suzhou, Qingdao, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Hangzhou and Beihai.农村地区民宿预订量较大的前十个城市是大理、北京、厦门、丽江、苏州、青岛、上海、福州、杭州和北海。Among customers booking the Minsu in rural areas, the "post-80s" and "post-90s" generations are still the mainstream, accounting for more than 60 percent. Lofts, inns and single-family villas are popular room types, as well as fruit and vegetable picking, diy and delicacies as the most popular experience activities.在农村地区预订民宿的客户中，"80后"和"90后"仍是主流，占比超过60%。公寓、客栈和独栋别墅是热门房型，果蔬采摘、diy和美食是最受欢迎的体验活动。Auspicious英/ɔːˈspɪʃəs/ 美/ɔːˈspɪʃəs/adj.有助于成功的，有利的Spike英/spaɪk/ 美/spaɪk/n.猛增

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A chance encounter with a funeral of the Tujia people showcases changing ethnic traditions as modernity comes to the Chongqing highlands.Read the article by Mads Vesterager Nielsen: https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2021/11/dancing-for-the-dead-stumbling-across-a-tujia-funeral/Narrated by Anthony Tao.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

* Kite flying is an official sport in Thailand. * It's not unusual to cry at weddings, but in certain parts of China, weeping is a required part of preparation for the big day. A month before they tie the knot, Tujia brides will cry for one hour each day. Ten days in, they're joined by their mothers; ten days after that, grandmothers, and eventually other female family members. The practice is said to date to China's Warring States era when the mother of a Zhao princess broke down in tears at her wedding. * The Chinese softshelled turtle urinates...Article Link

Enric Calpe es uno de tantos espectadores de Cuarto Milenio que fascinado por la historia y los viajes decidió visitar en 2020 un lugar remoto de China: las montañas Aleluya, situadas en la ciudad de Zhangjiajie. Residente junto a su familia desde hace casi una década en el país asiático, nuestro invitado pudo conocer de primera mano los legendarios relatos que existen allí sobre brujos, vampiros y resucitados. Esta noche, profundizaremos en el folklore más enigmático de una civilización ancestral: los Tujia. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Viac o etnickej skupine Tujia nájdete  na JoshuaProject.netKalendár SMS na rok 2021 si môžete objednať na  bit.ly/SMSkalendar2021

People Group Summary Sign up to receive podcast: https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/18702/CH Listen to the "Gateway to the Unreached" with Greg Kelley, produced by the Alliance for the Unreached: https://alliancefortheunreached.org/podcast/ Watch "Stories of Courageous Christians" w/ Mark Kordic https://storiesofcourageouschristians.com/stories-of-courageous-christians God's Best to You!  

With the escalated spread of the coronavirus, GGV Capital is running a 3-session-webinar series with founders around the world to help them navigate the radical uncertainty ahead. Today's episode is the recording of the first webinar on managing cash flow at this special time, joined by Dr. Brian Gu, President and Vice Chairman from XPeng, and GGV's managing partner Jixun Foo. We covered everything from best practices of cash flow management during an external crisis, tips on alternative funding, to macroeconomic shifts startups must pay attention to in the post-virus world. Jixun Foo is a Managing Partner at GGV Capital and joined the firm in 2006. He is consistently recognized among the top VCs in China and counts 13 of his investments as mega-unicorns or unicorns, including Baidu, Boss Zhipin, Didi, Grab, Hello, Manbang, Meicai, Qunar/Ctrip, Tujia, Mogu, UCWeb, Youku Tudou, and Xpeng Motors. Brian Gu is the vice chairman and president of XPENG Motors, also known as Xiaopeng Motors, a Chinese electric vehicle company and a GGV portfolio company. At XPENG, Brian leads the company's global strategy, finance, fundraising, investments and international partnerships. Prior to joining XPENG Motors in March 2018, Brian was the Chairman of Asia Pacific Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan. He holds an MBA from Yale University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington Medical School and a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of Oregon. For the full transcript of the show, go tonextbn.ggvc.com Join our listeners' community for future webinars, go tonextbn.ggvc.com/community.

With the escalated spread of the coronavirus, GGV Capital is running a 3-session-webinar series with founders around the world to help them navigate the radical uncertainty ahead. Today's episode is the recording of the first webinar on managing cash flow at this special time, joined by Dr. Brian Gu, President and Vice Chairman from XPeng, and GGV's managing partner Jixun Foo. We covered everything from best practices of cash flow management during an external crisis, tips on alternative funding, to macroeconomic shifts startups must pay attention to in the post-virus world. Jixun Foo is a Managing Partner at GGV Capital and joined the firm in 2006. He is consistently recognized among the top VCs in China and counts 13 of his investments as mega-unicorns or unicorns, including Baidu, Boss Zhipin, Didi, Grab, Hello, Manbang, Meicai, Qunar/Ctrip, Tujia, Mogu, UCWeb, Youku Tudou, and Xpeng Motors. Brian Gu is the vice chairman and president of XPENG Motors, also known as Xiaopeng Motors, a Chinese electric vehicle company and a GGV portfolio company. At XPENG, Brian leads the company's global strategy, finance, fundraising, investments and international partnerships. Prior to joining XPENG Motors in March 2018, Brian was the Chairman of Asia Pacific Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan. He holds an MBA from Yale University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington Medical School and a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of Oregon. For the full transcript of the show, go tonextbn.ggvc.com Join our listeners' community for future webinars, go tonextbn.ggvc.com/community.

Selling your product to businesses is tough. Today, we talk to Jonathan Wu, Co-founder and VP of Sales of a fast-growing B2B SaaS Company GrowingIO, to share with you the most advanced B2B sales strategies based on his experience. GrowingIO is a leading data analytics platform provider in China that helps drive business growth through data insights. Their current clients include Bytedance, China Mobile, Tujia, Didi and more. He shared very useful strategies and tactics on how to close B2B deals and how to understand clients' pain points of adoption. As he pointed out, it's very important to understand your clients, your product and user journey, and also to remember to talk to the decision makers. Later, he used GrowingIO as an example to explain how to classify products for different types of clients, and how GrowingIO has scaled the sales team in the past 5 years.Show Notes:01:59 Introduce Jonathan Wu02:41 About GrowingIO05:23 Why Jonathan started the company08:25 How Jonathan decided to take the sales role09:50 How GrowingIO got the first client, Liepin.com 猎聘12:50 How to train the sales team16:13 It takes 12 months for a new sales person to be mature17:20 How to onboard the clients and understand pain points of adoption21:05 How to select clients23:27 Mature Internet companies build their own data platform26:35 It's necessary to add services on top of the software29:26 Classify products and services for different clients33:12 How GrowingIO has scaled the sales team36:08 Connect with the decision maker to close the deal37:38 Contact JonathanMany thanks to our guest Jonathan Wu, host Oscar Ramos; ; producers Eva Shi; editors David and Geep; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsors People Squared and Himalaya. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.comIf you like us, please give us a 5-star review and share with your friends!Follow us on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/Email us: team@chinastartuppulse.com

Join GGV 996's anniversary party in San Francisco on Friday, March 8! The event will take the form of a Trivia Night on Chinese tech. Come test your knowledge of China's tech industry, compete to win prizes, and enjoy a great night with friends. RSVP at 996.ggvc.com/sf. Join our listeners' community via WeChat/Slack at 996.ggvc.com/community.   GGV Capital's Hans Tung and Zara Zhang interview Simon Zhang, (张溪梦), the founder and CEO of GrowingIO, a data analytics startup in China that helps product managers and marketers analyze mobile apps and websites without adding manual tracking codes. GrowingIO now counts over 6000 companies as its customers, including the likes of Didi, Momo, Tujia, and others. Previously, Simon was senior director of business analytics at LinkedIn in its Silicon Valley headquarters, and before that, worked as a senior manager of site analytics at eBay. In 2015, he left a decade-long career in Silicon Valley to return to China and started his current startup, GrowingIO. But prior to all of this, Simon worked as a brain surgeon in China, and attended medical school in Tianjin. He also obtained an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. Simon is also the author of the Chinese book 《首席增长官》 (“Chief Growth Officer”) and is a thought leader in the field of data-driven growth in China. Simon discussed how Chinese engineers in Silicon Valley can crack the “bamboo ceiling”, how Chinese-style growth differs from Silicon Valley-style growth, and why “raising too much money” could create challenges for a startup. The 996 Podcast is brought to you by GGV Capital, a global venture capital firm that invests in local founders. As a multi-stage, sector-focused firm, GGV focuses on seed-to-growth stage investments across Consumer/New Retail, Social/Digital & Internet, Enterprise/Cloud and Frontier Tech sectors. The firm was founded in 2000 and manages $6.2 billion in capital across 13 funds. Past and present portfolio companies include Affirm, Airbnb, Alibaba, Bitsight, ByteDance, Ctrip, Didi Chuxing, Grab, Gladly, Hello Chuxing, HashiCorp, Houzz, Keep, LingoChamp, Namely, Niu, Nozomi Networks, Opendoor, Peloton, Poshmark, Slack, Square, Wish, Xauto, Xiaohongshu, Yellow, YY, Zhaoyou and more. The firm has offices in Beijing, San Francisco, Shanghai and Silicon Valley. Learn more at ggvc.com, or “GGVCapital” on WeChat.

Join GGV 996’s anniversary party in San Francisco on Friday, March 8! The event will take the form of a Trivia Night on Chinese tech. Come test your knowledge of China's tech industry, compete to win prizes, and enjoy a great night with friends. RSVP at 996.ggvc.com/sf. Join our listeners' community via WeChat/Slack at 996.ggvc.com/community.   GGV Capital’s Hans Tung and Zara Zhang interview Simon Zhang, (张溪梦), the founder and CEO of GrowingIO, a data analytics startup in China that helps product managers and marketers analyze mobile apps and websites without adding manual tracking codes. GrowingIO now counts over 6000 companies as its customers, including the likes of Didi, Momo, Tujia, and others. Previously, Simon was senior director of business analytics at LinkedIn in its Silicon Valley headquarters, and before that, worked as a senior manager of site analytics at eBay. In 2015, he left a decade-long career in Silicon Valley to return to China and started his current startup, GrowingIO. But prior to all of this, Simon worked as a brain surgeon in China, and attended medical school in Tianjin. He also obtained an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. Simon is also the author of the Chinese book 《首席增长官》 (“Chief Growth Officer”) and is a thought leader in the field of data-driven growth in China. Simon discussed how Chinese engineers in Silicon Valley can crack the “bamboo ceiling”, how Chinese-style growth differs from Silicon Valley-style growth, and why “raising too much money” could create challenges for a startup. The 996 Podcast is brought to you by GGV Capital, a global venture capital firm that invests in local founders. As a multi-stage, sector-focused firm, GGV focuses on seed-to-growth stage investments across Consumer/New Retail, Social/Digital & Internet, Enterprise/Cloud and Frontier Tech sectors. The firm was founded in 2000 and manages $6.2 billion in capital across 13 funds. Past and present portfolio companies include Affirm, Airbnb, Alibaba, Bitsight, ByteDance, Ctrip, Didi Chuxing, Grab, Gladly, Hello Chuxing, HashiCorp, Houzz, Keep, LingoChamp, Namely, Niu, Nozomi Networks, Opendoor, Peloton, Poshmark, Slack, Square, Wish, Xauto, Xiaohongshu, Yellow, YY, Zhaoyou and more. The firm has offices in Beijing, San Francisco, Shanghai and Silicon Valley. Learn more at ggvc.com, or “GGVCapital” on WeChat.

GGV Capital's Hans Tung and Zara Zhang interview Jixun Foo (符绩勋), who is a Managing Partner at GGV Capital based in China. Jixun joined GGV in 2006 and has more than 20 years of experience in venture capital investing. He focuses on travel and transportation, social media and commerce as well as enterprise services in China. Jixun has led GGV's investments in Qunar (去哪儿), Grab, Didi (滴滴出行), Youku-Tudou (优酷土豆), UCWeb, Mogujie-Meilishuo (美丽联合集团), MediaV, Full-Truck Alliance (formerly Yunmanman) (满帮集团), Meicai (美菜), and currently serves on the boards of XPeng (小鹏汽车), Hellobike (哈罗单车), Tujia (途家), Xiangwushuo (享物说), Zuiyou (最右) and Kujiale (酷家乐). Jixun played a critical role in many key strategic mergers and acquisitions, such as those of Youku-Tudou, Baidu/Qunar, Ctrip/Qunar, and Mogujie/Meilishuo. Jixun has been recognized by Forbes China as one of the “Best Venture Capitalists” every year since 2006, and frequently appears on the Forbes Midas list. Before GGV, Jixun was a Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures, where he led the firm's investment in Baidu. Prior to DFJ ePlanet, Jixun led the Investment Group under the Finance & Investment Division of the National Science & Technology Board of Singapore (NSTB) and has also worked in the R&D division of Hewlett Packard. Jixun is from Singapore and graduated from the National University of Singapore with a First-Class Honors degree in Engineering, as well as a Master's in Management of Technology from the university's Graduate School of Business. In this episode, Jixun discusses how he started his career in venture capital, the insider story behind the merger between Youku and Tudou (the largest merger in Chinese tech history at the time), why he invested in the bike-sharing company HelloBike (which overtook Mobike and Ofo to become the top player in the country), and what sectors excite him today. Join our listeners' community via WeChat/Slack at 996.ggvc.com/community. You can view the full transcript of this episode at 996.ggvc.com. We are excited to announce a new program, "GGV Fellows", designed to help "sea turtles" or (海归) and Chinese students studying overseas to get to know the Chinese entrepreneurial landscape better. If you're a Chinese student/professional who is studying/working overseas (or have done so in the past), this is a program designed for you! It's a weeklong program in Jan 2019 in Beijing (during most US college's winter break). You will be able to learn from executives at some of China's most valuable tech companies, and visit some of their offices. You will also participate in mixers with students at top Chinese universities like Tsinghua and Beida to build a local network. Please visit fellows.ggvc.com for the application link and for more information. The 996 Podcast is brought to you by GGV Capital, a multi-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, and Beijing. We have been partnering with leading technology entrepreneurs for the past 18 years from seed to pre-IPO. With $3.8 billion in capital under management across eight funds, GGV invests in globally minded entrepreneurs in consumer internet, e-commerce, frontier tech, and enterprise. GGV has invested in over 280 companies, with 30 companies valued at over $1 billion. Portfolio companies include Airbnb, Alibaba, Bytedance (Toutiao), Ctrip, Didi Chuxing, DOMO, Hashicorp, Hellobike, Houzz, Keep, Musical.ly, Slack, Square, Wish, Xiaohongshu, YY, and others. Find out more at ggvc.com.

GGV Capital’s Hans Tung and Zara Zhang interview Jixun Foo (符绩勋), who is a Managing Partner at GGV Capital based in China. Jixun joined GGV in 2006 and has more than 20 years of experience in venture capital investing. He focuses on travel and transportation, social media and commerce as well as enterprise services in China. Jixun has led GGV’s investments in Qunar (去哪儿), Grab, Didi (滴滴出行), Youku-Tudou (优酷土豆), UCWeb, Mogujie-Meilishuo (美丽联合集团), MediaV, Full-Truck Alliance (formerly Yunmanman) (满帮集团), Meicai (美菜), and currently serves on the boards of XPeng (小鹏汽车), Hellobike (哈罗单车), Tujia (途家), Xiangwushuo (享物说), Zuiyou (最右) and Kujiale (酷家乐). Jixun played a critical role in many key strategic mergers and acquisitions, such as those of Youku-Tudou, Baidu/Qunar, Ctrip/Qunar, and Mogujie/Meilishuo. Jixun has been recognized by Forbes China as one of the “Best Venture Capitalists” every year since 2006, and frequently appears on the Forbes Midas list. Before GGV, Jixun was a Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures, where he led the firm’s investment in Baidu. Prior to DFJ ePlanet, Jixun led the Investment Group under the Finance & Investment Division of the National Science & Technology Board of Singapore (NSTB) and has also worked in the R&D division of Hewlett Packard. Jixun is from Singapore and graduated from the National University of Singapore with a First-Class Honors degree in Engineering, as well as a Master’s in Management of Technology from the university’s Graduate School of Business. In this episode, Jixun discusses how he started his career in venture capital, the insider story behind the merger between Youku and Tudou (the largest merger in Chinese tech history at the time), why he invested in the bike-sharing company HelloBike (which overtook Mobike and Ofo to become the top player in the country), and what sectors excite him today. Join our listeners' community via WeChat/Slack at 996.ggvc.com/community. You can view the full transcript of this episode at 996.ggvc.com. We are excited to announce a new program, "GGV Fellows", designed to help "sea turtles" or (海归) and Chinese students studying overseas to get to know the Chinese entrepreneurial landscape better. If you're a Chinese student/professional who is studying/working overseas (or have done so in the past), this is a program designed for you! It's a weeklong program in Jan 2019 in Beijing (during most US college's winter break). You will be able to learn from executives at some of China's most valuable tech companies, and visit some of their offices. You will also participate in mixers with students at top Chinese universities like Tsinghua and Beida to build a local network. Please visit fellows.ggvc.com for the application link and for more information. The 996 Podcast is brought to you by GGV Capital, a multi-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, and Beijing. We have been partnering with leading technology entrepreneurs for the past 18 years from seed to pre-IPO. With $3.8 billion in capital under management across eight funds, GGV invests in globally minded entrepreneurs in consumer internet, e-commerce, frontier tech, and enterprise. GGV has invested in over 280 companies, with 30 companies valued at over $1 billion. Portfolio companies include Airbnb, Alibaba, Bytedance (Toutiao), Ctrip, Didi Chuxing, DOMO, Hashicorp, Hellobike, Houzz, Keep, Musical.ly, Slack, Square, Wish, Xiaohongshu, YY, and others. Find out more at ggvc.com.

Deals Ola confirmed today it has raised $1.1bn in a round led by Tencent, which invested $400m according to recent reports. Tujia, the online accommodation marketplace often referred to as China’s Airbnb, has secured $300m in a round co-led by Ctrip that valued it at more than $1.5bn. SoftBank Vision Fund has done more than … Continue reading "16 October 2017 – Ola Raises $1.1bn in Tencent-led Round"

The hotel lobby has crossed a line this week with an ominous ad linking Airbnb to terrorism. Airbnb spokesperson Peter Schottenfels referred to the commercial as ‘an outrageous scare tactic’ and argued that the big hotels sponsoring the ads have lodged terrorists themselves.Today Jasper is joined by Noah Neiman, Hostfully Co-Founder and Head of Product, to offer their takes on the tenuous argument made in the attack ad and share their recent adventures dealing with short-term rental hosts making unexpected requests. They also cover the incredible growth of Tujia, Airbnb’s Chinese competitor, and the staggering boost in Airbnb bookings associated with the solar eclipse taking place August 21st.Listen in to learn how Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky handles his lengthy to-do list, and how you might handle a bad review that stems from charging a guest for damages. Noah and Jasper conclude with a question from the Facebook group around Smart Pricing. Learn why Airbnb has an incentive to keep prices low and how you can use an alternative third-party service to determine the optimal price for your listing!Topics CoveredArticle #1: New York City’s Hotel Industry Links Airbnb to Terror in Harsh Ad•Refers to Manchester attack•Intends to instigate fear•Link tenuous at best•Airbnb calls ad ‘outrageous scare tactic’•Counterargument that terrorists also stay in hotelsArticle #2: Ctrip Keeps Supporting Tujia ‘WeChat Hotels’ to Engage in Shared Housing•Airbnb competitor in China•Partners with text app and travel service site•Triple digit growth since 2016•Airbnb may need local partners to competeArticle #3: Airbnb Expects its Biggest Night Ever in South Carolina Thanks to Total Solar Eclipse•Solar eclipse on August 21•Path of eclipse through many rural areas (with few hotels)•Airbnb bookings five times higher than usual•Hosts should use dynamic pricing appsArticle #4: The CEO of Airbnb Starts Each Morning with a Simple but Effective Twist on the Standard To-Do List•Start with exhaustive list of things to accomplish•Group similar tasks, choose one that will cover all in group•Refine to a few big tasks•Shark Tank investor Barbara Corcoran uses similar strategyQ1: A guest spilled red wine on my table runner. Should I take part of the deposit to cover the cost? I am worried about receiving a poor review in retaliation.•Yes – if cost is significant percentage of rental fee•Can request to have unfair review removed or respond to review with explanation•One bad review won’t destroy your business (80% five-star reviews necessary to maintain Superhost status)•No guarantee host will receive portion of security deposit•Claim before next guest arrives, within 14 days•Guest can accept or decline•Airbnb investigates, mediates resolution•Documentation necessaryQ2: Airbnb Smart Pricing doesn’t reflect the optimal price for my listing. Why?•Airbnb branded as affordable alternative to hotels•Must consider best interest of guest•Incentive to keep prices low•Use a third-party service like Beyond PricingResources MentionedArticle #1: nydailynews.com/new-york/new-york-city-hotel-industry-links-airbnb-terror-harsh-ad-article-1.3370202Article #2: prnewswire.com/news-releases/ctrip-keeps-supporting-tujia-wechat-hotels-to-engage-in-shared-housing-300496413.htmlArticle #3: postandcourier.com/business/airbnb-expects-its-biggest-night-ever-in-south-carolina-thanks/article_92fd8f00-6cb7-11e7-987d-dfa9e3dc33da.htmlBeyond PricingSmart Pricing How-ToArticle #4: businessinsider. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Airbnb philosophy seems to be, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” This week in the news, there are rumors of a deal with Chinese rival Trujia, as Airbnb seeks to succeed in a market where other tech giants have struggled.Jasper is joined by Hostfully VP of Strategic Partnerships, Nicole Prentice Williams, to discuss this development in China, as well as Airbnb’s new hire in the region: Head of Chinese Operations, Hong Ge. They also cover Airbnb’s surprising success in Cuba, and how Airbnb might capitalize on legal requirements for travel in that country.In Barcelona, Airbnb seems less welcome, and headlines this week outline the crackdown on unlicensed homesharing in the city. Last but not least, Jasper and Nicole talk about one place where Airbnb is beating out the competition – online! Listen and learn about the platform’s surge in traffic and how it compares to hotel brands and other metasearch sites.Topics CoveredArticle #1: Airbnb Says Cubans are Cashing in on Airbnb•Cubans have earned nearly $40M since April 2015•Hosts share space 33 nights per year on average•Average amount paid per booking of $164•$2700 average annual payout•58% of Cuban hosts are women•Cuba is popular tourist destination for Americans since travel restrictions eased•Only allowed to travel to Cuba for one of 12 reasons (e.g.: visit relatives, academics)•Airbnb fulfills legal requirement of person-to-person visaArticle #2: Airbnb China Said in Deal Talks with Local Rival Tujia.com•Airbnb entered Chinese market in 2015•May be partnership deal or acquisition•Tujia valued at $1B, raising $300M moreArticle #3: Airbnb Appoints Head of China Operations After Long Search•Yale grad Hong Ge reports directly to Chesky•Resume includes positions at Facebook and Google•Offers understanding of local market•Other tech giants have struggled in ChinaArticle #4: Airbnb Traffic Surges, Surpassing Older Brands•Airbnb site traffic up more than 31% since Q1 of last year•Moved into number one spot, surpassing all hotel brands and metasearch sites•Strong user base among millennials•30% of respondents ages 18-34 use sharing economy services compared to 11% of those over 35Article #5: Airbnb Faces Crackdown on Illegal Apartment Rentals in Barcelona•7,000 unlicensed holiday rentals in city (of 16,000 total)•Doubled team of inspectors from 20 to 40 (100 by next year)•Barcelona will not renew existing licenses•City blames homesharing for housing shortage, high prices•Airbnb argues platform helps homeowners make ends meet, could be part of solutionResources MentionedAudible Free TrialGet Paid for Your Pad on AudibleArticle #1: news.fastcompany.com/airbnb-says-cubans-are-cashing-in-on-airbnb-4039804Article #2: chinamoneynetwork.com/2017/06/05/airbnb-china-said-in-deal-talks-with-local-rival-tujia-comtujia.comArticle #3: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-01/airbnb-hires-hong-ge-to-run-china-operations-after-long-searchArticle #4: emarketer.com/Article/Airbnb-Traffic-Surges-Surpassing-Older-Brands/1015937Article #5: irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/airbnb-faces-crackdown-on-illegal-apartment-rentals-in-barcelona-1.3107184Connect with JasperEmail: jasper@getpaidforyourpad.comTwitter: @GetPaidForUrPadInstagram: @GetPaidForYourPad Facebook: www.facebook.com/getpaidforyourpadThis episode is sponsored by Aviva IQ. Aviva IQ automates messages to your Airbnb guests. It's also free! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Conventional wisdom tells us to ‘expect the unexpected,’ and Airbnb news certainly delivered this week, most notably when a guest in Los Angeles received a surprise visit from a SWAT team!Margot Lee Shmorak, CEO and Co-founder of Hostfully, joins Jasper (our homeless host) to discuss that incident as well as the unexpected negative view of Airbnb presented by a few high-profile Democrats on the national stage in the US.They also cover the story of a couple who was pleasantly surprised by Airbnb’s new payment options as they planned their honeymoon trip, and an op-ed explaining why Airbnb’s growth in China is sluggish despite their best efforts. Listen in to understand why anything more than modest growth is unexpected in the Chinese market.Topics CoveredArticle #1: Hotel Industry Details Plans to Fight Airbnb•High-profile Democrats raised concerns about Airbnb•Questioned housing costs, racial discrimination, and consumer protection and safety w/ FTC•Accused Airbnb of evading local tax laws•First time issue raised at national level•Hotel lobby gave $1.3M to congressional candidates during past election cycle•Airbnb spent $485,000 on lobbying in 2016•Polarizing stance is surprisingArticle #2: Why Airbnb’s China Expansion is Stumbling•Name rebrand ‘Airbiying’ is awkward•Homesharing not part of Chinese culture•Only 19% motivated by social aspect•Only 6.5% of Chinese trust strangers•Price difference between Airbnb and hotels is much smaller•Competition is much bigger•Tujia boasts 10 times the number of listings•Regulations make it difficult for foreign companies to do business•The city of Paris has roughly the same number of Airbnb listings as all of ChinaArticle #3: Airbnb Guest Surprised by SWAT Team Looking for Fugitive•New Yorker staying at Airbnb in Los Angeles•Overwhelmed by officers looking for ‘Ashley’•Shot video of the incident•Nervous that local regulations might prohibit Airbnb, he initially claimed to know the fugitive•Later admitted that he did notArticle #4: Airbnb is Quietly Testing Flexible Payment Plans for Guests•Airbnb is testing a feature that allows guests to put down a 50% deposit to reserve a luxury property•Remaining balance is due two weeks prior to arrival•Invented other systems in regions where paying with an international credit card isn’t an option, i.e.: Cuba and Brazil•Demonstrates Airbnb’s willingness to experimentResources MentionedArticle #1: thehill.com/policy/technology/329120-the-hotel-industry-is-planning-a-washington-showdown-with-airbnbArticle #2: techinasia.com/talk/airbnb-china-expansion-stumbleArticle #3: news.com.au/finance/business/travel/airbnb-guest-surprised-by-swat-team-looking-for-fugitive/news-story/0e0d2ee58092d045e8915466a30a59cbArticle #4: fastcompany.com/40410787/airbnb-is-quietly-testing-flexible-payment-options-for-guestsConnect with JasperEmail: jasper@getpaidforyourpad.comTwitter: @GetPaidForUrPadInstagram: @GetPaidForYourPad Facebook: www.facebook.com/getpaidforyourpadThis episode is sponsored by Aviva IQ. Aviva IQ automates messages to your Airbnb guests. It's also free! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today’s Headlines Include: LeEco/Vizio deal falls through, attracts funding for sports AI bots Alpha Go Libratus make further strides in gaming competitions Alibaba + Tencent further expand payments in SE Asia Meituan and Tujia both introduce new models in home sharing space