The History of China Podcast

00:37:42

#349 - Taiping 24: The Bouncer

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/10/03

By the autumn of 1860, the Qing Dynasty had run out of armies to lose. What was left of its war was being run out of a mountain valley in southern Anhui by a half-blind scholar-official who was, at that very moment, politely refusing a direct order from his emperor.Downriver, the Taiping had a plan to end the whole thing. In March of 1861 the Brave King sprinted 200 miles in 11 days to pull it off, and arrived holding the strongest hand any Taiping commander ever would. And then… the British

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00:41:50

#348 - Arrow War 2: Ashes of Perfect Brightness

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/09/25

For two days in mid-October, ash fell like snow atop Beijing. All that remained of one of the greatest cultural storehouses in all of human history, put to the torch as an extremely personalized punishment... after everything not nailed down inside it had already been looted off, of course.But the man it was meant to punish... wasn't even there. He'd already slipped out the back door of the Forbidden City weeks before - leaving an opera troupe to play on and cover his escape, as he left his own

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00:38:36

#347 - Arrow War 1: The Servants' Entrance

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/09/18

A suspicious ship of dubious registry is boarded by Qing marines off Canton, 12 of her crew are taken captive for piracy, and the British allege their flag was hauled down in the process. That last part, at least, was almost certainly untrue... not that that stops it all from spinning entirely out of control.Within the month, the Royal Navy will be shelling the office of the viceroy who won't meet with them, Parliament's own better angels will be promptly overturned by the public itself at the

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00:39:36

#346 - Taiping 23: Friends From Afar

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/09/11

The Loyal King does everything right. He writes ahead to Shanghai to announce he's coming – as a friend! And only for the Qing parts of the city! His standing orders: no firing on the foreigners, you get your head chopped off. He even signs off wishing them all good health until he can meet them in person.The letter is returned unopened. So is the second one. And so, in the third week of August 1860, an army marching under orders not to shoot back spends 5 days being shelled outside the walls of a

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00:41:18

#345 - Taiping 21_ Heaven Below

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/09/04

For a thousand years, Suzhou and Hangzhou stood as synonyms for the next best thing to Heaven itself. Well, that was before 1860. As of now, Hangzhou is a fire-gutted ruin, and Suzhou is next on the target list.But the army that does the most damage… is not the invader. The Taiping arrive to find the dirty work done ahead of them, by the very Qing forces assigned to defend the great southern city, and a vast number of the city having decided to "take matters into their own hands." As such, when a

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00:36:22

#344 - Taiping 21: Borrowed Things

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/08/29

The stealth troops successfully sneak past the enemy lines in dead men'scoats. The false flags planted on the hillside fool the city guard. The front gate assault diverts, while the sappers around back bring the walls down. I love it when a plan comes together, every single piece locking in like perfect clockwork... Except… it wasn't really the plan. The city that fell was never the objective – it was merely a diversion… a diversion that would leave 60,000 dead within a week. Time Period

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00:33:45

308.5 - Zheng Yi Sao, Pt. 3: The Tiger's Mouth

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/08/23

Please check out this entire series-arc, re-written, expanded, & re-recorded as of Aug 2026:- Ep. 306: Dead Men Tell No Tales: https://megaphone.link/ARML5251369441 - Ep. 307: Murders & Acquisitions, Mostly: https://megaphone.link/ARML6215286599 - Ep. 308: The Shadow State: https://megaphone.link/ARML7890860851 Bottled up in Tung Chung Bay, subsisting for three weeks on caterpillars & boiled rice, the largest pirate fleet in the history of the world meets six Portuguese ships and the arithmetic

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00:34:07

#343 - Taiping 20: The Guest and the Host

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/08/21

Li Xiucheng thinks the plan is pointless. He said so out loud, to his superiors… and lost. So of course, it’s him tasked with leading it out the gate. He is, after all, the Loyal King. And so 6,000 soldiers cross the river in the dark through the only path still open to them, every one of them clad in the uniform of a dead enemy. Nobody stops them. Nobody even looks twice. 150 miles southeast there's a city that has no idea they’re coming for it, and it’s not even the city they’re really

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00:50:37

#342 - Taiping 19: Approved In the Margins

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/08/15

A man disguised as a peddler stands on the bank of the Yangtze watching a British fleet go past, and tries to hitch a ride to Nanjing. He's been trying to reach the rebel capital for 6 years now, and this is the closest he's gotten. He’s told “no” … again. So he picks himself up once more and just keeps walking. He’ll get there eventually. And once he does, within three weeks he’ll be made the Shield King – the 2nd most powerful man in the Taiping Kingdom… on paper, at least.Time Period

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00:41:11

#341 - Taiping 18_ Titles of the Dead

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/08/08

In the Heavenly capital of Nanjing, a government that’s now mostly murdered has to be restaffed… somehow. And so their old titles are simply dusted off and re-distributed who whoever’s still left standing. Meanwhile, the men out actually running the war have learned that there’s no use in waiting for the paperwork or permission… neither are coming. They hold their own conference, swear their own oath, and decide to prosecute the war on their own from here on out, regardless of what Nanjing might

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00:47:53

#340 - Taiping 17: Out of Kings

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/08/02

The Heavenly Kingdom, having recently killed kings three and four of its founding five – and misplaced the fifth – attempts to solve its acute leadership shortage. To that end, the Heavenly King turns to his own blood, promoting his brothers – both military novices – and handing supreme military authority to the upjumped royal harem-staffing administrator. Meanwhile, up his own backwater Jiangxi creek, the one man of Great Qing capable of destroying the rebels is finally handed a paddle by his

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00:45:42

#339 - Taiping 16: At Sixes & Sevens

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/07/27

The Taiping's greatest summer curdles into its bloodiest autumn. Two months after the East King demands to be crowned Hong Xiuquan's equal, three of his brother-kings converge on Nanjing with an army he never sees coming.By dawn, the man who once spoke with the voice of God is a head on a pole in the street. Yet the purge doesn't end there: it swallows thousands, devours the men who ordered it, and costs the Heavenly Kingdom its foothold on the Yangtze before the year is out – all without a single

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00:38:16

#338 - Taiping 15: The Summer of 10,000 Years

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/07/26

The Taiping Army is riding high. Having finally broken two massive, three-year-long sieges over the course of a single summer, ultimate victory seems within their grasp. Yet, that taste of triumph acts like blood in the water. The lifting of the sieges removes the one thing that had been holding this fractured movement together: sheer external pressure. For three years, the East King has been rehearsing one demand: the same title as the Heavenly King. Absolute recognition, absolute parity - the

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00:41:04

#337 - Taiping 14: Tears Enough to Swell the River

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/07/13

Three months after the biggest win of his life, Zeng Guofan tries to drown himself. Again. His fleet gets ambushed, split in half, & set ablaze by a 23-year-old nobody bothered to worry about – right up until he became the guy everybody worried about. The reward for surviving all that? A "promotion" in-name only... with no province, no funds, no friends, and a bureaucracy that somehow finds the – time mid-civil-war – to mock him personally. He loses his flagship, his files, his seal of command, and

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00:40:17

#336 - Taiping 13: The Order of Caps and Shoes

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/07/07

Zeng Guofan goes to war to defend a fixed universe – and nearly drowns proving how unfixed his own place in it actually is. Across a single year, Hunan's most unlikely general brutally finds out that he is indeed no warrior, and consequentially must rebuild a river fleet from nothing... all while the Taiping's own capital is spared only my a mix-up with the date. By December, the Yangtze has changed hands – and a nervous throne has just learned exactly how dangerous a loyal army, and the man who

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00:35:35

#335 - Taiping 12: The Man In Hunan

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/06/30

While the Northern Expedition dies in the freezing mud of Shandong, the Taiping's second strike — the Western Expedition — turns its sights on the provinces they've already ridden through on the Yangtze, a kingdom to go with their new Heavenly Capital. But waiting for them in Hunan is a man unable to ride a horse, or command an army... who will nevertheless set about constructing their ultimate doom. Time Period Covered: May 1853 – February 1854 CE Major Historical Figures: Taiping Heavenly

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00:29:46

#334 - Taiping 11: The Spear of Heaven and the Winter...

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/06/23

The Taiping Army commits to one of its most audacious acts yet — an assault on the Qing throne itself, a thousand miles north in Beijing. To reach it, it will launch its great Northern Campaign: a single spear-throw that, if its aim holds true, might end the entire war before the teeth of winter bite down. Time Period Covered: May 1853 – March 1855 CE Major Historical Figures: Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Hong Xiuquan, the Heavenly King [1814–1864] Lin Fengxiang, co-commander of the Northern

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00:37:22

#333 - Taiping 10: All Things In Common

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/06/15

Finally pooled and stilled at Nanjing, in the afterglow of victory, the Taiping reflect on what they’ve become, and what they’ve yet to accomplish. In the cold light of the morning after, though, dreams do not equal result, nor clouds a working constitution. And as the world begins to take note and come knocking, the question hanging over it all remains: what will come next?Time Period Covered: Spring–Summer 1853 CE Major Historical Figures: Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Hong Xiuquan, Heavenly

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00:36:03

#332 - Taiping 9: Heaven Is A Place On Earth

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/06/08

The Heavenly Host arrives at last before the walls of the South Capital. What follows is not a battle so much as a verdict – rendered in powder, fire, and seven days of smoke and blood. A city is taken, renamed, and remade in the image of a kingdom the likes of which the world has never seen before. This is the story of the Becoming that finally arrived; of the current that finally found its place to pool... and what it cost to stop. Time Period Covered: Mar. 1853 CE Major Historical

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00:40:50

#331 - Taiping 8: Kingdom Come

The History of China Podcast ·

2026/05/31

The Heavenly Host marches north out of Hunan. Ahead of them lies the spine of China itself – the mighty Yangtze; maker and breaker of dynasties. The trading capitals strung along its southern bank glimmer like beads on a thread. They have and continue to transform, to build a fleet, a state. Now they will find out what it’s all been leading toward. This is the story of the Kingdom In Motion, and the river that carried it east.Time Period Covered: Nov. 1852 – Mar. 1853 Major Historical

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