Barbarians at the Gate

Our inaugural episode looks at An Lushan: the outsider who charmed his way into the court of the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century and who almost succeeded in bringing down the empire. It’s a story made for imperial slash fic: The aging emperor, his rotund but sexy concubine, and the foreigner who came between them.

David Moser (Beijing Capital Normal University, Sinica Podcast) and Brendan O'Kane (Paper Republic, University of Pennsylvania) join Jeremiah to discuss David's new book, A Billion Voices, the history of language reform and national unity in China, the best way to learn Chinese, and the debate over whether it's okay to hate on Chinese characters.

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, James and Jeremiah discuss the history of the Khitans, their empire and their legacy with a little help from the Godfather Trilogy and Dragon Barbie from Game of Thrones.

On Tuesday, an international tribunal at the Hague ruled that China’s attempts to claim almost the entire South China Sea as sovereign territory had no legal basis. In a special emergency podcast, Jeremiah and James talk about the implications of the decision at the Hague, the reaction here in Beijing, and the use (and abuses) of history in establishing contemporary territorial claims.

Jeremiah and James look at the life and times of Yaqub Beg (1820-1877) and what his legacy means for Beijing's relationship with Western China and Central Asia today.

The outbreak of Covid-19 has drawn attention to public health in China and around the world. In the early stages, there was considerable criticism of China's initial handling of the outbreak. This criticism drew an emotional response in China. In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, Jeremiah Jenne and David Moser look at the intimate link in Chinese history between public health, hygiene, and modernity. Note: In the podcast, we mention China's expulsion of Wall Street Journal reporters Josh Chin, Chao Deng, and Philip Wen. Since we taped the podcast, the situation has escalated and last week the government pulled the press cards of all US citizens working as reporters in China for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post. Local employees at those bureaus have also been pressured to leave their jobs. We don’t mention those events here, but we will be discussing the situation on an upcoming podcast. Here are links to some of the articles, books, and websites mentioned during the podcast: Walter Russell Mead, China is the Sick Man of Asia, Wall Street Journal (February 3, 2020) Jeremiah Jenne, Empires of Disease: Why the Coronavirus is an emotional issue for China and the World, Radii China (February 10, 2020) Ruth Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China (2004) Mao Zedong, “A Study of Physical Education” (New Youth xin qingnian, 1917) Karl Taro Greenfeld, China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century's First Great Epidemic (2009) Chinese Propaganda Posters website Poster: "Everybody must take precautions against epidemics" (1952) Poster: "Less births, better births, to develop China vigorously" (1987) 6.8.0

China has a long history of inviting barbarians in when useful, trying to civilize them, and then kicking them out when those barbarians prove difficult to domesticate. As US-China relations sink to a new low and both powers seem obsessed with scoring propaganda points in the middle of global pandemic, Jeremiah and David discuss their lives in Beijing and what the future might hold for those folks living, writing, and working in China. First, David looks back at the 1980s and 1990s, the rise of the foreign celebrity and how access has changed for researchers in the PRC. Jeremiah and David then reflect on their time as teachers here working with international university students studying in Beijing and discuss the closing of the remaining pockets of relative academic freedom that once existed. Finally, as the Chinese government expels foreign journalists and some stores and bars in China literally have closed their doors to foreigners, Jeremiah and David ask: Are we still welcome here? Ps. We're still getting the hang of taping from two different locations. At about 20 minutes or so, Jeremiah's mic levels jump a few decibels. You may want to turn down the volume at that point. We'll get this right eventually. 6.8.0

In this episode, we look at Putonghua, the spoken language most people refer to as Mandarin. David wrote a book in 2016 on the evolution of Putonghua in China and we discuss his research and the recent controversy over the app Douyin penalizing users who post videos in other Chinese languages, especially Cantonese. What's the point of Putonghua? What is a dialect and what is a language in China? And what's the difference between Mandarin in the Qing Dynasty, Guoyu in the Republican Period, and Putonghua in the PRC? We also get an assist from Zhang Yajun, host of the Wo Men Podcast on Radii China, who talks with David about the differences between the spoken language of Northern China, especially around Beijing, and "Standard" Putonghua. It's not just for Chinese speakers or students as we also tackle some tricky questions of competing national and regional identities in Chinese history. Recommendations: Gina Anne Tam, Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860–1960 (Cambridge University Press, 2020) David Moser, A Billion Voices: China's Search for a Common Language (Penguin, 2016) 6.9.0

Jeremiah and David catch up with China hand and old friend Laszlo Montgomery, who is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the China History Podcast.  Laszlo describes the evolution of the podcast, how he chooses and researches the topics, and his current project on the history of Xinjiang. The trio also retrace the course of the US-China trade relation via Laszlo's first-hand experience with the "Made in China" supply chains, the Chinese manufacturers of the cheap products that have lined the shelves of the big box retailers such as Wal-mart for the past 30 years.  The discussion concludes with a diagnosis and prognosis of Covid-19's impact on the US-China relation, some lamenting and gnashing of teeth about the recent deterioration of the bilateral relationship, but also some cause for optimism with the rise of a new generation of dedicated China hands. 6.9.1

Jeremiah and David welcome historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom to the show. Jeff is Chancellor's Professor of History at the UC Irvine, and is not only a prolific academic scholar, but also one of the most sought after China analysts appearing on mainstream news media outlets such as BBC and NPR.  His most recent book, Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, documents the recent political unrest in Hong Kong, putting the movement into historical context. On today’s show, we delve into Jeff’s current project, which is a reevaluation of the Boxer War of 1899-1901. The conversation draws parallels between the xenophobia and anti-foreign sentiment in China during the Boxer incident and thenationalistic and racial divisions between China and the West engendered by the Coronavirus crisis. ----- Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Maura Cunningham, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn, Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn Zi Zhongyun, "Viral Alarm" (translated by Geremie R. Barmé) 7.0.1

Barbarians at the Gate returns to that ever-relevant and contentious topic, language reform in China and the fate of fangyan, the various local speech forms referred to as “dialects.” Joining us on the podcast is Gina Anne Tam, Assistant Professor in History at Trinity University, and the author of the recent book Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860-1960.  Picking up the threads of the recent podcast “Mandarin Mayhem”, we explore with Gina issues such as the central role of language unification in the task of nation building; the tension between the goal of national unity and preserving China’s rich cultural diversity as manifested in fangyan; the future survival of the many local speech forms in the face of China’s ongoing national Putonghua promotion policy; and even a brief discussion of Chengdu rappers and the sociological implications of Sichuan dialect rap. 7.0.3

Champions Day in the city of Shanghai, November 1941. The world was at war but the clubhouse at the Shanghai Race Club (now People's Park) was packed with owners and punters cheering on the pony. The funeral of Shanghai's richest widow, Liza Hardoon, was a spectacle which filled the streets of the International Settlement. Japanese occupiers and their Chinese collaborators came together in a bizarre ritual celebrated the birthday of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen. The opening of a new movie featuring, of all subjects, Charlie Chan, had folks lining up at the box office of the local cinema. The world had changed but the "Lone Island" of Shanghai persisted, as it had since becoming a treaty port a century earlier. Historian James Carter's fascinating new book Champions Day: The End of Old Shanghai brings to life the vivid tableau of an era coming to an end. By the end of the year, Japanese authorities would take control of Shanghai and the city would never again be the same. What did the end of the colonial era mean for Shanghai and its residents? Why were race tracks such powerful symbols? Professor Carter joins us as we discuss the history of horse racing, colonialism, and the last days of Old Shanghai. 7.0.3

In this episode Jeremiah and David are pleased to talk with veteran New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Ian Johnson.  Ian is one of our most prolific and wide-ranging China writers, over the last decades amassing a vast catalogue of articles covering Chinese politics, religion, language, history and media.  His most recent book, The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao is a fascinating in-depth account of the resurgence of religious activity in the PRC.  Ian is one of several veteran Beijing-based journalists who were expelled from China on March 17 of this year, a tit-for-tat response to the Trump administration cancelling the visas for dozens of Chinese journalists working in the US.  On the podcast we discuss the challenges faced by China scholars and reporters in continuing to carry out research and reporting in the PRC under the new quasi-Cold War environment.  We also catch up with events in Ian’s life, including the arrival of his new-born son, and his future writing projects. 8.0.1

In this episode, Jeremiah and David delve into the Chinese education system, focusing on the evolution of China’s universities. Starting with Trump’s recent ill-advised (and quickly rescinded) executive order to cancel the F-1 visas of a substantial number of 370,000 Chinese students studying in the US, the discussion moves to China’s multi-billion-dollar effort to enhance the soft power attraction of its universities by building world-class research institutes and recruiting top foreign academic talent. The Chinese education system is in a state of constant flux. The podcast explores China’s experimentation with new education formats, the ongoing revisions to the gaokao college entrance examination, and the so-called “creativity problem” of the Chinese educational tradition. 8.0.3

Following on the previous BATG episode about the Chinese education system, in this installment, Jeremiah and David are pleased to continue this discussion with award-winning journalist and author Lenora Chu. Lenora is the author of Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School and the Global Race to Achieve, a melding of memoir and journalism that brings to light the enormous cultural differences between the Chinese and American education systems. In recounting the sometimes traumatic adjustments of her young son to the academic environment of an elite Shanghai elementary school, Chu explores the complex web of social conditioning and parental cooperation that results in the high-achieving “little soldiers” in the Chinese system and weighs the advantages and disadvantages of the East and West educational models. The conversation also touches on the gaokao, the controversial college entrance exam, the supposed “creativity gap” in the Chinese model, and the similarities in the phenomenon of “helicopter parents” in the two cultures. As a commentator, Chu has appeared on NPR, CBS, BBC, and the CBC, and her articles and op-eds have been published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Cut, and Business Insider, among others. 8.1.2

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