April 27, 1856. In Beijing’s Forbidden City, one of the emperor’s consorts, a woman named Cixi, has given birth to a son – the emperor’s first heir. This landmark event is met with mass celebration. But in just five years time, the emperor will be dead and Cixi will be planning a coup to take power for herself. How will she ever succeed?
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Yesterday
The Great Comic Book Scare
February 4, 1955. In a New York courtroom, the Comics Czar takes the stand. He’s in charge of enforcing a new code, meant to keep comic books from corrupting America’s youth, and he’s here to prove that his work has cleaned up the industry. But that afternoon, a noted psychologis ... Show More
31m 13s
Jan 26
The Dogs Who Saved Nome, Alaska
On January 5, 2026, Jirdes Winther Baxter passed away at 101 years old — the last known survivor of the 1925 diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska. A few years ago, we told the story of the Serum Run: the desperate relay of mushers and sled dogs who carried a life-saving antitoxin ... Show More
37m 21s
Jan 22
From Hitler to Hippies: The Surprising Origins of the VW Beetle | Presenting Business History
How did the VW Beetle go from Hitler’s dream car to beloved hippie icon? Today, we’re sharing an episode from a new podcast, Business History. Hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith bring to life the greatest innovations, the boldest entrepreneurs and the craziest mavericks in th ... Show More
38m 26s
Jan 2024
Empress Dowager Cixi of China Part 1: Coup There It Is | 4
<p>Empress Dowager Cixi wasn’t born into power – she took it. After participating in a 19th century version of The Bachelor, Cixi was chosen as one of the Emperor’s concubines. In part one of this two-part series, Cixi uses her cunning, wit, and scrappy attitude to rise through t ... Show More
44m 36s
Jan 2024
Empress Dowager Cixi of China Part 2: Villain Era | 5
<p>In Part One, Cixi went from concubine to all-powerful Regent, thanks to her bestie and a savvy political coup. But while she was wielding her new found power, Cixi’s enemies were plotting her demise. Now that they’ve executed the man she loved, Cixi wants to even the scor ... Show More
44m 50s
Aug 2022
The Art of War: Ancient Chinese guide to victory
The Art of War is one of the most important military strategy texts ever written, and it has become just as influential, perhaps even more so, in the worlds of business, sport, and politics. Bridget Kendall learns what the 2,000-year-old treatise has to say about deception, spyin ... Show More
39m 57s
Apr 2024
444. The First Emperor of China
"The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided….”
The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, left behind him a monumental legacy: an Empire which would last millennia, the foundations of the Great Wall of China, and an eerie Terracotta Army - 8000 warriors who would pro ... Show More
1h 1m
Feb 2020
10. China's Han Dynasty - The First Empire in Flames
A city in ruins. A dynasty in tatters. An empire in ashes...This episode, we look at the remarkable story of the first empire of ancient China, the Han dynasty. With ancient Chinese poetry, songs and folk music, we look back at the first empire's rise, its remarkable technologica ... Show More
2h 53m
Oct 2022
The Tang Dynasty (Radio Edit)
Greg Jenner is joined by historian Prof Tineke D’Haeseleer and comedian Evelyn Mok in medieval China to explore the Tang Dynasty. Known as the Golden Age of China, it was the time of China’s Emperor Wu, the only woman to hold power in her own right, and Emperor Xuanzong who becam ... Show More
28m 34s
Feb 2022
Leilei Chen, "Re-Orienting China: Travel Writing and Cross-Cultural Understanding" (U Regina Press, 2016)
Re-Orienting China: Travel Writing and Cross-Cultural Understanding (U Regina Press, 2016) challenges the notion of the travel writer as imperialistic, while exploring the binary opposition of self/other. Featuring analyses of rarely studied writers on post-1949 China, including ... Show More
1h 22m
Feb 2021
Suyoung Son, "Writing for Print: Publishing and the Making of Textual Authority in Late Imperial China" (Harvard UP, 2018)
Suyoung Son’s book Writing for Print: Publishing and the Making of Textual Authority in Late Imperial China (Harvard UP, 2018) examines the widespread practice of self-publishing by writers in late imperial China, focusing on the relationships between manuscript tradition and pri ... Show More
1h 4m