Few will dispute that China has one of the most ancient cultures on earth, but is there any truth to the claim—made by many residents of China—that there is a 5,000-year-long line of continuity in its culture? Would an inhabitant of present-day China...
Jul 16
Johnny Appleseed's Trees Were for Booze, Not Pies, and He Dressed Like a Hobo for Marketing Purposes
The Disney version of Johnny Appleseed has a cheerful barefoot man in a tin pot hat scattering apple seeds for grateful pioneers to bake into pies. The real John Chapman collected his seeds for free from cidery waste, planted them into strategically fenced nurseries on land he bo ... Show More
53m 24s
Jul 14
All the World’s Empires Became Nations in Less Than 100 Years, and What That Means for the Next 100
For the last 5,000 years, empires ruled the world — Rome administered hundreds of languages across three continents, and the Ottomans governed Christians, Jews, and Muslims under a single legal canopy. The nation-state as we know it is barely a century old for most of the world's ... Show More
49m 33s
Sep 2023
Liangzhu: Cradle of Chinese Civilisation?
<p>Where do you begin to understand the origins of Chinese civilization? Located near the Yangtze River, the treasures of the Liangzhu culture can be found, a civilisation that dates back to the Neolithic. Today, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Yijie Zhuang from University Colleg ... Show More
44m 6s
Jan 2024
Season 3, Episode 3: Jessica Rawson, Life and Afterlife in Ancient China
Send us Fan MailJoin Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Jessica Rawson, one of the world’s most eminent scholars of China, as they discuss Rawson’s book, Life and Afterlife in Ancient China. Listen in to learn about the roots of Chinese civilization through the stories of twelve grand t ... Show More
44m 21s
Nov 2022
A Circus, or a Cult? The Strange Story of Shen Yun
If you live near any large city outside of mainland China, you may have seen advertisements for the world-famous Shen Yun Performing Arts Company, a US-based non-profit known for its elaborate shows in over 130 locations across the planet. But you might not know the full story of ... Show More
36m 16s
Dec 2016
Did Sheldon Gosline Discover a Lost Civilization?
<p>For centuries self-assured academics believed Troy was a mythological city -- until, that is, the ruins were discovered. Over the span of history, the human species has lost people, cities and entire civilizations. Occasionally, governments don't want these lost empires to be ... Show More
30m 41s