A journey through the 5000 years of history documented by one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations. For all the episodes for free, as well as additional content, please subscribe and/or visit http://thehistoryofchina.wordpress.com.
338 episodes transcribedSo what does it all mean? Before stepping boldly into the Sui Dynasty, we take this episode to pan out to low-Earth orbit and watch the macro-developm...
Northern Zhou seems to have plotted a course for ultimate victory in the contest between the Northern and Southern Dynasties, having already annexed N...
In the Northeast of China, Northern Qi just can’t catch a break. First it was Emperor Wenxuan’s murderous paranoia, and now it will be subjected to Wu...
Today’s episode takes us through the turmoil within northern China and beyond over the 550s. We begin looking outside of China proper as the rulers of...
In the post-557 world, the three new major powers of China must confront the wide ranges of changes and struggles they must each face now that the pol...
This short episode covers the life of one of the great mathematicians, astronomers, and engineers of ancient China: Zu Chongzhi. In his life from 429-...
“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades take place.”It’s an out and out brawl as everything comes to a head at once...
The end of Emperor Wu’s 5-decade-long rule over the Liang Empire is jam-packed with action. Following the split between Eastern and Western Wei in the...
Buddhism has taken Southern China by storm, but few more than its emperor, Wu of Liang. He’ll try to talk a monk out of setting himself on fire, have...
Going back about 50 years to the beginning of the 6th century, we move South once more to visit the new Dynasty that has destroyed the Qi: Liang, and...
Though Northern Wei has been a beacon of steadiness amid the ephemeral Southern Dynasties, its time has come to an end. Wracked by ineptitude and betr...
We continue our look at Northern Wei at the dawn of the 6th century. The imperial bookends will be Xiaowen - the chief proponent of sinicization among...
While the South of China self-destructs time and again, the North is undergoing its own revolutionary shift - not of dynastic head, but something even...
The successor state to Liu Song will start off strong, but it will soon hit the rocks of instability, rebellion, and overthrow all in just a little mo...
The fates have not been kind to the Liu Song Dynasty. It keeps rolling the monarchy dice, and they keep coming up crazy-eyes. Emperor Ming will start...
In the mid-5th century, Southern China is at a boiling point. Between the decade reign of Emperor Xiaowu, and the 1-year abomination of his son Liu Zi...
Emperor Taiwu has been described as "Northern Wei's Teddy Roosevelt", and overshadows many of the Tuoba emperors to follow his reign of conquest and w...
The decade long détente between the South and North will be shattered in 449 by a series of tit-for-tat campaigns by both sides, resulting in the dest...
Over the course of the 5th century, Buddhism had become the rising star within China, in spite of its foreign origins. That would run into direct conf...
Northern Wei uses Liu Song's hesitation to move north of the Yellow River as an opportunity to reintegrate the last of the 16 Kingdoms into its hegemo...
