Barbarians at the Gate

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, our guest is Michael Wester, founder and publisher of True Run Media and The Beijinger. Mike is a long-time resident of Beijing, and we talked with him about running the city’s most-read expat publication,

In this episode, we chat with Andrew Stokols, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate at MIT researching varieties of digital urbanism globally, with an emphasis on China. On the podcast, we briefly compare notes on the urban development of Beijing in the 2...

Has the Chinese government killed stand-up comedy in China? In May of 2023, a popular standup comedian made an innocuous joke in which he mentioned a phrase used to laud the fighting spirit of the People’s Liberation Army. The next day,

On this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, I talk to Kristel Ouwehand, also known by her Tibetan language name, Tenzin Dolma, the founder of Snowland Academy in Gansu province where she lives with and teaches young Tibetan artists. Beginning at age 17,

Jeremiah kicks off the podcast with news that the decades-long Qing History Projectn being carried out by, among other institutions, Renmin University and the Chinese Academy of Social Science(CASS) seems to have been "put on ice (https://twitter.com/ZhangTaisu/status/1720433121428971934)" after the draft document produced by the team of Chinese historians was deemed as “politically unacceptable” by the authorities. One of the specific objections to the project’s content was that it was “overly influenced by the New Qing History,” referring to a group of prominent Western historians who have used Manchu-language sources and new perspectives to offer an interpretation of Qing history that departs from earlier narratives that emphasized the "Sinicization" of the Qing Empire. In the podcast, we discuss how the PRC government attempts to rewrite history to promote current-day political narratives, including revisionist attempts to downplay Mongol and Manchu influences in the story of China.Mentioned in the podcast:China Digital Times, Qing History another front against Western Influence (https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2015/04/qing-history-a-new-front-against-western-influence/)More from Jeremiah, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Throwing Shade at the New Qing History (https://www.jeremiahjenne.com/the-archives/2018/4/8/chinese-academy-of-social-sciences-throwing-shade-at-the-new-qing-history)Young Tsu-wong review (https://brill.com/view/journals/joch/7/1-2/article-p201_10.xml?language=en) of Qingchaoshi de jiben tezheng zai tanjiu: Yi dui beimei xin Qingshi guandian de fansi wei zhongxin 清朝史的基本特徵再探究: 以對北美新清史觀點的反思為中心 [A New Look at the Fundamental Characteristics of the Qing Dynasty History: Focus on Rethinking the Views of the New Qing History School of North America by Zhong HanGuo Wu, New Qing History: Dispute, Dialog, and Influence (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1547402X.2016.1168180)The Art, “Blocked show on Genghis Khan finally opens in France,”Christian Henriot, "Who owns China's Past? American Universities and the Writing of Chinese History (https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04269261)"Jeremiah’s review of Ian Johnson’s new book Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future, on the China Project (https://thechinaproject.com/2023/09/22/asymmetrical-warfare-in-the-battle-over-chinas-past/)