A look into the inner heart of the mysterious Forbidden City of Beijing, and at its most protected - and confined - denizens: the women of the Imperial palace. From Empress, to concubine, to lowly maid - women hold up half of Heaven.

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Everything you ever wanted to know (and probably some you didn't) about Court Eunuchs in Imperial China

(warning: contains description of castration & its effects)

Mary M. Anderson, Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China.

Duhalde, Marcelo. "How an army of eunuchs ran the Forbidden City" in The South China Morning Post.

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Genghis Khan is dead, and his 3rd son Ögedei has ben selected to lead the Mongol Empire into an uncertain future. Once he is confirmed on the throne, he'll strike on in every direction against every foe at once. On the way, there will be virgin sacrifices, talking wolves, free money, mass enslavement, Persian princes, Assassins, poison, angry water spirits, battle-mages, cannibalism... and that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Time Period Covered:

1227-1234 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Ogedeids:

Ogedei Khaghan

Subotai the Valiant

General Chormakhan

General  Dokholkhu Cherbi  

Minister Yelu Chu Cai

Toluids:

Tolui Khan

Sorkhakhtani Beki Khatun

Chagatids:

Chagatai Khan

Khwarazmia:

Jalal al-Din

Kingdom of Georgia:

Queen Rusudan

Jin Dynasty:

Emperor Aizong

General Wanyan Yi

General Cui Li

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Galdan is dead. Kangxi's victory is total. It's all over but the crying.

... and the executions via slow-slicing... and the crushing of his bones... and the punishment of his family... and the writing him out of history...

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Time Period Covered:

1697-8 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Qing Dynasty:

The Kangxi Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Xuanye) [r. 1654-1722]

Jean-Francois Gerbillon, Puritan Missionary

Tómas Pereira, Puritan Missionary

Gen. Fiyanggu

Gen. Sunsike

Dzungar Mongols:

Galdan, the Boshugtu Khan [r. 1679-1697]

Lamist Tibetans:

The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso [1683- after 1706]

sDe-pa Desi Sangye Gyampo [1653-1705]

Major Sources Cited:

Perdue, Denis. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Spence, Jonathan D. Emperor of China: Self-Portrait of K’ang-hsi.

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The Kangxi Emperor ruthlessly tracks down Galdan Khan, leaving him and his followers with nowhere to turn and nowhere to hide. The end draws close...

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Time Period Covered:

1697-8 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Qing Dynasty:

The Kangxi Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Xuanye) [r. 1654-1722]

Jean-Francois Gerbillon, Puritan Missionary

Tómas Pereira, Puritan Missionary

Gen. Fiyanggu

Gen. Sunsike

Dzungar Mongols:

Galdan, the Boshugtu Khan [r. 1679-1697]

Lamist Tibetans:

The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso [1683- after 1706]

sDe-pa Desi Sangye Gyampo [1653-1705]

Major Sources Cited:

Perdue, Denis. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Spence, Jonathan D. Emperor of China: Self-Portrait of K’ang-hsi.

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Even the invincible Genghis Khan must face the inevitability of death. It holds no fear for him personally, but before he surrenders at last to oblivion, he needs to see two tasks through to the end: who will succeed him as Emperor of the World, and making sure an old enemy gets what has long been coming to them...

Time Period Covered:

1220-1227 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Mongol Empire:

Genghis Khan [Temüjin] (1162-1227)

Börte Khatun (c.1161-c.1130)

Yesui Khatun (d. ?)

Jochi (1181-1226)

Chagatai Khan (1183-1242)

Ögedei Khan (c.1186-1241)

Tolui (c.1191-1232)

Xi Xia:

Emperor Shenzong [Li Zuxun] (r. 1211-1223)

Emperor Xianzong [Li Dewang] (r. 1223-1226)

Emperor Mo [Li Xian] (r. 1226-1227)

Empress Kurbelzhin (d. 1227)

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The jaws of the Kangxi Emperor close in around Galdan Khan, as his own dream of "The Great Mongol Enterprise" crash down around him at a fateful stand of 100 trees abutting a tiny stream somewhere in the vastness of the steppes. To the victor go the draft histories...

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Time Period Covered

1696 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Qing Dynasty:

The Kangxi Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Xuanye) [r. 1654-1722]

Jean-Francois Gerbillon, Puritan Missionary

Tómas Pereira, Puritan Missionary

Gen. Fiyanggu

Gen. Sunsike

Dzungar Mongols:

Galdan, the Boshugtu Khan [r. 1679-1697]

Lamist Tibetans:

The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso [1683-after 1706]

sDe-pa Desi Sangye Gyampo [1653-1705]

Major Sources Cited:

Perdue, Denis. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Spence, Jonathan D. Emperor of China: Self-Portrait of K’ang-hsi.

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Galdan Khan has slipped The Kangxi Emperor’s trap, but only by the skin of his teeth. Now having retreated deep into the heart of Central Asia, he’ll think himself safe. But the Dread Lord of Great Qing is not one to let a vendetta go so easily…

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patreon.com/thehistoryofchina

Time Period Covered

1691-1696 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Qing Dynasty:

The Kangxi Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Xuanye) [r. 1654-1722]

Jean-Francois Gerbillon, Puritan Missionary

Tómas Pereira, Puritan Missionary

Dzungar Mongols:

Galdan, the Boshugtu Khan [r. 1679-1697]

Lamist Tibetans:

The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso [1683- after 1706]

sDe-pa Desi Sangye Gyampo [1653-1705]

Major Sources Cited:

Perdue, Denis. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Spence, Jonathan D. Emperor of China: Self-Portrait of K’ang-hsi.

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In an epic handshake of history, the Qing and Russian Empires hammer out the first major treaty between East and West. It's good for Great Qing, it's maybe good for Russia... but it's definitely not good for the Mongols who got iced out of the negotiations by a couple of Puritan hustlers, like Galdan Khan and his harried host of Dzungars. Not good news at all...

Please support the show!:

patreon.com/thehistoryofchina

Time Period Covered:

1690-91 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Qing Dynasty:

The Kangxi Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Xuanye) [r. 1654-1722]

Jean-Francois Gerbillon, Puritan Missionary

Tómas Pereira, Puritan Missionary

Russian Empire:

Count Fedor Alekseevich Golovin [1650-1706]

Mongols/Tibetans:

Lamist Tibetans:

The Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso [1617–1682]

Dzungar Mongols:

Galdan, the Boshugtu Khan [r. 1679-1697]

Khalkha Mongols:

Jebzongdanba Khutukhtu

Tusiyetu Khan

Chechen Khan

Tsewang Rabdan

Major Sources Cited:

Liu, Cixin. Death's End.

Munkh-Erdene, Lamsuren. The Taiji Government and the Rise of the Warrior State.

Perdue, Denis. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Thokmay, Darig. “Game Changers of the Tibetan Buddhist Political Order in Central Asia in the Early Eighteenth Century” in The Tibet Journal, Vol. 46, No. 1.

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A chat with Vince and Cassie of the Autocrat Podcast comparing and contrasting the Roman and Chinese origins and genesis legends, folktales, & mythos.

Find Autocrat Podcast at: autocratpodcast.wordpress.com

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A hefty second helping of weird, whimsical, wondrous, and wicked tales of the supernatural from the Zhou, Han, Liu Song, Yuan, and Qing Dynasties, for evenings when leaves quake from branches & the walls between the worlds grows thin.

0:00:00 - "Finishing Jiao's Poem" By: The One Within the Mound (Tr. Larry Hammer & Chris Stewart).

0:02:51 - "The Taoist Monk" Liaozhai Zhiyi, vol. 3.

0:09:57 - "A Report From the Qin Imperial Envoy At Xicheng, Gan Zong" Baopuzi.

0:11:33 - "The Ghoul" Shuyiji.

0:14:23 - "The Devil's Advocate" Liaozhai zhiyi, vol. 3.

0:21:57 - "REPORT: Flock of Bears Goes Rogue" Xu Yijian zhi.

0:23:13 - "The Face-Stealer" Shuyiji.

0:26:39 - "Manfox/Foxman" Liaozhai zhiyi, vol. 10.

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