Author: Graham Barlow

#30 Xing Yi (part 8) – short version

Here’s part 8 of the series, which looks at armour in the Song Dynasty, but also talks about XingYi fighting tactics in relation to armour and how the armour influences the way the art works – stepping, continuous movement, minimal movement, twisting the fist in Tzuann, etc…

There are two versions of part 8, the first is for public consumption, available here:

Listen to “#30 Xing Yi (part 8) – short version” on Spreaker.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/30-xing-yi-part-8-short-version

We got into some controversial topics at the end of the episode, so the full version is reserved for our Heretics/Woven Energy Patreons ($5 and up):

https://www.patreon.com/wovenenergy/posts

Here’s some nice Song Dynasty-style armour a Google search turned up

Image Credit: Dragons Armory
http://dragonsarmory.blogspot.com/2017/07/heavy-song-dynasty-armor.html

Like Damon says, you could show that to a ‘normal’ person and tell them it’s Samurai armour and they would probably believe you 🙂

#28 Kublai and Mongke (Kublai Khan part 2)

Möngke Khan. 4th Khagan of the Mongol Empire
(Supreme Khan of the Mongols) King of Kings
By Unknown – http://old.news.mn/r/276459, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72784270

In this episode we examine how Kublai and his older brother Mongke built the Mongol Empire to the point where it was ready to do what the Jin Empire hadn’t been able to – overthrow the Song Dynasty.

Podcast link.

Listen to “#28 Kublai and Mongke (Kublai Khan part 2)” on Spreaker.

#27 The Heretics Bible: Genesis I

Fifth Day of Creation (from the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle) By Hartmann Schedel – Self-scannedlanguage: Latin, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=899075

The Book of Genesis disagrees in many ways with both modern Christianity and modern Judaism. It also incorporates many earlier traditions, including those of Mesopotamia, and even China. This is the originally intended first episode of the Heretics Podcast (before we got sidetracked).

Podcast link.

Listen to “#27 The Heretics Bible: Genesis I” on Spreaker.

Categories: China Christianity

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Shamanic Dance [Real vs. Fake] – The Spirit Dance Part 2

Yaohnanen tribesmen show pictures of 2007 visit with Prince Philip
By Christopher Hogue Thompson – Personal Picture, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19303439

Our sister podcast, Woven Energy, has just released a new episode that I think Heretics listeners would enjoy because it has lots of fascinating insights into religions and spirit dance. In this episode you’ll learn about:

  1. Yan Yi – a spirit dance tradition from Malaysia which is taught alongside the martial art of Xing Yi.
  2. What the terms Qi, Shen, Xin and Yi mean in Damon’s martial teaching and how they are expressed in Yan Yi.
  3. How to tell real from fake spirit dance.
  4. The Tanna island in the Pacific and the strange John Frum religious tradition that evolved there.
  5. What Cargo Cults are and what the Prince Philip Movement is.
Listen to “Episode 35 – Shamanic Dance [Real vs. Fake] – The Spirit Dance Part 2” on Spreaker.

Podcast link.

#26 The Nestorian Christian Heresy and the Women who ran the Mongol Empire (Kublai Khan pt. 1)

Tului With Queen Sorgaqtani. Rashid al-Din – Rashid al-Din, “Djami al-Tawarikh”, 14th century. Reproduction in Genghis Khan et l’Empire Mongol by Jean-Paul Roux, collection “Découvertes Gallimard” (nº 422), série Histoire.

Two powerful women, one a christian of the Nestorian Heresy, ran the Mongol Empire in the years before Kublai and his elder brother Mongke became Great Khans.

Podcast link.

Listen to “#26 The Nestorian Christian Heresy and the Women who ran the Mongol Empire (Kublai Khan pt. 1)” on Spreaker.

Patrons-only episode: ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ review

Image scource: Goldposter https://www.goldposter.com/77608/full/

Damon and Graham dedicated a whole episode to reviewing the classic Wuxia film, which has cropped up a number of times previously on the podcast. We finally get to the root of why Damon doesn’t like the film and find out a little bit more about the original novel the movie is based on and the birth of Communism in China.

Podcast link

Categories: China Communism Movies

Tags: , ,

#25 Ogedei Khan

By unknown / (of the reproduction) National Palace Museum in Taipei – Dschingis Khan und seine Erben (exhibition catalogue), München 2005, p. 304 https://theme.npm.edu.tw/opendata/DigitImageSets.aspx?Key=元太宗, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4126253

Ogedei was the least well-known of the three Mongol “superkhans”, but actually the one who drove the empire to its greatest scope and extent, the largest land area conquered by anyone, ever. He ushered in a new era of prosperity to the Silk Road and laid the foundation from which Kubilai Khan would later found the Yuan Dynasty in China.

Podcast link.

Listen to “#25 Ogedei Khan” on Spreaker.