In this episode we look at how the effects of the Taiping Northern Expedition and the Nian Rebellion of the mid-Nineteenth Century drew the Confucian Wu brothers and the fighters of Chen Village towards each other for the first time.
In this episode we examine the context in which the relationship between Yang Luchan, Wu Chengqing and Wu Yuxiang developed during the years of the Taiping Rebellion and the new regime of Emperor Xianfeng.
Did Tai Chi exist before 1850? In this episode we begin a new series of episodes on this subject by setting the scene and historical background to the mythmaking around the origins of Tai Chi that occurred starting from the middle of the Nineteenth Century in response to social turmoil and unrest exemplified by the Taiping Rebellion and Opium Wars.
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.
Listen to “#26 The Nestorian Christian Heresy and the Women who ran the Mongol Empire (Kublai Khan pt. 1)” on Spreaker.
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.