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The History of China

Chris Stewart

An audio journey through the 5000 year history of one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations.

Episodes

20 of 398 episodes

#344 - Taiping 21: Borrowed Things

The stealth troops successfully sneak past the enemy lines in dead men's coats. The false flags planted on the hillside fool the city guard....

38:07Aug 29, 2026

#343 - Taiping 20: The Guest & the Host

Li Xiucheng thinks the plan is pointless. He said so out loud, to his superiors… and lost. So of course, it’s him tasked with leading it out...

35:52Aug 21, 2026

#342 - Taiping 19: Approved In the Margins

A man disguised as a peddler stands on the bank of the Yangtze watching a British fleet go past, and tries to hitch a ride to Nanjing. He's...

52:22Aug 15, 2026

#341 - Taiping 18: Titles of the Dead

In the Heavenly capital of Nanjing, a government that’s now mostly murdered has to be restaffed… somehow. And so their old titles are simply...

42:56Aug 8, 2026

#340 - Taiping 17: Out of Kings

The Heavenly Kingdom, having recently killed kings three and four of its founding five – and misplaced the fifth – attempts to solve its acu...

49:38Aug 2, 2026

#339 - Taiping 16: At Sixes & Sevens

The Taiping's greatest summer curdles into its bloodiest autumn. Two months after the East King demands to be crowned Hong Xiuquan's equal,...

47:27Jul 27, 2026

#335 - Taiping 12: The Man In Hunan

While the Northern Expedition dies in the freezing mud of Shandong, the Taiping's second strike — the Western Expedition — turns its sights...

37:20Jun 30, 2026

#333 - Taiping 10: All Things In Common

Finally pooled and stilled at Nanjing, in the afterglow of victory, the Taiping reflect on what they’ve become, and what they’ve yet to acco...

39:07Jun 15, 2026

#331 - Taiping 8: Kingdom Come

The Heavenly Host marches north out of Hunan. Ahead of them lies the spine of China itself – the mighty Yangtze; maker and breaker of dynast...

42:35May 31, 2026

#329 - Taiping 6: River of Souls

The army that marches north out of Quanzhou in June 1852 is not the same one that left Jintian 18 months prior. It has left its prime archit...

36:59May 16, 2026

#328 - Taiping 5: The Way Ahead

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been proclaimed — but proclamations don't feed armies. As such, its Divine Host will enjoy all of 11 days b...

53:11May 8, 2026

#327 - Taiping 4: The Heavenly Kingdom

The God-Worshippers of Thistle Mountain managed to survive their first test — but now the world itself seems dead-set on finishing the job....

40:21Apr 28, 2026

#326 - Taiping 3: The Image-Breakers

The God-Worshippers of Thistle Mountain, under the dual leadership of Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, had gone from being a quirky, backwater...

35:45Apr 21, 2026