The history of 19th century and 20th century China, leading up to the Chinese Revolutions, the Republic of China and then the People's Republic of China.
This podcast was inspired by Mike Duncan's Revolutions. This podcast follows him by telling the stories leading to the Chinese Revolutions.
The episodes cover the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, foreign treaties and concessions bringing trade and Christianity to China, the Boxer Rebellion, China's 1911 Revolution, the Warlord Period, the KMT and the rise of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese United Fronts are discussed. Personalities like the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Qing emperors, Earl Li Hongzhang, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, Wu Peifu, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Mao Zedong are featured. The experiences of Chinese working overseas, including in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States of America are also brought to life. We have looked at stories from the late Qing Dynasty. Now we are looking at the stories of the Republic of China, the Communist International (Comintern)'s interest in exporting world revolution to China and the United Fronts, including the Second Sino-Japanese War.
For more information, sources and content see: https://chineserevolution.substack.com
Or enjoy The Chinese Revolution YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOjBYMNC_3xjQXKv6ab9YA?sub_confirmation=1
The Chinese Revolution podcast has charted as a top history podcast in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ghana, Great Britain, Hungary, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The Chinese Revolution podcast has been listened to in about 110 countries.
You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The history of 19th century and 20th century China, leading up to the Chinese Revolutions, the Republic of China and then the People's Republic of China.
This podcast was inspired by Mike Duncan's Revolutions. This podcast follows him by telling the stories leading to the Chinese Revolutions.
The episodes cover the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, foreign treaties and concessions bringing trade and Christianity to China, the Boxer Rebellion, China's 1911 Revolution, the Warlord Period, the KMT and the rise of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese United Fronts are discussed. Personalities like the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Qing emperors, Earl Li Hongzhang, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, Wu Peifu, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Mao Zedong are featured. The experiences of Chinese working overseas, including in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States of America are also brought to life. We have looked at stories from the late Qing Dynasty. Now we are looking at the stories of the Republic of China, the Communist International (Comintern)'s interest in exporting world revolution to China and the United Fronts, including the Second Sino-Japanese War.
For more information, sources and content see: https://chineserevolution.substack.com
Or enjoy The Chinese Revolution YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOjBYMNC_3xjQXKv6ab9YA?sub_confirmation=1
The Chinese Revolution podcast has charted as a top history podcast in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ghana, Great Britain, Hungary, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The Chinese Revolution podcast has been listened to in about 110 countries.
You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For ten months in 1938, Hankou in Wuhan was the center of China's Second United Front and defense against the Japanese invasion.
Artistic expression, political parties and free speech all blossomed. Neither the KMT nor the Communist Party fully controlled the city and a variety of generals, thinkers and artists came together to defend against Japanese aggression. Wuhan was under the control of Generals Li Zongren and Bai Zhongxi, heroes of the Chinese victory at Taierzhuang.
There was optimism that the Japanese could be stalled and stopped. Robert Capra came to Wuhan to film the heroic defence. Dr. Norman Bethune brought medical care to the Eighth Route Army. W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood visited and wrote a book about the war zone. General Han Fuju was executed for giving up Shandong without a fight.
But the Chinese underestimated Japanese combined arms and amphibious attacks. The forts they built to defend against the Japanese Navy moving up the Yangzi River were vulnerable to land based attacks. The Chinese Nationalist Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War suffered similar defeats to the Qing defenders during the Opium War.
With the fall of Hankou came an end to the freedom and optimism of Wuhan in 1938. Chiang Kaishek lost 80% of his officers and over a million soldiers dead or injured. The Japanese attackers also suffered their worst losses of the war and stopped their assault on the Yangzi River and instead turned their focus to north China.
The internationalist wing of the Communist Party of China also had their final moment with the fall of Hankou. Soon, Mao Zedong's supremacy from rural Yanan would become dominant.
Major sources:
MacKinnon, Stephen. (1996). The Tragedy of Wuhan, 1938. Modern Asian Studies , Oct., 1996, Vol. 30, No. 4, Special Issue: War in Modern China (Oct., 1996), pp. 931-943. Cambridge University Press
and
Wu, D. (2022). The cult of geography: Chinese riverine defence during the Battle of Wuhan, 1937-1938. War in History, 29(1), 185-204.
Image: "Joris Ivens, John Fernhout en Robert Capa aan het werk in Hankow, China, RP-F-2012-139.jpg" by Rijksmuseum is marked with CC0 1.0.
You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution
For more information, sources and content see: https://chineserevolution.substack.com
Or enjoy The Chinese Revolution YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOjBYMNC_3xjQXKv6ab9YA?sub_confirmation=1
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.