WTF: The China Series
Part 1: Ancient Ideas
This is part 1 of my series of unknown length on China, where we'll cover the rise of modern China and the U.S. relationship to the world's most populous country. But, in order to understand modern China, we need to first understand ancient China. That's because China has the longest continuous history of any country in the world (3,500 years!) and that history very much shapes the China we know today. In this video, we'll cover two key ancient ideas that have survived through incredibly dramatic changes. And I'm also going to read you my favorite letter from history because it's absolutely hilarious, but also brilliantly highlights the stark cultural differences between East and West.
✏️ Citations:
📝The Oldest Living Civilization: American Historical Association
Part 2: China at War
Did you know the Chinese Civil War never officially ended? In this episode, we'll cover the years of the Chinese Civil War and introduce it's two main players - Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Chairman Mao Zedong. We'll cover how the party that continues to rule over the worlds largest population came to power, and how a stalemate led to many of the tensions we see on the global stage today.
✏️ Citations:
📚The Invention of China: Bill Hayton
📝The Thucydides Trap: Are the U.S. and China Headed for War?
Part 3: The CUltural revolution
This episode will cover the deadliest and most devastating years in Chinese history. Of course, I’m talking about the Cultural Revolution. We’ll cover China under Mao and some of his most catastrophic campaigns.
