The next emperor in our series on the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Support the Show.

Regarding Zhuanxu, the second of the so-called "Five Emperors" of China's deep past. Support the Show.

Continuing our series on the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: the founder of the Latter Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingtang. Support the Show.

On "The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties," by Professor Timothy Brook, of the imperial China series by Harvard University Press. Support the Show.

On the great Ming Dynasty fantasy-historical novel, "Investiture of the Gods." Support the Show.

In 281 A.D., a tomb raider discovered a lost ancient text, which came to be known as the "Bamboo Annals." It had an explosive effect on the understanding of the Chinese of their own history... Support the Show.

Continuing with the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: the story of Li Siyuan, emperor of the Latter Tang. Support the show

The story of General Hao Bocun. Support the show

Li Keyong and Li Cunxu, father and son, were responsible for building the second of the Five Dynasties. Support the show

The story of Zhu Wen, the man who formally ended the Tang Dynasty and began the period in Chinese history known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Support the show

About the Song Dynasty official, scholar, and philosopher Zhou Dunyi. Support the show

Yan Jiagan is the forgotten president of the Republic of China or Taiwan. He served between 1975 and 1978 but was largely considered a transitional figure.  However, before he was president, in 1949, he first rescued Taiwan from economic catastrophe, paving the way for all future developments. For that reason alone, the man deserves to be remembered. Support the show

"The man from Qi worries about the sky" is a Chinese idiom meaning to worry unnecessarily about things that won't happen. It comes from a story found in Liezi, an ancient tract of philosophy. But what was this place called Qi? What does the original fable say? Have we misunderstood it this whole time? Support the show

The story of the Ming Dynasty secret police led by eunuchs, the most infamous eunuch among them, and the faction of mandarins who opposed them. Support the show

Regarding Gu Yanwu, the 17th century intellectual who has recently been the subject of controversy in Taiwanese politics. Support the show

The remarkable Dujiangyan irrigation system in Sichuan was constructed in the 250s B.C. but remains in use today and remains crucial to the Chinese economy. Support the show

Regarding Zizhi Tongjian, or "General Mirror on Good Governance," and the man who wrote it during the 11th century. Support the show

Taiping Guangji or "Extensive Records of the Taiping Era" is an anthology of stories compiled during the early Song Dynasty. Its editors chose to collect the stories under a series of clearly unworkable categories. In so doing, they made Taiping Guangji a perfect illustration of the point made in an essay by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. Support the show

In 1615, the Tokugawa Shogunate made a rule that all Japanese emperors must study "Policy Digests of the Zhen'guan Era," written 900 years earlier in Tang Dynasty China. What is this book and what's important about it? Support the show

The Ming Dynasty novel "Journey to the West" ranks among the great classics of Chinese literature. I recently reread it, and I have thoughts. Support the show

The story of the somewhat mysterious Tocharian people of Kuche in today's Xinjiang, confusingly named after the Tokharoi of Bactria in modern Afghanistan, from whose language Chinese gets its word for "honey." Support the show

The story of the "Door Gods" and how a pair of Tang Dynasty generals came to serve in that role. Support the show

The tale of another short (not to mention poor) man who achieved greatness. Chunyu Kun was a famed "wit" from Warring States era State of Qi. Besides services as a diplomat and political advisor, he was famous for being the sort of party guest you may not allow to leave by evening's end... Support the show

A fascinating minority group in the former USSR, chiefly Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, is the people known as the Dungan. Originally Hui Muslims from northwestern China, they migrated into Central Asia in the 19th century. This story is about them, their Chinese-derived language, and one of their most significant cultural figures, Iasyr Shivaza. Support the show