The Context
Episodes
340 episodes
Mawangdui: A World Preserved for 2,000 Years
Today, we’ll talk about the Mawangdui Han Tombs, an extraordinary archaeological discovery that has preserved the life, art, beliefs, and remarkable story of an aristocratic family of ancient China going back more than 2,000 years.
Bao Zheng: China’s Symbol of Justice
Today, we’ll talk about Judge Bao Zheng, a legendary government official during the Northern Song Dynasty whose unwavering integrity has made him an enduring symbol of justice in China for nearly a thousand years.
The Blood, the Tears, and the Fortune: China’s Southern Exodus
Today, we’ll talk about one of the largest and most overlooked migrations in modern history, a movement of millions from China’s coast to Southeast Asia that lasted for centuries, driven by hunger, lured by colonial promises, and marked by ...
Luoyang Bridge: The Ancient Stone Giant That Defied the Tides
Today, we’ll talk about Luoyang Bridge, a nearly thousand-year-old stone bridge in southeastern China whose ingenious use of oyster reefs, tidal forces, and innovative engineering helped it survive the ravages of the sea and become one of t...
A Temple Built on a Miracle: The Living History of Kaiyuan Temple
Today, we’ll talk about a famed temple in Quanzhou, a thousand-year-old landmark where legend, maritime exchange, and cultural fusion converge to reveal the enduring openness of China’s ancient coastal civilization.
Institution Behind Letters: Rise and Fall of Tianyi Post Office
Today, we’ll talk about Tianyi Post Office, the pioneering remittance and postal agency that connected overseas Chinese communities across Southeast Asia with their families in China, creating a vital network of letters, money, and trust lo...
Yongle Encyclopedia: Six Centuries of Mystery and Survival
Today, we’ll talk about the Yongle Encyclopedia, a monumental Chinese text dating from the Ming dynasty, and provide you with a fascinating narrative detailing its six-hundred-year journey, tragic dispersal, and ongoing global recovery.
Pearl S. Buck: A Bridge Between East and West
Today, we’ll tell the bittersweet story of Pearl S. Buck, the American Nobel laureate who lived in China for the first half of her life at the turn of the last century and how the complications of a war-torn world made it impossible to retu...
Li Jingxun: The Most Spoiled Child in Chinese History
Today, we’ll talk about a new exhibition at the National Museum of China that tells the story of history’s ‘most spoiled child’, a girl whose tomb was sealed with her grandmother’s curse. And curiously, it seems that curse still held power ...
She Wrote of Love, Then Watched a Dynasty Fall
Today, we’ll talk about Li Qingzhao, China’s greatest female poet, whose extraordinary life of love, loss, and resilience inspired some of the most beautiful verses in Chinese literature.
Anne Swann Goodrich: The American Who Saved Beijing’s Paper Gods
Today, we’ll talk about an American woman who devoted nearly a century building bridges between cultures and preserving the paper gods, folk beliefs, and everyday spiritual life of old Beijing before they disappeared from memory.
The Dutch Diplomat Who Made a Chinese Detective Famous
Today, we’ll talk about how a Dutch diplomat who first reached China during WWII transformed ancient Chinese courtroom tales into globally popular detective fiction, bridging cultures and reshaping the image of Di Renjie for modern audience...
Manila Galleon: From Silk to Silver
Today, we’ll talk about a new museum in the Philippines that brings to life the golden age of trans-Pacific sailing ships and the link to a Chinese port at the heart of this far-reaching maritime network, creating the first true global econ...
Zhang Boling and the Dream of a Chinese University
Today, we’ll talk about the pioneering educator Zhang Boling and how he built a private education system in modern China while navigating war, politics, and shifting ideologies, leaving behind a complex yet enduring legacy as a patriotic ed...
Sanniangzi: The Mongolian Lady of Peace
Today, we’ll talk about an extraordinary stateswoman from the Ming Dynasty whose wisdom and courage ended nearly 200 years of border warfare, and how this remarkable female leader reveals Chinese values about peace and harmony among various...
A Shang Dynasty Zoo: What Animal Bones at Yinxu Reveal About Ancient China
Today, we’ll talk about a surprising discovery at Yinxu that suggests Shang dynasty kings may have raised tigers, elephants, and other wild animals in a kind of royal “zoo” more than 3,000 years ago.
Beyond the Legend: The Untold Story of the Epang Palace Ruins
Today, we’ll talk about the legendary Epang Palace Ruins and how modern archaeology has revealed that this iconic symbol of imperial excess was likely never completed or burned, thus reshaping our understanding of the rise and fall of the Q...
Early US-China Relations: Monumental Gesture
Today, we’ll talk about a Chinese stone tablet that informs readers about early US-China connections, revealing the mutual respect and admiration that bridged oceans long before the days of official diplomacy.
Mulan: The Invented Hero Who Has Endured for 1,500 Years
Today, we’ll talk about Mulan, a legendary heroine who has inspired the world for over 1,500 years by disguising herself as a man to take her elderly father’s place in the army, rising to become a celebrated general, and ultimately choosing...
When Tigers Ruled the Wild: The Story Behind the Tiger-Devouring-Man Bronze
Today, we’ll talk about a rare bronze ritual vessel from the Shang dynasty decorated with the striking image of a tiger devouring a human, and how this powerful motif reveals ancient Chinese beliefs about nature, sacrifice, shamanism, and t...
One Hundred Horses: An Italian Master in Imperial China
Today, we’ll talk about the Italian Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione, who crossed cultural boundaries to serve three Qing emperors and created a groundbreaking fusion of European realism and Chinese court painting, most famously represen...
A Grain in the Sea: Liu Haisu and the Birth of Modern Art in China
Today, we’ll talk about Liu Haisu, whose life and work over nearly a century helped to pioneer modern art education in China and forge a bold new path that blended Chinese tradition with Western artistic innovation.
A Bronze Beast’s Journey: The Dowry That Traveled a Thousand Miles
Today, we’ll talk about a mysterious 3,000-year-old bronze vessel from China that once traveled as part of a noblewoman’s dowry, revealing how marriage, wealth, and political alliances shaped the lives of families and even states in ancient...
Hall of Mental Cultivation: The Restored Heart of China’s Last Empire
Today, we’ll talk about the Hall of Mental Cultivation, a modest courtyard in Beijing’s Forbidden City that served for nearly two centuries as the living quarters and political nerve center of Qing emperors, where the rise, transformation, ...
Luoyang Museum: Amplifying An Empire’s Eternal Echo
Today, we’ll talk about a newly opened museum that rose from the very earth containing evidence of a complex interplay between military conquest, ethnic integration, and flourishing culture during some of China’s most dynamic historical per...
