The Context

Latest Episodes:

Central Axis: Midtown Makeover Jan 31, 2023

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Today, we are going to talk about the efforts to renovate the neighborhoods of Beijing’s Central Axis, which have revitalized their historical atmosphere and improved residents’ lives.

Central Axis: Core Interest Jan 24, 2023

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Today, we are going to talk about the stories behind the process of Beijing’s campaign for a UNESCO listing of its Central Axis which has picked up the pace after more than a decade of efforts.

Traditional Painting: Golden Palace amidst Myriad Pines Jan 17, 2023

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Among the cultural relics prohibited from going abroad for exhibition, there are three pieces of blue-green landscape painting. One is the Spring Excursion by Sui Dynasty painter Zhan Ziqian, created in the late 6th century and believed to be the oldest-surviving landscape painting. The second is A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains by Northern Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng, created when the painter was only 18 years old and reputed as the “sole moon among stars” of all surviving blue-green landscape works.

The third is what we are going to elaborate on today, Golden Palace amidst Myriad Pines by Southern Song Dynasty painter Zhao Bosu. Currently collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing, it depicts a glittering palace hidden in a dreamy pine forest in the Southern Song capital of Lin’an, which is the present-day Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang Province.

The Story of Zhouqiao Bridge Jan 10, 2023

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China has been building bridges throughout its long and storied history, and many of these bridges are vividly depicted in a variety of literary works and paintings, offering a unique perspective into the lives of the people who built them, which brings us to the subject of today’s podcast – the Zhouqiao Bridge: a single-arch stone bridge with huge beautiful ancient stone murals that reveal the exquisite carving techniques of more than 1,000 years ago.

Today we are going to talk about the excavation of the once-lost Zhouqiao Bridge, which reveals the former opulence of the Northern Song Dynasty’s capital city, as well as the mystery it still holds.

Wang Yangming: The Only Perfect Human Being in History Jan 03, 2023

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In the 16th century, during the same era that Martin Luther launched the Reformation in Europe, a legendary figure started the Chinese Renaissance on the other side of the earth. 2022 marked the 550th anniversary of the birth of Wang Yangming, the philosopher, military strategist, and educator of the Ming Dynasty, who embodied all the characteristics considered to express the highest standards of human achievement in ancient Chinese culture.

Wang was held in the highest esteem as “the only perfect human being in history” and “a man with three eternities” by a wide range of intellectual and political figures, including Liang Qichao, China’s leading scholar and reformist of the transitional period spanning the latter part of the Qing Dynasty to the early republican era.

Kicking Things off: The Chinese Origins of the Global Game Dec 27, 2022

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No sport in the world stirs as much passion as football. With the dramatic conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on December 18, football, the world’s favorite sport, once again dominated global headlines. While most people around the world are quite familiar with the global superstars who plied their trade on the pitches of Doha over the past month, comparatively few know that football originated in ancient China.

The game is called cuju 蹴鞠, where cu means kick, and ju refers to a leather ball stuffed with feathers; and in 2004, cuju was recognized by FIFA, football’s governing body, as the world’s earliest form of football.

Traditional Painting: Playing Chess before a Double Screen Dec 20, 2022

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Today, we’re going to talk about a traditional Chinese painting from the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Superb painting skills aside, what’s more interesting is how it contains so many metaphors and mysteries and how it survived the treachery, conspiracy, and power struggles of the following dynasties.

A Chinese University in War and Revolution Dec 13, 2022

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Today we are going to talk about a legendary university in China that existed for less than nine years during China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. But despite its short existence, it produced a disproportionately large number of top talents, playing a crucial role in China’s independence and development.

Traditional Painting: Five Old Men of Suiyang Dec 06, 2022

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Today, we’re going to talk about a traditional Chinese painting of the Northern Song Dynasty from more than 1,000 years ago. Done by an unknown painter and circulated primarily among family members, the portraiture has miraculously stood the test of time and harvested the imprints of a who’s who of historical figures.

Joseph Rock: Father of Naxiology Nov 28, 2022

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Today, we’re going to talk about a complex individual who came to China in the early 1920s as an agricultural explorer. The success of his early work in Yunnan Province and his love for the region led to nearly three decades of expeditions and the creation of an unmatched body of work on the Naxi people and the remote area they inhabit.

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