The History of Tea (Part 4)
Thank you for your patience. In this fourth installment of the history of tea, we finally make it to the immortal Tea Saint. Lu Yu 陆羽. What Elvis was to rock n' roll, Lu Yu was to the popularity of te...
13 Des 201419min
The History of Tea (Part 3)
After centuries of trial and error, tea starts to transform from a bitter medicinal brew into something worthy of presenting to the emperor as tribute. Tea's development during the 326 years of the Su...
6 Des 201424min
The History of Tea (Part 2)
Tea might not have tasted so great in Shen Nong's time and for a thousand years thereafter. But progress was being made and tea's evolution starts to make some headway in China's Bronze Age that began...
30 Nov 201422min
The History of Tea (Part 1)
In this first episode, we'll explore tea's ancient and humble beginnings in the Ba 巴国 and Shu 蜀国 States in today's Sichuan province. We'll also look at the mythical story of the discovery of tea by th...
21 Nov 201424min
The Strange Life of Sir Edmund Backhouse
In this episode, we look at the life of the Sinologist Sir Edmund Backhouse. Let me just say that this episode from 2014 never really got the downloads I expected. This is one of my favorite stories f...
24 Jul 20141h 44min
Wong Chin Foo
I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea in 2021 to resurrect this old episode from mid-2014 that tells the story of Wong Chin Foo (王清福). His spirit is alive and well in many of today's Chinese-Americans w...
28 Jun 201455min
Morris Two-Gun Cohen
Today I wanted to introduce a sort of lovable rogue who haunted the hotel lobbies of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, London, and Edmonton. Today's subject was by no means a historic figure. In fact, I...
23 Feb 20142h 24min
The Incident at Xuanwu Gate
In this episode, we revisit the founding of the Tang Dynasty and focus on the events leading up to, during, and right after the Incident at Xuanwu Gate. This slice of historic theater took place on Ju...
20 Jan 201432min
