On the latest episode of Barbarians at the Gate, David Moser and I discuss new directions. We reflect on our COVID-era episodes, discuss the current situation on academic exchanges in China with cautious optimism, and outline future plans for the pod.

David and Jeremiah speak with Mike Wester about running @thebeijinger, organizing the “Safe and Sane” communities during the pandemic, and the future of expats in Beijing. Also, Jeremiah surprises David and Mike with an announcement.

‘The Travels of Marco Polo’ is often held up as the earliest Western account of China and Asia. What’s actually inside the covers might surprise you.

On this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we talk to artist, educator, and social entrepreneur Kristel Ouwehand of Snowland Art

David and I discuss what's going on with the Qing history project, a controversy about Genghis Khan in France, and how PRC continues punching back against potentially problematic pasts.

In this episode, we talk with journalist and travel writer Thomas Bird about his latest book, The Harmony Express. 

In my first column for the China Books Review series “The China Archive,” I revisit the 1936 travel classic News from Tartary by Peter Fleming.

Chinese history — very distant and very near — is filled with people who did not, and do not, abide by the government's "official" version of events. Ian Johnson gives them a voice in his latest book, Sparks.

Isabel Nepstad, CEO of BellaTerra Consluting, takes time out of her busy schedule to drop by the Barbarians at the Gate studio to share her career journey, give advice to those looking to pursue their professional lives in China and discuss the challenges and opportunities in the environmental and agricultural sectors in China and around the world.

When classes first convened on June 16, 1924, China’s first modern military academy aimed to reunite a divided nation. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Fueled by too many red bulls (Jeremiah) and some pretty good pharmaceuticals following an emergency root canal (David), our intrepid cohosts throw caution to the wind and attempt to fix US-China Relations in a single podcast.

Author James Zimmerman’s new book examines the surprising stories behind the 1923 robbery of the Peking Express, China’s most modern train at the time

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we are joined by Ben Cubbage of Elevated Trips. Ben calls in from the lofty heights of Qinghai to talk about life on the plateau, post-COVID tourism, and running an eco-travel and guiding business in China.

On this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, Matthew Hu of the Beijing Cultural Heritage Preservation Center joins Jeremiah and David Moser to look at the Forbidden City's past, present, and future and the challenges of restoring and exhibiting the museum’s 1.8 million artifacts.

“The success of US-China relations relies on forging relationships at a personal level,” writes Jeremiah Jenne reviewing John Delury’s “Agents of Subversion” and Terry Lautz’s “Americans in China."

Philip Cunningham joins the Barbarians at the Gate Podcast to discuss his Substack CCTV follies in which Phil watches the nightly Xinwen Lianbo so that you don't have to. We look at the ritual of news in defining the boundaries of discourse and the framing of stories in the Chinese media.

Podcaster Zhang Yajun joins Jeremiah and David to talk about the situation in Beijing as COVID spreads throughout the city.

This special episode of Barbarians at the Gate recorded last night provides a “time stamp" and an initial reaction to the protests in several major Chinese cities on November 26 and 27, including the situation in Beijing.

Award-winning journalist, Newsweek Bureau Chief, and long-time Beijing resident Melinda Liu joins David Moser and me on a special episode of Barbarians at the Gate. We're taking the long view of lockdowns, US-China relations, and some fascinating stories of World War II.

China’s Party elite get ready to meet…not that it matters much to those living down the street.

David returns to Beijing and Jeremiah can't leave the city. We're both navigating the new information and media environment in the run-up to the October Party Congress. BATG is back with the scene from Beijing.

David and Jeremiah share their on-the-ground observations from both sides of the Taiwan Strait

In 18th-century China, evil spirits and sorcerers were a constant menace to the public and the government

Few topics have been requested more than the Forbidden City, located in the center of the great city of Beijing. To help introduce this iconic palace complex, Laszlo invited longtime Beijing resident, Jeremiah Jenne of "Barbarians at the Gate Podcast" fame onto the CHP to discuss the history of the Forbidden City from its construction in the Ming Dynasty up to the present day.

This month marks the 160th anniversary of the destruction of the Yuanmingyuan. In this episode, David and I talk about the events leading up to the looting and razing of the gardens and the shifting meaning of "National Humiliation" in China today.

Social and Political Confidence in the United States and the PRC with Zhang Yajun, host of the WoMen Podcast

Educator Jiang Xueqin joins us in this episode to discuss ideology in schools, the effort to turn Chinese universities into “world-class” institutions, and cross-national educational projects and international schools in an era of Covid-19 and US-China decoupling.

Jeremiah and David discuss the current COVID-19 situation in China along with special guest Zhang Yajun (Wo Men Podcast). Jeremiah and Yajun have been confined to their apartment complex for (as of taping) 13 days after one of their neighbors tested positive for COVID-19. Jeremiah, David, and Yajun share stories of living with the current outbreak, how other folks are handling the situation, the response by local officials, and where China's Zero COVID policy goes from here.

On the latest episode of Barbarians at the Gate, David and I interview Professor Mo Yajun about her book Touring China: A History of Travel Culture, 1912-1949, a fascinating history of the development of China’s travel industry in the Republican period.

David and Jeremiah are joined by Yajun Zhang, host of the Wo Men Podcast and a long-time media watcher and community organizer in Beijing, to talk about the growing gap between what China and the United States know about each other and about the rest of the world.