You're listening to an airwave media podcast.

As a long time foreign correspondent, I've worked in lots of places,

but nowhere is important to the world as China.

I'm Jane Perlaz,

former Beijing Bureau Chief for the New York Times.

Join me on my new podcast, Face Off,

U.S. versus China, where I'll take you behind the scenes in the tumultuous U.S-China relationship.

Find face-off wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to the history of China.

Episode 273, something rotten in the air.

We last left off with our deep dive into the long something rotten in the air.

We last left off with our deep dive into the long and fruitful reign of the fourth

emperor of great Ching, Kang-shi, well into his mid-brain, capping off with the physical

consolidation of the realm once and for all with the conclusion of the internal revolts of the physical consolidation of the realm once and for all with the conclusion of the

internal revolts of the southern theaters as well as the strife amongst the Mongols in the

northwest. Today then we will conclude our little run with the Kangshi Emperor's more than six decades on the Dragon Throne,

specifically by looking at the factional politics of his later reign, his administrative methods,

the sorts of culture and learning he promoted and finally of course his

successional plans or lack thereof that would define much of the period after his

passing so let's go ahead and launch right in.

The interconnections between administrative changes and

factional alliances were always close throughout the Kanshi reign.

From the first years of his reign, when the O-Boy and Sonai factions split their solid front of the Regents after the death of the Shunja Emperor, the pattern was apparent.

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