#314 - Qing 45: The Big Squeeze

The History of China

Chris Stewart

History

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Qing Empire did not collapse because it stopped working. It collapsed because it kept working — just barely — under pressures that compounded faster than reform could relieve them... Time Period Covered: ~1790s-1840s CE Major Works Cited: Jones, Susan Mann and Philip A. Kuhn. “Dynastic Decline and the Roots of Rebellion.” The Cambridge History of China, vol. 10: Late Ch’ing, 1800–1911, Part I Kuhn, Philip A. Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China: Militarization and Social Structure, 1796–1864. Pomeranz, Kenneth, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:04.6	Think about cheese.
0:06.3	Make your thoughts cheesier.
0:08.8	Now add 100% chicken breast fillet,
0:10.9	Chipotle sauce and amade cheese melt.
0:12.9	And it's giving the new cheesy chicken stack at McDonald's.
0:16.6	Did we mention it's cheesy?
0:18.5	Cheese.
0:20.4	Availments at the 4th of Jan, 226 from 11 a.m.
0:22.7	Price and participation may vary.
0:23.8	Subjects availability.
0:30.4	Hello and welcome to the history of China.
0:37.7	Episode 314, The Big Squeeze.
0:44.3	It was scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption.
0:52.3	This long piece introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire.
0:59.5	Edward Gibbon, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
1:03.8	The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
1:09.0	Tacitus.
1:11.1	Tian Gao Huang Di Yuan.
1:14.2	Heaven is high, and the emperor is far away.
1:18.5	Traditional Chinese proverb.
1:21.2	We concluded last time with our sweeping tour of the Qing Empire's sprawling frontier zones,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Chris Stewart, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Chris Stewart and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.