Radio War Nerd #301 — The First China-US Cold War: Background, 1773 - 1949 (Part 1)

Unfortunately Julian Carr’s role in Charlie Soong’s rise is missing, as is the Green Gang’s capture of the KMT after Sun’s passing. Recommended listening and reading for a deeper dive : Dave Emory’s series “The Narco Fascism of Chiang Kai Shek and the Kuomintang” (ongoing, 18 episodes so far), which mayyyybeeee inspired Carl to talk about the Soongs. Or the release dates are a coincidence in which case hey thats cool. Sterling Seagrave’s The Soong Dynasty. A must read. Here’s an idea for a future episode : The Overseas Chinese and their role in modern Chinese history. In particular the Hakkas that hailed from what is now Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan. How they broke the order for Chinese not to leave the empire, got stuck in South East Asia, made fortunes… And wanted to come back home. Like the Jews in Europe, the Overseas Chinese suffered many atrocities. The accounts i read of their experiences in the 20th century are very much like what my grandmother recounted to me, her life escaping Turkey for Argentina, ironically ending up in France in 1935. Jean Chesneaux wrote a fantastic book on secret societies some of them belonged to (very different from our definition of the term, though a couple did ressemble the Thulean heh). Wang Gungwu’s Home Is Not Here is a tragic and wonderful account of the overseas Chinese experience in the 20th century. Sun Yat Sen hailed from Hawaii, he called the overseas Chinese “the mother of the revolution” in his Yaowarat speech to the Chinese community in Siam (While raising funds for the mercenary armies he hired in Canton. He might have exaggerated a little bit). Charlie Soong is a product of North Carolina, and his patron Julian Carr. Chinese Singaporeans and Thais bought as much as they could get their hands on when Deng opened the flood gates. They still own many of the mega malls and landmark real estate projects in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. A few heavy industry players too. Their current role in the BRI SEA projects isn’t inconsequential either. I’ve only just recently started studying this diaspora’s history in South East Asia, but im captivated. I hope this comment inspires more people to look at that angle of the Chinese civilization’s history.

As a survivor of undergraduate economics, I would say that it is not so much a matter of knowing as little as possible, as it is of knowing a great many things which are obviously and intuitively false.

Aw hell yes

Resubscribed for this, even though I’m super-broke at the moment 🤓 Any chance of this one being released as a public preview? The colonial history is so relevant to modern tensions, and should be much better known.

Enjoyed the initial catch-up discussion. And the 19th century history is amazing.... What Indian nationalists who criticize Nehru don't understand is that India had no base to start on in 1947 unlike China, Japan which were already heavily industrialized nations and still had the scientific knowledge and capacity to quickly rebuild after war

Fantastic and timely show! Many thanks.

Great show! Keep up the good work. Thanks

Always good to hear Carl Zha

Funny/depressive how things are exactly the same over time: expats not learning the local language, rapes and blowbacks.

Ive lived in Hong Kong for 20 years and didn't know half of this. Great episode.

Carl the 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐 Edit: the reports and assessments made by the "China Hands" make for "fun" reading material

More Carl! Always learn so much when he comes on. Would love a series on the Chinese Civil War!

I was hoping something with Carl was in the pipeline. Really hope you touch on AUKUS in the coming episodes.