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

Published:
2021-10-29 01:17:30
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Guest: Carl Zha, podcaster 

Recorded: October 26, 2021

The War Nerd welcomes back RWN legend Carl Zha for a new series on the First China-US Cold War, because we're all in the sequel whether we like it or not. In this introductory episode, Carl looks at US-China relations going way back to the Boston Tea Party & the New England opium traffickers, through the 20th century's Yangtze River patrols & the massive US intervention in China in 1946  up to the Chinese Communists' victory in 1949 over the US-backed Nationalists — the start of the US-China Cold War.

Maps & Images

*Map of China provinces during war with Japan, 1940

*Operation Beleaguer, US Marines/Navy intervention in China, 1946-8

*Tsingtao, US 7th Fleet port

*US Marines in China, 1946

*

Check out Carl Zha's podcast Silk & Steel. Follow Carl on Twitter.

Previous RWN episodes with Carl Zha:

-EP #74 - Taiping Rebellion-EP #81 - Early Uighur History, Pt. 1-EP #83 - Uighur History, Pt. 2: Battle of Talas-EP #90 - First Sino-Japanese War-EP #94 - Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with Carl Zha-EP #108 - Uyghur Separatism Today (Uighur History, Pt. 3)-EP #113 - The Rape of Nanking-EP #149 - Uyghur Oppression-EP #170 - Sino-Vietnamese War, 1979-EP #201 - Genghis Khan, Pt 1: Temujin Rising-EP #202 - Genghis Khan, Pt 2: The Mongol Empire

Total time: 1:47:16

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here 

Files

Comments

Mike Bilbe-Taylor

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

malefujoshi

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

Abiel Beluts

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

Thomas

Yes please!!!

suz

can't get enough Carl on RWN!! looking forward to part 2!

David Andrews

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

mt

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

pod accoster

Always good to hear Carl Zha

Hugo

Great show! Keep up the good work. Thanks

Patrick Friel

Fantastic and timely show! Many thanks.

Aditya V

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

Amy

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.

oh no

Aw hell yes

Charles Wild

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.

Loic

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.

Mark Ames

What a great summary. I'll have to use this (citing you if that's ok)

PW

See ya!

David Gyllenhaal

Not to be a pest but what exactly is the deal with undergrad economics majors and the addiction to "counterintuitive" conclusions? I've noticed it over and over with students coming out of economics departments—there's an almost compulsive quality to it: the only worthwhile conclusions are those that are surprising, non-obvious, or counterintuitive. Why is that so deeply ingrained?