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๐•‹๐•™๐•– โ„๐•š๐•ค๐•ฅ๐• ๐•ฃ๐•ช ๐• ๐•— โ„‚๐•™๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•’ โ„™๐• ๐••๐•”๐•’๐•ค๐•ฅ Profile picture
๐•‹๐•™๐•– โ„๐•š๐•ค๐•ฅ๐• ๐•ฃ๐•ช ๐• ๐•— โ„‚๐•™๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•’ โ„™๐• ๐••๐•”๐•’๐•ค๐•ฅ
@thocpodcast
Meritorious Order of Sima Qian Inductee; Confucius Peace Prize Shortlister | Show: Qing, Kangxi Era, 17th c. | Bonus Eps: https://t.co/f2bPntUyeb
Jun 12, 2023 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Last year I was part of a group of some 26 million who were locked in their homes, given deficient/inconstant supplies, & made to test daily under threat of being bussed off to open-air plague camps... for ~9mos.

But please, tell me more about China being not totalitarian. The protests & subsequent crackdown (still resulting in ongoing arrests of political dissidents on spurious "National Security" charges) came about as a result the PRC unilaterally abrogating the 1997 treaty guaranteeing 50yrs of autonomous rule.

Jun 11, 2023 โ€ข 7 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
One of the weird things in Chinese history is that a lot of things get the label of "Incident," and it's thus easy to sweep them under the rug, especially when a whole lot of other stuff's happening.

Like in the 1630s, we get the "Chongzhen Plague Incident"... Image which is a combo of smallpox & Black Death that just swirls around N. China for about a decade. Beijing goes from 500K to 140K from 1639-1644. Other provinces report 70-90% death rates.

But it rarely gets any play, cuz it's just *one* factor in this absolute apocalypse happening
Mar 3, 2023 โ€ข 10 tweets โ€ข 5 min read
China is incredibly bitchy (and lazy) about AP World History, a photo-essay thread: Pretty sensitive about the basis of their own ruling partyโ€ฆ Great Leap Forward?? Never heard of it!!
Mar 2, 2023 โ€ข 5 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
I don't really see what's... difficult to understand about this?

Like, have you never seen a tip-jar at a restaurant? An open guitar case in front of a street busker? ... the idea of getting paid for what people find valuable? This is alien to you? People *are* still doing that. Quite a lot, in fact.

It's just that now there'a a framework to set out, essentially, a tip-jar for it. 20yrs ago there was no such option. Again, this concept of "deliver a good/service & ask for compensation" isn't new.

Dec 12, 2022 โ€ข 10 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
So You Think You Want To Be An Imperial Consort?
(you don't)

1621, Tianqi Era: palace ladies selection process:
5,000 girls (9-16) conscripted & sent to Forbidden City

* Day 1: arranged by age, physical exam - 1,000 eliminated (too short/tall, skinny/fat)/4,000 remain
... * Day 2: Evaluation of voice and general manner - 2,000 eliminated/2,000 remain.

* Day 3: Intense examination of hands & feet, grace in motion - 1,000 eliminated/1,000 remain.

* Day 4: Gynecological examination - 700 eliminated/300 remain.
...
Dec 10, 2022 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 1 min read
The obvious solution is to just hold hands the entire flight over the interloper Whisper sweet nothings into the ear of Middle Seat Guy and ask them to pass it on...
Dec 10, 2022 โ€ข 5 tweets โ€ข 1 min read
I can't be the only one who looks at the Donglin Clique of the late 16th century and sees the Confucian equivalent of radicalized martyrdom-driven suicide-bombers

But instead of "bombs", they strapped themselves with ethical complaints about the emperor... directly to his face. ...and then high-5ed each other after they were thrown in jail.
Dec 8, 2022 โ€ข 5 tweets โ€ข 1 min read
DJ Gamma-Ray Burst DJ Can't Find My Kid In A Mall
Dec 7, 2022 โ€ข 23 tweets โ€ข 4 min read
New set of 10 changes to China's Covid policies from the State Council. Very significant (subject, of course, to how well they're rolled out)

From: m.jiemian.com/article/852582โ€ฆ

Thread... 1. Scientifically & accurately divide risk areas. Delineate high-risk areas according to buildings/units/floors/households, & shall not arbitrarily expand to areas such as residential areas, communities, & streets (townships). All forms of temporary blockade shall not be adopted.
Dec 6, 2022 โ€ข 8 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Donโ€™t you gift your neighbors food! Do they have bowls? It might be rude!
You canโ€™t push their wheelchair, chili violates consent!
Morning coffee with spouse? How rude, I have no house!
Some donโ€™t wake with coffee, yeah, they only get bullets Anne Frank has white privilege, PAWGs think โ€˜PAWGโ€™ is racist
Ron Weasley wonโ€™t fuck JK, ainโ€™t that some ageist shit
Unethical โ€˜no loads refused?โ€™ Jorts the Cat & Motley Crue
Your Starbucks baristaโ€™s not really proletarian
Dec 6, 2022 โ€ข 5 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Look, I'm not going to link to this directly and increase their view-count, but... wow...

This has got to be the worst half-remembered/half imagined pseduohistory" of the Han Dynasty... maybe ever?

Every who reads this thread is dumber for having done so.

F-
0/10 Image someone else has already done the legwork on this hackneyed attempt to link the (complex, drawn-out, poly-causal) decline & fall of Eastern Han with the US political system & eunuchs to trans ppl in the mil/govt or w/e... & yeah, that dog don't hunt.

Jul 12, 2022 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 1 min read
You. Can. Find. A. Route. To. A . Local. Library.

It's actually not hard. It just takes you doing a little bit more than... nothing. Also, a *whole* lot of libraries now offer online sign-up/access.

If "getting out of the house" is really such a big deal then... there's that, also.
Jul 10, 2022 โ€ข 5 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Overtly anti-Chinese rhetoric from GT in order to excuse disgusting behavior.
Go figure.

I explicitly express my hate for this. I have this itch in my brain that they just might, for once, rethink this tweet, and such - for posterity, courtesy of the Tobal Grimes: Image
Apr 12, 2022 โ€ข 6 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
In a round that got me thinking that may there's a contingent who didn't read the directions - Wu Zetian reprises her role as Demonic Bane of Confucian Virtue Incarnate and ~*somehow*~ beats out Mao in this race-to-the-bottom. Welp... ok then.

On to Round 7: Chiang Kai-shek: Generalissimo with a so-so military record, Lifetime Leader of RoC, authoritarian quasi-fascist, corrupt backroom dealer, personality-cult leader

or

Yang of Sui: Patricidal son, megaprojects enjoyer, boss from hell, 4x failed Korea-invader, the tax-man cometh
Apr 12, 2022 โ€ข 7 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
Fascinating question! So first off, I cannot discern which types of arrows are in his quivers, since we can't see the all-important arrowheads... The next best thing is to go over the type of Manchu arrows in general. These are standard War Arrows - ๆˆฐ็ฎญ (zhร njiร n)

Broad, flat iron or steel tips. They're notably not sharp. They are designed to punch through and rip, relying on the mass and velocity of the arrow itself to wreak havoc, not cut
Apr 12, 2022 โ€ข 21 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
Guys, I know this is out of order and yet to come... but I can't sit on this.

I'd like to introduce you to Yongzheng, the 4th emperor of the Qing Dynasty, r. 1722-35. Generally thought of as a diligent ruler, with a martial bent.

But none of that matters right now, cuz guys... Yongzheng was a total Cosplay freak. The dude's dream job would've been a con booth actor. Check it out...

Yongzheng as a Daoist monk charming a water dragon with his kung-fu skillz:
Apr 11, 2022 โ€ข 8 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
The Gang Runs the Shanghai Lockdown Now, the 1st step to any Covid-zero lockdown is

D - Deny all responsibility

Someone else should be doing this. It's not my problem. The foreigners are to blame. Why hasn't Beijing stepped in? Anything you need to say or do to make sure everyone knows it's not your fault.
Apr 11, 2022 โ€ข 5 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Rd. 5 Results: Wu Sangui manages to successfully defend something for once, namely his place in this tournament! Liu Jin goes to pieces...

On to MATCH-UP 6 (probably the first round that's truly going to break some hearts): ImageImage MATCH 6:

MAO ZEDONG - Rebel, warlord, revolutionary, ideologue, brutal dictator, record-holder of all-time most Chinese killed

vs.

WU ZETIAN - Concubine, consort, empress, bodhisattva, emperor; Wu built her empire on the bones of her enemies & the terror of her subjects
Apr 10, 2022 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Qin Shi Huang buries his competition alive and moves on to the next round!

Now on to MATCH-UP 5: ImageImage MATCH 5:

WU SANGUI - the two-time traitor who sold his country to the Jurchens, before trying to make himself emperor instead

vs.

LIU JIN - The scheming leader of the Eight Tigers who taxed the people to ruin for his emperor, before getting caught red-handed plotting treason
Mar 22, 2022 โ€ข 20 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
This is the history they *wonโ€™t* teach you in classrooms, because theyโ€™re too cowardly: OM I'M SORRY, DID SOMEONE SAY THEY WANTED MORE?! WELL I'M ASSUMED AS MUCH SO HERE WE GO...

1. ColUmbus and his crew must face down storms and Sea Dragons in the voyage to the New World.
Mar 22, 2022 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 1 min read
A Great Eyeโ€ฆ lidlessโ€ฆ wreathed in flameโ€ฆ you know of whom I speakโ€ฆ Time? What time do you think we have? Time for Tubby-toast?