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Barbarians at the Gate

Barbarians at the Gate

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 A semi-serious deep dive into Chinese history and culture broadcast from Beijing and hosted by Jeremiah Jenne and David Moser.Copyright 2026 Barbarians at the Gate Ciências Sociais Comentários e Conteúdos de Viagens Mundo
Episódios
  • Décadence Mandchoue: The wild (and almost certainly fictional) affair between Sir Edmund Backhouse and Empress Dowager Cixi

    Décadence Mandchoue: The wild (and almost certainly fictional) affair between Sir Edmund Backhouse and Empress Dowager Cixi
    Feb 24 2026
    It’s another Barbarians at the Gate crossover with China Books Review. This month’s China Archives column covers Decadence Mandchoue by Edmund Backhouse, edited and annotated by Derek Sandhaus. CBR Associate Editor Alexander Boyd and I sat down to talk about all things Backhouse and try to parse one of Sinology’s more controversial memoirs. Backhouse was the son of a British baronet who dropped out of Oxford, fled to Beijing in 1898, and spent the next four decades as a fixer, translator, and professional eccentric in the hutongs. He was also a forger, a fabulist, possibly a fascist sympathizer, and the author of what may be the most explicit expat China memoir ever written. His central claim: an extended sexual relationship with Empress Dowager Cixi. His central problem: almost nobody believed him. And there’s a good reason. He almost certainly invented the whole thing.The real question isn’t whether Backhouse was making stuff up. He was. A lot. The question is whether this gifted fabulist, writing from inside (or at least adjacent to) the world he’s fabricating, can still tell us something real about the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Join us as we explore the decadent world of sex, lies, and power during one of the most tumultuous periods of Chinese history.
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    40 minutos
  • Barbarians at the Gate x By Their Own Compass: Emily Hahn's Shanghai

    Barbarians at the Gate x By Their Own Compass: Emily Hahn's Shanghai
    Feb 10 2026

    Welcome to a special episode of Barbarians at the Gate. David and Jeremiah are off this week preparing for Chinese New Year, but as a special gift to our listeners, we are cross-posting this bonus episode about the life and China travels of the American writer Emily "Mickey" Hahn. This episode is from By Their Own Compass, a podcast looking at historical travelers and past journeys co-hosted by Jeremiah with travel expert Sarah Keenlyside.

    Emily Hahn partied with poets (and her pet gibbon) at Shanghai soirees. Wrote biographies while dodging bombs in wartime Chongqing, and did her best to keep herself and her family alive in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. Along the way, she became famous (some might add “notorious”) for her affairs, including with Chinese writer Sinmay Zau (Shao Xunmei 邵洵美) and the head of British intelligence in Hong Kong, Charles Boxer.

    Mickey lived through some of China’s most tumultuous moments. While many foreigners experienced these events, Mickey gave her readers an unvarnished look at what was happening, with a style all her own.

    We hope you enjoy this special bonus episode. Follow By Their Own Compass at bytheirowncompass.com or search for By Their Own Compass on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or where you get your podcasts.

    Links:

    

    Books referenced in the episode

    • China to Me by Emily Hahn
    • Nobody Said Not To Go by Ken Cuthbertson (biography of Emily Hahn)
    • I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey by Langston Hughes
    • The Soong Sisters by Emily Hahn

    Tours & Resources:

    • Historic Shanghai - walking tours (Patrick Cranley and Tina Kanagarathnam)

    Further Reading:

    • Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson by Paul French
    • Hong Kong Holiday by Emily Hahn
    • No Hurry to Get Home: A Memoir by Emily Hahn
    • Mr Pan by Emily Hahn
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    1 hora e 1 minuto
  • Lost in Thailand: The New Chinese Diaspora from Bangkok to Addis Ababa

    Lost in Thailand: The New Chinese Diaspora from Bangkok to Addis Ababa
    Jan 27 2026
    It’s high season in Thailand. The weather is perfect. But look around the hotel lobbies and the night markets, and you’ll notice something missing: the tour buses. For the last decade, Thailand bet the house on Chinese mass tourism. Now, that wager is looking shaky. The numbers are down, and the reasons go deeper than just a sluggish post-COVID economy. On this episode, David dials in from Addis Ababa and we are joined by travel writer Thomas Bird (author of Harmony Express), global strategist Yajun Zhang to try and figure out where everyone went and where Chinese travelers are going next. We look at the "scam center" panic that’s terrifying parents on WeChat, the shift from package tours to solo travel, and why a new generation of Chinese tourists might be skipping Bangkok for Singapore. Plus, we look at how the Chinese diaspora is changing the sound of the region—literally. From the streets of Bangkok to the markets of Addis Ababa, is Mandarin replacing English as the default second language of the Global South? In this episode: The Hangover: Thailand’s pivot from GI R&R spot to Chinese holiday destination—and the current crash. The Fear Factor: How viral stories about kidnappings and scam compounds are killing the vibe for mainland travelers. The New Traveler: Why the "flag-following" tour groups are being replaced by digital nomads and independent explorers. Diaspora Voices: Comparing the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia with the newer waves arriving in Africa.
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    36 minutos
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