We finally meet everyone's favorite guy (Song Jiang), and learn about song dynasty interrogation techniques. 

This episode delves into Chinese stamps/seals/chops (印章), exploring the origins, ritualization, and various cultural conventions associated with this ancient practice.

Given their existence predating the invention of paper in China, what surfaces did ancient Chinese court officials typically stamp upon? Did different dynasties enforce distinct rules regarding stamps? Was the loss of an emperor's jade seals believed to signify the loss of the mandate of heaven? In the late Qing dynasty, the penalty for misusing the stamp could be as severe as death. Was this penalty genuinely enforced, or was it akin to many other historical (and current day) Chinese laws—a fallback scapegoat system?

Tune in to uncover the answers!

In this episode we discuss the Qing Dynasty's 'Self Strengthening Movement' of roughly 1861-1890. 

Recognizing the superiority of european weapons, technology, and scientific knowledge, the Qing Dynasty attempted to adopt and integrate them into an otherwise unchanged Confucian bureaucracy.  

Ambitious Westerners flocked to the country, lured by Qing silver, and with the support of towering Chinese figures such as Li Hongzhang and Cixi, helped the Qing reach a level of power and prosperity that had not been seen for a century. 

However, in resisting deeper, more structural changes, the Qing Dynasty would place itself on the wrong side of history, and eventually fall at the hands of more dynamic revolutionaries and reformers.