Edmund Backhouse forged documents, claimed a love affair with China’s empress, and left a memoir too scandalous to publish for decades. Most historians dismiss him. But what if the lies were hiding some actual truth? New Barbarians at the Gate × @chinabooksreview.com on Substack, Apple, Spotify.

Sir Edmund Backhouse arrived in Beijing in 1898 and, four decades later, wrote a memoir that is 50% memory and roughly 158.5% Qing Dynasty slash fic. Décadence Mandchoue is unreliable, outrageous, and surprisingly informative. Does a story need to be accurate to contain truth?

"Viking is more of a job description than an ethnicity." In the latest episode of By Their Own Compass, we dig into Erik the Red, Leif Erikson, and what happened when Norse explorers reached Greenland and North America around 1000 CE. 🎧 Link to the full episode below.

New Research Absolves the Woman Blamed for the demise of the Western Zhou dynasty www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/w...

In around 985 A.D., Icelandic exile Erik the Red founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland. Years later, his son, Leif Erikson, became one of the first known Europeans to set foot in North America – centuries before Columbus. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts! 🎧 ❄️

Are you the type of traveller who likes to tick off the must-sees? Is your first port of call still buying a guidebook? You have the Grand Tour to thank for that! #thegrandtour #louvreparis #guidebook #18thcenturytravel #travelhistory

Poxed, pillaged, and a pestilence of Englishmen. It was called The Grand Tour. In the 18th century, British travelers crossed over to the continent in search of education escape, and a bloody good time. New episode out from By Their Own Compass

Where did all of the Chinese tourists go? Thailand-based global strategist Yajun Zhang joins David, Jeremiah, and travel writer Thomas Bird to discuss the changing face of Chinese tourism in Southeast Asia and beyond. The full episode is available on Substack. Link in the comments below.

Author Thomas Bird (Rough Guide to Thailand, Harmony Express: Travels by Train through China) joins us on Barbarians at the Gate to talk about the changing face of outbound Chinese travel in Southeast Asia and the origins of the Chinese community in Thailand.

The Tang Dynasty is remembered as a "Golden Age" of art and peace, but it was also marked by a decade-long civil war that left millions dead. I joined Matt Lewis on Echoes of History to talk about the An Lushan Rebellion and the story behind Assassin's Creed: Dynasty. Listen at the link below:

He spent over three decades living and traveling in Southern and Central Africa and became one of the most famous explorers of Africa in Victorian Britain. But there’s so much more to the story of David Livingstone than what people (including Stanley)…presumed. Link below:

Sacagawea was mostly in the background of the Lewis and Clark Expedition until the Corps of Discovery reached Oregon and, in the middle of a long, boring winter, decided to go to the beach to see a whale...without her. This is our reimagining of that conversation.

In the latest episode of @bytheirowncompass.com, Sarah and I delve deeper into the life and legacy of Sacagawea. We also talk about AI and podcast production, and I decide, against all good sense, to write a K-Pop musical about our subject's life. No, seriously. Links below.

Will the battle for AGI between China and the US heat up? Do kids still need to learn how to write Chinese characters in a digital age? What’s the future of restaurants? Global strategist Yajun Zhang joins @davidmoserbeijing.bsky.social and me to make a few prognostications for 2026. Links below.

Forget the "faithful guide" myth. Sacagawea was a young woman compelled into a mission she didn't choose. We're looking at the reality of survival and resilience on By Their Own Compass: Sacagawea. History. Travel. No fluff. Link below.

Wednesday, January 14, starting at 7:00 pm Beijing time. Looking forward to hearing more about Professor Larson’s research and her new book!

Is not smiling an act of resistance? Is optimism a mental health goal or a state-mandated requirement? Prof. Wendy Larson and I are discussing the "Global Good Cheer" of the 1950s and 60s for RASBJ on January 14. 7:00 pm. Beijing time. Online. Link to register is below.

Between 1884 and 1886, Thomas Stevens became the first person to circumnavigate the world by bicycle. Why did such an epic event make our holiday list of great travel fiascoes? Well, for starters...there was his curious choice of bicycle. Link to our Travel Fiascoes special episode below.

Sure, Cixi was Al Capone in a silk dress, but her "Dragon Lady" reputation is a mix of Chinese tropes and Western Orientalism. If she didn’t exist, 19th-century writers would have invented her. David Moser and I dig into her legacy on the latest Barbarians at the Gate. Link to the episode below:

Our holiday gift to you.. Travel plans gone to rubbish? Flight delayed again? Listen to our latest episode on travel plans gone horribly wrong. Your flight might not take off faster, but you'll feel better knowing you didn't bankrupt Scotland. Link below.

Evil dragon lady? Misunderstood proto-feminist reformer? Empress Dowager Cixi is one of the most famous and debated rulers in history. Jeremiah and @davidmoserbeijing.bsky.social recount the life, times, and legacy of this remarkable woman. Episode link below:

New bonus episode: Sarah Keenlyside talks with Tina Kanagaratnam from @historicshanghai.bsky.social about Emily Hahn's 1930s world and what remains today. What happened to Emily's Shanghai? Listen now. Link to the full episode in the replies.👇

Jazz, gibbons, and the ghost of the Cathay Hotel. In this special bonus episode, we sat down with Tina Kanagarathnam of @historicshanghai.bsky.social to map out Emily Hahn’s 1930s Shanghai. bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/bonus-epis... #Shanghai #History #Travel

I went on a popular podcast to debunk Great Wall myths, and now people think I'm fun at parties. Had a blast talking walls, Mongols, and Assassin's Creed with @mattlewishistory.bsky.social on Echoes of History 👇 youtu.be/nvUPhTjO-V4?...

Our new podcast. History. Travel. Historical travel. Next episode: Emily Hahn in 1930s China

New Compass Dispatch featuring Kate Simon, born December 5, 1918, who spent decades telling tourists where to find a decent meal before finally publishing the stories she really wanted to write. open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...

On this day in 1542, sixteen palace women tried to strangle the Jiajing Emperor with a hemp rope. They tied the knot wrong. He fainted from fright instead of dying. One conspirator panicked and told the Empress. All sixteen were executed by slow slicing. A bad night for all involved.

New Compass Dispatch: This week from Egypt. open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...

On this date in 1922. It was the spark that lit global Egyptomania. Howard Carter peers through a small hole in a sealed doorway in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb of Tutankhamun. Lord Carnarvon: “Can you see anything?” Carter: “Yes. Wonderful things.” #ThisDayInHistory

Great to be working again with Dan Snow and the team from History Hit, talking all things Central Axis and Ming-Qing transition. (Not to mention very cool being back in Beijing, if only for a short visit.)

Alexander Boyd of @chinabooksreview.com joins me on a special crossover episode of Barbarians at the Gate to discuss Vikram Seth's 1983 travelogue, From Heaven Lake. open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...

November 13, 1760: Birthday of The Jiaqing Emperor. Inherited bloated bureaucracy, several rebellions, rampant corruption, and his dad's "close friend" Heshen. Tried reform and got "the beginning of the end" label for his trouble. We historians can be picky bastards, can't we?

this entry in @jeremiahjenne.com’s Archive project is a gem.

Before he became an award-winning novelist, the Indian writer Vikram Seth was an exchange student in China. In the 1980s, he traveled overland from Beijing to Delhi. Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...

Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick, "From Heaven Lake," a travelogue by the acclaimed Indian novelist Vikram Seth's recounting his overland journey from Nanjing to New Delhi via Tibet in 1982: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/11/h...

On this day in 1866, Sun Yat-sen was born in Guangdong. The PRC and Taiwan might tussle over his legacy, but he’s one of the few figures in Modern Chinese history routinely honored on both sides of the Strait.

My latest for the @chinabooksreview.com

In this week’s Compass Dispatch, your correspondent visits the Swiss Alps and ponders the relationship between mountains and the people who climb them. Also cocoa. Lots of cocoa. bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...

After one of my last walking tours in Geneva, a guest told me that she really enjoyed the walk because I “didn’t quiz the guests.” I know what she meant, and it’s a peeve of mine as well. Let me explain. jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/stop-quizz...

In this archival edition of Barbarians at the Gate, we examine the 1860 destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing and how history and narrative are used and misused today. jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/the-destru...

On the latest episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we look at the 15th-century voyages of the Chinese admiral Zheng He. It’s giraffes, medieval globalization, and what might have been if Zheng He had decided Europe was worth the trip. jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...

Link to episode: bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/ibn-battut...

Literary Chinese for bust-ass dynasties: 鋪眉苫眼早三公 Cozen. Flatter. Ingratiate -- The Three High Offices of state. (from 譏時 'The Times We Live In' by Zhang Mingshan 張鳴善, fl. 14th c.)

Talking about Sima Qian with Alexander Boyd leads to the uncomfortable realization that a belief in cosmic consequences for bad leadership feels like a quaint notion in 2025. Link to the full episode: jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...

In this special episode of Barbarians at the Gate, I’m joined by Alexander Boyd of China Books Review to discuss Sima Qian, The Records of the Grand Historian, and what it means to speak truth to power. open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...

William Adams didn’t set out to become the first Englishman in Japan, a confidant of a warlord, or the inspiration for James Clavell’s Shōgun. It just all rather happened. Link to this week's Compass Dispatch Newsletter: bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...

After years teaching and leading educational travel in Asia, I moved to Geneva and had an existential crisis about medieval Swiss politics. What I learned about communication after 20+ years of making history interesting to strangers: open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...

Antifa? You mean Wanyan *Aguda?* Founding emperor of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and ancestor of the Manchus??

Media outlets that fail to report on Jeffrey Epstein’s upstanding behavior and model lifestyle can expect swift prosecution. by Pam Bondi

This week's Compass Dispatch includes observations from Sicily on the intersection of film tourism and historical reality. The Godfather locations reveal how Hollywood mythology can overshadow complex local histories. Also mosquitoes. bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...