Originally published on October 7, 2020 (Episode 180)
Introduction
In Xanadu, Kublai Khan had a leopard.
Well, it wasn’t a leopard really, it was a cheetah. And upon that fact—and upon many other anecdotes and material objects—Timothy Brook builds a bridge that connects the history of China to the history of the world around it.
He demonstrates in overwhelming and fascinating detail that far from being cut off from the world, China has always been in and of the world—and the world has always been coming to China.
About the Guest
Timothy Brook is the Republic of China Chair in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. He is the general editor of Harvard University Press’s History of Imperial China series, and is one of the foremost historians of the Ming dynasty. His work spans from the Mongol occupation of China to the Japanese occupation, with a particular interest in how China’s history has always been connected to the world. His most recent book is The Great State: China and the World (2019).
For Further Investigation
Timothy Brook, The Great State: China and the World (Profile Books / Harper, 2019)
Timothy Brook, Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World (2008)
The History of Imperial China series (Harvard University Press)
Marco Polo, The Travels, translated by Ronald Latham (for early Western accounts of Mongol China)
Listen & Discuss
How does Timothy Brook’s global vision of China challenge the way you’ve thought about world history? Share your reflections in the comments—and pass this episode to a friend who’s curious about China’s past and present.
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