Vistopia
Cover of A History of Travel in China's Silver Age
A History of Travel in China's Silver Age
Planned and presented by Duan Zhiqiang, Season 1 of the Ordinary History of China series
Completed · 76 episodes
Buy for ¥128.00
Audio in Chinese
Students: What a Delight to Hear Such a Wonderful History of Travel Today! 00. A Rainy Night at Longchang Station: How Was the Great Game of History Developed? 01. Perhaps the Ancients Were Not as Homebound as You Imagine? | Chinese History Through Changes in Travel 02. How Did the State Shape Ordinary People's Journeys? | Social Control and Travel Restrictions 03. Men and Women of the Road | Long-Distance Travelers in the Silver Age 04. Those Who Make Travel Guides for You Are Living Saints | Travel Guidebooks Travelers' Letters, Vol. 01: Was the Ming the Most Terrifying and Disastrous Dynasty under Han Rule? 05. Household Encyclopedias and Anti-Fraud Guides: Who Published Them, and Who Read Them? | Commerce and Private Publishing 06. Want an In-Depth Tour? See How the Ancients Planned Their Trips | Gazetteers and Scenic Maps Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 01: Five Lesser-Known Destinations Without Leaving Home 07. Travel Permits: Mobility Control or a Source of Revenue? | Permission and Freedom to Travel I 08. From Ningguta to the Frontier: Internal Borders in a Multiethnic State | Permission and Freedom to Travel II 09. How Did the Human Bureaucracy Extend Its Reach into Journeys through the Underworld? | Passes for the Afterlife 10. The Rise of the God of Wealth: How Could Travelers Secure Good Fortune? | Choosing Auspicious Days and Farewell Rites 11. Why Was Matteo Ricci's Beloved Travel Essential a Veil? | Luggage and Travel Gear Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 02: Amid Surging Waves, Hear How Qin Shi Huang Sought Immortality | Shanhai Pass and Mount Jieshi 12. Sea Cucumbers, Shark Fins, and Bird's Nests: Why Did Seafood Become More Valuable on Land? | Travel and Culinary Communities 13. A Feast of Oil and Salt—or a Carbohydrate Bomb? Convenience Food on the Road | Travel Provisions and Military Rations Travelers' Letters, Vol. 02: Just Then, a Qing-Era Boy Passed beneath Vistopia's Office Travelers' Letters, Vol. 03: Oh No—you've been ‘Shanghaied’! Travelers' Letters, Vol. 04: Shouldn't You Make the Travel Guide Only After Returning Home? 14. Why Were Guides and Navigation So Often Unreliable? | Measuring Distance and Routes 15. I Delivered Express Parcels in the Ming Dynasty | Road Signs and Milestones 16. Two Heroines Who Opened Guizhou to the Outside World | The Hierarchy and Construction of Overland Roads 17. How Did Building Roads and Bridges Eventually Create a ‘Foundation’? | Maintenance and Tolls 18. Boating the Rivers and Lakes: How Many Traps Lurk beneath the Water? | An Overview of Inland Waterways Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 03: A Riverboat at Night | Peril, Death, and Romance on the Road Travelers' Letters, Vol. 05: Forgotten History Will Eventually Return to Remind Us 19. How Were the ‘World of Horses’ and the ‘World of Boats’ Connected? | Surveying the Grand Canal 20. Setting Out from Ningbo: Why Did a Prosperous Hub of Exchange Become a Place of Sorrow? | An Introduction to the Postal-Relay System 21. Sailing over Dams: How Did Boats Cross the Jiangnan Water Network by Brutally Effective Means? | Locks and Dams 22. Shaoxing's Opportunity: How Did a Former ‘Fringe of Huaxia’ Become a Wealthy Land? | Sage-King Myths and Hydrological Change 23. Beixin Customs Station, Hangzhou: What Was the Harshest ‘Tollbooth on Water’ Really Like? | Canal Customs 24. Lake Tai and the Qiantang River: How Did the Canal Network and a Vast Empire Hold Each Other Hostage? | Seawall Engineering Travelers' Letters, Vol. 06: The Future May Be Bright—but What about the Future after That? Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 04: Lin Pengxia and Journey to the Northwest—A Modern Woman's Frontier Travels Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 05: He Zhenghuang's Northwestern Expedition Diary—A Woman Artist's Research Journey 25. Night Boats: Were Jiangnan's Canal Towns Really All Alike? | Canals and the Rise of Market Towns 26. Suzhou Remembered: How Did a Prosperous City of Gentle Speech Become the Silver Age's ‘Capital of Protest’? | Jiangnan Society 27. Jiangnan's Layered Levies: Extortion Born of a National Project | Grain-Transport Boats and the Tribute System Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 06: Daxiang Ridge in Yingjing—Two Ancient Inscriptions beside a Murmuring Mountain Stream 28. The Good People of Zhenjiang: How Did State and Society Support River Crossings? | Lifesaving Societies and Charitable Ferries Travelers' Letters, Vol. 07: To Live Concretely, Begin as a Community Historian 29. The Many Layers of Yangzhou: A Forgotten Fire and a ‘Vulgar City’ Built on Wealth | Salt Boats and Pleasure Barges 30. The Huai–Yang Canal: Whom Did This Painstaking National Project Serve, and Whom Did It Sacrifice? | The Yellow River's Capture of the Huai 31. A Canal—or a River of People? Universal Toil, Poverty, and Mutual Exploitation | Canal Corvée Labor 32. Boats in the South, Horses in the North: Why Did an Organized Travel Industry Breed Arrogant Service? | North–South Transport 33. The Character of the ‘Lock River’: How Did Dense Hydraulic Works Create the Grand Canal's Worst Bottleneck? | Northern Canal Engineering 34. The Four Great Golden Dragon Kings: How Did a Team of Canal Gods Protect State Shipping? | The Canal and Popular Religion 35. The Death and Rebirth of Towns: How Did Shifting Rivers Change the Fragile Fate of Commercial Cities? | Canal Diversions 36. The Soldier Who Found the Way: The Spiritual and Material Lives of North–South Boatmen | Luo Teaching and Canal Guilds Travelers' Letters, Vol. 08: When Traveling with Children, Keep Expectations in Check Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 07: How Did People Enjoy Holidays When Everything Moved Slowly? | Silver-Age Festival Travel 37. Mounted Bandits and Escort Agencies: Which Came First, the Robber or the Guard? | Security along the Canal 38. Welcoming and Seeing Off at Hexi Station: Everyday Details in a Qing-Era Work Notebook | Canal Relay Stations 39. Visitors to the Capital: What Vivid Lives Did Travelers beneath the Emperor's Feet Lead? | The Canal's Terminus 40. Boating the Rivers and Lakes: Countless Vessels and the Drifting Lives of Boat People | Waterborne Transport 41. Carts, Horses, and Sedan Chairs: A Market of Cheap Labor beneath Comfortable Travel | Land Transport 42. Did ‘Boatmen, Innkeepers, Porters, and Brokers’ Deserve Death Even When Innocent? | Stigma and Reality in the Travel Trades 43. Shared Platforms and Private Rooms: How Could Travelers Sleep Safely? | Inns and Lodging 44. Who Paid, and Who Worked? How Did People's Duties to the State Shift from Direct to Indirect? | The Postal-Relay System 45. Resonating with Mountains and Rivers: Adventurers Who Made Travel Their Calling | Exploration Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 08: A Political Dissident's Secret Journey Three Centuries Ago Travelers' Letters, Vol. 09: Our Lives Expand Freely through Travel Travelers' Letters, Vol. 10: If I Went Back in Time, Could I Escape Weekly Reports and KPIs? 46. Wealth in Every Direction: Where on the Road Could Fortune Be Found? | Merchants' Travels 47. Heading to the Capital for the Exams: After a Decade of Study, a Journey into Uncertainty | Examination Travel 48. May We All Live Long: What Do Stories of Searching across Thousands of Miles Reveal about Family Values? | Journeys to Find Kin Armchair Travel Club, Vol. 09: Corpse Walkers of Western Hunan—Human Pain and the Defiance of Marginalized Peoples behind a Ghost Story 49. Pilgrimage and Blessings: A Joyful ‘Group Tour’ to Worship the Gods | Faith and Travel 50. Blessed Lands and Grotto-Heavens: Seeking Immortality as Livelihood and Adventure | Immortals' Travels 51. Small Essays, Vast Worlds: Why Was Xu Xiake's Travel Writing Once Criticized? | Travel Literature 52. The Art of Spending: Calculating the Cost of Travel from an Account Book of the Qianlong Era | Travel Expenses 53. The Emperor among His People: When the Sovereign Inspected His ‘Estate,’ Could Ordinary People Watch? | Imperial Tours Travelers' Letters, Vol. 11: If Someone Denies Us Joy, We Will Live All the More Cheerfully 54. Until We Meet Again in History's Great Game! | Finale