Foundation of the Chinese Communist Party - History of China Podcast Lazlo Montgomery

One of the most significant events in the history of the twentieth century was the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party.  This podcast gives you the background to why it happened and some of the characters involved.  It works pretty well as a stand alone episode if you aren't that interested in the whole of Chinese history.  But if you are, there are now 50 podcasts in this series to work through so you won't be short of listening.

http://www.chinahistorypodcast.com/ChinaHistoryPodcast/Podcasts/Entries/2011/7/1_CHP-048-The_Founding_of_the_CCP.html

Southern and Northern China Dynasties - China History Podcast Laszlo Montgomery

If you want a clear and easy to follow account of the different emperors of the Northern and Southern dynasties that ruled China from 420 to 589AD this is the podcast for you.  Personally I find this aspect not as interesting as the rise of Buddhism and the development of Chinese culture that were happening at the same time, but Laszlo is giving the whole history of China so has to cover everything.  And there is a lot of it.  Recommended - but there is a lot of listening.

http://www.chinahistorypodcast.com/ChinaHistoryPodcast/Podcasts/Entries/2010/11/23_CHP-023-The_Southern_%26_Northern_Dynasties.html

The Three Kingdoms - China History Podcast Laszlo Montgomery

I haven't got through that many of these podcasts yet, but this is far the most confusing one so far.  The period covered is sixty years in the third century when China split into three competing kingdoms.  This podcast is the story of that competition between them.  One of the things that Lazslo does is give the Chinese names an authentic pronunciation.  This is good most of the time but in this case it makes a difficult situation even worse.  But we get through it in the end.  At least we only have to listen to a podcast of it not actually live through it.

I wouldn't recommend this particular episode as an introduction to this series, but I think the fault lies with the period.  But as the aim is the whole history of China I suppose you have to take the rough with the smooth.

http://www.chinahistorypodcast.com/ChinaHistoryPodcast/Podcasts/Entries/2010/11/15_CHP-022-The_Three_Kingdoms%2C_the_Jin_Dynasty_%26_the_Sixteen_Kingdoms.html

The China History Podcast: CHP-007-RB-The Empress Wu Zetian-REBROADCAST

 The China History podcast isn't done in chronological order, so I don't see any particular need to review them in the order that they are broadcast either.  As I know very little about Chinese history I just dip into the backlog and pick out that shows like this one that look interesting.

The Song Dynasty North and South, Episodes 27 and 28 - The China History Podcast

Song dynasty China was a huge state, and a very advanced one.  Many of the inventions that have gone on to create the modern world were first developed there.  The sheer scale of the Chinese economy astonished observers, and can still amaze us today looking back on it.  The Song themselves don't seem to have had a huge amount to do with the success of their empire.  They were to be totally annihilated by the Mongols under Kublai Khan with the last Song general and the 8 year old emperor in his charge throwing themselves from a cliff rather than suffer the humiliation of capture.  But Chinese culture seems to have continued perfectly smoothly without them.

As this is't a chronological history I thought it would be okay to jump straight in half way through, but I probably missed out by not being a bit more patient and trying out some of the earlier episodes.  There are references to earlier material.  This is a very solid and well researched podcast presented clearly.  You need to have a strong interest in China though because it goes into lots of detail, but you might very well acquire a strong interest in China from listening to it.

http://www.chinahistorypodcast.com/ChinaHistoryPodcast/Home.html

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