Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 2d

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.)

10 39

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 7d

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...

3 5

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 9d

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...

3 3 7

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

By Their Own Compass @bytheirowncompass.com · 13d

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...

1

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 14d

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...

The Three Pillars of Great Guiding

Studying a lot of facts is important, but so is the ability to curate that information and deliver a compelling narrative.

open.substack.com

1 1

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕒 ℙ𝕠𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕥 @thoc.bsky.social · 20d

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

1 9 28

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 20d

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

by Pam Bondi

13 140 970

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

By Their Own Compass @bytheirowncompass.com · 20d

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...

1

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

China Books Review @chinabooksreview.com · 22d

The sinologist David Moser talks about moving to China in 1989, his first appearance on the Spring Festival Gala in 1999, and learning xiangsheng from the masters.

Listen to the episode of Peking Hotel: chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/16/p...

1 5

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 23d

Free for members of RASBJ; 50 RMB for members of RAS branches in London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and members of the Yale community. 100 RMB for non-members.

rasbj.glueup.cn/event/the-so...

The Song Dynasty (960-1276): Was China Modern Before Europe? | RASBJ

WHAT: “The Song Dynasty (960-1276): Was China Modern Before Europe?”, an online RASBJ talk by Prof.. Valerie Hansen, moderated by Dr. Jeremiah JenneWHEN: 8-9 PM Beijing Time, Wednesday 17th September ...

rasbj.glueup.cn

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 23d

I will be moderating Yale's Prof. Valerie Hansen on "The Song Dynasty (960-1276): Was China Modern Before Europe?" Why did historians see Song China as early modern centuries before Europe hit that phase? Wed Sept 17, 8-9pm Beijing | 1-2pm UK | 8-9am EST.

1 4

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

By Their Own Compass @bytheirowncompass.com · 27d

Pest is your great-aunt who started vaping at age 68 and still outdrinks rugby players at her local. Buda is the great-aunt who summers in Margate with her cats and her collection of Royal Worcester. We picked a side.

open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...

Compass Dispatches: Budapest

A brief missive from the banks of the Danube, where your correspondents contemplate the fine art of graceful deterioration

open.substack.com

1 1

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 29d

The Shiji abounds with examples of corrupt, venal, or stupid rulers getting cosmic comeuppance. In today's timeline, it's almost quaint to believe in a universal order that punishes terrible leaders.

Read more in my latest for @chinabooksreview.com

chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/09/s...

Sima Qian: Records of the Grand Historian | China Books Review

History is supposedly written by the victors. Sima Qian, author of China's original historical classic, showed it could also be written by the condemned.

chinabooksreview.com

1 4

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

China Books Review @chinabooksreview.com · 29d

History is supposedly written by the victors. Sima Qian, author of China's original historical classic, showed it could also be written by the condemned.

Read Jeremiah Jenne's essay on the urtext for Chinese history, the Shiji or Records of the Grand Historian: chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/09/s...

chinabooksreview.com

5 5

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Sep 9

Are the A's, Rockies, and White Sox enough of an argument that American sports leagues should adopt relegation?

And not just in baseball. I'm all in on having the most recent edition of the New England Patriots justify their spot in the NFL by making them beat Ohio State twice in a season.

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

By Their Own Compass @bytheirowncompass.com · Sep 5

Every traveler shares one universal experience, regardless of era: digestive challenges far from home. Our latest newsletter dives into how archaeologists track ancient journeys through the "evidence" left behind. (1/2)

1 1 1

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

Michael Stipe @michaelstipe.bsky.social · Sep 5

Ok its ‘feed it off an aux, speak, grunt no strength, the ladder start to clatter with fear fight down height, wire in a fire representing seven games, a government for hire and a combat site’.

170 620 3.9K

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Sep 4

Does technology enhance language learning or is it cheating? In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, David and Jeremiah consider the evolution of digital aids to studying Chinese from looking up radicals in paper dictionaries to Pleco to AI.

jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/ai-laoshi-...

1

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Sep 2

TV. Computers. Internet. AI. Teachers seem to always have a new technology to fret about. In this episode, we look at how AI is transforming language learning, and how educators can integrate these tools while maintaining focus on human connections.

jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/ai-laoshi-...

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Sep 1

I see over the weekend, America unlocked the “leader hasn’t been seen for a few days, is he dead?” level of authoritarianism.

As a historian of China, let me welcome you into our club, here's a T-Shirt and official tote bag. The open bar starts service in five minutes. 热烈欢迎!

1 6

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Aug 15

Pool Bar. Still going strong as of 2024.

2 1

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Aug 14

Name this band.

Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · Aug 14

I’m assuming it was the lazily friendly tabby here, whose Mongolian name I’ve forgotten, rather than the black and white cat, who was made out of springs and bad judgement. I always called them “Tramp” and “Scamp,” but I’m pretty sure I was the only one.

Posed photograph circa 2012 for, I think, an article about Paper Republic: Alice Xin Liu, Eric Abrahamsen, and I sit at a wooden table in the Amilal courtyard, all looking blankly in different directions, with an unimpressed tabby drowsing in front of us.

4 1 7

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Aug 14

David Moser is on holiday, so translator and longtime friend of the pod @bokane.org fills in. It takes us exactly 10 minutes to go full nerd and recreate the arguments that echoed through the courtyard of Amilal in Beijing, ca 2010. If you know, you know.

open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...

Barbarians at the Gate: Calling All China Nerds

with literary translator Brendan O'Kane

open.substack.com

4 5 19

Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

By Their Own Compass @bytheirowncompass.com · Jul 31

Co-host Jeremiah is on holiday in his homeland, and we offer some thoughts on that most American of travel institutions: The Interstate Highway System. Infrastructure designed for Cold War logistics, now fully weaponized for family vacations.

open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...

1

Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · Jul 30

Many Westerners remember the Boxer Siege.
Far fewer remember the occupation that followed.

In this Barbarian Remixed episode from 2020,
Historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom joins us to talk about memory, myth, and why “Boxer Rebellion” is a misnomer.

blubrry.com/barbarians/1...

1 1 1