In this series historian Matthew Rothwell tells the story of the Chinese revolution starting from the opium wars. The podcast gives some very useful background information on China and on the complexity of revolutionary struggle and it is told in a very engaging way that makes you excited to hear the next episode to get to know what happened next.

Matthew is no western “Chyna bad” liberal, his sympathies for the struggles of the oppressed peoples of the world can be felt throughout the podcast. However this sympathy for Maoism doesn’t distort the quality of his scholarship and he will tell when the official Chinese version of events has been distorted to fit a political narrative.

The story is told in great detail. He’s currently at episode 85 and is still in 1928. Hopefully he will be doing this for years.