Tea, Drugs, and Jesus Posts

Episode 206 - Vinegar Joe and the Generalissimo (coming March 4!): Mike leads our discussion of the American experience in China during the first half of World War II. Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin Roosevelt, and General “Vinegar Joe” S…

Many people may wonder about the location of various cities referred to in our series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus" on the United Sates and China.  Where is Canton or Shanghai or Nanking?  Please check out the link to this map to get a better se…

Few families in the history of China have exercised such wide-ranging influence as the Soong dynasty in the 20th century. The three famous Soong sisters married well.  According to one saying, one loved money (Ai-Ling), one loved power (Mei-Lin…

MARSHALL's SOURCES:Hyatt, Irwin. Our Ordered Lives Confess: Three Nineteenth-Century American Missionaries in East Shantung. 2014.A spirited case study of American missionaries operating in Northeast China and the challenges they faced. Ess…

In our Tea, Drugs, and Jesus series on the persistent American misunderstanding of China, we discuss the First Opium War of 1839–1842 and briefly mention the Second Opium War of 1856–1860 (Episode 202: Conflict Follows Trade). The H…

NOTE: All images are in the public domain unless otherwise indicated.1785 advertisement for the sale of Chinese goods the merchant ship Empress of China brought to the United States. (Episode 201: The Flag Follows Trade)The East India Compan…

Our new series, "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus," has premiered! Ben Franklin got China wrong, and America still does today! Marshall again leads our discussion in this new series, looking at how the United States keeps misunderstanding China — in no s…