How did China go from an empire to a republic?

The history of China: a timeline

How long has China existed, and how and when did it evolve into its form? Explore the journey of China from empire to republic (to a republic, again) in this timeline. Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest Chinese dynasty formed at about...

Hong Kong: British colony turned Chinese police state

This 15-minute video explores how Hong Kong has changed since China reclaimed the territory from Britain in 1997. Hong Kong became a British colony after the First Opium War, a conflict arising from Britain's attempt to equalize trade with China through smuggled opium. Democratic rights assumed by Hong Kong residents, such as the right to protest, have been in peril since the 1997 shift, according to this video.

Is China using archaeological findings to boost its territorial claims?

This 28-minute podcast dives into the political ramifications of two Ming dynasty-era ships found in the South China Sea in October 2022. The ships, filled with well-preserved porcelain and timber, were found 1,500 meters—about 4,900...

Who was China's last emperor?

The last emperor of China's last dynasty came into power as a toddler. This article details the rise and abdication of Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi. Puyi, also known as Henry Puyi, was forced to abdicate his throne in 1912 following the Wuchang...

The history of the Chinese civil war from 1945-49

Today's tensions were formed after the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Kuomintang shortly after World War II. Here's a thorough explainer on what happened.

Why China wants Taiwan

Why does China want Taiwan? Money, power, nationalism, regional dominance, and a footstep toward further establishing their position as a superpower. This article explores all the angles of China's sudden push to reclaim/reunify with their neighbor across the strait. But an invasion might not be as easy as they suppose.

Taiwan's economic history, analyzed

See how the global economic power evolved from the colonial period to today, including charts and graphs highlighting China's progress, especially in recent decades.

Hear about the legacy of the British Empire

This popular history podcast hosts a discussion about the legacy of the British Empire with guest Sathnam Sanghera, a journalist and author of the books "Empireland" and "Empireworld." The conversation contemplates the impact and lasting legacy of the Empire.

How former President Nixon's visit to China shifted geopolitics

While Richard Nixon may be best remembered for Watergate and the disintegration of his presidency, his visit to China in 1972 stands as a triumph of his administration. Learn about the president's visit to Beijing (then referred to as Peking), his methods and approach, and the subsequent opening of diplomatic ties with China.

What happened after the Civil War?

After the massive devastation and scorched earth wartime methods of the Civil War, the US entered its Reconstruction era. Listen to this podcast to learn what that entailed and who was affected.

Hear the reasoning behind Trump's resurrection of the Monroe Doctrine in 2025

This podcast examines the Monroe Doctrine, from its casual origins in an 1823 congressional update to Trump's "Donroe Doctrine"—highlighting how fears of Chinese influence, concerns over oil prices, and the pursuit of hemispheric dominance influenced the administration's policies toward Latin America.

On the role of 'Citizenship In A Republic'

After finishing a Smithsonian-sponsored expedition to East Africa, US President Theodore Roosevelt stopped by Paris and gave a speech about the responsibilities an ordinary citizen has to their republic. Citizens must know there is no effort without error, knowing they "fail while daring greatly" in pursuit of a truly democratic republic. This podcast series on powerful speeches across history is written and narrated by historian and author Jon Meacham.

How cigarettes took over China

In 2022, China had a fifth of the world's population and bought nearly half of the world's cigarettes. This investigation explores how China became plagued by tobacco consumption, something epidemiologists say will strain the country's health system...

Rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire in 60 seconds

In 330 CE, Emperor Constantine made the bold move of shifting the Roman capital to Byzantium and renaming it Constantinople. This decision helped shape the Eastern Roman Empire, or what we now call the Byzantine Empire. Here’s how the city rose to global prominence, and why its legacy lingers today.

The Partitions of Poland led to the erasure of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Political instability and foreign interference weakened the Commonwealth, which was eventually divided between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. Poland would not be re-established until after World War I and decades of imperial oppression.

What was it like to rebel against the Inca Empire?

The Inca Empire grew to its gargantuan size and became the largest empire in ancient Americas through conquest, annexation, and arranged marriage, approaches that didn't always go over well with locals. Watch this five-minute video to experience a...

How public policy shapes demographic trends

This IMF podcast explores the population booms and busts throughout human history. According to Harvard economist and demographer David Bloom, it took more than 50,000 years for the world population to reach 1 billion. But since 1960, we have added...

A podcast unpacking Pakistan’s political turmoil

Pakistan has been immersed in political crises for over 20 years. Despite being one of the world’s few nuclear powers, Pakistan’s internal instability has caused experts to question whether the country is, in fact, a failed state. Deep divisions...

Japan’s imperial expansion in Asia set the stage for war with the US

Between 1931 and 1941, Japan seized Manchuria, launched a full-scale war in China and occupied French Indochina, moves that intensified its demand for strategic resources and triggered escalating US-led embargoes—particularly the 1941 oil cutoff—which sharply raised the risk of war between the two countries.

The world is shifting from unipolarity toward a multipolar order

The post-Cold War world was briefly unipolar after 1991, with the US standing alone as a global superpower following decades of US-Soviet bipolarity. Analysts increasingly describe today's order as multipolar, with China, Russia, the US, and regional powers all competing for influence.

China had an inflation rate of -0.4% in August 2025

As opposed to other G20 countries that are largely struggling with high inflation rates, China is facing deflation. Sluggish growth in the country's once booming real estate market is just one glimpse into the consumer slowdown triggering deflation.

What was it like to live through the Great Depression?

Hear the personal accounts of four people who lived through the Great Depression, as told by NPR's Throughline. Listen to this 47-minute podcast episode to get a bit more insight into the countrywide economic crisis and what it meant it for everyday people.

Listen to scholars debate abolishing the Electoral College

In this 2016 podcast episode, Harvard's Alex Keyssar and UVA's James Ceaser debate why the Electoral College was created, how parties reshaped it, and what reforms—national popular vote, runoffs, district allocation—could replace it.

A 103-episode podcast offers an unmatched deep dive into the Russian Revolution

After covering the entire history of Rome, historian Mike Duncan devoted Season 10 of his Revolutions podcast to Russia, producing 103 episodes that trace the origins, upheaval, and aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Start with Episode 10.1 — The International Working Men’s Association.

Iran became a constitutional monarchy in 1906

A popular revolution forced the ruling Qajar Shah—a dynasty that had governed Iran since the late 18th century—to sign a constitution and establish a parliament, marking Iran's first major step toward democratic governance and limiting the monarchy's absolute power.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.