Jeremiah Jenne
@jeremiahjenne.com
PhD historian & storyteller. 20+ years making history come alive through teaching, tours, & writing. Co-host: Barbarians at the Gate & By Their Own Compass.
Short Bio: Birth. School. Work. More School. Asia.
Short Bio: Birth. School. Work. More School. Asia.
Pinned
Jeremiah Jenne
@jeremiahjenne.com
· Nov 4
In this archival edition of Barbarians at the Gate, we examine the 1860 destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing and how history and narrative are used and misused today.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/the-destru...
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/the-destru...
Our new podcast. History. Travel. Historical travel. Next episode: Emily Hahn in 1930s China
In this episode, we're following the travels of Emily “Mickey” Hahn in 1930s China. Mickey Hahn was a writer, an adventurer, and a rule breaker whose wanderlust remains an inspiration for travelers in no hurry to get home.
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/emily-hahn...
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/emily-hahn...
Emily Hahn
We’re following the travels of Emily “Mickey” Hahn in 1930s China. Mickey Hahn was a writer, an adventurer, and a professional rule breaker whose wanderlust remains an inspiration for travelers in no ...
bytheirowncompass.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Our new podcast. History. Travel. Historical travel. Next episode: Emily Hahn in 1930s China
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
New Compass Dispatch featuring Kate Simon, born December 5, 1918, who spent decades telling tourists where to find a decent meal before finally publishing the stories she really wanted to write.
open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...
open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...
December 3, 2025 at 11:10 AM
New Compass Dispatch featuring Kate Simon, born December 5, 1918, who spent decades telling tourists where to find a decent meal before finally publishing the stories she really wanted to write.
open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...
open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...
On this day in 1542, sixteen palace women tried to strangle the Jiajing Emperor with a hemp rope. They tied the knot wrong. He fainted from fright instead of dying. One conspirator panicked and told the Empress. All sixteen were executed by slow slicing. A bad night for all involved.
November 27, 2025 at 9:43 AM
On this day in 1542, sixteen palace women tried to strangle the Jiajing Emperor with a hemp rope. They tied the knot wrong. He fainted from fright instead of dying. One conspirator panicked and told the Empress. All sixteen were executed by slow slicing. A bad night for all involved.
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
November 27, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
On this date in 1922.
It was the spark that lit global Egyptomania.
Howard Carter peers through a small hole in a sealed doorway in the Valley of the Kings.
The tomb of Tutankhamun.
Lord Carnarvon: “Can you see anything?”
Carter: “Yes. Wonderful things.”
#ThisDayInHistory
It was the spark that lit global Egyptomania.
Howard Carter peers through a small hole in a sealed doorway in the Valley of the Kings.
The tomb of Tutankhamun.
Lord Carnarvon: “Can you see anything?”
Carter: “Yes. Wonderful things.”
#ThisDayInHistory
November 26, 2025 at 8:47 AM
On this date in 1922.
It was the spark that lit global Egyptomania.
Howard Carter peers through a small hole in a sealed doorway in the Valley of the Kings.
The tomb of Tutankhamun.
Lord Carnarvon: “Can you see anything?”
Carter: “Yes. Wonderful things.”
#ThisDayInHistory
It was the spark that lit global Egyptomania.
Howard Carter peers through a small hole in a sealed doorway in the Valley of the Kings.
The tomb of Tutankhamun.
Lord Carnarvon: “Can you see anything?”
Carter: “Yes. Wonderful things.”
#ThisDayInHistory
Great to be working again with Dan Snow and the team from History Hit, talking all things Central Axis and Ming-Qing transition. (Not to mention very cool being back in Beijing, if only for a short visit.)
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Great to be working again with Dan Snow and the team from History Hit, talking all things Central Axis and Ming-Qing transition. (Not to mention very cool being back in Beijing, if only for a short visit.)
Alexander Boyd of @chinabooksreview.com joins me on a special crossover episode of Barbarians at the Gate to discuss Vikram Seth's 1983 travelogue, From Heaven Lake.
open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...
open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...
Barbarians at the Gate x China Books Review: From Heaven Lake
Before he became an award-winning novelist, the Indian writer Vikram Seth was an exchange student in China. In the 1980s, he traveled overland from Nanjing to Delhi.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Alexander Boyd of @chinabooksreview.com joins me on a special crossover episode of Barbarians at the Gate to discuss Vikram Seth's 1983 travelogue, From Heaven Lake.
open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...
open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...
November 13, 1760: Birthday of The Jiaqing Emperor. Inherited bloated bureaucracy, several rebellions, rampant corruption, and his dad's "close friend" Heshen. Tried reform and got "the beginning of the end" label for his trouble. We historians can be picky bastards, can't we?
November 13, 2025 at 9:14 AM
November 13, 1760: Birthday of The Jiaqing Emperor. Inherited bloated bureaucracy, several rebellions, rampant corruption, and his dad's "close friend" Heshen. Tried reform and got "the beginning of the end" label for his trouble. We historians can be picky bastards, can't we?
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
this entry in @jeremiahjenne.com’s Archive project is a gem.
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick, "From Heaven Lake," a travelogue by the acclaimed Indian novelist Vikram Seth's recounting his overland journey from Nanjing to New Delhi via Tibet in 1982: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/11/h...
November 12, 2025 at 2:23 PM
this entry in @jeremiahjenne.com’s Archive project is a gem.
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
Before he became an award-winning novelist, the Indian writer Vikram Seth was an exchange student in China. In the 1980s, he traveled overland from Beijing to Delhi.
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...
November 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Before he became an award-winning novelist, the Indian writer Vikram Seth was an exchange student in China. In the 1980s, he traveled overland from Beijing to Delhi.
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick, "From Heaven Lake," a travelogue by the acclaimed Indian novelist Vikram Seth's recounting his overland journey from Nanjing to New Delhi via Tibet in 1982: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/11/h...
November 12, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick, "From Heaven Lake," a travelogue by the acclaimed Indian novelist Vikram Seth's recounting his overland journey from Nanjing to New Delhi via Tibet in 1982: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/11/h...
On this day in 1866, Sun Yat-sen was born in Guangdong. The PRC and Taiwan might tussle over his legacy, but he’s one of the few figures in Modern Chinese history routinely honored on both sides of the Strait.
November 12, 2025 at 10:43 AM
On this day in 1866, Sun Yat-sen was born in Guangdong. The PRC and Taiwan might tussle over his legacy, but he’s one of the few figures in Modern Chinese history routinely honored on both sides of the Strait.
My latest for the @chinabooksreview.com
Before he became an award-winning novelist, the Indian writer Vikram Seth was an exchange student in China. In the 1980s, he traveled overland from Beijing to Delhi.
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...
Read @jeremiahjenne.com latest Archive Pick: chinabooksreview.com/2025/11/06/h...
November 11, 2025 at 1:22 PM
My latest for the @chinabooksreview.com
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
In this week’s Compass Dispatch, your correspondent visits the Swiss Alps and ponders the relationship between mountains and the people who climb them. Also cocoa. Lots of cocoa.
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...
Compass Dispatches: Eiger Dreams and Overpriced Cocoa in the Swiss Alps
Of humans, heights and the reliably beautiful but historically tragic alpine vistas of Central Switzerland
bytheirowncompass.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:56 PM
In this week’s Compass Dispatch, your correspondent visits the Swiss Alps and ponders the relationship between mountains and the people who climb them. Also cocoa. Lots of cocoa.
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...
After one of my last walking tours in Geneva, a guest told me that she really enjoyed the walk because I “didn’t quiz the guests.” I know what she meant, and it’s a peeve of mine as well.
Let me explain.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/stop-quizz...
Let me explain.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/stop-quizz...
Stop Quizzing Me, I’m on Vacation
Some guides think engagement means turning the experience into a pub quiz. Here’s why a good tour should be a conversation, not a test.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:41 AM
After one of my last walking tours in Geneva, a guest told me that she really enjoyed the walk because I “didn’t quiz the guests.” I know what she meant, and it’s a peeve of mine as well.
Let me explain.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/stop-quizz...
Let me explain.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/stop-quizz...
In this archival edition of Barbarians at the Gate, we examine the 1860 destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing and how history and narrative are used and misused today.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/the-destru...
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/the-destru...
November 4, 2025 at 8:25 AM
In this archival edition of Barbarians at the Gate, we examine the 1860 destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing and how history and narrative are used and misused today.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/the-destru...
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/the-destru...
On the latest episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we look at the 15th-century voyages of the Chinese admiral Zheng He. It’s giraffes, medieval globalization, and what might have been if Zheng He had decided Europe was worth the trip.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...
October 24, 2025 at 2:49 AM
On the latest episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we look at the 15th-century voyages of the Chinese admiral Zheng He. It’s giraffes, medieval globalization, and what might have been if Zheng He had decided Europe was worth the trip.
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...
jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
Link to episode: bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/ibn-battut...
Ibn Battuta
Taking the long way from Turkey to India
bytheirowncompass.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Link to episode: bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/ibn-battut...
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
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.)
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.)
October 6, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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.)
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.)
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...
Link to the full episode: jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...
October 1, 2025 at 12:18 PM
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...
Link to the full episode: jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/barbarians...
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...
open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...
September 30, 2025 at 10:02 AM
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...
open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
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...
Link to this week's Compass Dispatch Newsletter:
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...
September 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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...
Link to this week's Compass Dispatch Newsletter:
bytheirowncompass.substack.com/p/compass-di...
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...
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
September 24, 2025 at 12:31 PM
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...
open.substack.com/pub/jeremiah...
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
Antifa? You mean Wanyan *Aguda?* Founding emperor of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and ancestor of the Manchus??
September 19, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Antifa? You mean Wanyan *Aguda?* Founding emperor of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and ancestor of the Manchus??
Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne
Media outlets that fail to report on Jeffrey Epstein’s upstanding behavior and model lifestyle can expect swift prosecution.
by Pam Bondi
by Pam Bondi
September 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Media outlets that fail to report on Jeffrey Epstein’s upstanding behavior and model lifestyle can expect swift prosecution.
by Pam Bondi
by Pam Bondi