iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

On the latest episode of By Their Own Compass, Sarah and I discuss Ptolemy and Mercator as we navigate the challenges and unintended consequences of putting a round Earth onto a flat map. open.substack.com/pub/bytheiro...

open.substack.com

Ptolemy, Mercator, and the History of our World Map

How a drawing from the 16th century is still shaping the way we see the worldPtolemy, Mercator, and the History of our World Map

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 16h

Photo caption/citation: The Ningbo waterfront, ca. 1870. Edward Bowra Collection. Courtesy of Historical Photographs of China, University of Bristol (Bo01-029).

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 16h

A beautiful waterfront. Historic bund. World-class hotels. Why Ningbo deserves to be more than just Shanghai's quiet rival. A report on my recent research trip to one of the original Qing dynasty treaty ports. jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/shanghais-...

jeremiahjenne.substack.com

Shanghai's Quiet Rival: A History Walk Along Ningbo's Old Bund

A historian's walking guide to one of the original treaty ports turned tourist destination

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 30/09/2026

One of my favorite Qing Dynasty...memoirs? Love stories? Eyewitness account of the rot at the end of the High Qing? No matter what, Shen Fu gives us a fantastic, candid account of a scholar-aesthete and his amazing wife who decide to bag the struggle for success, lie flat, and embrace life.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 28/09/2026

On the latest episode of By Their Own Compass, we do a deep dive into 3 missionaries, their backgrounds, and the influence they had on the places they visited. Listen in wherever you get your podcasts. www.bytheirowncompass.com/p/historys-m...

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 24/09/2026

Chairman? President? General Secretary? In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, David Moser and I discuss why people care so much about the titles of Chinese leaders. jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/chairmen-c...

jeremiahjenne.substack.com

Chairmen, China, and the Tricky Translations of Political Terms in the PRC

Donald Trump welcomes Xi Jinping to Washington this week, but who is he meeting? China’s president? Chairman? General Secretary? Does it even really matter?

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 23/09/2026

In the latest episode of By Their Own Compass, Sarah and Jeremiah discuss the complex legacy of missionaries such as Mary Slessor, whose work in Africa placed her at the heart of British colonial rule, even as she strongly opposed it.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 21/09/2026

In this recently re-released episode of Dan Snow's History Hit, Dan and I dish about the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty. It's Monarchs. Mongols. Manchus. Eunuchs and more. shows.acast.com/dansnowshist...

shows.acast.com

The Rise and Fall of the Ming Dynasty | Dan Snow's History Hit

At its height, Ming China was one of the most powerful states on Earth. So how did it come to an end?

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 18/09/2026

When travel meets a higher power. The new episode of By Their Own Compass examines the awkward position of missionaries who journeyed far from home to pursue their calling. Maps in China, an angry Scot versus a territorial hippo, and Dartmouth College. www.bytheirowncompass.com/p/historys-m...

bytheirowncompass.com

History’s Most Ambitious Missionaries

Matteo Ricci, Mary Slessor, and Samson Occom’s world-changing travels in the name of Christianity

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Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

Paul French @chinarhyming.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Traces of Sir Reginald Johnston at SOAS - Last week I was delighted to be invited by London University’s SOAS & The Meridian Society to view artifacts & books linked to Reginald Johnston & last emperor Puyi held in their library archives paulfrench.substack.com/p/september-...

paulfrench.substack.com

September 11 2026 - ChinaRhyming - Traces of Sir Reginald Johnston at SOAS

Last week I was delighted to be invited by London University’s SOAS & The Meridian Society to view artifacts & books linked to Reginald Johnston & last emperor Puyi held in their library archives....

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 11/09/2026

Come for tales of David's dominatrix physical therapist; stay for a (somewhat) nuanced discussion of the Mao era.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 11/09/2026

New episode of Barbarians at the Gate with me and @davidmoserbeijing.bsky.social discussing what we did on our summer vacations and, of course, the 50th anniversary of the death of Chairman Mao. jeremiahjenne.substack.com/p/mao-more-t...

jeremiahjenne.substack.com

Mao, More Than Ever

A revolutionary general who never made the leap to running a state. Plus David's hundred-day ankle and the question every modern China historian dreads.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 09/09/2026

The latest episode of By Their Own Compass is the story of that journey, their relationship, the secrets they hid from each other, and what it was like for two women to travel through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan in 1939.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 09/09/2026

Ella Maillart is one of my favorite travel writers. I've long been fascinated by her book The Cruel Way, about a road trip in a Ford with her companion, the journalist Annemarie Schwarzenbach, from Geneva to Afghanistan in the months before the world descended into war.

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𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕒 ℙ𝕠𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕥 @thoc.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The virgin liberal looks at the US attacking Canada and is baffled by an ally attacking an ally for no reason. The chad Legalist understands the stratagem of befriending far (North Korea, Russia), while attacking near (Canada, Greenland, Minneapolis) is the True wisdom.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 21/08/2026

What do Anthropic's hunger for training data, an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas, and the possible loss of thousands of documents related to the history of USAID have to do with the Qianlong Emperor? Link in the reply below.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 06/08/2026

At breakfast today in Shanghai, I saw this translation and immediately had thoughts of @bokane.org and the hills upon which we choose to fight and die.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 03/08/2026

MAGA embraces the long-standing CCP policy of "Patriotic Education for the Masses" (爱国教育） www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 03/08/2026

The original was nine stories tall. The 1933 reboot is a little shorter, but still easily visible from the other peaks of Baoshi Hill. ca. 1920s photograph from University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: JM01-028.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 03/08/2026

The king's uncle, a minister of the Wuyue Kingdom (one of the kingdoms of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era), built it as an architectural prayer for the safe return of the king Qian Chu, who was in Song custody working out the terms of his eventual capitulation to the surging Song Dynasty.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 03/08/2026

Morning hike up Baoshi Hill in Hangzhou. The Baochu Pagoda site dates to the 960s.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 31/07/2026

Nellie Bly saw her race around the world as a competition against time, Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg, and society’s notions about what a woman could or couldn’t do. New York City newspapers saw it differently. Listen to the full episode here: www.bytheirowncompass.com/p/nellie-bly...

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 30/07/2026

It’s also a survivor. During the Taiping War, General Charles “Chinese” Gordon of the Ever Victorious Army (who was an ENGINEER by training) tried to cut one of the arches to let a steamship pass through. 26 arches collapsed. Then in 1937, Japanese planes destroyed six more.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 30/07/2026

Fun legend: The name of the bridge comes from a story that the local prefect, Wang Zhongshu 王仲舒, donated his jeweled belt (the eponymous baodai 寶帶) to raise the funds needed to build the bridge.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 30/07/2026

Morning walk in Suzhou on the Baodai Bridge. 53 arches constructed in the 9th century so barge pullers (job description = position title) could tow cargoes across the mouth of Dantai Lake. The steel monstrosity behind it is the younger, hotter replacement with far less charm and grace.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 30/07/2026

Somerset Maugham's On a Chinese Screen was written over a century ago. So why do so many of the expat archetypes Maugham collected in his travels still feel so relevant today? Alexander Boyd of @chinabooksreview.com joins me to discuss on the latest episode of Barbarians at the Gate. Link below.

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Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

Benjamin Balthaser @blbalthaser.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Every classics scholar watching Nolan’s Odyssey rn

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 29/07/2026

Nellie Bly faked insanity to expose the horrors of a 19th-century asylum. Sarah subjected herself to industrial quantities of hairspray and make-up to infiltrate a budget airline. Learn more about Nellie Bly’s amazing story and her epic journey around the world at By Their Own Compass. Link below.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 28/07/2026

Crusading reporter. Feminist icon. World traveler. And somebody who never backed down from a challenge. Nellie Bly was a legend. This is her story. www.bytheirowncompass.com/p/nellie-bly...

bytheirowncompass.com

Nellie Bly's Record-Breaking Race Around the World

Listen now | How a gutsy undercover reporter beat Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days – and became a global sensation

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 22/07/2026

The state intervenes in the market to avoid setting off a panic and to promote social stability. Maybe it's just me, but whenever I see the "National Team" buying the dip in the Chinese stock market, I can't help but think of the Qing-era Ever Normal Granaries hooked up to a Bloomberg terminal.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 21/07/2026

Maugham's On a Chinese Screen is the author's setting board, upon which he pins missionaries, consular officials, fellow tourists, and the occasional Chinese scholar. My latest column for @chinabooksreview.com chinabooksreview.com/2026/07/16/w...

chinabooksreview.com

W. Somerset Maugham: On a Chinese Screen | China Books Review

Over a century after it came out, Maugham's travelogue of his trip to China in 1919–20 reveals less about China itself, more about the foreigners who lived there.

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Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Trump's war in Iran has made gas unaffordable and I am suffering from explosive diarrhea I contracted from a parasite that RFK Jr. said was good for you. But my liberal neighbor won't stop saying "Odysseus" with this weird ancient Greek accent. I have never felt more politically homeless.

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 17/07/2026

"A racist law that inspired more racist laws and was literally named after its racism is definitely not racist. At least according to the Trump administration." MAGA's version of "Patriotic Education" (爱国教育) finds ever deeper depths of dumb. www.thebulwark.com/p/racist-law...

thebulwark.com

Racist Law From 1882 Is Not That Racist, Trump Says

Buried in the White House’s broadside against the Smithsonian is a bizarre—and revealing—claim about the Chinese Exclusion Act.

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Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

China Books Review @chinabooksreview.com · 16/07/2026

A century after it came out, Maugham's travelogue of his trip to China in 1919–20 reveals less about China itself, more about the foreigners who lived there. Read Jeremiah Jenne's latest Archive Pick now: chinabooksreview.com/2026/07/16/w...

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Jeremiah Jenne @jeremiahjenne.com · 16/07/2026

The World Cup final is Sunday, and the latest episode from By Their Own Compass looks back at one of the most improbable journeys in World Cup history. Simon Cockerell of Koryo Tours (183 visits to the DPRK and counting!) joins to discuss. Link to the full episode below.

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The technical term for getting beaten soundly by Belgium in soccer is “getting waffle housed.”

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Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The US men's soccer team suffered an embarrassing defeat after Donald Trump had a bizarre interaction with FIFA. So why does it feel like Joe Biden is the one who had Folarin Balogun's red card rescinded?

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Reposted by Jeremiah Jenne

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕒 ℙ𝕠𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕥 @thoc.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

This has literally always been the case, you blithering dipshit.

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