1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:05,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey guys, I hope you enjoy these classic 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,479 Speaker 1: episodes from the t D I h C Vault. I'm 4 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:11,559 Speaker 1: currently researching a new crop of stories for next year, 5 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: so be sure to join me again on January second 6 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: when we return with all new episodes. Talk to you soon. 7 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff 8 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:24,239 Speaker 1: Works dot com and from the desk of Stuff You 9 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore 10 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick 11 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hello and welcome 12 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's December eight. 13 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: Christina of Sweden was born on the day in sixteen 14 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: six and the old style Julian calendar and in the 15 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: new style Gregorian calendar that was December eight. Her parents 16 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: were King Gustav the Second Adolf and Maria Eleanora of Brandenburg. 17 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: They were the King and Queen of Sweden, and her 18 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: father had grown very concer earned about whether he would 19 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: have an air before Christina was born. Her parents had 20 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: been through two stillbirths and the death of an infant daughter. 21 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: There were other people close to the line of succession 22 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,759 Speaker 1: who had plenty of airs, so this was caused for concern. 23 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,680 Speaker 1: When Christina was born slightly premature and in a call 24 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: the midwives announced that the king had a son, and 25 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: it wasn't until the following day, after a lot of 26 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: celebration of the birth of a long awaited air, that 27 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: the midwives finally admitted that they had made a mistake 28 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: and that they should have said Christina was a girl. 29 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: This has led to some speculation about whether Christina was intersex, 30 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: or whether her body was just ambiguous, or whether it 31 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: was a matter of poor lighting and the midwives seeing 32 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: what they really wanted to see. Everyone really really wanted 33 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: a son regardless. Though the king decided to raise Christina 34 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: as a prince, he warmed up to the idea of 35 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: having a daughter, but he raised her in many ways 36 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: as a son as she grew up. This suited her 37 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: just fine. She was not very fond of the things 38 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: that women were expected to do during the day, and 39 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: her father wanted her to learn to ride and fight 40 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: and handle a bow, and she did all of that. 41 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: Not only that she did it really well, she really 42 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: enjoyed it. Her demeanor was just not at all what 43 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: people thought of as feminine, So it wasn't all that 44 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: uncommon for royal girls to have the same education as 45 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: their brothers and their male cousins, but it was pretty 46 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: uncommon for them to have been as excited about fighting 47 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: and hunting and whatnot as Christina was. When Christina was five, though, 48 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: her father died and her mother, whose behavior and emotional 49 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: state had become increasingly erratic, took her away from her 50 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: home and the cousins that she'd been living with, where 51 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,239 Speaker 1: she had been pretty happy until that point. Even though 52 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: she was the only daughter of the late king, Christina's 53 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 1: ascension to the throne had to be approved by Parliament, 54 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: which was known as the Reek's dog. They ultimately did approve, 55 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: and by the age of fourteen she was attending council meetings. 56 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: She became queen at eighteen, although her formal coronation wasn't 57 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,239 Speaker 1: until she was twenty three. By the time of her coronation, 58 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: though she was already thinking about abdicating. She had pulled 59 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: some strings to get a cousin named as her successor, 60 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: insisting that she had no desire to marry. It was 61 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: the same cousin that everyone wanted her to marry, and 62 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: she did finally abdicate and moved to Rome and converted 63 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: to Catholicism. She seems to have had some second thoughts 64 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: about this abdication later on, though she tried and failed 65 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: to take over the throne of Poland Lithuania. She hoped 66 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: to become the queen of Sweden again after that successor 67 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: she'd had names suddenly died at a young age, but 68 00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: none of that worked out. Christina wasn't ever known as 69 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: a particularly good ruler. I mean, she did decide to 70 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: abdicate before she was even crowned, but she was an 71 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: extremely learned woman. She spoke multiple languages, including of course 72 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: Swedish plus Greek, Latin, German, French, Flemish, Italian, Spanish, and Finnish, 73 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: with also a little Hebrew and Arabic. She helped start 74 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: the first Swedish newspaper in sixtety five, as well as 75 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: Sweden's first public opera house and its first universal public 76 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: school program. She collected a huge amount of art and literature. 77 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 1: Her collection of books and manuscripts later on became part 78 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: of the Vatican Library. So even though she was maybe 79 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: not the greatest as a queen or a King depended 80 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: on how you wanted to look at it. She did 81 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: other stuff pretty well, and she died in sixty nine 82 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: at the age of sixty two. You can learn more 83 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: about her in the October episode of Stuff You Missed 84 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: in History Class. Thanks to case Epigram and Chandler Maze 85 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: for their audio work on the show, You can subscribe 86 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: to The Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, 87 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, and wherever else you get 88 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: a podcast. Tune in tomorrow for the establishment of a state. 89 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: Hey y'all, I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day in History Class, 90 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: a show where we one day ship nuggets of history 91 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: straight to your brain through your ear hole. The day 92 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: was December eighth, eighteen sixty four. French sculptor Camille Clodel 93 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: was born in fair Untard, Nois, France. A lot of 94 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: emphasis has been placed on her relationship with sculptor Augusta Rodon, 95 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: but Clodel herself was a prolific and acclaimed artist. Clodel 96 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: was the oldest of three children born to Louise Athene's 97 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: Servoux Cloudel and Louis Prosper Clodell. They weren't rich, but 98 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: they moved from time to time because her father was 99 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: a civil servant and they lived comfortably. They stayed for 100 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: a while in vill nouve so Fair, in var Les Duke, 101 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: and in New John Sissin. Clodell took an interest in 102 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: art early on, and while her mother was not too 103 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: fond for her love of art, her father supported her, 104 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: so did her brother, who became a noted poet in playwright. 105 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: As a child, Clodell created clay modeled portraits of her 106 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: family members while the family lived in New John Cisin. 107 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: Clode's artwork attracted the attention of prominent sculptor Alfred Bouche. 108 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 1: Bouche advised her father to encourage her art and enroll 109 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: her in an art academy. Around eighty one, Clodel, her mother, 110 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: and her siblings moved to Paris, while her father stayed 111 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: behind for work. In Paris, she continued to train as 112 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 1: a sculptor. Only men could attend that at Cole de 113 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: Boux Arts, a prestigious arts school in Paris, but there 114 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: were private academies that allowed women to attend. Clodell began 115 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: attending the Colarossi Academy, where she met her lifelong friend 116 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: Jesse Lipscomb. The first sculptures that Clodell completed at Colarossi 117 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: are her earliest surviving works. Boucher mentored Clodel while she 118 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: was in Paris, and he visited Clodell in Lipscombe's studio 119 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: to advise them. Boucher soon left for Italy, but before 120 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: he left he asked Augusta Rodon to take his place 121 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: and tutor his protegees. By that time, Rodon was not 122 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: yet considered a master, but was a celebrated sculptor. Clodel 123 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: and Rodan then began a complicated, years long relationship in 124 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: which Clodell became Rodan's assistant, model, collaborator, and lover. Under 125 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: Rodan's mentorship, she was able to study the new figure 126 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: and anatomy, while Clodell continued to produced her own artwork. 127 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: She also contributed to many of Rodon's sculptures. Rodon's assistants, 128 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: including Clodell, were integral in shaping Rodon's reputation as a 129 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: prolific artist. Many art historians suggest that Rodon and Clodell 130 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: influenced each other's artwork. The pairs romantic and professional relationship 131 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: lasted for more than a decade. But their relationship began 132 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: to fall apart when Rodon refused to leave Rose Beret, 133 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: the mother of his child, whom he lived with. Letters 134 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: Clodell wrote showed her resentment of Rodon and Beret. Still, 135 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,439 Speaker 1: she was productive and her art was recognized. In the 136 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties, she exhibited sculptures at celebrated salons and in galleries, 137 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: but in the early nineteen hundreds Clodell destroyed a lot 138 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: of the arts she worked obsessively to create. Even though 139 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: she had some support from art critics, she became more 140 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: isolated in her studio and struggled with money. She also 141 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: grew obsessive about Rodan's in discretions. After her father died 142 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,559 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirteen, her brother Paul had her admitted to 143 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: an asylum near Paris, and the next year she was 144 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: transferred to a different asylum. For the last few decades 145 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: of her life, Clodel remained in the asylum. She gave 146 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: up sculpting, and even though doctors recommended to be released, 147 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: her family wanted her to stay in the institution. She 148 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: died while hospitalized in nineteen three and was buried in 149 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: a mass grave at the asylum. Though a lot of 150 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: her work was destroyed and her artistic success overshadowed by 151 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: her relationship with Rhodan. Many of her sculptures in drawings 152 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: survive and are celebrated for their dynamism and portrayal of emotion. 153 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: I'm Eve Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little 154 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you 155 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,680 Speaker 1: have any burning questions or comments, you can leave us 156 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: a note at t d i h C Podcast on Twitter, 157 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: Facebook or Instagram, and you can send your thoughts are 158 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: comments to us at this Day at I heart media 159 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:12,000 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you same 160 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: place tomorrow. Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class, 161 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: a show that tries to look at both sides of 162 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: important moments in history. I'm Gabe Blusier, and today we're 163 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,439 Speaker 1: looking at the origin of the heated cross straight relations 164 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,839 Speaker 1: between the inhabitants of Taiwan and those of mainland China. 165 00:10:55,640 --> 00:11:02,599 Speaker 1: The day was December eight. The defeated nationalist forces of 166 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:06,439 Speaker 1: the Republic of China established a new capital on the 167 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: island of present day Taiwan. The nationalists, also known as 168 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: the Kuomuntang, were led by soldier and statesman Xiang Kai 169 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: Shek in a long running war against the revolutionary mounts 170 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 1: Erdong and his communist forces. The r OC government's forced 171 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: retreat to Taiwan signaled that the Chinese Communist Party had 172 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:35,719 Speaker 1: finally won a civil war that had raged for more 173 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:40,439 Speaker 1: than two decades. To understand how that war began, we 174 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: need to go back to nineteen twelve, when a Chinese 175 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: revolution put an end to the Qing dynasty. Rather than 176 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: continue that two thousand year tradition of imperial rule in China, 177 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: the rebels instituted a one party military dictatorship known as 178 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 1: the Kuomun Tang or KMT for short. To further cement 179 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 1: the change in leadership, they also renamed the country, declaring 180 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:13,319 Speaker 1: it the Republic of China or r o C for short. However, 181 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: many citizens were dissatisfied with the new regime. They wanted 182 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,359 Speaker 1: a government that adhered to the principles of communism, not nationalism. 183 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: This unrest led to armed rebellions across mainland China. Eventually, 184 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: the scattered rebels organized themselves into the Communist Party of 185 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: China or c PC for short. There were now two 186 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,719 Speaker 1: rival governments vying for control of the r O C. 187 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: And in nineteen twenty seven, their conflict escalated to full 188 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:52,679 Speaker 1: scale civil war. By nineteen forty nine, the war was 189 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: finally winding down, with the KMT losing more and more 190 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: ground to the communist forces. On December eighth, Nationalist leader 191 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:06,679 Speaker 1: Xiang Kai Shek was left with no choice but to 192 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: abandon Nanjing, which at that point was the capital city 193 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: of China. By moving the government's capital to Taiwan, a 194 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: hundred miles off shore, Jang Kai shecheck was effectively acknowledging 195 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:26,720 Speaker 1: that he and the KMT had lost. As far as 196 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: Chairman Mao was concerned, he had already won the war 197 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: two months earlier. On October first, he claimed victory by 198 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: asserting that mainland China was no longer the Republic of China, 199 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 1: but the People's Republic of China or p r o 200 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: C for short. He also proclaimed that the new capital 201 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: city was Beijing. To go along with the new name 202 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: and the new capital, Mao also established a new communist 203 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,439 Speaker 1: form of government, which was modeled after that of his 204 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: Soviet allies in the U s s R. So to summarize, 205 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: by December ninety nine, you had the victorious Communist forces 206 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,079 Speaker 1: of the People's Republic of China and the mainland and 207 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: the defeated nationalist forces of the Republic of China on 208 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: the island of Taiwan. However, even after fleeing the mainland, 209 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: Gang Kai Check didn't give up the KMT S claim 210 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: of Chinese leadership. He and his two million nationalist followers 211 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: set up the same government in Taiwan that had previously 212 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: ruled on the mainland. This means there were now two 213 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: separate entities that each claimed to be the one true China. 214 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: This situation became known controversially as the Two China's issue, 215 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 1: but today the dispute is a bit more nuanced than 216 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: it was when both governments asserted themselves as competing republics 217 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: of China. Uh. At the heart of the argument is 218 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: a disagreement about what Taiwan is. The Chinese government a 219 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: k a. The p r o C views the island 220 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: as a renegade province of peace of itself that has 221 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: broken away and which someday must be reclaimed, perhaps even 222 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: by force. As for the Taiwanese people, most today don't 223 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: consider themselves Chinese. They feel the island is now a 224 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 1: separate nation. Whether that independence is officially recognized or not. 225 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: After all, Taiwan has its own constitution, democratically elected leaders, 226 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: and even its own armed forces. It has pretty much 227 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: all of the characteristics of a sovereign state, but because 228 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: of its thorny origins, its legal status remains disputed. As 229 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: for the rest of the world, most countries officially recognized 230 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: the p r o C as the ruling party of China, 231 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: with some nations also recognizing the sovereignty of Taiwan. Back 232 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty nine, many foreign governments had hoped the 233 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: nationalist move to Taiwan would make it easier to cooperate 234 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: with both competing governments. However, this proved more difficult in practice, 235 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: as it's hard to acknowledge the terms of one party 236 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: without upsetting the other. Relations between China and Taiwan are 237 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 1: contentious and somewhat precarious, but the piece has held so far. 238 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: The Chinese government continues to push for reunification, while the 239 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: Taiwanese government spurns all such advances, asserting independence instead. It's 240 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,440 Speaker 1: an open question whether or not decades of tension will 241 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: once again rupt an armed conflict, but one thing that 242 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: everyone agrees on is that there aren't to China's though 243 00:16:55,760 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: why that is exactly depends on who you ask. I'm Gay, 244 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little more about 245 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to 246 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: keep up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 247 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,119 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if 248 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send 249 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: them my way at this Day at I heart media 250 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 251 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,920 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 252 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another Day in History class. For more 253 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 254 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen to your favorite shows.