Renowned China specialist, Professor Jonathan Spence, will be delivering the 60th Reith Lectures on China.

Titled Chinese Vistas, the series “suggest the long view that we need to have when we think about China today. China’s current options, for both good and ill, are intricately enmeshed with her past experiences,” according to Prof Spence.

Over four lectures, Prof Spence will reflect on Confucius and its relevance in 21st century China; China’s relations with Great Britain; China’s relations with the United States; and how China has slowly shaped its sense of Chinese bodies to answer different needs, from languorous courtship and formalised martial arts down to the demanding arenas of team sports and the ultimate Olympic challenges.

The Reith Lectures will be broadcast weekly on BBC Radio 4, beginning on 3 June 2008. The lectures will also be available as podcasts from June.

If history is supposedly irrelevant according to some sceptics, why do some issues crop up again and again and again, continuing to haunt the modern world?

History under siege: battles over the past is a four-part programme by Australia’s Radio National. The programme surveys the tensions and debates around history, identity and contemporary society in four countries around the world – Japan, Argentina, Australia and France. Click on the links to listen to the programme podcasts.

Many of the issues raised are not new to historians and students of history. A refreshing programme (who says history is boring?), featuring interviews with historians, oral history and testimonies, and archival materials.