The unofficial guide to Professor Jiang's Secret History
How Power
Works
28 lectures and 32+ hours of Secret History, turned into one book you can read in a weekend, with every claim checked against the record.
- Every lecture in plain English, with timestamped links to the exact moment he says it
- What historians, economists and central banks actually say: where he's right, where he stretches
- All 20 dated forecasts, scored: 3 hits, 0 misses, 17 still open
Instant PDF download · 382 pages · 30-day money-back guarantee
Unofficial · Not affiliated with Professor Jiang Xueqin
- lectures covered
- 28
- lectures covered
- of video, in ~5 h of reading
- 32+ h
- of video, in ~5 h of reading
- worked examples
- 26
- worked examples
- forecasts scored
- 20
- forecasts scored
Why this book exists
You've seen the clips. Have you seen the system?
Professor Jiang's Secret History series is 28 lectures of whiteboard teaching, recorded for a class of teenagers in Beijing and now followed by millions online. It runs from the first cave paintings to the end of the world: money, empire, religion, collapse and the stories that hold societies together.
Most people meet it as a 60-second clip. But the ideas only work together. The money machine from the first lecture returns in the twenty-fifth. The “river at your back” from lecture four explains how Rome survived its worst defeat. Watch a clip and you get a conclusion. Watch all 32 hours and you get the system, if you have 32 hours.
And even then, a video can't tell you the part everyone actually wants to know: which of this holds up?
32 hours is a lot of evenings
The full playlist is longer than a season of television. This is about five hours of reading.
The ideas build on each other
The book follows the series in order and links every idea back to where it started.
A clip can’t check itself
Each chapter sets his claims against the historians, the data and the strongest objection.
What every chapter gives you
His strongest argument first. Then the record.
Not a fan summary and not a hit piece. Each chapter takes one or two lectures and does the work you'd do yourself if you had a research team and a month.
01
The lecture in one paragraph
His whole argument, compressed, with the video link. Quotes are timestamped so you can hear him say it.
02
What the record shows
Central bank papers, archaeology, genetics, court records. Where he is right, it says so. Where he stretches, it shows the gap.
03
The strongest objection
The best case against him, then what survives it. You leave able to argue both sides.
04
A worked example
The hardest idea made concrete, with numbers: how $5 million becomes $9.5 million, how many hours of your life a mortgage costs.
05
A framework diagram
One picture of the whole model, so you can carry it in your head and apply it to the news.
06
Predictions, scored
Every dated forecast with a written test and a deadline, marked Hit, Miss or Pending, plus the full Prediction Ledger at the back.
Plus “Test the model” questions in every chapter, a glossary of his key concepts, and sources for every chapter.
Look inside
Three real excerpts
From Chapter 1 and the Prediction Ledger, exactly as they appear in the book.
How $5 million becomes $9.5 million
- STEP 1 · DEPOSITSThe class deposits $5m. Money held by the public: $5m.
- STEP 2 · THE LOANThe bank lends $4.5m by writing a new deposit. Nobody's savings move. Public money: $9.5m.
- STEP 3 · REPAYMENTThe loan is repaid; loan and deposit cancel. That $4.5m disappears again.
Jiang's insight is Step 2. His leap is the claim that someone controls Steps 2 and 3 on purpose.
On the mechanics, Jiang is closer to the central banks than to the textbooks. In 2014 the Bank of England published a paper saying, in plain terms, that most money in a modern economy is created by commercial banks when they make loans.
What the record does not show is intent. That crises destroy money doesn't mean crises are staged in order to destroy money. Jiang moves from function to purpose without marking the step. It is the move he makes most often across the series, and readers should watch for it.
3 hit · 0 miss · 17 pending · 6 more listed but not scorable
- Hit
"Stupid foreign wars"
Lecture #2 · US–Iran war from Feb 28, 2026
- Hit
America attacks Venezuela
Lecture #END · January 2026
- Pending
Pension systems go bankrupt
Lecture #3 · Trustees project 2033
- Pending
Europe goes to war with Russia
Lecture #END
Recording a forecast is not endorsing it. Each one has a written test and a deadline.
Contents
19 chapters in five parts
The book follows the series from start to finish. Part I is the toolkit; each part after it turns the tools on a new stretch of history.
PART IHow Power Works
- 1
Lead Into Gold: Money, the Self and the NationFREE
Why the Bank of England agrees that banks create money from nothing, and where the agreement ends.
- 2
Why Societies Rise and Fall
Three famous theories of collapse welded into one model, plus five dated predictions about the West.
- 3
Death by Gerontocracy
What happens to a country when the old hold the wealth, the votes and the jobs.
- 4
Death by Meritocracy
How elite admissions turned into venture capital, and why the "best" stop being the best.
- 5
Death by Bureaucracy
A navy that lost two-thirds of its ships and gained 1,500 officials. Why the managers always multiply.
PART IIThe Nature of Evil
- 6
How Evil Triumphs
Why ordinary people take part, and the ancient strategy of fighting with a river at your back.
- 7
The Hidden God
The serpent, the demiurge and the oldest argument about who really made the world.
- 8
The Programmed Mind and the Public Ritual
Trauma, ritual and the "revelation of the method", with his moon-landing claim checked line by line.
PART IIIThe Theory of Everything
- 9
The Theory of Everything
Jiang's model of mind and matter, set against what modern cosmology actually knows.
- 10
The Dawn of Imagination
Cave art, Göbekli Tepe and why a temple is always the most valuable real estate on earth.
- 11
The Mandate of Heaven
Why every civilization needs a founding story, and how a royal court rewrites the gossip.
PART IVThe Ancient Pattern
- 12
Horse, Bronze and Collapse
The steppe, the Bronze Age collapse, and what one shipwreck reveals about a whole economy.
- 13
The Two Big Bangs: Homer, Genesis and the Problem of Forgiveness
The two books that made the West, and the question neither could answer.
- 14
The Lord of Wisdom and the King of Kings
Zarathustra, Persia and the first empire run on an idea.
- 15
Borderlands Win, Empires Write
Why Rome could lose battle after battle and still win the war.
PART VThe Making of the West
- 16
The Spark and the Franchise: Jesus, Paul and the Making of the Church
How a small movement grew like a franchise, with the numbers.
- 17
The Church Above History: Constantine, the Trinity, Islam and the Inquisition
Four ways to count to one, and the empire's contract versus the Church's.
- 18
Capital Without a Country: The Bank, the Reformation and the Ideas That Made Us
How a Parliament out-borrowed a king, and what a 30-year mortgage costs in hours of your life.
- 19
Scripts for the End of the World: Messiahs, Prophecy and the Final Forecast
Newton's 2060, prophecy as a coordination device, and how to score a storyteller.
Back matter: the Prediction Ledger (every forecast, its test and its status), Key Concepts glossary, sources.
Watch, or read?
Keep the lectures. Add the map.
| The playlist | How Power Works | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 32+ hours of video | About 5 hours of reading |
| Structure | 28 videos in upload order | 5 parts, 19 chapters, cross-referenced |
| Sources | Rarely given on screen | Every chapter checked and sourced |
| Predictions | Scattered across lectures | All 20 with tests, deadlines and status |
| Use it later | Scrub through video | Searchable PDF, works offline, on any device |
| Price | Free | $17 once, about $0.61 a lecture |
The full lectures are free on the Predictive History channel, and you should watch them. The book links back to them hundreds of times.
This book is for you if
- You follow Jiang and want the whole system in one place, in order
- You want to know which claims hold up before you repeat them
- You like history explained through money, power and incentives
- You want to track his forecasts against what actually happens
It is not for you if
- You want every claim confirmed. Some don’t survive the record, and we say so
- You want a takedown. We give his strongest argument first, every time
- You want a transcript. This is analysis; the videos are free
Who wrote it, and how
Independent, sourced, and upfront about it
Adrian Vale writes for Jiang Insights, an independent site that analyzes Professor Jiang's lectures and keeps a public scorecard of his predictions. The book is built the same way: his words, linked and timestamped; our analysis, clearly marked as ours.
This is an unofficial guide. We are not affiliated with Professor Jiang. He has publicly permitted creative use of his lectures; the analysis, and any errors, are ours.
One editorial rule up front: we don't repeat claims about ethnic or religious groups, or about named private people, that no evidence supports. Where a lecture goes there, the book says what was left out and why. Everything else, including his most controversial ideas, is presented in his own terms first.
The complete guide
How Power Works
The Unofficial Guide to Professor Jiang's Secret History
$17one-time · USD
- 382-page designed PDF: 19 chapters covering all 28 lectures
- 26 worked examples and a framework diagram for every chapter
- The Prediction Ledger: 20 forecasts with tests and deadlines
- Timestamped links to every quote, plus sources for every chapter
- Reads on phone, tablet, Kindle app or desktop; searchable and printable
- Free updated editions as forecasts resolve
Secure checkout via Buy Me a Coffee. The download link arrives by email right after payment.
30-day money-back guarantee. If the book isn't worth it to you, email us within 30 days and we'll refund you in full. No questions, no hoops.
Not sure yet?
Read Chapter 1 free
Lead Into Gold: Money, the Self and the Nation. The lecture the whole series is built on, with the Bank of England's view of money creation, the war-state origin of school, and Jiang's one-sentence definition of power. 25 designed pages, yours to download right away.
Questions
Before you buy
Is this Professor Jiang’s own book?
No. It is an independent, unofficial guide to his Secret History lectures, written by Adrian Vale of Jiang Insights. Professor Jiang has publicly permitted creative use of his lectures, but he did not write or review this book. His own books include Creative China (2014), and he has said he is planning another.
Why pay when the lectures are free?
You are paying for the work around them: 32 hours condensed into about five hours of reading, organized into one system, every claim checked against sources, and every forecast scored with a written test. Keep watching the lectures; the book links to them throughout.
Is it for or against Jiang?
Neither. Every chapter gives his strongest argument first, then what historians, economists and the data say. Where he is right, we say so plainly. Where a claim doesn’t hold up, we show why. You make up your own mind.
What format is it, and how do I get it?
A designed PDF (382 pages) that works on any phone, tablet, e-reader app or computer. After checkout, Buy Me a Coffee emails you the download link immediately. No account needed.
Will it be updated?
Yes. The Prediction Ledger is reissued as forecasts resolve (v1.1, v1.2, and so on). Buyers get each updated edition free.
What if I don’t like it?
Email us within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. No questions asked.
Does it cover the controversial lectures?
Yes, all 28 lectures, including religion, secret societies and his forecasts about the Middle East. Contested claims are attributed to him and set against the record. We leave out unsupported claims about ethnic or religious groups and named private people, and say so where we do.
Can I read a sample first?
Yes. Chapter 1 is free in full. Enter your email above and download it instantly.
“Power is the capacity to turn nothing into everything.”
Jiang Xueqin · Secret History #1
Twenty-eight lectures on how that trick works, from the first temples to the last forecast. One book.
Instant PDF · 30-day money-back guarantee · Unofficial, not affiliated with Professor Jiang