I recently got the honor of getting to come back on the China History Podcast over with the head honcho at Teacup Media. Here are all the poems and prose text that we read on the Catastic podcast (other than Xiran Jay Zhao’s, and her excellent translations can be found here). If you see any […]
Where did the Uighur name come from? It might seem crazy, but a poet in the 1930’s took Uighur as his penname, and the Uighur people may have taken their name from that man (well, it is a little bit more complicated than that, but those are the basics). Abdukhaliq Uighur called on his people […]
What is a Zawen? It is complicated. In this episode, we try to tackle what zawen are and what they meant to Lu Xun’s career. Guiding us on our journey is Professor Andrew Jones of UC Berkeley, one of the most well-regarded scholars of Lu Xun in American academia. Professor Jones is the author of […]
We always come back to Pu Songling. This week, we are looking at his story “The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag,” which actually has little to do with either, but rather is a story about love, prostitution and a ghostly woman…join us for a spooky episode of the Chinese Literature Podcast.
Hello to all our Listeners. This is just a quick note: we are thrilled to have been invited to participate in the Modern China Lecture Series hosted by California State University, San Bernindino’s very own Dr. Jeremy Murray. And, we would love it if you would join us. Everyone is welcome! Here is the Zoom […]
The greatest modern scholar on China? That’s Lee’s line in the sand. But even Rob would agree you can’t go wrong reading Jonathan Spence. Join the discussion and tell us what you think!
Lu Xun again? Really? Yes, really…but we still disagree. For Rob, Lu Xun’s definitive decade was the 1920’s, and this was also when he came to define modern Chinese literature. For Lee, the 1920’s belonged to the first in a long line of powerful, innovative female writers: Ding Ling. Join us for the discussion!
Round two for China’s 20th century. Who defined the 1910-1919 period: China’s first Marxist (Li Dazhao) or its first serious literary realist (Lu Xun)? And more importantly: who had the better moustache?
Have you ever wanted to learn more about China, but were either unsure where to start, or didn’t have the money or access? Our new supplement is designed to help. Join us as we discuss our personal picks for essential works on China. Challenging, but not opaque. Interesting, but not amusing. It’s everything you need. […]
It’s here at last! We’re discussing the definitive writers for each decade in China’s 20th century, looking at how they exemplified that era’s struggles and triumphs. Join us this first week to discuss how Wang Guowei (王国维) and Wu Jianren (吴趼人) were the representative writers of China’s last imperial decade.