Best China Podcasts

There is not really any good, authoritative list of China podcasts out there. I have seen a few, but most of them seem hastily concocted by podcast companies that don’t know much about China. So, I decided to make that list. The list only includes podcasts in English about China (excluding Chinese-learning podcasts, which is a completely different genre). If you know of a good China podcast that I am missing, email me at chineseliteraturepodcast at gmail.com

Here, in no particular order, is a list of my favorite China-related podcasts:

1. China History Podcast – So, I said that these were listed in no particular order, but actually, this is probably the best China-related podcast out there. It is not just one podcast, but multiple podcasts under a single brand, Teacup Media. Laszlo Montgomery, the proprietor of Teacup Media, started out with his flagship China History Podcast, but he has multiple other podcasts, including the his history of tea, China Sayings Podcast and the China Vintage Hour.
2. Chinese Literature Podcast – Of course, we can’t forget this very podcast though, if you are here, you already know this podcast is your best source on Chinese literature. Here at the Chinese Literature Podcast, if it is Chinese (in any way, shape or form) and it is literature (ditto), we cover it.
3. Sinica Podcast – The China podcast with the widest listenership, Sinica is the best place to go for current events on China. The podcast has a bend towards politics, but they touch on pretty much everything related to China. The podcast used to be formatted around Kaiser Kuo (formerly a Chinese rock star) and Jeremy Goldkorn (one of the first China bloggers) doing interviews of important scholars and other kinds of figures in the know. Now, it is mostly Kaiser, as Jeremy spends most of his time editing the China Project, the best news source on China, hands down (full disclosure, I occasionally write for the China Project).
4. The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast – Angus Stewart is the host of this excellent podcast on anything that has been translated into English from Chinese. His episodes are structured as interviews, and they are great in terms of thorough coverage of any text they are discussing. He is focused largely (though not exclusively) on more contemporary literature, and he also does a great job of throwing in extras, like a chengyu that is related to that text and a song that typifies that text. Angus also does a great job of digging up news in the realm of Chinese literature…often times, I learn that a new translation has come into English via this great podcast.
5. Barbarians at the Gate – This podcast not only has a great name, but it is also an excellent look at a mix of China’s past, present and future by two scholars of China, David Moser and Jeremiah Jenne. The podcast’s subject is China and…whatever David and Jeremiah want. Sometimes it is just the two of them talking about what they are seeing inside China at the moment, sometimes they look back to China’s past and sometimes they do interviews with scholars on a wide range of topics.
6. Master of Demon Gorge – William Han claims this is a podcast on Chinese history, but really, the Master of Demon Gorge does more than just give you history. Han also touches on current events, geopolitics and literature with an eye towards their historical background.
7. Nü Voices Podcast – The China podcast world is a bit of a sausage festival (sorry, we have contributed to that). Nü Voices podcast attempts to even the field, featuring a wide array of different women working on projects related to China.
8. Middle Earth Podcast – Host Aladin Farre takes you through different aspects of China’s modern cultural industry. This includes a wide range of things, from Chinese rap to Chinese pornography. The podcast is usually built around Aladin interviewing an expert in the field.
9. China Talk Podcast – This is several things rolled into one: a weekly-ish podcast, a blog and a link to Rhodium Group, a global thinktank. Host Jordan Schneider has conversations with experts, and though he says he focuses on China’s tech scene, this podcast touches on anything that is related to current events.
10. Pekingology – Jude Blanchette is the host of this wonkish China podcast. Pekingology looks at China from a very polisci/IR perspective. The podcast is structured around interviews with experts.
11. Mosaic of China – Unlike other China podcasts, which pick a specialization and bore deep into it, the Mosaic of China podcast eschews the particular. Anybody who is both interesting and has a connection to China is a possible subject for one of host Oscar Fuchs’ interviews.
12. Chinese History Podcast – Yes, there is a podcast with a remarkably similar name at the top of this list. But these two podcasts could not be more different. The China History Podcast covers a range of issues related to different periods for a general audience. The Chinese History Podcast is two PhD students at UCLA nerding out with other China history nerds over some really obscure corners of China’s past. Is this going to be everyone’s cup of tea; no. Do I love listening to them geek out over the Ming bureaucracy or Mongol-Japan relations; absolutely.
13. People’s History of Ideas – An unabashedly left-wing podcast that discusses Chinese Revolutionary History. If you are interested in a critical analysis of the minutae of Chinese Marxism, you have come to the right place.
14. John Zhu has two podcasts that I am going to lump together merely for convenience. The first is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast and the second is the Outlaws of the Water Margin Podcast. Both are essentially podiobooks, retelling the classic stories of these two Chinese novels in a way that makes them more acccessible to people who did not grow up hearing these stories.
15. China Sports Insider Podcast – If it touches on both sports and China, Mark and Haig are probably talking about it. Even if you are not that interested in sports, there is a lot in this podcast, as they use sports to elucidate Chinese society more broadly.
16. Journey to the West Podcast – Similar to John Zhu’s podcasts, this is a podiobook that retells one of China’s most famous novels in podcast form. This podcast finished when it completed all hundred chapters of the novel back in late 2021, but if you have a hankering for Buddhists and their demon nemeses, you can get your fill here.
17. Of Course China – Two China-hands based in southern China talk business and, more broadly, life as an expat in China.
18. The History of China Podcast – A podcast in the mold of the History of Rome podcast, this weekly-ish podcast narrates China’s history in order, bit by bit, following the march of time as each episode moves a bit closer to the present
19. China in Africa Podcast – This is a twice-a-week podcast that focuses on Sino-African relations. The podcast itself is a part of a larger project that attempts to discuss China’s relationships with the broader Global South.
20. Rereading the Stone – This is similar to a podiobook, though it leans more towards analysis rather than storytelling. This podcast simply takes China’s greatest novel The Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone and goes through it chapter by chapter, with in-depth analysis and discussion.
21. China Geopolitics – A podcast from the good folks at the South China Morning Post, the best English-language newspaper in East Asia (imho), this podcast does exactly what it says, delivering weekly-ish podcasts wrapping up what is happening in terms of Chinese geopolitics. The format usually involves an interview with one of the SCMP’s journalist.
22. Belt and Road Podcast – This podcasts is pure geopolitics, with a clear focus on how Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative. The podcast is structured around interviews with some of the leading experts in the field, and has a regional focus on Central Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia, though it has been known to roam farther afield to places like Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
23. Silk and Steel Podcast – Carl Zha has occasional podcasts that touch on a wide variety of topics related to Chinese culture and history.
24. Tech Buzz China – Tech Buzz China’s Podcast, coming from Pandaily, used to be an excellent source for learning about the developments in the country’s tech scene. But it appears to have stopped, perhaps because there is no buzz, only gloom, in China’s tech scene since the tech crackdown began.
25. China Travel Podcast – Want to fantasize about traveling in China while you are stuck outside? Check out this podcast to get you prepared for when China opens back up…some time in the 2030’s.
26. Sinobabble – A smart podcast looking at 20th Century history that veers towards the intellectual, almost feeling like a lecture in a university. This podcaster clearly knows her stuff. The only thing I don’t like about this is that she appears to have stopped podcasting.
27. China Flexpat Podcast – A podcast focused on being an entrepreneur in China.
28. How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast – A weekly podcast looking at the nitty gritty of Chinese poetry. It is available on various podcast providers, including Spotify and Apple Podcast, though this podcast has a more limited distribution. I am linking to the Spotify page.
29. Sinopsis – A great podcast on China, Czechia and the world, produced by Charles Unviersity in Prague.

University Lectures

1. Harvard Fairbanks Center for Chinese Studies – This and the following university-based podcasts are less podcasts and more of just lectures that these university centers have posted as podcasts. That is a statement of genre (which, if you listen to the Chinese Literature Podcast, you know that is something we are constantly debating), not quality. If you want to hear top scholars discussing China, this is a great place to start.
2. UCLA Center for Chinese Studies – UCLA has some excellent lectures that they have done, though it appears that they may no longer be doing them (or at least they have stopped posting them online).
3. CSU San Bernadino Modern China Lecture Series – A fun series of lectures that Jeremy Murray has put together, with interviews of many scholars in the China field. Sometimes they get real jerks on this one (see October 27, 2021) but mostly, this is an excellent series of university lectures.
4. UPenn Center for Contemporary Chinese Studies Podcast – Another stellar university with a stellar lineup of scholars discussing their research on China.