A Weibo Joke - What What What
Today's episode is a joke. No really, we are looking at a joke that is making the rounds on Weibo. This is a joke that is very opaque, but that opacity points to how autocracy in China works today.
2 Sep 202310min
Zhuangzi's Useless Tree
One of the world's great philosophers meditates on the value of being useless with a parable about an old, ugly tree.
19 Aug 202312min
Phags-Pa
Did you know that in the 13th Century a Chinese emperor and a Tibetan monk tried to get rid of Chinese characters and create a universal script, one writing system to write every language in the world...
5 Aug 202320min
Rise of the Mongols - Interview with Professor Christopher Atwood
Today, Lee has a fascinating interview with Professor Christopher Atwood, of the University of Pennsylvania. He studies the Mongolian and Chinese Frontier, and he recently published The Rise of the Mo...
22 Jul 20231h
Kong Yi Ji Rap
In this episode, a century-old Lu Xun story, Kong Yi Ji, has become popular again. The story reflects the struggles of youth unemployment in modern China. The story blows up on the Chinese internet. A...
8 Jul 202320min
Li Hiraku - A Strange Marriage
A Taiwanese lesbian begins using dating apps, finds the love of her life, and then realizes she is not the love of her life, but decides to marry her any ways. You won't want to miss this week's episo...
24 Jun 202320min
Xu Lizhi - A Screw Falls to the Ground
Today, we look at the somber poem of a Foxconn worker, Xu Lizhi. His poem, "A Screw Falls to the Ground," is a masterclass of how modern Chinese poetry is able to live up to the standards set by class...
10 Jun 202311min
Lei Feng's Screw
This is the first in a two-part mini-series on the screw in modern Chinese literature. Yep, that is right, the screw, the humble tool which binds the world. This week, I am looking at a passage in Lei...
27 Mai 202313min
