Chinese Literature Podcast

Today, we take a look at a poet who, astonishingly, was writing interesting poetry during the height of the Maoist era. His is the most underground of the underground poets, and today we look at one o...

16 Juli 202223min

Can Li Bai, China's greatest poet, be translated into frat-boy-ese? Lee tried. It is not as crazy as it sounds. Li Bai is an alcoholic poet. Though he has long been translated into a highfalutin Engl...

9 Juli 202223min

In this episode, Part Two of our two part series on Chen Qiufan's first novel, Rob and Lee try to pivot away from the narrower discussions of what happens in the novel and more on a broader discussion...

2 Juli 202215min

This is part 一 in a two part series on the novel called Wast Tide. This is Chen Qiufan's first novel, its a science-fiction novel that touches on environmentalism and transhumanism. Join Rob and Lee a...

25 Juni 202216min

How many cats have been immortalized in poetry that we are still reading a millenium later? At least one, Mr. Five White. Here, we stand with Mei Yaochen as he gives Mr. Five White the appropriate sen...

18 Juni 202221min

This week, we get back to our weird poetry series. Today's weird poem is one written by an editor at the Xinhua News Agency, China's state-sponsored answer to Reuters or Bloomberg. Chairman Xi visited...

11 Juni 202216min

This week's weird poem is weird in an unexpectedly weird way. Upon first glance, it is an anodyne poem published in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the official rag of the CCP. Until you s...

4 Juni 202218min

One San Francisco poet, writing in the early 20th century, wrote something that no other poet ever said in the history of Chinese literature (probably): having money is more important than having sons...

28 Maj 202212min