Bai Juyi
Part Two of our miniseries on Bai Juyi: this week we look at a poem of biting satire that is a good example of Bai's more polemical poetry. Bai was eventually exiled for some of the poetry he wrote (n...
4 Dec 202112min
Bai Juyi
A seasonal poem? A meditation on death? What does one do with Bai Juyi's poem Autumn Thoughts (秋思)? Rob and Lee hash it out as they watch the leaves fall on two different continents.
27 Nov 202114min
Zhu Ziqing
Zhu Ziqing (朱自清) wrote a short, touching essay on his father. In the essay, Retreating Figure (背影), Zhu grows up a great deal by watching his father grow old.
20 Nov 202116min
Ouyang Xiu - Spring at Jade Tower
We thought we were done with the Song, but we just cannot get enough of it. Now, we are going back to Ouyang Xiu with a poem that features in a translation of a late Qing thinker that Rob is working o...
13 Nov 202114min
Elon Musk's Chinese Poem
It has happened again. For the second time this year, a billionaire has used a Chinese poem on social media in a newsworthy way. And you know we had to deal with it! This week, the world's richest man...
6 Nov 202111min
Lu Xun's "White Light"
We have another spooky story for Halloween, this time a story from Lu Xun. This story, "White Light," is not as discussed as it ought to be, but it has a skull, a suicide and a question of China's fut...
30 Okt 202119min
The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag
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, prostitut...
23 Okt 202121min
Shi Zhecun
This week, we take a look at on of the great writers from Shanghai's 1930's modernist moment. Shi Zhecun is one of the New Sensationalist (新感觉派), and his story, "One Evening in the Rainy Season" follo...
16 Okt 202114min
