Qiu Fengjia - Taiwanese or Chinese Nationalist?
Today, we look at Qiu Fengjia, a Taiwanese-born Mandarin, who, in 1895, upon hearing that Taiwan had been given to Japan as a part of the Treaty of Shiminoseki, wrote a poem expressing his sadness and...
9 Dec 202318min
Qiang Flute - Interview with Zhang Yanshuo
Today, we have an interview with Professor Zhang Yanshuo, a scholar at Pomona College who studies a group of people that have existed on the peripheries of Chinese soceity for several millennia. The Q...
25 Nov 202333min
Wang Anyi - I Love Bill - Interveiw with Todd Foley, the Translator
Today we have a great interview episode with Todd Foley, an adjunct professor at NYU and the translator of Wang Anyi's book, I Love Bill and Other Stories. Our discussion of this fascinating author wa...
12 Nov 202334min
Book of Poetry - Spanking the Pan
The Book of Poetry is the earliest work of Chinese lyric poetry in existance. But it has a reputation as being a bit fusty. Today, we are going to explore the naughtier side of the anthology.
28 Okt 202315min
She Bore the Folk
The third in the series on the Book of Poems, this episode looks at the mythological poem on the birth of the god of agriculture, Lord Millet.
14 Okt 202316min
Cao Xue's The Hut on the Mountain - Nobel Rerun?
Can Xue is the odds on favorite for winning the Nobel Prize in Literature tomorrow. Rob and I did a podcast on her way back in 2018, and I am rereleasing it in honor of her consideration. Whatever the...
5 Okt 202319min
The Book of Poems - Those Tender Peaches
Today is part two of the podcast series on the 詩經, the Book of Poems. This episode looks at Those Tender Peaches, a highly sexualized poem talking about more than peaches.
30 Sep 202319min
Book of Poetry - The Big Rat
Today, we are taking a look at a poem from the oldest extant work of Chinese literature, the Shijing (Book of Poem) Today's poem is a poem about rats, but also a poem about government, and it is the f...
16 Sep 202313min
