In today’s episode, we look at a work that tackles the controversial topics of aborition and the One-Child Policy. Today’s story, by Nobel-Prize Laureate Mo Yan, watches a father/government official after his wife becomes pregnant with a son. Their first child, a daughter, is not good enough for the official’s dad, he wants a son. […]
“Folding Beijing” is one of the most talked-about science fiction stories to come out of China since Liu Cixin, Hao Jingfang’s story is about a Beijing divided into three parts. First Space is for the rich, Second Space is for the middle class and Third Space is for the poor, who clean up after First […]
Today, we are looking at Chinese Literature’s greatest Fart Joke. This involves Su Dongpo, one of China’s greatest poets, and a monk who punctures Su Dongpo’s self importance. Here are some of the things I mentioned I would put on the podcast. Su Dongpo’s Poem on the 8 Winds: I bow my head to the […]
Lock up your daughters and watch your wallet. In this episode, we are going to take a look at stories from the late Ming’s most famous grift manual, a book by Zhang Yingyu. For this episode, the translators, Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea have kindly agreed to come on talk about this text without stealing […]
Today, we have an interview Joel Bigman, the author of The Second Journey. The Second Journey is a continuation novel of Journey to the West (西遊記). In this journey to the West, Tang monk travels ever farther to the west, all the way to modern day Israel. Bigman has written his novel with some of the same characters that you […]
It is that time of year again, the time when the Chinese Literature Podcast takes stock of the year and what has happened. In this podcast, Lee talks about his book and also about teaching Chinese Literature at the University of Oregon.
Today, we have an exciting and disturbing episode about Taiwan and prostitution. This is Number 6 in my series on Taiwanese literature, and the second episode on Huang Chunming, Taiwan’s most famous nativist author. Last episode, the podcast looked at the story, “Drowning of an Old Cat.” This week we look at a story from […]
Today, we take a look at Huang Chunming, one of the most important writers in Taiwan’s nativist movement. He is an author who developed this sense of a Taiwanese identity in his work. Also, don’t worry, no cats die in this story. Finally, I mentioned that Rob and I did a podcast on the 1884 […]
Today, Lee is talking with Professor Daniel Bell, most recently the author of Dean of Shandong, but also the author of the famous China Model. Professor Bell and Lee chat about his book and about his wider experience of Chinese culture and philosophy while serving as the first foreign dean of a university in the PRC. To purchase […]
Today, the podcast does something different. In this episode, we are looking at a film. And not just any film. It is perhaps the greatest film ever made. Yi Yi or A One and a Two is the magmum opus of Edward Yang, the Taiwanese filmmaker. We are going to explore the symbolism of balloons, sticks and […]