Posts Tagged: china

The Edge of Knowing: by Roy Bing Chan

Today, we take a look at one of the more interesting works of literary analysis to come out on left-leaning literature in 20th Century China. Roy Bing Chan has done close readings of dreams in the works of Lu Xun, Mao Dun, and writers from the PRC.

The Haggadah of the Kaifeng Jews of China

Shalom and welcome to the Chinese Literature Podcast. Today, we have a very special Chinese Literature Podcast in celebration of Passover. We will be looking at the book The Haggadah of the Kaifeng Jews of China by Fook-Kong Wong and Dalia Yasharpour. 

100 Years of Chinese Literature: 1940-1949

There’s one decade, and one decade only, where we both agree, and this is it. Debate’s more fun, but really? It’s awfully hard to argue about Zhang Ailing.

Not Made in China, Part 5: San Mao and the Sahara

World traveler. Friend of Sahrawi freedom fighters. Ambassador for Chinese culture in northern Africa. San Mao had the kind of life that few of her time, or any other, have had. Not surprisingly, she’s still one of the most popular writers in the Chinese language, decades after her death.

Not Made in China, Part 1: Sino-Vietnamese Poetry

We’re kicking off a multi-part series on works that discuss China, or use Chinese, but are not written in China. Our first installment is Hu Chunxiang (Hồ Xuân Hương), a Vietnamese woman who wrote in Tang regulated verse during the late 18th and early 19th century.

1976 Tiananmen Square Incident

When most folks outside of China hear of the Tiananmen Square Incident, and most people either think of the massacre that occurred in 1989. But there was an earlier incident. In 1976, people were getting tired of the Cultural Revolution, but any one who stepped out of line could be criticized. Zhou Enlai, the premier […]

Yu Dafu’s Sinking

Yu Dafu is an early 20th Century writer known for one work: Sinking. This novella is highly autobiographical, and it discusses the trials and tribulations of a Chinese student living in Japan. His attitude towards Japanese women and the Chinese nation is both fascinating and disturbing, and Rob and Lee dive into those attitudes. This is […]

Huainanzi – Old Man on the Border Loses His Horse

This podcast we take a look at a story from a strange Daoist classic, the Huainanzi 淮南子. The tale is called Old Man on the Border Loses his Horse 塞翁失馬. The story title is, itself a chengyu, that means something like you never know if something that seems unfortunate is actually fortunate. Here is the […]

Marriage Manga with Nick Stember

Today, Nick Stember, the expert on Chinese Manhua (similar to Japanese Manga), joins us as we discuss a short manhua cartoon booklet that was published in 1950. The booklet was meant to be a simple way to explain the 1950 Marriage Law, one of the first acts passed by the new Communist government. The Law […]