Sinica Podcast

The West has spent decades pleading with China to become a responsible stakeholder in the global community, but what happens now that China is starting to take a more proactive role internationally? In today's show, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to be joined by a Dutch journalist, Fokke Obbema (the de Volkskrant correspondent with a perfectly normal Dutch name), who is the author of the recent book China and the West: Hope and Fear in the Age of Asia. Recommendations: Fokke Obbema’s China and the West https://www.amazon.com/China-West-Hope-Fear-Asia/dp/178453384X  Susan L. Shirk’s China: Fragile Superpower https://www.amazon.com/China-Superpower-Susan-L-Shirk/dp/0195373197  David Moser Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316095  Fokke Obbema David Eggers’ The Circle https://www.amazon.com/Circle-Dave-Eggers/dp/0345807294  The Social Credit System https://chinacopyrightandmedia.wordpress.com/2014/06/14/planning-outline-for-the-construction-of-a-social-credit-system-2014-2020/ Kaiser Kuo Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization Volume Ten: Rousseau and Revolution https://www.amazon.com/Rousseau-Revolution-Story-Civilization-Durant/dp/1567310214 

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This week on Sinica, we are delighted to present a show on Tu Youyou, the Chinese scientist who recently shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of the anti-malaria drug Artemisinin, thus making her the first citizen of the People's Republic of China to receive a Nobel science award. Recommendations: Beijing’s Test Tube Baby, by Christina Larson http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/29/beijings-test-tube-baby-china-science-zhao-bowen-bgi-start-up-gene-mapping-dropout/ Jeremy Goldkorn Nobel Renews Debate on Chinese Medicine, by Ian Johnson http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/world/asia/nobel-renews-debate-on-chinese-medicine.html?_r=0 A Guide to the Mammals of China, by Andrew T. Smith and Yan Xie  http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Mammals-China-Andrew-Smith/dp/0691099847 Ian Johnson Neither Donkey Nor Horse: Medicine and the Struggle over China’s Modernity, by Sean Hsiang-lin Lei http://www.amazon.com/Neither-Donkey-nor-Horse-Weatherhead/dp/022616988X Christina Larson Why Nothing Works, by Eric Vance http://discovermagazine.com/2014/julyaug/14-why-nothing-works Corn Wars, by Ted Genoways http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122441/corn-wars Kaiser Kuo Can the Chinese Government Get its People to Like G.M.O.s?, by Christina Larson http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/can-the-chinese-government-get-its-people-to-like-g-m-o-s Follow the Money, by Mike Chinoy http://china.usc.edu/assignment-china-follow-money David Moser The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine, by Ted Kaptchuk http://www.amazon.com/The-Web-That-Weaver-Understanding/dp/0809228408 Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China: Plurality and Synthesis, by Volker Scheid http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Medicine-Contemporary-China-Plurality/dp/0822328720

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Edmund Backhouse, the 20th-century Sinologist, long-time Beijing resident, and occasional con artist, is perhaps best known for his incendiary memoirs, which not only distorted Western understanding of Chinese history for more than 50 years, but also included what, in retrospect, can only be seen as patently fictitious stories of erotic encounters between the British baronet and Empress Dowager Cixi. This week on Sinica, we are delighted to be joined by Derek Sandhaus of Earnshaw Books, who has recently produced an abridged edition of Backhouse's memoirs for the Hong Kong publishing house. As an expert on the facts and fictions of Edmund Backhouse, Derek joins us for a discussion of what is real and less-than-real in Backhouse's deathbed reminiscences, and what we can and should learn about Qing-era China from his memoirs. Recommendations: David Helliwell's blog https://oldchinesebooks.wordpress.com Decadence Manchu, by Edmund Backhouse https://www.amazon.com/Decadence-Mandchoue-Memoirs-Trelawny-Backhouse/dp/9881944511  Derek Sandhaus's two works: Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits http://www.amazon.com/Baijiu-Essential-Guide-Chinese-Spirits/dp/0143800132 Tales of Old Peking http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Old-Peking-Tumultuous-Capital/dp/9881815428 David Moser Asian Observer: This Day In Chinese History Derek Sandhaus The Hermit of Peiking, by Hugh Trevor-Roper http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/190601101X? Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China, by Cuncun Wu http://www.amazon.com/Homoerotic-Sensibilities-Routledge-Association-Australia/dp/041564836X/ Kaiser Kuo Chublic Opinion - Down with Nihilism http://chublicopinion.com/2015/08/31/down-with-the-nihilists/ Can the Chinese Government get its people to like GMOs?, by Christina Larson http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/can-the-chinese-government-get-its-people-to-like-g-m-o-s

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Great Leap Brewery is an institution. As one of the earliest American-style microbreweries in China, not only has the company rescued us from endless nights of Snow and Yanjing, but it's also given us something uniquely Chinese with its assortment of peppercorn, honey, and tea-flavored beers. So as much as we love the other microbreweries in Beijing and throw our money at them, too, it's no accident the Great Leap taproom is our most frequent destination most evenings after recording a show.  Today on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo sits down with Great Leap founder Carl Setzer to talk about his story in China: why Great Leap got started, how the company fits into the beer industry in China, and what it's like to run a food and beverage startup as a foreigner. This is a surprisingly intimate look at one of the places we've grown to take for granted, filled with details on their touch-and-go early years and the bureaucratic run-in that almost crippled the business. We hope you enjoy hearing their story as much as we did. 

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Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to be joined in Popup Towers by Rogier Creemers, post-doctoral fellow at Oxford, author of the fantastic China Copyright and Media blog and one of the most informed academics working on Chinese internet governance. We've always enjoyed our previous chances to grill Rogier on his thoughts, and our discussion this week didn't disappoint either.

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This week on Sinica, we are delighted to be joined by Lucy Hornby, China correspondent for the Financial Times, and author of this phenomenal piece on China's last surviving Chinese comfort women and their longstanding — and often futile — attempts to seek reparations in both China and Japan. Join us today as we talk about this piece, and also other stories of reparations and post-war politics that may leave you, like us, somewhat less cynical going out than coming in.

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"Under the Dome," Chai Jing's breakout documentary on China's catastrophic air pollution problem, finally hit insurmountable political opposition last Friday after seven days in which the video racked up over 200 million views. The eventual clampdown raised many questions about the extent of internal support for the documentary. In this episode of Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser interview Calvin Quek of Greenpeace, who works on pollution problems and has significant experience lobbying the private sector to curtail investments into the worst-offending, environmentally unsustainable technologies. We are also joined by Peggy Liu, chairperson of JUCCCE (Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy), a non-profit organization focused on Chinese government training and other green initiatives. Recommendations: Kaiser: “Travels with My Censor,” by Peter Hessler for The New Yorker. “The 'Deaf' Composer Who Fooled a Nation,” by Christopher Beam for The New Republic. Peggy: The China Coal Consumption Cap Plan and Policy Research Project and A New Way to Eat. Calvin: “The Most Brilliant Politician You Never Knew,” by Beverly Murray at Back That Sass Up. David: “China's carbon emissions could save the world—or doom it,” by Hudson Lockett for China Economic Review  

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Jeremy Goldkorn and David Moser are joined by Fan Popo for a discussion of the way life works for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) community in China. For those who have not heard of him, Fan is an accomplished film-maker and social activist, best known as author of the book Happy Together, a complete record of 100 queer films, as well as the director of the China Queer Film Festival. Recommendations: Passions of the Cut Sleeve (free pdf!) http://homosexualfamilies.viublogs.org/files/2010/09/hinsch_passions-of-the-cut-sleeve.pdf Sex and Sexuality in China: Regulating Male Same-Sex Relationships in PRC http://books.google.gr/books?id=tDe5PVjfsUMC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=Regulating+male+same-sex+relationships+in+the+PRC&source=bl&ots=jAYO-sBGZj&sig=Nf-0lCgC-4-qPebrjQTuIcsRdGY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z_EcVJyCBYKpyATbo4DADQ&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Regulating%20male%20same-sex%20relationships%20in%20the%20PRC&f=false Breakfast on Pluto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tjsrr8I5D0 Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East, by Benjamin Law http://www.amazon.com/Gaysia-Adventures-Queer-Benjamin-Law/dp/162778036X  

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With the recent capture of a Chinese ISIS soldier (in September of 2014) triggering speculation about the involvement of Chinese citizens in the Iraqi civil war, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are joined in our studio by Edward Wong from The New York Times and Prashant Rao of AFP, both of whom have spent considerable time reporting from Iraq. Their discussion starts off with an exposé on the nature and identity of the Islamic State before moving on to China, talking about the ways in which the rise of the militant Islamic movement has affected Iraqi perceptions of China. Finally, they take a look into how these events relate to the broader crisis in the Middle East and U.S.-China relations. Recommendations: The Five Eyes Show: http://thefiveeyesshow.com The Islamic State (full length movie): https://news.vice.com/video/the-islamic-state-full-length Endgame in Iraq: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/endgameiniraq The Forever War, by Dexter Filkins: http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Dexter-Filkins/dp/0307279448 Patrimony, by Philip Roth: http://www.amazon.com/Patrimony-True-Story-Philip-Roth/dp/0679752935 American Pastoral, by Philip Roth: http://www.amazon.com/American-Pastoral-Philip-Roth/dp/0375701427  

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The spectacular trial of Bo Xilai seized the media's attention last week as the fallen politburo member — still widely admired in Chongqing and Dalian and heavily connected among the Party elite — defended himself with unexpected vigor against charges of corruption, and hardly paused to implicate his wife and subordinates in murder, mutual poisoning and financial skullduggery. This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy host two guests: Ed Wong from The New York Times and James Miles of The Economist for a closer look at what some Chinese commentators are calling China's "trial of the century." Join us for an in-depth discussion of the trial which looks at not only what this means for media transparency in China, but also makes historical comparisons with previous political purges, including the famous case against Jiang Qing and the Gang of Four following the Cultural Revolution. Recommendations: Jeremy The twitter feed of Jorge Guajardo https://twitter.com/jorge_guajardo James The Rise and Fall of the House of Bo: How A Murder Exposed The Cracks In China's Leadership, by John Garnaut http://www.amazon.com/Rise-House-Penguin-Specials-ebook/dp/B00A3Q9ER6 Ed A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel: Murder, Money, and an Epic Power Struggle in China, by Pin Ho and Wenguang Huang http://www.amazon.com/Death-Lucky-Holiday-Hotel-Struggle/dp/1610392736 Kaiser Blocked on Weibo: What Gets Suppressed on China's Version of Twitter (And Why), by Jason Q. Ng http://www.amazon.com/Blocked-Weibo-Suppressed-Version-Twitter/dp/159558871X

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