Sinobabble

David Fishman joins us once again to serve up a complete beginner's guide to the energy market in China, from how power is generated, to how it's bought and sold, to how the future is planned at the centre. David has spent his entire career in the Chinese power sector, so if anyone knows what the major developments are in traditional and green energy generation and consumption it's him. We learn about profit motives and compensation, growing pains in the transition to a more renewables-based market, and why China is still building coal plants in 2026.  Get your thinking caps on, school's in session. This one is not to be missed!

David's Energy stuff

David's Travel stuff
           
Support the show!

Read my latest Substack post

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

For more on the book club, including upcoming books and where to buy them, head to this webpage.

To support the show, head over to my Buy Me a Coffee page to give a one-off or monthly donations, if your discretionary entertainment funds allow!

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

Across China and the Chinese diaspora, digital spirituality is growing as users flock to online platforms seeking services to help with luck, love, and wealth. However, these spaces are also hotbeds for scammers, who prey on prey on loneliness, uncertainty, and cultural vulnerability to exploit hundreds if not thousands of people. In this episode, I do a deep dive to explore how post‑Mao moral crises, revived but fragmented spiritual practices, and China’s low‑trust social environment have created fertile ground for spiritual conmen. We look at why victims often hide their experiences, how “face culture” and filial piety complicate intervention, and why enforcement struggles to keep up with an ever-evolving scene.

Learn more about the Book Club here

Support the show!

Read my latest Substack post

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

Alexander from China Books Review joins us to talk about evolutions in the Chinese book space, upcoming works by notable authors, and his favourite China books you may not have heard of before. He also gives tips on how to read more, what not to read, and how to create a good book club list!

Read more from Alexander and the team at Chinabooksreview.com and don’t forget to find out more about the Sinobabble bookclub here!

Books mentioned

The Shanghai Agents: The Soviet Plot to Start a Revolution in Interwar China by Heather Salter

Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity by Frank Dikötter

Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy by Liu Cixin

The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China by Ruixue Jia, Hongbin Li, Claire Cousineau

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan

Adrift in the South by Xiao Hai

Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang

Song of Praise for a Flower: One Woman’s Journey through China’s Tumultuous 20th Century by Fengxian Chu and Charlene Chu

Fly, Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Crazy Rich Asians Series by Kevin Kwan

Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zi

To Live 活着 by Yu Hua

Hunter by Shuang Xuetao

To Rule All under Heaven: A History of Classical China, from Confucius to the First Emperor by Andrew Seth Meyer 

Uncanny Beliefs: Superstition in Modern Chinese History Edited by Emily Baum and Albert Wu

Why China Needs Democracy by Dongxian Jiang

Make China Great Again: Online Alt-History Fiction and Popular Authoritarianism by Rongbin Han

Anyuan: Mining China’s Revolutionary Tradition by Elizabeth J. Perry

On the Edge: Feeling Precarious in China by Margaret Hillenbrand

Negative Exposures: Knowing What Not to Know in Contemporary China by Margaret Hillenbrand

Buy bookclub books here

Buy me a coffee

Latest Substack post

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

After reading the story about a young woman abused and kidnapped by her family, I went down a rabbit hole to learn why police and judiciary avoid prosecuting what they consider to be 'family disputes'. In this episode, I unpack how domestic violence is routinely dismissed as a “family affair,” why police and courts avoid intervention, how cultural norms around shame and harmony shape reporting behaviour, and why China’s 2016 Anti‑Domestic Violence Law still has no real teeth. We cover clan and kinship networks, cultural attitudes, and political pressures to understand the roots of a system that places family harmony above victim protection.

Read the original story here

Buy bookclub books here
           
Buy me a coffee

Latest Substack post

Links to everything

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

For more on the book club, including upcoming books and where to buy them, head to this webpage.

To support the show, head over to my Buy Me a Coffee page to give a one-off or monthly donations, if your discretionary entertainment funds allow!

Support the show

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

In 2022, Freedom House released a report titled “Beijing's Global Media Influence 2022”, highlighting the numerous ways in which the Chinese government seeks to influence media across the world. They stated that China’s main tactics were the mass distribution of content, harassment and intimidation of outlets that publish negative news, disinformation campaigns, and training for media workers and officials in different locales.

The provision of free or subsidised training for local journalists in the Global south is a foundational aspect of China’s efforts to ‘tell China’s story well’ through legitimate means. By co-opting local voices, China is able to disseminate its own message through local partners in an organic way and free of charge.

But what does this training look like? Who is participating and what are they learning? And how does China ensure that after journalists return home, they continue to talk about China in the right way? Today’s guest is here to discuss this and more.

Dr Emeka Umejei is currently Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. He has a PhD in Journalism and Media Studies and has taught in institutions across Africa including the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, the American University of Nigeria, and the University of Ghana. Prior to this he worked as a journalist in Nigeria for leading national newspapers and served as an African correspondent for U.S.-based media outfit LNG Publications.

He has written two books on Chinese influence on African journalism: Chinese Media in Africa: Perception, Performance, and Paradox (2020) and China in African Media: Between Influence Operations and Decolonization which came out this year.

Buy bookclub books here
           
Buy me a coffee

Latest Substack post

Links to everything

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

For more on the book club, including upcoming books and where to buy them, head to this webpage.

To support the show, head over to my Buy Me a Coffee page to give a one-off or monthly donations, if your discretionary entertainment funds allow!

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

**This is a bonus episode for paid subscribers. If you would like to become a paid sub and receive bonus content, head over to Buy Me a Coffee using the link in the description, or upgrade your Substack account**

An article in the Journal of Contemporary China inspire me to dip my toe in the Chinamaxxing trend and discuss how foreign influencers in China promote state approved nationalist narratives at home and abroad. We look at the different types of influencer (Western, non-Western, couples, students, teachers, and more) and get to the bottom of the types of content they produce, what's in it for them, and how the CCP maintains their control over what's produce at all times.

Imported Nationalism: How Foreign Influencers and Local Followers Amplify the Chinese Dream in Weibo’s Attention Economy

Too Simple, Sometimes Naive article

Buy bookclub books here
           
Buy me a coffee

Latest Substack post

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

Earlier this week, I read a Substack article discussing the rise in viral anti-Japanese content on Chinese social media. The gruesome posts and recent polling data all point to the fact that anti-Japanese sentiment is increasing among Chinese people, despite increasing economic ties and a move away from 'wolf warrior' style diplomacy. Why, when China seems to be more doveish, does Japan still draw so much ire? What is about the history, proximity, and perceived injustices between the two nations that causes continuous rifts? And how does the CCP harness these feelings of hatred and disgust for their own benefit?

In this episode we push the envelope a bit further on the nationalism theme, and examine how sometimes xenophobia can go really right, and how at other times it can go terribly wrong.

Check out the article I mention at the beginning of the episode here "Japanophobia — a quick way to go viral in China"

Buy bookclub books here
           
Buy me a coffee

Latest Substack post

Links to everything

Support the show

Sign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442

Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/

Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod