Sinobabble

**Hi guys,

I'm so sorry the audio is so terrible for this episode! I think my mic wasn't plugged in properly and the programme defaulted to my computer mic which is obviously terrible. I wasn't able to rerecord as I had gone away for the weekend and wanted to get the episode out on time. If it's completely unlistenable let me know and I will rerecord for your pleasure.**

Taking a break from our survey of Chinese history, this episode is a review of The Firemaker by Scottish screenwriter and author Peter May. This is the first book in a series of 6 novels and 1 novella set in China, following the story of detective Li Yan and American pathologist Margaret Campbell as they solve a series of interrelated murders.

https://maypeter.com/2016/05/21/the-china-thrillers-new-editions/ 

In this review I look at the story, writing, and historical and cultural accuracy to help you decide whether or not you would like to read it yourself.

If you have any other book recommendations for me, let me know!

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 part 4 in a 4 part series on the Great Leap Forward. This series will cover the whys and hows of China's disastrous Second Five-Year Plan, showing how the Leap went from an idea, to a reality, to a famine, all within the period of 3 years.

In this episode we explore the main academic debates surrounding the Great Leap Forward: what were the major causes of the famine, how many people died as a result of the famine, and how responsible was Mao for the famine? Questions are thoroughly explored but left open ended for the listener to discover and decide for themselves where the truth may lie.

Check out my recent appearance on The History Voyager: Podbean | Google

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 part 3 in a 4 part series on the Great Leap Forward. This series will cover the whys and hows of China's disastrous Second Five-Year Plan, showing how the Leap went from an idea, to a reality, to a famine, all within the period of 3 years.

In this episode we discuss the Great Famine, which lasted between 1958 and 1962. The famine mainly affected rural areas, and many of the stories and anecdotes we have are from some of the worst affected regions. We also discuss how the famine affected food supplies in the cities, and how the central government went about undoing the worst effects of the Great Leap Forward from 1960 onward.

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

**There is an audio glitch from around 15:30-15:40 that I couldn't fix in the edit! It's only brief and minor, but sorry nonetheless!**

This is part 2 in a 4 part series on the Great Leap Forward. This series will cover the whys and hows of China's disastrous Second Five-Year Plan, showing how the Leap went from an idea, to a reality, to a famine, all within the period of 3 years.

This episode looks at how the Great Leap policies were implemented in villages and cities, and what effects they had on the lives of different sectors of society. We look at how life changd for men and women, rich and poor, urban and rural, and young and old.

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 part 1 in a 4 part series on the Great Leap Forward. This series will cover the whys and hows of China's disastrous Second Five-Year Plan, showing how the Leap went from an idea, to a reality, to a famine, all within the period of 3 years.

This first episode looks at how the decision was made to launch the Great Leap. Was it Mao alone who concocted the idea? Who supported him? Was there no one who stood up against him when they saw that things were not going according to plan? This week reveal the heroes and the cowards of China's senior politicians during the late 1950s, drawing a line between those looking to survive and those who truly wanted to do the right thing for the nation they had fought hard to win over.

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

The final installment in the three-part series on writers and intellectuals in 1950's China. In today's episode we discuss the Anti-Rightist Campaign, launched by the CCP in 1957 after they had lost all patience with the cultural and scientific community prioritising the quality of their work over politics and generally dissing the CCP.

The Anti-Rightist Campaign sought to undo all the progress in terms of open discussion and the use of different methodologies that had been started just a year earlier, and instead replace intellectuals with party cadres in the cultural and scientific spheres.

This period also signals the beginning of the descent into the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, as Mao faces the first real challenge to his supremacy, and starts a trend of lashing out against those who would dare defy him.

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 this episode we're discussing the campaigns carried out by the CCP against intellectuals and, more specifically, writers, from 1951-1957. We talk about the expansion of campaigns and implementation of thought reform, followed by periods of retraction and why the Party felt the need to pull back during certain periods. We also talk about the Hundred Flowers Movement, the prelude to the destructive Anti-Rightist Movement which was promptly followed up by the Great Leap Forward just one year later.

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 episode focuses on China's post-1949 literary world up until around 1960. We discuss how writers were organised by the party-state, what kind of works they produced, and what was considered acceptable and unacceptable. How good were Chinese writers at producing socialist realist works? Turns out the answer changed on a daily basis.

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 this episode we discuss China's first Five Year Plan, a centralised form of economic development that encompasses elements of social engineering and which is still used in China till this day. What were the major aims of the FYP, what were the outcomes, and why did the CCP end up abandoning this system of slow but steady development in favour of a Great Leap? We discuss these questions, as well as looking at how the foundations of Mao's ideological and political dominance were laid in this period following the death of Stalin.

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 episode discusses the historical background of the relationship between China and the Xinjiang region, putting into context the current situation of the Uyghur people. It traces Chinese imperial attempts to first turn the area into a vassal, and then incorporate the region entirely into the empire, creating a new nationalist ideology  based on a multicultural identity. The discussion starts from the 8th century AD and the fall of the Uyghur Khaghanate, and ends with the story of the reintegration of Xinjiang into the PRC after 1949, and the CCP's views on the status of the region since then.

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