In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking to Peggy Wang about her new book, The Future History of Contemporary Chinese Art (Minnesota University Press, 2021). In the book, Wang asks readers to reconsider the term “global” and “world” in relation to the (often simplistically interpreted) artistic projects of some of the most famous Chinese artists of th ... Show More
Today
Emily Matson, "China’s Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II" (U Michigan Press, 2026)
China’s Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II (U Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Emily Matson is an in-depth investigation of the Chinese Communist Party’s remapping of China’s World War II timeline from eight years (1937–1945) to fourteen years (1931–1945). Inst ... Show More
33m 28s
Sep 3
Jieun Baek, "Privileged But Powerless: How North Korean Elite Grievances Reveal the Regime’s Greatest Weakness" (Yale UP, 2026)
What do the people closest to power really think about the system they serve? That’s perhaps one of the most important questions one could ask about North Korea, still one of the world’s least understood countries. Today, we’re joined by Jieun Baek, author of Privileged But Power ... Show More
51m 47s
Sep 2
Whistling Arrows and Heavenly Horses: The Han-Xiongnu War
John Ross speaks with Scott Forbes Crawford about his book The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 BC–89 AD (Pen & Sword Military, 2024) For more than two centuries, Han China fought a bitter struggle against the Xiongnu, a powerful confederation of horse-riding nomads from the Asian steppe. ... Show More
33m 20s
Aug 2024
Season 3, Episode 10: Jean Dong, Chinese Statecraft in a Changing World
Send us Fan MailPlease join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and China expert, Jean Dong as they discuss Dong’s fascinating book, Chinese Statecraft in a Changing World: Demystifying Enduring Traditions and Dynamic Constraints. Ms. Dong offers a rich and subtle historical perspective on C ... Show More
40m 34s
Jul 2023
529 Ten Thousand Things and the Asian American Experience (with Shin Yu Pai) | My Last Book with Ross Benjamin
Jacke talks to Shin Yu Pai, currently the Civic Poet of Seattle, about her career as an artist and her podcast Ten Thousand Things, which explores a collection of objects and artifacts that tell us something about Asian American life. PLUS Ross Benjamin (translator of The Diaries ... Show More
59m 25s
Nov 2025
Eunsong Kim's "The Politics of Collecting" (Interview)
*Note: The Getty was meant to collect pre-20th century Western European art, not just 19th century Western European art, as per Paul Getty's will* In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Eunsong Kim, Associate Professor of English at Northeastern, to discuss her new book, "The Politic ... Show More
1h 19m
Jan 2022
The Chinese Language Revolution
<p>Jing Tsu’s new book, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/books/review/kingdom-of-characters-jing-tsu.html" target="_blank">“Kingdom of Characters,”</a> is about the long and concerted efforts of linguists, activists and others to adapt Chinese writing to the modern wor ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 2023
Mingwei Song, "Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction" (Columbia UP, 2023)
I am talking today to Mingwei Song about his new book, Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction (Columbia UP, 2023). The book is a sweeping account of contemporary Chinese science fiction that begins by asking, has “anything new arrived with the new century that redef ... Show More
1h 12m
Jan 2022
378 Liu Xinwu and the "Scar Literature" of China (with Jeremy Tiang) | Bharati Sneak Preview (with Mira Sundara Rajan)
In this episode, Jacke talks to Jeremy Tiang about his new translation of The Wedding Party, a Chinese classic contemporary novel written in the early 1980s by Liu Xinwu, one of the originators of what has been termed "scar literature." PLUS we feature a sneak preview of our conv ... Show More
49m 26s
<p>Mia Wong is joined by Robert Evans to discuss Zhang Zongchang.</p> <p>FOOTNOTES:</p> <p>China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912—1949 by James E. Sheridan</p> <p><a href="https://1lib.us/book/6061335/d193d2">https://1lib.us/book/6061335/d193d2</a></ ... Show More
