Presented by Paul French
Drama written by Sarah Wooley
Whatever anyone declared categorically about Shura Giraldi, someone else insisted on the exact opposite. Shura was handsome and beautiful; Shura was kind and good, Shura was exploitative and evil. Shura was just another struggling White Russian refugee trying to get by in 1930s China; Shura was the hear ... Show More
Mar 2024
Adventures of a Mughal Princess
<p>In the British Library, there is a manuscript copy of the memoir of Princess Gulbadan, the only surviving female-authored memoir from the Mughal Empire. In it, Gulbadan tells her extraordinary story: from growing up in a multi-cultural society, via life in a walled harem, to ... Show More
38m 6s
Oct 21
No Blood, No Sparkles — China’s Hopping Vampires
<p>A corpse that hops through the night in Qing dynasty robes—sounds fake, right? But the jiāngshī was once a very real fear. This week, we’re talking about China’s “hopping vampires,” and how they came from something way less supernatural: family obligations, burial delays, and ... Show More
1h 1m
Jun 2024
Bat for Lashes, Women and D-Day, Author Saima Mir, Sextortion
The singer-songwriter Natasha Khan, known by her stage name Bat for Lashes, joins Anita to talk about her new album, The Dream of Delphi. Named after her daughter Delphi, her new music explores motherhood through lush orchestral sounds. She discusses having a baby during the Covi ... Show More
56m 49s
Apr 2025
The Gunrunner Who Tried to Save China: Two Gun Cohen
On Christmas Day, 1941, as bombs tear Hong Kong apart, gunrunner Morris "Two Gun" Cohen — a street hustler from the slums of London turned Canadian frontiersman turned Chinese general — stares down death from a hotel room. From underground boxing rings to arms deals, Cohen fought ... Show More
56m 59s
Jul 2024
Comfort Women (WW2 Sexual Slavery)
<p>Over 200,000 women were coerced or forced into sexual slavery in East Asia by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. These women, known as comfort women, endured unimaginable suffering and trauma. Few survived to tell their stories, but those who did have shared harro ... Show More
1h 14m