Pagodas and Dragon Gates

Producer and reporter Ramtin Arablouei (co-creator of the NPR show, Throughline) has a simple question: why are so many NBA players wearing a compression sleeve on their arm? It seems like everyone has one. Do they all have elbow issues? The answer is really the story of Allen Iv ... Show More

Two rival paleontologists turn a hunt for dinosaur bones into an all-out scientific war. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. H ... Show More

This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai. On his deathbed, President Chester Arthur ordered that all of his personal and professional papers be burned. Three barrels of documents went up in flames. But 23 letters surviv ... Show More

<p>So you arrive in China, map in hand and hundreds of ChinesePod lessons echoing through your head. But you soon find that all the places you want to go and see have a very different name in Chinese than they do in that guidebook. There’s always room for another lesson in your h ... Show More

Nearly every major city in the world has one- a district where Chinese immigrants have settled to live, work and eat. This week in a collaboration with BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Food Programme’, Dan Saladino takes you on a tour of Chinatowns around the world. From one of the oldest, in ... Show More

If you're familiar at all with Shanghai's modern Pudong skyline, you know that "interesting" is a good way to describe it. And with so much interesting architecture going up, you know there are going to be some nicknames given. In this Chinese lesson, we cover not only Shanghai's ... Show More

<p>It’s slightly reminiscent of your friendly neighborhood ‘Oriental Palace’, but where is the General Tsao’s Chicken and florescent pink sweet and sour pork? Though the smells and greasy tables feel strangely familiar, this isn’t the Chinese take-out of your memory. This podcast ... Show More

<p>You&#39;ve always admired those Guilin paintings. You know the ones... winding river, limestone mountains... with the pagoda up on the right and that bamboo raft floating by in the foreground. Sometime they get a little crazy and throw in a water buffalo over there on the left ... Show More

If you have the opportunity to travel around the countryside in China, you might notice these fierce looking gods painted on red paper pasted onto the family gates. Who are these and what are they for? 

The Chinese diaspora can be found across the globe, populating Chinatowns from Manila to Manchester. One of the most storied lies in Vancouver, Canada’s West Coast metropolis perched on the Pacific Rim. Monocle’s Gregory Scruggs takes us for a tour.  See omnystudio.com/listener f ... Show More

Welcome back to Light Cities and Architecture, where we explore the ideas behind the buildings and people and that shape our built environment.In a change of approach this time, we invite you on a personal journey as Justine Costigan shares her firsthand account of a recent visit ... Show More

<p>Inspired by many a Shanghai late-night party, be it mahjong with hard of hearing participants getting riled up on baijiu, or a laowai house party, period. Party styles differ, but sleeping neighbors get just as cranky on both sides of the wall. Listen to this podcast, and be r ... Show More

Wander into any town in the U.S., no matter how small and remote, and you’re likely to find at least one Chinese restaurant. In fact, there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King combined. And the food they serve is completely unlike anything ... Show More