Best Yao Lin Podcasts (2025)

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The 100th Episode Party 2:02:08

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1+ y ago2:02:08

2:02:08

In the one hundredth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are throwing a goodbye party! Friends, listeners, and past guests joined me for a little reminiscing and musing. I drank precisely one beer. The show is going on hiatus, exactly as I’ve been warning you for the past ten episodes or so. The feed will stay up indefinitely, and…

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Ep 99 - Mo Yan and The Republic of Wine with Dylan Levi King, Michelle Deeter, and Martin Winter 3:49:19

2y ago3:49:19

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‘I wrote the asinine words ‘liquor is literature’ and ‘people who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature’ when I was good and drunk, and you must not take them to heart.’ In the ninety ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we’re taking a lengthy holiday with Mo Yan in The Republic of Wine, so get your vi…

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Ep 98 - The Book of Beijing with Shi Yifeng and Carson Ramsdell 1:43:21

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I supposed every last one of this country’s 1.3 billion inhabitants all had their own obsessions with the giant germ cell. In the ninety eighth episode of the Translated Chinese fiction podcast I am joined by two fine fellows, Shi Yifeng and contributing translator Carson Ramsdell. All a-puff with imperial gusto, we leaf through The Book of Beijing…

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Ep 97 - Lin Yi-han and Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise with Jenna Tang 1:55:36

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‘Starting to write a suicide note would be too melodramatic. If she wrote it, it would only contain one line: This love makes me so uncomfortable.’ In the ninety seventh episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are passing the gates of Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise (房思琪的初戀樂園- fáng sī qí de chūliàn lèyuán), an all-too-real #MeToo no…

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Ep 96 - Puppet Flower with Chen Yao-chang and Chen Tung-jung 1:43:28

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‘the man spun instinctively to face them, both hands covering his chest, looking almost sorrowful as blood glazed his fingers’ In the ninety sixth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are entering into dialogue with bioscientist-turned-historical-fictioneer Chen Yao-chang and translator Chen Tung-jung to learn how they cultivated Pu…

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Ep 95 - Shi Tiesheng and My Travels in Ding Yi with Chloë Starr 1:12:59

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Trembling hands seem to check for the forgotten secret language. Withered bodies, like finding some long-forgotten receipt. Where have you been all these years? The mountains echo again, spring’s call is finally answered: I am the secret language you forgot. You are my lost credentials. In the ninety fifth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction …

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Ep 93 - Xu Zechen and Running through Beijing with Eric Abrahamsen 1:27:06

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‘It’s just life, right? One place is as good as another’ In the ninety third episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are Running through Beijing (跑步穿过中关村 - pǎobù chuānguò zhōngguāncūn) in the loping style of 70后 hero Xu Zechen. At the fabled finishing line – observing us wryly, beer and chuan’er in hand – is the translator, Eric Abraha…

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Ep 92 - Zijin Chen and Bad Kids with Michelle Deeter 1:24:28

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‘I’ve never broken any rules, not even rules at school. Why would I blackmail someone?’ ’In the ninety second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are getting duped by Bad Kids (坏孩子 - huài háizi). Fleeing the proverbial orphanage with me is the book’s translator, Michelle Deeter, here to mark a breadcrumb trail through the dark chil…

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Ep 91 - Yu Xiuhua and Moonlight Rests on My Left Palm with Fiona Sze-Lorrain 1:15:01

2+ y ago1:15:01

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‘The “exquisite bridges and flowing water” one finds in poetry are not written by real farmers, but those who claim to love rural life when they most fear it.’ In the ninety first episode of the Translated Chinese Podcast, we are travelling half across China to pod you. The writer in question is rural/online star Yu Xiuhua and my guest is her trans…

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Ep 89 - Zhang Yueran and Cocoon with Jeremy Tiang 1:07:43

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‘The man in the bed looks at her. An enormous force seems to be pulling him into a world behind him, a world whose gates will soon be shut forever. She strokes his forehead gently.’ In the eighty ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are enfolding ourselves within Cocoon, the dreamlike and sometimes upsetting dual-bildungsroman…

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Ep 85 - Mo Yan and Sandalwood Death with Stefan Rusinov 1:35:17

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‘The final cut – the coup de grace – entered Qian’s heart, from which black blood the colour and consistency of melted malt sugar slid down the knife blade' In the eighty fifth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are experiencing the lacerating pains of Sandalwood Death, as dealt to us by Nobel literature prizewinner Mo Yan. It’s …

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Ep 84 - Han Song and Hospital with Michael Berry and Mingwei Song 1:53:25

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‘Generation after generation, people have lived in this massive sick ward we call the universe ’ In the eighty fourth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are lost deep inside Hospital, the first entry in an abyssal trilogy by show favourite Han Song. Old-time wardmates Michael Berry and Mingwei Song are here too, groaning in the d…

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Ep 82 - Wang Anyi and The Sanctimonious Cobbler with Lehyla Heward 2:20:55

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‘If you lived in one of the lanes of Puxi, the moment you stepped out your door, you would find yourself in the thick of urban life in all its boisterous variety.' In the eighty second episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are paying a visit to The Sanctimonious Cobbler (骄傲的皮匠 / Jiāo'ào de Píjiàng), a novella by Wang Anyi which can …

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Ep 81 - Xiu Xinyu and The Stars We Raised with Yen Ooi 2:02:52

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A star’s coming of age was the process of slowly getting uglier. In the eighty first episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, writer/researcher Yen Ooi and I are gazing up at The Stars We Raised (逃跑星辰 / táopǎo xīngchén), a short story by Xiu Xinyu featured in the all-women + nonbinary anthology The Way Spring Arrives. Once more, a Chinese…

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Ep 80 - Chiou Charng-Ting and Raining Zebra Finches with May Huang 1:16:36

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‘In the same spot where Father died, the dead body of a deer lay prostrate in the rain.’ In the eightieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, it’s Raining Zebra Finches (斑胸草雀 / bān xiōng cǎo què). Blame for this troubling meteorological occurrence falls upon Taiwanese author Chiou Charng-Ting; it’s her story. Under the weather with m…

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Ep 79 - Mu Ming and Express to Beijing West Railway Station 2:10:14

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‘History is nothing more than a complex construction of records and observations’ In the seventy ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction podcast, we’re riding the Express to Beijing West Railway Station (开往西站的特别列车 / kāiwǎng xī zhàn de tèbié lièchē), and I’ll be buying my ticket from none other than the author herself, Mu Ming. En route we’l…

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Ep 78 - Gu Hongming and Bonnie Prince Tuan with Lee Moore 1:42:40

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‘Then each Boxer lad who loves fighting and fun, let him follow the bonnets of bonnie Prince Tuan’ In the seventy eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are riding to war behind Bonnie Prince Tuan, a poem by a Chinese Scotiaphile that draws a parallel between two sets of rebels: the Jacobites of the Scottish highlands and the B…

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Ep 77 - Yan Lianke and Lenin’s Kisses with Piotr Machajek 2:03:49

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“You can give me your empty words if you like; I’ve come to fill out the forms permitting us to withdraw from society.” In the seventy seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are turning our cheek to Lenin's Kisses (受活 / shòu huó) by Yan Lianke. Yes, I’m finally dealing with him – and not alone. Piotr Machajek is here to show m…

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Ep 76 - Huang Fan and Zero with The Hugonauts 1:35:05

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“Unmasking a universally accepted lie or overturning an irreplaceable idol will produce something akin to a mental collapse.” In the seventy sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are hitting Zero (零 / líng). Joining me on deck are The Hugonauts, as we navigate a dystopian world that might be a postmodern riff on 1984 by amorpho…

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Ep 75 - A Yi and The Curse with Jeffrey Kinkley 2:11:18

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“Are you going to let your son die for nothing?” In the seventy fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are surviving The Curse (杨村的一则诅咒 / yáng cūn de yī zé zǔzhòu). My partner for this investigation is literary Sinologist Jeffrey Kinkley. What exactly are we dealing with here? A tale of a backfiring curse, or a backfiring societ…

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Ep 74 - Zou Tao and The Fox Spirit of Bluestone Mountain with Timothy Gouldthorp 1:29:40

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There is a saying that accurately describes Young Master Zhou’s state of mind: “Willing to die beneath the flower and linger as an amorous ghost” In the seventy fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are dallying with The Fox Spirit of Bluestone Mountain (狐狸緣全傳 / húlí yuán quánchuán). Arriving just in time to save us from the s…

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Ep 73 - A Que and Farewell, Doraemon with Eero Suoranta 2:43:40

3+ y ago2:43:40

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‘This cartoon will never end’ In the seventy third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, Eero Suoranta and I are saying Farewell, Doraemon (再见，哆啦A梦 / zàijiàn, duōlaAmèng). This is the second time a story by A Que has appeared on the show, and I feel that I now know the writer’s soul: tender in spirit, thoughtful in action, of limpid an…

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Ep 72 - Han Song and My Country Does Not Dream with the London Chinese Science Fiction Group 1:57:24

3+ y ago1:57:24

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‘Because of sleepwalking, over one billion Chinese people have awakened’ In the seventy second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast I’m facing down a bleak reality: My Country Does Not Dream (我的祖国不要做梦 / wǒde zǔguó bù zuò mèng). But I’m not doing it alone! The London Chinese Science Fiction Group have deployed a team of Han Song aficion…

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Ep 71 - Feng Jicai and A Looking-Glass World with Daniel Li 2:08:53

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'All the magic lay within their own bodies' In the seventy first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are stepping into A Looking Glass World (单筒望远镜 / Dāntǒng Wàngyuǎnjìng). This is our second encounter with Tianjin’s bard Feng Jicai, and our first (sort of!) with his publisher-in-translation, Daniel Li of Sinoist Books. - // NEWS I…

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Ep 70 - The Adventures of Ma Suzhen with Paul Bevan 1:32:54

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‘There is never anything so difficult that it cannot be resolved’ In the seventieth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are taking part in The Adventures of Ma Suzhen (马素贞复仇记 / Mǎ Sùzhēn Fùchóu Jì). From the backwaters of Shandong to the criminal dens of Shanghai, stout man of Oxford Paul Bevan leads me on a quest for vengeance tha…

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Ep 69 - Xue Mo and The Women, the Camels, and the Dholes with Sarah Lam and Nicola Clayton 1:39:38

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You couldn’t get to grips with fate, but the enemy you could see and touch was your own body In the sixty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are riding with The Women, the Camels, and the Dholes, one of the stories contained within the Selected Stories of Xue Mo (雪漠小说精选 / Xuěmò Xiǎoshuō Jīngxuǎn). Two women are joining me on…

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Ep 68 - Amang and Raised by Wolves with Steve Bradbury 1:29:41

3+ y ago1:29:41

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In-your-face. I want more in-your-face, if you please. In the sixty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are being Raised by Wolves (狼養的 / Láng Yǎng De), just like Amang and her translator Steve Bradbury. Revel in trash. Bound down a mountain. Take a ride on a nuclear sub. Argue furiously in favour of your preferred adverb. D…

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Ep 67 - Lo Yi-Chin and Faraway with Jenna Tang 2:09:11

3+ y ago2:09:11

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Maybe I would only begin to understand these things when I became fatherless too, having no-one to lean on, the bitter solitude of not knowing what you ought to say before the world In the sixty seventh of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are going Faraway (遠方 / Yuǎnfāng) with Lo Yi-Chin. Lighting lamps with me as time, memory, and family …

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Ep 66 - Ba Jin and Hong Kong Nights with Luo Tianqi 2:11:39

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The rocking of the boat created the illusion that all the lights were moving In the sixty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are adrift in Hong Kong Nights (香港之夜 / Xiāng Gǎng Zhīyè), as fleetingly recollected by Sichuan’s long-surviving left-anarchist writer, Ba Jin. Joining me in the constellations is fellow Sino-lit podcas…

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Ep 65 - Ge Fei and The Invisibility Cloak with Giray Fidan and Rauno Sainio 1:33:55

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The best attributes of anyone or anything usually reside on the surface, which is where, in fact, all of us live out our lives In the sixty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are swathing ourselves in The Invisibility Cloak (隐身衣 / Yǐnshēn Yī). Languishing with me in the peace and pain of relative obscurity are Giray Fidan an…

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Ep 64 - Chen Qiufan and Coming of the Light with Francesco Verso 1:28:39

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‘Suppose the universe is a program. Everything that we can observe is the result of the machine-executable code. But the cosmic microwave background can be understood as the record of some earlier version of the source code.’ In the sixty forth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we bear witness to the Coming of the Light (开光 / Kāiguā…

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Ep 63 - Murong Xuecun and Dancing Through Red Dust with Harvey Tomlinson 2:11:55

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In my innocent youth, I was a paragon of virtue, but after wandering for so long in the red dust of this world I had joined the forces of evil In the sixty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are Dancing Through Red Dust (原谅我红尘颠倒 / Yuánliàng Wǒ Hóngchén Diāndǎo), a nightmarish lurch through the PRC (il)legal system dreamed up by the …

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Ep 62 - Liu Cixin and The Wandering Earth with Jairo Morales 2:33:54

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Before us stood the long abandoned skyscrapers of Manhattan, the Sun's weak light casting their long shadows across the quiet ice of the New York Harbor. In my tipsy haze, tears began to gush down my cheeks. In the sixty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are setting sail on The Wandering Earth (流浪地球 / Liúlàng Dìqiú), drawn…

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Ep 61 - Chen Xiwo and The Book of Sins with Nicky Harman 1:54:28

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I loathe reason. Reason is the sort of rubbish you can indulge in when life is sweet, like love and honour. I totally reject it. In the sixty first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are opening The Book of Sins (冒犯书 / Màofàn Shū), by edgelord-with-a-conscience Chen Xiwo. Playing common-sense counterpoint to my doom-laden interpretations …

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Ep 60 - Chan Ho-kei and Second Sister with Michelle Deeter 2:06:03

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Just as Nga-Yee thought everything was going back to normal, Siu-Man stepped from the window of their twenty-second-story flat In the sixtieth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are solving the case of Second Sister (網內人 / Wǎng Nèi Rén), penned by crime connoisseur Chan Ho-kei. Logged on with guest-level access and ready to follow…

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Ep 59 - More Than One Child with Shen Yang and Nicky Harman 1:43:24

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It is a long and painful process to see oneself clearly, as is the process of returning to one’s childhood. In the fifty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are talking with someone who is More Than One Child (隐形小孩 / Yǐnxíng Xiǎohái), a woman as friendly as she is fearless: Shen Yang. She’s here on this episode, and so is her…

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Ep 58 - A Que and Flower of the Other Shore with Xueting Ni 1:36:05

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The moment I was bitten, I died and became another thing. Now I am loitering on the other shore of the Styx, listening to the past from beyond its waves. In the fifty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are picking Flower of the Other Shore (彼岸花 / Bǐ'àn Huā), a romantic(!) zombie short story by A Que. Here to help me find sy…

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Ep 57 - Chih-Ying Lay and Home Sickness with Darryl Sterk 2:13:22

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‘Chopin always reminds me of being lovelorn in Penang’ [ this is episode 5 of our Taiwan Season ] In the fifty seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are suffering from Home Sickness (匿逃者 / Nì Táo Zhě), a short story collection by Chih-ying Lay. Here to ease this terrible affliction is the book’s translator: reformed Buddhist …

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Ep 56 - Pai Hsien-yung and Taipei People with Nadia Ho 2:19:09

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‘According to the ancient precepts, grief supersedes all formalities’ [ this is episode 4 of our Taiwan Season ] [full episode transcript] In the fifty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are introducing ourselves to the Taipei People (台北人 / Táiběi Rén), as written by Pai Hsien-yung. Joining me to question the merits of nosta…

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Ep 55 - Wu Ming-yi and The Man with the Compound Eyes with Cara Healey 1:43:44

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‘Only if you go to places nobody’s ever been can you see the colours nobody’s ever seen’ [ this is episode 3 of our Taiwan Season ] In the fifty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are meeting The Man with the Compound Eyes (复眼人 / Fùyǎn Rén). Brace yourself for the impact of an ecological, apocalyptic, and internationalist vo…

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Ep 54 - Qiu Miaojin and Notes of a Crocodile with Conor Stuart 1:49:08

4+ y ago1:49:08

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‘Some desires, once formed, are impossible to fulfil, so they become frustrations instead. That’s the problem with going forth into new worlds’ [ this is episode 2 of our Taiwan Season ] In the fifty fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are thumbing through the Notes of a Crocodile (鳄鱼手记 / Èyú Shǒujì). Joining me on the looko…

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Ep 53 - The Membranes with Chi Ta-wei and Ari Larissa Heinrich 2:21:31

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‘Two peach trees, two entirely different universes.’ [ this is episode 1 of our Taiwan Season ] In the fifty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are peeling back The Membranes (膜 / Mó). Joining me at their respective computer terminals in the ocean floor biodome are its author Chi Ta-wei and translator Ari Larissa Heinrich. -…

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Ep 52 - Monkey King: Journey to the West with Julia Lovell 1:21:18

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‘An unruly monkey like you has to be restrained somehow, otherwise you’ll never reform’ In the fifty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are departing from the Tang Empire on a haphazard Journey to the West (西游记 / Xī Yóu Jì). Talking me through the transformations is Julia Lovell, translator of JttW’s latest, extremely reada…

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Ep 51 - Li Juan's Xinjiang non-fiction with Christopher Payne and Jack Hargreaves 2:16:17

4+ y ago2:16:17

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'I stand alone on the earth, unable to bring the show to an end' In the 51st episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we're heading into the far west to come face-to-face with Li Juan, a Han Chinese writer who has found some degree of fame writing soulfully about her experiences living among the Kazakh herders of Xinjiang Province. Bravin…

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The 50th Episode Party! 2:35:46

4+ y ago2:35:46

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Starting a podcast is not a dinner party In the fiftieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, I put my feet up and have a beer! Woohoo! - // NEWS ITEMS // Beijing Lights Archives | Spittoon Sci-Fi Writer or Prophet? The Hyperreal Life of Chen Qiufan Mither Tongue: Jidi Majia's poetry in 3 Scots dialects - // Handy TrChFic Links // Epi…

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Ep 49 - The TrChFic Megacrossover Part 2: Moderns 1:48:24

4+ y ago1:48:24

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'One morning, Salinger was woken from sleep by deafening noises. Dazed, he gazed outside the window and saw a row of gleaming Baekdu bulldozers, which had been modified from Chonma-ho battle tanks, bearing down on his cabin.' In the forty ninth episode we continue our megacrossover, this time tackling modern literature. Once more unto the jazz hall…

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Ep 48 - The TrChFic Megacrossover Part 1: Classicists 1:59:42

4+ y ago1:59:42

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'What sort of a fiend are you that you dare change into my appearance, take my descendants captive, occupy my immortal cave, and assume such airs?' In the forty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are doing something a little different! In this episode half of a small army of Chinese lit podcasters join me to discuss their f…

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Ep 47 - Ma Jian and Beijing Coma with Ronald Torrance 2:33:12

4+ y ago2:33:12

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When you've stared at the past for so long that time dissolves, you'll be able to wake from your slumber In the forty seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are falling into Beijing Coma (肉之土 / Ròu Zhī Tǔ). Avid Ma Jian reader Ronald Torrance is here to guide me from perimeter to epicentre of this colossal novel, and the weigh…

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Ep 46 - The Flock of Ba Hui with Dylan Levi King 1:36:20

4+ y ago1:36:20

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If anyone is reading this notebook — don’t come looking for me. Don’t. In the forty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are undergoing black initiation into The Flock of Ba Hui (巴虺的牧群 / Bāhuī de Mùqún). Returning to the show to rescue me from the abyss - or hurl me into it - is the extremely online Dylan Levi King. We have qu…

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Ep 45 - Strange Beasts of China with Yan Ge and Jeremy Tiang 2:16:37

4+ y ago2:16:37

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In bars like this, on nights like this, the people of Yong'an would talk of death In the forty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are hunting for the Strange Beasts of China (异兽志 - Yì Shòu Zhì). Two very special guests are joining me this time - the book's author Yan Ge and its translator Jeremy Tiang. If I sound a little of…