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

'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. Braving the frontier with me are two of her translators, TrChFic returnee Christopher Payne and friend-of-the-pod Jack Hargreaves. The former translated Li Juan's Distant Sunflower Fields and the latter is one of the two co-translators of her Winter Pasture.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• Closing the China Channel

• Vector Magazine issue on Chinese SF

• Ding Ling, Boiling Milk | prchistory.org

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// WORDS OF THE DAY //

(“Koychy!” - a versatile Kazakh exclamation, often meaning “no way,” “no thanks,” “get out,” “leave it out” )

( 荒野 - huāngyě- wilderness)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Opinion | The Real Censors of China - NYT

• China 'to let thousands of ethnic Kazakhs leave Xinjiang' - The Guardian

• Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong

• Lei Diansheng’s ‘completionist’ trek around the borders

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

Episode Transcripts // Help Support TrChFic

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