Sinica Podcast

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are joined by Deborah Seligsohn, former science counselor for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and currently a doctoral candidate at the University of California, San Diego, where she studies environmental governance in China. With more than 20 years of China experience, Deborah is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on the question of China's policy response to issues of air pollution and climate change. Recommendations: "How China, the ‘world’s largest polluter,’ is taking on climate change," by Deborah Seligsohn (Non-pay walled version is on SCMP attached below) http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1891794/how-china-worlds-largest-polluter-taking-climate-change https://www.chinafile.com/contributors/deborah-seligsohn http://www.chinafaqs.org/expert/deborah-seligsohn David Moser The Last Dalai Lama http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/magazine/the-last-dalai-lama.html?_r=0 The Age of Irreverence http://www.amazon.com/The-Age-Irreverence-History-Laughter/dp/0520283848 Deborah Seligsohn Hey, China, this is why democracies beat autocracies in a fight. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/12/15/hey-china-this-is-why-democracies-beat-autocracies-in-a-fight-so-back-off-the-south-china-sea/ Kaiser Kuo ISIS is a revolution https://aeon.co/essays/why-isis-has-the-potential-to-be-a-world-altering-revolution   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Ernest Hemingway somewhat presciently referred to Paris as a "moveable feast" ("wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you"), he captured the feelings of many long-term China expats rather concisely. So why exactly does everyone like to compare life here to Paris in the 1920s? And if life is so romantic here, where are the writers in our midst and what are they producing? This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to host the editors of While We're Here: China Stories from a Writers' Colony, a compilation of short stories, poems and more, lovingly assembled by Alec Ash and Tom Pellman of The Anthill. Join us to listen to some selections as well as unapologetic gossip about the writers in question. If you want to pick up the book, you can find it for your Kindle here on Amazon or drop by The Bookworm in Beijing for a physical copy. Recommendations: The Anthill http://theanthill.org/ While We Were Here: China Stories from a Writers’ Colony, Edited by Alec Ash and Tom Pellman http://www.amazon.com/While-Were-Here-Stories-Writers-ebook/dp/B019136EXI/ Unsavory Elements http://www.amazon.com/Unsavory-Elements-Stories-Foreigners-Loose/dp/9881616409 How to Dress to Buy Dragonfruit http://www.amazon.com/How-Does-One-Dress-Dragonfruit-ebook/dp/B00K21ZXF4 Alec Ash on "Shanghai Cocktales" http://beijingcream.com/2015/05/shanghai-cocktales-and-the-curse-of-the-expat-memoir/ Incarnations http://www.amazon.com/The-Incarnations-Novel-Susan-Barker/dp/1501106783 Rock Paper Tiger http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Tiger-Ellie-McEnroe-Novel/dp/161695258X/ Up to The Mountains and Down to the Countryside, by Quincy Carol http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Down-Countryside-Quincy-Carroll/dp/1941758452 Radio Lab Episode on CRISPER http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/ Alec Ash The Search for a Vanishing Beijing, by M. A. Aldrich http://www.amazon.com/The-Search-Vanishing-Beijing-Capital/dp/9622099394 Voice Map – Walking Guided Tours – Check out the tours of Beijing, by David French and Alex Ash https://voicemap.me/ Tom Pellman Dispatches from Pluto, by Richard Grant http://www.amazon.com/Dispatches-Pluto-Found-Mississippi-Delta-ebook/dp/B00UDCNM82 David Moser 逻辑思维 Logical Thinking – Video Series on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/logictalkshow Kaiser Kuo China’s Bold Push into Genetically Customized Animals, by Christina Larson http://www.nature.com/news/china-s-bold-push-into-genetically-customized-animals-1.18826 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amazing research now suggests that Beijing's swifts, the tiny creatures most residents pass by without noticing, are some of the most well-travelled birds on the planet, averaging an astonishing 124,000 miles of flight in their life, barely landing for years on end, and migrating as far as the southern tip of Africa. This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn spoke with Terry Townshend, founder of the environmental education and travel organization EcoAction China and creator of the "Birding Beijing" website, for an inside look at how the scientific community discovered these amazing facts. We also discuss how the changing urban landscape of Beijing is affecting the natural environment for these amazing creatures. Recommendations:   Birding Beijing http://birdingbeijing.com/ Action for Swifts http://actionforswifts.blogspot.com British Trust for Ornithology http://www.bto.org Purity: A Novel, by Jonathan Franzen http://www.amazon.com/Purity-A-Novel-Jonathan-Franzen/dp/0374239215 Cement and Pig Consumption Reveal China's Huge Changes http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33802777 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is the second part of our episode of Sinica recorded during a special live event at the Bookworm Literary Festival. In this show David Moser and Kaiser Kuo were joined by China-newcomer Jeremy Goldkorn, fresh off the plane from Nashville to field questions from our live Beijing audience. During this show, we talk about what Beijing means to us and what we see happening in China going forward. If you're a long-time listener, be sure to check out this unusual episode recorded in front of a live audience. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our episode of Sinica this week was captured during a special live event at the Bookworm Literary Festival, where David Moser and Kaiser Kuo were joined by China-newcomer Jeremy Goldkorn, fresh off the plane from Nashville. During the show we talked about Beijing-lifers and how the city has changed during our time here. If you're a long-time listener, be sure to check out this unusual episode recorded in front of a live audience. Recommendations: Chublic Opinion https://chublicopinion.com/  Jeremy Goldkorn Holiday Inn Express on 春秀路 David Moser The World According to Xi Jinping, by Benjamin Carlson http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/xi-jinping-china-book-chinese-dream/406387/ Kaiser Kuo Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie http://www.amazon.com/Americanah-Chimamanda-Ngozi-Adichie/dp/0307455920 Here’s What All The Chinese Students at Your School are Reading, by Matt Sheehan http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/heres-what-the-300000-chinese-students-in-the-us-are-reading_55f9b409e4b0e333e54c3e22 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The West has spent decades pleading with China to become a responsible stakeholder in the global community, but what happens now that China is starting to take a more proactive role internationally? In today's show, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to be joined by a Dutch journalist, Fokke Obbema (the de Volkskrant correspondent with a perfectly normal Dutch name), who is the author of the recent book China and the West: Hope and Fear in the Age of Asia. Recommendations: Fokke Obbema’s China and the West https://www.amazon.com/China-West-Hope-Fear-Asia/dp/178453384X  Susan L. Shirk’s China: Fragile Superpower https://www.amazon.com/China-Superpower-Susan-L-Shirk/dp/0195373197  David Moser Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316095  Fokke Obbema David Eggers’ The Circle https://www.amazon.com/Circle-Dave-Eggers/dp/0345807294  The Social Credit System https://chinacopyrightandmedia.wordpress.com/2014/06/14/planning-outline-for-the-construction-of-a-social-credit-system-2014-2020/ Kaiser Kuo Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization Volume Ten: Rousseau and Revolution https://www.amazon.com/Rousseau-Revolution-Story-Civilization-Durant/dp/1567310214  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tu Youyou, Chinese scientist and Nobel Prize winner, discusses her discovery of the anti-malaria drug Artemisinin. The podcast explores the controversy surrounding Chinese medicine and the implications of Tu Youyou's Nobel Prize. It also touches on the complexity of studying the genetic basis of intelligence and advancements in genome sequencing technology.

Edmund Backhouse, the 20th-century Sinologist, long-time Beijing resident, and occasional con artist, is perhaps best known for his incendiary memoirs, which not only distorted Western understanding of Chinese history for more than 50 years, but also included what, in retrospect, can only be seen as patently fictitious stories of erotic encounters between the British baronet and Empress Dowager Cixi. This week on Sinica, we are delighted to be joined by Derek Sandhaus of Earnshaw Books, who has recently produced an abridged edition of Backhouse's memoirs for the Hong Kong publishing house. As an expert on the facts and fictions of Edmund Backhouse, Derek joins us for a discussion of what is real and less-than-real in Backhouse's deathbed reminiscences, and what we can and should learn about Qing-era China from his memoirs. Recommendations: David Helliwell's blog https://oldchinesebooks.wordpress.com Decadence Manchu, by Edmund Backhouse https://www.amazon.com/Decadence-Mandchoue-Memoirs-Trelawny-Backhouse/dp/9881944511  Derek Sandhaus's two works: Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits http://www.amazon.com/Baijiu-Essential-Guide-Chinese-Spirits/dp/0143800132 Tales of Old Peking http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Old-Peking-Tumultuous-Capital/dp/9881815428 David Moser Asian Observer: This Day In Chinese History Derek Sandhaus The Hermit of Peiking, by Hugh Trevor-Roper http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/190601101X? Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China, by Cuncun Wu http://www.amazon.com/Homoerotic-Sensibilities-Routledge-Association-Australia/dp/041564836X/ Kaiser Kuo Chublic Opinion - Down with Nihilism http://chublicopinion.com/2015/08/31/down-with-the-nihilists/ Can the Chinese Government get its people to like GMOs?, by Christina Larson http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/can-the-chinese-government-get-its-people-to-like-g-m-o-s See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Great Leap Brewery is an institution. As one of the earliest American-style microbreweries in China, not only has the company rescued us from endless nights of Snow and Yanjing, but it's also given us something uniquely Chinese with its assortment of peppercorn, honey, and tea-flavored beers. So as much as we love the other microbreweries in Beijing and throw our money at them, too, it's no accident the Great Leap taproom is our most frequent destination most evenings after recording a show.  Today on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo sits down with Great Leap founder Carl Setzer to talk about his story in China: why Great Leap got started, how the company fits into the beer industry in China, and what it's like to run a food and beverage startup as a foreigner. This is a surprisingly intimate look at one of the places we've grown to take for granted, filled with details on their touch-and-go early years and the bureaucratic run-in that almost crippled the business. We hope you enjoy hearing their story as much as we did.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to be joined in Popup Towers by Rogier Creemers, post-doctoral fellow at Oxford, author of the fantastic China Copyright and Media blog and one of the most informed academics working on Chinese internet governance. We've always enjoyed our previous chances to grill Rogier on his thoughts, and our discussion this week didn't disappoint either. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.