Sinica Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Chinese college students in the U.S., with Yingyi Ma Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Yingyi Ma, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University and the author of the book Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education. Yingyi’s book, which focuses on the specific experiences of Chinese undergraduates, examines the push-and-pull factors that have made studying abroad — and studying in the U.S. in particular — a “new education gospel” for many parents in China. She discusses why after 2006 Chinese students surged into American colleges and universities, and how despite their eagerness to build “cosmopolitan capital” by studying in the U.S., they’ve faced challenges in navigating American higher education.

6:56: A duality of ambition and anxiety

13:00: “Cosmopolitan capital” and globalization

39:57: The sacrifices made by Chinese families and researchers

43:58: American higher education and Chinese undergraduate students

46:14: With regard to education, the grass is always greener on the other side

Recommendations:

Yingyi: Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise, by Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell, and the popular Chinese-language podcast Story FM.

Kaiser: The app Weee!, specializing in Asian and Hispanic food delivery.

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China, Russia, and the U.S.: Does the 'strategic triangle' still matter? May 27, 2021

Show notes

Have China and Russia entered into a de facto anti-American alliance? Is Russia, which in Soviet days was for a time the “older brother” to Mao’s China, now comfortable with playing junior partner to Xi’s China? And has the United States, which in its opening to China demonstrated formidable acuity in managing the “strategic triangle,” now jettisoned that model and its logic? This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Ali Wyne, a senior analyst with Eurasia Group's Global Macro practice, to discuss the motivations, the capabilities, and the strategies of Beijing and Moscow in their dealings with Washington — and with each other.

3:54: What of the rules-based international order?

15:04: The relationship between China and Russia

27:35: Inflection points in the early 2000s

48:52: Strategies and tactics employed by China and Russia

Recommendations:

Ali: Stronger: Adapting America's China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence, by Ryan Hass, and the documentary series Chasing Life, by Sanjay Gupta.

Kaiser: The audiobook for The Committed, written by Viet Thanh Nguyen and narrated by Francois Chau.

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Orville Schell on his novel, My Old Home: A Novel of Exile May 20, 2021

Show notes

Veteran China scholar Orville Schell has written a dozen books on China, but his latest book — which Schell published at the age of 80 — is his first novel. My Old Home: A Novel of Exileis a bildungsroman that follows the life of Li Wende and his father, Li Shutong, from the early days of the Cultural Revolution to the tragedy of Tiananmen in 1989. This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Orville about the windows on China that nonfiction is unable to open but that fiction can; the challenges of writing a novel after a lifetime of publishing nonfiction; and continuity and change in modern Chinese history.

Recommendations:

Orville: The works of the famous writer and essayist Lu Xun, 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows, by Ai Weiwei (set for release in November 2021), and Blood Letters: The Untold Story of Lin Zhao, a Martyr in Mao's China, by Lian Xi.

Kaiser: Interior Chinatown: A Novel, by Charles Yu.

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Margaret Lewis on ethnic profiling in the DOJ's China Initiative May 13, 2021

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Margaret (Maggie) Lewis, a professor of law at Seton Hall University, about her work on the U.S. Department of Justice’s “China Initiative.” Launched under former attorney general Jeff Sessions in November 2018, the China Initiative sought to bring criminal cases against perpetrators of industrial espionage benefiting China, but as Maggie argues, it has in fact resulted in discriminatory ethnic profiling and the criminalization of what she calls “China-ness.” Listen to the end to hear Kaiser’s impression of Cookie Monster as a death metal vocalist.

8:24: Viewing China as an existential threat

17:44: Where the framing and implementation of the China Initiative falls short

28:11: Prosecuting “China-ness”

37:38: The impact on American competitiveness

Recommendations:

Maggie: What Do You Do With an Idea?,What Do You Do With a Problem?, andWhat Do You Do With a Chance?, by Kobi Yamada; also, Beautiful Oops!, by Barney Saltzberg.

Kaiser: The album Blackwater Park, by the Swedish progressive metal band Opeth.

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China’s Heart of Darkness May 06, 2021

Show notes

Prince Han Fei, or Hán Fēizǐ 韓非子, is perhaps the most influential Chinese thinker that many Westerners have never heard of. With Jeremy hosting Sinica this week, we bring to you a conversation recorded in November 2020 featuring writer and journalist Zhā Jiànyīng 渣建英 and Geremie R. Barmé, editor of China Heritage. The three discuss the overlooked salience of the words of Han Fei in understanding modern China, the concept of legalism and its relation to the contemporary interpretation of fazhi (法治 fǎzhì), or rule of law, and the churn of being caught between the United States and China as relations between the two great powers continue to sour.

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U.S.-China climate cooperation in a competitive age Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

This week on Sinica, after an eventful week of climate-change-focused meetings, including U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry’s trip to China, the U.S.-hosted Leaders Summit on Climate convened on April 22 and 23. Kaiser chats with China climate policy specialist Angel Hsu, an assistant professor in the Public Policy Department and the Energy, Environment, and Ecology Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Alex Wang, a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, and a leading expert on environmental law and the law and politics of China. They provide insights into how China and the U.S. can continue to make progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions even while competing on other fronts.

4:24: John Kerry’s mission to China

17:08: Fighting for leadership on meeting climate goals

27:25: Will climate collaboration with China fall by the wayside?

43:01: The Green New Deal and China’s environmental policies

Recommendations:

Angel: Blockchain Chicken Farm by Xiaowei Wang.

Alex: The Environment China podcast, Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert Caro, and the highly informative Twitter feed of carbon analyst Yan Qin.

Kaiser: The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War, The Steven Spielberg movie called Ready Player One.

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Searching for the six Chinese survivors of the ‘Titanic’ Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy chat with Arthur Jones and Steven Schwankert about their documentary The Six. The film, directed by Jones and produced by James Cameron, focuses on Schwankert’s search for the six Chinese men who survived the sinking of the Titanic on the night of April 14, 1912. Tracing the fate of the men takes Schwankert from New York’s Chinatown to the dells of Wisconsin, from Canada to Australia, and from England to Guangdong Province. What his team discovers is the moving story of racial prejudice, the Chinese immigrant experience, and profound personal bravery. Originally scheduled to be released last year shortly after we taped, The Six is now finally out in Chinese theaters, with U.S. release dates to be announced. It marksthe second collaboration between Jones and Schwankert — we discussed their earlier film, The Poseidon Project, with Schwankert on this program in 2014.

5:12: The journey from conception to completion of the film

14:21: The cultural significance of the Titanic in China

26:46: What were the survivors doing on the Titanic?

46:01: A story of immigration and the Chinese experience

Recommendations:

Jeremy: The South African news website Daily Maverick.

Arthur: Two documentaries: Still Tomorrow, by Fan Jian, and Sleep Furiously, by Gideon Koppel.

Steven: Menno Moto: A Journey Across the Americas in Search of My Mennonite Identity, by Cameron Dueck, and Confucius and Opium: China Book Reviews, by Isham Cook.

Kaiser: The comedy television series The Good Place.

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Beethoven in Beijing Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

On April 16, PBS’s Great Performanceswill broadcast the world premiere of the documentary Beethoven in Beijing, which tells the story of classical music in China over the last half century through the lens of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s storied relationship with the country, from its first performances in the P.R.C. in 1973 until its most recent tour, in 2018. Along the way, the film profiles established Chinese musicians and composers, like Tán Dùn 谭盾 and Láng Lǎng 郎朗, and introduces us to new Chinese talent, like the composer Peng-Peng Gong 龚天鹏.

This week, Kaiser chats with three individuals involved with the film: co-director Jennifer Lin, a veteran Philadelphia Inquirerreporter and the author of the 2017 book Shanghai Faithful; producer Cài Jīndōng 蔡金冬, a professor of music and arts at Bard College, the director of the US-China Music Institute, and a former conductor of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra; and Sheila Melvin, a script consultant for Beethoven in Beijing and the co-author, along with her husband, Cai, of Rhapsody in Red and Beethoven in China, both books about classical music in the People’s Republic of China.

Recommendations:

Sheila: This viola concerto, performed by the Shanghai Philharmonic.

Jindong: The works of Zhōu Lóng 周龙.

Kaiser: A day in the life of Abed Salama, by Nathan Thrall, and Surviving the crackdown in Xinjiang, by Raffi Khatchadourian.

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China's new youth, with Alec Ash and Stephanie Studer Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Stephanie Studer, China correspondent for The Economist, who recently published a special report in the magazine about China’s “Post-90s” generation; and with Alec Ash, author of the book Wish Lanterns, which looks at a cohort of Chinese youth born between 1985 and 1990. The two explore the apparent contradictions between, on the one hand, the cosmopolitanism and socially progressive attitudes of young Chinese today and, on the other, their increasingly assertive national identity.

9:15: Social liberalism and nationalism

10:55: Less impressed by the west

27:38: China’s millennials and their western counterparts

38:06: A progressive generation and regressive regime

43:12: How state actors affect post-90’s discourse

Read more about China’s new youth here on SupChina, by Alec Ash.

Recommendations:

Stephanie: Frank Dorn’s jigsaw map of 1936 Beijing, available on the Beijing Postcards website.

Alec: He recommends traveling to Dali, Yunnan, as well as trying the provincial cuisine.

Kaiser: The column Beijing Lights, published on the Spittoon Collective website.

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China's COVID-19 response and the virus's origins, with Deborah Seligsohn Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Deborah Seligsohn, who served as the State Department’s Environment, Science, Technology and Health Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2003 to 2007. She is now an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University in Philadelphia, where she currently teaches a course on pandemics and politics. She recalls her firsthand experience with China’s SARS response in 2003, shares her views on how much China improved in the intervening years, and talks about how, when, and why China mishandled its initial response to the novel coronavirus in the winter of 2019–2020. Deborah also offers her critical perspective on the persistent “lab-leak” theory.

This show was recorded on March 12, with an addendum recorded on March 29, in which Deborah addresses some of the news relating to the search for COVID’s origins that came out in the intervening weeks.

6:50: Understanding the origins of COVID-19

34:16: Chinese scientists’ unwillingness to share data

43:54: The World Health Organization’s handling of the virus

54:36: The lab-leak theory

Recommendations:

Deborah: Coronation, by Ai Weiwei, and the podcast In The Bubble: From The Frontlines.

Kaiser: The rise of made-in-China diplomacy, Peter Hessler’s latest piece in The New Yorker.

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