January 22, 2021
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. Returning to the show to rescue me from the abyss - or hurl me into it - is the extremely online Dylan Levi King. We have quite a beast to wrestle with this episode. Lovecraftian fiction, from the Chinese internet, curated, translated and packaged in paratexts by two particularly unorthodox individuals.
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(邪神呼唤 - Xiéshén Hūhuàn - the call of Cthulhu)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Episode Transcripts
Help Support TrChFic
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM 🐙 TWITTER 🐙 DISCORD 🐙 HOMEPAGE
January 14, 2021
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. 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 off-kilter this episode, it's because I'm star struck!
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(异 - Yì - strange/different)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Episode Transcripts
Help Support TrChFic
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM 👹 TWITTER 👹 DISCORD 👹 HOMEPAGE
December 22, 2020
Every person's heart is an island, trapped by water, sequestered from the world
In the forty fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are going in search of Peach Blossom Paradise by Ge Fei. Rowing me through the lingering mists and dark waters is craftmaster Canaan Morse, its translator.
Ge Fei has been covered once before on this show. We did his Flock of Brown Birds in Episode 30. This time we are dealing with something less surreal. On the surface, it's a typical 'important Chinese novelist writes historical saga' affair. But beneath...
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(徒 - Tú - in vain)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Episode Transcripts
Help Support TrChFic
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM 🌸 TWITTER 🌸 DISCORD 🌸 HOMEPAGE
November 26, 2020
'Underneath the hole is another hole. Do you dare go down?'
In the forty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are grappling with the experimental literature of Can Xue, as embodied in I Live in the Slums. Helping me train for the performance of a lifetime is Chinese-to-Bulgarian translator & friend of the pod, Stefan Rusinov.
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(审丑 - shěn chǒu - examining ugliness AND/OR the abject, if you like)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Episode Transcripts
Help Support TrChFic
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM ⬛ TWITTER ⬛ DISCORD ⬛ HOMEPAGE
November 8, 2020
I am an Evenki woman.
I am the wife of our people’s last Clan Chieftain.
I was born in the winter.
In the forty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are heading into the mountains of Manchuria to seek out The Last Quarter of the Moon (额尔古纳河右岸 / É'ěrgǔnà Hé Yòu'àn) by Chi Zijian. Tramping with me through the snows is its translator, Bruce Humes.
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(urireng / 乌力楞 / the basic social unit of Evenki society; the campsite and the clan)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Episode Transcripts
Help Support TrChFic
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // DISCORD // HOMEPAGE
October 27, 2020
It is not often that one has the opportunity to observe the extinction of an entire civilisation
In the forty first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are venturing into Cat Country (猫城记 / Māo Chéng Jì), a science fiction oddity of the Republic of China. Helping me save the nation and stay off the damned reverie leaves is Molly Silk, a doctoral researcher of Chinese Space Policy.
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(迷叶 / Mí Yè / reverie leaves)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Buy Me a Coffee
Bonus Shows on Patreon
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM 🐈 TWITTER 🐈 DISCORD 🐈 MY SITE 🐈
October 20, 2020
The ultimate fate of all intelligent beings has always been to become as grand as their thoughts.
Episode 40 is no ordinary episode! This time TrChFic is crossing over with Couch Command and its esteemed host Keith Hayward to jump right down the Chinese sci-fi wormhole of Liu Cixin's haymaker-punch ending to his Three Body Problem trilogy, Death's End (死神永生 / Sǐshén Yǒngshēng). Hell yes.
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(警告 / Jǐnggào / warning)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Buy Me a Coffee
Bonus Shows on Patreon
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // DISCORD // MY SITE
October 10, 2020
executioner: ᴇᴜᴍᴇɴɪᴅᴇs
In the thirty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Death Notice (死亡通知单 / Sǐwáng Tōngzhī Dān), a fast paced crime thriller with a mean streak. Joining me to inspect the corpses is its polymath translator, Zac Haluza. Expect to be surprised by just how much this work was adapted in translation.
-
// NEWS ITEMS //
-
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(時差 / shíchā / time difference)
-
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
-
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Buy Me a Coffee
Bonus Shows on Patreon
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // DISCORD // MY SITE
September 12, 2020
'O thou city that surpasseth our understanding! How impressive are they emptiness, and thy commonness, and thy bad taste!'
In the thirty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Hymn to Shanghai (上海之歌 / Shànghǎi Zhīgē), a piece by 'the little critic' himself, Lin Yutang. Joining me to pick apart Lin's biblical condemnation is the roguish raconteur and historian of Old Shanghai, Paul French. Expect to hear a lot about the virtues of liberal cosmopolitanism and the evils of Art Deco and gin liqueur.
// NEWS ITEMS //
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(黄包车 / huáng bāo chē / rickshaw)
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Buy Me a Coffee
Bonus Shows on Patreon
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // DISCORD // MY SITE
August 30, 2020
'The scholar suddenly glimpsed a movement in the darkness. Something dived towards him like a swift bird. The shadowy outline of a person neared him, reaching out with a hand.'
In the thirty seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at The Woman in the Carriage (车中女子 / Chē Zhōng Nǚzǐ), a chuanqi story dating back to the Tang Dynasty. Our guest is its translator, Yilin Wang.
The Woman in the Carriage is a short tale, but the more you look at it, the more you see. Moral lessons, subtle humour, inexplicable strangeness, the roots of modern wuxia...it's all there!
A condensed transcript of the interview in this episode is available on Yilin's website.
// NEWS ITEMS //
// WORD OF THE DAY //
(盗贼 / dào zéi / thief)
// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //
// Handy TrChFic Links //
Buy Me a Coffee
Bonus Shows on Patreon
The TrChFic Map
INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // DISCORD // MY SITE
