Ep 70 - The Adventures of Ma Suzhen with Paul Bevan

‘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 that is little known in the west, yet part of an entire extended universe of Sinophone multimedia culture.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• PODCAST: Sabina Knight on Daoism, Confucianism & Anti- War Poetry
• INTERVIEW: My Crime, Being Born Illegal - Shen Yang in Conversation with Nicky Harman
• FICTION: The Old Cicada by Can Xue - now readable online, for free
• EVENT: Hard Roads an Cauld Hairst Winds: translations from Ancient China with Brian

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(女 - nv - woman)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Paul’s musical pairing: Mulian Rescues his Mother from Hell
• Angus’ musial pairings: Shit Can Happen - D12 and The Round Sun and Crescent Moon in the Sky - Kronos Quartet
• The much-derided Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies literary genre
• Ma Yongzhen, a real life Shandong badass
• Wuxia and Jin Yong
• Central Shanghai’s artsy street: Fuzhou Lu
• Cai Guoqiang 蔡国强 - Fujian firework artist

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Ep 60 - Chan Ho-kei and Second Sister with Michelle Deeter

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 the trail wherever it leads is 3-time visitor to the show Michelle Deeter. In the events that follow we hack into moral frameworks, digital archives, memory glitches, and urban navigation. Switch off your VPN (we’re in Hong Kong this time), take a quick glance over your shoulder, and enjoy!

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• Gŵyl Haf & Borderless Book Club - International Translation Day event with Sinoist Books, Nicky Harman, and Jun Liu on an upcoming Jia Pingwa translation
• AI 2041: Why the Future is Already Here, with Kai-Fu Lee - Chen Qiufan’s co-author gets interviewed by the Intelligence Squared podcastChen Qiufan does an animated TED video to help promote AI 2041
• a TrChFic 80 minute breakdown of ChQF’s Coming of the Light
• Dark as a Boy - read an excerpt of Ho Fok Song’s Maze Carpet, translated by Natascha Bruce

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(人肉搜索引擎 - rénròu sōusuǒ yǐnqíng - human flesh search engine)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Stress in Hong Kong
• Social engineering within hacking
• Ad Infinitum by Oh the CIty  - Michelle’s musical pairing
• Mr Robot Season 1 OST by Mac Quayle - Angus’ musical pairing
• Jung’s concept of the persona
• Form and Ideology in Crime Fiction by Stephen Knight
• The Untouched Crime by Zijin Chen
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• Metazoa: Animal Minds and the Birth of Human Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
• The Oxford Bar - Ian Rankin’s local

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Ep 39 - Zhou Haohui and Death Notice with Zac Haluza

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.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• The Southern Tour Podcast
• Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge
• China's Muslims and Japan's Empire

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(時差 / shíchā / time difference)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Zhou Haohui NYT article
• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
• numbing spice

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Ep 16 - Chen Zijin and The Untouched Crime with Michelle Deeter

"Remember, if the police come by in the next few days, just answer their questions the way I taught you."

In the sixteenth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Chen Zijin's The Untouched Crime (无证之罪/wú zhèng zhī zuì)

This novel is a murder mystery with a twist set in...well the setting depends on whether you’re reading the original Chinese, or our guest Michelle Deeter's English translation, published by Amazon Crossing. I bet you want to know why. So, you’d better hit play. Right?

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// Discussed in this Episode //

• Song Aman's '49 Degrees'
• 'Burning Ice', The Untouched Crime TV Show

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Ep 10 - A Yi and A Perfect Crime

"I tried. I put everything into being an exceptional student. But those things are like water cast out in the desert, they evaporate quickly. Whenever I started something, I would picture its inevitable ending. An apple becomes pips in the trash."

In the tenth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at A Yi's A Perfect Crime (猫和老鼠/māo hé lǎoshǔ)

This is dark and existential novel translated by Anna Holmwood wastes neither word nor sentiment on the reader. Prepare for discomfort as we take on the perspective of an alienated highschooler who murders his classmate for no real reason, then goes on the run.

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// Discussed in this Episode //

INEQUALITY AND CRIME RATES IN CHINA by Tsun Se Cheong and Yanrui Wu

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

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