Ep 61 - Chen Xiwo and The Book of Sins with Nicky Harman

I loathe reason. Reason is the sort of rubbish you can indulge in when life is sweet, like love and honour. I totally reject it.

In the sixty first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are opening The Book of Sins (冒犯书 / Màofàn Shū), by edgelord-with-a-conscience Chen Xiwo. Playing common-sense counterpoint to my doom-laden interpretations of the text is its translator, Nicky Harman. Here’s what we deal with: pain, incest, and the political uses of shock, horror, and offensiveness. Are you sure about this? You can delete this episode now. Do you choose to hit play?

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet by Bogna Konoir - applies Liu Cixin’s logic to cyberspace
• Sense of Place - new issue of Pathlight Magazine
• Gei Fei’s Peach Blossom Paradise bags spot in translated literature finalist list for US 2021 National Book Awards
• TOR announces full contents of The Way Spring Arrives

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(痛 - tòng - pain)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Nicky’s musical pairing: Stride la Vampa from Il Trovatore
• Angus’ musical pairing: God’s Away on Business by Tom Waits
• Chen Xiwo’s speech on literary censorship in the PRC, given at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club in 2010
• A Banned Take on Contemporary China: Wall Street Journal review of The Book of Sins
• Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik
• Thomas Ligotti, anhedonic pessimist horror writer
• Lit by Mary Karr, a considerably more functional individual
• Various edgy Chinese novels: Playing for Thrills … 1988: I Want to Talk with the World … Dancing Through Red Dust … Shanghai Baby … A Perfect Crime

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Ep 59 - More Than One Child with Shen Yang and Nicky Harman

It is a long and painful process to see oneself clearly, as is the process of returning to one’s childhood.

In the fifty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are talking with someone who is More Than One Child (隐形小孩 / Yǐnxíng Xiǎohái), a woman as friendly as she is fearless: Shen Yang. She’s here on this episode, and so is her translator, friend-of-the-pod, and returnee guest Nicky Harman. The book is forthcoming from the excellent publisher Balestier Press.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• From July 2nd: PEN Translates awards announced, including two titles from the PRC
• Dylan Levi King tries out movie commentary for Obsession 疯狂的代价 (1988)
• New book from Astra House: Yu Xiuhua’s Moonlight Rests on My Left Palm
• Publisher’s Weekly shares a Spotlight on Six Contemporary Chinese Fiction Writers

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(葳蕤 - wēi ruí - lush, burgeoning foliage)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• '琵琶語 Pipa Yu' by 林海 Lin Hai - Shen Yang’s musical pairing
• When Everything Is Green by Julie Christmas & All The World is Green by Tom Waits - Angus’ musical pairings
• The One Child Policy
• The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
• Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China  by Rao Pingru, trans. Nicky Harman
• Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the World's Next Superpower by Roseann Lake
• Robert Winston’s BBC program on memory… sadly it’s not streaming anywhere

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Ep 56 - Pai Hsien-yung and Taipei People with Nadia Ho

‘According to the ancient precepts, grief supersedes all formalities’

[ this is episode 4 of our Taiwan Season ]

In the fifty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are introducing ourselves to the Taipei People (台北人 / Táiběi Rén), as written by Pai Hsien-yung. Joining me to question the merits of nostalgia and muse aimlessly on umbrellas and the like is a genuine Taibei ren; the effortlessly hip Nadia Ho.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• Alain Charles Asia seeking publishing production freelancers - contact daniel.li@alaincharlesasia.com
• Issue One of ‘Jintian’ - the legendary Chinese lit magazine
• READ: The Killer  撞死了一只羊 by Tsering Norbu
• Two Poems by Bei Dao - commemorating June 4th

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(夢 - màng - dream)

pls note I’ve used the character’s traditional form and local Taiwanese pronunciation here!

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• The Taste of Apples by Huang Chun-Ming tr. Howard Goldblatt
• Dubliners by James Joyce
• Kun opera - Mr Pai’s favourite style
• The May 4th Movement & Battle of Tsingtao
• The Paramount Ballroom in Shanghai

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Ep 54 - Qiu Miaojin and Notes of a Crocodile with Conor Stuart

‘Some desires, once formed, are impossible to fulfil, so they become frustrations instead. That’s the problem with going forth into new worlds’

[ this is episode 2 of our Taiwan Season ]

In the fifty fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are thumbing through the Notes of a Crocodile (鳄鱼手记 / Èyú Shǒujì). Joining me on the lookout for the shy and elusive reptiloid is Conor Stuart.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• How a Polish Master Brought Lu Xun's Madness to Life
• 11th Chinese Nebula Awards Winners – list shared in English by Locus
• NEA Big Read 2021: China’s Literary Giants: The Legacy of Yu Hua

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// WORDS OF THE DAY //

(三八 - Sānbā - usually derogatory adjective used to describe ‘frivolous’ women)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Crystal Boys by Pai Hsien-yung
• LGBT rights in Taiwan
• ‘Addiction’ webseries
• ‘Lala/lazi’ slang for ‘lesbian’

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Ep 53 - The Membranes with Chi Ta-wei and Ari Larissa Heinrich

‘Two peach trees, two entirely different universes.’

[ this is episode 1 of our Taiwan Season ]

In the fifty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are peeling back The Membranes (膜 / Mó). Joining me at their respective computer terminals in the ocean floor biodome are its author Chi Ta-wei and translator Ari Larissa Heinrich. 

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• PANEL: Exploring Chinese Science Fiction Multi-Dimensionally
• PREORDER: Vessel - a memoir by Cai Chongda
• UPCOMING: The London Chinese Science Fiction Group to have Han Song on as a guest 

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// WORDS OF THE DAY //

(赞 - zàn - ‘like’, as in Facebook, Wechat etc)

(情 - qíng - emotion, affection, sentiment)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• 80s & 90s sci-fi and cyberpunk: should it be left behind?
• the hole in the ozone layer
• chickens with teeth
• queer parenting in Taiwan

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// Episode Sponsor //

Buy Paul French’s Destination Peking here:

https://www.blacksmithbooks.com/books/destination-peking/

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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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Ep 47 - Ma Jian and Beijing Coma with Ronald Torrance

When you've stared at the past for so long that time dissolves, you'll be able to wake from your slumber

In the forty seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are falling into Beijing Coma (肉之土 / Ròu Zhī Tǔ). Avid Ma Jian reader Ronald Torrance is here to guide me from perimeter to epicentre of this colossal novel, and the weighty events it reckons with. Even without politics, stakes are high here: life/death, time/memory, flesh/history, and the intimate bonds that can exist between translators and writers.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• Pen Fairy
• The TrChFic Mailing List
• Lost in Translation: The World of Chinese Literature in English
• ‘The atmosphere has become abnormal’: Han Chinese views from Xinjiang

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(地标 - Dìbiāo - Landmark)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• The People's Republic of Amnesia by Louisa Lim
• Beijing from Below: Stories of Marginal Lives in the Capital's Centre by Harriet Evans
• Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeline Thien
• What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear by Baoshu
• Prisoner of the State by Zhao Ziyang
• Death Fugue by Sheng Keyi
• Balloon by Pema Tseden
• The loneliness of Yan Lianke
• Mo Yan & censorship
• How China's censors are taught about 'restricted topics'
• Meng Po and her memory-erasing soup
• Cui Jian, rock music, and socialist/patriotic anthems at Tiananmen

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Ep 45 - Strange Beasts of China with Yan Ge and Jeremy Tiang

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 (异兽志 - Yì Shòu Zhì). 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!

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• Faraway by Lo Yi-Chin - coming out this September
• How Lin Qi's Poisoning Death Shocked China - A suspected murder by poisoning related to the Three Body Netflix adaptation
• Round up, Round up - News #1 - Paper Republic now has its own news roundup!

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(异 - Yì - strange/different)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• The Shanhaijing
• Bestiary by K-Ming Chang
• Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton
• Attrib by Eley Williams
• I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
• the mighty 小儿赶牛 - red bull & ergoutou baijiu
• the seven sages of the bamboo grove
• The 'san xian/third line' industrialisation plan

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Ep 44 - Ge Fei and Peach Blossom Paradise with Canaan Morse

 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 (人面桃花 - Rénmiàn Táohuā) 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...

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• There and Back Again: Tracking Down Transliterations in Stories of the Sahara - a blog from translator Mike Fu
• Paper Republic's 2020 Roll Call of Published Translations from Chinese
• Understanding Chinese Fantasy Genres - a guide from translator Jeremy Bai AKA Deathblade

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(徒 - Tú - in vain)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• the 100 Days' Reform
• The Invisibility Cloak also by Ge Fei
• In the Heat of the Sun (1994, dir. Jiang Wen)
• The Tradition of Telling and the Desire of Showing in Ge Fei’s ‘Fictional Minds’

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Ep 43 - Can Xue and I Live in the Slums with Stefan Rusinov

'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.

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• Yan Ge's White Horse shortlisted for the Warwick Women in Translation prize
• Lovecraftian stories from the Chinese internet: The Flock of Ba Hui

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(审丑 - shěn chǒu - examining ugliness AND/OR the abject, if you like)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Stefan's podcast (it's in Bulgarian!)
• High Culture Fever by Jing Wang
• The Code of Fiction (小说密码) by Ma Yuan
• Cosmos by Witold Gombrowicz
• Turtle Feet by Nikolay Grozni
• the 10 clues to solving Mulholland Drive
• Stubborn Dirty Snow - Can Xue at the Asian American Writers' Workshop
• Kafka and the struggles of an absurd existence
• Can Xue interview - The Aesthetic Activity in Modern Fiction
• The Aesthetics of the Transposition of Reality, Dream, and Mirror: A Comparative Perspective on Can Xue
• Ambiguous Subjectivity - Reading Can Xue

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