The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast

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The 50th Episode Party!

March 17, 2021

Starting a podcast is not a dinner party

In the fiftieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, I put my feet up and have a beer! Woohoo!

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Ep 49 - The TrChFic Megacrossover Part 2: Moderns

March 3, 2021

'One morning, Salinger was woken from sleep by deafening noises. Dazed, he gazed outside the window and saw a row of gleaming Baekdu bulldozers, which had been modified from Chonma-ho battle tanks, bearing down on his cabin.'

In the forty ninth episode we continue our megacrossover, this time tackling modern literature. Once more unto the jazz hall, dear friends, once more, as we tackle: lamppost sexuality, mantou typography, disposable(?) wuxia, and the philosophy of chicken nuggets. No, really. I'm not joking. Wait, come back!!!

// NEWS ITEMS //

Taiwan Year at the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing - Egoyan Zheng Excerpt
Jeremy Tiang - The World Is Not Enough - is world literature just a ‘spice rack’ for lazy Westerners?
Lost in Translation: What’s the Problem with Chinese Literature in the West? - Zoom talk w/ Jianan Qian, Nicky Harman, and Eric Abrahamsen
Reading "The Story of the Stone" with 白先勇 Pai Hsien-Yung and 陳毓賢 Susan Chan Egan - a superstar Zoom talk!

// PODCASTERS & THEIR CHOSEN STORIES //

Rob and Lee of The Chinese Literature Podcast chose Sealed Off by Eileen Chang

William and Kevin of Rereading the Stone chose Shanghai Foxtrot by Mu Shiying

Yifan of 文化土豆 Culture Potato chose A Bond Undone, Chapter 1 by Jin Yong

and your host Angus chose Salinger and the Koreans by Han Song

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// Episode Sponsor //

Buy Jeremy Bai AKA Deathblade's The Heretic Peacekeeper here:

Amazon: http://mybook.to/9h10eTHP

Kobo, Nook, etc: https://books2read.com/u/mgzxxx

// Handy TrChFic Links //

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Ep 48 - The TrChFic Megacrossover Part 1: Classicists

February 14, 2021

'What sort of a fiend are you that you dare change into my appearance, take my descendants captive, occupy my immortal cave, and assume such airs?'

In the forty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are doing something a little different! In this episode half of a small army of Chinese lit podcasters join me to discuss their favourite stories from dynastic China.

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// PODCASTERS & THEIR CHOSEN STORIES //

Mason of the Plum Forest Podcast chose 'The Thunder God', from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio

John of Chinese Lore chose Chapter 2 of The Outlaws of the Marsh, tr. Sidney Shapiro

Yang of The Chinese Mythology Podcast chose 'Weaver Shi Meets a Friend at the Strand from Stories to Awaken the World (醒世恒言) by Feng Menglong, tr. Ted Wang and Chen Chen

Tianqi of Stories from a Chinese Studio chose ‘Two Monkeys’, from Journey to the West tr. Anthony C Yu

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

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 (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!

// 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!

// WORD OF THE DAY //

(异 - Yì - strange/different)

// 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

// Handy TrChFic Links //

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

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 //

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

// WORD OF THE DAY //

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

// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

-

// Handy TrChFic Links //

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Ep 40 - Liu Cixin and Death’s End with Keith Justice Hayward

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 //

What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese? by Xia Jia
The Roman and Chinese Empires
The London Chinese Scifi Group and their discussion of The Lighthouse Girl by Baoshu
The Cultural Revolution, Fanaticism and Rationality in The Three-Body Problem - a Master's thesis that gets into some of what Keith and I discuss

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Ep 38 - Lin Yutang and Hymn to Shanghai with Paul French

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 //

Yen Ooi's article in the SFRA review - Chinese Science Fiction: A Genre of Adversity
The Three Body Problem gets picked up by Netflix
a cool book I only just learned exists: Reading Lu Xun Through Carl Jung

// WORD OF THE DAY //

(黄包车 / huáng bāo chē / rickshaw)

// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

Little Tokyo in Old Shanghai
Do Bedbugs Exist in China? by Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang's Chinese typewriter
Extraterritoriality in China
Metropolis (dir. Fritz Lang, 1927)
Man's Fate by Andre Malraux
Shanghai by Yokomitsu Riichi
Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui
The XXth Century - the Nazi magazine that Eileen Chang got her start in

// Handy TrChFic Links //

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Ep 36 - Gujian with Emily Jin

July 30, 2020

'I think there is no brother in this world as strange as you'

In the thirty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at a video game(!) series called Gujian (古剑/ Gǔ Jiàn). Helping me level up and face my shadow self is Emily Jin, a highly active Chinese science fiction translator, and better yet: a hardcore Gujian fan!

Gujian isn't a Western Tolkeinesque RPG, nor is it a JRPG Final Fantasy-style affair. It's made in China, set in China, and played (mostly) by Chinese gamers. You may not be shocked to learn that it's a Wuxia RPG, with a little Xianxia magic thrown in for good measure.

// NEWS ITEMS //

// WORD OF THE DAY //

(剑 / Jiàn / a straight, double-edged Chinese sword)

// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

// Handy TrChFic Links //

Yang Lian's homepage // Brian Holton on Paper Republic

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Ep 28 - Yang Lian and Narrative Poem with Brian Holton

April 4, 2020

Ep 28 art

"Dalliances wi ither worlds..."

In the twenty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Yang Lian's Narrative Poem (叙事诗 / Xùshìshī) Our guest is Brian Holton, the premier translator of Chinese-to-Scots!

Publishers: EN - Bloodaxe Books // CN - Huaxia Publishing House

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