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Explore every episode of the podcast The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
The 100th Episode Party10 Feb 202402:02:08

In the one hundredth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are throwing a goodbye party! Friends, listeners, and past guests joined me for a little reminiscing and musing. I drank precisely one beer. The show is going on hiatus, exactly as I’ve been warning you for the past ten episodes or so.

The feed will stay up indefinitely, and it’s likely that I will be migrating the hosting to a free service to make that permanent online presence economical.

I expect I will return to the show, though it will probably be years from now.

再见！It has been a pleasure, pengyous.

Ep 99 - Mo Yan and The Republic of Wine with Dylan Levi King, Michelle Deeter, and Martin Winter07 Jan 202403:49:19

‘I wrote the asinine words ‘liquor is literature’ and ‘people who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature’ when I was good and drunk, and you must not take them to heart.’

In the ninety ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we’re taking a lengthy holiday with Mo Yan in The Republic of Wine, so get your visa stamped and your baijiu in hand. This time there are two discussions. First, sober, with returnees Dylan Levi King and Michelle Deeter. Then, drunk with DLK and poet/translator Martin Winter. Listen all the way through, comrade, to hear two of us curse then proclaim our love for a prominent figure in the field. This is the penultimate episode; the time for tomfoolery is almost over.

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(酒量 – jiǔliàng – capacity for liquor)

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Ep 85 - Mo Yan and Sandalwood Death with Stefan Rusinov12 Feb 202301:35:17

‘The final cut – the coup de grace – entered Qian’s heart, from which black blood the colour and consistency of melted malt sugar slid down the knife blade'

In the eighty fifth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are experiencing the lacerating pains of Sandalwood Death, as dealt to us by Nobel literature prizewinner Mo Yan. It’s time to rip Shandong Province apart in a rebellion for the songbooks. Weapon in hand, the Sun Wukong to my Yue Fei is translator Stefan Rusinov. We laugh, we brood, we hallucinate, and we shake our fists at the craven villain Yuan Shikai, all the while pondering: is torture an artform?

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(喵 – miāo – meow)

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Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts

INSTAGRAM 🔪 TWITTER 🔪 DISCORD

Ep 84 - Han Song and Hospital with Michael Berry and Mingwei Song27 Jan 202301:53:25

‘Generation after generation, people have lived in this massive sick ward we call the universe ’

In the eighty fourth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are lost deep inside Hospital, the first entry in an abyssal trilogy by show favourite Han Song. Old-time wardmates Michael Berry and Mingwei Song are here too, groaning in the darkness.

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(生存 – shēngcún – survival)

(痛苦 – tòngkǔ – pain)

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Ep 82 - Wang Anyi and The Sanctimonious Cobbler with Lehyla Heward18 Dec 202202:20:55

‘If you lived in one of the lanes of Puxi, the moment you stepped out your door, you would find yourself in the thick of urban life in all its boisterous variety.'

In the eighty second episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are paying a visit to The Sanctimonious Cobbler (骄傲的皮匠 / Jiāo'ào de Píjiàng), a novella by Wang Anyi which can be read in By the River: Seven Contemporary Chinese Novellas. Wandering with me down the longtang to cast an eye across the little affairs and petites affaires of shopkeeper Shanghai is friend of the pod and Malta-based scholar Lehyla Heward.

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  • Louise Law’s Ark E Newsletter for updates on Hong Kong lit
  • Durham University’s Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies joins Twitter (at this late hour)
  • Uchiyama Bookstore reopens (Sources: Ting Guo, China Plus, Shine)
  • Two Lines Press announces translation of Xu Zechen’s Beijing Sprawl + a reissue of his Running Through Beijing

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(中篇小说 - zhōngpiān xiǎoshuō - novella/novelette)

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Ep 81 - Xiu Xinyu and The Stars We Raised with Yen Ooi20 Nov 202202:02:52

A star’s coming of age was the process of slowly getting uglier.

In the eighty first episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, writer/researcher Yen Ooi and I are gazing up at The Stars We Raised (逃跑星辰 / táopǎo xīngchén), a short story by Xiu Xinyu featured in the all-women + nonbinary anthology The Way Spring Arrives. Once more, a Chinese science fiction story is taking us down to the countryside for melancholy reflections on the pains of growing up. Yen and I dig into the pains of publishing too, from gender to generation and from style to synthesis.

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(仁 - rén - human kind(ness))

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Ep 80 - Chiou Charng-Ting and Raining Zebra Finches with May Huang24 Oct 202201:16:36

‘In the same spot where Father died, the dead body of a deer lay prostrate in the rain.’

In the eightieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, it’s Raining Zebra Finches (斑胸草雀 / bān xiōng cǎo què). Blame for this troubling meteorological occurrence falls upon Taiwanese author Chiou Charng-Ting; it’s her story. Under the weather with me is her translator, May Huang. In our discussion we’ll be testing the limits of our earthly knowledge and dreaming of other philosophies. When nature stops hiding and springs the inexplicable upon us, where else is there to turn?

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  • Balestier Press publishes The Pidgin Warrior, David Hull’s translation of a kung fu satire written in the 1930s by Zhang Tianyi

  • A horror followup to Sinopticon, titled Sinophagia, is on the way

  • Can Xue’s Mystery Train published by Sublunary Editions on Oct 18th

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(梅雨季 - méiyǔ jì - plum rain season)

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Ep 79 - Mu Ming and Express to Beijing West Railway Station08 Oct 202202:10:14

‘History is nothing more than a complex construction of records and observations’

In the seventy ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction podcast, we’re riding the Express to Beijing West Railway Station (开往西站的特别列车 / kāiwǎng xī zhàn de tèbié lièchē), and I’ll be buying my ticket from none other than the author herself, Mu Ming. En route we’ll be passing by the scenic works of William Blake and Christopher Nolan, and pondering whether Shakespeare and Lu Xun would make good Netflix writers (see Patreon feed). Long-time TrChFic listeners will also already know all-too-well: you’re going to hear me enthuse about trains. Sorry.

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(想象力 - xiǎngxiànglì - imagination)

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Ep 78 - Gu Hongming and Bonnie Prince Tuan with Lee Moore25 Sep 202201:42:40

‘Then each Boxer lad who loves fighting and fun, let him follow the bonnets of bonnie Prince Tuan’

In the seventy eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are riding to war behind Bonnie Prince Tuan, a poem by a Chinese Scotiaphile that draws a parallel between two sets of rebels: the Jacobites of the Scottish highlands and the Boxers of northern China. Here to lend some Boxer brawn to my Jacobean jesting is Lee Moore of the Chinese Literature Podcast – a show that has already devoted an episode to this madness.

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// WORDS OF THE DAY //

(廣記不如淡墨 - guǎng jì bùrú dàn mò - the best memory is not as good as the palest ink)

(雅各布派 - yǎ gè bù pài - Jacobite)

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Ep 77 - Yan Lianke and Lenin’s Kisses with Piotr Machajek21 Aug 202202:03:49

“You can give me your empty words if you like; I’ve come to fill out the forms permitting us to withdraw from society.”

In the seventy seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are turning our cheek to Lenin's Kisses (受活 / shòu huó) by Yan Lianke. Yes, I’m finally dealing with him – and not alone. Piotr Machajek is here to show me how to Liven, as we look into the pros and cons of entering and retreating from a society that just cannot leave things be.

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  • Wang Xiaobo’s Golden Age gets a retranslation & a spot in the NYT
  • Mildly interesting: a 2005 poll comparing expert & popular rankings of Chinese authors
  • Wang Shuo appears to enter Twitter and announce a new book
  • Paper Republic profiles Fujianese poet Wu Ang

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// WORDS OF THE DAY //

(狗带 - gǒu dài - go die)

(入世，出世 - rùshì, chūshì - enter society, withdraw from society)

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Ep 76 - Huang Fan and Zero with The Hugonauts06 Aug 202201:35:05

“Unmasking a universally accepted lie or overturning an irreplaceable idol will produce something akin to a mental collapse.”

In the seventy sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are hitting Zero (零 / líng). Joining me on deck are The Hugonauts, as we navigate a dystopian world that might be a postmodern riff on 1984 by amorphous author Huang Fan, or might be something far more sinister. All seasoned rebels know: sometimes you crash the system, and sometimes the system crashes you.

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(理 - lǐ - reason)

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Ep 75 - A Yi and The Curse with Jeffrey Kinkley23 Jul 202202:11:18

“Are you going to let your son die for nothing?”

In the seventy fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are surviving The Curse (杨村的一则诅咒 / yáng cūn de yī zé zǔzhòu). My partner for this investigation is literary Sinologist Jeffrey Kinkley. What exactly are we dealing with here? A tale of a backfiring curse, or a backfiring society? For realist writing to penetrate our often nightmarish world and scratch The Real, does it have to get weird first? Detective K and I are on the case. Don’t expect comforting answers.

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(游离 - yóulí - to disassociate)

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Ep 98 - The Book of Beijing with Shi Yifeng and Carson Ramsdell31 Oct 202301:43:21

I supposed every last one of this country’s 1.3 billion inhabitants all had their own obsessions with the giant germ cell.

In the ninety eighth episode of the Translated Chinese fiction podcast I am joined by two fine fellows, Shi Yifeng and contributing translator Carson Ramsdell. All a-puff with imperial gusto, we leaf through The Book of Beijing to discuss three of the stories collected within: Han Song’s Reunion ( 北京西站，春节之前 - běijīng xī zhàn, chūnjié zhīqián - tr. Ramsdell 先生), Xu Kun’s Dogshit Football (狗日的足球 - gǒurì de zúqiú), and Mr Shi’s own Is Mr Zhang Home? (张先生在家么 - zhāng xiānshēng zàijiā me). Prepare to shiver, to snicker, and to squeal – but not necessarily in that order.

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(复杂 – fùzá – complexity)

(壮美 – zhuàngměi – magnificent)

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts

INSTAGRAM🏙️TWITTER🏙️DISCORD

Ep 74 - Zou Tao and The Fox Spirit of Bluestone Mountain with Timothy Gouldthorp02 Jul 202201:29:40

There is a saying that accurately describes Young Master Zhou’s state of mind: “Willing to die beneath the flower and linger as an amorous ghost”

In the seventy fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are dallying with The Fox Spirit of Bluestone Mountain (狐狸緣全傳 / húlí yuán quánchuán). Arriving just in time to save us from the spirit’s wiles is translator Timothy Gouldthorp. Straighten your tails, grab a Taoist 不可以色色 bonk stick, and line up for battle as the creatures of the forest (rabbits included) take on the gods!

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(缘分 - yuánfèn - karmic affinity)

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

Episode Transcripts

Help Support TrChFic

INSTAGRAM 🦊 TWITTER 🦊 DISCORD

Ep 73 - A Que and Farewell, Doraemon with Eero Suoranta07 Jun 202202:43:40

‘This cartoon will never end’

In the seventy third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, Eero Suoranta and I are saying Farewell, Doraemon (再见，哆啦A梦 / zàijiàn, duōlaAmèng). This is the second time a story by A Que has appeared on the show, and I feel that I now know the writer’s soul: tender in spirit, thoughtful in action, of limpid and eerie atmosphere, and shy about everything except postmodern intertextual showmanship. Pass with us through a loop in time hidden in a lonely river, to drown in nostalgia (from the Greek nostos ‘return home’ + algos ‘pain’).

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// WORDS OF THE DAY //

(动画 - dònghuà - animation )

(90后 - jiǔ líng hòu - 90s kids)

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Ep 72 - Han Song and My Country Does Not Dream with the London Chinese Science Fiction Group05 May 202201:57:24

‘Because of sleepwalking, over one billion Chinese people have awakened’

In the seventy second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast I’m facing down a bleak reality: My Country Does Not Dream (我的祖国不要做梦 / wǒde zǔguó bù zuò mèng). But I’m not doing it alone! The London Chinese Science Fiction Group have deployed a team of Han Song aficionados (and one critic) to console my exhausted brain as the daytime hours fall away, revealing a sombre somnambulant city behind the city: Beijing.

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// WORDS OF THE DAY //

(梦游 - mèngyóu - sleepwalking)

(吊儿郎当 - diào'er lángdāng - sloppiness)

(躺平 - tǎngpíng - lie flat, as resistance to the 996 work system)

(闭眼 - bì yǎn - eyes closed)

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Ep 71 - Feng Jicai and A Looking-Glass World with Daniel Li24 Apr 202202:08:53

'All the magic lay within their own bodies'

In the seventy first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are stepping into A Looking Glass World (单筒望远镜 / Dāntǒng Wàngyuǎnjìng). This is our second encounter with Tianjin’s bard Feng Jicai, and our first (sort of!) with his publisher-in-translation, Daniel Li of Sinoist Books.

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(庚子年 - gēng zi nián - gengzi year AKA the year of the metal rat)

(from the 60 year cycle of the Chinese calendar)

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

Episode Transcripts // Help Support TrChFic

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Ep 70 - The Adventures of Ma Suzhen with Paul Bevan26 Mar 202201:32:54

‘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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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(女 - nv - woman)

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

Episode Transcripts // Help Support TrChFic

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Ep 69 - Xue Mo and The Women, the Camels, and the Dholes with Sarah Lam and Nicola Clayton09 Mar 202201:39:38

You couldn’t get to grips with fate, but the enemy you could see and touch was your own body

In the sixty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are riding with The Women, the Camels, and the Dholes, one of the stories contained within the Selected Stories of Xue Mo (雪漠小说精选 / Xuěmò Xiǎoshuō Jīngxuǎn). Two women are joining me on this trek: audiobook producer Nicola Clayton and voice actor Sarah Lam. In this tale we get material, we get Buddhist, we get into self-help, and we get really close to death...

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(生存 - shēng cún - to exist, to survive)

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

Episode Transcripts // Help Support TrChFic

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Ep 68 - Amang and Raised by Wolves with Steve Bradbury21 Feb 202201:29:41

In-your-face. I want more in-your-face, if you please.

In the sixty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are being Raised by Wolves (狼養的 / Láng Yǎng De), just like Amang and her translator Steve Bradbury. Revel in trash. Bound down a mountain. Take a ride on a nuclear sub. Argue furiously in favour of your preferred adverb. Do all these things, and you will channel the spirit of the wolf.

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(狼養 - láng yǎng de - raised by wolves)

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Ep 67 - Lo Yi-Chin and Faraway with Jenna Tang12 Feb 202202:09:11

Maybe I would only begin to understand these things when I became fatherless too, having no-one to lean on, the bitter solitude of not knowing what you ought to say before the world

In the sixty seventh of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are going Faraway (遠方 / Yuǎnfāng) with Lo Yi-Chin. Lighting lamps with me as time, memory, and family dissolve into an indistinct fog is the writer, translator, and mega-linguist Jenna Tang.

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(遠方 - yuǎnfāng - far away (or should it be ‘faraway’?)

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Ep 66 - Ba Jin and Hong Kong Nights with Luo Tianqi24 Jan 202202:11:39

The rocking of the boat created the illusion that all the lights were moving

In the sixty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are adrift in Hong Kong Nights (香港之夜 / Xiāng Gǎng Zhīyè), as fleetingly recollected by Sichuan’s long-surviving left-anarchist writer, Ba Jin. Joining me in the constellations is fellow Sino-lit podcaster Luo Tianqi – here to talk about revolution, regret, and responsibility. Grab a seat on deck, comrade, brush up on your Bakunin, and let go of your transient identity as sights become sounds, and sounds become sights.

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(家 - jiā - home/family)

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Ep 65 - Ge Fei and The Invisibility Cloak with Giray Fidan and Rauno Sainio05 Jan 202201:33:55

The best attributes of anyone or anything usually reside on the surface, which is where, in fact, all of us live out our lives

In the sixty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are swathing ourselves in The Invisibility Cloak (隐身衣 / Yǐnshēn Yī). Languishing with me in the peace and pain of relative obscurity are Giray Fidan and Rauno Sainio, two translators of the book’s author: Ge Fei, an imperceptible fabulist and three-time subject of this very show. I still haven’t figured him out, and I’m sure he’d be glad of it.

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(太阳还好端端的在天上挂着呢! - Tàiyáng hái hǎoduānduān dì zài tiānshàng guà zhene - And the sun is still hanging right up there in the sky!)

(安居乐业 - Ānjūlèyè - To live in peace, and work happily)

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Ep 97 - Lin Yi-han and Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise with Jenna Tang13 Oct 202301:55:36

‘Starting to write a suicide note would be too melodramatic. If she wrote it, it would only contain one line: This love makes me so uncomfortable.’

In the ninety seventh episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are passing the gates of Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise (房思琪的初戀樂園- fáng sī qí de chūliàn lèyuán), an all-too-real #MeToo novel by the late Lin Yi-han, centred around the titular girl and the cram school teacher who abused her all through her teens. Reflecting with me on the troubling nature of the text and the dark realities it holds a mirror to is its translator, Jenna Tang.

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(樂園 – lèyuán – paradise)

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Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts

INSTAGRAM🥀TWITTER🥀DISCORD

Ep 64 - Chen Qiufan and Coming of the Light with Francesco Verso14 Dec 202101:28:39

‘Suppose the universe is a program. Everything that we can observe is the result of the machine-executable code. But the cosmic microwave background can be understood as the record of some earlier version of the source code.’

In the sixty forth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we bear witness to the Coming of the Light (开光 / Kāiguāng), penned by the shaman-consulting Google graduate himself; it’s Stan, it’s the man, it’s Chen Qiufan. And hark – what’s this? Waves and photons in the shape of noted publisher Francesco Verso surge from the underscreen to puncture my cybernetic solipsism, but will our agile enterprise decode the universe before its unravelling, or are all digital startups nought but the initiation of the end?

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(云 - yún - cloud)

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Ep 63 - Murong Xuecun and Dancing Through Red Dust with Harvey Tomlinson23 Nov 202102:11:55

In my innocent youth, I was a paragon of virtue, but after wandering for so long in the red dust of this world I had joined the forces of evil

In the sixty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are Dancing Through Red Dust (原谅我红尘颠倒 / Yuánliàng Wǒ Hóngchén Diāndǎo), a nightmarish lurch through the PRC (il)legal system dreamed up by the Shandong webnovelist-turned-dissident Murong Xuecun. Presiding over the court with me is Murong’s esteemed translator, editor, publisher, and friend: Harvey Tomlinson. What have judges to do with the Jinpingmei? What has loss to do with licentiousness? How does Buddhism end up parceled in with backhand business? You shut up and listen. We’ll deliver the verdict.

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(晚 & 碗 - wǎn & wǎn - ‘evening’ and ‘bowl’)

(色 - sè - here meaning ‘carnality’)

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Ep 62 - Liu Cixin and The Wandering Earth with Jairo Morales01 Nov 202102:33:54

Before us stood the long abandoned skyscrapers of Manhattan, the Sun's weak light casting their long shadows across the quiet ice of the New York Harbor. In my tipsy haze, tears began to gush down my cheeks.

In the sixty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are setting sail on The Wandering Earth (流浪地球 / Liúlàng Dìqiú), drawn up and captained by Liu Cixin himself. Calling into the show from the Peruvian Engine Bunker is Jairo Morales. We get deep into postnationalism, censorship, cultural transmission, and the sublime spectacle of the utter annihilation of our planet’s fragile surface. Goodbye solarpunk, hello solardoom.

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(短暂的 - Duǎnzànde - ephemeral/efimero)

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Ep 61 - Chen Xiwo and The Book of Sins with Nicky Harman10 Oct 202101:54:28

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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(痛 - tòng - pain)

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Ep 60 - Chan Ho-kei and Second Sister with Michelle Deeter26 Sep 202102:06:03

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.

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

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Ep 59 - More Than One Child with Shen Yang and Nicky Harman29 Aug 202101:43:24

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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(葳蕤 - wēi ruí - lush, burgeoning foliage)

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Ep 58 - A Que and Flower of the Other Shore with Xueting Ni14 Aug 202101:36:05

The moment I was bitten, I died and became another thing. Now I am loitering on the other shore of the Styx, listening to the past from beyond its waves.

In the fifty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are picking Flower of the Other Shore (彼岸花 / Bǐ'àn Huā), a romantic(!) zombie short story by A Que. Here to help me find sympathy for the undead is the tale’s translator, Xueting Ni. The story will feature in her anthology of translated Chinese sci-fi: Sinopticon.

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(丧尸 - sàngshī - zombie)

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// Handy TrChFic Links //

Episode Transcripts // Help Support TrChFic

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Ep 57 - Chih-Ying Lay and Home Sickness with Darryl Sterk18 Jul 202102:13:22

‘Chopin always reminds me of being lovelorn in Penang’

[ this is episode 5 of our Taiwan Season ]

In the fifty seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are suffering from Home Sickness (匿逃者 / Nì Táo Zhě), a short story collection by Chih-ying Lay. Here to ease this terrible affliction is the book’s translator: reformed Buddhist and agile herper Darryl Sterk.

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(亲源关系 - qīnyuán guānxì - phylogenetic relationship)

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Ep 56 - Pai Hsien-yung and Taipei People with Nadia Ho10 Jun 202102:19:09

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

[ this is episode 4 of our Taiwan Season ]

[full episode transcript]

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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(夢 - màng - dream)

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

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Ep 55 - Wu Ming-yi and The Man with the Compound Eyes with Cara Healey18 May 202101:43:44

‘Only if you go to places nobody’s ever been can you see the colours nobody’s ever seen’

[ this is episode 3 of our Taiwan Season ]

In the fifty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are meeting The Man with the Compound Eyes (复眼人 / Fùyǎn Rén). Brace yourself for the impact of an ecological, apocalyptic, and internationalist vortex of literary weirdness. Joining me to weather this storm at the limits of anthropoid cognition is Sinophone-sci-fi-studier Cara Healey.

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(涡流 - wōliú - vortex, whirlpool)

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Ep 96 - Puppet Flower with Chen Yao-chang and Chen Tung-jung23 Sep 202301:43:28

‘the man spun instinctively to face them, both hands covering his chest, looking almost sorrowful as blood glazed his fingers’

In the ninety sixth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are entering into dialogue with bioscientist-turned-historical-fictioneer Chen Yao-chang and translator Chen Tung-jung to learn how they cultivated Puppet Flower: A Novel of 1867 Formosa (傀儡花 - kuǐlěi huā), to see if we can arrive at a peaceful settlement between the native people of southern Taiwan, their absentee Qing administrators, and the diverse Western powers creeping ever closer. Oh, and the other people on the island. You know – the Hakka, the Hokkien, the Han… have you lost count yet?

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(真 – zhēn – truth)

(Formosa – 福尔摩沙 – Portuguese for ‘beautiful’)

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Ep 54 - Qiu Miaojin and Notes of a Crocodile with Conor Stuart07 May 202101:49:08

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

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Ep 53 - The Membranes with Chi Ta-wei and Ari Larissa Heinrich28 Apr 202102:21:31

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

(情 - qíng - emotion, affection, sentiment)

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Buy Paul French’s Destination Peking here:

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

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Ep 52 - Monkey King: Journey to the West with Julia Lovell05 Apr 202101:21:18

‘An unruly monkey like you has to be restrained somehow, otherwise you’ll never reform’

In the fifty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are departing from the Tang Empire on a haphazard Journey to the West (西游记 / Xī Yóu Jì). Talking me through the transformations is Julia Lovell, translator of JttW’s latest, extremely readable English translation.

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(游 - yóu - journey)

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Ep 51 - Li Juan's Xinjiang non-fiction with Christopher Payne and Jack Hargreaves25 Mar 202102:16:17

'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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(“Koychy!” - a versatile Kazakh exclamation, often meaning “no way,” “no thanks,” “get out,” “leave it out” )

( 荒野 - huāngyě- wilderness)

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The 50th Episode Party!17 Mar 202102:35:46

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: Moderns03 Mar 202101:48:24

'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!!!

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// NEWS ITEMS //

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

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

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

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Ep 48 - The TrChFic Megacrossover Part 1: Classicists14 Feb 202101:59:42

'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 47 - Ma Jian and Beijing Coma with Ronald Torrance05 Feb 202102:33:12

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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(地标 - Dìbiāo - Landmark)

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Ep 46 - The Flock of Ba Hui with Dylan Levi King22 Jan 202101:36:20

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 (巴虺的牧群 / Bāhuī de Mùqún). 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.

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(邪神呼唤 - Xiéshén Hūhuàn - the call of Cthulhu)

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Ep 45 - Strange Beasts of China with Yan Ge and Jeremy Tiang14 Jan 202102:16:37

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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(异 - Yì - strange/different)

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Ep 95 - Shi Tiesheng and My Travels in Ding Yi with Chloë Starr03 Sep 202301:12:59

Trembling hands seem to check for the forgotten secret language. Withered bodies, like finding some long-forgotten receipt. Where have you been all these years? The mountains echo again, spring’s call is finally answered: I am the secret language you forgot. You are my lost credentials.

In the ninety fifth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are embarking on My Travels in Ding Yi (我的丁一之旅 - wǒ de dīng yī zhīlǚ). This is one of the later works in the life of Shi Tiesheng, an idiosyncratic writer best remembered as being a ‘disabled writer’ but better remembered as something far more multifaceted. Peer in from another mind, another world, as academic Chloë Starr and I confer with Christ and become embodied with Budda. Perhaps, somehow, we’ll puzzle out our brief roles on the stage play of existence.

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(心识不死 – xīn shì bùsǐ – the spirit never dies)

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Ep 44 - Ge Fei and Peach Blossom Paradise with Canaan Morse22 Dec 202002:05:41

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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(徒 - Tú - in vain)

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Ep 43 - Can Xue and I Live in the Slums with Stefan Rusinov26 Nov 202003:22:19

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

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Ep 42 - Chi Zijian and The Last Quarter of the Moon with Bruce Humes08 Nov 202002:30:07

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.

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(urireng / 乌力楞 / the basic social unit of Evenki society; the campsite and the clan)

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Ep 41 - Lao She and Cat Country with Molly Silk27 Oct 202002:23:52

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.

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(迷叶 / Mí Yè / reverie leaves)

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