The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast

Angus Stewart
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The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast Podcast

A podcast about English translations of Chinese literature, hosted by Angus Stewart. All eras, all genres, all ideologies. Shanghai villas, Beijing alleys. Frozen Manchuria, Sichuan furnaces. Sanmao's Sahara, Liu Cixin's apocalypse. That's where this podcast lives!

  1. 10 FEB

    The 100th Episode Party

    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.

    2h 2m

  2. 7 JAN

    Ep 99 - Mo Yan and The Republic of Wine with Dylan Levi King, Michelle Deeter, and Martin Winter

    ‘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. - // NEWS ITEMS // Tongueless by Lau Yee-waHelen Wang interviews Sabina KnightMourning a Breast by Xi Xi- // WORD OF THE DAY // (酒量 – jiǔliàng – capacity for liquor) - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE // The Diary of a Madman - Lu XunLapvona - Ottessa Moshfegh // (plus her stories set in Yunnan, Xinjiang, and Jiangsu)UK's Eat Out to Help Out & Japanese govt’s Sake Viva! driveCannibalism in Joyce and Mo YanPostsocialism and Cultural Politics

    3h 49m

  3. 31/10/2023

    Ep 98 - The Book of Beijing with Shi Yifeng and Carson Ramsdell

    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. - // NEWS ITEMS // My Cat Hates Me bags gold graphic novel prize in the 2023 IBPA Benjamin Franklin AwardsTaiwanPlus News speaks to Jenna Tang about First Love ParadiseChengdu Worldcon happened – seems to have gone well!- // WORD OF THE DAY // (复杂 – fùzá – complexity) (壮美 – zhuàngměi – magnificent) - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE // Parallel episode on Mu Ming’s Express to Beijing West Railway StationShanghai’s strange ‘foreign towns’Mark Fisher’s The Weird and the Eerie- // Handy TrChFic Links // Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts INSTAGRAM🏙️TWITTER🏙️DISCORD

    1h 43m

  4. 13/10/2023

    Ep 97 - Lin Yi-han and Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise with Jenna Tang

    ‘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. - // NEWS ITEMS // A new fiendish rival? The China Books Review launchesCambria Press publishes translation Liu Na’ou’s Urban ScenesAvant garde champion Can Xue doesn’t get the Nobel Lit Prize… this timeREAD: Heart by Shuang Xuetao (tr. Jeremy Tiang)- // WORD OF THE DAY // (樂園 – lèyuán – paradise) - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE // The pedophile art teacher from Angus’ secondary schoolBlack Box by Siori OtoThe Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas RijneveldLolita by Vladimir Nabokov- // Handy TrChFic Links // Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts INSTAGRAM🥀TWITTER🥀DISCORD

    1h 56m

  5. 23/09/2023

    Ep 96 - Puppet Flower with Chen Yao-chang and Chen Tung-jung

    ‘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? - // NEWS ITEMS // Sinoist Books is hitting the road for a UK tour The Book of Beijing is coming to Manchester The Little Red Podcast does a Chinese sci-fi episode - // WORDs OF THE DAY // (真 – zhēn – truth) (Formosa – 福尔摩沙 – Portuguese for ‘beautiful’) - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE // The Rover Incident and the Hengchun Peninsula Chen Yao-chang’s place in stem cell history The efforts of Le Gendre and other westerners to map southern Taiwan The TV adaptation: Seqalu: Formosa 1867 - // Handy TrChFic Links // Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts INSTAGRAM ⛰️ TWITTER ⛰️ DISCORD

    1h 43m

  6. 03/09/2023

    Ep 95 - Shi Tiesheng and My Travels in Ding Yi with Chloë Starr

    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. - // NEWS ITEMS // New short Chen Qiufan interview on AIChi Ta-wei’s The Membranes optioned for film adaptation(!)Intriguing academic book: Strange Tales from Edo by William D. Fleming- // WORD OF THE DAY // (心识不死 – xīn shì bùsǐ – the spirit never dies) - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE // Chloë’s paper: Shi Tiesheng and the Nature of the HumanThe Cultural Christian movement in ChinaWhat We Owe the Future by Willam McAskillLife on a String (1991, Chen Kaige) - an adaptation of Shi Tiesheng’s 命若琴弦- // Handy TrChFic Links // Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts INSTAGRAM ⛪ TWITTER ⛪ DISCORD

    1h 13m

  7. 10/08/2023

    Ep 94 - Li Er and Cherries on a Pomegranate Tree with Dave Haysom

    In the space marked ‘pregnant’, the machine had quite clearly printed the word ‘no’ In the ninety fourth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are entering election season. The heroine of Li Er novel Cherries on a Pomegranate Tree (石榴树上结樱桃 - shíliú shù shàng jié yīngtáo) is defending her seat, and that will mean enforcing various policies (including a certain one child policy) while keeping the people sweet. Canvassing with me on this one is the translator, spitting dog himself Dave Haysom. - // NEWS ITEMS // LISTICLE: Paul French’s TrChFic beach reads WATCH: a one hour interview with Yan Ge JOIN IN: help TrChFic (v1) end in style - // WORD OF THE DAY // (狗 - gǒu - dog) - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE // Wen Zhen short story collection: Nothing but the Now JT’s Li Er translation, Coloratura Pathlight magazine Village elections - // Handy TrChFic Links // Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts INSTAGRAM 🍒 TWITTER 🍒 DISCORD

    1h 22m

  8. 29/07/2023

    Ep 93 - Xu Zechen and Running through Beijing with Eric Abrahamsen

    ‘It’s just life, right? One place is as good as another’ In the ninety third episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are Running through Beijing (跑步穿过中关村 - pǎobù chuānguò zhōngguāncūn) in the loping style of 70后 hero Xu Zechen. At the fabled finishing line – observing us wryly, beer and chuan’er in hand – is the translator, Eric Abrahamsen of Paper Republic fame. Insert your porn DVD, stamp your hukou, and - most importantly – find somewhere to sleep tonight. - // NEWS ITEMS // WATCH: Two queens discuss their translation of Lu Min’s Dinner for Six BORROW: University librarians take note: new tome incoming READ: A Sailor on the Ferry 🇭🇰 by & tr Jasmine Tong - // WORD OF THE DAY // (跑步 – pǎobù – running) - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE // the glorious Beijing hukou Beijing Sprawl by Xu Zechen, tr. our guest Eric & Jeremy Tiang performative DVD crushing, lol the analog and digital history of Zhongguancun The Diary of Miss Sophie (and my ep on it) - // Handy TrChFic Links // Help Support TrChFic // Episode Transcripts INSTAGRAM🍢TWITTER🍢DISCORD

    1h 27m
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About

A podcast about English translations of Chinese literature, hosted by Angus Stewart. All eras, all genres, all ideologies. Shanghai villas, Beijing alleys. Frozen Manchuria, Sichuan furnaces. Sanmao's Sahara, Liu Cixin's apocalypse. That's where this podcast lives!

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