Life, Love, and Loss in China: Hazza Harding's story of resilience
Sinica Podcast
Kaiser Kuo
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2025
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Sinica, I chat with Hazza Harding, a young Australian who began learning Chinese and made his way to China where he became a pop singer with hits on Chinese pop charts and a state media newscaster — and also lost his husband tragically, suffered through the COVID lockdowns while grieving for his loss. Yet he remains committed to furthering understanding and engagement, and has shown admirable resilience. Read his remarkable essay on his experiences here.
6:51 – How Hazza started in China, and how his career changed throughout his time there
19:27 – Hazza’s experiences feeling alienated in China
27:00 – Hazza’s experience working in Chinese state media
34:04 – How China shaped Hazza and Wayne’s love story, and how grief has shaped Hazza’s perspective on life
56:08 – The loveliness of everyday interactions
58:43 – Hazza’s advice on giving oneself time and leniency
1:02:38 – How Hazza may find his way back to China in the future
Paying It Forward: James Laurenceson at UTS Sydney
Recommendations:
Hazza: China Blonde: How a newsreader’s search for adventure led to friendship, acceptance… and peroxide pandemonium in China by Nicole Webb
Kaiser: The TV series Xi Bei Sui Yue (Into the Great Northwest) (2024 - )
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Audible brings your wildest adventures to life, delivering heart-pounding thrills at the touch |
| 0:05.8 | of a button. |
| 0:07.0 | Take Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club, where four retirees turned amateur sleuths |
| 0:11.8 | solve crimes in the most unexpected ways, brilliantly performed by Leslie Manville. |
| 0:17.1 | Ready to unleash your adventure aside, from pulse racing suspense to epic quests, from supernatural |
| 0:22.6 | chills to far-off romances, every story comes alive through world-class narration. |
| 0:28.5 | Explore exclusive audible originals, chart-topping new releases, and unforgettable bestsellers |
| 0:34.4 | that transport you from the very first word, because the next great |
| 0:38.2 | adventure is just a listener way. |
| 0:40.8 | Start your free 30-day trial at audible.com slash Wondery UK. |
| 0:45.7 | That's audible.com slash Wondery UK. Welcome to the Cynica podcast, the week in discussion of current affairs in China. |
| 1:02.7 | In this program, we'll look at books, ideas, new research, intellectual currents, and cultural |
| 1:07.4 | trends that can help us better understand what's happening in China's politics, foreign relations, economics, and society. Join me each week for in-depth conversations |
| 1:16.9 | that shed more light and bring less heat to how we think and talk about China. I'm Kaiser Guo |
| 1:22.7 | coming to you from my home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cineica is supported this year by the Center for East Asian Studies |
| 1:28.9 | at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, |
| 1:31.1 | a National Resource Center for the Study of East Asia. |
| 1:34.5 | The Cynica podcast will remain free, |
| 1:36.9 | but if you work for an organization that believes in what I'm doing with the show, |
| 1:41.0 | please consider lending your support. |
| 1:43.2 | You can get me at Cinecapod at gmail.com. |
| 1:47.5 | And listeners, please support my work at www.cicapodcast.com. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kaiser Kuo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Kaiser Kuo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.