No Stranger to China: A conversation with Strangers in China creator Clay Baldo about Season 3
Sinica Podcast
Kaiser Kuo
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2023
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We proudly present Episode 1 of the new season of Strangers in China, part of the Sinica Network from The China Project. In this season, host Clay Baldo provides an intimate look at the lockdown in Shanghai, from the foreboding that preceded it through the harrowing days of the lockdown itself.
Be sure to subscribe to the show, too! Just look up Strangers in China in your podcast app of choice and hit subscribe.
2:21 – A preview of this season of Strangers in China
8:23 – The Shanghai fāngcāng方舱 and emergence of spontaneous mass gatherings
13:28 – Explaining the role of neighborhood committees/ jūwěihuì 居委会 in China
18:39 – The exploration of mental health throughout this podcast
24:21 – Clay’s process in producing the podcast
28:06 – The editorial choice to not dub over Chinese speakers
31:29 – Can the protests like the one that broke out on Urumqi Lu emerge again?
37:15 – Examples of strong group solidarity during the lockdown
43:35 – Clay’s thoughts on the recent loosening of restrictions
A transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.
Recommendations:
Clay: 3 Shanghai fashion Instagram accounts to follow – Windowsen (@windowsen), Susu, (@_su.su.su.su). Lexi (@jing_sen_); and the book Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott.
Kaiser: The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Cynical podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China produced in partnership with the China Project. |
| 0:15.5 | Subscribe to Access from the China Project to get access access to not only our great daily newsletter, but to all of the original writing on our website at the China Project to get access, access to not only our great daily newsletter, but to all |
| 0:22.2 | of the original writing on our website at theChinaproject.com. We've got reported stories, essays |
| 0:28.1 | and editorials, great explainers and trackers, regular columns, and of course a growing library |
| 0:34.1 | of podcasts. We cover everything from China's fraught foreign relations to its |
| 0:38.4 | ingenious entrepreneurs, from the ongoing repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim peoples in China's |
| 0:43.2 | Xinjiang region to Beijing's struggles that eases off on COVID-19 restrictions. |
| 0:49.3 | It's a feast of business, political, and cultural news about a nation that is reshaping the world. |
| 0:55.1 | We cover China with neither fear nor favor. |
| 0:58.3 | I'm Kaiser Guo, coming to you from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. |
| 1:02.0 | This week on Cineca, I am delighted to welcome Clay Baldo, |
| 1:05.5 | the creator of the amazing Strangers in China podcast, |
| 1:08.8 | which I am proud to say is a part of the Cynica Network here at the China Project. |
| 1:13.3 | If you are not familiar with the show, please give it a listen. |
| 1:16.5 | The first seasons are fabulous, and as you will see, Clay has produced just one hell of a good show, |
| 1:21.9 | the sound design, the mixing, the subjects, the characters, the topics that he covers, |
| 1:26.3 | and it's really, especially just the guests |
| 1:28.3 | that he picks. If you like great radio magazine format shows, you will just love strangers in |
| 1:33.9 | China. Folks, I am happy to announce that in a day or two, we will be releasing the first |
| 1:38.8 | episode of the latest season, that's season three, and you are in for a real treat. |
| 1:45.7 | I don't know what awards are out there for podcasts, but this one deserves a big, old fat |
| 1:50.7 | nomination, as it is just a fantastic example of what this medium can do. |
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