Scott Tong on his surprising family history

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Culture, China News, Hangzhou, Chinese, International Relations, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan, Currentaffairs, China, Politics, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China Economy, News, China Politics, Business, Film, Shenzhen

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2017

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

NOTE: If you haven’t read the book and are allergic to spoilers, please be aware that the interesting surprises of Scott’s story are discussed in this podcast. Scott Tong is a reporter for American Public Media’s Marketplace, and from 2006 to 2010, he helped found and run the radio program’s Shanghai bureau. During that time, he also experienced a lot of culture shock — his Chinese-American upbringing in the U.S., Hong Kong, and Taiwan didn’t prepare him for mainland China as much as he had expected, and while in Shanghai, he uncovered some surprising truths about his family, which has roots in nearby Jiangsu Province. A Village With My Name: A Family History of China's Opening to the World is Scott’s deeply personal reporting and reflection on what he learned about his family, and China’s history, by visiting distant relatives in a forlorn part of Jiangsu Province. It is a highly engaging, eye-opening story that sheds light on how Chinese people engage with their past — and their present. Recommendations: Jeremy: McKay Books, a huge used books store in Nashville, Tennessee. And Congo Cables: The Cold War in Africa—From Eisenhower to Kennedy, by Madeleine Kalb. Scott: Resigned Activism: Living With Pollution in Rural China, by Anna Lora-Wainwright. And Rough Translation, an NPR podcast about how foreigners see America. Kaiser: Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History, by Kurt Andersen. 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 Cynica podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China, produced in partnership with SubChina.
0:14.6	SubChina is the best way to stay on top of the latest news from China in just a few minutes a day.
0:19.0	You can subscribe to our free daily email newsletter
0:21.8	or download our handy smartphone app or just visit our website at supChina.com. It's a feast of
0:27.4	business, political, and cultural news about a nation that is reshaping the world. I'm Kaiser Gual,
0:32.4	coming to you today from the Sinica South Studio in downtown Durham, North Carolina.
0:36.5	Joining me from Nashville, Tennessee is the Confucius Peace Prize runner-up Jeremy Goldcorn.
0:41.4	It's been edged out of competition now, not only by Robert Mugabe, but also by Fidel Castro.
0:46.0	Jeremy, man, I hope you're at least keeping that miscongeniality trophy burnished.
0:52.0	Oh, yes, I am miscongeniality indeed.
0:57.2	You know, the fall is very beautiful in Tennessee, so I'm in a very calm day, so you can
1:02.0	relax.
1:02.3	I can just rib you all I want, and I'm not going to get a rise out of you.
1:05.6	No, it's going to be tough.
1:06.8	Anyway, today, we are delighted to be joined from Washington, D.C. by Scott Tong,
1:10.4	a reporter for APM's Marketplace, formerly stationed in Shanghai, where he was working when we were first introduced some years ago.
1:17.7	And Scott just yesterday launched his book, A Village with My Name, a family history of China's opening to the world.
1:24.5	It's an exploration of his family's history on both his paternal and
1:28.0	maternal sides of the family, and it's a highly readable, very engaging story. Scott, congrats on
1:33.2	the book launch, and welcome to Seneca. Well, thanks very much. Really good to be with you guys. Thanks.
1:37.8	Let me note at the top here that there are some spoilers in the podcast that we're going to do here.
1:41.9	So the book has some interesting surprises.
	...

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