Talking ’bout my generation: Alec Ash and Chinese millennials

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

🗓️ 5 January 2017

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Alec Ash is a young British writer who lives in Beijing, who has covered “left behind” children in Chinese villages, the “toughest high school exam in the world” and internet live streaming among many other subjects. He is the author of Wish Lanterns, which the Financial Times called a “closely observed study of China’s millennials.” The book tells the stories of six Chinese people born between 1985 and 1990. The characters have very different backgrounds and aspirations, including a rock musician named Lucifer, an internet addict named Snail, and a patriotic Party official’s daughter. In this episode of the Sinica Podcast, Alec discusses his book with Kaiser, Jeremy, and David Moser. He talks about contemporary youth culture in China, the concerns of Chinese millennials, how he met the six characters in the book and what we can understand about China’s changing culture from their stories. Recommendations: Jeremy: Unreliable Sources: How the Twentieth Century Was Reported, by John Simpson. David: The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China, edited by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. Alec: The Barbarians at the Gate podcast. Kaiser: Battle Cry of Freedom, by James M. McPherson — ”the best single-volume history of the American Civil War that I know of” — and Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping, by Stephen R. Platt. 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 week in discussion of current affairs in China, produced in partnership with SUPChina.
0:14.8	Don't miss out on breaking China news. Do, instead, go on over to suprchina.com to subscribe to a daily email that summarizes all the best reporting on China in one quick digest complete with links.
0:26.2	If you prefer to sup on apps, get the same daily dose with a SUPChina mobile phone app that you can download from the Apple App Store or from Google Play.
0:35.7	I'm Kaiser Gwa and I'm joined right here at the Sinica South Studio in downtown Durham, North
0:41.1	Carolina by a man from the truly deep south from the Republic of South Africa.
0:46.4	Indeed, Mr. Jeremy Goldcorn, how are you, Jeremy?
0:49.6	Swimmingly, Kaiser, despite being in your new home state, which is the home of anti-transgender bathroom laws
0:56.1	and recently famous police shootings. But that's all bad karma, and I'd rather tell our listeners
1:02.7	how they can get some good karma. Please go to the Apple App Store and leave us a glowing review.
1:09.3	Great idea, actually. I think that's a capital idea.
1:12.1	Anyway, we are joined also from The Bookworm in Beijing by our good friend David Moser,
1:16.2	academic director of the CET program there in the Jing.
1:18.8	How are you doing it?
1:19.8	We wish you were here.
1:21.3	Yeah, I wish I were there, too, actually.
1:22.9	Although, we wish you were here.
1:24.5	This is, you got to come hang out with us.
1:26.7	We're were here. This is, you got to come hang out with us. We're all here.
1:28.6	Jeremy, what do you think of our new digs?
1:30.0	It's a very, very nice studio.
1:32.6	We're going up in the world.
1:34.3	Yes, we are.
	...

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