Book Reviews, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge

A 1930s novel of manners with evocative descriptions of Old Beijing offers surprisingly timeless observations about what it means to be an expat in China.

Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge
Audio, Contemporary China
Jeremiah Jenne
Let Only Red Flowers Bloom, with NPR ...

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we talk with Emily Feng about her new book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China.

Let Only Red Flowers Bloom, with NPR Correspondent Emily Feng
Book Reviews, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Lin Yutang: My Country, My People

In 1935, the Chinese author Lin Yutang offered Westerners an insider’s guide to China's society. It endures today despite his own cultural contradictions.

Lin Yutang: My Country, My People
Audio, History
Jeremiah Jenne
Is this America's Cultural Revolution Moment?

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, Jeremiah and Chris Stewart of The History of China Podcast ask the question, "Is this America's Cultural Revolution moment?"

Is this America's Cultural Revolution Moment?
Contemporary China, Audio
Jeremiah Jenne
Experiencing the World of Jazz in China

Our latest episode explores jazz in China—from its revival in 1980s Beijing to today's talented performers. David Moser discusses how musicians with limited recordings mastered the medium and laid the groundwork for generations of skilled jazz players from China.

Experiencing the World of Jazz in China

Contemporary China

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When will China re-open its doors for study abroad and educational exchanges?

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When will China re-open its doors for study abroad and educational exchanges?

Jeremiah in Florida and David in Taiwan touch base and exchange updates on the evolving Covid-19 situation in China and elsewhere.

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Notes from the Medical Tent: Beijing Learns to Live with COVID

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Notes from the Medical Tent: Beijing Learns to Live with COVID

Podcaster Zhang Yajun joins Jeremiah and David to talk about the situation in Beijing as COVID spreads throughout the city.

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Special episode: The COVID lockdown protests, with David Moser and Jeremiah Jenne (Sinica Podcast)

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Special episode: The COVID lockdown protests, with David Moser and Jeremiah Jenne (Sinica Podcast)

Special bonus episode of the Sinica Podcast: David Moser and Jeremiah Jenne join Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn for a discussion of the weekend's anti-COVID lockdown protests in China.

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Standing Up to Zero COVID

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Standing Up to Zero COVID

This special episode of Barbarians at the Gate recorded last night provides a “time stamp" and an initial reaction to the protests in several major Chinese cities on November 26 and 27, including the situation in Beijing.

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Lockdowns, Legacies, and Looking Back with Journalist Melinda Liu

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Lockdowns, Legacies, and Looking Back with Journalist Melinda Liu

Award-winning journalist, Newsweek Bureau Chief, and long-time Beijing resident Melinda Liu joins David Moser and me on a special episode of Barbarians at the Gate. We're taking the long view of lockdowns, US-China relations, and some fascinating stories of World War II.

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Back to the Land: Author Alec Ash on escaping to Dali, rural retreats, and a return to England

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Back to the Land: Author Alec Ash on escaping to Dali, rural retreats, and a return to England

Author Alec Ash stops by the Barbarians at the Gate studio on his way through Beijing. David and I talk with Alec about Dali in a time of COVID, Alec's new book about urban refugees in the mountains of Yunnan, and his plans for the future.

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Barbarians at the Gate: CoCo19 and the Quarantines (The Scene from Beijing)

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Barbarians at the Gate: CoCo19 and the Quarantines (The Scene from Beijing)

David returns to Beijing and Jeremiah can't leave the city. We're both navigating the new information and media environment in the run-up to the October Party Congress. BATG is back with the scene from Beijing.

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Barbarians at the Gate: Ideology and Education in China with Jiang Xueqin

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Barbarians at the Gate: Ideology and Education in China with Jiang Xueqin

Educator Jiang Xueqin joins us in this episode to discuss ideology in schools, the effort to turn Chinese universities into “world-class” institutions, and cross-national educational projects and international schools in an era of Covid-19 and US-China decoupling.

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Barbarians at the Gate: Understanding China's Nationalism with Peter Gries

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Barbarians at the Gate: Understanding China's Nationalism with Peter Gries

Jeremiah and David discuss the rise of Chinese nationalism with this week’s guest, Peter Gries, Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Manchester, and the Lee Kai Hung Chair of the Manchester China Institute.

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Barbarians at the Gate: Locked Down in Beijing!

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Barbarians at the Gate: Locked Down in Beijing!

Jeremiah and David discuss the current COVID-19 situation in China along with special guest Zhang Yajun (Wo Men Podcast). Jeremiah and Yajun have been confined to their apartment complex for (as of taping) 13 days after one of their neighbors tested positive for COVID-19. Jeremiah, David, and Yajun share stories of living with the current outbreak, how other folks are handling the situation, the response by local officials, and where China's Zero COVID policy goes from here.

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Barbarians at the Gate: Asymmetry, Decoupling, and the Information Deficit affecting China and the World

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Barbarians at the Gate: Asymmetry, Decoupling, and the Information Deficit affecting China and the World

David and Jeremiah are joined by Yajun Zhang, host of the Wo Men Podcast and a long-time media watcher and community organizer in Beijing, to talk about the growing gap between what China and the United States know about each other and about the rest of the world.

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Barbarians at the Gate: The Sporting Superpower and China's Olympic Dreams

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Barbarians at the Gate: The Sporting Superpower and China's Olympic Dreams

On the cusp of the Chinese New Year and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Jeremiah and David record an Olympian episode of the podcast. The guest is Mark Dreyer, a veteran sports reporter, who has just released his new book, Sporting Superpower: An Insider’s View on China’s Quest to Be the Best.

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Mandarin Mayhem III: The Cantonese Conundrum with author and journalist James Griffiths

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Mandarin Mayhem III: The Cantonese Conundrum with author and journalist James Griffiths

In this episode, Jeremiah and David talk with James Griffiths, Asia Correspondent for the Globe and Mail, about his new book Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language.

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Barbarians at the Gate: Studying China in the 21st Century (What Everybody Needs to Know) with special guest Maura Cunningham

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Barbarians at the Gate: Studying China in the 21st Century (What Everybody Needs to Know) with special guest Maura Cunningham

In this episode, David and Jeremiah talk to veteran China scholar Maura Cunningham about the perils and possibilities of researching China in the "New Era."

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