Understanding China – June 2019 Playlist

6,000 years of history, 1.5 billion people, 56 ethnic groups, where football was invented, and not where the fortune cookie was invented! How much do you know about China? This month, let’s take a glimpse into the history, economy, and the culture of China.

(This playlist was curated by Julie Wang, leader of the Shenzhen chapter of Podcast Brunch Club)

Podcast Listening List on Understanding China

Download the complete playlist to your podcast player of choice:
Listen Notes | Podchaser

Podcast: Sinica Podcast
Episode: The China Questions, with Jennifer Rudolph and Michael Szonyi (February 2018, 57 min)
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Other apps (via Podchaser) 
Jennifer and Michael edited a book to address 36 questions that ordinary people, especially Americans, ask about China. The book is titled The China Questions: Critical Insights Into a Rising Power, and it draws on the expertise of the Fairbank Center and prompts these accomplished academics to write 2,000-word essays for a general audience that they typically never aim to reach.

Podcast: Intelligence Squared US Debate
Episode: Unresolved: The Techonomic Cold War With China (March 2019, 53 min)
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Other apps (via Podchaser)
President Xi Jinping has made it clear: When it comes to big data, advanced weaponry, and other innovations in tech and AI, China has plans to surpass the United States as the world’s next techonomic superpower. But between the trade war with the U.S., the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, and an array of domestic challenges, are China’s goals outpacing its capacity? Or is China building and investing in strategic partnerships that will push the country toward global dominance?

Podcast: Planet Money
Episode: 881: The Prisoners of the Trade War (December 2018, 17 min)
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Other apps (via Podchaser)
A truce in the U.S.-China trade war seemed close. The leaders of China and the United States were meeting to discuss a fix. And then arrests started. It got even more confusing, so today, we call up our man on the ground in Shanghai to make sense of it all. The key to understanding the latest turn in the trade war centers around a giant company most Americans haven’t heard of called Huawei. Its rise traces the rise of China’s economy and Chinese-style capitalism.

Podcast: Sinica Podcast
Episode: Howard French on how China’s past shapes its present ambitions (May 2019, 57 min)
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Other apps (via Podchaser)
A wide-ranging chat with former New York Times China correspondent Howard French, now a professor at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. He talks about his book Everything Under the Heavens and China’s ambitions and anxieties in the world today.

• Understanding China Roundup
  Adela and Sara discuss the podcast playlist on Understanding China, which included episodes from Sinica, Planet Money, and Intelligence Squared US. Then, as usual, they diverge from the assigned listening list to talk about other podcasts we’re listening to.
• Kaiser Kuo, co-host of the Sinica podcast
  Our Minneapolis chapter leader, Steven Zampanti, talks to Kaiser Kuo, the co-host of the Sinica podcast, about the episodes we featured on our Understanding China podcast playlist.

Conversation Starter Questions

1. What first comes to mind when you think of China?
2. Do you think China’s high growth rate will continue?
3. What does China’s growth mean for United States, the rest of Asia, and the EU?
4. For those of you who have never lived in China, would you consider living in China for a period of time?
5. For those of you who have lived in China, what is the best and worst aspects of living there?

DJ RuggedAngel’s Music Playlist

DJ Rugged Angel, PBC’s very own DJ, put this Spotify music playlist together to accompany our podcast listening on China. Enjoy!