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.
‘Superpower Interrupted’: A conversation with veteran China journalist Michael Schuman about his Chinese history of the world
Max Fisher of the New York Times on media coverage of China, COVID-19, and Trump
Has China won? Part 2 of our conversation with Singapore’s Kishore Mahbubani
Has China won? A conversation with Singapore’s Kishore Mahbubani
Kaiser interviews Gordon Chang!
Grounding China's drones: Leading drone maker DJI's Brendan Schulman on U.S. regulatory challenges
The pathogen and the prejudice: Jiwei Xiao on COVID-19 in China and in America
The Sinica Podcast turns 10
China's Venezuelan vicissitudes
R.I.P. Liu Dehai, pipa virtuoso
Will China save the planet? A climatic conversation with NRDC's Barbara Finamore
Former U.S. ambassador Michael McFaul on democracy promotion in Russia and China
Dexter Roberts on ‘The Myth of Chinese Capitalism’
Janet Yang and Michael Berry on the state of cinema in a time of souring U.S.-China ties
USCBC President Craig Allen on trade in a time of disruption
UCLA's Alex Wang on where China leads and lags in climate change
Jeff Wasserstrom on music in protest and revolution in modern China
Chinese industrial espionage and FBI profiling and overreach, with Mara Hvistendahl
U.S. tries to persuade Africa it is a credible alternative to China
Bonus Episode - coronavirus update with Yanzhong Huang
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