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.
China’s Ukraine conundrum, with Evan Feigenbaum
Biden's China policy needs to be more than "Trump lite:" A conversation with Jeff Bader
Veteran diplomat Bill Klein recalls the turbulent Trump years at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing
What China is reading and why it matters: A conversation with author Megan Walsh
China's ideological landscape, with Jason Wu
Why the law matters in China, with Jeremy Daum of Yale's Paul Tsai China Law Center
Personality and political discontent in China, with Rory Truex
Dan Wang on China in 2021: "Common prosperity," cultural stunting, and shortcomings of the "modal China story
Mental models for understanding complexity, with Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp
The sociologist watching the China-watchers: A conversation with David McCourt
Damien Ma of MacroPolo on China's economic and political outlook
The investigative team from MIT Technology Review that found major flaws with the DoJ's China Initiative
FOCAC 2021 in Dakar, Senegal, and B3W — the U.S. counter to China's BRI?
Sinica presents the best of China Stories 2021
Revisiting the Red New Deal, with Lizzi Lee and Jude Blanchette (live at NEXTChina 2021)
The Carter Center's survey on Chinese perception, with Yawei Liu and Michael Cerny
Peter Hessler live at the NEXTChina 2021 Conference in New York
Psychologist George Hu of the United Family Mental Health Network on mental health in China
The worldview of Wang Huning, the Party's leading theoretician
Bonus Episode: Introducing the China Sports Insider Podcast
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