Chinese Literature Podcast

Mar 29 2025 232 ep. 22 mins 329
Chinese Literature Podcast artwork

Dr. Lee Moore talks Chinese literature and Chinese culture more broadly.

  Society & Culture
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The Greatest Fart Joke in Chinese History

Mar 29 2025 19 mins  
Today, we are looking at a story involving Su Dongpo, who was the butt of the greatest fart joke in all of Chinese history. The story involves Su Dongpo, the Song Dynasty's greatest poet, and a Zen Buddhist named Buddha's Stamp.

More Swindles from the Late Ming - Sex, Scams and Sorcery - Interview with Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea

Feb 27 2025 45 mins  
Lock up your daughters and watch your wallet. In this episode, we are going to take a look at stories from the late Ming's most famous grift manual, a book by Zhang Yingyu. For this episode, the translators, Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea have kindly agreed to come on talk about this text without stealing anything. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to make counterf

Joel Bigman - A Very Jewish Journey to the West

Jan 25 2025 35 mins  
Today, we have an interview Joel Bigman, the author of The Second Journey. The Second Journey is a continuation novel of Journey to the West (西遊記). In this journey to the West, Tang monk travels ever farther to the west, all the way to modern day Israel. Bigman has written his novel with some of the same characters that you know and love, Tang Monk, Monkey and Pigsy, but he a

2024 End of the Year Podcast

Dec 28 2024 27 mins  
It is that time of year again, the time when the Chinese Literature Podcast takes stock of the year and what has happened. In this podcast, Lee talks about his book and also about teaching Chinese Literature at the University of Oregon.

Huang Chunming - Sayonara, Zaijian

Nov 23 2024 20 mins  
Today, we have an exciting and disturbing episode about Taiwan and prostitution. This is Number 6 in my series on Taiwanese literature, and the second episode on Huang Chunming, Taiwan's most famous nativist author. Last episode, the podcast looked at the story, "Drowning of an Old Cat." This week we look at a story from that same English translation. "Sayonara, Zaijian" is a story

Huang Chunming - The Drowning of an Old Cat

Nov 01 2024 21 mins  
Today, we take a look at Huang Chunming, one of the most important writers in Taiwan's nativist movement. He is an author who developed this sense of a Taiwanese identity in his work. Also, don't worry, no cats die in this story.

Interview with Daniel Bell

Sep 27 2024 37 mins  
Today, Lee is talking with Professor Daniel Bell, most recently the author of Dean of Shandong, but also the author of the famous China Model. Professor Bell and Lee chat about his book and about his wider experience of Chinese culture and philosophy while serving as the first foreign dean of a university in the PRC.

Edward Yang - Yi Yi or A One and a Two

Aug 31 2024 22 mins  
Today, the podcast does something different. In this episode, we are looking at a film. And not just any film. It is perhaps the greatest film ever made. Yi Yi or A One and a Two is the magmum opus of Edward Yang, the Taiwanese filmmaker. We are going to explore the symbolism of balloons, sticks and condems in this amazing film.

Bai Xianyong - Winter Nights

Jul 26 2024 24 mins  
The greatest of Taiwan's modernists, Bai Xianyong's short story, "Winter Nights," is a tale about history and how little we are able to change things. These revolutionaries of Beijing's hot summer of 1919 reconvene in Taipei in the 1960's having lost their cause and their country. Lee taught this story about protestors during the height of the pro-Palestinian protests in 2024, and

Taiwanese Comfort Women

Jul 06 2024 30 mins  
This episode is different. I am first explaining the issue of Taiwanese comfort women, and then letting yall hear a speech that I gave to a group in Vienna on the only comfort women museum in Taiwan. Stick around for some interesting history and a discussion of museums.