Sinobabble

Nov 26 2024 13 ep. 43 mins 391

Sinobabble Podcast artwork

A relaxing, educational podcast covering China's modern history, current events, and academic analyses of China's politics, society, and culture in a variety of mini-series. Starting with the history of the 20th century, this podcast aims to explore all facets of the history of China, from the major events to the smallest local changes, to give you a full picture of the development of one of the world's most powerful nations. As the series develops, we will discuss Chinese art, religion, politics, culture, and economics, bringing the country's past to life. If you're more interested in modern China, stay tuned for the modern China series where we talk about how the CCP exercises control, makes people disappear, and encourages loyalty. We also get on the ground and talk to the people of Hong Kong about their recent experiences with the protests in the territory in 2019.

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20th Century Chinese History #4: Early Republican China (1912-1919)

Nov 26 2024 32 mins

**REUPLOAD**In today's episode we're going to pick up where we left off, at the very beginning of the new Republic of China. We'll look at the rise of Yuan Shikai and the descent of China into a period of warlordism. We will explore the changing nature of China's politics and culture, right up until the next big event to hit the Chinese stage, the May 4th movement.Some famous peopl

20th Century Chinese History #3: The Xinhai Revolution of 1911

Nov 20 2024 31 mins

**REUPLOAD**Currently in the process of reuploading old episodes from the history portion of the podcast starting with this one!DescriptionOn October 9th 1911 an accidental explosion in a revolutionary base in Hubei province in central China triggered a revolution that would mark the end of China’s imperial past and usher in its modern future. While the series of events that foll

The silliest debate in Chinese academic history (Boodberg v Creel)

Aug 11 2024 60 mins

What is the origin of the Chinese writing system? Where did Chinese characters come from, and how did they evolve over time? Are they pictographs? Ideogographs? Logographs? Phonographs? Or all of the above? This is the nature of one of the most famous debates in Sinology, which took place in the 1930s between historian Herrlee Creel and linguist Peter Boodberg. The debate not only

China's social credit system is real. Everyone is wrong about it though.

Jul 22 2024 64 mins

Much has been made in Western media about the Chinese social credit system. It's been painted as a totalitarian form of surveillance akin to 1984, where all citizens are tracked, monitored and ranked according to an arbitrary set of rules set up by the state. It's seen as something to be feared, something that could be coming to your country and taking over your life sooner than yo

Think Tank China analysis is worthless, actually.

Jun 30 2024 59 mins

In this episode we discuss Western (mainly US) think tank analysis of China in the 1990s and early 2000s and ask ourselves if they provide any value either for the public discourse or as pieces of policy advice. While experts work hard to produce piece after piece, report after report, looking at China's economic, military, political and technological developments, the actual usefu

How Xi Jinping became emperor. And how everyone missed it.

Jun 09 2024 57 mins

When Xi became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, no one assumed he would take up that position for life. But when Presidential term limits were abolished in 2018, it was widely understood that Xi had made himself supreme leader, and would remain head of the state, party, and military indefinitely. But how did Xi manage to pull this off, and how did everyone seemingl

Authenticity and the Disney-fication of China's Cultural Heritage

May 12 2024 50 mins

Why are so many cultural heritage sites in China fake? Why is the architecture all the same? And why does no one care that all these old towns were built in the past 20 years? Let's take a deep dive into the history of the cultural heritage industry in China, the role of the CCP party-state, the agency of local actors, and try and figure out why Chinese tourists love fake reconstru

Announcing the first ever Sinobabble livestream!

Hi everyone,I’m really excited to announce that I will be hosting my first ever livestream this Friday 10th May over on Youtube. This is just a casual event, where you guys can ask me any questions you want, we can discuss current affairs and China news, and we can brainstorm future episode ideas as a collective.The stream will be at 10pm BST. You can join us at this link on Frid

China's EV industry (was funded by the US)

Apr 28 2024 42 mins

There’s a lot of outrage currently about China’s attempts to grow its EV market, at the expense of the US economy. But the truth is that the Chinese EV market wouldn't be where it is today without the generous funding it received (and continues to receive) from the US, Western governments, and multinational companies looking to cash in on the next big thing.So let's talk about

I read all 212 pages of Hong Kong's new National Security Bill. It's not good.

Apr 14 2024 43 mins

"Safeguarding National Security Bill", also known as Article 23 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, was passed in March to no public opposition. I read through the whole bill and discussed how it may be used to transgress human rights and common sense in Hong Kong. I also discuss the history of recent protests in Hong Kong, and how they paved the way for Beijing to get its way and incre