The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
The 100th Episode Party
10 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the one hundredth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are throwing a goodbye party! Friends, listeners, and past guests joined me...
Ep 99 - Mo Yan and The Republic of Wine with Dylan Levi King, Michelle Deeter, and Martin Winter
07 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
‘I wrote the asinine words ‘liquor is literature’ and ‘people who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature’ when I ...
Ep 98 - The Book of Beijing with Shi Yifeng and Carson Ramsdell
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I supposed every last one of this country’s 1.3 billion inhabitants all had their own obsessions with the giant germ cell.In the ninety eighth episo...
Ep 97 - Lin Yi-han and Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise with Jenna Tang
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘Starting to write a suicide note would be too melodramatic. If she wrote it, it would only contain one line: This love makes me so uncomfortable.’...
Ep 96 - Puppet Flower with Chen Yao-chang and Chen Tung-jung
23 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘the man spun instinctively to face them, both hands covering his chest, looking almost sorrowful as blood glazed his fingers’In the ninety sixth ...
Ep 95 - Shi Tiesheng and My Travels in Ding Yi with Chloë Starr
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Trembling hands seem to check for the forgotten secret language. Withered bodies, like finding some long-forgotten receipt. Where have you been all th...
Ep 93 - Xu Zechen and Running through Beijing with Eric Abrahamsen
29 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘It’s just life, right? One place is as good as another’In the ninety third episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are Running thr...
Ep 92 - Zijin Chen and Bad Kids with Michelle Deeter
15 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘I’ve never broken any rules, not even rules at school. Why would I blackmail someone?’’In the ninety second episode of The Translated Chinese...
Ep 91 - Yu Xiuhua and Moonlight Rests on My Left Palm with Fiona Sze-Lorrain
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘The “exquisite bridges and flowing water” one finds in poetry are not written by real farmers, but those who claim to love rural life when they...
Ep 89 - Zhang Yueran and Cocoon with Jeremy Tiang
07 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘The man in the bed looks at her. An enormous force seems to be pulling him into a world behind him, a world whose gates will soon be shut forever. ...
Ep 85 - Mo Yan and Sandalwood Death with Stefan Rusinov
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘The final cut – the coup de grace – entered Qian’s heart, from which black blood the colour and consistency of melted malt sugar slid down th...
Ep 84 - Han Song and Hospital with Michael Berry and Mingwei Song
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘Generation after generation, people have lived in this massive sick ward we call the universe ’In the eighty fourth episode of the Translated Chi...
Ep 82 - Wang Anyi and The Sanctimonious Cobbler with Lehyla Heward
18 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘If you lived in one of the lanes of Puxi, the moment you stepped out your door, you would find yourself in the thick of urban life in all its boist...
Ep 81 - Xiu Xinyu and The Stars We Raised with Yen Ooi
20 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A star’s coming of age was the process of slowly getting uglier.In the eighty first episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, writer/resear...
Ep 80 - Chiou Charng-Ting and Raining Zebra Finches with May Huang
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘In the same spot where Father died, the dead body of a deer lay prostrate in the rain.’In the eightieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction...
Ep 79 - Mu Ming and Express to Beijing West Railway Station
08 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘History is nothing more than a complex construction of records and observations’In the seventy ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction po...
Ep 78 - Gu Hongming and Bonnie Prince Tuan with Lee Moore
25 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘Then each Boxer lad who loves fighting and fun, let him follow the bonnets of bonnie Prince Tuan’In the seventy eighth episode of The Translated ...
Ep 77 - Yan Lianke and Lenin’s Kisses with Piotr Machajek
21 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“You can give me your empty words if you like; I’ve come to fill out the forms permitting us to withdraw from society.”In the seventy seventh ep...
Ep 76 - Huang Fan and Zero with The Hugonauts
06 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Unmasking a universally accepted lie or overturning an irreplaceable idol will produce something akin to a mental collapse.”In the seventy sixth ...
Ep 75 - A Yi and The Curse with Jeffrey Kinkley
23 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Are you going to let your son die for nothing?”In the seventy fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are surviving The Curse ...
Ep 74 - Zou Tao and The Fox Spirit of Bluestone Mountain with Timothy Gouldthorp
02 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There is a saying that accurately describes Young Master Zhou’s state of mind: “Willing to die beneath the flower and linger as an amorous ghost”...
Ep 73 - A Que and Farewell, Doraemon with Eero Suoranta
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘This cartoon will never end’In the seventy third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, Eero Suoranta and I are saying Farewell, Dora...
Ep 72 - Han Song and My Country Does Not Dream with the London Chinese Science Fiction Group
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘Because of sleepwalking, over one billion Chinese people have awakened’In the seventy second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast I’...
Ep 71 - Feng Jicai and A Looking-Glass World with Daniel Li
24 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
'All the magic lay within their own bodies'In the seventy first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are stepping into A Looking Glass...
Ep 70 - The Adventures of Ma Suzhen with Paul Bevan
26 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘There is never anything so difficult that it cannot be resolved’In the seventieth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are taking...
Ep 69 - Xue Mo and The Women, the Camels, and the Dholes with Sarah Lam and Nicola Clayton
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You couldn’t get to grips with fate, but the enemy you could see and touch was your own bodyIn the sixty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fic...
Ep 68 - Amang and Raised by Wolves with Steve Bradbury
21 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In-your-face. I want more in-your-face, if you please.In the sixty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are being Raised by Wol...
Ep 67 - Lo Yi-Chin and Faraway with Jenna Tang
12 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe I would only begin to understand these things when I became fatherless too, having no-one to lean on, the bitter solitude of not knowing what yo...
Ep 66 - Ba Jin and Hong Kong Nights with Luo Tianqi
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The rocking of the boat created the illusion that all the lights were movingIn the sixty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we ar...
Ep 65 - Ge Fei and The Invisibility Cloak with Giray Fidan and Rauno Sainio
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The best attributes of anyone or anything usually reside on the surface, which is where, in fact, all of us live out our livesIn the sixty fifth episo...
Ep 64 - Chen Qiufan and Coming of the Light with Francesco Verso
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘Suppose the universe is a program. Everything that we can observe is the result of the machine-executable code. But the cosmic microwave background...
Ep 63 - Murong Xuecun and Dancing Through Red Dust with Harvey Tomlinson
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In my innocent youth, I was a paragon of virtue, but after wandering for so long in the red dust of this world I had joined the forces of evilIn the s...
Ep 62 - Liu Cixin and The Wandering Earth with Jairo Morales
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Before us stood the long abandoned skyscrapers of Manhattan, the Sun's weak light casting their long shadows across the quiet ice of the New York Harb...
Ep 61 - Chen Xiwo and The Book of Sins with Nicky Harman
10 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I loathe reason. Reason is the sort of rubbish you can indulge in when life is sweet, like love and honour. I totally reject it.In the sixty first epi...
Ep 60 - Chan Ho-kei and Second Sister with Michelle Deeter
26 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just as Nga-Yee thought everything was going back to normal, Siu-Man stepped from the window of their twenty-second-story flatIn the sixtieth episode ...
Ep 59 - More Than One Child with Shen Yang and Nicky Harman
29 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is a long and painful process to see oneself clearly, as is the process of returning to one’s childhood.In the fifty ninth episode of The Transla...
Ep 58 - A Que and Flower of the Other Shore with Xueting Ni
14 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The moment I was bitten, I died and became another thing. Now I am loitering on the other shore of the Styx, listening to the past from beyond its wav...
Ep 57 - Chih-Ying Lay and Home Sickness with Darryl Sterk
18 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘Chopin always reminds me of being lovelorn in Penang’[ this is episode 5 of our Taiwan Season ]In the fifty seventh episode of The Translated Chi...
Ep 56 - Pai Hsien-yung and Taipei People with Nadia Ho
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘According to the ancient precepts, grief supersedes all formalities’[ this is episode 4 of our Taiwan Season ][full episode transcript]In the fif...
Ep 55 - Wu Ming-yi and The Man with the Compound Eyes with Cara Healey
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘Only if you go to places nobody’s ever been can you see the colours nobody’s ever seen’[ this is episode 3 of our Taiwan Season ]In the fifty...
Ep 54 - Qiu Miaojin and Notes of a Crocodile with Conor Stuart
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘Some desires, once formed, are impossible to fulfil, so they become frustrations instead. That’s the problem with going forth into new worlds’[...
Ep 53 - The Membranes with Chi Ta-wei and Ari Larissa Heinrich
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘Two peach trees, two entirely different universes.’[ this is episode 1 of our Taiwan Season ]In the fifty third episode of The Translated Chinese...
Ep 52 - Monkey King: Journey to the West with Julia Lovell
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘An unruly monkey like you has to be restrained somehow, otherwise you’ll never reform’In the fifty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fic...
Ep 51 - Li Juan's Xinjiang non-fiction with Christopher Payne and Jack Hargreaves
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
'I stand alone on the earth, unable to bring the show to an end'In the 51st episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we're heading into the ...
The 50th Episode Party!
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Starting a podcast is not a dinner partyIn the fiftieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, I put my feet up and have a beer! Woohoo!-/...
Ep 49 - The TrChFic Megacrossover Part 2: Moderns
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
'One morning, Salinger was woken from sleep by deafening noises. Dazed, he gazed outside the window and saw a row of gleaming Baekdu bulldozers, which...
Ep 48 - The TrChFic Megacrossover Part 1: Classicists
14 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
'What sort of a fiend are you that you dare change into my appearance, take my descendants captive, occupy my immortal cave, and assume such airs?'In ...
Ep 47 - Ma Jian and Beijing Coma with Ronald Torrance
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you've stared at the past for so long that time dissolves, you'll be able to wake from your slumberIn the forty seventh episode of The Translated...
Ep 46 - The Flock of Ba Hui with Dylan Levi King
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If anyone is reading this notebook — don’t come looking for me. Don’t.In the forty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we ar...
Ep 45 - Strange Beasts of China with Yan Ge and Jeremy Tiang
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In bars like this, on nights like this, the people of Yong'an would talk of deathIn the forty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast ...
Ep 44 - Ge Fei and Peach Blossom Paradise with Canaan Morse
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Every person's heart is an island, trapped by water, sequestered from the worldIn the forty fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast w...
Ep 43 - Can Xue and I Live in the Slums with Stefan Rusinov
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
'Underneath the hole is another hole. Do you dare go down?'In the forty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are grappling with ...
Ep 42 - Chi Zijian and The Last Quarter of the Moon with Bruce Humes
08 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
I am an Evenki woman. I am the wife of our people’s last Clan Chieftain. I was born in the winter.In the forty second episode of The Translated Chin...
Ep 41 - Lao She and Cat Country with Molly Silk
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It is not often that one has the opportunity to observe the extinction of an entire civilisationIn the forty first episode of The Translated Chinese F...
Ep 40 - Liu Cixin and Death's End with Keith Justice Hayward
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The ultimate fate of all intelligent beings has always been to become as grand as their thoughts.Episode 40 is no ordinary episode! This time TrChFic ...
Ep 39 - Zhou Haohui and Death Notice with Zac Haluza
10 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
executioner: ᴇᴜᴍᴇɴɪᴅᴇsIn the thirty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Death Notice (死亡通知...
Ep 38 - Lin Yutang and Hymn to Shanghai with Paul French
12 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
'O thou city that surpasseth our understanding! How impressive are they emptiness, and thy commonness, and thy bad taste!'In the thirty eighth episode...
Ep 37 - The Woman in the Carriage with Yilin Wang
30 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
'The scholar suddenly glimpsed a movement in the darkness. Something dived towards him like a swift bird. The shadowy outline of a person neared him, ...
Ep 36 - Gujian with Emily Jin
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
'I think there is no brother in this world as strange as you'In the thirty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at ...
Ep 35 - Necropolis Immortal with Etvolare
18 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
...the lid of the stone coffin slowly shifted open, filling the chamber with a rancid stench of decay. Two blackened arms reached out from the interio...
Ep 34 - Gu Long and 7 Killers with Deathblade
07 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It was after dusk.Lanterns illuminated the restaurant.The lantern light shone on the faces of Fang Kuan and the others, which dripped with sweat. Cold...
Ep 33 - Jin Yong and Legend of the Condor Heroes with Gigi Chang
30 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
'We Han Chinese outnumber the Jurchen by more than a hundred to one. If the Imperial Court decided to employ honest and loyal men, our great Empire wo...
Ep 32 - The Book of Shanghai with Karen Wang
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"A true map cannot simply mark out the landmarks, and the most popular tourist sites, it must be able to guide readers through the city’s lesser-kno...
Ep 31 - Su Tong and Petulia's Rouge Tin with Anya Goncharova
02 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Autumn Grace jumped up from the ground, kicked off her high heels and dashed away, one hand holding up the hem of her gown"In the thirty first episod...
Ep 30 - Ge Fei and Flock of Brown Birds with Eric Abrahamsen
21 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Assuming my memory hasn't been obstructed, then something must be interfering with time"In the thirtieth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Po...
Ep 29 - Song Aman and Gongsun's Dreams with Michelle Deeter
12 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Memory comes from forgetting"In the twenty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Song Aman's Gongsun's Dreams (公...
Ep 28 - Yang Lian and Narrative Poem with Brian Holton
04 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Dalliances wi ither worlds..."In the twenty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Yang Lian's Narrative Poem (叙...
Ep 27 - Mo Yan and Radish with Lehyla Heward
24 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"As the boy's thoughts wandered, the purple and green leaves turned into autumn well water, and then the jute became water, while sparrows skimming th...
Ep 26 - Hao Jingfang and Vagabonds with Ken Liu
07 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"A person from one civilisation looks at their surroundings as distinct objects and events and considers them separately. But when a person from anoth...
Ep 25 - Sanmao and Stories of the Sahara with Mike Fu
15 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Don't ask from where I have come. My home is far, far away."In the twenty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at ...
Ep 24 - Feng Jicai and Faces in the Crowd
19 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"I have lived in Tianjin my whole life, and I know its people, with their toughness and competitive streak, their generosity, their determination to b...
Ep 23 - Baoshu and What Has Passed Shall In Kinder Light Appear
12 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Later, I kept on hoping China would host the Olympics again, but it never happened. After I became a father, I told my son about that night, and he r...
Ep 22 - A Summer Beyond Your Reach with Xia Jia
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'The summer isn’t over yet. There are so many fun things to do.'this is episode 6 of 7 in our Chinese Science Fiction SeasonIn the twenty second epi...
Ep 21 - Han Song and the Fundamental Nature of the Universe with Nathaniel Isaacson
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'Everything is going to descend into chaos and disorder. Entropy will accelerate rapidly...'[ episode 21 transcript here ]this is episode 5 of 7 in ou...
Ep 20 - Liu Cixin and Devourer with Adam McMurchie
02 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'We still have a very long time to get along and very many things to talk about, but let us not speak of morals. In the universe, such considerations ...
Ep 19 - Fei Dao and The Storytelling Robot with Matt Michaelson
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'The robot’s ability to learn was unparalleled, and with the help of its creators it analysed its databank of stories to create a set of scientific ...
Ep 18 - Waste Tide with Chen Qiufan
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'Everything was shrouded in a leaden miasma, an amalgamation of the white mist generated by the boiling aqua regia in the acid baths and the black smo...
Ep 17 - Hao Jingfang and Folding Beijing with Lyu Guangzhao
09 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'The folding city was divided into three spaces. One side of the earth was First Space, population five million. Their allotted time lasted from six o...
Ep 16 - Chen Zijin and The Untouched Crime with Michelle Deeter
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Remember, if the police come by in the next few days, just answer their questions the way I taught you."In the sixteenth episode of The Translated Ch...
Ep 15 - Yan Ge and The Chilli Bean Paste Clan with Nicky Harman
06 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Ai-ya! Don’t go on at me!”“Well if I don’t, who’s going to?”In the fifteenth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are ...
Ep 14 - Jiang Zilong and Empires of Dust with Christopher Payne
30 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"There’s an old saying: the earth is like a vomiting carcass." In the fourteenth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are lookin...
Ep 13 - Water Margin and the Mossflow
01 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"A weill-kent scholar at the court o King Shenzong o the umqhile Hous o Song, he wis vext at the Five Dynasties, yon hinner-en o the Tang times whan t...
Ep 12 - Chen Si'an and Ocean Hotpot
23 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"An idyllic island in the midst of boiling oceans. Hot enough to cook a hotpot. One maverick entrepreneur sees a development opportunity and begins to...
Ep 11 - Lu Xun and Weeds with Matt Turner
03 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Fire spreads and rages underground, and once the lava’s broken through it will burn up all the weeds, along with the tall trees. Thereupon, therefo...
Ep 10 - A Yi and A Perfect Crime
27 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"I tried. I put everything into being an exceptional student. But those things are like water cast out in the desert, they evaporate quickly. Whenever...
Ep 9 - Eileen Chang and Lust, Caution with Claire Hao
26 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Alive, her body belonged to him; dead, she was his ghost"In the ninhth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Lust, Cau...
Ep 8 - Interview with Dylan Levi King
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Howard Goldblatt is Jay Z and Nicky Harman is Nas"In this episode I'm talking to Dylan Levi King, translator of Dong Xi's Record of Regret. We talk a...
Ep 7 - Ding Ling and The Diary of Miss Sophie
27 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"I was so angry I wanted to weep, but I laughed aloud."In the seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at: The Diary ...
Ep 6 - Interview with Dong Li
18 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'It was in the desert that I found poetry.'In this episode we're talking to Dong Li, translator of The Wild Great Wall (野长城 // Yě Chángchéng)...
Ep 5 - Zhu Zhu and The Wild Great Wall
06 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"This moment countless men up the stairs. Upstairs, Chopin already in the dark. Downstairs, dying alone in a crowd."-In this episode we are looking at...
Ep 4 - The London Book Fair
22 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"The London Book Fair is the global marketplace for rights negotiation alongside the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV film and...
Ep 3 - Murong Xuecun and Leave Me Alone
15 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"I lit up a cigarette and thought that you shouldn't torture yourself by trying to go against life's grain. The dissolute will take advantage of the y...
Ep 2 - Wang Shuo and Please Don’t Call Me Human
03 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"The publicity should focus on how we took a pile of shit and a puddle of piss and turned it into somebody. We must make this clear to the masses."[ e...
Ep 1 - Lu Xun and the Diary of a Madman
27 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Wanting to eat men, at the same time afraid of being eaten themselves, they all look at each other with the deepest suspicion...[ episode transcript h...