‘Suppose the universe is a program. Everything that we can observe is the result of the machine-executable code. But the cosmic microwave background can be understood as the record of some earlier version of the source code.’ In the sixty forth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we bear witness to the Coming of the Light (开光 / Kāiguāng), penned by the shaman-consulting Google graduate himself; it’s Stan, it’s the man, it’s Chen Qiufan . And hark – what’s this? Waves and photons in...
Dec 14, 2021•1 hr 29 min
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 evil In the sixty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are Dancing Through Red Dust (原谅我红尘颠倒 / Yuánliàng Wǒ Hóngchén Diāndǎo), a nightmarish lurch through the PRC (il)legal system dreamed up by the Shandong webnovelist-turned-dissident Murong Xuecun . Presiding over the court with me is Murong’s esteemed translator, editor, publisher, and friend:...
Nov 23, 2021•2 hr 12 min
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 Harbor. In my tipsy haze, tears began to gush down my cheeks. In the sixty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are setting sail on The Wandering Earth (流浪地球 / Liúlàng Dìqiú), drawn up and captained by Liu Cixin himself. Calling into the show from the Peruvian Engine Bunker is Jairo Morales . We get deep into postnationalism, cen...
Nov 01, 2021•2 hr 34 min
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 episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are opening The Book of Sins (冒犯书 / Màofàn Shū), by edgelord-with-a-conscience Chen Xiwo . Playing common-sense counterpoint to my doom-laden interpretations of the text is its translator, Nicky Harman . Here’s what we deal with: pain, incest, and the political uses of shock, horror, and offensiveness. Are...
Oct 10, 2021•1 hr 54 min
Just as Nga-Yee thought everything was going back to normal, Siu-Man stepped from the window of their twenty-second-story flat In the sixtieth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are solving the case of Second Sister (網內人 / Wǎng Nèi Rén), penned by crime connoisseur Chan Ho-kei . Logged on with guest-level access and ready to follow the trail wherever it leads is 3-time visitor to the show Michelle Deeter . In the events that follow we hack into moral frameworks, digital archive...
Sep 26, 2021•2 hr 6 min
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 Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are talking with someone who is More Than One Child (隐形小孩 / Yǐnxíng Xiǎohái), a woman as friendly as she is fearless: Shen Yang . She’s here on this episode, and so is her translator, friend-of-the-pod, and returnee guest Nicky Harman . The book is forthcoming from the excellent publisher Balestier Press . - // NEWS IT...
Aug 29, 2021•1 hr 43 min
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 waves. In the fifty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are picking Flower of the Other Shore (彼岸花 / Bǐ'àn Huā), a romantic(!) zombie short story by A Que . Here to help me find sympathy for the undead is the tale’s translator, Xueting Ni . The story will feature in her anthology of translated Chinese sci-fi: Sinopticon . - // ...
Aug 14, 2021•1 hr 36 min
‘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 Chinese Fiction Podcast we are suffering from Home Sickness (匿逃者 / Nì Táo Zhě), a short story collection by Chih-ying Lay . Here to ease this terrible affliction is the book’s translator: reformed Buddhist and agile herper Darryl Sterk . - // NEWS ITEMS // Healing with Poisons - a book on the interwining of classical Chinese medicine & poison Ketami...
Jul 18, 2021•2 hr 13 min
‘According to the ancient precepts, grief supersedes all formalities’ [ this is episode 4 of our Taiwan Season ] [ full episode transcript ] In the fifty sixth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are introducing ourselves to the Taipei People (台北人 / Táiběi Rén), as written by Pai Hsien-yung . Joining me to question the merits of nostalgia and muse aimlessly on umbrellas and the like is a genuine Taibei ren; the effortlessly hip Nadia Ho . - // NEWS ITEMS // Issue One of ‘Jintian...
Jun 10, 2021•2 hr 19 min
‘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 fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are meeting The Man with the Compound Eyes (复眼人 / Fùyǎn Rén). Brace yourself for the impact of an ecological, apocalyptic, and internationalist vortex of literary weirdness. Joining me to weather this storm at the limits of anthropoid cognition is Sinophone-sci-fi-studier Cara Healey . - // NEWS...
May 18, 2021•1 hr 44 min
‘Some desires, once formed, are impossible to fulfil, so they become frustrations instead. That’s the problem with going forth into new worlds’ [ this is episode 2 of our Taiwan Season ] In the fifty fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are thumbing through the Notes of a Crocodile (鳄鱼手记 / Èyú Shǒujì). Joining me on the lookout for the shy and elusive reptiloid is Conor Stuart . - // NEWS ITEMS // How a Polish Master Brought Lu Xun's Madness to Life 11th Chinese Nebula Awa...
May 07, 2021•1 hr 49 min
‘Two peach trees, two entirely different universes.’ [ this is episode 1 of our Taiwan Season ] In the fifty third episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are peeling back The Membranes (膜 / Mó). Joining me at their respective computer terminals in the ocean floor biodome are its author Chi Ta-wei and translator Ari Larissa Heinrich . - // NEWS ITEMS // PANEL: Exploring Chinese Science Fiction Multi-Dimensionally PREORDER: Vessel - a memoir by Cai Chongda UPCOMING: The London Chines...
Apr 28, 2021•2 hr 22 min
‘An unruly monkey like you has to be restrained somehow, otherwise you’ll never reform’ In the fifty second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are departing from the Tang Empire on a haphazard Journey to the West (西游记 / Xī Yóu Jì). Talking me through the transformations is Julia Lovell , translator of JttW’s latest, extremely readable English translation. - // NEWS ITEMS // A new Can Xue translation is on the way Yang Lian and Brian Holton win first Sarah Maguire Prize ‘ Jia Pi...
Apr 05, 2021•1 hr 21 min
'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 far west to come face-to-face with Li Juan , a Han Chinese writer who has found some degree of fame writing soulfully about her experiences living among the Kazakh herders of Xinjiang Province. Braving the frontier with me are two of her translators, TrChFic returnee Christopher Payne and friend-of-the-pod Jack Hargreaves . The former translated L...
Mar 25, 2021•2 hr 16 min
Starting a podcast is not a dinner party In the fiftieth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, I put my feet up and have a beer! Woohoo! - // NEWS ITEMS // Beijing Lights Archives | Spittoon Sci-Fi Writer or Prophet? The Hyperreal Life of Chen Qiufan Mither Tongue: Jidi Majia's poetry in 3 Scots dialects - // Handy TrChFic Links // Episode Transcripts // Help Support TrChFic INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // DISCORD...
Mar 17, 2021•2 hr 36 min
'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 had been modified from Chonma-ho battle tanks, bearing down on his cabin.' In the forty ninth episode we continue our megacrossover, this time tackling modern literature. Once more unto the jazz hall, dear friends, once more, as we tackle: lamppost sexuality, mantou typography, disposable(?) wuxia, and the philosophy of chicken nuggets. No, really...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 48 min
'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 the forty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are doing something a little different! In this episode half of a small army of Chinese lit podcasters join me to discuss their favourite stories from dynastic China. - // NEWS ITEMS // The TrChFic Mailing List Distant Sunflower Fields - OUT NOW Ma Jian on China's Efforts to Ext...
Feb 14, 2021•2 hr
When you've stared at the past for so long that time dissolves, you'll be able to wake from your slumber In the forty seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are falling into Beijing Coma (肉之土 / Ròu Zhī Tǔ). Avid Ma Jian reader Ronald Torrance is here to guide me from perimeter to epicentre of this colossal novel, and the weighty events it reckons with. Even without politics, stakes are high here: life/death, time/memory, flesh/history, and the intimate bonds that can exist ...
Feb 05, 2021•2 hr 33 min
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 are undergoing black initiation into The Flock of Ba Hui (巴虺的牧群 / Bāhuī de Mùqún). Returning to the show to rescue me from the abyss - or hurl me into it - is the extremely online Dylan Levi King . We have quite a beast to wrestle with this episode. Lovecraftian fiction, from the Chinese internet, curated, translated and packaged in paratexts by two parti...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 36 min
In bars like this, on nights like this, the people of Yong'an would talk of death In the forty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are hunting for the Strange Beasts of China (异兽志 - Yì Shòu Zhì). Two very special guests are joining me this time - the book's author Yan Ge and its translator Jeremy Tiang . If I sound a little off-kilter this episode, it's because I'm star struck! - // NEWS ITEMS // Faraway by Lo Yi-Chin - coming out this September How Lin Qi's Poisoning Deat...
Jan 14, 2021•2 hr 17 min
Every person's heart is an island, trapped by water, sequestered from the world In the forty fourth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are going in search of Peach Blossom Paradise (人面桃花 - Rénmiàn Táohuā) by Ge Fei . Rowing me through the lingering mists and dark waters is craftmaster Canaan Morse , its translator. Ge Fei has been covered once before on this show. We did his Flock of Brown Birds in Episode 30 . This time we are dealing with something less surreal. On the surfac...
Dec 22, 2020•2 hr 6 min
'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 the experimental literature of Can Xue , as embodied in I Live in the Slums . Helping me train for the performance of a lifetime is Chinese-to-Bulgarian translator & friend of the pod, Stefan Rusinov . - // NEWS ITEMS // Yan Ge's White Horse shortlisted for the Warwick Women in Translation prize Lovecraftian stories from the Chinese internet: ...
Nov 26, 2020•3 hr 22 min
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 Chinese Fiction Podcast we are heading into the mountains of Manchuria to seek out The Last Quarter of the Moon (额尔古纳河右岸 / É'ěrgǔnà Hé Yòu'àn) by Chi Zijian . Tramping with me through the snows is its translator, Bruce Humes . - // NEWS ITEMS // The Book of Shanghai: Chen Danyan & Wang Zhanhei in conversation The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories...
Nov 08, 2020•2 hr 30 min
It is not often that one has the opportunity to observe the extinction of an entire civilisation In the forty first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are venturing into Cat Country (猫城记 / Māo Chéng Jì), a science fiction oddity of the Republic of China. Helping me save the nation and stay off the damned reverie leaves is Molly Silk , a doctoral researcher of Chinese Space Policy. - // NEWS ITEMS // Little Smarty Travels to the Future comic now available in translation Chinese...
Oct 27, 2020•2 hr 24 min
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 is crossing over with Couch Command and its esteemed host Keith Hayward to jump right down the Chinese sci-fi wormhole of Liu Cixin's haymaker-punch ending to his Three Body Problem trilogy, Death's End (死神永生 / Sǐshén Yǒngshēng). Hell yes. - // NEWS ITEMS // Feng Jicai event: Tales of Old Tianjin w/ XINRAN, Guanghwa Bookshop & Sinoist Books Wh...
Oct 20, 2020•2 hr 57 min
executioner: ᴇᴜᴍᴇɴɪᴅᴇ s In the thirty ninth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Death Notice (死亡通知单 / Sǐwáng Tōngzhī Dān), a fast paced crime thriller with a mean streak. Joining me to inspect the corpses is its polymath translator, Zac Haluza . Expect to be surprised by just how much this work was adapted in translation. - // NEWS ITEMS // The Southern Tour Podcast Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge China's Muslims and Japan's Empire - // WORD OF THE DAY // (時差 /...
Oct 10, 2020•1 hr 39 min
'O thou city that surpasseth our understanding! How impressive are they emptiness, and thy commonness, and thy bad taste!' In the thirty eighth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Hymn to Shanghai (上海之歌 / Shànghǎi Zhīgē), a piece by 'the little critic' himself, Lin Yutang . Joining me to pick apart Lin's biblical condemnation is the roguish raconteur and historian of Old Shanghai, Paul French . Expect to hear a lot about the virtues of liberal cosmopolitanism and...
Sep 12, 2020•3 hr 1 min
'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, reaching out with a hand.' In the thirty seventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at The Woman in the Carriage (车中女子 / Chē Zhōng Nǚzǐ), a chuanqi story dating back to the Tang Dynasty. Our guest is its translator, Yilin Wang . The Woman in the Carriage is a short tale, but the more you look at it, the more you see. ...
Aug 30, 2020•1 hr 25 min
'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 a video game(!) series called Gujian (古剑/ Gǔ Jiàn). Helping me level up and face my shadow self is Emily Jin , a highly active Chinese science fiction translator, and better yet: a hardcore Gujian fan! Gujian isn't a Western Tolkeinesque RPG, nor is it a JRPG Final Fantasy-style affair. It's made in China, set in China, and played (mostly) by Chin...
Jul 30, 2020•2 hr 56 min
...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 interior... In the thirty fifth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Necropolis Immortal (仙墓 / Xiān Mù), written by Immortal Amidst Snow in July . Our guest is the novel's irrepressible translator, Etvolare . Necropolis Immortal blends two particularly Chinese genres: xianxia, and tomb raiding. It's not quite the tomb raidi...
Jul 18, 2020•1 hr 39 min
