Popup Chinese classics

Echo considers this an uplifting story filled with patriotism and self-sacrifice. "Everyone who is Chinese reads it this way," she insists, warding off the collective groans of our foreign contingent, who read it as a decidedly less optimistic critique of our collective indifference to poverty and human suffering. Whatever your interpretation of the ending, there's no question it's a great short s...

Our clip today has it all: useful language for subverting the local establishment while showcasing the amazing vocal diversity in mainland film-dubbing circles. And for fun, we're happy to offer useful advice on pronouncing Colin Firth's name at no extra charge: Dead Poets Society (1989)

After a lengthy hiatus, we're pleased to release another episode of our Chinese Quiz Night. Joining new hosts Joakeem and Grace in our studio are two contestants known and feared by the other residents of Beijing: Martin the Destroyer, famous around Beijing for his mastery on the pub quiz circuit, as well as Ban "the terror from Qinghai" Yan, who is admittedly less intimidating in person that we w...

Reading contemporary Chinese literature gives us the impression that while Hemingway, Fitzgerald and the rest of the Lost Generation were romping it up in Paris, Chinese intellectuals were locked in a competition to produce the most depressing fiction possible, with bonus points for bankrupting a publisher in the process. As far as short stories go, "A Little Incident" is not really light reading....

If this week's clip doesn't get you in the mood to toss out that Chinese dictionary and start blowing things up nothing will. There may not be much in the dialogue itself that gives away this film, but the nuance and tone of our selection is very indicative of its source, and the translation is really top notch. So take a listen, see if you can identify our mystery film: The Guns of Navarone (1961...

In our fourth episode of Quiz Night, Tony from New Zealand matches his wits against Will from Australia in a battle that covers everything from T.S. Eliot's favorite detective novel, to horrific industrial accidents in Russia. Also up for your enjoyment? David repeatedly mispronounces the word "nuclear" and we learn the best place in Beijing for volleying ammunition into the Forbidden City. 节能 j...

Although written in 1925, Zheng Zhenduo's essay on the cats in his family remains well known almost a century later. Originally aimed at adults, the story is often included in compilations of literature intended for high school students in China. 我家养了好几次猫，结局总是失踪或死亡。三妹是最喜欢猫的，她课后回家，常常逗着猫玩。有一次，从隔壁要了一只新生的猫来。花白的毛，很活泼，如带着泥土的白雪球...

You'd be forgiven for thinking this movie was about those blue elves running all over your television on Sunday morning. But you wouldn't be too far off. Our selection for this week is an extended meditation on what it means to be human. That be said, we do learn a bit about the Smurfs this week and find out why the name Gargamel makes a lot more sense in Chinese than English: A.I. Artificial Inte...

拭目以待 shìmùyǐdài to wait eagerly 鲜榨 xiānzhà freshly-squeezed 冰镇 bīngzhèn ice-cold 玄奘 Xuán Zàng Xuan Zang 义和团运动 Yìhétuán yùndòng Boxer Rebellion 矿产 kuàngchǎn mining 道德经 Dàodéjīng Dao de Jing 额外 éwài extra 打成平手 dǎchéng píngshǒu to pull even 一千零一夜 Yīqiānlíngyī yè One thousand and one nights 节日象征 jiérì xiàngzhēng holiday symbol 路德教 Lùdéjiào Lutheran 糖浆 tángjiāng...

This week Film Friday takes a break from showcasing famous scenes you probably remember in order to present you with this utterly forgettable one. As Brendan comments, this conversation probably doesn't spring to mind when you think of the movie it comes from. But why not? When your lead actors are getting shot, stabbed, dragged behind cars and flung into exploding slag pits, sometimes your script...

After succumbing last episode to Brendan's wide-ranging knowledge of everything save contemporary pop music, Echo has switched sides this week to serve as Chinese quizmaster in a show that pits podcaster Sylvia against voice-legend Andy in a China-vs-China battle of the wits. And with a Chinese Mobile recharge card hanging in the balance, and SMS messages just waiting to be sent , the stakes could...

In this week's mystery film game, a couple of controversial snapshots lead to almost comic misadventures, a boatload of scurrilous language, and someone going to sleep on the job. Add a flying plate to the mix and you've got a recipe for a famous summer blockbuster. But which one? Spider-Man (2002)

This is the pilot episode of a new concept show we're developing for upper-intermediate students: a quiz game featuring mostly Chinese questions with just enough bilingual discussion thrown in to keep things intelligible. We had a good time producing this, and if you're stretching past the intermediate level we think you'll like it too -- our topics range from ancient Rome to 19th century English...

It's the classic story: boy meets girl for a whirlwind romance, girl's husband appears, boy hotfoots it out of the country and hits the bottle. This week's selection is a genuine classic, and if you've seen the abominable near-sequel that reunited most of the cast with its director two years later, probably an accidental one at that: Casablanca (1942)

In this week's episode of Film Friday, we venture deep into the 1980s, an era when both music and hair were undergoing strange and sometimes startling changes. We loved it then, and we love it in retrospect too: Big (1988)

This week's mystery film is one of the most ingenious films we've seen in the last decade. As Echo found out, it's also quite a disturbing movie once you figure out exactly what's going on: The Prestige (2006)

This week, Film Friday starts off with a blast from the past. Listen to our first mystery film clip and see if you've got what it takes to guess the film in question: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

In our inaugural episode of the Popup Chinese movie show, opinions split over Let the Bullets Fly, the Chinese western directed by Jiang Wen and starring train-robbing, gun-shooting and horse-riding versions of himself and Chow Yun-Fat. This is the film that broke the Chinese box-office record shortly after its release, but considering that its competition that year included possibly the worst Chi...