The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast

'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 laws for storytelling – a model that would later become world-famous. But the mathematical nature of this model was so overwhelmingly complex that only the robot could make head or tail of it.' this is episode 3 of 7 in our Chinese Science Fiction Seas...

'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 smoke from the unceasing burning of PVC, insulation, and circuit boards in the fields and on the shore of the river. The two contrasting colors were mixed by the sea breeze until they could no longer be distinguished, seeping into the pores of every liv...

'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’clock in the morning to six o’clock the next morning. Then the space went to sleep, and the earth flipped.' this is episode 1 of 7 in our Chinese Science Fiction Season In the seventeenth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are loo...

"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 Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Chen Zijin 's The Untouched Crime (无证之罪/wú zhèng zhī zuì) This novel is a murder mystery with a twist set in...well the setting depends on whether you’re reading the original Chinese, or our guest Michell...

“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 looking at Yan Ge's The Chilli Bean Paste Clan (我们家/wǒmen jiā) This is a s-p-i-c-y novel published by Balestier Press about a dysfunctional family and its depraved, conflicted, and frequently disoriented patriarch. Yan Ge has said that it was inspired by her...

"There’s an old saying: the earth is like a vomiting carcass." In the fourteenth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Jiang Zilong 's Empires of Dust (农民帝国/nóngmín dìguó) This is an epic of ‘reform literature’ published by Sinoist Books , charting the rise and fall of Guo Cunxian, a ‘rugged individual’ of sorts who lives through the revolution, the Great Leap Fo...

"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 there wis naethin but weir an brulyie: in thae days whit wis Jin’s i the mornin wad be Liang’s bi nicht, an richtlie wis it said: Zhu, Li, Shi, Liu, Guo; Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, Zhou: Fifteen kings thegither Skailt fiftie year o stushie!" In the thirte...

"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 devise the most absurd schemes for environmental protection." In the twelfth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Chen Si'an's Ocean Hotpot (海洋火锅 / hǎiyáng huǒguō) This one was translated by Jeremy Tiang and perfo...

"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, therefore, nothing else will rot." In the eleventh episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at Weeds (野草/yě cǎo) by Lu Xun Matt Turner has brought new life to one of Lu Xun's more downbeat bodies of work. He and I talk about the why...

"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 I started something, I would picture its inevitable ending. An apple becomes pips in the trash." In the tenth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at A Yi 's A Perfect Crime (猫和老鼠/māo hé lǎoshǔ) This is dark and exis...

"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, Caution (色，戒 / Sè, Jiè) by a certain someone called Eileen Chang . Heard of her? It’s a tale of forbidden love and political intrigue set at a precarious time and indeed a precarious place in Chinese history: the Japanese-occupied foreign concession...

"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 about Xuzhou's dog tacos, Chinese libraries, Ghost in the Shell...and of course Miss Sophie's Diary . Dylan also spoke about the world of Chinese to English translation, his love of Jia Pingwa, and his own growth as a translator. - // Discussed in...

"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 of Miss Sophie (莎菲女士的日记/Shāfēi Nǚshì de Rìjì) This is a very personal journey of 'Miss Sophie', an outspoken woman navigating all the questions modern life in early 20th century, May Fourth Movement era China is throwing at her. It's frigging...

'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) by the poet Zhu Zhu . Dong Li was born in the PRC and now resides in Germany. He's had fellowships and publications galore, and can speak Chinese, English, German, and French. - // Discussed in this Episode // Here's the three poets Dong Li recommends y...

"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: The Wild Great Wall (野长城 // Yě Chángchéng) It's a brand new release. It's poetic, it's universal and cross-cultural, and yet it's also quite defiantly (I dare to say) Chinese. In a funny sort of way. - // Handy TrChFic Links // Buy Me a Coffee...

"The London Book Fair is the global marketplace for rights negotiation alongside the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV film and digital channels." [ episode transcript here ] A book fair! Candyfloss and author signings and gazebos? Not quite. In this episode we're doing something a little different. I'll be recounting my trip to the 2019 London Book Fair and recounting all t...

"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 young. If you could be happy for a while, then settle for that." [ episode transcript here ] In this episode we are looking at: Leave Me Alone (成都，今夜请将我遗忘 // Chéngdū, Jīnyè Qǐng Jiāng Wǒ Yíwàng) It's the 2014 UK edition published by Fortysix...

"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." [ episode transcript here ] In this episode we are looking at: Please Don't Call Me Human (千万别把我当人/Qiānwàn Bié Bǎ Wǒ Dāngrén) It's the 2005 No Exit Press edition, no. 14 of its 18th Anniversary Crime & Noir series - // MENTIONED IN THE EPISO...

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 here ] In the very first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are looking at The Diary of a Madman (狂人日记/Kuángrén Rìjì) It's the PRC Beijing Foreign Languages Press translation. This is a foundational text for modern Chinese lite...