Interview with Susan Wan Dolling - Translator of Chinese Poetry
Release Date: 12/01/2025
Li Bai and the Western Regions
Chinese Literature Podcast
Today is the beginning of a three part series I am going to do on the three big Tang poets, Li Bai, Wang Wei and Du Fu. In this episode, we take a look at Li Bai, often considered China’s Greatest poet, and his relationship with the regions to China’s West, modern day Xinjiang and the Stans. Li Bai has a strange relationship with the West; in fact, he was probably born in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, and was probably Persian, Turkic or maybe even Jewish. That’s right, China’s greatest poet may not have even been Chinese. Take a listen to the podcast to find out more.
info_outline
Interview with Susan Wan Dolling - Translator of Chinese Poetry
Chinese Literature Podcast
Today, Lee gets to chat with , Hong-Kong-American poet, novelist and translator. She recently published her latest book of Song poetry translations, , but she has long been working on translating Chinese poetry into an English that does what is hard to do, that preserves the music that you hear in the Chinese original. If you want to check out more of her translations, check out (volume 1 of her Song poetry translations), (volume 1 of her My China in Tang Poetry series), (volume 2 of her My China in Tang Poetry series) and (volume 3 of her My China in Tang Poetry series). Also, my book,...
info_outline
Return of the Rob
Chinese Literature Podcast
On this episode, I give a brief update on the book's status, which should be in your hands by mid-November. And also, Rob returns, joining the podcast from France to talk about what he has been up to and also to chat with Lee about the book.
info_outline
Interview with Professor Emily Mokros - Peking Gazette
Chinese Literature Podcast
Today, I get to speak with Professor Emily Mokros about her fascinating book, . The book is about a media outlet in the Qing Dynasty that published discussions that the emperor held with his bureaucrats.
info_outline
Mao Zedong - Soaked Garden in Spring - Snow
Chinese Literature Podcast
This episode, the podcast takes a look at a poem Mao Zedong wrote in February 1936, after he and his party had undergone the near-death experience of the Long March. Yet still, Mao has the gumption to imply in the poem that he would be the greatest ruler China had ever seen. My Translation of the Poem: Spring in a Soaked Garden - Snow The north country scenery, frozen over for a thousand miles, snow floating for ten thousand miles. I look inside and outside the Great Wall of China, all that remains is boundlessness. Up and down the Yellow River, it...
info_outline
Fox Butterfield Interview - First Post-1949 - New York Times Correspondent in China
Chinese Literature Podcast
This episode is a special one. The podcast has a conversation with Fox Butterfield, the first correspondent for the New York Times after 1949. Mr. Butterfield set up the Beijing Bureau for the New York Times in 1979 and was the bureau chief from 1979 to 1981. Mr. Butterfield started studying Chinese in 1958, and was a student of John Fairbank. In this episode, I got the priveldge of interviewing Mr. Butterfield at his home. We talked about his experience with John Fairbank, his friendship with Senators John McCain and Joe Biden, his work on the Pentagon Papers and many other...
info_outline
Mo Yan - Explosions
Chinese Literature Podcast
In today's episode, we look at a work that tackles the controversial topics of aborition and the One-Child Policy. Today's story, by Nobel-Prize Laureate Mo Yan, watches a father/government official after his wife becomes pregnant with a son. Their first child, a daughter, is not good enough for the official's dad, he wants a son. But the official is tasked with enforcing the One-Child Policy, China's draconian rule that each family was only allowed to have one child. We watch as the official forces his wife to get an abortion while explosions happen all around them.
info_outline
Hao Jingfang - Folding Beijing
Chinese Literature Podcast
"Folding Beijing" is one of the most talked-about science fiction stories to come out of China since Liu Cixin, Hao Jingfang's story is about a Beijing divided into three parts. First Space is for the rich, Second Space is for the middle class and Third Space is for the poor, who clean up after First and Second Space Beijing. The three spaces never exist simultaneously, but rather when First Space is open, Second and Third Space are folded up and put away. A man, struggling to put his daughter through school, agrees to take up an illegal job to smuggle a message from Second to First...
info_outline
The Greatest Fart Joke in Chinese History
Chinese Literature Podcast
Today, we are looking at a story involving Su Dongpo, who was the butt of the greatest fart joke in all of Chinese history. The story involves Su Dongpo, the Song Dynasty's greatest poet, and a Zen Buddhist named Buddha's Stamp.
info_outline
More Swindles from the Late Ming - Sex, Scams and Sorcery - Interview with Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea
Chinese Literature Podcast
Lock up your daughters and watch your wallet. In this episode, we are going to take a look at stories from the late Ming's most famous grift manual, a book by Zhang Yingyu. For this episode, the translators, and have kindly agreed to come on talk about this text without stealing anything. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to make counterfeit silver, run a gang of that blinds and amputates children or just to anyone looking for some damn good stories. Purchase the book , at Columbia University Press.
info_outlineToday, Lee gets to chat with Susan Wan Dolling, Hong-Kong-American poet, novelist and translator. She recently published her latest book of Song poetry translations, What the Cuckoo Said, but she has long been working on translating Chinese poetry into an English that does what is hard to do, that preserves the music that you hear in the Chinese original.
If you want to check out more of her translations, check out Hundred Tongues (volume 1 of her Song poetry translations), Superstars (volume 1 of her My China in Tang Poetry series), Floating on Clouds (volume 2 of her My China in Tang Poetry series) and Friends and Lovers (volume 3 of her My China in Tang Poetry series).
Also, my book, China's Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn't Want You to Read is out! You can purchase a copy of it here from my publisher:
Or you can purchase it on Amazon here.
If you are interested, check out the nice things smart people have said about the book here.