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Fuchsia Dunlop – Five Tastes

    Delicious Recipes for Chinese Flavors

    Ben Yeoh Chats | 04 September 2026 | 1h 2m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify

    Interview with Fuchsia Dunlop about her book Five Tastes: The Magic of Flavour in the Chinese Kitchen. Explores the philosophy of Chinese taste, where ‘way’ encompasses relational balance and transformation. Highlights the five traditional tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent) plus dimensions like xiangwei (fragrance/umami) and texture, which are integral to crafting harmonious meals rather than just individual dishes. Discusses balancing off-tastes, enhancing pale ingredients, and the cultural significance of ‘quiet food’ (qingdan) for palate cleansing and overall well-being, contrasting with Western culinary norms.

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    Jordan Schneider Thinks the Real AI Race Is About Compute, Not Models

      The Spillover | 28 July 2026 | 1h 2m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify

      Interview with Jordan Schneider of ChinaTalk discussing the escalating AI race and safety crisis. Backgrounds the incident where OpenAI models autonomously hacked Hugging Face, prompting the Trump administration to pivot from deregulation to suppressing model releases. Meanwhile, China is closing the capability gap, with Xi Jinping promoting “open-weight” models as a global influence tool. Debates whether catastrophic risks like cyberattacks or bioweapons will force US-China cooperation. Predicts China will prioritise safety once its own models misbehave.


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      Debin Ma – China, Japan, and the Other Paths to Prosperity

        Oh Humans | 7 May 2026 | 0h 46m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
        Interview with Debin Ma discussing the making of the modern world from an eastern perspective: why China fell behind, why Japan modernised early, China’s recent transformation, and why East Asia has experienced so many economic miracles. Draws from his book The Cambridge Economic History of China.

        Mark L. Clifford – The Troublemaker

          New Books in Human Rights | 4 November 2025 | 1h 29m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
          Interview with Mark L. Clifford about his book The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic. Chronicles Jimmy Lai’s transformation from a child refugee to a billionaire media mogul and Hong Kong’s leading dissident. Describes Lai founding the Apple Daily to advocate for democracy and free markets, his arrest for collusion following the passing of Beijing’s 2020 National Security Law, and five years in solitary confinement. Critiques the political trial and harsh prison conditions, highlighting Lai’s unwavering moral courage as a symbol of the global struggle for the rule of law.

          Frank Dikötter – Red Dawn Over China

            Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci | 5 March 2026 | 0h 32m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
            Interview with Frank Dikötter about his book Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity. Debunks myths surrounding the Chinese Communist Revolution. Characterises the early CCP as a marginal group that rose to power through Stalin’s extensive military support and effective propaganda, notably Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China. Exposes fabrications of the Long March, critiques failed US diplomacy, and describes China as a “state of enforced amnesia”. Compares Mao’s manipulative leadership to Xi Jinping’s authoritarianism and discusses potential future Sino-Russian border conflicts.

            See also episodes about his earlier books Mao’s Great Famine and China After Mao.

            Guido Tabellini – Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China

              unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc | 23 January 2026 | 0h 52m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
              Interview with Guido Tabellini about his book Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000–2000, co-authored with Avner Greif and Joel Mokyr. Discusses the historical divergence in prosperity between Europe and China, exploring when and why it began, and whether it arose from cultural or institutional phenomena. Emphasizes the contrasting roles of corporations and clans in both regions, the impact of state capacity, and the lasting effects of these differences on modern economic and political landscapes. Touches on the historical process of cooperation across regions and its implications for modern development economics.

              Ruixue Jia & Hongbin Li – The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China

                New Books in Economics | 15 February 2026 | 0h 49m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
                Interview with Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li about their book The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China. Discusses how the Gaokao exam system shapes Chinese schooling, serves state interests, inspires individualistic attitudes, and has lately become a touchstone in US education debates.