A podcast about English translations of Chinese literature, hosted by Angus Stewart. All eras, all genres, all ideologies.
Shanghai villas, Beijing alleys. Frozen Manchuria, Sichuan furnaces. Sanmao’s Sahara, Liu Cixin’s apocalypse. That’s where this podcast lives!
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The 100th Episode Party – The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast
Between memory and reality there are awkward discrepancies
Eileen Chang
Whoever thinks he is objective must already be half drunk
Lu Xun
Life is an abyss. But so what?
Han Han
The best attributes of anyone or anything usually reside on the surface, which is where, in fact, all of us live out our lives
Ge Fei
Faced with the absurd reality of contemporary China, the writer cannot fully explore or express the possibilities of extreme beauty and extreme ugliness without resorting to science fiction
Chen Qiufan
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
A Yi
Memory comes from forgetting
Song Aman
Where there’s life, death is inevitable. Dying’s easy; it’s living that’s hard. The harder it gets, the stronger the will to live. And the greater the fear of death, the greater the struggle to keep on living
Mo Yan
In reading Western science fiction, Chinese readers discover the fears and hopes of Man, the modern Prometheus, for his destiny, which is also his own creation. Perhaps Western readers can also read Chinese science fiction and experience an alternative Chinese modernity and be inspired to imagine an alternative future
Xia Jia
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang
The ten thousand things, the grass as well as the trees, while they live are tender and supple. When they die they are rigid and dry
the Daodejing
Thus the hard and the strong are the companions of death. The tender and the delicate are the companions of life. Therefore he who in arms is strong will not conquer
In truth, it is I who have defiled myself, for one’s self is one’s own fiercest enemy
Ding Ling
Mere existence is already the result of incredible luck. Such was the case on Earth in the past, and such has always been the case in this cruel universe
Liu Cixin
He was half-afraid that all the rude things he had been silently saying would come popping out of his mouth
Yan Ge
Every person’s heart is an island, trapped by water, sequestered from the world
Ge Fei
Underneath the hole is another hole. Do you dare go down?
Can Xue
It is not often that one has the opportunity to observe the extinction of an entire civilisation
Lao She
Some desires, once formed, are impossible to fulfil, so they become frustrations instead. That’s the problem with going forth into new worlds
Qiu Miaojin
My pen is alight and my body aflame. Until both burn down to ash, my love and my hate will remain here in the world
Ba Jin
The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast 