Shows
Matters of Policy & PoliticsSilicon Triangle: Mary Kay Magistad on the Future of US-China Competition | Hoover InstitutionRead "Scenarios for Future US-China Competition" here: https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/SiliconTriangle_Chapter1_230828.pdf
Mary Kay Magistad and Kharis Templeman discuss four potential futures for US-China relations. These scenarios depend on whether the global economy becomes more integrated or bifurcated, and whether the US or China leads in semiconductor technology. They also cover key findings and policy recommendations around supply chain security, US-China competition, and Taiwan's future.
To learn more, go to https://www.hoover.org/silicon-triangle
Mary Kay Magistad is deputy director of the Asia Society’s Ce...
2023-10-1137 min
COAL + ICE PodcastEp1: Burning Up: The Climate ChallengeWe're awfully good at burning things up in the name of progress -- coal, oil, gas, Amazon rain forests. We're not as good at factoring in the real cost of those choices, on our health, and on the health of the planet. In this first episode of the COAL+ICE podcast, top climate journalists talk about what these choices look like where they live -- in China, South Africa and Brazil -- and what's being done, and needs to be done, to bend the curve on climate change. Joining host Mary Kay Magistad are:
2022-01-2548 min
COAL + ICE PodcastIntroducing COAL+ICE PodcastWe're all living with climate change, but what can we do about it? Join host Mary Kay Magistad, for global conversations on what's happening with climate change around the world, and what's being done to bend the curve. This biweekly Asia Society podcast starts in late January 2022.
2022-01-1702 min
Asia In-DepthOrville Schell's China JourneyThe director of Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations talks with Mary Kay Magistad about his six decades observing China, in an episode celebrating the launch of the third edition of Asia Society Magazine.
2021-12-0942 min
The Belt and Road PodcastWho Decides and How Along the Belt and Road? with Thomas Hale & Johannes UrpelainenWho makes decisions about project approval, design, and the pursuit of sustainability - in China, in recipient countries, and beyond? A recent report entitled, 'Belt and Road Decision-making in China and Recipient Countries: How and To What Extent Does Sustainability Matter?' breaks this question down artfully to trace the interests and institutional structures shaping BRI projects. Listen to our interview with two of the three the authors, Thomas Hale (Associate Professor of Global Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford) and Johannes Urpelainen (Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources and...
2020-12-1848 min
Sinica PodcastMary Kay Magistad - On China's New Silk Road (Episode 1: The China Dream)This week, we're delighted to bring you the first episode of Mary Kay Magistad's brand new podcast, On China's New Silk Road. Mary Kay is a veteran China reporter and a dear friend of the Sinica Podcast – a frequent guest in our early days. After she moved back to the States, she created another great podcast called Who's Century It It?, a show that often looked at issues related to China. We know that Sinica's audience would really appreciate her latest series and wanted to share it with you. On China's New Silk Road is a production of...
2020-09-1144 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryOn China's New Silk Road Podcast PreviewIf you like Whose Century Is It?, check out this preview of my new limited series podcast with the Global Reporting Centre, On China's New Silk Road. I've teamed up with great local journalists on almost every continent to explore how China's global ambition is seen around the world, and at the impact Chinese investments in one of the biggest global infrastructure efforts ever, are having on the ground.
2020-08-2003 min
On China’s New Silk RoadOn China’s New Silk RoadJoin host Mary Kay Magistad as she explores how China’s New Silk Road may change the world. Dozens of countries have invited China to build roads, railways, ports, 5G networks, and more. How is China’s global ambition seen around the world and what impact are its investments having on the ground? Over nine episodes, Mary Kay, a former China correspondent for NPR and PRX’s “The World,” partners with local journalists on five continents to uncover the effects of the most sweeping global infrastructure initiative in history. From the Global Reporting Centre, “On China’s New Silk Road” is out n
2020-08-0802 minOn China’s New Silk RoadOn China’s New Silk RoadJoin host Mary Kay Magistad as she explores how China’s New Silk Road may change the world. Dozens of countries have invited China to build roads, railways, ports, 5G networks, and more. How is China’s global ambition seen around the world and what impact are its investments having on the ground? Over nine episodes, Mary Kay, a former China correspondent for NPR and PRX’s “The World,” partners with local journalists on five continents to uncover the effects of the most sweeping global infrastructure initiative in history. From the Global Reporting Centre, “On China’s New Silk Road” is out n
2020-08-0802 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centurySlavery in your grocery cartNext time you sip your tea or bite into a bar of chocolate, or load up your grocery cart with other treats, spare a thought for the underpaid or unpaid workers who made it possible. Modern slavery comes in many guises, and politics professor Genevieve LeBaron of the University of Sheffield in England, who's done field studies on the subject, is here to tell you how it happens, and what you might want to look out for as you shop.
2019-04-0435 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryWizards, Prophets & the Fate of the Earth: Innovation & Conservation in an age of climate changeWe're pretty clever, we humans, but we ignore unintended consequences at our peril -- like climate change, after a couple of centuries of fossil fuel-driven growth and innovation. Can we innovate our way out of that growing crisis, or must we cut back and conserve if we want a habitable planet? Or both? Science journalist and author Charles Mann, author of 1491, 1493 and The Wizard & the Prophet, tells the tale of these two competing approaches through the lives of the 'wizard,' Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, and the 'prophet,' William Vogt, early ecologist and author of t...
2019-01-1139 min
Whose Century Is It?Sci Fi FutureIn the imagined world of novelist Eliot Peper's near-term future in such books as Bandwidth and Borderless, San Diego's burning, polar ice caps have melted, everyone's got their heads in their digital feeds, and a powerful social media company called Commonwealth controls --well, seems like just about everything. Eliot talks to host Mary Kay Magistad about writing speculative fiction, about the value of sci fi in helping us all think through current crises and possible futures, and about what sci fi has seen coming, and what it's gotten just plain wrong.
2018-12-0337 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centurySci Fi FutureIn the imagined world of novelist Eliot Peper's near-term future in such books as Bandwidth and Borderless, San Diego's burning, polar ice caps have melted, everyone's got their heads in their digital feeds, and a powerful social media company called Commonwealth controls --well, seems like just about everything. Eliot talks to host Mary Kay Magistad about writing speculative fiction, about the value of sci fi in helping us all think through current crises and possible futures, and about what sci fi has seen coming, and what it's gotten just plain wrong.
2018-12-0337 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryWhy half the world's languages may disappear in this centuryEmbedded in each language is a reflection of life as lived by its speakers, over thousands of years. And when a language disappears, that embedded knowledge is lost. As the world grows more connected, and as dominant cultures push their own languages for wider use – think English, Chinese and Arabic, for starters -- languages are disappearing. As many as half the world's 7,000 languages may be gone by the end of the century. The good news is that linguists are on it, like this episode's guest Laura Welcher, who oversees the Long Now Foundation's Rosetta Project in San Francisco.
2018-04-081h 02
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryEthnic cleansing, human tragedy & the future few saw coming for Burma: What the Rohingya Muslim purge reveals about Myanmar's challenges in building real democracy Not so long ago, Myanmar (Burma) was a good news story, with democratic reforms, a booming economy and falling poverty rates. Then came ugly military-led attacks on Rohingya Muslims, who killed, raped and burned houses, and forced more than 700,000 Rohingyas to flee to camps in Bangladesh, with little pushback from pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. What does this mean for Myanmar's democratic future? Khin Ohmar, an exiled Burmese human rights and democracy activist for 30 years, shares her thoughts.
2018-03-0644 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryWe'd all love to change the world: Social entrepreneurs are working at itWhat happens when you mix the efficiency and energy of the entrepreneurial world with the idealism of philanthropy? A growing number of social entrepreneurs say, you can do a world of good. But just like real entrepreneurs, more such efforts fail than succeed, and both smarts and resilience are needed for the long haul. Jonathan Lewis, author of The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur and founder of the microcredit funder MCE Social Capital and cofounder of Copia, a kind of mail-order catalogue for poor women around Nairobi, shares what he's learned over years as a social entrepreneur.
2018-01-2249 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryChina's counterintuitive betCan China become a global leader in innovation by protecting state-run companies from competition at home, while acquiring innovative companies abroad? Can that innovation be sustained in a society where free speech and intellectual inquiry is sharply curtailed? China's leaders are betting on it, and in this episode, journalist-turned-business analyst Jim McGregor, chairman of APCO Greater China, mulls over the odds.
2017-12-3043 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryFollow the Leader?Populist leaders and strongmen often rise at times of dizzying, unsettling change. But what if that's exactly the wrong kind of leadership to face the challenges and seize the opportunities of this century? Futurist Bob Johansen argues the era ahead will be one with less hierarchy, more shared and shifting leadership, and clarity and agility will be rewarded, while rigid certainty will be punished.
2017-11-1935 min
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryIn the Amazon: Brazil, China, climate change, & the future of the planetBreathe in. Breathe out. The oxygen that keeps you going, that keeps life going on earth, comes in part from the vast Amazon rainforest, most of which is in Brazil. Lush, vast and rich in biodiversity, it is the lungs of the planet. But it also attracts miners, loggers, farmers and developers who, over the past 40 years, have contributed to reducing forest cover by some 20 percent. Foreign investors have played a role too -- American, European and now, Chinese. Many dams have been built. Hundreds more are planned, to create power to drive further development in the Amazon, creating s...
2017-10-171h 08
Whose Century Is It?In the AmazonBreathe in. Breathe out. The oxygen that keeps you going, that keeps life going on earth, comes in part from the vast Amazon rainforest, most of which is in Brazil. Lush, vast and rich in biodiversity, it is the lungs of the planet. But it also attracts miners, loggers, farmers and developers who, over the past 40 years, have contributed to reducing forest cover by some 20 percent. Foreign investors have played a role too -- American, European and now, Chinese. Many dams have been built. Hundreds more are planned, to create power to drive further development in the Amazon, creating short-term p...
2017-10-161h 08
Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryYoung ChinaFew generations in the world face a reality as dramatically different from all that have come before, as China's one-child generation. Since the one-child policy started in the early '80s, China has gone from aspiring developing country to powerful global player. It has shifted from being majority rural to majority urban, with per capita annual GDP rising from $300 to over $8,000 now. Young Chinese are more connected with the world than previous generations, thanks to the internet, smartphones, films, television and travel and study abroad, with some 330,000 studying in the United States alone. What does all this mean for the...
2017-08-2746 min
Whose Century Is It?Young ChinaFew generations in the world face a reality as dramatically different from all that have come before, as China's one-child generation. Since the one-child policy started in the early '80s, China has gone from aspiring developing country to powerful global player. It has shifted from being majority rural to majority urban, with per capita annual GDP rising from $300 to over $8,000 now. Young Chinese are more connected with the world than previous generations, thanks to the internet, smartphones, films, television and travel and study abroad, with some 330,000 studying in the United States alone. What does all this mean for the...
2017-08-2746 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryRebuilding Brazil's economy requires more than BRICS and ChinaBrazil's economy was blazing along in the first decade of this century, turbo-charged by China's appetite for commodities. And there was the added boost of being named, by a Goldman Sachs exec, one of the rising economies to watch — the BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Then China's economic growth slowed, demand for commodities dropped and Brazil fell into its worst recession in a century, intensified by its worst corruption scandal ever. Brazil is beginning to emerge now, after two years of economic contraction and political turbulence. What are its prospects for again being seen as one of th...
2017-08-1529 minWhose Century Is It?Rebuilding Brazil's economy requires more than BRICS and ChinaBrazil's economy was blazing along in the first decade of this century, turbo-charged by China's appetite for commodities. And there was the added boost of being named, by a Goldman Sachs exec, one of the rising economies to watch — the BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Then China's economic growth slowed, demand for commodities dropped and Brazil fell into its worst recession in a century, intensified by its worst corruption scandal ever. Brazil is beginning to emerge now, after two years of economic contraction and political turbulence. What are its prospects for again being seen as one of th...
2017-08-1529 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryBumps along South Africa's yellow BRIC roadSouth Africans' hopes and expectations that their country might become a democratic and economic leader in Africa, helped by a strong relationship with China and membership in the BRICS group — a collection of big countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) expected to emerge as economic leaders in this century — haven't turned out quite as planned. South Africa dipped into recession this year, has unemployment near 30 percent, and a deeply unpopular and, many South Africans say, ineffective president, Jacob Zuma. What happened, what now, and what do South Africans make of the similarities they see between their president, and Pres...
2017-08-0239 minWhose Century Is It?Bumps along South Africa's yellow BRIC roadSouth Africans' hopes and expectations that their country might become a democratic and economic leader in Africa, helped by a strong relationship with China and membership in the BRICS group — a collection of big countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) expected to emerge as economic leaders in this century — haven't turned out quite as planned. South Africa dipped into recession this year, has unemployment near 30 percent, and a deeply unpopular and, many South Africans say, ineffective president, Jacob Zuma. What happened, what now, and what do South Africans make of the similarities they see between their president, and Pres...
2017-08-0239 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryRequiem for Liu XiaoboNobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo spent much of his life advocating for basic political rights and democracy in China. For that, he spent years imprisoned by a government that feels threatened by such demands. He was in prison when he won the Nobel Prize in 2010, serving 11 years for "subversion of state power," and he was in prison as his liver cancer advanced. He was released, under guard, to a state hospital, and died there July 13, 2017. Chinese authorities have repeatedly called Liu Xiaobo a criminal. They have censored information about him at home and appear to hope the world will...
2017-07-1720 minWhose Century Is It?How China's past shapes dreams of future powerChina was one of the world's great powers for most of the past couple thousand years, and back on its heels only for a couple of centuries, as the Industrial Revolution took off and European colonialism expanded. Now, China's drawing on its past and moving with deliberation to reclaim what many Chinese feel is China's rightful place in the world. The challenges are many, but with slowing economic growth, an aging population and uncertain future challenges from within and outside China's borders, there's incentive to act now to cement China's place as a regional if not global leader. And that's...
2017-06-3055 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryHow China's past shapes dreams of future powerChina was one of the world's great powers for most of the past couple thousand years, and back on its heels only for a couple of centuries, as the Industrial Revolution took off and European colonialism expanded. Now, China's drawing on its past and moving with deliberation to reclaim what many Chinese feel is China's rightful place in the world. The challenges are many, but with slowing economic growth, an aging population and uncertain future challenges from within and outside China's borders, there's incentive to act now to cement China's place as a regional if not global leader. And that's...
2017-06-3055 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryCan Chinese pragmatism help save the planet?China's leaders may not exactly be evangelizing about the perils of climate change, but compared to Donald Trump, these days, they look downright statesmanlike on this front. And Chinese policies on renewable energy, while often driven by pragmatic self-interest more than selfless concern for the planet, may nonetheless help tip the balance in the right direction in this century.
2017-06-1656 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centurySeeing into the futureBlind seers aside, it's easier to see where you're going, on the road and in life, if you can actually see. More than half of Americans wear glasses; in poorer and more remote regions of the world, it's estimated that some two billion people need glasses but don't have access to them, cutting into their ability to learn, work and live a full life. A social entrepreneurial effort called VisionSpring has reached millions of such people in Asia and Africa, selling glasses at affordable prices to customers who earn less than $4 a day. Host Mary Kay Magistad talks with VisionSpring's...
2017-05-2929 minWhose Century Is It?Seeing into the futureBlind seers aside, it's easier to see where you're going, on the road and in life, if you can actually see. More than half of Americans wear glasses; in poorer and more remote regions of the world, it's estimated that some two billion people need glasses but don't have access to them, cutting into their ability to learn, work and live a full life. A social entrepreneurial effort called VisionSpring has reached millions of such people in Asia and Africa, selling glasses at affordable prices to customers who earn less than $4 a day. Host Mary Kay Magistad talks with VisionSpring's...
2017-05-2929 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryRadio Free(ing) AfricaAn unsung weapon against terrorism that has proven successful in Africa is the power of the airwaves — shortwave radio reaching people with reliable information, and programming that helps educate them, connect them and imagine a different kind of future. The ubiquity of cellphones allows people in conflict regions to call in, challenge abuses of power and have a voice. That's worked in the Congo, with Radio Okapi. It's working now in areas where Boko Haram has been active in West Africa, and the new Dandal Kura radio network is now broadcasting. Host Mary Kay Magistad talks with her old editor an...
2017-05-1943 minWhose Century Is It?Radio Free(ing) AfricaAn unsung weapon against terrorism that has proven successful in Africa is the power of the airwaves — shortwave radio reaching people with reliable information, and programming that helps educate them, connect them and imagine a different kind of future. The ubiquity of cellphones allows people in conflict regions to call in, challenge abuses of power and have a voice. That's worked in the Congo, with Radio Okapi. It's working now in areas where Boko Haram has been active in West Africa, and the new Dandal Kura radio network is now broadcasting. Host Mary Kay Magistad talks with her old editor an...
2017-05-1943 minWhose Century Is It?Soul searching in ChinaA resurgence of interest in religion in China, after more than half a century of Communism and in the midst of China's rapid economic transformation and global rise, comes as new generations search for spiritual meaning and an ethical foundation. Host Mary Kay Magistad talks with former China correspondent colleagues Ian Johnson, author of "The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao," and Jennifer Lin, author of "Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Faith in a Chinese Christian Family," about how her own Chinese family, including Watchman Nee, the Billy Graham of China in the first half of the 20th...
2017-05-031h 13Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centurySoul searching in ChinaA resurgence of interest in religion in China, after more than half a century of Communism and in the midst of China's rapid economic transformation and global rise, comes as new generations search for spiritual meaning and an ethical foundation. Host Mary Kay Magistad talks with former China correspondent colleagues Ian Johnson, author of "The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao," and Jennifer Lin, author of "Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Faith in a Chinese Christian Family," about how her own Chinese family, including Watchman Nee, the Billy Graham of China in the first half of the 20th...
2017-05-031h 13Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryEnemies of the (Corrupt) PeopleWith kleptocratic autocrats on the rise, good journalism that explains what's going on matters more than ever. Fresh from sharing a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, for coverage of the Panama Papers, Drew Sullivan, founder and editor of the Organized Crime & Corruption Project, talks corruption, authoritarian creep and the future of journalism.
2017-04-1944 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryTruth & reconciliation in South Africa, revisitedHealing deep social wounds takes time, even with active effort. After decades of institutionalized racism under apartheid, South Africa's Truth & Reconciliation Commission helped a divided nation watch, weep, reflect & come together — even if imperfectly. What is its legacy now, two decades later? How much of the hope South Africans had for what their future might be together has been borne out? Host Mary Kay Magistad visited South Africa to see how South Africans from different communities feel about what difference the TRC has, and hasn't, made in their lives.
2017-04-0641 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryAtrocity amnesiaWhat happens when neighbors kill neighbors? What happens when the perpetrators try to bury the past? The past can still both shape and haunt the present, as the villagers of the small Polish town of Jedwabne have found, decades after other villagers there rounded up and killed hundreds of their Jewish neighbors. The World's Nina Porzucki visits the village to see how that past is remembered, and who's willing to talk about it.
2017-03-1537 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryWomen's workWomen around the world face varying degrees of gender discrimination in the workplace — whether they're hired, how much they're paid, whether they advance as fast as men doing the same job. In Jordan, where girls and women generally do better than their male counterparts in school, and where more women than men attend college, startlingly few women participate in the workforce. Why? Asma Khader, a Jordanian lawyer, women's rights activist and former government official, weighs in, in conversation with The World's Shirin Jaafari.
2017-03-0842 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryBadass librarians of the Internet ArchiveLibrarians rock. And Internet Archive librarians, aiming to digitize and make universally available all human knowledge, including saving webpages that would otherwise disappear? They're on a whole 'nother level. In this age of alternative facts and disappearing government websites, hear how this small group of badass librarians is working to preserve knowledge, and empower investigative reporters and ordinary citizens to find webpages those with something to hide would rather you didn't find.
2017-02-2342 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryKeeping up with killer technologyDrones have only been around for a couple of decades, but already, they're reshaping the contours of conflict and raising ethical quandaries. President Barack Obama launched more than 500 drone strikes during his tenure, 10 times more than President George W. Bush. But Obama's drones strikes killed far fewer civilians than did Bush's intervention in Iraq. Still, how much should drones and robotics be used in conflict, and when, and what unintended consequences might this unleash? Peter Singer, Strategist at the New America Foundation and author of "Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century" talks with The...
2017-02-0836 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryMake America Kind AgainAmerica became a global leader over the past century through openness, generosity, and soft power —the ability to attract, and to make others want to emulate your way of life, including inclusivity and equal rights. Donald Trump's vision of America, as voiced in his campaign and reflected in his first words and deeds as president, has caused more global dismay than attraction. Will the Trump era mark the end of the American century? Listen in to hear some early takes.
2017-01-2722 min
The Long Now FoundationRationality Redeemed - James Holland JonesRationality, a cornerstone of modern economic theory, is increasingly called into question by new behavioral research
. By looking at subsistence societies, this biological anthropologist reaffirms that humans can act in their own self-interest. Bringing an evolutionary perspective to formal decision theory, Dr. Jones will explain what we can learn from the most rational people in the world.
The Interval welcomes award-winning journalist Mary Kay Magistad (formerly of PRI's The World and NPR, now host of the Whose Century Is It? podcast) as guest moderator. This event was co-presented by the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), where Jone...
2017-01-171h 08Whose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryHow trust eroded within America's democracyTrust in government and journalism has plummeted in recent decades, particularly among conservatives. This wasn't a coincidence, nor strictly a result of bad behavior on the part of elected officials or the press, says Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of "It's Even Worse Than It Was: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism." He argues that understanding how we got here just might help Americans move to a better place.
2017-01-1246 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryChina, the US and the lessons of historyTalk about epic love/hate relationships. From the birth of the United States, China has loomed large in the American imagination, and America in China's, for better and for worse, often with surprising twists. Build a wall across the Mexican border? That was first proposed to stop Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. Mao Zedong's secret vice? American 'kissy' movies, to quote former Washington Post China correspondent John Pomfret, author of "The Beautiful Country and the MIddle Kingdom," an engaging new history of what America and China have meant to each other's citizens, as well as their governments, 1776 to now...
2016-12-291h 15Whose Century Is It?A newsroom looks at future pastAs Americans wonder what changes a new year and a new President will bring, here's a case study of how much things can change, in unexpected ways, in a relatively short time. Host Mary Kay Magistad sits down with some of the early staff of PRI and BBC co-production PRI's The World to chat about what the future looked like in 1996, when The World first went to air, and how change has come in unexpected ways and uneven waves.
2016-12-1434 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryA newsroom looks at future pastAs Americans wonder what changes a new year and a new President will bring, here's a case study of how much things can change, in unexpected ways, in a relatively short time. Host Mary Kay Magistad sits down with some of the early staff of PRI and BBC co-production PRI's The World to chat about what the future looked like in 1996, when The World first went to air, and how change has come in unexpected ways and uneven waves.
2016-12-1434 minWhose Century Is It?Black Lives Rising (in STEM)Great ideas come from diverse minds, and efforts to get more African Americans into cutting edge fields — science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine — are gaining ground, but with considerable challenges. How might efforts to increase this kind of diversity fare under a Trump presidency and beyond? Host Mary Kay Magistad explores.
2016-12-0242 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryBlack Lives Rising (in STEM)Great ideas come from diverse minds, and efforts to get more African Americans into cutting edge fields — science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine — are gaining ground, but with considerable challenges. How might efforts to increase this kind of diversity fare under a Trump presidency and beyond? Host Mary Kay Magistad explores.
2016-12-0242 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryTrust, Faith & TrumpTrust and faith help any relationship, including the relationship between citizens and their government. What happens when trust is at a record low, and faith seems to be in mutually incompatible beliefs in a polarized society? Garry Wills, professor emeritus at Northwestern University, and an author of many books on faith and on politics, reflects on how the challenges of democracy and faith, and how America might seek a better path.
2016-11-1826 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryHow do US elections stack up?What could America learn from emerging democracies around the globe? More than you might think. David Carroll, who heads the Carter Center's Democracy Program and has worked for decades helping to monitor elections and strengthen democracies worldwide, weighs in.
2016-11-0333 minWhose Century Is It?Borders and belongingFew issues hit more of an emotional chord, or an emotional nerve than those around borders and belonging, immigration and identity. Bringing it home in this third of a three-episode series on these issues, host Mary Kay Magistad visits the lands of her ancestors — Ireland and Germany — and explores the ways in which they are wrestling with these issues — and have wrestled with them in the past.
2016-10-2144 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryBorders and belongingFew issues hit more of an emotional chord, or an emotional nerve than those around borders and belonging, immigration and identity. Bringing it home in this third of a three-episode series on these issues, host Mary Kay Magistad visits the lands of her ancestors — Ireland and Germany — and explores the ways in which they are wrestling with these issues — and have wrestled with them in the past.
2016-10-2144 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryRule BritanniaBritain long ruled the waves, and many of its citizens have now voted for it to control its own borders, and make its own decisions, free of EU control. Is this about sovereignty, or identity, or something else entirely? It's complicated, and often not in the ways you'd expect.
2016-10-0634 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryWho are 'we'?People have been moving around, and borders have been shifting around, for as long as there have been people. Who gets to say who belongs, and who doesn't? Chandran Kukathas, who heads the London School of Economics' department of government, argues that a free society should tolerate difference, and (relatively) open borders, and quit fearing Muslims as a group.
2016-09-2226 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryPropaganda primer for post-War on Terror AmericaEmotional events are opportunities for people in power with an agenda, and Nina Khrushcheva, great-granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, now a US citizen and New School professor who teaches propaganda, says the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks was such a time. She talks here about what Americans need to know about propaganda, at home as well as abroad, and about her own experience, growing up in the Soviet Union.
2016-09-0942 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryFab Labs, Fab Cities, & an Indian dream of becoming an Internet of Things hubAiming to help everyone make almost anything, Fab Labs have opened around the world, and Fab Cities are taking the movement big-scale. Featuring Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT's Center of Bits and Atoms, talking about the movement he started, and a visit to Kochi, formerly Cochin, a former ancient Indian trading port turned aspiring Internet of Things hub, and the first state or region to sign on to the Fab Cities movement.
2016-08-2526 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryMaker Movement meets ChinaThe Maker Movement started to reconnect Americans with the creativity and joy that comes from making things with your hands, after years of outsourcing manufacturing jobs. It's now been embraced by dozens of countries, including China. And in China, factory of the world for decades, what does the Maker Movement mean? Depends whether you're a Maker, or a government official — and therein lies the rub.
2016-08-1038 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryConspiracy theories, China & the real John BirchConspiracy theories thrive amidst distrust — distrust of power, distrust of the "other," distrust of the unknown. They can limit what's possible, and create conflict when none is necessary. One story, about a young Baptist missionary-turned-US military intelligence officer in China during World War II, killed in action, spun conspiracy theories into anti-Communist activism and suspicion. Terry Lautz, author of "John Birch, A Life," talks conspiracies, China-US mutual perceptions, and the myths and realities in the brief life of the real John Birch.
2016-07-2839 min
Sinica PodcastWhose century is it, anyway?This live recording of Sinica at the Smyth Hotel in New York City on July 13 features the journalists Mary Kay Magistad and Gady Epstein discussing the increasingly complex "frenemyship" of China and the United States. They also talk about the South China Sea, the role of "old China hands," and how the Middle Kingdom is changing the world and being changed by it. The title of the episode is taken from Mary Kay's radio show and podcast, Whose Century Is it? Mary Kay is a veteran radio journalist who has covered China, North Korea, Southeast Asia, Ethiopia, the Western Sahara...
2016-07-2146 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryThe precarious American DreamLiving the "American Dream" is getting harder, as prices rise faster than average wages, and work itself shifts toward a gig economy. How and why did this happen, and how might things change from here? Economic historian Louis Hyman, an associate professor at Cornell University, and author of "Borrow: The American Way of Debt," and "Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink," talks about the emerging gig economy and what it might mean for America's future.
2016-07-1139 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryVirtual beer and Brexit chat with European friendsWhen big things happen, there's nothing like sitting down with smart friends over a beer (or coffee, or whatever), and kicking around ideas about what it all means, and where it's all going. In this episode, host Mary Kay Magistad checks in with old friends in Dublin, London and Berlin, to see how Brexit looks from where they sit, and how it might affect their lives.
2016-07-0138 minWhose Century Is It?Virtual beer and Brexit chat with European friendsWhen big things happen, there's nothing like sitting down with smart friends over a beer (or coffee, or whatever), and kicking around ideas about what it all means, and where it's all going. In this episode, host Mary Kay Magistad checks in with old friends in Dublin, London and Berlin, to see how Brexit looks from where they sit, and how it might affect their lives.
2016-07-0138 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryBlood Oil: Why what you put in your gas tank may be funding terrorismCan a full tank of gas be linked to terrorism? It might be, if you connect the dots. Leif Wenar, author of "Blood Oil: Tyranny, Resources & the Rules that Run the World," explains how it happens, why it affects you, and what you can do about it.
2016-06-1644 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryBehind the Panama PapersThe largest document leak in recent history, the Panama Papers, was facilitated by 400 journalists at 107 news organizations in some 80 countries, working for a year, in secret, without word getting out. Smari McCarthy, who helped process the Panama Papers, as chief technology officer for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, calls it "a conspiracy to inform the public," and hopes making it harder to hide money will lead to more money being more equitably distributed. He talks about the project, about the Icelandic Pirate Party he cofounded, and his work to increase transparency and direct democracy around the world.
2016-06-0233 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryHistory, memory & Hiroshima: Why President Obama's visit mattersPresident Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima in Japan will be the first ever by a sitting US president, remembering the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and scarred when the United States became the first and (thus far) only power to use nuclear weapons, dropping two in August 1945 to force Japan's surrender, ending World War II. Critics complain that Obama's visit makes the US look weak. Supporters call the visit inspired, a sign of respect for a close ally, recognition of pain and loss, a realization that how and what societies remember, shapes their future. They say facing history is...
2016-05-2049 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryPrepare to be Bangalore-d: India's rising challenger to Silicon ValleyHeads up, Silicon Valley, Bangalore's not just for outsourcing anymore. It's rising fast as a world-class hub of tech and biotech innovation, pulling successful Indian entrepreneurs back from Silicon Valley, and from around India. It's part of the story of how the other Asian giant, India, with half its population under age 25, is just getting going in seeing what it can do in this century.
2016-05-0639 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryCan Southeast Asia become an economic hub to rival (or at least balance) China?China's rise has thrown new challenges at Southeast Asia — how to find strength in numbers to counter China's economic clout, and political and military muscle. One solution? The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has started a new ASEAN Economic Community, with the goal of turning it into a 10-nation, 630-million person common market. The challenges? Where to start? That's especially true if you're Thailand, once a star in the region for economic growth and stability, now, slipping down the list, but not remotely giving up.
2016-04-2232 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryAlive and (pretty) well after lost decades, Japan has lessons for ChinaJapan's economic growth is anemic, its population is aging and shrinking, and some Japanese wonder if Japan will still matter, as the century moves ahead. One way it does is as an example to China of what works and what doesn't, in managing an economy at home and power projection abroad. Japan also stands as an object lesson: A rise that looks inevitable may not be.
2016-04-0835 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryFrom segregation to social change, how the Rosie the Riveter era fit into a century's arcIf the arc of history bends toward justice, the needs of the nation during World War II sped the process — not by design, but by necessity. With men off at war, US shipyards and factories started recruiting women and African Americans, who previously couldn't get such jobs. The story of how the reverberations from that era transformed America are told here by America's oldest park ranger, 94-year-old African-American Betty Soskin, who worked as a 20-year-old clerk in a segregated boiler makers union hall near the shipyards in Richmond, California, during the water. She now tells the story of segregation and so...
2016-03-2431 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryAre authoritarians gaining ground globally? (Hint: It's complicated.)Is the world facing an ebb in democracy and a rise of authoritarianism? Seems so when you look at some countries, but it all depends on your frame and expectations. Listen in and challenge your assumptions, with two guys who study this for a living: Harvard's Steven Levitsky and Northwestern University's Bill Hurst.
2016-03-1143 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryAmerican authoritarians for TrumpWhat polling data best indicates whether someone will support Donald Trump? It's whether they skew authoritarian on a set of questions pollsters ask about child-rearing. (Hint: If you'd rather have an obedient, well-mannered child than a curious, independent one — you're skewing authoritarian, as some 18 to 30 percent of Americans do.) Career political consultant Matt MacWilliams talks about his research, for a mid-career PhD, on the political impact of authoritarian impulses, especially in the face of threat, and what it might mean for America's future.
2016-02-2528 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryIdentity, adoption and China's one-child policyIdentity can be a tricky thing, especially if you're adopted from a country and culture that sees ethnic identity as immutable, to one where people reinvent themselves and their identities all the time. So it's been for many of the Chinese kids adopted into the United States, after landing in Chinese orphanages as a result of the one child policy. One of those kids, now grown, and her journalist mom have launched a project that reflects on identity, and led to an American daughter returning to her Chinese village of birth.
2016-02-1132 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryProtecting internet rights in an age of anxietyHow are we, and the rest of the world, doing in striking the right balance between protecting Internet rights and serving national security concerns? How much should citizens in democracies get a say in what that balance is? Rebecca MacKinnon, a former CNN correspondent in China and now director of the New America Foundation's "Ranking Digital Rights Project," weighs in.
2016-01-2731 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryConnecting MyanmarIn a few short years, Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has gone from being one of the world's most isolated countries, to one most rapidly embracing change and connection with the outside world. Speeding the process has been the swift adoption of mobile phones, and especially smart phones. Just five years ago, a single SIM card could sell for $1,000. Deregulation has driven those prices down. Cheap Chinese knock-offs — and cheap Chinese-made solar panels to power them — have put mobile phones in the hands of one in three Burmese, and many have smart phones. These have empowered them, connected them, educated them...
2016-01-1430 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryBonus: Teaching China's next generation of journalists to question everythingJournalists love to ask why, and authoritarian governments don't much like to be questioned. So how to teach China's future journalists to do good work despite the censors and other pressures? Former CBS veteran Peter Herford talks about his decade teaching his craft to China's next generation of journalists. A Whose Century Is It bonus episode, to accompany Episode 9: And That's the Way it Was, about the past and future of journalism from a guy who's spent the better part of a century in it.
2016-01-0611 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryAnd That's the Way It Was: A CBS veteran talks journalism, past & futureThe past century brought a revolution in journalism — radio, television, Internet. How did it feel to riding that wave, as a writer for Walter Cronkite, a producer for 60 Minutes, and an executive of an influential network? CBS veteran and journalism teacher Peter Herford reflects, and says why he's optimistic about journalism in this century.
2015-12-2939 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryKnow yourself (genes and all)How much privacy would you give up for a shot at better health and a longer life? How about pooling data from your genome? And if your genome could tell you what might be coming — cancer, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis — would you want to know? Might you go so far as to seek to get that gene edited out? New technologies make much of this possible; scientists are weighing the risks, rewards and ethical considerations. This take on the subject comes from a recent gathering of top geneticists from around the world at BGI in the southern Chinese city, Shenzhen.
2015-12-1622 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryEpisode 7: Ending global poverty through new tech (high and low)Will the poor always be with us? The global poverty rate is dropping fast, and the UN and other groups are working, together and apart, to come up with creative ways to help the world's poorest pull themselves into a better life. Shashi Buluswar, who leads the Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies, at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, talks about harnessing emerging tech solutions to solve age-old problems.
2015-12-0236 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryKicking China's Coal HabitAfter decades of dirty development, is China now on a path that could help save the planet? In important ways, it has started to move in the right direction.
2015-11-1926 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryEpisode 5: Magna Carta in ChinaThe Magna Carta celebrates its 800th anniversary with a swing through China. But is the Magna Carta's core principle, that rulers aren't above the law, relevant to today's China? China's leaders say no; more and more Chinese citizens say yes.
2015-11-0518 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centurySeeing into the Future: A Practitioner's ViewThe future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed, science fiction writer William Gibson has famously said. But how do you separate the signal from the noise? It helps to ask someone who does it for a living. Marina Gorbis, executive director of the Institute for the Future, shares the tricks of the trade, reflects on growing up in the former Soviet Union, and predicts that an age of transformation has just begun.
2015-10-2232 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryIs the American Century Over?Americans have been worrying that their country's best days are behind it since before the American century began. And now? China's economic rise has persuaded many that China will supplant the US, if it hasn't already. But China's challenges are bigger than they look, and the US still has an edge when it comes to smart power, argues Harvard Professor Joseph Nye, author of "Is the American Century Over?"
2015-10-0821 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryChina's Online FutureThere's much we don't know about what the 21st Century will bring. But we're not just flying blind. We know that certain things matter more now than they used, and others matter less. One thing that matters a lot is the Internet. It has transformed how we learn and how we connect, and how we come together. In China, there are now more than 600 million Internet users — about twice the population of the entire United States. With the advent of Chinese social media, starting about a decade ago, they began to connect more, speak out more, challenge the government more. Th...
2015-09-2237 minWhose Century Is It?: Ideas, trends & twists shaping the world in the 21st centuryEmpires of TimeWhose century is it? Depends on whose calendar you're using. Anthony Aveni, author of "Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks & Cultures," and a professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University, kicks off this new podcast with a discussion of how and why different cultures structure time and imbue time with meaning, and how time can be harnessed as a power tool, from the ancient Maya to modern Chinese.
2015-09-2219 min
Popup ChineseSinica - A Goodbye to the MagistadCan it have been merely a few weeks ago that we sequestered Evan "the turncoat" Osnos in our studio and grilled the celebrated writer on his decision to leave China for what must have myopically seemed like greener pastures? At the time, we intended our podcast to act as a deterrent against further defections among the Beijing literati and set a forceful example of why journalists should love China and stop hurting the feelings of the Chinese people.Sadly, recent developments indicate that further intimidation tactics may be necessary, as it has now come...
2013-09-0642 minPopup ChineseSinica - Turning the Tables on SinicaThis week sets a new record for introspective profanity as we reverse our usual format, in a show that features David Moser and Mary Kay Magistad turning the tables on Jeremy Goldkorn and Kaiser Kuo with an interview that explores how both view Sinica’s relationship with the world of academic Sinology as well as China-related journalism, and question to what extent both are relevant and irrelevant in this digital age.As long-standing guests on our show with roots in the academic and journalism fields respectively, David and Mary Kay are more than qualified to...
2013-08-2355 min
PRI's The World Sep 10, 2012Victory on Both Sides of Hong Kong ElectionsPro-Chinese candidates in Hong Kong did well during recent legislative elections. Democratic political reformers had hoped to tip the scale with mass protests leading up to the weekend election. The World's Mary Kay Magistad tells host Marco Werman that education was one of the key issues for voters.
2012-09-1004 min
PRI's The World Sep 7, 2012China Factories Feel Pinch of Slowing EconomyChina's economy is slowing down, and that's having a big impact on factory towns that relied on cheap manufacturing. The World's Mary Kay Magistad visits a hard-hit garment-making district in Guangdong province.
2012-09-0706 min
PRI's The World: 14th August, 2012Chinese Microblogging Site Weibo Turns ThreeThe World's Mary Kay Magistad looks at the way Weibo is changing the relationship between Chinese people and their government.
2012-08-1405 minPRI's The World Aug 2, 2012The Murder Case that Brought Down Chinese Communist Party Leader Bo XilaiFormer Chinese political leader Bo Xilai's wife was charged with the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Gu Kailai is accused of poisoning Heywood in his hotel room last November, and faces a death sentence. Kailai is due in court this month. But as The World's correspondent Mary Kay Magistad tells anchor Aaron Schachter, some aspects of this judicial process may have already been decided for Kailai.
2012-08-0204 minPRI's The World Aug 1, 2012Tom Pang Plays Bluegrass with a Mongolian TwistThe World's Mary Kay Magistad profiles a Mongolian musician who is bringing new sounds to Shanghai by playing the mandolin with American bluegrass players.
2012-08-0105 min
PRI's The World May 28, 2012Tibet Self-Immolations Spread To LhasaThere was a deadly protest in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa on Monday. Two young men set themselves on fire, to protest Chinese rule. One died. Almost three dozen Tibetans have attempted to burn themselves to death since March last year. Anchor Marco Werman gets analysis from The World's Beijing correspondent Mary Kay Magistad.
2012-05-2804 minPRI's The World Apr 25, 2012China Struggles to End Hostilities along Oil-Rich Sudan BorderChina is attempting a delicate balancing act - trying to mediate the explosive dispute between Sudan and the newly independent nation of South Sudan. As The World's Mary Kay Magistad explains to host Marco Werman, China's growing need for oil means it needs to maintain close relations with both Sudans.
2012-04-2505 minPRI's The World Mar 23, 2012Nuclear Summit Overshadowed by North Korean TensionsLisa Mullins talks with Asia correspondent Mary Kay Magistad about next week’s Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul. The Summit is being overshadowed by tensions with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions.
2012-03-2303 min
PRI's The World Mar 15, 2012How Appropriate is Democracy For China?China's government often says that democracy isn't appropriate in a Chinese Confucian culture. But Chinese pro-democracy activists in Taiwan say democracy works just fine there. The World's Mary Kay Magistad has the story.
2012-03-1507 min
PRI's The World Mar 13, 2012In China, Organ Transplants from Executed PrisonersMarco Werman talks with The World’s Mary Kay Magistad in Beijing about the Chinese practice of harvesting human organs from executed prisoners. About two thirds of organs transplanted in China come from executed prisoners.
2012-03-1304 minPRI's The World Mar 6, 2012What China is Prepared To Do in SyriaA Chinese envoy heads to Syria Tuesday to encourage a ceasefire there. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad takes a look at far China is willing to go when it comes to intervening in the unrest there.
2012-03-0604 min