Shows
NüVoicesThe Wall Dancers, a Conversation with Journalist and Author Yi-Ling LiuThis week, NüVoices editor and freelance journalist Jessie Lau speaks to Yi-Ling Liu, a writer covering technology and Chinese society, about her debut book “The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet”. In this episode, Yi-Ling discusses how communities from the margins navigate censorship on the Chinese internet. She also describes how her own experiences reporting for Chinese and Western media shaped her approach to Wall Dancers, her debut book.
2026-02-1841 minNüVoicesBonus: A Reading by Essay Contest Winner Juliette Yu-Ming LizerayAs a bonus episode series for the NüVoices podcast, we have invited three winners of our 2025 NüStories personal essay contest to read out their essays. In this episode, you will hear from Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray, who won first place for her essay, "You need glasses for Asian faces."Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray is a writer and comic artist. She won Singapore’s 2023 Golden Point Award and co-authored two books on the arts in Singapore, "Semionauts of Tradition" and "Reimagining Singapore."
2026-01-2811 minNüVoicesWhy Innovation is Power: Joanna Chiu and Jessie Lau on Media EntrepreneurshipThis week, NüVoices host and founder Joanna Chiu joins NüVoices editor and board member Jessie Lau to discuss their exciting new life chapters that extend their vision of NüVoices.From launching the website of NüVoices in a cafe in Beijing in 2018, to now creating two new initiatives that continue to amplify women’s and BIPOC voices, Joanna and Jessie discuss what drove them to begin this more entrepreneurial chapter of their lives. They also reflect on their China reporting in the past decade and their takeaways for emerging China journalists and professionals.
2025-12-1749 minNüVoicesThe Future of China Human Rights Advocacy with Maya WangThis week, NüVoices host and co-founder Joanna Chiu joins China human rights researcher Maya Wang to discuss the current state of China human rights advocacy amid Beijing's growing transnational oppression and the US cut of international aid. Joanna and Maya also discuss China's latest approach to Xinjiang and other ethnic minorities, and the global rise of extremism and political polarization. In a world of chaos, unreliable leadership and rising technological authoritarianism, what is the future of China human rights advocacy?
2025-11-1955 minNüVoicesDaughters of the Bamboo Grove, a Conversation with Barbara DemickThis week, NüVoices editor and board member Jessie Lau speaks to returning guest Barbara Demick about her new book, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins.In this episode, Barbara describes the journey of writing about twin sisters who were born in China, forcibly separated, and finally reunited through her investigative reporting. She and Jessie discuss how the book explores the historical and political nuances regarding China's One Child Policy and Family Planning institution, as well as challenges common narratives about Chinese a...
2025-09-2441 minNüVoicesOn Trump 2.0 and Beijing’s New Tactics with Amanda HsiaoThis week, we have NüVoices host and board member Sophia Yan in conversation with Amanda Hsiao, director in Eurasia Group’s China practice.In this special episode, Sophia talks to Amanda on the new and old tactics used by Washington and Beijing in the latest rounds of US-China trade disputes.
2025-06-2545 minNüVoicesPodcast Crossover: Feminist Rebels from Face-Off: the U.S. vs China with Jane PerlezThis week the NüVoices podcasting team is thrilled to share a special crossover podcast episode from Jane Perlez' Face-Off: The U.S. vs China, on "Feminist Rebels". This is the fifth episode in the podcast's second season, focusing on the feminist wave in Greater China and where we stand now. The NüVoices podcast interview with Jane aired on February 13, 2025 and can be found here: https://nuvoices.com/2025/02/13/nuvoices-podcast-117-career-in-foreign-correspondence-with-jane-perlez/. Thank you to hosts Jane Perlez, Rana Mitter, and special thanks to Maggie Taylor for letting us cross-post this episode. Enjoy the episode and we’ll be back in A...
2025-03-2638 minNüVoicesLet Only Red Flowers Bloom, a Conversation with Emily FengThis week, NüVoices co-founder and host Joanna Chiu spoke to returning guest Emily Feng about her new book, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China. In this episode, Emily and Joanna discuss her recent reporting trip to Syria, how her waiting at the Beijing Airport inspired her to write a book about identity in China, and how important the idea of being Chinese is to non-Chinese people and government policies. Emily also talks about her approach to journalism and why she insists on revealing the soft sides of Chinese people who...
2025-03-1238 minNüVoicesScam Inc. from The Economist, a Conversation with Sue-Lin WongThis week, NüVoices co-hosts Chenni Xu and Megan Cattel speak to return guest Sue-Lin Wong about her current beat as South East Asia correspondent for The Economist and her investigative journalism into the world of scams that touches on human trafficking, money laundering and corruption.In this episode, Sue-Lin discusses her inspiration for Scam Inc. following her award-winning podcast series The Prince, how she conducted the investigation, how scams affect victims, and how pervasive the multi-billion dollar scam industry is globally. The model is no longer a top-down hierarchy such as the traditional mafia network, but m...
2025-02-2647 minNüVoicesA Career in Foreign Correspondence and Podcasting with Jane PerlezThis week, hosts and NüVoices board members Chenni Xu and Megan Cattel on to discuss a career in foreign correspondence and podcasting with veteran New York Times journalist Jane Perlez. She was also the Beijing bureau chief for The Times until 2019. In this episode, Jane discusses her long-standing foreign correspondence career, which spans Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States, and lessons learned along the way, including the most surprising thing that happened to her during her tenure in China. She touches on handling risk as a foreign correspondent, how to cover stories despite being not in...
2025-02-1244 minNüVoicesEncore: Chinese Canadian Immigrant Histories with Arlene Chan and Melanie NgHappy holiday season to all! This month, we are re-sharing a 2022 episode in honor of Sheila Wiecke, one of the episode’s interviewees, who passed away in October 2023 in Vancouver, Canada. Please also check out our free bonus episode where Sheila shares more details about her immigration journey during the Chinese Civil War. In this encore episode of the NüVoices podcast, historians Arlene Chan and Melanie Ng chat with us about the first Chinese migrants who made their way to Canada in the 19th century. From there, Arlene and Melanie retrace the throughline of Chinese Canadian migr...
2024-12-1144 minNüVoicesUBC Students Podcast Special! Yi Chien Jade Ho on Anti-Gentrification Activism in Vancouver's Chinatown and Judith Shapiro on Environmentalism in ChinaIn this two-part episode, we have Yi Chien Jade Ho on anti-gentrification activism in Vancouver's Chinatown and Judith Shapiro on environmentalism in China. We are ending our spring 2024 season with a collaboration between NüVoices and four students from the University of British Columbia's Human Rights in a Globalized World class. Over the course of last semester, these students conducted interviews and tied their research into their coursework. Part I (which starts at 1:25) is with Yi Chien Jade Ho, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria, about her anti-gentrification efforts and tenant organizing in Va...
2024-05-1551 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Fuchsia Dunlop on her book, Invitation to a BanquetHappy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate! To kick off the year of the dragon, we have the one and only Fuchsia Dunlop on our podcast this week. She discusses her recent book, 'Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food.' This episode is hosted by Lijia Zhang. Thank you for your interest in our bimonthly, independent podcast. To support our editorial goals and help us keep producing podcast episodes, please consider donating through our Paypal page or becoming a Patreon member. We encourage listeners to send us feedback, questions, and connect...
2024-02-1431 minNüVoicesFeminist Activism Then & Now, a Conversation with Wanqing Zhang, Lijia Zhang & Jessie LauThis week, NüVoices board members and co-hosts Jessie Lau and Lijia Zhang are in conversation with Wanqing Zhang, an independent journalist, to discuss China's feminist movement taking place online. Despite formidable challenges such as censorship, harassment, and societal pressures, these feminists continue to resist patriarchal norms, as revealed in Wanqing's recent in-depth feature for Rest of World.In the podcast episode, Wanqing shares the stories of women she spoke to regarding this latest wave of digital activism — taking place on Chinese social media platforms like Xiaohongshu. Lijia Zha...
2024-01-3143 minNüVoices'How to Have an American Baby' with documentary filmmaker Leslie TaiEveryone in our NüVoices community: happy 2024! To start the new year, host Solarina Ho delves into the new captivating documentary, "How to Have an American Baby" with filmmaker Leslie Tai. An exploration of a shadow economy catering to Chinese tourists seeking U.S. citizenship for their newborns, the film unveils the fortunes and tragedies of the mothers involved.Leslie Tai, the creative force behind this documentary, is a recipient of the 2019 Creative Capital Award and an MFA graduate from Stanford University. Leslie's short films have graced prestigious platforms like Tribeca Film Festival and MoMA.S...
2024-01-1742 min
The Taiwan Take2024 Elections: Covering Taiwan, centering local perspective (with NüVoices)As global attention on Taiwan intensifies, so does the significance of the work undertaken by domestic journalists. Today we speak with Taipei-based journalists as Taiwan gears up for its presidential and legislative election on January 13th, 2024. This is a collaboration with the NüVoices Podcast. Many thanks to the team at NüVoices partnering with us for this collaborative episode. Today's guests are: Silva Shih - Head of data journalism at CommonWealth Magazine (天下雜誌) in Taiwan, where she’s also a managing editor. Silva had previously spent five years at the Financial Times Chinese in Beijing where she oversaw...
2023-11-2740 minNüVoicesAdapting YA bestseller 'Loveboat, Taipei' to the big screen with Abigail Hing WenAuthor Abigail Hing Wen joins NüVoices to discuss her NYT best selling YA novel, Loveboat, Taipei and its film adaptation Love in Taipei, based on the summer study tour that started more than half a century ago.For the price of a plane ticket and about $400, diaspora students between 18 and 23 from the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere participated in the government-subsidized, six-week language and cultural summer program. At its peak during the 1990s, some 1,000 students descended onto Taiwan every summer to have fun, escape from parents, and connect with their roots. Nicknamed after the 1970s/80s A...
2023-08-1630 minNüVoicesOur 100th Episode Special! Remembering Coco Lee, Janet Yellen's Visit to China, and MoreThis week, we’ve reached the 100th episode of the NüVoices podcast! To celebrate, we’ve brought together hosts Megan Cattel, Solarina Ho, and Sophia Yan for a panel discussion with a grab-bag of topics – from geopolitical current events to pop culture. We’ll be discussing the recent news of Coco Lee’s death, and the hosts share their favorite songs as well as what the singer meant to them. They’ll also dive into U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing during a time of worsening relations between the two countries. On a slightl...
2023-07-2650 minNüVoices"Seeking Western Men: Email-order Brides Under China's Global Rise" with Monica Liu"Commercial dating agencies that facilitate marriages across national borders comprise a $2.5 billion global industry. Ideas about the industry are rife with stereotypes—younger ... brides being paired with older Western men. These ideas are more myth than fact, Monica Liu finds in Seeking Western Men."This week, NüVoices host Solarina Ho speaks with sociologist and assistant professor Monica Liu about her new book, Seeking Western Men, which explores the phenomenon of global internet dating and cross-border marriages, particularly among middle-aged, divorced women in China. She discusses the grievances women in China have with society and their own fai...
2023-06-2133 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Charlotte Ming and Beimeng Fu of Far & NearThis week, NüVoices co-host and editor of the podcast, Megan Cattel speaks to Charlotte Ming and Beimeng Fu, two founders of the Far & Near Substack newsletter. Far & Near aims to depict China in all its complexity by shining a light on the country's visual journalism and showing the human side of some of the biggest headlines coming out of the country. At a time where in-depth, on-the-ground reporting on China is becoming all the more stripped down, Far & Near is a much-needed glimpse into the everyday reality for people living in China.Beimeng and Ch...
2023-06-1445 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Crystal Tai on the Rise of Chinese Digital NomadsChinese millennials are fed up with the 996 grind (working from 9 AM until 9 PM, 6 days a week) and are going remote. Office workers across the country are freelancing, consulting clients, and starting their own businesses from their laptops; some are traveling to neighboring countries and regions with cheaper living costs. To shed light on this trend, Jing Daily's senior editor, Crystal Tai, is on the podcast to discuss her reporting on this subject. The rise of China's digital nomads coincide with a number of factors: first, the 996 work schedule. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic. Lastly, the cost of living...
2023-05-3136 minNüVoicesJan Wong on her Legendary Journalism CareerThis week, NüVoices host and co-founder Joanna Chiu speaks to Canadian journalist and author Jan Wong. Jan was one of very few foreigners able to travel to China during the Cultural Revolution where she talked herself into studying at Peking University before working as a news assistant in the New York Times’ first Beijing bureau. Back then, the “office” consisted of two rooms in the Peking Hotel, one for the journalist and one that Jan shared with the driver and an interpreter. Jan Wong details how she then went on to hone her journalism skills a...
2023-05-1749 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Yaxue Cao, founder of ChinaChange.orgThis week, Yaxue Cao, the founder and editor of ChinaChange.org, joins the NüVoices podcast. ChinaChange.org is an English-language website devoted to news and commentary related to civil society, rule of law, and human rights activities in China. She works to help the rest of the world understand what people are thinking and doing to effect change in the country. Reports and translations on China Change have been cited widely in leading global news outlets (like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph) and in U.S. Congressional reports. In t...
2023-05-0336 minNüVoicesWhat the West Gets Wrong about TikTok with Zeyi YangToday, we have a special guest on the podcast (and a worthy NüVoices ally) MIT Tech Review reporter, Zeyi Yang! Together with co-hosts Megan Cattel and Solarina Ho, Zeyi talks about China's initial reception to ChatGPT and all the uproar and suspicion surrounding TikTok. What are valid concerns surrounding the app and Bytedance? What are oversimplifications made by members of Congress and Western media? We touch on all this and more in the episode.About Zeyi Yang: As a reporter for MIT Technology Review, he covers technologies in China and East Asia. His work often focuses o...
2023-04-1236 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Lindsay Wong, author of Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality & The Woo-WooA Ming Dynasty courtesan who transforms into a zombie. A family of ghosts wreaking havoc on a local hot spring. Elite Hong Kong bankers who are secretly serial killers. Welcome to the world of Lindsay Wong's new short story collection Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality, a pleasantly grotesque series of "immigrant horror stories." Lindsay joins Joanna Chiu and Megan Cattel to discuss all things writing, publishing, and why the horror genre attracted Lindsay while writing about Chinese women. She also shares details about why her memoir The Woo-Woo was deemed "unmarketable" by industry gatekeepers and how Lin...
2023-02-2232 minNüVoicesEncore: Revolutionary feminism, wuxia, and the politics of translation, with Yilin WangThis episode was originally released May 29, 2021 * Stay tuned for our new season starting on January 25, 2023! *Learn more about Yilin's new upcoming book, The Lantern and the Nightmoths Yilin Wang (she/they) is a Vancouver-based writer, editor, Chinese-English translator, educator, and cultural consultant who was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize and a finalist for the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. Her work engages with topics such as Chinese folklore, martial arts literature (wuxia), diaspora identities, gender expectations, migration, and cultural reclamation. Some of Yilin’s work translating the Chinese revolutionary feminist Qiū Jǐn’...
2023-01-1252 minNüVoicesOur 2022 Year-End Recap: A Discussion with the NüVoices Podcast TeamAs 2022 draws to a close, so must this season of the NüVoices podcast. But fear not! Before we sign off for a winter hiatus, we wanted to bring together our team to reflect on the past year. Joanna Chiu, Rui Zhong, Solarina Ho, Megan Cattel, and Saga Ringmar come together to discuss our podcast's highlights, our favorite episodes, and what we hope to achieve next year. We also delve into the anti-COVID lockdown protests that swept China late last month in response to the apartment fire in Urumqi that claimed the lives of ten people. Lastly, c...
2022-12-1446 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Angela Hui, author of TakeawayThis week, journalist Angela Hui joins the NüVoices podcast with board member (and occasional pod host) Lijia Zhang! Angela discusses the major inspirations behind her memoir, Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter. She writes that growing up in a Chinese takeaway — helmed by her parents — in the Welsh countryside was anything but peaceful. Angela was responsible for translating the menu, dealing with outrageous customers, and preparing orders for the usual weekend rush. Violent, racially motivated attacks were also not unusual, with some incidents ending in a physical confrontation (or her father wielding a meat cleaver). Angela also w...
2022-11-3035 minNüVoicesChinese Canadian Immigrant Histories with Arlene Chan and Melanie NgIn this episode of the NüVoices podcast, historians Arlene Chan and Melanie Ng chat with us about the first Chinese migrants who made their way to Canada in the 19th century. From there, Arlene and Melanie retrace the throughline of Chinese Canadian migration, from exclusionary anti-Chinese immigration laws to present-day sinophobia found in many Western countries today. We also learn about Arlene's trailblazing mother, Jean Lumb, who played a major role in changing Canada's racist immigration laws. Throughout the episode, we hear from Sheila, a Chinese immigrant in her 80's who came to Canada fol...
2022-10-0544 minNüVoicesFood journalism & Taiwanese cuisine with Clarissa WeiThis week, veteran food journalist Clarissa Wei joins us on the NüVoices podcast! Clarissa was previously a senior reporter for Goldthread - a publication incubated by the South China Morning Post - where she created over 100 videos about Chinese food, culture, and cuisine. Now based in Taipei as a freelancer, Clarissa has recently reported on cross-strait relations between Taiwan and China for VICE, the end of Zero-Covid in Taiwan for The New Yorker, and the sustainability of food systems for her Whetstone Magazine podcast entitled "Climate Cuisine".Clarissa's forthcoming book, Made in Taiwan: Recipes From The I...
2022-09-2233 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Emily Feng, NPR's Beijing CorrespondentWe're kicking off our fall 2022 season with a special conversation between Emily Feng of NPR and Joanna Chiu, NüVoices chair and co-founder. In this episode, Emily walks us through her hard-hitting reporting from the frontlines in Ukraine to a viral controversy surrounding her radio report on 螺螄粉 luósīfěn, snail noodles. Emily also discusses the beginning of her journalism career in China—from freelancing, landing a job at the Financial Times, and eventually becoming NPR's Beijing correspondent in 2019, where she is still based today. We also get a behind-the-scenes look at how Emily repo...
2022-09-0741 minNüVoicesPodcast Crossover: Rough Translation and China's Anti-Work VibesWe're proud to present our last summer cross post with NPR's Rough Translation! In this episode, host Gregory Warner talks to reporter Emily Feng about the rise of anti-work culture in China. While you may have heard about the term 躺平 or "lying flat", Emily delves into 丧文化, or the sang subculture, which embodies cynicism and defeatism in response to China's particular flavor of late-stage capitalism. Later in the episode, Emily discusses how the Chinese government is trying to stamp out the anti-work vibes by using an internet star to shift the narrative. This episode is part of Rough Translatio...
2022-08-2543 minNüVoicesTaiwan and US Foreign Policy with Meia and Veerle NouwensThis week we’re interrupting our summer hiatus to bring you insight into US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan the most senior elected US official to visit Taiwan in a quarter of a century. In retaliation, China has engaged its military in days of drills that escalated tensions to their highest in years. What did Nancy Pelosi hope to achieve by going to Taiwan and can we say that the trip was a success? How will this visit affect China-US relations and what are the pros and cons of the vague U.S foreign polic...
2022-08-1054 minNüVoicesPodcast Crossover: Self-Evident, 'A Day at the Mall'Hello from our summer hiatus! While we're away, the pod squad is thrilled to share episodes from podcasts we love and admire. This week, we have an episode from Self-Evident, a podcast for reported stories, personal histories, and participatory local events — all by and about Asian Americans. Co-host and NüVoices board member Cindy Gao introduces today's episode. Thank you Cindy! (Description below courtesy of Self-Evident. Episode was originally aired on January 18, 2021.) "When producer Erica Mu moved back to her hometown in 2014, she said goodbye to a past life without any idea what exact...
2022-07-2732 minNüVoicesOutsourcing Repression with Lynette OngProfessor Lynette Ong joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her new book Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China. While in conversation with Joanna Chiu, Lynette discusses China's use of nonstate actors who minimize resistance during government land grabs, housing demolitions, and (perhaps most notably) tracking foreign journalists while conducting sensitive reporting in China. Who are these nonstate actors? How are they recruited and why are they hired? Lynette's research fills in the gaps, gathered as the window narrowed and closed for China's civil society in recent years.This episode concludes this season...
2022-06-2959 minNüVoicesDiversity in the Audiobook Industry with Voice Actress Nancy WuNancy Wu, a masterful voice actress and audiobook narrator, joins the NüVoices podcast this week to talk about her storied career. She has narrated the “Avatar the Last Airbender” prequels by F.C. Yee and Michael Dante Di Martino, the "X-Men Mutant Empire" series for Marvel, and books by Amy Tan, Cixin Liu, Ken Liu and Sayaka Murata. You may also recognize Nancy's voice in the audiobook for China Unbound, written by NüVoices board member Joanna Chiu!In this episode, Joanna and Nancy discuss the importance of diversity in the audiobook industry, preparing for a studio...
2022-06-1559 minNüVoicesWriting as Cultural Revenge: A Conversation with Elaine Hsieh Chou on her novel 'Disorientation'TIME STAMP, SPOILERS FOR DISORIENTATION BEGIN AT: 33:20 We welcome Elaine Hsieh Chou (pronounced "Shay-Chow") to the podcast to talk about her debut novel, Disorientation. Her book is a hilarious satire on modern day college campus free speech wars, orientalism in academia, "yellow fever", the phenomenon of white scholars and translators devoting their entire lives to East Asian studies, and more. We talked to Elaine about a frequent topic of conversation in the NüVoices community: who has the right to tell whose stories? Disorientation follows 29-year-old Ingrid Yang, a Tai...
2022-06-021h 01NüVoicesEncore: Literary translation and language as resistance, with Anne HenochowiczAs we gear up for the summer season, the NüVoices podcast is revisiting some of our favorite episodes from the archives. This week, we have a conversation with board member Anne Henochowicz, who works at the intersection of literature and human rights. She has translated leaked propaganda directives and subversive Weibo posts, investigative journalism and poetry. She is currently the translations coordinator at China Digital Times and leads the NüVoices chapter in Washington, D.C. Board member Cindy Gao moderates this encore episode. This episode originally aired on November 2, 2020, before NüVoices became an independent, womx...
2022-05-1955 minNüVoicesDancing on Bones, a Conversation with Katie StallardThis week, journalist and former foreign correspondent Katie Stallard joins the NüVoices podcast in a special, live stream recording to celebrate the launch of her new book Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia and North Korea. Katie discusses her writing and research process, the significance and perspectives of WWII within these three authoritarian countries, and her analysis of Russia's current invasion of Ukraine. Joanna Chiu, NüVoices founder and board member, moderates this conversation. ABOUT DANCING ON BONES: "History didn't end. Democracy didn't triumph. America's leading role in the world is no longer as...
2022-05-041h 06NüVoicesBusiness, Billionaires, and Global Supply Chain Woes with Journalist Hope KingToday's podcast episode is a conversation with Axios' business reporter Hope King, where she covers everything from the markets, consumer trends, and big companies such as Tesla, Apple, and Google. Joined by NüVoices board member Sophia Yan, Hope talks through her recent stories on China's lockdowns impacting global supply chains and the surprising number of China's female self-made billionaires. Later on the in episode, Hope also talks about her career pivot from finance to journalism and growing up in various parts of the US as a Chinese American.
2022-04-2049 minNüVoicesHow China sees the Russian war in Ukraine with Elizabeth WishnickChina's perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been what experts call a "checkered response". While Chinese authorities maintain they are neutral in the war and encourage peace negotiations, state media remains sympathetic to Russia, a significant ally for China. Why is Russia an important partnership China? Why have Chinese officials declined calling the conflict a war or an invasion? Where is the Russia-Chinese relationship going and how will neighboring countries respond in the region? Luckily, we have Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick, a Senior Research Scientist in the China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division at CNA and P...
2022-04-0647 minNüVoicesThe Impossible City: A Conversation with Karen CheungThis week’s episode is a conversation with Hong Konger Karen Cheung about her memoir The Impossible City which was released in February 2022. Skillfully blending reportage and personal writing, Karen takes readers through the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China and the city’s massive protest movements in 2014 and 2019.But The Impossible City is not just an account of Hong Kong’s harrowing moments of crisis and turmoil. It is also about the struggle to navigate the city’s housing market, the mental healthcare system, strained family relationships, and Karen’s search for belonging in the place...
2022-03-0259 minNüVoicesChinese AI, Cybersecurity, and Internet Policy with Shazeda AhmedOur last podcast episode of 2021 features Shazeda Ahmed on Chinese cybersecurity, technology, and internet policy. Shazeda is a PhD candidate at UC Berkeley's School of Information and is joined by guest host (and DC board member) Rui Zhong. How are Chinese courtrooms utilizing AI? What is algorithmic discrimination and how are Chinese companies reacting? Rui also asks Shazeda her perspective on the big question: is the U.S. in a Tech Cold War with China? All of this and more in this season finale of the NüVoices Podcast.
2021-12-2243 minNüVoicesMore Than One Child: A Conversation with Memoirist Shen YangScriptwriter Shen Yang is the author of More Than One Child: Memoirs of an Illegal Daughter, which was just translated into English by Nicky Harman earlier this year in August. She joins this installment of the NüVoices Podcast with host Sophia Yan, where they discuss her turbulent childhood being shuttled between relatives and living in hiding as an "excess child" during China's one-child policy. This episode also covers the current state of family planning in China, Shen Yang's friendships with other fellow excess children, and the longlasting impact of the one-child policy in Chinese society today. **No...
2021-12-0138 minNüVoicesTranslating Jin Yong's Condor Heroes with Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant, Part 2The second half of Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant's discussion about translating Jin Yong's legendary wuxia series Legends of the Condor Heroes from Chinese to English is here! Guest host and NüVoices member Cathy Tai moderates the conversation.First, Cathy brings listeners up to speed on the Condor Heroes and Jin Yong's significance to the contemporary wuxia genre and Chinese pop culture. From there, Gigi and Shelly discuss the challenges of translating a text accurately while taking into account readers' cultural assumptions and social norms, the male gaze in wuxia, and how non-Han Chinese characters are d...
2021-11-1734 minNüVoicesTranslating Jin Yong's Condor Heroes with Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant, Part 1In a special two-part podcast, Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant discuss their work translating Jin Yong's legendary wuxia series Legends of the Condor Heroes from Chinese to English, a revered martial-arts and fantasy odyssey among Chinese language readers around the world. Guest host and NüVoices member Cathy Tai moderates the conversation. In this episode, Gigi and Shelly talk about the challenges of bringing Condor Heroes to life in English (such as translating elaborate fifity-page fight scenes), wuxia's cultural significance of Chinese pop culture, and the life of Jin Yong—author of the Condor Heroes. Stay tuned for...
2021-11-0331 minNüVoicesA Conversation with Sophie Richardson, China Director of Human Rights WatchSophie Richardson is the China Director at Human Rights Watch, a position she’s held since 2006.She frequently testifies to parliaments around the world and is the author of China, Cambodia and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which examines Chinese foreign policy since the 1954 Geneva Conference. She speaks Mandarin, earned a doctorate from the University of Virginia and a BA from Oberlin College. Sophie joins Sophia Yan, NüVoices board member and Telegraph China correspondent, to discuss human rights in China, what it feels like to be sanctioned by the Chinese government, and how HRW...
2021-10-2045 minNüVoicesChina Unbound: A Conversation with Joanna Chiu and Madeleine O'DeaJoanna Chiu's new book, China Unbound, details China's rapid international rise, and the ways Western nations have contributed to a state of global disorder. The book weaves historical and political context with Chiu's reporting across four continents. Guest host Madeleine O'Dea, award-winning author of The Phoenix Years, speaks with Chiu, who chairs NüVoices, about how Western governments have failed to adjust to the reality that China doesn’t simply want to join the existing global order but instead re-shape it. The two also share advice on book-writing, and the characteristics of China-related storytelling from diaspora perspectives.
2021-10-0657 minNüVoicesNew Zealand-China Relations with NZ Ambassador Clare FearnleyClare Fearnley became New Zealand’s ambassador to China in 2018, cross-accredited to Mongolia. She was previously ambassador in Seoul, where she also oversaw Pyongyang, consul-general in Shanghai and head of the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei.She has also been posted to the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. While working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington, she was director-general for north Asia, and has led international trade litigation, including cases at the WTO. Ambassador Fearnley has arts and law degrees from the University of...
2021-09-2329 min
NüVoicesEat the Buddha: A conversation with award-winning author Barbara Demick Barbara Demick is the author of Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town (2020), Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2009), and Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo neighborhood (1996). She spent 12 years as bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times in Beijing and Seoul and previously reported from the Middle East and Balkans for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Barbara has won many awards for her work, including the Samuel Johnson prize (now the Baillie Gifford prize) for non-fiction in the UK, the Overseas Press Club's human rights reporting award, the George Polk Award, t...
2021-09-1048 min
NüVoicesCOVID-19 origins and the state of science reporting in China Kathleen McLaughlin is a science and labor reporter based in Butte, Montana, whose work has been regularly featured in the Washington Post and The Guardian; she was also the Beijing correspondent for Science Magazine. Her work has spanned fashion, pharmaceuticals, electronics manufacturers, and medicine. She’s also an alumni of the MIT Knight Science journalism fellowship. Her forthcoming book is Blood Money, a multinational investigation into the vast market for human blood plasma and its sociopolitical implications. Kathleen and Washington, D.C., NüVoices chapter member Rui Zhong examined the state of science reporting in China in refe...
2021-07-0945 min
NüVoicesThe shrinking China foreign press corps, and reporting in Xinjiang, with Sophia Yan Sophia Yan is the China correspondent for the Telegraph, has covered the region for a decade, and is based in Beijing. Previously, she reported for CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg, while based in Hong Kong and Washington, D.C., and has had stints in Tokyo and Honolulu. She received the 2020 Marie Colvin Award for her coverage of China, with judges noting Sophia's determination to "get to the truth, exposing cruelty, injustice, and the abuse of human rights despite all attempts to stop her.” When Sophia isn't reporting, she's tickling a different set of keys — on the piano! Sophia chats...
2021-06-251h 14
NüVoicesRevolutionary feminism, wuxia, and the politics of translation, with Yilin Wang Yilin Wang (she/they) is a Vancouver-based writer, editor, Chinese-English translator, educator, and cultural consultant who was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize and a finalist for the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. Her work engages with topics such as Chinese folklore, martial arts literature (wuxia), diaspora identities, gender expectations, migration, and cultural reclamation. Some of Yilin’s work translating the Chinese revolutionary feminist Qiū Jǐn’s 秋瑾 poetry was recently featured on NüVoices' website.In 2018, Yilin spent months travelling around China for research, leading to the launch of the #LiteraryJianghu Project to promote engagement with wuxia...
2021-05-2950 min
NüVoicesUnraveling Australia-China relations, with Natasha Kassam “China is angry. If you make China the enemy, China will be the enemy," a Chinese Embassy official told Australian reporter Jonathan Kearsley at a meeting in late 2020. Kearsley wrote that the comment seemed like the strongest public indication from the embassy of how “toxic” the relationship had become between China and Australia. In the last year, the Chinese government has suspended beef and cotton imports from Australia, slapped an 80% tariff on Australian barley, and instructed Chinese students and tourists not to travel to Australia. But Australia used to be one of the strongest supporters of forging closer t...
2021-05-031h 01
NüVoicesTalking fiction writing and modern China, with Te-Ping Chen Throughout the 10 stories in Land of Big Numbers, Te-Ping Chen — a founding member of NüVoices — sketches the interior lives of her protagonists, who live in (or are connected to) China: a man determined to strike it rich in the stock market, a migrant worker employed at a flower shop who is infatuated with a customer, and a government employee being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. Inspired by her years living in Beijing and Hong Kong as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Chen drew upon her travels and the remarkable lives of people she met to con...
2021-03-241h 05
NüVoicesMaking journalism more inclusive, with Jin DingJin Ding is the vice president of finance at the Asian American Journalists Association and the cofounder of Chinese Storytellers. She also oversees grants, awards, and emergency response programs at the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF). In this episode of the NüVoices podcast, Jin and Cindy talk about the importance and efficacy of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, how journalists can and should be supported in addition to funding, digital safety measures we should all adopt, and how sports and (identity) politics are intertwined.Digital safety to-do list:How to dox yourself on the i...
2021-03-051h 02
NüVoicesDirecting ‘Finding Yingying,’ with Jenny Shi Jiāyán "Jenny" Shī (施佳妍) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and video journalist based in Chicago. Her first feature-length documentary, Finding Yingying, was the winner of the 2020 SXSW Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Voice, among numerous other awards during a virtual distribution season. The film was produced by Kartemquin Films and distributed by MTV Documentary Films. In addition, Jenny was named one of Indiewire's "20 Rising Women Directors You Need to Know in 2020" and also named to DOC NYC’s 2020 “40 Under 40” list.Jenny and NüVoices board member Chenni Xu discuss her creative process, what it takes to be a documentary...
2021-02-1944 min
NüVoicesU.S.-Taiwan relations: From Trump to Biden On January 9, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced that the United States would eliminate self-imposed restrictions on exchanges between American and Taiwanese officials. Reactions have been mixed, with some saying a change in policy on Taiwan was overdue, while others warning that the timing of the announcement in the last days of the Trump administration means Taiwan will bear the brunt of Beijing's fury. Experts Margaret Lewis and Jessica Drun — both currently in Taipei — join NüVoices podcast host Joanna Chiu to explore this historic moment. Recommendations: Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse, by Shelley...
2021-01-221h 03
NüVoicesWomen in fintech, with Rita Liu Rita Liu is a seasoned fintech executive who started her career at American Express, then spent nearly a decade at Alipay building its international business. During her time there, she formed partnerships across Russia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. She joined Mode Bank as chief commercial officer in London in March 2020.In this conversation, Rita and NüVoices board member Chenni Xu talk about the “war stories” of the beginnings of Chinese fintech, the future of fintech, and money and gender representation in the industry.Disclaimer: Views represented are the personal views of the h...
2021-01-1231 min
NüVoicesHong Kong’s retail collapse and the mainland ecommerce boom, with Tiffany Ap Tiffany Ap is currently the China bureau chief for Women’s Wear Daily. In this episode for the NüVoices podcast, Tiffany and Cindy discuss the revival of the fashion and retail industries as China emerges from COVID-19 lockdowns, the meteoric rises of China’s ecommerce livestreaming and platforms, Hong Kong's retail domination collapse, and a sexual harassment incident hashtag that went very viral. Recommendations:Tiffany: Matthew McConaughey's autobiography, Greenlights; the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, Emily in Paris, and My Octopus Teacher; and The Biggest Bluff, by Maria Konnikova.Cindy: Three document...
2020-12-211h 07
NüVoicesAn uncertain future with guaranteed friction: U.S.-China economic coercion, with Ashley Feng Tensions between the U.S. and China have ratcheted upward in the last four years of the Trump administration. Groundbreaking research from independent Washington, D.C.–based researcher Ashley Feng have shown that acts of "economic coercion" go both ways. Policymakers on both sides of the Pacific have increasingly used measures such as tariffs and investment restrictions against one another. After Joe Biden's election win, a decrease in tensions isn't certain. In this episode, NüVoices chair Joanna Chiu chats with Ashley about what all this means for ordinary people like students, scientists, and immigrants.Ashley is a f...
2020-11-3045 min
NüVoicesLiterary translation and language as resistance, with Anne Henochowicz Today’s guest, Anne Henochowicz, works at the intersection of literature and human rights. She has translated leaked propaganda directives and subversive Weibo posts, investigative journalism and poetry. She is currently the translations coordinator at China Digital Times and a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel. She also leads the NüVoices chapter in Washington, D.C.In this episode, Anne and Cindy Gao talk about the translator's relationship and responsibility to the original texts and their authors, the beauty and nuance of great translation, and the impact COVID-19 has had on the...
2020-10-3055 min
NüVoicesHong Kong media, redefined Beijing’s enactment of sweeping national security legislation in Hong Kong spurred fresh fear for the territory’s cherished freedoms as authorities sought to quash months of citywide protests. How have journalists, faced with a new reality, confronted this political shift? To help explore this question, Jennifer Creery, the managing editor of Hong Kong Free Press, stepped in as the guest host of this week’s episode of the NüVoices podcast. Joining her are Mary Hui, a reporter with Quartz in Hong Kong who covers geopolitics, technology, and business, and Phoebe Kong, a video journalist and the East Asia co...
2020-10-1652 min
NüVoicesDevelopment finance and Chinese identity, with Yunnan Chen Yunnan Chen is a senior research officer for the Overseas Development Institute, a London think tank focused on international development and humanitarian issues. She joins Cindy for a conversation on China-Africa development finance, her own fieldwork in Africa, and Chinese identity while reflecting on being a member of the Asian diaspora growing up in the United Kingdom.Recommendations:Yunnan: Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, by Merlin Sheldrake, as well as the TV series Queer Eye, available on Netflix.Cindy: All or Nothing, a documentary about...
2020-10-051h 11
NüVoicesWhat's next for Hollywood and China after 'Mulan' flop? For years, Hollywood has been trying to reach Chinese audiences, but has yet to find a winning formula. The remake of Mulan, which cost $200 million, is projected to make only $41 million over the entirety of its monthlong China box-office run. As U.S.-China tensions ratchet up, is there a future for movies that try to cross cultural divides and bring ordinary people together? Does politics play a role when Chinese viewers reject art from America? NüVoices chair Joanna Chiu turns to Rebecca Davis, a reporter covering China's entertainment industry, to provide much-needed context and insights.
2020-09-2343 min
NüVoicesBeijing Lights: A conversation with Huang Chenkuang This week’s bonus episode of NüVoices was recorded live from Beijing, where Anthony Tao had a conversation with Huang Chenkuang, a journalist and creative who runs the interview series Beijing Lights (published on the website of the arts collective Spittoon). They spoke in front of an audience at the bar Camera Stylo, which was — believe it or not — launching a cocktail named after Huang’s Beijing Lights.For each article in the series, Huang interviews one person — often a stranger, and usually someone on the margins of society — and tells that person’s story. She has profiled ho...
2020-09-1141 min
NüVoicesFulbright’s exit from China and Hong Kong An executive order signed in July has indefinitely ended the Fulbright program in China and Hong Kong. What happened in the lead-up to the program’s cancellation, and where does the closure fit into the larger context of deteriorating U.S.-China relations? For answers, Sophie Lu (a Fulbrighter herself) convened a panel of scholarship recipients, who shared their Fulbright experiences and the importance of their research. They also discuss the fallout of losing such an avenue for educational and cultural exchange between China and the United States.Guests: Megha Rajagopalan, international correspondent at BuzzFeed News; Hai-Ching Ya...
2020-09-0447 min
NüVoicesChinese cuisine in America, with Simone Tong Simone Tong is a chef and co-owner of Little Tong Noodle Shop and the newly opened restaurant Silver Apricot in New York City. Cindy sat down with her to discuss her life as a chef and restaurateur in New York during the pandemic, Chinese cuisine and identity in America, and the inspiration behind the food she cooks.Recommendations:Simone: Educated, by Tara Westover.Cindy: The works of Grace Lee Boggs.This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California...
2020-08-2149 min
NüVoicesMobility for Africa, with Shantha Bloemen Shantha Bloemen is the founding director of Mobility for Africa, a social enterprise that aims to bring the electric mobility revolution to rural Africa. Having spent the last two decades working in international humanitarian and development assistance in Africa and Asia, she is now eager to put her experience into this venture, which she believes will improve the lives of rural women. Shantha is a keen observer of China's growing footprint in Africa. She is specifically focused on China's relationship with the UN and the multilateral system, and how China is changing the development and humanitarian model and forging...
2020-08-0736 min
NüVoicesThe nation of diaspora: April Zhu on reporting from Nairobi, part 2 April Zhu is a freelance journalist and writer based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her work focuses on gender, urban inequality, and China-Kenya relations. In this episode, NüVoices board member Cindy Gao talks to April about: How Nairobi is a city with a plotWhy covering women's issues helps us understand power"Ecosystems" of violence in Nairobi's informal settlementsWhy the opposite of Sinophobia is not Sinophilia, but nuanceWhat is missing in "China-Africa" discourse Resources: A lost ‘Little Africa’: How China, too, blames foreigners for the virus, Sinophobia spreads faster than the coronavirus, and A death penalty...
2020-07-311h 00
NüVoicesA city with a plot: April Zhu on reporting from Nairobi, part 1 April Zhu is a freelance journalist and writer based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her work focuses on gender, urban inequality, and China-Kenya relations. In this episode, NüVoices board member Cindy Gao talks to April about: How Nairobi is a city with a plotWhy covering women's issues helps us understand power"Ecosystems" of violence in Nairobi's informal settlementsWhy the opposite of Sinophobia is not Sinophilia, but nuanceWhat is missing in "China-Africa" discourseResources: A lost ‘Little Africa’: How China, too, blames foreigners for the virus and Sinophobia spreads faster than the coronavirus, by April Zhu. Recomm...
2020-07-241h 14NüVoicesIzzy Niu on storytelling and conditional belongingnessIzzy Niu is a freelance journalist and producer who most recently hosted the Webby Award–winning video series at Quartz called Because China. In this episode, NüVoices board member Cindy Gao talks to Izzy about her journey from China to the United States, a few of her media projects, including Loud Murmurs, a Mandarin-language podcast about social and political issues in American pop culture, and her evolving sense of identity and belongingness in her adopted home.This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.
2020-07-1050 min
NüVoicesCreative entrepreneurship with Qian Zhang Qiàn Zhāng 张倩 is a cross-border creative entrepreneur who founded the tea brand The Pu'er Movement while at Harvard Business School, and currently serves as chief of staff to the global president at SharkNinja. Qian is an alumni of the famed Alibaba Global Leadership Academy, which was conceived of and now mentored by Jack Ma himself.In this episode, Qian and NüVoices board member Chenni Xu talk about her time at Alibaba, what she learned from that cross-cultural bridge-building exercise, how her dual perspectives help give voice to the Chinese global citizen, and her time at HBS...
2020-06-1244 min
NüVoicesSeeking creativity through multimedia journalism with Yuan Ren Journalism is a tough industry to break into, but expanding your multimedia and broadcast skills is a great way to enhance your versatility and job prospects. For Chinese journalist Yuan Ren, who has worked as a Time Out magazine editor and a columnist for U.K. newspapers The Telegraph and The Prospect, transitioning into broadcast media helped her fire up her creativity and experiment with creative storytelling. In this episode, she shares her best tips and tricks for making the switch from print to digital journalism with NüVoices chair Joanna Chiu. The two also dis...
2020-06-0148 min
NüVoicesForeign correspondence and China, with Megha Rajagopalan Megha Rajagopalan is an award-winning international correspondent for BuzzFeed News, based in London. In this conversation recorded on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in London and New York, Megha and NüVoices board member Chenni Xu discuss Megha's career trajectory from the U.S. to China, the Middle East, and beyond. This includes her award-winning reporting, her time on the board of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, and musings about the current and future direction of foreign correspondence and journalism in China. The pair also discuss whether the "golden age" of reporting in China is really over, t...
2020-05-1534 minNüVoicesGender, self-discovery, and vibe curation with Mengwen CaoMengwen Cao is a photographer, multimedia artist, and cultural organizer. In this conversation recorded during the first week of lockdown in New York City, Mengwen and NüVoices board member Cindy Gao talk about their process of co-creation with their subjects, recent works that investigate the in-between space of race, gender, and cultural identity, the emotional work we all have to do in our own homes and minds while in isolation, and taking abundant delight in greater representation, expression, and the myriad small things in nature and the everyday that bring us joy.Recommendations:Mengwen: E...
2020-05-0156 min
NüVoicesCoronavirus and the racism epidemic As racism and the COVID-19 virus spread simultaneously, Asian people around the world are finding themselves terrified to step outside — and not just because they're worried about getting sick. In this episode, NüVoices chair Joanna Chiu interviews NüVoices co-founder Sophie Lu and journalist and author Jessie Tu, who both live in Sydney. All three have experienced the harmful effects of people conflating the actions of the Chinese government with Chinese citizens, and even with the East Asian diaspora as a whole. They discuss how Asians and allies can respond to a spike in harassment and hate...
2020-04-2056 min
NüVoicesU.S.-China cyber competition and cooperation with Julia Voo Julia Voo is the research director for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center’s new China Cyber Policy Initiative. In this episode, Julia and NüVoices board member Cindy Gao talk about China's increased efforts to influence international technical standards, updates and challenges of the Digital Silk Road, how her Track II diplomatic work with the China Institute for International Strategic Studies contributes to mitigating cyber confrontation between the U.S. and China, and her time in Beijing as the head of the local Young China Watchers chapter, supporting a more diverse group of aspiring China experts.Thi...
2020-04-0354 min
NüVoicesDi Wang on LGBTQ rights and representation in China Di Wang is a feminist researcher and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She joined NüVoices co-host Cindy Gao in Brooklyn to converse about the LGBTQ movement that is underway in China. In this episode, they discuss some of the social and legal challenges that gay and transgender individuals face, the rights that are afforded to members of China’s LGBTQ community, and terms used by that community to self-identify as well as how they came about.Recommendations:Cindy: The book In Manchuria: A Village Called Wasteland and the Transformation of Rural...
2020-03-0950 min
NüVoicesA wealth of anger and a wealth of time: Wuhan and the coronavirus Wuhan native Rui Zhong is a program associate for the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center, in Washington, D.C. In this episode, Rui and co-host Cindy Gao work through a timeline of the spread of COVID-19, discuss tactics employed by the Chinese central government to co-opt the narrative surrounding the outbreak, identify those most affected by the virus within China, and take a look at xenophobic responses toward Chinese people around the world. Recommendations: Cindy: Four Springs, a documentary by Lu Qingyi, and An Elephant Sitting Still, by th...
2020-02-1445 min
NüVoicesReimagining Hong Kong's political communities Jessie Lau is a writer, editor, and researcher from Hong Kong who explores identity, human rights, and politics. Her writing has been published by The Economist, Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, and Quartz, among others. In this episode, Lau speaks with Hong Kong-Canadian journalist and NüVoices chair Joanna Chiu about the generational divides and diverging opinions on the Hong Kong protests that have torn apart families. The episode also explores how the protests have made people reconsider what it means to be a Hongkonger and a member of the Hong Kong diaspora. Lau is also the manager of...
2020-01-1051 minNüVoicesVisual storytelling with Muyi XiaoMuyi Xiao, the visuals editor at ChinaFile, is in the guest seat in this week’s episode of the NüVoices Podcast, hosted by Chenni Xu. In this episode, she talks about her previous work as a multimedia reporter at Tencent, the changing nature of the field of photojournalism, her fellowship at the Magnum Foundation, and her role at Chinese Storytellers, a collective that amplifies the voices of Chinese nonfiction content creators.For self-care, Muyi recommends therapy (she has Skype sessions with her therapist in Beijing), and Chenni recommends daily meditation and the app Insight Timer.
2019-12-1338 min
NüVoicesCultivating community in corporate cultureIn this episode of NüVoices, Alice Xin Liu interviews Chenni Xu, corporate communications head for Alipay in North America and a board member and local chapter co-head of NüVoices in New York City. Chenni discusses her experiences navigating the corporate world, from Brunswick to Alipay and from Beijing to America. She stresses the importance of forming strong peer networks, finding mentorship, and ensuring that during a meeting you always have a seat at the table — but not as the note taker. In the recommendations and self-care section, Chenni touts the usefulness of a free meditation app, Insight Time...
2019-07-2244 min
NüVoicesNüVoices: Legal advocacy against domestic violence in China In episode 17 of the NüVoices Podcast, host Joanna Chiu sits down with Siodhbhra Parkin, the director of the new, nonprofit arm of SupChina, to discuss her work in the field of legal advocacy against domestic violence when she was based at an international non-governmental organization (NGO) in Beijing. The two discuss the inspiring efforts of anti-domestic-violence activists in China both before and after the passage of a new law that has made collaboration between Chinese and foreign NGOs considerably more difficult. Siodhbhra also reflects on her experiences studying law in China, and the ongoing importance of finding ways to...
2019-06-2038 min
NüVoicesThe musical life and career of director Shuang Zou Episode 17 of the NüVoices Podcast is here! This week, Alice Xin Liu is joined by co-host Zhāng Líjīa 张丽佳. The two interviewed Zōu Shuǎng 邹爽, a director and playwright. As of 2018, she was made the artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival, following in the footsteps of legendary conductor Maestro Yú Lóng 余隆. She was recently nominated at the 2019 International Opera Awards in London in the Newcomer category for her work as a director. Coming from a musical household, Shuǎng had always been interested in performance art. The three dive into her past - first as a student in L...
2019-05-241h 04
NüVoicesNüVoices: Rocking While Female In episode 15 of the NüVoices Podcast, co-host Alice Xin Liu interviews the co-founder and lead singer of Xiao Wang 小王, Anlin Fan. Since she started the band with her best friend, Yuyang, just a few years ago, Xiao Wang has become a staple of the Chinese rock and punk scene. When Anlin isn’t tearing up the stage, she spends her time finishing her master’s degree at McGill University. Here, she discusses growing up in China, the Riot Grrrl movement, tips on starting a rock band, her work with Rock Camp for Girls in Montreal, and her take on femini...
2019-05-0740 min
NüVoicesWomen and Chinese Sci-Fi: NüVoices Live at the Bookworm Recorded live at the Beijing Bookworm Literary Festival, this week’s episode of the NüVoices podcast features a discussion with two prominent science fiction authors, Tang Fei and Ji Shaoting. The episode was recorded as part of a series of five live SupChina events at this year’s festival. Tang Fei and Ji Shaoting are both titans in the Chinese science fiction world. Tang Fei is a speculative fiction writer and a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Her story "Call Girl," which was translated by Ken Liu, appeared in Apex Magazine and was reprinted in Ric...
2019-04-131h 27
NüVoices‘Black Mirror’ China and Dystopian Female Futures with Cate Cadell In episode 13 of the NüVoices podcast, co-hosts Alice Xin Liu and Sophie Lu interview Cate Cadell, a tech writer for Reuters who is based in Beijing. Cate covers Chinese tech companies with a focus on cybersecurity, AI, surveillance, censorship, and ethics issues. This episode focuses on the troubled relationship between the Chinese government, technology, and ethics. In particular, spurred by recent, disturbing news of a leaked Chinese government database that gathered data on women’s “breeding” status, the discussion focuses on how the state’s tech practices have impacted women in China. Next, co-hosts lead Cate in a round of...
2019-03-2758 min
NüVoicesShui, on Beijing's 'zine scene In the 12th episode of the NüVoices podcast, Alice Xin Liu and Sophie Lu interview Shuilam Wong, who goes by Shui, a comic artist who partnered with Jinna Kaneko to create the Hole in the Wall Collective with Jinna Kaneko. The two high school friends met back up in the city and decided to create their own indie zines (self-published magazines). We talked to Shui about being born in Tokyo and raised in Beijing and London (where she went to Camberwell College of Arts, and where she feels like she belongs to no particular place). We also discussed he...
2019-03-1242 min
NüVoicesQueer culture, perception, and representation within China On the first episode of the second season of the NüVoices podcast, Alice Xin Liu and Sophie Lu are joined by Alex Li, senior editor at Vice China. Alex has a Ph.D. in gender and sexuality studies and a master’s degree in psychology. She is also the host of the gender and sexuality channel Biede Girls for Vice China. Alice was previously a guest on her podcast, Biede Girls Podcast, to talk about her bicultural background. Alice, Sophie, and Alex talk about the meaning of "queer," bisexuality, Vice China, Chris Lee (Lǐ Yǔchūn 李宇春) and Tilda Swinton...
2019-02-2558 min
NüVoicesBeijing Broads In the 10th episode of the NüVoices Podcast, Alice Xin Liu and Sophie Lu interview Anete and Silvia — members of the all-female improv group Beijing Broads! Comprising participants from seven different countries and six different first languages, the group has been performing for over two years. Alice and Sophie learn to improv with the infamous "sex with me" gag. They also talk with Anete and Silvia about supporting the charity Educating Girls of Rural China (www.egrc.ca), about comedy in China — especially for women — and how to get women to believe in themselves so they can perform more comfortab...
2018-12-1252 min
NüVoicesLong-Form Magazine Writing With The New Yorker's Jiayang Fan In this episode of the NüVoices Podcast, Alice Xin Liu and Joanna Chiu are live from New York! Following a heady and successful launch of NüVoices' first North American chapter, they reunite at the SupChina offices in Brooklyn and interview one of their idols: Jiayang Fan, staff writer and de facto China correspondent at The New Yorker magazine. Alice and Joanna interview Jiayang about her immigrant background, long-form magazine writing (especially her piece on Yan Lianke, "Forbidden Satires of China"), the impact of her male, white predecessors, and the field of Asian-American writing. For recommendations and self-care, Alice rec...
2018-11-281h 00
NüVoicesEleanor Goodman on the art of translating Chinese poetry In the eighth episode of the NüVoices Podcast, Alice Xin Liu, writer and translator, interviews Eleanor Goodman with guest host Lijia Zhang, author of Socialism Is Great! and most recently Lotus, and board member of the NüVoices Collective. Eleanor is the noted translator of Wáng Xiǎonī 王小妮, a poet who has been associated with the Misty Poets (朦胧诗派 ménglóngshī pài) but who is so much more, having penned 25 books of published poetry. Currently a research associate at the Fairbank Center at Harvard University, Eleanor has many accolades under her belt, including a stint as a resident of the M Literary...
2018-11-1655 min
NüVoicesA rocket maker turned journalist: Lijia Zhang tells the stories of everyday people In the seventh episode of the NüVoices podcast, co-hosts Sophie Lu and Joanna Chiu interview author, journalist, activist, and NüVoices Collective editorial board member Lijia Zhang. But first, a reminder that the New York launch of the NüVoices Collective is happening this Thursday, November 1, at an event in Brooklyn, featuring Leta Hong Fincher, Rebecca Karl, and Lu Pin. Also, a important reminder that the deadline for submissions for the NüVoices Collective print anthology is coming up, December 1. See our website for more submission details! Lijia Zhang was a factory worker who made parts for rockets before she s...
2018-10-3154 min
NüVoicesOral histories and family stories with Karoline Kan On the sixth episode of the NüVoices podcast, co-hosts Alice Xin Liu and Sophie Lu interview Karoline Kan 阚超群, a writer and reporter based in Beijing, currently working at the New York Times. Starting this autumn, Karoline will be the Beijing editor for China Dialogue, and her debut book, the memoir Under Red Skies: Three Generations of Love, Loss, and Hope in China, will be published by Hachette in March 2019. In this podcast, the piece that Alice mentions is “The Unwelcome Villager” in Roads and Kingdoms. Sophie mentions “My Father” from the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel. They talk about Karolin...
2018-10-1053 min
NüVoicesJoan Xu on screenwriting in China In the fifth episode of the NüVoices podcast, Alice Xin Liu and Sophie Lu are joined by screenwriter Joan Xu. But first, Joanna Chiu announces the launch of the revamped NüVoices website, as well as online magazine NüStories, and the New York launch of the NüVoices Collective, in an event featuring Leta Hong Fincher, Rebecca Karl, and Lü Pin, moderated by Joanna, on November 1. Joan Xu is a budding screenwriter based in Beijing, working most recently on a forthcoming web series The Circle 御姐的星途. She frequently works in the action-adventure genre on China-Hollywood co-productions. Joan holds a BA in governmen...
2018-09-2759 min
NüVoicesTechnology and bias with Christina Larson In this fourth episode of the NüVoices Podcast, Alice and Sophie are joined by fellow NüVoices board member Christina Larson, a longtime science and technology reporter on China. The three discuss technology and bias, ranging from the State Council's social credit system from 2014 to how artificial intelligence mirrors the gender biases in China and the world, and why reproductive issues for a strong economy seem to fall on the shoulders of women. At the end, for self-care, they recommend The Calligrapher's Garden, by Hassan Massoudy, The Genius of Birds, by Jennifer Ackerman, Mark Manson's “Fuck Yes or No,” and sleep...
2018-09-061h 07
NüVoicesMeet fantasy writer Mima, who aspires to create China's Game of Thrones In this third episode of the NüVoices Podcast, Alice Xin Liu is joined by Sophie Lu, a board member of NüVoices who works in the cleantech and environment space. Sophie will be a rotating co-host with Alice and Joanna Chiu for future episodes! Our guest this week is fantasy writer Mima, known in China as Qima 七马 (she says she picked that name for her Chinese readers because “it looks like a man’s name…Of course, I don’t like that”). Her fantasy novel The Legend of Strangers 蝼蚁转 is a road adventure told in a style that melds Quentin Tarantino’s qui...
2018-08-2348 min
Sinica PodcastIntroducing the NüVoices PodcastToday, we’re very proud to present a new podcast in the Sinica network on SupChina. It’s called NüVoices, and it’s a show all about women in China, with a focus on women in media and the arts. It’s hosted by Alice Xin Liu, a translator originally from Beijing, who grew up in the U.K. before coming back to Beijing, and by Joanna Chiu, a Hong Kong Canadian journalist whom you’ve heard on Sinica a couple of times in the last year. Today's show is all about #MeToo and sexual harassment cases in China, and feature...
2018-08-1050 min
NüVoicesChina’s #MeToo momentum In this second episode of the NüVoices podcast, hosts Alice Xin Liu and Joanna Chiu interview Yuan Yang, the Beijing-based technology correspondent for the Financial Times, on how #MeToo has gained momentum in mainland China despite online censorship and university officials reportedly putting pressure on students to stay silent. Since Luo Xixi wrote on social media in January about how her former professor tried to rape her, many others have shared their stories and the movement has spread beyond campuses in recent weeks to the NGO, the media, and the art world. Even a high-ranked Buddhist monk has been a...
2018-08-0949 min