NOTE: If you haven’t read the book and are allergic to spoilers, please be aware that the interesting surprises of Scott’s story are discussed in this podcast.
Scott Tong is a reporter for American Public Media’s Marketplace, and from 2006 to 2010, he helped found and run the radio program’s Shanghai bureau. During that time, he also experienced a lot of culture shock — his Chinese-American upbringing in the U.S., Hong Kong, and Taiwan didn’t prepare him for mainland China as much as he had expected, and while in Shanghai, he uncovered some surprising truths about his family, which has roots in nearby Jiangsu Province.
A Village With My Name: A Family History of China's Opening to the World is Scott’s deeply personal reporting and reflection on what he learned about his family, and China’s history, by visiting distant relatives in a forlorn part of Jiangsu Province. It is a highly engaging, eye-opening story that sheds light on how Chinese people engage with their past — and their present.
Recommendations:
Jeremy: McKay Books, a huge used books store in Nashville, Tennessee. And Congo Cables: The Cold War in Africa—From Eisenhower to Kennedy, by Madeleine Kalb.
Scott: Resigned Activism: Living With Pollution in Rural China, by Anna Lora-Wainwright. And Rough Translation, an NPR podcast about how foreigners see America.
Kaiser: Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History, by Kurt Andersen.
Chinese industrial espionage and FBI profiling and overreach, with Mara Hvistendahl
U.S. tries to persuade Africa it is a credible alternative to China
Bonus Episode - coronavirus update with Yanzhong Huang
China policy and the American presidency
Former NSC official Jeff Prescott on China-Iran relations
Observing Taiwan’s presidential election
Military modernization in Xi Jinping’s China
The Hong Kong protests: The view from campus
Gary Rieschel of Qiming Venture Partners on VC, tech, and the U.S.-China relationship
A conversation with Gary Locke
Yangyang Cheng Live at NEXT China
Big Brother and big data at work in Xinjiang
Dynasty warriors: Ming vs. Qing smackdown
China and the techno-authoritarian narrative
Fuchsia Dunlop on ‘The Food of Sichuan’
Philanthropy in China, with Scott Kennedy of CSIS
Jerome Cohen on the Hong Kong protests and the law
Neil Thomas on regime support in the P.R.C.
Live from Columbia: China tech triage with Samm Sacks
Jude Blanchette on the Hong Kong protests
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