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.
After the War: Scenarios China faces when the Russo-Ukrainian War eventually ends
Susan Thornton on the urgent need for diplomacy with China over the Russo-Ukraine War
Chinese international relations scholar Dingding Chen on Beijing's position in the Russo-Ukrainian War
China's soft power collides with the hard realities of the Russo-Ukrainian War: A conversation with Maria Repnikova
China’s Ukraine conundrum, with Evan Feigenbaum
Biden's China policy needs to be more than "Trump lite:" A conversation with Jeff Bader
Veteran diplomat Bill Klein recalls the turbulent Trump years at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing
What China is reading and why it matters: A conversation with author Megan Walsh
China's ideological landscape, with Jason Wu
Why the law matters in China, with Jeremy Daum of Yale's Paul Tsai China Law Center
Personality and political discontent in China, with Rory Truex
Dan Wang on China in 2021: "Common prosperity," cultural stunting, and shortcomings of the "modal China story
Mental models for understanding complexity, with Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp
The sociologist watching the China-watchers: A conversation with David McCourt
Damien Ma of MacroPolo on China's economic and political outlook
The investigative team from MIT Technology Review that found major flaws with the DoJ's China Initiative
FOCAC 2021 in Dakar, Senegal, and B3W — the U.S. counter to China's BRI?
Sinica presents the best of China Stories 2021
Revisiting the Red New Deal, with Lizzi Lee and Jude Blanchette (live at NEXTChina 2021)
The Carter Center's survey on Chinese perception, with Yawei Liu and Michael Cerny
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free