Best Eric Olander Podcasts (2024)

1
Space Debris: How Can the U.S. and China Avoid the Tragedy of the Commons, with Nainika Sudheendra 47:02

15m ago47:02

47:02

This week I continue my conversations with some of the outstanding Schwarzman Scholars who presented at the Capstone Showcase in late June. In this episode, I speak with Nainika Sudheendra about the problem of space debris and what can be done to reduce the creation of more of it or even begin removal of debris before it makes the launching of new …

1
Priority Pluralism: Rethinking Universal Values in U.S.-China Relations 39:06

1h ago39:06

39:06

I thought Sinica listeners might be interested in listening to an audio narration of my latest essay. I hope you enjoy and that it gives you some food for thought! If you prefer to read, you can find the essay — free for everyone this week — right here. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.c…

1
The Chinese Game Industry’s Journey to the West — Rui Ma and Rob Wynne on the Success of Black Myth: Wukong 58:40

7d ago58:40

58:40

The Chinese game studio Game Science has a hit on its hands! The game Black Myth: Wukong, an action role-playing game (ARPG) based on the Monkey King from Journey to the West, has sold extraordinarily well in China and is breaking new ground in the U.S. market as well. This week, I speak with Rui Ma, who runs Tech Buzz China and is one of the most …

1
The Tragedy of Old School Beijing Hip-Hop with Olivia Fu 1:02:56

6d ago1:02:56

1:02:56

This week on Sinica, I chat with Olivia Fu, who this spring completed her year at Schwarzman College and wrote her Capstone project — a research paper that is required of all Schwarzman Scholars — on the rise and fall of the Beijing hip-hop scene. We explore some of the parallels to Beijing's rock scene, and how many of the same factors that stifle…

1
Does Beijing Really Want Trump? 16:25

22d ago16:25

16:25

Hey folks! I took some time off to drive the kids to college and then flew to California to celebrate my brother John’s birthday. The upshot is there’s no interview this week, so in place of that, here’s my essay from this week. Hope you enjoy it. If all goes as planned, I’m back next week with regular interview for Sinica! You can find the text of…

1
The Swifts of Beijing, with Terry Townshend of Birding Beijing 58:00

1M ago58:00

58:00

I was looking for a good episode to pull from the archive to run this week as I'll be traveling and I asked my good friend Deb Seligsohn for a recommendation. She went immediately to this one, and by God if it's not an oldie-but-goodie. This is from December 2015 and features Jeremy Goldkorn — I miss him dearly! — and Terry Townshend, an absolute i…

1
Bonus: A Free-Range Father in a Tiger Mom World — Reflections on Chinese and American Education 13:26

1M ago13:26

13:26

Here's a little bonus ep for you ahead of tomorrow's show, which will be a re-run of a really fun one from about 10 years ago! I'm driving the rest of this week to the Midwest to drop my kids off at their respective universities, and I've been thinking a lot about the education systems in China and the U.S. So here's my essay for this week. See Pri…

1
China's Response to U.S. Semiconductor Export Controls, with Paul Triolo and Kevin Xu 1:35:08

1M ago1:35:08

1:35:08

This week on Sinica, Paul Triolo rejoins the show for a deep, deep dive into China's response to American export controls on advanced semiconductors and related technologies. How much hurt has the policy put on Chinese firms — and how far along is China in finding its way toward technological autonomy? Kevin Xu, author of the fantastic "Interconnec…

1
Eric Olander on China in the Global South 1:03:57

1M ago1:03:57

1:03:57

This week on Sinica, I'm joined by Eric Olander, host of the outstanding China in Africa Podcast and the indispensable China-Global South Podcast, and creator of the China-Global South Project. Eric's detailed and very current knowledge of China's relations across the developing world is on display in this whirlwind tour that takes us from the trou…

1
A Letter from Beijing 34:05

2M ago34:05

34:05

This week, my narration of a longish essay about my recently-concluded four-week trip to Dalian and, more importantly, Beijing — my first time back in the city I called home for so long since the COVID pandemic. If you prefer to read rather than listen, you can find the essay — free for everyone this week — on the Substack. I hope you enjoy this! S…

1
Anthony Tao: The Poetry and Soul of Beijing 1:02:08

2M ago1:02:08

1:02:08

This week on Sinica, I'm in Beijing, where I spoke with my dear friend Anthony Tao, an English-language poet and a builder of community in the city where I lived for over 20 years. Anthony recently published a volume of his poetry called We Met in Beijing, and it captures the relationship that so many have with the city wherever they might come fro…

1
Sinica Unscripted: Wang Zichen of CCG with a Third Plenum Preview and more 56:37

2M ago56:37

56:37

I'm trying something different: totally unscripted and very, very lightly edited recordings grabbed on the go where I happen to be. For the inaugural episode, I've got Wang Zichen, the author of the amazing Pekingnology newsletter on Substack, as well as the man behind the Center for China and Globalization's newsletter "The East is Read." Hear Zic…

1
Improbable Diplomats: Historian Pete Millwood on how Scientific and Cultural Exchange Remade U.S.-China Relations 1:20:19

2M ago1:20:19

1:20:19

This week on Sinica, I chat with University of Melbourne transnational historian Pete Millwood about his outstanding book Improbable Diplomats: How Ping-Pong Players, Musicians, and Scientists Remade U.S.-China Relations. The road to normalization is told too often with a focus only on the Nixon-Kissinger opening and official diplomatic efforts cul…

1
Adam Tooze on the U.S., China, the Energy Transition — and Saying the Unsayable 1:05:48

2M ago1:05:48

1:05:48

This week on Sinica, in a show recorded on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, historian Adam Tooze joins to chat about what the U.S. wants from China, China's vaulting green energy ambitions, and much more. Don't miss this episode: Tooze gets pretty darn spicy! 3:13 How Adam launched Chartbook in Chines…

1
An Ecological History of Modern China, with Stevan Harrell — Part 2 1:15:14

3M ago1:15:14

1:15:14

This week on Sinica, Part 2 of the interview with anthropologist Stevan Harrell, professor emeritus at the University of Washington, about his magnum opus, An Ecological History of China. Be sure to listen to Part 1 first, as many important framing concepts are discussed in that episode! 1:44 “– The Four Horsemen of Ecopocalypse” and ecological dis…

1
An Ecological History of Modern China, with Stevan Harrell — Part 1 1:14:07

3M ago1:14:07

1:14:07

This week on Sinica, Part 1 of a two-part podcast with Stevan Harrell, Professor Emeritus in Anthropology at the University of Washington. Steve's groundbreaking book An Ecological History of Modern China represents the culmination of a professional lifetime of work in disparate fields. It synthesizes ideas from geography, earth science, biology, a…

1
Peter Hessler on his new book, "Other Rivers: A Chinese Education" 1:26:15

3M ago1:26:15

1:26:15

This week on Sinica, the highly-regarded writer Peter Hessler joins to talk about his new book, out July 9: Other Rivers: A Chinese Education. Over 20 years after teaching with the Peace Corps in Fuling (the subject of his first book, Rivertown, Pete returns to China to teach at Sichuan University in Chengdu. He writes about the two cohorts of stud…

1
Taiwan, Ukraine, and the Sino-American Rivalry 1:19:21

3M ago1:19:21

1:19:21

This week on Sinica, a conversation that I moderated on May 30th called “Assessing the Impact of US-China Rivalry on Ukraine and Taiwan,” put on by the Ukrainian Platform for Contemporary China. The main organizer was my friend Vita Golod, who is the chair of the Ukrainian Association of Sinologists. The panelists are: Dmytro Burtsev, a Junior Fell…

1
Jonathan Chatwin on Deng Xiaoping's 1992 Southern Tour 1:00:09

4M ago1:00:09

1:00:09

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Jonathan Chatwin, author of a new book about Deng Xiaoping's "Southern Tour" of early 1992 — a pivotal event that renewed a commitment to economic reforms after they'd stalled following 1989, and seized the initiative from conservatives in the Chinese leadership. The book is called The Southern Tour: Deng Xi…

1
Ed Lanfranco: from Hoarder to Historian 1:06:07

4M ago1:06:07

1:06:07

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser is joined by old friend Ed Lanfranco, who lived in Beijing from 1988 to 2009. An inveterate packrat, Ed managed to accumulate an incredible trove of documents, maps, photos, and ephemera from his years there and from the decades and even centuries before his arrival. Ed talks about his collection, and invites…

1
Jay Kuo on Beijing's Gay 90s 1:09:15

4M ago1:09:15

1:09:15

This week on Sinica, I'm delighted to welcome — my brother! Jay Kuo is a Broadway writer & producer, and the man behind the terrific U.S. politics-focused Substack newsletter The Status Kuo. In a previous life, from 1996 to 2000, he was also really active in Beijing's gay community, just at the time when homosexuality was being decriminalized and w…

1
The Struggle for Taiwan: Sulmaan Wasif Khan of Tufts University on his new book 1:46:08

4M ago1:46:08

1:46:08

This week on Sinica, I chat with Sulmaan Wasif Khan, professor of history and international relations at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, about his book The Struggle for Taiwan: A History of America, China, and the Island Caught Between, which comes on May 14. 4:28 — The Cairo Agreement 6:59 — General George Marshall, George Kennan, and the…

1
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez on her new podcast series, Face-Off 1:02:00

5M ago1:02:00

1:02:00

This week on Sinica, veteran reporter Jane Perlez, who served as bureau chief for the New York Times in Beijing until 2019, joins to discuss her new podcast series Face-Off, which explores different facets of the U.S.-China relationship. We also talk about the state of Western journalism in China in the wake of tit-for-tat expulsions of reporters f…

1
Political Scientist Iza Ding on Authoritarianism, Legitimacy, and "Resilience" 1:00:10

5M ago1:00:10

1:00:10

This week on Sinica, Iza Ding, associate professor of political science at Northwestern University and author of The Performative State: Public Scrutiny and Environmental Governance in China, joins to share her ideas on how American academia has framed and problematized authoritarianism, especially when it comes to China. A deep and subtle thinker,…

1
The View from China: Leading IR scholar Da Wei of Tsinghua's CISS 1:25:27

5M ago1:25:27

1:25:27

This week on Sinica, I'm delighted to welcome Dá Wēi (达巍), one of China’s foremost scholars of China’s foreign relations and especially relations with the U.S. Da Wei is the director of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and is a professor in the department of International Relations at the …

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Eric Olander Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

1
Sinica Early Access

1
The China Project

The China Project

1
Creative Independents

Memberful

1
The Slowbrow Show

Anneli Olander Berglund

1
Space Debris: How Can the U.S. and China Avoid the Tragedy of the Commons, with Nainika Sudheendra 47:02

1
Priority Pluralism: Rethinking Universal Values in U.S.-China Relations 39:06

1
The Chinese Game Industry’s Journey to the West — Rui Ma and Rob Wynne on the Success of Black Myth: Wukong 58:40

1
The Tragedy of Old School Beijing Hip-Hop with Olivia Fu 1:02:56

1
Does Beijing Really Want Trump? 16:25

1
The Swifts of Beijing, with Terry Townshend of Birding Beijing 58:00

1
Bonus: A Free-Range Father in a Tiger Mom World — Reflections on Chinese and American Education 13:26

1
China's Response to U.S. Semiconductor Export Controls, with Paul Triolo and Kevin Xu 1:35:08

1
Eric Olander on China in the Global South 1:03:57

1
A Letter from Beijing 34:05

1
Anthony Tao: The Poetry and Soul of Beijing 1:02:08

1
Sinica Unscripted: Wang Zichen of CCG with a Third Plenum Preview and more 56:37

1
Improbable Diplomats: Historian Pete Millwood on how Scientific and Cultural Exchange Remade U.S.-China Relations 1:20:19

1
Adam Tooze on the U.S., China, the Energy Transition — and Saying the Unsayable 1:05:48

1
An Ecological History of Modern China, with Stevan Harrell — Part 2 1:15:14

1
An Ecological History of Modern China, with Stevan Harrell — Part 1 1:14:07

1
Peter Hessler on his new book, "Other Rivers: A Chinese Education" 1:26:15

1
Taiwan, Ukraine, and the Sino-American Rivalry 1:19:21

1
Jonathan Chatwin on Deng Xiaoping's 1992 Southern Tour 1:00:09

1
Ed Lanfranco: from Hoarder to Historian 1:06:07

1
Jay Kuo on Beijing's Gay 90s 1:09:15

1
The Struggle for Taiwan: Sulmaan Wasif Khan of Tufts University on his new book 1:46:08

1
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez on her new podcast series, Face-Off 1:02:00

1
Political Scientist Iza Ding on Authoritarianism, Legitimacy, and "Resilience" 1:00:10

1
The View from China: Leading IR scholar Da Wei of Tsinghua's CISS 1:25:27

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