Chinese Whispers with Cindy Yu

Επεισόδια

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  Did the Tang dynasty not exist? 14.09.2026 10λ

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.chinesewhispers.ukHigh poetry, the invention of gunpowder, the Silk Road, and the reign of China’s only female emperor, Wu Zetian – these are the legacies of the Tang dynasty, which governed China from 618 AD to 906 AD. It was a golden age, remembered for the time’s extraordinary cosmopolitanism and exchange with the rest of the world; its architectural style can still be seen in the temples and mansions of Japan and South Korea.And yet, a peculiar conspiracy theory gripped some people on Chinese social media this year: that these three hundred years actually never really existed. It’s a theory so outlandish and offensive to some people that it has been roundly criticised by state media.So why have people fallen for this bizarre conspiracy theory, and is there more to the story than it seems?Joining me to chat is Alexander Boyd, associate editor of the digital magazine China Books Review. You can also find him on his Substack, Ramble, where he dissected the theory’s popularity.Further reading:“根本就没有古希腊古罗马古埃及”？黄河清和他眼中的“西方伪史论” – 南方周末. “There Was Never Any Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome or Ancient Egypt”? Huang Heqing and His View of the “Western Pseudo-History” Theory – Southern Weekly.Chinese Whispers with Cindy Yu is listener-supported.Not yet a subscriber?Become a paid subscriber to unlock the full episode and all premium episodes:Subscribe nowAlready a paid subscriber?Set up premium listening in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app. Click the button below, scroll down the page to ‘Private podcasts’ and click ‘Set up’.Set up podcast
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  The Last Emperor of China 31.08.2026 19λ

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.chinesewhispers.ukIt’s often said that monarchy is a gilded cage, and nowhere is that more true than in the case of the last emperor, Puyi. He was two years old when he became emperor in 1908. He spent the first years of his life within the Forbidden City, but when he was expelled from the palace in 1924, he became a puppet emperor for the Japanese. Japan had occupied vast swathes of northeastern China and declared it ‘Manchukuo’.With Japan’s defeat in 1945, Puyi was captured by Soviet forces and later returned to China, by then ruled by the Communists. He spent the rest of his years as a high profile, reformed prisoner, and even returned to Beijing and worked as a gardener in the city he used to reign.It was an incredible life, and a new biography of the emperor has come out this month. In it, historian Paul French focuses on the years that Puyi and his wives spent in the palace, to shine new light on this most enigmatic figure. I’m delighted to be joined by Paul on this episode.Chinese Whispers with Cindy Yu is listener-supported.Not yet a subscriber?Become a paid subscriber to unlock the full episode and all premium episodes:Subscribe nowAlready a paid subscriber?Set up premium listening in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app. Click the button below, scroll down the page to ‘Private podcasts’ and click ‘Set up’.Set up podcast
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  Lessons from Brazil: the art of hedging Chinese investment 17.08.2026 9λ

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.chinesewhispers.ukMy guest Andrew Cainey is a long-time advisor to businesses and governments across the world on how to deal with China. He is a senior associate fellow at the thinktank, RUSI, and co-author of Xiconomics: What China’s Dual Circulation Strategy Means for Global Business.On this episode we discuss a new trend that Andrew has been following – the rise of Chinese consumer companies making their way into the developing world. To make that question just a bit smaller, we focused in particular on Brazil, a country he spends a lot of time in. It actually has a trade surplus with China, but even so Chinese investment brings its own tensions and problems, such as what happens when Chinese factory owners bring their exploitative working practices with them.In light of recent discussions in the EU about the ‘China Shock 2.0’, I found this an illuminating conversation to consider how one developing country deals with the challenge from Chinese investment. It also raises the question of whether the West could learn something from how Brazil hedges between the great powers.On the episode I mention two documentaries that really add substance to the experience of Chinese factories going abroad. One is American Factory (2019) and the other is Made in Ethiopia (2024). I’d highly recommend both.Chinese Whispers with Cindy Yu is listener-supported.Not yet a subscriber?Become a paid subscriber to unlock the full episode and all premium episodes:Subscribe nowAlready a paid subscriber?Set up premium listening in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app. Click the button below, scroll down the page to ‘Private podcasts’ and click ‘Set up’.Set up podcast
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  Arrested in Shanghai 03.08.2026 20λ

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.chinesewhispers.ukWhen covering the White Paper protests of November 2022, BBC senior journalist Ed Lawrence was beaten and detained by Chinese police in Shanghai. Footage of his arrest travelled quickly, and resulted in a near diplomatic incident, with the British Foreign Office summoning the Chinese ambassador in London. Fortunately, Ed was released after some five hours in detention..Ed has never publicly spoken about that night – until now. On this episode, he tells me what happened, and we talk about the perils of reporting from China, dragonboat racing with Chinese Foreign Ministry and the state of western reporting on China today. Don’t miss it.Chinese Whispers with Cindy Yu is listener-supported.Not yet a subscriber?Become a paid subscriber to unlock the full episode and all premium episodes:https://www.chinesewhispers.uk/subscribe?Already a paid subscriber?Set up premium listening in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app. Click the button below, scroll down the page to ‘Private podcasts’ and click ‘Set up’.Set up podcast
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  Chinese Whispers 2.0 – Beijing bikinis and Shanghai Snobbery 29.06.2026 38λ

  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chinesewhispers.uk/subscribeIn a country as big as China, you will not be surprised to hear that the Chinese people hold many assumptions, prejudices and stereotypes about people from other parts of the country, from other socioeconomic or educational backgrounds, about genders and professions. It’s a topic I’ve wanted to cover for a long time, because it is such an authentically Chinese conversation.So I was delighted when Yaling Jiang of the Following the Yuan Substack covered exactly this earlier this year. Yaling identified six major stereotypes that the Chinese have about each other, from the Beijing Uncle to the Shanghai Socialite or the Shenzhen Drifter.As ever with these cultural labels, they say so much about China, bringing in so much of its history of economic development, the cultural heritage of various regions, gender relations, etc etc. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed recording it.Thanks for reading Chinese Whispers! Subscribe to listen to future episodes.