China In Context

The run-up to the lunar year has been a busy one for China’s President Xi Jinping, with world leaders beating a path to Beijing to meet him; he also found time to purge two of the Chinese military’s top generals, while the outspoken Hong Kong newspaper publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was jailed for 20 years. And with the erratic trade and foreign policy of the US currently boosting Beijing’s global influence, the 72 year-old leader could be said to be at the height of his powers. Yet even after more than a decade in charge of China, to many people outside the country he remains something of an enigma, rarely speaking to international media. Professor Joseph Torigian, a specialist on Chinese politics at American University in Washington DC, offers an unusual insight into Xi Jinping’s backstory in his new book, The Party’s Interests Come First, a biography of the Chinese president’s father, Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002), who was himself a senior party official, but was purged from the leadership by Chairman Mao and jailed in the 1960s and 70s, before returning to pioneer economic reforms in southern China. In this episode, Joseph Torigian looks at how his father’s experiences may — or in some cases may not — have influenced Xi Jinping’s life and politics. Photo credit: Tatarstan.ru / CC BY 4.0 For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

Sir Keir Starmer described his recent trip to China as a chance to end the ‘ice age’ in the two countries’ ties and build a more ‘sophisticated’ relationship. But despite the announcement of visa free-travel to China for British visitors, and the lifting of sanctions on six British MPs and peers, Starmer has been criticised by political opponents for failing to secure the release of publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai, recently found guilty of sedition and national security offences in Hong Kong. This follows controversy over the approval of China’s new embassy in the City of London, and concerns about alleged Chinese espionage and the potential security risks of Chinese technology. Professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, and Jonathan Fenby, former editor of the Observer newspaper and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, and author of The Penguin History of Modern China, discuss where Britain stands in its relations with an increasingly powerful China — and the significance of President Xi Jinping’s assertion that when it comes to his country, the UK needs to ‘see the entire elephant’. Photo credit: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

In this episode we look at love, marriage and divorce in contemporary China, from the perspective of two female filmmakers. These are topics with a political as well as personal significance — the Chinese government is keen to boost the birth rate to tackle the problem of an ageing population, but the marriage rate has fallen sharply, while the divorce rate has grown significantly over recent decades. Elisabeth Lo’s remarkable new film Mistress Dispeller looks at a growing industry in China — people you can hire to intervene if your spouse is having an affair, and who promise to help save your marriage. Luo Tong’s documentary Shanghai Girls, meanwhile, is an intimate depiction of the experiences of a group of women in their early fifties, and their lives and loves over the past thirty years. They join us to discuss changing attitudes to relationships in China. Photo credit: Ariela Ortiz-Barrantes / CC BY-SA 4.0 For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

Relations between China and Japan — never smooth, given the legacy of Japan's invasion of China in the 1930s — are currently at their tensest in years. This follows the new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks in Japan's parliament last month that if China were to use military force against Taiwan — which Beijing claims as part of its territory — Japan would view this as a threat to its survival, and could deploy its own military in response. China has denounced Ms Takaichi's comments as crossing a red line, and warned that they hint at a revival of militarism in Japan. It has warned its citizens against travelling to Japan, leading to mass cancellations of bookings and flights; concerts by Japanese pop stars and screenings of Japanese films in China have also been cancelled, and seafood imports halted. The tension comes amidst rising Japanese nationalist sentiment, much of it directed at a recent influx of immigrants, including, by some estimates, more than a hundred thousand middle class migrants from China. Rupert Wingfield Hayes, for more than two decades a BBC correspondent in first Beijing, then Tokyo, and most recently Taiwan, joins us to discuss the significance of these developments, and the historical resonances that lie behind them. Photo credit: Official Website of the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

While young people around the world face growing difficulties finding work and coping with the cost-of-living crisis, the situation confronting China’s youth seems particularly acute. Years of pandemic disruption, economic slowdown and mounting social pressure have created a sense of fatigue and frustration for many. This has given rise to a new language of despair and dark humour. ‘Nei Juan’ (内卷) — or ‘involution’ — describes the exhausting, endless competition where everyone works harder yet gains less, a race to the bottom with no finish line. In contrast, ‘Tang Ping’ (躺平), or ‘lying flat’, signals quiet resistance: choosing to step back, do less, and let go of society’s impossible expectations. But is this realistic in a country with a limited social welfare safety net? Guest host Howard Zhang speaks with Dr Yuan Zhong from SOAS about her recent research in China, exploring what these buzzwords reveal about a generation under strain — and the country’s future. Photo credit: leoon liang / Unsplash For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

China and the US reached a truce in their trade war at the recent meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea. And the two leaders even pledged to visit each other’s countries next year. But US tariffs on Chinese imports remain at around 47% — and a dispute over the export of US semiconductor chips to China looks set to continue. These tensions seem to have informed the Communist Party’s newly released proposals for China’s next Five Year Plan, which focus on innovation and making China technologically self-sufficient. But will this approach, along with promises to boost the private economy, help to tackle unemployment and sluggish domestic consumer spending? Minxin Pei, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California, and editor of the website China Leadership Monitor, discusses the prospects for Sino-US relations and the challenges facing China’s leaders. Photo credit: Daniel Torok / White House ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

The inaugural US-based Baifang Schell Book Prize for Chinese language fiction in English translation was recently awarded to the Taiwanese writer Yang Shuang-zi’s novel 'Taiwan Travelogue'. And with an ever-growing number of Chinese to English translators, and a well-resourced mainland Chinese publishing industry keen to expand globally, this could seem like a significant moment for Chinese writing. But with continuing censorship in China, and the rising popularity of often throwaway internet writing, can mainland Chinese fiction remain relevant and viable, and tackle important contemporary and historical themes? And with heightened tensions between China and the West in the last few years, is there still the same international interest from readers and publishers? Leading translators Jeremy Tiang, himself a published novelist and playwright, and Nicky Harman, founding member of the Chinese literature website Paper Republic, discuss the pressures and prospects for Chinese literature, while Daniel Li of UK-based publisher Sinoist Books reflects on the challenges of navigating between the Chinese and western publishing industries. Books referred to in the discussion: Taiwan TravelogueDelicious HungerDiablo’s BoysOld KilnCocoon________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

After the sudden emergence of the Chinese company DeepSeek’s generative AI model in January, there has been much excitement about the future of innovation in China. But continuing US efforts to limit the sale of the latest AI chips to China are a reminder of the tensions surrounding this area. The recently announced deal for a partial US takeover of Chinese social media platform TikTok’s American operation may hint at the potential for cooperation. But Jensen Huang, CEO of chipmaker Nvidia, has warned that restrictions on chip production will only encourage the development of China’s own semiconductor industry, with China already just ‘nanoseconds behind’ in AI. Yet how far is Chinese innovation handicapped by political controls? And as China seeks to promote new sectors like robotics and cloud computing, can it avoid the type of overcapacity already seen in its electric vehicle industry? To discuss these issues, we’re joined by Duncan Clark, a specialist in Chinese technology since 1994, when he founded the investment advisory company BDA in Beijing. An early advisor to Jack Ma, founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, he’s also author of the book ‘Alibaba — The House that Jack Ma Built’, and is co-chair of the Asia Society France. Books referred to in the episode: Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the FutureApple in China – The Capture of the World’s Greatest CompanyImage © 光画社 (Kōgasha) / Adobe Stock ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

This month’s huge parade in Beijing for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia prompted much debate — both about the array of new missiles, drones and other military technology on display, and about the presence of not only Vladimir Putin, but also the North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un. But while Beijing is happy to demonstrate its newfound military confidence, the parade is also a reminder of the increased attention China has been paying to its own role in World War II, with a growing number of museums and exhibits dedicated not only to its fight against Japan, but also — despite current tensions — to wartime military cooperation between China and the US, in the form of the Flying Tigers and the Doolittle Raiders. Melinda Liu, veteran Beijing bureau chief of Newsweek, and Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society in Beijing, discusses the contemporary resonances of these wartime echoes, as well her family connection to a period of history which is becoming an increasingly important aspect of the image China presents to the world. Photo: Kremlin.ru / CC BY 4.0 ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, marked his 90th birthday earlier this month with an announcement that his successor as Tibetan Buddhism’s most senior religious figure would be a reincarnation, to be identified after his death by the staff of his office in Dharamsala in northern India — where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. The announcement is likely to set up a clash with Beijing, which says it alone has the right to confirm the selection of the next Dalai Lama, and points to its possession of historical relics, including a golden urn from the Qing dynasty traditionally used to select the reincarnations of senior lamas. So how will Tibetans inside and outside China respond if two different Dalai Lamas are nominated? Could the exiled community abandon the current Dalai Lama’s emphasis on seeking only autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule? And how will this affect India, which has offered shelter to the Tibetan exiled administration, but has recently been seeking to improve its relations with Beijing? Tsering Shakya, professor of Tibetan history at the University of British Columbia, and Robbie Barnett, professorial research associate at SOAS and former professor of contemporary Tibetan studies at Columbia University, join us to share their thoughts. Photo by Norbu Gyachung ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

The shockwaves from Donald Trump’s airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear programme continue to reverberate. China condemned the attack as violating the UN Charter and warned that it risked destabilising the Middle East, an area where Beijing has fast-growing economic and diplomatic links — indeed China is now the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, and after the strikes the US asked it to persuade Tehran not to cut off oil supplies from the Gulf. So will the attack change China’s policy in the Middle East — and could it also have implications for China’s aim of regaining sovereignty over the island of Taiwan, with which the US has close defence ties? We hear the views of Rana Mitter, ST Lee Professor of US-Asia relations at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, and Professor Jonathan Fulton of Zayed University, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of a new book, Building the Belt and Road Initiative in the Arab World (Routledge, 2025) on China’s relations with the Arab world. Photo: Khamenei.ir / CC BY 4.0 ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

China's one child policy may have ended a decade ago — but its consequences are still being felt — not least in the continuing gender imbalance in the country's population: for several decades, the combination of restrictions on family size with traditional attitudes favouring male children, especially in rural areas, led to many female babies being aborted. China is currently estimated to have at least thirty million more men than women — and a new documentary film explores the impact this has had, particularly on young men from the countryside, who can struggle to find a mate in China's increasingly competitive dating market. Director Violet Du Feng, previously shortlist for the Oscars for her film 'Hidden Letters' about the secret Chinese women's language Nüshu, joins us to discuss 'The Dating Game', which follows three young men who go on a week long 'dating camp' run by a self-styled 'dating coach' in an attempt to reinvent themselves, and find love. ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

The sudden emergence of DeepSeek’s AI chatbot earlier this year reminded the world of just how fast Chinese technology is developing. But it’s also highlighted continuing tensions over China’s technological rise — US Vice President JD Vance recently spoke of America being in an ‘arms race’ with China for control of Artificial Intelligence: the US has banned the export of its most advanced chips to China, and is now trying to stop companies around the world from using China’s own latest chips. It’s also sanctioned numerous Chinese tech firms due to security fears. The EU meanwhile has imposed tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles, amidst concerns about unfair subsidies. But as its technology improves, is China winning the ‘tech war’? And what does this mean for Taiwan, currently the world’s largest chip manufacturer? These topics are explored in a new audio book, ‘Global Tech Wars - China’s Race to Dominate’, by James Kynge, who recently left the Financial Times, where he reported on China for almost three decades. Now a senior fellow at MERICS (the Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies) in Berlin, he discusses his findings with presenter Duncan Hewitt. Image © Adobe Stock ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

After the drama of Donald Trump’s Liberation Day and the 145 percent tariffs he imposed on China, and Beijing’s retaliation with 125 percent tariffs, the two countries have agreed a 90 day pause while they engage in further negotiations. But with the US recently announcing that it would seek to punish any business using advanced chips made by the Chinese IT giant Huawei anywhere in the world, and Beijing threatening retaliatory measures against anyone who complies, what are the prospects for a meaningful and lasting trade deal? On this episode we hear the views of two Americans with decades of experience in China, Kenneth Jarrett, a former US Consul General in Shanghai who is now the Senior Advisor in Shanghai for the strategic advisory firm Albright Stonebridge Group , and Jim McGregor, Chairman for Greater China of the consultancy APCO Worldwide, and formerly the head of Dow Jones in China. Image © Adobe Stock ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

In the face of Donald Trump's tariffs, will China's plans to boost its domestic consumer economy succeed — or could the government in Beijing be tempted to introduce massive stimulus measures, as it did after the financial crisis in 2008? In this episode of China in Context, leading scholar Yasheng Huang, professor of global economics and management at MIT's Sloan School of Management, explains why China's political resilience in a trade war may be greater than its economic resilience — and argues that, despite the current obsession with high technology, reforms of land ownership and the rights of rural citizens and migrant labourers could be key to China’s long term economic prosperity. Professor Huang's forthcoming book, Statism with Chinese Characteristics — a revised version of his 2008 work Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics — draws on lessons from China's response to the 2008 crisis to highlight the country's current challenges. ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

Taiwan is facing a range of challenges — from Donald Trump's threat of 32% tariffs on its crucial exports to the US, to massive Chinese military exercises off its coastline aimed at intimidating the island's leaders. If that weren't enough, the DPP administration, led by President William Lai, has seen its budget slashed by Taiwan’s legislature, which is now dominated by its main rival, the KMT, or Chinese Nationalist Party. It's resulted in months of protests and political wrangling. So how will Taiwan's economy and society cope with these challenges? In the latest episode of China in Context, Dr. Michael Reilly, senior fellow on the Taiwan Studies Programme at the University of Nottingham, and a former British diplomat who was previously the UK's senior representative in Taiwan, analyses the island's political and economic situation, in conversation with Duncan Hewitt. Photo credit: 總統府 / CC BY 2.0 ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

At this month’s legislative session China announced policies to maintain GDP growth at 5%, boost consumption and the private sector and promote AI and high tech industry, from quantum computing to the low altitude economy. But will it be enough to reassure consumers and investors — and does the higher than GDP growth increase in defence spending in the budget, and the continuing crackdown on corruption hint that the leadership’s top priorities are still security and stability rather than growth? Professor Steve Tsang, Director of the SOAS China Institute and co-author of the recent book, The Political Thought of Xi Jinping, and George Magnus, former Chief Economist at UBS, and a Research Associate at SOAS and at the Oxford University China Centre, share their views. ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

In this episode we look at the life and work of Lynn Pan, one of the most imaginative of writers in English about modern China and particularly Shanghai, who died last year, and was commemorated at a special event at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival earlier this month. Her books, including In Search of Old Shanghai, The New Chinese Revolution, Sons of the Yellow Emperor, Shanghai Style and When True Love Came to China, were accessible, often witty, and always deeply researched. Duncan Hewitt discusses her legacy with Paul French, author of Midnight in Peking and Her Lotus Year, Frances Wood, SOAS Research Associate and former curator of Chinese collections at the British Library, and Michelle Garnaut, founder of the Shanghai Literary Festival. With a further contribution from Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor of History at University of California, Irvine. ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

With the US imposing new tariffs on Chinese exports, the state of the country’s domestic economy has become all the more crucial. Despite healthy export growth in recent years, at home consumer confidence has plummeted, with rising youth unemployment and a slump in the once booming housing market. Will recent government steps to reassure consumers and entrepreneurs and stimulate property sales be enough to revive the economy? Or does soaring local government debt mean more creative solutions are required? In this episode, we hear two perspectives on China’s economic challenges — from economist Andy Rothman, founder of Sinology LLC, and Professor Victor Shih, director of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California San Diego. ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

Donald Trump's new tariffs on Chinese exports may only boost the trend for Chinese companies to seek new markets and manufacturing bases overseas — including in Africa, where China is now the biggest trading partner and source of loans. On this episode, we discuss 'Made in Ethiopia', a new film looking at the human impact of Chinese involvement in Africa’s industrialisation, with its directors Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan — and debate China's wider relationship with the continent with Professor Carlos Oya, head of the Department of Development Studies at SOAS, University of London. ________________________________________ The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute. ________________________________________ SOAS China Institute (SCI) SCI BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram ________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0