Chinese Whispers with Cindy Yu
Chinese Whispers with Cindy Yu is a podcast that aims to provide a more nuanced and colorful understanding of China to mainstream audiences. Hosted by Cindy Yu, the show explores various aspects of Chinese culture, politics, and society, challenging simplistic narratives. The podcast is produced independently and is available on Substack.
Episodes
How 20,000 Uyghurs ended up living and fighting in Syria
One of the main justifications that the Chinese Communist Party uses to justify its repression of the Uyghur people is the supposed existence of armed separatists. The CCP says that there are violent, militant Uyghurs who are behind the terrorist attacks that have wracked Chinese cities both inside and outside of Xinjiang, and who are aligned with radical Islamists in the Middle East more broadly.
What did Trump get out of the summit with Xi?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.chinesewhispers.ukThe last 48 hours have been a whirlwind of a Xi-Trump bromance, almost as if the trade war, the AI race, the years of mutual recriminations haven’t happened. What should we make of this summit, and what is Trump’s game in putting on such a celebration for the Chinese president?Joining me on this episode of Chinese
What drives China’s foreign policy?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.chinesewhispers.ukDoes China have a grand strategy? Does it behave differently to other countries because it has, supposedly, five thousand years of history? Does Xi Jinping decide every policy decision, or are its ministries and provinces actually fragmented and in constant negotiation with each other?These questions have long divi
Did the Tang dynasty not exist?
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 wor
The Last Emperor of China
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
Lessons from Brazil: the art of hedging Chinese investment
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 An
Arrested in Shanghai
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. Fortunate
Chinese Whispers 2.0 – Beijing bikinis and Shanghai Snobbery
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
