This podcast, we take a look at the life and times of Jin Yong, along with the genre he came to define, modern kung fu literature. We explore Jin Yong’s path to becoming China’s best selling writer, putting out more books than JK Rowling. We also look at the January 17th, 1954 kung fu match that inspired him and others to turn kung fu into a phenomenon that would over take the world decades later.  Here is the link to the fight that started it all, the most important fight in the history of Kung Fu ..read more

This week is the last in our Sima Qian series, but it is also definitely the best. We look at how Sima Qian lost his testicles while sticking to his principles. We consider the conflict between him and Emperor Wu that percipitated his castration. I also make a big announcement.  Here is the Transcript:  My name is Lee Moore, and this is the Chinese literature podcast. We are coming to the end of our Summa Chen series. Last week, we looked at Summa Chen’s discussion of the capitalists, Summa Chen’s defense of free market principles. This week, we are looking at one of the most famous Summa ..read more

Today, we take a look at Sima Qian’s Biography of the Capitalists, chapter 129 in the Records of the Historian. This chapter is Sima Qian’s two-millennia old defense of free market capitalism. The chapter is one of the most interesting his oeuvre because Sima Qian was condemned for it by later historians.  ..read more

Today, in the second podcast in the Sima Qian series, we take a look at some of the first literary evidence we have for the Nan Yue, the People of the Southern Yue, the ancestors to modern-day the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in China and the people of Vietnam. Sima Qian describes the Han Dynasty’s colonial conquest of the Yue in vivid detail.  ..read more

Sima Qian is not only the first historian in Chinese history, he is also one of the greatest writers that China has ever produced. Today, writers of Kung Fu novels point to Sima Qian’s stories on fighters and assassins as the origins of the Kung Fu genre. Chinese business people point to his “Biography of the Capitalists” as the reason why Chinese people today are so good at business. He documents the Chinese colonization of the Yue, who once were an independent nation that straddled the border from Guangzhou to Hanoi.    Today is the start of a series on Sima Qian. The podcast will ..read more

Today, we do something different. We take a look at a children’s book that was originally written in English, and then translated into Chinese. Strangely, the translation into Chinese was done in a way that took the English and translated it into classical poetic forms that hark back to the Tang Dynasty. Journey with me to find out how deeply Chinese poetry has influenced the Chinese today.  Here is the podcast: Here is the link to the book in English. I have not been able to find the Chinese version online, though here is a photograph of my daughters’ copy: Also, here is a copy a transcr ..read more

Huang Zunxian, a diplomat and revolutionary of poetry in the late Qing Dynasty, visited Hong Kong when he was only twenty-two. His experience in the British colony was his first real encounter with foriegners, and it sparked an abiding interest in issues outside of China. In this episode, we take a look at two of the poems from his 10 poem cycle, “Ten Poems on Remembering Hong Kong. “ Poem #8: Beyond the incessant stream of Hong Kong’s traffic, painted boats skim smoothly over the ocean’s surface.  The British live here as if they were Buddhas in heaven,  even their Chinese servants ..read more

Rob and I did a New Year Podcast, and I wanted to keep up that tradition. In this podcast, I talk about teaching and update yall on a few things ..read more

Today, in our last episode of the year, we look at 1079 when Su Dongpo was tried for a poem. Bitter partisan fighting, liberals versus conservatives…except for the great poetry, this Song Dynasty fight might remind you of something closer to home.  Economist Article Mentioned in the Episode https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/12/07/giving-the-poor-a-wodge-of-cash-is-better-than-dripping-it-out ..read more

Today, we look at Qiu Fengjia, a Taiwanese-born Mandarin, who, in 1895, upon hearing that Taiwan had been given to Japan as a part of the Treaty of Shiminoseki, wrote a poem expressing his sadness and confusion. We discuss that poem and Qiu’s larger legacy.  ..read more