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After two weeks focusing on developments at the 18th Party Congress, and with the next generation of China's leadership now public news for the world to digest, this week on Sinica we take a break from China's leadership transition and turn our attention to more long-term developments in Chinese foreign policy. And with this in mind, Kaiser Kuo is delighted to be joined by Taylor Fravel, Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT and expert on Chinese foreign policy and particularly its naval development. On a side note, we should mention that we've had quality issues recording this show. The audio isn't horrible, but it isn't the quality we'd like and we're sorry for the listening pain, which starts about five minutes in. That said, we will fix this in the future, and if you want to subscribe to future shows by RSS, you can do so by using our public feed at http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica. Inquiries and suggestions for future show topics are also welcome by email at sinica@popupchinese.com.

The heart of the operation was a claustrophobic room tucked away in the bowels of just another city bar. Once through the trap door into the basement, visitors were greeted by a tiny circle of chairs arranged haphazardly atop an unfinished concrete floor. It was not a place anyone would come for civil discussion. The air was fetid, and pools of water collected unevenly on the floor as water dripped down from the cooling pipes which snaked across the ceiling. Learning Chinese? Our lesson today features an intermediate-level dialogue, along with a quick book club of our own. Want to know who we consider to be the Hemingway of China? And who else is worth reading now that you're up to this level? Get our verdict in this show, and leave your own thoughts in the comment section below to share recommendations on contemporary authors we've missed.

This week on Sinica, our hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are joined by Gady Epstein from the Economist and we turn our attention to the 18th Party Congress which officially started in Beijing earlier this week. As China's capital descends into the pomp of another ten year leadership transition, we take an inside look at all the news and rumor fit for podcasting as history unfolds in real-time around us. Enjoy Sinica? If you want to keep up-to-date on everything happening with the show, be sure to join us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our show through iTunes to download our latest episodes automatically as they are released. To do this manually just click on the option "Subscribe to Podcast" in the "Advanced" file menu of iTunes and provide the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica when prompted. We also encourage everyone to download this show as a standalone mp3 file and share it with friends and colleagues.

Before you send us hate mail, be aware that we tried getting 9527 to slow down. "Whatdoyoumeanslowdown," she said in bewilderment, "Imalreadyspeakingslowly." And we sighed and told her maybe to try a bit harder, since even our microphone only caught about thirty percent of what she said and she looked at us like we were crazy and headed back into the studio clucking softly and proceeded to do another take on fast-forward. Learning Chinese? If you're at the elementary level, you shouldn't find the vocab in this dialogue challenging in the least, although you'd be forgiven for missing the english word that gets repeated throughout considering that most of our voice actors seemed to have trouble pronouncing the letter D. Fortunately, our focus isn't English phonetics so much as Chinese grammar: a sentence pattern you'll hear all over the place that native Chinese speakers use to place an extra emphasis on the ownership or possession of an object.

Our somewhat confused efforts to introduce the American board game Clue to our Chinese friends has resulted in a number of Friday pickup games near Sanlitun. But even after several months, the concept of the game seems strangely difficult for some people to grasp. And we sympathize, because knowing who killed whom with what hardly addresses the much more important why. Learning mandarin? At our intermediate level, we don't shy away from giving you native-speed, colloquial Chinese dialogues. And there really isn't much hand-holding in this episode, but if you find it too difficult don't worry - just head to our intermediate archives and find an easier lesson from among the hundreds we've already published. And let us know what you think anytime in the comments section below, or by sending us email at service@popupchinese.com.

Learning Chinese? Our mandarin lesson for today features a short but simple dialogue covering the way real Chinese shoppers ask for prices. We expect it will come in handy the next time you're strolling down the street and see imitation Apple products available for one-tenth of their normal retail price.

With less than two weeks to go before the 18th Party Congress, speculation on China's upcoming leadership transition could not be more intense here in Beijing, where insiders are trading lists of potential Politburo Standing Committee members which disagree not only on who will be elevated to the highest ranks of China's leadership, but even how many members will be on the PBSC. How are things going to play out in the during the Party Congress and in the coming transition? Joining Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn this week for an insider look at China's upcoming leadership transition are three guests we are delighted to have here on Sinica: journalist and author John Garnaut from the Sydney Morning Herald, popular blogger and Tsinghua business professor Patrick Chovanec, and Jamil Anderlini who heads the Beijing bureau for the Financial Times. We think you'll enjoy what all three have to say. Trying to keep up-to-date on China? In addition to listening to new episodes of Sinica through Popup Chinese, we invite all listeners to download and share this recording as a standalone mp3 file. You can grab the audio for previous shows either through our Sinica archives, or by subscribing to our dedicated iTunes feed. We also welcome all listeners to share your thoughts either in the discussion section below, or on our dedicated Sinica page on Facebook.

American Idol premiered in the United States in 2005, and China has had a metric ton of song-related reality television shows since then. So what exactly is it that has turned The Voice of China into a nationwide craze? Since its premiere in July on Zhejiang Television, the show has become probably the most talked-about television series in the entire mainland, with a band of fanatical followers including some of us here at Popup Towers. Learning Chinese? If your Chinese is already at a relatively advanced level, join Echo, Andy and Gao today for an advanced Chinese lesson focusing on a lot of vocabulary related to The Voice of China and other reality television shows. Our conversation here is entirely in mandarin, but if you have any questions or problems, we encourage you to leave comments or questions in the discussion space below, or write Echo at echo@popupchinese.com

Today on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn host a discussion with Pankaj Mishra on his book From the Ruins of Empire, a history of Asia's intellectual response to Western imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Also joining us for this wide-ranging discussion is Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chinese historian, frequently published columnist, and editor most recently of Chinese Characters, a collection of essays on Chinese individuals by many well-known China watchers. Links to materials discussed are coming in the comments section below. In the meantime, let us remind you that it's easy to subscribe to Sinica through our RSS feed. To do this, simply click on the "Advanced" file menu in iTunes and select the option "Subscribe to Podcast". Copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box when prompted. Or skip the whole fuss and just download this show as a standalone mp3 file for sharing with others.

Nathan struggled to make sense of the mugshots. The young banker could remember countless details about the previous evening: the costumes, the songs, even the taste of exotic milk-based dishes. But how could he ever pull the criminals out of a line-up? Almost everything about the evening had been designed to draw attention away from their individual appearances. Learning Chinese? This is one of our easier lessons at the Intermediate level, since we go light on difficult vocabulary, but if you're used to the slow and artificial pace of textbook Chinese you may still find it quite a challenge. So why not take a listen and see how much you understand? And let us know what you think by email at service@popupchinese.com.

All through their autumn romance, Susan had seemed so eager that Michael meet her parents, and the two of them had planned a joint trip home at Thanksgiving just for this purpose. Yet now that the date was upon them, her enthusiasm had changed into an almost brooding depression, forcing Michael to wonder what could possibly have gone wrong. Had something in their relationship changed? Was she upset at him? Or had her parents heard something about him and disapproved of them being together? Learning Chinese? Dealing with relationship issues? Regardless of whether you have to meet the folks or not, we encourage you to listen to our lesson today as we stress the all-important point about how the Chinese language can sometimes be totally and utterly illogical, and how its easy to make amateur mistakes which will give you away as a non-native speaker simply by following all the normal rules outlined by your teachers.

As China continues to subsidize inefficient state enterprises on a massive scale, an increasing number of critics - domestic and foreign - are questioning whether current policies mark a rejection or corruption of the vision championed by reformers like Zhu Rongji in the 1990s. Their complaints paint a stark picture of crony-capitalism ossifying to the point where entrenched incumbents become a threat to the future of a prosperous market-oriented China. Are they true? Joining Jeremy Goldkorn to speak about these issues today is James McGregor, former China Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal, chief executive of Dow Jones China's business operations, and Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce. James is also well-known as the author of the book One Billion Customers, and more recently No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers, a in-depth look at the way the Chinese economy has changed over the past several years. Care to subscribe to Sinica via iTunes? Just click on the "Advanced" file menu and select the option "Subscribe to Podcast" from the available choices. When prompted copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box and you're done. We also encourage all listeners to download the Sinica show as a standalone mp3 file for listening or sharing with friends. Enjoy!

Rich Koreans, carnivorous teddy bears and Nazis. Lest anyone think we are oblivious to pop culture, today we are pleased to present an Elementary Chinese lesson on the latest Internet sensation sweeping across China. Also, considering the continued availability of Titanic gear in shops nationwide, we expect to continue hearing about this for at least the next decade, so it doesn't hurt to bone up on it.

June's colleagues had been so eager to set her up with Peter that she had resisted for over a month, coming up first with this excuse and then that one before finally succumbing to at least one date. But now that the two of them were alone together, she wondered why had she waited? He was handsome, and funny and charming. Even the waiters, ever sensitive to the delicacy of unfolding love, had slowly cleared the rest of the guests indoors, leaving the two of them alone on the candlelit terrace. Learning Chinese? Our show today is at the more difficult end of our spectrum when it comes to lessons for absolute beginners. In it, we cover a useful sentence pattern for telling other people how you feel about them... or life in general. But if it is too difficult for you, don't worry. Just hop back to our lesson archive for hundreds of even easier lessons for total beginners to the Chinese language.

Wang Xiaobo is one of the most well-known contemporary Chinese authors. Born and raised in Beijing in the 1950s, Wang was sent down to the countryside as a "rusticated youth" in his late teens where he lived in both Yunnan and Shandong before returning to Beijing in the early 1970s. In the mid-1980s he spent time in the United States doing academic work before returning to Beijing where he gained recognition through the next decade in part for pieces like this one. Although Wang Xiaobo died of a heart attack in the late 1990s, his literary reputation has only continued to grow after his death, surviving in a sizable collection of short essays which are frequently read and often compared to the works of Kafka. Wang also continues to be widely cited as a literary influence by contemporary authors and popular bloggers like Han Han.