Barbarians at the Gate

This week we catch up with Dutch sinologist Manya Koetse, the creator of "What's on Weibo [https://www.whatsonweibo.com/]," a platform offering in-depth insights into trends, events, memes, and social phenomena on Weibo, one of China's largest social media platforms, often dubbed the "Chinese Twitter." As a bridge for non-Chinese-speaking audiences to understand the dynamics of Chinese digital culture, "What's on Weibo" has evolved over the years, recently expanding to include a premium newsletter while maintaining its mission to decode Chinese social media for a global audience. Manya explains Weibo's place in the increasingly fragmented Chinese online environment, and the evolving gender and class demographics of Weibo alongside other platforms such as Bilibili, WeChat, and Xiaohongshu (Red Book). Manya also talks about how Weibo functions as a social barometer of the changing waves of Chinese nationalism, commercialism, social unrest and anti-Western sentiment.

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, Jeremiah speaks with Chris Stewart, the creator of The History of China podcast [https://thehistoryofchina.wordpress.com/]. They discuss Chris's transition from living in Shanghai to returning to Bozeman, Montana, his journey into Chinese history, and the challenges of podcasting. The conversation also touches on the impact of COVID-19, the cultural revolution, and the importance of historical context in understanding current events. Chris shares insights on audience engagement and the evolution of his podcast over the years.

This week, we explore a topic close to our hearts: the world of jazz in China. Jeremiah and David bring their respective musical experience to the table—Jeremiah as a rock and blues keyboardist, and David as an active pianist in Beijing's jazz scene. David takes us back to his experiences in the 1980s, a period of renaissance for jazz in Beijing, when Chinese rock musicians began to discover—or rediscover—this intricate Western genre. During China's early "Reform and Opening Up" era, musicians with little prior exposure to jazz and scarce recordings embarked on the challenging journey of mastering its fundamentals: the elusive "swing" rhythm, the art of improvisation over complex harmonies, and the pursuit of a unique musical "voice." For them, jazz represented a liberating contrast to the structured pop music of their youth, offering a sense of artistic freedom and boundless creativity. David reports that a new generation of post-millennial jazz musicians has emerged who, having grown up with the genre, are quickly ascending to world-class status, gracing stages at prestigious international festivals. In a previous podcast, we covered the origins of the jazz scene in 1920s Shanghai in our interview with Marketus Presswood about his award-winning documentary "Yellow Jazz, Black Music." [https://blubrry.com/barbarians/81109224/yellow-jazz-black-music-with-marketus-presswood/] David's article on Jazz in Beijing: The Book of Changes: Twenty-five Years in Chinese Jazz [https://theanthill.org/jazz] Spotify Playlist of Contemporary Chinese Jazz [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71JYFNfQr3ObHvZeOtfyTv?si=07500a95adb844a0]

In this episode of 'Barbarians at the Gate,' hosts Jeremiah Jenne and David welcome Jane Perlez, former Beijing bureau chief for the New York Times, to discuss the evolving challenges of reporting from China. Jane shares her experiences from her tenure in Beijing (2012-2019), where she served as bureau chief for the New York Times. She describes the gradual erosion of press freedom, the increasing difficulties foreign journalists face under Xi's leadership, including the expulsion of journalists in 2018, and the ongoing obstacles that news assistants working for foreign media encounter in China. The conversation explores how reporters have had to adopt creative strategies to conduct investigative journalism, given the current lack of direct reporting from within the country. Additionally, Jane discusses her latest podcast project, 'Face Off: The US vs. China,' which examines the dramatic deterioration of U.S.-China relations in the 21st century. FACE-OFF: The US vs. CHINA [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/face-off-the-u-s-vs-china/id1734890307] The Great Wager [https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/02/07/the-great-wager-podcast] On the Trail of Xi Jinping [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-trail-of-xi] China Books Review, Graham Peck: Two Kinds of Time [https://chinabooksreview.com/2025/01/21/archive-peck/] reviewed by Jeremiah

Happy Year of the Snake! In this archive episode from January 2024, we chat with Andrew Stokols, who is researching varieties of digital urbanism globally, with an emphasis on China. We briefly compare notes on the urban development of Beijing in the 21st century, including the contradictions between Beijing as a technologically advanced urban center and an ancient capital city. Andrew also provides updates on the progress of Xiong’an, the digital “smart city” being constructed in Hebei province, as a showcase for Xi Jinping’s vision for urban development. The urban plan was initially unveiled in 2017 to relieve pressure on Beijing and promote the coordinated regional development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, but what Xi has called a “thousand-year plan of national significance” has run into numerous setbacks and controversy. We also hear from Andrew about how the Party is merging Marxist ideology with traditional Chinese culture in recent urban architectural projects, particularly the mammoth National Archives of Publications and Culture (Zhongguo guojia banbenguan 中国国家版本馆), described as a “seed bank” of Chinese civilization. These mammoth archives, being constructed in the four geographically significant locations of Beijing, Hangzhou, Xi’an, and Guangzhou, will house original and digitized editions of imperial archives such as the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries (the Siku quanshu四库全书), as well as historical artifacts, music, and literature from the Mao era, thus effecting the goal of “two combines” (liangge jiehe 两个结合), Xi Jinping’s goal of “combining Marxist theory with China’s outstanding traditional culture.” Andrew's own online archive: https://www.andrewstokols.com/