@whatsthis,

Thanks for taking the time to write such a lengthy comment. I want to reply in detail since there are some important points here, but first a word in defense of Sinica.

By creating a space for adult discussion of current affairs in China and being willing to speak openly and opinionatedly about them, Kaiser, Jeremy, Bill, Gady and everyone else involved are doing us a big favor by helping to dis-infantilize media coverage of China at some personal risk. There is a patronizing subtext to a lot of media reporting on China. I don't agree with Kaiser on all of his positions (I'm much more pessimistic about the extent of corruption outside Beijing) and think Gady is far too hard on Krugman (look at U6, Gady!), but that isn't the point. Sinica is a breath of fresh air and we are proud to support it.

Otherwise, you're right that there have been less advanced materials since January. Part of the reason is that we've been expanding our archive of more elementary and beginner materials, and part is that we tend to throw out stuff we don't think is good enough, and that hit our podcasts at the high end from January to March. As mentioned in last Monday's podcast, we do have more advanced podcasts coming up that will feature more substantive discussions with a broader range of guests. And the next installment of The Monkey King will also be released shortly. If you have any suggestions for other topics or stories you'd like covered, please send them to us at service@popupchinese.com. We take requests.

Ideally, I'd like us to release materials at all difficulty levels every week. In the meantime, we are growing and the amount of work we are doing is expanding. That said, we are still a small and self-funded organization competing against organizations with significant amounts of venture investment and government funding. Despite this, I don't think we are actually disadvantaged in comparison. The other sites of which I'm aware have some good resources for learning Chinese, but they don't teach Chinese the way it is actually spoken.I can't think of a single other podcast that actually uses the standard dialect or even proper erhua-ization. One standard line you'll hear is that erhua-ization is the "Beijing dialect". This is appallingly wrong. Other sites are also far too expensive. For roughly the cost of a premium membership at a company like ChinesePod, someone can get three months of one-on-one tutoring at Popup Chinese. And our content is better!

The approach most other companies take is to charge high prices, spend significantly on advertising and branding and attempt to position their products as exclusive learning methods in order to justify an exhorbitant price tag. Our general bias is to produce a variety of free and high quality lessons and tools, and lower prices as we grow in order to make what we're doing affordable for people who really want to learn. We can afford to do this because we are smaller and are less commercial in the sense that money isn't our primary motivation for what we are doing: our vision of where we're going is driven mostly by our own experiences learning Chinese as well as the feedback we get from everyone here. This is the same reason we're proud to support Sinica -- we think it is important that this sort of discussion exist.

All that being said, if you want to help us improve Popup Chinese, the best thing is to continue to be vocal about your suggestions for improvements, as above. We already have hundreds upon hundreds of podcasts and hundreds more HSK tests, etc. so there are already massive resources here for anyone seriously interested in learning Chinese. And we're always developing more. We will make a greater effort to have more regular advanced content if you've noticed a lack of it. The next version of our site is set for a September launch and development is already underway, which makes this a good time to make other suggestions as well.

Thanks again,

--david

I pondered for a while whether to post this comment, seeing as it doesn't tell you anything you don't already know.

Firstly, I love Sinica; the discussions are fascinating and pretty well-balanced. Thanks Kaiser and the rest of the guests!

I've got to say though that I'm feeling the lack of Intermediate lessons. Maybe June has just been a busy month for you guys?

Basically, I just wanted to say that I love the site but if there's any way you can put more Intermediate lessons up....The site's other features are great but I subscribed mostly for the podcasts

The dearth of intermediate and advanced podcasts lately is entirely my fault -- I've been out of town or otherwise unavailable for recording, which has slowed things down considerably. Dave and Echo and company have been doing the best they can to make up for my truancy. I'll be back in Beijing in a couple of weeks and look forward to recording a massive bolus of intermediate and advanced content then -- in the meantime, please hold tight and accept my sincere apologies.

I will chime in as a beginner-intermediate student. That hyphen indicates that I am indeed a beginner, but long to consider myself intermediate, but still can't objectively justify it based on HSK or TOP scores.

Anyway, wanted to share a few thoughts on the site for general consideration

- The quality of the content and the price to value ratio are both outstanding in my opinion. After spending several semesters in classroom at a local university, I find studying here far more efficient, cost effective, convenient and engaging. Therefore, not changing a darn thing would be just fine.

- Love the Sinica podcasts. I use them as little reward for myself after slugging thru the latest HSK disaster. My only regret is that they have bumped Film Friday from the rotation, which was a great format for language learning.

- The audio readings that accompany the reading comprehension HSK exercises were a great addition. Listening comprehension is key.

- I am not a fan personally of KTV Wednesdays, but wouldn't mind having some of the music that PPCh uses posted on the site. The lead in for the Sinica podcasts would be nice to hear in its entirety. So too some of the traditional Chinese fare that introduces some lessons.

I guess that's it - thanks again for a great product.

@roseyzu,

Here's the link to the Onion page mentioned in the podcast. I remember they changed the header for that week too, although it seem to be the normal one. Lots of great pieces, my personal favourite it probably "American Consumer Masses Agree: It Fish Time!"

Cheers,

--david