This week, Kaiser Kuo hosts a discussion all about China's best-known gadflies: artist-cum-activist Ai Weiwei and writer, auto racer and blogger Han Han. So join us as we talk about who both of these public figures are and why they've gained so much attention both inside China and in the foreign press. We'll look at how both are perceived domestically and abroad, talk about why they haven't been silenced the way other equally vocal critics have been, and ask if it even makes sense to speak of them in the same breath. Following this, we close with a quick discussion of the Wangjialing mine rescue you've read all about in the newspapers.

Our guests this week are Austin Ramzy, Beijing-based correspondent with Time magazine, and Will Moss, public relations expert and author of the blog Imagethief. We also have contributions from Charlie Custer, publisher of the translation blog China Geeks, and Gady Epstein, Beijing bureau chief for Forbes magazine, who remembers his first interview with Han Han back in December 2002. Finally, Sinica regular Jeremy Goldkorn, editor of Danwei.org, helps put both stories in an international perspective.

If you enjoy this podcast, be sure to give us your take on things either in the comment section, or by writing us at sinica@popupchinese.com. And remember, to subscribe to the Sinica show through RSS, just open up iTunes, click on the "Advanced" menu and select "Subscribe to Podcast". When prompted, copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box. Those of you who'd like to download this mp3 directly from our site can also grab it as a standalone mp3 file. Enjoy!
 said on
April 16, 2010
For an enthralling account of A.W.W and co.'s experience in Chengdu while attempting to attend a friend and colleague's trial in 2009, check out this video documentary with English subtitles at CDT.

Great chance to learn some new legal and bureaucratic red tape vocab. Also, much respect to A.W.W and the "5 pack a day smoking" 7 ft tall beast of a legal consul.
 said on
April 16, 2010
Guys. These are great.
Mark Lesson Studied