This week on Sinica, we go to the Olympics in recognition of what is unarguably the biggest story coming out of London: the spectacular performance of Chinese swimming sensation Ye Shiwen and the subsequent allegations of doping and anti-competitive behavior by the international and particularly American media which has - unsurprisingly - prompted a defensive backlash throughout the Chinese Internet.Beyond the various Olympic scandals, we also turn our attention to other China stories that have slipped more unnoticed in the press. Hosting our discussion this week is Jeremy Goldkorn. We are delighted to have him joined in our studios this week by Will Moss, popular blogger and founder of Imagethief. Also in our studio for his first time on the show is Andrew Jacobs, whose name discerning readers will recognize as a leading China correspondent for the New York Times.Trying to keep current on all things China? Sinica is a regular podcast covering the lastest news worth knowing about the China scene. And while you can always download our shows as standalone mp3 files, if you like the show and want your computer to download new episodes automatically, remember that you can subscribe manually in iTunes by selecting "Subscribe to Podcast" from your "Advanced" file menu and providing the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica when prompted. Let us know if you have any problems.
lz
said on August 3, 2012
So, where is the standalone MP3 link this week?
trevelyan
said on August 3, 2012
Added. Sorry for missing it earlier.--david
wgj
said on August 3, 2012
I was listening to the podcast on a bike ride, and I missed the introduction of the guests at the beginning. I recognized Mr. Moss' voice, but the other guy was unknown to me. And when the podcast progressed, I was increasingly getting the impression, "Wow, this guy really buys into all those superficial anti-China shit you read in the main stream western media!"Now, I come back to see who the guys is, and low and behold, he turns out to be one of the ignorant hacks *writing* all those superficial anti-China shit *for* the main stream western media! Figures...How sad is that the NYT has people like Ed Wong, but the ones in charge of the China reporting are the likes of Wines, LaFraniere and Jacobs?
pwangloop
said on August 4, 2012
Will John Leonard, NBC, and the American media make the same accusation against Katie Ledecky after her similar phenomenal swim?The double standard and hypocrisy is stunning and just plain gross.If Andrew Jacobs thinks that race didn't have anything to do with it....he's kidding himself.
TH28
said on August 4, 2012
The Sinica Week segment seems very clunky on the podcast, but produces a good Danwei post each week. Compared to the recommendations section, where everyone knows what they want to talk about, and others comment on that, this section seems to catch the guests by surprise, and Jeremy is left trying to summarise random thoughts at the end.Could you just discuss what is topical, without reference to specific articles (I would happily follow Danwei's recommendations on that), and without a strange elimination process at the end? The middle segment, on the main topic of the week, is becoming noticeably shorter when squeezed between Articles and Recommendations.
zjv5002
said on August 4, 2012
Agree with the above post about the Sinica Week segment being clunky.
Sinica
said on August 4, 2012
For links to the specific pieces mentioned in this podcast, we've just put up the write-up on Danwei here.
jeremy
said on August 6, 2012
Thanks TH28 and zjv5002 for your comments. I highly appreciate constructive feedback.
sjc
said on August 7, 2012
This episode is still not appearing in the feed (http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica). I'm not getting it on my phone because of this. Can you please look into this? I really want to listen to it! Thanks.
rorym123
said on August 8, 2012
@Sinica Hi, you posted "For links to the specific pieces mentioned in this podcast, we've just put up the write-up on Danwei here."But the hyperlink isn't to Danwei, but loops back to this post: http://popupchinese.com/lessons/sinica/yeah-she-wins-sinica-at-the-olympics
lisarr
said on August 8, 2012
I am not having success with the subscription download through iTunes. Any suggestions? Thanks for the podcasts!I sometimes find the volume low, but it varies.
Bourim
said on August 8, 2012
First comment:Sinica is awesome! I live in Shanghai and I don't remember conversations this interesting even when I was studying this poop. - Quemment: Olympics becoming outdated form of soft power (paraphrasing).I think it's too early to tell, I think there are many people that take it very seriously. The fact that arguably the financial capital of the world fought to get the chance to blow a ton of money of this in itself is a argument in its favor. Don't you think just Beijing's crazy-awesome opening ceremony is evidence of its importance?Honestly, I agree with you but I think its due to many of us being (jaded) expats without much of nationalistic spirit that we don't find much interest in the olympics.
zjv5002
said on August 8, 2012
Agree with Bourin's point about the importance/popularity of the Olympics. Don't forget that national pride in Yao Ming has had much to do with Chinese interest in Jeremy's counterexample, the NBA. The Olympics will get a makeover at the point ratings necessitate a makeover. Until then, it's hard not to think the games (financially, at least) successful.
