Aw, bummed I didn't hear the call out, otherwise I would have sent some more weird and wonderful questions for you!

Good show as always guys (especially the two stories at the end!), Happy New Year and all the best for 2015.

I don't understand how Jeremy, like so many other commentators, can say with a straight face that Xi Jinping hasn't touched a single princeling in his anti-corruption campaign, when the very first, and so far most prominent case in Xi's presidency was that of Bo Xilai. Do people have collective amnesia or something?

Sure, you can argue that the Bo case is political, but any high profile case, in fact any corruption case is political; you can argue the Bo case is not about corruption, but it was at least on paper, and nobody has provided any evidence (or anything close to it) that the corruption charges are trumped up; you can argue Bo is a unique case, but every case of this high profile would be unique; you can even argue that Bo is an outlier, but it is commonly agreed that he is representative of a significant section of the princeling fraction.

At the very least, you have to acknowledge the Bo case, and not just pretend there was nothing there.

@jeremy, @wgj,

The discussion reminded me of the US state department cables published by Wikileaks. Accurate or not, they seem to portray Xi as purposefully clean out of political ambition and a lack of need for money, but also a fundamental elitist, i.e.:

<blockquote>

After years of conversations with Xi, and having shared a common upbringing with him, the professor said, he is convinced that Xi has a genuine sense of "entitlement," believing that members of his generation are the "legitimate heirs" to the revolutionary achievements of their parents and therefore "deserve to rule China." For this reason, the professor maintained, Xi could never be a "true member" of current President Hu Jintao's camp, even if Xi did not give any indication of opposition to Hu Jintao now. Xi and other first-generation princelings derisively refer to people with non-Party, non-elite, commercial backgrounds like Hu Jintao as "shopkeepers' sons," whose parents did not fight and die for the revolution and therefore do not deserve positions of power.

</blockquote>

Also:

<blockquote>

Xi knows how very corrupt China is and is repulsed by the all-encompassing commercialization of Chinese society, with its attendant nouveau riche, official corruption, loss of values, dignity, and self-respect, and such "moral evils" as drugs and prostitution, the professor stated. The professor speculated that if Xi were to become the Party General Secretary, he would likely aggressively attempt to address these evils, perhaps at the expense of the new moneyed class.

</blockquote>

<a href="http://www.wikileaks.org/cable/2009/11/09BEIJING3128.html">http://www.wikileaks.org/cable/2009/11/09BEIJING3128.html</a>

Great show! Felt like there was a surprise with every new question, and those stories about Michael Jackson's back-up band and the red-headed aggressive drunk... just classic. I think I speak for many when I say, more stories like those, please!

I have a reading suggestion for the person with the chess-related question, and possibly Sinica could have the author as guest in a future episode? The book is technically on weiqi, but I've been told it covers more than that:

Marc L. Moskowitz

Go Nation: Chinese Masculinities and the Game of Weiqi in China

University of California Press, 2013

<a href="http://newbooksineastasianstudies.com/2014/03/02/marc-l-moskowitz-go-nation-chinese-masculinities-and-the-game-of-weiqi-in-china-university-of-california-press-2013/">http://newbooksineastasianstudies.com/2014/03/02/marc-l-moskowitz-go-nation-chinese-masculinities-and-the-game-of-weiqi-in-china-university-of-california-press-2013/</a>

Additionally, for all things game-related in China, I usually ask a colleague of mine, Maggie Greene, who is a gamer and has also written about mahjong before. She has also taught undergraduate courses on gaming. This is her blog, she's also on Twitter:

<a href="http://www.mcgreene.org/">http://www.mcgreene.org/</a>

(You might remember Maggie as the one who dug up the early 1980s Star Wars lianhuanhua on Kongfz: <a href="http://www.mcgreene.org/archives/296">http://www.mcgreene.org/archives/296</a>)

Finally, I myself research tiyu in the early PRC and can say with some certainty that chess in any form is not only not new in China, but that chess experts from the Soviet Union were probably helping train chess "athletes" in the 1950s... Also, Chen Yi was a big fan of Xiaqi. Lots of photos of him playing it back then.

In any case, Happy new year!

I love this site and your podcasts. I just joined as a supporting member. I'm will be adding you to my new list of resources on my blog. Keep up the great work.

James@lostinchinese.com