Riding the "Harmony Express" with author Thomas Bird

Barbarians at the Gate

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The Menendez Brothers | Five-Year Plan | 1 43:56

منذ 1 year43:56

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43:56

On August 20th, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their own parents. Until then, this Beverly Hills family had been a portrait of the American Dream. How did it go so wrong? To listen to all four episodes of 'The Menendez Brothers' right now and ad-free, go to IntoHistory.com . Subscribers enjoy uninterrupted listening, early releases, bonus content and more, only available at IntoHistory.com . If you or someone you know is in crisis, there is free help available at mhanational.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

منذ عام واحد 37:42

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In today’s episode, we talk with journalist and travel writer Thomas Bird about his latest book, The Harmony Express.

Entering an uncertain new chapter of his life several years ago, Bird decided to embark on an exploration of the People’s Republic of China via the country’s vast web of railroad lines. In the spiritual footsteps of travel writers such as Paul Theroux (Riding the Iron Rooster and The Great Railway Bazaar), Bird took the trains as his trajectory, exploring and documenting the diverse ethnic, geographical, linguistic, and culinary worlds of China by rail.

With solid Mandarin skills, an intrepid, often foolhardy willingness to immerse himself into unfamiliar surroundings, and an ethnographer’s voracious intellectual appetite for detail, Bird gives the reader vivid accounts of the diverse places and personalities he encounters in his journey.

We also talk about his impetus for writing the book, the evolution of train travel from the 绿皮火车 lüpi huoche “green trains” to the new sci-fi-style bullet trains, and what has changed – and not changed – in China.

Thomas Bird, Harmony Express. (Earnshaw Books, 2023)

Amazon Link

87 حلقات

#Society #Travel #History #Barbarians At The Gate

Riding the "Harmony Express" with author Thomas Bird

Barbarians at the Gate

17 subscribers

published منذ عام واحد

MP3•منزل الحلقة

In today’s episode, we talk with journalist and travel writer Thomas Bird about his latest book, The Harmony Express.

Thomas Bird, Harmony Express. (Earnshaw Books, 2023)

Amazon Link

87 حلقات

#Society #Travel #History #Barbarians At The Gate

كل الحلقات

1
Experiencing the World of Jazz in China 36:55

منذ 3 أيام36:55

36:55

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." David's article on Jazz in Beijing: The Book of Changes: Twenty-five Years in Chinese Jazz Spotify Playlist of Contemporary Chinese Jazz…

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The Challenges of Foreign Reporting in China: An In-Depth Discussion with Jane Perlez 34:56

منذ 24 يومًا34:56

34:56

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منذ 6 weeks38:41

38:41

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منذ 8 weeks33:32

33:32

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منذ 11 weeks37:45

37:45

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منذ 15 weeks41:34

41:34

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منذ 17 weeks34:30

34:30

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منذ 21 weeks44:01

44:01

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منذ 25 weeks29:01

29:01

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منذ 28 weeks39:37

39:37

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منذ 33 weeks36:10

36:10

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منذ 37 weeks36:18

36:18

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منذ 40 weeks39:58

39:58

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منذ 47 weeks33:50

33:50

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1
Seeking News, Making China 37:33

منذ 50 weeks37:33

37:33

In this episode, John Alekna talks about his fascinating new book Seeking News, Making China: Information Technology and the Emergence of Mass Society . In 20 th -century China, the gradual importation and development of information technology had an enormous impact on the way that news was disseminated and accessed by the general public. When radio first appeared in the early 1920s, less than 8 in 1,000 people had access to newspapers, whereas, by the time of the Mao period, hundreds of millions of citizens were receiving daily news and information via radio, TV, and shortwave technology. This book provides an enlightening “meta-historical” account of the evolving communications technologies that fueled the May 4 th movement, KMT and CCP propaganda campaigns during WWII, and the mass information campaigns of the Mao era, such as the Cultural Revolution. The book describes how the various interlocking information technologies, infrastructure, and communication channels – what Alekna calls the “newsscape” – affect popular opinion, politics, and state power. John Alekna is an Assistant Professor of History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at Peking University. The publisher’s link for the book Seeking News, Making China: Information Technology and the Emergence of Mass Society .…

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Barbarians at the Gate « » Riding the "Harmony Express" with author Thomas Bird

Riding the "Harmony Express" with author Thomas Bird

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Riding the "Harmony Express" with author Thomas Bird