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After a long and hot July marked by the near-absence of most of our guests, Sinica host Kaiser Kuo is pleased to be back this week leading a discussion of the recent accident on the high-speed Hangzhou-Wenzhou rail line, an accident that has shattered public confidence in the rail system and undermined one of the most public symbols of China's economic and technical resurgence. And while we don't want to downplay the human tragedy involved, we do have to ask: why all the fuss? After an abortive attempt to quite literally bury the accident, the state has acquisced to an explosion of public indignation over the accident. The outcry has become particularly visible on microblogging site Sina Weibo, and raises the question of why? Is this a sign of a general loosening of propaganda controls, a greater radicalization of the Chinese middle class, or perhaps even an internal power struggle within the arms of the Community Party. This week we consider the evidence for all these interpretations. Also up for discussion is the question of what will happen to Sina Weibo? Leading away from the rail accident, we ask if China's answer to Twitter has become too big to censor and wonder about the future for the platform. We also take a look at a controversial article by David Sedaris and ask, has the popular humorist lost his sense of humour, or have we?

Every now and then someone writes us asking for the "hottest hotpot in Beijing", which is actually one of the easiest questions to answer: if you're a glutton for punishment go to Guijie and check out a restaurant called Kong Liang (孔亮). This restaurant is across the street from Little Sheep and its hot broth tastes like nothing so much as molten rock, so if you're looking to impress someone or simply want to end it all, this is your best bet. And a note of warning... today's Chinese podcast is towards the upper-end of our difficulty spectrum when it comes to elementary lessons. If you're new to Chinese you'll have trouble understanding everything the first time around: our dialogue pushes forward at native speed and has a lot of colloquial expressions. That said, the sentences themselves are fairly short, so once you know what is going on, you should find it easy to follow along.

Given that Friends was such a popular sitcom in the United States, you probably won't be surprised to hear the show picked up a massive following in China as well. But how much of the show did its Chinese audience really understand? While we're not ready to say that everything got lost in translation, we'll be blunt: when we sent our voice actors into the studio to give us an intermediate dialogue inspired by the show, this is what they came up with.... Learning Chinese? While we normally like beginners, God help you if this is your first Chinese lesson ever. Our dialogue today is good for learning how to greet friends in casual mandarin, and how to make suggestions in a less formal tone than you might be used to, but if you're just getting started you might find the pace a bit fast. And yet there's no need to panic. If this is too fast for you just dig through our archive of easy Chinese lessons for something a bit slower.

Much like swimming in the surging waters that flushed out the Augean Stables, shopping at IKEA in Beijing means surrendering yourself to divine will and being carried helplessly along in a wave of Chinese shoppers intent on clearing out everything in their path. Sofas, dining sets, mattresses and jigsaw-shaped foam carpets? Nothing stands a chance once the doors of Beijing's furniture behemoth swing open to the milling crowds. And good luck getting home delivery.... Learning Chinese? While we assume you're here because you don't want to sound inarticulate in mandarin, it never hurts to know exactly how to sound inarticulate like a native. And that's why Brendan and Gail take to our studio today to share their own disaster stories about furniture shopping in Beijing, and pass along some tips on how to buy time in Chinese when you're not sure what to say next.