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After his controversial involvement with the Tarim mummy excavations in Western Xinjiang, Victor Mair might just be the closest thing Sinology has to Indiana Jones, assuming the fictional Spielberg character was a renowned linguist, translator and popular blogger in addition to his standing as a historian/archeologist. So it can be no surprise that we're delighted to be joined by Victor today for a discussion that delves from the origins of well-known Buddhist texts to digressions on ancient migration patterns, and even a bit of myth-clearing on Chinese romanization. In addition to Victor Mair, joining Sinica hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn for one of the most wide-ranging shows we've done to date is David Moser, a close Sinica friend and Director of the CET immersion program in Beijing. Everyone is very much on their game, and this is a great show for anyone with an interest in Chinese history. So be sure to check out today's show, and please feel welcome to leave your comments in the discussion section below. Want new episodes of Sinica streamed to your computer automatically as soon as they're released? Just subscribe to us on iTunes by clicking on "Subscribe to Podcast" in the Advanced file menu and providing the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica when prompted. We also welcome everyone to download this podcast as a standalone mp3 file, or join us on our Facebook and Twitter communities. And if you have any specific feedback or suggestions for future guests or topics you'd like to hear covered, you can send us an email anytime by writing sinica@popupchinese.com.

At forty-five minutes past the hour Mark was visibly restless, and by a quarter past he was positively pacing. It didn't matter to him that this was a sensitive legal affair involving three major parties across two continents. Considering that Hawkins-Billet was extending its services pro bono - hardly an inexpensive favor - surely it wasn't too much to expect punctuality from the client? Learning mandarin? Our lesson today teaches how to make confident statements about the future using what Brendan refers to as a "prediction sandwich" and the rest of us call the 会... 的 construction. But don't let this grammatical lingo scare you off -- by the end of this lesson you'll have learned a tremendously easy way to make predictions about what will happen. So join us for today's show and if you have any questions, feel free to let us know in our discussion section below.

If you've been following the news, you'll know our title for this show refers to the latest "official crackdown" going on in Beijing: this time aimed at the apparent flood of itinerant foreigners in China to steal money, jobs and women from Yang Rui at CCTV. In unrelated news, if you want to buy some drugs, you can apparently still pick them up at Sanlitun. As far as we can tell, the most immediate effect of all this commotion has been a clampdown on visas issued in Hong Kong and a tightening of the agency system many people rely on to assist with visa applications. But what is likely to happen long-term? This is a topic worth talking about, which is why in today's show Amber, Brendan and Echo take to the studio to chat about public enemy number one. In the process, we cover some of the more useful vocab you can use for talking about these developments with your own friends and colleagues.

This week on Sinica, as the situation in the South China Sea simmers and Chinese society turns noticeably xenophobic, we're pleased to be joined by Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt from the International Crisis Group, a non-governmental organization which has just released a fantastic report on the actors and factors in Chinese policymaking that are contributing to increased tensions in the South China Sea. In contrast with much of the writing on this issue which assumes that China is a unitary actor, this report reveals a more complex picture of competing government agencies. Don’t miss this episode if you're curious about what is really happening in the South China Sea and why. Joining Stephanie in our studio today is another guest we are delighted to have: Jeremiah Jenne, Dean of Chinese Studies at the IES program in Beijing, and the force behind the popular China blog Jottings from the Granite Studio. An expert on Chinese history and observer of current trends, Jeremiah joins us to talk about the recent upsurge in anti-foreign behavior in the Chinese media, including a new social movement encouraging Chinese citizens to turn in illegal foreign residents and workers. Can't get enough of Sinica? Be sure to join us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our show through iTunes to download our latest episodes automatically as they are released. To take care of this manually just click on the option "Subscribe to Podcast" in the "Advanced" file menu of iTunes and provide the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica when prompted. We also encourage everyone to download this show as a standalone mp3 file and share it with friends and colleagues.

Flying into Los Angeles at night was like falling into the stars themselves. Below the plane, the darkened sprawl stretched to the ends of the horizon, the streets bathed in a hundred thousand glimmering lights, flashing and twinkling as the cars on the expressway churned their way home. And welcoming them all was the LAX airport in the distance, its runways framed by strobing lights....

Remember the time you worked for that state-owned auto company and got invited to the annual banquet and said yes and were surprised when everyone started relaxing and having a good time and soon you were even flirting with Xiao Li and thinking it might go somewhere but then the next thing you remember was waking in a pitch-black room with your body wracked in a kind of throbbing scream and your mind seized with visions from Ecclesiastes, wondering how you managed to get from the banquet hall to this place, and where exactly was this place anyway? Let us be frank: it does not take much exposure to China to learn that there are some activities in this country that are not conducive to either learning mandarin or continuing to live. This lesson covers one of those cases, but is also a bit of a dual-use podcast. Because while the mandarin we cover has the potential to get you into trouble, it can also help keep you sane in a different context. So listen up and use your newfound powers for good or evil as you wish.

Joining Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn on Sinica this week are special guests Gady Epstein from the Economist and Ed Wong from the New York Times, here to discuss what has been a surreal two weeks even by Chinese standards, bringing us the spectacle of a blind activist's refuge in the American Embassy in Beijing, the ensuing diplomatic negotiations for his release, and an upsurge of popular Chinese outrage over a maritime dispute with the Philippines. Our guests also chat about "Ferrari-gate" and address the persisting rumors that a tuxedo-clad princeling drove up to the US Ambassadorial residence in a red Ferrari. Enjoy the Sinica podcast? In addition to listening to new episodes through Popup Chinese, we invite all listeners to download and share this recording as a standalone mp3 file. Please also feel welcome to check out all of the other shows in our Sinica archives, or by subscribing to our dedicated iTunes feed. We also welcome your thoughts either in the discussion section below, or on facebook or twitter.

Our lesson today is for absolute beginners to the Chinese language, which means that even if you don't know any Chinese you should still find it accessible enough to pick up some of the basics. In it we cover two useful verbs you can use to tell others what you are thinking and feeling. And as a bonus, we also cover a useful phrase for apologizing in Chinese, either so you can apologize yourself, or so you can demand satisfaction from everyone around you. New to Popup Chinese and not sure what we have in store? This lesson is for absolute beginners to the Chinese language, but if you're a more advanced student don't worry: we have hundreds of lessons at your difficulty level in our Chinese lesson archive. Just create a free account for yourself and you'll get full access totally free of charge. So create your own free account today and let us know what you think of our stuff.

The Monkey King is one of the four classic works of Chinese literature, standing alongside Dream of the Red Chamber, the Water Margin and Three Kingdoms as foundational pillars in Chinese civilization. As such, we are pleased to present this unabridged and manually annotated transcript of the story for advanced students of Chinese literature. If you are starting from scratch, we suggest beginning with part one, which outlines the Chinese creation myth and discusses the mysterious origins of a stone monkey of apparently divine provenance living on a remote Pacific island. As our story settles into straightforward narrative, our attention turns today from this mystic stone monkey to a pack of wild monkeys who live and play further down the mountain on this mysterious Pacific isle. On discovering a wild stream whose waters "gush out like melons", the pack determines to track down the source of the stream and set off up the mountain until they discover a mysterious waterfall set into the face of a cliff. But what curious secret is hidden in this waterfall, and how will . All is revealed in this passage. As with all of our annotated Chinese short stories, we encourage premium subscribers to click through to our text page and read this 16th century classic in the original Chinese. Simply hover your mouse (or tap your touch-sensitive screen) over any character for a popup containing an exact definition of the word in its proper context, along with supplementary notes explaining particularly antiquated turns of phrase. And if you have questions or requests for other short stories you would like to see us annotate in this fashion, please send them by email to service@popupchinese.com.

Our clip today has it all: useful language for subverting the local establishment while showcasing the amazing vocal diversity in mainland film-dubbing circles. And for fun, we're happy to offer useful advice on pronouncing Colin Firth's name at no extra charge. So take a listen. And if you can identify our mystery clip, be sure to write Echo for a chance to win a free month of premium access. Good luck!

The somnolent corpse twitched as the first jolts of electricity seared through its head, trunk and prostrate limbs until wreaths of blue flame arced up and down the leg braces as the voltage faded and the laboratory returned to silence, a silence filled with only the smell of charred flesh and the unspoken question that reached between the two observers, asking if this might finally be the time for the legend to rise again? Our Chinese podcast for today is all about speed, and is filled with some hot-swappable expressions you can use when things start happening faster than you expect. But before you get started with the madness that is today's lesson, if you haven't heard our previous show titled "They Called Me Mad, The Fools" you might want to give it a listen first, since our story picks up where its predecessor left off.

Every language learning program needs at least one lesson on creepy workplace stalking. And by this we mean a lesson filled with useful tips and tricks on how to pickup friends and coworkers without coming across like a creepy stalker. And that's why we've taken special pains to produce this show filled with tips and tricks for maximizing your chances of office romance. And also two really useful prepositions. What more could you want?

We hurriedly cleaned up the studio and tried to set a bit more of a romantic tone this week, a feat accomplished mostly by positioning small candles and trays of potpourri by the microphones. And why else than because our subject today is sex and marriage, and perhaps more of the former than the latter. So join us for a show about who wants it, who gets it, and exactly how far some researchers will go when doing work on the Chinese sex industry. Joining Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn on Sinica this week are Tricia Wang and Christina Larson. Tricia is an up-and-coming ethnographer whose focus is on the lives of China's down-and-out population. Christina is a long-time guest returning to Sinica this week to talk about dating and sex in China, and who we try to convince to give us an advance peek at a forthcoming piece of hers in Foreign Policy. Enjoy Sinica? Since there may be some among you who feel life would be easier if Sinica just showed up automatically on your iPhone each week, we make it possible to subscribe to Sinica through RSS. If you use iTunes, you can do this simply by clicking on the "Advanced" file menu and selecting the option "Subscribe to Podcast". When prompted copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box. Alternately, you're also welcome to download the show as a standalone mp3 file and share it with others.

Even as the Beijing Auto Show prepares to toast the Chinese market with its typical mixture of sex and tech, industry insiders have been stunned by recent news showing the market share of domestic Chinese manufacturers falling relative to their foreign counterparts, a trend that has persisted even in the face of strongly preferential government policies and even overt efforts to push the industry into Chinese hands. In this show, we ask what this failure means for Chinese ambitions to be an international automotive giant, and whether the government is losing its ability to pick favorites in the market? Hosted by Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn, this episode of Sinica features special guest Greg Anderson, a political scientist and expert on the Chinese automobile market whose research involves tracking the differences between state-owned and private automotive companies, and who has found himself right in the middle of this curious puzzle. If you work or track any industry which the Chinese government considers strategic, this show is an absolutely must-listen: take a listen and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below. And if you want more Sinica? To have your computer automate downloading new editions of Sinica as they're released, just subscribe to our show through iTunes. To do this open the Advanced file menu and select the option "Subscribe to Podcast" from the Advanced file menu. Provide the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica when prompted. Or just continue to visit Popup Chinese, and download our shows manually as we release them. The link for this week's show is right here.

Max was still not clear on exactly how his Volvo had ended up stuck in this patch of loose sand somewhere off-road in Utah, and Robert was not being exactly forthcoming about the details. The last thing he could remember was dozing off somewhere by Shiprock, only to be jolted awake by a sort of sliding brake that left them stranded on the side of this dirt road with two wheels spinning in the sand, no cellular signal and not another car in sight. This was a problem they would have to solve themselves. Are you an Absolute Beginner to the Chinese language? If so, our Chinese lesson for today is designed with you in mind. In it, we cover a series of high-frequency phrases you'll hear mainlanders use when they're trying to avoid responsibility or work, and practice expanding it into a more general question asking whether something is possible.