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This week on Sinica, Jeremy and David are joined by Donald Clarke, professor at George Washington University where he specializes in Chinese law, for a discussion of what is happening with the Zhou Yongkang corruption scandal, as well as ongoing events in the 4th Plenary Session. Although you may not have heard of his name, we are fairly sure you'll have run into his work, seeing as Professor Clarke founded and maintains ChinaLaw, the leading English-language Internet resource for discussing legal issues in China. As always, before we go let us remind you that - in addition to listening through our site and RSS feed - you are warmly invited to download this show as a standalone mp3 file. And if you have questions or suggestions about the show or want to contact us by email, please feel free to write us at sinica@popupchinese.com and we'll do our best to get back to you in a timely fashion.

This week on Sinica, we’re delighted to welcome back the stalwart Mr. Gady Epstein, Beijing correspondent for The Economist, to discuss the recent protests in Hong Kong, as well as the flux in China's suicide rates. And specifically, we’ll be looking at the similarities and differences in the stories told by officials and rural women on this front. Enjoy Sinica? Just remember that if you have trouble listening to the show through our on-site player, you are always welcome to download this show as a standalone mp3 file. All listeners are also welcome to subscribe to this and future shows using iTunes, which can be hooked up to our decidated RSS feed. Inquiries and suggestions for future show topics or guests are also welcome by email at sinica@popupchinese.com.

Did you ever thumb through a fresh copy of City Weekend and wonder why the Readers' Choice Award for Creepiest Park in Beijing has been awarded to Jingshan Park every year since the mid-1660s? In this episode, Megan squares off with returning champion Zhiqiang to answer this as well as questions on rehab and earth's diminishing dolphin population. Normally, Megan and Joakeem are trapped in a discussion on how to define their relationship but during Quiz Night this week they stay off that topic for 16 uninterrupted minutes of bliss. Learning Chinese? The Popup Chinese Quiz Night is easy-to-digest mixed-language edutainment for intermediate learners. Our goal is offering up stimulating high-level vocabulary that can help you hone your listening comprehension and vocab while havng fun, or at least enjoying the warm feeling of knowing that your Chinese is better than that of the Swedish guy who is hosting the show.

This week on Sinica, we're happy to welcome back Jeremy Goldkorn in conversation with David Weeks, founder and president of the National High School Debate League of China, a debating society currently established in twenty-seven cities throughout China. Join us as we discuss the history and current state of debate activities here in China and look into the role that these kind of groups play in promoting critical thinking in the Chinese education system. Enjoy Sinica? If you'd like Kaiser and crew to show up automatically in iTunes or on your phone whenever we publish a new episode of Sinica, you can subscribe to Sinica manually by selecting the option "Subscribe to Podcast" from the File menu in iTunes and providing the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica when prompted. Or you can download this show directly from our server as a standalone mp3 file for listening yourself or sharing with friends. Enjoy!

是不是生活中总能遇到一些让你困惑不解、茫然无措的人和事？总有那么一些不可思议的人和事让你无语、无奈、甚至抓狂、崩溃，但也哭笑不得？很多时候我们选择了一笑而过。毕竟，林子大了，什么鸟儿都有。在这个多元化的社会里，那些奇闻趣事也不失为我们茶余饭后的谈资。也毕竟，怪圈里怎能没有奇葩？

This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are joined by Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal of Tsinghua Fuzhong Affiliated High School and author of Creative China, for a discussion of the education system in China. Specifically, we’re curious to find out how China’s education system ranks internationally, how the politics of education play out here, and all the unscrupulous top-down planning that goes into modernizing Confucian education while maintaining political orthodoxy. Have ideas? Once you're done listening, please feel welcome to share your thoughts in the comments section, or by writing us at sinica@popupchinese.com. Also remember, you can subscribe to the Sinica show through RSS by opening up iTunes, clicking on the "Advanced" menu and selecting the option "Subscribe to Podcast". Copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box when prompted. Or download this show as a standalone mp3 file.

Xiao Zhang loved his job. Even that time he fractured his arm at the water cooler, it wasn't until the pain began to trigger hallucinations that he even thought of going to the hospital. And then there was the day he had a spinal fracture and laughed it off until the company owner personally strapped him to a spinal board and ferried him to the emergency room. So a bruise? This was nothing. Hardly even visible. Learning Chinese? And confused by our lesson photo this week? While we're willing to admit that this lesson doesn't have much to do with a hammer, all of the photos of bruises that we could find were offputting. And this lesson is going to live in our archives for a long time. So everyone gets a hammer instead. Consider it one degree of separation from our topic this week, and considerably better looking.

This week on Sinica, Jeremy Goldkorn and David Moser turn their attention to vice, in conversation with Robert Foyle Hunwick, a media consultant and editor for BeijingCream.com. We talk about everything naughty that happens here, with special attention to the nightlife scene. Jumping around Southeast Asia, Robert gives a bit of dirt on the many vices of the night elsewhere in Asia. Enjoy listening to Sinica? If you find listening to our show through the online flash player discomfiting, remember that you are always welcome to download it as a standalone mp3 file. Suggestions for and feedback on the show are always welcome in our comments section, or by email at sinica@popupchinese.com.

After years in the metaphorical wilderness, the Society of Anarchists had finally gathered enough funds to purchase their printing press. Tucked away covertly below the buildings of parliament, the machine stood as a symbol of intellectual resistance within the very halls of a power. Its presence would spark a revolution in dissent and art both, and draw the ire of the very political establishment whose ideology it mocked.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy grab Ananth Krishnanin, correspondent for India's national newspaper The Hindu, and drag him into our studio for a discussion of the state of Sino-Indian relations. In particular, we're curious why Sino-Indian relations seem to have warmed up after the election of Narendra Modi despite the new Prime Minister's seemingly nationalist agenda. Enjoy Sinica? Even if you can't find India or China on the map, we'd still love to hear your suggestions on important topics you'd like to hear covered. So if there's a topic you'd like to hear us cover, send us an email at sinica@popupchinese.com and let us know. And please also feel welcome to download this show as a standalone mp3 file, or subscribe to our list of shows using our custom RSS feed.

Having spent the weekend puttering around Chaoyang hospital listening to the groans of the infected, certain members of our staff would like to suggest that a priority for the next Fifth Year Plan be fixing the vending machines in all major health centers, so that at least some of this world's inevitable pain and suffering can be partially offset by the ready availability of fresh caffeine mixed with high-fructose corn syrup. Learning Chinese? In previous lessons we've taught you the difference between 才 and 就. Most textbooks stop there, but we've decided to plow on with this lesson that is going to confuse things even more, by showcasing a specific case in which the two characters are actually used to mean exactly the same thing. Just think of this as one of those times when Chinese decides to kick you in the teeth... for fun.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy are delighted to be joined by Isolda Morillo, a Peruvian journalist for the Associated Press whose life story is as interesting as they come. Growing up in Beijing in the 1980s, where she attended local schools, Isolda went on to attend university in South America before launching a career in journalism which has taken her to Cuba, France and the United States as well as back to China. Enjoy listening to Sinica? If you find listening to our show through the online flash player discomfiting, remember that you are always welcome to download it as a standalone mp3 file. Alternately, if you want to let iTunes do all of the work, feel free to subscribe to our dedicated RSS feed. Suggestions for and feedback on the show are always welcome in our comments section, or by email at sinica@popupchinese.com.

This week at Popup Chinese, we take you behind the scenes of a recording session as Grace and Li Zhiqiang struggle to coax a decent performance out of a new voice actor. This is a fairly difficult intermediate show, but if you've been listening to us for a while, we think you'll like it. Not only does it help show what our recording sessions are usually like, but it provides a good excuse for talking about some of the less obvious words and phrases Chinese people use to describe more complex emotions.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy are joined once again by Leta Hong Fincher, newly-minted Ph.D. and author of Leftover Women, a book which gazes into the state of women's rights in China, and documents the way state-sanctioned propaganda, family-driven social pressures and legal customs in things like the housing market all effectively conspire to roll back much of the progress on gender equality China has made over the last twenty years. So we talk about that, and then about misogynistic Internet trolls, and what it's like to do a doctorate at Tsinghua University. Have thoughts? Once you've done listening, please feel welcome to share your thoughts in the comments section, or by writing us at sinica@popupchinese.com. Also remember, you can subscribe to the Sinica show through RSS by opening up iTunes, clicking on the "Advanced" menu and selecting the option "Subscribe to Podcast". Copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box when prompted. Or download this show directly from our site as a standalone mp3 file.

Sarah had struggled for years with her company's internship program, which seemed to saddle her each year with marginally less competent and marginally more slack-jawed members of the local student population. Yet while the interns had never been exactly productive, Jared was in a class of his own....