John Pomfret first went to China as a student in 1980 and covered the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989 for the Associated Press. He was expelled for his efforts, but returned to Beijing a decade later to head up the Washington Postโs Beijing bureau. For more on his experience and some compelling and little-known stories, listen to the first halfย of this two-part Sinica Podcastย and read our accompanying Sinica backgrounder.
In this weekโs episode, Kaiser and Jeremy continue to talk with John about his new book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom, which charts the history of Americaโs relationship with China. John explains that the countries have been intertwined long before the ping-pong diplomacy often credited for ushering in U.S.-China relations in the early 1970s. You can read the short prologue to Johnโs book, republished with permission here.
Recommendations:
John: The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and The Boat Rocker, by Ha Jin.
Kaiser: The albums Tarkusย and Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends ~ Ladies and Gentlemen, by Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Jeremy: A VICEย videoย on ginseng in the Appalachian Mountains, and The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm,ย translated by Jack Zipes.