ChiaChieh Tang ๅๅฎถๅฉ, who also goes by Jane, is a Taiwanese reporter who works as the U.S. bureau chief for Sina Newsย (ๆฐๆตชๆฐ้ป xฤซnlร ng xฤซnwรฉn) in Washington, D.C. She is one of a few members of the mainland Chinese media who regularly attend the White Houseโs daily press briefings.
In this podcast, Jeremy and Kaiser ask about her experiences attending the infamous Sean Spicer press sessions, being a Taiwanese person working for a mainland media company, and her observations of Chinese reactions to the Trump administration. Jane gives insight into how Chinese media coverage of Trump changed after he took office, what it was like to interview the presidentโs in-house China basher Peter Navarro, and that time she hopped in a cab with a pair of โBernie bros.โ
Recommendations:
Jeremy:ย The Mรกlร Projectย (้บป่พฃ่ฎกๅ mรกlร jรฌhuร ), a restaurant in New York that serves wonderfully spicy Sichuanese โdry potโ dishes. Also, a (sadly now defunct) Twitter account called burnedyourtweet, which, while active, posted a video of a robot printing out and burning every one of Donald Trumpโs tweets.
Jane:ย Granny and the Boys, a band in Washington, D.C., that frequently performs at the Showtimeย dive bar in the Shaw district. Its style of funk fusion is no less remarkable than the fact that the band is made up of an 84-year-old grandma and four middle-aged men. Click hereย to read about and listen to the band on NPR (true to grandma form, this band rolls without a website of its own).
Kaiser:ย The Handmaidโs Tale, an updated but faithful TV adaptation of Margaret Atwoodโs classic book about a totalitarian theocracy in America.