How the zero-Covid policy became untenable: A deep dive

[abcdefg]

Just listened to a refreshingly-thorough deep dive into how the zero-Covid policy eventually became untenable. It's a one-hour podcast with Chris Hayes as host and Bill Bishop as guest. Bishop is a respected China commentator, not just a "talking head" and it shows. The first 20 minutes or so also provide a good look into the Presidency of Xi Jin Ping and how he evolved into arguably the strongest leader since Chairman Mao.  Rise to power, consolidation of power. They go into that as a preamble to discussing the official Covid response; to provide some insight into how he could pull it off. Intense material, very little "fluff."

 

https://why-is-this-happening-with-chris-hayes.simplecast.com/episodes/what-the-end-of-zero-covid-in-china-means-with-bill-bishop-fjJ0HqJj?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email 

 

 

[malazann]

thanks i needed some new podcast material since all my regulars are on break / have less content. 
I think we all kinda wondered what CCP's endgame was with regard to covid zero, because it was never going to be viable long-term. 

On a slight tangent, I recently came across this podcast episode (in chinese) that talks to a few of the "Ürümqi/covid protestors". https://www.bumingbai.net/2022/11/ep-027-china-protestors/  - 不明白播客 。 for anyone interested. the protestors's voices are altered slightly so its a nice side-challenge. 

It's a bit surreal to listen to protestors having to digitally alter their voices and talk about whether they are "scared" of any retaliation by the State. But it was also really nice to hear directly from a few of them

 

[abcdefg]

On 1/3/2023 at 5:51 PM, malazann said:

for anyone interested. the protestors's voices are altered slightly so its a nice side-challenge. 

 

The host sure does speak clearly. It's a pleasure to listen to her talking during the intro. The voice alterations to conceal the identity of the guests make most of it pretty hard going for me, but it's an interesting subject. Thanks! 

 

抗议者 is an important addition to everyday vocabulary for recent years. Don't ever remember seeing it in any of my textbooks! 

[malazann]

On 1/4/2023 at 12:48 PM, abcdefg said:

he host sure does speak clearly. It's a pleasure to listen to her talking during the intro.

I read the about page of the podcast and its a really admirable project. they are a "small group of journalists trying to bring the private conversations in China into the public", with no (or less) censorship.

Profile / Twitter @LiYuan6- the host seems like a pretty big journo as well, with 82k followers

[Woodford]

On 1/3/2023 at 5:51 PM, malazann said:

不明白播客

That’s one of my favorite podcasts! The content is often interesting and controversial, and Li Yuan is indeed easy to understand. Her guests (especially the digitally modified ones) can vary in terms of clarity, as you suggested. Some of the clearer episodes make good practice. I just listened to the episode about “the last generation.” Listening to Podcasts has been torture in my early years of learning, but I’m slowly starting to understand them well enough.

[alantin]

On 1/4/2023 at 3:36 PM, Woodford said:

On 1/4/2023 at 1:51 AM, malazann said:

不明白播客

That’s one of my favorite podcasts! The content is often interesting and controversial, and Li Yuan is indeed easy to understand.

 

Wow! Thanks for the tip! I just listened the episode about 润学与最后一代 and it was extremely interesting! They all also talked really clearly and I actually really couldn't tell if the guests' voices had been altered or not.. (Edit. Ok I listened to the end of it with headphones while walking the dog.. I guess it's pretty clearly altered. My car speakers clearly aren't too good.. ?) Also those kids blew me away! I certainly wasn't thinking about what kind of an education I would be able to give to a child or discussing things like that at that age! ? I've had my share of hurdles, but I really felt sheltered after listening to that!

 

Do you guys have any other controversial recommendations?

[malazann]

On 1/5/2023 at 12:36 AM, Woodford said:

That’s one of my favorite podcasts!

i stole the reccommendation from a thread on this forum ? (the podcast rec thread?). so whomever that was, thanks a ton!

and I am a dummy because I just noticed that the site has a link to a nicely formatted transcript. what legends

[alantin]

On 1/5/2023 at 1:06 AM, malazann said:

and I am a dummy because I just noticed that the site has a link to a nicely formatted transcript. what legends

No way!! ?

Awesome!