Stuck in the Middle Kingdom with You

  The colonial grandeur of Shanghai's Bund Father of modern China, Sun Yatsen The man behind many a grisly murder, Big-Eared Du

  Huaihai Road, Shanghai, with the protected London plane trees Parents advertise their single children in People's Square park. JG Ballard's childhood home in Shanghai The more quaint colonial houses of the French Concession Longtang lane in Shanghai - the beating heart of the city, and the one-time "frontier posts for class struggle" Old meets new - plush Xintiandi, consumer heaven down the road from the CCP's founding HQ "China Dream, My Dream" - the gentle, omnipresent, propaganda of city life Square dancing in Shanghai – charming for some, a nuisance for others

  Hi there! Today, a little more detail about ESL teaching. Ever thought about doing it? I explore the pros n cons. For more see the survival guide below which I made as a recruiting agent.

Welcome to Stuck in the Middle Kingdom with You, the podcast about teaching English and learning about China. We go back 700 years in this one, to meet Changshu's most well-known painter, Huang Gongwan. A bus stop in Suzhou The first section, called "The Remaining Mountain", now in Hangzhou The rest, now in Taipei - too big to fit on a webpage! Changshu's Little Great Wall heading up Yushan Mountain

On today's podcast, a day in the life of an international school. And the symbols of modern China – flag and anthem – and Mao's tricky Hundred Flowers Campaign. Tian Han, the man who wrote the words for the national anthem Nie Er, the man who wrote the national anthem's music   "Let a hundred flowers bloom in a blaze of color" - 1961

Hi! Thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast, where we delve into all things China, including living and working there. This little episode picks up after the slightly explosive meeting we laowai had with the Chinese management team. We get to know some colleagues a bit better and take a group trip into town and get hot pot. Hot Pot

Hello and thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast. This episode introduces one of Changshu's best brains, Wang Ganchang, which leads into the Great Leap Forward. Yes, that Great Leap Forward. Street ettiquette: cars, bikes and pedestrians, just going wherever (in Shanghai) Wang Ganchang The commune is like a gigantic dragon, production is visibly awe-inspiring, 1959 Eliminate the four pests! For a great archive of Chinese propaganda posters, see  https://chineseposters.net

Hello and thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast. In this episode, I meet most of the other foreign teachers who were to be my colleagues for that year. It was also out first meeting with the Chinese management, and we laowai were ill-prepared for the cultural expectations of such a situation – and it showed.  The centre of Changshu, its pagoda and Yushan mountain in the background

Hi! Thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast, which is my account of living in China and exploring its history and culture. In this episode I settle into my new apartment which is literally inside the school gates, and talk about the region and the river. The joys of working for Hess in Taiwan :-/ – my old job before moving to China The Yangtze River Delta, home of the prosperous "Golden Triangle". Changshu is just above Suzhou, to the right of Lake Tai. One of the guards of the underworld in Fengdu Ghost City, which is way upriver on the Yangzte, near Chongqing The Ghost King at Fengdu Prefer to listen to your pods on YouTube? Video below

Pod link Hi, you've made it to the Stuck in the Middle Kingdom With You podcast, a story of teaching English in China peppered with tales from Chinese history and culture. This is a preface of sorts.  Laowai : rude and offensive or friendly or neutral? I'll spell it out here, 'cos this word is going to come up a few times. In this episode, we also mention the foreign tutors of China's last emperor and empress. Now that's a job! Shame that it was under such doomed circumstances. Reginald Johnston and Isabel Ingram with Empress Wanrong Puyi and Wanrong, China's last imperial couple

This podcast tells the story of a year of an English teacher in China, working in an international school in Changshu, Jiangsu. It's also full of history and culture. We'll go back to the imperial days, the revolutionary days, the days of triumph and the days of humiliation. Mostly though, it's modern China that I'll focus on, as it is the most relevant to understanding China now. China is super fascinating, and it's also probably the most important country in the world to understand right now, so this is my contribution to that. It's not a chronological history; instead, it kind of matches up to the things that were occuring in my roller-coaster of a year living in Changshu. I've changed the names of the people I that I met when I was in China, except Jess of course. You'll meet Jess later. She's awesome. The podcast is on whichever podcatcher you use. It can be streamed here . If you prefer to go through YouTube, it's also here .