Stuck in the Middle Kingdom with You

  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.

Hi thanks for listening to Stuck in the Middle Kingdom with You, the show about teaching in China and Chinese history. Last time, we touched on the Cultural Revolution in relation to one of its victims, Deng Xiaoping, who would later claw his way back into power and remake China. This time, I found myself in the village of Shajiabang, which was the setting of one of the Cultural Revolution's model operas. So that means, we're going back to the 60s, for peak crazy, China-style. See some Shajiabang opera  here on YouTube !  Peng and Mao – a little tension in the air perhaps? Song Binbin pinning a Red Guard armband on Chairman Mao in 1966. Song had led the group of Red Guards who killed Bian Zhongyun, a female educator in Beijing. Bian was the first victim of the Red Guards. Doing the "loyalty dance" during the Cultural Revolution. Mao looks on approvingly from his portrait "To the villages we go, to the borders we go, to places in the fatherland where we are neede...

Hi, thank you for tuning in to the SMKY podcast. Today we look at the fall of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi, and then the rise of Deng Xiaoping and capitalism in China. This covers some of the Cultural Revolution, a topic that we'll come back to next time. Doesn't matter if it's a black cat or a white cat – if it catches mice it's a good cat Red Guards in Beijing, each with a Little Red Book Deng Xiaoping's son, Deng Pufang, who was paralysed after being attacked by Red Guards Liu Shaoqi, Wang Guangmei and their children, 1948 Liu Shaoqi, the old comrade and president of China, being berated by Red Guards Liu Shaoqi's wife, Wang Guangmei, during the Cultural Revolution. She was dressed up for ridicule Deng Xiaoping meets Margaret Thatcher, 1984 Bing Maps if you're in China. Note the dashes which show the entirety of the South China Sea as part of China, and how Taiwan island is safely inside the dash line. The so-called 9 Dash Line isn't new. This map go...

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 .