"Principal, call me if you want to get a room. Leave the students alone." This was the sign that Ye Haiyan, a Chinese activist better known by the nickname Hooligan Sparrow, held up during her protests over the handling of the kidnapping and rape of six girls in Hainan province, China. In this episode, Prof. Gail Hershatter joins us to talk about Hooligan Sparrow, Wang Nanfu's 2016 documentary about Ye Haiyan and her activism. 

Do you love wuxia (martial arts) films, Chinese history, Jet Li, the gorgeous 2002 film Hero, or all of the above? This is the mini-episode for you! We talk about Zhang Yimou's Hero, the historical narrative it tells about Qin Shihuang — best known as the first emperor of unified China, the concept of tianxia, and much more!  

We originally planned for this episode to focus on the 2014 film The Interview, but we ended up talking about the Olympics, U.S.-North Korean relations, the Korean War, and even a Korean folk story about the war! If you want some perspective on all the recent developments in North Korea, listen to this episode, featuring an interview with Christine Hong, professor of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Tampopo, Juzo Itami's "noodle western," came out in 1985, back when most Americans had never even heard of ramen. Join us for a discussion of this hilarious film as well as the history of ramen in Japan and the U.S.