8 episodes

FACE-OFF is an eight-episode podcast about how China and the United States, once friends, are now foes. 
FACE-OFF is hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez, former New York Times Beijing bureau chief and current fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. In each episode Professor Rana Mitter, recently of the University of Oxford and now professor of modern China at the Harvard Kennedy School, chats with Jane on what’s at stake.

Face-Off: The U.S. vs China Airwave Media

    • News
    • 4.6 • 12 Ratings

FACE-OFF is an eight-episode podcast about how China and the United States, once friends, are now foes. 
FACE-OFF is hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez, former New York Times Beijing bureau chief and current fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. In each episode Professor Rana Mitter, recently of the University of Oxford and now professor of modern China at the Harvard Kennedy School, chats with Jane on what’s at stake.

    China’s Fortunes

    China’s Fortunes

    How the Chinese economic downturn is affecting all kinds of people. How real estate meltdown, with enough unfinished empty apartments to fill the population of Germany, is at the center of it all. How tech entrepreneurs are mysteriously disappearing, and how college graduates don’t want to work. 
    Guests: Keyu Jin, London School of Economics, author of New China Playbook; Elsie Chen, a member of China’s “lying down” generation, now a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.
    Elsie Chen’s New York Times article about lying flat. She interviews Luo Huazhong, the factory worker, who quit his job, went back to his rural village. His post about his lifestyle decision went viral, and inspired a movement dedicated to opting out. 
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/world/asia/china-slackers-tangping.html
    A roundtable discussion with Keyu Jin at the Fairbank Center at Harvard. 
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=357QIFs9FXc
    Sound design, original score, mixing and mastering by Rowhome Productions.
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    • 38 min
    Espionage

    Espionage

    Two young CIA agents were flown to northern China in 1952, part of a bizarre Cold War operation to overthrow Mao Zedong. The plane crashed. The two Americans were arrested, and jailed for 20 years. We fast forward to today and turn the tables: How does China spy on the US now? Who is ahead in the fight over the new technologies?
    Guests: John DeLury, author, Agents of Subversion; Nigel Inkster, former director operations, MI6; former agent in Beijing. 

    Details about John Delury’s compelling book that tells the story of how two CIA operatives were captured in China and how they endured 20 years in jail. 
    https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501765971/agents-of-subversion/

    Nigel Inkster’s book about the US and China, the two big tech competitors.   
    https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Great_Decoupling/K4xfzQEACAAJ?hl=en

    Sound design, original score, mixing and mastering by Rowhome Productions.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 34 min
    The Relationship

    The Relationship

    Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met on a basketball court in China in 2011 when they were vice presidents. They later toasted each other in Washington. They’ve spent many hours together. Much has changed. Can they hold the center together? 

    Guest: Minxin Pei, Chinese born professor of government Claremont McKenna College; author of Surveillance State and other books on China.

     Jane’s first podcast about how Washington got it all wrong on Xi Jinping. 
    https://shorensteincenter.org/podcast-on-the-trail-of-xi-jinping/

    Sound design, original score, mixing and mastering by Rowhome Productions.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 32 min
    Cultural Threads

    Cultural Threads

    From his studio in Boston, Yo-Yo Ma tells us how music eases tensions between American and Chinese people, even as Washington and Beijing are at each other’s throats. 
    Guests: Yo Yo Ma; Hai Ye Ni, principal cellist, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra
    Sound design, original score, mixing and mastering by Rowhome Productions.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 20 min
    Doomsday

    Doomsday

    China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal even as arms control treaties are shredded. Can China and the U.S. come to the table and agree to nuclear arms control accords? Should Artificial Intelligence control nuclear weapons?  
    Guest: Tong Zhao; Chinese born nuclear expert now at Carnegie China in DC 
    Sound design, original score, mixing and mastering by Rowhome Productions.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 27 min
    Apple in China

    Apple in China

    Apple, one of the world’s most valuable companies, depends on China, America’s biggest adversary, to manufacture its iPhones. Apple employs millions of contract workers in China. Is this marriage heading for the rocks? What will Apple and China do to keep their marriage intact? 
    Guests: Prof. Willy Shih, Harvard Business School; Wayne Ma, tech reporter, The Information
    Sound design, original score, mixing and mastering by Rowhome Productions.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 31 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
12 Ratings

12 Ratings

Anthony Bill, Tasmania, AUS ,

Very impressed

A significant and considered contribution to understanding the puzzle that is the PRC.

GeorgieSkip ,

Sharp journalism, pithy and brilliantly produced

This podcast is a must. It combines Jane’s laser sharp journalism with world class production. It looks at issues that are not covered previously in a very pithy way, highlighting moments and issues that have shaped the US-China relationship in a big way, showing what has changed in the relationship, and why this matters.

Lajara_1 ,

Can’t wait!

I’m on the edge of my seat for the episodes to drop. Jane Perlez has such a wealth of experience and insight into this topic, she is the perfect person to drive this conversation. The trailer certainly gripped me. The rest of the podcast will be a a thrilling and intriguing ride. Looking forward to it.

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