You Must Remember This: Studying in China yesterday, today, and...tomorrow?
David and Jeremiah are back together again in Beijing. Recording from Palace Moser, the two get weirdly nostalgic and compare notes on what has changed in the 20+ years (Jeremiah) and 40+ years (David) since they first moved to China’s capital. They ask whether students coming to China today are getting the same experience as previous generations of study-abroad students or if it’s the curse of the sinologist that every newcomer since Marco Polo has had to listen to some old-timer expat talk about how it was so much better before.
Longtime China hand? Join us for a stroll down memory lane in Beijing. New to China or Sino-curious? Hear about why the best China might always be the China you meet first.
24 Sept 2026
Chairmen, China, and the Tricky Translations of Political Terms in the PRC
Two older gentlemen with expanding waistlines, staggering daddy issues, and a shared love of firing military brass meet in DC this week. And right on cue, the pundits leap forward to pontificate on the most important issues facing Sino-US relations today: What is Xi Jinping’s title in English?
Many bytes and keystrokes are spent in social media wars between those who insist that Xi Jinping be called General Secretary and those who feel that such pedantry is ideologically loaded panda poop.
David is a linguist. Jeremiah is a historian. They put their heads together to discuss why people care so much about this issue (and the related kerfluffle over whether China is led by the CCP or the CPC) and to give their take on the meeting, the view from Beijing, and to wonder whether Xi Jinping — whatever his title — is smart to play the waiting game.
11 Sept 2026
Mao More Than Ever
Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976. Fifty years later, Jeremiah and David compare notes on a mostly quiet anniversary. Jeremiah reports that there were enough tributes to beat the over/under, but David argues that the Party would still prefer to keep things as ritualistic as possible. Mao is still dead. We will all bow. And moving on.
David recalls how Mao was remembered in the 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping's (reputed) formula that the chairman's policies were two-thirds correct, one-third incorrect was treated as the last word, even as xiangsheng artists could still mock the Cultural Revolution so long as the punchlines landed squarely on the Gang of Four. Jeremiah discusses how and why Mao nostalgia never goes out of fashion, morphing with the times and the exigencies of the era.
The two also catch up on their summer vacations. David is back in Beijing, his broken leg mended with the help of a dominant physical therapist. Jeremiah reports in from a 27th-floor balcony overlooking a container port in Shenzhen.
Who has been a guest on Barbarians at the Gate
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
David Chaffetz
David Moser
Zhang Yajun
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.7 / 5
13 ratings
Spotify
4.9 / 5
25 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
68
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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