Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai

About Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai

An award-winning podcast about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life, hosted by poet and museologist Shin Yu Pai. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Shin Yu Pai and Acast Creative Studios

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jun 2022

Latest episode

3 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

46 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Jun 2026

   Deck of Cards

   As a Filipina American woman, Maritess Zurbano didn’t have it easy making her way through the Las Vegas magic circuit. For decades, as she honed her skills, she endured the racism and sexism that were often treated as normal facets of the magic scene. At first, she stomached it. But now, she’s breaking free. She may be a master at sleight of hand, but mastering assimilation? That’s a magic trick she’s no longer interested in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   27 May 2026

   A Translation

   Poet and translator Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma first picked up Juan Rulfo’s book, Pedro Páramo, while learning Spanish in Oaxaca, Mexico. The novel–which tells the story of the living and the dead speaking across time–became something he turned to again and again. But when he searched for an English translation, he discovered that while the plot remained, the spirit of the language felt lost. Through memories of his great-grandmother, the mentors that shaped him, and more than 20 years spent translating the novel, Thomas reflects on what it means to carry another person’s voice without distorting it. Even if the work itself may never be published. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   20 May 2026

   Meal Card

   Putsata Reang was 11 months old when her family escaped Cambodia on a boat in 1975. When they arrived in San Diego after 23 days at sea, each member of her family was given a meal card at Camp Pendleton. More than a ticket to three free meals a day, it was a ticket to prosperity in America. But the American dream has a downside, where accepting help can be seen as an accrual of debt. Now as an adult, Putsata is reckoning with this sense of indebtedness, and finding a sense of agency after years of shaving off pieces of herself in order to assimilate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Who has been a guest on Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jeff Yang
• Phil Yu
• Yowei Shaw
• Amy Tan
• Stephanie Foo

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

974,705

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Podcast Authority Score: 35 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

17

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

50

Contact Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai