Ear to Asia

Although Mandarin is the national language of China, it remains incomprehensible to 20% of the population.

Former Australian ambassador to China, Dr Geoff Raby, examines how Australia can navigate the uncharted waters of a changing global order.

Indonesia observers Professor Tim Lindsey and Dr Ian Wilson scrutinise this hallmark legislation.

Many citizens of Hong Kong fear the recently imposed National Security Law is only the latest move by Beijing to wind back civil liberties promised to last till 2047. But what does China’s growing impatience mean for Hong Kongers?

Dr Matthew Nelson and Dr Dian Shah examine the question of who decides who is – and who must be – a Muslim.

India and China have been at odds over their common border in the Himalayas for over a century.

Turkey is increasingly intervening militarily in the territories of several of its Middle East neighbours, while relations with other regional players are souring.

For Vietnamese seeking their fortunes abroad, it turns out Russia is a sought after destination. So what draws the Vietnamese to Russia?

Asia historians Dr Lewis Mayo and Dr Ruth Gamble ponder the complex relationship between State and commemorative statues.

Dr Matthew Galway and Dr Carlos Amador examine the appeal and impact of Maoism outside of China.

In Indonesia, pollution from plastics is reaching crisis levels. How did Indonesia get into this predicament, and who will clean up the mess?

Despite an initial flirt with pandemic denialism, Turkey may well be able to take some pride in its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

Special guest former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd AC joins host Ali Moore to discuss a post Covid-19 world.

What is the pandemic telling us about political leadership, and about existing fault lines in Indonesian society?

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is forging ahead with his grand plans to replace Jakarta with a new capital on the island of Borneo.

Epidemiology aside, what is the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic revealing about the social, political and economic fault lines already existing in India?

Dr William Gourlay and Dr Tezcan Gümüş examine the plight of the Kurds in Turkey.

Associate Professor Melissa Marschke and Dr Vanessa Lamb pick the winners and losers in the often murky business of sand extraction in Asia.

Is the playing field truly level in Singapore, which touts itself as the ultimate meritocracy? Associate Professor Michael Barr and Dr Lewis Mayo investigate.

Public health researchers Dr Henriette Jansen and Dr Kristin Diemer discuss the quest to understand the dimensions of violence against women in the Asia Pacific.

In this episode we ask, just how far academia in China will bend to politics in the era of Xi Jinping?

How do Australia and Indonesia regard each other, and how can Australia strengthen its ties with its populous neighbour?

How is Japan set to meets its obligations to the International Olympic Committee to ensure a Games free of discrimination against LGBT athletes and event visitors?

Indonesia researchers Dr Rachael Diprose and Dr Amalinda Savirani examine the challenges faced by rural women and the programs being developed to help overcome them

While China's trade war with the US and its treatment of domestic discontents make the news headlines, its economic and military resurgence has truly spooked the West. But do China's ambitions to regain its pre-19th century glory constitute a threat?

Followers of the Gülen movement, some 10 million strong and active in 160 countries, remain to this day the target of relentless persecution by the Turkish government.

China has been cracking down hard on Uyghur and other Muslim groups in its far northwestern region of Xinjiang. But what’s the real history of the Uyghur people?

How do international aid agencies operate on the ground in Myanmar, with its its complex, unstable and sometimes hostile political and social environment?

Thae Yong-ho, North Korea’s highest ranking defector, joins us in the studio to share his unique insights into North Korean society and how it’s been shaped by the Kim family.

In a country highly dependent on exports of petroleum, palm oil, timber and tin, what are the local dynamics at play in the global game of resource extraction?

In the Asia-Pacific region, it’s estimated that one in every six people is living with a debilitating physical or cognitive impairment, and that figure is set to grow.

In Indonesia, what’s the relationship between growing dominance of social media, greater commitment to neoliberal economic policies, and increasing religious conservatism?

Dr Muhammad Kamal and Dr Shirin Yasar examine the origins of and contemporary attitudes to Sufism

China researchers Professor Tim Cheek and Dr Delia Lin examine Xi Jin Ping's method and motives

Sociolinguists Dr Michael Ewing and Associate Professor Novi Djenar examine how the national language is faring in the hyper-polyglot archipelago

Sociologist Assoc. Professor Nana Oishi and historian Dr Jonathan Glade examine the fates and fortunes of Zainichi Koreans

China sociologist Professor Martin Whyte and Asia historian Dr Lewis Mayo pick apart the complexities and contradictions of the hukou system

Indonesia watchers Professor Vedi Hadiz and Dr Ariane Utomo join presenter Ali Moore to discuss Jokowi 2.0

East Asia political scientists Dr Delia Lin and Dr Sow Keat Tok discuss their impressions from field research of war museums in China and Japan

Southeast Asia historian Dr Matthew Galway discusses Cambodia's politics, culture and history through the lens of Hun Sen, the nation's strongman prime minister since 1985

Political scientists Dr Pradeep Taneja and Dr Zahid Ahmed discuss the intertwined fates of Pakistan, India and China

Social anthropologist Professor Kaori Okano talks about the life transitions of a group of Japanese women whom she has interviewed regularly over the past 30 years

In this episode of Ear to Asia historian Dr Lewis Mayo and medical sociologist Dr Jane Brophy peel back the layers of healthcare in China

China historians Dr Craig Smith and Dr Matt Galway discuss the rhetoric and reality behind the Chinese Communist Party's quest for the perfect society

In this episode of Ear to Asia migration and diversity expert Associate Professor Nana Oishi unpacks Japan's depopulation phenomenon

Indonesia watchers Dr Dave McRae and Dr Evi Fitriani unpack Indonesia's foreign policy, and explore the options and challenges ahead

Professor Andrew Rosser and Associate Professor Yan Tan unpack the contemporary relationships between diasporas and their motherlands

Can India's current prime minister, Narendra Modi, lead his party, the BJP, to another victory in the world's biggest election in 2019?

Dr Lewis Mayo and Dr Sow Keat Tok examine the notions of ethnic and national identity on the island of Taiwan

China watchers Dr Delia Lin and Dr Craig Smith join Ali Moore to delve in to the past, present and future of Confucianism in China

Professor Derek McDougall and Dr Pradeep Taneja discuss China's possible designs in the Indian Ocean and the geopolitical risk its mounting presence there may bring

Professor Andrew Rosser and Dr Rachael Diprose discuss the troubling social, health and educational consequences of rising inequality for ordinary Indonesians

China's South-North Water Transfer Project is being rolled out to take water from the Yangtze River in the country's south to quench the thirst of its parched and populous north

Dr Delia Lin and Dr Fengshi Wu ponder whether China's social credit system will bring security and stability to Chinese society or condemn it to a dystopian future

Given the notably mixed results of recent elections in the region, just how healthy is the practice of democracy in Southeast Asia?

Two decades after winning its independence from Indonesia, Timor-Leste is still grappling with delivering clean water and sanitation to its people, both in Dili and in rural areas

Is rising nationalism among citizens of China a natural result of the country's growing power, or is it being manufactured and stoked by a Chinese Communist Party only looking out for its own interests?

Historian Dr Kate McGregor and socio-legal researcher Dr Ken Setiawan gauge how well Indonesia has come to terms with its violent past

Dr Fengshi Wu and Dr Sow Keat Tok investigate Xi Jinping's possible motives and strategy for abolishing term limits for China's presidency

Sociologist Martin Whyte and development economist Lauren Johnston investigate China's demographic trajectory will mean for its economy and the lives of the Chinese people

Professor Vedi Hadiz and Dr Dave McRae untangle the many strands of the island nation’s political life

Asia researchers Dr Jun Ohashi and Dr Jay Song consider the optics of Japan's relations with its neighbours, the Koreas and China

Dr Sow Keat Tok and Dr Pradeep Taneja unravel the motivations and implications behind China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative

Dr Gerald Roche outlines the surprisingly diverse language landscape of the Tibetan Plateau

Anthropologist Dr Ana Dragojlovic recounts the history of Dutch colonisation of Bali

Professor Yang Yao of Peking University argues that China's "selectocracy" has been the major driver of an economic miracle that's lasted four decades and counting

Media expert Dr Inaya Rakhmani explains the connection between neoliberal capitalism and the increasing religious conservatism of Indonesia's burgeoning Muslim middle class

Philosopher Dr Muhammad Kamal talks about the writings of preeminent 16th century Muslim philosopher, Mulla Sadra, who grappled with concepts of change and constancy

Human migration expert Dr Jiyoung Song talks about North Korean citizens who choose to leave their homeland, putting themselves and family members they leave behind at risk

Veteran China watcher Professor Martin K. Whyte explains why Chinese citizens remain unfazed by the enormous income and wealth disparity created by market-oriented economic reforms that in less than 40 years have made China the world's second largest economy

In this episode of Ear to Asia, celebrity chef, author and lawyer Adam Liaw gets behind the microphone to discuss his work, philosophy of life, his love affair with Japan

Professor John Minford is a specialist in translating Chinese literature into English. In this episode of Ear to Asia, John talks about the practice of translation and how to train others in the art

Dr Kylie Baxter answers questions about the fallout from the Arab Spring

Political economist Professor Andrew Rosser discusses the factors that prevent Indonesia from bringing its children up to par in the education stakes

Chinese literature expert Anne McLaren joins Ear to Asia host Clement Paligaru to discuss her research into the folk ecology of the lower Yangtze delta

Political scientist Dr Sow Keat Tok discusses China's unique view of territorial sovereignty, its creative approaches to sovereignty issues in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea

Economist and demographer Professor Binod Khadria joins Ear to Asia host Sen Lam to discuss the huge global movement of skilled and unskilled Indian workers

Queer studies researcher Dr Claire Maree joins Ear to Asia host Sen Lam to discuss the plight of people in same-sex relationships in Japan.

Dr Ken Setiawan explains how a new generation of Indonesians are using digital and social media...

Linguistics expert Dr Ikuko Nakane discusses language and interpretation in criminal trials in Japan

Veteran researcher of Indonesian politics Professor Vedi Hadiz examines the phenomenon of contemporary Islamic populism in Indonesia, Turkey and Egypt...

Ear to Asia is a podcast series produced by Asia Institute, the Asian research specialists, from the University of Melbourne, Australia