Ear to Asia

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 Assoc. 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 Assoc. 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 Assoc. 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