friday 5 | podcasting & the chinese internet ::
Monday, March 16th, 2009
:: audio podcasts are fairly scarce on the Chinese Internet, but it’s hard to pinpoint a key reason for this. Perhaps it’s because there are no painless, all-in-one automated subscription systems for downloading podcasts from the Internet comparable to iTunes and similar systems that have had success abroad. The technical aspects of transferring podcast updates to MP3 players and other handheld devices may be a barrier to widespread adoption. Or maybe the rollout of podcast services by major blogging platforms was eclipsed by the rise of video websites in China, which followed closely on their heels.
The Chinese word for podcast, 播客, encompasses both audio and video media these days, but netizen-generated video clips are far more common than audio podcasts. Exclusively audio podcasting platforms have unfortunately all but disappeared on the Chinese Internet.
Likewise, the few independent podcasts that became popular have reached the end of their lifespan with nothing to take their place. Antiwave was wildly popular when it started in 2005, and received significant coverage in the mainstream media over the following two years. But, its creators turned to other pursuits in 2008 and it has updated very rarely since a relaunch late last year.
Listed below are some examples of well-known Chinese podcasts and podcast aggregators.
Princess Remy | 黑米公主
A woman from Taiwan who’s currently living in Europe records podcasts under the name Princess Remy (RSS http://princessremy.podspot.de/rss ). She’s produced more than 550 episodes since 2006; for the first year she released one short episode more or less every day, slowed down slightly the second year, and currently does about one a week. Her subject matter ranges widely, from fashion, to European culture, to issues involving Taiwan. Princess Remy frequently turns up on lists of recommended podcasts that circulate on the Chinese mainland.
Justing | 静雅思听
A wealth of educational podcasts on a wide range of topics, from daily life and contemporary culture to history and law to language learning to stories and anecdotes. One major source of content is blog posts and columns that authors have agreed to let Justing convert into podcasts so that young white-collars can listen to them during dead time when they’re away from their computers: during commutes, waiting in lines, before bed-time, or in particularly boring meetings. The podcast archive (available through iTunes) starts in 2007. Notable contributors include cross-cultural blogger Zhai Hua, popular historian Shel JeAnns, and economist Ding Xueliang.
Piekee | 派派网
This podcasting platform was founded in 2005 and currently offers blogs with integrated podcasting functionality. Featured on the front page this week is a post on Arbor Day (March 12) by leading podcaster Feixiang (DJ飞翔), several dramatic readings, and a history of jeans presented by “Transhon Studios” (书琴杯剑). The site has its own community, but Piekee has made the odd decision to wall itself off from the rest of the Internet: there’s no RSS provided. In addition, listeners are mostly restricted to in-browser media players, unless the podcaster has specifically chosen to make downloading available. Although this follows the practice of major video websites, it doesn’t give these podcasts the wider exposure they’d get through feed subscriptions and iTunes browsing: listeners are unable to transfer most of Piekee’s podcasts to offline MP3 players and handheld devices.
Converted Phoenix TV podcasts
Some of the most popular podcast feeds have been converted from talk shows, with Phoenix TV being one of the major sources. Perhaps the most widely-known is “Behind the headlines with Dou Wentao” (锵锵三人行) (RSS feed), an interview show that discusses the issues of the day. Since the 20-minute daily show is basically all conversation, it works quite well as an audio-only podcast. Noted cultural critic Leung Man-tao hosts another PhoenixTV talk show, “8 Minutes Reading” (开卷八分钟) (RSS feed), which introduces listeners to different book each episode. Lu Yu’s popular celebrity interview show, “A Date with Lu Yu” (鲁豫有约) (RSS feed) is also available in podcast form.
Sohu Holds Forth | 搜狐侃事
This series is a joint project between Sohu, which provides netizen-generated content, and China Radio, which hosts the programs. Episodes come out approximately every week and are about ten minutes long. They’re usually devoted to subject matter taken from one of Sohu’s special focus sections. A host recaps the situation and then reads off BBS postings from netizens. Recent topics have included the boundaries online speech (podcast link). This topic started out with a discussion of the stabbing of well-known blogger Qianliexian to address the question of whether violence is ever a justified response to offensive blog posts, and whether bloggers should be more careful about what they write. Hengyuanxiang’s tasteless Spring Festival commercial (feature, podcast link), and the appropriateness of college students acting as nannies (podcast link) were other popular topics that were recapped on this program. Sohu’s wrap-up is packaged for use on China Radio, which means it has pauses for station breaks and then recaps the issues afterward (to some degree, most Chinese podcasts employ common radio announcer techniques like musical backgrounds and solemn diction). Like Piekee (and like many terrestrial radio stations that have an online presence), it doesn’t offer RSS, which limits its exposure.
For more podcasts in addition to the above examples, the best place to go is probably the Douban Podcast Group. Members share new podcasts they’ve discovered – both Chinese and foreign-language – and exchange tips for the best ways to listen.
// AjS
[Friday 5 is the product of my work at Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]
