John Ross talks to Lee Moore about his book, China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read (2025, Unsung Voices Books). The book looks at the four important China-related stories that often make headlines: Taiwan, Xinjiang, the Chinese economy, and Hong Kong. In this conversation, Lee and John focus mainly on the history of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs, but also cover a wide range of other topics. Hoping to reach a broad audience, Lee took an unusual approach to writing China’s Backstory; although a scholar, he uses colloquial translations of Chinese texts, peppers his paragraphs with colorful language, and generally has a lot of fun. The approach is sure to generate controversy. The book is factually sound, however (it comes with endnotes), and has numerous literary references, as we would expect from the host of the long-running Chinese Literature Podcast.

Lee Moore’s book: China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read (2025, Unsung Voices Books).

Lee’s podcast: Chinese Literature Podcast

Lee Moore’s book recommendations

He went with three books on China which he describes as “old school scholarship” and ones that most BOA listeners will likely not have read.

1. Michael Pollak’s Mandarins, Jews and Missionaries: Jewish Experience in the Chinese Empire (1980, Jewish Publication Society of America)

2. Sarah Paine’s Imperial Rivals: China, Russia and Their Disputed Frontier (1996, M. E. Sharpe)

3. Hodong Kim’s Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877 (2004, Stanford University Press)

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Amy muses on the death of guidebooks due to the internet and reminisces about some oldies but goodies on Japan, from John Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1891) to more recent guidebooks specializing in hiking mountains and pilgrimages.

Books Mentioned

John Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1890's)

Japanese Customs and Manners by Mock Joya (Sakurai Shoten/JTB, 1951)

Japanese Etiquette: An Introduction (World Fellowship Committee of the Tokyo WYCA, Charles E Tuttle Co., 1955)

Japanese Etiquette, by Bun Nakajima (1955, 1957)

Western Manners and English Conversation, by Glenn F. Baker (Sanseido, 1937)

Japan Inside Out by Jay, Sumi & Garet Gluck (1964, 1992)

Tokyo Subway Guide: Including 40 Bilingual Station Maps, by Boye Lafayette DeMente (Kodansha, 2002)

A Guide to Food Buying in Japan, by Caroyn R. Krouse (Tuttle, 1986)

A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan, by Mark Brazil (Kodansha International, 1987)

Etiquette Guide to Japan, by Boye De Mente (Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1990)

Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan (Stone Bridge Press, 2018)

Hiking and Trekking the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji by Tom Fay and Wes Lang (Cicerone, 2019)

Japan's Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage, by Kat Davis (Cicerone, 2019)

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester (with Tim McGirk)

John Ross talks with Tim McGirk about Simon Winchester’s masterpiece, The Man Who Loved China. That man was Joseph Needham, an eccentric Cambridge biochemist who traveled through war-torn China to document the nation’s scientific heritage. The ensuing book series, Science and Civilisation in China, revealed the world’s debt to Chinese science. John and Tim discuss the “Needham Question” (why China, once the global leader in technology, fell behind) and the scandal that almost ended his academic career. McGirk, a former foreign correspondent who knows Winchester from his early journalism days, shares some reporting anecdotes. Tim also explains how the life of Joseph Needham inspired his own historical novel, The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers.

Books mentioned

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom by Simon Winchester (HarperCollins, 2008).

Science and Civilisation in China: Needham’s monumental series. Volume 1 was published by Cambridge University Press in 1954.

The Diamond Sutra: considered the world’s oldest dated printed book (AD 868).

The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers by Tim McGirk (Plum Rain Press, 2025)

People mentioned

Joseph Needham: The Cambridge scientist who documented China’s early scientific achievements.

Lu Gwei-djen: A scientist from Nanjing who sparked Needham’s interest in Chinese culture, and, after a 51-year romance, his second wife.

Dorothy Needham: Joseph’s first wife and a fellow brilliant scientist.

H.T. Huang: A refugee from Malacca who served as Needham’s secretary during his epic China expeditions.

Zhou Enlai: The Premier of the People’s Republic of China and Needham’s wartime friend who invited him to investigate biological warfare allegations.

Selected locations mentioned

Cambridge University, the UK, specifically Caius College (pronounced “keys”).

Chungking (Chóngqìng): China’s wartime capital.

Dunhuang: Home of the Mogao Grottos, a vast complex of Buddhist cave temples in northwest China, and where the Diamond Sutra was discovered.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

This episode of the Books on Asia podcast introduces new fiction and non-fiction on Japan to be published this year, along with two upcoming books on Taiwan. We present the books here in the order they appear on the podcast. Listen to the episode for more information on each title:

Phantom Paradise: Escape from Manchuria, by Kay Enokido
(Bold Story Press, January 13, 2026)

Kokun: The Girl from the West, by Nahoko Uehashi (transl. Cathy Hirano)
(Europa Editions, January 13, 2026)

When the Museum Is Closed, by Emi Yagi (transl. Yuki Tejima)
(Soft Skull Press, January 27, 2026)

Hooked: A Novel of Obsession, by Asako Yuzuki (transl. Polly Barton)
(HarperVia, March 17, 2026)

Sisters in Yellow, by Mieko Kawakami (transl. Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio)
(Knopf, March 31, 2026)

Hollow Inside, by Asako Otani (transl. Ginny Tapley Takemori)
(Pushkin Press, May 5, 2026)

Japan’s Anime Revolution!: Twenty Animated Films That Changed the World, by Jonathan Clements
(Tuttle Publishing, May 12, 2026)

Troubled Waters, by Ichiyō Higuchi (transl. Bryan Karetnyk)
(Pushkin Press Classics, May 26, 2026)

Upcoming 2026 Releases from Plum Rain Press :

Taiwan 22: Travels in Paradox, by Tyrel Eskelson
Release date to be announced

Hidden Formosa: Life and Travels in Rural Taiwan, an anthology( ed. John Ross)
Release date to be announced

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Thomas Bird was living in Southern China when he decided to explore the country by train and write a book about it. He first attempts to trace the steps of Bruce Chatwin after reading an article of his in the New York Times, but eventually decides to just go with the flow, traveling far and wide on China's old railway during the pre-Covid years 2014-2019. He seeks out old lines and trains and chronicles the people he meets along the way to tell readers what China is like today. The result is Harmony Express: Travels by Train Through China.

Books and authors included in the discussion

Riding the Iron Rooster (1988), by Paul Theroux

Forgotten Kingdom: Nine Years in Yunnan 1939-48 by Peter Goullart (1955)

The Great Walk of China: Travels on Foot from Shanghai to Tibet (2010), by Graham Earnshaw

Bruce Chatwin and Joseph Rock.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

The 1910 Japan-Britain Exhibition – with Formosa Files

In this special crossover episode, John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith from Formosa Files: the History of Taiwan Podcast explore how Japan showcased its “model colony” of Formosa (1895–1945). First up is the 1910 Japan–British Exhibition in London, which featured human exhibits – 24 Indigenous Paiwan people from southern Taiwan. Next, they follow Crown Prince Hirohito on his 1923 royal tour of the island, before finishing with the 1935 Taiwan Exposition, a massive event commemorating forty years of rule. To learn more about these stories – and to find other episodes – visit the Formosa Files website.

Book recommendation: The primary source for the story of Paiwan tribespeople at the London Exhibition was Lost Histories: Recovering the Lives of Japan’s Colonial Peoples by Kirsten Ziomek (Harvard Asia Center, 2019).

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Amy reads from The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.

Chapter 1: The War Widow

In 1997, Amy moved to a small island of just 950 people in Japan's Seto Inland Sea. She rented an akiya (empty house) from a widow whose soldier-husband had died in WWII. Six years later, when the widow dies, Amy purchases her home and must finally clear out the old woman's possessions. This is when Amy becomes fascinated with the woman, her life of hardship, and her will to overcome the past.

The mystery of this woman's life prompts the author to set out on a year-long journey around the Shiraishi Island to interview the villagers who knew her best.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.