Audiobooks by Rana Mitter

Japan: A BBC documentary collection Audiobook

"A captivating anthology of programmes, painting a multi-faceted portrait of a unique country Japan is a land of complexity, contrast and contradictions. The world's third-largest economy, it is a powerhouse of innovation and a pioneer in technology, fashion and pop culture. But it also has a rich, ancient heritage and a deep reverence for custom, ritual and tradition. This illuminating 2-part radio collection traverses the different aspects of this fascinating country, from its famous historical figures to its diverse cultural landscape. Part 1: History opens with Japan in Five Lives, in which cultural historian Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from the country's past to answer the question 'Who are the Japanese'? In Killing Time in Imperial Japan, he explores early 20th Century Tokyo, a bustling, cosmopolitan capital where the meaning of 'time' was hotly contested. Dark Blossoms sees him examining the doubts and misgivings accompanying Japan's rapid embrace of modernity, while in Japanese Tsunami, broadcasters Richard Lloyd Parry and Matthew Sweet discuss the devastating natural disaster that rocked the country in 2011. In Land of the Rising Sums, Alex Bellos visits Kyoto to ask why Asian cultures seem so much better at maths; in Japan and Religion, Roy Jenkins discusses the place of religious traditions in modern Japan; and in Supernatural Japan, Christopher Harding looks at how the Japanese have used ghosts and ghost stories to make sense of their world. Part 2: Culture celebrates Japan's art, literature and film. In Japan Now 2020, Philip Dodd talks to writers Hiromi Ito and Yukiko Motoya and photographer Tomoko Sawada about women's roles in Japanese culture today. Meanwhile, in Images of Japan, illustrator Fumio Obata and manga translator Jocelyne Allen discuss Japanese comic book imagery, and we join novelists Kyoko Nakajima and Yuya Sato in conversation with Christopher Harding. Landmark: Seven Samurai and Landmark: Rashomon see Matthew Sweet and Rana Mitter investigating the stories behind Akira Kurosawa's two most influential films, in the company of guests including film scholar Ian Christie and authors SF Said, David Peace and Natasha Pulley. The Tale of Genji takes us into the shimmering world of mediaeval Japan, as Rana Mitter explores Murasaki Shikibu's masterpiece, widely considered to be the world's first novel. Finally, in Godzilla and Hayao Miyazaki, Christopher Harding considers cinematic depictions of Japanese fear, as exemplified by the legendary monster king and the 2013 animated film The Wind Rises. Contents Japan in Five Lives Killing Time in Imperial Japan Dark Blossoms Japanese Tsunami Land of the Rising Sums Japan and Religion Supernatural Japan Japan Now 2020 Images of Japan Landmark: Seven Samurai Landmark: Rashomon The Tale of Genji Godzilla and The Wind Rises © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd."

Alex Bellos, Christopher Harding, David Peace, Matthew Sweet, Natasha Pulley, Philip Dodd, Rana Mitter, Richard Lloyd Parry, Roy Jenkins, SF Said (Author), Various (Narrator)

Audiobook

Chinese Characters: A BBC History of China in 20 Lives

"Twenty audio portraits telling Award-winning author and historian Here is China's only female What can Ding Ling's lustful Also included is an episode Production credits Presented by Rana Mitter Edited by Hugh Levinson Produced by Ben Crighton Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser Contents: 1. Wu Zetian: The Female Emperor 2. Chiang Kai-Shek and 3. Kumarajiva: Translator Monk 4. Matteo Ricci: Jesuit and Geometrist 5. Ding Ling: Sophie, Sensation and Sex 6. Sima Qian: Grand Historian 7. Kublai Khan: Cosmopolitan Conqueror 8. Confucius: Becoming the Sage 9. Li Qingzhao: Patriotic Poet 10. River Elegy: River and Ocean 11. Zheng He: The Admiral Goes to Africa 12. Robert Hart: Chinese Customs 13. Lu Xun: Compassionate Cynic 14. Wang Jingwei: Revolutionary Renegade 15. Hong Xiuquan v Zeng Guofan: The Duellists 16. Cixi: Ambivalent Empress 17. Factory Girls: Modern Girls, Modern Dreams 18. Mao Zedong: The Man Who Made Modern China 19. Bruce Lee: Screen Warrior 20. Deng Xiaoping: Black Cat, 21. In Our Time: China's Warring States Period © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd" the story of China through key personalities - plus a bonus edition of In Our Time Professor Rana Mitter introduces us to some of the remarkable individuals who have shaped the arc of Chinese history. Selecting men and women from ancient times to the modern era - some rich and powerful, others poor and unknown - he explores their sensational life stories, from Mongol emperors to 19th-century factory girls. emperor, Wu Zetian, whose path to the top was littered with elite corpses; Mao Zedong, the man who revolutionised China, but at the cost of millions of lives; and Deng Xiaoping, who enabled China's economic miracle, but crushed protests with ferocity in 1989. Alongside them are numerous other extraordinary characters, including celebrated philosopher Confucius, Muslim sailor Zheng He, Jesuit mathematician Matteo Ricci, global film star Bruce Lee - and a pioneering TV documentary series, River Elegy, that started a national debate about regeneration and democracy. literary creation, Sophie, teach us about 1920s China? What role would kidnapped monk Kumarajiva play in the future of Chinese chanting? And how did Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling become Asia's first power couple? Rana Mitter reveals the answers in this engrossing series, which ranges across time and geography to zoom in on the people and ideas that have made China what it is today. Insightful, stimulating and superbly researched, it shows the astonishing diversity and complexity of Chinese society, painting a multi-dimensional picture of the world's most populous nation. of In Our Time, in which Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss China's Warring States period of 400 BC-200 AD, examining how this turbulent epoch sparked a Golden Age of intellectual and cultural productivity and laid the foundations for the first Chinese Empire. Soong Meiling: Asian Power Couple Yellow Cat

Rana Mitter (Author), Rana Mitter (Narrator)

Audiobook

Modern China: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Edition

"China today is never out of the news: from international finance to human rights controversies, global coverage of its rising international presence, and the Chinese 'economic miracle.' It seems to be a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic cities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This Very Short Introduction offers the listener an entry to understanding the world's most populous nation, giving an integrated picture of modern Chinese society, culture, economy, politics, and art. In this new edition, Rana Mitter addresses China's current global position, accounting for the country's growth in global significance over the past decade."

Rana Mitter (Author), Mike Cooper (Narrator)

Audiobook

China’s Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism

"Chinese leaders once tried to suppress memories of their nation’s brutal experience during World War II. Now they celebrate the “victory”—a key foundation of China’s rising nationalism. For most of its history, the People’s Republic of China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an experience of victimization—and one that saw Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home. China’s Good War begins with the academics who shepherded the once-taboo subject into wider discourse. Encouraged by reforms under Deng Xiaoping, they researched the Guomindang war effort, collaboration with the Japanese, and China’s role in forming the post-1945 global order. But interest in the war would not stay confined to scholarly journals. Today public sites of memory—including museums, movies and television shows, street art, popular writing, and social media—define the war as a founding myth for an ascendant China. Wartime China emerges as victor rather than victim. The shifting story has nurtured a number of new views. One rehabilitates Chiang Kai-shek’s war efforts, minimizing the bloody conflicts between him and Mao and aiming to heal the wounds of the Cultural Revolution. Another narrative positions Beijing as creator and protector of the international order that emerged from the war—an order, China argues, under threat today largely from the United States. China’s radical reassessment of its collective memory of the war has created a new foundation for a people destined to shape the world."

Rana Mitter (Author), Dennis Kleinman (Narrator)

Audiobook