The five personalities of China

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The five personalities of China

FromConversations

ratings:

Length:

54 minutes

Released:

May 31, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Jason Yat-sen Li on how his family story, marked by war, migration and knighthoods, and his own working life helped him embrace the complexities and contradictions of modern China

Released:

May 31, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Spend an hour in someone else's life. Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met.

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The five personalities of China: Jason Yat-sen Li on how his family story, marked by war, migration and knighthoods, and his own working life helped him embrace the complexities and contradictions of modern China by Conversations
54 min listen
What might a kindness revolution look like?: Hugh Mackay believes humans are ‘hardwired’ to behave kindly. He returns to the program to talk about how his early-pandemic prophecies on community, loneliness, and resilience have played out by Conversations
50 min listen
The girl who ran away to sea — the making of Kathryn: Working as a deckhand on a fishing trawler became the refuge Kathryn Heyman needed from the wreckage of her early life. Hitchhiking to Darwin, then working in the Timor Sea, far from her old life, helped her remake herself (CW: Sexual assault) by Conversations
52 min listen
Michelle versus the Atlantic Ocean by Conversations
55 min listen
Jessica Cottis — inside the colour of sound: Jessica is an orchestral conductor and also a synesthete who 'sees' colour in her mind's eye. As an organ virtuoso she performed in some of Europe's great cathedrals. When forced to retire, Jessica re-trained as a conductor, making her debut at the BBC Proms. Australian born, she returns often, to work with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra by Conversations
53 min listen
Jodi and the people with possibilities: 'Love on the Spectrum' star Jodi Rodgers on her life as a sexologist and relationship counsellor for people with Autism, and her unexpected chapter in reality TV by Conversations
52 min listen
The gay preacher: Anthony Venn-Brown was a gay teenager when he gave his life to God. He tried to destroy his sexuality by exorcism and 'gay conversion' therapy before he became a rock star Pentecostal preacher. Then everything came crashing down by Conversations
53 min listen
Quandamooka Country to Canberra — Dr Valerie Cooms: Aunty Kath, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, was Valerie's godmother, and just one of many staunch political figures on both sides of her family. Val worked her way to becoming a powerful advocate for Aboriginal people and her family CW: ATSI listeners please use discretion when listening as the program references people who have died. by Conversations
56 min listen
Mapping two and a half million guitars: Even the cheapest guitars are made in part from trees which are becoming increasingly rare. Chris Gibson's curiosity about these timbers led him on a worldwide journey to understand the guitar's past and future by Conversations
53 min listen
A work of the heart: High school English teacher, Brendan James Murray with funny, heartbreaking, inspirational and strange tales from his working life by Conversations
52 min listen
Bob Rogers — The Beatles, the radio, and me: A broadcasting veteran, Bob spent 70 years on air, hosting TV shows as well as topping the radio ratings in Sydney. In 1964 he was sent to London to join The Beatles on their only Australian tour by Conversations
41 min listen
The turtle effect — their mysterious allure and surprising history: Louise Pryke returns with a cultural history of turtles. With stories ranging from ancient times to modern day, and from turtle tears to Al Capone, Lou attempts to understand why they are such a widely-loved creature by Conversations
48 min listen
Bill Crews and the Calais epiphany: Reverend Bill Crews on the moment which changed how he saw his own life story, and his ideas on how we can all cultivate compassion, tolerance, empathy and love in difficult times by Conversations
51 min listen
Dr Anne Aly's passion for justice: When Anne was ten, she walked onto the school playground and a girl spat in her face after calling her ‘a dirty, Arab Muslim’. To her shock, her teacher did nothing. The incident changed how she saw the world, and helped set her on the path to becoming the first Australian Muslim woman elected to parliament (R) by Conversations
53 min listen
Growing up in old Broome: Anne Poelina, the daughter of a Timorese pearl diver and an Indigenous mother, has always been drawn back to her home town of Broome (R) by Conversations
48 min listen
Christiaan Van Vuuren's fully sick life: While confined to hospital with a rare form of tuberculosis, Christiaan found love and an entirely new path (R) by Conversations
51 min listen
Let them ring — Paul Livingston on making a great big noise: Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells at his local church tower in inner Sydney. He's also been working as a volunteer, listening to and writing down the stories of people at the end of their lives by Conversations
51 min listen
Kyle Mewburn — transwoman superhero: Kyle was a 55-year old children's author and husband when she began living her truth as a trans woman by Conversations
52 min listen
If these (dry-stone) walls could talk — Bruce Munday: Bruce, a grazier and former teacher, fell in love with building dry stone walls and then began to delve into their fascinating history by Conversations
27 min listen
Wakefield's Kristen Dunphy — turning pain into gold: The screenwriter and showrunner on writing television drama, her struggles with mental health, and how her time in psychiatric hospitals inspired the acclaimed ABC TV drama series Wakefield (CW: drug references and suicidal ideation. Please use discretion when listening) by Conversations
47 min listen
The Tsars, the lady-in-waiting and Potoroo Palace: Alexandra Seddon with the story of her aristocratic Russian family and their legacy, which helped her found a wildlife refuge for potoroos, koalas, snakes and kangaroos (CW: childhood abuse, historic suicide) by Conversations
49 min listen
River, desert, island — Julie Janson's stories: After years teaching in the remote Northern Territory, Julie began to trace her ancestry among the Darug people around the Hawkesbury River. Her most recent novel was written in response to Kate Grenville's The Secret River by Conversations
51 min listen
My second family is in Vanuatu: Physiotherapist Sky Fosbrooke’s stint as a volunteer health worker led to a deep attachment to the people of a small South Santo village (R) by Conversations
52 min listen
The boy with op shop fever: Writer Tony Birch with tales of his Fitzroy childhood including his grandmother Alma's 'op shop fever', his love for pine cones and blankets, and the macabre holiday he lived through when he was 5 years old by Conversations
52 min listen
Meet Ash Barty's mindset coach — Ben Crowe: Ben works with athletes including the Richmond Football Club and surfer Steph Gilmore in a counter-intuitive way. He helps them own their flaws, and find an intrinsic purpose so they can take both wins and losses in their stride. Ash Barty credits Ben with helping her become World Number 1 by Conversations
53 min listen
40 years in journalism — Philip Williams and his brilliant career: A former ABC chief foreign correspondent, Philip began at the ABC as a stagehand in 1975. He left the organisation 46 years later after reporting from Japan, Washington, the Middle East, Nyngan and the Ukraine by Conversations
54 min listen
Basketball and belonging — Cheryl Kickett-Tucker: Cheryl is a Wadjuk traditional owner playing the long game in the Swan Valley community where she grew up (R) by Conversations
50 min listen
The hunt for deep sea bioluminescence (and a giant squid): Marine biologist Dr Edith Widder was inside a submersible searching for bioluminescence in the ocean depths when she saw a giant squid as big as a two story house by Conversations
48 min listen
Modern slavery and the value of things — Molly Harriss Olson: As current CEO of Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand, Molly wants to put an end to human exploitation by delivering transparent supply chains throughout the world. But whether working in the White House, or from a tiny village outside Canberra, Molly's work fulfills the purpose she discovered as a college student raised in a Quaker family by Conversations
51 min listen
Megan Davis: the road to the Uluru Statement from the Heart: Megan Davis was raised as a 'Queensland Rail kid', then in a book-loving household in a housing commission home. She grew up to become a lawyer at the UN, then began a history-making process of helping Australia's First Nations people speak the truth to power by Conversations
51 min listen

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Mawunyo's life in love, journalism and hip hop: Mawunyo Gbogbo grew up in a church-going Ghanaian-Australian family in the mining town of Muswellbrook, NSW. As a young woman she grabbed the chance to further her media career in New York City at the Bible of Hip Hop, The Source by Conversations
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Wendy McCarthy's bold life: How a sheltered girl who grew up on a soldier settlement farm in country New South Wales grew up to become a feminist trailblazer by Conversations
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Briana, Max and Freddy: love, trains and mouth music: Briana Blackett was a journalist working in Qatar when she realised her baby son Max wasn't responding to his name. When Max was diagnosed with autism, and in time her second son Freddy was too, she left Doha to begin an entirely different life by Conversations
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The caving time lord: Dr Kira Westaway is a geochronologist who places modern and ancient humans in context by dating things found in caves. For Kira, how we understand ourselves now, is tied up in the past by Conversations
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The hunt for Hitler's horses: Art detective Arthur Brand met neo-Nazis, billionaire collectors and underground art dealers on his hunt for the two enormous bronze horse sculptures once owned by Hitler. It was all part of his quest to find the criminal masterminds attempting to sell the artwork on the black market (R) by Conversations
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Music, mothering and Martha Wainwright: The folk singer on the songs in her blood, Montreal, and the intergenerational conflict between professional creativity and family by Conversations
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Oumuamua's secrets: Avi Loeb was Harvard's top astronomer when he became intrigued by reports of a pancake-shaped object the size of a football field hurtling through our solar system (R) by Conversations
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Anita Jacoby uncovers painful secrets hidden by her loving father: Anita Jacoby has spent decades uncovering the truth about other people, but when she turned the lens on her own father, she was shocked by Conversations
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Building a school for the world’s poorest children — Gemma Sisia's story: A donation of land and $10 was all Australian-born Gemma needed to establish The School of St Jude in Tanzania (R) by Conversations
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The audacious athletes who cheated their way to the top: From dodgy marathon runners to table tennis stars who 'dope' their paddles, there are few sports which can claim immunity from cheating by Conversations
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Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the letter that changed his life: He's one of the world's most acclaimed opera stars, but Teddy Tahu Rhodes did everything he could, for a very long time, to avoid his destiny on stage by Conversations
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The hunt for the world’s largest owl: Wildlife biologist Jonathan Slaght on his adventurous quest to save the rare, shaggy fish owls of Russia's Far East (R) by Conversations
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Maggie Dent — helping teenage boys grow into good men: Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cross the bridge from boyhood to manhood (R) by Conversations
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Jackie Huggins: my father Jack: Jackie Huggins with the story of her father Jack, who was a surf lifesaver, a rugby league player, a soldier taken prisoner in the Fall of Singapore, and the first Indigenous Australian to work in the post office by Conversations
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Lost at sea: losing faith as a Navy Chaplain: How the Royal Australian Navy's top chaplain lost his faith by Conversations
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Two spoons and a dugout canoe — the story of Jock McLaren: Tom Gilling with the story of how a Scottish-born soldier named Jock McLaren became one of Australia's greatest World War II guerrilla fighters (R) by Conversations
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Don Winslow — private eye, safari guide and inside the narco wars: The US crime novelist on his unlikely career progression, and how he uses his books as a way of showing the human stories behind the headlines of the opioid epidemic in America by Conversations
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Di Morrissey and the tragedy on Lovett Bay: Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village on the water, only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. When she was a young woman, a tragedy on the bay altered her life (R) by Conversations
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The five personalities of China

The five personalities of China

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Conversations