Best Macao Podcasts (2025)

1
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 6: MACAO (1952) and SUDDEN FEAR (1952) 1:02:46

5d ago1:02:46

1:02:46

In this episode of our Gloria Grahame Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, our protagonist is rudely shoved into the background of the movies, barely appearing in Josef von Sternberg's Macao (1950) (she would have liked to have appeared in it even less) and playing a rote schemer in David Miller's Sudden Fear (1952). The movies themselves don't make up f…

1
Audrey Truschke, "India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent" (Princeton UP, 2025) 44:10

6d ago44:10

44:10

I’m Nicholas Gordon, host of the Asian Review of Books podcast, done in partnership with the New Books Network. On this show, we interview authors writing in, around, and about the Asia-Pacific region. How do you tell the story of India–not just the modern-day country, but the whole region of South Asia, home to over two billion people? Historian A…

1
JD.com flees China’s brutal retail wars for Europe, as Beijing fails to tame price-cutting at home 18:25

6d ago18:25

18:25

JD.com has purchased brick-and-mortar retail chains in Germany and Hong Kong. Why is the company taking this route instead of sticking to e-commerce? And car trader Autohome has reported a fourth consecutive quarter of revenue contraction, as its ad revenue plunged. When will price wars hobbling China's oversaturated car market finally end?…

1
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1932: THE MAN I KILLED aka BROKEN LULLABY & HORSE FEATHERS 1:00:04

12d ago1:00:04

1:00:04

For this round of Paramount 1932, we watched our first Marx Brothers movie for the podcast (hard as that is to believe), Horse Feathers (directed by Norman Z. MacLeod), alongside Ernst Lubitsch's only sound-era drama, Broken Lullaby. Lubitsch's batshit WWI melodrama, bursting with intensity and unease, claims our attention first, and then we turn t…

1
Eiko Maruko Siniawer, "Ten Moments that Shaped Tokyo" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 49:03

13d ago49:03

49:03

How did Tokyo—Japan’s capital, global city, tourist hotspot and financial center—get to where it is today? Tokyo–or then, Edo–had a rather unglamorous start, as a backwater on Japan’s eastern coast before Tokugawa decided to make it his de facto capital. Eiko Maruko Siniawer picks ten distinct moments in Edo’s, and then Tokyo’s, history to show how…

1
Apple's China puzzle and an African phone pioneer’s peril 18:48

13d ago18:48

18:48

Apple returns to revenue growth in China, as it also closes its first store in the city of Dalian. What's next for the company in the world's largest smartphone market? And Transsion considers a Hong Kong IPO. Should investors buy into this biggest smartphone maker you've never heard of, banking on its status as Africa's top cellphone brand?…

1
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 5: IN A LONELY PLACE (1950) and THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952) 1:13:21

19d ago1:13:21

1:13:21

This week in our Gloria Grahame Acteurist Oeuvre-view we watched one of her best-known films, In a Lonely Place (1950), directed by Nicholas Ray and co-starring Humphrey Bogart, alongside the unpromising Cecil B. DeMille circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). This may be the only time you find these two movies discussed together with rough…

1
Aatish Taseer, "A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile" (Catapult, 2025) 46:06

20d ago46:06

46:06

In 2019, famed journalist and writer Aatish Taseer was thrown out of India. Soon after he wrote a cover article for Time calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the country’s “divider in chief,” New Delhi decided to revoke his residency. That sent Aatish on a journey across the world–to places like Turkey, Spain, Mexico and Sri Lanka–to explore identi…

1
From Delhi risks to a domestic dairy bust 24:36

21d ago24:36

24:36

Smartphone glass maker Biel is building up an Indian production base, while appliance giant Haier is selling half of its Indian business. What's driving these two very different moves by Chinese companies in the fast-evolving Indian market? And two dairy companies are reporting stagnating sales. Is China's dairy sector past its high-growth glory da…

1
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1931: BAD SISTER & STRICTLY DISHONORABLE 58:57

26d ago58:57

58:57

For our Universal 1931 Studios Year by Year episode we took in a Sidney Fox double feature, Bad Sister (adapted from a Booth Tarkington novel, with an early role for Bette Davis as the good sister) and Strictly Dishonorable (adapted from Preston Sturges' only successful play and directed by John Stahl). Laemmle Jr.'s protegée uses her ingenue quali…

1
Sanjena Sathian, "Goddess Complex" (Penguin Press, 2025) 40:50

27d ago40:50

40:50

Sanjana Satyananda, the main character of Sanjena Sathian’s novel, Goddess Complex (Penguin Press, 2025), is a bit of a mess. She’s back in the States after a spell in India, ending her marriage with her actor husband when he wanted kids…and she didn’t. Her friends are starting to settle down–and wondering when Sanjana will do the same. And, distre…

1
China’s new investment playbook: VCs chase crypto as a travel upstart eyes New York 24:57

27d ago24:57

24:57

Two mid-sized Chinese venture capital firms are moving in new directions, one embracing cryptocurrencies and the other diversifying beyond retail. What's driving these moves? And up-and-coming online travel agent Klook is eying a major New York IPO. Why isn't it following a more recent trend to list in Hong Kong, and is there room for yet another t…

1
Special Subject - Supported By Oscar Levant – the 1950s – AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951); THE I DON’T CARE GIRL (1953) & THE BAND WAGON (1953) 1:03:34

1M ago1:03:34

1:03:34

Our final Oscar Levant Special Subject episode covers his contribution to two of the greatest MGM musicals, Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris (1951) and The Band Wagon (1953), plus a 20th Century Fox curiosity, The I Don't Care Girl (1953) in which Mitzi Gaynor supposedly plays early 20th century vaudeville wild woman Eva Tanguay. Levant rea…

1
James D.J. Brown, "Cracking the Crab: Russian Espionage Against Japan, from Peter the Great to Richard Sorge" (Hurst, 2025), 39:49

1M ago39:49

39:49

The Russians came late to Japan, arriving after the Portuguese and other European powers. But as soon as they arrived, Russia tried to use spies and espionage to learn more about their neighbor—with various degrees of success. Sometimes, it failed miserably, like Russia’s early attempts to make contact with pre-Meiji Japan, or the debacle during th…

1
Private healthcare's unclear road, and a surging cosmetic surgeon 16:19

1M ago16:19

16:19

Private clinic operators for medical treatments like eye and dental care are facing a difficult path as Chinese consumers rein in their spending. What's ahead for this group? And cosmetic surgery services provider So-Young's shares have soared in recent weeks as investors embrace its shifting business model. Why are they suddenly so confident?…

1
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO – 1931: CIMARRON (dir. Wesley Ruggles) and TRAVELING HUSBANDS (dir. Paul Sloane) 1:02:39

1M ago1:02:39

1:02:39

The movies we viewed for this RKO 1931 Studios Year by Year episode couldn't be more different: the sprawling Cimarron (starring Richard Dix as America's psychotic inner conflict) prompts us to speculate about Edna Ferber as a source auteur and the intertwining of her vision of America with Hollywood across three decades; while the tight, play-like…

1
Paul French, "Destination Macao" (Blacksmith Books, 2024) 57:39

1M ago57:39

57:39

Macau–onetime Portuguese colony, now casino hotspot–has long captured the imaginations of travelers, reporters, artists and writers. The city served as the only gateway to China for centuries; then, after the rise of Hong Kong, its slightly seedier vibe made it a popular setting for books, articles and movies exploring the more criminal elements of…

1
Hong Kong: China’s IPO pipeline and crypto lab 15:47

1M ago15:47

15:47

Companies raised $13.6 billion through Hong Kong IPOs in the first half of the year, giving the city the global fundraising title for that period. What's behind the sudden boom? And a growing number of Chinese companies are experimenting with cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong, even as such currencies are banned on the Mainland. What's driving such diff…

1
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 4: A WOMAN’S SECRET (1948) and ROUGHSHOD (1949) 53:50

2M ago53:50

53:50

Our Gloria Grahame Acteurist Oeuvre-view continues with A Woman's Secret (1949), an oddball psychological drama with a screenplay by Citizen Kane writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and directed by Grahame's new husband Nicholas Ray; and Roughshod (1949), a consciously feminist Western written by a bunch of leftists. Proving her versatility-within-typecast…

1
Zev Handel, "Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese" (U Washington Press, 2025) 44:54

2M ago44:54

44:54

For centuries, scribes across East Asia used Chinese characters to write things down–even in languages based on very different foundations than Chinese. In southern China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, people used Chinese to read and write–and never thought it was odd. It was, after all, how things were done. Even today, Cantonese speakers use Chinese …

1
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Fox Film Corporation – 1931: A CONNECTICUT YANKEE and SURRENDER 59:01

2M ago59:01

59:01

A curious pairing for this Fox 1931 Studios Year by Year episode: an unsung WWI drama, but as good as any, William K. Howard's Surrender, starring Warner Baxter, Leila Hyams, and an almost unrecognizable (both his appearance and his performance) Ralph Bellamy; and the Will Rogers version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which mainly …

1
Naomi Xu Elegant, "Gingko Season: A Novel" (W. W. Norton, 2025) 34:13

2M ago34:13

34:13

Naomi Xu Elegant’s debut novel, Gingko Season (W. W. Norton: 2025), stars Penelope Lin, a young Chinese woman living in New York in the faraway year of 2018. With difficult parents and a bad break-up, she works for a museum’s exhibition on bound feet, with a gaggle of other, somewhat clueless friends. But a meeting with Hoang, a researcher at a can…

1
Macao's end of an era, and a ghost ship in search of a business 18:35

2M ago18:35

18:35

An era has ended in Macao with the planned closure of the city's remaining "satellite casinos" by the end of the year. Does this represent the latest step in the corporatization of Macao? And former financier-turned-educator-turned -food seller Qudian has announced it's pulling out of its latest foray into last-mile delivery. What value for investo…

1
Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 4: ALICE (1990); SHADOWS AND FOG (1991) & HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1992) 1:08:11

2M ago1:08:11

1:08:11

We say farewell to Farrow and Allen (for now, although we'll probably encounter them individually on the podcast again) with this final episode on their cinematic collaboration, covering Alice (1990), Shadows and Fog (1991), and one of their very best, the ill-fated Husbands and Wives (1992). In the first two, two more Allen characters struggle to …

1
John Man, "Conquering the North: China, Russia, Mongolia: 2,000 Years of Conflict" (Oneworld Publications, 2025) 50:20

2M ago50:20

50:20

China, famously, built the Great Wall to defend against nomadic groups from the Eurasian steppe. For two millennia, China interacted with groups from the north: The Xiongnu, the Mongols, the Manchus, and the Russians. They defended against raids, got invaded by the north, and tried to launch diplomatic relations. John Man, in his book Conquering th…

1
Labubu fever, and a skincare brawl 15:06

2M ago15:06

15:06

An early edition toy based on the red-hot Labubu character has fetched a record $150,000 in a recent auction. What's driving the craze, and is it sustainable? And a high-profile tussle between two leading skincare brands has left one of them bruised, with its stock down 30%. How can investors steer clear of this kind of damage?…

1
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 3: SONG OF THE THIN MAN (1947) and MERTON OF THE MOVIES (1947) 42:59

2M ago42:59

42:59

In this Gloria Grahame Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode we get to see more of what MGM was (not) doing with our acteur's career. Underused in Song of the Thin Man (1947), in which she brings the only real noir energy to the final Thin Man film, she gets a similarly brief but memorable role in the Red Skelton vehicle Merton of the Movies (1947), playin…

1
Fyodor Tertitskiy, "Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-sung" (Hurst UP, 2025) 32:36

2M ago32:36

32:36

The Kims, of North Korea, are perhaps the 21st century’s most successful family dictatorship–if only due to sheer longevity, having run North Korea for the almost eight decades since the country’s post-war founding. Kim Il-Sung led North Korea for over half that time, from its founding in 1948 to Kim’s death in 1994. But who was Kim Il-Sung? How di…

1
WeRide's big share repurchase, and Huawei's PC Harmony 26:45

2M ago26:45

26:45

Huawei has released a PC version of its Harmony operating system, as well as two models using the OS. How likely are other PC and smartphone makers to adopt this made-in-China OS? And WeRide has launched a $100 million share buyback less than a year after its IPO. What prompted the move, and is this the best use of its dwindling cash?…

1
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers - 1931: NIGHT NURSE & BLONDE CRAZY 53:49

2M ago53:49

53:49

This round of Warner Bros. 1931 brings us two gems by a couple of Pre-Code masters, Roy Del Ruth's Blonde Crazy and William A. Wellman's Night Nurse, showing off the early star charisma of Jimmy Cagney (oozing vulnerability) and Barbara Stanwyck (spitting fire), ably supported by Joan Blondell in both cases. Bonus: Young Clark Gable shows up for an…

1
Vappala Balachandran, "India and China at Odds in the Asian Century: A Diplomatic and Strategic History" (Hurst, 2025) 41:34

3M ago41:34

41:34

China and India have had a tense relationship, disagreeing over territory, support for each other’s rivals, and even, at times, leadership of the “Global South.” But there were periods where things seemed a bit rosier. For about a decade, between 1988 and 1998, relations between India and China thawed—and prompted heady predictions of an Asian cent…

1
Zeekr's Buyout Stalls, and Chagee's Returns Cool 26:23

3M ago26:23

26:23

A group of early investors in NEV maker Zeekr have protested a recent privatization bid for the company, saying it's too low. Will the buyer heed their complaints and raise its offer? And Chagee's maiden quarterly results show its revenue grew at just half the rate of its new store openings. What's behind the evaporting returns?…

1
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 2: IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN (1947) and CROSSFIRE (1947) 50:38

3M ago50:38

50:38

Our second Gloria Grahame Acteur-Oeuvre-view episode includes a curious under-use of our acteur in the all-around baffling musical comedy It Happened in Brooklyn (nevertheless memorable for the chemistry between Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante), and a judicious use of her by RKO in Edward Dmytryk's anti-fascist noir Crossfire (also 1947). We try to…

1
Chris Aslan, "Unravelling the Silk Road: Travels and Textiles in Central Asia" (Icon Books, 2024) 45:07

3M ago45:07

45:07

The Silk Road may be the most famous trade network in history. But the flow of silk from China to the Middle East and Europe isn’t the only textile trade that’s made its mark on Central Asia, the subject of Chris Aslan’s latest book Unravelling the Silk Road: Travels and Textiles in Central Asia (Icon Books, 2024), recently published in paperback. …

1
Russia's Chinese Car Indigestion, and the Fall of a Chinese Chip Magnate 18:45

3M ago18:45

18:45

After zooming over the last few years, China's car exports to Russia skidded by 44% in the first quarter. What put on the brakes? And former microchip superstar Zhao Guowei has been sentenced to death for waste and corruption. What led to his downfall?By Bamboo Works

1
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – MGM – 1931: THE EASIEST WAY & THE CHAMP 1:09:45

3M ago1:09:45

1:09:45

For this MGM 1931 episode we watched The Easiest Way, a feminist subversion of melodrama tropes by director Jack Conway and screenwriter Edith Ellis, starring Constance Bennett as the fallen woman and a young Clark Gable, verging on stardom, as her judgemental brother-in-law; and possibly the most sentimental movie ever made, King Vidor's The Champ…

1
Lizhi Liu, "From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China" (Princeton UP, 2024) 57:37

3M ago57:37

57:37

Alibaba. Tencent. JD. Pinduoduo. Run down the list of China’s most valuable companies and you’ll find, for the most part, that they’re all e-commerce companies—or at least facilitate e-commerce. The sector created giants: Alibaba grew from just 5.5 billion renminbi of revenue in 2010 to 280 billion last year. But how did Chinese e-commerce firms sh…

1
Starbucks Seeks a China Partner, and Vaping Looks to Diversify 16:57

3M ago16:57

16:57

Starbucks has reportedly sent invitations to several parties interested in buying part of its struggling China operations. What kind of partner is the U.S. coffee giant likely to choose? And vaping companies are scrambling to diversify production away from China over concerns about Donald Trump's tariffs. Where are they going, and will they escape …

1
Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 3: SEPTEMBER (1987); ANOTHER WOMAN (1988) NEW YORK STORIES (1989) & CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989) 1:32:39

3M ago1:32:39

1:32:39

Our Farrow v Allen series continues with four more collaborations: September (1987), Another Woman (1988), Oedipus Wrecks (1989, part of the anthology movie New York Stories), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). We count the ways in which Allen mashes up his favourite playwrights, filmmakers, and Russian novelists, trace the development of Allen's …

1
Mayukh Sen, "Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star" (Norton, 2025) 55:15

3M ago55:15

55:15

In 2022, Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. But she wasn’t the first actress of Asian origin to be nominated. In 1935, Merle Oberon was nominated for Best Actress for the role of Kitty Vane in The Dark Angel, only her second film in the U.S. film industry. But no one knew Oberon was Asian. Her pu…

1
Uber's Chinese Robotaxi Romance, and Webull's Strong Debut 16:43

3M ago16:43

16:43

Uber has signed new alliances with Chinese robotaxi operators Momenta and Pony AI, and fortified an existing partnership with WeRide. Why the sudden embrace of Chinese robotaxis? And Webull's stock has charged from the gate with massive gains following its SPAC listing. What's driving this company, which is an unusual hybrid of a U.S.-based busines…

1
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 1: BLONDE FEVER (1944) and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) 1:11:56

3M ago1:11:56

1:11:56

Welcome to our inaugural Gloria Grahame episode, which is also our final Acteurist Oeuvre-view! In this episode we consider Gloria's first significant movie role, as the cause of Blonde Fever (1944), in which she and Philip Dorn confuse each other and provide occasion for Mary Astor's multiple levels of irony. We then turn to Gloria's breakthrough …

1
Laura Spinney, "Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 46:30

3M ago46:30

46:30

English. French. Italian. Hindi. Greek. Russian. All these different languages can trace their roots to the same origin: Proto-Indo-European, spoken in 4000 BC in the steppe that crosses from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. Whether by migration, diffusion or conquest, the Indo-European languages spread west across Europe, east across Central Asia, …

1
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1931: 24 HOURS and LADIES OF THE BIG HOUSE 1:10:15

4M ago1:10:15

1:10:15

Our streak of finding gynocentric crime film gems continues with our second Paramount 1931 episode, featuring two movies directed by Sylvia Sidney specialist Marion Gering. 24 Hours pairs a despairing Clive Brook and Miriam Hopkins, haunted by marriages they can't escape in one way or another. And Ladies of the Big House, starring a radiant Sidney …

1
Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian, "The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform" (Yale UP, 2024) 40:03

4M ago40:03

40:03

In 1968, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, asserting his control of China 15 years later, Deng Xiaoping launched the reform and opening up period, putting China on the path to becoming an economic powerhouse. But what happens in between these two critical periods of Chinese history? How does China go from Mao's Cultural Revolution to Den…

1
A Bagel Success Story, and a Red Bull Slayer 16:58

4M ago16:58

16:58

Tim Hortons is tasting some new success in China with a bagel formula. Will this mark the start of a turnaround for the struggling chain? And a Red Bull killer named Eastroc has filed to list in Hong Kong. What’s the secret to its success, and will it attract investors to its story?By Bamboo Works

1
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 7:AN IDEAL HUSBAND (1947) and THE FEMININE TOUCH (1956) 1:23:20

4M ago1:23:20

1:23:20

Our final Diana Wynyard episode has arrived all too soon! We look at her two final key roles, in Alexander Korda's film of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband (1947) and The Feminine Touch (1956), a nurse drama that's better than its silly title. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we cover the 2025 Toronto Silent Film Festival, focusing on three fil…

1
Chris Stowers, "Shoot, Ask...and Run" (Earnshaw Books Ltd, 2025) 51:53

4M ago51:53

51:53

Chris Stowers, longtime photographer, credits a fellow journalist for the title of his latest memoir, Shoot, Ask...and Run (Earnshaw, 2025). The journalist’s advice to a young Chris, just starting out, went like this. Shoot: Take the photo when the opportunity arises. Then, if someone notices that you took a photo, “ask” for permission to use the p…

1
Delisting Speculation, and a New Tea Listing 14:20

4M ago14:20

14:20

Speculation is growing on a potential delisting of Chinese shares from New York in the growing US-China trade war. Could such a mass delisting really happen? And a purist premium tea maker named Chagee raises $400 million in a Nasdaq IPO. What sets this company apart from its many rivals?By Bamboo Works

1
Retro Re-issue [August 23, 2019] - Ethan Mordden’s The Hollywood Studios (1989) - Now With No Introductory Song! 2:44:46

4M ago2:44:46

2:44:46

**** [Retro Re-issue Alert!] **** Turns out it wasn't such a great idea to use Le Tigre's "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes?" as our podcast's theme song in 2019 and 2020! Anyway, Spotify (and presumably Le Tigre) don't seem to think so. Accordingly, please find the attached re-issue of one of our foundational episodes, minus the intro music + a couple…

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