Recently I was asked to participate in two radio programs produced by the BBC.  The first program focuses on the history of Shanghai and the connections between the contemporary city and its colonial-era legacy.  Naturally this is a subject that is right up my alley, so I was happy to be a part of the show.  Other interviewees include my British colleagues Robert Bickers and Duncan Hewitt.

The second program is about pop music in China and its exportation to the West.  I weighed in with a few observations about music in general and the China scene in particular, but the focus of this show is mainly -- and rightly -- on the musicians themselves.

It was a great honor to be a part of a BBC program, and in the process I got to meet two extraordinary producers:  Phil Tinline (for the program on Shanghai) and Georgia Katt (for the one on Chinese musicians).  I also met the redoubtable Rana Mitter, Oxford University Professor of Chinese history, whom I took (along with Phil) on my music history tour of Shanghai's French Concession.