Graeme Smith and Louisa Lim
106 episodes listed below
An academic and a journalist unpack China's politics, espionage, and Southeast Asian scam compounds.
The Little Red Podcast examines China beyond familiar capital-city narratives through long-form interviews with academics, journalists, researchers, and regional specialists. Its episodes move patiently from concrete cases to larger arguments about state power, social change, and China’s global reach.
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The Little Red Podcast is built around long-form interviews and multi-guest panel conversations about China, typically running 35 to 55 minutes per episode. It is co-hosted by Graeme Smith, a China studies academic at the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs, and Louisa Lim, a former BBC and NPR China correspondent now at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advancing Journalism; some episodes run with only one host present. Guests are drawn from academia, investigative journalism, and policy or security circles, including authors discussing books on Apple's China dependence and Canadian foreign-interference law, former intelligence officials, and in at least one episode a survivor of a Southeast Asian scam compound. Recurring subject areas include Chinese domestic policy such as the gaokao and vocational tracking, Hong Kong literature and censorship under the national security law, Chinese Communist Party foreign-interference operations targeting diaspora communities in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US, and the transnational scam and trafficking economy centered on Myanmar and Thailand border regions. Episodes often connect present-day events to historical throughlines, from imperial civil-service exams to 1950s CIA operations in China to Cold War-era diplomatic recognition. The tone is investigative and analytical rather than casual, with hosts pressing guests for specifics on trafficking numbers, laundering mechanics, and policy gaps. Production credits mentioned across episodes include editor Andy Hazel, composer Susie Wilkins, and illustrator Seb Danter. The show suits listeners with background or interest in Asia-Pacific studies, journalism, or security policy, as well as general audiences following China's political and economic influence abroad. It includes detailed, sometimes difficult accounts of forced labour and trafficking rather than treating these topics lightly. Overall it favors depth and named sourcing over quick news-cycle takes on China.
Made for: Listeners with a background or interest in Asia-Pacific geopolitics, journalism, or security policy who want expert-driven, source-heavy analysis of China's domestic and overseas influence.
What sets it apart: Pairs an academic host and a journalist host, combining scholarly framing with investigative reporting, including direct survivor interviews from Southeast Asian scam compounds rather than secondhand summaries.
The Little Red Podcast: interviews and chat celebrating China beyond the Beijing beltway. Hosted by Graeme Smith, China studies academic at the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs and Louisa Lim, former China correspondent for the BBC and NPR, now with the Centre for Advancing Journalism at Melbourne University. We are the 2018 winners of podcast of the year in the News & Current Affairs category of the Australian Podcast Awards. Follow us @limlouisa and @GraemeKSmith, and find show notes at www.facebook.com/LittleRedPodcast/
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Patient interviews make China's institutions and overseas reach legible, with close attention to how power works in practice.
The Little Red Podcast traces how Chinese power operates through institutions, businesses and cross-border networks. Graeme Smith and Louisa Lim lead interview-driven conversations that keep asking how a system works in practice and who feels its effects.
Scam compounds, exam fever, and Apple's China bind arrive with questions sharp enough to ruin easy answers.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A 1952 CIA disappearance becomes a brisk guide to why China's inner politics remain so hard to read.
A Cold War spy tale gives this Face Off handoff its charge: John Downey and Richard Fecteau fly from Japan toward northern China in 1952, on a CIA mission to retrieve a Chinese operative, then vanish for 20 years.
A clear, grounded look at how Chinese interference concerns play out through local politics, diaspora pressure, and democratic weak spots.
The Little Red Podcast treats Chinese foreign interference as something more practical than a spy-thriller headline. Louisa Lim frames the episode around recent concern in Britain, Canada, the United States, and Australia, then lets Sam Guthrie, Lyndon Lee, and Dennis Molinaro…
A sharp China tech episode on Apple's dependence, Chinese founder strategy, and the politics behind global production.
The Little Red Podcast turns Apple's China story into a sharp conversation about dependence, manufacturing power, and the habits of Chinese tech firms.
A sharp, grounded look at China's gaokao as exam, social ladder, and national ritual.
The Little Red Podcast treats China's gaokao less as a school test than as a national ritual, with consequences large enough to quiet traffic, postpone concerts, and put 13 million students on edge for two days.
A clear, literary conversation on Cantonese, censorship, migration, and the cost of adapting under political pressure.
The Little Red Podcast turns the question of Hong Kong writing in its own language into a sharp cultural and political conversation. Louisa Lin frames Cantonese as a live pressure point after the national security law, with writers facing censorship, publication difficulties,…
A sharp look at how scam syndicates adapted after Operation 1027 and began aiming harder at victims outside China.
The Little Red Podcast follows Chinese online scam syndicates as pressure on the Myanmar-China border pushes more of the business toward the Thai border and victims farther afield.
A rare inside account of a scam compound, strongest on the ordinary systems behind extraordinary cruelty.
The Pig Butcher's Payroll is strongest when it leaves the scale of Southeast Asia's scam economy and sits inside one compound. Neo, speaking under a pseudonym, describes seven months in 2022 in a guarded camp on the Myanmar-Thailand border: open-plan rooms packed with workers,…
Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson debate Canadian politics, from Alberta separatism to Ottawa's bureaucracy.
Robert Evans, Katie Stoll, and Cody Johnston build fake conspiracies and mock right-wing media.
Jonah Goldberg's literate, dry-witted arguments about politics and ideas.
Grant Swift and Louisa Lin interview Boston University's Gregory Chin and Kevin Gallagher about their free book "China and the Global Economic Order," starting with the People's Bank of China's designation of Deutsche Bank as a Remin B clearing bank.
November 1952 is the starting point.
Three British arrests sit at the edge of the conversation.
Apple became dependent on China.
The Little Red Podcast episode "Education Nation: China’s Exam Fetish" opens with the gaokao as a national event, with 13 million students, postponed concerts, free taxis, and exam writers guarded for six months.
This episode examines China's rapid push to integrate AI across society through its AI Plus framework, aiming for over 70% adoption in key sectors by 2027, and discusses the implications in the global race for AGI.
This episode explores the resurgence of shamanism and spirit mediums in modern China, featuring expert insights on how these ancient practices are evolving in a technologically advanced society.
This episode explores the rise of China's digital manosphere, including the shutdown of incel forums and the impact of online misogyny, featuring expert guests from academia.
This episode explores the revival of Buddhism in China, examining its increased popularity among young people facing economic challenges and its strategic use by the state for domestic control and international diplomacy, featuring expert guests and a case study of a Shaolin Temple in Zambia.
This episode explores whether China remains Marxist under Xi Jinping's leadership, featuring a debate between two academic experts with differing perspectives on ideology and institutions.
This episode explores China's PsyBoom, an expansion of psychological services under Xi Jinping, focusing on mental health issues among young people and featuring expert discussions on its historical and social implications.
This episode explores the rise of spirituality, particularly feng shui and digital practices like AI fortune-telling, among young people in China, featuring expert insights on its historical and modern contexts.
This episode discusses the changing roles and attitudes of women in China, including declining marriage rates and rising divorce rates, with expert guests.
This episode explores China's booming demand for fish maw, known as the 'cocaine of the seas,' examining its environmental impact, market dynamics, and cultural significance through an interview with journalist Jo Chandler.
Four years on, language has turned political.
The scam map has moved toward a global audience.
This episode discusses disinformation and cognitive warfare in Taiwan following its recent election, featuring interviews with two Taiwanese writers.
Neo Liu is introduced first as a Matrix-inspired pseudonym, then gives his real name: Yi Hao Liu.
This episode investigates Chinese-run online scam syndicates operating in Pacific island nations like Palau, featuring interviews with journalists who uncovered the story.
The hosts celebrate their 100th episode by reflecting on past topics and introducing a new subject about China.
An interview with journalist Dorothy Wickham about China's growing influence in the Solomon Islands, including infrastructure projects and a controversial security pact.
This episode interviews three Chinese stand-up comedians about the business and political challenges of comedy in China.
This episode discusses the economic and social challenges facing Gen Z in China, including high youth unemployment and the 'lying flat' phenomenon, through interviews with experts.
An interview with authors about the Cultural Revolution's legacy and why it remains a sensitive topic in China.
An interview with Ian Johnson about his book on China's underground historians and the state's control over historical records.
This episode explores China's booming science fiction industry, featuring interviews with translators and scholars about the genre's rise and cultural impact.
An episode discussing the aftermath of Shanghai's lockdown and the implications of China's zero-Covid policy, featuring expert interviews.
An interview with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about his book on US-China conflict and the current state of geopolitical tensions.
This episode examines why the Chinese Communist Party is targeting its tech billionaires, focusing on Jack Ma's disappearance and the broader regulatory crackdown on big tech platforms.
This episode discusses the political situation in Hong Kong, including national security legislation, election rule changes, and interviews with democratic politicians.
The hosts introduce a special anniversary episode inviting listener questions about Chinese politics and tease a story about satellite photos in Tibet.
This episode explores the phenomenon of boy love (BL/danmei) in China, its origins, and its impact as a political and economic force.
This episode debates the claim that the concept of China was invented in the 19th and 20th centuries, featuring author Bill Hayton and historian Esther Klein.
An interview-based episode analyzing Xi Jinping's rise and the role of the Communist Party in China's princeling elite.
This episode examines the pushback against China's state-run media, focusing on CGTN and forced confessions from detainees.
This episode examines the role of British business empires in Hong Kong amid new national security legislation, featuring interviews with authors Robert Bickers and Jonathan Kaufman.