Welcome to The Big Smoke Variety Show! This week, we log on and step into the complex world of China’s internet, a digital landscape shaped by innovation, censorship, and the ever-shifting boundaries of freedom and control. Kevin is joined by journalist and author Yi-Ling Liu to discuss her new book, The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet. Yi-Ling’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, WIRED, and The New York Review of Books and her book has been named a finalist for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing. Together, Kevin and Yi-Ling explore the human stories behind one of the most influential digital worlds on the planet. From the Great Firewall and the rise of Chinese social media to hip hop, online censorship, queer communities, tech entrepreneurs, and the strange ‘dance in shackles’ between expression and control. Along the way, Kevin reflects on his own experiences working in China as a theatre director, from touring an English-language production of The Merchant of Venice to directing a Mandarin version of Romeo and Juliet in Beijing. Yi-Ling also shares the personal journey that led her to the book: growing up between Hong Kong and mainland China, encountering censorship for the first time as a teenage intern at China Daily, studying at Yale, reporting on Chinese hip hop in Chengdu. We’re also trying something new, with episodes now coming to you every week. Join us next Thursday for more adventurous audio from across The Big Smoke, including more magical mayhem from fan-favourite apprentice magicians The Strange Brothers, and another wonderfully unexpected trip to the loo with the London Loo Lady. So whether you’re scrolling through your feed, peering behind the firewall, or wondering how much of the internet you truly understand, remember: behind every screen are human stories, invisible boundaries, and people trying to make sense of an increasingly connected world — just as we do here in The Big Smoke. — Links 💻 Yi-Ling Liu 📕 The Wall Dancers  📝 Recommended Journalists: Viola Zhou, Sarah Wu and Vivian Wang 📚 Recommended Book "I Deliver Parcels in Beijing," by Hu Anyan.  — Chapters (00:00) Intro & Show Menu (01:34) Yi-Ling Liu Interview (1:00:09) Outro — Credits Hosted & Executive Produced by Kevin Bennett Produced & Edited by Alex Graham Original Music by Giles Terera Music arranged and played by Joseph Atkins