Drum Tower: Stand-up feminists

<p>Tickets for “Nvzizhuyi”—a monthly stand-up comedy show in New York City— often sell out in less than a minute. The <a href="https://www.economist.com/china/2023/10/19/chinese-feminists-are-rebuilding-their-movement-abroad?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=drumtower&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">show</a> invites Chinese citizens, mostly women, to tell jokes, perform skits and recount the absurd challenges they’ve encountered as feminist activists in China—things they could never utter in public back home.&nbsp;</p><br /><p>This week, Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, reports from the dark basement of a comedy club. Together with David Rennie, <em>The Economist’</em>s Beijing bureau chief, they ask: Why are some of China’s exiled feminists doing stand-up comedy abroad? And can their performances have any impact back home?</p><br /><p><em>Sign up for a </em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus?purchaseRedirect=economist.com/audio/podcasts/onboarding?podcast=babbage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>free trial</em></a><em> of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48TlDbL-4vU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.</em></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>