I never know which of my diverse topics will prove popular. In a way I’m not bovvered—you don’t spend half your life doing fieldwork on Daoist ritual if you’re hoping to be an overnight TikTok sensation. Like Flann O’Brian, I write largely

without regard to expense or the feelings of the public.

Still, I sometimes find it perplexing when one post gets a lot of readers while another related one goes down like a one-legged man at an arse-kicking party.

For instance, Shamans in the two Koreas went modestly viral, whereas readers were underwhelmed when I reposted my roundup of essays on Spirit mediums in China. Would that be because the word “shaman” is clickbait—or is it that North Korea seems more exotic than the PRC?

My lengthy reflections on the new British Museum exhibition China’s hidden century have been well received, with many instances of the wealth of material on the late Qing that can be gained from fieldwork among local rural traditions. Just as fascinating is the life of Nadine Hwang—her high-flying early life in Beijing and Paris, then meeting her partner Nelly Mousset-Vos in the hell of Ravensbrück, and living together in Caracas after their release.

To my chagrin, rather few readers seem to share my enthusiasm for either WAM or pop music—both Beethoven’s Op.109 sonata and Mr Sandman are utterly captivating!

Similarly under-subscribed are my posts on tennis (e.g. Cocomania, A glorious playlist for Emma and Leylah, and the wacky linguistic fantasy Ogonek and Til), along with the genius of Ronnie O’Sullivan on the baize. Hey-ho.

And Love, Deutschmarks, and death is just as fascinating a film as Jazz in Turkey. Thankfully my film about the Li family Daoists, the original raison-d-être of this whole wacky pot-pourri, continues to find viewers.

Just saying, like… I’ll just keep on rabbiting on about things that inspire me.