Season 01 Compilation 06
Compilation 06
Mosaic of China Season 01 - China News Sources
Original Date of Release: 14 Jul 2020.
The topic of where we get our information has been in centre stage across the world, as societies debate the ideals of press freedom versus the dangers of fake news. So when I asked the 30 guests from Season 1 of the podcast about their favourite sources of information in China, I had no idea what kind of answers I would receive.
The picture that emerged is an array of news and information sources, some of them official, others personal; some of them industry-specific, and others in the form of social media aggregators. And we see that, notwithstanding the very specific media landscape we experience in China, there are plenty of great information resources to discover. If you have your own favourite news source which wasn’t mentioned in today’s show, please contribute your ideas to the communities on WeChat, Instagram and Facebook.
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[Trailer]
YANG Yi: That's not my storyline.
OF: Yes. Yes, because it doesn't fit the story that I want to write.
YY: Yeah, their Chinese coverage has some problem like that.
[Intro]
OF: Welcome to Mosaic of China, a podcast about people who are making their mark in China. I'm your host Oscar Fuchs.
So from the frivolous topic of shopping in the last compilation episode, this week we turned to the more serious topic of the news. Today's episode features all 30 guests from Season 01, and their answers to the question “What is your favourite source of information in or about China?” Because of this topic, I would say that today's is perhaps the most dry of all these compilation episodes. But that's not to say that it's not interesting, particularly if you're looking to diversify the news that you're currently reading. And be sure to listen out in particular to the answers given by the journalist and the broadcaster, since theirs are unsurprisingly the most nuanced.
[Main]
[Voiceover]
OF: Sebastien Denes, the inclusion advocate from Episode 11.
[Clip]
SD: Ah funnily enough, I read the China Daily. I like to read that newspaper, not so much for their impartial view, but I like to read it to see, a little bit, the narrative. To grasp a glimpse of where the country is going, what is the official thinking of it, and I do - what not so many people do now - I cross-reference.
OF: Right, right. I agree with you. Nowadays, unless you're reading five different sources, then actually you don't really know the full picture.
SD: Exactly.
[Voiceover]
OF: Stephane de Montgros, the events company CEO from Episode 19.
[Clip]
SDM: So I've heard of that guy, Oscar, who was putting together a series of podcasts, and go and check him out. I think the other one will be the South China Morning Post. So a great newspaper coming out of Hong Kong, and I think they have a very interesting take on things. And they’re obviously very close to the action. So that's something that I check on a daily basis.
OF: Great. And for somebody who used to live in Hong Kong, I appreciate that choice. I do not appreciate you saying that I am a source of information. Now I've got expectations to fill, you see?
[Voiceover]
OF: Octo Cheung, the fashion designer from Episode 30.
[Clip]
OC: SCMP, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. But also I like to investigate the difference between media which are not in the same place. Yeah.
OF: Right.
[Voiceover]
OF: Eric Olander, the journalist from Episode 03.
[Clip]
EO: Well, the thing that I read every day, without missing it, and it's a long meaty read is the Sinocism newsletter by Bill Bishop. And for anybody who's interested in China, particularly China-US, this is not optional. So he's doing basically the same thing that I'm doing, which is filtering through, providing some perspective, staying in that middle ground space. I'll also put out Jeremy Goldkorn and Kaiser Kuo with the Sinica Podcast and SupChina. Those guys are doing the same thing, they’re all part of the same culture. We're all part of the same generation that spent a lot of time here in the 90s, have some perspective on China. The thing that I really want to caution people on is that there are a lot of haters on Twitter and things like that. I really think that when you consume information about China, it's increasingly important now to consider “Do the people that you are reading and following speak Chinese?” And I use the same standard, could a Chinese person come to the United States and not speak a word of English, not read the New York Times, not understand anything that Trump is saying in his own language, and say that he really understands us? Impossible. And I think the same applies to China watchers outside looking in. If you cannot speak Chinese at a level sufficient to be able to understand what 习近平 [Xí Jìnpíng] is saying in a speech, even 80% of it, I just don't take you that credibly. I know that's a snooty line for a lot of people, but again, we apply the same standard to us, that you can’t understand us if you don't speak our language. And there is no way you could understand American culture without speaking English.
[Voiceover]
OF: Noah Sheldon, the documentary filmmaker from Episode 09.
[Clip]
NS: I find people like Bill Bishop - the old Sinocism blog - I find them pretty amazing. A book I want to reference that I'm obsessed with is called The Corpse Walker, by 廖亦武 [Liào Yìwǔ]. And that's an amazing book, he kind of is the Studs Terkel of China.
[Voiceover]
OF: Nick Yu, the playwright from Episode 13.
[Clip]
NY: I think that’s the 朋友圈 [péngyǒuquān.
OF: Just the news that your friends share on WeChat?
NY: Yeah.
OF: Yeah, isn’t that funny? A lot of people just get their news from WeChat.
NY: On WeChat you can find everything. Anything.
OF: Right.
[Voiceover]
OF: Astrid Poghosyan, the violinist from Episode 04.
[Clip]
AP: To be honest, I think mainly what I do, I rely on my 朋友圈 [péngyǒuquān], I rely on my WeChat moments. Because I have a variety - “mosaic” - of friends, coming from different parts of the world, and they share their own country's news; Chinese people share the local what's happening… So it's like, I think it's a bouquet of all kinds of news. So I rely on my 朋友圈 [péngyǒuquān] for news.
[Voiceover]
OF: Yael Farjun, the historical researcher from Episode 12.
[Clip]
YF: Mostly my WeChat, to be honest. So WeChat feed articles, I'm following quite a lot of official accounts. And we have different groups of people sharing different sectors, like industry sectors, or segments of the economy type of articles. Very, very interesting. And the easiest, the most useful, and relevant, I would say. Because it's just… again, it's just easy.
[Voiceover]
OF: Nini Sum, the artist from Episode 16.
[Clip]
NS: Before there were a lot of art magazines, like ‘Art World’ or something. And you can see the latest exhibitions. But now it's more like people are sharing their information in their Moments on WeChat mainly. Yeah.
[Voiceover]
OF: Maple Zuo, the comedian from Episode 02.
[Clip]
MZ: WeChat.
OF: Really?
MZ: That's the only thing I'm using right now.
OF: Right.
[Voiceover]
OF: Srinivas Yanamandra, the compliance leader from Episode 15.
[Clip]
SY: So basically, if you have WeChat, you have broadly everything in there. Yeah. Mostly, I think I'm a little weak in terms of tracking the local news. But things of my interest, you will always have WeChat groups. You have got different groups of communities, as such. So I think the messages get floating around.
[Voiceover]
OF: Emily Madge, the aquarium conservationist from Episode 14.
[Clip]
EM: Probably SmartShanghai. SmartShanghai and WeChat are my two. And Taobao.
OF: Yep.
EM: These are my three China apps that I go to.
[Voiceover]
OF: Sanford Browne, the biochemist from Episode 29.
[Clip]
SB: I'm a huge fan, for years, of WeChat. So as a one-stop shop, it's fantastic to be able to go there. Then, more for work-related use, I guess now it's called TikTok. That's a really interesting media. We see it, for example, in our business in makeup. These girls didn't know how to use makeup, they couldn't go to their mother. Now the amount of tutorials to be able to do that, to see how to apply eyeshadow, things like this, was really quite different. And then for English language, I guess it's called ‘Shine’ now, Shanghai Daily.
[Voiceover]
OF: Abe Deyo, the tour manager from Episode 27.
[Clip]
AD: Well, being in the music industry, I rely a lot on music platforms. So QQ Music is good, NetEase, 豆瓣 [Dòubàn] on occasion. Those are probably the ones I look at the most.
[Voiceover]
OF: Roz Coleman, the theatre producer from Episode 22.
[Clip]
RC: Yes, such a good question. I really love Radii, you know those guys? It’s sort of giving you like the full-circle perspective on loads of Chinese culture. And so it's where I read a huge amount about Chinese hip-hop in particular, but loads of Chinese music, a lot of Chinese metal acts as well. And where I hear about, like, phenomena that are happening on the internet, on Weibo, like, what's going to be the next big thing, and what everybody's talking about, and everybody's response is to this and that. Yeah, it's always written with a real style and wit and humour.
[Voiceover]
OF: Lori Li, the private club GM from Episode 10.
[Clip]
LL: My personal way is to go abroad often, if you have this ability. The other way is, we have very good documentary movies, or short movies, about Chinese society. So that's another way to know China.
[Voiceover]
OF: Gina Li, the invention company CEO from Episode 06.
[Clip]
GL: One is called ‘36氪 [36Kr]’, it’s like a technology app that they build content for, specifically for people working in the high tech industry. And another one is called ‘得到 [Dédào]’, it’s like a podcast, but not only a like a speaking-type podcast, it's more like a reading book. So all the people who have programmes on that have a very famous book, that tell people about a certain, like, philosophy of working, or different types of knowledge. And they just, like, record it by reading it. So for me, sometimes it’s… When I bike to work, I listen to it. And then, like, certain parts - because they have actually a PDF referred to that - I can just mark out notes. So those are the two things that I generally use as information resources.
[Voiceover]
OF: Simon Manetti, the business leader from Episode 17.
[Clip]
SM: Yeah. China Tech Talk, China Tech Investor. Those guys are awesome. TechNode, you're awesome.
[Voiceover]
OF: Greg Nance, the ultramarathon athlete from Episode 23.
[Clip]
GN: Yeah, so my favourite is a group called China HIVE. And they do really good technology and innovation. So if you're at all interested in like “What's the startup scene like?” or “Where's China tech going?” or Western tech in China, these guys at China Hive do a really, really good job covering it.
[Voiceover]
OF: Jorge Luzio, the marketer for Sprite from Episode 05.
[Clip]
JL: Honestly speaking, I get very, very educated, and I get a lot of information, when I talk with my media agencies, and in general with my agencies. They put us in contact with the latest trends, and things that are happening in the social and digital landscape. So every time that I interact… We do this periodically, and I get a lot of information and insights from them.
[Voiceover]
OF: Gigi Chang, the translator from Episode 24.
[Clip]
GC: I quite like Sixth Tone. It’s an English language news website. But I think it was a site started to give a different perspective on China, beyond grand politics or economics. This is much more about people.
[Voiceover]
OF: Michael Zee, the Instagram influencer from Episode 07.
[Clip]
MZ: So my favourite is Sixth Tone. And they are a Shanghai-based English-language Chinese long-read platform. They do these long reads, and they tell you how long you need to read them, 6-20 minutes. And they're on all sorts of subjects. And I think one of their most read - but also one of my favourites - is the history of hot water in China. And why do Chinese people drink hot water. It's a recent invention.
OF: Really?
MZ: Since the revolution.
OF: Amazing.
MZ: Yeah.
[Voiceover]
OF: Vy Vu, the fitness community leader from Episode 08.
[Clip]
VV: I've been listening to a lot of China History podcasts.
OF: I know the one you mean.
VV: Yeah. So that what I listen to. And then also Inside China, that's a bit similar as well. So that sort of goes through the history of, for instance, how the dumpling came about, and that sort of thing.
OF: Oh, wait, I don't think I knew that one. OK, I’ll have to check that out.
VV: There aren’t a lot of episodes, but that's quite a good one.
[Voiceover]
OF: Sabrina Chen, the dance programme curator from Episode 26.
[Clip]
SC: I kind of rely on everything, WeChat, 微博 [Wēibó], official or unofficial media, international websites as well.
[Voiceover]
OF: Lexie Comstock, the cookie supplier from Episode 20.
[Clip]
LC: Ooh, do you ever get this email - I'm on this newsletter thing called - China Skinny?
OF: No.
LC: So they just talk about trends in China… I think it's like a market… Like, you learn about the market… But they just have really interesting insights. And I think it's actually the only newsletter that I consistently read, or if I don't have time to read it I’ll save it and then and sit down with it. Yeah, so I actually… I genuinely think they're doing a great job.
[Voiceover]
OF: Tom Barker, the diplomat from Episode 25.
[Clip]
TB: So, the media and internet here is a bit difficult. I do like… There are quite a few places I do like, I really like China Skinny for their economic reporting, and these very interesting things that often aren't picked up on. And they just have a really fun approach to it.
[Voiceover]
OF: Lissanthea Taylor, the pain expert from Episode 28.
[Clip]
LT: I look at SmartShanghai, because then I know where not to go with all the other foreigners.
[Voiceover]
OF: Philippe Gas, the Disney resort CEO from Episode 01.
[Clip]
PG: I tend to rely on many media sources, not just China, to check on news and stuff. On my phone, I use Xinhua News. That's the one I use the most. And I'm happy with that.
[Voiceover]
OF: Yang Yi, the broadcaster from Episode 21.
[Clip]
YY: If Chinese media, I think 财新 [Cáixīn] Media is the best choice. But it’s in the Chinese language. It's just professional news, like FT and Bloomberg in the English world is still very useful.
OF: Right, so it's like the equivalent of FT, right?
YY: Yeah. And I think the financial news is a good point in China to open a very small door for news.
OF: Yeah, well said.
YY: And if you talk about English, in my mind I think foreign media for China is very useful, because you have freedom of speech. So you have an opportunity to cover a lot of issues that Chinese media can’t cover. But a lot of Western media surely have a stereotype on China, among Chinese issues. And I am still an editor and journalist, I know that feeling. It’s “Well, I have a storyline. I want to introduce someone to fill in that blank”. And I think sometimes it relies on some stereotype. If they have the opportunity to get some new discovery, they don't want to go into that. It is “Oh, that's that's not my storyline”.
OF: Yes. Yes, because it doesn't fit the story that I want to write.
YY: Yeah, but I am a big of foreign media, actually. But I still find their Chinese coverage has some problem like that. So that's a little bit, you know… For me, it's a combination.
OF: Yeah. I like that. And I like that you can look at 财新 [Cáixīn], and then you can look at foreign media, and then you can find that somewhere in between there is something called ‘the truth’.
YY: Uh-huh.
[Voiceover]
OF: Angie Wu, the jewellery craftsman from Episode 18.
[Clip]
AW: To be honest, like, I've been so busy the last five years with this brand, I don't follow news so much any more. So I have to tell you that my best resource for news is my assistant. She loves news. And she's reading all kinds of news all the time. So she's the one who always, like, keeps me updated on what's going on with the world, with China, and everything. Yeah.
OF: Wow, that's a really useful resource to have, she is indispensable obviously.
AW: For sure.
[Outro]
OF: Thanks very much for listening. And as usual, you can see the accompanying images from today's episode on oscology* on Instagram, or mosaicofchina* on Facebook or WeChat. And I'll add you to one of the listeners groups there. The quick update since the last compilation episode was released is that I've decided that I'll be recording some of the interviews from Season 02 remotely, so that I have a chance to interview those people who are still stuck outside of China, and yet get the season released on time. I'll only be going ahead with this for those people who have remained very closely connected to their regular lives in China, despite being locked out overseas. And luckily, this does describe most of the people I had been due to interview. But there will still be a few that I will need to switch out. I'll continue to keep you updated as we go through the final four of these compilation episodes over the next couple of months.
Speaking of which, the next one will be on the topic of the things that our guests would and would not miss about China if they left, which is another way of asking them about what they think are the best and worst things about living here. That episode will be released at the end of July, so I will see you again then.
*Different IDs were mentioned in the original recording. Those IDs are now obsolete, and the updated ones have been substituted.
[Clips]
PG: Thank you very much.
MZ: Thank you.
EO: Thank you so much.
AP: Thank you too.
JL: Thank you very much.
GL: Thank you.
MZ: Thank you again.
VV: Thank you so much.
NS: Great, thank you.
LL: My pleasure too.
SD: Thank you very much.
YF: Thank you.
NY: Thank you.
EM: Thank you.
SY: Thank you so much.
NS: Thank you for having me.
SM: Awesome, thank you.
AW: Thank you.
SDM: Thank you.
LC: Thanks for having me.
YY: Thank you for having me.
RC: Thank you so much for having me.
GN: Thank you for having me.
GC: Thank you
TB: Thank you very much.
SC: Thank you.
AD: Great to see you too.
LT: Thank you so much.
SB: Thanks.
OC: Thank you.