See here for a full list of transcripts

[Trailer]

Louise ROY: Oscar, only you.

OF: You’re lying!

LR: I am lying, I'm terrible.

[Intro]

OF: Welcome to Mosaic of China, a podcast about people who are making their mark in China. I’m your host, Oscar Fuchs.

Today’s special compilation episode from Season 02 is all about where people get their news and information from about China. And in case you didn’t hear the Wrap-Up episode from Season 02 back in September, I should inform you now that this is the last time we will be hearing guests of the show answering this particular question. When I first thought it up, I imagined this question would lead to discussions over a wide variety of specialist magazines and periodicals, reflecting the specific industries or artistic fields represented by the guests on the show. And there are some answers like this. But as news and journalism around the world gets more consolidated, more digitalised, and more aggregated onto social media, I can foresee that the scope for discussion around this topic will continue to get narrower and narrower in the future.

With this in mind, from next Season onwards I’ll be broadening the question to include any source of inspiration, rather than just sources of news and information. Sorry to all the news junkies out there, please consider today’s episode your one final hit.

[Main]

[Voiceover]

OF: Stéphane Wilmet, the head of consumer insights at L'Oreal from Episode 01.

[Clip]

SW: China Daily. Some of my friends - or some acquaintances - they find this very really strange. But I think the business section of the China Daily, there is not a day when I don't learn something: a statistic, a number, an insight. It's really interesting. For instance, in today's business section of the China Daily, while private companies contributed 60% of China's GDP, they're responsible for 70% of innovation, 80% of urban employment, and they provide 90% of new jobs. So you see, there's always a little something to learn.

[Voiceover]

OF: Douglon Tse, the island businessman from Episode 15.

[Clip] 

DT: Shanghai Daily. Because there's so many sources of media, different opinions. But at least with Shanghai Daily, I know what the government wants to happen. And with that, it's easier for me to align my business decisions.

[Voiceover]

OF: Alex Shoer, the clean energy entrepreneur from Episode 11.

[Clip] 

AS: So I'm very impressed with how The South China Morning Post has stepped up their reporting, and I feel like they've really done a nice job of reaching the international audience. So I do tend to get my China news from SCMP. But I also really do still enjoy Shanghai Daily just to get my little daily dose of what's going on locally. It is really helpful to understand the perspective on the ground.

[Voiceover]

OF: Murray King, the public affairs leader from Episode 29.

[Clip] 

MK: I try to look at everything I can. So, South China Morning Post is a great way to get some of the mainland news in a less filtered way. Strangely enough, I like Shanghai Daily, their Metro News is great, it's a great way to get a fix on local news. Sinocism is great. 

OF: Yeah.

MK: 上海发布 [Shànghǎi Fābù], the Shanghai Information Office. Everybody should have 上海发布 [Shànghǎi Fābù] on their WeChat as a subscription. And you know, the best news I get is just what I see and hear.

[Voiceover]

OF: Casey Hall, the fashion journalist from Episode 22.

[Clip] 

CH: Because of my work, I get a lot of newspaper subscriptions paid for, which is great. But there is one that I pay for myself, which I feel like is a glowing endorsement of how important I find it, if I'm willing to fork over money for it. It's called Sinocism, Bill Bishop’s?

OF: Oh yes, yes. 

CH: So I pay an annual fee for that. And I open it every day, and read it every day. Because it just gives such a wide-ranging round-up of what's happening in China, you know, you're getting a fantastic curation.

[Voiceover]

OF: Crystyl Mo, the fine dining expert from Episode 26.

[Clip] 

CM: Well, I do love the more long-form writing about China in The New Yorker. So I will read their essays, written by some of the top writers like Peter Hessler.

[Voiceover]

OF: Ajay Jain, the car designer from Episode 21.

[Clip] 

AJ: Sitting and drawing cars all day, I've got a lot of time to listen to things, I can multitask that. And I started with audiobooks, and I got into podcasting. So I listen to a hell of a lot of stuff. There's obviously Mosaic of China now. 

OF: Ah, thank god.

AJ: I subscribe to The Economist, and I listen to the whole Economist cover-to-cover, and that has a very, very good China section. There's the Sinica podcast, which is very good. BBC News always seems to have something on China.

OF: Yeah.

AJ: But for me, The Economist’s China Section, every week you get the best bits.

[Voiceover]

OF: Sean Harmon, the beer company CEO from Episode 09.

[Clip] 

SH: I was actually just this morning listening to the new Sinica Business Brief. I think it's a weekly podcast. It's like 20 minutes, and it just updates you on, kind of, all that's happening in the world of China business.

[Voiceover]

OF: Michael Kinsey, the fire engineer from Episode 25.

[Clip] 

MK: Scientific journals. There's Fire Technology. 

OF: Ooh.

MK: Yeah, generally I don't read the news as much since being here. I've just noticed it takes up a lot of time developing opinions about things I don't necessarily need to have. 

OF: Yes. 

MK: So I try to find a variety of sources. So the South China Morning Post, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, things like that. 

[Voiceover]

OF: Cassandra Chen, the heavy metal bar owner from Episode 16.

[Clip] 

CC: There is a magazine called Painkiller. 

OF: Painkiller. 

CC: Yeah, it's like a heavy metal magazine. It's still the only one in China. And they help the Wacken festival. It's like a German heavy metal festival. They do it once a year, it’s one of the biggest heavy metal festival in Europe.

[Voiceover]

OF: Vittorio Franzese, the lawyer from Episode 27.

[Clip] 

VF: So I know what's happening, because I read maybe the first page of a Chinese newspaper, and I analyse the point of view of the Chinese press. I watch CGTN sometimes. I read CHINAWIRE and China Insights.

[Voiceover]

OF: Jiyoung, the transgender teacher from Episode 30.

[Clip] 

J: I think it's really important that you go directly from the website, or from the organisation itself. Because when these things get reported on - in many large media organisations - some of the small touches to things are not fully understood or explained. And so I think getting it directly from the people who collected the data is the most legitimate.

OF: Jo McFarland, the product sourcing leader from Episode 18.

[Clip] 

JM: Well, we ask our factories. Because they're really well informed. So even things… if we said to them “Where do you think the exchange rate’s gonna be in six months?” you honestly get a good answer. 

OF: Yeah.

JM: You get a much better answer than if you asked our Treasury. Because they are actually… Their fingers are on the pulse out here. And we have a lot of factories that are connected to the government. So we do tend to get very good information from our network.

[Voiceover]

OF: Björn Dahlman, the Swedish clown from Episode 17.

[Clip] 

BD: I try to listen to friends from different places. Like, I have my Chinese friends who rely on what they hear from their friends; and I have my Chinese friends who really try to dig into things; and I have my American friends; my English friends; my Australian friends; my Swedish friends. So I try to hear all the stories, but then also try to be critical.

OF: Yes. 

BD: But I must say, I’m not that interested in understanding it every day, but rather put this in a 20-year perspective. You have to be informed to a certain extent, because that is your obligation as a citizen. 

OF: Yeah.

BD: And then it's up to me when I want to dig deeper.

[Voiceover]

OF: Vladimir Djurovic, the brand naming expert from Episode 13.

[Clip] 

VD: I get curated content twice a week, at the occasion of my Chinese class. Because my Chinese teacher will pick up the curated content from the news. And we will have a review of very good content. So I'm learning language, but actually, I'm learning a whole story of topics.

[Voiceover]

OF: DJ BO, the DJ from Episode 23.

[Clip] 

BO: I'm really interested in the history of Shanghai nightlife. There's the Andrew Field book, ‘Shanghai Nightscapes’. Super useful.

OF: Very cool.

[Voiceover]

OF: Jovana Zhang, the handicrafts designer from Episode 08.

[Clip] 

JZ: Books. It's gonna be books about crafts.

JZ: There is a very nice series from the research of Huang Yun Song, amazing, amazing design. He's designing them by himself, it’s a really incredible sense of research, humour, and all together at once. 

[Voiceover]

OF: Cocosanti, the drag performer from Episode 05.

[Clip] 

C: Oh my god, get ready for this. There is a website called 蛋蛋赞 [Dàndànzàn]. 

OF: Oh right.

C: Yeah, you really, really need to use it, especially if you don't have access to a lot of film and television online. This website gives you the access to watch a variety of television shows.

OF: Oh it’s got a good library, has it?

C: Oh it has the best. You'll never have a problem finding something you want to watch on. 蛋蛋赞 [Dàndànzàn]. 

OF: Wow.

[Voiceover]

OF: Michelle Qu, the improvisational comedian from Episode 20.

[Clip] 

MQ: My favourite is 哔哩哔哩 [Bìlībìlī]. 

OF: I have never used it. What is 哔哩哔哩 [Bìlībìlī]. 

MQ: Oh, you should use it. It's really a lovely platform. It's a video platform: movies, documentary movies, and just short videos. ’APP主 [zhǔ]’ - app owners - make videos by themselves. So people will share their own understanding.

[Voiceover]

OF: Katherine Wong, the Peruvian healer from Episode 04.

[Clip]

KW: I am not a person who reads news. But if I read something, it will be from 'The Shanghaiist’. They have funny news.

OF: Yeah, I don't think anyone's mentioned The Shanghaiist before. Yeah, they do a good job.

KW: Yeah, very entertaining.

[Voiceover]

OF: Louise Roy, the childbirth and lactation specialist from Episode 06.

[Clip] 

LR: Oscar, only you.

OF: You’re lying!

LR: I am lying, but I'm terrible. I really just pick from whatever I get my hands on. I don't have a set favourite source.

[Voiceover]

OF: Noxolo Bhengu, the African community organiser from Episode 14.

[Clip] 

NB: None. But more seriously, I… Especially like, you know, when we were being informed what's changing / what’s not changing, during lockdown. You know, what's being lifted, what isn't being lifted. I would always confirm with a friend who works in an international school. So whatever sources she would be using seem to be true. So that's what I would do, just cross-reference with her.

OF: Yeah. Yeah, that's useful actually. I am the same, because I do dip into certain news sources, and of course I check WeChat. But then when it comes from someone who has a direct link to something official, then you listen. 

NB: Yes, yes, yes.

[Voiceover]

OF: Jamie Barys, the street food expert from Episode 02.

[Clip]

JB: So in our office right now, because we've had, you know, so many people stuck out, we actually have a bunch of empty desks. So I've had a couple of friends who are journalists who are actually allowed to work from home but have children, so they need to be able to work from a place with no kids either. So that's actually been like my recent source. I'm just like “What's going on in the world, guys? Do I need to know anything?”

[Voiceover]

OF: Salome Chen, the investor and developer from Episode 24.

[Clip] 

SC: I have a lot of people who work in the media field on my Moments. I lived in Beijing, so I know a lot of people there who get to know certain things. And you know, in Beijing you have the rumours, different kind of rumours all around. So I get trained: you hear something, you analyse it with your experience, you do some research by yourself. Yeah, I try not to read so much Chinese media.

[Voiceover]

OF: Wendy Saunders, the architect from Episode 12.

[Clip] 

WS: WeChat is actually a very good source of news - or is it gossip? I don't really know - but you realise, everything you know goes through WeChat. And you sometimes forget that people outside of China don't.

[Voiceover]

OF: Zhao Huiling, the Africa travel vlogger from Episode 28.

[Clip] 

ZH: I rely a lot on social media. So 公众号 [Gōngzhònghào] is how I get a lot of my information. I go on 微博 [Wēibó] every now and then. And that's about it.

[Voiceover]

OF: Danma Jyid, the Tibetan social enterprise leader from Episode 10.

[Clip]

DJ: I mean, WeChat is big. I use it a lot. But also WeChat recently has Channels. I really like that, because if my WeChat friends like something, then I can also receive a similar feed. So that’s so interesting.

OF: That’s a new thing, yeah.

[Voiceover]

OF: Zhang Yuan, the performance art exhibitor from Episode 07.

[Clip]

ZY: I have to confess, I read no more papers. I mean, journals, magazines, all these sort of thing. 

OF: Yeah.

ZY: I spend most of the time getting information through social media.

OF: Yeah. And so even in a specific niche like contemporary art, everyone still just relies on WeChat, right?

ZY: Yeah. There are periodicals, but I don't think people are reading them seriously. People will take a look, but they will not spend much time on them.

[Voiceover]

OF: Seth Harvey, the education coach from Episode 19.

[Clip] 

SH: I, of course, use SmartShanghai. Like, that's my number one go-to thing, I read everything. I read every article, like what events are going on. Like, I even have a pastime - a hobby - where I love going through all the apartment listings. I'm basically an uncertified apartment agent, I can tell you what the market value of things are, and how the market’s doing. I even love going through the classifieds. And secondly, I use WeChat quite a lot. I am the biggest lurker of group chats. 

OF: Oh.

SH: I lurk in so many group chats, I get all this information, insight. People are like “How do you know that?” “Group chat.” 

OF: Yeah. 

SH: Everything from foodie and restaurant groups, to exercise, cooking, social events. I'm even in a dad's group. So there's a group for expat fathers, a big one. And they talk about all kinds of stuff. And I have no kids. And I don't really remember how…  someone put me into this group… but I never left, and I just lurk, and I get so much great information from that.

[Outro]

OF: Thank you for listening, if you’ve reached this far then you’ve made it to the end! I try to inject as much fun as possible into the show, but there’s no denying that the topic of news and information sources is always going to be kinda dry. So congratulations on making it through what’s probably going to be the driest of these 10 special compilation episodes from Season 02. 

Mosaic of China is me, Oscar Fuchs, with artwork by Denny Newell. And I’ll see you next time.

[Clips]

SW: Thank you very much.

JB: Thank you, it’s been a pleasure.

CC: My pleasure.

KW: Thank you so much.

C: Oh hey, thanks.

LR: Thank you very much.

ZY: Thank you.

JZ: Thank you.

SH: It’s been a pleasure.

DJ: Thank you.

AS: Thank you.

WS: Thank you.

VD: Thanks.

NB: Thank you.

DT: Thank you.

CC: Thank you.

BD: Hehe, thank you.

JM: Thank you very much.

SH: My pleasure, thanks.

MQ: Thank you.

AJ: Thanks a lot.

CH: Thank you.

BO: Thank you very much.

SC: Thank you.

MK: Thank you.

CM: Thank you.

VF: Thank you so much.

ZH: Thank you for having me.

MK: It was my pleasure.

J: Thank you so much.

See here for a full list of transcripts