June 2, 2020 • 20 mins
If there's one thing on which almost everyone can agree, it's on China's capacity to surprise. No matter whether you're a China outsider or someone who's been living here for decades, there will always be something to make you stop in your tracks. And this is just as much the case for Chinese people as it is for non-Chinese. Today's special compilation episode from Season 1of the podcast is an anthology of all the things that still surprise the guests about life in China. And listening to these answers together can remind us to keep that attitude of wonder in our lives. So what would be the thing that surprises *you* the most about life in China? Please contribute to the communities on WeChat, Instagram and Facebook. Chapters 00:00 - Trailer & Intro 01:11 - Main 18:51 - Outro Instagram: www.instagram.com/oscology Facebook: www.facebook.com/mosaicofchina WeChat: www.mosaicofchina.com/wechat
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[Trailer]Michael ZEE: They’re so
(00:03):
shocked. They’re, you know, “Oh, old CommunistChina has better apps, better taxi services…”
Better all these things. And it's so easy tojust click your fingers and you get something.
[Intro]OF: Welcome to Mosaic of China,
a podcast about people who are making theirmark in China. I'm your host, Oscar Fuchs.
In our third special compilationepisode from Season 01, we listen
(00:28):
to how my guests all answered the question“Is there anything that still mystifies or
surprises you about life in modern China?”And I really enjoyed asking this question,
because it elicited a kind of wonder inpeople's responses. And that's not just
confined to outsiders living in China,it applies just as universally to those
who have lived here for decades. And ofcourse, even with the Chinese themselves.
(00:50):
To follow along with the visuals that accompanytoday's episode, please go to @mosaicofchina_
on Instagram, or @mosaicofchina on Facebook.Or you can add me on WeChat on my account:
mosaicofchina, and I'll add you to thelisteners group there. I've posted my
own surprising addition there, which wassomething that just took place last week.
[Main][Voiceover]
OF (01:09):
Eric Olander, the journalist from Episode 03. [Clip]
EO (01:15):
Every single day. I mean, this place, the complexity of it never, ever ceases to amaze me.
And there's this great chart, actually, that wascirculating on social media. It shows ‘age' versus
‘time being here’. So the people who have beenhere for one year all want to write the book on
China. And then the longer you go here, the amountof time you spend here, the less you actually
(01:39):
know. So the X/Y axis, and it just keeps goingdown, down, down, down. And I am extraordinarily
humble about what I know and what I don't know. Ihave a graduate degree in Chinese foreign policy,
I've spent 30 years here, I've been studyingChinese. I think I know a little bit compared
to Westerners and other outsiders. And by theway, the Chinese themselves are not very well
(02:02):
educated about their own country. A lot of thepeople who are raised in the cities don't know
much about the countryside. Same, by the way, inmy own country as well. It's too big for any one
person to really grasp. And so I mean, nobody canreally understand it. There is no such thing in my
view as a ‘China Expert.’[Voiceover]
OF (02:18):
Emily Madge, the aquarium conservationist from Episode 14.
[Clip]EM: Oh, um, everything. Everything mystifies me. I
think every day there's something that fascinatesme. I still can't get my head around any of it,
(02:40):
but it's fabulous.[Voiceover]
Simon Manetti, the business leader from Episode 17.
[Clip]SM: Everything should mystify you about
life in China. You know, there are guys who arehere after like six months to a year and they know
everything about China. You know, and then you’rehere for like 2-3 years onwards, and suddenly
(03:02):
things are confusing. Five years on, you've gotno idea what's going on at any one point in time.
[Voiceover]OF: Sebastien Denes,
the inclusion advocate from Episode 11.[Clip]
SD (03:12):
Almost every day, there is something that makes you say “Oh, I didn't think this would be
possible,” right? One of the latest ones was, Iwas running around the city, and I actually found
a bike cemetery. You know those sharing bikes,they go somewhere to die. And this place is like,
(03:36):
five football fields. It's the other side of thesharing economy, it’s "What do you do with this?”
It also for me, depicts how innovation goes inChina, which is “Let’s do it, go forward with it,
then start to regulate, and then eventually fixthe issues that are going to happen”. Whereas in
(04:00):
Europe or in Western countries, it's a littlebit “Oh let’s not do it, because we have this
and this and that and that reason,” right? So it'smore finding a reason not to do it; here in China,
it’s more going forward. This is why I thinkthe country goes also very fast in that area.
[Voiceover]OF: Tom Barker,
the diplomat from Episode 25.[Clip]
TB (04:18):
Oh, everything about life in China surprise me, I spend every day constantly amazed. If there
isn't at least five things which slightly freakme out, then I’m probably not leaving my bedroom.
[Voiceover]OF: Roz Coleman,
the theatre producer from Episode 22.[Clip]
RC (04:38):
Everything. I mean, I think if there's something that surprises me, it's that I
still have capacity to be surprised. You know,like, “How am I surprised when this is my every
day?” You know, every new thing that I learned andevery new quirk of the language… My friend Jean
taught me this lovely one the other day, it wassomething about how if people tell you that they
(04:59):
met watching the football, then it means that theymet when they were in prison. And I was like “How
do you even find something like that out?” Like…OF: That's actually a thing, is it?
Seemingly, yeah. OF
[Voiceover]OF: Jorge Luzio,
the marketer for Sprite from Episode 05.[Clip]
JL (05:17):
It's about what we discussed before, it’s about ‘differences’ versus ‘nuances’.
But the nuances make big differences. Andit's about the way that their minds are
pre-set. Every time that I try to think aboutthe logic that they're using, to respond to
certain stimuli, it strikes me the most.OF: So each time you learn a new insight,
(05:42):
it's a new surprise.JL: Definitely.
[Voiceover]OF: Gigi Chang,
the translator from Episode 24.[Clip]
GC (05:49):
People can really spend and shop. Like, especially when I was still working in an
office building environment. You go out at lunchwith colleagues, and you’re just like "Why are you
looking at that? That's really expensive”.That willingness to spend still mystifies
me. Because I think, in my mind, I'm still a poorstudent. I haven't quite left that mentality yet.
OF (06:15):
Right. Isn't that funny, because actually the reputation of the Chinese in general is
that they're good savers. But you're right…GC: They’re good savers, and good spenders
at the same time. Which is… I thinkthat is a philosophical question.
[Voiceover]OF: Gina Li, the invention
company CEO from Episode 06.[Clip]
GL (06:36):
How old people can be adaptive to technology. That is surprising. Like, my grandma, she's 88,
she has the iPhone XS Max. My God. She just wantedthe largest screen, and she wanted to have WeChat.
And she doesn't like to type, WeChat has audiomessages, and the stickers. The most important
thing (07:02):
she can collect red packets. So we have a family group, that every day, we just send
something like, you know, a 10 块 [kuài] or 5块 [kuài] red packet, and she's happy. Like,
that is just somehow the simplest connectionwith everyone. And then I found out, like, a
lot of people like me, if their grandparents liveback in their hometown, they do a similar thing.
(07:23):
[Voiceover]OF: Lexie Comstock,
the cookie supplier from Episode 20.[Clip]
LC (07:29):
I would say again, just how quickly things move here. So this has been the constant from
2010 until now, things move and updateso so quickly. And that is just, I think,
so unique to China at this very moment. Andanything from food safety laws, to traffic laws,
to construction, to anything, it's such a fastmoving place. And it's incredible, the pace.
(07:57):
[Voiceover]OF: Sanford Browne,
the biochemist from Episode 29.[Clip]
SB (08:02):
Oh, well, I would say if ever I'm at a point where it doesn't surprise me,
then I'd be shocked. I think every time you seethings… again, it relates to the pace of change,
and how things change so fast, how people adoptthe change. Just, you always see these changes.
I think for me, this is… Every time when youlook on the streets, I'm surprised by something.
(08:25):
[Voiceover]OF: Maple Zuo,
the comedian from Episode 02.[Clip]
MZ (08:33):
China is very big, it has loads of people. And we have one big party to rule the country. So
once there is a decision, it goes down so quickly.Like technology, Alipay and everything, Taobao. It
amazes me. Even though I'm using it, I feel likeI can't get rid of my phone. And it's saving me
(08:53):
so much time. I want everything just like ‘clickclick’. You go to England, you still need cash
and everything. Right now, you can just scaneverything. It's amazing. But then because of
technology - because we have 5G now, right? -everything is going so fast. I was wondering,
all this time you saved, what do you use withit? You know, that makes me think. Because
people took transportation, you know, it took daysand days to get there. And now just quick. OK,
(09:18):
but when you're gonna do with the time you gotthere? A lot of people just stand on the train,
just going on WeChat Moments or watching small,funny videos. I want to do something more,
because we’re saving so much time, right?[Voiceover]
OF (09:32):
Michael Zee, the Instagram influencer from Episode 07.
[Clip]MZ: I think that the biggest surprise
now is just how much ahead of the Western worldChina is. Everyone that comes to visit me, they’re
so shocked. They’re, you know, “Oh, old CommunistChina has better apps, better taxi services…”
(09:55):
Better all these things. And it's so easy tojust click your fingers and you get something.
[Voiceover]OF: Lori Li, the private club GM from Episode 10.
[Clip]LL: Every day I’m surprised by people's
dynamic, especially Chinese people’s ability toabsorb the information, change the information,
(10:22):
and then use the information.[Voiceover]
Octo Cheung, the fashion designer from Episode 30.
[Clip]OC: What surprised me is the way you
use WeChat Pay. Maybe you just spend $1 to buy anonion in the market, you can just pay it. So I'm
very surprised. And I think the electronicdevelopment here is really pretty awesome.
(10:51):
[Voiceover]OF: Srinivas Yanamandra,
the compliance leader from Episode 15.[Clip]
SY (10:56):
I think the only thing that surprises me is the precision. There are a lot of things I had
an apprehension about a country like Indiato some extent. When we were taught in our
childhood that one of the reasons for theslow pace of development in India could be
the population. And with population there areproblems of coordination, there are problems
(11:18):
of policy formulation, and there are issues interms of implementation. So we ascribe some of
these pitfalls to population. But coming here, Ireally understood, even with population, you can
have a lot of coordination. And there is a kind ofmethod to madness that leads to perfect precision.
That fascinates me very much. Any single thingthat you do, there is a kind of an order. And that
(11:42):
is what fascinates me about this place.OF: And do you think that could
be translated back into India?SY: To some extent, we started doing that,
because the enabler is being digital. So Ithink that there are pockets where we have
achieved that. And the only reason for meto be very bullish is about the technology.
[Voiceover]OF: Stephane de Montgros,
(12:06):
the events company CEO from Episode 19.[Clip]
SDM (12:08):
The fast pace. I've been here close to twenty years, and it has not slowed down a second. Just
take the Shanghai subway. Every summer there'sa new line, and in the democracies in the West
it takes twenty years to agree on a newtrack, where things get done here. These
(12:29):
guys are insane. So I love it, and at the sametime it blows me away, every time I come back.
[Voiceover]OF: Yael Farjun,
the historical researcher from Episode 12.[Clip]
YF (12:41):
Yes, I think again, how fast things happen here. How a decision is made here, or a direction
is chosen, and things just start racing in thatdirection. And it's just incredible how there are
new things happening in China almost on a dailybasis. And they happen fast. They happen big. Yes,
(13:08):
I think that's still surprising.[Voiceover]
OF (13:09):
Nick Yu, the playwright from Episode 13. [Clip]
NY (13:15):
In fact, I have so many things, for the new things happening in China. Like
the high speed way, the trains. Also, like theinternet… So when you have the mobile phone,
you have the wifi everywhere. In China, in thevillage it’s the same as in Shanghai. Yeah.
(13:40):
[Voiceover]OF: Abe Deyo, the tour manager from Episode 27.
[Clip]AD: I guess
what would mystify me is not anything to do withChina, but a lot of the expats that come to China.
OF (13:48):
Oh god. Yeah right. AD
And when it's not - or it's not Western enough,or whatever - they just complain and complain.
[Voiceover]OF: Philippe Gas,
the Disney resort CEO from Episode 01.[Clip]
PG (14:05):
Something that surprises me is that people keep offering me hot water, not telling me,
so I keep being surprised by hot water comingin. I'm always expecting the tea bag to come.
[Voiceover]OF: Angie Wu,
the jewellery craftsman from Episode 18.[Clip]
AW (14:20):
Yeah, so recently, I had a really bad experience. Like, I have this studio that
I built, my jewellery studio. And for five years,everything was great, I even just renewed the
contract with them. And then out of the blue whenI was in Italy doing my exhibition in April, the
landlord just called me and told me he sold thebuilding. So he wanted me out in one month. And
(14:44):
he didn't honour the contract. For three years,he was telling me “Oh, we trust each other, I like
you so much.” So I couldn't do anything about it.OF: Ach. Just when you think you understand how
things work, everything's running smoothly,there’s always going to be something that
comes unexpectedly.AW: Of course.
[Voiceover]OF:
Nini Sum, the artist from Episode 16.[Clip]
NS (15:06):
Yes, actually recently, I got invited to do a very interesting new project. And this surprises
me, because I wasn't expecting they would come tosome artist like me. This is a VR project. Yeah.
[Voiceover]OF: Greg Nance,
the ultramarathon athlete from Episode 23.[Clip]
GN (15:27):
One thing that I think will probably always shock me and surprise me is seeing
the opulent luxury and wealth and privilegein such close proximity to the poverty and
squalor. That is just really tough to see. Youknow, I've come out of a business meeting in a
really nice office building or at a reallynice dinner, and you've got a shanty right
(15:51):
next door. And that happens all over the world,but it's profoundly visible here in Shanghai.
[Voiceover]OF: Vy Vu, the fitness community
leader from Episode 08.[Clip]
VV (16:03):
I mean, we talked about it before, but 28 million people.
OF This is just Shanghai, right?VV: Yeah. And this is the entire population
of Australia, packed into this one city. Just howwell Shanghai is able to move people from A to B
so efficiently. It is really phenomenal.[Voiceover]
OF (16:25):
Sabrina Chen, the dance programme curator from Episode 26.
[Clip]SC: The square dance ladies. Every time we
invite an international company to Shanghai, theywill ask me “Where can we see the square dance
ladies?” Because they want to join them. SometimesI will go to see the square dance with the
(16:50):
artists. And they found out, the square dances areso difficult, even for professional dancers. And
it's amazing to see so many old ladies stillenthusiastic about dance so much, every day
after work. My mother in law is one of them.Actually, when we just opened the theatre, we
(17:14):
had to make a promotional video of the theatre. Soin the video, we invited a group of square dance
ladies. And I was observing them while they weremaking the video. As soon as they started dancing,
everyone was so happy. You know, I was verymoved by the scene. So even though sometimes they
(17:36):
make a noise in the park, in the public space, Ithink it's really a good lifestyle for old people.
[Voiceover]OF: Yang Yi, the broadcaster from Episode 21.
[Clip]YY: Well, I want to give the example of TikTok.
It's a little bit like Snapchat, but TikTok isfocusing on the video part. Well, I'm a video
(18:02):
editor for many years. So I think the applicationslike TikTok have changed a lot of things. They let
people think that video is not a very difficultthing to make, and they can record their personal
life. For me, I think this changed a lot. Becausepeople now have the habit to record everything.
(18:23):
[Voiceover]OF: Lissanthea Taylor,
the pain expert from Episode 28.[Clip]
LT (18:29):
I think now I have to be mystified at my own responses to things. So I'm still mystified why I
can't remember that green toothpaste tastes liketea. You know, in the West, blue or green are
going to be mint. And I still get it wrong, andI go home with jasmine tea flavoured toothpaste.
[Outro]OF: And that's all
(18:53):
from this third special compilation episodefrom Season 01 of the podcast. The good news
is that I have just started producing Season 02of Mosaic of China, and the first couple of new
interviews are already in the can. I was a littleworried that I might have forgotten how to do it.
But luckily my guests were both excellent, soI stopped worrying about that pretty quickly,
and I just about remembered how to pressall the right buttons in the studio.
(19:16):
I still have no idea whether I will be readyto release the new season by the time we reach
the end of these 10 special compilationepisodes, but let's see where we stand
over the coming weeks. In the meantime, thenext one will be on the topic of China facts.
So it'll be a good way to brush up on yourChina trivia. See you in another two weeks.
[Clips]PG: Thank you very much.
MZ (19:35):
Thank you. EO
AP (19:37):
Thank you too. JL
GL (19:39):
Thank you. MZ
VV (19:42):
Thank you so much. NS
LL (19:46):
My pleasure too. SD
YF (19:48):
Thank you. NY
EM (19:48):
Thank you. SY
NS (19:51):
Thank you for having me. SM
AW (19:53):
Thank you. SDM
LC (19:55):
Thanks for having me. YY
RC (19:57):
Thank you so much for having me. GN
GC (19:59):
Thank you TB
you very much.SC: Thank you.
AD (20:01):
Great to see you too. LT
SB (20:04):
Thanks. OC
[Trailer]Michael ZEE: They’re so
(00:03):
shocked. They’re, you know, “Oh, old CommunistChina has better apps, better taxi services…”
Better all these things. And it's so easy tojust click your fingers and you get something.
[Intro]OF: Welcome to Mosaic of China,
a podcast about people who are making theirmark in China. I'm your host, Oscar Fuchs.
In our third special compilationepisode from Season 01, we listen
(00:28):
to how my guests all answered the question“Is there anything that still mystifies or
surprises you about life in modern China?”And I really enjoyed asking this question,
because it elicited a kind of wonder inpeople's responses. And that's not just
confined to outsiders living in China,it applies just as universally to those
who have lived here for decades. And ofcourse, even with the Chinese themselves.
(00:50):
To follow along with the visuals that accompanytoday's episode, please go to @mosaicofchina_
on Instagram, or @mosaicofchina on Facebook.Or you can add me on WeChat on my account:
mosaicofchina, and I'll add you to thelisteners group there. I've posted my
own surprising addition there, which wassomething that just took place last week.
[Main][Voiceover]
OF (01:09):
Eric Olander, the journalist from Episode 03. [Clip]
EO (01:15):
Every single day. I mean, this place, the complexity of it never, ever ceases to amaze me.
And there's this great chart, actually, that wascirculating on social media. It shows ‘age' versus
‘time being here’. So the people who have beenhere for one year all want to write the book on
China. And then the longer you go here, the amountof time you spend here, the less you actually
(01:39):
know. So the X/Y axis, and it just keeps goingdown, down, down, down. And I am extraordinarily
humble about what I know and what I don't know. Ihave a graduate degree in Chinese foreign policy,
I've spent 30 years here, I've been studyingChinese. I think I know a little bit compared
to Westerners and other outsiders. And by theway, the Chinese themselves are not very well
(02:02):
educated about their own country. A lot of thepeople who are raised in the cities don't know
much about the countryside. Same, by the way, inmy own country as well. It's too big for any one
person to really grasp. And so I mean, nobody canreally understand it. There is no such thing in my
view as a ‘China Expert.’[Voiceover]
OF (02:18):
Emily Madge, the aquarium conservationist from Episode 14.
[Clip]EM: Oh, um, everything. Everything mystifies me. I
think every day there's something that fascinatesme. I still can't get my head around any of it,
(02:40):
but it's fabulous.[Voiceover]
Simon Manetti, the business leader from Episode 17.
[Clip]SM: Everything should mystify you about
life in China. You know, there are guys who arehere after like six months to a year and they know
everything about China. You know, and then you’rehere for like 2-3 years onwards, and suddenly
(03:02):
things are confusing. Five years on, you've gotno idea what's going on at any one point in time.
[Voiceover]OF: Sebastien Denes,
the inclusion advocate from Episode 11.[Clip]
SD (03:12):
Almost every day, there is something that makes you say “Oh, I didn't think this would be
possible,” right? One of the latest ones was, Iwas running around the city, and I actually found
a bike cemetery. You know those sharing bikes,they go somewhere to die. And this place is like,
(03:36):
five football fields. It's the other side of thesharing economy, it’s "What do you do with this?”
It also for me, depicts how innovation goes inChina, which is “Let’s do it, go forward with it,
then start to regulate, and then eventually fixthe issues that are going to happen”. Whereas in
(04:00):
Europe or in Western countries, it's a littlebit “Oh let’s not do it, because we have this
and this and that and that reason,” right? So it'smore finding a reason not to do it; here in China,
it’s more going forward. This is why I thinkthe country goes also very fast in that area.
[Voiceover]OF: Tom Barker,
the diplomat from Episode 25.[Clip]
TB (04:18):
Oh, everything about life in China surprise me, I spend every day constantly amazed. If there
isn't at least five things which slightly freakme out, then I’m probably not leaving my bedroom.
[Voiceover]OF: Roz Coleman,
the theatre producer from Episode 22.[Clip]
RC (04:38):
Everything. I mean, I think if there's something that surprises me, it's that I
still have capacity to be surprised. You know,like, “How am I surprised when this is my every
day?” You know, every new thing that I learned andevery new quirk of the language… My friend Jean
taught me this lovely one the other day, it wassomething about how if people tell you that they
(04:59):
met watching the football, then it means that theymet when they were in prison. And I was like “How
do you even find something like that out?” Like…OF: That's actually a thing, is it?
Seemingly, yeah. OF
[Voiceover]OF: Jorge Luzio,
the marketer for Sprite from Episode 05.[Clip]
JL (05:17):
It's about what we discussed before, it’s about ‘differences’ versus ‘nuances’.
But the nuances make big differences. Andit's about the way that their minds are
pre-set. Every time that I try to think aboutthe logic that they're using, to respond to
certain stimuli, it strikes me the most.OF: So each time you learn a new insight,
(05:42):
it's a new surprise.JL: Definitely.
[Voiceover]OF: Gigi Chang,
the translator from Episode 24.[Clip]
GC (05:49):
People can really spend and shop. Like, especially when I was still working in an
office building environment. You go out at lunchwith colleagues, and you’re just like "Why are you
looking at that? That's really expensive”.That willingness to spend still mystifies
me. Because I think, in my mind, I'm still a poorstudent. I haven't quite left that mentality yet.
OF (06:15):
Right. Isn't that funny, because actually the reputation of the Chinese in general is
that they're good savers. But you're right…GC: They’re good savers, and good spenders
at the same time. Which is… I thinkthat is a philosophical question.
[Voiceover]OF: Gina Li, the invention
company CEO from Episode 06.[Clip]
GL (06:36):
How old people can be adaptive to technology. That is surprising. Like, my grandma, she's 88,
she has the iPhone XS Max. My God. She just wantedthe largest screen, and she wanted to have WeChat.
And she doesn't like to type, WeChat has audiomessages, and the stickers. The most important
thing (07:02):
she can collect red packets. So we have a family group, that every day, we just send
something like, you know, a 10 块 [kuài] or 5块 [kuài] red packet, and she's happy. Like,
that is just somehow the simplest connectionwith everyone. And then I found out, like, a
lot of people like me, if their grandparents liveback in their hometown, they do a similar thing.
(07:23):
[Voiceover]OF: Lexie Comstock,
the cookie supplier from Episode 20.[Clip]
LC (07:29):
I would say again, just how quickly things move here. So this has been the constant from
2010 until now, things move and updateso so quickly. And that is just, I think,
so unique to China at this very moment. Andanything from food safety laws, to traffic laws,
to construction, to anything, it's such a fastmoving place. And it's incredible, the pace.
(07:57):
[Voiceover]OF: Sanford Browne,
the biochemist from Episode 29.[Clip]
SB (08:02):
Oh, well, I would say if ever I'm at a point where it doesn't surprise me,
then I'd be shocked. I think every time you seethings… again, it relates to the pace of change,
and how things change so fast, how people adoptthe change. Just, you always see these changes.
I think for me, this is… Every time when youlook on the streets, I'm surprised by something.
(08:25):
[Voiceover]OF: Maple Zuo,
the comedian from Episode 02.[Clip]
MZ (08:33):
China is very big, it has loads of people. And we have one big party to rule the country. So
once there is a decision, it goes down so quickly.Like technology, Alipay and everything, Taobao. It
amazes me. Even though I'm using it, I feel likeI can't get rid of my phone. And it's saving me
(08:53):
so much time. I want everything just like ‘clickclick’. You go to England, you still need cash
and everything. Right now, you can just scaneverything. It's amazing. But then because of
technology - because we have 5G now, right? -everything is going so fast. I was wondering,
all this time you saved, what do you use withit? You know, that makes me think. Because
people took transportation, you know, it took daysand days to get there. And now just quick. OK,
(09:18):
but when you're gonna do with the time you gotthere? A lot of people just stand on the train,
just going on WeChat Moments or watching small,funny videos. I want to do something more,
because we’re saving so much time, right?[Voiceover]
OF (09:32):
Michael Zee, the Instagram influencer from Episode 07.
[Clip]MZ: I think that the biggest surprise
now is just how much ahead of the Western worldChina is. Everyone that comes to visit me, they’re
so shocked. They’re, you know, “Oh, old CommunistChina has better apps, better taxi services…”
(09:55):
Better all these things. And it's so easy tojust click your fingers and you get something.
[Voiceover]OF: Lori Li, the private club GM from Episode 10.
[Clip]LL: Every day I’m surprised by people's
dynamic, especially Chinese people’s ability toabsorb the information, change the information,
(10:22):
and then use the information.[Voiceover]
Octo Cheung, the fashion designer from Episode 30.
[Clip]OC: What surprised me is the way you
use WeChat Pay. Maybe you just spend $1 to buy anonion in the market, you can just pay it. So I'm
very surprised. And I think the electronicdevelopment here is really pretty awesome.
(10:51):
[Voiceover]OF: Srinivas Yanamandra,
the compliance leader from Episode 15.[Clip]
SY (10:56):
I think the only thing that surprises me is the precision. There are a lot of things I had
an apprehension about a country like Indiato some extent. When we were taught in our
childhood that one of the reasons for theslow pace of development in India could be
the population. And with population there areproblems of coordination, there are problems
(11:18):
of policy formulation, and there are issues interms of implementation. So we ascribe some of
these pitfalls to population. But coming here, Ireally understood, even with population, you can
have a lot of coordination. And there is a kind ofmethod to madness that leads to perfect precision.
That fascinates me very much. Any single thingthat you do, there is a kind of an order. And that
(11:42):
is what fascinates me about this place.OF: And do you think that could
be translated back into India?SY: To some extent, we started doing that,
because the enabler is being digital. So Ithink that there are pockets where we have
achieved that. And the only reason for meto be very bullish is about the technology.
[Voiceover]OF: Stephane de Montgros,
(12:06):
the events company CEO from Episode 19.[Clip]
SDM (12:08):
The fast pace. I've been here close to twenty years, and it has not slowed down a second. Just
take the Shanghai subway. Every summer there'sa new line, and in the democracies in the West
it takes twenty years to agree on a newtrack, where things get done here. These
(12:29):
guys are insane. So I love it, and at the sametime it blows me away, every time I come back.
[Voiceover]OF: Yael Farjun,
the historical researcher from Episode 12.[Clip]
YF (12:41):
Yes, I think again, how fast things happen here. How a decision is made here, or a direction
is chosen, and things just start racing in thatdirection. And it's just incredible how there are
new things happening in China almost on a dailybasis. And they happen fast. They happen big. Yes,
(13:08):
I think that's still surprising.[Voiceover]
OF (13:09):
Nick Yu, the playwright from Episode 13. [Clip]
NY (13:15):
In fact, I have so many things, for the new things happening in China. Like
the high speed way, the trains. Also, like theinternet… So when you have the mobile phone,
you have the wifi everywhere. In China, in thevillage it’s the same as in Shanghai. Yeah.
(13:40):
[Voiceover]OF: Abe Deyo, the tour manager from Episode 27.
[Clip]AD: I guess
what would mystify me is not anything to do withChina, but a lot of the expats that come to China.
OF (13:48):
Oh god. Yeah right. AD
And when it's not - or it's not Western enough,or whatever - they just complain and complain.
[Voiceover]OF: Philippe Gas,
the Disney resort CEO from Episode 01.[Clip]
PG (14:05):
Something that surprises me is that people keep offering me hot water, not telling me,
so I keep being surprised by hot water comingin. I'm always expecting the tea bag to come.
[Voiceover]OF: Angie Wu,
the jewellery craftsman from Episode 18.[Clip]
AW (14:20):
Yeah, so recently, I had a really bad experience. Like, I have this studio that
I built, my jewellery studio. And for five years,everything was great, I even just renewed the
contract with them. And then out of the blue whenI was in Italy doing my exhibition in April, the
landlord just called me and told me he sold thebuilding. So he wanted me out in one month. And
(14:44):
he didn't honour the contract. For three years,he was telling me “Oh, we trust each other, I like
you so much.” So I couldn't do anything about it.OF: Ach. Just when you think you understand how
things work, everything's running smoothly,there’s always going to be something that
comes unexpectedly.AW: Of course.
[Voiceover]OF:
Nini Sum, the artist from Episode 16.[Clip]
NS (15:06):
Yes, actually recently, I got invited to do a very interesting new project. And this surprises
me, because I wasn't expecting they would come tosome artist like me. This is a VR project. Yeah.
[Voiceover]OF: Greg Nance,
the ultramarathon athlete from Episode 23.[Clip]
GN (15:27):
One thing that I think will probably always shock me and surprise me is seeing
the opulent luxury and wealth and privilegein such close proximity to the poverty and
squalor. That is just really tough to see. Youknow, I've come out of a business meeting in a
really nice office building or at a reallynice dinner, and you've got a shanty right
(15:51):
next door. And that happens all over the world,but it's profoundly visible here in Shanghai.
[Voiceover]OF: Vy Vu, the fitness community
leader from Episode 08.[Clip]
VV (16:03):
I mean, we talked about it before, but 28 million people.
OF This is just Shanghai, right?VV: Yeah. And this is the entire population
of Australia, packed into this one city. Just howwell Shanghai is able to move people from A to B
so efficiently. It is really phenomenal.[Voiceover]
OF (16:25):
Sabrina Chen, the dance programme curator from Episode 26.
[Clip]SC: The square dance ladies. Every time we
invite an international company to Shanghai, theywill ask me “Where can we see the square dance
ladies?” Because they want to join them. SometimesI will go to see the square dance with the
(16:50):
artists. And they found out, the square dances areso difficult, even for professional dancers. And
it's amazing to see so many old ladies stillenthusiastic about dance so much, every day
after work. My mother in law is one of them.Actually, when we just opened the theatre, we
(17:14):
had to make a promotional video of the theatre. Soin the video, we invited a group of square dance
ladies. And I was observing them while they weremaking the video. As soon as they started dancing,
everyone was so happy. You know, I was verymoved by the scene. So even though sometimes they
(17:36):
make a noise in the park, in the public space, Ithink it's really a good lifestyle for old people.
[Voiceover]OF: Yang Yi, the broadcaster from Episode 21.
[Clip]YY: Well, I want to give the example of TikTok.
It's a little bit like Snapchat, but TikTok isfocusing on the video part. Well, I'm a video
(18:02):
editor for many years. So I think the applicationslike TikTok have changed a lot of things. They let
people think that video is not a very difficultthing to make, and they can record their personal
life. For me, I think this changed a lot. Becausepeople now have the habit to record everything.
(18:23):
[Voiceover]OF: Lissanthea Taylor,
the pain expert from Episode 28.[Clip]
LT (18:29):
I think now I have to be mystified at my own responses to things. So I'm still mystified why I
can't remember that green toothpaste tastes liketea. You know, in the West, blue or green are
going to be mint. And I still get it wrong, andI go home with jasmine tea flavoured toothpaste.
[Outro]OF: And that's all
(18:53):
from this third special compilation episodefrom Season 01 of the podcast. The good news
is that I have just started producing Season 02of Mosaic of China, and the first couple of new
interviews are already in the can. I was a littleworried that I might have forgotten how to do it.
But luckily my guests were both excellent, soI stopped worrying about that pretty quickly,
and I just about remembered how to pressall the right buttons in the studio.
(19:16):
I still have no idea whether I will be readyto release the new season by the time we reach
the end of these 10 special compilationepisodes, but let's see where we stand
over the coming weeks. In the meantime, thenext one will be on the topic of China facts.
So it'll be a good way to brush up on yourChina trivia. See you in another two weeks.
[Clips]PG: Thank you very much.
MZ (19:35):
Thank you. EO
AP (19:37):
Thank you too. JL
GL (19:39):
Thank you. MZ
VV (19:42):
Thank you so much. NS
LL (19:46):
My pleasure too. SD
YF (19:48):
Thank you. NY
EM (19:48):
Thank you. SY
NS (19:51):
Thank you for having me. SM
AW (19:53):
Thank you. SDM
LC (19:55):
Thanks for having me. YY
RC (19:57):
Thank you so much for having me. GN
GC (19:59):
Thank you TB
you very much.SC: Thank you.
AD (20:01):
Great to see you too. LT
SB (20:04):
Thanks. OC
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