The Cookie Empress (Lexie COMSTOCK, Strictly Cookies)

Lexie Comstock is the Founder of Strictly Cookies, and we’ve known each other now for over four years. I thought I knew all about her when we sat down for our conversation. But just like an unexpectedly under-baked cookie, Lexie's story was notable for being surprisingly raw in parts. I was amazed to hear what she had been through in the early days of setting up her cookie empire, and inspired by her continued positivity. I apologise in advance for the parts of this interview which make you want to jump up and raid your cupboards for sweet treats. You have been warned. Chapters 00:00 - Trailer & Intro 01:18 - Part 1 14:51 - Part 2 23:39 - Outro Instagram: www.instagram.com/oscology Facebook: www.facebook.com/mosaicofchina WeChat: www.mosaicofchina.com/wechat

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
[Trailer]LC: What you're supposed to do is: take your
little baggie home; dump the poop down thetoilet; wash out the bag; and then recycle
the bag.OF: Oh.

LC (00:12):
Yeah.
[Intro]OF: Welcome to Mosaic of China, a podcast
about people who are making their mark inChina. I’m your host, Oscar Fuchs.
Happy Chinese New Year everyone! This is aspecial recording for me, I mentioned in the
interview that I've known Lexie for threeand a half years. So I went into this recording
having a very good idea about how it wouldgo. But actually it went completely differently.

(00:34):
I wasn’t expecting the story that she shared,maybe other people who know Lexie may also
get a surprise.
I should say that I normally record theseintros just before releasing each episode.
But I'd planned on being away at the timethis is going out, so I'm pre-recording this
on January 23rd. Normally, I guess a weekor two doesn't matter here or there, but as
I record today we've got an impeachment trialstarting in the US, we've got a Brexit bill

(00:58):
going through parliament in the UK, and thewhole city of Wuhan has just been put on lockdown
because of the coronavirus outbreak. WhateverI'm saying right now will be at best obsolete,
and at worst, insensitive, by the time you'rehearing this, so all I'll say is that this
is truly a nice episode, and I hope that it'llbring you some necessary cheer.
[Part 1]OF: I'm here with Lexie Comstock. Lexie is

(01:22):
the Founder of Strictly Cookies here in Shanghai.LC: Hello, Oscar. Welcome to my home.

OF (01:27):
Yeah, so this is a funny one fo me, because usually I invite people to the studio or actually
to my home. But this is the first time, inthe whole season, that I'm going to someone's

house. LC (01:35):
How does it feel? Unsettling? OF

LC (01:39):
Mario is watching you from the corner. OF
Mario is my - I think eight year old - dog that I got in Shanghai. He is a fantastic
little pup. A lot of people… a lot of myfriends know him very well, because they are
kind enough to take care of him when I goon various travels or work trips.

OF (01:57):
And he's super well behaved. LC
take no credit for that. When I adopted him,he just was weirdly well behaved, and I don't
understand it. He's a street dog, but theShanghai streets, I guess, were kind to him.
And it's crazily quiet here. Like, I'm surprised at how insulated you are from the
noise outside.LC: Well, one of the reasons for that is because

(02:18):
they do construction in the evenings. Andby evenings, I mean 10pm-4am. So right now
we're fine.OF: OK, let's start the conversation by, first
of all, talking about the object. So whatobject did you bring?

LC (02:31):
Sure. So I have this cut-out of the box that my first mixer came in. And as you can
see, it's actually a pretty cool design. It'salmost like a stencil drawing of a mixer.
And the font is really cool. I don't know,I love the whole the whole look of it. And
that was obviously a really big step for meto buy a mixer, because without it Strictly
Cookies would not have started. And yeah,I don't know, I framed it right after I upgraded

(02:56):
to a much larger mixer. And actually, it'smaking me a little sentimental looking at
it, and thinking about that time. But I endedup trading it with someone who was moving
back to the States. And she had run a piecompany here and had a really big industrial-sized
mixer that we actually still use. So it was,like, an amazing trade. I don't know, I think
it's pretty cool. What do you think?OF: I like it. It has some kind of, like,
retro feel to it. And it's modern. But maybethat's because modern is retro now

(03:18):
Totally. OF
you do. So you mentioned Strictly Cookies,so what is that?
Yeah, so Strictly Cookies is an American-style soft and chewy cookie company that I founded
in 2010, right after moving to Shanghai. SoI had originally come to Shanghai for a marketing
job at a Chinese firm, because I had studiedChinese - and China generally - in college,

(03:43):
and came over for that job. But then aftera few months, got a little bit bored and restless,
and really genuinely missed cookies from theStates. I don't know, how long have you been
in Shanghai?OF: I was just thinking about that as I'm
looking at you, because you were one of thefirst people I met actually when I came…
Yeah. OF
ago.LC: Yeah, so I'm coming on nine years in Shanghai.

(04:03):
And back then, there were really only a fewcoffee shops, the baking scene was relatively
non-existent., and I could not find a goodcookie. And I love cookies. Cookie was actually
my first word, which is a fact that my momreminded me of, I think a year after I started
the company, she was like “Oh, that's soweird. Like, that was your first word.”
And I had forgotten about that. So the companywas birthed out of a true need for cookies.

(04:30):
And back then regulations were a bit looserthan they are now. And so, I was able to start
very slowly and organically and kind of growas the demand grew. Whereas now it's very
strictly regulated. If you want to do foodin China, there are a lot of rules about what
licences you need if you're going to sellto cafes and restaurants. But I was very lucky
that that really changed in a way that workedwith the growth of our company. So I was able

(04:53):
to join forces with other people who weredoing food businesses in China. So it wasn't
a huge up-front cost, which was great. Andthen, in 2013, we opened our first shop, that
we actually are still in that shop today.OF: It makes me think about the other entrepreneurs
that I've met, and especially in the restaurantand food industry, it feels like now there's

(05:13):
a lot more barriers to just organically dosomething like you did.
Totally. You have to go in with much more of a plan now. I think back then, you had
a lot of the risks that you have today. Butyou could, kind of like, test things out before
you fully committed to it. Whereas I feellike now, there's less room for that. And
I think that that is normal in any sort ofdeveloping country, like, you need to do more
regulations. And I actually am very happywith how the government has done food regulation,

(05:37):
because obviously, safety is enormously important.So that's actually been cool. And I’ve…
you know, I've had actually really nice interactionswith the Chinese equivalent of the Food and
Drug Administration. I really enjoy talkingto them, because they're like “Yeah, this
is confusing. We’re, like, updating thesethings. But this is what you have to do”.
And it seems like they want you to followthem. They're not trying to trap you or anything,
they just, like, want to help, which is great.OF: So when I think about your business, it's

(06:00):
really hard to scale, right? How do you expandyour business here from Shanghai to elsewhere?
Yeah, I mean, I think China has such a strong logistics operation thing going on.
So instead of saying “OK, we're going togo in cold, and open in Chengdu, and wherever,”
like, we say, “OK, first let's build upour Taobao business, and see where people
are buying from, and kind of test the marketthat way”. And I think expanding that way

(06:24):
for us makes a lot of sense. Because I thinkyou're right, it would be way too hard, especially
if you don't have a tonne of money behindyou, just to go in and like drop into these
cities. And things change so rapidly thatI think we've really benefited from just the
research side of things, like through shipping.OF: And, then, I'm just looking at this object,
your cardboard cut-out there, and it's makingme think about those early days.

(06:45):
Yeah. OF
to when I was first setting up my company,and you're doing it out of your kitchen, or
whatever it is. Talk to me about what werethe real highlights, and I guess, what would
the lowlights. Were there any, like, realfailures at the beginning as well?

OF (06:58):
Oh, yeah. So, it's like, they're both sprinkled in there the whole time. When you're
running your own business, you're never sittingback and saying “Wow, I've done such a good
job”. You have maybe, like, five momentsthroughout your entire career of that. And
then you get distracted by something else.And so the real highlights for me have been
these small moments. I remember one in particular,when it was really early on, it was within
the first two years, and I was looking outthe window and thinking “This is so cool

(07:21):
that this is my job. And this is awesome thatI've created this product”. I love cookies
so much. Creatively, I love cookies, becauseit's a very simple base. You know, it's a
very simple dessert, everyone can understandit. Like, it's not a complicated thing that’s,
like, really highbrow. But you can be so creativewithin the combinations. I don't know, I think
that that's what life is all about, like kindof, having a simple base to things, but then

(07:43):
spicing things up. And so it's really beenlike a pure joy, to be able to spend even
some of my time creating something that Ihope that other people enjoy as much as I
do. Those are the really cool moments. Obviouslylow-lights are… firing people sucks. And
that's no fun. I mean, we've had every issueyou can think of. We've had supply chain issues,

(08:09):
we've had ingredient mishaps, we've had employeesstealing, we've had you know, anything you
can think about. You can't dwell on thoselow-lights, you just have to learn from them.
I think I'm good at dealing with tricky situationsbecause of this business. Probably the hardest
would be when one of my employees was stealingfrom me, just because that was a real betrayal.

(08:30):
And I was really young, I was 24. And, youknow, I'd really come to consider him his
family, especially because he had been withme since the beginning. And so that just felt
really bad. But I realised that it was justabout, like, he saw an opportunity to make
money. And it was just as simple… it wasas black and white is that, it wasn't anything
more. And I think we can sometimes make itkind of about us, and make it like “Oh,
this is like, you know, this is a reflectionof me”. And obviously it was a reflection

(08:52):
of me as, like, a leader of a company, becausehe was able to exploit that. But the fact

of the matter was (08:57):
he saw an opening to steal money; he did; end of story.

OF (08:59):
And how did that all play out then, how did you find out about it?

LC (09:03):
I found out about it, because I had been talking to someone at a fair actually, about
the price of butter. Because, you know, pricesfluctuate. And I had noticed recently that
the price of butter had gone up a bunch. Andso I was talking to someone at a fair who
also was in the dessert business. And I waslike, “Yeah, like, ingredients, like, brutal”
and he was like “Yeah, luckily butter hasgone back down”. And I was like “What?”

(09:27):
And so I looked into it a little bit, andI… You know, you have these feelings that
something just isn't right, but I really hadn'twanted that to be true. You're so paranoid
like, you're like “OK, is it just this oneperson acting alone? Who else knows about
it? Is he in cahoots with the company I'mbuying from? Like, are they providing fake
发票 [fāpiào]?” So, like, because Iwas seeing the records, and I didn't understand.
So I had my friend call from a different numberin case they had my number, place an order

(09:51):
for some of the ingredients - but not theexact ingredients we would order, because
I didn't want it to be too obvious - so sheordered butter and chocolate and sugar maybe,
and then I had them deliver it to a friend'soffice address. And they delivered it. And
it was all different pricing. And cheaper,which didn't make any sense, because she ordered
a bag of each, and we were ordering a tonnemore. And so I was like “OK”, so I brought

(10:12):
my lawyer at the time and sat down with him.And it was really, really hard. And he was,
like… he tried to deny it for a little bit.And I was… and I just looked at him. And
I was like “No, I know. I know”. And thenhe didn't really say anything. We were producing
a lot of cookies at that point. So I reallyhad to, like rip apart all of the way the
business was running. I had to shoulder alot on my own at that time. And that really

(10:34):
forced me to just do all of those things.And, you know, it was actually a very exhilarating
time, because I was like “Yeah, I clearlydo love this business and this company, because
this just really rattled me, but I'm stillreally excited about waking up and going to
the factory”. And also, it proved to methat I needed to just do things a little bit
differently, and have a little more oversight.OF: Wow. Well I had no idea that that's the

(10:55):
story that we'd be going to today.LC: Yeah.

OF (10:57):
It makes me think actually, because it was your own business, it was very much your
baby. Like this… When you say the word ‘betrayal’,I know exactly what you mean, like, this is
not just a business betrayal, this would havebeen personal, right?

LC (11:06):
It was so personal, especially… I genuinely loved him. Like, he was kind of like a father/uncle
figure, especially being so far away. I don'tknow if it's crazy, but separate from that
incident, he still was a very good friendto me in other ways. And, like, I will never
speak to him again, but that doesn't ruinthe nice things that he had done for me. Maybe
it was to make me feel comfortable with himand trust him, who knows? But, like, I just

(11:29):
prefer not to think of it that way. There'sno point.

OF (11:32):
Well, let's not dwell too much on that any more.

LC (11:33):
And we'll end now. OF
for the China market, for example, or areyou still selling to people who are more international?
I don't know. I think just having lived here, I'm exposed to really cool flavours.
And so I just have more fun with Chinese flavours,not because I'm like “Oh, here are these
cookies for my Chinese customers” but morebecause I'm like “Oh, this is delicious,

(11:55):
and really cool and interesting. And I lovethe idea of fusing this with a classic American
cookie.”OF: So give me an example.
So, matcha marzipan is something that I think is really cool, because when I first
arrived, I was like “I'm not going to justmake, like, a green tea cookie and pander
to the Chinese clients” because I thinkthat that's offensive, just to be like “You're
a Chinese, so you're gonna love this greentea cookie”. But combining a marzipan element

(12:17):
- so we make the marzipan in-house, and itactually cuts a lot of the bitterness of the
matcha - and so that, to me, is like a reallygood combination. So that's been a really
cool one. Also, we do a 杨梅 [yángméi]coconut cookie - I think the English word
is bayberry - it’s such a Chinese flavourand it's, you know, I think you can only really
get them in June/July. There's so many coolpotential flavours of cookies in China and,

(12:41):
like, exploring lspicy elements and all thatstuff has been super, super cool and really
fun.OF: I’m just thinking actually, we ran into
each other in Chengdu, didn't we?LC: Yeah

OF (12:49):
And you know what? LC
I'm gonna challenge you. LC
You’re gonna use Sichuan pepper? LC
You’ve done it already? LC
What’s that one then? LC
So, social media is great. And I made an Instagrambaking friend who's based in Paris, and she's
a great baker and I actually went to go visither in November. And we're working on this

(13:11):
cookie that's combining a popular flavourin both China and in France - chestnut - and
the lovely Sichuan pepper. So we've done achestnut Sichuan pepper cookie. So you stay
tuned for that.OF: Are you going to give me a free one?

LC (13:27):
I'll give you two. OF
if you think about where you've come in thelast eight years, like if you project ahead
into your crystal ball, like, what do youthink's gonna happen next?
I'm excited to expand, and not only in China, but outside of China. And I think doing
it in creative ways is really important. Soit's not necessarily like, oh, open a flagship

(13:48):
store in New York or wherever. I don't know,I think with social media, you can expand
into more interesting and - I hope - lessexpensive way.

OF (13:55):
It’s funny, just listening to that, when you're an American here in China, and
now you’re thinking about exporting outsideof China…

LC (14:01):
Yeah. OF
your business maybe be different if you'vedone this in America, do you think?
It wouldn't have worked, in a way that now thinking about expanding to the US would.
I think that being a little bit removed hasallowed me to pick things up, try things out,
especially flavour-wise, that's been reallycool. So I don't think if we had started this
eight, nine years ago, in the U.S. it wouldhave worked in the same way. The U.S. is,

(14:23):
like, such a saturated market with cookies.But I've been doing it for so long, that now
it's more of just a sheer determination of,like, this will work and I will find a way
to do it.OF: And you're still small enough that you
can adapt, you’re nimble.LC: Yeah.

OF (14:37):
Good luck to you, Lexie. LC
And thank you so much for that conversation. I want someone out there to do a word-count,
and see how many times we use the word ‘cookie'.LC: Yeah.
We’re gonna move on now to Part 2. LC
[Part 2]OF: Let's jump into Question 1. What is your
favourite China related fact?LC: So I recently have learned about this

(15:01):
thing called ‘Panda Diplomacy’. ApparentlyChina owns most, if not all, of the pandas
worldwide. And they kind of use them as likea bargaining tool. So you can see the strength
of the relations between countries - and,like, your standing with China - based on
the panda situation. I think that's so funny.And that these super sweet but dumb pandas

(15:23):
are getting tossed around. I just think that'sgreat. So that's definitely my favourite China
fact. And at this very moment, China has - orShanghai, at least - these very intense garbage
rules. OK, did you read about what you'resupposed to do with dog poop now?
No. LC
all of your trash into wet, dry, whatever.It's very intense, there are guards outside

(15:46):
making sure that you've separated your trashcorrectly, you get fined if you don't do it
- which again, cool, China, this is definitelymoving in the right direction - but a little
bit intense, kinda classic China style. Butwith dog poop, apparently, because that's
a… you’re supposed to separate, wet anddry, right? And so people were like “Well,
what are we supposed to do when we pick updog waste?” So what you're supposed to do:
is take your little baggie home; dump thepoop down the toilet; wash out the bag; and

(16:11):
then recycle the bag.OF: Oh.

LC (16:13):
Yeah. OF
or phrase in Chinese?LC: So I have a very… I'm very lucky, I
have amazing neighbours, and I have reallygreat 保安s [bǎo’ān]s, and I have a
very strong relationship with them. And theyalways are asking me, no matter the time of
day, no matter if I've just seen them, like,five minutes before… 吃饭了吗？ [chīfànle
ma?], which is like “Have you eaten”?And I just think that's so sweet. I'm like

(16:37):
“Yeah, thank you for checking up on me,and making sure I'm staying well fed.”

OF (16:40):
If you left China, what would you miss the most, and what would you miss the least?

LC (16:43):
I would miss 煎饼 [jiānbing]. It's a crispy crêpe sort of pancake situation
that combines eggs and scallions and thesecrisp… almost like crispy wontons, is that
how you would…?OF: I know what that is.
And there’s this, like, bean curd in there, and you can put spices… it's just
incredible. And it's very cheap. I could eatit twice a day.

OF (17:03):
I recently - I think it must have been a month ago - I saw an article about how they
had a 煎饼 [jiānbing] - I don't know whatit was, like a - stall, in… I think it was
in New York, some near the High Line.LC: Yes. Expensive.
Yeah, yeah. It was like 10 dollars. LC
I mean, OK as long as you're spreading the煎饼 [jiānbing] word, I'm happy. But they
put a tonne of stuff in it. It's like, dareI say, bastardising the 煎饼 [jiānbing].
But no, no, they're just innovating. It'sfun. But it's really expensive.

(17:25):
Yeah, yeah. Innovate all you want., but don't charge 15 dollars.

LC (17:28):
Yeah, yeah. OF
least?LC: The thing I would miss the least is construction.

OF (17:33):
Oh right. LC
that's going on, and all of the cool thingsthat are happening in Shanghai, but there
has just been a constant stream of construction,all around the area that I live in. And apparently
it's going to be going on for the next twoor three years. Yeah, it's just loud. And
it happens in the middle of the night. Andthere was a point when, like, my apartment

(17:54):
was shaking in the middle of the night andwaking me up. Yeah. So I'm just very over
the dirty roads, because I have a dog. SoI walk him, he gets dirty, all this stuff.
So I know that it's necessary, it happensin every city. But it's just been really hard
to escape for me because I… it's day andnight, you know?
Is there anything that still surprises you about life in China?

LC (18:13):
I would say again, just how quickly things move here. So this has been the constant from
2010 until now, things move and update soso quickly. And that is just, I think, so
unique to China at this very moment. And anythingfrom food safety laws, to traffic laws, to
construction, to anything, it's such a fastmoving place. And it's incredible, the pace.

OF (18:40):
Where's your favourite place to go out, to drink or to eat or just to hang out?

LC (18:45):
While it's no longer available to me, I would say in the past, it's been my friend
Adam’s apartment. So I think you came toa couple of his parties. But my friend Adam
had this amazing apartment right on the cornerof 复兴 [Fùxīng] and 乌鲁木齐 [Wūlǔmùqí].
And he made a New Year's Resolution one yearto throw a theme party every month. And he
just nailed it. And it was super open, likeyou could bring anyone, and there were various

(19:08):
themes, like Chinese New Year, 80s prom, allthis stuff. And people would dress up and…
So party side, that was really fun to go outin. But also he had a great balcony. So you
know, Sunday afternoons lounging on the balc'.That was pretty ideal.

OF (19:22):
Whenever I walk past that crossing, I think about it.

LC (19:24):
Yeah OF
actually.LC: Yeah, no, he keeps it alive.

OF (19:28):
Yeah. So funny. What's the best or worst purchase you've made in China?

LC (19:33):
Best purchase was definitely my inflatable bathtub.

OF (19:36):
Stop right there. LC
Inflatable bathtub. LC
Explain. LC
this, like, circular, not-that-attractive,bathtub that you just use a little pump to
inflate. I have a very small shower, I canshow you. And unfortunately, that doesn't
leave a lot of options for bathtubs. So Ilooked on Taobao - the best place in the world

(20:00):
- and found this light blue inflatable bathtub,and so… Oh yeah, I just love it.
What’s your favourite WeChat sticker? LC
it?OF: Yeah, show it to me now.

LC (20:12):
OK. OF
Isn’t he cute? OF
Okay, so I'm not… Some people are very good at WeChat sticker language. You are one
of them - yeah, you're pointing to yourself,I was going to give that to you anyway, but
sure.OF: Give me credit for my WeChat game. Come
on.LC: Mine is very bad, and very simple. Because
it just takes so much time to be like… Idon't know. So I like the ones that have been
pre-loaded on my WeChat. And those are thelittle, like, bunnies? What are they? The

(20:35):
little bunnies? And I find that the like,what would you even call that hand motion?
Like a hula, almost.OF: Yeah.
It just applies in many situations. So I like the.. it’s just, kind of, my fallback.
I get genuine joy from using it. And it'ssuper cute.

OF (20:49):
Listen, I'll explain how you have many different stickers and make it work. You list
them in order of what emotion you want toconvey.

LC (20:58):
Really? OF
How do you change their order? OF
I don't want to be taught. It's too much. OF
OK, so my go-to is Alanis Morissette, ‘You Oughta Know’.

OF (21:12):
Oh. LC
say the best move I've ever pulled at KTV- and I love KTV, we actually haven't been
together we should totally go.OF: Why has that not happened?

LC (21:22):
I don't know. But the best move that I ever did was, I went to a KTV with people
I wasn't that close with. And so at, like,2am everyone's pretty drunk. Like, people
are singing their intense songs. And at 2am,I put on Enya’s ‘Only Time’. Like “Who
can say?” And it was so funny, because everyonewas like “Who is this girl? Like, what is

(21:42):
she singing?” And I was taking it reallyseriously. And everyone's kind of drunk by
that point. So like, half the people didn'tremember, but the people who do were like
“What is that?” So that was really fun.OF: You're the weird one, aren’t you?
Yeah! OF
sources of information do you rely on?LC: Ooh, do you ever get this email - I'm

(22:03):
on this newsletter thing called - China Skinny?OF: No.
So they just talk about trends and China… I think it's like a market… Like, you learn
about the market… But they just have reallyinteresting 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

(22:24):
doing a great job.OF: Nice. I'll check it out. Well, thank you
so much, Lexie, that was a pleasure.LC. Yeah, so fun.

OF (22:30):
And before you leave, so out of everyone you know in the rest of China, who do you
recommend that I interview next?OF: Oh, very easy question for me to answer.
My friend Jamie Barys who runs UnTour withher business partner, Kyle. They basically
give you a really awesome tour of the beststreet food in Shanghai or Beijing. They also

(22:51):
partner, I think, in various other citiesacross China. And as someone who loves food,
and especially street food, it’s… theyjust do a really good job. They give you…
On the tours, they give you a tonne of reallycool information about Shanghai, about the
food you're eating. It's not only satisfyingfor your tummy, but also for your brain.
Wow. LC
Is that their tagline? LC

(23:12):
Do you know, I’ve heard of them because I met people who have been on that tour…

LC (23:15):
Have you never been on that tour? OF
I’ve been on a bunch, and I would 100% go with you, it’s so fun.

OF (23:19):
All right, maybe that's what we’ll do. LC
tell you this because she's so humble. Butthey're super legit. Like, they took Usher…
heard of him?OF: Heard of him.

LC (23:28):
…took him on a tour. Yeah, they’re great.

OF (23:30):
Awesome, well thank you so much, I look forward to speaking with her.

LC (23:33):
Yeah. OF
Thanks for having me. Bye.
[Outro]So this is the first time someone specifically
mentioned pandas since Episode 10, in whichLori Li's favourite WeChat sticker was an
angry panda. I want more panda chat. For example,did you know that the Chinese for panda is

(23:54):
熊猫 [xióngmāo], which literally means'Bear Cat’. Yes, maybe you did know that.
But try this, did you know that there wasa scientific debate about whether the giant
panda bear actually is a bear, or is it morelike the red panda, which is a member of the
racoon family? And yes maybe you had heardabout ‘Panda Diplomacy’ before this episode,
but did you know that it's been going on since武则天 [Wǔzétiān] sent a couple of them

(24:14):
to Japan in the year 685? People, get intoit! I don't know why I'm shouting, I just
like pandas OK?
Lexie's favourite word or phrase in Chinesewas 吃饭了吗？ [Chīfànle ma?], which
literally means ‘have you eaten’. Butas Lexie also knows, it really just means
‘hello’. I talked about this in more detailat the end of Episode 7 with Michael Zee from
Symmetry Breakfast. The interesting thingI want to add this time is about the particle

(24:38):
了 [le] in 吃饭了吗？ [Chīfànle ma?],so humour me here. Many people learning Chinese
think that 了 [le] changes the sentence tothe past tense. And in this case it's true,
吃饭吗？ [Chīfàn ma?] means ‘are youeating?’ and 吃饭了吗？ [Chīfànle
ma?] means ‘have you eaten?’ But actually了 [le] doesn't denote the past, it denotes
a change of state. So when Lexie's neighboursare saying 吃饭了吗？ [Chīfànle ma?],

(24:58):
they're actually kinda asking “?Have yougone from the state of not-eating, to a state
of having eaten"? Let me give you anotherexample. So taking last week's episode with
Stephane, I said that I've gained weight inShanghai because I don't find it very easy
to go running here. And I'm sure Lexie's cookiesdon't help either. So if I say 我胖 [Wǒ
pàng] it means ‘I'm fat’. But if I say我胖了 [Wǒ pàngle], it doesn't mean ‘I've

(25:21):
fatted’. It means I've got fat, I've changedinto the state of being fat, I'm fat OK?
Loads of photos to share from today, pleasecheck them out on the handle @mosaicofchina_
on Instagram or @mosaicofchina on Facebook.Or join the group on WeChat, just add me on

my ID (25:35):
mosaicofchina, and I'll add you to the group. There are photos of the three cookies

that Lexie specifically mentioned in our chat: one of them is green tea and marzipan; the (25:41):
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second one is 杨梅 [yángméi] and coconut;and the final one is sichuan pepper and chestnut.
Apart from that, there's Lexie's favouriteWeChat sticker, the hula-dancing rabbit; there
are photos with her doggie Mario; there aresome images of the Shanghai recycling rules,
which are of course full-on. But actually,they’re no worse than the rules I followed

(26:03):
when living in Japan in 1999, or even Germanyback in 1996, so maybe it's about time they
caught up here. 1996, oh my word, I'm fatAND old. There are pictures of the delicious
煎饼 [jiānbing], the thing that Lexie wouldmiss the most if she left China. A few photos
from the costume parties that Lexie mentioned- Shout out to Adam's WeChat group. And yes

(26:24):
I called it a costume party, to all the Americansout there, a Brit would call that a "fancy
dress party", believe me, I do realise howstupid that sounds - And last but not least,
I asked Lexie to send me a photo of her bestpurchase in China, the inflatable bath, and
the thing she sent me qualifies as one ofthe best images I'm posting all season.
Mosaic of China is me, Oscar Fuchs, extraediting support from Milo de Prieto, artwork

(26:47):
by Denny Newell, and China support from AlstonGong. See you again next week.