March 3, 2025 • 5 mins
Our Shanghai-based correspondent talks about some crazy weather, China’s high-speed rail network, an animated local movie taking the country by storm, and International Women’s Day.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So you've heard from Cameron Bagri about the state of
the New Zealand economy. Let's have a look at the
state of the economy of our largest trading partner, China.
Our guy over there is Hunter McGregor, based out of Shanghai,
selling venison and red lead to the Chinese Hunter. Every
time I talk to you, you're a bit down on
the mouth about the Chinese economy. Are there any green shoots?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Oh, good afternoon, Jamie. Well, yeah, Sunday we had a
pretty plenty of green shoots here. We had a very
warm day. It was twenty nine degrees, which is the
warmest day and one hundred and one hundred and fifty
years of early March. And yes, everyone was out and
about and F and B was rocking along. So yeah,
(00:45):
there was a green shoots that day. And then Monday
we got up to high of a nine degrees, so
it all came crashing back down.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
See twenty eight degrees basically at the end of your
want is pretty warm.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, it was. It was great. It was really good
for a Sunday. You're very warm, but it's not normal
and there's snow in north of China, and there's snow
in hung Jo just an hour or so or a
couple hours drive in land, So you know, it's sort
of the unsettled weather pattern we get this time of year,
and we're back to some colder weather for the rest
(01:18):
of the week.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Talk to me about the high speed rail network in China.
I've been lucky enough to have ridden on a couple
of your bullet trains. They go flat out. In fact,
I think Shanghai to Beijing is almost as quick by
train as it is by plane.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah. No, the infrastructure and the high speed trains in
China is fantastic. You know, they've built over the last
few years up to about forty five thousand kilometers of
high speed rail networks. They're planning on building another twenty
five thousand more. And the trains, you know, for a
high speed train in China, they've got to run between
sort of three hundred and three hundred, two hundred and
(01:57):
three hundred and eighty kilometers an hour. They usually around
about sort of three hundred to three hundred and fifty,
So between Shanghai and Beijing it's about four and a
half hours from door to door if it's direct. There's
obviously Hobe trains that stop along the way, and that's
about the length of New Zealand at that distance. What
(02:18):
they're doing at the moment is they're developing new trains
which will run These trains designed to run about three
hundred to three hundred and fifty k's. The new ones
will designed to run four hundred to four hundred and
fifty k's on the same track, so that will just
about take it as fast as an aeroplane between most cities,
(02:38):
in some cases faster because by the time you fluff
around at the airport and planes are never on time
in China while anywhere it was a bit like New Zealand.
So yeah, that's quite exciting and it's a new development
and now they're pushing boundaries of technology and R and
D so, which is great.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yesterday, New Zealand at the time was Oscar's Day. For
my sons. I've watched two movies in the last two nights.
Bridget Jones's Diary or Mad About the Boy, whatever it is.
It was a five or six at best, and the
other one is The Substance with Demi Moore, who everyone
expected to win an Oscar. She didn't. It was sci
fi rubbish. If you ask me, But you want to
(03:16):
talk about a Chinese movie that's breaking box office records.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, there's a Chinese animated movie called Jin r II.
It just came out in the twenty ninth of January
and it's sold one point nine billion US dollars and
ticket sales already. It's been a phenomenon. It's massive. It's
a Chinese animated fantasy movie. It's for kids and for adults,
(03:43):
and it's just massive. And it's been only out for
a month, but it's now the I think, the seventh
grossing highest film ever. It's the highest grossing ever animated film.
It will probably go higher in the list because this
is starting to be launched around the world in theaters.
It's a it's a Chinese movie, fully developed in China,
(04:07):
and it's it's massive. So you know, I haven't seen
it yet because they don't have English subtitles in the
theaters here, but I'll probably watch it on a streaming
service at some point in the future.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Oh, come on, hunter, you've been over there long enough
to know the language inside out. Man up and do it.
Talking about manning up, we all need to man up.
On Friday. Apparently it's international Woman's Day.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, yeah, the third of the eighth of March is
International Woman's Day. So I'm sure you've got a big
event already planned for for for your dearly beloved. But
you know, we've actually got Kiwi Drinks this this Friday,
because every first Friday of the month here in Shanghai,
(04:48):
Kiwis get together and we raise a bit of money
for charity and have a few few cold bears. There's
no Makaiser at the moment up here, be working on that,
but yeah, so as anyone's passing through Shanghai the first Friday,
come along to Kiwi Drinks. It's open to anyone.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Hey, A final question for you off the script. Are
the Chinese talking about Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, a little bit. They're not really too worried about
what's going on, you know, with the tariffs coming in
and all that sort of stuff. It's all been predicted,
so you know that, the like everybody else, are watching
with interest, but there's not much what anyone can do,
so they're just seeing how things play out.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Hey, Hunter McGregor, I always appreciate your time here on
the country from Shanghai.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Cheers. Thanks, Mane
So you've heard from Cameron Bagri about the state of
the New Zealand economy. Let's have a look at the
state of the economy of our largest trading partner, China.
Our guy over there is Hunter McGregor, based out of Shanghai,
selling venison and red lead to the Chinese Hunter. Every
time I talk to you, you're a bit down on
the mouth about the Chinese economy. Are there any green shoots?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Oh, good afternoon, Jamie. Well, yeah, Sunday we had a
pretty plenty of green shoots here. We had a very
warm day. It was twenty nine degrees, which is the
warmest day and one hundred and one hundred and fifty
years of early March. And yes, everyone was out and
about and F and B was rocking along. So yeah,
(00:45):
there was a green shoots that day. And then Monday
we got up to high of a nine degrees, so
it all came crashing back down.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
See twenty eight degrees basically at the end of your
want is pretty warm.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, it was. It was great. It was really good
for a Sunday. You're very warm, but it's not normal
and there's snow in north of China, and there's snow
in hung Jo just an hour or so or a
couple hours drive in land, So you know, it's sort
of the unsettled weather pattern we get this time of year,
and we're back to some colder weather for the rest
(01:18):
of the week.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Talk to me about the high speed rail network in China.
I've been lucky enough to have ridden on a couple
of your bullet trains. They go flat out. In fact,
I think Shanghai to Beijing is almost as quick by
train as it is by plane.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah. No, the infrastructure and the high speed trains in
China is fantastic. You know, they've built over the last
few years up to about forty five thousand kilometers of
high speed rail networks. They're planning on building another twenty
five thousand more. And the trains, you know, for a
high speed train in China, they've got to run between
sort of three hundred and three hundred, two hundred and
(01:57):
three hundred and eighty kilometers an hour. They usually around
about sort of three hundred to three hundred and fifty,
So between Shanghai and Beijing it's about four and a
half hours from door to door if it's direct. There's
obviously Hobe trains that stop along the way, and that's
about the length of New Zealand at that distance. What
(02:18):
they're doing at the moment is they're developing new trains
which will run These trains designed to run about three
hundred to three hundred and fifty k's. The new ones
will designed to run four hundred to four hundred and
fifty k's on the same track, so that will just
about take it as fast as an aeroplane between most cities,
(02:38):
in some cases faster because by the time you fluff
around at the airport and planes are never on time
in China while anywhere it was a bit like New Zealand.
So yeah, that's quite exciting and it's a new development
and now they're pushing boundaries of technology and R and
D so, which is great.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yesterday, New Zealand at the time was Oscar's Day. For
my sons. I've watched two movies in the last two nights.
Bridget Jones's Diary or Mad About the Boy, whatever it is.
It was a five or six at best, and the
other one is The Substance with Demi Moore, who everyone
expected to win an Oscar. She didn't. It was sci
fi rubbish. If you ask me, But you want to
(03:16):
talk about a Chinese movie that's breaking box office records.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, there's a Chinese animated movie called Jin r II.
It just came out in the twenty ninth of January
and it's sold one point nine billion US dollars and
ticket sales already. It's been a phenomenon. It's massive. It's
a Chinese animated fantasy movie. It's for kids and for adults,
(03:43):
and it's just massive. And it's been only out for
a month, but it's now the I think, the seventh
grossing highest film ever. It's the highest grossing ever animated film.
It will probably go higher in the list because this
is starting to be launched around the world in theaters.
It's a it's a Chinese movie, fully developed in China,
(04:07):
and it's it's massive. So you know, I haven't seen
it yet because they don't have English subtitles in the
theaters here, but I'll probably watch it on a streaming
service at some point in the future.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Oh, come on, hunter, you've been over there long enough
to know the language inside out. Man up and do it.
Talking about manning up, we all need to man up.
On Friday. Apparently it's international Woman's Day.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, yeah, the third of the eighth of March is
International Woman's Day. So I'm sure you've got a big
event already planned for for for your dearly beloved. But
you know, we've actually got Kiwi Drinks this this Friday,
because every first Friday of the month here in Shanghai,
(04:48):
Kiwis get together and we raise a bit of money
for charity and have a few few cold bears. There's
no Makaiser at the moment up here, be working on that,
but yeah, so as anyone's passing through Shanghai the first Friday,
come along to Kiwi Drinks. It's open to anyone.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Hey, A final question for you off the script. Are
the Chinese talking about Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, a little bit. They're not really too worried about
what's going on, you know, with the tariffs coming in
and all that sort of stuff. It's all been predicted,
so you know that, the like everybody else, are watching
with interest, but there's not much what anyone can do,
so they're just seeing how things play out.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Hey, Hunter McGregor, I always appreciate your time here on
the country from Shanghai.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Cheers. Thanks, Mane
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