In this we do a deep dive on Qing Ming Jie, or “Tomb Sweeping Festival” as known in English, which has just passed at the start of April. We look into the origin and cultural significance of the festival and we discuss the manifold cultural practices involved with Qing Ming - Chinese people paying respect to ancestors by visiting their tombstones, bringing food and drink for the dead, as well as burning “spirit money” for the afterlife.

We have been podcasting for one entire year! We started this podcast in the aftermath of COVID lockdowns in China, and kept each other accountable and disciplined to release one episode per week for an entire year. Now, in this monumental Episode 52, we look back on some of the best moments that we selected from our episodes - hopefully you'll find them interesting or useful!

In this episode we interview Fabian Triebe, a business consultant at the Sino-European Technology and Innovation Center in Hangzhou and an organizer of Startup Grind China. Fabian shares his story of leaving a stable banking job in Germany to start his adventure in China, and what kind of exciting business initiatives he is undertaking with European technology startups for their China market entry.

On the eve of the alpha release of their video game, Infinite Fleet, Hope and Chris look back at the growth journey of Pixelmatic, the video game startup where they work. They review how the company went from a tiny studio of 10 people doing mostly outsourcing contracts to present day’s team of 40, distributed globally across 3 continents. They also look at the problems and challenges that came up as the team grew in size, and how they best dealt with them.

In this episode we talk about the highly practical topic of health insurance in China with Sihao Kuo, a health insurance consultant at Pacific Prime. Living abroad means being away from your home country’s comforts, taxes, and high standard healthcare system, so expats in China typically find their own means to secure health coverage. We dissect the ins and outs of health insurance coverage in China and why private health insurance is a popular choice among foreigners.

Happy the Year of the Ox! In this episode we discuss the Spring Festival dinner table stories that came along - which led to us exploring the perspective of growing up in China prior to the country’s massive economic boom. Chris shares his wife and inlaws’ anecdotes on growing up in rural Sichuan and getting out of poverty, and how the life from that generation is almost unimaginable in today’s China.

In this episode Hope asks Chris about living the Chinese family life as a married man in a Chinese third tier city. We have spoken a lot about expat life in Shanghai, which is a total outlier by China standards in terms of its lifestyle and prices, so we decided to focus some more attention on life in a third tier city. Chris gives his insights on assimilating into his Chinese extended family, and dealing with the education system for his children.

In this episode we discuss the wild event buzzing around global financial markets this week - the audacious Redditors vs hedgefunds battle over short squeezing GameStop stocks. We explain what exactly happened and why it happened, and how new age social media and information was vital for forming this powerful army of retail investors. We also look at the disgraceful Robinhood ban of stock buying and why that was the canary in the coal mine for the decentralization movement.

In this episode we discuss the video games and board games market in China, from both the player’s perspective and a business perspective. Chris is a lifelong gamer who has been working in the video game industry for several years, and shares his insight on life as a gamer in China, the massive Chinese gaming market, and whether or not board games are starting to catch on.

In this episode we discuss the eccentric, satisfying, and weird Eastern health and wellbeing routines popular in China. Blind massages, foot massages, cupping and scraping, and even tickling your feet with minnow fish - what’s the deal? And of course, hot water is the magical elixir that solves all ailments in China!

In this episode we chat with Sonny Alves Dias, CTO of Pixelmatic, a video game studio based in Shanghai with a distributed team around the world. We ask Sonny about his life as a computer programmer and video game developer in China, and how he deals with managing cross-cultural teams and communication issues in the tech field.

Happy New Year! In this first episode of 2021, we discuss the list of things you need to prepare for prior to embarking on your China journey. China is an unique beast of its own that operates on completely different wavelengths from most Western countries, and it has its own ways and systems of doing EVERYTHING. Things like different visas, VPNs for internet access, and even “strange” cultural norms - are all things you must prepare for prior to arriving in China, for a relatively smooth...

Merry Christmas everyone! In this Christmas episode, we look back at all the major events that transpired in 2020 and how life in China has changed over the course of the year. Some takeaways include: China is becoming more closed, visa requirements and taxation are becoming more strict, everyday life is more or less the same otherwise. However, there are still plenty of opportunities to be had in China, and more importantly, life here is functioning as normal!

In this episode we call in with Jannick ten Hoor, a Dutch Millennial based in Macau with over a decade’s experience in hotel management and hospitality. Jannick shares great insights on how he managed to climb the career ladder so rapidly in Asia, working for various large hotel chains and switching his focus from hotel management to food & beverage. As well, Jannick shares inside stories on how the hospitality industry has really been affected by COVID in 2020.

In this episode we discuss the world’s most popular sport, football (soccer). Football is hugely popular in China and around the world, and we are here to share with the global audience what the football scene is like in China. We talk about the professional league in China, why China’s national football team has struggled eternally, and football at the amateur and grassroots levels. A fun episode for any curious football fan!

In this episode we interview Amy Lyons aka “Blondie in China”, who is a hugely popular “China YouTuber” with nearly 200k subscribers. Amy makes lots of interesting and funny YouTube videos about China, Chinese food, and her travels and experiences from living in China, and has an army of loyal and adoring fans who watch her videos regularly.

In this episode we explain all the statutory holidays in China such as Chinese New Year, National Day, and Dragon Boat Festival - what days do you get off, what are the traditions and customs, and what to expect when travelling. As you would expect, the Chinese holidays calendar is very different from Western ones, with entirely different occasions being celebrated and often in different ways. Listen to this episode if you are embarking on your first year in China!

In this episode we sit down with Gabba Schwencke, a Dutch Millennial who works in relocation and high end apartment rental for expats. Gabba arrived in China 9 years ago on a whim and got started in real estate sales after a gruelling start. He has been consistently finding high quality housing for expats and their multinational employers since then, and has a wealth of knowledge of the China real estate scene.

In this episode we sit down with Dimitar Dinev, a well-connected figure in the China crypto & blockchain scene who was previously the MD at JRR Crypto, a crypto VC fund. Dimitar shares his interesting entrepreneurial journey which started in his hometown of Plovdiv in Bulgaria, where he rented out a shop to start an art gallery. After meeting his Chinese wife in Milan, they decided to move to Shanghai where he leveraged his economics background to become a stalwart in the local crypto...

In this episode we discuss the various socioeconomic classes in China, and how life at each tier of the social ladder is so drastically different. In the West we are used to life being more or less similar for the majority of people, but that is not the case in China where despite 600+ million people having been lifted out of poverty in recent decades, we still observe huge gaps in income and living standards, especially in first tier cities.

In this episode we talk about some big cultural elements of China - guanxi and mianzi! “Guanxi” means “relationships”, and is often referred to as a fundamental aspect of doing business in China - build trust first before committing to collaboration. “Mianzi” on the other hand, means “face” or “saving face”, and is another cultural dynamic that permeates heavily into all aspects of life, business, and relationships in China.

In this episode we sit down with Ta-Wei Wang, Co-Founder of Aptive Education and an Asia veteran who has worked in the education industry in both South Korea and China, splitting his years between Seoul and Beijing. We ask Ta-Wei about the differences in teaching and work/business culture between the two countries, what new innovative things he is trying with education, and which country is better suited for those seeking jobs in education.

In this episode we talk about what it’s like to have a baby and raising a child in China. We get into the nitty gritty about Chinese hospitals, maternal care, Chinese in-laws, daycare for children, and the “special treatment” for mixed-blood babies. A must-listen if you are having a baby while living in China!

In this episode we explain the top Chinese mobile apps (“A-P-P”s) that you simply cannot live without in China. Life in China runs on mobile, to the point that most Chinese people no longer even have home computers! WeChat, Alipay, Didi, Eleme, Taobao, etc. are almost mandatory for your everyday life in China, and we are here to explain how each one works.