The China Travel Podcast

For this episode we’re delving into the mission of EGRC (Educating Girls of Rural China), an NGO supporting the educational pursuits of girls in China’s underprivileged regions. Our guest is the founder of EGRC, Ching Tien, who shares with us her personal story of growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Her path strays from an educated family background and setting, to relocation in Gansu, the poorest province in China at the time, where she worked in a factory. Several decades later, Ching found herself at a children’s concert in Vancouver, thinking of the girls she bumped shoulders with back in Gansu, and the many worldly opportunities they were missing out on. The first seedlings of EGRC were thence planted, and today, 18 years later, over 2,000 girls in China have benefited from the NGO born of that dream. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we’re exploring the world of Chinese social media with WildChina founder and Chinese social media influencer, Mei Zhang. Despite having the world’s largest social media market with over a billion users, to rest of the world, the Chinese social media sphere is largely considered an enigma, with language and geo-barriers effectively shrouding it in mystery to those outside China. In late 2020 Mei started posting on China’s social media platform Little Red Book and has since gained influencer status with over 270k followers and counting. In this episode we cover China’s leading social media platforms, the user demographics, trending content, and more. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we explore culinary traditions with US-based French chef, Jacques Pépin. Jacques has authored over 30 books, received honorary doctorate degrees from five American universities, as well as 16 James Beard Foundation Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and an Emmy Award for his TV show with Julia Child, “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home” – one of numerous TV shows that he starred in. Mei and Jacques compare French and Chinese cuisine and the journeys each have taken to their respective places in global societies today. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we chat with author Weike Wang on her book Joan Is Okay. This book platforms a new generation of Chinese Americans and the struggle with identity faced in everyday life. Prepare for a read where one second, witty dry humor has you giggling out loud, and the next, you’re hit hard with a notion so deeply profound it resonates in your bones. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we dive into the contemporary art scene in China with director of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art and CEO of the UCCA Group, Philip Tinari. Mei and Philip cover an array of topics, from influential Chinese artists to the architectural masterpieces that house the country’s growing number of art museums, talking all things contemporary art in today’s China. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we explore the birds and biodiversity of the nation’s capital with Beijing-based conservationist, Terry Townshend. Mei and Terry talk about the remarkable Beijing swift, China’s birding boom and a rising awareness of conservation in the country’s public and political spheres. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our nineteenth episode we chat with existential wellness counselor, Michelle Mope Andersson. Michelle brings her expertise in ministry to the ground in Yunnan, studying the history of missionaries in China by tracing the routes they took and meeting the people and structures who keep the faith in these Catholic communities alive today. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our seventeenth episode we cover the evolution of rock climbing in China and its crossover with growing conservation awareness in the country. Our guest for this episode is lifetime conservationist and Yunnan climbing pioneer, Bob Moseley. The episode is hosted by WildChina’s Mei Zhang, and previously Beijing-based, climber Kendra Tombolato. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our fifteenth episode we asked Jim Nobles, founder of Bizarre Beijing, to chat with us on some of China’s more haunting facets. We cover a range of afterlife and ghoulish topics, from joss paper burnings going virtual due to growing awareness of environmental impacts to Chinese Ouija boards and supernatural beliefs, and of course there’s a smattering of local ghost stories woven in along the way. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our thirteenth episode we head to Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province were ceramics artist and expert Caroline Cheng is joining us from her workshop. Outside an ongoing street-side porcelain fair is in the works. During the episode we hear about the fair, Caroline’s project Prosperity, and also recycling ceramic waste into sponge cities, her new venture called Regeneration Tree. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our eleventh episode we chat with Michelle Zhang and Pat Tietgen, a couple who first met in Chengdu and now live and work together in California where they run The Society of Heart’s Delight, an organization based out of a stunning historic landmark building in San Jose which facilitates events and discussions for the Bay Area Chinese professionals community. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our ninth episode, we head to Beijing. As the imperial and modern-day capital, Beijing offers an eclectic array of old and new, visible in the lifestyles of its citizens but also in its buildings. Mei chats with Beijing-based architect, Diana Chan Chieng on Beijing’s wide variety of architectural offerings, from the traditional siheyuan homes of the hutongs, to the gilded roofs of the Forbidden City, to the sleek modern curves of the 2008 Olympic center and the 2019 Daxing airport. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our seventh episode, we head to Tibet. A region on the western reaches of China, commonly referred to as the last frontier, the roof of the world. Home to the sparkling Potala Palace, the vast expanse of the Tibetan plateau, the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, the North and Eastern faces of Mount Everest, the seat of Tibetan Buddhism. It also happens to be where WildChina’s first sparks of existence came to be, on the autumn slopes of Mount Kailash. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com