Round Table China
China Plus
Round Table is a premier English radio/podcast show, straight from Beijing.
Hear what's buzzing on the Internet and the main streets, see the latest lifestyle trends, and feel the pulse of life in China, Round Table is your golden ticket. With dynamic cultural exchanges between hosts from diverse backgrounds, we take you on a journey deep into modern China.
We invite you to join our conversation! Shoot us an email or a voice memo at roundtablepodcast@qq.com. Let the fun begin!
Hear what's buzzing on the Internet and the main streets, see the latest lifestyle trends, and feel the pulse of life in China, Round Table is your golden ticket. With dynamic cultural exchanges between hosts from diverse backgrounds, we take you on a journey deep into modern China.
We invite you to join our conversation! Shoot us an email or a voice memo at roundtablepodcast@qq.com. Let the fun begin!
Episodes
Mentioned books
34 snips
Mar 2, 2026 • 27min
Did I say too much or not enough?
They debate a tiger park's rotating fasting plan after overfeeding during the Spring Festival and why visitor feeding became controversial. They weigh conservation, finance, and ethics around captive tigers and management responsibilities. They also explore the social cost of oversharing, research on openness building trust, and how to find boundaries and reciprocity in conversation.
22 snips
Mar 2, 2026 • 25min
Inside China's five-year provincial playbook
Chinese provinces unveiled five-year game plans focused on industrial upgrading and smarter manufacturing. Regions contrast high-tech R&D pushes with cleaner, digitalized heavy industry reforms. Plans emphasize improving the business environment and leveraging transport hubs. Shared themes include AI adoption in factories and aligning local strategies with national priorities.
19 snips
Feb 27, 2026 • 23min
The Full Circle: Red envelopes, hands-on classes, one-person companies
Talks about hongbao becoming a social calculation and the family anxieties that follow. Covers the surge in hands-on university courses like cooking and mechanics to teach practical life skills. Explores how AI enables one-person companies, plus the loneliness and support networks that arise. Weaves a theme of gaps between tradition and modern demands and creative ways to bridge them.
11 snips
Feb 27, 2026 • 29min
The too cool night schools
Steve Hatherly, a frequent contributor with international experience, shares candid personal anecdotes about taking night classes abroad. He recounts language, martial arts, and quirky hands-on courses. The conversation highlights night schools as social hubs, niche offerings like magic and pet nutrition, and how they weave into urban life and community culture.
31 snips
Feb 26, 2026 • 30min
The trouble with red envelopes
A look at how hongbao went from lucky ritual to a cash competition and efforts in some regions to cap amounts. A viral Guangdong clip and social pressure spotlight rising anxiety over gifting norms. A deep dive into hongbao history, legal ownership for minors, and how parents navigate keeping or teaching kids about the money. Plus, why picky eating starts before birth and practical ways families encourage new foods.
15 snips
Feb 26, 2026 • 23min
One person. One laptop. One company.
AI is shrinking startup costs and spawning one-person companies that act like full teams. The hosts explore AI agents as virtual partners handling code, design and research. They highlight rapid global growth, Chinese success stories and policy incentives. Legal structures, risks like decision fatigue, and strategies to survive intense competition are also discussed.
17 snips
Feb 25, 2026 • 22min
When campus stir-fries eclipse spreadsheets
Hands-on university electives like cooking, woodworking, and car maintenance are drawing massive demand and long waiting lists. Speakers recount campus pottery and vocational class memories and explain why practical credits matter. They discuss national pushes for labor education and how on-campus classes reveal talents. Restaurants swapping hot water for lemon and cucumber drinks and hygiene concerns around infused waters are also explored.
16 snips
Feb 25, 2026 • 31min
The AI powered Spring Festival
Robots and kung fu machines stole the show while AI tools crafted personalized New Year greetings and profile pictures. Surge pricing and voucher crazes created real-world chaos at bubble tea shops. Digital twins and real-time cloning appeared onstage, and motion-capture ink-wash art came to life. The holiday accelerated older adults using AI and sparked a major platform war over promotions and infrastructure.
13 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 17min
Is post-Chinese New Year syndrome a thing?
They explore the post-holiday slowdown after Spring Festival and common symptoms like fatigue and brain fog. Personal return-to-work stories highlight disrupted routines, late nights and overeating. Conversation covers biological effects like sleep shifts, cortisol rebound and leisure sickness. Practical pacing and sleep strategies for easing back into work are also discussed.
10 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 34min
The numbers behind the Chinese New Year
They unpack Spring Festival data on tourism, box office and consumer spending. Travel statistics and transport shifts get close attention, from 1.6 billion trips to rail and air trends. Cultural tourism and gala surprises, including robots and surprise performers, are highlighted. Big-ticket purchases, duty-free growth and rising inbound tourism round out the discussion.
