China Chit Chat

Andre Spolaor is an education entrepreneur and Chinese social media influencer. Andre is one of the top foreign influencers in China and has built up a following of over 1 million fans over Chinese platforms such as Douyin and RED, delivering daily content to help people learn English. His daily livestream lessons are typically attended by over 1000 eager students. I talk to Andre about how he built this following, the challenges of setting up as a foreign influencer on Chinese social media, how he’s looking to grow his business and much more. If you’ve ever wondered how to get Chinese Internet famous, then this is the show for you!

Chris Ruffle is a British businessman, author and entrepreneur. He is the owner of Treaty Port Vineyards in Shandong Province, a vineyard producing high quality Chinese wines he built from scratch. The vineyard also has an almost exact replica of a Scottish castle. It’s one of those crazy ‘only in China’ business stories that we are sure you will love.

What is China Chit Chat all about? Listen to this brief introductory episode to find out!

In Episode 4 we speak to Alistair Warwick-Nelson, a former butler settled in China for over 10 years, who now runs his own business as an etiquette coach. We discuss the factors driving demand for etiquette coaching in China, his customer profile, and some of the cultural misunderstandings between East and West. His funny anecdotes and deep understanding of Chinese culture make for an interesting conversation!

Dr Hong Lu is an OBE, the deputy director of the Confucius Institute of Business at London School of Economics. She is also the chairman CEDP the Chinese centre in the UK and trustee of the BAME partnership in the UK. Dr Hong Lu has had a long and illustrious career working between UK and China for 26 years, specialising in Chinese teaching and research. The bridges she has built between the UK and China within the field of business and academia have been quite remarkable! She is widely recognised for her work in the field of UK and China relations and cultural exchanges, being highly revered in UK/China circles and awarded an OBE for her services in 2016. We are honoured to have her here in this weeks episode !

Jesse Edbrooke is a singer-songwriter from Bristol who has performed throughout China with his band Transition. After befriending some students from Taiwan, Jesse and his brother's lives changed when they accepted an invitation to perform at a music festival in Taiwan. This lead to the moving there, having a successful music career and touring extensively throughout Taiwan and mainland China. Despite Transition being little known in the UK, Jesse has met and collaborated with some of the biggest names in the Chinese music industry and has some amazing stories to tell.

In our first episode we chit chat with Chris Ruffle who is a British entrepreneur with over 30 years of business experience in China that expand various industries. We discuss his treaty port Vineyard venture, a Vineyard he built from scratch in Northern China ! it is also complete with a Scottish castle ! if you find this intriguing, do tune in as it is one hell of a conversation!

Welcome to China Chit Chat, the show that brings you new and unique perspectives on China.

China Chit Chat is a new weekly podcast where we interview guests who each have their own interesting takes of various aspects of Chinese culture, business, politics and history. Put together, we hope to provide our audience with a fresh perspective on the real China.