Louis Luk is founder and CEO of LAVA MUSIC, which was founded in 2013 by Louis in the campus of Musicians Institute Hollywood. It builds instruments and education services with the integration of software, hardware and humanity. LAVA released the world’s first unibody carbon fiber guitar LAVA ME in 2017, and reinvented it as the world’s first smart guitar in 2021. Now, LAVA is the world’s largest carbon fiber guitar manufacture. It has obtained over 100 patents, won 7 international design awards, and served musicians in 90+ countries.

Show notes:

4:00 Why there hasn’t been any innovation in guitar design for so long.

7:00 How redesigning the tools impact creativity

9:00 Louis’ background story and how the company began

10:20 Original aspirations in music

13:45 How the concept to redesign the guitar came about

14:15 Stories of trail and error, and how material science brought LAVA to the next level

19:30 Future potential of new material ‘Air Sonic’

21:20 Thoughts on the term ’Made in China’

26:00 The difficulties of incorporating touchscreen and software into newest design

34:00 Thoughts on how technology will change the future of music

Kev Nish and James Roh are members of Far East Movement, one of the earliest Asian American hip hop groups and the first Asian American group to earn a #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2010 with their hit ‘Like a G6’ and now work with artists in Asia and the West through their own agency Transparent Arts.

Show notes:

3:00 The differences for a hip hop group trying to make it now vs back in the early 2000s

5:00 Some of the biggest challenges and keys to their success

8:45 Negative stereotypes in hip hop and how they approached their music differently.

11:00 The double edged sword of being labelled as the ‘Asian’ rap group

14:00 Whether at the time they had any idea that their 2010 hit “Like a G6” would be a global success

16:00 The motivation behind working with more international artists

19:30 The surprising success of K-pop in the West

25:40 How important is it for Asian artist to gain recognition in Western or English speaking countries

31:20 Thoughts on the narrative in the US about how China’s influence is in some way negatively impacting some of the American entertainment industry, be it Hollywood, the NBA, or even music.

33:00 Working with more artists from China and other parts of Asia in the future

Frank Yao is CEO of Zrou, which is owned by YouKuai Group International of which Yao is also founder and CEO. Founded in Shanghai in 2019, Zrou is a plant-based protein company that aims to create a holistic plant-based food and beverage ecosystem in China. The brand often collaborates with famous chefs to create versions of traditional Chinese dishes made without animal meat.

Show notes:

3:00 Thoughts on Joe Rogan and many other Western medias reflection of China
5:15 On Frank’s family background and upbringing in Hong Kong and Canada
13:00 University life at Yale and how many Chinese American kids choose their major with direction from their parents
16:45 How meditation and buddhism led to the idea to start Zrou
23:10 The realization that China has the talent to build its own brands to serve its people and the world
25:15 How while living his best life, seeing his Toronto Raptors win the NBA title and feeling the highs and lows of competing in the World Series of Poker, brought him to the realization it was time to start something new
29:00 On buddhism, vegetarianism and flexitarianism
35:00 Health, ethical, and environmental reasons of consuming less meat and thoughts on hierarchy of consciousness
39:00 How offering better choices as a company is the way to get closer to a solution
41:40 China’s history of poverty and how scarcity of the past influences on a modern Chinese society that now consumes more meat than any other country.
49:20 Thoughts on lab grown meat
56:40 Further possibilities with plant based meat
61:40 Zrou as an international food brand

Born in Hong Kong and based in Shanghai, Tom Bray (better known as Tom Yeti) has been a pivotal figure within Asia’s music landscape for the past decade. Joining the dots within all aspects of the industry from artist management, music event promotions, booking agent, radio host to DJ, he’s the co-founder of YETI OUT collective and subsidiary record label Silk Road Sounds. Holding residencies in Shanghai, Seoul, Bangkok to Singapore, YETI OUT’s been bridging the gap between East & West

Being the few Asian music collectives that hold residencies on Rinse F.M to NTS Radio, their ‘Silk Road Sounds’ show promotes a sonic exchange between cultures from both sides of the Atlantic with consistent label releases that blur the line around Grime, Garage, House, 4×4 frequencies to new found global sounds. His sound design portfolio covers curation projects alongside the likes of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Bottega Venetta, Soho House to NikeLab while cementing his career as a multidisciplinary in Asia’s creative circles.

Thomas started a music blog that mushroomed into an all-out creative collective, Yeti Out, involved in party promotion, art show production and fashion collaborations, and with its own record label Silk Road Sounds and creative agency TEN5. 

Show notes:

2:40 Lockdown life

4:55 Hong Kong upbringing, college educated in the UK and how he got to Shanghai

9:42 How creative collective Yeti Out originally started as a music blog in the UK

11:45 How UK music scene influenced him and the meaning behind the name Yeti Out

15:10 On identifying more with being Chinese and the potential of developing in Asia vs the West

17:00 How club scenes differ from in West and East

20:30 The idea behind the label Silk Road Sounds

25:00 How Asian artist are received by Western audiences

32:20 Different approaches of fashion brands entering China

34:30 Local Chinese brands and the differences in international appeal of fashion vs music

38:40 Discovering new parts of China during the past two years of pandemic

40:40 How the inability of foreign acts to enter China during the past two years has affected the local scene

46:45  The recent flip of lockdown situations of East and West

Brian Wong is an entrepreneur and innovator whose career has spanned e-commerce, education, and digital media. He was the first American and 52nd employee to join Alibaba Group in 1999; today, he is the founder and chairman of RADII (www.radiichina.com), a leading digital media company dedicated to bridging understanding between youth in the East and West.

Show notes:

3:30 Third-generation American-born Chinese, whose family was among the earliest group of Chinese immigrants
5:10 The different periods and different types of Chinese people who immigrated to America
7:40 How policy and war shaped the future of immigrants
9:50 The experience of Chinese immigrants searching for their cultural roots
12:11 First impressions of the motherland
16:10 Different immigrant experiences and influences on identity
22:30 Early aspiration to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people possible
30:00 The first time meeting Jack Ma and Joe Tsai
33:00 How Alibaba started and became what it is today
41:54 Requirements of being special assistant to Jack Ma
45:20 Upcoming book ‘The Tao of Alibaba’
47:200 Reasons for creating a media platform that covers China
51:50 The state of American media and the China threat narrative

Former US marine, seven summits climber, writer, actor, film producer, and fitness guru Ruben Payan Jr. talks with us about spending more than 10 years in China developing fitness programs and being a first-hand witness to the growth of MMA as a new sport in the region. He also speaks about eventually becoming the strength and conditioning coach for world champion UFC fighter Zhang Weili.Additionally, we touch on his novel-turned-film “We Are War” and his experiences as a former US marine while living in China during the podcast.

Show notes:

1:45 Upbringing in America in a large Mexican American household
5:50 Motivation for joining the Marine Corp
9:40 How he was somehow destined to come to China
12:50 Eastern philosophies with Western practice in fitness
15:30 Working with Chinese MMA fighters
20:00 Chinese athletes vs. Western athletes
23:05 Chinese market for MMA
26:30 MMA rise vs. boxing
27:35 Passion behind writing book “We Are War”
35:45 How he was received as former a US Marine living in China
38:15 Language or culture differences in training

Zheng Chongbin fuses Western abstraction with the Chinese calligraphic tradition in works of ink- and acrylic-on-paper, finding contemporary relevance in antiquated forms of Asian ink art. Having studied and split his time in both China and the U.S., Zheng reveals the influences of both places and artistic traditions in his work.

He was educated as a classical Chinese figurative painter at the elite China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he taught for four years after graduation in 1984. Acclaimed as one of China’s preeminent young experimental ink painters in the 1980's, he mounted his first solo exhibition at the Shanghai Museum of Art in 1988. In 1989, he received a fellowship from the San Francisco Art Institute to study installation, performance, and conceptual art, receiving his MFA in 1991. A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area for over three decades, Zheng is inspired by the region's distinctive atmospheric and environmental effects and rich ecologies, as well as by the California light and space movement. For more on him and his works go to www.zhengchongbin.com

Show notes:

2:35 What growing up in Shanghai during the 1960s was like

8:20 Vague childhood memories of the Cultural revolution

12:45 How the influx of western culture and philosophy into China in the 80s influenced him as both an art student and teacher

30:00 How foreign students in at the China Academy of Arts at the time played a role in cultural exchange

34:30 Motivation factors which let him to go study in America

36:40 First impressions of arriving to SF in 1989 and how learning English was first priority over art practice at the time

43:00 How permanently living in America was never a plan, but rather the result of constantly exploring and adapting

45:40 The question of identifying with ethnicity or nationality

53:30 How art can bridge culture

100:00 Thoughts on NFTs

Qiuzi, also known as Qz, is managing editor of i-D China and a true Third Culture Kid who has an amusing and bitter sense of humor. Being in the fashion world, she is not what you’d imagine her to be, and she has a lot to say about that.

Show notes:

3:20 The concept of third culture kids

4:30 How having been educated early on in China, but then spending adolescence in America and embracing different cultures shaped her.

9:30 Facing discrimination in school from not only other students, but from teachers as well

17:00 How Asians are often still considered other in American society

21:30 How experiences with diversity in Europe and South Africa differed from life in America

28:00 The struggle for immigrant families to integrate into western society while holding on to ethnic tradition

31:00 The question  of whether one’s identity leans toward their nationality or their ethnicity
36:00 How her career ended up in fashion media

50:00 The importance of equal representation in media

57:00 Incidents of brands, designers or even photographers who have received backlash in China for certain campaigns

Michele Aboro is a living legend in the history of Boxing & Kickboxing, Super Bantamweight Michele Aboro retired as undefeated world champion in Boxing with 21 wins (12 KO) & Kickboxing with 32 winning fights (23 KO). Michele was also voted Pound-for-Pound Best Female Boxer of the Year for four consecutive years. She is a two-time undefeated World Boxing Champion, five-time Kickboxing World Champion and two-time K1 Champion; having pioneered boxing and kickboxing in England when it was illegal for women to be trained in boxing by coaches and compete. She currently resides in Shanghai and is co-founder and head coach at Aboro Academy.  You can learn more about her academy and foundation at www.aboroacademy.com.

Show notes:

2:20 Upbringing in Peckham, London as one of 7 children in a one parent biracial family .

5:17 Boxing culture in the UK

7:25 Thoughts on current heavyweight champion Tyson Fury

8:25 Being turned down at a boxing gym as a child for being a girl

12:10 How it was illegal to train female boxers in the UK while it was legal in other European countries

14:00 How women’s is boxing is received in China

19:00 History of women’s boxing and how it was not introduced into the olympics until 2012 but had a boom in the US in the 90s

22:50 First depiction of female boxing in Hollywood ‘Million dollar baby’

24:20 The life of an up and coming professional female boxer

27:30 Thoughts on the recent attention given to celebrity boxing

32:50 Using sport as a platform to spread a greater message

37:10 The decision to open a gym in China

45:30 How positivity and motivation created a mindset to get through cancer

49:00 Giving back to the community through Aboro foundation

55:10 How training differs in different countries and cultures

57:50 Incorporation of a ranking system in boxing training

59:30 The use of meditation yoga and Buddhist philosophy in training

1:01:40 The early years of MMA

1:03:00 Thoughts on Zhang Weili

Graeme Kennedy is a Canadian photographer and videographer based in Shanghai, focusing on documenting the extraordinary everyday life of people across China and the economies that bring them together. 

You can check out some of his photo essays and a new video series he made for RADII in partnership with Peddler’s Gin for Chinese New Year  at www.radiichina.com.

Show notes:

3:00 Leaving his home country of Canada at the age of 18

9:00 First impressions of China

11:40 The solution to pollution

13:30 Breaking away from the expat community and transitioning into photography

17:30 Making gin in China

25:20 The concept or made in China

28:00 Western products like whiskey wine and beer produced locally

35:35 Differences in Chinese baijiu and its potential internationally

41:40 Travelling to more remote areas of China

54:00 How growing up in nature keeps him focused on environmental issues in his travel and photography

59:00 Sustainability in city life in China

1:08:00 Learning about locally grown Chinese chocolate