Chinatown 2.0

Jing Cheng is the co-founder and CEO of the largest North American Children's Chinese magazine, Pipa Magazine. She shares her inspirations for starting the publication, the challenges of running the business of print media against digital headwinds, and her philosophy and suggestions for Chinese immigrants raising bilingual kids.

To learn more about Pipa Magazine, visit: pipamag.org

You can also subscribe to their WeChat public account by searching for 小枇杷


Jing shared with us:

* Pipa Magazine as a companion to kids and bridge to communicate with older generations

* Why young kids like to read the same books repeatedly

* Self-identity for kids with Chinese heritage

* Learning Chinese culture in addition to the language

* Maintaining emotional intimacy between first and second generation immigrants

* Immigrant parents need continual self education to keep up with kids' American ideas

* Pipa Magazine's way of teaching Chinese language in the context of Chinese culture

* The development of Pipa Magazine as a business since 2012

* The difficult business of the Chinese culture-themed magazine

* Pipa Magazine as between a nonprofit organization and a commercial business

* How donations can help Pipa Magazine's missions

Jing shared with us:

* Pipa Magazine as a companion to kids and bridge to communicate with older generations

* Why young kids like to read the same books repeatedly

* Self-identity for kids with Chinese heritage

* Learning Chinese culture in addition to the language

* Maintaining emotional intimacy between first and second generation immigrants

* Immigrant parents need continual self education to keep up with kids' American ideas

* Pipa Magazine's way of teaching Chinese language in the context of Chinese culture

* The development of Pipa Magazine as a business since 2012

* The difficult business of the Chinese culture-themed magazine

* Pipa Magazine as between a nonprofit organization and a commercial business

* How donations can help Pipa Magazine's missions

Sixiang Wang is an assistant professor in Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA, specializing in Korea’s premodern history. He speaks fluent mandarin, writes Chinese poems and is well-versed in China's history and culture. Sixiang described his journey of attempting to self-distance from his Chinese identity to embracing and mastering the language and culture. He shared how studying Korean history somehow helped him reconcile a lifelong passion for Chinese studies with his American identity. We also talked about the current state of Sino-US relation and analogized Trump's presidency with past Chinese emperors. Lastly, we touched upon Sixiang's philosophy of child-raising that deviates from the traditional Chinese parenting style.

Sixiang shared with us:

* Guest intro
* Growing up in a rough Queens Hispanic neighborhood as "the only Chino"
* Childhood struggles between desire to be American vs love for Chinese language & culture
* Epiphany in reconciling American and Chinese identity from reading Korean history
* Sentiment towards US-China tensions from a Chinese American perspective
* Ways to understand Trump presidency, e.g., the angle of history of Chinese emperors
* De-emphasizing goals of admittance to top colleges and high test scores in raising children

Nuo Yan is a Tokyo-based software architect. He was previously based in Seattle and San Francisco, and was founding engineer at multiple tech startups, one of which was acquired by Pinterest. Nuo discussed his philosophy of avoiding shortcuts in software design and implementation, the purpose of life as completing a journey instead of checking boxes, and why Japan is a great place to live for him.

Nuo shared with us:

* Joining a startup right out of undergrad
* Reluctance in taking shortcuts in code (or in life)
* Anxiety of China citizens explained by country's rapid rise, similar to 90s Japan
* Japan's extremely stable and equitable society
* Why Japan's life quality trumps that in the US for Asians
* Friendly Japan immigration policies
* Japan's startup scene doesn't measure up to that in the US/China
* Exploration of why Japan feels like Nuo's home city (nowhere else does)
* Decision to become a software engineer very early in life
* Why being treated as a foreigner in Japan is a good thing

Jingzhu Yang started her PR company AmeriChina to bring Chinese companies to high-end and exclusive American events, such as Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and charity dinners with ex US presidents. In the peak year of her business, the company made revenues of 10M RMB (1.5M USD).

Jingzhu covered these topics:

* Why she started AmeriChina

* AmeriChina business case: VidCon LA

* More business cases, including charity dinners with ex-US presidents

* How US-China relation affects business

* What uniquely contributed to her success

* How she tried to matchmake west-coast boys with east-coast girls

* Chinese women's advantage over Chinese men as entrepreneurs

* Family influence on entrepreneurship

* Her observation of lives of kids from wealthy/elitist Chinese families in the US

* Getting used to China's natural environment

* Finding love with non-Chinese men

Robbie Yan is cofounder of a quantitatively driven hedge fund based in China. We talked about the nature of quantitative investing, governmental efficiency in China and associated tradeoffs, argument for protection of privacy, China's startup scene, and more.

Robbie shared with us:

* What makes good quant traders

* Mistakes that might occur in quant trading

* Competitive landscape in quant trading in China

* Motivations in starting a quant hedge fund

* Advantages of Scandinavian countries

* Public infrastructure efficiency in China

* Safety in China amid mass surveillance

* Argument for protecting privacy

* Tradeoffs of bias vs variance in political systems

* Convenience of payment tech in China

* Power of consumer super-apps in China

* Successful startups in China