Middle Earth - China’s cultural industry podcast

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As China becomes more assertive on the global stage with its diplomacy and state media, “patriotic KOLs” have appeared on domestic Chinese social media platforms, influencing the political opinions of their millions of fans. But how do KOLs craft their message to be successful, and who’s paying their bills?

Featuring
- Fang Kecheng : The Chinese University of Hong Kong - Assistant Professor
- Miro Li : Double V. Consulting - Founder

 To go further
- Middle Earth episode #50 Xiaohongshu : Marrying content and e-commerce
- Nikkei Asia's article : China’s online nationalist army
- 孤烟暮蝉 (Guyanmuchan ) on Weibo
- 心医林霖 (xīnyīlínlín) on Bilibili
- 周小平 (Zhou Xiaoping), WeChat ID : 平局
- 占豪 (Zhan Hao), WeChat ID : 占豪
- 北美留学生观察, WeChat ID : 北美留学生观察

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!

Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, episode's picture by maono闪克 and Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

NFTS are legal to be bought in China, but reselling them is an all other matters. Yet a local scene of buyers and artists keeps growing, while some lost a great amount of money as they were hoping for a quick return on investment. How does the scene keep growing while local regulations are put into place?

Featuring
- Ellwood Chen : Digital Artist & Pills Labs Founder
- Rory Mencin : Curator & Art Critic
- Reva : Crypto artist

To go further with Chinese art collectors
- Middle Earth episode #80 Contemporary art in Greater China
- Middle Earth episode #77 Antiques: China first cultural industry

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!

Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, and Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

While China struggles to export its cultural abroad, neighbors like Korea and Japan seem immune to this problem. Apart from local regulations in art, what are the issues creators from China face when trying to take their cultural products abroad, and what are some products that actually became hits?

Featuring
- Li Jianbin: Beijing Inmost Media - Senior BD Director
- Alex Taggart: Outdustry - Head of International
- Vivian Ying: Film International Sales

To go further
- Middle Earth episode #67 Creating Games for the West
- Middle Earth episode #26 China’s soft power in Africa

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! 

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, Wendy Wei for illustration and Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

In 2021, there were 2 billion visits to China’s outdoor tourism sites, such as nature reserves and natural scenic areas. How is this part of the tourism industry coping with a growing demand for outdoor experiences, and did that influence the creation of the country’s national park system?

Featuring
- Justin Culkin : A Trails - Business Development Director
- Rose Niu 牛红卫 : Paulson Institute - Chief Conservation Officer
- Yefren Nye : TWOC contributor & innovative Green Development Program communications specialist

To go further
- The Trails and Tribulations of China's Outdoors Boom article by Yefren Nye
- Right to Roam article by Yefren Nye
- The Myth of the Chinese Wilderness by Tina Xu (徐盈盈)
- #55 Why is red tourism trending beyond the golden generation? By the Middle Earth Podcast
- #60 The Golden Age of China's Museums? By the Middle Earth Podcast 

 
Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! 

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

As the year 2023 starts, we review our top 3 stories from 2022 and make a few predictions for trends in China’s culture industries in 2023. 

Featuring
- Aladin Farré : Founder of Middle Earth Podcast
- Hatty Liu : Managing editor at TWOC
- Jesse Appel, Sara Huang, Yang Yu, & Jingtong Zhu

To go further
- our podcast top 3 stories of the year
#79 Exploring Wuxia
#67 Creating Games for the West
#64 Gambling in China : How Covid-19 helped the industry grow
- Peter Chan's interview about his movie LEAP (2020)
- The article Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of China’s Most Profitable Milk Tea Brand by TWOC
- The article Boom, Bluff, Bust by TWOC
- Wuxia novels published on TWOC:  Restaurant of The Thousand Arms, Martial Tea and Night Moves, by author Hu Yuesheng (胡月生).

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! 

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

Greater China is now the biggest art-market in the world, but thousands of galleries in the middle kingdom have closed up, while many artists are struggling to make a living. How are gallery curators, artists, and tech companies keeping up with this ultra-competitive art market? 

Featuring
- Ashley Qin – YITIAO Art Director
- Lin Zi – SANTO HALL Gallery curator
- Sima Yuan – Artist

To go further
- The article Photo Shop: Art in the Age of the Influencer by TWOC
- The article Zhao Xiaoli Blurs the Line Between Online Influencer and Artist by TWOC
- Middle Earth episode 60 The Golden Age of China’s Museums?
- Artists Wang Xingwei & Jia Aili

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! 

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

Wuxia, martial arts stories about heroes and outlaws, used to be one of the most popular genres of literature in the Chinese-speaking world. After countless novels, films and video games, how are the people creating China’s “knight errant” stories modernizing the genre? 

Featuring
- Gigi Chang: wuxia translator
- Lai Jingping: Wuxiaworld founder and CEO
- Felix Lou: former vice-managing director of Xiangshan Film Studio & Skywood Founder

To go further
- Wuxia novels published on TWOC:  Restaurant of The Thousand Arms, Martial Tea and Night Moves, by author Hu Yuesheng (胡月生).

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! 

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

After being ostracized for years, motorbike culture is slowly building momentum among Chinese youths. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of bike sales doubled, and since the pandemic especially, a lot of entrepreneurs are jumping on new business opportunities provided by people craving the open road.

Featuring
Steven Tsui :  BG Performance - CEO
Zhang Shuren : Pansaki North Station - Founder
Li Huaqi : Student & Entrepreneur

Middle Earth is distributed by The World of Chinese (www.theworldofchinese.com). Every two months, both in print and online, the team at TWOC takes a contemporary issue in Chinese society and culture and looks behind the headlines to share how it affects people on the ground.

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!

With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, Sean Calvo for music support and Forrest Speyer for the translation.

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us Fan Mail

With over 1 billion internet users, China’s online video and music platforms are the place to be for every creator trying to grow their audience. What does it take for international talent to make it in this cutthroat market? 

Featuring
Tinko Georgiev: Kanjian - VP of Int'l Business
Raffi Kamalian: Collab Asia - Head of Greater China

Middle Earth is distributed by The World of Chinese (www.theworldofchinese.com). Every two months, both in print and online, the team at TWOC takes a contemporary issue in Chinese society and culture and looks behind the headlines to share how it affects people on the ground. 

Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! 

With thanks to Sean Calvo for music support. 

The World of Chinese Magazine
A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Dear listeners, just a quick announcement after more than two years in China, I’m going to take my chance to travel across Asia this October.
 
So in case you are at the upcoming Busan Film Festival, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and want to meet-up, don’t hesitate to contact me!
 
My Twitter (@Aladin_F)
My LinkedIn (Aladin Farré)
 
Have a nice day, 
Aladin