Mosaic of China 英语脱口秀

By now you've probably heard about Burning Man, the festival that in recent years attracts over 80,000 participants to the deserts of Nevada. But did you know that there's an equivalent event in China called Dragon Burn (龙焰)?

Today's guest on the Mosaic of China podcast is Francesca Valsecchi, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai and one of the active participants behind Dragon Burn. In our fun and wide-ranging chat, we discuss how she combines these two worlds under the principles of communality, immediacy and de-commodification.

I don't often talk about my career before podcasting. But in today's special bonus episode, I had the excuse to do just that with Francis Kremer from the China Flexpat podcast. In our chat, recorded back in April 2022, we discuss some of the aspects of podcasting that intersect with my old life as a headhunter and career coach. I hope that some of it is useful, particularly if you're interested in switching careers, or building a personal brand.

A big thanks to Francis for giving me permission to share this on the feed for Mosaic of China. 

We've reached the halfway point of Season 03. And following in the tradition from previous seasons, we're marking the occasion with a special bonus episode, and an extra special bonus guest. This particular guest has been a long time coming!

The timing of this episode couldn't be better. Not only does it coincide with the New Year and the run-up to Spring Festival in China, it also coincides with an inflexion point in China as it pivots from Zero-COVID to a new period of openness and opportunity. What kind of emotions does this massive change generate in those of us who have spent the last three years in China? Well... it's complicated.

Yes, today's episode is all about what it's like to live in China with Tourette syndrome (妥瑞症). But what it's really about is neurodiversity. Some people still have a defensive attitude towards those of us with mental and neurological conditions, treating them as victims deserving of our fear, pity or even derision. But Dajiang's story reminds us that we should instead focus on dignity, happiness, and mutual understanding. 

This doesn't mean that all of us should celebrate our deficiencies, nor use them as excuses to avoid self-improvement. But at the same time, we don't need to 'see past' someone's disorders; we don't need to 'tolerate' someone's conditions. Listening to their stories and understanding their distinct points of view is not a sacrifice. It's a privilege. So a big thanks to Dajiang for being the last new guest of 2022, and ending the year on an uplifting note.

The environment is one of those topics that we all know we need to talk about, but at the same time desperately want to avoid. None of us want to be lectured on all the things we're doing wrong, and none of us need yet another reminder about how the human race is mismanaging its impact on the planet. 

So it's a breath of fresh air to have a conversation with someone who is not only passionate about the environment but also... fun. In today's episode, Alizée Buysschaert talks about the way she personally challenged herself to reduce 90% of the waste that she produced every day. And how this challenge led to a number of personal and professional reinventions. 

There are two themes of today’s show: the first is location, and the second is identity. There exist derogatory stereotypes about both. Today's conversation touches on the intersectionality of these stereotypes in China, and the way in which we can either casually dispel them or defiantly embrace them. In either case, we can have fun joking about them and stripping them of their venom.

As well as being involved in cinema projects, today's guest Xie Xiao participates in many other voluntary groups in China. And he has many stories that reflect his own personal background, as well as those of the people with whom he engages in China.

Is there anything more pathetically banal than talking about sleep? We all do it, so… who cares? Until recent years, that's what many of us would have said. But these days there's a growing recognition that sleep quality lies at the root of our holistic wellbeing, and is deserving of further investigation.

That's where we encounter a brand new problem. Since issues with sleep do indeed speak to a broader holistic imbalance, how do we even start to deconstruct the cocktail of behavioural, hormonal, environmental, medical and emotional factors that might be at play? And once diagnosed, how then do we avoid the modern temptation to seek quick fixes, and truly develop new habits and long-term solutions? Step in Rumbiey Muchenje to discuss the world of sleep coaching in China, and the story that took her from adolescence in Harare to ‘Sleepless in Shanghai’.

There are some people who view video gaming at best as a time-wasting distraction, and at worst as a vice. But in listening to today's episode with the game designer Simon Chapuis, even detractors will understand the passion, creativity and teamwork that it takes to usher a game from conception to market.

Simon's career has taken him from France to Germany, to Spain and finally to China, where he is now a Senior Game Designer at Ubisoft in the city of Chengdu. His story not only illustrates the dynamic and international nature of the gaming industry, but also the complexity and pressure that can accompany this collaborative endeavour.

The country of Mongolia [蒙古国 - Ménggǔguó] is sandwiched between Russia and China, and there are ethnic Mongolian areas in all three countries. So when talking about Mongolian people in China, it's not always clear whether you're talking about ethnic Mongolians from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia [内蒙古 - Nèiménggǔ], or Mongolian nationals from across the border.

Today's episode is with Tsogtgerel ("Tsogi") Bumerdene, a Mongolian national living in China, who wears this mantle of identity every day. But more than that, she's an artist, designer, teacher and mother. So we cover all of these facets in our casual yet wide-ranging conversation.

Sometimes big themes can be tackled through the guise of performance art. In previous episodes of the Mosaic of China podcast, we have explored how drag performers can teach us to embrace our own weirdness, and how clowns can teach us to embrace our own fallibility. These stories may be specific to China, but they apply to us all.

In today’s very special episode, we explore how the world of Rope Art has made its way from Japan to China. And we discover how this art form can make us think about the themes of communication, connection and consent.