The Open Door UK

By Anthony and Patrick

Two British Born Chinese best friends - a science major and musician - exploring cultural identity!... more

· Society & Culture

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FAQs about The Open Door UK:

How many episodes does The Open Door UK have?

The podcast currently has 17 episodes available.

The Open Door UK episodes:

June 02, 2021 Making Painful Choices For The Better | The Open Door w/ Sue Cheung
S01E16: Sue Cheung is an award-winning children's author with her debut novel, Chinglish, winning the Diverse Book Awards.
In this episode we talk about her relationship with illustration and writing, an exploration of a childhood in the takeaway, and the difficult choices she made in her early adulthood.
Timestamps:
(1:18) Sue’s new book, Maddie Yip: A Guide to Life
(5:21) Why illustrate and write children’s literature?
(7:16) Process of children’s literature creation
(8:09) Where do quality characters come from? Imagination vs. Reality?
(9:26) Journey since the launch of debut novel, Chinglish
(15:19) Relating to dilemmas in literature
(16:03) Attitude towards initial reluctance to tell personal story
(19:10) Chinglish excerpt
(19:55) Parents’ negligence towards children’s education
(24:24) Parents’ reaction to pregnancy
(29:52) Doubt about decision to move away from son
(31:40) The Chinese takeaway being passed down
(37:38) Relationship with Hong Kong
(43:39) Immigrant parents influencing own parenting
(49:38) Advice to her son that she never got growing up
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Our Socials:
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For other podcast platforms, check out our link for other services at:
https://anchor.fm/the-open-door-uk

...more
55min
May 26, 2021 Goals Within Goals, Powerful Questions, Identity & Legacy | The Open Door w/ Michael Le
S01E15: Michael Le is a passionate mindset coach and public speaker, having been invited to do several TEDx talks.
But, in the past, Michael suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts, and volunteering in homeless shelter in Vietnam was going to be his last good deed to this world. But, it ended up changing his life. Now, he is the founder of his charity Fundraise For Vietnam, a non-profit organisation that aims to help disadvantaged children in Vietnam.
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Michael Le's website
Michael Le's Instagram
Michael Le's TEDx talk "Your Comfort Zone Is Your Danger Zone"
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Timestamps
(1:03) Michael’s present life and projects
(2:05) The decision to become a mindset coach
(5:25) Pressures that influence our mindset
(11:13) Flexible vs. Fixed Goals
(18:56) Using the word “motivate” on fewer occasions
(23:45) Mindset coach traits and characteristics
(26:53) Asking powerful questions
(29:25) Mindset coach-like figures growing up
(33:31) Past emotional difficulty as competitive advantage
(36:42) Mindset coach perspective on ‘Identity’
(41:03) The limiting narrative of “being too old, not enough time”
(46:10) “Vietnam will always be home” – what do you mean?
(59:17) The 21st Century mindset: career or family-first?
(1:10:26) The purpose of Life
(1:14:25) Leaving a legacy
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Our Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
This episode is also available on Spotify.
For other podcast platforms, check out our links here.
...more
1h 24min
May 19, 2021 "Being a woman sets me back more than my cultural identity" | The Open Door w/ Chloe Kwok
S01E14: Chloe Kwok is a multi-instrumentalist composer working at a video game company, Rare Ltd. She has composed soundtracks for the game Sea of Thieves, a first-person multiplayer action-adventure game. She is incredibly down to earth and had us laughing throughout the episode!
Check out her soundtrack for Sea of Thieves here.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:21 Chloe’s journey into classical music
8:10 Working at Rare Ltd, a video game company
9:32 What makes a good video game soundtrack?
16:29 Chinese music from Mainland China and Hong Kong
23:27 Cantonese and Chinese School
30:15 Having an identity crisis
47:52 Is a university degree necessary for video game composing?
50:11 Any other ESEA women in your field?
58:22 Advice for aspiring video game composers
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Rare Ltd.
Chloe's:
Instagram
Twitter
Website
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Our Instagram @theopendooruk
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1h 1min
May 16, 2021 Finding a place to call 'Home': Kurdish Identity and Political Philosophy | The Open Door w/ Dr. Hanifi Baris
S01E13: This is a conversation with Dr Hanifi Baris, a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen with a Kurdish Armenian identity. He practised as a Lawyer in Istanbul, Turkey, for around 8 years working closely with Human Rights. And before his current post as a researcher he worked at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a legislative consultant.
In this episode we talk about his childhood growing up in Turkey, a place hostile to the Kurdish identity and undermining its right to exist. We also discuss the Kurdish Political Philosophy as the population does not have a permanent state of its own. As a person from a cultural group that straddles four countries - a minority everywhere - I ask him at the end what “Home” and “belonging” means to him personally.
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Timestamps
(1:09) Childhood relationship with Kurdish Armenian Identity
(8:38) Thoughts on modern Kurdistan
(22:45) Accepting identity at university
(28:39) "Identity becomes salient when attacked"
(32:27) Subtle cultural signifiers that betray “otherness”
(41:08) Relationship between different Kurdish minorities
(45:03) Movement of people between the Kurdish Borders
(50:59) Kurdistan’s deliberate and reactive statelessness
(1:04:11) Where is “home” for you?
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Dr. Hanifi's paper on Kurdish deliberate and reactive statelessness:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348634497_THE_KURDS_A_HISTORY_OF_DELIBERATE_AND_REACTIVE_STATELESSNESS_1
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Our Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
This episode is also available on Spotify.
For other podcast platforms, check out our links here.

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1h 8min
May 05, 2021 4 Continents, 5 Countries | The Open Door w/ Tayo Rockson
S01E12: Tayo Rockson still remembers what happened on Aug 22nd 2012.
He was dissatisfied with his job in a city he didn’t want to live in. Driving to work another car cut him off, forcing him to swerve into the road guard, and flipping his car onto its side.
He was left with no serious injuries. But this brush with harm or death stirred up an existential crisis, “Who am I? What have I done with my life?”
Now, nine years on, he is the CEO of UYD Management, a cross-cultural consultancy firm. He is the host of a successful cultural podcast, As Told By Nomads, where it’s on its 570th episode. And, he’s also been invited to do three TED Talks… in one year!
As a Nigerian, he has lived in four continents, five countries. He is now based in New York.
Tayo's Website
Tayo's Instagram
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Timestamps
(1:22) Tayo’s Third Culture Kid background
(12:36) Life under Dictatorship vs. Democracy
(19:51) UYD Management’s journey
(28:26) How to deal and communicate with ignorant and privilege people?
(34:14) A specific and vivid memory from his international childhood
(37:30) Tayo’s opinion on Black representation in America
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Our Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
This episode is also available on Spotify.
For other podcast platforms, check out our links here.

...more
49min
April 28, 2021 Writing, Literature, and Belonging | The Open Door w/ Jasmine Lo
S01E11: "The ultimate sense of belonging is to yourself", says Jasmine Lo, an advertising/marketing strategist.
She is also a creative writer (accompanied by her bookstagram @extreme.metaphors) - with an ability to create illuminating descriptions, for example, in her letter for her late grandfather. The episode begins with a recitation of that letter.
In this episode we talk about the nature of writing about family and the craft itself and Identity/Belonging.
Jasmine's writing
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Timestamps:
(0:53) Jasmine’s letter to her late grandfather
(2:34) Writing about family
(5:50) Family reminiscing past relatives
(11:22) Changes in individual language usage
(20:03) George Orwell’s four writing motivations
(23:03) A possible missing fifth motivation?
(28:25) Writing that seems otherworldly
(34:42) Cultural background and identity
(36:19) Character traits surfacing in different cultures
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Our Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
This episode is also available on Spotify.
For other podcast platforms, check out our links here.

...more
51min
April 21, 2021 "People have warned me about going into Politics" | The Open Door w/ Kyle Yip
S01E010: Kyle Yip is nearing the end of sixth form with his eye on studying Politics and Philosophy at Cardiff University. His aspirations are to become a politician and journalist in the future, breaking the cycle by representing British Chinese in these areas.
He took part in the 2019 BBC Young Reporters Competition where he submitted a report investigating on exactly that: Why the British Chinese are underrepresented in Politics? It was broadcasted on BBC Radio 5 where he also got a chance to interview MP Alan Mak, the first person of Cantonese and East Asian origin to be elected to the House of Commons.
In this episode, we explore the politics and journalism as well as Kyle's relationship with his own cultural identity.
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Timestamps
(00:55) Project for BBC 2019 Young Reporters Competition
(4:33) Reason for not doing Politics at A-Level
(20:03) Negative judgement for wanting to be journalist/politician
(22:52) Motivation for starting a political career
(23:41) What policies would you change if in power?
(25:34) Unaware of HK’s WW2 perspective
(27:09) Interest in war reporting
(31:04) Cultural conflict and identity crisis
(38:20) Identity make-up – values and principles
(40:25) Personal goals to achieve before one dies?
(41:45) Outro
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Our Socials:
Email: [email protected]
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
For other podcast platforms, check out our link for other services at:
https://anchor.fm/the-open-door-uk
...more
43min
April 14, 2021 "North Korea was a Hail Mary mission" | The Open Door w/ Lu-Hai Liang
S01E09: Journalist and writer, Lu-Hai Liang, joins us for this conversation!
He has written for The Guardian, BBC News, New Statesman, The Atlantic, and many more. And in 2014, without securing an editorial commission, he travelled anyway to the hermetic and dangerous North Korea, to search for a story.
We explore his journalism background and, also, break down the concept of cultural identity.
Lu-Hai's writing: https://theluhai.com
Here is Lu-Hai's book recommendation: https://www.waterstones.com/book/nothing-to-envy/barbara-demick/9781847081414
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Timestamps:
(00:45) North Korean Trip
(6:22) Any dangers of returning to North Korea?
(11:27) Reflection of his own North Korean report
(13:46) Writing about Cultural Identity in the public and private sphere
(18:51) People asking us where we are from in our homes abroad
(28:17) “I travel to find myself” – our views towards this platitude of self-discovery
(32:30) Getting into Journalism
(40:49) Advice for aspiring journalists and writers
(44:13) Outro
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Our Socials:
Email: [email protected]
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
For other podcast platforms, check out our link for other services at:
https://anchor.fm/the-open-door-uk

...more
45min
April 07, 2021 "Identity only becomes visible when in contact with Difference" | The Open Door w/ Dr. Danlu Wang
S01E08: Dr. Danlu Wang joins us for the eighth episode! For her PhD thesis she took her research to another level: she became her young British Chinese participants' Chinese teacher to not only gain access to the school she needed, but to bond with them on a deeper level to understand their lives and perspectives. In this episode, we talk about how her cultural research and motherhood changed her own view of cultural identity.
Timestamps: (00:51) Western Media portrayal of China and its influence on identity (6:50) Defence mechanisms in school to avoid discrimination (10:03) School’s strategies to comfort ethnic minority children (14:38) Her children opening up (16:51) Motherhood and doctoral research: influences on Identity (25:47) The end goal of having an Identity (34:12) Differing factors in Identity formation (36:32) British Chinese subculture’s existence (49:26) Advice for younger British Chinese finding identity (51:01) Reflection
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Dr. Danlu Wang's 2016 Thesis - Imagining China and the Chinese: Cultural Identities of British Chinese Young People in and around London
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Our Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
For other podcast platforms, check out our link for other services at:
https://anchor.fm/the-open-door-uk
...more
53min
March 24, 2021 “When I speak Japanese, I feel like I’m acting.” | The Open Door w/ Dan Parsons
S01E07: We are joined by Dan Parsons. A British-Japanese composer that studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with Anthony. Since then he has moved to Osaka to teach English. He compares living in Japan with visiting there as a tourist, as well as making Japanese friends and his university experience.
Timestamps:
(00:37) Moving to Japan
(05:43) Sense of belonging in Japan
(10:08) Discrimination in the UK as mixed race
(14:24) How do you see your cultural identity?
(23:54) The value of a university degree
(38:52) Wishing your parents pushed you harder
(43:05) Moving back to the UK
(43:46) Advice for people emigrating to study or live
(45:17) Reflection
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Dan’s Instagram
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Our Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
This episode is also available on YouTube
For other podcast platforms, check out our link for other services at:
https://anchor.fm/the-open-door-uk
...more
49min

FAQs about The Open Door UK:

How many episodes does The Open Door UK have?

The podcast currently has 17 episodes available.