Wo Men Podcast

The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang. Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

On Saturday 7 July, the RADII-sponsored Wǒ Men Podcast celebrated its first anniversary at The Bookworm in Beijing. It was an entertaining afternoon of thoughtful discussion – all recorded live.

Check out a photo gallery of images from the event below and listen to an audio recording of Wǒ Men hosts Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang's discussion with RADII columnist Jeremiah Jenne above.

Zhang Lijia is a free spirit and rebellious soul.

After being forced to drop out of school and work in a rocket factory for ten years in the early stages of the Reform and Opening up era, Lijia taught herself English and chased her childhood dream to eventually become one of the best-known Chinese authors writing in English. Over the last decade, she has used her pen to portray a China that we rarely see in mainstream media.

For this episode of Wǒ Men Podcast, we sit down with Lijia to discuss her life and to examine just how much China has transformed over the generations. As a social commentator, Lijia shares her views on the changes and constants in China over the last few decades. We also discuss her latest book Lotus and the core social issues demonstrated by China's prostitution industry.

Cover photo: Lijia Zhang as a baby (courtesy Lijia Zhang)

Join Us for the Wǒ Men Podcast 1st Anniversary Party!

Wǒ Men is turning one! Come and celebrate the first birthday of the Wǒ Men podcast with RADII at The Bookworm Beijing at 4 pm on Saturday, July 7th.

Entry is free, but places are limited so please register in advance by clicking this link or scanning the QR code below. We can't wait to see you there!

What's your fondest childhood memory? What was your favorite entertainment as a kid? Do you still remember your first toy?

If you ask these questions to Chinese kids born in the 1980s, '90s or 2000s, you will receive very different responses. Both Jingjing and Yajun were born in the 1980s, during a period in which China was recovering from Cultural Revolution and the "market economy" was still an unknown term. The material scarcity led to humble lives for many Chinese families. Children were thrilled by a piece of colorful candy or a metal stick as a toy. Despite some hardship, in hindsight, many of this generation's childhood memories are rosy and sweet.

Today, on International Children's Day, Jingjing and Yajun open their memory boxes and discuss their childhoods growing up in a rapidly changing China.

Children's Day in China goes back to 1949 when the new People's Republic of China leadership declared that all primary school kids would get half a day off every June 1. In 1956 it was turned into a full day's holiday.

Then, as now, the day featured school-organized camping trips or excursions to nearby sites of interest and performance pageants. The day also often came with some classic propaganda images such as the one above, which encourages everyone to "happily celebrate Children's Day".

The image above comes from this thread on classic propaganda posters on Sina blogs, many of which feature similarly happy, rosy-cheeked children having a great time.

In honour of Children's Day, join the forever young hosts of the Wǒ Men Podcast as they discuss growing up in '80s China.

How do you know whether your partner agrees with the sexual engagement or not? What kind of signals can be considered as a "yes"? Does going back to your apartment mean he or she definitely agrees to have sex with you? If he/she is drunk is he/she qualified to give consent?

These are the questions we all kind of know, or think we know, but don't necessarily understand as clearly as we might like to think. With the recent emergence of two alleged sexual assault cases against Jonathan Kaiman, the former President of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China and Beijing Bureau Chief of Los Angeles Times, sexual consent has become a hot topic especially in the correspondent community in the capital lately, with diverging opinions on both sides.

Rather than discussing the details of these individual cases, we invited Yuan Yang, Beijing correspondent for the Financial Times, to talk about what consent means under different circumstances. Growing up in the UK, Yuan has been hosting consent workshops since a sexual assault case occurred in a public area in her university.

The aim here is not to reach a concrete conclusion on consent, but we hope this podcast can provide some different perspectives and angles on the topic and contribute or lead to an inclusive and constructive discussion in the Beijing foreign correspondents community on these issues.

The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang. Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

According to the World Health Organization, there are over 300 million people suffering from depression in the world. Over 173 million Chinese people also face mental health issues. Mental health is a topic that we grew up knowing very little about. In particular, as Asians, a lot of us we were brought up with the "be strong", "don't cry", "hide your emotions" culture. A lack of awareness can mean we don't recognize "depression" for what it is and there is a large stigma attached to it. What's more, people often respond to such illnesses by suggesting sufferers "take a walk" or "go shopping". Is this really the right way to engage? And how can we raise awareness of these issues?

In this episode, we talk to Enoch Li, the founder and CEO of Bearapy, a social entrepreneur venture focusing on helping people with mental stress and burnout.

Enoch recovered from depression after fighting it for several years and built this venture to raise awareness and education around mental health.

In this episode, Enoch kindly shares her own personal journey in fighting depression along with tips on how to constructively engage with people who suffer from mental illness.

We also discuss the social and cultural elements in China that create a lot of burden on young people and ways to deal with it.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].

The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang. Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

There are approximately 46 million ethnic Chinese people living outside China. The term "overseas Chinese" is mostly associated with the first period of migration (the 1850s–1950) after mass migration from China began during the mid-19th century (according to Hong Liu and Els Van Dongen's 2013 book on the subject). At that time, a growing number of Chinese people left their homes in search of a better life and employment opportunities outside of China. It was then that Dominique Fong's grandfather emigrated to America.

When Grandpa Yu first set foot in the United States, his "paper father," a man he had never met before, was waiting for him. Grandpa Yu adopted a new surname — "Fong" — giving him a new identity along with a new life in California. Supported by the local Chinese community, Grandpa Yu had a similar life path to many in the Chinese diaspora — working in Chinese restaurants, waiting tables, learning English — until finally, he opened his own restaurant and lived his version of "the American dream."

Now 86, Grandpa Yu probably never imagined that his granddaughter would return to China on a quest to find the home he left over 66 years ago. In our latest podcast, we sit down with Dominique to talk about this special project, her efforts to find her family's roots, and the fascinating stories she has uncovered along the way.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].

Who says that women and coding have nothing to do with each other? Gu Xi didn't believe that and broke the barrier by building one of the first Chinese tech communities for women when she was 18-year-old. (It makes Jingjing and Yajun wonder what they have missed when they were 18.) In this community, she worked with the team to provide online courses and offline conferences for girls who were interested in tech but felt they couldn't get the support they needed in this male-dominated industry. Over the last three years, that community has grown rapidly to 4000 members. Different from the older generations, Gu Xi and the post-95 generation grew up with the internet. They have more access to information and an awareness of what they want. Meanwhile, they still have to struggle against the strict and rigid Chinese education system which only values students based on their scores rather than their creativity and leadership. It is a tough road. In this episode of the Women Podcast, we talk to somebody who is both a typical and an atypical example of the post-95 generation. Gu Xi shares her experiences on how she developed the idea of building the tech community and how much she needs to fight to pursue the mission that she believes in.

The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang. Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

The movie Black Panther has become a global phenomenon, smashing through box office records and preconceptions about the performance of black actor-fronted films, while triggering a worldwide celebration of African culture and spirit in the process.

Beijing was not left untouched by this movement: a huge party organized by Beijing's African diaspora and friends was held near Tiananmen Square for the opening screening of the film in the Chinese capital. Yet the critical reception of the movie in China has been mixed, with some of the more negative reviews betraying underlying racist attitudes from some viewers.

This has given rise to an important but difficult conversation about race in China, leading some to question the long-held assumption that racism does not exist here. Such questions look even more relevant following a now infamous sketch on CCTV's New Year Gala show that itself triggered heated debate about Chinese attitudes towards Africa.

For our latest podcast, we welcome Kassy Lee, an African-American writer and poet who has lived and worked in Beijing since 2014, to share her personal experience of living in the Chinese capital and her perspective on the broader conversation on attitudes to race in China that has recently taken off.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].

On March 8th, International Women's Day, Jingjing and Yajun were invited to two different panels to discuss women's issues and how men can better support their wives or girlfriends. They both learnt a lot and were inspired by the debate.

On this episode, they share key takeaways from the panel discussions.

They also express their strong "resentment" toward the Chinese translation of Women's Day ("三八妇女节") – and they are not the only ones. After hearing of a female friend's experience of being invited to speak at four panels on March 8th, they cannot help thinking that it is great that this day reminds everyone that women's issues are important, but that – more importantly – the conversation should continue for the other 364 days of the year.

Last but not least, they also want to highlight the importance of inviting men into the discussion of women issues and having a mutual conversation which will help us all to understand where each side is coming from. So if any gentlemen are passionate about women's issues, please reach out!

Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].

When we first met with Shi Xiaoqin, we couldn't believe that she had just left the Chinese army. She was free-minded, vocal and funny, very different from the images of disciplined military officers portrayed in media or in popular entertainment. More importantly, she very proudly called herself a feminist.

Just before International Women's Day on March 8th, we are pleased to interview her, and to listen to her story about how she transformed into an outspoken women's rights advocate.

Born in a small village in China, Xiaoqin puts women's rights issues into a complex social context, which is influenced by many cultural, economic, and historical elements. Her understanding of women's rights issues is comprehensive and in-depth, moving way beyond topical issues like sexual harassment in universities and urban working environments. Her perspective is deeply rooted in women's livelihoods in the vast rural areas of China, and considers the broader social and economic structure of Chinese society.

Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].