Wo Men Podcast

Are you comfortable with the idea of breastfeeding in public? Do you think it's a totally natural thing, as Jingjing does? Or are you, like Yajun, someone who feels that breasts are too private to expose in public, no matter the purpose? What would you do if you and your child were out, and he or she needed to be fed?

Many Chinese mothers face this kind of situation every day, and for working mothers, the situation gets even trickier when you factor in business trips.

Today Grace Zhang, a communications expert for a well-known investment bank and mother of a two-year-old, shares her story with us through the lens of breastfeeding and discusses her experience of juggling raising a baby with excelling in a highly demanding job.

We are re-releasing the early episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast on iTunes. This was our second podcast (and we were still trying to figure out the technical aspects) with Kiki Zhao, formerly of the New York Times Beijing Bureau.

For China, Donald Trump is one of the most dramatic and unusual US presidents in recent memory. His bold statements — sorry, Twitter posts — and capacity for courting controversy have made him popular fodder for the Chinese media. What do people in China think as they watch this American political tragicomedy unfold across the Pacific?

On our podcast today, we have invited Kiki Zhao, a former researcher for the Financial Times and New York Times Beijing bureaus. Zhao has reported on a variety of topics in China, including politics, business, foreign policy, social issues, and many others. She recently moved on from her journalism career and is headed to New Haven in August to pursue a Master's at Yale University's East Asian Studies.

This episode was recorded a few months ago when Kiki was still working for the New York Times. She explained to us the thinking behind her organization's so-called "failing" coverage of Trump and shared her personal observations on what her Chinese friends, including friends from the Chinese Christian community, thinks about the Trump phenomenon.

What's life like when you move to a new country with a completely different language and culture?

How do you achieve a balance between work and family?

How do you make sure your young children can adapt to the new environment?

On today's show, Jingjing and Yajun sit down with Handan Bao, a mother with two children who has lived in three different countries over the past eight years. Based on her unique experience, Handan shares her life stories, insights and challenges from living in China, Germany, and the United States.

Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here.

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

Soundcloud embed (if you're in China, turn your VPN on):

How was your summer vacation? Did you go somewhere nice and relaxing? What is your next holiday destinations?

If you still perceive Chinese tourists as loud people who are not interested in local culture but only buying Louis Vuitton bags in Paris and eating in Chinese restaurants, well… you're not wrong. Many of them still are. However, China's new generation of travelers, such as our guest today Annie Huang, may show you something different.

Annie, born in the '90s, has never studied abroad, but she is a super seasoned international traveler. She has been to more than 10 countries in the past five years and has some amazing travel experience to share with us. Annie touches on why she stopped going on "sipping cocktails on the beach" holidays, and has taken travel to a new extreme by becoming a high altitude mountain climber, and facing dangerous situations from time to time — such as being buried by an avalanche.

As we speak, Annie is on another holiday — she's in Nepal, climbing one of the world's most dangerous summits, Manaslu, which is 8,163 meters high. Let's wish Annie best of luck and hope she shares her experience when she's back.

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].

How did a girl from a Communist “red family” start to question the ideology she’d believed since she was a kid?

How did a spoiled single child rebel against her parents by destroying the piano she was forced to play with a screwdriver?

How did a Chinese student wake up at 12:00 am every day for six months to prepare for the Gaokao (Chinese college entrance exam) that she almost failed?

How did a girl from a conservative Chinese family — where sex is a taboo topic of conversation — learn most of her English from Sex and the City?

Fascinated by these questions?

These stories belong to Jingjing and Yajun, and you will hear all about it on our show today! For this episode, we will spend a bit of time introducing ourselves. Before we get to the show, here are the top four things you should know about us going in: Yajun and Jingjing are not related, even though they have the same surname, Zhang (张 — it’s one of the most common surnames in the world) They were born in the '80s, and are both only children They were forced to learn an instrument (or a hobby) when they were young They both love to laugh (as you have probably noticed on the show…)

In this episode, Yajun and Jingjing share some of their personal stories growing up as only children, including their most traumatic experiences as students, their ideology clashes, and who was the most important influencer to form their values about life and relationships.