Episode 25: Joan Is Okay with Weike Wang (Book Club)

For this episode we’re delving into the mission of EGRC (Educating Girls of Rural China), an NGO supporting the educational pursuits of girls in China’s underprivileged regions. Our guest is the founder of EGRC, Ching Tien, who shares with us her personal story of growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Her path strays from an educated family background and setting, to relocation in Gansu, the poorest province in China at the time, where she worked in a factory. Several decades later, Ching found herself at a children’s concert in Vancouver, thinking of the girls she bumped shoulders with back in Gansu, and the many worldly opportunities they were missing out on. The first seedlings of EGRC were thence planted, and today, 18 years later, over 2,000 girls in China have benefited from the NGO born of that dream.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we’re exploring Yangshuo, Guangxi and Shaxi, Yunnan with Chris Barclay. Who is Chris Barclay? Well, if you’ve been to Yangshuo anytime in the last 20 years, you’ve probably heard of the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat, a long-standing ecolodge on the banks of the Yulong River. This Yangshuo staple was Chris’ first foray into the hospitality industry, in 2001. Since then Chris has opened two more boutique hotels in China: the Yangshuo Village Inn and the Old Theatre Inn. In this episode we explore Chris’ journey as an entrepreneur, hotelier, designer and preservationist in China.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we’re exploring the world of Chinese social media with WildChina founder and Chinese social media influencer, Mei Zhang.   Despite having the world’s largest social media market with over a billion users, to rest of the world, the Chinese social media sphere is largely considered an enigma, with language and geo-barriers effectively shrouding it in mystery to those outside China. In late 2020 Mei started posting on China’s social media platform Little Red Book and has since gained influencer status with over 270k followers and counting. In this episode we cover China’s leading social media platforms, the user demographics, trending content, and more. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we’re back to one of our all-time favorite topics - Chinese food – and we’re discussing it with world-famous Chinese food writer and chef, Fuchsia Dunlop. Fuchsia’s love with Chinese food traces back to Chengdu in 1992, where she was studying full-time, spending her free hours dipping into the kitchens of willing local restaurants, and eventually invited to train as a chef at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine, the first westerner to do so. Today, Fuchsia has published six books (and counting) on Chinese cooking and culture. During the chat, Mei and Fuchsia journey through the history and development of food and cooking in Chinese culture and daily life, covering famous dishes, entrepreneurs, influencers, and those paving a new path for authentic Chinese dishes abroad. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we explore culinary traditions with US-based French chef, Jacques Pépin.   Jacques has authored over 30 books, received honorary doctorate degrees from five American universities, as well as 16 James Beard Foundation Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and an Emmy Award for his TV show with Julia Child, “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home” – one of numerous TV shows that he starred in.   Mei and Jacques compare French and Chinese cuisine and the journeys each have taken to their respective places in global societies today. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we embark on a story of ancient human migration with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and National Geographic fellow, Paul Salopek. Paul is currently on year nine of his 24,000-mile foot-journey tracing the ancient human migration from Africa across the globe. He started in January 2013 in Ethiopia and is making his way to the southern tip of South America. This odyssey, as it is commonly referred to, is Out of Eden Walk.   In late 2021, Mei joined Paul in Yunnan for a first-hand experience of what day-to-day on the ground with Out of Eden Walk looks like. Paul has since made his way to Sichuan where he is continuing the traverse. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we chat with author Weike Wang on her book Joan Is Okay. This book platforms a new generation of Chinese Americans and the struggle with identity faced in everyday life. Prepare for a read where one second, witty dry humor has you giggling out loud, and the next, you’re hit hard with a notion so deeply profound it resonates in your bones. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we explore the possibility of making the Tea Horse Road a continuous hiking trail by looking at the Rails-To-Trails project in the US with Ed Norton, Founding Chair of the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy. Mei and Ed discuss the Rails-To-Trails project, from infancy to its present day 25,005 miles of trails, as well other historic trails around the globe, as models for a continuous trail along the Tea Horse Road in Yunnan (and beyond). ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we dive into the contemporary art scene in China with director of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art and CEO of the UCCA Group, Philip Tinari. Mei and Philip cover an array of topics, from influential Chinese artists to the architectural masterpieces that house the country’s growing number of art museums, talking all things contemporary art in today’s China.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For this episode we explore the transportation systems and local luster of Guangzhou, with Cycle Canton founder, Bram van Ooijen. From an award-winning bus rapid transit system that couriers over 800,000 people every day to quiet back alleys and green river-side promenades perfect for traversing by bike, Mei and Bram cover the many ways to explore the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com