Podcast appearances and mentions of huangshan

The number of foreigners coming to China has increased significantly in the first quarter of this year as a result of the continued improvement in the country's policies to facilitate cross-border travel, the National Immigration Administration said on Tuesday.国家移民管理局周二表示，随着国家持续完善出入境便利政策，今年一季度来华外国人数量大幅增长。As China's visa-free transit policy was optimized in December, ports across the country recorded over 9.2 million entries made by foreign visitors between January and March, a 40.2 percent year-on-year increase, said Lin Yongsheng, spokesman for the administration, adding that 71.3 percent of these were visa-free entries.国家移民管理局新闻发言人林勇胜表示，自去年12月中国优化免签过境政策以来，今年1月至3月，全国各口岸共记录外国人入境超过920万人次，同比增长40.2%。其中，免签入境占比达71.3%。On Dec 17th, China optimized its visa-free transit policy by increasing the duration of visa-free transit to 240 hours for citizens of 54 countries, a significant increase from the previous 72 hours and 144 hours.12月17日，中国对免签过境政策进行优化，将54个国家公民的过境免签时间延长至240小时，较之前的72小时和144小时均有大幅提升。Under the optimized policy, eligible visitors can enter China through 60 ports visa-free, and stay in or travel across 24 provincial-level regions.根据优化后的政策，符合条件的外国人可从60个口岸免签入境中国，并在24个省级行政区内停留或旅行。Lin said the policy allows foreign travelers to stay in China for a longer period of time and explore more places. Nearly 60 percent of foreigners entering China choose to cover different regions during their stay, which in turn is boosting inbound tourism, he added.林勇胜表示，这项政策允许外国游客在华停留更长时间，探索更多地方。他补充说，近六成入境外国人选择在华停留期间游历不同地区，这反过来又促进了入境旅游的发展。Since the policy was optimized, the number of foreign visits to popular Chinese cities, such as Huangshan in Anhui province, Wuyishan in Fujian province and Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, has increased 21.6 percent year-on-year, according to the spokesman.据发言人介绍，自政策优化以来，前往安徽黄山、福建武夷山、湖南张家界等中国热门城市的外国游客同比增长21.6%。The administration plans to further enhance institutional openness in immigration management, which will involve the introduction of more efficient entry, exit and residency policies, the implementation of new measures to streamline customs clearance for travelers, and the facilitation of smoother and more convenient exchanges between Chinese citizens and foreigners, he said.他表示，国家移民管理局计划进一步提高出入境管理制度开放度，包括出台更高效的出入境和居留政策，实施简化旅客通关的新措施，促进中国公民与外国人之间更加顺畅便捷的交流。In the first quarter of the year, immigration management agencies across China recorded 163 million entries and exits, a 15.3 percent year-on-year increase, Lin said, noting that about 17.4 million of these trips were made by foreigners, up 33.4 percent year-on-year.林勇胜介绍，今年第一季度，全国的出入境管理机构共计接待外国人1.63亿人次，同比增长15.3%。其中，外国人约1740万人次，同比增长33.4%。At the same time, China's immigration authorities have continued to crack down on criminal activities that interfere with border management, conducting investigations in 2,851 such cases and detaining 8,402 suspects in the first quarter, he said.与此同时，中国移民管理部门持续严厉打击妨害边防管理等违法犯罪活动，一季度共侦办案件2851起，抓获犯罪嫌疑人8402名。The authorities have also cracked 128 illicit drug cases, and seized 201 guns and more than 5,400 bullets, he added.他还补充说，警方共破获毒品案件128起，缴获枪支201支、子弹5400余发。facilitate/fəˈsɪlɪteɪt/v.促进，使便利transit/ˈtrænzɪt/n.过境，运输institutional openness制度型开放customs clearance海关通关

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Mysteries Unveiled: Meilin's Quest in the Ancient Temple Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2025-01-28-23-34-02-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 在黄山的朦胧山雾中，藏着一座神秘的古庙。En: In the misty fog of Huangshan, there is a mysterious ancient temple.Zh: 这个冬季，梅琳和山跟随学校来这里旅行。En: This winter, Meilin and Shan followed their school on a trip here.Zh: 这是春节的时候，庙里的灯笼摇曳，增添了几分节日的气氛。En: It was during the Spring Festival, and the lanterns in the temple swayed, adding a bit of festive atmosphere.Zh: 梅琳是个好奇心旺盛的学生，她听说庙里藏有一件神秘的文物，这让她兴奋不已。En: Meilin is a curious student, and when she heard there was a mysterious artifact hidden in the temple, she was thrilled.Zh: 她心里想着，要找到这个文物，揭开它的故事。En: She thought to herself that she must find this artifact and uncover its story.Zh: 而山则比较务实，他只希望这次旅行能顺利完成，不想惹麻烦。En: Shan, on the other hand, was more pragmatic; he just hoped the trip would go smoothly and didn't want to cause any trouble.Zh: 老师们非常严格，他们强调不能离开指定区域。En: The teachers were very strict, emphasizing that no one should leave the designated area.Zh: 但梅琳心里惦记着那件文物，她时不时地走神，眼睛打量着四周，寻找可能的秘密入口。En: However, Meilin kept thinking about the artifact, and her mind would drift from time to time as she glanced around, searching for a possible secret entrance.Zh: 山看到梅琳这副模样，有些担心地问：“你是不是在想那个文物？”En: Noticing Meilin's demeanor, Shan asked worriedly, "Are you thinking about that artifact?"Zh: 梅琳犹豫了片刻，低声说：“我觉得我们应该去找找看，En: Meilin hesitated for a moment and said softly, "I think we should go and look for it.Zh: 也许能找到一个秘密通道。”En: Maybe we can find a secret passage."Zh: 山皱起眉头，答道：“可是老师说不能乱跑，En: Shan frowned and replied, "But the teachers said not to run around.Zh: 咱们还是待在队伍里吧。”En: We should stay with the group."Zh: 梅琳点点头，但她心中的那份好奇却没有消退。En: Meilin nodded, but her curiosity did not fade.Zh: 午后，雾更浓了，庙里的香火气息萦绕在鼻尖。En: In the afternoon, the fog thickened, and the scent of incense lingered around the temple.Zh: 梅琳轻声对山说：“我真的很想去看看，En: Meilin whispered to Shan, "I really want to go and see.Zh: 如果不去，可能再也没有机会了。”En: If we don't go, we might never have another chance."Zh: 山叹了口气，最终点头同意：“好吧，但一定要小心。”En: Shan sighed but finally nodded in agreement, "Alright, but we must be careful."Zh: 他们趁老师不注意，溜到了一处偏僻的角落。En: They took the opportunity when the teachers weren't paying attention to sneak into a secluded corner.Zh: 庙里的石壁上，刻着古老的图案。En: On the stone walls of the temple, ancient patterns were carved.Zh: 梅琳用手轻轻摸过石壁，感觉有一处微微下陷。En: Meilin gently touched the stone wall with her hand and felt a slight indentation.Zh: 她按了下去，石壁缓缓打开，露出一个隐藏的通道。En: She pressed on it, and the stone wall slowly opened, revealing a hidden passage.Zh: “这就是它了。”梅琳低声说。En: "This is it," Meilin whispered.Zh: 他们小心翼翼地走了进去，忽然听到外面有脚步声。En: They cautiously entered, suddenly hearing footsteps from outside.Zh: 是老师！En: It was the teachers!Zh: 梅琳和山慌忙躲到暗处，屏住呼吸，幸好老师没有发现。En: Meilin and Shan hurriedly hid in the shadows, holding their breath, and luckily, the teachers didn't notice them.Zh: 通道里阴暗潮湿，他们走了很久，终于来到一块刻满字样的石碑前。En: The passage was dark and damp; they walked for a long time and finally arrived at a stone tablet covered with inscriptions.Zh: 梅琳凑近一看，上面记载着这座庙和那件文物的故事。En: Meilin leaned in to look closely, and it told the story of the temple and the artifact.Zh: 虽然梅琳最终没有找到实物，但她发现了故事的真正力量。En: Although Meilin ultimately did not find the physical artifact, she discovered the true power of the story.Zh: “我们找到了，它的故事比文物本身更重要。”梅琳轻声对山说。En: "We found it, its story is more important than the artifact itself," Meilin softly said to Shan.Zh: 山点点头，露出了一丝微笑。En: Shan nodded, showing a slight smile.Zh: 他明白了梅琳的追求，也了解了这次冒险的意义。En: He understood Meilin's quest and realized the significance of this adventure.Zh: 他们回到队伍时，心中满是满足和新的领悟。En: When they returned to the group, their hearts were filled with fulfillment and new insights.Zh: 梅琳知道，有时发现并不需要抓在手中，而是感受在心里。En: Meilin knew that sometimes discoveries don't need to be held in hand but rather felt in the heart.Zh: 山知道，好奇心偶尔能带来意想不到的惊喜。En: Shan realized that curiosity can occasionally lead to unexpected surprises.Zh: 这个春节，他们在黄山的古庙中过得更加难忘。En: This Spring Festival, they would have a more unforgettable time at the ancient temple in Huangshan. Vocabulary Words:misty: 朦胧temple: 庙lanterns: 灯笼swayed: 摇曳artifact: 文物pragmatic: 务实emphasizing: 强调designated: 指定secluded: 偏僻indentation: 下陷inscriptions: 字样curiosity: 好奇心festive: 节日的uncover: 揭开glanced: 打量demeanor: 模样hesitated: 犹豫drift: 走神incense: 香火linger: 萦绕opportunity: 机会ancient: 古老的passage: 通道shadows: 暗处footsteps: 脚步声damp: 潮湿tablet: 石碑fulfilled: 满足adventure: 冒险unexpected: 意想不到的

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Foggy Paths and Moonlit Peaks: A Mid-Autumn Adventure Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.org/foggy-paths-and-moonlit-peaks-a-mid-autumn-adventure Story Transcript:Zh: 在一个清爽的秋日午后，黄山笼罩在薄雾中，仿佛山顶隐匿在云海之间。En: On a refreshing autumn afternoon, Huangshan was shrouded in a thin mist, making the peaks seem hidden in a sea of clouds.Zh: 微风轻拂松树，黄叶在小径上静静躺着，等待着过往的旅人。En: A gentle breeze lightly brushed the pine trees, and yellow leaves lay quietly on the path, waiting for passing travelers.Zh: 魏、莉莉和健三个人满怀期待地沿着山路向上攀登。En: Wei, Lily, and Jian, full of anticipation, climbed the mountain path.Zh: 他们期待着在中秋节夜晚欣赏到皎洁的月光洒在山顶绝美的景色。En: They were looking forward to admiring the bright moonlight on the breathtaking scenery at the summit on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.Zh: 魏走在前面，他心里渴望着在日暮之前登上山顶。En: Wei walked in the front, eager to reach the summit before sunset.Zh: 他喜欢冒险，急于证明自己。En: He loved adventure and was anxious to prove himself.Zh: 他想看到月亮冉冉升起的那一刻，用相机记录下最完美的瞬间。En: He wanted to capture the exact moment when the moon rose with his camera and record the most perfect moment.Zh: 莉莉则跟在队伍中间，总是小心地注意着朋友们的安全。En: Lily followed in the middle, always carefully watching over her friends' safety.Zh: 她爱护这段友情，注重同行的安全。En: She cherished this friendship and paid attention to their safety.Zh: 健在后面悠然自得，他总是乐观开朗，用相机捕捉每一刻的美好。En: Jian leisurely walked at the back; he was always optimistic and cheerful, capturing every beautiful moment with his camera.Zh: 然而，黄山的天气变化无常。En: However, the weather on Huangshan is unpredictable.Zh: 忽然，一层厚重的雾气笼罩了山间小道，视线变得模糊不清。En: Suddenly, a thick fog enveloped the mountain path, making visibility unclear.Zh: 魏步伐不停，他觉得自己能找到路，却渐渐听不到莉莉和健的声音。En: Wei kept moving, convinced he could find the way, but gradually, he could no longer hear Lily and Jian's voices.Zh: 莉莉停下了脚步，心中担忧，坚持要先找到健再继续前行。En: Lily stopped, worried, insisting on finding Jian first before continuing.Zh: 此时，魏已经看不见前方的景象，他意识到自己迷失在了雾中。En: At this point, Wei could no longer see the scenery ahead, realizing he was lost in the fog.Zh: 四周的松树像隐约的幽灵般静立着，只剩下朦胧影象。En: The surrounding pine trees stood like faint ghosts, leaving only vague silhouettes.Zh: 魏闭上双眼，努力回想起过去几次登山的经验，凭着感觉和记忆中的路径慢慢摸索前行。En: He closed his eyes, trying hard to recall his past hiking experiences, slowly feeling his way forward based on intuition and memory.Zh: 不久，他听到了熟悉的笑声，拨开浓雾，终于见到了健和莉莉的身影。En: Soon, he heard familiar laughter, parted the thick fog, and finally saw the figures of Jian and Lily.Zh: 三人都松了口气，互相拥抱着。En: The three of them sighed in relief and embraced each other.Zh: 魏歉意地看着莉莉和健，明白了同伴多么重要。En: Wei looked apologetically at Lily and Jian, understanding how important companions are.Zh: 他们携手并肩往山顶走去。En: They walked hand in hand toward the summit.Zh: 最后，他们在山顶上欣赏到了壮丽的月升。En: Finally, they admired the magnificent moonrise at the top.Zh: 银色的月光洒在松树和岩石上，波光粼粼，仿佛为他们展示了一幅天上的画卷。En: The silver moonlight shone on the pine trees and rocks, sparkling as if presenting them with a heavenly painting.Zh: 此时，魏明白了团队合作的价值，也认识到友情比雄心更加重要。En: At this moment, Wei understood the value of teamwork and realized that friendship is more important than ambition.Zh: 于是，三人在月色下互道祝福，心中感受到真正的中秋节意义。En: Thus, under the moonlight, the three exchanged blessings and felt the true meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival in their hearts. Vocabulary Words:refreshing: 清爽shrouded: 笼罩mist: 薄雾peaks: 山顶anticipation: 期待admiring: 欣赏breathtaking: 绝美summit: 山顶adventure: 冒险anxious: 急于capture: 记录cherished: 爱护leisurely: 悠然自得optimistic: 乐观unpredictable: 变化无常enveloped: 笼罩visibility: 视线parted: 拨开scenery: 景象vague: 朦胧silhouettes: 影象intuition: 感觉figures: 身影apologetically: 歉意地companions: 同伴magnificent: 壮丽sparkling: 波光粼粼heavenly: 天上的ambition: 雄心blessings: 祝福

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Moonlit Memories: A Heartfelt Gift Hunt for Mid-Autumn Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.org/moonlit-memories-a-heartfelt-gift-hunt-for-mid-autumn Story Transcript:Zh: 黄山的秋天，阳光洒在市场上。En: In the autumn of Huangshan, sunlight poured over the market.Zh: 市场里人声鼎沸，灯笼高挂，秋风带来糕点和茶香。En: The market was bustling with people, lanterns hung high, and the autumn breeze carried the scents of pastries and tea.Zh: 人们都在为中秋节准备礼物。En: Everyone was preparing gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival.Zh: 明走在熙熙攘攘的市场中过道，希望找到完美的礼物。En: Ming walked through the crowded market aisles, hoping to find the perfect gift.Zh: 他是个细心的人，总想让家人快乐。En: He was a thoughtful person, always wanting to make his family happy.Zh: 中秋节让他想起小时候的快乐回忆。En: The Mid-Autumn Festival reminded him of joyful memories from his childhood.Zh: 市场上有很多选择。En: There were many choices in the market.Zh: 有些礼物很现代，但似乎太商业化。En: Some gifts were very modern but seemed too commercialized.Zh: 明摇摇头，继续寻找。En: Ming shook his head and continued his search.Zh: 他要找的是一种特别的东西，能带来温暖和记忆。En: He was looking for something special, something that could bring warmth and memories.Zh: 他走过一个又一个摊位，不断在琳琅满目的商品中细细察看。En: He walked past stall after stall, carefully examining the array of goods.Zh: 突然，一个小铺的招牌吸引了他的注意。En: Suddenly, the sign of a small shop caught his attention.Zh: "手工月饼"几字让他心中一动。En: The words "Handmade Mooncakes" moved him.Zh: 这个铺子不大，但很有老家的味道。En: The shop wasn't big, but it had the familiar feel of his hometown.Zh: 走近一看，铺子里有各种口味的月饼。En: As he approached, he saw various flavors of mooncakes.Zh: 老板热情地介绍说，这些月饼是根据传统家庭配方制作的。En: The shop owner enthusiastically explained that these mooncakes were made using traditional family recipes.Zh: 明的心中一阵喜悦，他记得奶奶的月饼就是这样的味道。En: A wave of joy surged in Ming's heart as he remembered his grandmother's mooncakes tasted just like these.Zh: 这些月饼让他感到亲切，每一个都承载着旋律般的往事。En: These mooncakes gave him a sense of closeness, each one carrying the melody of past memories.Zh: 明毫不犹豫地买下这些月饼，心里感到无比满足。En: Without hesitation, Ming bought the mooncakes, feeling immensely satisfied.Zh: 他知道，这份礼物最能代表他对家人的爱。En: He knew this gift best represented his love for his family.Zh: 带着满满的收获，明回到了家。En: With his treasures in hand, Ming returned home.Zh: 家人们聚在一起品尝月饼，窗外月亮圆满，屋内温馨欢笑。En: The family gathered to taste the mooncakes, the full moon outside and the warm laughter inside.Zh: 明发现，真正的幸福在于分享和传统。En: Ming realized that true happiness lay in sharing and tradition.Zh: 他心里明白，个人的意义远胜于潮流的浮华。En: He understood that personal significance far outweighed the superficiality of trends.Zh: 中秋节的夜晚在团圆和温暖中安静地流逝。En: The night of the Mid-Autumn Festival quietly passed by in reunion and warmth.Zh: 明笑了，带着一种新的觉悟和满足感迎接未来的每一个中秋。En: Ming smiled, welcoming every future Mid-Autumn with a new understanding and sense of fulfillment. Vocabulary Words:autumn: 秋天bustling: 熙熙攘攘lantern: 灯笼scents: 香pastries: 糕点aisles: 过道thoughtful: 细心commercialized: 商业化stall: 摊位array: 琳琅满目examining: 察看attention: 注意sign: 招牌enthusiastically: 热情地traditional: 传统recipes: 配方joy: 喜悦closeness: 亲切melody: 旋律hesitation: 犹豫immensely: 无比satisfied: 满足treasures: 收获gathered: 聚taste: 品尝happiness: 幸福tradition: 传统superficiality: 浮华reunion: 团圆fulfillment: 满足感

While you may not relish your walk up five flights of stairs six times a day, think of it as a pre-Huangshan hike training ground. Or the third stage of your triathlon-esque commute home. The way to stairmaster-free nice buttocks. After all, the elevator-less buildings of China were the breeding ground for the likes of Yao Ming and Liu Xiang. So, lift those knees, and get buzzed up to the fifth floor, and listen to this ChinesePod lesson on going upstairs. Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/0990

Chang'e-6 ramène sur Terre les premiers échantillons de la face cachée de la Lune;La Chine lance un nouveau satellite astronomique développé en coopération avec la France;Une fusée porteuse réutilisable effectue avec succès son premier essai de vol ;De fortes pluies causent l'évacuation de milliers de personnes à Huangshan;La Chine étend l'exeLa Chine et l'Europe signent un accord de collaboration sur l'observation de la Terre;mption de visa à la Nouvelle-Zélande, à l'Australie et à la Pologne;La Chine renforcera la protection des routes migratoires des oiseaux;

During the holidays, many people on the Chinese mainland head to one of eight special mountains. Perhaps the best know are the four Buddhist mountains, like Huangshan and Emei Shan. Not to be neglected are their siblings, the four Taoist mountains. In today's lesson, learn all about one of these very special travel destinations. Who knows - we might even bump into the RZA on the chair lift... Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/1319

Bookings to overseas destinations in Asia and Europe have also increased"I was holding my breath and clicking the screen very quickly. I grabbed the ticket in just a couple of seconds, then all the tickets sold out," said Li Yufang, 29, who bought a high-speed train ticket from Beijing to Huangshan, Anhui province, on Wednesday for the May Day holiday."It was like the Spring Festival holiday, like all the Chinese people holding their phones grabbing tickets, which was crazy. And I can't relax now because I have to grab myself a return ticket."On Wednesday morning, train tickets to some hot domestic destinations sold out in a few minutes. People are allowed to book train tickets 15 days before departure and Wednesday was the first day for booking train tickets for the five-day May Day holiday, which will begin on May 1.The busy train booking system shows people are enthusiastic about holiday travel, and travel agencies and tourism industry insiders expect a travel boom over the holiday.Travel portal Trip.com Group said that, as of Tuesday, searches for domestic hotels and flight tickets on the platform had seen steady growth, and searches for flight tickets heading to overseas destinations had surged 56 percent year-on-year.Prices of flight tickets have risen because of that demand. Online travel agency Qunar said the cost of flights to domestic destinations on its platform averaged around 990 yuan ($137), up 60 percent from last month."We see strong travel demand this May Day holiday and some flights may be in short supply as the holiday approaches," said Xiao Peng, an analyst from Qunar."Customers with clear travel plans can purchase the tickets as soon as possible, while those who choose to visit a random place for the holiday can wait and see for possible discounts."Travel agencies said long-distance trips are in favor for the holiday, and they expect some overseas destinations to do well.Domestically, the most popular cities remain traditional top destinations including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing. Other less-known places, such as Tianshui in Gansu province, which is famous for its hotpot soup with scarlet chili oil, have also become popular destinations for the holiday since their cultures and cuisines went viral online, Trip.com Group said.Domestic destinations will also see more international travelers during the holiday. Trip.com Group said inbound trip bookings on the platform have risen by 130 percent, with most from people from Japan, the United States, South Korea, Canada and Malaysia.It said Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, are top choices for international visitors.Travel bookings to overseas destinations have also increased. Trip.com Group said that in addition to Asian countries including Japan, Thailand and South Korea, some destinations involved in the Belt and Road Initiative such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also seen growing bookings on the platform.International travel cruises departing from Shanghai and Xiamen, in Fujian province, for the May Day holiday have already sold out on the platform, it said.Tuniu, another online travel agency, said, "Southeast Asian countries remain popular, and we've also received many bookings and inquiries for trips to New Zealand, Turkiye, and to European countries like Germany, France, Spain and Portugal."

While China's northern and southern attractions are in a tight contest to lure travelers during the approaching Spring Festival holiday that runs from Feb 10 to Feb 17, some overseas destinations have also joined the "traveling carnival" by issuing visa-friendly policies and showing goodwill gestures.随着春节假期的临近（2月10日至2月17日），中国南北各大旅游景点正展开激烈竞争，以吸引游客。同时，一些海外目的地也通过发布签证友好政策和展示善意姿态加入了这场“旅游狂欢”。Of the overseas destinations, Singapore and Thailand may be the biggest winners after China recently announced the mutual exemption of visas with these two countries.在众多的海外目的地中，新加坡和泰国可能成为中国近期宣布与这两国互免签证后的最大赢家。Chinese people holding ordinary passports can stay up to 30 days without a visa in Singapore for tourism, family visits and business trips, and the mutual visa-free policies with Singapore will come into effect from Feb 9 — the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year. The policy with Thailand will take effect from March 1, following a temporary visa-free arrangement currently in effect.持普通护照的中国公民在新加坡旅游、探亲或商务出行时，可享受最长30天的免签停留。与新加坡的互免签证政策将于2月9日，即中国农历新年前夕生效。而与泰国的相关政策将从3月1日开始实施，目前已有临时免签安排。"It's good news and it will be more convenient for us to travel to these Southeast Asian countries in the future. I've booked a four-day trip to Singapore this Spring Festival holiday with my family members and we will depart on Feb 13 — the fourth day of the holiday — after we finish gatherings with relatives," said Liu Lei, a 32-year-old from Huangshan, Anhui province.来自安徽省黄山市的32岁游客刘磊表示：“这是好消息，将来我们去这些东南亚国家旅游会更方便。我已经预订了春节期间与家人前往新加坡的四日游，计划在与亲戚聚会后的2月13日，即假期的第四天出发。”"I did some research online and found Singapore will organize some celebration events during the Chinese Spring Festival holiday like music shows, lantern shows and flower shows. I can't wait to experience the views and cultural atmosphere there," she added.她补充道：“我在网上做了一些研究，发现新加坡在春节期间会举办一些庆祝活动，如音乐表演、灯会和花展。我迫不及待地想体验那里的风景和文化氛围。”Fan Dongxiao, director of travel portal Tuniu's short-distance overseas travel department, said that Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are popular among Chinese travelers and China's mutually friendly visa policies with these destinations will boost outbound tourism. She said that tour products linking these destinations, like five-day tours to Singapore and Malaysia for the Spring Festival holiday, are hot items on the platform.途牛旅游网短途海外旅游部门总监范冬晓表示，新加坡、泰国和马来西亚一直受到中国游客的欢迎，中国与这些目的地之间的友好签证政策将进一步推动出境旅游。她指出，平台上连接这些目的地的旅游产品，如春节假期的五天新加坡和马来西亚之旅，非常受欢迎。Some European countries are also rising as popular choices for Chinese travelers thanks to the increasing numbers of flights, said travel agencies.旅行社表示，由于航班数量不断增加，一些欧洲国家也成为中国游客的热门选择。According to travel portal Qunar, hotel bookings to Russia, Spain, Italy and France for the holiday have seen continuous growth on the platform, and hotel bookings for overseas destinations peaked around Jan 10, while flight bookings peaked at the end of January. The Spring Festival holiday this year will see a consumption boom in tourism in the post-pandemic era, it said.据去哪儿网数据显示，春节期间前往俄罗斯、西班牙、意大利和法国的酒店预订量持续增长，海外目的地的酒店预订量在1月10日左右达到高峰，而航班预订量在1月底达到高峰。今年春节假期将迎来疫情后时代的旅游消费热潮。North European destinations with beautiful snow views and the aurora borealis including Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland are seeing skyrocketing popularity on Qunar because of people's growing passion for winter tourism.由于人们对冬季旅游的热情不断高涨，去哪儿网上北欧目的地，如挪威、芬兰、丹麦和冰岛的受欢迎程度飙升，这些地区拥有美丽的雪景和极光。According to Qunar, searches for distinctive hotels in North European destinations — for example, cabins with dome-like sunroofs in cedar forests — have doubled on the platform as of Jan 22 compared with the previous month, as travelers may have a better experience of appreciating the aurora borealis in these rooms.据去哪儿网数据显示，截至1月22日，平台上北欧目的地特色酒店的搜索量较上月翻了一番，例如松树林中带有圆顶天窗的小屋，因为游客在这些房间里可以更好地欣赏极光。The travel portal said that as of Tuesday, some popular domestic destinations such as Beijing and Shanghai have also seen hotel bookings more than triple year-on-year, and about 70 percent of people who booked tour products on the platform will start their trips from Feb 11 — the second day of the holiday.该旅游网站表示，截至周二，一些国内热门目的地，如北京和上海的酒店预订量也同比增长超过三倍。约70%在平台上预订旅游产品的游客将从2月11日，即假期的第二天开始他们的旅程。Train and flight tickets to these popular destinations sold out within seconds after becoming available to travelers. Economy class flights from Beijing to Xishuangbanna and Shanghai to Dali — two popular destinations in Yunnan province on Feb 8 — a day before New Year's Eve, were already sold out, Qunar said.这些热门目的地的火车和航班机票在开售后数秒内就被抢购一空。去哪儿网表示，2月8日，即除夕前一天，从北京飞往西双版纳、从上海飞往大理这两个云南热门目的地的经济舱航班机票已经售罄。Figures from online travel agency Trip.com Group show bookings for the holiday to Sanya have doubled year-on-year as of mid-January. Bookings to Kunming, with its year-round spring weather, have seen a sixfold surge as of mid-January compared with the previous year, according to the group.携程集团的数据显示，截至1月中旬，春节期间前往三亚的预订量同比增长了一倍。而前往昆明，这个四季如春的目的地的预订量，截至1月中旬与去年同期相比增长了六倍。Visa-waiver Policy互免签证政策 Auroran. 极光

英语新闻｜“逆向旅游”受年轻人青睐 前景看好Going againstthe tide of flocking to well-known yet generally jam-packed touristdestinations on vacation, a growing number of holidaymakers in China tend tospend their leisure time at lesser-known resorts to seek unique, relaxed holidayexperiences.在中国，越来越多的度假者倾向于把闲暇时间花在不太知名的度假胜地，以寻求独特、轻松的度假体验，这与人们在度假时蜂拥前往知名但普遍拥挤的旅游目的地的潮流相反。"Reversetourism" has emerged as a new trend among young holidaymakers in China.“逆向旅游”已成为中国年轻度假者中流行的一种新趋势。"Man moves1 meter every 10 minutes on Huangshan Mountain" became a trending topic onsocial media during this year's National Day holiday in October, a time whenwell-known tourist attractions such as Huangshan generally operate at fullcapacity.在今年十一国庆假期，“黄山旅游者每10分钟移动1米”成为社交媒体上的热门话题，而在这段时间，黄山等知名旅游景点通常都是人满为患。The newsreminded some of a social media post in August about a comfortable stay in anupscale hotel in the lesser-known northeastern border city of Hegang at only318 yuan per night.这条新闻让一些人想起了今年8月社交媒体上的一篇帖子，内容是在不太知名的东北边境城市鹤岗的一家高档酒店舒适地住宿，每晚只需318元。During theweeklong public holiday, which ended on Oct 7, large numbers of vacationers,especially young professionals who long to escape hectic city life,shunned popular holiday destinations in order to get off the beaten track andenjoy some peace and quiet.在十一假期期间，大量度假者，尤其是渴望逃离繁忙城市生活的年轻职场人士，为了不走寻常路，享受一些闲适与宁静，而避开了热门度假目的地。According todata from online travel agency Qunar, as cited by Beijing Daily, the number ofrooms booked at hotels in less-traveled cities during the holiday was up 30percent year-on-year.《北京日报》报道称，据在线旅游机构去哪儿网的数据，十一假期期间，在游客较少的城市，酒店预订的房间数量同比增长了30%。Bookings forfour — and five-star hotels in less-traveled places including Linxia in Gansuprovince, Shizuishan in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, and Haibei inQinghai province all increased at least 10-fold compared with the same periodof 2021.在游客较少的地区，包括甘肃临夏、宁夏回族自治区石嘴山和青海海北，四星级和五星级酒店十一假期期间的预订量都比2021年同期增长了至少10倍。In Shandongprovince, for instance, some lesser-known scenic spots posted double-digitgrowth during the holiday. Baimaiquan Park in the provincial capital of Jinanreceived 52,100 visits in the seven days, up 15.78 percent year-over-year.例如，山东省一些不太知名的景点在假期期间游客数量出现了两位数的增长。省会济南的百脉泉公园在十一假期内接待了5.21万名游客，同比增长15.78%。Some youngprofessionals who normally have little time for themselves simply had astaycation in a hotel to make the much-awaited hiatus more relaxing.一些年轻的职场人士通常很少有自己的时间，他们干脆在酒店里宅度假，让这段期待已久的假期更放松。Besides crowds,some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips topopular destinations, which often entail pricey tickets, mealsand hotel stays.除了拥挤的人群之外，一些度假者选择人迹罕至的地方，是为了节省前往热门目的地的旅行费用，因为前往热门目的地的机票、餐饮和酒店住宿往往都很昂贵。"Tourismused to be about sightseeing. Now it is about experiences," Dai Bin,president of the China Tourism Academy, told Beijing Daily.中国旅游研究院的院长戴斌告诉《北京日报》说：“旅游业过去是观光，现在是体验。”He said populartourist spots are always packed and often raise their prices during holidays.As people become more mature travelers, they are increasingly reluctant tofollow the herd. Some of them are simply looking to take a rest somewhere quietfor a couple of days, which is a good way to vacation, he noted.他说，热门旅游景点总是客满，而且经常在假期提价。随着人们成为更成熟的旅行者，他们越来越不愿意随大流。他指出，有些人只是想找个安静的地方休息几天，这是一个很好的度假方式。In addition,lesser-known attractions are not as "commercial" and "standardized"as developed ones and are able to offer more authentic experiences and naturalencounters, according to social media posts. And unlike popular destinations,some underexplored places with little online exposure can offer more surprises.此外，据社交媒体帖子称，不太知名的景点不像发达景点那样“商业化”和“标准化”，能够提供更真实的经历和自然体验。与热门目的地不同的是，一些未被开发、很少在网上曝光的地方可以带来更多惊喜。COVID-19 isanother key factor fueling reverse tourism. As precautionary measures continue,traveling has an unpredictable quality. A traveler has no way of knowing whatlies ahead before departure, be it a perfect holiday or one interrupted by asudden outbreak. Travelers have thus become more cautious and tend to chooselocal attractions or places with fewer tourists.新冠肺炎疫情是推动逆向旅游的另一个关键因素。随着预防措施的继续，旅行具有不可预测性。旅行者在出发前无法知道前方会发生什么，是完美的假期，还是会被突发疫情打断。因此，旅行者变得更加谨慎，倾向于选择当地景点或游客较少的地方。"The riseof reverse tourism is not a bad thing," said an opinion piece in ZhengzhouDaily. It means that vacationers now have more options, which brings morepossibilities to the tourism market, the article explains.“逆向旅游的兴起并不是一件坏事，”《郑州日报》的一篇评论文章写道。文章解释说，这意味着度假者现在有了更多的选择，给旅游市场带来了更多的可能性。Moreimportantly, it noted, the trend is set to force popular destinations toimprove themselves instead of resting on their laurels.报道指出，更重要的是，这一趋势将迫使热门旅游目的地改善自身，而不是躺在过去的光环上。Jiang Han, asenior researcher at the Beijing-based public policy think tank Pangoal, saidthat reverse tourism will become one of the future directions for the marketand is an opportunity for growth comparable to the camping economy.位于北京的公共政策研究机构盘古智库的高级研究员江瀚说，逆向旅游将成为未来旅游市场的趋势之一，其发展机会可以与露营经济相媲美。To give a realboost to the tourism market, Jiang suggested that more efforts be made to tapthe potential of underrated, lesser-known destinations.江瀚建议，为了真正促进旅游市场的发展，要更加努力地挖掘那些被低估、不太为人所知的旅游目的地的潜力。编辑：yaning来源：中国日报网hectic英[ˈhektɪk]；美[ˈhektɪk]adj. 繁忙的pricey英[ˈpraɪsi]；美[ˈpraɪsi]adj. 昂贵的laurel英[ˈlɒrəl]；美[ˈlɔːrəl]n. （表示荣誉的）桂冠

Llegamos al último programa de la segunda temporada del podcast Hola Mundo. Para la ocasión, hablamos de China y contamos con la “segunda opinión” de Sonia y Antonio de makuteros.comEsto es lo que vas a encontrar en este programa…- Por qué queríamos ir a China- Cómo imaginábamos que iba a ser nuestra China- Cuándo, cómo y qué ruta hicimos.- Palabras by Chapka: “Yǐwéi”- Qué nos encontramos en China- Chinifrismos- Anécdotas- El tren en China- Viajando con los sentidos- Qué recuerdo y sensación tenemos, ¿volveríamos? - La segunda opinión: Sonia y AntonioYouTube.com/makuterosInstagram.com/makuteros_travelGracias a Chapka Assurances https://www.chapkadirect.es/?app=cd_aqr que nos apoya en esta nueva aventura y que además, te ofrecen un 7% de descuento con el código MUNDO al contratar tu seguro con ellos. Esto fue lo que escribimos de China en su momento:- Guía para viajar con niños a Shanghai: https://algoquerecordar.com/utilidades/guias/guia-para-viajar-con-ninos-a-shanghai/- La inabarcable comida china: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/la-inabarcable-comida-china/- Chinifrismos: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/chinifrismos/- Koketeando con los chinos: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/shanghai-koketeando-con-los-chinos/- El budismo en 5 preguntas: https://algoquerecordar.com/utilidades/consejos/budismo/- Presupuesto diario en China: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/presupuesto-diario-china/- Lijiang: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/lijiang/- English College Zhuoyue: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/couchsurfing-surfing-english-college-zhuoyue/- Yangshuo: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/yangshuo/- El tren en China: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/el-tren-en-china/- Guilin: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/guilin/- Huangshan: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/huangshan/- Hangzhou: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/hangzhou/- Mónica y Rober: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/couchsurfing-surfing-monica-y-rober/- Ningbo: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/ningbo/- Suzhou: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/suzhou/- Jing: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/suzhou/- Shanghai: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/shanghai/- Nastia e Igor: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/couchsurfingsurfingnastia-e-igor/- Beijing: https://algoquerecordar.com/destinos/asia/china/beijing/Por aquí te dejamos los vpodcast anteriores de la temporada 2 de Hola Mundo: - Argentina y Los Mundo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L75ZTGM2KqI&t=1s- Puerto Rico y José Pablo de atomarpormundo.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgmmwKmj_HY- Bolivia y Sele de elrincondesele.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgRoQWFgizg- Indonesia con Itziar Marcotegui: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVyvrs2YIDI- Colombia con Ignacio Izquierdo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGyNjYIS1Bg&t=13s- Vietnam con Leti de mochileandoporelmundo.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysXQvnejHck- Tailandia con Tamara de mochiadictos.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufh6TZyinf0- Australia con Herman Zapp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TsvKrPs1sg&t=1s- Costa Oeste con Belén de Aló Miami: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fS6v7reGjE&t=19s- India con Iosu López de mochilerostv.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBMoqCJ-53w- Japón con Flapy, un español en Japón: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajLX6iZpIXI- Egipto con Carla Llamas de lamaletadecarla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqMrSvW9zn4- Cuba con Charly Sinewan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu0j66n7kKM- Sudáfrica con Paco Nadal de 1000sitiosquever.com : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5L7IwxuPKw- Madivas con Sara de Mindfultravelbysara.com : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COVB4OpZT-I- Islandia con Vanessa de viajeroscallejeros.com : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DsYdnt4aLgSi te interesa, puedes ver la primera temporada completa en: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpFNz2S2UB5yh5MOOq4UlA9BHnRI1W1Y2Quizás también te pueda interesar ver alguno de nuestros cortometrajes o documentales viajeros: - El síndrome del eterno viajero I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dKGcg_jBhw - El síndrome del eterno viajero II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq5uQCFrNGw&t=4s - Hola, Mundo (el documental): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGSLv0PjgF0&t=1164s - Anoniman, detrás de los carteles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjTnlejAgcI&t=52s Si te está gustando esto de escucharnos y vernos haciendo podcast, comparte y dale al boca a boca. No te quedes con las ganas y suscríbete en tu plataforma favorita: apple podcast, ivoox, spotify, castbox o google podcast. Y si eres muy de YouTube porque además quieres "verlo", suscríbete a nuestro canal. Tenemos muchas cositas para ver. Puedes seguirnos en nuestro blog algoquerecordar.com o en todas las redes con @algoqrecordar Por si te ha llegado el rumor de que hemos escrito tres libros. Sí, es cierto. Son “Tontunas Viajeras”, “Algo que recordar viajando con mochila" y "Algo que recordar viajando con bebé" y los puedes conseguir en: https://algoquerecordar.com/posts-destacados/siete-anos-en-dos-libros/ y https://algoquerecordar.com/ocurrencias/libros/tontunasviajeras-el-libro/¡Hasta la próxima temporada!lucy&rubén

上海に住んでいた時に行った中国旅行パート３。 黄山へは友人とツアーで、景徳鎮は夫と、深センにはシンガポールへ行く途中に香港経由で行った際に深センに住む友人を訪ねました。 Part 3 of my trip of China when I lived in Shanghai. I joined a tour to Huangshan and Jingdezhen is I visited there with my husband. I traveled to a friend who lived in Shenzhen on my way to Singapore via Hong Kong. 黄山 huangshan https://www.tripadvisor.jp/Attraction_Review-g303685-d550738-Reviews-Mt_Huangshan-Huangshan_Anhui.html --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ayumi8/message

CCP officials are told to prepare for global crisis—including tensions with the United States, food shortages, currency wars, and others—and are being told to prepare “countermeasures” Zhou Li, the former deputy minister of the CCP’s Central Liaison Department, tied to its political warfare programs, recently issued an article in China Social Science News stating “The Party Central Committee demands that our leading cadres at all levels ‘should adhere to the bottom line thinking and make a long-term ideological preparation and work preparation for responding to changes in the external environment."’ And a 400-year-old bridge was destroyed by the floods in Shanxi Town in Anhui, China, which had been built during the Ming Dynasty. The destruction of the second largest stone arch bridge in the region was one of the latest scenes in the ongoing floods in 26 provinces and cities in China. And in HuangShan, AnHui, JingdeZhen, ShangRao, Yichang, Changyang, and other parts of China the heavy rains continue to collapse roads and destroy homes. These stories and more in this episode of Crossroads. ⭕️ Subscribe for updates : http://bit.ly/CrossroadsYT ⭕️ Donate to support our work: https://www.bestgift.tv/crossroads ⭕️ Join Patreon to Support Crossroads: https://www.patreon.com/Crossroads_Josh

DJ Chozie Ma is the top selling EDM artist in China and Taiwan. Chozie, an Australian by birth, has spent over 22 years in Beijing, building the EDM scene from scratch, beginning with clubs and albums, as well as partnering with the man behind the music at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, to VVIP travel experiences, interactive domes, and organic skincare line Greenerways Organic. Show Notes Greenerways Organic Follow Chozie on Instagram | Facebook | WeChat "One Night in Beijing" (feat. Peyton) Video Theme music by: Ruel Morales Audio Transcript Brian Schoenborn 0:01 Hello, hello. Hey everybody. Our guest today is, he's had a pretty epic life. Let's put it that way. Truly a man of many hats from being the top selling electronic music DJ in both Taiwan and China, to owning some of the top clubs in Asia, as well as an expert, top of his game with vvip experiences. We're going to get into all of that stuff, as well as some other stuff that he's got going on. This dude's got so much stuff happening. It's kind of hard to wrap our arms around all of it. We're going to dive in as much as we can. So give it up for my friend, Chozie Ma. Brian Schoenborn 0:41 My name is Brian Schoenborn. I'm an explorer of people, places and culture. In my travels, spanning over 20 countries across four continents, I've had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories, on location and unfiltered. Presented by 8B Media, this is Half the City. Chozie Ma 1:09 What's up? How you doing? Brian Schoenborn 1:11 Good, man. How are you? Chozie Ma 1:12 Happy to be here in LA. Brian Schoenborn 1:13 Dude, I'm so happy to see you, man. It's been it's been a minute, man. Chozie Ma 1:16 Yea, totally. Brian Schoenborn 1:17 Yeah. So guys, so first, let me take it back. We're having a little bit of technical difficulties. We're going mano today. We're improvising, adapting and overcoming. My, one of my dongles for my mic broke. So we've got one mic instead of two. No big deal. We just fucking roll with it. Right? So you might be hearing some background noise and stuff like that some cars going by or whatever, here and there. We're actually on location in Venice, Venice Beach, California. We're actually 100 yards from the beach. Chozie Ma 1:42 You can see the beach. Brian Schoenborn 1:43 You can see the beach. Chozie Ma 1:44 Yeah, it's sweet. Brian Schoenborn 1:45 We're right here. Chozie's in LA for business. Chozie Ma 1:50 Business and play. Brian Schoenborn 1:51 It just so happened that Chozie saw one of the first episodes out and I'm like, dude, I haven't seen I haven't talked to this guy like a year and I'm like, and he's like, yo, fuckin A. He liked it on my WeChat the Chinese social media, Chinese Facebook, whatever you wanna call it, like, dude, let's do this. Chozie Ma 2:05 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 2:05 And he's like, yeah. And then he messaged me, he's like, Yo, I'm in Venice doing something. I'm like, dude, I'm in LA. Let's get together. You know, the whole concept of the show anyways is you know, I'm talking to people all over the world with amazingly interesting stories. And on location, right, so we're chillin, we're chillin in his place here, his studio here in Venice Beach. You can hear somebody doing some construction work behind us in the background. All good. No, it's all good. I don't care. I don't even care, man. It's the content. Chozie Ma 2:33 Yeah, that's it. Brian Schoenborn 2:33 You know, it's the authenticity of it. But I've known Chozie for four, four years? Chozie Ma 2:39 Yeah, it's been a minute. Brian Schoenborn 2:39 Three or four years, something like that. Chozie Ma 2:41 Yeah. From Beijing. Brian Schoenborn 2:42 Yeah, from Beijing, baby. Yeah, I've known Chozie since my time in Beijing and if you guys have been listening, you know, I spent four years there doing some stuff on my own, but Chozie…I mean, you look Chinese. But your English is so good. Do you like? Chozie Ma 2:59 Yes, I'm Chozie. Okay, so it stands for Chinese Aussie. So my father's Chinese my mom's Aussie. Grew up in Sydney. Graduated there, then made the move over to the mainland back back to the roots in 98. Brian Schoenborn 3:13 98? Chozie Ma 3:14 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 3:14 Dude. So you're hitting what your 22nd year? Chozie Ma 3:16 Twenty-second year, yeah. Brian Schoenborn 3:17 My god, man. Chozie Ma 3:18 Zero to Hero. Brian Schoenborn 3:20 For real, like I can't even imagine like the changes. So, if you if you've never been to China, you've never been to Beijing or any of the other major cities. Ever since the, who was it? Who was, Deng Xiaoping? Chozie Ma 3:34 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 3:34 When Deng Xiaoping started opening up the country. It was closed off for years, decades, right? It was just its own nationalist, no access in or out type country. And around the time of Deng Xiaoping, who was the leader of the Chinese party, back in the time with Nixon, I think Richard Nixon, the American president. Chozie Ma 3:55 Kissinger, I think, to make the formal transition. Brian Schoenborn 3:57 Well, he was a diplomat, the foreign relations guy. Chozie Ma 4:00 Right. Brian Schoenborn 4:02 But they started opening up, it was the great opening. So this was like 30, 40 years ago. And since then the growth in China has been explosive. Chozie Ma 4:10 Yeah, donkeys and carts to Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Brian Schoenborn 4:12 Yeah. Chozie Ma 4:13 Just like that. Brian Schoenborn 4:13 It's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy and like so you see these areas like in Beijing for example. There's been so much growth that you know, one block you'll see these one story, they're called hutongs. They're like one story buildings that are anywhere between 600 and 1000 years old. Really cool spots. Chozie Ma 4:29 Really cool. Brian Schoenborn 4:30 History culture, all that good stuff. But a block away you'll see these skyscrapers with like neon lights that light up all night just like super like, I don't know you think like… Chozie Ma 4:40 Concrete jungle. Brian Schoenborn 4:41 Concrete jungle, but like to the extreme. like super super. Chozie Ma 4:44 Weird-ass designs, like the pants building that do things that hang over…I don't know. It's just Yeah, really. Architecture. But cool. You got the old and the new, in one city. Brian Schoenborn 4:57 It's kind of weird though. Like I feel like you know, in my time there, one of the things that I noticed was like, as modern as they become so quickly, as global as it become so quickly, from a technology, that kind of standpoint, money standpoint, I feel like there's still, like, there's still a transitioning period, in terms of maybe mentality, stuff like that. Like, you know, for example, um, you know, not good or bad, like, a lot of the stuff I talked about are constructs, right? Like, nothing is good, nothing is bad, just kind of what it is. But like you still see people like on the on the sidewalks of Beijing, that maybe do things that one culture might be like, whoa, like, what's going on? Like your jaws dropping that sort of thing. I'm not getting get into that here. But I get into it on my, on my other show, relentless, which is coming out, starting to come out in another month or two. Chozie Ma 5:49 Right. Brian Schoenborn 5:50 But there are things that might make your jaw drop, right, we're just like, but it's because it's so far removed from what you're used to with your culture in your constructs. Yeah, you know. But I just think it's interesting. As you know, things are happening. Things are changing whatever. Chozie Ma 6:04 Well you got to. I mean, that's the whole point of travel. Right? You want your jaw to drop. Brian Schoenborn 6:08 Right? Chozie Ma 6:08 Good or bad. Brian Schoenborn 6:09 That's, I mean, that's the thing, right? Chozie Ma 6:10 You're going to go somewhere and be like, Did you see that? Oh, wow, look at that, you know, it's just part of the whole cultural experience. Brian Schoenborn 6:16 Absolutely. Chozie Ma 6:16 And especially taking your kids out there and seeing just saying, you open your mind is the world like closed off into one bubble, right? Explore, travel. Brian Schoenborn 6:25 Dude, absolutely. Like, I'll never forget. The first time I came back to America. When I moved to Beijing. I grew up in a small town in Michigan, right. And so I so I went back and I bumped into this lady that I knew from a very young age, and she goes, Oh, Brian, she's like, What are you up to these days? What are you doing? And I go, Oh, you know, I'm living in China right now. I'm living in Beijing. And she goes, she looks me. She's like, China? China? Brian, I'm so scared for you. What do you are safe Ba ba ba ba it's communist Brian, all this stuff. I look at her husband, her husband standard that I look at I go Actually, it's pretty amazing country. I mean, it's super safe, feel safe. Chozie Ma 6:44 Yeah, real safe. Brian Schoenborn 7:03 People are welcoming. You know, if you try if you take a stab at learning a language that goes miles, you know, it goes such a long way. You know, it's a good time. And then her husband's like, brothers like, honey, you know, I was stationed in Japan and the Navy, right? He's like, I bet he's having the time of his life. Chozie Ma 7:25 I thought he was gonna say, Oh, honey, I have a Japanese wife. Or we have a half son now coming up. I mean, those things can happen. No, China is great. I mean, it's 22 years, as you said, and you know, I've seen it go from, you know, really, like I would say it wasn't really colorful when I was there. But it was exciting because I got there in 97 on a tour, and it was the last stop on an Asian tour. And we were in this club called Vogue 88. Henry Lee was the owner. And he basically just said, Why don't you move out here and take over my club? I was like 19 years old or something like that. Brian Schoenborn 8:06 Really? Chozie Ma 8:06 I had a crew called Yum Cha Cha. So there's five of us. We went back to Australia, we all looked at each other and said, why not? Brian Schoenborn 8:14 Fuck it. Chozie Ma 8:14 We're young, we can't speak the language. I mean, I'm Chinese, but I spoke Cantonese when I was growing. So when you move to China, it's Mandarin. And Cantonese was it was like non existent there. So it didn't really work. Brian Schoenborn 8:26 I mean, they're completely different languages. Chozie Ma 8:27 Totally different languages. So kind of were like, you know what, let's just give this a go. The crowd seemed quite International. It was it was it was like, you know, there wasn't that many foreigners there then. But every foreigner that was there was working for the embassy or a corporate job, right? Or students. And we were like, you know what, let's do it. So we went, we went through it. Three months later, we packed up things moved, Mom and Dad laughed. Dad's the Chinese that, you know, he's from that generation that left China back in the day, to give a better life to, you know, myself and himself. Brian Schoenborn 8:57 So he's like, what is this, some sick, sad joke? Chozie Ma 9:00 He was like, he'll be back. So they, they kept my car for about five years and then realized it's been five years keeping respect wasting space in the garage. Can we sell it. I'm like, yeah, go ahead, man. I'm already I'm settled here. So, so it's kind of funny because that generation, a lot of the kids, ABCs: American Born Chinese, Australian Born Chinese, Canadian Born Chinese. As they graduated and got older that you started seeing opportunity in China, and went back. And those times from like, 99 all the way to you know, the Olympics was just like this epic journey. Brian Schoenborn 9:33 2008 Olympics? Chozie Ma 9:33 2008 Olympics and it was just this epic journey of like, wow. And you could just use it as your oyster and do whatever you wanted if you had some creativity, and especially if you had something culturally valued valuable for the scene, dance scene or entertainment or like, you know, anything related to culture, culture and heritage, or bringing investment into China. Bringing foreign brands into China. Brian Schoenborn 9:58 Yep. Chozie Ma 9:59 You just kill it. Alright, so we're doing really well, I decided to go into the entertainment space and do clubs, music, things like that. And develop that that market, which has become more like, I look at it as probably one of the biggest in the world. Now, if you look at every DJ, they're all trying to go every Western artist is trying to collaborate with an Asian artist. Brian Schoenborn 10:15 Oh, absolutely. Chozie Ma 10:16 You know, so that's the volume, right? With volume comes money, monetizing products, things like that. Yeah, there's a lot of tricky things that go on in the market. But if you can maneuver through it. And I think the one thing that you just got to know about going to China is a lot of foreigners move there. They're still very hard headed, well, what would you call it? Brian Schoenborn 10:38 They're set in their ways. Chozie Ma 10:39 They're set in they're ways. Brian Schoenborn 10:40 Yeah, because I've lived in that bubble or whatever their culture is, and they expect everywhere to be just like that, right? Chozie Ma 10:45 So it's like, you know, maybe they have a good brand or a company or they've been bought out by a big expat company and getting that package that they didn't get somewhere else. The thing is, China's not going to change for you. You gotta change for China. Brian Schoenborn 10:57 Yeah, that's a hard lesson to learn. Tell you what, like I you know, because I think about you know, like I did a couple of or I had some I did some business in China myself. You know one thing I did, for example, was I produced this the soccer match right between Manchester United legends and Liverpool legends so these guys are 35 and up recently. Chozie Ma 11:18 Big game, I remember that. Brian Schoenborn 11:19 Big game, right? We put that on and we put out a four or five aside tournament Adelaide, and then an 11 a side friendly, in Melbourne. Chozie Ma 11:29 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 11:31 And we and then we live stream that into China and Europe and other places. And we worked with Tencent, which is one of the biggest like they're bigger than Facebook guys. Like there's 10 cents huge. Chozie Ma 11:38 $1 trillion company. Brian Schoenborn 11:41 Yeah, they're one of the big three tech companies in China. But we live streamed through them. Great, you know, big reception. They're like, Oh, this is one of the best live streams we've ever we've ever had as far as quality and all that stuff. Awesome. Can't wait to work with you more. So then I take that information like all right, these guys want to get into China, right? These players want to play a match in China. I get something setup where we're getting ready to do a deal in Shenzhen, near Shenzhen. I forget the name of that, I kind of blocked it out, because it's a bad experience. But in a city right next to Shenzhen which is one of the you know this is tech hub one of the big tech hubs, right? Like that's where Apple products are made and suck that's right right across the tributary from Hong Kong. Chozie Ma 12:23 Right. Brian Schoenborn 12:25 And I went down there and I you know, we're going to put on this match was gonna be great. met up with this guy. Four different times flew down the middle of the four times he's he puts me up in this hotel that he owns. This guy's a big businessman. We're drinking like crazy because that's that's an important part of Chinese culture, right? Chozie Ma 12:41 Oh, yeah. By the way, a lot of people think Chinese can't drink. Brian Schoenborn 12:44 Oh, no. That's not true. Chozie Ma 12:46 They get the Asian glow whatever. Oh, no, no, the ones that are born there. Especially Beijingers and the girls drinking a session with him we Chinese rice wine. Brian Schoenborn 12:53 Dude. Baijiu? Chozie Ma 12:54 They will put you under the table so hard. Brian Schoenborn 12:55 Oh my god, dude. But that's but that's the whole point. Right? Like part of the part of building relationships and China is all about, it's called guanxi, right? Chozie Ma 13:03 Face. Chozie Ma 13:03 It means relationships or face or whatever. And it's Chinese people would rather do business with people that they've got a strong relationship with versus Chozie Ma 13:10 Or just put them under the table and made them vomit and then they're like, Okay, cool. You can hang. Brian Schoenborn 13:14 Yeah, exactly. That's exactly that's how you build it. A lot of times you sit on this new set of these plastic chairs and tables outside a restaurant eating like, you know, 20 cents of stick, barbecue kebabs, chuar. Drinking cheap beer, out comes the baiju like 12, one o'clock in the morning is rice wine and which is like 40 to 60% alcohol like it's unregulated so it could be anywhere between there. Chozie Ma 13:39 Yeah, 60, yeah, definitely. It's strong. Brian Schoenborn 13:41 shot after shot after shot after shot there's no like there's no time wasted. Chozie Ma 13:48 Yeah, I'm glad I've got my mom's liver I say the the western side liver. Yeah, cuz I'm half half so that's helped me a lot drinking in China. Brian Schoenborn 13:57 But yeah, but so like, you know, I'm doing that whole thing with this guy. Big businessman, he's got connections to the stadium and the local government and like all the thing, checking off all the boxes that you really need to do to conduct business in China. And we get to a point where we sign the contract, he's got to give us a 10% down within a week or 10 days or something like that. We can secure the players. Sign the contract, dude never shows up. Disappears, disappears. No money sent, not responding to anything. And it's like, you know, that was one of the hard lessons I learned about doing business in China. Is that by Western standards, or at least American standards, I'm sure Aussie is not not too different. But like you get that contract signed, it's a done deal. Chozie Ma 14:37 Yeah, yeah. Brian Schoenborn 14:38 Right? Whereas in China, it's a different set of rules. Chozie Ma 14:41 Yeah, I've definitely it's definitely going down that route route many times. But it's that same saying, you know, you get knocked down, get up again, I'm already situated there. My house is there. My friends are there. Businesses there. Brian Schoenborn 14:54 Yeah. Chozie Ma 14:55 I've just learned over the years how to maneuver through it and it's and yeah, I've definitely lost investment and time. Time is the most important thing. Brian Schoenborn 15:04 Yeah. Chozie Ma 15:04 And, you know, it's it's, it sucks. But you just got to kind of learn how to be better than that. And I tell you over the last couple of years, the whole IP and legal system protection for that is it's really good. Brian Schoenborn 15:19 Oh, dude, it's gotten a lot better over the last few years. Chozie Ma 15:21 They just really they've smartened up and it's like, this is business, get it done. The shitty part is like when you are pitching for a job, like in one of my businesses, which is the event business. Obviously, a lot of proposal work needs to be done. Brian Schoenborn 15:33 Yeah. Chozie Ma 15:34 So a lot of these companies or clients have different departments, like procurement departments. And they're very traditional. So you might have a full Western team, say, for example, in Volkswagen or something like that you're in a big Western company. So when you meet with them, you get the job you're talking to, obviously the more Western minded simio and things like that, sure. Love your technology. They love that your Western and Chinese and they love that you get the concept. Yep, boom, okay, I'm going to launch this and you're going to do this and that and like Yes, I'm going to do it. That for you. And I'm going to do that for you. Chozie Ma 16:02 And then it trickles down through the system to procurement in the German they usually bring in because it's kind of I think it's legal when you have, it's the law that you have to have a local Chinese as your, your finance department, to head that department right to sign the bills. And that person is trained in a way where the job is to save money for the company at all costs and save money, which means: no, I don't understand that concept, why is it cost that much? Because I can go online and look for I can go to five other companies and they say it costs this much, because other companies are trying to take your idea or they're fake faking the, the tech or something like that, the smaller companies. Brian Schoenborn 16:36 Uh huh. Chozie Ma 16:36 And so you get into these things where it's like now the budgets low and then this a few months later goes back to the big boss, and they call you, Hey, why are you Why have they changed the company? or Why are you not doing the job? You know, you said that this was way too expensive…and he's like, but I approved it and then and then it goes back again. So most companies will have like a second budget because of that fuckup. Brian Schoenborn 16:55 Right, right. Chozie Ma 16:56 And so they kind of like contingency, they know that that's going to happen. So that's a little bit tiring, but it is getting better. What I found is when I, we were doing all the proposals, we're a smaller boutique team. So we spent a lot of time and you know, proposals to that magnitude, the 3d they renders the videos that cost you about, you know, $20,000 to make good decent proposal, but you're getting a million dollar job. Brian Schoenborn 17:18 Right. Chozie Ma 17:18 Or a $2 million job at the end of it. Brian Schoenborn 17:19 Right. you know, that's a modest investment. Chozie Ma 17:20 It makes it makes sense. Yeah, but you don't know that. That's gonna wait, they keep asking you to change it. Someone's uncle has an event company, that's… Brian Schoenborn 17:28 That's the guanxi all over again. Chozie Ma 17:30 That person, right? So you're gonna like shit, then then your event pops up with all your ideas. And, you know, this is what I went through years ago. Brian Schoenborn 17:39 It still happens though. Chozie Ma 17:39 It still happens, but we just instead of going for it, my partner I just said, You know what, let's just deal with the ones that put a designer feet down. Put that basically that 10% down before. Brian Schoenborn 17:53 Yeah. Chozie Ma 17:53 And then if we get the job will deduct that from the main fee. So if you even take it away from me, at least I can pay for myself. If I can pay for my time. Brian Schoenborn 18:01 Yeah, exactly. Chozie Ma 18:02 I lost more than 50% of my clients when I started doing that. Brian Schoenborn 18:05 Oh, sure. Chozie Ma 18:05 Because they're like, oh shit, we can get free work from all these agencies, there's about 100 interns that are doing free work for them. Right? And then they're okay with that, because they've got so many other jobs. So we tailored it down, we lost a lot of clients, but then we just filtered it to good clients, and they're more than happy to give us that 10% because they know we're going to do the work for them. Brian Schoenborn 18:23 Yeah, exactly. Chozie Ma 18:24 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 18:25 You know, if you're dealing with good client, legit companies, ones that understand the value of good design or, you know, high quality work, I think, you know, things that anybody can do, like, anyone can say, Hey, I'm gonna put a proposal together, right? But it's the design element, it's the craft work. It's the expertise that, you know, comes with a long, you know, many years of experience, many years of success and being able to develop your own personal brand to, right? On top of all that, I mean, that's kind of where, where there's a separation, right and yet, good companies will see that and they'll say, okay, we're willing to put that kind of money down because this person or this company, whatever has consistently been able to produce, right? Chozie Ma 19:08 And this and the speed of efficiency, everything right? There's no other uncle's company involved. I mean, but again that guanxi things is super, super important thing in China. It is all about face. And it is all about, like having that connection. And I think how I got those connections is I started, well, I went to Taiwan in 2000 with Avex records. Brian Schoenborn 19:33 Okay. Chozie Ma 19:33 I got sent over with the manager. And then he was just trying to pimp me off to different record labels. So I was just kind of like new to the music business. I've been DJing for many years. I wasn't really fucking with record labels, and I could write music, and I was already doing TV on Channel V. And then he was just like, he was literally pimping me from Sony to BMG to hear and that and then was sending me these 60, 70 page contracts in Chinese and they kind of knew I couldn't read Chinese. Brian Schoenborn 20:00 Oh shit. So they're like, sign your life away. Chozie Ma 20:02 He was saying sign sign sign. And this is like 10 year contracts, and I'm thinking that's= a bit weird. Now everyone signs 10 years and that's just really crazy? But um they didn't realize that my father after a few of these different careers he decided to study law and he's an academic scholar so he studied the entertainment law, pharmacy law, everything kind of law. So his way of saying well he's a traditional Chinese man so he doesn't really say, I love you son, and give you a hug. But his way of saying I love you is like send me that contract let me review it for you. So these major record labels didn't know I had that ammunition behind me. Brian Schoenborn 20:36 The secret weapon. Chozie Ma 20:37 And he just go through it and just rip it apart and send it back and then look at it and be like, Yeah, no, we can't sign this you know, he knows too much about it. So the manager was getting pissed. He's just kind of like, I'm gonna lose my my meal ticket here because he was just literally like, that's what he wanted from me. Brian Schoenborn 20:55 Oh, yeah. Cuz I mean, he's, he gets you signed and he gets his contingency fee or whatever. Right? Chozie Ma 20:59 Yeah, and and I was young and naive I didn't know the extent of the deal. He was probably signing the 80% of my royalties to him, I didn't know I was 20 something, right? And then I made a pretty famous celebrity there, this girl and she and we just within a week started dating and then within two weeks I moved in with her and she's like massive star. I didn't really know who she was, like, that's why I think she's she liked me because I didn't give a fuck about celebrities and and they will use that because I had my club in China two years before that. Chozie Ma 21:26 And all the celebrities: Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone. Everyone would come there, it was like the Viper Room of Beijing where everything went, right? Brian Schoenborn 21:32 Nice. Chozie Ma 21:33 So but I never talked like whatever I saw whatever was happening there I just was like treating everyone like a normal person so that's where it made a lot of artists want to work with me. Brian Schoenborn 21:41 Yeah. Chozie Ma 21:41 Oh shit, you're DJing? Maybe you want to write a track with me? Oh, let's do that. So kind of went along. and a month later Avex Records from Japan just kind of hit me up personally. Yo, we want to work with you. I'm like, yeah, I'm kind of turned off by the whole music thing you know, and it's all this melancholy tired like Taiwanese pop and Chinese pop. At that time, there wasn't really much dance music. The Pop is not even, like, pop it was like everything was sad song… Brian Schoenborn 22:06 Like sad love song. Chozie Ma 22:08 Everything was a love song, and I'm like shit. You want me to get in this game I want to, I want to change it. I'm wanna perform some house music, some breakbeat like, they looked at me and they're very progressive. Avex is a big progressive record and they had a label called house nation which was like all these cool Japanese female DJs and it's doing cool stuff trance that are in club. So they're like, What do you want? And luckily, the girl I was dating at the time, her team advised me on a few things. So I was very fortunate that they helped me they just said just do one year, one album deal with option to sign on for other deal, like other, but you're free. Own the royalties. They gave it to me. It was like what? After that, those people kind of clued up, and they're like, we're gonna sign this stuff for 10 years. Brian Schoenborn 22:50 Yeah, right. They're like we're locking him. Chozie Ma 22:52 Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna invest this much. If he doesn't make enough his first album. He's gonna work for us. He's even if he that album doesn't work. He's gonna work in the office writing songs for the next artist. Brian Schoenborn 23:00 Oh, really? Chozie Ma 23:00 Yeah, you brought, you owe money to the record labels. Like, if, everyone's hungry in China in Asia, right? And you're good looking. And you can write a song. But you can't act, you need to be a triple threat. They need to make revenue off you from everything, right? So a lot of these artists would come in, they invest a couple hundred thousand, the album would come out, wouldn't do so well. And then you'd find them just sitting, like they've got to pay off their debt. So they're still working. It sucks for a lot of people. Brian Schoenborn 23:26 That's crazy man. Chozie Ma 23:27 You know? So now the new Brian Schoenborn 23:28 Can you imagine what a slap in the face that would be? Like, I mean, you were you were successful. So you I don't think you've experienced that, right? But can you imagine… Chozie Ma 23:35 I saw it. Brian Schoenborn 23:37 I mean, me like somebody Yeah, somebody like one of your buddies or whatever, right? Like, maybe they had like an album that maybe a one hit wonder or something right? Like that one song went, but then everything else just kind of shit the bed and you see them sitting, sitting behind a computer, or whatever, you know, like Chozie Ma 23:52 It's tough. I mean, when we started label in 97 called Party People Committee. It was the first dance labeled in China for electronic and hip hop, and one of my boys that was coming up, amazing writer, composer, producer, rapper. He can rap in Chinese, English, and even in German, like awesome. Young Kin, his name is. When that happened, they promised him to release his album and mine at the same time with dance and Hip Hop one. They went with mine and unfortunately, he didn't get it. But he worked it. He worked and pushed me. And then, you know, you could see it. He wanted it. Like, you know, oh shit it's my time. Brian Schoenborn 23:53 Yeah, yeah, for sure. Chozie Ma 24:18 I've worked so hard at this shit and I'm talented, but young writing. He just flipped the switch. He just said, You know what, I'm still young, and I'm fucking great. I'm gonna go get my MBA. And then everyone looked at him going, you're gonna fucking own a record label. Now this guy's like, moved to Boston. still writing music, has a flipping house company, a real estate agency, killing it. You know what I mean? So he turned it into a positive a lot of other people just get depressed and be like, shit, man. I was I was good at that. All right, and then I've got this shows you your character. You've just got to fucking keep keep going man. Brian Schoenborn 25:02 Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, man. Chozie Ma 25:03 You'll get that break. Yeah, it's just tough. Brian Schoenborn 25:06 But it's one of those things like, whether it's the music business or whether it's like, film and TV or this shit or anything you do, right? Like, it's not, it's not about how many times you fall or get kicked in the face or whatever. It's about how it's how you respond to that. Brian Schoenborn 25:21 Right? It's like, how do you get up? Do you get up and say, okay, that was a fucking speed bump. I'm going to get over that shit and move forward, because this is what I want to do. Chozie Ma 25:21 Right. Chozie Ma 25:28 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 25:29 Or does it happen so many times where you just like, all right, maybe this isn't for me. Maybe I should shift gears a little bit. You know, maybe this passion of mine is more of a hobby. Right? Or for whatever reason it's not working. Go another route. You know? Chozie Ma 25:44 Yeah, the girl that was like we had to do my album in 2007. And we had an artist coming from Taiwan, but she was a good friend of mine. She was like, Yeah, cool. I want to jump on your album. It's the first solo album in China for dance music. I love to be part of it. Then her mom, being the manager, found out that we were under kind of a bigger label. She saw some dollar signs. And we couldn't afford her at the last minute. She's like, I'm so sorry, man, at the end of the day, the managers getting there. And yeah, we can't do anything. We can give you a mate rate, but that's about it. Still expensive, because she's bit star. And we had the studio booked and we only had one month to use. And a friend came in and said, Look, there's this girl. She's still currently signed to a 10 year, she's still got about four years left on that, but she hasn't been doing anything because she got screwed over by the record label. But she can come sing vocals on you just you know, don't really mention her artist's name because her artist name is still owned by a label, right? Brian Schoenborn 26:39 But do you put your actual name? Chozie Ma 26:41 Just put her name. Brian Schoenborn 26:41 Or do you just anonymize it? Chozie Ma 26:43 Put her actual name, because she had an artist name but what's your actual name? And then we did that and she killed it. She came in the studio. I gave her the song, the lyrics and I just said you know what, just keep record on. She nailed it. I didn't even record the second take. We just edited over it. I was like, wow, this girl's great. Brian Schoenborn 26:58 Yeah. Chozie Ma 26:58 I like I have four more songs. With female vocals, could you do this for me? No worries. I'd love to do it so she smashes this out. Then she goes kind of dark for a while she she's still doing music. She's playing in club gigs with a little band stuff. Just you know keeping it going keeping her passion. Brian Schoenborn 27:13 Yep. Chozie Ma 27:13 Once that four year contract lifted off those record labels way. She, she was just like, boom and then…now her name's Tia Ray. I'm not sure if you heard her she's massive. Massive. Brian Schoenborn 27:25 Huge in China. Chozie Ma 27:26 She just stuck through it. Brian Schoenborn 27:27 Yeah. Chozie Ma 27:27 But she could see how hard that is. You know, you you you're stuck when you have with all these opportunities and you get out of it. Brian Schoenborn 27:33 Yeah. Chozie Ma 27:33 But she waited and now she prevailed and she's killing it to her respect to have and thank you for coming on my album. Brian Schoenborn 27:40 Shout out to Tia Ray, man. Chozie Ma 27:41 That's it. Brian Schoenborn 27:42 Respect. Chozie Ma 27:42 But um, you know, it's it's the industry it's and obviously now it's become so big, that they got all the…What is it? There's multi big groups with over like 10 guys or… Brian Schoenborn 27:53 Oh, yeah. BTS for example, there's like 8 dudes or something like that? Chozie Ma 27:56 Yeah, obviously before it was Japan…Taiwan would follow Japan, so they were the trendsetters and then China will follow the Taiwan. And now Taiwan's kind of fading out a bit. They're still good. They still got they still got their stars and megastars. But now China's started to create their own culture. Brian Schoenborn 28:11 Yeah. Chozie Ma 28:12 With hip hop. And hip hop, it's becoming huge. I mean, it's huge. But they creating their own culture. Brian Schoenborn 28:17 Yeah. Chozie Ma 28:18 Which is great, because it was more of a copy before. Brian Schoenborn 28:20 Oh, of course. Well, you know, I mean, that's kind of what China does, though. Or they've done you know, everyone thinks Oh, copycat China. But, you know, a lot of what they've done with that opening is like, they just haven't had, they haven't experienced a lot of these things. So a lot of it's like bringing this stuff in. Chozie Ma 28:33 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 28:33 Kind of learning about it. And then taking it and making it their own. Chozie Ma 28:37 Yeah, right. It could be done so wrong in so many ways. Brian Schoenborn 28:40 Yeah, for sure. Chozie Ma 28:41 But at least now they've kind of they, they did it that way, then I think the government saw it was becoming too adapted from the American or Western hip hop culture, in ways of like, maybe they'll word it's kind of getting too out of control. Brian Schoenborn 28:55 Yeah. Chozie Ma 28:56 So they kind of banned it for a minute which is really crazy, right? Who bans hip hop like they banned the stuff. But they banned it and then they kind of cleaned it, right? So they cleaned it in a way. So now the guys that are on these big shows like China's Got Hip Hop, or, like, you know, these these kind of big shows, then now seen as like the ambassador's of clean hip hop. Brian Schoenborn 29:16 Yeah. Well, right. Because, because when they banned it was a couple of years ago, there's like that the China's Got Hip Hop show or whatever, right? Chozie Ma 29:22 Yeah, yeah, right. Brian Schoenborn 29:22 Like there was, I think the winner was like singing about like, I don't know, drugs, or gangs, or whatever it was, I mean, who knows whether he like actually meant the words that he was saying, or whether it was just taking the influence from Western hip hop culture, but it was something like that. And China's like, drugs, nope. Banned. This is bad for our culture. We don't want anything to do with hip hop and you're right, who does that? But…China can do that. Chozie Ma 29:45 It's hard because he pop is an expression of that. Right? Of what you want to say and and the street, you know, kind of Brian Schoenborn 29:51 Right. Yeah. Yeah. Chozie Ma 29:52 So I think that, you know, they've got now the commercial, pop hip hop, where they kind of just keep it a bit more tame. They go on the edges of things, but has made the underground scene so much stronger. So you got you got the clubs that are doing like these big nights and the tours with these, the hip hop groups, and they're still hardcore and good, because I think they do it more like online, where it's not on TV. When it's on TV, when it hits TV, it has to have that little bit more edge, you know, it's a bit more cleaner. So that's good because it created this whole subculture that's becoming very popular and you can see like the, you know, you go to Chengdu and you'd swear you think you're in Mexico, like everyone's kind of tatted up and… Brian Schoenborn 30:32 Really? Chozie Ma 30:33 They've just adapted that culture the style and they've got their own fashion brands that are using it and they're walking around with the pitbulls and all this kind of stuff, but it's that, and they got all the girls that follow them and it's this kind of thing and it's it's more of a fashion thing. That's their that's their lane and then they've got you know, everyone's subculture is becoming more defined. Brian Schoenborn 30:51 Yeah, yeah. Chozie Ma 30:51 And your crews are becoming more defined as electronic music you know all these kind of everything's got us got a scene now, huh? Yeah, solid seen a money making scene now. Brian Schoenborn 31:00 Yeah, for sure. Yeah, sure. That's crazy. I've never been to Chendu, man. Like that's one of the places where like, I really wanted to go when I was over there, you know on a consistent basis. I mean I just haven't made my way. I think I'm gonna get back there soon so yeah, it's supposed to be really cool i mean that's pandas are, right? Chozie Ma 31:17 Yes. Brian Schoenborn 31:18 Kind of mountainous it's like a small city of what 15, 20 million people? Chozie Ma 31:26 It's a small city. Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 31:27 Spicy food. I mean, that's, that's why I love that's my favorite food is like the, you know, spicy hot pot. You know, malaxiangguo. Chozie Ma 31:36 Oh. It's a it's spicy. Oh, yeah. You gotta be prepared for that. Yeah, yeah. Brian Schoenborn 31:40 Yeah, I've met so many chunky girls like all Brian, they're like, Can you eat spicy food and I'm like, give it to me. And they're like, they're always so impressed. I'm like, as you know… Chozie Ma 31:49 and because this a beautiful too. So when they say can you eat spicy onion? Yeah. The next day I was like, yeah, to to your assistant. I think you need to cancel my meetings. Just keep me close to a toilet. Brian Schoenborn 32:01 Exactly. That Chengdu spice is always a good idea coming in, but it's never a good idea coming out. Chozie Ma 32:11 It's it's real tough. Yeah. I mean, there's other food there, people, but like, it's just yeah, you gotta definitely try this. Brian Schoenborn 32:22 That's funny. You were saying earlier, you got the best selling dance album of all time in Taiwan and China, is that what that is? Chozie Ma 32:31 It was about 2002. When I was at Avex, so they gave me that idea. Brian Schoenborn 32:36 Yeah. Chozie Ma 32:37 I could have gone with, you know, so many options, but I thought, well, I'm playing house music and house is kind of new in Taiwan. Breakbeat hadn't reached Taiwan yet. So like Finger Licking, Stenton Warriors, you know, like, so Adam Freeland, like it was just kind of really cool. Brian Schoenborn 32:54 Yeah. Chozie Ma 32:54 Nu-school breaks. Basics is funky and it's got beats and it's just vocals and, so I was doing like three turntables sets and clubs and it's just mixing it up mashing it up. So the album itself is is one is, it's an EP of my Isle Formosa which is the first dance album, a dance song with a music video for an artist in Taiwan for dance music. Brian Schoenborn 33:16 Nice. Chozie Ma 33:16 In that category. And then the second CD was full live three turntable break beat mix for an hour. And then the third one was a live house mix of some of my favorite artists in the world but house music funky house vocal house classic house. Brian Schoenborn 33:33 Yeah, all of this would be called EDM now. Chozie Ma 33:35 Well, yeah, I mean, electronic dance music. Back then. Like, and still to this day, but you know, we had styles okay. That's a techno DJ. That's breakbeat DJ. That's a trance DJ. All that stuff, yeah. Brian Schoenborn 33:47 Jungle. Chozie Ma 33:47 Jungle, drum and bass. Everyone was defined, or like, this guy's a bit more versatile that Carl Cox, he can play everything. Brian Schoenborn 33:54 Yeah. Chozie Ma 33:54 He's known as the techno DJ, but the guy will go and fucking smash the classics of the house or hip hop. You know? It's more about being versatile. But as time went on, and I think just society dumbing down into things and just needed things more simplified. People came up with oh let's just call it EDM but that that EDM came up with that whole like that Ultra sound or that, like it's more of that yeah very commercial media. Brian Schoenborn 34:19 Right. Chozie Ma 34:20 It's not techno, it's not trance. It's not this. I don't know what is this is noise to me. Everybody fucking jump. There's no like this for me. There's no talent in that I like to see a DJ that actually produces something or like they're sets are not programmed. Brian Schoenborn 34:34 Right. Chozie Ma 34:34 Um, you know, so I kind of went a little bit disappointed in that culture. But then a good friend of mine that does some pretty big festivals and clubs in around the world. He basically was just like, look, it's still a business. Brian Schoenborn 34:47 Yeah. Chozie Ma 34:47 People are into it. I'm like, fuck, how do I flip the switch. I'm definitely not going to DJ this stuff. Brian Schoenborn 34:52 Well, right. Because if you're I mean, if you're not feeling, the creativity of that, or the creation of that, I mean, you still you made it but you've been in the business for you. Right. I mean, you can still flip that the mindset right and still, you know, rather than being in the creativity side of it, you can be more on the promotion or… Chozie Ma 35:09 Yeah, or be more of us behind the scenes in the tech. Because, I have a tech company, right? So we originally using those for high end events and projections and mapping and stuff like that. So like, why don't we just design the festivals and give tools to these EDM DJs? Brian Schoenborn 35:25 Oh, hell yeah, dude. Chozie Ma 35:25 Like, even though I don't like the music, but hey, why don't we make it more visually, right? Brian Schoenborn 35:30 You can help create the experience. Chozie Ma 35:32 Right? So if you look at it, like ultra know that they started a bit more, they went really big with it, Tomorrowland, big EDM sound, but then they started adding all the different stages. Carl Cox has rennaisance in there, which is doing more techno so then it's obviously like people for first few years. They're listening to the EDM, but then they'll they'll venture over to that stage. They're like, Oh, this is all right. So then the slowly changing and you can see it in the scene that it's moving. People are kind of like steering away. They want more quality and technology. They want more trance. IOr they want more this. So just giving them the promoters giving them more options. Brian Schoenborn 36:03 Yeah. Chozie Ma 36:03 It's better. If it's just giving them one sound and dumbing down the whole world. This is what it is. And unfortunately that's what happened in China. They didn't go through transition. They just went from Oh, let's just stop all house and techno most of the big clubs now and just put in these mainstream are because he's number one, that must be the music right now, or number two and that's what the sound is, noise. Right? So these clubs just followed it but now you can see it's been going like that for a couple of years in China. They're slowly sleeping in every now and then they'll flow in a really good techno DJ, or a really good underground DJ, and people are like digging it they're feeling it, oh this is good. I don't have to just stand there and from my hand in the air I like I can actually groove I can actually feel it you know kind of thing. So it's good. But yeah, we just and obviously the DJ's are all programmed. So they like the big festivals. And I get it because you paying so much money for the ticket. And the DJ needs to know when the fireworks is gonna go off, and it needs to queue and everything's queued up. And so it's very kind of rehearsed. But that's what like a normal concert is anyway, like if you went to Madonna whenever you're painting that she's live, but she knows exactly how cute. So that's how the, you know the big EDM DJ is emergency cue DJs. Brian Schoenborn 37:13 Yeah. Chozie Ma 37:13 So last year in Macau, we will part of, we designed an EDM festival could Jigsaw, some big names, Steve Aoki, all those guys were up there. But what I noticed is from the rave days back in the day, the DJ would never stop. It'd be 12 hours non stop music. Chozie Ma 37:28 the Djs would just go into play on play on blue yonder. And each DJ knew that they knew their time. If you're a warm up your warm up, yeah, if you're 10 pm, you're 10pm. Don't bang out music like it's 4am. A lot of these days in Asia, in China especially, I'll be doing my main set at 1am, and a new DJ would come in and he'd be like, shit, I'm gonna bang a 3am set out before Chozie goes on and I'm just like, dude, you're killing me here, mate. You know what I mean? So that's where we come into most DJs will have their warm up DJ tour with them, because they know this guy's gonna warm it up well, and it's respectful to be a warm up DJ for someone. Or if you're closing after someone, you close out for them. Brian Schoenborn 37:28 Yeah, sure. Brian Schoenborn 38:04 It's like an opening act like the comedy stage, or the band, you know, whatever. Chozie Ma 38:07 Exactly. Yeah, a lot of bedroom bangers, a lot of the younger DJ and I get that. Yeah, it's a transition it takes time. So this festival, we had, you know, 7, 8, 7, big name DJs. And each one of them had like a 10 to 12 minute gap between each show for changeover. I'm like, you know what, man, let's just keep the flow going. Brian Schoenborn 38:24 Yeah. Chozie Ma 38:25 But how do we do that? Because they're still gonna do the change of a sub kind of set up a whole hologram system. And I had DJs, two DJ is on left and right, DMC scratch styles and, we produced the technology where when the DJ scratches, we've got a camera on a hand and she can control the eight foot high hologram, so he or she's scratching. Brian Schoenborn 38:43 Oh really? Chozie Ma 38:44 I mean, the middle on drum pads. So we like we produce these 10 minute, 12 minute segment shows so the audience would just see this flow going through and then the next DJ would be ready then goes on. You know, so there was this awesome interaction of immersive experience. Because I think people are getting bored at these big festivals now like it's the same, same thing. Brian Schoenborn 39:04 It's the same shit. Chozie Ma 39:04 It's the same DJ, same DJs, at these festivals, but like they just reversing that sets around or the next stage is playing something similar or something like that. So I think I think now people just need more, more interaction. That's why bringing more technology into the shows is very important these days, people like now getting smarter. I think I think it got dumbed down. And now it's getting smarter because they're getting so big. Brian Schoenborn 39:25 Well, it's kind of like it gets dumbed down because that's, as much as I hate to say it, it's kind of like, you bring it down to a level where a lot of people can understand, right? A lot of people just easily get it. Then they come in and then as they get used to it, then you can start getting a little more nuanced with it or whatever. Brian Schoenborn 39:42 Getting a little smarter about it. Do you have do you have? Can you show me something like? Chozie Ma 39:42 Right. Chozie Ma 39:47 Oh, yeah, yeah, I can put up with those videos. I'll give them to you. Brian Schoenborn 39:49 Yeah. Chozie Ma 39:50 We can send some links up. Brian Schoenborn 39:51 Okay. Sure. Yeah, no, I'd love to check some of that stuff. Chozie Ma 39:53 Yeah, it's very cool. Brian Schoenborn 39:54 So this Jigsaw? Chozie Ma 39:56 Yeah, it was in Macau. So it was the second year. So we just Brian Schoenborn 39:59 When was that? Chozie Ma 40:00 That was December. Not, ninth last year. Brian Schoenborn 40:03 Oh, so a year ago. Chozie Ma 40:04 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 40:05 Okay. Chozie Ma 40:05 So we, we will not be selector of the artists and we were the design team and the production team. So we came up with this, I have always I've always had this idea of designing a rave, but in a super high end concept so that the VIP areas were like, made it look like a TV rooms like that. Brian Schoenborn 40:25 Oh, sweet. Chozie Ma 40:25 So they were like they were made out of velvet, and they had all these crazy stuff. You had your own bar in each one. And so on the main stage on the left and right, I built to 60 meter VIP booths built into the stage. So you're on the same level as the stage but you can't get in like you've got a glass barrier. Brian Schoenborn 40:43 Oh, yeah. But you're that close though. Chozie Ma 40:45 But you're that close. And they went for a million renminbi each table and they were the first tables to sell out. Brian Schoenborn 40:50 What? Dude. Chozie Ma 40:50 In Asia whenever you got the highest table. It sells out the first… Brian Schoenborn 40:54 Wow. Chozie Ma 40:55 …and you can have I think it was 70 guests. Came with drinks. Came with girls. came with…it's Macau. Brian Schoenborn 41:00 Yeah, that's nuts. Chozie Ma 41:01 Came with everything. So they sold out. You had those and then it went down into different tiers. So you had like the end. I think it was 800,000 and the 500,000, then the four then two, and then one and 40,000, something like that. So but it was designed in the Venetian Convention Center. Massive. Brian Schoenborn 41:04 Oh yeah, dude, the Venetian's huge in Macau. Chozie Ma 41:21 It's the biggest… Brian Schoenborn 41:21 It's so big. Chozie Ma 41:22 I think its biggest, biggest Hotel in the world or something like that. Brian Schoenborn 41:24 It might be, yeah. Chozie Ma 41:25 13,000 rooms or something. Brian Schoenborn 41:26 Yeah, it's huge. Chozie Ma 41:27 The Convention Center is massive. So we were like, I wanted to feel like a rave. Because that's where my passion comes from. Brian Schoenborn 41:33 Yeah. Chozie Ma 41:33 But like you wanted to give it that super high end service. Brian Schoenborn 41:36 Yeah. Chozie Ma 41:37 So we went in, and we just, we just did this crazy design and made it all cool. And it was cool, man, people just like digging it. But I had that rave feel. Brian Schoenborn 41:44 Yeah. Chozie Ma 41:45 The technology and the Holograms and the lasers. And the LED is all over the place and interactive tables for ordering drinks and stuff like that. So it's cool. So we're just tried to take that technology to another level. Brian Schoenborn 41:56 Yeah, I want to back up a second. I just want to explain because a lot of the listeners are Western, so maybe they haven't been to China. So I want to explain a couple of things real quick. So first, he's talking about selling a table for 1 million RMB. That's Chinese, that's the Chinese currency. If you…rough, rough. Chozie Ma 42:12 Rough conversion? Brian Schoenborn 42:15 Is probably about 200,000ish? $200,000, something like that? Chozie Ma 42:24 143,000 for one table. Brian Schoenborn 42:27 143,000 for one table, right? That's, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculously expensive. Okay? So that's the first thing. Second thing is he's talking about how it's kind of KTV styled. Right? So KTV is not really a big thing in America. Chozie Ma 42:41 Right, right. Brian Schoenborn 42:42 Yeah, you might find out a few spots. Like there's a couple of spots in LA, a couple of spots in New York, really where they were the Asian populations are, you might find a few here and there. But KTV guys essentially, like Americans know karaoke, right? Chozie Ma 42:54 Right. Brian Schoenborn 42:54 The karaoke that we're used to is we go to a bar and there's a karaoke night. So like one night, there's a microphone and the words and like one person at a time sings in front of the entire bar and, you know, in front of strangers and whatever else, right? KTV is just like that. Except there's, there's these buildings like in China, there's these buildings all over the place with dozens of rooms. Chozie Ma 43:16 Like three, 400 rooms. Brian Schoenborn 43:18 Three, 400 rooms in one building. And each room has its own karaoke place. Tables, couches, three microphones, just you and your friends or whatever it is, you know, it could be anywhere between like two and like 20 people something like that. Chozie Ma 43:32 Yeah, you got small rooms and you got themed rooms. Brian Schoenborn 43:34 You sit around you play games, and you drank. Chozie Ma 43:36 Oh, then there's even a free buffet. Like you got meal times. Brian Schoenborn 43:40 Yeah, it's it's super like it can be super cheap to like, you can pay like 20 bucks for like four hours. Chozie Ma 43:45 Yeah, yeah definitely. Brian Schoenborn 43:45 Something like that. But KTV is a huge thing in China. So when he's talking about doing these super high end KTV rooms, right next to the stage, you know, separated by nothing but a glass wall. Chozie Ma 43:57 Well just kind of like a fence. Brian Schoenborn 43:58 Yeah, whatever. It is. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's like, that's like the perfect thing for like that crowd. Chozie Ma 44:05 You know, you've, you've kept the KTV experience to the listeners very PG. Brian Schoenborn 44:09 Oh yeah. Chozie Ma 44:10 So there's a, Brian Schoenborn 44:11 There's dirty KTV too, of course. Chozie Ma 44:13 So the KTV that I designed off is not the dirty side, it's just that you've got these crazy rooms that are, you know, you still paying in up to like 20,000, $30,000 on a night and you go in there and it's like kind of very…hyou could all it gaudy. It's kind of like very velvety. Brian Schoenborn 44:33 Gaudy is a good word for it. Chozie Ma 44:33 And very like chandeliers and, Brian Schoenborn 44:36 Like a 1970s club. Chozie Ma 44:37 Yeah, so you've got that and then you've got the more modern ones. But then it comes in with you get girls. I mean, they come in and you can't sleep with them or anything like they're just hosts. Just like a strip club. Brian Schoenborn 44:48 They are hoooosts. Chozie Ma 44:48 They don't take the clothes off. They don't, you can't grab them. They just come in and they drink with you and they sing for you. Brian Schoenborn 44:54 Yeah. Chozie Ma 44:54 So it's more about a business entertainment. It's more about taking your clients there. Brian Schoenborn 44:58 Yeah. Chozie Ma 44:58 You're drinking there and all you take You just get to buddy thing you just go hang out. Brian Schoenborn 45:03 It's like the boys club kind of thing. Chozie Ma 45:05 It's a boy's club, but, in saying that, you think you think like maybe the wives and the girlfriends would get angry. But in China, they don't, because they have yadian, which is the KTV for women and Ya means Duck, so it's a duck house. So chicken means the girls in those places, this is a Chinese translation, so I'm not trying to say that to where it is and, and discuss people but it's just a translation. Brian Schoenborn 45:29 Yeah. Chozie Ma 45:29 So what I'm saying is that the men have their place to go for entertaining. And I'm telling you can't sleep with them. Brian Schoenborn 45:35 No, you don't, you don't. But the interesting thing about Chozie Ma 45:38 The women have their version. So they go out and have a girls night. Brian Schoenborn 45:42 Right? Right. Chozie Ma 45:42 And the guys go out and they have thier guy's night. Brian Schoenborn 45:43 And then they get these male or female hosts, whatever. Like I remember I've been to a couple of them too. And it's like right after you get situated in the KTV room, whoever works there, they open the door, just this parade of women goes through Chozie Ma 45:55 Yeah, the mama sun. Brian Schoenborn 45:58 Here comes this parade of women and basically, they're all pretty much wearing the same outfit, like the uniform, right? Chozie Ma 46:02 Yeah yeah yeah. Brian Schoenborn 46:03 But it's like this, you know, like I remember seeing like this little like, like dress like a yellowish dress, it was kind of form fitting at the top and maybe like a like a roughly thing. I don't want to say like a two two, that's a bit extreme, but you know, kind of like something like that. Chozie Ma 46:15 Yeah, their version of sexy. Brian Schoenborn 46:16 Fluffy or whatever. Where it's, you know, a little fluffier on the bottom. This is what I'm recalling. You know, it's been a year since I've been back, since I've been there. But yeah, so they bring out this parade of women and you basically you point and you pick pick which one you like, and they'll they'll hang out with you the whole night. And they'll pour drinks for you. Chozie Ma 46:32 I mean, it might some people might be getting put off by this but that they're not there. Brian Schoenborn 46:38 It's not it's not a brothel. Chozie Ma 46:39 Yeah, prostitution, there's a working there. Brian Schoenborn 46:42 It's just straight up entertainment. Chozie Ma 46:43 It's completely legal, like they've got benefits. It's a job you know, so so but it's like it is a good place for business and things. But my point is I they're very extravagant, the rooms, so I wanted to take that extravagance not the girls, the extravagance to a rave because I think the ballers that would buy that table are used to that kind of situation. So you have to dump like, you have to demographic, Brian Schoenborn 47:07 You got to go with what they like. Chozie Ma 47:08 With that like that like so I was like, how am I going to sell these tables for a million? Brian Schoenborn 47:11 Yep. Chozie Ma 47:12 Okay, the clientele the guys that go to these kind of places. As soon as I advertised that, that style of K, of that VIP they sold out in like a minute both of them. Brian Schoenborn 47:23 Hell yeah. Chozie Ma 47:24 You know what I mean? Like boom, done. And then all the VIP sold out, and so it's kind of like, all right, we're on the right track here and designing. So design has become a big thing for us for events and things like that. Brian Schoenborn 47:33 Well, that's cool, too. Because like once you have success with something like that, I mean, that concept that's gonna be pretty easy to duplicate, right? Chozie Ma 47:40 Yeah. Brian Schoenborn 47:40 I mean, so then you're just like, okay. Chozie Ma 47:42 For us. We've done it once we got it. We want to do the next thing again. Brian Schoenborn 47:45 Sure, yeah. Chozie Ma 47:46 More tech into it, or we add more, but I think it's all comes down to service. I think the biggest thing lacking in festivals in China, no matter they've got the budgets and the people. The service seems to be a little bit off. So we try to spend a bit more time on training and investment on the on the server. So we tell our clients, you know what, maybe drop one of the DJs. And you got another couple hundred thousand there. Brian Schoenborn 48:09 Yeah. Chozie Ma 48:09 Like, let's put that into really good bar management, better drinks into better food, you know, because I think you need that. Brian Schoenborn 48:15 Real alcohol. Chozie Ma 48:16 Real alcohol. Exactly. Because there's been a lot of fake alcohol. Brian Schoenborn 48:18 There's a lot of fake alcohol in China. Chozie Ma 48:20 Yeah. So, you know, just like trying to make the experience better for people. And I think that's just, it just goes with anything. It should it should be like that. If you're paying for something good. You need to be that lead with what you pay for. Brian Schoenborn 48:34 Nice. So are you working on anything else experience wise right now? Chozie Ma 48:38 Yes. So. So I mean, people might be thinking, What was he talking about experience and DJing, so… Brian Schoenborn 48:44 No, that's, that's awesome. Like, it's incredible stuff because Chozie Ma 48:46 No, so I'm trying to get to where I'll experience the experience in the tech comes from. Brian Schoenborn 48:50 Oh, okay. Chozie Ma 48:51 So I have a company called Article Projects International. And we started in 1995 doing rave parties in Sydney. So it was Chris Sefton. The founder was just doing lasers. I was the kind of guy breaking into the warehouses and, and and bringing like the DJs and just doing these underground raves, right? Slowly making money as teenagers and turned it into a business. So we've started we've started doing attractions, entertainment venues, and Chris started developing more and more technologies and we became into, into Asia. We built the Fountain of Wealth in Singapore. Suntech City as an attraction, world's largest water screen projection mapping. Brian Schoenborn 49:27 Nice. Chozie Ma 49:28 And then we just kept going and going with in 2005, Zhang Yimou, the director of the Beijing 2008 Olympics and China's claim to fame of most famous director in China. Most respected. Brian Schoenborn 49:42 He was the one

DJ Chozie Ma is the top selling EDM artist in China and Taiwan. Chozie, an Australian by birth, has spent over 22 years in Beijing, building the EDM scene from scratch, beginning with clubs and albums, as well as partnering with the man behind the music at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, to VVIP travel experiences, interactive domes, and organic skincare and health solutions. He is a man of many hats and successful across many spectrums. We dive into his DJ, club and travel experience as well as his current enterprises in immersive dome experiences, VVIP travel, and organic skincare line Greener Ways Organic.

En este capítulo 132 de “Un paseo por Shanghái” hablo un poco más sobre mi viaje a las montañas Huang. ----- ------ ------ ------Busca los enlaces de este episodio en https://emilcar.fm/shanghai donde también esperamos tus comentarios. Si quieres colaborar con el podcast, dona un par de euros, yuanes, yenes o lo que encuentres por las rendijas del sofá, mediante paypal.me/marcmilian Los bocadillos de jamón en China valen su peso en oro, casi literalmente, y ya sabéis que sin jamón un español no puede vivir :-]

En este capítulo 132 de “Un paseo por Shanghái” hablo un poco más sobre mi viaje a las montañas Huang. ----- ------ ------ ------Busca los enlaces de este episodio en https://emilcar.fm/shanghai donde también esperamos tus comentarios. Si quieres colaborar con el podcast, dona un par de euros, yuanes, yenes o lo que encuentres por las rendijas del sofá, mediante paypal.me/marcmilian Los bocadillos de jamón en China valen su peso en oro, casi literalmente, y ya sabéis que sin jamón un español no puede vivir :-]

Jeff and Kirk do their first Christmas gift guide. But they don't choose (much) gear. Hosts: Jeff's website (https://jeffcarlson.com), Jeff's photos (https://jeffcarlson.com/portfolio/), Jeff on Instagram (http://instagram.com/jeffcarlson) Kirk's website (https://www.kirkville.com), Kirk's photos (https://photos.kirkville.com), Kirk on Instagram (https://instagram.com/mcelhearn) Show Notes: (View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co (https://www.photoactive.co/home/episode-29-christmas-gift-guide)) Zeiss Pre-Moistened Lens Cleaning Wipes (https://amzn.to/2SxY0in) Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment (https://amzn.to/2PBphhW) Pete Souza: Obama: An Intimate Portrait (https://amzn.to/2Ph6UPa) Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers (https://amzn.to/2PCOt7M) Seagate Expansion 2TB Portable External Hard Drive (https://amzn.to/2Pj0pLJ) Michael Kenna: Huangshan: The Yellow Mountain (https://amzn.to/2PDrXvt) Michael Kenna's gallery of his Huangshan photos (http://michaelkenna.net/gallery.php?id=8) Peak Design Everyday Backpack or Everyday Messenger Bag (https://www.peakdesign.com?rfsn=2042225.754301) Planet Earth II / Blue Planet II (https://amzn.to/2Lh80tN) Peter Lik (https://lik.com) Amazon (or other) gift cards (https://amzn.to/2rAujS5) Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast mailing list at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site (https://photoactive.co) to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed to the mailing list, you’re automatically entered. If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/photoactive/id1391697658?mt=2) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/photoactivecast/) to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

L'area del monte Huangshan offre dei panorami mozzafiato grazie ai suoi picchi granitici e alle formazioni nuvolose che si formano in mezzo ad essi. Situato nella provincia dell'Anhui, l'abitato di Huangshan offre anche un ricco patrimonio di villaggi storici e ricchi di tradizione.

2017-05-01 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.More than 3,100 government officials have been held to account for the poor implementation of pollution control measures. Environmental problems have been uncovered in all seven provincial level regions included in the environmental inspections by the central authorities. Inspectors have conducted their month-long reviews in Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities as well as in other provinces since late November. The performance audits exposed more than 15,000 violations.The inspection reports featured the complaint that governments have not focused enough attention on the environment. The failure has resulted in worsening air and water quality in some areas. In one case, Gansu province in northwest China made plans to control air pollution, but inspectors found that it had not fully implemented the measures. The province has failed to meet its air pollution reduction targets for 2014 and 2015. Inspectors also found a lack of assessment in Beijing, where seven districts failed to meet targets for 2014. The municipality did not release information or punish the officials responsible. This is Special English.China's manned submarine Jiaolong has gone through a dive simulation in Hainan Province to prepare for a deep descent in the South China Sea.The submarine stayed underwater for 18 minutes in the drill before returning to its support ship. The crew completed tasks including underwater training, practical operation and emergency escape.The ship's forthcoming South China Sea dive is part of the second stage of China's 38th ocean scientific expedition. The expedition will last for around four months.Officials say the drill was necessary to test the equipment and personnel. Currently the Jiaolong's "technological status" is stable and the cooperation among various departments is smooth.The submarine completed a deep-sea operation in the northwestern Indian Ocean earlier this year. It will also conduct surveys in the Yap Trench and the Mariana Trench.Named after a mythical dragon, the Jiaolong reached its deepest depth of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012. You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.China has begun a series of changes to the rules regarding permanent residence for foreign nationals in the country.A plan has been issued by the Ministry of Public Security. The "foreigner's permanent residence card" will be renamed as the "foreigner's permanent residence identity card".Similar to the identity cards used by Chinese citizens, foreigners' identity information will be embedded in the chips on the machine-readable cards. The information will be shared by railways, airlines, insurance agencies, hotels and banks.The old version cannot be read by machines, and foreigners often face difficulty in identity authentication. The reform aims to provide foreigners with easier access to public services.The new card can be obtained at the original registration authority, while the old version can still be used until the expiry date. Related technical work is expected to be finished by June, and then foreigners can apply for the new cards.Last year, 1,600 foreign nationals became permanent residents of China, an increase of 160 percent over the previous year. This is Special English.China is aiming to increase the scale of its cloud computing industry by more than 2.5 times from 2015 levels by 2019.According to a new government plan, the scale of the cloud computing industry will be expanded to 430 billion yuan, roughly 62 billion U.S. dollars, by 2019. The action plan was issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.Other targets include making breakthroughs in core technology, increasing cloud computing in manufacturing and government affairs, and strengthening the global influence of Chinese cloud computing companies.The ministry expects that two to three Chinese cloud computing companies will lead the global market within three years. It says cloud computing should be a strong support for China's manufacturing and Internet industries and help other social and economic sectors.The ministry pledged to enhance cloud computing network security and improve security regulation and relevant laws, as many users from key industries are still hesitating due to safety concerns.In the next three years, China will help boost cloud computing technology and encourage local governments to work with leading cloud computing companies to build public service platforms.You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.Chinese search engine Baidu has succeeded in using artificial intelligence to reconnect a man with his family 27 years after he was abducted.The company is working with a charity group dedicated to connecting missing children and their families. Baidu uses its cross-age facial recognition program to analyze pictures of abducted children and identifies potential matches through the comparison of selected facial features. The missing children's pictures were uploaded by the victims and their birth families. Thirty-three-year-old victim Fu Gui was born in Chongqing Municipality in western China. He was abducted in 1990 and later transferred to Fujian Province in southeastern China. He registered in 2009, and his birth family did the same in early 2017.Baidu's facial recognition program was able to draw up a short list of potential identities for the man from pictures uploaded to the site, and a DNA test later verified the correct match.Baidu has around 200 million sample pictures that it uses to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of its facial recognition program, which can be over 99 percent accurate.Baidu's founder and CEO Robin Li says artificial intelligence systems, including facial recognition, could be used to help find missing children. The company has suggested that there should be a central database with missing children's information installed. You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to crienglish.com. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. Now the news continues.Psychologists at the University of Manchester in Britain have revealed that they have come up with a new way of helping people overcome their fear of spiders.Dr. Warren Mansell says rather than encouraging arachnophobias to face their spider fears, which is the current approach of many therapists, giving people control over how much they approach or avoid what they are afraid of is more likely to help.Mansell based his findings on a theory known as Perceptual Control Theory. The study was published in Journal of Anxiety Disorders.People with a fear of spiders sat in front of a screen and they themselves were able to control how close or distant the spider would appear.He said Perceptual Control Theory predicts that it is vital for a client to have control over their experience of important elements of the environment including the sources of threat. He said control itself is pivotal for health and well-being.The team recruited a large sample of people with high levels of spider fear and asked them to list their reasons for avoiding spiders but also their reasons for approaching spiders.After completing a simple task, people reported avoiding spiders less in their everyday lives two weeks later, despite their fear, and without any prompting to do so.You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.A new study suggests that when Coffea arabica plants were subjected to even short-duration heat waves, they became unable to produce flowers and fruit. This means there would be no coffee beans and no coffee to drink.Researchers from the United States investigated how leaf age and heat duration affected Coffea arabica's recovery from heat stress during greenhouse testing. The study found that the younger "expanding" leaves were particularly slow to recover compared to mature leaves, and that none of the plants that endured the simulated heat waves produced any flowers or fruit.Coffea arabica is the dominant coffee-plant species on the globe. It grows in 80 countries in four continents in the tropics, accounting for 65 percent of the commercial production of the 9 billion kilograms of coffee consumed globally each year.The findings emphasized how sensitive Coffea arabica is to temperature. The leaf temperature is higher than the surrounding air temperature, which is a realistic result of global climate change.This is Special English.A British researcher says governments worldwide should invest in global approaches to learn how carbon capture and storage works, which is a realistic way of reducing carbon emissions. That's according to a commentary published online recently by the journal Nature Energy.David Reiner from the University of Cambridge, author of the commentary, said that like many new technologies, it is only possible to learn what works and what doesn't by building and testing demonstration projects at scale. He argues that by giving up on carbon capture and storage instead of working together to develop a global "portfolio" of projects, countries are turning their backs on a key part of a low-carbon future.Reiner says carbon capture and storage works by separating the carbon dioxide emitted by coal and gas power plants, transporting it and then storing it underground so that the carbon dioxide cannot escape into the atmosphere.However, the technologies have fallen out of favor with private and public sector funders in recent years. Corporations and governments worldwide, including most recently the UK, are abandoning the same technology they championed just a few years ago.The researcher says there are several reasons why carbon capture and storage seems to have fallen out of favor with both private and public sector funders, including costs, commercial pressure and timescales, as well as a lack of international cooperation.You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.A special edition of the "Ukraine-China" magazine has been launched to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Ukraine. The magazine features celebration remarks by the leaders of the two countries, as well as expert opinions on the historical path and the current state of China-Ukraine friendly relations.The publications highlight topics including the strategic partnership between China and Ukraine, interregional cooperation, trade and economic relations, as well as collaboration in science and education.The "Ukraine-China" magazine was first published in 1999 by the Kiev-based Institute of Oriental Studies. It was previously issued on an irregular basis, and became a periodical this year.This is Special English.An exhibition featuring conventional craftsmanship in Anhui Province has opened to the public at Beijing's Palace Museum.The exhibition showcases 85 works by 20 successors of national intangible cultural heritage from the eastern Chinese Province. The items on display include ink stones, ink and brush pens, lacquer ware and bamboo carvings. In ancient times, most calligraphy supplies used by Chinese emperors came from Huangshan city in the province. The Palace Museum and the city government launched a workshop last year, aiming to promote the craftsmanship and tourism development in the city.Mount Huangshan is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. It is known for its elegant architecture and high-quality green and black tea.That is the end of this edition of Special English. To freshen up your memory, I'm going to read one of the news items again at normal speed. Please listen carefully.（全文见周六微信。）

Un vell mapamundi esquin

Dr. Sanford Tom explores Huangshan (or the Yellow Mountain), which is often considered the most beautiful as well as the strangest mountain in China.