Podcasts about Mobike

Otavio Miranda participou da criação da Gabriel, uma inovadora empresa de segurança pública baseada no monitoramento por câmeras.Nesta entrevista ao Podcast oa!, ele fala dessa experiência e dos cinco anos que passou na China, onde se formou e trabalhou em empresas de tecnologia como Kwai e Mobike, durante o 'boom' tecnológico chinês.Assista a entrevista completa no Youtube: https://youtu.be/OLCsImB31OYO Podcast OA! é um programa de entrevistas com convidados de diversos setores da sociedade.       Podcast OA! histórias boas para ver e ouvir.      Chegou o plano para quem é Antagonista de carteirinha.      2 anos de assinatura do combo O Antagonista e Crusoé com um super desconto de 30% adicional* utilizando o voucher 10A-PROMO30.      Use o cupom 10A-PROMO30 e assine agora:     podcast-oa! (https://bit.ly/promo2anos-pod-oa)    (*) desconto de 30% aplicado sobre os valores promocionais vigentes do Combo anual.      Promoções não cumulativas com outras campanhas vigentes. Promoção limitada às primeiras 500 assinaturas.  

Otavio Miranda participou da criação da Gabriel, uma inovadora empresa de segurança pública baseada no monitoramento por câmeras.Nesta entrevista ao Podcast oa!, ele fala dessa experiência e dos cinco anos que passou na China, onde se formou e trabalhou em empresas de tecnologia como Kwai e Mobike, durante o 'boom' tecnológico chinês.Assista a entrevista completa no Youtube: https://youtu.be/OLCsImB31OYO Podcast OA! é um programa de entrevistas com convidados de diversos setores da sociedade.       Podcast OA! histórias boas para ver e ouvir.      Chegou o plano para quem é Antagonista de carteirinha.      2 anos de assinatura do combo O Antagonista e Crusoé com um super desconto de 30% adicional* utilizando o voucher 10A-PROMO30.      Use o cupom 10A-PROMO30 e assine agora:     podcast-oa! (https://bit.ly/promo2anos-pod-oa)    (*) desconto de 30% aplicado sobre os valores promocionais vigentes do Combo anual.      Promoções não cumulativas com outras campanhas vigentes. Promoção limitada às primeiras 500 assinaturas.  

Otavio Miranda participou da criação da Gabriel, uma inovadora empresa de segurança pública baseada no monitoramento por câmeras.Nesta entrevista ao Podcast oa!, ele fala dessa experiência e dos cinco anos que passou na China, onde se formou e trabalhou em empresas de tecnologia como Kwai e Mobike, durante o 'boom' tecnológico chinês.Assista a entrevista completa no Youtube: https://youtu.be/OLCsImB31OYO Podcast OA! é um programa de entrevistas com convidados de diversos setores da sociedade.       Podcast OA! histórias boas para ver e ouvir.      Chegou o plano para quem é Antagonista de carteirinha.      2 anos de assinatura do combo O Antagonista e Crusoé com um super desconto de 30% adicional* utilizando o voucher 10A-PROMO30.      Use o cupom 10A-PROMO30 e assine agora:     podcast-oa! (https://bit.ly/promo2anos-pod-oa)    (*) desconto de 30% aplicado sobre os valores promocionais vigentes do Combo anual.      Promoções não cumulativas com outras campanhas vigentes. Promoção limitada às primeiras 500 assinaturas. 

For university students, grabbing a shared bike to join a few friends for an intercity evening ride covering 50 kilometers in Henan province may be the ultimate expression of enthusiasm for young cyclists. But as the number of participants grew, so did the problems. 对于大学生来说，扫一辆共享单车，和几个朋友一起在河南跨城夜骑50公里，可能是年轻骑行者热情的极大体现。但随着参与者的增多，问题也随之而来。The collective cycling trend has been a hit with university students in Henan, where groups of students big or small set off on shared bikes late at night and pedal for over five hours to cover the 50-km stretch from Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, to the city of Kaifeng.集体骑行在河南的大学生中已成为风潮，大大小小的学生在深夜骑着共享单车出发，经过五个多小时的跋涉，跨越从省会郑州市到开封市的50公里路程。The trend was inspired by four young women from Zhengzhou who set off on an impulse journey to try Kaifeng's famous guantangbao, a type of soup dumpling, on June 18. Leaving at around 7 pm, they cycled on shared bikes before being rewarded with a plate of steaming dumplings at their destination.这股“夜骑开封”的热潮源于今年6月18日。郑州的四名年轻女性为了品尝开封著名的灌汤包，踏上了一次说走就走的旅程。晚上7点左右，她们骑着共享单车出发，在目的地吃到了热气腾腾的灌汤包。Their adventure quickly went viral on social media. In fact, it became such a sensation that a hashtag, "Youth has no price, night ride to Kaifeng has it," has become a popular topic. 她们的经历迅速在社交媒体上走红。事实上，这已经引起了轰动，“青春没有售价，夜骑开封拿下！”成为了热门话题。What began as a spontaneous trip for dumplings has turned into a symbol of youthful energy and has enabled others to bask in the joy of shared experiences. The bike ride has become so popular that, on some nights, long lines of cyclists can be seen stretching across the road.最初只是为了吃灌汤包而自发进行的骑行，如今已成为青春活力的象征，也让其他人沉浸在类似经历的喜悦中。自行车骑行变得大受欢迎，在某些夜晚，可以看到骑行者在马路上排起长队。However, what began as an exciting adventure also led to a series of problems.然而，激情洋溢的冒险也引发了一系列问题。With large numbers of students riding together, the influx of cyclists caused traffic disruptions, particularly as some groups blocked lanes or rode side by side.由于大量学生一起骑车，骑行者的涌入造成了交通混乱，特别是一些团体并排骑车或堵塞车道。In response to the problem, both Zhengzhou and Kaifeng's traffic police announced temporary measures on Saturday afternoon. From 4 pm on Saturday to noon on Sunday, bike lanes along Zhengkai Avenue connecting the two cities will be closed to cyclists, they said in an announcement.针对这一问题，11月9日下午，郑州和开封的交警部门都宣布了临时措施。公告表示，从11月9日16时至10日中午，连接两市的郑开大道非机动车道将实行禁行措施。Meanwhile, residents in Kaifeng reported issues such as bikes being improperly parked near city landmarks, making it difficult for people to walk in these areas. And in Zhengzhou, a shortage of bikes at metro stations left many commuters stranded.与此同时，开封的居民反映了一些问题，如城市地标附近自行车乱停乱放，影响人们出行。而在郑州，地铁站附近的自行车数量不足给诸多通勤者带来不便。On Saturday, the three major bike-sharing platforms — Hellobike, DiDi Bike and Mobike — issued a joint notice stating that bikes will be locked if ridden outside of designated zones in Zhengzhou. It also warned people about the health risks of riding shared bikes for long distances.11月9日，三大共享单车平台哈啰、美团、青桔联合发布公告，称在郑州指定用车区域外骑行的共享单车将被锁定。公告还提醒人们注意长途骑行共享单车的健康风险。Also on Saturday, the Kaifeng government called on students to avoid riding in large groups, reminding them that "youth needs passion but also safety." It urged the students to take responsibility for their actions and consider public safety.同样在9日，开封市政府呼吁学生不要大规模集体骑行，提醒他们“青春要passion，更要平安”。官方呼吁学生们为自己的行为负责，并为公共安全考虑。Although the late night rides have been paused, the experience has left many students with fond memories.虽然夜骑活动已经暂停，但这段经历给许多学生留下了美好的回忆。Liu Lulu, a student at Henan University, said on Sunday that her experience was unforgettable and meaningful.河南大学学生刘露露10日表示，她的经历既难忘又有意义。"People sang together and cheered for each other while climbing uphill together," she said. "I could feel the passion of the young people. And it was much more than a bike ride."“大家一起唱歌，一起在爬坡时为彼此加油打气，”她说，“我能感受到年轻人的热情，这远不止是一次骑行。”She said she and other students at the university learned about the traffic restrictions and stricter controls installed on intercity cycling over the weekend.刘露露说，她和大学里的其他同学在周末了解到对跨城骑行实施的交通限制和更严格的管制。"Causing problems for the public is the last thing we want to do. Of course, we will follow the new rules and suggestions. I am sure we can show our vibrant spirit in other ways."“给公众带来麻烦是我们最不想做的事情。当然，我们会遵守新的规定和建议，相信我们可以通过其他方式展现我们朝气蓬勃的精神面貌。”shared bike共享单车intercityadj．城市间的baskv. 使……愉快而舒适vibrantadj. 充满生气的，精力充沛的

Htay Aung, CEO & Founder of Anywheel, and Jeremy Au talked about three main themes: 1. Early Inspiration and Challenges: Htay detailed his journey from an immigrant student facing cultural and language barriers in Singapore to becoming the founder of Anywheel. His initial inspiration came from dealing with traffic in Sydney and Singapore, which led to the idea of a bike-sharing service during his studies at the University of Sydney in 2017. He recounted the early challenges of integrating into a new culture and educational system, which shaped his entrepreneurial mindset. 2. Operational Learning Curve: Htay described the initial operational challenges of starting Anywheel including assembling the first bicycle at his home to navigating supply chain challenges like sourcing the initial 500 bicycles from manufacturers reluctant to deal with a small startup. He shared insights into early mistakes, such as ordering unassembled bikes, which led to significant logistical challenges. He also detailed how the company integrated IoT technology to enhance operational efficiency and meet regulatory compliance, particularly in response to Singapore's licensing regulations implemented by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in 2018. 3. Strategic Market Expansion: Htay emphasized strategic and financial decisions made during difficult period and his choice to reject venture capital funding to retain control over the company's strategic direction. He also discussed market expansion strategies and regulatory navigation and how the company adapted to changes and acquired competitors following the LTA's new rules in 2018. He also detailed that the acquisition of SG Bike was not only a business expansion but also a move to consolidate the market and enhance the overall industry reputation by assuming responsibility for its customer commitments. He discussed maintaining ethical business practices, particularly his decision not to charge user deposits—a decision made to foster trust and differentiate Anywheel from competitors like Mobike and Ofo. Jeremy and Htay also talked about the challenges in navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of trust, transparency, and hard work within the workplace, and his strategic plans for scaling operations while maintaining a strong focus on sustainability and community impact. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/htay-aung Nonton, dengar atau baca wawasan lengkapnya di https://www.bravesea.com/htay-aung-id 观看、收听或阅读全文，请访问 https://www.bravesea.com/blog/htay-aung-cn Xem, nghe hoặc đọc toàn bộ thông tin chi tiết tại https://www.bravesea.com/blog/htay-aung-vn Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VakR55X6BIElUEvkN02e TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Join us at Geeks on a Beach! Use the code "BRAVESEA" for a 45% discount for the first 10 registrations, and 35% off for the next ones.

This week's podcast is about ownership vs. access business models. It's a good framework for thinking about digital disruptors such as Airbnb, Uber and Mobike.You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts.Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting.———-I write, speak and consult about how to win (and not lose) in digital strategy and transformation.I am the founder of TechMoat Consulting, a boutique consulting firm that helps retailers, brands, and technology companies exploit digital change to grow faster, innovate better and build digital moats. Get in touch here.My book series Moats and Marathons is one-of-a-kind framework for building and measuring competitive advantages in digital businesses.Note: This content (articles, podcasts, website info) is not investment advice. The information and opinions from me and any guests may be incorrect. The numbers and information may be wrong. The views expressed may no longer be relevant or accurate. Investing is risky. Do your own research.Support the Show.

Shiyan Koh, Managing Partner of  Hustle Fund, and ​​Jeremy Au talked about three main themes: 1. 51% SE Asia Favor China (vs. USA): Jeremy and Shiyan debated how the region is politically and economically reacting to the China vs. USA's "strategic competition". If ASEAN decision-makers were forced to pick sides, 51% opted for China vs. 49% for USA (ISEAS Institute poll). Pro-China: Malaysia 75%, Indonesia 73%, Thailand 52%, Singapore 39%, Vietnam 21%, Philippines 17%. 2. Sequoia & GGV VC Decoupling: Jeremy and Shiyan discussed how global investment firms are structuring themselves to mitigate US-China risks. Sequoia spun off Peak XV and Hongshan, while GGV announced their split into Granite Asia and Notable Capital (USA). They discuss how Limited Partners (LP) are driving the geographic re-delineation of investment coverage, and why GGV and other funds are exploring more debt instruments. 3. Mobility Competitor Game Theory: Jeremy and Shiyan analyzed the bike-sharing market in Singapore, including public-private partnerships and challenges like weather and infrastructure. They were amused that Anywheel, a bootstrapped (unfunded by VC) company outlasted VC-backed competitors such as Mobike, Obike, and Ofo to win and become the market leader. They discussed how cash efficiency interacted with economies of scale, the promise of winner-takes-all markets, negative blitzscaling, and competitive game theory created the "boom vs. bust" nature of last-mile mobility startups. Jeremy and Shiyan also replied to listener feedback about overlooking Trump investment links in the TikTok ban issue, the role of public-private infrastructure partnerships in supporting infrastructure projects, and blitzscaling vs. sustainable growth strategies. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/sea-favor-china Nonton, dengar atau baca wawasan lengkapnya di https://www.bravesea.com/blog/sea-favor-chin-in 观看、收听或阅读全文，请访问 https://www.bravesea.com/blog/sea-favor-china-cn Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CeL3ywi7yOWFd8HTo6yzde TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Learn more about Grain here: https://www.grain.com.sg

Links: Azure's continuing security woes The Meeting Owl videoconference device apparently had significant security problems  Brandon Sherman writes about how Temporal structures its access control strategy with regard to AWS  This week's S3 Bucket Negligence Award goes to Mobike.   Cloud Functions or Cloud Run launched from any GCP organization can bypass Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Authorized Networks restrictions Proof of someone migrating to SSO and disabling IAM users entirely.  AWS blog post about IAM policy types: How and when to use them Tailscale

Star ordered to pay $46 million in overdue taxes, late fees and fines; ByteDance cuts salaries after ending weekend overtime policy; and Meituan probed over Mobike acquisition SPECIAL OFFER To enjoy 7-day complimentary access to caixinglobal.com and the English Caixin app visit this link: https://www.caixinglobal.com/institutional-activity/?code=J3XVJC

Chinese President calls for rules against monopolies and unfair competition to be strengthened. Xie Zhenhua will meet with John Kerry in Tianjin this week. The country limits the amount of time children can play video games. Plus, Moutai gets a new chairman.

This Podcast is for those startups & entrepreneurs, who have ever thought to start their own bike-sharing systems like Ofo, Mobike, and Limebike. Listen on to know how a bike-sharing app can change the world. Whether you are living in the USA, England, or Canada, you might have noticed that bikes are highly preferred by people for their daily commute. The apparently simple concept of a bike-sharing application has indeed swept across the globe in just a matter of a few years. Most Popular Bike Sharing Apps : Ofo – Beijing-based bicycle sharing App Mobike – Smart Bike Share App Spin – Sanfrancisco based Bicycle & Scooter Sharing App Jump – Rental Electric Bikes & Scooter App CitiBike – NYC based Bike Sharing System Reason Bike Sharing Apps Services Are Becoming Popular Affordable Rates Premium Bikes User-friendly Third-party Integration Strong Network Support Of Local Authorities There are a number of factors affecting the cost of developing a mobile app. However, it actually depends on app complexity, integrated features, and chosen Bike-Rental Mobile App Development Company which is the most essential in determining the cost. Still, puzzled and have any queries like the mobile app development cost Bike Sharing System? No worries, you can get in touch with us through our contact us form. One of our sales representatives will get back to you as soon as possible. The consultation is free of cost. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/echo-innovate-it/message

Recorded live Feb. 10, 2021.Q&A with Jack Yujie Yang who led the growth of Mobike, China's leading bikesharing company (acquired by Meituan for $2.7Bn in 2018) as VP of Growth & Product. He grew the company from 4 to over 200 cities, ~500k to over 30 million trips per day. He then joined MissFresh, one of China's grocery delivery unicorns ($3Bn+ valuation) as Chief Growth Officer. He is now working on his own e-commerce startup. We talk about:Growth in the US vs. ChinaSpecific growth tactics used at Mobike and MissFresh, such as red packets, WeChat mini programs, WeChat group chats, etc.Not all of these tactics can work in the US, why?Aside from favorable macroeconomics, some weaknesses Jack perceives in the Chinese market.Difference in (work) culture, equity incentives at Chinese startupsWhy Jack is working on e-commerce as his next opportunityCan mini programs be used effectively to test out new ideas?How do you find cofounders and employees?How do you hire, what do you look for?Influencer fatigue -- how are Chinese platforms combating this, if at all?Lots of great things about China speed, but what are the drawbacks?

Recorded live Feb. 10, 2021.Q&A with Jack Yujie Yang who led the growth of Mobike, China's leading bikesharing company (acquired by Meituan for $2.7Bn in 2018) as VP of Growth & Product. He grew the company from 4 to over 200 cities, ~500k to over 30 million trips per day. He then joined MissFresh, one of China's grocery delivery unicorns ($3Bn+ valuation) as Chief Growth Officer. He is now working on his own e-commerce startup. We talk about:Growth in the US vs. ChinaSpecific growth tactics used at Mobike and MissFresh, such as red packets, WeChat mini programs, WeChat group chats, etc.Not all of these tactics can work in the US, why?Aside from favorable macroeconomics, some weaknesses Jack perceives in the Chinese market.Difference in (work) culture, equity incentives at Chinese startupsWhy Jack is working on e-commerce as his next opportunityCan mini programs be used effectively to test out new ideas?How do you find cofounders and employees?How do you hire, what do you look for?Influencer fatigue -- how are Chinese platforms combating this, if at all?Lots of great things about China speed, but what are the drawbacks?

Huawei presentó su Centro Global de Transparencia de Ciberseguridad y Protección de la Privacidad, Dezba y EcoBici operan de manera legal en CDMX, pero se enfrentan a Mobike, y Adam Mosseri detalló cómo funcionan los algoritmos en Instagram.

Recorded live Feb. 10, 2021. Q&A with Jack Yujie Yang who led the growth of Mobike, China's leading bikesharing company (acquired by Meituan for $2.7Bn in 2018) as VP of Growth & Product. He grew the company from 4 to over 200 cities, ~500k to over 30 million trips per day. He then joined MissFresh, one of China's grocery delivery unicorns ($3Bn+ valuation) as Chief Growth Officer. He is now working on his own e-commerce startup. We talk about: Growth in the US vs. China Specific growth tactics used at Mobike and MissFresh, such as red packets, WeChat mini programs, WeChat group chats, etc. Not all of these tactics can work in the US, why? Aside from favorable macroeconomics, some weaknesses Jack perceives in the Chinese market. Difference in (work) culture, equity incentives at Chinese startups Why Jack is working on e-commerce as his next opportunity Can mini programs be used effectively to test out new ideas? How do you find cofounders and employees? How do you hire, what do you look for? Influencer fatigue -- how are Chinese platforms combating this, if at all? Lots of great things about China speed, but what are the drawbacks? 

Matthew Brennan is a speaker and writer focusing on Chinese mobile technology and innovation. In particular, he’s known for analysis of social ecommerce and WeChat, China’s famous super app and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. His opinions are often featured in global media (Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, BBC, The Financial Times, TechCrunch, Forbes, Quartz, TechinAsia, Wired, Harvard Political Review). He delivers presentations for executive teams seeking to gain insight into Chinese tech innovation. Matthew delivers a combination of inspiration and insight into the new wave of Chinese digital innovation. He has delivered presentations for companies including Google, Tencent, DHL, NBC Universal, Boston Consulting Group, LinkedIn, Schneider Electric and L’Oréal Group as well as for a large number of industry association conferences. He is also co-host of the China Tech Talk podcast produced together with China’s largest English language tech media, Technode & TechCrunch China. The podcast unpacks Chinese tech innovation and features guests from companies such as Tencent, JD, Xiaomi, Wall Street Journal, The Information and Mobike. His company China Channel organizes China’s largest WeChat marketing conference series for international companies. http://matthewbrennan.info/ Youtube: www.youtube.com/EloPodcast Instagram: www.instagram.com/EloPodcast/ https://linktr.ee/elopodcast Website: www.elopodcast.com Comentarios & Sugerencias: info@elopodcast.com

MoBike have raised close to a billion dollars in funding for their bike sharing startup which has expanded beyond their native country to be found all around the world. Their Co-founder and CTO, Joe Xia, tells Erin Griffith of Wired how they did this.Support the show (https://websummit.com/)

Văn phòng UBND TP.HCM vừa có kết luận của Chủ tịch UBND TP về đề xuất triển khai thí điểm xe đạp công cộng Mobike trên địa bàn quận 1, đây được xem là giải pháp nhằm giảm thiểu tình trạng kẹt xe, ô nhiễm môi trường; đồng thời tăng tính kết nối các loại hình giao thông khác.

Jack Yang is the Former Chief Growth Officer of MissFresh - a leading fresh grocery e-commerce platform in China, Former VP of Product/Growth of Mobike - Chinese bike-sharing startup that was acquired by Meituan for more than $3B and Former Product Manager of Uber and Facebook. Jack is currently working on a new startup and you can learn more about that in this episode of D Network podcast.

Mia Deng is a Partner at Dragonfly Capital, a global crypto-asset venture fund. Their first fund was $100M, and recently closed second fund has $225M of AUM. Dragonfly Capital is backed by firms like Sequoia Capital. Previously Mia was a Founding Member and the Head of Business Development at Amber Group, a leading crypto finance platform and also Product Manager at Mobike, which was later sold to Meituan for more than $3B. Dragonfly Capital website: https://www.dcp.capital/

In questo audio il prezioso incontro con Alberto Garutti artista e Adelaide Corbetta imprenditrice comunicazione.L'intervista con Alberto Garutti e Adelaide Corbetta è nel progetto Contemporaneamente a cura di Mariantonietta Firmani, il podcast pensato per Artribune. Incontri tematici con autorevoli interpreti del contemporaneo tra arte e scienza, letteratura, storia, filosofia, architettura, cinema e molto altro. Per approfondire questioni auliche ma anche cogenti e futuribili. Dialoghi straniati per accedere a nuove letture e possibili consapevolezze dei meccanismi correnti: tra locale e globale, tra individuo e società, tra pensiero maschile e pensiero femminile, per costruire una visione ampia, profonda ed oggettiva della realtà.Con Alberto Garutti e Adelaide Corbetta parliamo di arte e comunicazione. Di come sia importante risalire alle origini delle cose, di come l'artista può scendere dal piedistallo per fare un passo avanti verso la società. La comunicazione è un cappello molto ampio che abbraccia anche la pubblicità, ma parte da uno studio approfondito della realtà che poi vira su declinazioni molteplici. Parliamo dei limiti che sono benzina, necessari all'arte, e importantissimi per gli artisti capaci di accettare la sfide della storia. E molto altroAdelaide Corbetta fonda nel 2003 adicorbetta, studio di comunicazione che si occupa di progetti di arte visiva, architettura, made in Italy, senza dimenticare il mondo. Dal 2010 con Veronica Ventrella ha dato vita a Ruski Duski, agenzia specializzata nella comunicazione di prodotto, design, tecnologia. Tra i committenti Fabriano, Gruppo Fedrigoni, Chanel, Chiostro del Bramante Roma, Accademia Carrara di Bergamo, Opera di Santa Croce di Firenze, MACRO Roma, Associazione Abbonamento Musei, Milano PhotoWeek, Landscape Festival Bergamo, Fondazione Zegna, Il Sole 24 Ore, Artissima, Galleria Civica di Trento, Fondazione Torino Musei, Mobike, Casa Ricordi, Oliviero Toscani Studio, Inter - F.C. Internazionale, Terra Moretti, Bellavista, Planeta. Presidente di The Circle Italia Onlus, network fondato nel 2008 da Annie Lennox, è ambasciatore di Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo Onlus.Alberto Garutti, artista e docente, insegna pittura all'Accademia di Brera di Milano, ora allo IUAV di Venezia. Invitato a grandi eventi internazionali, come: Biennale di Venezia, Biennale di Istanbul, Serpentine Gallery di Londra. Vince il Premio Terna 02, e il Premio per la Cultura della città di Gand in Belgio. È membro di giuria nel premio Furla, presidente di giuria in Italian Studio Program al MoMA PS1 New York. Il suo lavoro per la Corale Vincenzo Bellini (2000) è selezionato nel 2011 da Creative Time di New York tra i 100 progetti pubblici più interessanti. Realizza molte opere permanenti: a Bergamo e Bolzano (in collaborazione con Museion), a Trivero per la Fondazione Zegna, a Cagliari per la sede Tiscali. L'opera “Tutti i passi” presso Aeroporto di Malpensa, la Stazione Cadorna, la Pinacoteca di Milano, in piazza S.M. Novella a Firenze e alla Biennale di Kaunas. Nel 2020, nuova opera permanente la Palazzo Ardinghelli sede Museo MAXXI a L'Aquila. Alberto Garutti allestisce mostre personali in molte gallerie in Italia e all'estero tra le quali: PAC Milano, Galleria Paul Maenz a Colonia, Galleria Minini a Brescia, Magazzino d'Arte Moderna a Roma, Studio Guenzani, Galleria Marconi a Milano, Buchmann Galerie a Lugano e Berlino, Galleria Massimo de Carlo a Milano. Numerose le collettive tra le quali: Palazzo Grassi a Venezia e Chicago, Fondazione Remotti di Camogli, Triennale di Milano, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo di Torino, al Vitra Design Museum, a Palazzo Cusani, a Palazzo Fortuny Biennale di Venezia 2017; all'Hangar Bicocca di Milano, nella Cattedrale neogotica di Ostenda, nel Palazzo del Quirinale a Roma, al museo Kestnergesellschaft di Hannover. Numerose le opere pubbliche realizzate per città e Musei: a Gand in Belgio per il Museo S.M.A.K., a Herford per il MARTA Museum, a Kanazawa in Giappone al Century Museum of Contemporary Art, a Mosca per il Moscow Museum of Modern Art, a Milano nel quartiere di Porta Nuova. La sua opera “Temporali” è stata installata al MAXXI di Roma, a Caorle (Ve), l'opera “Ai nati oggi” in Piazza del Popolo a Roma, a cura di Hou Hanru per il MAXXI.

Meet Kirby:    She is the founder of a PR and digital media firm The Impact Kind, based in Michigan whose clients had been featured in Business Insider, Parents Magazine, Thrive Global, and other mediums to increase lead sales and brand awareness. She's got some amazing tips and resources on her website at www.impactkind.com   Let's talk a little bit about what you did before starting your own firm, and how networking has impacted your life in corporate America.   I worked in sales at SME Society of Manufacturing Engineers, which focuses on conferences and events for the manufacturing community. But we were starting lots of new products and new industries like getting into aerospace and defense. So I was kind of the new product girl, I sold everything that was new there. Building relationships was a key component of how I got my job, and then how I made relationships in order to grow all the new products that we were creating. So it was lots and lots of fun and it was a great experience. Because I was really the only woman in that area, but it was awesome. So I made a lot of cool connections. That led to the next products that we were creating so we had speakers, and we had exhibitors based on meeting those initial contacts. So it was a great segue into what I do now.   How did living abroad ultimately inspire entrepreneurial growth?   I had a great opportunity to move to Shanghai, China. I was able to see so many different kinds of pop-ups and different ex-pats from different countries, start new businesses. For me, at the time, I was having my babies raising my family. But being surrounded by entrepreneurs that were really making it like, we have a friend who was a fellow coworker, at Ford Motor Company, an American company, so that's what took us out there. But he stopped working at Ford, he started Mobike and he's like a billionaire. He's got different slip stations all over the world now and he's still breaking into industries. It sounds simple, you have bikes that you can rent and it's kind of like the American version of the Zipcar. It's really just finding where can you solve a problem. He saw that lots of people can't really get on the metro, and there are lots and lots of them in China, and take your bike and everything else you need. So he created different stations where you can rent bikes and put them back. Just because we were surrounded by so many kinds of successful entrepreneurs and successful business owners that did leave corporate and decided to try something different, it gave me that inspiration that hey, you know, I can do that, too.    Can you share how making friends all over the world has helped you and really can help anyone that is interested in going into business?   I love to travel. So that's like my thing, right? My husband, he loves to travel to so our family, that's what we do. But when you travel, you get to learn that you have to trust people in like, very odd situations. Sometimes when you get off the plane you have to find the right taxi driver or you have the right person is going to take you to the hotel. Even in those small instances, you can learn so much about the culture, the area, and how to position yourself, because, in every business, you really want to focus on your audience. Who are you selling to? Who are you speaking to? I think when you learn a little bit more about where you are, like where you're going, when you're traveling, I think it's so important to learn a little bit about the culture from people that live there because you'll learn important things from locals. Then when you do that, you're going to be able to speak to other people that you meet around and not generalizing culture or a population, but just you'll have more of a background to really communicate more effectively with. So that's almost like creating any kind of avatar brand, you want to make sure that you are really speaking to your audience, or they would be more receptive to whatever you're selling. I think traveling is so incredibly inspiring, not just because you see new things, you learn new things because everyone has their own filter, right? So always going to this new place with, you know, their background, their experiences, but because it's near to them, they might notice things that if they live there for a long time, they wouldn't see them the same way. So it's always really interesting when you first go and you place and get to know the people. And then if you have like a language barrier it's funny to just look back and see like what you did to communicate well. Then when you get to learn more about the people, then you know, hey, I probably shouldn't use this as body language. I think that's really helpful when you're starting any business, is to make sure that you really learn a little bit more about the people that you're serving first, and then you start to build the message.    So can you share with our listeners, maybe one of your most successful or favorite networking stories that you've had?   In high school, I was a swim teacher, and one day, one of my fellow swim coaches said, "Hey, that lady might ask you to babysit, but I live on her street, don't babysit no matter what." Maybe it was just because we were in the water and I didn't hear her, but I took the job because she did ask me. I eventually started babysitting for her a lot more often and the other coach was never a babysitter again. Then the neighbor next door actually started to use my services as well. Then I was in college, and one of the neighbors asked me, "Hey, would you like to come to a networking event?" I had never been to a networking event and I didn't really know what it was all about, but I knew I had to dress up. I didn't even know what he did, but I knew he worked at a pharmaceutical company that I eventually wanted to go to work for. So I went to the event, and he met me there and said, "Hey, okay, I need you to take your sunglasses off your head, put your full name on your name tag." I walked in, and I kid you not everyone looks like Barbie, and Ken, everyone was gorgeous. I had no idea what was really happening. I was still too young to apply for a real job there, but he invited me to go. When everyone sat down, he was the main speaker, I had no idea! But it was a great experience and I'm glad that I went because it showed me what kind of competition is out there. So when you're going to be looking for a job, you have to find a way to stand out. Even though all these people are so gorgeous you know, they have all the things that you want on the resume, you still have to find a way to stand out. I think that was the most awesome experience that I remembered going to and even when I got my first job out of college, I remember calling him to say, thank you so much for inviting me to that of that because it made such a difference in even the job that I had, they didn't have a position open but because they saw that I was a hard worker, I was interning there. So they didn't have a budget for a full-time worker and they moved money and created a job for me and it was not making pennies, like a lot of my friends at a college. So it was really great experience to go to because then I saw Hey, I'm not just another kid in college, you know, thinking I'm just gonna get out and be rich, right? There's lots of competition that's more qualified than me and so I always kept that experience in my mind thinking, you know, there's always going to be someone better. But if I stand out and I really work hard, it's fine to make a difference.   Regardless of the size of your network, or the community that you're building, it's extremely important to stay in front of those individuals. How do you best nurture your network?   Staying connected through social media, I think is really important. I know, I like to help my clients focus on social media in their businesses. But I think for me, definitely social media, keeping people current. I would like to say this too that I don't usually show my children on social, on my personal Facebook, but they are on there sometime and I do share what we're doing. That's so people still feel like they're getting a glimpse. I think it's still important to know that you can be social on social media without sharing your whole life story. I think that's really important, even for your personal accounts, that you have a goal and a purpose. It's still possible to be totally social without feeling like your privacy is being invaded. So I know, there are lots of people who are afraid to network, but you can network through social media without sharing everything, if you have a plan of Here are a few things that I might not share, but here are things that I'm willing to share and keep people interested in what I'm doing and, you know, commenting on what they're doing and being helpful when people ask for recommendations or for help if you're able to help in any way, definitely do it.   So let's talk about giving advice to anyone that's really looking to grow their network, what do you have to offer?   If they're trying to be active on social just focus on, three key things like industry myths that they can debunk. So if everyone's telling you to do this, this is what you have found to be the goal, the one thing that worked. Hot tips, so like anything that you see that your competitors are doing, they're making, and they're making mistakes, here's a tip for you to do it the right way. Or even really basic things that you may not even think like who could know this, right? Those are very easy to share and be helpful. So that's like the authenticity and the value the people are always talking about. People always, "Be authentic, provide value," but people don't know what kind of value to share. So I'd really stick with like Hot Tips, mistakes people are making that you can help them with, and industry myths debunked so like anything the big competitors are doing that you're they're not addressing, just talk to people and help them with that. If you focus on those, you'll get a nice following.    If you could go back to your 20-year-old self, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of or differently with regards to your professional career?   I would tell myself to just enjoy every moment. I really would say that, enjoy every moment, because really, every connection has led to something else. Even if it wasn't a position for me, it was a position for like a family member or a friend. So really, keeping those connections close is really important. I think I would put something that my dad told me, that I still think about all the time is, you know, find one nice thing about someone., and that's always a conversation starter. Even if you can't find anything nice on a surface just look harder, and you'll find one nice thing about someone and that totally changes the perspective. So the to my 20-year-old self, one thing it would be to always find one nice thing about someone and it'll go even further.    Do you have any final words of advice for our listeners with regard to growing and supporting your network?   I would say the same thing. We've been kind of mentioning this whole podcast, being helpful. The follow up is so key to not only starting relationships but building relationships and really branding who you are as a person. Regardless of what business you choose, I think following up with people is not only courteous but essential to let people know who you really are. When people refer you, others know to contact this person and they will get right back to you. So whether you accept or decline, whatever it may be, that's coming your way, if you respond, and it's something that you're known for, that's saying something great about you.   Connect with Kirby:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirby-wilkerson-theimpactkind/    The Impact Kind Website: https://www.impactkind.com/ 

About life in Shanghai, where I lived from 2016 to 2019. You can feel the development of technology far more than living in Japan. I wondered why it wouldn't spread in Japan after I got into a life where I usually use WeChat Pay and Mobike, but on the other hand, bicycles such as Mobike overflow in the city and interfered with pedestrian walking. Looking at it, I felt there are merits and demerits. I understood that the approach of the country and the company also has a national character. 2016年から2019年まで暮らしていた上海での生活についてです。 日本に住むより遥かにテクノロジーの発展を身を以て感じられます。ウィチャットやモバイクを普通に使って生活している生活になれると、何故日本で普及しないんだろうと不思議に思う反面、モバイクなどの自転車が街に溢れて歩行者の歩行を邪魔していく様子をみると、猪突猛進、見切り発車感も否めず一長一短。 何だか国や会社の取り組み方にも国民性がでるんだな〜と体感。 --- 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

Welcome to the first episode of our new series “Inside the VC Mind” where we bring you the professionals from the venture capital world, who will deliver their observations, thoughts, and opinions.Today we are going to talk about the top one mistake that founders make during the fundraising process, with Helen Wong, Partner at Qiming Venture Partners, Gary Yang, Founding Partner at SkySaga capital, and Jeff Chi, Partner at Vickers Venture.EPISODE NOTESOur guests:Helen WongHelen is Partner at Qiming Venture Partners and a founding team member at GGV Capital. Qiming is an early to growth stage venture capital firm, which currently manages four USD funds and three RMB funds with over $1.7 billion in assets.Helen's successful exits at Qiming include Mobike (sold to Meituan), Luojiswei (unicorn valuation, sold to Tencent), and Lagou (sold to 51jobs). Helen was awarded by Forbes as Top100 VCs in China in 2018.Gary YangGary is Founding Partner at SkySaga Capital and Director of the China Venture Capital Association. Graduated from Tsinghua University, one of the top universities in China and the world, Gary is an experienced investor who led the investment of dozens of companies, including Yanjiyou, a well-known bookstore chain brand in China, Pencil Media, an upcoming tech media focusing on startup news, and more.SkySaga Capital is an early to growth stage venture capital firm, with a focus on industrial upgrades such as consumption upgrade and supply chain upgrade, and deep tech such as AI and biotech.Jeff ChiJeff is Founding Partner at Vickers Venture Partners and Former Chairman at Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association.Vickers is a global venture capital firm with US$700 million focused on early-stage investments in Asia and beyond. The firm announced in 2017 that it has raised US$230 million to invest in startups around the world, with a particular focus on deep tech across the globe and impact investments in emerging markets. Vickers has 8 offices around the world and is one of the largest venture capital firms in Singapore and Shanghai.Show Notes:01:04 Talk with Helen Wong06:14 Talk with Gary Yang10:19 Talk with Jeff ChiMany thanks to our guests; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.comShare, subscribe, review, enjoy!Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/Email us: team@chinastartuppulse.com

Our guests:Helen WongHelen is Partner at Qiming Venture Partners and a founding team member at GGV Capital. Qiming is an early to growth stage venture capital firm, which currently manages four USD funds and three RMB funds with over $1.7 billion in assets.Helen's successful exits at Qiming include Mobike (sold to Meituan), Luojiswei (unicorn valuation, sold to Tencent), and Lagou (sold to 51jobs). Helen was awarded by Forbes as Top100 VCs in China in 2018.Gary YangGary is Founding Partner at SkySaga Capital and Director of the China Venture Capital Association. Graduated from Tsinghua University, one of the top universities in China and the world, Gary is an experienced investor who led the investment of dozens of companies, including Yanjiyou, a well-known bookstore chain brand in China, Pencil Media, an upcoming tech media focusing on startup news, and more.SkySaga Capital is an early to growth stage venture capital firm, with a focus on industrial upgrades such as consumption upgrade and supply chain upgrade, and deep tech such as AI and biotech.Jeff ChiJeff is Founding Partner at Vickers Venture Partners and Former Chairman at Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association.Vickers is a global venture capital firm with US$700 million focused on early-stage investments in Asia and beyond. The firm announced in 2017 that it has raised US$230 million to invest in startups around the world, with a particular focus on deep tech across the globe and impact investments in emerging markets. Vickers has 8 offices around the world and is one of the largest venture capital firms in Singapore and Shanghai.Show Notes:01:04 Talk with Helen Wong06:14 Talk with Gary Yang10:19 Talk with Jeff ChiMany thanks to our guests; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.comShare, subscribe, review, enjoy!Follow us on LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/Email us: team@chinastartuppulse.com

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Jay Thornhill. Jay is an Australian-American whose one-year stay in China has lasted thirteen years. He is a cofounder and Head of Product Development at Baopals.Near the end of 2015, Jay and two close American friends, Charlie and Tyler, set out to make China’s largest online shopping platforms accessible and convenient for non-Chinese. They had no experience in ecommerce, no funding or guanxi, and plenty of legal, financial and technological uncertainty. However, they knew this problem needed to be solved, and there was nothing in the market like the solution they wanted.On March 1st, 2016, they launched Baopals (baopals.com). Baopals is a bridge to all products and sellers from Taobao, Tmall and JD, updating in real time and catered to foreign shoppers. In 4 years, the platform has helped expats in China purchase over 4 million items for CNY250 million in gross merchandise value. What are the most exciting trends you are seeing in China today?The speed with which China and its people build new infrastructure, adopt new technology, and take up new habits is a sight to behold. It’s taken for granted now that you can purchase anything you want with a few clicks on the phone and have it delivered to your door quickly and cheaply. Easy access to low-cost products and services is nothing new here, but consumers’ preferences are evolving too. Because China’s economy and culture changed so drastically the past 50 years, the generation gap might be wider here than almost anywhere in the world. The younger generation tends to be more open-minded, competitive, individualistic, and optimistic. A growing number want to carve their own paths, take more risks, try out more hobbies and interests, and live a more varied lifestyle than previous generations. It’s all relative, and China remains far off from the individualism and “pursuit of happiness” ethos of American culture, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of balance is struck going forward.How has the coronavirus affected your business and other businesses in your industry?At the start of 2020, the outbreak looked as if it was going to have a dramatic effect on China but not the rest of the world. A lot of expats in China hurried to fly back home or travel while waiting for COVID to get contained in China. Since Baopals is built entirely for non-Chinese shoppers, we saw a drop of about 35% in sales almost overnight as expats fled the country. Then the outbreak turned into a worldwide pandemic and the borders were closed, so it became clear to us we weren’t getting those customers back for a while, and we wouldn’t benefit from new foreigners arriving in China for a while.Because of lockdown measures, we had nearly all of our staff working remotely in February, which meant there were 3 or 4 of us working in a 3-story house built for a team of 50 and costing us an arm and a leg. Without an end in sight, we built new backend tools to better manage remote work, including a fully automated points and rewards system for our staff. When we saw how well everyone was working from home, we decided to ditch the office and we never looked back. The pandemic forced a lot of companies and individuals to experiment with remote work, and I think many have found it to be more viable than expected.Our numbers rebounded more quickly than expected, possibly from shoppers preferring online shopping more now than in pre-pandemic times. With the improved efficiency we’re set up nicely for growth, and we’ve recently soft launched international service to do just that.What is one thing people outside of China misunderstand about the regionOver the years I’ve become a bit guarded whenever the topic of China comes up with family or friends back home. I have to first assess whether they are genuinely curious about Chinese people and my experience in China, or whether they’re merely seeking to confirm views shaped by western media. If it’s the latter, then they likely won’t be receptive to certain ideas. For example, that many expats feel they enjoy more freedom and opportunity in China than they did in their homelands. Or the idea that Chinese people are not brainwashed – at least, no more brainwashed than the average person nowadays. Most Chinese are proud of their country’s achievements without blindly agreeing to all of the ruling party’s politics. They tend to be defensive when China is criticized, and they’re justified in feeling that western media has a negative bias towards China. The truth is often more nuanced than what is presented, and western media typically avoids anything positive that might be said about China. When one’s homeland is criticized by those who have little to no experience with the country, some defensiveness is to be expected. What are some companies you admire in China?China’s tech giants deserve a lot of admiration. Alibaba built the world’s best shopping platform in Taobao, with the most products at the best prices. The only problem is that it was built entirely for Chinese – and therein lay the opportunity for us to create Baopals, making Taobao easy for non-Chinese to enjoy.Tencent has created, in my opinion, the most useful app in existence. WeChat has grown from a typical messaging app to a do-it-all digital platform that those in China can’t imagine living without. It’s an ecosystem for social life, payments, media, online shopping, gaming, events, and a wealth of other services. One of the first things we did as a company was create our official WeChat service account, which allows users to easily shop on Baopals without leaving WeChat. The bulk of our content and payments come through WeChat, so much so that in over four years we still haven’t built stand-alone apps (they are coming, though!).I’m also a big fan of other platforms that make life in China more convenient, including DiDi (China’s Uber, with incredibly low fares and an English version to boot), Ele.me and Meituan for food delivery, and Hello Bike or Mobike for biking all over the city.What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to someone trying to get their business to thrive in this time period?If there’s any one-size-fits-all advice, it’s to focus on profitability above all else. That may seem obvious, but this seems to be forgotten all too often in the startup scene today. In the second year of Baopals, we got caught up in the hype of top-line growth, media attention, and potential fundraising instead of focusing on what really matters: the bottom line. Our sales doubled while our net profit fell nearly 70%. Once we shut out the distractions and honed our focus on profitability, we found all kinds of ways to improve efficiency and earnings. With the right focus, you can grow your net earnings and improve cash flow even when top line sales are falling. That helps you get through difficult times and thrive on the rebound.Quickfire QuestionsA - What’s the best thing you have watched recently? (Film, TV Show, Ted Talk, Youtube Video, etc.)I’m enjoying the sci-fi series Raised by Wolves, about androids attempting to raise children and build a colony after leaving a post-apocalyptic Earth. It’s well crafted, visually stunning, and thought provoking. I always enjoy science fiction for being imaginative and exploring the unknown, while ultimately being about us. It’s also a great way to take my mind off anything that might be stressing me out in the real world!B - What’s the best thing you have read recently? (Book, Article, Research Report, Tweetstorm, etc.)I’m a big believer in Bitcoin, and there are a lot of exciting things happening in the crypto space these days. Bitcoiners have long anticipated corporations and central banks beginning to hold Bitcoin reserves, so the recent news that MicroStrategy allocated the vast majority of its cash reserves (over $400 million) to Bitcoin feels like a watershed moment. News just broke that Square has also begun purchasing Bitcoin, and no doubt more corporations are discussing how to do the same.C - What’s the best thing you have listened to recently? (Song, Album, Artist, Podcast, Audiobook, etc.)“Burn the House Down” by AJR. Never mind the dark lyrics; you can’t help feeling good and adding bounce to your step with this song playing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

Außerdem: Britta Weddeling, Chefredakteurin der Bits & Pretzels, über das Digitalisieren von Konferenzen Mikromobilität ist ein Wachstumsmarkt. In den letzten Jahren sind Elektroroller-Anbieter wie Tier, Lime und Bird auf den Straßen der größten deutschen Städte aufgetaucht. Aber auch Fahrrad-Verleiher wie Mobike oder FordBike buhlen um den Parkplatz auf den Gehwegen. Sie alle vereint ein Ziel: Fußgänger auf der Kurzstrecke schneller an das Ziel zu bringen. Zur nächsten Haltesteller, zum Supermarkt oder noch schneller nach Hause. 65% der Investments seit 2015 gehen dabei in chinesische Mobilitäts-Start-ups. 11% in US-Start-ups und 18% in junge Unternehmen aus Europa. Das zeigen die Daten von Dr. Robin Tech, dem Gründer der Market Intelligence Datenbank delphai.com. Er analysiert in dieser Ausgabe des Tech Briefings die wichtigsten Zahlen aus der Welt der Mikromobilität. Sein Gesprächspartner ist Leonard von Harrach. Nachdem er Stratege bei Moia war, ist er Geschäftsführer von NextBike geworden. Vor 16 Jahren ist der Rad-Sharing-Anbieter in Leipzig gegründet worden. Im Gegensatz zu vielen jüngeren Konkurrenten, hat NextBike ein funktionierendes Geschäftsmodell aufgebaut. Wie das funktioniert, verrät von Harrach in diesem Podcast. Außerdem ist Britta Weddeling zu Gast. Die Chefredakteurin der Bits & Pretzels, Europas größter Konferenz für Gründer, spricht darüber, wie man das Veranstaltungsgeschäft in Zeiten von Corona digitalisieren kann. Bei der Flut an Online-Veranstaltungen gibt es eine gewisse Zoom-Fatigue, der man mit guten Konzepten begegnen muss, um sein Publikum auch digital zu begegnen. Moderation: Daniel Fiene Abonnieren Sie auch den begleitenden Tech Briefing Newsletter: https://www.thepioneer.de/originals/tech-briefing See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Die Themen * remind.me sammelt Millionen ein #EXKLUSIV * Mobike Deutschland ist insolvent #EXKLUSIV * So1: Insolvenzverfahren eröffnet #EXKLUSIV * Zeitgold gibt auf – Neustart als Sorted * Elevat3 legt Fonds auf (125 Millionen) * Exits: HelloBody, Hornetsecurity, Fernarzt * Investments: Auto1, DyeMansion, Qualifyze * Startup der Woche: Yepoda Sponsoren gesucht Hier ist Platz für eure Werbebotschaft! Wenn ihr einmal im ds-Podcast werben möchtet, schreibt bitte an podcast@deutsche-startups.de. Ihr möchtet das Team von deutsche-startups.de einfach so unterstützen? Gerne! Via Paypal könnt ihr uns ganz einfach den Betrag eurer Wahl zukommen lassen: www.paypal.me/deutschestartups. Startup-Radar Kennt ihr schon unseren neuen Newsletter Startup-Radar? Für den Startup-Radar geht die Redaktion von deutsche-startups.de jede Woche auf die Suche nach jungen Startups, die noch nicht jeder kennt. Jetzt 14 Tage lang kostenlos testen: https://startupradar.substack.com. Zudem gibt es den Startup-Radar jetzt auch als Podcast. In unserem Pitch-Podcast können Gründer ihre Idee in maximal 180 Sekunden vorstellen. Schickt uns euren Audio-Pitch! Entweder per Mail oder per WhatsApp. Über uns Der deutsche-startups.de-Podcast besteht aus den Formaten #Insider, #News, #Interview und #StartupRadar. Im Insider-Podcast kommentieren OMR-Podcast-Legende Sven Schmidt und ds-Chefredakteur Alexander Hüsing offen, schonungslos und ungefiltert die wichtigsten Startup- und Digital-News aus Deutschland. Zudem liefert der Podcast, der Woche für Woche Szenegespräch in der Startup-Welt ist, exklusive Nachrichten und Insider-Infos, die man sonst nirgendwo bekommt. Der News Podcast liefert einen Überblick über das aktuelle Geschehen in der deutschen Startup-Szene. Im Interview-Podcast holen wir Gründer, VCs und Szenekenner vors Mikrofon. Mehr unter: www.deutsche-startups.de/tag/DSPodcast/ Anregungen bitte an podcast@deutsche-startups.de. Unseren anoynmen Briefkasten findet ihr hier: www.deutsche-startups.de/stille-post/

In this class, I talk about what can be done with Luckin Coffee post-scandal. Should another company or investor buy it?You can listen here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya.Who should buy Luckin Coffee? Choose an option.Starbucks711 or other convenience storeHeyTeaAlibaba or other ecommcerce companyFinancial investorsRelated podcasts and articles on Luckin and Heytea:What Should Starbucks China Have Done About Luckin Coffee? (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Podcast 3)Will Luckin, Mobike, Didi or WeWork Ever Be Profitable? (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Podcast 6)My Interview With Huawei About Their 2019 Financials. Plus Fraud at Luckin Coffee. (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Podcast 24)Forget Luckin. Starbucks’ Most Interesting China Competitor is HeyTea (pt 1 of 2)While Luckin Fights Starbucks, HeyTea Has Lines Out the Door in China (pt 2 of 2)This is part of Learning Goals: Level 4-5, with a focus on:#21 New Retail and Value Added DealsConcepts for this class:New RetailCompany Quality: Good / Great / Bad / Too HardAlwaleed and Surgical Value Add / Value PointCompanies for this class:Luckin CoffeeHeytea———-I write and speak about digital China and Asia’s latest tech trends.I also teach Jeff’s Asia Tech Class, an online course and daily commentary for busy executives on Asia tech and China’s digital leaders.Support the show (https://jefftowson.com)

In today’s episode: China’s three largest mobile carriers jointly develop 5G-enabled messaging service; Meituan Dianping clashes with Italian startup Idri BK over Mobike; and behind the central bank’s latest efforts to revive the economy.   Read further coverage at caixinglobal.com

Interested in product management and/or working in tech? Curious about how a liberal arts international student landed prestigious Product Manager roles in the U.S. and abroad? Listen now to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/careerbites.ohmaneats/support

01:46 Introduce Peter Mao03:11 Introduce Panda Capital05:35 The geographic focus for investment06:17 How to react to the current downturn07:49 Is it now a bad timing for deep technology companies?11:07 The industries that can thrive from the COVID-19 crisis12:51 The risky companies to invest14:22 Three types of companies that are risky but full of opportunities19:17 Are Chinese VCs looking for more obvious winners?22:21 How to evaluate risks25:30 How Peter evaluates founders and teams27:20 The business metrics Peter care about30:00 Deal breakers for Series A companies35:50 Why Panda Capital has a different investment strategy41:05 How to contact PeterMany thanks to our host Oscar Ramos; our guest Peter Mao; producer Eva Shi; editors David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsors People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.comShare, subscribe, review, enjoy!Follow us on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/Email us: team@chinastartuppulse.com

Venture Capital is about venture and investing in startups that are doing something that has never been done. Still, a lot of investors think more about the risks associated with new technologies and business models that potentially will work. Today's guest clearly looks at the risky opportunities, not just as best for investment but the only ones worth considering. Peter Mao is Co-founder and Partner at Panda Capital. During his over 12-year experience in the venture capital firms, he has been part of the investment team behind companies like Xiaomi and more recently Mobike, a bike-sharing company where he led the Series B and eventually exited it at USD 2.7billion within just 18 months. In this episode, Peter will talk about Panda Capital's three preferred risky areas for investment, their data-driven investment approach and how he evaluates both external factors (e.g. market) or internal ones (e.g. team) during the Due Diligence process. He will also share the most common deal breakers he saw in the past for Series A companies. EPISODE NOTES01:46 Introduce Peter Mao03:11 Introduce Panda Capital05:35 The geographic focus for investment06:17 How to react to the current downturn07:49 Is it now a bad timing for deep technology companies?11:07 The industries that can thrive from the COVID-19 crisis12:51 The risky companies to invest14:22 Three types of companies that are risky but full of opportunities19:17 Are Chinese VCs looking for more obvious winners?22:21 How to evaluate risks25:30 How Peter evaluates founders and teams27:20 The business metrics Peter care about30:00 Deal breakers for Series A companies35:50 Why Panda Capital has a different investment strategy41:05 How to contact PeterMany thanks to our host Oscar Ramos; our guest Peter Mao; producer Eva Shi; editors David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsors People Squared.Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.comShare, subscribe, review, enjoy!Follow us on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/Email us: team@chinastartuppulse.com

This week Oliver interviews Mina Nada, CEO of Bolt Bikes, about their business leasing ebikes to delivery gig workers like UberEATS/Deliveroo/DoorDash in the UK, US and Australia. Given everything happening right now with COVID19 and the explosion in delivery based meal consumptions, this is a great interview.Specifically, we dig into:- Mina’s background at Bain, Deliveroo and Mobike, and how that prepared him for Bolt Bikes. - The unit economics of their business, including 6 month paybacks, 3 year cycles and 66% residual value for depreciated bikes. - How most markets are still allowing takeaway and delivery during COVID19 lockdowns. - How couriers calculate the costs and tradeoffs of leasing vs owning their own vehicles (ie. bikes, ebikes vs mopeds) and why the end-to-end and flexible nature of access positions Bolt well to solve the job to be done. - Their plans for expansion and vertical integration into their own Bolt hardware- A discussion about ebikes and the future of the fleet, including e-mopeds and the newly released Arcimoto delivery vehicle. - Bolt’s ability to raise debt capital to fund expansion- Why they plan to double down on B2B rentals, and not focus at all on B2C. It was a great discussion - well worth listening to!

Apple Pay to support Alipay, WeChat and Mobike selected for the 100 Great Designs of Modern Times, Carrefour China owner Suning reports 17% drop, Pinduoduo launches enterprise collaboration tool Knock, TransferWise and Alipay team up for international money transfers, Xpeng gets green light to test autonomous vehicles in U.S., China's Nio to release car control app on Xiaomi's smart watch, TikTok moving its content moderation outside China, BYD starts engine on mask production, JD.com to arrange Hong Kong secondary listing, Tencent’s set for fastest growth since 2018, Starbucks to build up roasting capacity in China

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

Zou Jia is CTO of OYO JiuDian (OYO China), a Chinese hotel chain operator that since November 2017 has scaled to over 500,000 rooms on its platform by February 2019 and raised over $800 million from Softbank's Vision Fund. OYO JiuDian partners with fragmented hotel owners in China by aggregating them onto its platform through leases or franchises and through renovations, standardizes the user experience. Jia shares insights on why he moved back to China from SF, OYO JiuDian's consumer product philosophy, how they manage supply, the fragmented Chinese hotel marketplace, and how he's applied blitzscaling learnings from Uber China and Mobike to OYO JiuDian and more. Link to write-up: https://www.theharbingerchina.com/blog/blitzscaling-hotels-in-china-with-oyo-jiudian-cto-zou-jia?categoryId=23497

Why are Chinese bike-share companies struggling to replicate their success abroad? Ed Butler hears from Nick Hubble, a cycling campaigner in Manchester - the UK city where Chinese firm Mobike has just scrapped its bike-share scheme. Mobike's head of growth in Europe Steve Milton describes the challenges of global expansion. Julian Scriven from rival German firm Nextbike explains why the Chinese model doesn't necessarily work in other countries, and Dana Yanocha, Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in Washington DC, describes the challenges faced by US cities swamped by shared bikes.(Photo: A Mobike on a London street, Credit: Getty Images)

GGV Capital's Hans Tung and Zara Zhang interview Jixun Foo (符绩勋), who is a Managing Partner at GGV Capital based in China. Jixun joined GGV in 2006 and has more than 20 years of experience in venture capital investing. He focuses on travel and transportation, social media and commerce as well as enterprise services in China. Jixun has led GGV's investments in Qunar (去哪儿), Grab, Didi (滴滴出行), Youku-Tudou (优酷土豆), UCWeb, Mogujie-Meilishuo (美丽联合集团), MediaV, Full-Truck Alliance (formerly Yunmanman) (满帮集团), Meicai (美菜), and currently serves on the boards of XPeng (小鹏汽车), Hellobike (哈罗单车), Tujia (途家), Xiangwushuo (享物说), Zuiyou (最右) and Kujiale (酷家乐). Jixun played a critical role in many key strategic mergers and acquisitions, such as those of Youku-Tudou, Baidu/Qunar, Ctrip/Qunar, and Mogujie/Meilishuo. Jixun has been recognized by Forbes China as one of the “Best Venture Capitalists” every year since 2006, and frequently appears on the Forbes Midas list. Before GGV, Jixun was a Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures, where he led the firm's investment in Baidu. Prior to DFJ ePlanet, Jixun led the Investment Group under the Finance & Investment Division of the National Science & Technology Board of Singapore (NSTB) and has also worked in the R&D division of Hewlett Packard. Jixun is from Singapore and graduated from the National University of Singapore with a First-Class Honors degree in Engineering, as well as a Master's in Management of Technology from the university's Graduate School of Business. In this episode, Jixun discusses how he started his career in venture capital, the insider story behind the merger between Youku and Tudou (the largest merger in Chinese tech history at the time), why he invested in the bike-sharing company HelloBike (which overtook Mobike and Ofo to become the top player in the country), and what sectors excite him today. Join our listeners' community via WeChat/Slack at 996.ggvc.com/community. You can view the full transcript of this episode at 996.ggvc.com. We are excited to announce a new program, "GGV Fellows", designed to help "sea turtles" or (海归) and Chinese students studying overseas to get to know the Chinese entrepreneurial landscape better. If you're a Chinese student/professional who is studying/working overseas (or have done so in the past), this is a program designed for you! It's a weeklong program in Jan 2019 in Beijing (during most US college's winter break). You will be able to learn from executives at some of China's most valuable tech companies, and visit some of their offices. You will also participate in mixers with students at top Chinese universities like Tsinghua and Beida to build a local network. Please visit fellows.ggvc.com for the application link and for more information. The 996 Podcast is brought to you by GGV Capital, a multi-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, and Beijing. We have been partnering with leading technology entrepreneurs for the past 18 years from seed to pre-IPO. With $3.8 billion in capital under management across eight funds, GGV invests in globally minded entrepreneurs in consumer internet, e-commerce, frontier tech, and enterprise. GGV has invested in over 280 companies, with 30 companies valued at over $1 billion. Portfolio companies include Airbnb, Alibaba, Bytedance (Toutiao), Ctrip, Didi Chuxing, DOMO, Hashicorp, Hellobike, Houzz, Keep, Musical.ly, Slack, Square, Wish, Xiaohongshu, YY, and others. Find out more at ggvc.com.

This episode of TechBuzz China is our second of two focused on bike-sharing in China. In it, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma tell the story of the rest of China's bike-sharing industry beyond Ofo, focusing on major players Mobike and Hellobike. They cover Mobike's founders, fundraisings, current reach, and distinctive approach to its bike-sharing business, as well as fast-growing latecomer Hellobike's entrance to the scene. Guest speaker Karl Ulrich, the Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Wharton School, weighs in for the second week in a row, giving macro-level predictions about the global impact of new solutions for personal transportation. With 29 percent of all internet users in China now making use of bike-sharing services, what is the real impact of these services on metrics such as number of trips taken via subway, bus, and car? How have investors Alibaba and Tencent-backed Meituan staked strategic positions in this race, and how do their positions affect the battle outcomes? Who is Mobike founder Hu Weiwei, and which of the two contrasting versions of Mobike's origin story is real? How has Hellobike's focus on second and third tier cities, as well as dogged pursuit of expense management, affected its growth and staying power? Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and delve into one of the biggest trends in China internet in recent years. Decide for yourself: to what extent has bike-sharing has affected China tech, the lives of everyday Chinese citizens, and the future of personal transportation worldwide? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, like our Facebook page, and don't forget to tweet at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag!

Pandaily.com是一家向世界科技社区介绍中国创新的英文媒体，而TechBuzz China是其旗下向硅谷介绍中国创新的英文播客。This week on TechBuzz China, Rui and Ying-Ying talked about the recent news involving three Chinese unicorns: Toutiao, Didi, and Meituan. If you are interested in learning more about what's happening in China's technology sector, you can also follow us on Twitter @thepandaily and like TechBuzz China on Facebook. TechBuzz 中国将会每周更新，一定要订阅我们哦!

Bike sharing was supposed to be the groundbreaking innovation to introduce a much needed new alternative for transportation in Singapore. Yet, the most obvious effect has been hundreds of multi-colored bikes littered on grass patches, ditched in drains, and blocking pathways. So how did all go wrong? And who's to blame in in this situation? In today's episode, we dig into the history and economics of bike sharing to hopefully find the root of the problem. In the end, we'll take a step back and look at the bigger picture, and find why the parking problem isn't the only issue with bike sharing. In this episode, you'll learn about: The history of bike sharing dating back to the 1960s How ofo and Mobike came to be, and how much funding they've received The mechanics of bike sharing, and the key role that technology plays How ofo and mobike differ in their strategies Who the 3 main stakeholders are in relation to bike sharing What the incentives of these stakeholders are, and how they have responded to them How the incentives come into conflict and create the parking problem Whether the new parking places bill will prove effective And finally, the real problem behind bike sharing For more content, you can follow the Economical Rice Podcast at the following links below: Website: www.economicalricepodcast.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/economicalricepodcast Instagram: www.instagram.com/economicalricepodcast Twitter: www.twitter.com/econricepodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/economicalricepodcast/message

The sharing economy is one of the hottest sectors in China, with $250m of seed and Series A capital invested April-May '17, without accounting for the $1 billion+ poured into bike-sharing start ups Mobike and Ofo. While some of these start ups have the potential to create significant businesses (e.g. car hailing and bike sharing), the verdict is still out on others that are peddling shared umbrellas or even basketballs. A more sustainable opportunity in this sector is in co-working space, which is fueled not only by the latest sharing economy craze, but rather built on the solid foundation of continuous growth in start ups and a tangible need for office space. Today we sit down with Randy Wan, CEO of Woo Space, one of the top 5 co-working spaces in China in direct competition with well known unicorns such as Wework. We'll cover a number of areas, including: how do Chinese co-working space offerings differ from that in the US, how do local competitors differentiate, and what is the role of services. We'll also review the sharing economy more broadly to understand what types of business models actually work and how do they make money. Lastly, we'll examine why high growth Chinese start-ups are so diversified, and how this applies to the very VCs that back them. Link to write-up here: https://www.theharbingerchina.com/blog/the-boom-bust-chinese-sharing-economy-with-woo-space-ceo-randy-wan

2017-07-03 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.Chinese scientists have announced that they have realized the real-time transmission of deep-sea data for more than 190 straight days, setting a new world record.During an expedition to the west Pacific at the end of last year, researchers with the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences realized the real-time transmission of deep-sea data after improving the subsurface buoy observation network.They put a floating body on the sea, which was connected to a submersible buoy. The submersible buoy transmits data to the floating body, which then sends it to a satellite. Researchers then receive the data through the satellite.The real-time deep-sea data includes the condition of the subsurface buoy, the flow speed, direction and pressure of seawater.Real-time transmission of deep-sea data provides important technical support for research on the ocean environment and global climate. The data could enhance the precision in ocean climate and environment forecasts.The previous world record for the real-time transmission of deep water data was around 90 days.This is Special English.China's supercomputers remain the world's fastest and second fastest machines, but America's Titan was squeezed into fourth place by an upgraded Swiss system.The latest edition of the semiannual T0P500 list of supercomputers was released recently. China's supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight has been described by the T0P500 list as "far and away the most powerful number-cruncher on the planet. It maintained the lead since last June, when it dethroned Tianhe-2, the former champion for the previous three consecutive years.This means that a Chinese supercomputer has topped the rankings maintained by researchers in the United States and Germany nine times in a row.What's more, the Sunway TaihuLight was built entirely using processors designed and produced in China.Officials say it highlights China's ability to conduct independent research in the supercomputing field. In the latest rankings, the new number three supercomputer is the upgraded Piz Daint, a system installed at the Swiss National Supercomputing Center.Its current performance pushed Titan, a machine installed at the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, into fourth place. Titan's performance of 17.6 petaflops has remained constant since it was installed in 2012.You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.The European Union has reaffirmed its support for Paris agreement on climate change when its Foreign Affairs Council convened in Luxembourg.The Council said in a statement that the Paris Agreement is fit for purpose and cannot be renegotiated.U.S. President Donald Trump said on June 1 that he has decided to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, a landmark global pact to fight climate change.The Council said it deeply regretted the unilateral decision by the United States administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, while it welcomed the statements of commitment to the Agreement from other countries.The Council said the EU will lead in the global fight against climate change through its climate policies and through continued support to those which are particularly vulnerable.Besides this, the EU is strengthening its existing global partnerships and will continue to seek new alliances, from the world's largest economies to the most vulnerable island states.The Paris Agreement was agreed on by almost every country in the world in 2015. It aims to tackle climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and sets a global target of keeping the rise in the average temperature no higher than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.This is Special English.It's possible for the European Union and Britain to strike a fair Brexit deal which is "far better than no deal". EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters that for both the EU and the UK, a fair deal is possible, and far better than no deal. He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his British counterpart David Davis, after wrapping up the opening salvo of the Brexit talks in Brussels.His remarks obviously alluded to British Prime Minister Theresa May's catchphrase "no deal is better than a bad deal".Barnier said the first session was "important, open and useful indeed to start off on the right foot as the clock is ticking".He outlined a two-step negotiation, saying they agreed on dates, organization, and priorities for the negotiation.You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.China is achieving landmarks in science and technology at breakneck speed.The country's Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft completed its second docking with the Tiangong-2 space lab recently. Chinese scientists have announced that they have realized the satellite-based distribution of entangled photon pairs over a record distance of more than 1,200 kilometers, a major breakthrough that could be used to deliver secure messages. China has successfully launched its first X-ray space telescope to study black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts, receiving its first package of data.Officials say such a string of achievements shows China's innovation-driven development strategy is paying off.The latest Global Innovation Index showed that China rose three spots to 22nd place on the list of the world's most innovative nations this year, becoming the only middle-income country to join the top 25 innovative economies.However, China stepping closer to becoming an innovative power has aroused skepticism, with some arguing that its progress poses a threat to other countries.Chinese observers refuted the claim, saying China's science and technology innovation has injected fresh energy to the world's sluggish economy and brought a new opportunity to global industrial restructuring and sustainable development.This is Special English.Chinese bicycle-sharing giant Mobike says it has 100 million users worldwide.Mobike started its business in Shanghai in April last year, before expanding into major Chinese cities and branching out abroad. Users access a Mobike account and unlock the bicycles by scanning a QR code on the bicycles.It has over 5 million bicycles in 100 cities worldwide. Average daily orders top 25 million.The company says it is trying to expand its business in the European and Asian markets.Since April last year, Mobike users have logged 2.5 billion kilometers, equivalent to cutting the emissions of 170,000 cars for a whole year.Mobike's chief competitor is Ofo bike.According to the China E-Commerce Research Center, there were almost 19 million users of shared bicycles nationwide at the end of last year. The number is expected to hit 50 million by the end of this year.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.Five British secondary school students have won a free trip to Hong Kong to attend university summer courses after topping a design competition.The competition was organized earlier this year by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. It invited British students to design a 48-hour travel itinerary for youth travelers visiting Hong Kong, with the aim of showing how the city is unique and attractive to youth travelers. The contestants were also expected to compare travel experiences between Hong Kong and a British city.The organizers say many British students presented their submissions through a variety of means, including an essay, a video clip on Youtube, a blog post, from which five best entries were selected.Carmen Truong was the winner from the Royal Latin School who impressed the judges with a beautiful scratch book. She will spend two weeks at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, learning Chinese and engineering.As a Chinese girl born in London, Truong says she likes to collect information and pictures about Hong Kong; and this competition was a good chance for her to explore more about her background.The annual competition is now in its sixth year. It seeks to encourage British students to consider going to universities in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. This is Special English.A "Chinese Ambassador Scholarship" has been launched at the Chinese Embassy in Romania.The Chinese Ambassador to Romania says the main goal of the scholarship is to encourage Romanian students to learn Chinese. It also aims to welcome as many young people as possible to jointly push forward Sino-Romanian friendly relations.The ambassador says learning Chinese enjoys great popularity in Romania, where over 8,000 people are studying Chinese in Confucius institutes, Confucius classrooms and other places.At the scholarship launching ceremony, around 20 students and four teachers were awarded with mobile phones and cash prizes to honor their efforts in learning and teaching Chinese.Romania is one of the countries along the ancient Silk Road. It is part of the Belt and Road initiative for common development. The official says this will bring about increasing demand for talents in Romania, including Romanians can speak Chinese.The ambassador says he hopes that more and more young people in Romania can play an active role in various fields including economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges between the two countries.You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.The National Museum of China has opened an exhibition featuring the work of Dutch painter Rembrandt and other famous artists of the 17th century.The show includes more than 70 paintings, and is the largest exhibit featuring the prime age of Dutch painting ever staged in China.The items on display include 11 paintings by Rembrandt including Minerva in Her Study and The Unconscious Patient. The exhibition also features works by Vermeer and Rembrandt's students.The exhibition will last until September. It is organized jointly by the National Museum of China and the Leiden Collection.The Leiden Collection was founded in 2003 by American collector Thomas Kaplan and his wife. It has the largest collection of 17th century Dutch paintings in the world.This is Special English.The influential Committee for Melbourne has called for a "mega-region" to be formed along Australia's eastern coast.The chief of the committee Martine Letts said a rapid transport link between Melbourne and Sydney could see the "mega-region" become reality within a decade.She said the region can also include other regional centers, and it could rival others in the world including the San Francisco-Los Angeles area in the United States.The proposal by Letts came after the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University announced that it believed a hyper loop could provide the link between Melbourne and Sydney.The hyper loop works by propelling a pod-like vehicle through a reduced-pressure tube at the speed of sound.A local company in Melbourne says the technology already exists to make hyper loop a reality, and it just needed to be supported by the governments. It says a hyper loop project will take three to five years to complete.This is Special English.A 12th century castle which played a part in seeing the first female queen gain the throne of England has re-opened after a 1.6-million-U.S.-dollar conservation project.Framlington Castle in the southern county of Suffolk was used over centuries as the center of a vast network of power and influence to a 17th century home for the poor.It has reopened its doors, giving visitors a chance to explore its rich history spanning 900 years.（全文见周六微信。）

2017-02-28 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.China has started to build a new-generation supercomputer that is expected to be 10 times faster than the current world champion.This year, China is aiming for breakthroughs in high-performance processors and other key technologies to build the world&`&s first prototype "exascale supercomputer", the Tianhe-3. The prototype is expected to be completed early next year."Exascale" means it will be capable of making a quintillion calculations per second. One quintillion is written as 1 followed by 18 zeros. That is at least 10 times faster than the world&`&s current speed champ, the Sunway Taihu-Light, China&`&s first supercomputer to use domestically designed processors. The new computer will be available for public use and can help tackle some of the world&`&s toughest scientific challenges with greater speed, as well as better precision and scope. Tianhe-3 will be made entirely in China, from processors to the operating system. It will be stationed in Tianjin and will be fully operational by 2020, earlier than the same product planned in the United States. The exascale supercomputer will be able to analyze smog distribution on a national level, while current models can only handle information from one region at a time.This is Special English.China will test how its largest solar drone performs near-space flight this year.The rainbow series drone has a wingspan of more than 40 meters, bigger than of Boeing 737 passenger air craft. The drone has just passed its first full-scale test flight.This is one of the largest solar-powered drones in the world, second only to a model by NASA in the United States. A chief engineer says its performance index and technological capacity are among the most advanced in the world. The drone is capable of flying at an extremely high altitude for a long period of time and its maintenance is easy and simple. It can travel to an altitude of 30 kilometers, with an maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour. The unmanned aerial vehicle will be used mostly for airborne early warning, aerial reconnaissance and disaster monitoring.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. A drug to treat cancer manufactured in China has hit the market. The release has ended an almost decade-long monopoly by a similar product developed in Britain and introduced to China in 2005.This is a generic targeted drug, meaning this pharmaceutical is equivalent in dosage, effects and quality to the original product manufactured by its developer. Generic drugs often become available after the patent protection on the original drug expires.This drug&`&s product name is Yiruike. It is a much-needed first line medicine used in targeted therapies against non-small-cell lung cancer, which accounts for around 80 percent of lung cancer cases in China.Lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer in China. Almost 600,000 people die from lung cancer in the country every year, with more than 700,000 new cases being seen annually.With the price of less than 2,000 yuan per pack, the new drug is a fraction of the one previously used, meaning that more people in need can be helped.This is Special English.A Chinese health alliance has agreed to promote the use of peak flow charts on both physical paper and smartphone apps to monitor the breath for children suffering from asthma.The alliance is joined by the State Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, the Beijing Children&`&s Hospital, and the Chinese Pediatric Society under Chinese Medical Association.One professor on respiratory diseases says parents&`& knowledge, compliance with medicine instructions, and regular monitoring remain key factors to control childhood asthma.Asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory conditions for children. China has more than 6 million children with asthma. Almost 30 percent of them do not seek treatment in time and more than two thirds have reported asthma attacks.Some people have benefited from regular peak expiratory flow monitoring but find the process is a hassle. A professor recommended using newly-developed smartphone apps that only require the user to breathe into an accessory connected to the phone. It automatically records the reading and produces a chart. Better still, the results can be shared via a smartphone with the family and the doctor.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Search engine Baidu will take the lead with the first national lab on deep learning as China strives to rise up in the ranks of artificial intelligence research.The National Development and Reform Commission, the country&`&s top economic regulator, has appointed Baidu to lead the national lab on deep learning technologies and applications. The move comes as Beijing prioritizes artificial intelligence development through policy and financial support.The company will team up with China&`&s leading institutions including Tsinghua University and Beihang University in areas including deep learning, interactive technologies and standardized services.Baidu will also share its rich resources on computing and big data, which are crucial to beef up fundamental research in artificial intelligence. Deep learning is a leading algorithm that aims to improve search results and computing tasks by training computers to work more like the human brain.China is betting on the technology to advance high-end manufacturing as it shifts from an export-driven economy to one that is higher up the value chain.Fueling the trend is a three-year initiative to boost the industry through to 2018. China aims to make breakthroughs in core artificial intelligence technologies and stay in line with global standards on fundamental research on the application front.This is Special English.A Chinese scientist has participated in the human gene editing committee based in the United States.Chinese scientist Pei Duan-qing has been admitted in making recommendations for human gene editing that cover basic laboratory research and heritable genome editing.According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pei, a researcher from Guangzhou, is participating in the study.The committee who has released a report, is calling for transparency, fairness and transnational cooperation in human gene editing.Human gene editing policies were set up by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, following the International Summit on Human Gene Editing held in Washington D.C. in December 2015.Pei is the only Chinese scholar in the committee, which consists of 22 scholars from countries including the United States, Britain and France.Though a promising disease treatment method, human gene editing is controversial in many countries due to ethical considerations.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price 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.China had 770 million 4G users at the end of last year, double the number from a year earlier.Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that more than 58 percent of China&`&s mobile phone users were 4G subscribers.China has the world&`&s largest 4G network and is aiming to add 2 million 4G base stations, mainly for townships and villages, by 2018.The country is also researching and testing 5G technology with a goal to commercialize it by 2020.The research and development has entered the second phase. International cooperation in the process will be strengthened.5G is much faster than 4G. It is more reliable and can be used to support virtual reality technology, ultra-high definition video transmission, autopilot and smart manufacturing.This is Special English.Tsinghua University has denied suggestions the university&`&s new system of admission for international applicants has made it easier for foreign students to get a chance to study in the university.A heated debate was triggered following media reports that an updated procedure had been adopted for the university&`&s international student recruitment.According to the new rules regarding undergraduate programs, one will be admitted by the university if the applicant passes two hurdles: an "Online Application" and a "Comprehensive Evaluation", which includes an application review and interview.Outstanding applicants recognized by Tsinghua University may have the interview waived and get an offer directly.One of the main differences from the previous rules is that applicants don&`&t have to take an academic test.Critics say this has made it much easier for foreigners to get into Tsinghua University, especially those who are originally Chinese citizens.In response, the university has said the new rules do not lower standards for international applicants.Applicants are required to provide a National and Regional Graduation Examination certificate, or a Matriculation Examination Certificate.If applicants don&`&t have that certificate, they have to provide the Grade Point Average and the academic ranking certification from their high school.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Car-sharing services provided by a number of companies in Beijing are striving for a place in China&`&s burgeoning sharing economy. But they will encounter disappointment unless they avoid or remove the costly speed bumps ahead.Some of these services are Gofun Chuxing launched by Beijing Shouqi Group and Car2go under the automobile giant Daimler AG.The sharing cars, mostly powered by electricity are in good condition, and can be ready for first-time users in minutes once they finish the required registration via the service app. In some cases they cost less than taking a cab. One of the companies offers services for a refundable deposit of 700 yuan, roughly 100 U.S. Dollars. Following that, a passenger has to pay only 1 yuan per kilometer and 0.1 yuan per minute for a ride.However, like their bike-sharing counterparts such as Mobike, the car-sharing apps are struggling to keep illegal parking in check and bring unruly users out of the dark. There are also worries that traffic accidents involving these vehicles become more complicated issues.This is Special English.Archaeologists have discovered a cluster of tombs with boat-shaped coffins that are 2,200 years old.The tombs were found in southwest China&`&s Sichuan Province. A total of 60 tombs are scattered in an area of 10,000 square meters.The boat-shaped coffins are made of nanmu, a precious wood for making furniture and coffins.Archeological diggings have been finished on 47 of the tombs.Archaeologists say the site was the graveyard of an ancient indigenous tribe called Shu, which was part of the Shu Kingdom.The discoveries include more than 300 pieces of pottery, bronze, iron and bamboo items as well as weapons, coins and a dozen marking seals.In one of the tombs, ten bamboo baskets of well-preserved grain were found, as well as a string of crystal beads surrounding the waist of the occupant. Scientists say the delicate crystals indicate that the occupant was a wealthy person and the crystals had probably been imported from other countries via the Silk Road.As the area is surrounded by ruins of ancient salt wells, experts say the occupant was possibly a salt administration official. This is not the first time that boat-shaped coffins are found in the area.The local government is planning to build a theme museum to display the findings.This 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.（全文见周日微信。）

【微信公众平台】搜索“英语口语每天学”，每日获取笨老撕不一样的分享。 【新浪微博】搜索“笨老撕”To take a ride, a user scans the QR code on the bike, unlocks the smart lock and starts a timer.要骑车，用户手机扫描车身二维码，打开智能锁，计时开始。After enjoying the fresh service of new bike-lending initiative /ɪˈnɪʃ.ə.t̬ɪv/ Mobike, many users have begun to complain of its flaws.在体验了新形式的单车共享服务之后，许多用户开始抱怨其中的缺陷。The major problem is that bikes are too heavy and can be challenging for female users. Others include inaccurate GPS positioning, long unlocking time and unadjustable bike seats.最大的问题就是车子太重，对于许多女性用户来讲很难用。其他问题包括GPS定位不准，开锁时间过长以及车座不能调整高度。

【微信公众平台】搜索“英语口语每天学”，每日获取笨老撕不一样的分享。 【新浪微博】搜索“笨老撕”To take a ride, a user scans the QR code on the bike, unlocks the smart lock and starts a timer.要骑车，用户手机扫描车身二维码，打开智能锁，计时开始。After enjoying the fresh service of new bike-lending initiative /ɪˈnɪʃ.ə.t̬ɪv/ Mobike, many users have begun to complain of its flaws.在体验了新形式的单车共享服务之后，许多用户开始抱怨其中的缺陷。The major problem is that bikes are too heavy and can be challenging for female users. Others include inaccurate GPS positioning, long unlocking time and unadjustable bike seats.最大的问题就是车子太重，对于许多女性用户来讲很难用。其他问题包括GPS定位不准，开锁时间过长以及车座不能调整高度。

This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news. Renowned Chinese developer of hybrid rice, Yuan Longping, has expressed his confidence that a hybrid rice yield target projected for 2018 will be met this year. Yuan said several demonstration plots had showed potential to produce 16 tonnes of rice per hectare. Yuan made the remarks at a symposium marking the 20th anniversary of China's hybrid rice development. Known as China's "father of hybrid rice", Yuan started theoretical research 50 years ago and kept setting new records in the average yields of hybrid rice plots. China's Ministry of Agriculture officially launched its hybrid rice breeding program in 1996. Four years later, the first-phase target of 10 tonnes per hectare was achieved by Yuan's research team. The fourth-phase target of 15 tonnes per ha was hit in 2014. Currently, farmland under hybrid rice in China has risen to 13 million hectares while that overseas totals more than 5 million hectares. Around 65 percent of the Chinese population depends on rice as a staple food. This is Special English. Tiangong-2, China's first space lab in a real sense, was successfully launched into space on Sept 15. A brain-computer interaction test system installed in the lab will conduct a series of experiments in space. The research team of the system said brain-computer interaction will eventually be the highest form of human-machine communication. China will conduct the first ever space brain-machine interaction experiments, ahead even of developed countries. The brain-computer interaction test system in Tiangong-2 boasts 64 national patents. The research team has long been devoted to the research of brain-computer interactions. It previously developed two idiodynamic artificial neuron robotic systems that can help with the rehabilitation of stroke patients. The brain-computer interaction technology will also help Tiangong-2 astronauts to more easily accomplish their assigned tasks. For example, brain-computer interaction can transfer the astronauts' thoughts into operations, while at the same time monitoring their neurological function. You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. China will challenge the UK's position as second in the world for international study by 2020. That's according to the latest report led by Student.com, the accommodation provider for international students. The report said a record breaking 397,000 international students went to China in 2015 and China has been the third most popular destination for overseas students ahead of Canada, Germany and France. The report added that although there has been a slowdown in numbers since 2014, the number of foreign students in China has been growing on average 10 percent year-on-year since 2006. The report forecasts that at current growth rates, China will overtake the UK to be the second most popular destination for international students, following the United States which is at number one. The Independent newspaper from the UK also quoted experts confirming that the number of international students studying in China has risen so rapidly; and China will overtake the UK as the second most popular academic destination in the world. The newspaper noted that the trend is thought to be partly due to a drive by the Chinese government, as well as increasingly higher education standards and scholarship programs for degree-seeking students. Professor David Goodman leads the China Studies program at the University of Liverpool. He said international students benefit from the exposure to China and its culture, not least because of its growing economy and jobs market. This is Special English. As the country passed the revised edition of China's Wild Animal Protection Law which bans random releasing of captive animals into the wild, a similar incident has drawn people's attention lately causing controversy. The Beijing News reports that a Tibetan woman in southwest China's Sichuan Province released 6,000 goats onto a prairie after she saved them from slaughter houses. It cost her 5 million yuan, roughly 760,000 U.S. dollars, of donated money. The incident immediately drew great attention after it was exposed on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. There have been a number of reports recently in China in which captive animals were released randomly into the wild by animal activists or by those following a Buddhist ritual known as "fangsheng" or "releasing life". The religious ritual demonstrates spiritual compassion and piety by releasing captive animals back into nature. However, experts say an ecosystem has a very delicate balance which could be jeopardized easily by changing the number of certain species or introducing a new species to the area. China's revised Wild Animal Protection Law is to take effect starting from the year 2017, with added special items to regulate the release of captive animals into the wild. This is Special English. After enjoying the fresh service of a new bike-lending initiative Mobike, many users have begun to complain about its flaws. A Beijing-based newspaper, the Beijing Daily, reports that the major problem is that Mobike's distinctive orange-rimmed bicycles are too heavy and can be challenging for female users. Others include inaccurate GPS positioning, long unlocking time, and unadjustable bike seats. Mobike started in Shanghai in April and expanded to Beijing on Sept. 1st. To take a ride, a user scans the QR code on the bike, unlocks the smart lock and starts a timer. The standard cost is one yuan, roughly 10 U.S. cents, per 30 minutes, along with a 300 yuan security deposit. Users can pay with popular mobile payment methods including Alipay and WeChat. To encourage proper use and parking, Mobike includes a credit system that will increase the fee to 100 yuan per 30 minutes for users with low scores. Mobike uses a station-free concept for easier use, in comparison with Beijing's public bike rental service, which has a more complicated registration process and requires bikes to be returned to stations. Experts say Mobike is a good supplement to the public bike rental service. Mobike now has only 3,000 bikes in the city, but the company said it is increasing the number by hundreds every day. It has more than 10,000 bikes in Shanghai, allowing most riders to find a bike anywhere within a radius of 300 meters. You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That's mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues. Beijing consumers forked out billions during the Moon Festival holiday, which ran from September 15 to 17. Retail sales of 60 major commercial companies in the foodstuffs, dining and tourism sectors exceeded 2 billion yuan, roughly 300 million U.S. dollars. The figure represents an increase of more than 6 percent year on year. According to the Beijing municipal commission of commerce, mooncakes, the seasonal delicacy for the festival, were in less lavish packaging and came in more creative flavors this year. Daoxiangcun, a Beijing bakery chain, sold more than 27 million mooncakes by Saturday, the last day of the holiday. The company said mooncakes that are made from 3D printing machines sell particularly well. Popular restaurants in Beijing were heavily booked during the three-day holiday. The turnover of several catering enterprises posted 10 percent growth from last year. The Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The festival has been celebrated for more than 3,000 years to mark the autumn harvest. It is also an occasion for family gatherings, featuring lanterns, solving riddles and eating mooncakes. This is Special English. More than 70 percent of Chinese people believe children and adolescents should have annual physical checkups at professional hospitals, rather than at school health centers. That's according to a Chinese Medical Doctor Association survey. The survey also shows that almost 70 percent of people believe the checkups organized for students should include psychological consultation. The survey was based on feedback from 42,000 people in different professions from across China, including white collar workers, medical professionals, government employees, students and migrant rural laborers. Almost 32,000 of those surveyed said children and adolescents should have checkups at professional hospitals, compared to more than 8,000 saying they should have checkups at school. The rest said they didn't care. According to health and education regulations, students in China must have physical checkups before they are admitted to a school at a higher level; and all students should have a regular checkup every year when at school. Schools should organize students to have checkups. A doctor at Beijing Children's Hospital said that in recent years, the number of children suffering diseases including hypertension and obesity increased, and in many cases they were diagnosed at professional hospitals rather than at school health centers. Experts say the regulations were made decades ago and should be updated to suit the new situation. You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. A high-speed railway linking Zhengzhou in central China's Henan Province with Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu Province has opened. The 360-km line connects high-speed railways in the west with two major north-south lines, helping cut travel times between the west and the east. The travel time between Xi'an and Shanghai has been cut to six hours from almost 11 hours. The line has nine stations, and trains run at a speed of up to 300 km per hour in the initial period. Construction of the line started in 2012, and test operations started in April this year. With the operation of the new line, China's high-speed railway network has exceeded 20,000 km in total length, the world's longest. This is Special English. Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province, is witnessing a boom in interest after the Group of 20 Summit ended on Sept 5 as visitors throng to popular spots. The park where the G20 evening gala was held has become one of the most popular attractions in the city. A musical show by a team led by film director Zhang Yimou is staged with the majestic West Lake as its background. It's based on Zhang's "Impression of the West Lake", an astonishing performance that takes place right on the surface of the water, combining music, dance, and light effects all against a natural backdrop. After the G20 ended, the park was packed with locals and tourists who were eager to see the conference location and the show in person. Liu Ying is a tourist from Guizhou Province. She said she has seen the videos of the show many times; but only when she came to feel the vibe in real time was she truly impressed. Many new souvenir sets has become available on the market after the evening gala, echoing its theme of a memorable Hangzhou. The package includes a silk clutch of a size which can hold an iPad, a fan and a fan case, as well as silk handkerchiefs. This is Special English. （全文见周六微信。）