Send us a text A billion internet users means a lot of followers for some content creators in China. But with ad revenue dropping China’s economy is slowing down, are tips and patrons a viable alternative for creators? Featuring - Lulu | 璐璐 : LHH Speak Easy ( 璐璐的英文小酒馆 ) - Founder - Luigi Liu : BtoZ-Movie - Founder To go further - "Career Fans" article by The World of Chinese Magazine - Middle Earth episode #87 How local government & foundations sponsor culture in China - Middle Earth episode #50 Xiaohongshu : Marrying content and e-commerce - Middle Earth episode #29 Online KOL marketing in China Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 With thanks to Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text Culture is expensive, and China makes no exception to that. Without the support of public and private entities, many artists could not create anything or be overly commercial. After getting through the regulations hurdle, what kind of art are supported by the big companies and local governments? Featuring - Yilin Chen : Winland Group - Art Project Director - Elie Rosenberg : Impromptu - Co-Founder - He Xin : former real estate consultant To go further - "Dream Factory" article by The World of Chinese Magazine - Middle Earth episode #36 Transforming a Chinese movie studio - Middle Earth episode #60 The Golden Age of China's Museums? - Middle Earth episode #82 Understanding China’s national park & scenic areas Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 With thanks to Ren Jiayin for production assistant, Sean Calvo for music support, Eleven Labs for the AI voice and Leeluv for the poster picture. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text For a decade or more, rural Chinese have been setting up online stores in their homes, hoping to make a living through e-commerce rather than factory work or farming. But any easy money there was in online selling is beginning to dry up. Village neighbors have been pitted against each other in competition for customers, unscrupulous merchants copy products and images from competitors with impunity, while rural residents also struggle to keep up with evolving trends like livestreaming. For over 10 years Dr Lin Zhang followed several of these rural entrepreneurs and their families, culminating in her latest book The Labor of Reinvention - Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy. Featuring - Dr Lin Zhang : University of New Hampshire Professor, author of The Labor of Reinvention - Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy Where to buy the book - The Labor of Reinvention, published by Columbia University Press https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-labor-of-reinvention/9780231551298 To go further - Middle Earth episode #01 How to be internet famous in China (Part 1 of "China's internet and creation") - Middle Earth episode #29 Online KOL marketing in China Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 With thanks to Sean Calvo for music support.

Send us a text As China becomes more assertive on the global stage with its diplomacy and state media, “patriotic KOLs” have appeared on domestic Chinese social media platforms, influencing the political opinions of their millions of fans. But how do KOLs craft their message to be successful, and who’s paying their bills? Featuring - Fang Kecheng : The Chinese University of Hong Kong - Assistant Professor - Miro Li : Double V. Consulting - Founder To go further - Middle Earth episode #50 Xiaohongshu : Marrying content and e-commerce - Nikkei Asia's article : China’s online nationalist army - 孤烟暮蝉 (Guyanmuchan ) on Weibo - 心医林霖 (xīnyīlínlín) on Bilibili - 周小平 (Zhou Xiaoping), WeChat ID : 平局 - 占豪 (Zhan Hao), WeChat ID : 占豪 - 北美留学生观察, WeChat ID : 北美留学生观察 Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, episode's picture by maono闪克 and Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text NFTS are legal to be bought in China, but reselling them is an all other matters. Yet a local scene of buyers and artists keeps growing, while some lost a great amount of money as they were hoping for a quick return on investment. How does the scene keep growing while local regulations are put into place? Featuring - Ellwood Chen : Digital Artist & Pills Labs Founder - Rory Mencin : Curator & Art Critic - Reva : Crypto artist To go further with Chinese art collectors - Middle Earth episode #80 Contemporary art in Greater China - Middle Earth episode #77 Antiques: China first cultural industry Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, and Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text While China struggles to export its cultural abroad, neighbors like Korea and Japan seem immune to this problem. Apart from local regulations in art, what are the issues creators from China face when trying to take their cultural products abroad, and what are some products that actually became hits? Featuring - Li Jianbin: Beijing Inmost Media - Senior BD Director - Alex Taggart: Outdustry - Head of International - Vivian Ying: Film International Sales To go further - Middle Earth episode #67 Creating Games for the West - Middle Earth episode #26 China’s soft power in Africa Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, Wendy Wei for illustration and Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us a text In 2021, there were 2 billion visits to China’s outdoor tourism sites, such as nature reserves and natural scenic areas. How is this part of the tourism industry coping with a growing demand for outdoor experiences, and did that influence the creation of the country’s national park system? Featuring - Justin Culkin : A Trails - Business Development Director - Rose Niu 牛红卫 : Paulson Institute - Chief Conservation Officer - Yefren Nye : TWOC contributor & innovative Green Development Program communications specialist To go further - The Trails and Tribulations of China's Outdoors Boom article by Yefren Nye - Right to Roam article by Yefren Nye - The Myth of the Chinese Wilderness by Tina Xu (徐盈盈) - #55 Why is red tourism trending beyond the golden generation? By the Middle Earth Podcast - #60 The Golden Age of China's Museums? By the Middle Earth Podcast Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text As the year 2023 starts, we review our top 3 stories from 2022 and make a few predictions for trends in China’s culture industries in 2023. Featuring - Aladin Farré : Founder of Middle Earth Podcast - Hatty Liu : Managing editor at TWOC - Jesse Appel, Sara Huang, Yang Yu, & Jingtong Zhu To go further - our podcast top 3 stories of the year #79 Exploring Wuxia #67 Creating Games for the West #64 Gambling in China : How Covid-19 helped the industry grow - Peter Chan's interview about his movie LEAP (2020) - The article Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of China’s Most Profitable Milk Tea Brand by TWOC - The article Boom, Bluff, Bust by TWOC - Wuxia novels published on TWOC: Restaurant of The Thousand Arms, Martial Tea and Night Moves, by author Hu Yuesheng (胡月生). Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text Greater China is now the biggest art-market in the world, but thousands of galleries in the middle kingdom have closed up, while many artists are struggling to make a living. How are gallery curators, artists, and tech companies keeping up with this ultra-competitive art market? Featuring - Ashley Qin – YITIAO Art Director - Lin Zi – SANTO HALL Gallery curator - Sima Yuan – Artist To go further - The article Photo Shop: Art in the Age of the Influencer by TWOC - The article Zhao Xiaoli Blurs the Line Between Online Influencer and Artist by TWOC - Middle Earth episode 60 The Golden Age of China’s Museums? - Artists Wang Xingwei & Jia Aili Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text Wuxia, martial arts stories about heroes and outlaws, used to be one of the most popular genres of literature in the Chinese-speaking world. After countless novels, films and video games, how are the people creating China’s “knight errant” stories modernizing the genre? Featuring - Gigi Chang: wuxia translator - Lai Jingping: Wuxiaworld founder and CEO - Felix Lou: former vice-managing director of Xiangshan Film Studio & Skywood Founder To go further - Wuxia novels published on TWOC: Restaurant of The Thousand Arms, Martial Tea and Night Moves, by author Hu Yuesheng (胡月生). Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance and Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more.

Send us a text After being ostracized for years, motorbike culture is slowly building momentum among Chinese youths. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of bike sales doubled, and since the pandemic especially, a lot of entrepreneurs are jumping on new business opportunities provided by people craving the open road. Featuring Steven Tsui : BG Performance - CEO Zhang Shuren : Pansaki North Station - Founder Li Huaqi : Student & Entrepreneur Middle Earth is distributed by The World of Chinese (www.theworldofchinese.com). Every two months, both in print and online, the team at TWOC takes a contemporary issue in Chinese society and culture and looks behind the headlines to share how it affects people on the ground. Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! With thanks to Wen Jiayin for production assistance, Sean Calvo for music support and Forrest Speyer for the translation. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Send us a text With over 1 billion internet users, China’s online video and music platforms are the place to be for every creator trying to grow their audience. What does it take for international talent to make it in this cutthroat market? Featuring Tinko Georgiev: Kanjian - VP of Int'l Business Raffi Kamalian: Collab Asia - Head of Greater China Middle Earth is distributed by The World of Chinese (www.theworldofchinese.com). Every two months, both in print and online, the team at TWOC takes a contemporary issue in Chinese society and culture and looks behind the headlines to share how it affects people on the ground. Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! With thanks to Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, arts, language, and more. The World of Chinese Magazine A magazine about Chinese society, culture, history, and more. Support the pod by buying a copy ;) Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.