The China Travel Podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For this episode we explore the birds and biodiversity of the nation’s capital with Beijing-based conservationist, Terry Townshend. Mei and Terry talk about the remarkable Beijing swift, China’s birding boom and a rising awareness of conservation in the country’s public and political spheres. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our twentieth episode we explore the world of studying China and Chinese language with UCSD emeritus professor of modern Chinese history, Dr. Joseph Esherick. From the athlete and academic superstar Eileen Gu to the history and modern implications of the grueling imperial examinations, Mei and Joe cover a range of education topics comparing the past and present, America and China. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our nineteenth episode we chat with existential wellness counselor, Michelle Mope Andersson. Michelle brings her expertise in ministry to the ground in Yunnan, studying the history of missionaries in China by tracing the routes they took and meeting the people and structures who keep the faith in these Catholic communities alive today.    ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our eighteenth episode we chat with Dunhuang Academy Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Neil Schmid. As one of the world’s leading authorities on medieval Buddhism’s visual culture, Neil covers the importance and implications of the grotto art – from seasonal fruits pictured to social and political inferences. He also gives us his recommendations as a Dunhuang resident, on what to see, do, eat and drink in the city.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our seventeenth episode we cover the evolution of rock climbing in China and its crossover with growing conservation awareness in the country. Our guest for this episode is lifetime conservationist and Yunnan climbing pioneer, Bob Moseley. The episode is hosted by WildChina’s Mei Zhang, and previously Beijing-based, climber Kendra Tombolato.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our sixteenth episode, we talk cycling in China with Ken Goh, founder of Shanghai-based RideNow Cycle Club. Ken is a Singapore native who now lives and works, and of course, cycles, in Shanghai, as well as all over China and the rest of Asia. In this episode we cover the basics of cycling in China, what logistics are involved in planning a group cycling trip, and Ken’s favorite cycling destination – Tibet.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our fifteenth episode we asked Jim Nobles, founder of Bizarre Beijing, to chat with us on some of China’s more haunting facets. We cover a range of afterlife and ghoulish topics, from joss paper burnings going virtual due to growing awareness of environmental impacts to Chinese Ouija boards and supernatural beliefs, and of course there’s a smattering of local ghost stories woven in along the way.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our fourteenth episode we head to the to the Sanxingdui archaeological site in Sichuan province with Harvard’s anthropology department professor of archaeology, Rowan Flad. Dr. Flad shares insights on the importance of the Sanxingdui findings, an overview on archaeological sites across China within the context of Chinese history, and of course recommendations for archaeological sites in China open to visitors.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our thirteenth episode we head to Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province were ceramics artist and expert Caroline Cheng is joining us from her workshop. Outside an ongoing street-side porcelain fair is in the works. During the episode we hear about the fair, Caroline’s project Prosperity, and also recycling ceramic waste into sponge cities, her new venture called Regeneration Tree.     ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our twelfth episode, we head to Inner Mongolia with WildChina’s own, Susan Li. Inner Mongolia is a long province stretching along China’s northern border. It’s home to vast swathes of grasslands and deserts, and now, cities as well. For this episode Mei interviews Susan on what it was like growing up in rural Inner Mongolia and how the province is positioned as a modern-day travel destination.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our eleventh episode we chat with Michelle Zhang and Pat Tietgen, a couple who first met in Chengdu and now live and work together in California where they run The Society of Heart’s Delight, an organization based out of a stunning historic landmark building in San Jose which facilitates events and discussions for the Bay Area Chinese professionals community.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our tenth episode, we head to Chongqing with native Yao Zhao. We talk about Yao’s Sichuan pepper oil company, 50Hertz, his favorite dishes and restaurants in Chongqing, and, of course, local tips on unique points of interest and the best hotels in the area. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our ninth episode, we head to Beijing. As the imperial and modern-day capital, Beijing offers an eclectic array of old and new, visible in the lifestyles of its citizens but also in its buildings. Mei chats with Beijing-based architect, Diana Chan Chieng on Beijing’s wide variety of architectural offerings, from the traditional siheyuan homes of the hutongs, to the gilded roofs of the Forbidden City, to the sleek modern curves of the 2008 Olympic center and the 2019 Daxing airport. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our eighth episode we collaborated with TONG to discuss China’s countryside and the blooming trend of reverse migration from city to countryside. Across the country disillusioned city-dwellers are seeking solace, relaxation, and adventure in the previously forgotten haven of China’s countryside. Mei Zhang from WildChina speaks with Jenny Zhang and Stefan Harvey from TONG on why this is happening, who it encompasses and implications for the future. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our seventh episode, we head to Tibet. A region on the western reaches of China, commonly referred to as the last frontier, the roof of the world. Home to the sparkling Potala Palace, the vast expanse of the Tibetan plateau, the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, the North and Eastern faces of Mount Everest, the seat of Tibetan Buddhism. It also happens to be where WildChina’s first sparks of existence came to be, on the autumn slopes of Mount Kailash. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our sixth episode, we talk with Jeff Fuchs, a long-time WildChina friend, and a globally-recognized expert on tea. Jeff is also a pioneering explorer being the first Westerner to walk the 6000 some miles of the ancient tea horse road through the Himalayas. Today we’ll be talking with him about tea in China. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our fifth episode, we travel to the cosmopolitan metropolis of Shanghai to chat with WildChina guide, and Shanghai native, Florence Ma. From the ballroom dancing aunties of Fuxing park to the hottest Michelin-star restaurant in city, Flo guides us through the many facets of this dazzling city. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our fourth episode, we zoom out to look at China as a whole. We address many of the questions we’ve been asked over the years on “How to plan a trip to China" and give information on where to go based on your interests, how to get there, and what to expect. If you have further questions after listening, please reach out to us at info@wildchina.com so we can help you get started planning your China journey. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our third episode, we travel to Shangri-La and the surrounding regions, in Yunnan province. Home to Tibetan culture, lamaseries, national parks, Snub-Nosed Monkeys, and the great Salween, Yangtze, and Mekong rivers. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our second episode, we travel to Ningxia province, a lesser-visited region, home to prehistoric petroglyphs, the Tengger desert, the Hui ethnic minority group, and, China’s burgeoning wine industry. ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com

For our first episode, we travel to Dali, Yunnan, hometown of WildChina founder Mei Zhang. Mei shares her favorite places to stay, foods to try (including wild mushroom foraging), as well as her local tips for seeing the real Dali.   ----- For a more detailed write-up on this episode, including links to resources mentioned, please visit our website: wildchina.com