Round Table China

Avsnitt

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  IN VIDEO: Can you practice your way to survival? 16.09.2026 1h 1min

  Paying to get knocked around by fake hurricane winds. Wading through a flooded garage that's dry on the other side. Getting swept up in a man-made torrent. It sounds like something to avoid — until you realize people are doing it to learn. Across China, disaster simulation venues are turning fear into a classroom. Because when the real storm hits, hesitation kills. And practice can mean the difference between hesitation and action. But as extreme weather becomes more common, are we getting better prepared, or just better at pretending we are? / Across China, people are paying strangers for what friends used to give for free — a listener to vent to, or someone to offer custom compliments and rebuild confidence. Maybe connection isn't the problem. Maybe trust is. Today, we're asking what happens when we'd rather pay a stranger than lean on the people we know (40:59). On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun
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  Where do we draw the AI music line? 15.09.2026 21min

  It sounded like a hit, it charted like a hit, and radio played it like a hit. There was just one catch. No human made it. Now Australia has become the first country to shut fully AI-generated music out of its official charts and its biggest awards. But if a machine makes a song that makes you feel something, does it matter who or what made it? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun
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  China's new standards on kids' cosmetics 15.09.2026 31min

  A little girl opens a treasure box and finds a tiny eyeshadow palette, a lipstick, and a blush. To her, it's a toy. To her parents, it's a question mark. China is about to tighten the rules on makeup made for kids aged 12 and under, with tougher limits on contamination and stricter safety requirements. But why are children being sold beauty products at all, and will new standards actually make them safer? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun
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  Seven gourds, one grandpa, and the price of going viral 14.09.2026 23min

  It begins in a quiet corner of Shaoxing, on a balcony full of gourds, with an old man happy to wave at whoever shows up. It starts as the kind of story that makes you smile. Then the crowds get bigger, the cameras get closer, and the smile gets harder to hold. When does showing up to admire someone's life turn into taking it away from them? / Why do we never like our pictures (18:02)? On the show: Steve, Yushun & Guo Yan
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  Generation Global EP8: Cooling Vests 14.09.2026 29min

  In 45-degree heat, air conditioning is a luxury millions can't reach, so researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology are building something you wear instead. Round Table's Yushan sits down with Ji Wenjie and Fu Ying, two members of the team behind a cooling vest that could change who survives the heat and who gets left behind. On the show: Steve, Yushun & Guo Yan
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  When being heard becomes a business 11.09.2026 17min

  Across China, people are paying strangers for what friends used to give for free — a listener to vent to, or someone to offer custom compliments and rebuild confidence. Maybe connection isn't the problem. Maybe trust is. Today, we're asking what happens when we'd rather pay a stranger than lean on the people we know. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun
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  From disaster simulation to real-life preparedness 11.09.2026 36min

  Paying to get knocked around by fake hurricane winds. Wading through a flooded garage that's dry on the other side. Getting swept up in a man-made torrent. It sounds like something to avoid — until you realize people are doing it to learn. Across China, disaster simulation venues are turning fear into a classroom. Because when the real storm hits, hesitation kills. And practice can mean the difference between hesitation and action. But as extreme weather becomes more common, are we getting better prepared, or just better at pretending we are? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun
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  CIFTIS 2026: when services and technology meet the city 10.09.2026 25min

  The most interesting developments at this year's China International Fair for Trade in Services may be happening outside the venue. Beijing's western districts now have new waterfront spaces, routes and transport, all backed by AI, digital platforms and healthcare technology, and all pointing to a fair that no longer speaks only to companies but to the rest of us. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun
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  Generation Global EP7: What BRICS means for you 10.09.2026 26min

  BRICS is meeting in India this week, and the group has grown well beyond its original five economies. Trade, technology, climate and jobs keep expanding the agenda, but a simpler question lingers: does any of it reach ordinary people? Fei Fei asks Li Lun, an assistant professor at Peking University specializing in the digital economy, what BRICS means for our everyday lives and whether it can answer what young people are most worried about today.
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  IN VIDEO: The 60,000 km path to discovery 09.09.2026 1h 1min

  China's highways were once built for function alone. But a new 60,000-kilometer national plan is now tailoring routes specifically for road trips, threading together the Great Wall, the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, and dozens of World Heritage sites into one immersive network. Rest stops are becoming cultural outposts, and overlooks invite quiet reflection, turning the journey into something far more than just a way to get somewhere. / In a relationship, we used to know what crossed the line. Now it is a hidden text, a dating app you are still on, or a friend your partner has never heard of. A new survey of 2,000 people reveals just how blurry the boundaries have become (38:21). On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yangyang
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  The Soapbox: the ninety-minute lunch uproar 08.09.2026 19min

  A bank in Hubei decided to close for ninety minutes each afternoon so staff could take a proper break. The public response was anything but calm. Office workers scrambled, elderly customers voiced frustration, and local media fanned the flames. What seemed like a minor change triggered a much larger conversation about routine and why we cling to systems that no longer make sense. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan
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  Shenzhen's school uniforms back in focus 08.09.2026 32min

  The back-to-school season has long meant overpriced uniforms and endless waiting, but Shenzhen offers a different model. Parents buy standard school shirts at corner stores, supermarkets, or through delivery apps for the price of a meal. The city set a unified design and let the market handle the rest. So how did Shenzhen pull this off, and what are the criticisms? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan
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  Freshmen, friends, and the fear of fitting in 07.09.2026 19min

  A new generation just arrived on campus, and they are rewriting the rules of friendship. They scroll with confidence but clam up in person. They crave connection, yet keep everyone at arm's length. From social anxiety as an identity to the rise of buddy culture, something is changing beneath the surface. What happens when the need to belong collides with the urge to retreat? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun
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  The subway that erases provincial borders 07.09.2026 32min

  You live in one city and work in another, and the only thing standing between you and your desk is an hour long crawl through traffic, until now. Beijing's newest subway line does not stop at the city line. It keeps rolling straight into Hebei, turning what used to be a commute into something that feels more like a local errand. That changes everything, not just for the people riding it, but for the very idea of where a city ends and where a region begins. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun
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  The 2026 gray zone of modern romance 04.09.2026 22min

  In a relationship, we used to know what crossed the line. Now it is a hidden text, a dating app you are still on, or a friend your partner has never heard of. A new survey of 2,000 people reveals just how blurry the boundaries have become. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yangyang
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  The 60,000 km path to discovery 04.09.2026 36min

  China's highways were once built for function alone. But a new 60,000-kilometer national plan is now tailoring routes specifically for road trips, threading together the Great Wall, the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, and dozens of World Heritage sites into one immersive network. Rest stops are becoming cultural outposts, and overlooks invite quiet reflection, turning the journey into something far more than just a way to get somewhere. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yangyang
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  The internet cafe 2.0 03.09.2026 21min

  The old internet cafe is dead. Dim lights, sticky floors, and cheap instant noodles are gone. In their place are sleek lounges with premium seating, gourmet food, private pods, and showers. These new spaces are just as much about gaming as they are getting away. For a growing number of people, they are a second home, or maybe a better one. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun
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  Train hard, heal harder 03.09.2026 31min

  We are more active than ever, but our bodies are paying the price. A fitness boom is fueling a massive surge in sports rehabilitation, from boutique clinics to high-tech recovery tools. The business of healing is growing fast, and a culture of pushing our bodies to the limit is forcing a new conversation about what it really means to be healthy. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun
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  IN VIDEO: Where East meets the Arab world 03.09.2026 25min

  China and Egypt, two ancient civilizations, share deep cultural and historical roots. Today, a new generation is building on that foundation through culture, business, trade, and technology. CGTN podcast Round Table's Yushan sat down with CGTN reporter Mèrna Al Nasser and Egyptian PhD student Sherif Abdelsamie, and share what it's like to live between these worlds. Click in to find out the unexpected ties they have uncovered, and the energy that sparks when ancient traditions meet a rapidly changing era.
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  Generation Global: where East meets the Arab world 02.09.2026 32min

  China and Egypt, two ancient civilizations, share deep cultural and historical roots. Today, a new generation is building on that foundation through culture, business, trade, and technology. Round Table's Yushan sat down with CGTN reporter Mèrna Al Nasser and Egyptian PhD student Sherif Abdelsamie. They share what it's like to live between these worlds, the unexpected ties they have uncovered, and the energy that sparks when ancient traditions meet a rapidly changing era.