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#112 - The rise of Fangyan (local dialect)'s content
Recently, a Chinese film DEAR YOU (給阿嬤的情書 - 2026) broke the country box office. This historical / family / period drama was shot on a mere 14 million yuan budget ($2 million), and yet made over 1.8 billion yuan ($265 millions). But what’s interesting about that story is that it’s not so much about the money itself, or that the director was quite unknown ; it is that this story that spam from the end of 1940s to today is primary spoken in Teochew dialect.
And those types of movies, alongside side any kind of cultural content for the matter, has a hard time finding its place in Chinese cultural consumption as there is a strong emphasis on using Putonghua. Yet, things are brewing.
Featuring - LAM Can-zhao : Filmmaker - Yaling JIANG : Consultant - Sam Debell : Sea of Wood Records - Co-founder
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 or RedNote (阿拉丁说电影)
18 months ago, we released our episode #99 examining how AI was being used in films, documentaries, and advertising. At the time, most of the more compelling AI-driven work was confined to short-form content. But Chinese content creator and storyteller are doing leapfrog on that area.
As AI tools advance rapidly, they are increasingly taking on more complex roles in filmmaking, including generating entire features and even documentaries. But as reliance on the technology grows, the industry is still grappling with unresolved ethical questions around consent and copyright.
Featuring - CHEN Zhuo (Pax) : FizzDragon - Founder & CEO - Tina JIA : Wing Sight - Founder & President - FAN Lixin : Emmy Award Documentary & AI Filmmaker
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 or RedNote (阿拉丁说电影)
Despite China's reputation for having difficulty selling cultural products due to local regulations and the audience's taste, some do manage to bridge the Chinese audience with international content. Where do such opportunities lie, and how has the Chinese audience evolved over the years?
Featuring - Marion Bertagna: MB Projects - Founder & Director - Sun Wenxin (aka Yoyo): Global Concert Organizer
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
With thanks Li Muyuan for research, and Sean Calvo for music support.
Lured by a potentially large and lucrative market, major theater productions are increasingly making the jump from the bright lights of Broadway or the West End to the less familiar but no less lively avenues by the Bund or the Second Ring Road. Yet, according to Gaultier Létourneau-Ross, director of operations at a Canadian company that assists foreign theater troupes seeking to perform in China, much remains to be worked out in terms of effectively producing these types of international productions — from marketing and filling seats to staging and censorship.
Featuring: Gaultier Létourneau-Ross: Director of Operations at Saimen
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!
Recommended watching and listening: Sleep No More: An English-language immersive play that has been staged in Shanghai for the past two years. - Team Lab: A Japanese group that creates interactive art. - Shen Yun: A U.S.-based performing arts and entertainment company (closely linked to Falun Gong). - Wuzhen Theater Festival: One of the biggest Chinese theater festivals, which was launched in 2013.
Children’s entertainment is a growing industry in China, with many opportunities for flexible and innovative creators to produce marketable content. Prospects are particularly bright for those working at the intersection of children’s entertainment and education, which has long been an important source of revenue in a country where 93 percent of families pay out-of-pocket for tuition and related fees, according to a 2017 HSBC study. On this episode we discuss the economics of children’s entertainment in China, and how creators can engage in this corner of the market.
Featuring: Kevin Geiger: Partner, Magic Dumpling Entertainment Natasha Shetye: Studio Manager, Thinkwell Group April Wang: Manager at Beijing Playhouse
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!
Answers to the episode quiz: - Kung Fu Panda is the hit American animated film that, given the content, made many Chinese netizens openly question why China had not produced anything similar. - Honor of Kings (王者荣耀) is the video game that now features a time limit for children and teenagers playing it. -Wáng Fúmǎn (王福满), the real name of the schoolboy who braved an ice storm to walk to school and whose photo, complete with icicles in his hair, went viral on the Chinese internet — earning him the nickname “Ice Boy.” - Only 30 percent of proceeds at the Chinese box office went to animated films produced in China between 2011 and 2017.
This week on the Middle Earth Podcast, Aladin sits down over a pint with Sun Yao (孙遥), the proprietor of his favorite local cultural venue-cum-cafe, to talk about the business end of the cultural industry in China. Like the owners of many niche bars and cafes across China, Sun seeks to turn a profit at his hutong establishment, Camera Stylo, by screening films, hosting live events, and otherwise trying to make art pay.
A film buff and dedicated entrepreneur, Sun shares his four years of experience running a small business in the hutongs of Beijing trying to bring films and cultural conversations to his diverse clientele. In spite of a rough early start — some of which he spent sleeping in the cafe itself — Sun has managed to ensure Camera Stylo has been able to survive and thrive in a challenging environment.
Featuring: Sun Yao | 孙遥 : Proprietor of Camera Stylo
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!
Recommended watching and listening: - Aotu Space 凹凸空间 (WeChat Account: aotuspace_bj) - China Film Archive 中国电影资料馆 | Website
Podcasting is rapidly becoming the next boom industry in China, with approximately 80 million daily downloads of podcasts and a projected audience of 486 million total. When it comes to putting a number on the industry, however, things get less clear. Some estimate that China’s podcast industry is worth upward of $7 billion, citing a report by China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television. However, this figure is likely somewhat off the mark — the $7 billion figure refers only to “pay for knowledge” programming, that is, educational shows that consumers pay for directly. A more comprehensive number that takes into account free content or podcasts supported by advertisements remains elusive. By comparison, podcasters based in the U.S. made an estimated $314 million in 2017, a number that is projected to double by 2020. Meanwhile, the U.S. “pay for knowledge” industry is estimated to have earned $12 billion in 2016, according to our peer podcast also available on the Sinica Network, TechBuzz China by Pandaily.
Featuring Joshua Thomas Ogden-Davis : Writer & Podcaster at Ximalaya (喜马拉雅) Kou Aizhe | 寇爱哲 : Founder & Host of Story FM (故事FM) Yu Wanying | 于婉莹 : Founder & Host of Museelogue( 博物志)
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!
Recommended watching and listening - "Digitally China", a podcast about China’s tech innovation. - "Chinese Cooking Demystified", a YouTube cooking show. - 日谈公园, a Chinese podcast about China’s culture today. - 忽左忽右, another Chinese podcast about China’s culture today.
Quiz's answers - Ximalaya claimed $100 million dollars of revenue in 2017. - Cai Kangyong (蔡康永) earned 35 million RMB with his podcast "Good Talk" (好好说话). - Zeng Pengyu (曾鹏宇) had his book content shamelessly stolen by the podcast "Peaceful Goddess" (平安娘娘).
Live art is one of the few mediums that hasn’t been radically transformed by the digital age. No screen is yet able to capture the magic of in-person performance, be it a comedy show, theater, or even Peking opera. The live performance scene is particularly vibrant in contemporary Beijing, where comedy and theater offerings are as diverse as they are popular. In this episode, Aladin interviews some of Beijing’s emerging live performers to discuss what happens on the stage — and behind the scenes.
Featuring Jesse Appell : Comedian and Director of the US-China Comedy Center Raimund Rosarius : Director, Author & Curator Xie Peifan | 謝配釩 : Director, Actor & Teacher
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!
Recommended watching and listening - Lao She (老舍) : Chinese novelist and dramatist. - Penghao Theatre : Beijing’s first private theater in Beijing. - Mahua FunAge (开心麻花): Chinese private comedy enterprise that develops and produces plays, films, stand-up comedy, and TV shows. - Zhao Benshan( 赵本山) : Chinese actor and director best known for his frequent appearances on the CCTV New Year’s Gala. He has produced less work in recent years, possibly as a result of political attacks.
Quiz's answers - Xiangsheng (相声), also known as “crosstalk,” is a centuries-old traditional form of Chinese comedic art, usually featuring two performers. - During the Cultural Revolution, only eight revolutionary operas (样板戏) were allowed to be staged. - The white mask in Peking Opera signifies treachery and stupidity.
Voices from China’s large but marginalized LGBTQ and feminist communities are increasingly making themselves heard in contemporary culture. In particular, artists and activists from these groups are creating content around the idea of “nontraditional love,” which is resonating strongly even with mainstream Chinese audiences. So how have the stories of creators from historically silenced and censored groups found footholds in contemporary culture?
Featuring Qin Sachi : Manager, Transgender Rights Program, Beijing LGBT Center Beijing Wei Xiaogang : Executive Director, Producer, Beijing GENDER (同志亦凡人) Evangeline Z: Feminist activist and comedian
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!
Recommended watching and listening - Farewell My Concubine (霸王别姬 - 1993) - East Palace, West Palace (东宫西宫 - 1996) - Home With Kids (家有儿女 - 2004–2007) - Mama Rainbow (彩虹伴我心 - 2012) - Addicted (上瘾 - 2016) - Chinese Dating With the Parents (中国式相亲), hosted by one of China’s most famous transgender people, Jin Xing (金星)
Clubs and live performances featuring international music started taking off in China in the 1980s. Initially, the scene was very focused on foreign diplomats, journalists, and students who rented out restaurants and other spaces on the weekends. Gradually, as policies governing public radio broadcasts underwent reforms that allowed the performance of international music, a broader audience had access to the genre. Fast-forward to the present day: There is no shortage of music festivals, clubs, and other venues in China that feature performances by artists from around the world — to the extent that, if current trends continue, electronic music will be the most popular genre on Chinese radio airwaves by the early 2020s. In this live recording of the Middle Earth Podcast at the 2019 WISE festival, a few industry insiders discuss the current trends in this lively line of work.
Featuring Philipp Grefer : Founder, WISE and Fake Music Media Isla Angus : Booking Agent, ATC Live Paul Neuteboom : Managing Director, Brother Hood Music Fay Haixuan Wang : Vice President at China Minsheng Cultural Media Development Chang Liu –: Chief Operating Officer, Pillz Records Chang Youdai : Radio and Club DJ
Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and usually 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!
Recommended watching and listening - Cui Jian (崔健) the “Father of Chinese Rock” - Tang Dynasty (唐朝乐队) often credited as the first Chinese heavy metal band
The stark cultural differences between China and the West are frequently identified as key barriers in productive professional exchanges. However, the mechanisms by which people can actually improve their cultural understanding — or “cultural literacy” — are less clear. How can professionals in China and the West bridge gaps in understanding ensuring that business can sail smoothly?
Featuring Vincent Vierron : Director Beatrix Frisch : General Manager at Mackevision Joey Wang : Scriptwriter
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!
Three main takeaways from this week’s episode: 1) In Chinese workplaces, flexibility is key. Partially as a result of China’s incredibly competitive labor market, workplaces in China tend to be much more flexible than their counterparts in the West. Media professionals should be ready at any moment for a change in a script or the editing of a commercial, with little notice or supporting budget. At the same time, Chinese workers will almost always respond to their emails on a Saturday evening or late at night (a habit that is far from widespread in Europe, for example). All of this results in sky-high rates of employee turnover as burnout and ambition take their toll.
2) Top-down approaches are standard in China. In the office, the boss is king. He (or she!) will always get the last word, no matter how much work went into a project beforehand. However, if an employee is flexible and patient, they can hopefully avoid the worst surprises.
3) Chinese work culture is constantly evolving. Whether the workplace is a state-owned enterprise or a private, international firm, internal procedures will inevitably vary wildly. What remains constant is that China has come a long way since the beginning of the reform and opening up period, so “middlemen” who take commissions only to put people in contact tend to be less important.
Recommended watching and listening - The Flower of War (2011)
Quiz's answers - Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) was an Italian Jesuit priest who became the first European to enter the Forbidden City of Beijing in 1601, when the Wanli Emperor (万历帝) sought his services in court astronomy and calendrical science. He converted several prominent Chinese officials to Catholicism and translated Euclid's Elements into Chinese as well as the Confucian classics into Latin. - Da Shan (大山), or Mark Henry Rowswell, is a Canadian comedian and television personality who is one of the most famous Western personalities in China. He has appeared several times on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala since 1988. - The Flower of War (2011) is the second-biggest flop at the Chinese box office after The Great Wall (2016). Zhang Yimou directed both films.
China has found success in exporting domestic technology and consumer goods. However, its culture exportation has not achieved the same success. The language barrier may be an issue, yet South Korean and Japanese films and music have managed to overcome it and found success in exporting cultural products like video games, anime, and movies. So what gives? On this episode of the Middle Earth Podcast, the guests discuss the recent successes and failures of China’s culture going abroad. This episode was recorded during a panel at the WISE Festival 2019 at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.
Featuring Emily Xueni Jin : Science Fiction Translator Tom Simpson : Senior Director of the China-Britain Business Council Sha Hua | 华沙 : host of the talk) and journalist for the Handelsblatt
Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and usually 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!
Three main takeaways from this week’s episode 1) Yes, the language barrier is an issue, but it is not the only one. If a Chinese indie band or film producer wants to have their work paid attention to by Western audiences, they have to upload the art onto Western social media platforms (YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, etc). Circumnavigating the Great Firewall of China makes this difficult, as well as the need to interact with fans in English. At the same time, non-Chinese individuals aren’t willing (or don’t know how) to surf the Chinese internet. But there is evidence that the language barrier can be successfully traversed: The first video to hit a billion views on YouTube was “Gangnam Style” by the South Korean singer PSY. Yet, in defense of China’s producers, the domestic market is such a huge market compared with South Korea’s that Chinese artists and producers don’t necessarily need to go global in order to survive.
2) There is still Orientalism and a lack of general knowledge about China in the West. As science-fiction writer Emily Xueni Jin pointed out, when you need to translate a Chinese concept or a mythical beast into English, should you borrow its Western equivalent or write it in pinyin and describe it? There is often a tough choice to make: to balance a “Chinese style” to highlight your stylistic differences, or to use an approach that could be construed as Westernization or Orientalism to garner a larger audience.
3) China manages to export three types of cultural products. When you look at the cultural products China sells abroad, only three types really stand out. The first is classical paintings and calligraphy. Given the lack of interest in these things among China’s own domestic youth, it prompts the question of how successful they could be abroad. The second is science-fiction works, which, surprisingly, work really well abroad. Perhaps this is because questions about the future of our planet, and how we should embrace technology, are universally understood. The last (and least known) is foreign films. A few years ago, some companies decided to invest in them. The Academy Award–winning film for Best Picture, Green Book, had a backing by Alibaba Pictures. Maybe after investing and learning for several years, Chinese companies will know how to make a global blockbuster film. One could make the argument that films from the 1990s are examples of China’s globalizing culture industry. However, films that toe the line of acceptability are being produced in far lower volume, and face greater levels of censorship.
Before the Beijing Olympics, foreign media groups seeking to sell or co-produce science-themed media content in China had a difficult time finding partners. Paul Lewis, an independent producer and former president of Discovery Channel Canada, was nevertheless able to co-produce two science programs in partnership with Chinese state media outlets: "Daily Planet Goes to China" and "Factory Made/Made in China". In this episode, Paul discusses how rapidly the Chinese media landscape has evolved, and the implications for science-themed content.
Featuring Paul Lewis: Producer | 制片人
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!
Recommended watching - “Factory City” episode of Factory Made/Made in China (Discovery Channel, 2009)
China's first AAA game Black Myth: Wukong certainly caught the world's attention for its production value, commercial success, and controversies. How did the creative team pull that off, and why was this game considered the "perfect package"?
Featuring - Daniel Ahmad: Niko Partners - Director of Research & Insights - Lundy Lan: Video Game Technical Artist - Jesse Young: Independent Researcher
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
With thanks Li Muyuan for research, and Sean Calvo for music support.
Virtual reality (VR) is a new medium that many a technology guru has predicted will revolutionize cinema—or would, if it weren’t for the pesky problem (among others) that VR interface still requires the viewer to wear what essentially amounts to a “head box.” Nevertheless, VR markets around the world are slowly but surely expanding. Many of the major film festivals (Sundance, Venice, and Cannes, to name a few) now feature a special VR section. Overall the industry is indeed growing—especially in China. For context, here are some key figures: The value of China’s VR market in 2016 was around USD $500 million (mainly hardware). The value of China’s film market in 2016 war around USD $6.9 billion. The value of China’s film market in 2020 is projected to be USD $10 billion. The value of China’s VR market in 2020 is projected to be USD $6.5 billion (half in hardware, and the rest split between games, films, enterprise applications, theme parks, etc.).
Featuring Eddie Lou : Founder Sandbox Immersive Festival and Sandman Studios | 青岛国际 VR 影像周创始人 & Sandman Studios 公司创始人 Gianluigi Perrone : Founder Polyhedron VR Studio | Polyhedron VR Studio 公司创始人 Denise Wu: VeeR’s Head of marketing | VeeR 公司营销主管
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!
This week’s episode is brought to you in partnership with “WISE: The Future Think Tank,” a group founded by Philipp Grefer in Beijing in 2018 to spark cross-sectoral dialogue about digital life, style, culture, business, science and technology. WISE invites and connects thinkers and doers from different industries online and offline to discuss essential questions about how we want and should live in the future. For the second year running, WISE will be hosting a special event in Beijing at UCCA in the 798 Art District from May 18-19, 2019. Topics will range from how AI can help solve world hunger, if the robots will take over, what can be learned about the future by looking into the past, how to find China’s first international superstar, and the future of design and creativity. Investors will share new ideas about the future of cultural and tech industries and startups, while China’s first surfer will share her vision for an environmentally-conscious China.
The event will also feature two concerts brought to you by the Reeperbahn Festival, Europe’s largest music platform for international and transcultural exchange. SupChina Access members will receive a special discount. To get your tickets and learn more, visit www.wisenotwise.com.
Making a feature film can be a long and painful process — especially when you’re shooting an indie film in below-freezing conditions 16 hours per day for 14 days. But that is exactly what the creative team behind "The Last Sunrise" (最后的日出) was able to do, and along the way, they generated useful insight into China’s science-fiction movie scene and the realities of filmmaking in China on a shoestring budget.
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!
Four main takeaways from this episode: 1) Chinese science-fiction productions tend to be optimistic about the future. While Western science-fiction productions are dominated by dystopian tropes, in contrast, Chinese sci-fi tends to paint a far more benign portrait of how science will usher in a better future. Of course, state regulations that govern cultural production in China have something to do with this, but gifted creators can often find workarounds to these restrictions.
2) In China, getting started in the film industry is like founding a startup. The main goal of most filmmakers is to make a good-quality film and, if at all possible, to pay the filmmaking team along the way. There is no shortcut to a successful career in making feature films; making a high-quality movie is the end result of years of experience in the industry. Big payoffs do not happen by accident. Just like any other entrepreneur, filmmakers need to make good products before they can hope to earn serious revenue, and this means working on as many projects as possible. In China as in many other markets, the jump from making low-budget films online to big-budget films intended for cinematic release is a large one, and not everyone makes it.
3) Chinese internet distributors usually pay a flat fee and keep audience numbers secret. If an internet platform agrees to distribute a film, the producer will receive a flat fee and will need to budget the film accordingly. There is no incentive or bonuses for films that reach a large audience on an internet platform. The general public will likely never learn how many people have actually watched the movie, just as with Netflix in the West. Platforms like Youku do provide an indicator of popularity 热度 and share it with the creators after some time. However, the popularity of any given film peaks only briefly before audiences move on. In the case of The Last Sunrise, for example, the movie was the second-most widely viewed movie on Youku for a few weeks before plunging down to number #799 three months later.
4) There are a few key secrets to shooting a film in 14 days. Do a lot of advance planning to avoid wasting time. Surround yourself with a team who can work long hours and understand your creative vision. Select only a few locations, and shoot indoors as much as possible. For The Last Sunrise , for example, the team limited filming locations to only three places: Beijing (北京), Zhangbei (张北) in Hebei Province, and Ordos (鄂尔多斯) in Inner Mongolia. As you pitch the project, be prepared to propose a variety of budgets and lengths to appeal to different types of investors.
Recommended watching and reading: - The Last Sunrise (最后的日出 - 2019): - Train to Busan (2016): Wikipedia page Black Coal, - Thin Ice (白日焰火 - 2014): Wikipedia page - The Wandering Earth (流浪地球 - 2019) - Zhang Yimou’s opinion piece in the New York Times, “What Holly
In case traveling to the nearest Chinese temple may be a bit inconvenient, modern-day Chinese astrologers still have you covered — inevitably, there’s an app for that! In this episode, astrologer Wen Jun explains how she works, the kinds of clients who seek her out, the differences between Chinese and Western astrology, and other aspects of fortune-telling in the modern age. 通过一个app了解占星的艺术世界上最古老的工作已经可以在网络上进行了。文君，一个占星师，她解释了一些问题包括她如何在网络上进行工作，她的客人，以及东西方关于占星的不同之处。
Featuring Wen Jun | 文君 : Astrologer | 占星师
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!
Two main takeaways from this episode: 1) There are a number of popular Chinese fortune-telling apps on the market today. Wen Jun works for the popular astrology app Ce Ce Astrology 测测星座. One of its main competitors is another popular app, Stars Network 星星网络.
2) Contemporary Chinese astrologers are very popular. The most famous astrologers in China are Tang Qi Yang 唐绮阳, Uncle Tong Dao 同道大叔, a graduate of Peking University, and Monica Mo 莫小奇, a TV star.
When prodded to think about documentaries at all, most people imagine features films that are shown in festivals and cinemas. What this picture misses is the fact that the majority of documentary filmmakers make their living producing documentaries for television. Does this mean that documentarians in China are all but guaranteed to make money in the country, with its billion-strong audience? 当我们谈论纪录片的时候，很多人会想到在节日和电影院放映的故事片。但实际上，大多数纪录片制作人都是以电视纪录片为生的。中国的亿万眼球能给他们带来财富和名誉吗？
Featuring Steven Seidenberg: Script writer and consultant | 编剧、顾问 Zhang Nan | 张楠: Director PANGO Pictures | 导演，盘古影业
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!
Three main takeaways from this episode 1) Documentary storytelling is not the same everywhere. 纪录片的叙事方式在不同的地方并不一样。 Chinese documentaries often feature strong narration with impressive visuals, often called the “voice of God” style. Generally, in this style, the narrator will explain the actions of the characters of a film, with interviews and sound bites reduced to a minimum. This approach to documentaries gives filmmakers more control over the message of the film. While Japanese documentaries are frequently shot in this style, it is markedly less popular in other Asian nations, including South Korea and Singapore, where documentarians prefer to directly show conflict and the end product resembles a fiction film. This preference is also shared in most Western nations, suggesting that cultural preferences may be at work. 中国的纪录片通常有很多的旁白，通常被称为“上帝之声”，然后再由漂亮的画面来修饰它。在采访中，片中角色的行为通常由旁白来讲述，同时现场的录音被减小到最低的程度。同样的现象也出现在日本的记录片中。但是西方国家及某些亚洲国家，比如韩国或者新加坡，他们倾向与表现冲突，这看起来更像一部电影。这种分歧可能来自文化差异，也因为对于制片人来说，这样更容易控制出现在影片中的话语。
2) If you want to make TV documentaries in China, you’ve got to call on the big guns. 如果你想在中国拍一部电视纪录片，那就去找一些大机构。 In China, finding a broadcaster to release your documentary is easy; between CCTV 9, CCTV 10, CGTN, and the plethora of local channels and internet platforms, distribution is hardly a problem. However, many of these platforms will merely post the film and won’t invest in distribution. Funding must come from other sources, such as a local government that wants to advertise the location in which the film is shot, an institution promoting a certain message, a company with a PR angle, or a donor who just wants to support a given project. 有了CCTV 9、CCTV 10、CGTN、许多地方频道和互联网平台，找一个广播公司来播放你的纪录片是相当容易的。但有些平台只是提供一个展示你电影的机会，而不会投资。为了给你的节目制作人投资，你必须找到其他类型的资金。可能是地方政府想宣传拍摄纪录片的地方，想宣传某一主题的机构，愿意参与公关活动的大公司，或者只是想帮助某个项目的慈善家。
3) Filming documentaries is not a path to riches. 做纪录片是不会发财的。 Often we see documentary filmmakers as white knights fighting on behalf of the public by reporting on difficult or marginalized issues. However, even if your film is screened at a famous festival or aired on a popular television network, it is still difficult to make a living. Producers, directors, and scriptwriters of documentaries often have to supplement their incomes by doing other work (e.g., corporate videos, teaching, or doing technical jobs in bigger productions). 我们常常把纪录片制片人看作是白衣骑士，为了公众而报道困难的问题或提出有趣的话题。但是，即使你的电影在著名的节日放映，或通过电视播放，以此来谋生也是相当困难的。制作人、导演和编剧必须另找工作（企业宣传片、教学、在大制作中当技术员），以便在做纪录片的同时维持生活的。
Recommendation - "Last Train Home" (归途列车 - 2009), a Chinese feature film by Fan Lixin. - "A Bite of China" (舌尖上的中国), a doc series on the history of food & eating
China’s video-game industry is a hugely popular business in a nation where over half the population regularly plays. In 2015, the size of the video-game market in China officially surpassed that of the U.S., making the Chinese video-game industry the biggest and most profitable in the world.
Featuring Ava Deng - translation manager Ava’s email Sebastien Francois : Overseas Operations Manager Max Wang : Narrative Designer
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!
Four main takeaways from this interview 1) China already had a huge game culture in the 1990s. 中国自上世纪90年代起就已经有了规模庞大的游戏文化。 Many urban children and teenagers had the option of playing games in cheap computer bars or on devices like the SUBOR console (小霸王 - xiǎo bà wáng). The console was often filled with pirated copy of games that were sold for around $50 on the Western market. But many parents and teachers frequently disapproved of their child's gaming habits, preferring more pressing things (like homework). 很多在城市里长大的孩子都有机会去收费低廉的网吧玩游戏，或者使用一种名叫“小霸王”的设备玩游戏。通常，这种设备里都装满了盗版游戏，这些游戏在西方市场的售价在50美元左右。不过很多家长和老师常常围追堵截、把孩子们从游戏机旁抓回去写作业。
2) Time is of the essence: If you want your game to be successful in China, think mobile and quick rewards. 如果你想把游戏卖到中国来，可以考虑手机游戏以及可以快速得分的形式。 As many Chinese players are often young people, they don’t have much time to play because of the gāokǎo (高考) or work schedules. So, unlike the gamers in the West, the gaming experience must be quickly fulfilling; there is not a lot of time to explore and learn how to master the game. Also, because most of the mobile games are linked to social media accounts, users can compare their scores with those of their friends. Right now, 57 percent of Chinese gamers play on mobile devices, compared with only 35 percent in the U.S. 目 前很多中国的游戏玩家都是年轻人，因为学业或者工作的原因，他们没有太多时间玩游戏。 因此，与西方玩家不同，中国的游戏必须在短时间内满足玩家体验; 他们没有太多时间来探索和学习如何掌握一款游戏。 另外，因为大多数手机游戏都链接到社交媒体，因此游戏玩家可以将自己的分数与朋友进行比较。现在，中国有57%的玩家在手机上玩游戏，在美国则只有35％。
3) Cultural compatibility is critical for sales. 找到合适的文化土壤对销售而言非常重要。 Many Chinese companies have difficulties selling their games abroad, as they often produce stories related to kung fu or other culture elements rooted in local folklore. The few Chinese games (like Clash of Kings) that were well received in the West had European cultural ties. So far, Western games that “make it” in China already have a good reputation and can thus find their target audiences more easily. 很多中国公司在国外的销售业绩不佳，是因为他们常常制作一些跟功夫文化或其他民俗元素相关的游戏。为数不多能进入西方市场的游戏，比如《列王的纷争》，实际上具有深厚的欧洲文化背景。目前为止，成功进入中国的西方游戏都已经获得了不错的口碑，也更容易获得受众。
4) Indie games are a hard sell in China. 独立游戏在中国处境艰难。 Due to a ban on game consoles (2000–2015), and a different video gaming culture overall, Chinese players are not really into indie games. These kinds of productions are often more single-player oriented or focused on the artistic message they want to deliver. But due to a lack of knowledge about game design, and a general distrust of the Chinese public toward those kinds of projects, few independent studios manage to make a living or even finish their games. 由于游戏机禁令（2000-2015年）的影响和游戏观念的不同，
Until the 1990s, Hollywood movies were making the vast majority of their revenue in English-speaking countries. Nowadays, these countries comprise only half the market. The main reason for the change is the appearance of new markets, including the most important one of all: China. What problems do foreign film professionals and their teams face while vying to tap into the Chinese market? How do cultural disparities and regulations fit into the equation? What is the current lay of the land in the Chinese film industry from the perspective of a director or a producer? In this episode, our guests provide their firsthand experience to answer these questions. 一直到90年代，好莱坞电影的绝大部分收入都来自英语国家，现在英语国家只占其收入的一半。 主要原因是新兴市场的出现，其中最重要的是中国。 现在每个人都渴望进入中国市场，但要说明一点，因为中国的法律法规及文化的差异，这件事很容易吗？ 如何才能顺利进入中国市场？ 在第一集中，我们的客人将就这个问题表达他们的想法。
Featuring Dominique Othenin-Girard : Director Tammy Tian : International Co-Production Manager Sky Wang : Director
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!
From this interview, we have found three takeaways 从这期访谈中，我们总结出三个主要观点
1) China’s movie market is not mature enough - 中国电影市场尚未成熟 Although the quality of Chinese production has improved over the last few years, there are still some issues that need to be solved: - Revenue sharing of movies has to be negotiated. It is not automatic like in the United States. - There are no clear, established rules on the movie set. Therefore, shooting can still be unorganized. - The lack of a movie-rating system makes it hard for some movies to be shown in theaters. 虽然中国影视作品的质量在过去几年已经有所提升，但仍存在一些待解决的问题： - 每一部电影的收益分成都需要经商议决定，并不像美国市场一样拥有约定俗成的规则 - 电影场景设置中没有明确的准则，因此拍摄起来可能没有条理 - 缺乏分级制度导致部分电影很难在院线上映
2) Trust is the foundation of international collaboration - 完成一部电影需要极大的勇气和信念 Having trust in your co-workers, whether you are in the office or on set, and their collaborative ability is incredibly important — and with money and investors involved, transparency and communication are equally critical. Also, because working methods are not always the same, you sometimes require to “act as an example to show how it works,” as the director Sky Wang suggests. 因此信任在国际团队的共同合作中非常重要；又因为涉及到资金，它同时也需要大量的透明度和沟通交流。所以无论你是在办公室还是在拍摄现场，信任和理解都非常重要。另外，因为工作方法并不总是相同，所以你有时需要“演绎一个例子来说明它是如何运作的”导演王天尉说。
3) Forget about co-production? - 也许我们该忘记“联合制片”这件事 As Zhang Yimou’s historic box office flop, The Great Wall, showed, there is no magical formula to make a hit at the box office. A safe way could be for Western technicians and advisers to help Chinese film companies remake Western stories with attributes that would resonate with Chinese moviegoers. 张艺谋的《长城》让我们发现，并没有什么诀窍能让电影收获高票房。最安全的办法或许是通过西方的技术人员和顾问的介入，来帮助中国公司翻拍一些兼具世界性和中国特色的故事。
Recommendation Sky Wang’s film called Lost in Apocalypse (末世人间道).
Anthony Kuhn, who works at NPR, has been working on how China is using its soft power, and that’s actually one of the main reasons the Middle Earth podcast started: to investigate how politics and culture can be linked. The culture of a country doesn't come out of thin air. Rather, there is a political and business side to it.
Featuring Anthony Kuhn : Journalist | 记者
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!
Show notes You can now listen to one of Anthony’s reports on China’s soft power here. The film Anthony talked about was 厉害了 我的国 (My Amazing Country), by state-media company CCTV and China Film Group Corporation. Anthony's Weibo moment of fame, mentioned in the show, can be seen here.
This is the second part of a two-part series about how the internet changed the way to consume and create content. Last time, the panel comprised people who earn a living by creating only on the Chinese internet, but today we meet the other side of the fence, the more “capitalistic” one: those who make, sell, or deal with advertisements.
Featuring Kenneth Cheung : Data and Branding Consultant Tera Fang : Fashion Influencer Eloi Gerard : CEO and founder of CrowsNest
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!
1) Forget about TV advertisements In 2012: 20 percent of advertisement spending was on the internet. In 2017: 57 percent of advertisement spending was on the internet, and only 31 percent on TV. The online advertising market represented $47 billion in 2016, and will increase to around $90 billion in 2020. As a comparison, it’s more than the film industry at $7 billion, but less than the tobacco industry at $160 billion. The main reason online advertising is booming in China compared with in Western countries is because the television channels there are all state-owned and don't really have an agenda about a specific type of audience they want to attract.
2) Without data, you are nothing The “BAT” companies (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) have much more data about their users than Facebook or Google because they own multiple platforms and services, making it easier to track down the kind of product you would want to buy. Therefore, brands and advertising agencies with smaller budgets can more efficiently target potential clients on the internet. If “data privacy” starts to be a thing in North America, Europe, or developed Asian nations, China’s general public seems to care a bit less about this. But the Chinese internet is not the Wild West because some data, like credit card transactions, is illegal to buy. You can still find it on the market, but that would be totally illegal and risk prison time.
3) On the internet, hire a Key Opinion Leader For some reason, in China, even the most basic commodity like a burger or a car needs to have a spokesperson to represent the product. And as the Chinese internet is massively used by young adults in search of authenticity, users often try to link their products to one of those Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) to boost their products. If you are one of those KOL whose Weibo follower count is greater than the population of some small countries, you should consider starting your own brand at some point. Being famous is not enough — you have to be able to one day sell something of your own or you will be forgotten.
4) Technology will keep replacing jobs As incredible as it sounds, artificial intelligence could slowly replace editors as they edit pictures and films. Just by saying to the computer “This advertisement should look like X,” the AI could potentially perform the task much faster than any human. Also, as the adult-video industry and Xinhua have proven recently, it is possible to digitally re-create someone’s face on screen. One day, stars might not even have to go to a studio to shoot their advertisement; they will just rent their face and someone else will walk in front of the camera.
China has only 55% internet penetration, but almost every person online is using a smartphone, therefore a lot of phone-optimized content (video, news, silly applications to make your selfies look beautiful) is created every day. As of this month of recording, October 2018, Bytedance, the Chinese company owning news aggregator Toutiao and short video app Douyin/Tik-tok, is now THE most valuable startup in the world, more than Uber or Baidu. 虽然中国只有55％的互联网普及率，但几乎每个网民都使用智能手机，因此每天都产生大量内容（视频，新闻，很傻但让你看起来很漂亮手机APP)。截至本期节目录制时(2018年10月)，“字节跳动”这家中国公司公司——旗下有新闻聚合器APP“今日头条”和短视频应用“抖音”/“Tik-tok”(抖音视频国际版)——现在已经是世界上最有价值的创业公司，超过了优步或者百度。
So, as I work on a television project I wanted to talk to those who just create articles, funny videos, and news on the Chinese internet. How do they make a living by creating online content? How do they find followers? And how big is the competition? 鉴于我正从事电视行业，我很想与那些在中国互联网上写文章、创作有趣的视频和新闻的人聊一聊。他们是如何通过创作线上内容谋生的？是如何吸引受众的？这个行业的竞争有多大？
This episode will be a two-part series on how the internet is changing content creation in China. Next month we will look at how today’s advertisements are light years away from what was done just 5 years ago. 这一集是关于互联网如何改变中国内容创作的第二部分，下个月我们将关注现在的广告作品与5年前的巨大差异。
With Erman : Weibo & Wechat influencer | 微博和微信( 就是曼仔 )影响者 Ben Jonhson : Douyin celebrity at the 和歪果仁说英语 channel | ‘和歪果仁说英语’抖音红人 Tang Yiqing | 唐宜青 : – Founder & CEO of media app “Juzi Yule” | 社交软件‘橘子娱乐’创始人兼CEO
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!
From this interview, we have found three takeaways 1) Whatever you do, do it with heart, and glory awaits – 无论你做什么，精诚所至，金石为开 As you will create content solely in Mandarin, there are so many people in China waiting for quality content that fans will soon flock your account and be your die-hard fans. No need to overthink a strategy or work on something you don’t like just because it is today’s fashion. Content is king and you should first focus on what you like and what you are good at to share with the world. 如果你用普通话来创作，你的潜在受众将有很多，大家都在期待高质量的内容，粉丝很快就会涌入你的帐户并成为你的铁粉。因此没必要过度考虑策略，或者做一些你并不喜欢、但是现在很火的内容。内容为王，你应该首先关注自己喜欢以及擅长的内容，把它分享出去。
2) When do you start running ads? – 什么时候开始投放广告? As your brand will need time to develop, don’t start too soon to partner up with commercial clients. The question is not really if your followers will dislike it or not, but more that you need first to reach a good level of content creation that will allow you to get a lot of followers. When you have created enough videos and articles, then you can move on to phase two: Partner up with a brand and sell their product. Some people might hate it, especially when you do a “soft ad” which looks like real content, but the common people will understand you need to make a living and will forgive you.
3) Don’t try to cheat to become famous – 绝对不要试图靠撒谎来走红 There is a huge temptation to buy “zombie fans” or fake comments. First of all having a million fans for only a few likes and comments will definitely make your account look shady. Also, from time to time the platforms will purge fake accounts and might even punish you for it, so don’t accept weird propositions from strangers to sell you fans. Also you should rest assured that if you start working with a brand to help sell their product and...
Leaving Chinese Tier 1 cities that are often the heartbeat of cultural creation and where artists can find patreons, we met two creatives that leave in remote artists communities. Leveraging cheap rent and the artistic community around them, they offer a testimony to creatives' never ending resourcefulness.
Featuring - Guo Xiadong : Film Producer (in Songzhuang - near Beijing) - Ryan LaBar : Artist (in Jingdezhen - Jiangxi province)
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
With thanks Ren Jiayin for production, and Sean Calvo for music support.
As any taxi driver in China would tell you, the country is safe on every level. But that must make "true crime" storytellers' lives difficult. Therefore, how can those entertainers of the dark world propose to Chinese audiences?
Featuring - A Yi (阿乙) : Writer - Eric Changan : Content Creator - Wapi : Content Creator & Writer
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
After 224 guests, 4,439 minutes of content and 1 pandemic we are shamelessly celebrating Midde Earth – China’s cultural industry Podcast 100th episode! In order to make it big I have summoned all my supportive friends living in Beijing and we are today at Chill Bar for a live event to have quick introspection about the show, and so much more.
Featuring - Aladin Farré : Content Producer & Middle Earth Podcast Founder - Sara Huang : Scriptwriter and Translator - Sam Davies : TWOC - Managing Editor
As we reach 100 episodes I would like to thanks, in chronological order Steve Seidenberg, Li Muyuan, Brenden Gonsalves, Sean Calvo, Alex Colville, Hatty Liu, Dragos Cacio, all the team at TWOC, today’s guests and previous guests. It was a public event that could have been made possible without Wendy Xu, Hu Qifei, Wang Siqi and Roman Kierst
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
With thanks to Sean Calvo for music support and Zhang Jiayu for poster picture.
As AI is creeping into our lives and our work, no industries are left out of it and certainly not China's cultural industry. But do using AI tools to create content is an easy path and what are the ethical issues attached to such practices?
Featuring - Fan : AI Startup - CTO - Erik Luo : Technical AI artist - Liang Chouwa : Documentary Director
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 are looking 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 and Erik Luo for poster picture.
Before Covid, WWE and UFC were key to push the envelope of MMA in China, now, independent promotion companies like Middle Kingdom Wrestling are left to pick up the momentum.
Featuring - Adrian Gomez: Middle Kingdom Wrestling - Founder
With thanks to Yang Yaling of Following the yuan for co-producing the episode and Middle Kingdom Wrestling for poster’s picture.
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
With a forecast revenue of 370 billion USD in 2024 market size, roughly three times the size of the US market and Europe, China's apparel market is home to up and coming fashion brands as well as big brands buying up international competitors. What can insiders share from that 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 film 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 and Lucrezia Seu for poster picture.
Potentially succeeding where Quibi failed, several Chinese apps (DramaBox, Reelshort) alongside others (Pocket FM, Good Novel) are pushing for 1-minute episodes of micro-series. Often depicted as being of trashy quality, they do seem to attract some eyeballs. Yet, what are the creative conditions to produce such Fifty Shades-esque stories, and is the market where we think it is?
Featuring - Jack Li: Scriptwriter - Anaïs Clément : Actress and Theatre Maker - Yang Tingting: TWOC - Journalist
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 film or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
Started as a grassroots movement in the early Chinese internet, web novels slowly became a powerhouse of China’s cultural industry by producing powerful IPs. How did this industry came to be?
Featuring - Tage : Author - Wei Xiaoma : IP Licensing Manager - Yang Zeyi : Technology Reporter
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 film 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, Li Muyuan for voice over and Sean Calvo for music support.
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 or RedNote (阿拉丁说电影)
With a 800 billion yuan market size and 1/5 of the doctor’s workforce, TCM is a force to be reckoned with in China. How did the field keeps reinventing itself and why does Chinese youth gets more attracted by it?
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 film 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, Wu Daozhi for fact-checking, Kian2018 for picture illustration and Sean Calvo for music support.
New documentary Invisible Summit 《看不见的顶峰》tells the epic story of how Zhang Hong became the first blind Asian person to climb the world’s tallest mountain. On this podcast, director Fan Lixin (LAST TRAIN HOME) discusses how he filmed Zhang’s extraordinary journey and what he learned during the making of the movie.
Featuring - Fan Lixin (范立欣): Documentary Director - Liu Yuan (刘元): Producer
How to support the film? - Tell your friends living in China to buy a ticket for the week-end of the 27th of October - Find the film on 猫眼 app and click on 想看 - And if you know an international TV commissioner that could be interested by the film, let's be in touch ;)
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 film or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
China’s book market is the second largest in the world, with people reading around 6 billion books a year. But how easy is it for small publishers, bookstores, and writers to get a piece of this pie? And how are digital alternatives to physical books impacting writers and small businesses and writers?
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
Not sure if you could stand my broken Chinese, but I started a new show regarding China's latest box office called 票房指南 as a part of an ongoing effort to become a true 网红...
The Middle Earth Podcast will return next week.
Links Subscribe to 票房指南 on podcast app 小宇宙 : Link Subscribe to 票房指南 on social media Bilibili : Link
It's not every day that a magazine publishes its 100th issue—but Middle Earth's distributor, The World of Chinese, has reached this important milestone after 17 years of publication. We want to look at how an English-language magazine based in Beijing sustains itself and evolves into a multimedia platform (including podcasts) for human-centered stories from China.
Featuring - Hatty Liu: TWOC - Former managing editor 2019-2023 - Liu Jue: TWOC - co-managing editor - Doug Hughes: International education expert
Buy your ticket for The World of Chinese's 100th issue event in Beijing on the 31th of August : https://yoopay.cn/event/89241330
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
Women perform up to 50 percent of the jobs in China's cultural industries, but are they getting equal opportunities and compensation as men? In this episode, guests from the world of film, TV, visual arts, and journalism discuss the barriers female leaders and employees still face in their industries, and the benefits of more gender diversity in the workplace.
Featuring - Li Muyuan : Gushi FM - Producer - Hatty Liu : Journalist & Former TWOC Managing Editor - Luka Yang : Visual Artist & Filmmaker
To Go Further - "Women’s Work" article by The World of Chinese Magazine - "Getting Rights Wrong" article by The World of Chinese Magazine - "Hidden Harassment" article by The World of Chinese Magazine
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 looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
Today I plug in a new show that I'm working on where we interviewed Georges Berne, a true master in the art of lighting design who worked on the Mona Lisa. Today, he reflects on his long career and shares his thoughts on his work.
Winland Art Podcast Architecture is solidified art, and art is the soul of architecture. Created by the Carte Blanche art team from in Beijing, Winland Art Podcast show focuses on the global art stage. In our show we discuss the challenges faced by those working in the art field with a focus on hot issues in the art world such as cross-cultural creation and China’s current art world scene.
The Carte Blanche space was founded in 2019 and is located at Winland IFC, 7 Finance Street, Beijing.
Subscribe to the Winland Art Podcast wherever you listen to your podcast or at : https://podcast.winlandcorp.com
To know more Website: https://winlandcenter.com/en/here WeChat Account: 英蓝集团 Winland Instagram: @WinlandCorp
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?
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
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
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.
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
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
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 are looking for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影 or RedNote (阿拉丁说电影)
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.