You're listening to Roundtable with myself, her young, I'm joined by Steve Hatherly, and you shouldn't in the studio.
Coming up, whether it's the world of technology, business, pop culture, or something that touches your heart, we're here to discuss in our Heart to Heart segment.
email us at roundtablepodcast at qq .com and if you're feeling bold, send us a voice memo.
Ask us a question. It's always a win.
And China's recent visa -waving policies have made it so much easier for international travelers to visit the country.
We discuss what to see in China and why you might want to pack your bags for this exciting trip.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcast.
And also we're back on Xiao Yuzhou and the Android platforms as well, after a little bit of a struggle.
But thank you all for sticking around.
And now you can access all of our podcasts, well, actually, 400 podcast entries from these platforms.
And now let's have a moment of Heart to Heart.
You ask. We answer Roundtable Heart to Heart.
Who's got a question or something to say to Roundtable?
Hi, guys. I'm your long term listener.
I'm from Chongqing and I am working in my capacity as a freelancer translator and interpreter.
So I have been listening to your program since 2016.
Your program was one of the first podcasts I have been subscribed to.
And by the way, in ESX program, which is December 11th, so you mentioned that there's a renaissance of paperback, I mean, physical magazines, especially in the U .S., because the paperback is like more intimate.
You can hold it. You can touch it.
You can smell it. It has some emotional value.
But join the program that Hui Yang said that the Harper's.
So the Harper's is not that Harper's because you mean what you meant is Harper's Basha.
Baza, like a Shishong Basha.
It's not Harper's. So the Harper's magazine is like The New Yorker.
They have their own take on the current affairs and they have some essays and novels and also book review and fiction.
So it's like kind of literary.
Thank you. And I have to mention that because your intro and also I think that being recorded by Rian, so Rian has gone, I mean, like long before, but I still miss them.
Like you have such brilliant guys like Rian and Hongshan and Yuyang.
So I miss you all guys.
I wish them have doing wonderful in their respective career pursuits.
And also you keep it up.
And I have another advice for you because, for example, that nowadays they're using the Google's notebook L .M.
to produce podcasts.
It's larger in life.
It's unbelievably authentic and true to life.
So I think that maybe you can you can just give them your input and produce one episode.
I mean, using notebook L .M.
because you say that your colleagues are the fashion global.
Nowadays they're using this to record their programs.
I think it's fantastic.
I think that it's a good complement to your program.
So maybe you can give it a consideration.
So thank you. And wish you all the best.
Thank you so much, Patty, from Chongqing.
And you covered some really interesting issues.
First of all, let me say, Patty, you're absolutely spot on.
And thank you so much for pointing that out.
Harper's magazine is one of the oldest and most respected American periodicals.
It covers a wide range of subjects, including literature, politics, and so on.
As you mentioned, Patty.
And Harper's Bazaar, which I used to be a subscriber.
Well, not really. I've bought a couple of paperbacks.
But anyway, it's one of the most influential and prestigious fashion magazines in the world.
Despite their differences, both magazines are part of the Harper family of publications, which originally started under the Harper and Roe Publishing House.
And thank you so much for pointing it out.
It's always great to hear from our listeners who keep us on our toes.
And yes, you mentioned our lovely former colleagues.
And yes, it's been a great pleasure working with such talented people.
And I share that similar sentiment of wishing them the best as such.
And work as we spent so much time and so much love in it, like what we do here.
You make friends of a lifetime.
I just met up with Huang Shen a couple of weeks ago.
We had a wonderful chat over some afternoon tea.
And yeah, because when you work together for so many years and you go through so much together, and it's almost like you're soldiers who've been to battle together.
And yeah, anyway, we had some lovely, lovely people on the show.
When you have a show like Round Table that's been around for such a long time, inevitably you're going to have people come and join the show.
And then sometimes, sadly, it's always a sad day, isn't it?
When you have people say goodbye to the show.
But that bond that you created with them is something that you'll always share because you did that show together for a period of time.
What's really lovely to hear, Patti, is that that bond doesn't just exist between the people here in the studio.
It exists between the people in the studio and you, Patti, the listener as well, which is the point of doing a show like this.
Wonderful. Steve? I was almost going to say Stevie.
I don't know if you appreciate it on the show.
Some people call me that.
And also you mentioned Notebook LM, and oh, you shouldn't.
I know you've experimented with it.
And what do you have to say to our lovely listener?
Have you been playing with it?
Yeah, we're also exploring ways to incorporate a lot of these AIs into our workflow.
And we've actually tried out Notebook LM ourselves.
And like you, we were truly amazed by its capabilities.
But it also brought a sense of crisis, I would say.
We may really be rapidly replaced by certain areas or in some areas when these kind of AI can actually do as authentic as human can do.
But at the same time, I've been reflecting on what we as humans can offer that AI cannot.
Perhaps it's our ability to create emotional connections and share feelings rooted in our personal experiences.
Just what we mentioned, the connection between different hosts, right?
Even though there are former colleagues where I still have connections with them.
These might be the things that resonate more deeply with our audience, our listeners and set us apart from these machines, right?
Yeah, it's in a lot of different industries, right?
People are freaked out about what impact positively or negatively AI is going to have.
And in the media, yeah, there's a lot of unanswered questions as yet.
But one thing is for sure, a lot of the tech out there is really cool.
So trying to figure out, like Yushin said, how to figure out how to incorporate it into what we do is something that we're working on right now.
Well done though, Patty, for being on top of that.
That's a pretty new product, I think.
Yes. And Patty, you've just evoked some deepest fear in He Young, and I'll comment no more.
And thank you so much for writing in, for sending in your voice memo.
And we have another audio clip from our listener, Bella.
Hello, everyone. Hello, He Young, Fei Fei, Yushin, Blimey and Steve, and all the hosts from Roundtable.
This is Bella from Qingdao.
And it's really happy to talk with you in this way.
Actually, I have been listening to this show for many years, and I'm a really super big fan of Roundtable.
After graduation, I have worked in a foreign trade company, and my job is as a foreign trade salesman.
I have to use this language.
I'm English very often.
In this situation, I practice my English in my spare time every day.
And here, I would like to share another interesting thing.
It's that previously someone told me that if you want to speak English well, you'd better pick up a person who is very good at speaking English, and you can mimic her voice.
And here, I found that girl, He Young.
I have to say He Young's voice is so amazing.
I really like your voice and the intonation.
You are a very good role model for me about my English learning process, to be honest.
And I have to admit that I'm a person who wants to be perfect all the time, including my English level.
So I sometimes feel frustrated when I hear my voice not very good, and I'm always afraid that my customers will feel uncomfortable for my accent, and they can understand well what I mean.
So do you guys have any suggestions about my concerns?
Thank you so much, and best wishes to all of you, amazing people.
Hello, amazing people.
Person, Bella from Qingdao.
And oh, gosh, you just turned me red.
I'm now, my face is as red as the red cardigan I'm wearing.
Yushin, I wonder why that one got selected for the show today.
Yeah, why is He Young on the show today called?
Yeah, we can see. Well, I really appreciate your kind words, and it really means a lot to me.
I'm just learning and growing like everybody else.
But if my experience resonates with you, Bella, that's something I'm really grateful for.
And gosh, I hear you.
Your English is so good.
Yeah, here's what I want to say to you, Bella.
So I'm Canadian, and I've lived in Asia for a long time.
When I lived in Korea, I got many years of experience of listening to Korean people speak English as a second language, and I got to adjust to what that sounds like.
In my life, I'm new to China, and I don't have a lot of experience with Chinese people speaking English as a second or third or fourth language.
We all are these people.
But what I'm trying to say is, if the accent is quite strong, then I'm still adjusting to, okay, what does this sound like?
Bella, with you, I don't need any practice to adjust to anything.
Bella, if I was your overseas Canadian client, I would have no problem, no issue.
So that worry or concern that you might have, Bella, you can say goodbye to that worry or concern.
There's no issue. Absolutely.
Wash it down the toilet, Bella.
I don't know where you got that wrongful idea.
You sound so good. Again, I have to say that, because that's what I hear.
And also your voice is warm and clear.
And as we've already proved that, your English is excellent.
Your pronunciation and tone and fluency are all as good as people could imagine, and you convey it or your thoughts very, very clearly.
And I am confident that your foreign colleagues or customers not only understand you perfectly, but also enjoy communicating with you.
Yeah. And I think, here's another point that might make you feel better.
Usually, it's in our own brain where we think nobody can understand us, but oftentimes people can understand us more than we think.
I'm learning how to speak Chinese now very slowly.
And that was one of my big concerns too, is that Chinese is a very, very difficult language and the pronunciation with the tones, the different tones is very difficult.
I thought nobody is going to understand anything that I have to say.
But what I've learned is, even though my pronunciation is off a little bit, people can still pick up what I'm saying.
So Bella, you don't need to speak like a native English speaker.
It's not necessary.
And also, I don't know you personally, Bella, but just from your email and your audio clip, I feel I kind of know you.
And I just feel like we are often our own worst critics, because we might be the kind of people who strive for perfection.
But that can sometimes hold us back.
And as the great Brené Brown said, perfectionism is not the path to success.
It's the fast track to burnout.
And I've learned it the hard way.
And that's why I really want to share this with you.
It's about embracing progress, not perfection.
Instead of aiming for flawless, focus on growth.
And trust that progress will take you further than perfection ever could.
So keep on going, girl, and you are doing amazing.
Yeah, perfectionism is an insecurity, isn't it?
Isn't it just? And we love hearing from you.
We appreciate your thoughts.
If you enjoy what you heard and you have a question or something you like us to respond to, a discussion you like us to dive into, don't hesitate to reach out.
Just shoot us an email or voice memo at roundtablepodcastatqq .com.
We can't wait to hear from you.
Coming up next, China just made it way easier to visit with its new visa waiver policies.
We're diving into why you should seriously consider packing your bags for this epic adventure.
Stay tuned. Looking for passion?
How about fiery debate?
Want to hear about current events in China from different perspectives?
Then tune into Roundtable, where East meets West and understanding is the goal.
You're listening to Roundtable with myself, He Yang.
I'm joined by Steve Hatherly and Yu Shun in the studio.
China's inbound tourism industry is booming with opportunities hotter than ever before.
New visa waiving policies have made it easier for international tourists to explore the country while tour guides and travel agencies are quickly jumping on the bandwagon to meet growing demand.
As China's tourism sector thrives in the post -pandemic world, the landscape is rapidly changing.
Now's the perfect time to jump in and explore the exciting boom in China's inbound tourism.
So what did the numbers say?
So we can see according to data from China Tourism News, China welcomes nearly 95 million inbound tourists in the first three quarters of 2024, which is expected to reach over 90 % of pre -pandemic levels.
From January to November 2024, the number of foreign entrants at various ports of entry across the country reached 29 million, that is a year -on -year increase of 86 % and also among them, 17 million entered China through the visa exemption policy, making a year -on -year growth of 123%.
The number of foreigners entering China under the 72 to 144 -hour visa free transit policy increased by about also 133 % compared to the previous year.
Yeah, and applicable ports of entry is a big deal here.
You mentioned that, right?
The number of points of entry eligible for the 240 -hour visa exemption, that's 10 days, right?
That significantly increased as well.
There were 21 international airports that were added, bringing the number of eligible airports from 39 to 60.
And it's a big deal because it just offers more opportunities, more kickoff or starting off points for people when they come into the country.
And it also allows...
If you think of the country as a map in a video game, if you will, then you get to start at one particular spot and you can explore that area all around there instead of having to fly into Beijing first and then take the high -speed train for six or seven hours if you want to go somewhere down south.
It just makes it so much more convenient.
Oh, yes. And also we're seeing that more countries of citizens are enjoying the visa wavering policy and without a visa and be able to parachute to another country and just start traveling.
Oh, that's so much ease.
It sounds so great.
Yeah, 54 countries, citizens from 54 countries, including Russia and Brazil and the US, the UK, Canada.
Woo -hoo. Now allowed to enter China without a visa when transitioning to a third country or region.
This is a big deal too.
So people who are doing that can enter through any of the 60 ports available across 24 provinces and municipalities and they can stay for up to that 240 hours, those 10 days within specified areas.
And then when they're here, you can do things like touristy things or business.
If you're here for business, you can be visiting friends or family, the choice is yours.
And also with this policy on the applicable cities or the activity zones also expanded from 19 to 24 in the newly included provinces as say, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hainan, and Guizhou, the designated activity zone are expanded to these various cities too or entire provinces.
That's allowing greater mobility for exempted travelers within these regions because formerly they can only go to the certain areas and not expended as Steve said, the map is bigger.
Yeah, exactly. Did you know that, and by the way, this is in the news that Koreans are loving this, people from Korea are all about this.
There's even a hashtag in Korea on social media.
It was trending the hashtag leaving work on Friday to go to China.
Yeah, people were really looking forward to coming here as a kind of a weekend getaway.
And I was reading as well that as a result of that, tour guides that are available were becoming more popular, Chinese tour guides perhaps who can speak Korean enough to offer tours.
But also I read that some tour guides were even offering their services for free because they wanted a chance to practice their Korean language abilities.
And one of the tour guides said something along the lines of, it's just a wonderful opportunity to create new friendships, right?
And create new bonds.
We talked about bonds of people here in the studio, but bonds between travelers and tour guides as well.
And I was reading a quote from a Korean traveler, a young woman, and she was saying that when the map is bigger, that it gives you an opportunity to learn so much more about China's wonderful culture and wonderful foods.
And that particular traveler traveled to the east far west, excuse me, of China, because there was a famous dish there.
And she came to China specifically for it was a noodles and snail dish.
And she came here specifically because of that.
Wow. Acquired taste.
Because there's a Korean dish that's quite similar.
And that was her point is that, you know, you know, exploring the differences is cool, but exploring the similarities between the two cultures is fun, too.
I've been watching a lot of videos online and even in some western media, as I was going through Instagram, I often come across videos of foreigners visiting China and being amazed by a lot of a lot of these tourist attractions, you know, for example, when they explore the nights in Chongqing, which is a southwest
city in China. They find the neon lights there make it look like a futuristic city.
And people were just amazed.
Wow. That's how China looked like.
And also in John Jiajia, that is also a southern part of China in Hunan province.
You know, the towering mountains and countless stairs leading straight up to the peaks leave them in awe.
And that all of the comments are not all of most of the comments are just saying that, oh, that is different from my perception to China and that is only that is something that you can only experience when you actually visit China.
Yeah, I just think that's so true for many places around the world, isn't it?
When we travel somewhere, we have these perhaps preconceived notions of what it's going to be like, the good things or the bad things or whatever.
But once we arrive somewhere and we start talking to people, meeting people, enjoying local culture and enjoying local food, all of those misconceptions that we had suddenly disappear, which is why it's important, in my opinion, that we do when we have the opportunity travel to places that are unknown
to us so that we can realize that we're all people sharing the same planet.
Yeah, that's such a great point.
And also only when you have arrived in China would you have a feel of the enormity and diversity.
I'm here and I still can't wrap my brain around it just yet.
Yeah, it's so big. And each provinces have so many cities and towns with very different signature places that even as a local resident, there's so much I don't know.
So I think for an international traveler, you will not be disappointed.
There's always going to be something that you can find exciting and new.
And actually, I was looking at some of the reports from the tour guys as well as agencies and they have listed some of the issues or challenges that they're in facing and they really want to improve to cater towards the international clientele of tourists.
I can give you a few of these difficulties that they encounter.
Number one is, well, I mean, so much of our lives lives on the internet these days, as we've discussed in today's topic one and a new country, a new set of apps, how to manage the language and use it well.
Also, they say that they lack marketing of their agencies for the tourists to really find the right tour guide or agency, that kind of thing.
And also, you both mentioned language specific tour guides.
And now suddenly, when there's a lot more of international travelers coming to the city, and bear in mind, some of the, let's say, English tour guides might have decided to switch paths and do something else in the last few years when international travel wasn't so big.
So now all of a sudden, it's like, oh, shortage of linguists, specialists who can be tour guides.
And so how do you see with the Chinese agencies, people, practitioners in the business and trying to give the industry a boost and also find their living in this whole thing?
You mean what can they do to kind of strengthen their position?
Yeah. What are they trying to better cater towards the international tour people?
I think when tourists come into China, and we could use any country as an example.
I mean, when you go into a new country, oftentimes tourists don't know anything at all, right?
So therefore, comprehensive services.
I think packages that include transportation and guides and itineraries and having meals planned out that can take the stress out of traveling for a lot of people.
For some people, that's really fun, not knowing anything.
But for other people, they prefer to have things planned.
So maybe comprehensive packages would help.
Yeah. And also understand foreign consumers' preferences, maybe something that is so ordinary to Chinese people.
But that could be so unique and interesting to foreign consumers.
Yeah. There's one story about apparently international travelers don't mind just watching some old folks playing chess.
And that's fun. In the park, right?
That's it for today's roundtable.
Thank you, Steve and Yu Shun.
I'm He Yang. We'll see you next time.
