Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
You're listening to Roundtable with myself Hye Young.
I'm joined by Steve Hatherly and Yushan in the studio.
Coming up, your voice matters.
It would be great to hear it in our heart -to -heart segment.
Got a question? Something you're itching to share?
Fire up that voice memo and hit us up at Roundtable Podcast at QQ .com.
And what if learning how to fix your own stuff could change the game for solo living?
Women are leveling up with viral DIY content, learning everything from car care to home repairs.
This trend isn't just about skills, it's about freedom.
Want to know why it's going viral and how it's changing the way we think about independence?
Well, we'll talk. Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcast.
Now let's have a moment of heart -to -heart.
You ask. We answer.
Roundtable, heart -to -heart.
Today we've got a few voice memos and messages to share with you and let's start off with Danel.
Hello Roundtable, this is Daniel from Iran.
I've been a listener of Roundtable for about 8 months now and I just wanted to share how much I enjoy and appreciate the work you do.
And first, I discovered your program while I was in my car waiting for my phone to be repaired for a battery change.
I was just flipping through different radio channels when I stumbled upon your show and immediately caught my attention.
Later, I started following it on Spotify.
What I love most about Roundtable is that how you bring the pulse of life in modern China to your audience.
The way you explore the fascinating teams, dive into internet trends, lifestyle shifts and cultural exchanges makes every episode a captivating journey.
Your podcast has deepened my understanding and appreciation for China even more.
I especially love when you incorporate Chinese words and cultural insight into your discussion.
It's not only interesting, it's also inspiring for me.
Even motivated me to learn more about the culture and the language.
Your podcast has become part of my daily routine.
I always listen to it when I'm at the gym.
Seeing an unplayed Roundtable episode genuinely just makes me motivated to go work out.
I feel like it's a level of reward that keeps me on track.
Your conversation feels like a golden ticket into a vibrant and dynamic culture.
And I truly appreciate all the effort you put into making each episode so engaging and insightful.
It's incredible how much the discussion just resonated with me and inspired me to think more about new topics and perspective.
Thank you so much for making every episode so special and I'm excited to keep following your show for the long time to come.
Thank you so much, Danelle from Iran.
And it means so much to hear that our show inspires you all the way in Iran.
It's amazing to think that our words can reach across the globe and touch hearts like yours.
I really appreciate you sending this voice memo to us.
And you listen to us at the gym.
Okay, Daniel, I'm going to be your personal trainer for five seconds.
And this is, Daniel, this is when you're doing that last one heavy lift.
Okay, ready? Here we go.
Come on, Daniel. Push it.
Come on. Good job. All right.
There you go. You've got a five second Canadian personal trainer living in Beijing for you in Iran.
See, the world is getting smaller, isn't it?
Yeah. And I wasn't expected to hear that Daniel actually shared that from listening to Roundtable, he's got more interested in getting to know about China, the culture here and also the language.
I mean, we're not really a takeaway Chinese, that's another channel.
But in the meantime, I'm just really glad that we in that realm have this kind of positive influence to invite you to learn more about how people are living here and even how to speak Chinese.
Not to toot our horn too much, but there's something very special about Roundtable that is, well, we talk about news stories, we offer in depth discussion.
And we are very special in the sense that our own personalities shine through.
And not all programs allow that.
And I don't think you necessarily feel that much of the, let's say, give our own two cents in a way.
And I just love it.
When personality can matter a bit.
And I think that is what makes one thing special, anything special.
Yeah. I mean, we get to kind of share our opinions on things from time to time and not all media announcers have the opportunity to do that.
So we're lucky to be able to do that.
I think so. I see that as a privilege.
And we have a few emails and comments, messages from various platforms.
Let's go through some of them.
First of all, well, not first, second of all, a big shout out to Kitty.
Remember in the last heart to heart segment of 2024, which that show aired on December 31st.
Kitty was feeling very distressed about her postgraduate exam results and was bogged down by the sense of regret.
Well, after that show aired, she's reached out to me on Weibo and wrote me such a long, long letter.
And she's saying that she found strength and hope in our words.
And now she's feeling more positive and ready to turn the page and embrace a fresh start in 2025.
And I'm so glad to hear from you Kitty and keep us updated with everything.
Yeah. Let us know what your next big project is.
And that's great that you shared with us.
Thank you for doing that again.
And it's great that you're feeling a little bit better now.
Yeah. It's like we're going through things together and we're growing together.
I like that so much.
And big thanks to DVBR0980, Mai Lee Joel, and all of you who sent such kind words for the last show of 2024 on Shell Ujo.
I'm really touched that my words could offer you some comfort.
And I don't know if you're like me, but when everyone else is out there celebrating, sometimes that's when I feel the most alone.
And I want to take this moment to acknowledge those of you who might feel not have a lot to celebrate, especially at the turn of the new year or Chinese new year that's coming up and with all those people around you who are willing to ask you about, oh, give us an update on your relationship status, your
career status. And did you get a raise or whatnot?
I mean, having a job is something that people are thankful a lot of the times anyhow.
So for all of you who might not feel like you have a lot to celebrate or might not feel like you're entitled to, I see you and I'm here with you.
And I just want to say that.
All right. We still have more voice memos coming up.
This one is from Sherry from Sichuan.
Hey, Roundtable China.
My dear host, I'm Sherry from Sichuan province.
You know what? I listened to your special show on the first day of 2025.
And I got to say I was so inspired by all kinds of experiences and responses shared by incredible listeners and you guys as well.
I genuinely feel happy for those of you who made amazing achievements and progress in 2024.
And when I look back on my 2024, honestly speaking, I spent the whole year in a quite mediocre and mundane way without having too many accomplishments, whether in academics or career.
And I believe I'm not the only person.
Maybe living in the moment is the best state of mind.
So please, please don't say, oh, I've wasted the whole year or, oh, I've wasted so much time.
As long as we are physically and mentally healthy, self consistent, self -love, then it was a fulfilling year.
So dear folks, especially young people, let's stop being too hard on ourselves and being too anxious about the upcoming year.
As a Chinese saying goes, as long as we are happy and healthy, anything is possible in the future.
Bye bye. You know, I love that upbeat spirit of Sherry.
And we have Kathy from Bay Bay sending us another voice memo.
Hello, and all of Ram Table.
This is Kathy here.
News flash again. I'm already an eighth grader.
We're still in the first week of 2025.
So I've already decided to get some motivation and give some motivation by sharing how my 2024 went, plus my hopes and goals for the new year.
One of the first things I'd like to share with you guys are the new musicals I watched in 2024 is Wicked.
The movie adaptation of this musical just came out in November last year.
And I wanted to see it with my friends.
I'm so surprised not many people are in the movie theaters.
It's such a great movie.
The story serves as a prequel to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and slash or its film adaptation.
During the musical Wicked, we can learn that people aren't only kind or bad.
Trust your instincts, choose kind and stick to being yourself when others say you're wicked, especially when others say you're wicked.
A lot of people around me constantly complain what they didn't do well in 2024, how they weren't self -motivated enough, etc.
Of course, there are a lot of unfinished goals and plans for me as well.
I often forget or simply have no time, even though I think that's still an excuse to update my educational video channel months at a time.
This is why one of my new year resolutions is to stay active making videos.
People always complain that new year resolutions, they don't work.
But I beg to differ.
As long as you're like a J person in the MBTI, or you're self -motivated enough, then you can still keep your goals.
So for 2025, I hope that everyone can achieve your biggest dreams and get happiness by helping others around you.
Looking forward to having a better 2025 with a better everyone and best wishes to the Roundtable team.
Bye and Kathy out. Daniel in Iran, I want you to fire me as your personal trainer and hire Kathy.
I think she could do a much better job motivating you.
What a breath of fresh air that energy is.
Nice to hear from Kathy.
We hear from her from time to time.
Yes. Now I'd say a year is not complete without Kathy sending us a voice memo like that with so much energy.
Thank you, Kathy. And she's really the youngest of our listeners.
And I can't believe it's, well, it's been a few years, but now Kathy, you're a junior high student.
Congratulations. Yes, guys, what do you have to say to our lovely listeners?
Yeah, Sherry. We heard from Sherry right before Kathy.
Sherry, your voice is like a spoonful of sugar.
I think you should host your own podcast if that interests you.
And I think you're right, Sherry.
Don't be too hard on yourself if you didn't maybe do anything so amazing or spectacular in 2024.
So what? As long as you're still feeling good about yourself, and as long as you're still, you know, you have some goals in front of you that you can try to achieve, albeit those goals quite small, that's good enough.
Life doesn't have to be one grand achievement followed by another grand achievement.
Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't.
And thank you for sharing with us today.
Exactly. And I think Sherry, the term mediocre is kind of, you know, it's hard to decide based on the nuance.
And a lot of the times we often tend to be the person who give ourselves a lot of so -called mediocre comments.
But just so that like Sherry shared earlier, like a lot of the times by surviving this whole year, going through one stop after the other, experiencing everything along the way and growing and learning from it, it's already a very massive achievement by itself.
So yeah, like Sherry said, I hope everybody listened to that.
And for Kathy, Kathy has become my very brand new radio inspiration these days.
And over here talking to the audience, but for me, she is my new radio inspiration now because, gosh, that voice that's full of energy.
I can really borrow some of your radio character and your energy right there.
Kathy, you're doing a very great job.
Yes. Every time when I think of her, I just can't stop laughing in a really good way.
And thank you for keeping us updated with your growth and what's going on in your life.
And I want to say that to all of our listeners.
We love hearing from you and we appreciate your thoughts.
If you enjoy what you hear or have a question or topic you'd 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, DIY is the new flex from home repairs to car maintenance.
Women are empowering themselves by learning practical skills by in true 21st century fashion, short video tutorials.
One less reason to need a man?
Well, let's find out why this trend is blowing up.
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 Hyung.
I'm joined by Steve Hatherly and Yu Shan.
All right. Let's talk about a major trend that's shaking up the internet.
Women everywhere are proving that you don't need to wait for a repairman or a boyfriend to handle the basics.
Whether it's fixing a leaky faucet, changing a front door lock, or adding windshield washer fluid to your car tutorial videos are helping everyone learn these DIY or do -it -yourself skills.
This content is empowering women and, shall I say, men to become more self -sufficient.
And it's seriously going viral.
So review these viral DIY videos with the hashtag independent women.
I mean, these all started when one of the videos from this online influencer called Duli Ni Shung Seo Kua Tang, or Independent Girls Classrooms.
So one of her videos got really popular online, which was a step -by -step guide on how to add windshield washer fluid to your car.
And this video garnered over 82 million views plus 135 ,000 likes and 30 ,000 saves as well.
So I actually followed this influencer on the red.
And one of her videos that's my personal favorite, guess what it is, is actually how to kill cockroaches without touching them.
You know, it's a must for people like me who is so terrified of bugs but need to get rid of those bugs.
So how do you do it?
I mean, there's two scenarios, according to her, this girl, I think her IP is from Sichuan province.
She's doing a very thorough, very direct step -by -step guidance for two scenarios.
So first of all, for those bigger ones that's on your window, that's on your curtain or on the ceiling, you need to prepare two things.
One is a broom, a broom, a long stick broom.
And the other one is a transparent umbrella because those bigger ones, they can fly at you.
So the umbrella, once turned fully open, it's a transparent shield.
Well, the broom is your sword.
You fight like a warrior to pat that bug onto the floor and then proceed on with the second step, which is also something to fit into the second scenario she provided, which is to how to trap it inside a bucket or a box or whatever with the bug killing powder put on the floor surrounding the bug.
And also very detailed procedures afterwards.
I love that. There you go.
These content creators, they're on a bunch of different sites, right?
It's not limited to one particular site.
Yeah, there's content all over the place.
I think you talked about this in the opening earlier, household repair guides, personal development topics like confidence building and independence, so how to kill cockroaches and how to feel better.
You can watch those videos all in the same day.
And I think it's quite obvious to me why these are so popular.
You could argue that it's about a traditional narrative of women changing within the country, and I'm sure that that's very, very true.
But for me, when I watch those types of videos, I just find them empowering in a sense, because they allow me to do something by myself that I might not have been able to do before.
So yeah, there's a plethora of reasons as to why these types of videos are popular.
But how did you feel after you learned how to kill the cockroaches?
Did you feel like your knowledge improved a little bit?
Exactly. I was telling Ho Young earlier, I used to spend like half an hour, an hour, just staring at the bug, both freezing me and the bug, but now at least...
