You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Steve Hatherly.
Today with Xing Yu and Yushun.
Coming up, they look perfect.
They glow, almost.
Yet something feels off.
This week, Yushun grabs the soapbox and traces a modern mystery hidden in plain sight in the very heart of a fruit.
People seem to be having a problem with the size of their strawberries.
Stay tuned for that.
And then welcome to the era of the quantified self, where we optimize every heartbeat and hour of sleep.
All this data promises control, but what about the pressure we feel?
Today we'll ask, does tracking your life actually help you live it? or just get in the way.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts, and don't forget that we love to hear your voice too.
So send us a voice note, send them our way with any of the thoughts that you might have on any of the things that we discuss here on Roundtable.
Here's how you get in touch, roundtablepodcast at qq.com.
Once again, roundtablepodcast at qq.com.
And now...
Hear ye, hear ye.
Please gather round.
It's time for the soapbox.
It is time once again for The Soapbox, a segment where we pick a story that has been circulating online as of late and then share our real opinion about what's going on.
It's called The Soapbox, because it's our chance to get off of our chest exactly how we feel about the story.
Yushin, you've got The Soapbox this week.
It's all yours, and you chose...
Yeah, I'm not sure if you're a fan or not.
I am a big fan of these rad strawberries.
Indeed I am.
How do you enjoy eating your strawberries?
They're just, you know, juicy, sweet, something that you cannot very frequently see in winter.
Yeah, my grandmother used to slice them up, put them in a bowl with some cream and then sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top.
My grandmother puts sugar on everything.
Yeah, that sounds good and tastes good.
Absolutely.
And with strawberry season now in full swing, there are some concerns are resurfacing.
In recent years, the claim that strawberries are the dirtiest fruit has been repeatedly amplified by some social media.
Why dirtiest?
Because strawberries have an uneven surface or with many small pits and crevices, some consumers just worry that it's very difficult to clean them thoroughly or just may return pesticide residues.
So these claims allege that strawberries have the highest pesticide residue rates, that their increasingly large size is also the result of some swelling agents, basically the chemicals.
But just a few days ago, this issue, this issue searched back into the public spotlight.
The hashtag strawberries have been wronged for years.
Strawberries have been wronged.
Yeah.
Trended on China's social media platform.
Strawberries are innocent.
They are totally innocent.
And this topic drawed more than 57 million views and more than 30000 discussions, pushing this topic into a broader public conversation.
And, um, That's what we're talking about, swelling agents.
According to Shijun, who is a botanist and science writer who is also really active online, The so-called swelling agent is chloropyridine area, or CPPU.
That's a plant growth regulator.
So the issue here is that this growth, what did you call it?
A growing agent?
A plant growth regulator.
Okay.
This swelling agent, it makes the strawberries bigger.
It makes something bigger, but not the strawberry.
But this is the issue online that people are debating.
Yes, this is not a banned substance.
It works by regulating plant hormones, increasing cell division and enlargement, and is commonly used in crops like kiwi, fruit and melons, not uniquely associated with strawberries.
So reporters...
They tried to find out what's behind all of the science.
So they went to the farm in Shandong province in eastern China.
Cao Zuling, who is a strawberry grower from Shandong province, explained that local strawberry production does not depend on these agents called CPPQ.
Local experts said that swelling agents may increase size but soften the flesh, reduce their flavor and make strawberries less durable during transport.
And because local strawberries are sold mostly via e-commerce and require about one week of shelf life, these swelling agents are economically impractical.
So plant growth regulators are relatively expensive as well and offer limited improvement in yield or quality for strawberries, then from a cost benefit standpoint, farmers gain little incentive to use them.
So there's no reason for them to use these agents or something.
So what you're saying is that these strawberries they are big, but they're not because of the swelling agent that farmers use.
Yeah, and they actually asked some of the scientists and experts to find out why recent years, the strawberries are getting bigger, because that's the fact we're seeing, right.
They're getting redder, shinier, and glossy.
They are pretty.
They really are.
So, to address these online rumors, Fan Chonghui, who is a deputy director at this Longkou Agricultural Technology Promoting Center in Shandong, clarified that early strawberries are produced through improved cultivation methods, like new breeds, better seeds, smarter farming.
Through measures such as precise control of light and temperature, more accurate water and fertilizer management, growers are able to promote healthy, high-quality fruit enlargement.
And these methods allow strawberries to grow bigger, sweeter and more market-friendly, while also increasing farmers' income.
And you are sick and tired of people attacking the innocent strawberry online.
Yeah, because this topic has gone on and on for years.
Basically, every year we had the discussion online.
I think me too.
When I was shopping in the supermarket and I saw strawberries that are too big, then I would doubt that.
It's that natural?
Yeah, right.
And then you ask is it just chemicals?
Yeah, or technology?
Yeah, none of this is new information.
And um, that is something that brings me up onto my soapbox, because this strawberry panic?
We've had this conversation a hundred times, almost word for word, Year after year.
Experts explain it, farmers explain it, regulators explain it.
And yet, when strawberry season comes back, it's like everyone collectively forgot everything.
And that's the part that really gets me.
It's not that people don't have access to facts.
The facts are everywhere.
It's that facts don't stand a chance against belief.
People don't believe rumors because they're convincing.
They believe them because they want to.
If you already feel anxious about food safety, then a giant strawberry becomes proof.
If you already distrust modern agriculture, then technology automatically sounds evil.
And if you're a social media account desperate for clicks, congratulations, nothing spreads faster than fear you can honestly it's kind of comforting isn't it believing there's a hidden villain a secret chemical a simple explanation for a complicated world because accepting the truth that agriculture is complex regulated and mostly driven by efficiency not conspiracy that takes effort and here's another angle we don't talk about enough this constant suspicion actually hurts the people doing things right.
Farmers who follow the rules, researchers who spend decades improving crops, even consumers who end up trapped in a cycle of fear instead of informed choice.
So no, this isn't really about strawberries.
It's about how we listen, who we trust and whether we're actually interested in the truth or just in reinforcing what we already believe.
And that's why this story, as small and ordinary as it seems, keeps coming back every single year.
So what do we do with this?
I don't think the answer is trust everything blindly.
That's not realistic.
And honestly, that's not healthy either.
Questioning food safety isn't the problem.
Curiosity isn't the problem.
Skepticism by itself isn't the enemy.
The real issue is what we do after the question pops into our heads.
Do we stop at the first explanation that feels emotionally satisfying, or do we pause for five extra seconds and ask who's saying this, on what basis and why am i so ready to believe it?
Maybe what we need isn't more experts shouting louder, but better habits as listeners.
Slowing down before forwarding that post, being okay with an answer that's boring.
Accepting the new doesn't automatically mean bad, and the technology doesn't always mean harmful.
So the next time you see a giant strawberry and feel that little spark of suspicion, maybe don't rush to a conclusion.
Ask questions.
Yes, but also listen to the answers, even if they're not the ones you were hoping for.
Because the real test of being informed isn't how loudly we doubt, it's whether we're willing to change our minds.
Well, I'm convinced.
What a speech.
That's great.
So this is quite cute, actually, in my opinion.
So every single year during the wintertime, strawberry season comes out, and then Chinese netizens say hey, why are these strawberries so beautiful and big?
And then the scientists come out and the farmers respond by saying there's nothing wrong with these strawberries.
And then next year.
Hey, why are these strawberries so big and delicious?
There's nothing wrong with the strawberries.
And it's just like an annual.
It's becoming perhaps part of the culture.
Yeah, in a positive way.
It's becoming kind of a celebration when people are celebrating the advancement of the technology in agriculture with advanced Complaining.
Advanced complaining.
Complaining.
That was a good one.
So there you go.
The next time you see online, you know, people saying they don't trust their strawberries, maybe just do a little bit of extra research on your own to find out what the truth may be.
Well done, Yushin.
Thanks for that.
You're listening to Roundtable and coming up, your life is now a dashboard.
But when self-improvement becomes score chasing, what are we really measuring?
Looking for passion?
How about fiery debate?
Want to hear about current events in China from different perspectives?
Then tune in to Roundtable, where East meets West and understanding is the goal.
This is Roundtable.
I'm Steve today with Jingyu and Yuxuan.
Welcome to the age where your heartbeat, your meals, and even your focus get turned into numbers.
This is the world of the quantified self, the idea of self-knowledge through numbers.
Today, smartwatches score our sleep apps, nag us to hydrate, and focus modes try to rescue us from our own phones.
Tech has basically become our personal life assistant, and sure all this tracking can be empowering.
It helps us spot patterns and build hopefully, good habits and feel a little bit more in control.
But there's a flip side to this.
When self-improvement turns into score chasing, then we risk sliding into anxiety, perhaps comparison, and even maybe cheating the numbers, gaming the data so that we end up looking good quantified self.
Where did this movement come from?
What's it all about?
Yeah, so basically it's a concept where you use these measurable metrics to track your physical and mental health, like recording how many steps you walk today, or how much water you drink per day, or how your sleep quality was last night.
So by proactively collecting these data, you can manage your lifestyle or you can expand your own self-awareness.
But that actually comes from 2007 the Quantified Self Movement, which was started by Kevin Kelly, who is the founder of Wired Magazine, and also his partner, Gary Wolf.
Do you know about them?
No, I know the media outlet, Wired.
And they, too, started this movement.
So initially, the movement was contained within a local group.
It's called...
The Bay Area Quantified Self Meetup Group.
And then it's expanding over time.
And now it has grown into a global network of self-trackers.
So it's more focused on self-knowledge through these numbers.
Yeah, this idea may be from that.
But this kind of phenomenon has been there for, I would say, decades.
Decades?
For so long.
Because you know, we've been having these apps or your watches, your smart watches, your bands, smart bands for so long.
And it can track your steps, your heart rate and everything.
And you can record stuff.
Your work efficiency.
Every 15 time you can get a little rest and then start again.
So these things has been there for so long and that maybe just piece by piece.
People Build that kind of a lifestyle of quantifying their whole life.
Yeah Dietary habits right food food diaries.
You can track your calories.
There are apps for that and There are apps here in China that help people realize their eating patterns.
I don't think I want to know my eating patterns.
They can even identify triggers, like emotional eating, so that they can find or you can find better ways to cope.
So there's diet, there's time management apps, there's just so many.
But this trend, as you said, Yushin, has been around for a long time.
And I think the term is life logging has become such a huge culture for young people.
Logging all the details of everything you do at almost every moment of your waking and sleeping hours.
You know when we're seeing these things.
Lower barriers to entry is one of the reasons that a lot of people are doing that because the hardware costs are lower these days, like smart watches are cheaper than they used to be.
Sometimes you don't even need a smart watch, you don't need a device for that, just just an app software.
You can just log everything, every detailed information, what you eat and everything, And then the drop in these kind of things make things accessible and make tools touchable for young people, students or just professionals on a budget.
And that kind of need for order and control makes you feel that very, very satisfactory.
To be honest, when you look at You know what.
No matter what kind of brand that you're using, the cell phone of your brand that you're using you can always go to your health app to check how many things that you can record.
To be honest,
I have a health app.
Oh, is that what's inside that app?
Because I have it and I have opened it zero times.
So you don't care about your health.
That's not true.
And I'll explain in a few minutes.
The thing is that, maybe seamlessly, it is recording something for you and maybe remind you now it is time you can stand up.
Now it is time you can drink some water.
That type of thing.
You can open your health app.
You'll find like as long as the... the thing that can go from breathing to your mental health.
And this is why this annoys me so much.
I do care about my health, but do I need a stand up?
Really?
Do I need an alarm on my phone to tell me to breathe?
Sometimes you do.
Or remind you to drink water.
I think people are losing confidence in themselves to take care of themselves.
I had a friend in Korea.
He's still my friend.
He had a little device on the back of his neck.
And I asked, he looked like he could plug into the Matrix at any time.
I said, what is that for?
He said, oh, well, I feel like my posture isn't great these days.
So the little thing on the back of his neck shocks him.
There's an app on his phone.
Yeah, it shocks it.
It sends a shock so that he'll like straighten up his shoulders or his back, and it does it like every 15 minutes.
So we're doing a radio, we're doing a radio show together right, and all of a sudden i look over and he's like okay, what happened?
Did you get shocked?
He's like yeah, the thing just told me to fix my posture.
That works.
I guess I mean yeah, to be fair.
And that actually reminds me of another colleague.
She is controlling her weight.
So every time she has her meal, she'll take a photo of her meal.
And through a particular app, it can calculate how much calorie that meal contains.
And so that you can decide how much I eat for this particular meal.
Question.
Does she... put the picture into the app if it's an unhealthy snack?
I think she doesn't eat that much unhealthy food.
Yeah, the thing is that being honest to yourself.
See what I'm getting at though, right?
But yeah, that is one thing for these kind of people.
And they want to quantify everything, even the food that they're eating, so that they can have a better clue on what they're eating, how much calories I'm eating.
And it is good for my like diet or something.
So that kind of mindset make you feel that if I can quantify every aspect of my life, I am assured.
In better control.
But see, this is my question.
Yeah.
Is that control or have you just handed control over to the numbers?
To the numbers.
So who's actually in control?
That's why I think in the past, we have this ranking every day for your step, that you take this particular day.
And you can compete with your friends on WeChat.
And then some people, they want to have this highest ranking ranking.
So, just like the band is on their wrist, so they're just shaking their wrist to add up to the numbers.
To cheat.
Yeah, they cheat.
So I think that's the flip side of this whole trend.
I think, as long as you are treating it as a tool to help yourself have a better understanding on all of these data that you have in your daily life, it is fine because you're actually using them, and maybe you are using that for better habit or diet and everything.
But we had this discussion before when some people they wearing a, let's say, smart watch or handband to to test their sleep um, like goals and everything and then they start to get even more anxious when they cannot sleep.
Yeah, that's my point.
So then?
So what can we do?
I mean, how can we have these tools which are there to help us i mean, that's what they're there for right, and when used effectively, they can help us but how do we use them without letting them run our lives for us?
Yeah, i think what's important is to find the right balance.
So we have talked about we.
I think it's wise to not get lost in those numbers.
So don't let those numbers control you.
But if you think you can be in charge of your own information and you can use these tools to help you manage your lifestyle, that can be a good option.
But if you are just stuck in those numbers and you want to like for some instances people want to like perform well, better through these numbers, to show other people they're living a healthy lifestyle or something.
But that can be another trap, maybe.
Do you use any of these, Yuxuan?
I do.
I think I am living a quantum life.
Yes, and I kind of enjoy that.
But as you said, I try to get that kind of control or ownership of my data.
I basically close all of the notification of all of the apps in my phone.
But if I need, I will go to the app more actively.
One of my things in 2026 is I'm trying to look at my responses to things and then ask why I'm responding like that.
And I was just thinking, look at how I responded to these so negatively, right?
Why would anybody?
Do I need a reminder to stand up?
I think I'm responding that way because I know if I put in a picture of the meals that I eat, it's going to tell me don't eat that.
Over and over and over again.
So it's my defense mechanism to attack these apps.
Deeper psychology there.
