Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
You're listening to Roundtable with myself, Ha Young.
I'm joined by Steve Hatherley and Yushan in the studio.
Coming up, WeChat's new gift -giving feature lets you send gifts, but with a considerate twist.
The recipient picks exactly what they want.
In a culture where building connections is key, could this be a game changer for gift giving?
Time to find out if this new feature is a hit or a miss.
And life's best moments from the soundtrack of your heart to little things that make you smile.
Join us at Roundtable's happy place.
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We are game. send it to roundtablepodcast at QQ .com.
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They are our listeners' favorite.
Now on Roundtable as we switch gears and move on to the next topic of discussion today.
WeChat. The Swiss army knife of apps in China lets you do everything from messaging to video chatting to paying bills, investing in stocks and shares, donating to charity, sending Rick packets of money for the Chinese New Year, and since the end of last year, giving gifts, real gifts, through the app.
But what makes this gift giving feature so special?
Piloted in WeChat's many shops, it lets the gift giver send real -life gifts while giving the receiver the power to choose exactly what they want.
Say goodbye to awkward gift exchanges when the recipient doesn't like what they get.
With the spring festival holiday being the peak season for gift giving, it was the perfect time to test out this new feature.
So how did it perform?
And first of all, Yushan being our researcher on this topic, tell us how does it work?
Actually, it's really simple because I thought this is going to be a complicated process but it turns out to be very easy to operate.
So first up for the gift centers if you want to send a gift to someone the first thing you need to do of course for all scenarios is to pick your gift and where to pick the gift.
That's on the platform that belongs to WeChat that's called the Mini Shop.
So note here it's not a mini app but a mini shop which is the e -commerce platform via WeChat.
And through there, you are going to pick the item that's got an entry labeled called send to a friend on the purchasing page.
So with that label, it means that this product displayed here on your phone is able to be gifted via the new function.
And then next up is for you to pick a friend to send the gift.
And it's more like sending a link to any friends that you've got on wechat through a private chatting um pages so you just pick send to a friend tag and then confirm gift to in order to pay for the gift you're sending so that the link is generated to your friend via wechat chatting yeah so then they'll
receive the message then they tap on that and open it up and then if it's a if it's a thing like a cup of coffee from a coffee shop i guess That will give them How does that work Does that give them A QR code Or does it give them Something that they can Just take to the shop And then beep And just pay
for it Right away I don't I don't really know If vouchers work For the same But for gifts It's more like An object In this scenario So it get delivered To them Yeah A lipstick Or a makeup Kit Or rather Or books Books are really popular A pair of shoes A leather jacket Stuff like that Dishwashing gloves
I was on the shop This morning I was on the app this morning and I was just trying to figure out, so what exactly are we talking about here?
I mean, just you name it, it's there.
You can search for anything and send it as a gift.
Gloves to wash dishes.
That was there. I saw it.
Well, Steve, please don't give me gifts.
But the thing is, you guys mentioned lipsticks and also shoes.
That makes a lot of sense, actually, if the gift receiver can choose.
because, for example, shoes, that person could choose exactly what size of shoes he or she wants.
Or the color or what have you.
Or the color of the lipstick.
Exactly. So in theory, it sounds quite good.
That's actually one of the highlights of this function.
It empowers the recipient of the gift.
Yeah, for them to decide what kind of size or color or style they want from that link, as long as the link of that product allows, They have the freedom of choosing which style they prefer, which color they prefer.
And on top of that, they can enter the recipient's address themselves instead of the gift sender having to ask for their address.
That's something that people praise about because this is a high level of privacy protection.
Because nowadays when you send gift, it's almost kind of got that awkward nuance that you have to ask for.
Could you please give me your address?
It happens all the time with my family when we are trying to gift our relatives, for example.
It's not always their home, and it's not even that polite to ask for their home address.
So you have to ask for somewhere else, a mail receiving point or your working address, stuff like that.
Yeah, especially if you're trying to surprise someone with a nice little gift.
You have to contact them and ask them their home address first.
Yeah, it kind of takes the fun out of it a little bit.
This is pretty new, right?
This was added to the App Store on December 19th.
And I think this is going to be pretty successful.
Because it's just another way to show your friendship or another way to show your love for people.
I've seen this when I lived in Korea before.
There was a difference, though.
On their social media app there or on their messaging app, you can send a gift to someone like a coffee voucher.
Or you can send flowers or whatever.
Kind of the same concept.
One thing that was missing, or one thing that's different from this, though, as far as I know, is that the option to choose specific details was not there.
But I can say that the numbers for the success of that gift -giving part of that app in Korea, insanely, insanely popular.
I saw an article from the Korean Herald from 2024 December, very recent.
600 ,000, I think, was the number.
600 ,000 gifts given a day, a day.
So if we see that level of success here, probably even more so, I think it might be.
Oh, interesting. And you mentioned gift vouchers, and we have that here in China as well.
I'm just wondering, when you receive a digital gift voucher, if it's from somebody you appreciate and like, and of course, I think I'm very happy.
But also, it feels like you're giving me money to spend in a particular store.
Great. What are you complaining about?
I'm not complaining.
No complaints. If you want to give me a gift voucher, especially at the following restaurants and cafes, I'll not list them in the show notes.
I'd be very happy to receive them.
But with this WeChat new feature of gift giving, it is still more about actually giving you a gift and that will be delivered to you.
It's just a set amount of how much this gift giver is willing to spend on this endeavor is signified.
Do you think this might also ruin the surprise of giving gifts or what do you see as the pros and cons of this new feature?
People are already commenting that a gift ought to be a surprise in the first place.
So if you already generated a link for me to choose which style of the gift I want, then what's the point of giving a gift in the first place?
It feels a little transactional somehow, doesn't it?
There is a price limit, right?
There's a 10 ,000 yuan price limit to this?
Yes. So you can buy gifts that's higher of a price than 10 ,000 yuan.
That's still a lot of money.
That's like 6 ,000. It's a lot.
It's very expensive.
You can buy a lot of shoes with 10 ,000 yuan.
No doubt about that.
But there is a price limit.
Also, each time a gift can only be sent to one friend.
So if you're trying to send multiple gifts at the same time, that's not going to work, apparently.
Only one item can be gifted per transaction.
Also, there are certain categories as well.
Jewelry, for example, and also education and training.
Those cannot be gifted.
But if you're thinking about giving a diamond to someone, probably not through WeChat is the best way to do that anyway, I would think.
Well, so 10 ,000 yuan doesn't cut it either.
Sorry. But also, do you see that, well, actually, this has been touted on Chinese social media.
And in some news reports, I think, they say that this feature, or the exact way it's run, actually reflects a lot of deep intricacies in Chinese society.
And that part, I'm very curious, and I'd love us to talk about.
I mean, people also say that this function, this new function features a very strong understanding of the social etiquette here in China.
Oh, please explain.
Because, you know, it also has one feature that we haven't mentioned yet, which is if the recipient does not accept the gift within the first 24 hours that the link is generated, then the money is going to be returned back to the gift giver, which is also a way of, I know it's Valentine's Day nowadays,
so it's a good way, according to a lot of netizens in China nowadays, to test out if your crush has the same thing.
Oh, so you send a little gift, right?
And maybe nothing too expensive, just a little thoughtful something or other.
And if they accept it, it's almost like they're accepting your love.
Your passion, whatever message you're trying to send, not just the gift itself.
But if they don't have any interest in you, they won't accept it and it'll get returned to them in 24 hours.
Yeah, because the link once generated, it means that the purchasing of the gift is already done from the gift sender's side.
So it's already a parcel waiting to be delivered to you.
But 24 hours later, if it's not officially accepted from the recipient's side, then the order is going to be canceled.
Here's my heart in a box.
Will you accept it or will you not?
By the way, what's your home address?
I need to know that information.
No, as a matter of fact, just to address that, the gift sender cannot see the address, whatever address the recipient is putting in.
And also, no price tag, no harsh feelings.
What do you mean by that?
Because not only the home, rather, the recipient's address that the gift sender cannot see, the price of that product mentioned in the link is also hidden from the gift recipient as far as I've read so far.
So they managed to remove the price tag just so that I am not trying to show you how much I paid for this gift in order to win your heart or whatever.
But rather, I'm just trying to offer you a gift as a way to express my appreciation for you.
Yeah, but you know what everybody's doing, right?
Copying and pasting that link to find out exactly how much their love is worth.
Don't ruin the vibe yet.
That's a good thing, though.
Sorry to interrupt.
But I think, yeah, it's a classy touch, isn't it, removing the price tag?
Because, yeah, I think in a lot of different cultures, that's considered, eh, don't do that, right?
And also, perhaps not surprising that WeChat decided to roll out this new feature to test during the spring festival period.
And actually, it's not just the spring festival period.
It's, you know, February 14th, Valentine's Day.
It's, what other holidays do we have upcoming?
Oh, maybe Women's Day in March and a whole bunch of other festivals when you think about gift giving.
Or, you know, just on a nice day, you feel like expressing gratitude, you know, want to show that to someone you care about.
Yeah, sure, give gifts.
But I have to say that this spring festival, this particular feature has not achieved the kind of explosive success that we've seen with the digital red packets of getting money during spring festival, which came out almost a decade ago, I suppose.
So, yeah, it might be rocky waters for this new feature.
What do you think, what's your read into that?
I mean, for WeChat, that red envelope function, what I call the red envelope function, that is more like a good example that's trying to inspire this new gift giving function in some ways.
Because back in 2014, like you said, more than a decade ago, WeChat introduced this virtual red packets function that's linked to its digital payment services.
So, you know, giving red envelope is kind of like a tradition here in China from especially within the family, from elders to the younger generation to the kids in the family.
Giving a red envelope that's filled with some cash is traditionally deemed as a way of giving good blessings to the kids in the family.
So that's been digitalized by WeChat through this virtual red packets function, which is also a way to transact money to other people.
but in a beautiful design of a red envelope that's going to show on your phone's screen once clicked.
So it's something similar to this new function of gift giving as well because this one follows the red envelope design and make it into like a blue gift packing design.
Oh, it's the blue envelope.
Yeah, it's the blue envelope in some way.
So we see a good example made by the red envelope.
So now I think it's trying to inspire the blue envelope or the gifting function in order to follow a similar path.
Yeah, I wonder if there's a connection there.
You know, back in 2014, the red packet, the red envelope was digitalized.
And I'm sure, I don't have sales numbers from 2014, but I'm sure there must have been an adjustment period.
because traditionally, you know, digitalizing something that was so deeply ingrained in gift giving in Chinese culture might have been seen as a weird, uncomfortable thing to do.
But by 2017, WeChat users exchanged about 46 billion digital red packets over the new year period in January.
So maybe you mentioned, Huyang, that people might think, oh, it's a little bit weird, and this time around it didn't really catch on.
But maybe it'll just take some time, And then when people get used to it a little bit more, maybe that'll be the big boom at that time.
Indeed. And just as WeChat changed the way people gave out traditional red packets and make it digitalized, it also aims to do the same with the new gift giving feature as well.
Since, I mean, giving money and gifts are both huge parts of Chinese culture here.
And also this is quoting from Lee Chang Gang, a CEO of Singaporean -based venture firm, that gifting is something deeply rooted in Chinese culture, just like red packets are.
And also the spending habits and gifting behavior of younger Chinese differed substantially from elders as well.
So we see that a lot of the brands, they're trying to cater to this new trend as well.
They're designing beautifully packed, say, kits, makeup kits or skincare kits.
that's probably more appealing to younger generations nowadays to give as a gift because it's already packed.
And yeah, it's also kind of famous among the online merchandises over the e -commerce platform of mini shop via WeChat as well.
So yeah, totally give us some time.
It's going to, you know, try to generate some more progress, I think.
There's a culture difference within the culture itself, perhaps, with the older generation and their habits of gift giving and then the younger generation and their habits of gift -giving, they might see a change there.
I'm curious to know, if you are trying to show your crush that you like them and you want to send a little gift, what are people sending, I want to know.
You know, like a skincare set is not a great choice for that, I would say.
Yeah, it's like, what are you saying?
Is my skin not good enough for you?
Exactly. So I wonder what would be an appropriate little gift to try to show someone that you like them?
I think, of course, the better you know the person, the more thought that actually clicks with the recipient, the gift the better.
But if you don't have that, then - Deep Seek, you can ask.
I was just going to say flowers and chocolate.
Oh. Well, for girls, I think that's usually, well, nobody's, unless the flowers are just so tacky.
I think I saw one of our male colleagues preparing jelly cat toys for his girlfriend.
Really sorry about that.
That's a girlfriend that we're talking about.
And also flowers, like you said.
You can never get wrong with Valentine's Day.
Coming up next, welcome to the happiest corner on The Airwaves Rantable's Happy Place.
Delivery, delivery, delivery.
What is it? Happy Mills from Round Table.
Steve, what is your happy place?
We touched on it a little bit, I guess, right?
Valentine's Day. I don't know.
Are both of you, what would you say, on a scale of 1 to 10, how romantic are you?
One being not at all, and ten being you're just living in a romantic comedy film 24 hours a day.
I'm 100 points. I'm a hopeless romantic.
Are you? Yes. So you appreciate perhaps a day like this.
No, I just wanted to talk about it a little bit because I think, you know, with a lot of couples, boyfriend, girlfriend, friend, whatever your relationship status is, husband, wife, what have you.
I think that, you know, a lot of people, even though they love their partner a lot, 365 days a year, you can't show them that every single day.
Right. So having a day like this is just a nice little reminder.
If you have a chance to have a nice talk or a nice meal together, remind the person why they're important to you in your life.
And yeah, I think just it's a nice, nice time to do that.
Because like I said, we're always so busy all the time and we get caught up in our schedules and our stress and our own stuff that we worry about in life, about the future and things like this.
So take that time, take a moment, tell your partner why they're important to you.
And you don't need to go into the details, but you've got something special planned, right?
What? You've got something special planned, right?
For who? For my wife?
Of course. I would be worried if it's for somebody else.
I'm going to take a couple of hours and try to cook some food.
I'm not great at cooking Korean food, but I'm going to go to the store.
I'm going to get some ingredients, and I'm going to try my hand.
I can cook some Korean dishes, but I'm going to try one today that I've never tried before.
So that's my way of showing you're important to me.
That's nice. That's a word of affirmation combined with an act of love as well.
Yeah. For me, the happy place is kind of simple.
I just managed to help one of my foreign friends to try to locate on a job, because this friend of mine, he is trying to come to work in China and experience China himself.
And for the past six months, we've been trying really hard in order to, you know, just find a position that would qualify, that he will qualify.
And that's been a very, very complicated process, so much more difficult than I thought.
Because as a Chinese person, when you find a job, it seems like it's just a certain process that you have to go through.
And boom, there is a market for you to browse through.
But for foreigners, it almost seems like trying to enter a different world in some ways.
I'm not sure if you will agree on that, Steve.
But I'm just glad that nowadays we manage to see some hope for that.
And, yeah, I'm looking forward to how it's going to turn out.
Yeah, that's an exciting development for your friend.
I hope things go well.
Thank you. Yeah. I've lived outside of Canada for over 20 years now.
And sure, anytime you enter into a new country and you find a new position, there is a long process that needs to take place.
There are a lot of documents and a lot of stamps and things like that.
But it sounds like he's on the right path.
Thank you. Yeah, good luck.
And here's my happy place.
It is a song I would like to share with you.
This is connected, or it's a callback to today's first topic, NeZha, the sequel.
This character track for our titular hero, NeZha, called Just NeZha by Tang Hanzhou is truly awesome.
What makes it stand out, especially in a film like Nezha the sequel, is how it blends two seemingly two different worlds, ancient and modern.
The song ingeniously combines the electrifying power of the electric guitar with the deeply evocative sound of the Chinese suona.
And that's a traditional wind instrument known for its piercing bold tunes that cut through the air, much like Nejia's unconquerable spirit.
And this contrast creates an emotional roller coaster symbolizing the tension between Nejia's fight against fate and his relentless desire for self -determination.
And I just also want to highlight one lyric with you.
Wow, just one of the most striking line goes.
We are still young, unaware of the vastness of the sky and earth.
I think the Chinese is 我们还年轻不知天高地后.
Yeah, the Chinese is my translation isn't great, but I have the help of Taylor Swift.
If she were to sing in blank space, it would be because we're young and okay, I'm completely off tune.
I'm just going to say it then.
because we are young and we are reckless.
You're still young and with no clue just how big and complicated the world is.
Therefore, it's only the young can shake things up.
But that's the powerful thing about it.
We are not held back by limits.
We are free to dream big and make things happen.
Break the mold, challenge the status quo for those ready to shake things up, create your own path, and turn the impossible, possible.
So do enjoy the music.
Just Neja by Tang Hanxiao, just Neja.
And that brings us to the end of today's roundtable.
Thank you so much, Steve Hatherly and Yushan for joining the discussion.
I'm He Yang. We'll see you next time.
