Wǒ Men Podcast: The Real Girl Code

04/13/18 • 49 min

Who says that women and coding have nothing to do with each other? Gu Xi didn’t believe that and broke the barrier by building one of the first Chinese tech communities for women when she was 18-year-old. (It makes Jingjing and Yajun wonder what they have missed when they were 18.) In this community, she worked with the team to provide online courses and offline conferences for girls who were interested in tech but felt they couldn’t get the support they needed in this male-dominated industry. Over the last three years, that community has grown rapidly to 4000 members. Different from the older generations, Gu Xi and the post-95 generation grew up with the internet. They have more access to information and an awareness of what they want. Meanwhile, they still have to struggle against the strict and rigid Chinese education system which only values students based on their scores rather than their creativity and leadership. It is a tough road. In this episode of the Women Podcast, we talk to somebody who is both a typical and an atypical example of the post-95 generation. Gu Xi shares her experiences on how she developed the idea of building the tech community and how much she needs to fight to pursue the mission that she believes in.

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Wǒ Men Podcast: Black Panther and Attitudes to Race in China

The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang. Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and y ou can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

The movie Black Panther has become a global phenomenon, smashing through box office records and preconceptions about the performance of black actor-fronted films, while triggering a worldwide celebration of African culture and spirit in the process.

Beijing was not left untouched by this movement: a huge party organized by Beijing’s African diaspora and friends was held near Tiananmen Square for the opening screening of the film in the Chinese capital. Yet the critical reception of the movie in China has been mixed, with some of the more negative reviews betraying underlying racist attitudes from some viewers.

This has given rise to an important but difficult conversation about race in China, leading some to question the long-held assumption that racism does not exist here. Such questions look even more relevant following a now infamous sketch on CCTV’s New Year Gala show that itself triggered heated debate about Chinese attitudes towards Africa.

For our latest podcast, we welcome Kassy Lee, an African-American writer and poet who has lived and worked in Beijing since 2014, to share her personal experience of living in the Chinese capital and her perspective on the broader conversation on attitudes to race in China that has recently taken off.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].

Next Episode

Wǒ Men Podcast: Searching for Home

The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang.Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and y ou can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

There are approximately 46 million ethnic Chinese people living outside China. The term “overseas Chinese” is mostly associated with the first period of migration (the 1850s–1950) after mass migration from China began during the mid-19th century (according to Hong Liu and Els Van Dongen’s 2013 book on the subject). At that time, a growing number of Chinese people left their homes in search of a better life and employment opportunities outside of China. It was then that Dominique Fong’s grandfather emigrated to America.

When Grandpa Yu first set foot in the United States, his “paper father,” a man he had never met before, was waiting for him. Grandpa Yu adopted a new surname — “Fong” — giving him a new identity along with a new life in California. Supported by the local Chinese community, Grandpa Yu had a similar life path to many in the Chinese diaspora — working in Chinese restaurants, waiting tables, learning English — until finally, he opened his own restaurant and lived his version of “the American dream.”

Now 86, Grandpa Yu probably never imagined that his granddaughter would return to China on a quest to find the home he left over 66 years ago. In our latest podcast, we sit down with Dominique to talk about this special project, her efforts to find her family’s roots, and the fascinating stories she has uncovered along the way.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].