Round Table China

You've probably scrubbed a pan with one. You could even have worn one on your feet or found it hiding in a skincare product. But the loofah is far more than a bathroom staple. It is the backbone of an industry that spans provinces, employs thousands, and ships products around the world. What does its rise tell us about how rural areas in China is reinventing itself? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yu Bokun.

Long school hours, more screen time and less time outdoors are putting young eyes under pressure. But protecting children's vision may take more than limiting screens. From class breaks and PE to stronger parent-school cooperation, we check on how China is changing daily routines help protect children's sight? On the show: Fei Fei, Yushan & Xingyu

China's 2026 National Day holiday wasn't just about record crowds and packed trains. It was about where people went: small county towns filled up, concert neighborhoods stayed alive past midnight, and international visitors skipped the landmarks for local crafts and bullet train rides. On the show: Fei Fei, Yushan & Xingyu

As part of our National Day holiday specials, we are bringing you episodes from Ni How Are You. This is a series of cross-cultural conversations exploring how people in China and the United States see, experience, and understand each other. Today's episode brings you a conversation with Zhang Junnan, the translator behind the blockbuster Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, about what gets lost and what survives when humor crosses languages.

You ask your kid to help clean up and they look around like there's nothing to do. It's not attitude, but a glimpse into something researchers call cognitive labor, the invisible load of noticing what needs to be done before anyone asks. That same divide shows up between partners, often without anyone realizing it, yet there are practical ways to bring everyone onto the same page. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

As part of our National Day holiday specials, we are bringing you episodes from Ni How Are You. This is a series of cross-cultural conversations exploring how people in China and the United States see, experience, and understand each other. Today's episode brings you a conversation with Robert Dubrovsky, coach of the baseball team from Cornerstone College in Iowa, and Xia Mofeng, a student from Xi'an Physical Education University, about the game that brought them together.

You nailed the interview. Then came the follow-up: a data analysis, a full presentation, a mock campaign, all unpaid, all before anyone says "you're hired." Turns out most job seekers know this drill. For plenty of them, the real frustration isn't the extra work, it's the silence that follows. So where's the line between proving yourself and getting used? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

As part of our National Day holiday specials, we're bringing you episodes from Ni How Are You. It's a series of cross-cultural conversations exploring how people in China and the United States see, experience, and understand each other. Today's episode brings you a conversation with Elyn MacInnis, founder of the Kuliang Families and Friends Groups, about a little-known chapter in the history of China-US relations.

Imagine paying good money to send your kid somewhere with no Wi-Fi, no electricity, and a whole lot of manual labor, on purpose. That is not a punishment; that is the pitch. It is called "eat bitterness" camp. Are these hardship camps actually building character, or just selling a feeling? On the show: Steve, Yushun & Yangyang.

As part of our National Day holiday special, we are bringing you episodes from Ni How Are You, a series of cross-cultural conversations exploring how people in China and the United States see, experience and understand each other. Today's episode features a conversation with three Yale University students who are members of the Whiffenpoofs, one of the world's oldest collegiate a cappella groups.

For years, shared bikes have made short-distance travel easier in Chinese cities, but they have also brought familiar headaches. This September, regulators moved to fix that. A new national standard for internet-based rental bicycles has been approved, setting out, for the first time in one document, exactly what operating companies must do, from hiring and training staff, to equipping bikes, to how they collect user data, to how they manage parking. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yangyang.

As part of our National Day holiday specials, we're bringing you episodes from Ni How Are You. This is a series of cross-cultural conversations exploring how people in China and the United States see, experience, and understand each other. Today's episode brings you a conversation with Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, about the history of the Flying Tigers and the extraordinary stories of cooperation between Chinese and American people during World War II.

With Mid-Autumn and National Day bookending a rare calendar gap, travelers are pouncing on what might be 2026's biggest escape window. Domestic hotspots are surging, but overseas demand is climbing fast, too. So what is really driving this rush, and where is everybody going to go? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan.

Consider all the small conversations you did not have today. The barista, the neighbor, the colleague you passed without stopping. On their own, each one seems like nothing. Together, they add up to thousands of words that were never spoken, and a new study suggests this is becoming the new normal. So what have we traded away without noticing, and is there any reason to want it back? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Beijing is crawling with a problem you cannot ignore. American white moth caterpillars are raining down from trees, blanketing sidewalks, and turning a simple walk into something close to a nightmare. The city's answer sounds like science fiction. Release hundreds of millions of parasitic wasps and let them do the work. Why has this year's infestation exploded and can this tiny-winged counterattack can actually work? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

The fishing boats are back and the ports are buzzing with fresh seafood heading to market. What you will not see on your dinner plate is the millions of tonnes of aquatic food lost or wasted every year. On September 29, the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, we follow the catch from ocean to table and ask how much of the fish we pull from the sea never actually makes it to our forks. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

Have you ever cried at a song whose words you never understood? That wordless pull toward beauty feels deeply human, yet AI now writes poetry, scores films, and paints portraits that move people to tears. So does it truly feel beauty, or simply mimic everything we've always called beautiful? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

What if the job you'll hold next doesn't exist on any official list yet? In China, that list just grew to include robot trainers, sustainability planners, and even incense-making artisans. Work you never knew existed is now being formally recognized as a legitimate career. The line between a passion project and a profession is thinner than it looks. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

There is something comforting about knowing the moon on September 25th is the same one that has watched over this festival for generations. It will shine down on family dinners and quiet apartments, on people coming home and people who cannot. Life moves, cities change, and we scatter further from where we started, but the moon keeps showing up. So what still makes a Mid-Autumn celebration feel like home, even when home looks different now? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Living on campus has long been a standard part of university life in China, but that is now starting to change. Instead of staying within campus walls, many students are moving into residential buildings, as universities across the country buy or lease existing apartments and convert them into student dorms. For the students, it means perks like balconies and round the clock hot water. For the people already living in those neighborhoods, it is a different story, and the feelings are mixed. So what actually happens when a wave of university students moves in next door? On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushan

In Shanghai this week, the WorldSkills Competition has brought together around 1,400 young competitors from 68 countries. They are repairing cars, programming drones, and working with a level of precision that comes down to half a millimeter. It is the biggest celebration of vocational skills on the planet, and the energy is electric. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushan

Deep in the Italian Alps lies a course so punishing that it has broken some of the world's best athletes. This year, it was conquered by Zhao Jiaju, a Chinese runner who once delivered takeout for a living. A year earlier, the same mountains handed him his worst defeat. This time, he did not simply finish the race. He rewrote the record book and became the first non-European ever to win. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

China is pushing harder to remove phones from classrooms, and a new Chongqing regulation marks a notable escalation. Schools there can now ban smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, but this measure sits inside a juvenile crime prevention law rather than an education policy. That raises difficult questions about the link between screen habits and criminal behavior, and whether real evidence justifies the connection. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Every text you send, every search you run, every question you ask an AI passes through the same quiet piece of software beneath your fingertips, and it is watching all of it. In 2026, China's biggest tech companies are fighting to control that software, and the stakes go far beyond convenience. The battle to reinvent the keyboard may be the fiercest front in the AI competition, hiding in the one place nobody thinks to look. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

China has now approved the world's first national standard for BCI medical devices that use AI to interpret brainwaves, setting rules for how brain data is collected and accessed. The question now is whether that standard makes the technology safer for patients, and whether BCIs are finally entering everyday medicine. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Bringing someone into your home to clean or care for your family feels like a private arrangement. In China, it is also a thirty-million-person industry, one that has long run on informal deals, unclear hours, and unanswered questions about who is responsible when something goes wrong. Now nineteen new measures aim to change how that work is done, covering everything from training and insurance to background checks and pricing. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

You walk into a room and find a stage waiting for you. Someone hands you a presentation you have never seen before. The slides make no sense, the crowd is waiting, and your only job is to keep talking. In Beijing, Shanghai, and a handful of other Chinese cities, this is a game that turns everything you know about professional presentations upside down, and once you hear why people keep coming back, you might want to try it yourself. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

A competitor at HYROX Beijing left a bowel accident across the sleds, mats, and rowers, forcing the other athletes onto contaminated equipment. She still finished first. With no clear rule to handle it, the incident sparked a global debate about where the line falls between pushing through pain and protecting others, and it caused HYROX to rewrite its rulebook. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

China has just opened its first major canal since 1949. The Pinglu Canal stretches 134 kilometers and represents one of the most significant infrastructure projects in the country's modern history. What could this waterway actually mean for the way we move goods, run businesses, and connect with Southeast Asia? In an age of high-speed railways and vast road networks, why build a canal at all? On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

It sounded like a hit, it charted like a hit, and radio played it like a hit. There was just one catch. No human made it. Now Australia has become the first country to shut fully AI-generated music out of its official charts and its biggest awards. But if a machine makes a song that makes you feel something, does it matter who or what made it? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

A little girl opens a treasure box and finds a tiny eyeshadow palette, a lipstick, and a blush. To her, it's a toy. To her parents, it's a question mark. China is about to tighten the rules on makeup made for kids aged 12 and under, with tougher limits on contamination and stricter safety requirements. But why are children being sold beauty products at all, and will new standards actually make them safer? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

It begins in a quiet corner of Shaoxing, on a balcony full of gourds, with an old man happy to wave at whoever shows up. It starts as the kind of story that makes you smile. Then the crowds get bigger, the cameras get closer, and the smile gets harder to hold. When does showing up to admire someone's life turn into taking it away from them? / Why do we never like our pictures (18:02)? On the show: Steve, Yushun & Guo Yan

In 45-degree heat, air conditioning is a luxury millions can't reach, so researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology are building something you wear instead. Round Table's Yushan sits down with Ji Wenjie and Fu Ying, two members of the team behind a cooling vest that could change who survives the heat and who gets left behind. On the show: Steve, Yushun & Guo Yan

Across China, people are paying strangers for what friends used to give for free — a listener to vent to, or someone to offer custom compliments and rebuild confidence. Maybe connection isn't the problem. Maybe trust is. Today, we're asking what happens when we'd rather pay a stranger than lean on the people we know. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Paying to get knocked around by fake hurricane winds. Wading through a flooded garage that's dry on the other side. Getting swept up in a man-made torrent. It sounds like something to avoid — until you realize people are doing it to learn. Across China, disaster simulation venues are turning fear into a classroom. Because when the real storm hits, hesitation kills. And practice can mean the difference between hesitation and action. But as extreme weather becomes more common, are we getting better prepared, or just better at pretending we are? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

The most interesting developments at this year's China International Fair for Trade in Services may be happening outside the venue. Beijing's western districts now have new waterfront spaces, routes and transport, all backed by AI, digital platforms and healthcare technology, and all pointing to a fair that no longer speaks only to companies but to the rest of us. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

BRICS is meeting in India this week, and the group has grown well beyond its original five economies. Trade, technology, climate and jobs keep expanding the agenda, but a simpler question lingers: does any of it reach ordinary people? Fei Fei asks Li Lun, an assistant professor at Peking University specializing in the digital economy, what BRICS means for our everyday lives and whether it can answer what young people are most worried about today.

A bank in Hubei decided to close for ninety minutes each afternoon so staff could take a proper break. The public response was anything but calm. Office workers scrambled, elderly customers voiced frustration, and local media fanned the flames. What seemed like a minor change triggered a much larger conversation about routine and why we cling to systems that no longer make sense. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

The back-to-school season has long meant overpriced uniforms and endless waiting, but Shenzhen offers a different model. Parents buy standard school shirts at corner stores, supermarkets, or through delivery apps for the price of a meal. The city set a unified design and let the market handle the rest. So how did Shenzhen pull this off, and what are the criticisms? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

A new generation just arrived on campus, and they are rewriting the rules of friendship. They scroll with confidence but clam up in person. They crave connection, yet keep everyone at arm's length. From social anxiety as an identity to the rise of buddy culture, something is changing beneath the surface. What happens when the need to belong collides with the urge to retreat? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

You live in one city and work in another, and the only thing standing between you and your desk is an hour long crawl through traffic, until now. Beijing's newest subway line does not stop at the city line. It keeps rolling straight into Hebei, turning what used to be a commute into something that feels more like a local errand. That changes everything, not just for the people riding it, but for the very idea of where a city ends and where a region begins. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

In a relationship, we used to know what crossed the line. Now it is a hidden text, a dating app you are still on, or a friend your partner has never heard of. A new survey of 2,000 people reveals just how blurry the boundaries have become. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yangyang

China's highways were once built for function alone. But a new 60,000-kilometer national plan is now tailoring routes specifically for road trips, threading together the Great Wall, the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, and dozens of World Heritage sites into one immersive network. Rest stops are becoming cultural outposts, and overlooks invite quiet reflection, turning the journey into something far more than just a way to get somewhere. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yangyang

The old internet cafe is dead. Dim lights, sticky floors, and cheap instant noodles are gone. In their place are sleek lounges with premium seating, gourmet food, private pods, and showers. These new spaces are just as much about gaming as they are getting away. For a growing number of people, they are a second home, or maybe a better one. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

We are more active than ever, but our bodies are paying the price. A fitness boom is fueling a massive surge in sports rehabilitation, from boutique clinics to high-tech recovery tools. The business of healing is growing fast, and a culture of pushing our bodies to the limit is forcing a new conversation about what it really means to be healthy. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

China and Egypt, two ancient civilizations, share deep cultural and historical roots. Today, a new generation is building on that foundation through culture, business, trade, and technology. Round Table's Yushan sat down with CGTN reporter Mèrna Al Nasser and Egyptian PhD student Sherif Abdelsamie. They share what it's like to live between these worlds, the unexpected ties they have uncovered, and the energy that sparks when ancient traditions meet a rapidly changing era.

Vinyl gets all the attention, but CDs are actually the ones growing faster, and it's not nostalgic collectors buying them. It's a generation that grew up streaming everything and never owned a CD player in their life. So what's pulling them toward plastic cases and liner notes? Is this a real comeback, or just a moment that fades as fast as it showed up? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Forget the textbook. This fall, science class in China begins outside, where students are running real experiments, hitting real dead ends, and rethinking their approach when things do not go as planned. The goal is not landing on the right answer but learning to ask a good question in the first place. This is science treated as something you do, not something you memorize, grounded in the everyday. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

In Chinese, the cardinal directions are woven into everyday language in ways that often go unnoticed. Ordinary expressions carry traces of an older worldview, one that assigned meaning to every point on the horizon. These are not random quirks, but remnants of a way of thinking that has endured for centuries. / How does a nap right after work sound to you (18:07)? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

A new divide is emerging in China between those who know how to use AI and those who don't. Office workers are adapting quickly, but what about the street vendor, the retiree, or someone who's never touched a computer? The answer comes from an unexpected place: night school. Community centers across the country are offering free or low-cost evening classes to make sure no one gets left behind. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

A new study suggests that regular museum visits and theater outings could slow the biological aging process. The idea is enticing because it requires no prescriptions and no gym time. But researchers are still working to pinpoint the true cause. Is it the art itself that delivers the benefit, or is it the walking, the social connection, and the cognitive engagement that naturally accompany a night at the theater? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

China's top Gaokao scorers are now choosing vocational undergraduate programs over elite universities, drawn by higher starting salaries and job security in an automated economy. The surge in popularity is a clear sign of changing perceptions, but the system must adapt to meet new challenges. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

A two-month summer break sounds like freedom. But for many children in China, it comes with a new set of assignments: previewing lessons, completing workbooks, and preparing for the semester ahead. Parents see it as a way to get a head start, while experts warn that too much academic pressure can come at a cost. So how much preparation is helpful? On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

Solo founders are leaving China's biggest cities for county towns, where the cost of living is a fraction of what they paid. AI has made location less relevant, and smaller counties are wroking to attract these one-person companies with real incentives and real-world testing grounds. Is this a smarter way to build a business, or a step backward? On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

The obituaries for reading are written every week. Young people scroll past books, grades dip, professors mourn a lost age of deep thought. But the data refuses to cooperate with the gloom. In some corners of the world, reading is surging. Maybe the problem is not that reading is dying, but that we are looking for it in all the wrong places. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

At the World Humanoid Robot Games, machines run, dance, fight, and even play football. The spectacle is futuristic, but watching them compete is as awkward as it is impressive. For every graceful motion, there is a stumble, a missed grip, or a kick that goes nowhere. Each failure reveals exactly where the technology falls short, and that is precisely what makes these games valuable. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

A single word, a former boss, and a social media post that changed everything. What started as a personal grievance quickly turned into a legal fight, but the real story is not about the word itself. It is about who gets to use it, who takes offense, and why a generation that once mocked the old guard now finds itself sounding just like them. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

The ice cup market in China is heating up in more ways than one. As consumers develop a taste for clearer, slower melting ice in their iced coffee and other chilled beverages, a wave of new players has rushed in to meet the demand. At the same time, Chinese cooling products are finding their way into international markets, adding another layer of opportunity and pressure. What does it take to compete when the big players start locking down their supply chains, and how are smaller players fighting to survive? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

For years, a shouted slogan at one of China's most popular restaurant chains made a single chef a household name. Then this summer, it disappeared overnight. Across industries, thousands of so-called masters are suddenly losing their status as new national rules rewrite who gets to claim expertise. / China's biggest performing arts companies are trading the grand stage for the small screen. Traditionalists worry that something essential gets lost in the shift from theater to algorithm. Supporters see an opportunity to reach audiences who never would have bought a ticket. So what happens when centuries of performance tradition meet the cold logic of the feed (38:20)? On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

No new episode of Round Table in your feed today. We're pausing briefly because we're cooking up something special behind the scenes, and we can't wait to share it with you soon! We'll be back on schedule tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to revisit our past episodes. See you tomorrow!

A working film set opens its doors to the public, and the result is more than just a quirky day out. Visitors suit up, follow a director's lead, and walk away with their own short film. It feels like a fun escape, but something deeper is happening behind the scenes. As AI produces content faster than ever, this immersive experience is offering a glimpse into where storytelling might be headed next. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

It's Qixi season in China, and love is in the air in ways you might not expect. Couples are celebrating everywhere from city parks to cruise ships, while a new generation is finding connection through apps, algorithms, and a little bit of courage. The ancient legend behind Chinese Valentine's Day is rich with meaning, but today young people are writing their own love stories. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

You ask your kid to help clean up and they look around like there's nothing to do. It's not attitude, but a glimpse into something researchers call cognitive labor, the invisible load of noticing what needs to be done before anyone asks. That same divide shows up between partners, often without anyone realizing it, yet there are practical ways to bring everyone onto the same page. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

Step inside the hospital of the near future, where smart pumps track supplies, beds monitor movement, and AI helps flag risks before they escalate. These intelligent wards are becoming a reality across China, promising safer care and relief for overstretched staff. But as the technology scales, the real question is how far its benefits will reach and whether every hospital will get to share in the transformation. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun

How much time in nature is actually enough? The 20-5-3 framework claims to have the answer. It breaks down ideal outdoor time into daily, monthly, and yearly targets. The rule keeps reappearing across wellness articles and social feeds, but is there real science behind it? Where did this framework come from, what do researchers actually say, and can any formula truly measure our connection to the outdoors? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Forget the Great Wall and the pandas. This summer, millions of travelers are flooding into China for something entirely different. Instead of ancient history, they're chasing the future. With over 22 million foreign arrivals already this year, tech tourism is rapidly rewriting the China travel checklist. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

What if the thing you toss without thinking outlasts you by four centuries? That is the tennis-ball problem. Millions of them, every year, destined for centuries in a landfill. But in Qingdao, they have found a fix. The solution came from 20,000 dead balls reborn as a court you can actually play on. This is the story of waste that won't wait 400 years to disappear. / A viral complaint is sweeping across China right now. Professors and employers are frustrated because their students and young hires cannot write a proper email. Subject lines are missing. Greetings are absent. Sign-offs are nowhere to be found. But these kids grew up on messaging apps, where speed always won and formality never mattered. So who is really out of touch here? Them, or the rest of us? (27:46) On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Summer break arrives with a mountain of homework, but the work is not just for students. Parents across China find themselves tracking assignments, managing schedules, and pushing their kids to stay on pace. They say they just want their children to keep up. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushan

Paid annual leave is a legal right in China, yet many workers choose not to take it. The reasons are nuanced. Concerns about falling behind, disappointing a manager, or the weight of a culture that values presence over performance all play a part. Provincial governments are introducing new measures to encourage companies to let employees step away. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushan

No new episode of Round Table in your feed today. We're pausing briefly because we're cooking up something special behind the scenes, and we can't wait to share it with you soon! We'll be back on schedule tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to revisit our past episodes. Thanks for your patience!

Shared bicycles took over China's streets years ago. Their electric cousins? Not so welcome. City officials kept them out over safety worries, parking chaos, and the belief that public transit already had short trips covered. That stance just cracked as Beijing revised its bike-share regulations to include e-bikes for the first time. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

China just introduced new national safety standards for autonomous vehicles. Under these rules, automakers are now required to maintain safety oversight throughout the entire lifecycle of the car, not just at launch. That shift changes who is responsible when things go wrong and redefines the future of driving. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Across China, more and more people are leaving their cities behind for a few days or even an entire month, trading crowded streets and sweltering heat for mountain villages and northern retreats where summer feels mild and manageable. Local towns are adapting quickly, building longer-stay accommodations and outdoor experiences tailored to these new visitors. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun.

Powerful AI used to belong to a handful of tech giants, but that's no longer the case. Today, anyone can download, tinker with, and build on these models, and that shift is reshaping everything from how apps are made to who controls the technology in your daily life. Some call it progress, while others see it as a risk we're underestimating. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushun.

A thousand years ago, scholars from across Asia made their way to China to study governance, science, and philosophy. Some even sat for the imperial exams alongside local students. That era eventually faded, and for decades, studying abroad meant one destination: the West. But that map is now being redrawn. So is China becoming a major study destination once again? / The internet's biggest user is no longer human. For the first time, bots generate more traffic. That doesn't mean the web is broken, but it does mean the rules have changed. Advertising, pricing, and even the way we search are all being rebuilt around software, not people. So if the internet was a car built to serve us, what happens when we are no longer the ones driving it (34:58)? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

We all reach for the AC when temperatures soar past 35 degrees. But in one Chinese city, residents are trying something different. In Xuzhou, homes are being cooled with cold water pumped from an abandoned coal mine deep underground. No hot exhaust on the streets. No overworked power grid. Just a smart, low-carbon solution that could change how we think about staying cool in a warming world. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

August 8 is National Fitness Day in China, but for millions of people here, staying active has already become a daily habit, from sunrise park goers to late-night gyms, from cycling clubs to square dancing and smart fitness apps. So what actually turns exercise from a chore into something you stick with for life? We explore the habits, mindsets, and unexpected motivations that keep people moving long after the new year's resolutions fade. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

No new episode of Round Table in your feed today. We're pausing briefly because we're cooking up something special behind the scenes, and we can't wait to share it with you soon! We'll be back on schedule tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to revisit our past episodes. Thanks for your patience, and see you tomorrow!

China's high speed rail network is the largest in the world, and it is faster and more connected than ever. When parents started asking if they could hand off their children to station staff the way they do with flight attendants, the railway gave a firm answer: no. The decision seemed simple, but the reasoning behind it offers a clear look at how China runs its railways and who it holds responsible for passenger safety. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

In a country with over a billion internet users, a single rumor can outrun the truth before breakfast. Words travel at the speed of a share button, some shared with good intent, others carrying the power to destroy. Now China is drafting its first dedicated anti-cyberbullying law, attempting to draw a clear line between a heated debate and a digital mob. On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun

The way young people build relationships looks nothing like it used to. A new trend called "Soulmanyships" is replacing the old model of one person meeting every emotional need. Today's generation is spreading their connections across friends, family, and even AI companions. Is this shift creating loneliness or a more honest way to connect? / Heart to Heart - please send your emails audio questions to roundtablepodcast@qq.com (11:56). On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

Vacations used to mean crowded monuments and a camera roll full of proof you'd been somewhere. This summer, however, travelers are ditching the bucket list for deeper experiences like music festivals, traditional village stays, and hands-on cultural activities that leave a lasting impression. Why is tourism shifting from sightseeing to genuine connection, and how are cities and rural communities adapting to meet this new demand? On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

A new survey asked young Chinese migrants what makes a city finally feel like home. The answers had less to do with money or apartments and more to do with something simpler: human connection. But for millions leaving home for school and work, building those bonds is often the hardest part. So what makes some places easier to call home than others? / A dead appliance. A knock on the door. For millions of people living alone in China, that moment can trigger more anxiety than the repair bill ever could. But when the person on the other side is a woman, something changes. All-female repair crews are quietly winning over customers across the country. Not because they fix things faster, but because they bring a sense of ease that starts before they even step inside (35:14). On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

A new survey asked young Chinese migrants what makes a city finally feel like home. The answers had less to do with money or apartments and more to do with something simpler: human connection. But for millions leaving home for school and work, building those bonds is often the hardest part. So what makes some places easier to call home than others? / A dead appliance. A knock on the door. For millions of people living alone in China, that moment can trigger more anxiety than the repair bill ever could. But when the person on the other side is a woman, something changes. All-female repair crews are quietly winning over customers across the country. Not because they fix things faster, but because they bring a sense of ease that starts before they even step inside. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

Two Chinese mathematicians just won math's highest honor in the same ceremony, a first for China. One was a prodigy since childhood. The other found math by accident in a small town. Together they cracked problems that stumped the world for generations, including one unsolved for over a century. Two opposite paths led to the same summit on one historic night. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

That greenish-gray spot on your garlic isn't just an annoying kitchen moment, it's a warning sign. This year, erratic weather in China, source of most of the world's garlic, threw the entire growing cycle off balance, and the results are showing up in kitchens everywhere. We dig into what a single moldy clove reveals about a changing planet, and what it means for the food on all our plates. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun

We tend to look for great art in quiet libraries and university halls. But the literary world just got turned upside down by a man who spends his days weaving through traffic. At 56 years young, a food delivery rider has won one of China's most prestigious literary awards. Not in spite of his job, but because of it. On the show: Steve, Yushan & Yushun