Round Table China

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 the...

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:...

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 differ...

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 &...

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 answ...

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: Stev...

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 &amp...

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, Yu...

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 t...

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 mor...

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...

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 everyda...

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 &...

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...

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...

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