Interview with the China-Britain Business Council

These days I have a love/hate relationship with the label ‘entrepreneur’. But the life of an independent content creator and an entrepreneur is very similar. You can be fueled with pride for your mission one day, and paralysed with doubt and self-loathing the next. But with the help of positive people around you, you do have the chance to live comfortably with this creative tension, and preserve your equilibrium.


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Noodle Art

I haven’t posted anything for the last couple of weeks because I’ve been busy making this self-portrait out of noodles.
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*No, I’ve had a stinking cold and have been sneezing and coughing all week. I used a photo filter app called Prisma to create this image in 10 seconds.


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Woody & Buzz

I said, “Let’s get Woody and Buzz costumes for Halloween!“

He said, “No, I’ve got a better idea…”

Sometimes there are distinct advantages to living with a creative genius.


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100,000 Downloads

A big thank you to everyone who helped Mosaic of China achieve its 100,000th download at the beginning of this month.

It's still a modest project, but I'm grateful for every single person who has taken the time to engage with these stories.


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Great Wall Gallivanting

It’s been 20 years since I’ve been to this part of the Great Wall of China. And this time we had it practically all to ourselves… 👬🏯


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Beijing Rocks!

I’ve always felt intimidated by Beijing. To me it’s always been a big, cold city where the power of government looms large. But just one evening with these warm and generous people has already helped to disabuse me of that hang-up. 😊


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Momosaic

The Mosaic of China recording tour has taken me north to Qinghai Province, and now I’m getting the full Tibetan Plateau experience of yaks, snow and momo dumplings. ❄️🐮🥟


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Chongqing Razzle-Dazzle

In Chongqing, remember to wear sunglasses when you go out. At 8pm. 🙈🔆


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Recording on the Road

Taking Mosaic of China recordings on the road.

First stop: Yunnan. 🎤🚙


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Sixty Stories

Yes, there’s a podcast about China that is both informative… and fun.

Leaving aside political and ideological differences, there’s much to be learnt from the stories of people living their lives in China. Whether you’re in the arts, business or science, every episode will provoke your curiosity and challenge your assumptions, no matter where in the world you live.

A big thank you to all 60 guests who have so far appeared on Mosaic of China, and a special thanks to everyone who joined us at the end-of-Season party in Shanghai.


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Inner Mongolia & Ningxia

I would just like to say something categorical. I’m D.O.N.E. with this whole ‘living through history’ nonsense. "May you live in interesting times"? May you kiss my sweaty ass.

I’m sorry, I know there are many people who have had a truly awful time. Which is why I have allowed myself just this one privileged tantrum in 18 months.

I still can’t re-enter China on my visa if I leave, and there’s no end in sight. So we escaped Shanghai again to give me another sanity reset. Normal service will resume shortly.

Inner Mongolia 内蒙古 and Ningxia 宁夏 are both areas of China where minority cultures struggle for authentic representation. But we did our best to find it!

Hope you like the compilation video.
☀️🛖 🏞🐴🍷


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China Level 100

When you reach China level 💯, the game starts to crash. 🎮🐼🤷‍♂️


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Minority Report

6 Days in Guizhou Province. 🚐🌦🌾

Note 1: We did a village-hopping tour in the ethnically diverse region of South-East Guizhou 贵州.

Note 2: This area is one of the wettest and hilliest parts of China. The geology is mostly porous limestone karst, so landslides are common. It was hot and humid, but we were incredibly lucky not to encounter much rain.

Note 3: There are very few young adults in this video, because many of them have left to become migrant workers in bigger cities around China.


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Blending In

Just trying my best to blend in.


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7 Days in Xinjiang

7 Days in Xinjiang. 🏞🌅☪️

Note 1: This was a highly curated tour. We needed to submit our itinerary to the authorities and we could not make any spontaneous changes.

Note 2: I didn’t have any Uighur music in my collection, so the soundtrack is comprised of a mishmash of Urdu, Arabic, Turkish and... Brokeback Mountain. 🤷‍♂️

Note 3: There’s a little Easter Egg in the clip with the ‘no smoking’ sign. Take a close look at the smoke coming out of the cigarette...


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Inconveniently Different

My trip this week is in the contentious region of Xinjiang, which you may have heard about in the news.

I live in China, where it’s not possible to have an open public discussion about these things. But here’s what I will say.

I believe to my core that a society should not be judged on how it treats its majority. That’s actually the easy part. A society should be judged on how it treats those who are most ‘inconveniently different’ to the majority.

Maybe that’s the Aboriginals in Australia; the Roma (gypsies) in Eastern Europe; the Rohingya in Myanmar; the Kurds in Turkey; the list goes on and on, and there’s one in your society too. You could even argue that the Trans Rights and the Black Lives Matter movements belong in this same awkwardly named category.

Please take a moment to think about the most ‘inconveniently different’ person near you. And in the meantime, here’s a photo I took today of a cute Uighur boy playing with a bucket. 👦🏻🪣


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15 Years and an International Border

In 2006 I was in Tajikistan, travelling on the Pamir Highway as part of a 2-month trip through Central Asia.

This week a group of us have flown to the far West of China to travel down the Karakoram Highway, which hugs the border with Tajikistan on its way to Pakistan.

There are 15 years and an international border separating these two photos. But otherwise... not much difference!


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Jab Grab

Sinopharm CNBG 1st vaccine received. 💉

Very smooth process, except the need to explain why I needed it in my right arm. Yes, left-handed people DO EXIST!

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Purple Rinse

When your hairdresser talks you into getting a purple rinse...


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Defeated, Deflated and Depressed

These last two weeks have been a struggle.

I need to submit the draft of my masters thesis next week, but I have been feeling totally defeated 🥊, deflated 🎈 and depressed 💔.

Luckily a Valentine’s Day change of scenery has helped to salvage a little sliver of sanity.


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