Show threadStrypeyMar 8, 2025

"Last summer, on a trip to the mountains of Wudang, one of the birthplaces of Taoism, I saw temples teeming with young Chinese eagerly studying tai chi and yangsheng, the art of bodily wellbeing. The pandemic seemed to have awoken many Chinese to the realisation that, for several years now, they had been living a sort of lie: a life of scarcity in an age of abundance. Now was the time for self-correction. The search has just begun."

#ChangChe, 2025

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/jan/27/the-man-making-a-business-out-of-chinas-burnout-generation-podcast

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#taoism

The man making a business out of China’s burnout generation – podcast

Li Jianxiong was a highflying marketing executive in Beijing until a breakdown sent him to the west on a wellness voyage of discovery – just as his peers were losing faith in the Chinese Dream. By Chang Che. Read by Vincent Lai

The Guardian
Show threadStrypeyMar 8, 2025

Where journalism skills go to die;

"Li eventually attended the prestigious Peking University, where he planned to be a journalist. By the time he graduated, in 2008, the global economy was in recession. The newspaper he joined laid him off, and the resulting financial pressure caused him to abandon journalism for a public relations job at a new online fashion retailer. Within two years, he was leading the company’s PR strategy."

#ChangChe, 2025

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/jan/27/the-man-making-a-business-out-of-chinas-burnout-generation-podcast

#NewsMedia #journalism

The man making a business out of China’s burnout generation – podcast

Li Jianxiong was a highflying marketing executive in Beijing until a breakdown sent him to the west on a wellness voyage of discovery – just as his peers were losing faith in the Chinese Dream. By Chang Che. Read by Vincent Lai

The Guardian
Show threadStrypeyMar 7, 2025

"Though the Communist party has tried to re-energize the country under the banner of “Xi Jinping Thought” – which envisions a muscular future powered by hi-tech industries and a revival of Confucian traditions – many Chinese have begun to wonder about the wisdom of striving endlessly for a better future that never seems to arrive."

#ChangChe, 2025

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/jan/27/the-man-making-a-business-out-of-chinas-burnout-generation-podcast

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#CCP #XiJinpingThought #Confucianism

The man making a business out of China’s burnout generation – podcast

Li Jianxiong was a highflying marketing executive in Beijing until a breakdown sent him to the west on a wellness voyage of discovery – just as his peers were losing faith in the Chinese Dream. By Chang Che. Read by Vincent Lai

The Guardian
StrypeyMar 7, 2025

"In China today, nearly one in five young people are unemployed. Local governments are bogged down in debt. The flagging property market, once the engine of the Chinese economy, has caused the country’s annual growth rates to fall to the low single digits."

#ChangChe, 2025

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/jan/27/the-man-making-a-business-out-of-chinas-burnout-generation-podcast

(1/2)

#China

The man making a business out of China’s burnout generation – podcast

Li Jianxiong was a highflying marketing executive in Beijing until a breakdown sent him to the west on a wellness voyage of discovery – just as his peers were losing faith in the Chinese Dream. By Chang Che. Read by Vincent Lai

The Guardian