Personal story: it all started from afar… Schumacher at the wheel of the Ferrari F2002 during the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix Image credit: Formula 1 The first time I watched the F1 Grand Prix was in the 1990s, when I was still at school, supposedly studying English. While my classmates were busy memorizing vocabulary from mandatory textbooks to prepare for exams, I was glued to the screen of Star TV’s sports channel for hours. It was like a kaleidoscope, where I cultivated a p

Recently, an art exhibition titled “A Thousand Years in the Clouds: Treasures from the Duo Yun Xuan Collection云藏千年” at the Shanghai Art Museum has been in full swing. One painting, in particular, has riveted my attention, not merely for its aesthetic beauty, but for its vivid and educational depiction of Confucian social structures. It is a visual representation of Confucian ethics, using specific avian species to symbolize the five fundamental human relationships. It acts a

And all the meals and drinks we shared there. Recently, the biggest retail news in Shanghai has been the closure of MUJI’s 10-year-old flagship store at Huaihai Road 755. According to insiders at MUJI, it is a normal brand adjustment, and there will be another grand opening for their new world flagship store in Xuhui District, another commercial hub in Shanghai. Credit: images of MUJI 755 sourced from RedNote. However, it is still hard to say goodbye to this much-loved MUJI s

How the "Are You Dead Yet?" app and Gen Z's solo-living trends are fundamentally rewriting the nation's social contract. In 1994, we all laughed at the “lonely soul.” Back then, there was a well-known anthem， Shameful to the Alone (孤独的人是可耻的) by the rock star Zhang Chu 张楚. But as we entered 2026, an app called “Are You Dead Yet 死了吗?” went viral on China’s Apple Store, ranking at the top of the paid-app charts for weeks. This represents a drastic shift in the mindset of Chines

Europe’s Art of Uselessness vs. China’s Practical Usefulness In my last post, I mentioned that Europe and China are living in different time spaces, with a roughly 20-year gap in digitalisation. This week, I turn to a different universe: aesthetics versus practicality. First: Lesson learned Small revelations in a vintage Paris hotel taught me that being unconcerned with making every inch of space useful leaves room for what truly matters. It began with a vintage hotel where I

On the last day of 2025, I cooked myself a bowl of noodles in the traditional Chinese way. It was the taste of my childhood, made with: a sunny-side-up egg a handful of dried wheat noodles an abundance of tender, fresh pea shoots some soy sauce, a spoonful of rendered lard, a pinch of salt, and a touch of chili oil, mixed into boiling water to form the noodle soup Credit: Xiaohongshu The soul of this bowl of noodles is the pea shoots. In my hometown and across the Sichuan reg

Time: Europe’s Gracefully Slow vs. China’s Efficient Fast I often slip into a kind of constant hallucination when traveling in the European continent, that familiar sci-fi feeling of being on a space cruise ship moving through time and space. Especially when I’m on the road, taking a train to the next town, hopping on a bus to the next destination, or crossing those historic streets lined with old buildings that have stood for centuries. Moments like these remind me again and

Shanghai is a city that beautifully merges modern dynamism with historic charm. Its retail landscape is constantly evolving, driven by innovation and creativity, and often delivering surprising results.   Last Monday, two designers and I, with the ambition of building the coolest stores in the city, took an unusual tour to explore Shanghai’s latest cluster of hype-driven shops. As far as we could see, a new wave of retail revolution is quietly unfolding, with many of the most

I still remember vividly a moment from long ago, when I first started my career working on a coffee project, helping Suntory’s RTD coffee brand enter the Chinese market for the very first time. Our team head, a true maven in branding and consumer insight, leaned over and shared his thoughts with me quietly: “The first thing that attracts you, the thing you remember most when you step into a café, is the aroma from the coffee beans in the machine. Long before you are ever enti

There is not nothing good about an economic slowdown or consumer downgrading. Yet after being bombarded with apocalyptic forecasts about China’s economy by major global think tanks over the past three years, Chinese people have finally learned how to find a small pothole to curl up in and make peace with this harsh reality. One unexpected boon of the slowdown is the incubation and mushrooming of warehouse-style discount stores that have crawled into every corner of the city.

Like most people who have never set foot on the land of France before, I believed the best place to experience authentic French cuisine must be in a Michelin-star restaurant in Paris, or at least at a well-known Parisian table. Listening to My Life in France by Julia Child on the flight to Europe, I fantasized that I would have the best gastronomic experience of my life in Julia’s favorite city - Paris. However, the food in Paris was a disappointment for me. I deliberately c

Milan was my first stop in Europe, which left me with a lasting impression that a typical European day starts with a freshly brewed cup of coffee in the morning. I stayed in a charming attic loft in a lively neighborhood near Centrale. This community is brimming with small bistros, bakeries, and a fresh market where you can experience authentic local life. Across the street from the loft was a local bakery offering a cup of espresso or Americano for around €1.5 to €2, along w

Not long ago, I co-drove an engaging conversation with John Jörn Stech from The Auto Ethnographer on the dynamics of global car markets — exploring the trends and innovations driving the shift from conventional cars to EVs, and the resulting impact on global giants such as BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz AG, and Tesla. (If you haven’t listened to it yet, don’t miss it. Here is link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prXpu8f4Ovk )  Credit: Luciano Consolini After that thought-provoki

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