China's youth choose sawdust over showrooms
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Discussion keeps the world turning. This is Roundtable. You're listening to Roundtable with Steve Hatherley. That's me, and I'm joined today by Nio Honglin and Yushun. Coming up, China's youth are rewriting the rules of furniture. Forget the flat-packed boxes from large furniture stores. This generation is grabbing sanders and chisels, transforming raw timber into personal statements.

What's behind this DIY rebellion against disposable culture? And could building your own desk actually build something deeper? Patience, pride, a connection to craft that clicking and shipping just can't deliver. After that, first dates are stressful enough without the math, but here you are wondering if a 50% off dinner coupon screams romantic prospect or extreme couponer.

is using coupons on a first date thrifty or a red flag bigger than the expiry date on your milk carton. Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts. And don't forget, we love hearing your voice. So what that means is we ask you to send a voice note our way with any of your thoughts of the things that we discuss here on the show. Roundtable Podcast at QQ.com. One more time, Roundtable Podcast at QQ.com. And now...

Imagine a world where your bookshelf holds more than books. It holds the sweat from your hands and the blood stains from where you accidentally hit your thumb with your hammer. Painful? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. Across China, a generation is rejecting cookie cutter furniture, choosing instead the raw thrill of creation. Whether it's a thirst to create or a quest to reduce waste, a number of people are throwing on their safety goggles to...

And do you not agree that an injury, let me rephrase, minor injury when related to something creative is an injury that's almost worth it? You are a young man.

Or athletics. Those are cool injuries, too. Yeah, kind of scars makes you cooler, don't you think? I totally agree with you. Young boys in the studio. Anyway, absolutely, more people are becoming obsessed with a seemingly primitive hobby, handmade goods, you know,

They're not, of course, professional craftsmen or trying to be yet. They eagerly share photos on social media of themselves holding saws, targeting at just marine boards or cardboards or just wood boards and transforming into modern day Lu Banzan, who is

legendary chinese carpenter or craftsman oh okay that's a historical figure and they've turned niche industrial materials into self-designed furniture i have seen a video like that there was this girl in the video she bought

huge, really huge plastic foam and she shaped the foam into a strange shape and then she started to sew with heavy and also very huggable type of clothing and then she put them together. Ta-da! A

A sofa. A very cute looking sofa looking like a little cat and you cannot buy it anywhere because it's made by her and created by her. That was the first time I realized, huh, people in the cities in their busy modern day lives can make furniture by themselves. And that's the moment you also realize,

Huh. When you watch it in a video on social media, it looks so incredibly easy. And when you try it yourself, it is an exercise in futility of sorts. So I'm guessing then that speaking of social media, Internet searches, social media searches related to.

working with wood, woodworking are really hot right now? Yeah, so the terms like marine board, as I mentioned, linear rail, aluminum profiles on red, which is a lifestyle...

sharing platform and you'll find a vibrant and unique world. People building bookshelves from these marine boards and creating walk-in closets with aluminum profiles and turning linear rails into lighting rigs. Yeah, that's cool. And with tags like DIY for anyone, low-cost DIY and eco-friendly furniture or just don't spend that 10,000 yuan on a...

Just build one for yourself, that kind of thing. - Make it yourself, huh? - Yeah. - The linear rails, the lighting rigs, I guess those are, they kind of look like train tracks, I guess, except they go on your ceiling or maybe they can go on your wall too and then you can put light fixtures on there. That's a really popular one.

Uh, I, I saw one trend. It was, I think it was stainless steel. There was a big interior trend of stainless steel in Canada or America or UK or somewhere, um, where people were turning, um, their kitchens like fully stainless steel. And then it like moved to other rooms in their house where it got like a little bit weird. Like they were in an industrial elevator.

But still, these types of DIY projects, people really, this isn't just a Chinese thing. This is something that people love all around the world if they're into that type of thing. And there are definitely different types. We get to see, for example, the video I mentioned. The sofa looks so nice and comfortable and beautiful and almost perfect.

But there are the ones that you should mention like DIY for yourself where anyone can do it. That's the hashtag. And in Chinese, we'll also say things like as long as you have hands, you'll be able to make this. So that's easy to achieve, yet not that perfect kind of furnitures. I think the trend here is that no matter if you're a newbie in this hobby or you are already someone who's quite skilled

skillful with a lot of different strange techniques and experience and knowing your material quite well, you can have a taste of this. Yeah. Back to this trend, because this trend is more specific than just DIY projects in general, right? This is about building furniture. So why, which is really impressive.

What's going on in terms of the popularity? Why are people loving to do this? I think the mentality of having fun and after you finish these things, the sense of accomplishment make people are just obsessed with building things by themselves. You know, the process of assembling, playing with Lego, but the satisfaction. I was just about to say. Yeah. It's like building something when you were a kid, right? Yes. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be perfect. Right.

because this is a... And I think this is part of the reason for the popularity, too. You don't have to be a master woods maker, if that's the term, to...

satisfy your own creative side. You're not going to be selling these online for thousands and thousands of yuan. So if the edges don't line up, that's okay. If some screws are showing, that's okay. And this reminds me of an episode of the sitcom Friends when Joey made the huge, well, he started making a little standoff scene

carpet or little stool and then ended up building this huge shelf that takes up the entirety of the space of the living room. And it blocked the doors to the bedrooms. So yeah, I think that...

kind of hobby or that mentality is universal. Yeah, I think you're right. Also, you know, when you look online and you see these communities, those communities will also provide instructions for people too, yeah? Yeah, and when people having that kind of same interest in hobby, people talk about that online and they share their own insights and have a lot of discussions on different types of materials or different ways to build that one single thing and that will spark

people's interest in these kind of things and also I think rise the popularity of this kind of discussion.

There are successful experiences and tips of making those things, but there are also many posts talking about my epic failure in making those. These are cute and fun too. It's like creating a community on the internet and sharing same hobby with peers that you don't really know. Yeah, and I think it's great because you get help from people who know how to do it right. If you don't do it right, you get comfort. Yeah.

knowing that there are plenty of other people out there who mess up as well. I've tried so many times visiting IKEA,

And I'm saying, I'm not going to pay some person to come into my house and build this. I can do this myself. Yeah. I'm dumb. And I, you shouldn't. What? Why? Do you follow the instructions? Have you ever built anything like Ikea or whatever furniture store? Yeah, of course. And I am kind of fan of buying things that I can build. Yeah, me too. Me too. Do you follow the instructions? I do. I read all of the instructions. Right.

- Those instructions are for babies, bro. - That is why I can build them successfully. - I bought a sofa, an L-shaped sofa, right, from that store. And at the time, my living room, this is years ago, my living room was shaped in a way that it kind of had an entrance and the L shape, the bottom of the L, the smaller part, was supposed to be near the living room window, not near the entrance.

built the sofa backwards, which I didn't even think was possible, so that the sofa, that little L part was now facing the entrance of the living room, blocking the whole door. And I live alone at that time, so I'm trying to move this 12,000 pound sofa by myself, and there's always extra screws and stuff left over too. There's always extra pieces, but you know, it's fun. Yeah.

It's fun. And for those who are making their own furnitures here in China, one reason they do that is that they want to fit everything into the place perfectly. And it's not always easy to find exactly the length, the width.

that they need for their furniture. That is why instead of buying the pieces and put them together, they buy the piece and they adjust them a little bit. And after the first try, the first success, they decided, why not just buy the raw material I have approved?

that I can do this. So that's one thing led to another and now it's a trend. - And then it just grows, yeah. I mean, the reasons why it's really fun and almost addictive, I would think, are pretty obvious because you get to show your creative side. There's a little bit of individualism that's expressed there too, I think.

it's often cheaper, maybe not always cheaper because, you know, tools, depending with every hobby, depending on how into it you want to get, it can get more expensive. But then there's the sustainability side of things as well. But that said, there's got to be some drawbacks, I wonder. Yeah, you may...

Oh.

I thought you guys liked that. Past the quality jack. Minor injuries. Let's stress minor injuries. That makes you look cooler. Sorry, what was your last point? You don't end up with the product that you wanted to build? Yeah, so because there is no guarantee of the quality of this kind of furniture, I mean. For example, that table you made of just raw wood boards and four stands.

Maybe the screwdriver is not... The screw is not that hard enough or, like, solid enough than if you were putting a hot pot on the table. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So...

There may be accidents if we don't have that kind of very professional quality check, if we just make these things by themselves. And before entering the master stage of it, knowing every material, knowing how to use these tools, it's also possible that we put things that are not supposed to be together together. And also when we're sewing things or when we're just saw things,

The pollutant might be hurting your health because you're not a professional carpenter at all. And you're making noise that are bothering your neighbors because it's not a construction site. It's your living room. Sure. Yeah. Don't build something at 3 a.m. Don't. And talking about, you know, cost effectiveness, of course, we may think of, as you said, buying raw materials and put them together could be cheaper. But think about cost.

all of the tools that you need to buy, right? Expensive. And also you need to have professional knowledge about maybe waxing your wood board and everything. That's probably take you like a whole day for that.

And then time consuming. Yeah. Yeah. But I guess people who are into it don't really care about the time consuming side of things. Right. Really fun trend happening here in China. You're listening to Roundtable. I'm Steve with Yushan and Yehong Lin. What do you think? Using a coupon, a discount coupon on a first date. Is it practical or is that a deal breaker for you?

Looking for passion? How about fiery debate? Want to hear about current events in China from different perspectives? Then tune in to Roundtable, where East meets West and understanding is the goal. Okay, so there you are, sipping on your artisanal lychee latte because you are amazing and you are on a date.

Suddenly your romantic interest casually pulls something out of their pocket. "What's this?" you ask. And then you see the answer. It's a crumpled up 20% off muffin coupon that your date slides across the table to the waiter like it's a classified government document. The waiter's eyebrow lifts. Time slows. Time stops. Is this charmingly thrifty? No, wait! Is this a savings opportunity?

You watch in awe as the waiter recalculates the post-discount bill, and suddenly you recalculate everything in your life. Why am I here with this person? But wait a second. Could this type of financial savvy be very useful in a long-term relationship? What am I supposed to think? Is it okay to use coupons on a first date? It was too vivid a picture you paint. Wow.

This is a trend. This is according to 2025 Talker Research Survey, a solid majority of people. Now, you might find this surprising. 56%, to be exact, actually think using a coupon on a first date is totally fine. And this suggests that

for more than half of daters. This is not a faux pas. This is not a huge mistake. They are totally okay with it. What do you think? Are there any conditions? Are you just using coupons in front of a partner or just using coupons secretly and you're just paying

You're being very specific about this question. I don't think the survey asked that question. I was thinking it was me. I wouldn't use a coupon for my first date. Really? No. Even though both my girlfriend and I normally just use coupons on our meals and everything. That's girlfriend, though. That's an established relationship. Of course. What I'm trying to say is that we both agree that using a coupon on the very...

first date might leave a somewhat negative impression. Not at all for me. But I think it depends on the time

The times, woo, I sound old. So 10 years ago or 15 years ago, when coupon was not that popular or not that common a thing in the Chinese market like today, well, it's considered strange because you have to go out of your way to collect the coupon to find the group on kind of set that you can use in a restaurant. And

you if you go the extra mile to do this it shows that you really care about this in your life and the financial decisions you make might also be reflected by these kind of phenomena which would be a bit strange for me these days

Yet in today's China, in today's Chinese market, in today's Chinese restaurants, different tourist destinations and different places, it's almost a given. There are so many different types of set that you can choose from. There are different platforms that you can get these coupons from. And the restaurant, for example, it

would provide different sets based on what's the day of the week. So it's something so common that I do not see it as a problem. It's just one option out of many options. Okay, I'll explain to you why it might be a problem. What about this way of thinking? Did he or she bring me to this restaurant? Are we here together?

Because this person thought that we would enjoy this meal together in this ambiance, in this location? Or are we only here because he or she has a 15% off meal?

5 to 7 p.m. discount coupon. Do you see what I mean? That totally takes away from the romance of the moment. I can really understand both sides. Here's another answer from the survey. 28% of the respondents, they said that they considered this type of frugality, using coupons on a first date, sexy.

Smart, financially. Conversely, 56% believe that flashing cash and other ways to show off wealth were a turn off. A turn off. It depends. Times change. Right? I mean, I don't know. Maybe it was, it doesn't sound like it was only in the West. Sounds like here in China, too, where, you know.

You show up in your expensive fancy clothes. If you have a nice car, you bring your nice car. You go to an expensive meal to show off a bit, to impress your date. Young people, not impressed by that anymore. And not just not impressed, they don't like it. That's a ref, like, now. Yeah, they think you're bragging and showing off. I think that mentality is in line with a very common and popular saying on the internet that is riding a bike to a bar.

I spend the money I must spend and I save the money that I can save. In that scenario, riding a bike, meaning that you're not driving your fancy car, that's the money you're saving, yet you're going to a bar and you're going to spend a lot of money in it because it's the money you want to spend. And I think that is the mentality of many young people here in China. That is, they care about the quality of the product they enjoy and they want the service that they've made up their mind to enjoy, yet they don't...

They find finding a way to have the same quality of service with less money a smart choice. And I think that is quite rational for especially the younger generation. Instead of being impressed by the material condition of a person, the kind of money they have, they're being impressed by their strategic and smart decision making. Can it not go too far?

What I mean by that is, okay, taking the bicycle to the bar. Cool. Let's say you're going to go to your second spot and you're

it's like seven kilometers away, right? Okay. It's kind of doable on a bike, on a date, I guess, but it's also a little bit far. Yes. Right? I agree. So you say, let's take a taxi and your date says, why? It's only seven kilometers. We can bike there in 25 minutes, 40 minutes. Do you know what I mean? Like,

I know what you mean. You can't go too far, can't you? Yes, you can't go too far. For me, the line is that if you use the coupon in a restaurant, fine. But if you go out of your way, study the rules of a fancy hotel and see how many points you can get for different nights in the hotel so that you can upgrade the level of rooms you stay in and you can get free meals and you do the math so carefully. For me, if you do that on the first day, it would be a bit too much.

Actually, if you do that as my boyfriend, it'll be too much. So...

For me, that is the line. Yet, my point here is that everybody's different. People's lines are drawn on different places, and that's perfectly fine. Just find those who you find charming. That's okay. And Yuxin, you said you wouldn't use a coupon on a first date. You just wouldn't do it. I just wouldn't do it. And I think it will not be as sexy as people would think when they're just using coupons. And also, what I want to say is that...

It's probably because I'm talking about the Chinese environment per se. One key difference is that in the shopping environment in China is that we now just so commonly use apps like Dianping or Yelp.

that that is making even those restaurants and all of the consumers think that it is just the correct and common way yeah to go to a restaurant yeah and I think in the digital age you could use a coupon without your date knowing that you're using exactly you know I did the whole like who cuts out coupons from newspapers anymore no I'm sure it exists but you know not so much right so for me personally

I don't think I'd do it, but I wouldn't be offended either. So, I mean, that's just walking the line of both answers, isn't it? Yeah. All right. That's a fun topic, but it is a reflection of the times. Ranran, can I close with that jazz music? Is that possible, I wonder? No? Close on a little romantic note. That'll do it for Roundtable for today. Thank you. Oh, there it is. To Yuxuan, thank you to Ngo Honglin. I'm Steve Hatherly. See you next time.