Deep Dive
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Discussion keeps the world turning. This is Roundtable. You're listening to Roundtable. My name is Steve, and together today with Lai Ming and Niu Honglin. Coming up, more than 300 guests from 95 countries and regions attended the fourth CMG Forum recently in Chufu, Chandong Province to discuss the roles of
of cultural exchange and technological empowerment. We'll find out why this forum is such an important one. After that, we often talk about stress as a reaction to what's happening around us, but what if it goes deeper than that? Could feeling stressed be something we inherit?
And if that's true, does it also explain why some of us seem more prone to anxiety? Our podcast listeners, that's you, can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts. And don't forget, we love hearing from you as well. So send us an email or a voice note our way with your thoughts on any of the issues that we discuss here on the show. Here's how you do that. Roundtablepodcast at qq.com. That's roundtablepodcast at qq.com. And now...
In the historic city of Chufu, thought leaders from around the world recently came together for an important dialogue. The Fourth CMG Forum, a collaboration between China Media Group and Changdong Province, brought together hundreds of international participants
with one shared goal, to bridge cultures, spark innovation, and reshape how we communicate across borders. What new ideas emerged from this global exchange? Let's have a look at some of the key takeaways, Niu Honglin. More than 300 guests from 95 countries and regions attended the fourth CMG Forum. It was opened on Friday in Qifu, the birthplace of great
Chinese philosopher Confucius. Yes. So it's a perfect place to have cultural exchanges and in today's world, technological empowerment in specifically the media industry. And we have guests include political figures, mostly local political figures like local civil servants and officials from Shandong province to show their support of the forum. We also have leaders from international organizations, politicians,
from UN, from YPO, and they attend in person, or some of them send congratulatory videos to the forum. And there are heads of mainstream media organizations, including AP, Euronews, CNBC, and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Kazakhstan's Presidential Broadcasting Service, Brazil's media group, and Reuters, and Twitter,
Different media. Yeah, all of them. Just a giant international media gathering. Yes. And there are diplomats. We see some ambassadors to China attending the forum and experts, scholars, representatives of multifunctional corporations. And they also brought some of their creations, some of their products with a lot of high techie techie element in it. It was super fun.
Very nice. CMG, China Media Group, is our parent company, so we work for them essentially. And Newholy and I, we were sort of enrolled to the mission. Lucky enough. We were interpreting for some of the guests there. As such, we had a chance to look at the amazing products and system tech firms.
software being displayed there. There was a robotic arm that does Chinese characters. Calligraphy, yes. Very, very interesting. And there was people dressing in Hanfu, walking around, showcasing the local culture and the Chinese costume culture. And what else? There was definitely some kites, which was a specialty of Shandong province, that's for sure. And what
we've learned on the forum, let's talk about the important ones a bit later. Let me talk about tiny little detail that I learned there. That is one of my favorite shows, Crossing Cultures. It was a documentary. It is a documentary, a very fun show about Chinese intangible heritage and also European culture elements. I liked the show quite a lot, enjoyed it. And
It was just on this forum I realized that it's actually a co-production by China and Europe. Oh, wow. Yes, it is designed to explore hidden art gems in both regions and supporting cultural exchanges.
And currently, the show is airing on European TV networks with a combined viewership of 500 million people. Goodness gracious. Yes. And on that forum, there are also launch of several activities such as the China Through Its Intangible Heritage Global Tour, China Up Close Shandong Tour, which is a media campaign allowing
numerous media professionals to travel in Shandong, interview interesting local people and local enterprises, dig up the stories behind the prosperous market and learn about the art and the culture and being able to find the really good stories to write about in their work.
Lai Ming, you talked about the importance of university programs, the humanities being represented in study, right? Yes, yes. This is why, right? A gathering of this nature, an international media gathering where important people from different media groups around the world have an opportunity to meet and share cultural experiences and the possibility of working together on programs where...
You can learn about each other's place in the world and people, the people from there and the foods and the music and all and all of those related things in the art. I mean, this is to me, this is kind of what the world media should be like, should be about all the time. And it's about changing the monopoly or media reports about not just on China, but about China.
countries around the world. In fact, I mean for many decades, if I may, the narratives in media, international media has been somewhat dominated by Western media. I mean they are very successful and they come up with very good content, impressive documentaries and stuff. But that narrative is limited, is rather narrow, is pretty
based on the predilection of a few and perhaps a set...
value, but in comparison, we are in an age of globalization. Despite some headwinds, we are still in the age of globalization and we are becoming more and more open between countries. And as such, there should be more opportunities for us to know each other in a more direct fashion. And media co-production and content exchange programs
like those being showcased at the CMG Forum, is one way that we could break that monopoly and try and just dismantle the echo chamber effect that we may or may not be aware of. I mean, we at the media professional, media professions certainly are aware of this, but I'm not sure it's the case for the average consumer of media content all around the world. So this is something...
that we personally witnessed in Qifu last Friday. And again, another thing that I would like to highlight is still the tech point. I mentioned the robotic arm. And in fact, over the past few years... You were very impressed by it. He was. Yeah. The other thing I was impressed was the CMG GPT. This was... What's that? It was... Well, GPT, I think, is the same as chat GPT. Oh, okay, okay, okay.
It's a model, but it's not just a language model. Yeah. It's a model that you can use to generate content. Whereas in the past CMG foreign, we've seen the showcase of that CMG GPT. The first generation. At a very raw state. I mean, the videos they generated, the software was able to generate was not ideal, I would say, comparatively speaking.
Now, at least per the display and the demonstration, I've seen dramatic improvement in the ability to translate
from language to language, from Chinese to Arabic, for instance. So the same kind of content originally made in Chinese or in English can almost seamlessly be translated into a different language and even video. In video format, you see the anchor and the reporter, the shape of their lips, they change according to the change of the language.
So it's almost instinctive. Almost to the extent that can take our jobs. And as a matter of fact, there was an innovation technology discipline area. In that area, not only can you see the application of the CMG GPT, media GPT, you can also interact with it a little bit, saying that you want to write a
stage play based on this one idea you type in your idea and the gpt would help you in different stage of your creation it'll help you have the outline of your story it helps you to generate paragraph by paragraph of the certain plot you want to write the style you can choose the name of the characters it can help you to create someone's in in different styles and
at the end it can also help you generate the pictures of the play you're thinking about. There's that. There's also the kind of interaction you can have with the technology that is by standing there giving them authorization of your face, of the portrait of yours. It can generate pictures and generate videos. So you can become a character in your own performance. You can. You can become your
version of Mulan if you want. It's crazy fun. I don't think it's wise or professional to rely solely on AI to help us produce content but I think it's a very good source of inspiration. That is the
is the fun part I was about to mention the topics featured during the forum we have the very traditional ones we talk about the authenticity the fairness of news writing we talk about being not biased we talk about write the real news stories the ethical aspects hence the importance of interdisciplinary studies at the university level sure and also
we talk about the very up-to-date technologies. Not only AI, we talk about how to make the picture you look at super ultra high definition to the point of 4K and 8K during the production of it, how to make sure of that. And also we talk about how to use AI properly in media production, making sure that by using AI, we do not compromise the important things we talk about, like the authenticity and the fact
of news stories. So there were many fun discussions and listening to those talks make me appreciate my job and my occupation a bit more. Appreciate it and also a really great insight into the direction that the industry is going because, pardon me, that wasn't only a China forum. It wasn't only a European or a North American forum. This was an international media forum.
So you really got a good look at how tools will be used appropriately, effectively, ethically in future media productions. And also, I bet you got to meet some really cool people as well, not to mention robotic arms that can...
- Do calligraphy. - Yeah. - Why was that the first thing that you mentioned about this incredible gathering? - 'Cause I'm really poor at calligraphy and I would love to have a robot that does all the writing for me. - Very cool. What a wonderful gathering and that was the fourth one, correct? - Yes. - So hopefully there will be more. - Looking forward for more. - In the future, yeah.
Coming up, why and how does stress affect our bodies? Where does it come from? We often look to an outside source, but the answer may be in our genes. Stay with us. 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.
You're listening to Roundtable. I'm Steve, today with Lai Ming and Yo Hong Lin. Ever wonder why stress feels so intense, right? Real at times. Well, the bad news is stress is just a part of life. Everyone has to live with it. The good news, I guess, is that stress doesn't always have to be bad. There are certain benefits in certain situations.
The weird news, though, is that stress may actually run in the family. Today, we'll see if we can unlock the scientific mysteries of stress, where it comes from and the impact that it has on us. So let's start with the family aspect of this. Let's not bury the lead. Can we look to our parents for answers?
about how we handle stress? In real life, I look to my parents to explain the stress that I feel. I mean, that's for sure. But in theory, scientists have located the reason to some extent. Some studies reveal that stress can be inherited through DNA. Liu Xing'an, who is a researcher from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Wang voiced this conclusion via a 2023 science open class at a high school in Shanghai that anxiety or stress can be passed down from parents to their children
Liu's team actually set up an experiment to prove that. In the experiment, they created a stressful living environment for the mother mice and calculated the outcome. Sorry, mice. Mice, as in mouse in plural. Okay. Many mouse, mice, yeah. Okay.
According to the study, anxious mother mice tended to have sons who also exhibited anxious behaviors, while the daughters demonstrated signs of hyperactivity, meaning they have repetitive motions. And there's also research in this area showing that stress during pregnancy or even before pregnancy can affect whether or not
a child develops anxiety later. Scientists believe this happens because some genes can be programmed to turn on or off even before they're passed down from parent to child. This is scary to a mother. Well, it just shows how important it is to have a relaxed pregnancy, right? If possible, right?
If possible. I don't know if it's... I'm looking to you for help right now, Lai Ming. I don't know if it works that way, really. Right. Even if the mother feels rather relaxed during... In fact, I think when women are pregnant, their body creates a kind of hormone to make them feel relaxed and happy. In fact, so I wonder what kind of...
experience might inspire them to overcome the hormone that their body are already excreting to feel extra stress and pass it on to their children. I'm just going to skip on to the next part of our chat here. Here's something else they found. Anxiety
it can be influenced by your genetics they noticed a family connection for anxiety even before the scientists understood how DNA or genes worked out this is from good rx so that means that if you have a close relative with anxiety issues your chance of developing anxiety issues is about two to six times higher than if you don't have a close relative with anxiety issues
that's a bit anxiety-inducing on its own, isn't it? Well, they make you feel better. Anxiety and the ability to feel stress actually has a survival advantage. I think
it adds aspects on matchmaking software or apps, talking about whether or not you have someone in your relatives who have anxiety problems. If so, maybe that's not a plus. Well, there's a survival advantage. I mean, in ancient times, human beings, they are often subject to a situation where they have to decide whether
whether I'm going to fight despair or am I supposed to run. So stress, when it's triggered, really inspires human beings to think fast and act fast. That's the good side, right? That's what the scientist is saying. Liu said that when our ancestors lived in the forest, they often faced wild beasts, like you said. Crocodiles. Yes, and when a
beast appeared, they would experience anxiety triggered by a threat to their survival. And this instinctive reaction helped them quickly judge whether they could defeat the animal or run. And that happens in our daily life as well. So the dumb people who don't feel stressed, they've been eaten by crocodiles or bears, whereas human beings who has that gene to trigger stress...
They survived. But the thing is, in ancient times, your anxiety sores are relatively instant. They were at that moment you flee or fight. Yet in today's world, the anxiety comes in a form of a long-term type. The stress comes because of a test that you're about to take in three years. Which is not going to take your life, which is not going to eat you alive. Yeah, but it triggers.
It looms, doesn't it? Like a dark rain cloud following you around. This is from reorigin.com. That's a website dedicated to the power of neuroplasticity. I love this topic. Neuroplasticity is your brain's ability to form new connections. And this is what it says. In order to adapt
to our changing environment. The human brain has evolved to constantly reorganize its synaptic connections in accordance with new incoming information. Some of this information may come from the outside, as is the case, for example, like a hot stove.
We learn not to touch a hot stove and that stays with us, doesn't it? The other information bits come from within though. So for example, anticipating a negative event, for instance, has been shown to change your brain's function
to resemble how your brain might look if those negative events were actually taking place. Let me say that one more time. Even just thinking about the possibility of being eaten by a crocodile, not even that, maybe a presentation going horribly wrong, right? Even just thinking about that possibility, your brain reacts as if it's actually happening at that time.
That's a pretty powerful thing. It is a pretty powerful thing. It's really making the idiom a lot of sense. The idiom goes like a coward dies a thousand deaths before he actually dies, whereas a hero only dies once. So in your head, if you imagine your death a thousand times, then that imagination has been real in your head. Right.
Your brain, the neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to form these new connections or make other connections stronger, even just thinking about something that didn't even happen yet can impact the structure of your brain. I'm not really sure about the numbers, but my feeling is that the majority of Chinese scientists
people at least in our generation have had the nightmare of waking up all of a sudden and you are on the in the classroom in the middle of a gaokao exam and you do not have everything with you do not have the knowledge you do not know how to answer I do not believe I had that dream I had
I had that dream. And also for people working here or working in news industry, I used to work the morning shift, meaning that I have to come here around four o'clock preparing for the show, which will be aired eight
It's 7 o'clock. I've had several dreams of... The show going live without your contribution. No, of waking up too late and miss the show. I've had those nightmares as well. I've also had the radio nightmares where I'm hosting and all of a sudden I lose my ability to speak. That's a panic moment in your dream. That's kind of the anxiety we're talking about. Back to that point from reorigin.com. So...
As powerful as our brain can be to think in a negative way and how that can change the structure of our brains. And by the way, that's according to them.
Our brains are constantly thinking negative thoughts about the future, and our brains have a negative bias. And the reason is because of what you just talked about, Lai Ming. Our ancestors had to be careful of a bear walking around the corner. So we're always looking for something negative. We prepare for the worst. Sorry, I'll just finish this very quickly. So we can do that. We prepare for the worst naturally. But with...
certain types of self-therapy, if you want to call it that, you have the power to change those negative anticipations, those stresses, those anxieties into a more positive fashion. And if you actively try to change the neuroplasticity of your brain, as crazy as that sounds, according to the researchers, and you can do it by...
introducing more positive thoughts into your life. It sounds so silly and far-fetched, but it really works. But I think it's a really good news. And another thing I really want to know is that will I pass my anxiety down to my children? That's very important to me because I feel like I was not the most calm mom or mom-to-be when I was pregnant.
Is that a legitimate concern for you? I think that's likely. And if it makes you feel any better, even if you didn't pass that anxiety gene to your child, and there's a likelihood that he might turn that on,
all by himself, given the circumstances that he has to deal with. - How about this piece of news then? Each person's environment plays a role in whether or not they have anxiety. So facing a stressful situation can trigger anxiety and it's possible to develop anxiety even if you don't inherit the genes for it. So your son has two opportunities.
Number one, to download it, if you will, directly from you. And the other is if he happens to grow up in a stressful environment. But the good news for you is I guess you can control that environment at least to a certain degree. Thank you. Anyone has the ability to improve his or her environment and his or her situation. For instance, I think in modern times it's important to realize that we are now exposed more to the social environment rather than the natural environment.
So as such, practicing, focusing on feeling of love and well-wishing toward others, which helps ground individuals in the present moment and reduce anxiety and helps cultivate a healthy social environment might make you feel secure enough not to trigger that stress response. And one little tip I want to give to people who have anxiety problems. The fact that you can perform, you can function under stress even pretty well,
It does not mean that the anxiety does not hurt your mind or body. You still need to channel out all the stress a bit later after your big thing and make sure to treat yourself well. There goes my stress buddy. I believe Christine and I, we perform rather well under stress. I mean, we...
We deal with a lot of stress, but we aren't necessarily able to handle the emotional response that we get from the stress. And as such, we're helping each other sort it out. And that's the key, isn't it? I always say this. You can't control the chaos around you. You can only control your reaction.
to the chaos in the office, if you will. And that will do it for today's roundtable. I'm Steve. Thank you to Niu Honglin and Lai Ming. And of course, thank you for sharing your time with us as well. Have a delightful day, however you're spending it. And please do come join us again next time.