Welcome to Bund to Brooklyn! In this short episode we learn more about the history and goals of our sponsor the non profit 1990 Institute. Our hosts Lucia Liu and Siyuan Meng also share some fun facts about themselves in a quick fire roundtable hosted by our producer Sean Niu
(00:43) Lucia and Siyuan introduce themselves and why they want to host the podcast.
(04:18) Sean gives a brief history of the 1990 Institute and what to expect from the podcast in the future.
(06:30) Quickfire Roundtable Question 1: Dogs or Cats?
(07:49) Quickfire Roundtable Question 2: Favorite Dim Sum?
(10:41) Quickfire Roundtable Question 3: Skill or hobby picked up in the pandemic?
(12:28) Quickfire Roundtable Question 4: What two famous characters would you want to have dinner with?
(15:07) Quickfire Roundtable Question 5: What's another podcast you enjoy?
(18:48) Quickfire Roundtable Question 6: What's one piece of Chinese and AAPI content you would recommend?
(21:23) Quickfire Roundtable Question 7: What episode of Bund to Brooklyn are you most looking forward to hosting?
NOTES
Follow us on IG: @bundtobrooklyn
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Questions? Requests? E-mail us @ b2b@1990institute.org
Learn more about the 1990 Institute
Automatically transcribed from Descript
[00:00:00] Sean Niu:
Welcome to the first episode of, to Brooklyn. I'm the producer, Sean Niu, and I'm here with my co-hosts Lucia Liu and Siyuan Meng.
[00:00:28] Lucia Liu: Hey guys. It's Lucia.
[00:00:29] Siyuan Meng: Hi guys.
[00:00:32] Sean Niu: So for this episode, uh, we just wanted to kind of introduce ourselves and the podcast and let you guys, the listener, understand a little bit about what we're trying to accomplish with the podcast. So Lucia and Siyuan, why don't you start with a little background about yourselves and like why you're interested in hosting this podcast? Uh, Lucia, maybe you can go first.
[00:00:53] Lucia Liu: Hey guys, this is Lucia. You guys might know me from my personal podcast, rock the boat, where I interview a lot of high achieving Asian Americans, um, who are challenging the status quo.
My interest in bunch of Brooklyn stems from my background. So I was born in Shanghai and then I was raised in the states, and went back to Shanghai for high school.
So I've been very international and very bi-cultural. Um, I want to be able to continue understanding this bicultural side of myself and be able to express it and, help bridge cultures between China and the U.S. because those are the two countries that I've lived in and that I love. Currently I live in downtown Brooklyn and, I've been very active in a lot of Asian American endeavors.
And hopefully with this podcast, we'd be able to shed light on really important issues that affect both Chinese youth and Asian American youth, but at the same time, just touch on really fun and interesting topics that everybody cares about such as food, culture, love, you name it.
[00:02:00] Siyuan Meng: Hi guys, I'm Siyuan Meng. I'm new Shanghainese. Uh, I was born and raised in Shaoxing, which is two hours south of Shanghai. And I'm being Shanghai for over a year since last year March. So I'm a writer and journalist based here, and I write about Chinese culture, society, and travel.
Before Shanghai. I was in New York, working at a nonprofit called committee 100, whose mission is to promote U S China relations as well as Chinese American inclusion in the U S which is very important at this moment. so I have been writing stories in written form, and I want to keep telling Chinese stories in multimedia media ways.
So that's why I joined this podcast and I hope to, bridge China and the rest of world through this podcast.
[00:02:46] Sean Niu: Cool. And, I grew up in California. I spend time in kind of both coasts and Japan and the United Kingdom. And, um, you know, I'm just really passionate about, Asian American rights and also kind of how, you know, the us, uh, engages with China, um, being Taiwanese-American myself.
And, um, I, I started working with the 1990 Institute last year. Um, and we decided to create a podcast. Um, I started a podcast myself last year as well. So, um, I've volunteered to produce this and, uh, we're really excited to start this journey together. Um, as you guys can maybe understand now the Bund to Brooklyn name, comes kind of from Sudan and Lucia's, shared backgrounds and our desire to really understand where young Chinese, citizens and young Americans, especially Asian-Americans, how they handle a lot of important issues that affect everyday lives.
Like, identity, uh, romance, how they consume music or TV, how they deal with like, education and, um, like immigration. So we're going to explore a lot of these topics over the course of these next few months. and really our goal is to help you as a listener, understand where Asian Americans and Americans in general and Chinese citizens what they have in common. And this podcast is also sponsored by the 1990 Institute.
And I'll just give a little bit of background on the Institute. Um, so the Institute was founded in surprise 1990, specifically after the Tiananmen square incident. Um, and its kind of evolved a lot over the last few decades.
Initially it was more focused on research for monetary and social reform. And then in the second decade, um, it was focused on kind of philanthropy. There was work with, women focused programs and also youth focused programs, in China. And then in the third decade, there's kind of a pivot towards education.
So, um, now the 1990 Institute funds a teachers workshop that helps equip teachers in America, with the tools and education they need to teach about modern China. So overall the mission of, the 1990 Institute is to champion fair and equitable treatment for Asian Americans.
And a constructive U S China relationship through leadership, education and collaboration. Um, so you can find more about the 1990 Institute at the websites, 1990, which is the number's 1 9 9 0 institute.com. the 1990 Institute also has a series of videos that you can find on YouTube.
There's a newsletter, which you can check out on the website. Uh, there's also a reference library on the website of a lot of different, um, speeches or webinars are articles that have been vetted by the nonprofit that, um, are very instructive and informative about monitoring. So the format of of this podcast are pretty much going to be a one-on-one conversation, usually between Lucia and Siyuan.
And I'll jump in a little bit, probably 5% of the time. Uh, and then there's going to be a longer discussion with a guest who typically is an expert on the subject. So for instance, one of our early episodes we have is with Steve saying he is the founder of Thumb Media, a sports content company in China.
And, uh, we talk about, you know, kind of sports Olympics and like fandom in China and America. So, uh, with kind of the administrative stuff out of the way, I thought we'd end the episode with a little bit of a quick fire round table where I'm just going to ask Lucia. And so you're in some questions, uh, you know, mostly of them are fun questions and, uh, hopefully we'll get to know a little bit more about our wonderful co-hosts.
So are you guys ready for this?
[00:07:03] Lucia Liu: Right on.
[00:07:04] Sean Niu: Okay. First easy one cats or dogs.
[00:07:08] Siyuan Meng: Cats.
[00:07:08] Lucia Liu: dogs.
[00:07:10] Sean Niu: interesting.
[00:07:11] Siyuan Meng: I have a cat who is currently mailing outside of my room.
[00:07:17] Sean Niu: What's the name of your cat?
[00:07:18] Siyuan Meng: Her name is Mia and she is eight months old. I adopt her through a friend and I really love her.
[00:07:27] Lucia Liu: Your cats. Great. But my dogs better. So yeah.
[00:07:32] Siyuan Meng: Oh, I actually haven't dog. What's
[00:07:35] Lucia Liu: Yeah. Cause it doesn't exist yet.
[00:07:39] Sean Niu: Okay.
[00:07:39] Lucia Liu: No, we, we put a deposit for a puppy. That's likely to come home with us in September mid September. So we haven't brought her home yet. Yeah.
[00:07:51] Siyuan Meng: Nice.
[00:07:53] Lucia Liu: I don't know if I want to put that in the podcast, but I do want to put it that my Mike, my dog that doesn't exist yet is better than your cat, so yet.
[00:08:00] Siyuan Meng: Uh, let's see. Yeah.
[00:08:05] Sean Niu: second question. What is your favorite dim sum?
[00:08:11] Lucia Liu: Cool.
[00:08:12] Siyuan Meng: for me, definitely Huck out. It's my go-to dish for Denson.
[00:08:18] Lucia Liu: Haka was like shrimp dumplings and then foam dry is, um, chicken feet.
[00:08:26] Siyuan Meng: Yeah,
[00:08:27] Lucia Liu: yeah, For those, those of you who don't speak Mandarin and Cantonese shame on you.
[00:08:34] Sean Niu: Yeah, that definitely helps you when you're ordering dimsum. Uh, I, I feel like Syriana won this round. I got to say, um,
[00:08:41] Lucia Liu: hold on. Can we address the elephant in the room? What about Shalom? Shalom? like, XL BS, guys like soup dumplings. C'mon no one mentioned that for dim sum. Isn't that like fun to Brooklyn.
[00:08:54] Siyuan Meng: that's true. Shallow ball is the best.
[00:08:59] Sean Niu: My opinion is it's like, they're, you know, they're great. They're just like, no, they're just like talked about all the time. And so
[00:09:07] Siyuan Meng: There different varieties, right?
[00:09:09] Lucia Liu: Yeah. Apparently there's like truffle varieties now,
[00:09:15] Siyuan Meng: have RSA.
[00:09:16] Lucia Liu: yeah. In the states and in China, like what's the weirdest flavor you see?
[00:09:24] Sean Niu: Uh, there was a squinting one in San Francisco.
[00:09:28] Lucia Liu: That sounds tasty. I try that.
[00:09:30] Siyuan Meng: that's weird though. I can only handle the normal shallow bow, which is pork meat.
[00:09:35] Lucia Liu: You don't like the crab.
[00:09:37] Siyuan Meng: Oh, oh, sorry. Yeah, crop is good too. But is that, that I cannot really handle.
[00:09:43] Lucia Liu: I can't handle the truffle one.
[00:09:45] Siyuan Meng: Yeah.
[00:09:46] Sean Niu: Yeah. I mean, yeah, the, the squinting one is a little, um, You know, it's the wrap, the wrap is squinting. Not the, not the meat is still that's the pork, but it's a little bit bougie, you know? Um, I prefer the original
[00:09:57] Siyuan Meng: Yeah. Why we need a screening channel.
But this makes me want to have shallow ball for my breakfast later.
[00:10:04] Lucia Liu: yeah. You're
[00:10:05] Sean Niu: that's the,
[00:10:06] Lucia Liu: go and get it.
[00:10:07] Siyuan Meng: Yeah,
[00:10:08] Lucia Liu: We're stuck here. I'm stuck here
[00:10:10] Siyuan Meng: I'm
[00:10:11] Lucia Liu: Brooklyn. With I can get frozen ones that don't retain their suits
[00:10:17] Siyuan Meng: I want to take some photos later.
[00:10:20] Sean Niu: Yeah. Yeah. Take some photos of your breakfast. Alibaba. We'll put them as the first post or Instagram. That's uh, I'll definitely get, definitely get people interested. Um, okay. Let's move onto the third question. what is a quarantine skill or hobby you picked up or you wish you picked up?
[00:10:40] Lucia Liu: My quarantine skill has been baking macaroni. And they've only been successful like half the time. So sometimes they'll have really bad macaroon shells that have diff it's like cell mitosis where like two of them are connected together and it looks like no man,
[00:10:57] Sean Niu: And
[00:10:58] Lucia Liu: but when they,
[00:10:58] Sean Niu: chocolate company too.
[00:11:01] Lucia Liu: yes, I used to run a chocolate business.
I own my own chocolate business at a certain point in my life.
[00:11:07] Sean Niu: Okay, you got it. You got to lose. Explain a little more than that. I mean,
[00:11:13] Lucia Liu: I mean, what do you want to know, Sean? I had a chocolate business. I quit my corporate job and I slept chocolates around the city. Um, but no, it's a, it's a, the company name is called Lulu Los Sufi. I intend to bring it back 10 years from now when you know, potentially I have kids and everything, and then I have free labor to help me with.
[00:11:33] Siyuan Meng: Hmm. I didn't pick up any specific skills, but, uh, what quarantine taught me last year was family time is one of the most important thing in my life. And, um, um, if I can, yeah. More time with my family. I will try to, like right now I go to my hometown shouting, uh, every other two weeks.
[00:11:57] Lucia Liu: You've also become a, a pet mom.
[00:12:00] Siyuan Meng: I
[00:12:01] Lucia Liu: learned how to be a cat mom.
[00:12:03] Siyuan Meng: Yes. I have still Leni still learning.
Yeah. but it's not necessarily quarantine scope, but yes.
[00:12:11] Lucia Liu: Can your cat do tricks? Can she sit?
[00:12:14] Siyuan Meng: Not yet. Uh, we'll wait for that to happen after you're here.
[00:12:21] Lucia Liu: Don't hold your breath.
[00:12:25] Sean Niu: there's gotta be. Wait, can cats eat? Chocolate
dogs
[00:12:29] Siyuan Meng: I don't think so. I
[00:12:31] Lucia Liu: definitely cannot eat chocolate. So the, the running joke when I had, white chocolate business, was that any dog who set foot in my apartment would instead die. Because they would just breathe in the fumes and that they would die.
[00:12:44] Siyuan Meng: oh
[00:12:44] Sean Niu: Well, moving on to that, I guess. okay. What's two famous people that you would want to have dinner with and why. It can be fictional, dead or alive. Doesn't matter.
[00:12:59] Lucia Liu: famous people.
[00:13:01] Sean Niu: Just someone like, you know, people would know like, you know, like a celebrity or like a character from a movie. Okay. Well, two, two people. So you gotta have Jackson the wagon with someone that does. Yeah.
[00:13:13] Lucia Liu: Jackson and Wang.
[00:13:18] Sean Niu: Okay.
[00:13:18] Lucia Liu: So you end and shine. Know how I really appreciate Jackson Wang because he can speak Shanghainese, Canto, English, Mandarin, and Korean. All not very well, but he can speak all those languages. He's very talented.
[00:13:34] Sean Niu: have you, if you're, if you're listening to this, you have an open invite on the pike. Yes.
[00:13:39] Lucia Liu: Yes.
[00:13:40] Siyuan Meng: for me, Eileen Joel, the Chinese author. And, um, so Benin, who is a Chinese sprinter, made a history, this, this year's Olympics. A hundred meter.
[00:14:00] Sean Niu: I imagine superinten would be eating like seventy-five percent, as much as everyone, both you guys given, uh, his athletic profile.
[00:14:11] Siyuan Meng: Yeah.
[00:14:12] Lucia Liu: might be eating more than us, right? He's a runner.
[00:14:15] Sean Niu: I meant, I meant like 75% more like 1.7, 5%. Yeah. I S I said that wrong, but
[00:14:21] Siyuan Meng: Yeah. Apparently.
[00:14:23] Lucia Liu: you went to MIT.
[00:14:25] Sean Niu: You know what the MBA program isn't really focused on that,
[00:14:30] Lucia Liu: Wait, wait a way to break the stereotype, Sean.
[00:14:34] Sean Niu: that's, that's, that's what I'm here for. That's what I'm here for.
[00:14:38] Lucia Liu: Challenging the status quo
[00:14:39] Sean Niu: Yeah.
[00:14:41] Siyuan Meng: Yeah. Apparently Sue eats one kilo gram of beef every day, every day.
[00:14:49] Lucia Liu: every
[00:14:49] Sean Niu: wonderful.
[00:14:50] Lucia Liu: day.
[00:14:51] Siyuan Meng: Every day,
[00:14:52] Lucia Liu: every day, like every day, every day,
[00:14:54] Siyuan Meng: every day, every day, he said that he got into you.
[00:14:59] Sean Niu: I wouldn't be like, you know, I would go, I've gone through every type of beef preparation. I think if I had to do that every day, right. Like,
[00:15:07] Lucia Liu: I bet you it's just boiled, like he can't possibly. Yeah.
[00:15:14] Siyuan Meng: I'm sure he has a wonderful chef and nutritious by the side.
[00:15:18] Lucia Liu: Who boils his beef, one kilo of beef,
dude, I can be his chef.
[00:15:25] Siyuan Meng: Yeah.
[00:15:25] Lucia Liu: me
[00:15:26] Sean Niu: Uh, well, yeah. Okay. All right. Um, what's another podcast you guys enjoy listening to. I personally enjoy listening to rock the boat. I don't know if you ever heard of that one, but it's a great podcast. The host is okay. Sh you know, she's okay. But.
[00:15:42] Siyuan Meng: why it's called rock the
[00:15:43] Lucia Liu: I hear, I hear she's not great at interviewing and It's it can get awkward sometimes, but the guests are great. Right? Like, you know, she's got a Dell Lim and, uh, the screenwriter for crazy rich Asians, Patrick Lee, the founder of rotten tomatoes. Yeah, just
[00:16:00] Sean Niu: It's pretty good. Pretty good podcast.
[00:16:02] Siyuan Meng: Is it because he has, she has say sick. That's why she named the podcast. Rock the boat.
[00:16:09] Lucia Liu: Say, and you're not supposed to let the audience know that's the secret between me and you.
[00:16:15] Siyuan Meng: sure. I'm sorry. Yeah, not good at keeping secrets.
[00:16:22] Lucia Liu: Oh man. Um, I was gonna name her like a Real podcast.
I was going to say a wonder is imagined life. I don't know if you guys have heard it. It's, uh, it's super cool. The concept they tell the story of this famous person's life, but they don't tell you who it is until the end. So you have to guess who that person is.
And, um, I think one of the surprising ones that I listened to was Vladimir Putin. And so.
[00:16:53] Siyuan Meng: Okay.
[00:16:54] Lucia Liu: Outlined his life and walked you through, like what he did. It's like basically in story format, like, um, everything was completely scripted and really good music and audio. And then at the end, they're like, you know, this is, this is this, this is what may Putin.
And I was like, holy cow, like I had no idea. He did all those things like they, so they have, they have different, uh, people. On each episode, like one is Yoko. Oh no. Um, I forgot what the other ones were, but, uh, I remember those two very distinctly.
[00:17:25] Sean Niu: You didn't guess couldn't when they talked about how he wrestled.
[00:17:30] Lucia Liu: I live in Iraq, please. Don't judge me.
[00:17:33] Sean Niu: No, it's just a joke.
[00:17:36] Siyuan Meng: Uh, I like listening to walks quick hits. It's a, buy-side that a podcast for pop culture and consumerism. And I I also like York times, the modern love, I think the best love stories, um, uh, from this podcast.
[00:17:54] Lucia Liu: should go check that out.
[00:17:56] Siyuan Meng: Yeah,
[00:17:57] Lucia Liu: Yeah.
You know What? I've been listening to see you in the sanctuary.
[00:18:02] Siyuan Meng: Oh, yeah. It's one of the most popular podcasts and audio platform in China.
[00:18:08] Lucia Liu: Yes, but I'm like really shameless and that I listened to, um, like the web books,
[00:18:15] Siyuan Meng: Oh,
[00:18:16] Lucia Liu: how like, they're all like web authors that like write
[00:18:20] Siyuan Meng: oh
[00:18:21] Lucia Liu: stories. And most of them are like garbage, but some of them are really
[00:18:26] Siyuan Meng: It's addictive, right? Oh, the stories. Yes. I have been there.
[00:18:31] Lucia Liu: I learned a lot of Chinese, like slang. On there. That's how I know about like,
[00:18:40] Siyuan Meng: What is
[00:18:43] Lucia Liu: wait really? You know how, like a girl it's like a girl who axle innocent,
[00:18:47] Siyuan Meng: Oh,
[00:18:48] Lucia Liu: not really.
[00:18:49] Siyuan Meng: Cool. Yeah, that makes sense.
[00:18:52] Lucia Liu: What about you, Sean?
[00:18:53] Sean Niu: for me, um, you know, I listened to a lot of podcasts for the bringer network. Um, especially
[00:19:01] Lucia Liu: Dave Chang.
[00:19:03] Sean Niu: nut, Dave Jane, well, you know, uh, I, that one not so much anymore, although the David show episode is great, but just a lot of sports stuff, right? Yeah. but speaking of contents, can you guys a, recommend a piece of Chinese content and a piece of Asian-American content, like a movie or a book TV show artists that you would recommend to them?
[00:19:26] Lucia Liu: I know that for Asian-Americans. I think there's, um, Kathy Hong's book, minor feelings
[00:19:35] Siyuan Meng: Okay.
[00:19:35] Lucia Liu: is a good, it's a good. window into the Asian-American experience. And I think a lot of Asian Americans can relate to it.
[00:19:43] Sean Niu: I second that for sure, it definitely is a great window. Uh, she condenses a lot of, a lot of feelings, a lot of pain, a lot of just thoughts into a really concise and powerful full book. And, uh, I really, really.
[00:19:59] Siyuan Meng: Yeah, actually read as well. And as a Chinese person who had experienced in the us, and I do think this book provides me with a lot of context of, uh, Asian American, like how growing up in America as a people of color look like, and. Recommend this book as well.
[00:20:24] Sean Niu: What about Chinese? Piece of art or a content.
[00:20:29] Siyuan Meng: Chinese. Um,
[00:20:31] Lucia Liu: cool.
[00:20:34] Sean Niu: Yeah, let's just start real, real easy there.
[00:20:36] Siyuan Meng: yeah, actually
So I've been listening. I have been reading doubts and it's one of my favorite book recently as, uh, can teach me, uh, how did, how to be chill, uh, how to calm down. It's like a meditation book for me. do you guys know the book?
[00:20:55] Sean Niu: Yeah, I know of it. I've never read it in either language. Um, but it sounds like something I might need right now,
[00:21:02] Siyuan Meng: Yes. Yes. A good
[00:21:04] Lucia Liu: Is it similar to, is it similar to it?
[00:21:08] Siyuan Meng: Um, I think it's different. Uh, Loud the book, uh, uh, direct quotes from, from louts
[00:21:22] Lucia Liu: Hmm.
[00:21:22] Siyuan Meng: and, manly fuckers, own, uh, people and nature, how they can live harmoniously together.
[00:21:31] Sean Niu: Well, you got to give us updates on both Chinese viral trends and then opposite of would be I lost it. I was his philosophies. Give us a little bit of both next in the next couple of episodes.
[00:21:44] Siyuan Meng: well, what I would definitely up to you guys once I rate more.
[00:21:48] Lucia Liu: Yeah, maybe that can be our mental health.
[00:21:50] Siyuan Meng: Yeah,
[00:21:51] Sean Niu: Good point and great segue into the last question, Lucia, which is which episode are you most excited about recording?
[00:22:00] Lucia Liu: All the episodes, the dating
episode
[00:22:04] Sean Niu: dating. Yeah, I personally, I mean, I mean, that's you guys know when we were, when we were brainstorming this, the name of the podcast food is always on my mind.
[00:22:17] Lucia Liu: little known fact. So the first word I ever said on this earth was not, mom was not dad. Was it mama Ababa? It was true. It was in Shanghainese. It was Jeff.
[00:22:33] Siyuan Meng: you're a foodie.
[00:22:35] Lucia Liu: I'm a foodie. Hmm. Yes.
[00:22:39] Siyuan Meng: Yeah, the absolute I'm most excited about, of course food and also dating apps. I mean, dating, dating things in China and the U S
[00:22:51] Lucia Liu: See Sean, we should just do that as number one, two and three.
[00:22:54] Siyuan Meng: yeah,
[00:22:55] Sean Niu: Yeah, or we should just do that as every episode is
just about food and
[00:23:00] Lucia Liu: We should have a segment on food and dating.
I mean, what's a culture podcast without food and dating.
[00:23:07] Siyuan Meng: Exactly.
[00:23:09] Sean Niu: Fair enough. I think, uh, yeah, we can, we'll definitely consider that.You know, um, my dating life has definitely been through enough trials and tribulations
[00:23:17] Lucia Liu: So do you guys hear that listener? So this guy, Sean. Is calling out for an SOS. So if you like his voice, please dial in.
[00:23:28] Siyuan Meng: How our number is.
[00:23:30] Sean Niu: Uh, we don't have a number, but we do have an email which is been to Brooklyn, B U N D T O B R O K L Y n@gmail.com and an Instagram with the same name, been to Brooklyn. So. If you guys, uh, well, mostly if
[00:23:49] Lucia Liu: you
guys
are single and are interested in Shaun, please DM us and email us CN, and I will set you up.
[00:23:58] Siyuan Meng: Yes.
[00:23:59] Sean Niu: If you're interested in learning more about Asian-Americans and Chinese and how they go about their lives and deal with different social issues. Check out the podcast. Uh, if you enjoyed hearing Lucia, Susanna, myself, talk, check out the podcast as well. We're going to be on every major podcast platform, such as Spotify, apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.
So it's for me. Thank you for listening to the first episode. Thank you, Lucia and Sudan for, uh, joining us on this journey and sharing your experiences with us. And I'm excited for.
[00:24:41] Lucia Liu: Bye.
[00:24:42] Siyuan Meng: See you guys.