Hey guys, it’s Dolly here with Goldthread.
We’re excited to showcase some of the amazing and talented
women we’ve featured this year.
But first, we can’t talk about women of the world
without talking about #MeToo in China.
In 2018, #MeToo took China by storm.
Some of the country’s most powerful men,
including a billionaire, a famous Buddhist monk
and a well-known television host were publicly outed.
But out of the 36 men who were accused
of sexual harassment and assault,
more than half of them faced no consequences.
So while Chinese women feel more empowered than ever
to speak up thanks to the women of the internet,
we’ve yet to see if #MeToo will bring tangible,
structural changes to Chinese society.
On the other hand, against this backdrop of patriarchy,
some strong, fearless women are still striving
to pursue their passion against all odds.
When Xiaofu first discovered longboarding on the internet,
she couldn’t even find a skate shop in her hometown.
Now, the self-taught longboarder is famous in the community
and professionally sponsored
by one of the biggest longboard makers in the world.
Skateboarding and longboarding are catching on quick in China.
With many cities not yet restricting skaters from public spaces,
the community is left to thrive,
at least for now.
My name is Xiao Fu.
Xiaofu is one of China’s most well-known female longboarders.
She came from Wuhan to show us a few tricks in Beijing.
She started longboarding in 2013
and now even owns her own shop in Wuhan.
The internet plays a huge role in the growth
of longboarding and skateboarding in China.
In fact, longboarding was so niche
that Xiaofu had to buy her first longboard
online at Taobao, which is kind of like China’s Amazon.
But those days are over.
Today, Xiaofu is professionally sponsored
by one of the world's biggest longboard makers,
Canada's Landyachtz.
This video involved hours of filming Xiaofu
out of the trunk of a car
and constant interruptions from cute
and curious neighborhood dogs.
The next woman we want to introduce is an entrepreneur
who grew up in China’s spice capital, Chengdu.
At the factory, we make 400 to 500 kilos
of hot pot sauce every 10 days.
My name is Anita Lai. This is my family's hot pot company.
Hot pot is a cauldron of savory broth,
where diners cook their ingredients tableside.
In Chengdu alone, there are nearly 10,000 hot pot restaurants.
We have in total 14 restaurants.
The hot pot factory makes all the sauce
that restaurants use and distribute to all the different locations.
Here in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan,
peppercorns and chili peppers are the prized ingredients.
So naturally, the soup base can get quite spicy.
We collect chili peppers from different regions of China
Then we get peppercorn and fermented bean paste,
then we mix them all together with beef lard
and fry it all together and use that
as the base of the hot pot sauce.
The most distinguishing flavor or signature flavor
you can find from hot pot is mala.
So ma is the numbing which comes from the peppercorn,
and la is the spicy coming from the chili pepper
so that's the base of the hot pot sauce.
The factory also packages their own sesame oil,
which is used as a dipping sauce at the restaurants.
There are two purposes for the sesame oil.
One is to cool down the temperature of the food.
And then the sauce helps you to get it less spicy.
Spice is unavoidable in a Sichuan hot pot.
But for Anita, who grew up eating chili peppers,
it’s part of what makes the experience so addicting.
I grew up with eating hot pot and chilis
and sometimes joke with my friends
like even my blood probably tastes spicy.
It has always been part of my life
and always makes me feel like home.
Basically also I just love the flavor, I can’t live without it.
Ohh are you ok?
My pants ripped a little bit.
Anita runs her own business offering
food and drink tours in Chengdu.
She credits her dad, a passionate foodie
who would take the family on road trips
across China to try new foods and restaurants,
as her inspiration.
Last but not least, this woke, radical superwoman
of a chef in Taiwan makes a special type of dumpling
in an effort to fight the legacy of both
Japanese and Chinese colonization.
The leaves she uses are often misunderstood to be dangerous.
Keep watching to find out why.
The Rukai people are one of 16
officially recognized tribes in Taiwan.
They are part of Austronesia,
a region that spans from Southeast Asia to Oceania.
Her village is called Taromak,
and they’ve resided in the subtropical mountains
of southern Taiwan for over 15,000 years,
but in the early 20th century were moved down to the flatlands
by Japanese colonists.
When Chinese settlers arrived in the 1940s,
the tribe was forced to assimilate by learning Mandarin.
Aeles was the first person in her tribe to get a college education.
She has a restaurant in the south,
where she uses indigenous ingredients like betel leaf.
Now areca nut is a psychoactive berry
and the fourth most addictive substance in the world
after caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol.
Prevalent all over Southeast Asia, it gives consumers a mild buzz
and studies show that it can lead to cancer.
But why does this matter?
Because the nut is almost always served wrapped in a betel leaf.
And throughout the years, the leaf,
though it’s not carcinogenic at all,
has come to carry the same negative connotations.
And Aeles hopes to change that.
Xiaofu, Anita, and Aeles are just three of the amazing women
we’ve met this year.
And there are so many more stories to be told,
including how #MeToo is shaping women’s rights in China.
So, help us out!
What other stories do you want to see
from the lives of women in China?
What would you like to hear about next?
Comment below, and don’t forget to like this video,
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bold, radical, and powerful women.