logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2023
49m 27s

Mechanical Keyboards in China (中文版)

JORDAN SCHNEIDER
About this episode

Hey ChinaTalk listeners, this year we’re going to do something new—occasional episodes in Mandarin!

While getting mainland guests to talk about more conventional topics like US-China relations and export controls has been nearly impossible, I think doing more slice of life/business stories about odd corners of China in the pale imitation of Gushi FM is both fun and enriching to our coverage.

In this episode, you’ll hear from the founder of mechanical keyboard manufacturer Meletrix, Simba Hua, about why people like to make their own keyboards, the challenges and wonders of working with the Chinese keyboard supply chain, and customer preferences between East Asian and western keyboard fans.

Cohosting with me is Irene Zhang, one of ChinaTalk’s editors. You can find more of her writing, and more ChinaTalk in general, on our newsletter at https://www.chinatalk.media/. And if you can’t understand Chinese, not to worry, we’ll be running a translated transcript later this month on the newsletter!


Outtro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlp8XD0R5qo

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Oct 9
EMERGENCY POD: China's Rare Earth Export Controls
Chris Miller (chip wars), Chris McGuire (10 year State Dpt vet, check out the past episode on the feed) and I discuss a big move by MOFCOM to squeeze Trump in advance of their APEC summit. Outtro Music: Paul Simon, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes https://www.youtube.com/watch? ... Show More
57m 3s
Oct 8
AI Hardware Net Assessment: Why Huawei Can't Beat Nvidia
Last week, Jensen Huang said that China is “nanoseconds behind” the US in chipmaking. Is he right? Today, Chris McGuire joins ChinaTalk for a US-China AI hardware net assessment. Chris spent a decade as a civil servant in the State Department, serving as Deputy Senior Director fo ... Show More
1h 28m
Oct 6
Second Breakfast: Putin's Drones, SecWar Patton, Wargaming, Finding Subs
Bryan Clark, a former submariner now with the Hudson Institute, joins the show! Outtro speech: George C. Scott's rendition of Patton's speech Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
1h 1m
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
Drum Tower: Your questions on China answered
The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, tackle listeners’ questions–what role does philosophy play in Chinese politics, how is the Cultural Revolution taught in schools, does the Chinese population support an invasion of Taiwa ... Show More
32m 57s
May 2024
China’s Fortunes
How the Chinese economic downturn is affecting all kinds of people. How real estate meltdown, with enough unfinished empty apartments to fill the population of Germany, is at the center of it all. How tech entrepreneurs are mysteriously disappearing, and how college graduates don ... Show More
38m 6s
May 2024
Coming soon: China, the new tech superpower
In a new season of Tech Tonic, longtime FT China reporter Jame Kynge travels around the world to see how China is pushing towards tech supremacy. Will China be able to get an edge in crucial technological areas? What does China’s attempt to leapfrog the west look like on the grou ... Show More
1m 7s
May 2022
US-China Tech Race: The great decoupling
In the final episode of this season of Tech Tonic, we ask if the growing tensions between the US and China could split the world into two competing technological spheres. It has been dubbed 'the great decoupling'. Some in the US want to see Chinese companies cut off from American ... Show More
26m 3s
Aug 2023
China’s Quest for AI Chip Supremacy
A.M. Edition for Aug. 11. The final installment in our four-part series on China: “The State of Xi’s Chinese Dream.” Wall Street Journal tech reporter Karen Hao details China’s quest to catch up to Western chipmakers and become a global AI leader. Plus, California regulators have ... Show More
18m 17s
May 2021
Special: 2021 China Tech Trends (with Tech Buzz China)
We team up with two of the very best English-language analysts covering China tech today, Rui Ma and Ying Lu from the Tech Buzz China podcast, to talk about the big trends happening on the ground in China right now. We've had Rui and Ying's episodes on repeat in our own podcast p ... Show More
1h 19m
May 2023
China’s next generation
Gideon talks to economist Keyu Jin about China’s goal of becoming the world’s biggest economy despite a falling population, the impact of the deterioration in US-China relations, and the way in which the aspirations of its younger generation are shaping policy in Beijing. The pod ... Show More
29m 54s