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In a small village in northern Zhejiang, plums are still smoked by hand, the same way they were 500 years ago.
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The man you're about to meet didn't inherit a hotel.
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He inherited a responsibility.
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He runs a homestay in Changxiing County, surrounded by tea hills and ginkgo trees, where visitors take part in the work behind the food they eat, learn techniques, pass down through his family, and see how those traditions continue in real time.
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This episode was filmed at Yunqi She Homestay in Huzhou City, where a fifth generation Wumei producer is keeping an ancient technique alive.
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You'll hear a bit of Mr.
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Fang Xiaoping's voice first, and then our translator Joanna will step in and help translate.
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So you can follow along while still staying connected to Mr.
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Fang.
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Everyone has a story to tell.
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We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories.
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My name is Amelia Old, and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration.
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Join me as I share stories of friends, family, and strangers through my everyday life and travels.
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We will laugh, possibly cry, or walk away feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs.
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Everyone has a story to tell.
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What's yours?
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I'm Amelia Old, and this is Voices of Inspiration.
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Being fully dependent on translation during my trip to China changed how I moved through the world around me.
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I had to wait to learn what food was being placed in front of me, what people around the table were talking about.
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I really couldn't lean into a discussion the way that I normally would or catch the meaning of something as it was being talked about.
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Everything seemed to arrive a beat later.
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And that was only after someone chose to open the door for me.
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And when you're used to moving really quickly through the world, you don't notice how much information you normally carry.
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Um, I think that we don't really think about what we already know, right?
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And being here stripped that away.
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And it also kind of changed the way that I paid attention to other people.
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It made me think even more so about people who began their lives in new countries without the language, whether they are ordering a meal or reading a street sign, trying to follow a conversation that is moving faster than their understanding.
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And, you know, I've always tried to be thoughtful with strangers.
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Living inside that uncertainty changed the weight of that idea.
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And it turned patience and care into something real, not just polite behavior.
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You start to see how much people rely on those things when they are finding their way somewhere new.
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Changxing County is located in northern Zhejiang, near the Jiangsu border.
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The surrounding area includes tea growing hills, agriculture land, and villages connected by narrow rural roads.
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In late autumn, ginkgo trees throughout this region turn bright yellow, and they line village streets, courtyards, and public spaces, creating one of the most recognizable seasonal changes in this part of China.
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He is Mr.
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Fang Xiaoping, and he is the owner or the founder of this homestay.
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And this homestay is located in Changxian County of Huzhou City, Jijiang Province, and the name is Yunxi Xu Homestey.
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Actually, he had received a lot of training class, the management or the leadership management from Zhejiang University.
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And he has an idea of the power of the culture.
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So he's trying to telling a better story, including the Umei producer, and also ensures the guest who comes here not even just live in the homestead and also they can try this local food, this local technique, and even when they come back home and they can purchase the Ume from internet.
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When you were a young boy, did you always know that you would carry on your family legacy?
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But you know, uh recently, in recent years, China really has uh developed so rapidly and also the countryside life also become more and more attractive to the urban citizens citizens.
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So more and more uh citizens will come to countryside to enjoy such kind of life and them include uh during this process he realized, wow, I can carry on such kind of technique, this is a treasure from my family, from my ancestors, and this is kind of the cultural confidence for him.
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Many travelers may not know what is.
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So can you describe a little bit about the process and why it is so um important and distinctive?
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Actually, why is Umei?
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U means dark or black, just as we say, and mei is plum.
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And so the dark plum is produced uh through the smoke.
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It's kind of smoked duck plum.
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It's a long time to pr smoke the uh plum.
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It's maybe around forty-eight hours.
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Uh people always it use it to make tea, omate tea in summer because it's very uh it's a beverage or drinks for summer drinking.
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Mr.
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Fang doesn't only run this place, he documents it.
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His photography lines the walls, and he even filmed this interview from his own perspective for his own social media channels.
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That says a lot about how personally he connects to this work.
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Some of that footage appears in this episode if you are watching the YouTube version, alongside my own photos and videos.
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With your homestay, how do you balance tradition with modern hospitality?
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Nowadays, modern hotels look the same, right?
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It's very hard for a tourist to pick up you.
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So you need you need to be very, very unique.
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Um just uh put the cultural, local cultural stories into it, such as Ume, right?
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And uh another very traditional products into their service.
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Even uh for the homestay, for the decoration, for the design, for the service are very modern and are very um you can meet the demands of the urban life.
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Uh but when when he adds so much different things, the cult traditional things into it, and them I think his homestayel uh looks more and more attractive.
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More and more different.
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I'm gonna pause right here for a quick break and I'll be right back.
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Today's episode is supported by China Eastern Airlines.
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They offer three nonstop routes from the United States to Shanghai Pudong, which is how I traveled while working on this series.
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China Eastern is headquartered in Shanghai and is one of China's major international carriers.
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The airline operates 108 domestic and overseas branches worldwide and serves destinations across China, Asia, Europe, and other global regions.
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They're also a member of the Sky Team Alliance, partnering with airlines such as Delta and allowing SkyMiles members to earn and use miles across participating carriers.
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On international flights, China Eastern offers three cabins of service, first class suites, business class, and economy.
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Long haul routes include entertainment screens and Wi-Fi's available for purchase in Economy class.
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If you're planning travel to Shanghai or exploring future international trips, you can find current schedules and booking information on the China Eastern Airlines website, which I'll link in the notes of this episode.
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All right, let's get back to it.
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Over the past several years, rural home stays have expanded across Jaijiang as short stay travel from cities like Shanghai and Hangzhou has increased.
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These trips are often just two or three days long, which is why properties like this focus on experiences that can fit into a weekend rather than long resort stays.
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I have spoken to quite a few people, and I continue to say this this is such a great thing, especially for um, I know that we've had friends, expats living in Shanghai, and this would be a great little getaway we can get away, or if their family's visiting, um you're just close enough to the city, but you still feel like you're miles and miles away.
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When guests leave here, what feeling or memory do you hope they carry home with them?
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I hope one day when the guest is leaving, um he could realize how important and or how treasurable our cultural legacies is.
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Why does it feel so important to you to share your story with those in other countries, particularly America, not just because of the home state, but also because of your community.
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So uh what we treasure now for the ancestors leave us, um we need to share with others worldwide.
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I love that.
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What do you think has been your most difficult challenge by creating this this business here?
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I think there are two factors.
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One is we are running a small hotel.
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It's not big.
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Yeah, only 20 rooms.
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And another thing is it's difficult for us to attract the talents here to countryside.
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I can understand that.
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Definitely.
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Is there a moment or a guest story that has stayed with you?
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One that reminded you this is my why, this is my reason, this is my purpose for starting this.
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I need to carry it on generation after generation.
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What can visitors expect when they come here?
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What type of experience can they expect by being a guest?
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The guests come here, they are expect they expected to experience my more local, uh, for example, local food, or even make the local food by themselves.
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Yeah.
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And even go climbing, go climbing mountains, yes, and also to uh experience to buy the the craftsmanship or do some activities in the workshop in in this place, yeah.
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And the meals are really good here, so I can vouch for that.
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Uh the food is very, very good.
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When you think about the future, uh your future, your community's future, your home stays future.
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What do you hope it continues to inspire?
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Our main goal is to develop a complete industrial chain in future.
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And for myself, for me, uh my dream is going to set up a farm.
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Uh, because in this farm, this is the place I can offer the complete service, um, including uh teaching the guests how to make the wume and I can develop more and more products with wume.
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I wonder if we can um get some of my goats and donkeys all the way over here.
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We'll ship them over here so they can have a new home.
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Yeah.
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You know, here the farm is different from the American farm.
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It's smaller.
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It's smaller.
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I mean, I think my donkeys want to be world travelers.
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So I have only one more question and I ask every single guest that um comes on my podcast this question.
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So if you could share a quote or any words of wisdom, your own words of wisdom that you would leave behind, what would you say?
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One person works works faster.
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A group of people works longer.
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And let's come together and become a team and uh work in the future.
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I love that.
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That's a really good one.
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Thank you so much for inviting me to your home and welcoming me.
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I'm so grateful.
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Um you have a beautiful community, and I can't wait to share your story with more people because you deserve it.
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Spending time with Mr.
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Feng in Yungqi Homestay made the meaning of his wordsville very real.
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This isn't a large operation, it's a place built through daily effort, family knowledge, and a belief that people will care when they're invited to understand something properly.
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Cheng Xing isn't on all travel bucket list, but that's because you haven't heard of it yet.
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It holds a story that stretches back hundreds of years, and sitting there hearing how that work continues made it clear that traditions don't survive on their own.
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They survive because someone decides again and again that they're worth continuing.
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If this conversation gave you a new way to think about the places you visit, I hope you'll share it with someone who might enjoy it too.
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If you're listening on a podcast app, I'd really appreciate it if you took a moment to rate and review Voices of Inspiration.
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It helps more people to find the show.
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You'll find more episodes at Voices of Inspiration Podcast dot com.
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And if you'd like travel notes and behind the scenes updates, you can sign up for my newsletter at AmeliaOld.com.
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I'll be sharing photos and videos from this visit on my social media accounts at Amelia Old Official.
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And we will have another episode from this series next week.
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See you then.
