What topics do young people in China to talk about?

I think young people in China would talk about all those popular topics other young people like to talk about. They are interested in social news, they care about how the nation is doing. And they also invest their time and energy in sports and entertainment news. Anything interesting, anything exciting, anything their peers are up to, they would love to talk about. There is actually not many limitations, especially for young people nowadays.

What’s the difference between the topics popular now and those in the post?

I don’t know, maybe one difference is topics on pop culture. I think people in the past, at least in China, didn’t really talk much about entertainment. But I guess it is also because they have their own so- called “pop culture”，it’s just that back in a few decades ago, pop culture at that time was poetry and arts. So I think the real difference in the topics across the time is the difference between what people like and care about between now and in the past.

How do you know if others are not interested in your conversation?

Well there are actually many ways to tell. If a person is interested in the conversation, he or she would actively try to engage. They would listen carefully and actually say something that is in response to what you are saying. And if they are not interested in the conversation, they’d talk less in response, they don^‘t look at you at all, they check their watch, they lean back. There are actually a lot of body language that can tell you that the person in front of you is actually very bored of the talk.

What’s the influence of modern technology such as the internet and e-mails, on our communication?

I think there are of course a lot of changes in how people communicate. We can communicate with friends living far away now. You don^‘t have to wait for the mails to be delivered. Now you can just pick up the phone or just type on your phone to get the words across. It seemed easier and more convenient. But then one thing never changed, that is the fact that the most efficient way of communicating with people is still talking in person.