{"podcast":{"title":"Barbarians at the Gate","slug":"barbarians-at-the-gate-434733","podcast_index_feed_id":434733,"rss_url":"https://feeds.blubrry.com/feeds/barbarians.xml","website_url":"http://granitestudio.org","image_url":"https://assets.blubrry.com/coverart/orig/359922-172016.jpg","author":"Barbarians at the Gate","episode_count":110,"summary":"A semi-serious deep dive into Chinese history and culture broadcast from Beijing and hosted by Jeremiah Jenne and David Moser.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-19T00:19:24.204604+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/barbarians-at-the-gate-434733"},"episode":{"title":"The Business of Burgers in Beijing: What Fast Food Festivals Reveal About China's Economy","slug":"the-business-of-burgers-in-beijing-what-fast-food-festivals-reveal-about-china-s-economy","published_at":"2026-04-21T08:12:29+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/barbarians-at-the-gate-434733/the-business-of-burgers-in-beijing-what-fast-food-festivals-reveal-about-china-s-economy","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/barbarians-at-the-gate-434733","url":"https://blubrry.com/barbarians/153825235/the-business-of-burgers-in-beijing-what-fast-food-festivals-reveal-about-chinas-economy/","audio_url":"https://media.blubrry.com/barbarians/content.blubrry.com/barbarians/BATG-2026-04-21-116.mp3","summary":"Mike Wester launched the first Burger Fest in Beijing 13 years ago as a scrappy response to the collapse of print ad revenue. Today, burger festivals run in third-tier cities across China, subsidized by local governments trying to drive foot traffic into half-empty malls. Hefei alone has four a year. In this episode, Jeremiah talks with Mike Wester, co-founder of True Run Media and publisher of the Beijinger, about how burgers became one of China's fastest-growing new cuisines, what the food festival boom reveals about Chinese commercial real estate, and why a generation raised on McDonald's is now opening artisanal burger shops in cities that didn't have a KFC a decade ago. They cover the social-media arms race, producing photogenic and often inedible creations, and 13 years of memorable entries — including a Wagyu patty with goose liver, cinnamon, and apple, and a pig-brain burger from a man who built his fortune on braised pig brains.","meta_description":"Mike Wester launched the first Burger Fest in Beijing 13 years ago as a scrappy response to the collapse of print ad revenue. Today, burger festivals run…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2002,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/barbarians-at-the-gate-434733/episodes/the-business-of-burgers-in-beijing-what-fast-food-festivals-reveal-about-china-s-economy/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/barbarians-at-the-gate-434733/the-business-of-burgers-in-beijing-what-fast-food-festivals-reveal-about-china-s-economy.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}