Pop-Up Teahouse Berlin with Annie Zhang (张洁平), Founder of Nowhere (飛地)

A Pop-Up Teahouse Evening with Annie Zhang (张洁平), journalist, media entrepreneur, and founder of Nowhere (飛地)

A Pop-Up Teahouse Berlin Evening:

In a Conversation with Annie Zhang (张洁平), Media entrepreneur, and Founder of Nowhere (飛地)

We are excited to welcome Annie Zhang (张洁平) — journalist, media entrepreneur, and a unique voice at the crossroads of media innovation and civic resilience — for an informal evening of exchange at the C*SPACE’s Pop-Up Teahouse Berlin.

Fresh from the NECE Festival 2025 in Oslo and a panel on Citizenship in a Fragmented World in Berlin — moderated by writer Ian Johnson — Annie will offer a talk “Reading the Chinese Diaspora.”

The 1990s to the 2010s saw a flowering of civil society in mainland China, with the establishment of independent bookstores, film festivals, and NGOs that advocated for a variety of issues, including the environment and rule of law to family violence and queer rights. A tightening political environment in China since then has pushed many overseas, where they are reforming in dialogue with their host countries. One of their best-known figures is Annie Zhang Jieping, a former journalist, founder of Chinese media sites such as The Initium (端傳媒) and Matters (Matters.town), and now an international chain of Chinese bookstores called Nowhere (飛地).

Zhang will discuss the new Chinese diaspora, how it differs from earlier versions, and what she notices in her bookstores—what are people reading (and what is she reading)?

Our host for the evening’s dialogue is Ian Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer on China (Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future), based in Berlin.

The conversation will be in English and off the record.

Organiser & Location: C*SPACE Berlin gGmbH, Langhansstraße 86, 13086 Berlin

C*SPACE Host: Katja Hellkötter

With friendly support from: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Asia Department

Event Network Partner: 706 Berlin e.V.

Entrance: Free of charge

Start: 7:30 PM (doors open at 7:00 PM)

Teas, drinks, and snacks will be offered.

About the organiser:

C*SPACE Berlin is a privately run non-profit creative hub, combining co-working space, event venue and project space that creates and promotes ideas and encounters across borders. It’s cultural signature project, the ‘Pop-Up Teahouse Berlin’, launched during the pandemic, with and for the AsiaBerlin community as a place to connect in times of disconnect. Supported initially by the Berlin Senate in the frame of its activities to promote the city’s open, cosmopolitan spirit, the project has become on ongoing initiative: The Pop-Up Teahouse is a a place for everything — from informal, no-program talks over cups of tea to a forum for socio-political discussions and a stage artistic performances. It has run in multiple editions with various partners and welcomes new collaborations. Contact: pop-up-teahouse@c-space.eu