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South China Morning Post launches video-led Goldthread with focus on food and culture

The South China Morning Post has launched a video-led publication headed by the former editor of Mashable Asia, Victoria Ho.

Goldthread, which has been in the pipeline for six months, will cover Chinese food, culture, travel and identity.

Ho, who led Mashable Asia from its launch in 2015 until its demise in December 2017, joined the Hong Kong-based SCMP at the start of the year. She has taken the role of executive producer at Goldthread.

The SCMP has been keen to expand its video output and also hired Dolly Li, the former creative producer of Al Jazeera’s AJ+ in the US, to work on the project with Ho.

At the time of their appointment, SCMP’s chief executive officer Gary Liu said: “Their expertise and talent will help steer SCMP’s adoption of new media formats and exploration of new content verticals.

“The story of China continues to grow, and with Victoria and Dolly’s leadership, SCMP will find new ways of engaging the world for greater understanding.”.

In the first post on Goldthread published today, Ho and Li, jointly bylined, wrote: “Everyone’s been bamboozled by The Orient. You. Us. Most fast food restaurants.”

“From Brooklyn to Singapore, we’ve watched and read about Chinese food, culture, and history through the lens of people who (sometimes) know of The Orient but don’t always get it.

“Even those in our most trusted English-language media have described something as mainstream as bubble tea, as “blobs” from the Far East (2018’s way of saying “The Orient”).

Victoria Ho

“And much of the media from the actual Far East are not capturing the full picture either. The kids in China want to talk about the futility of life through memes but the media prefers that they didn’t. This is a missed opportunity to capture a depth that’s so key to human connection.

“It’s clear that somewhere between blobs and banned memes is an opportunity for stories with greater cultural context and less exotic freakiness. That’s why we packed our bags and moved to Hong Kong six months ago to create this new publication: Goldthread.”

Speaking to Mumbrella earlier this year about her appointment, Ho said: “Being able to join SCMP as it accelerates its digital transformation is truly the dream. I’m fortunate to join such a dynamic team, to use digital media to connect the world.

“As a digital native coming from traditional newsrooms and, most recently, a very plugged-in environment at Mashable, I look forward to leading my team to serving tomorrow’s consumption needs across devices.”

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