Grains, leaves & the power of humor

With a mindset that favors the reserved thinking of the collective, some reckon that Chinese have traditionally found it difficult to laugh at themselves. Four decades after the country began opening up to the world, that seems to have changed

Wearing black-framed glasses, a T-shirt and jeans, Shi Laoban comes across as the boy next door, the one you run into on the street who is full of curiosity about life and keen to tell you about his latest discoveries - whether you want to hear about them or not.

"My WeChat Moments are flooded with two things," he tells the audience.