GDD Review: Highlights from GDD China

On the evening of 23 October 2026, the GDD China community hosted "Weaving Regenerative Futures," an online gathering, which made the evening a special milestone for our local Doughnut community.

We started gently. took everyone through the story of GDD, from its beginnings in 2022 to the global network of local events it is today. Then we swapped words for doodles, took a few mindful breaths together, and talked about what had drawn us here and what we hoped to take away.

Next, Xiaoting Hou-Jones, Government & Policy Lead at DEAL, gave a talk on the "embedded economy" and Doughnut Economics. Drawing on China's own development story, she showed how the market brought rapid growth but also squeezed neighbourhood ties and the natural world. Today, initiatives such as community canteens and farmers' seed networks are looking for a new balance between the state, the market, communities and the planet. There was an exciting Q&A after this, and inspiration followed one after another.

In the second half, economist Dr. Catherine Ho used the image of a leaking roof to take us from symptoms to systems, and then down to mindsets. Catching drips in a bucket only treats the symptom; fixing the roof deals with the cause. We rethink economic stories usually taken for granted. For example, why does GDP count destruction like deforestation as growth, while unpaid care such as raising children and looking after elders stays invisible? To finish, the participants split into 7 groups and used the DISRUPT method on topics like education, business and culture.

One idea stayed with many of us: there's no single right way to put the Doughnut into practice. What matters is finding fellow travellers and starting with a small prototype close to home.

The Faceless community, a group practising Theory U, created a visual record image of the event (see attached image). ©Gabriel Yu

We've set up a social media community for the more than 60 participants who signed up, so we can keep the conversation going.

Special thanks to：

Xiaoting Hou -Jones
Catherine Ho
Yiwen Lin
Gabriel Yu