by Astrid Bouwman
China is something different for everyone: for some a popular travel destination, for others a professional fascination, a long friendship, field of study or personal memory. In this section we let VNC members have their say. Who are they, where does their interest in China come from, and how do they view today’s China?
In this edition, we get to know the brand new editor-in-chief of ChinaNU+, Marilou den Outer. Maybe a familiar name? That is possible: Marilou was already active for VNC in the past as an editor for China NU and co-organizer of the China Café. For many years, she was the driving force behind her own website ‘The Yellow Dragon’.
Who is Marilou den Outer
Marilou is married, has three children and four grandchildren. She lives in Bennebroek and has a journalistic and historical background. He started as a journalist at a newspaper in The Hague, rolled into the profession as he did at the time. She then studied history and came into contact with China at various times.
Where a language course can take you
Although Marilou started her career in journalism, China was always in the crosshairs in one way or another. It started with a Chinese language course in the evenings at the Volksuniversiteit. This more or less naturally resulted in a 15-day group trip – with the NBBS – to China. In 1980, when the country had only recently been accessed, it was a totally unknown but fascinating world for her. The street scene, (still almost without cars but with all the more bicycles), the range in the shops (sober), the clothing of the people (uniform); It was summer and everyone wore a white blouse. A fashion image was missing. At the same time, the ancient culture of temples and history was omnipresent.
Study in Xiamen
This travel experience gave Marilou a taste for it and started looking for more. She has continued to follow the country from her journalistic interest and was able to work on this as an editor of ChinaNU, VNC’s magazine that was still published on paper at the time.
At the same time, Marilou started studying history and completed it with a master’s degree in Modern Asian History. The ball rolled on to China when she was allowed to go to Xiamen as an exchange student to learn the language and see a lot of the country.
Write to me when we call
At that time, 1987, Marilou remembers, it was impossible to call home from her student flat. For that you had to go to the city, to the post office and then request an interview. Usually only for a few minutes, because it was very expensive back then. In the student accommodation you could be called, and that was carefully prepared by letter with the caller, because it was also a costly matter from the Netherlands.
The international students were housed in separate flats, something that still works that way today. These flats were more luxurious and had better facilities than the accommodation for the Chinese students; She shared a room with one person, the Chinese were accommodated in a room with six people.
“Actually, we foreign students were very well taken care of, really as guests,” Marilou reflects on that time. “How different it is in the Netherlands, where foreign students are warned to first look for housing themselves before coming to the Netherlands. That’s quite outrageous”.
The Yellow Dragon
At the end of the nineties, the children a bit older and with the new medium of the internet emerging, Marilou takes a new step towards China, which is now much more in the spotlight. She starts her own online magazine; a platform to share practical information about China. The name ‘China Info’ soon changed to ‘The Yellow Dragon’: “It was more of an idealistic hobby project than a generous source of income. Money came in thanks to advertising, but the content remained free for site visitors. My main motivation has always been to share and disseminate information.” Through a webshop, Marilou sold articles for the traveler as well as study materials. She traveled to China every year to purchase this. The Yellow Dragon was in the air from 1999 to 2015.
Guanxi Network
Through the Yellow Dragon, Marilou came into contact with sinologist Lianne Baaij. Together they started Guanxi (Connections) in 2005, a business network that brought entrepreneurs into contact with China experts, in a China Café. A few years later, the name Guanxi disappeared. The China Café was given the current set-up with a thematic programming.
Xiamen revisited
After a break of almost ten years, China knocked on Marilou’s door again. With an old college friend, she traveled to Xiamen, which had just been allowed without a visa. She was amazed by her own Chinese – after years it just reappeared. And so ‘China’ started bubbling again.
(November 2024) Marilou at the gate of XiaDa, Xiamen University, where she studied from 1987-88
Reunion with VNC
In the fall of 2025, Marilou visited a China Café again and it was a warm reunion with old acquaintances and she was struck by the enthusiasm of new people. When it turned out that VNC was looking for an editor-in-chief for the ChinaNU+, everything came together again for Marilou; her old métier in journalism, with her website expertise and her connection with China. Together with the enthusiastic VNC team, she wants to further professionalize the website and increase its reach: ‘Because the attention for China in the media has been limited in recent years and then mainly negative. It is important that we have more knowledge about what is happening in China.” The VNC social media team also plays a major role in this.
Worries prevail
Marilou is not optimistic about certain developments in Chinese society: The first time, in the eighties, change and freedom beckoned for the Chinese. Young people were very ambitious, they wanted to go abroad to learn, there was a positive, optimistic atmosphere.
At her last visit in 2024, concerns prevailed. Worries about money, about what the future of the children will look like, stress. For many people, one child is the maximum, more is not affordable. The economy is not doing well. The control of the government is also increasing. Foreign correspondents in China are having an increasingly difficult time, the police intimidate people who speak to them. This makes people reluctant to tell their story. These are worrying developments and make good reporting difficult.
Marilou’s recommendations
The first thing Marilou picked up for ChinaNU+ was to write an article about the exhibition Made in China, on display at the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam until 30 August 2026. A particularly versatile exhibition that she can heartily recommend to everyone.
Marilou also has a reading tip: “In my bookcase I recently came across a written-off library book: Verhalen, by Yu Dafu, translated into Dutch by Rint Sybesma. Yu lived at the beginning of the last century and wrote very realistically and visually about that time. Great literature.”
Also coincidentally (?) the last film Marilou has seen ‘More than Babi Pangang‘ is highly recommended: “I thought I knew pretty much everything about Chinese people in the Netherlands, but this documentary was really surprising.” She was therefore happy that director Julie Ng wanted to give an interview (now available on our website)
Open mind
As editor-in-chief, Marilou sees it as her task to remain open to diverse reporting on China, with an uninhibited and critical view. Marilou believes that VNC’s independent status is essential and would also like to discuss topics that are difficult. The condition is always that the sources are traceable and factually correct information is provided.
Marilou in Wuyishan Nature Park, in Fujian (November 2024)
