Never Ending Bureaucracy

There’s always “one more thing” that wasn’t mentioned the first time around. I’m in the middle of the registration process for a client’s company. Because I know the process, and because the sole reason for hiring my personal assistant Jimmy was to have someone who stands in lines, things are going much much faster for …Read More

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Beijing’s Little Adoption Shop looking for some help

The following is a plea for help/donations from Christopher Barden, the founder of the Little Adoption Shop, an organization in Beijing that helps rescued dogs find homes. They’re in desperate need of some funding. The Little Adoption Shop currently has 125 dogs in our care, and we are constantly under pressure to meet our growing …Read More

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On the Chinese vs. foreigner language wars

After my last post for Lost Laowai, where I expressed my annoyance with the irritating and pointless public announcements in Chinese public transport, I will now move on to another aspect of life in China which I find irritating: the tendency of the Chinese to address foreigners in English even when it would be easier …Read More

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79 Comments

CDC offers H7N9 avian flu advice for travellers and expats in China

While not going so far as to say that travellers should avoid travelling to China, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is offering up some decent advice to anyone who is travelling or living in China. Most of the below is common knowledge, but it’s worth a read all the same.Read More

The Value of Life and Chinese Hypocrisy

Recently, a colleague at work told me this supposedly common Chinese phrase: 生活就像强奸,如果奋力反抗无济于事,那就躺下静静享受吧. Roughly translated, this phrase in English is as follows: “Life is like rape. If you are unable to resist it, then you might as well lay back and enjoy it.” While this statement is typically used to describe situations where people are …Read More

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Lost Laowai 2013 Update

If you’ve happened by Lost Laowai recently, you’ll have noticed that the site was down. The reason should be pretty apparent why — she’s been redesigned!

For months I’ve been trying to find the time to sit down and give the site a bit of development love, and for months I failed to do so. The challenge was that I did not just want to slap together a cosmetic change, but rather I wanted to really look at what Lost Laowai was, what it’s become and where I’d like it to go in the future. Warning, there’s a bit of meandering ahead… tl;dr — site’s been updated, enjoy.Read More

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请注意安全: China’s friendly reminder pollution

Over the years I’ve lived in China, certain aspects of life here have begun to bother me more and more. I think it’s normal. Every long term expat has their pet peeves about China. There is one particular thing which began to irritate me when I had been living in China for around three years, …Read More

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10 Comments

Warning to watch your carry-on luggage, thieves take to the air

Philippines-based tour operator, A3 Tours & Travel, recently posted the following story on their Facebook page from a passenger on a Hong Kong flight. The tl;dr of it is that you should not naively believe your carry-on luggage is safe in the overhead bins — the contents might not just have shifted during flight, they …Read More

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Shanghai air pollution gets cutesy AQI Girls, but missing one

I’m sure we’ll all breath a deep sigh of relief that Shanghai’s Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) is sparing no expense to improve communication with the city’s public on the quality of air in China’s largest city. According to blogger Angel Hsu, the EPB has recently updated their Web site to feature a more (user) friendly interface with …Read More

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A better “The Man with the Iron Fists” review

It was my intention to sit down and write a review of “The Man with the Iron Fists” this week. I just watched it a couple nights ago, and had a lot to say about it. Well, enough to fill a few paragraphs here. I was going to cry foul my disappointment at what RZA …Read More

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A Chinese-American’s Identity Crisis in China

I had a very what people might call “typical” Chinese-American upbringing; I spoke Chinese with my parents at home, unwillingly sat through two hours of Chinese school every week, ate moon cakes during the mid-Autumn festival and received red envelopes filled with money during Chinese New Year. I also had my phases of wishing I …Read More

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