When last I looked upon her face, A smile did greet me. But gazing up towards her eyes, A sadness I could see. This hard cover, a keen disguise, Protects us from her qi. But with abundant aperture, She accommodates me. While Australasia sits down low, And joins her on her knee Euros, Yanks and …Read More
Are you fluent in Chinese? This is a question that laowai often field from curious friends and relatives back home, the vast majority of whom being unable to judge for themselves. The question also arises when would-be job seekers formulate their resumes- while showing fluency in Chinese will look impressive, what happens when an interviewer …Read More
I’m a huge bibliophile. When I moved to China in 2005, half my luggage weight allotment went to books. I knew that, living in Hainan, I probably wouldn’t have access to the kind of foreign language (i.e. English) bookstores you can find in Beijing or Shanghai. So I brought my own. Of course I could …Read More
Courtesy of Study More Chinese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EfHuGMrNxc8#!Read More
Just a quick little note to mention that Lost Laowai contributor Travis Lee recently had his short story, The Journey Through Nanking, published in Independent Ink Magazine. About the short story: During the Nanking Massacre, a young girl becomes separated from her family. With help from her spirit-guide, she must cross the warzone and overcome …Read More
Nearly a year ago I posted about a documentary film being made by ChinaGeek‘s founder (and one-time Lost Laowai contributor), Charlie Custer. The film, now titled Living With Dead Hearts, explores the issue of kidnapped children in China and how it affects the parents, the children and the whole community. And it needs your help …Read More
I’ve shared more than one bone-head foreigner story on here, so it’s a nice change to read a story of the opposite happening. Thursday afternoon, upon seeing a woman drowning (allegedly an attempted suicide) in Hangzhou’s West Lake, a 30-something American tourist wasted little time jumping into the famous lake and swimming to the rescue.Read More
The best thing about learning the language of a country you are living in is full immersion learning. Everyone is a potential teacher, and everything around you is your learning materials. I really learned this lesson during a recent trip to Beijing. It was a weekend, and all the hostels were sold out so we …Read More
This photo, by Beijing-based Christopher Cherry, reminded me of Manufactured Landscapes, an excellent documentary I watched recently on famed Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky.Read More
If you’re planning a trip, or living in China, chances are you own a Lonely Planet guidebook. In the past, using LP showed the world you were young and crazy, and would rather stick toothpicks in your eyes than hit up the main tourists spots with all the other blue-hairs. (Or as others saw you: …Read More
As China celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival this past week, countless gifts were exchanged by friends, families, and co-workers in homes and offices all across the country. In the days following the festival, many gifts changed hands once again, this time behind store counters and in narrow back alleys. These second exchanges were part of a …Read More
Our Mandarin Monday interview for this week is none other than well-known blogger, podcast host and translator, Brendan O’Kane. One of the original founders of Paper Republic, Brendan is a host of the Mandarin Chinese language learning podcast Popup Chinese, and teaches a course in Chinese-English literary translation at IES Abroad Beijing. He also (and …Read More
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