It seems some time since I’ve blogged about a major site being blocked in China, but with the National People’s Congress in full-swing and the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising less than a week away – it appears the Net Nanny has quashed access to the world’s largest video sharing site, YouTube. Rick Martin, …Read More
Tattoos are getting more popular — even in China, where they are traditionally frowned upon in all but one instance — and some of the more daring among you might be tempted to venture out into the darkened hutongs of whatever city you teach English in and find someone to stick needles into your skin. …Read More
You may have heard that the planned Oasis shows in Beijing and Shanghai next month have been canceled. Apparently 12 years isn’t enough time to separate a musician and his ties to a certain autonomous region’s freedom concert. Though no “official” reason has been given for the cancellation, the concert’s promoters said it was due …Read More
Greetings from drizzly Shenzhen, where I find myself this fine morning sitting in a Starbucks and experiencing culture shock. If the purpose of a chain cafe is to produce the same atmosphere in any unit in the whole world, Starbucks has succeeded; this one here in the Shekou district could be airlifted and dropped in …Read More
I’ve just received a rather disturbing e-mail from a fellow expat here in China. As I really don’t have any experience, or know anything about the laws or official steps that can be taken, I figured I’d post it on here in hopes that our wonderful readers might have some advice to give. The e-mail …Read More
or Why I prefer Japanese Food After seeing what some people in China are willing to feed to human babies, it’s no wonder that so many animals in China are going the way of Blinky the 3-eyed fish on the Simpsons. Now I love Chinese food as much as the next guy, but I gotta …Read More
This week I was heckled for my lazy pronunciation of shui3jiao3, “boiled dumplingâ€, which apparently sounded more like shui4jiao4, “to sleepâ€, making the restaurant name Grandma’s Dumplings, sound something like Grandma is sleeping. This mistake is another example (as if anyone needed more) of the importance of tones in Mandarin. For non-native speakers, Chinese can …Read More
As a blogger in the China expat niche you tend to make a lot of fast friends, as we’re all sort of in this together. The downside is most of those friends are better known for their avatars than their actualities. Fortunately there are events like the one this Saturday (February 28) at M1NT in …Read More
Most expats in China have likely run across Yang Rui while flipping through all one channels of English-language programming. The host of CCTV 9’s desperately dry Dialogue, Yang has a disposition that is as unforgettable as it is annoying. Dialogue has been likened to a Larry King Live-style talk show, whereby Yang interviews various guests …Read More
To help relieve a drought in Northern China, the gov’t induced snow by seeding the clouds over the capital with silver oxide. Some Beijing residents are using the rare flake fall to take part in classic winter activities – with not so classic designs. From the photographer, Scott Sykes (blog): “People are relieved and happy. …Read More
It’s the Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object. Apple, the Californian electronics firm, and China Mobile, the state-owned telecommunications giant, have been locked in a slow, secretive, yet embittered year-long struggle to release and control Apple’s iPhone in mainland China. By “control†I refer to both revenue from user contracts/subscriptions, as well as to the …Read More
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, what upon opening this year would have been one of Beijing’s most exclusive and luxurious hotels, lit up like a, well, like a lantern tonight while the rest of the country celebrated Lantern Festival. Proving again the newsability of Twitter, the story broke online as it happened, with videos appearing on …Read More
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