Cultural understanding; it’s a lot of what this fine multi-authored blog is all about. So, in my latest missive for Lost Laowai, I’ll get straight to the point in trying to help you understand the sociological signage and semiology of contemporary Chinese male fashion. All right, I’ll come clean, that’s just an excuse for a …Read More
I’ve often seen images of the Yunnan rice terraces, but they’ve all shown them as a lush-layered green. This is the first time I’ve seen them at harvest time, bringing to mind the cornucopia of colours that decorate the countryside of my home country, Canada, at this time of year. Be sure to check out …Read More
Entitled “Reflections Of A Bridge Blogger”, Roland Soong’s CNBloggercon speech wonderfully sums up the transition that’s happened, largely due to the Internet, in China over the past five years that he’s been writing EastSouthWestNorth. Unfortunately, due to a family emergency, attendees at the 2008 China Blogger Convention in Guangzhou last weekend were unable to hear …Read More
Okay I realize it’s been awhile since I posted, but I’ve been in a bit of a coma — a coma created by Ma Jian. His latest novel Beijing Coma  is what did it. The book is about the events in the building to that June day in 1989, and told through the memories of a …Read More
When it comes to being a lost laowai there are somedays where i feel like i’ve landed on Mars. Â However, on an equal amount of days i feel like i fit right in and this is perfect. Â But there’s still one thing i need help with and you are the perfect community for me to …Read More
Well, that was pretty quick. Just two whole months since the worst of the melamine in Chinese brands of baby formula scandal – and tragedy – two of the companies involved in the food tainting, YiLi and MengNiu, are already starting PR drives to build up trust, and rebuild their shattered sales in the lucrative …Read More
It’s not fair to make a judgement call on an isolated incident, but for past two months i have experienced the same situation time after time when dealing with taxi drivers in Beijing. Â The bottom line is this: I feel like they hate foreigners and don’t even want to try to deal with them. My …Read More
© Rickenbacker I was standing on the street corner the other day waiting for a taxi beside a middle-aged foreigner doing the same. This isn’t uncommon, I live in a rather laowai-saturated area of Suzhou. The corner also works as an impromptu parking spot for people looking to dash over to the bakery, or pick …Read More
The other day I was listening in on a class of Chinese students who were taking an evening course in my native language, Swedish. Their task for the day was to change nouns written in singular form to plural, (that is: “cat†to “catsâ€). This can be complicated enough in English: How do you now …Read More
Ever since seeing Beijing’s punk poster-boys Reflector at Xining’s Material Life Music Bar, I’ve been thinking an awful lot about tattoos. This Material Life Music Bar was full of inked Chinese and foreigners; it was the highest volume of tattoos I’d seen in a while and the inspiration for the following rant. There are two …Read More
I was watching this video (see below) of some dude reading a Chinese passage. I don’t know about you, but when I hear Chinese spoken in this way it gives me that nails-on-a-chalkboard feeling. Sorry no, it gives me that I-want-to-kick-you-in-the-nads feeling.Read More
Are you a laowai who’s left China for cozier shores, but miss the fun and frustration that Chinese Web surfing brings? Do you spend nights longing for the roulette-like spin of trying to access Web sites in one of the world’s most censored nations? Have you found yourself typing in nonsensical URLs in hopes of …Read More
Return to Top ▲
