Having lived in China for six years I have found that I’ve started missing some of the things from my American life. For the most part I am not a big fan of mainstream American culture. Things like top 40 music and NY Times Bestsellers were usually avoided at all cost. They were a kind …Read More
I love etymology. I’m not sure what about knowing “why” a word is what it is that steams my baozi, but I just dig it. I confess, I’m not hardcore about it, but do frequently visit www.etymonline.com for casual reading. For armchair etymologists like myself, the Chinese language is a fantastic source of wonders. Learning …Read More
I think it is a fairly common phenomenon in China for foreigners to get angry and make snide remarks when we hear the government make comments about how they will have a peaceful rise to world power or how they will be number one by 2050. I must admit something in me shutters when I …Read More
Staying positive in China is a topic that has been making the rounds through expat circles of late. Whether it be John’s generally always upbeat blog (except when it comes to Spring Festival), the well-written “10 Reasons Why Living In China Is Great” or Rick’s soon-to-be-published post about Chinese do-gooders. Now, don’t get me wrong. …Read More
I’m generally the first to admit I’m lazy. Perhaps it’s not lazy so much as being part of the Goldfish Attention Span Generation (GASG). I just can’t be bothered to focus on something for too long. This, perhaps, is why when I first heard of Active Chinese I was a little concerned it was a …Read More
One of the (few) benefits of moving into an apartment inherited from a fellow expat is that occasionally they leave books behind. English-language reading material is not difficult to find in China, but stories that delve into the Chinese condition more than the State-approved classics are absent in the bookstores and often guarded by their …Read More
China’s economy got off to a shaky lunar new year with Tuesday’s stock market plunge in Shanghai, which saw a fall of 9%, which then triggered the worst trading day in the US since 9/11. Although yesterday’s (Wednesday) activity saw ‘Shanghai A shares’ gain some of their previously lost value (as well as the important …Read More
The fireworks have almost all fizzled out, and the red cardboard from exploded firecrackers has largely been swept up, leaving everyone in China facing the various flip-sides of Chinese new year, and the prospect of having pretty much nothing to do for the remaining four or five days of the holiday. I myself have found …Read More
When I was teaching kids English in China, I often felt like I was just going through the motions of the job. It’s not that I didn’t care. Because I did. But it seemed the schools didn’t care about teaching quality as long as they got tuition from the parents, and the parents didn’t give …Read More
While most of the annual Spring Festival migration is from big cities to the small cities and the countryside as workers, students, and whoever else was able to find a plane or train ticket leaves their jobs for a week to spend the holiday with the family back home, I have noticed over the last …Read More
Chinese new year, also known as Spring Festival (or as the lunar new year), is but six days away. Think: food, lanterns, rice wine, the colour red, and fireworks. Yes, nearly a ton of fireworks will be bought by every household, to the delight of family members both old and young, as they caress hand-held …Read More
Anyone active in the China blogsphere back in August surely remembers Chinabounder and his rather conspicuous blog “Sex And Shanghai“. The blog received some rather heated attention (making it as far as the nightly news in Shanghai) mostly brought on by Professor Zhang Jiehai and his call to hunt down the author because of the …Read More
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