Beijing expat’s dog beaten to death in front of him

– Stories of roving bands of stick-wielding chengguan beating pets and strays have been hitting the media for a number of years now, but this is the first we’ve heard of it entering the China expat community. These stories are senseless brutal tragedies regardless where the pet’s owner hails from, but I think there’s always been … Read More »

Review: You Don’t Know China

– Telling me I don’t know China is a big claim, and I have to admit my long-term laowai ego caused me to take a serious pause before digging into this book — one of the initial offerings from new expat-run Taiwan-based publisher Camphor Press.

My doubts quickly abated as You Don’t Know China deftly dispelled several misconceptions I had long carried with me. Hubris in check, I found myself thoroughly enjoying John Ross’ witty and well-researched collection of mythbusting the hyperbole surrounding China’s present and past. Read More »

US news anchor gets shaken by China, nothing falls out

– American Chris Matthews, star of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, recently visited China — and it “shook” him. In a piece for his show’s blog entitled, “The 10 Days in China that Shook Me“, Matthews redefines parachute journalism and brings new depth to negative stereotypes surrounding Americans travelling abroad. Read More »

Guy dances across China in 100 days, goes viral

– Student Jake Gaba spent 3.5 months (100 days) in China studying Mandarin on a Dartmouth College study abroad program. To catalogue the journey he recorded himself dancing to Bruno Mars’ “Treasure” across China. Read More »

Review: Red Obsession

– Having grown up in Canada’s largest wine region, and spent a fair amount of time living in its second largest; I’ve always been surrounded by it. However, the culture that revolves around wine is never something I’ve found terribly interesting. The pomp of the industry, and the intrinsic status of being “in it” that has been carefully fermented, bottled and sold has always sort of turned me off. Read More »

Avoiding squatters? You’re doing it wrong

– We tend to lend a lot of letters to the discussion of using toilets in China here at Lost Laowai. We have Erika’s post delivering some truths about the Chinese lady’s room, which continues to rack up rather heated comments three years after being published; as well, we have Travis’ humourous account of the first … Read More »

Breathe easier in China with this inexpensive DIY air purifier

– A PhD student and Fulbright scholar based in Beijing has a great little Tumblr blog that shows, with data, that you can skip the expensive air purifiers and make your own for about $30. This post goes through the details of how to make the air purifier, and where to buy a proper filter. The … Read More »

‘Living with Dead Hearts’ an afflictive & important film

– “Living with Dead Hearts”, a documentary exploring child abduction in China, isn’t a pretty story, but it is an imperative one. The independent film, released this week, explores the heartrending topic of children being kidnapped and sold into slavery, sex or simply to another family. Read More »

Beijing State of Mind: Commie jungle where dreams are made of

– There have been a lot of laowai-led China-tribute pastiche music videos circling the interwebs over the last year or so, which is why when “Beijing State of Mind” began buzzing through the tubes about a week ago, I only gave it a raised eyebrow and moved along. My bad. Filmed by one-time-laowai Mark Griffith, and starring Andrew Dougherty and … Read More »

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