Another Chinese New Year is upon us, my tenth time celebrating the Spring Festival, and before I huddle down and brace for the bombastic bombtastic barrage, I figured I’d share a few links from around the web to help you navigate and enjoy the galloping in of the Year of the Horse.Read More
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
Recently, a colleague at work told me this supposedly common Chinese phrase: 生活就åƒå¼ºå¥¸ï¼Œå¦‚果奋力åæŠ—æ— æµŽäºŽäº‹ï¼Œé‚£å°±èººä¸‹é™é™äº«å—å§. Roughly translated, this phrase in English is as follows: “Life is like rape. If you are unable to resist it, then you might as well lay back and enjoy it.†While this statement is typically used to describe situations where people are …Read More
I thought I had seen all the wacky Chinglish translations there were, but this one grabbed my attention. From Weibo, the picture has quite different ways of telling its domestic and foreign patrons how to use the urinal. For the English, it makes a rather crude joke about the size of one’s member. For the …Read More
What was I thinking? A 3-day/2-night “flag and hat” Chinese tour off the beaten track in Hainan culminating in a super-soaker armed crowd at an annual water festival. If I was just asking for a bad China day, I certainly got it; but that wasn’t anything compared to what happened to some of the Chinese ladies in the crowd.Read More
When I started at a four-year college in 1998, I didn’t think it the least little bit odd that the schedule included in my orientation package already had the date of my graduation ceremony listed. Considering that family and friends would be traveling from out of town and would need to plan in advance, this …Read More
A few weeks ago I finished my first academic year of teaching Oral English at a university in the Middle Kingdom. There’ve been ups and downs, yadda, yadda, but it’s been, overall, good. Even the work has been okay. Here’s a short piece I wrote back in March about my favourite lesson. This week, in …Read More
I’m a week away from finishing my first academic year as what can loosely be described as a university teacher in China. Someone told me that I should write some kind of retrospective/memoir, but that sounded like far too much work. I mean, I’m on holiday in a week. I’ve begun the wind-down and I’m …Read More
One thing you find out pretty soon if you come into contact with Chinese society is that although most Chinese may not follow any organized religion, that does not mean they are immune from holding superstitious beliefs of all kinds. Superstitions relating to traditional Chinese medicine or to feng shui are of course widespread, although …Read More
They want to help. They really want to help. And whether you want it or not, they are going to help. It’s one of the best things about being in China, and one of the worst. There are always people around willing to lend a hand. And not just willing. They are determined. When we …Read More
While most laowai are probably familiar with the phenomenon of the “ant tribe,†a recent article in The Economist introduced a number of other “tribes†of stressed-out young Chinese struggling to survive in the urban jungle. Perhaps the most unusual is the “crush-crush tribe†(æææ—), who release their frustrations by hiding in supermarket aisles and …Read More
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