China Stuff

Fact or Fiction V: The Glenpire Strikes Back

Welcome back one and all to the April edition of Fact or Fiction. Those of you who read either of the last three will know, every edition I will have a guest and we will discuss a few of the big issues in China of the day. Every answer will have a â€œFactâ€ or a â€œFictionâ€ and some justification to go along with it.

Today my guest is Rebekah Pothaar, the former editor of Ctrip and Chinatravel.net and former Shanghaiist and CNNGo contributor. She always dreamed of being a travel writer until she discovered through experience that writing is one of the most badly paid “glam” jobs on earth. So in 2009, she tossed her old dreams out the window and chose a life of corporate advertising in Shanghai. Since then she has what they call “career prospects” but rarely has time to write. Lonely Planet and The Telegraph phone her from time to time asking for her work, but she disdainfully asks them to show her the money. So far, they haven’t coughed up anything worth rolling out of bed for. She dreams that one day writers will be paid enough so she can leave the advertising business and return to writing again. In her spare time, she still enjoys traveling in China and lists camping on the Great Wall and running the Great Wall Marathon as her most unique China experiences.Â With the May Holiday coming up, Rebekah and I will be discussing several travel issues in this crazy country of ours.

So join us for Fact or Fiction 5:Â The Glenpire Strikes Back!!Â (…I’ve seriously been waiting four issues of this to use that title)Read More

Glen

// Apr 20, 2010 //

14 Comments

General

Ethical Vegetarianism

I tried being a vegetarian once, my first year of university. I was 18 and realized with delight that for the first time, my culinary options weren’t bound to whatever my parents came up with for dinner. Â I could stop eating meat, and nobody could stop me! Besides, I thought vegetarianism would help me lose …Read More

Google.cn moves to HK, guess it wasn’t just about the money

If you’ve somehow missed the news, Google.cn has officially exited China, sort of. Instead of pulling out of the country completely, they’ve moved the search division of their business to Hong Kong, which is free of the political censorship rules that the Mainland’s internet is subject to. Now when visiting google.cn, visitors are automatically redirected …Read More

Brother Power vs. The Modern World

ChinaSMACK translates a posting over at Chinese BBS Mop entitled “Birth of 2010â€™s most awesome environmental protector — Brother Power! His resplendent debut shocks the whole world” — awesome about covers it (and there’s a lot needing covering in this story).Read More

Ryan McLaughlin

// Mar 21, 2010 //

6 Comments

China Tech

10 fantastic iPhone apps for your China life

If you’ve gotten your paws on an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you’ve likely added lots of useful apps to it. You might, however, have overlooked the fact that there are lots of apps – many by Chinese developers – that you can use daily to help find your way around, speak the language, or …Read More

Women’s Bathrooms in China — The Honest Truth about Chinese Toilets

I know, everyone always comments on Chinese toilets – they are on the floor, big deal. Well, most of those people who write about the Chinese facilities are men, and let’s face it, when it comes to bathrooms, men have it easy. So here is what really goes on behind the å¥³Â door. Are Chinese bathrooms …Read More

Video: Sergey Brin speaks about Google’s China decision

Here’s a great video recorded at TED2010 earlier this month in which TED curator Chris Anderson talks to Google co-founder Sergey Brin about the company’s recent statements about their China operations. You can read the whole transcript of the talk here. Apologies for the far right-side of the video being cut off. It shouldn’t affect …Read More

Why I Cook — In China

I have a confession to make. For the first four and a half years I lived in China, I did almost no cooking. Sure, I owned all the necessary equipment- I made sure of that. I wanted people to think I cooked, but didn’t really want to actually do it. Â Going out to eat seemed …Read More

The laowai relapse

There I was, a 6-month China veteran, standing in the middle of a Beijing street, having my first ever argument with a tuk-tuk driver, while my shell-shocked parents and younger brother gaped in awe.Â To my credit, the argument was in Chinese.Â Not to my credit, my part of the argument consisted of about 3 …Read More

24 hours / 24 photos — Spring Festival in Liuzhou

Michael Steverson, better known as “Expatriate Games” in the blogsphere and on Flickr, has put together an awesome project entitled “Xin Nian Hao – 24 Hours in Liuzhou“. The series of photos and accompanying stories chronicle an entire day (one photo an hour) over CNYE and into the early morning hours of the first day …Read More

Chun Jie: The Next Generation

I really like Spring Festival. Honestly. Every year I hear the arguments about the “crazy Chinese and their crazy fireworks”, but despite the noise (and limb-losing danger) I have to admit that I get a bit caught up in the season. I suppose I’ve not been here long enough yet to truly understand what that …Read More

Laowai Girls like Asian Boys

When people think of “Rice Chasers” the common thought is of non-Asian men chasing Asian women. In fact, itâ€™s often believed that Asian men are the most discriminated against by white women (dating wise). No one ever really thinks about crazedÂ non-asian girls chasing after Asian men. I guess those people have never been to an …Read More

Ericka

// Feb 6, 2010