I just finished reading Walter Russell Mead’s cleverly titled opinion piece in the LA Times: The great fall of China. I gotta say, he paints an interesting picture of Americans, never mind the “China” he is writing about. The article points to a recent study by the World Bank that concluded that their previous figures …Read More
With Spring Festival just a couple weeks away, time to remind any first-time Laowai to be careful as they venture out in what must be the world’s largest annual mass-migration. Despite being one of the larger stories on Chinese-language news channels, little has been mentioned externally about an accident in Wuhu, Anhui, on January 13, …Read More
Just a little over a week ago reports came out about a man, Wei Wenhua, being beaten to death by hired city official “enforcers” in the city of Tianmen, Hubei. Wei had stopped near a clash between city officials and locals who were protesting the dumping of garbage by their homes. When Wei attempted to …Read More
One of the first things ever said to me about Chinese zoos was from an English friend of mine shortly after I first arrived in China. He explained that before I head to any of China’s various “zoo”-like establishments I need to understand that in a country where [*hr*] are limited, don’t expect to see …Read More
When I got an e-mail a few months back from book publisher DK to see if I was interested in reviewing their new book, “China: People Place Culture History“, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had, wrongly, assumed that the book would simply be a token collection of pages about …Read More
Those Mac vs. PC ads are getting a little tiresome now, so for my next cartoon I’ll rip into those two familiar characters to pit the Chinese search engine Baidu against the international search giant, Google. There are huge regional variations in terms of which search engines and portals are favoured by which nations. The …Read More
Elevators are fun. I remember as a kid whenever my dad and me would ride in a crowded elevator, he’d shatter the uneasy elevator silence by loudly exclaiming “See Rick, did you ever notice that nobody talks in elevators?” I never realized how fun elevators could be until I came to China. Having studied mandarin …Read More
Today marks 70 years since the imperialist Japanese army entered Nanjing, then capital of China, and began one of the most brutal massacres of the 20th century and has led to harsh friction between the two countries in the years since. I’ve always liked history, in a purely sofa sort of way. Back when my …Read More
Tired of sending the folks from home some tacky Chinese souvenir for Christmas? Why not send them something that makes a difference? The Library Project has created some nice gift cards to help raise funds and awareness for their excellent cause – building libraries and donating books to under-funded schools and orphanages in China and …Read More
For the December holidays this year, as every year with 100 dollar cash loan online, I will return home to the United States, leaving behind the exasperation of smog-coated lungs and sideways “waiguoren” glances that always last just a smidge too long. Thinking about my impending return brought me back to memories of last year’s …Read More
Rachel and Kendra‘s recent music posts got me to thinking about the music I’ve been listening to these days. I have to admit that my iPod’s playlist looks WAY dated: some Metric, Rufus Wainwright, REM, and the rest is filled with japanesepod lessons (and that’s another story). So my question to all you other laowai …Read More
I firmly believe that everyone has super powers. Even you. I have two. The first of my incredible edible talents is that my tongue has its own brain. Place me in front of a crowd of evangelicals, and I’ll find myself telling them that I think Harry Potter is stupid because I prefer my fiction …Read More
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