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. To my credit, the argument was in Chinese. Not to my credit, my part of the argument consisted of about 3 …Read More
During a conversation about the treatment of animals in China some time ago, I remember a friend saying, “what rights are animals going to have in a country that is still working out the rights of humans?” Anyone that’s ever been to a zoo in China knows just how true this is. Fortunately, like all …Read More
This is a bit sinister: the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has been dropping digital certificates into the computers of everyone in China, which could potentially allow them to snoop on your normally secure ‘https’ web-surfing, such as your online banking and email. CNNIC’s digital certificate, which is probably in your computer right now, …Read More
I just finished reading Hong Huang’s opinion piece in the China Daily entitled, “Dear laowai, don’t mess with our Chinese-ness” and I can’t figure it out. What I’d like to think, based on Hong’s reputation, is that it is self-depreciating humour actually directed at Chinese about Chinese superiority and penchants for stereotypes. If this is …Read More
I’ve been home in Canada for a little more than a week, and am already beginning to rub up against the things that run different from my laowai life in China. And while we’ve covered this topic a few times on the blog, I felt like using this post as an opportunity to reach out …Read More
A few weeks ago, I decided it was time for a change in my English as a Foreign Language classroom. Â The lessons I’d been teaching had been disjointed one-off topic lessons that piqued the interest of a very small portion of my 825 (give or take) middle-school students. Â The vocabulary used was scanty, I hardly …Read More
I’m going to be honest. I don’t really know how to write an introduction for this. You all know the story by now. H1N1 is going around and it is either a media creation or a harbinger of the apocalypse. So I would like to apologize in advance if I am further flooding the blogosphere …Read More
As an English teacher at a 6,000-strong middle school in the northwest of Hunan province, I come into contact with several hundred students a day. Â My course load puts me in front of roughly 850 students a week. Â In a school as cramped as mine, the students and staff are constantly breathing each other’s germs. …Read More
On a recent Friday evening, at a promotional party organized by a foreign-managed bar, a very drunk foreign man accidentally dropped a very drunk Chinese woman whom had been sitting on his shoulders. She fell backwards, hit her head on the pavement, fell unconscious, and was ultimately hospitalized with a serious concussion. The event sparked …Read More
“For we have a right to choose the society most acceptable to us” — John Stuart Mill, On Liberty Before I came to China I was asked a series of questions which seemed normal at the time but now seem completely laughable. They included “Is there a curfew?”, “Are there police everywhere?”, and “You’ll be …Read More
Last night I was watching the season premiere of 30 Rock. In the episode Jack says that their television show has lost touch with “Real America” to which Liz responds “all of America is real” . This comment is of course ignored as most of the rest of the episode is spending trying to reconnect …Read More
The already unfortunate situation of internet censorship in China – imposed by the so-called Great Firewall – has been slowly getting worse this year, making a mockery of claims that the Olympics would open up China in terms of allowing a greater spread of communication and discussion. This year the Great Firewall has metamorphosed from …Read More
Return to Top ▲
