Several times recently I’ve been out at restaurants that I’ve been to frequently, only to discover they’ve been ripping me off for ages. The trick is a smooth one and I can only blame my unfailing trust in humanity for allowing it to happen. The scam? The Laowai Menu. Living in a tourism-supported city like …Read More
Our Photo of the Week comes from Graeme Nicol, a laowai in Dalian who makes fine use of his camera. Graeme easily has some of the most interesting and most original photos I’ve had the pleasure of looking at. Every week we’ll feature a funny, interesting or otherwise noteworthy photo here. If you have a …Read More
i need a loan today The Chinese are marvelous builders. Anyone who has been to China and has witnessed its dynamic physical development cannot help but nod in agreement. The Great Wall, the Shanghai subway network, the Starbucks-in-a-Temple – all prime examples of what the Chinese can accomplish when they put their cute little noses …Read More
What can I really say to this, other than: if necessity is the mother of invention, poverty is her sick and twisted evil half-sister. BEIJING (AFP) – Used condoms are being recycled into hair bands in southern China, threatening to spread sexually-transmittable diseases they were originally meant to prevent, state media reported Tuesday. In the …Read More
He stood there for a long time. Tami Joan and John Testprepwell desperately retreated until they reached the other side of the door, holding two sweaty CBAP test bodies tightly together. The drivers hand Testprepwell bent into the shape of a cup, CBAP test blocking the lights shone on the street light, looked at them …Read More
What is it – to be usurped? It is not to be transferred. Or relocated. Or even neutralized. Actually, I’m not even allowed to use that last one. It’s sole property of the American CIA. Which is then licensed out for the Chinese government’s occasional Falun Gong crackdowns. But to be usurped – driven from …Read More
This week’s Photo of the Week is a photo I’ll often return to should I ever leave this country. There are few images that fill me with (pre-emptive) nostalgia than a happy guy hamming it up for the laowai with a bottle of Er Guo Tou in his hand. The photo is by #johnny5ive. Every …Read More
As a white guy married to a Chinese woman, I’ve had to deal with my share of “The Stare” – the look other Westerners (mostly recent arrivals) give to … well… white guys in relationships with Chinese girls. Sometimes it’s delivered as a plastic smile on the street, a nudge and whisper to a friend …Read More
Alright, now with a good chunk of the Lost Laowai writers being women, I know I’m on shaky ground with this post, but well… The Beijing Olympics Fan blog brings us news that there’s a new competition on the go searching for a few hotties to shake their RMB maker and launch a whole new …Read More
I didn’t blog about the YouTube block earlier this month because I just couldn’t accept it as the truth. Sure, I got the denial of service message just like the rest of the folks stuck here behind the GFW, but something just wouldn’t let me believe it was actually happening. I woke up each day, …Read More
That was the nicest way I could think to put it. Â Forget self-censorship and beating around the bush. Let’s get right down to brass tax: Why is it that I always feel pressured by my Chinese friends, colleagues, and random acquaintances to believe in the “Glory of China”? Hey, China! I’m here. I’ve lived in …Read More
This week’s Photo of the Week is by an extremely talented photographer, Shelby Karns. I chose this photo because it captures the action and the joy of the moment, but also because it reminded me that sometimes things aren’t so different for kids here as they were for me when I was a tot. Every …Read More
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