I recently learned a neat new word in Chinese: è¯æ„Ÿ, literally “language feeling”. In English, a more common translation might be “language intuition”, a mysterious ability that some seem to possess and others do not. When I tell people that I speak three languages, I often hear in response, “oh, you must have an innate …Read More
The following has in no way been confirmed to be legitimate, however I wanted to post it here to see if anyone had heard anything about this. From the Hangzhou Expat forum: This information has not and most likely will not appear in the press or the media. But a co-worker’s wife who works in …Read More
Hey folks, at the request of K. M. Morris at Barking at the Sun, I’ve whipped a little badge that can be placed on your blog or Web site to direct people to the Red Cross Society of China’s quake relief donation information. Instructions You can just copy and paste that code directly into your …Read More
In some brief news unrelated to the earthquake, the Mother Jones blog has reported that Pringles and Fanta are now banned in China because of toxins. You need to watch out for the berry-flavored version of Fanta, the rest are apparently ok. Also, Chinese officials found an infestation of beetles in Nestle’s coffee flavor. Mmm, …Read More
As I’ve already posted my thoughts/experiences with today’s earthquake at my blog, I’ll not repeat them here – suffice to say, for me it was a bit of a non-event. However, I am very curious to hear what your experiences were. I’ve therefore created this post as an open thread for any and all (Laowai …Read More
Last summer acclaimed documentary filmmaker Tan Siok Siok headed out into the streets of Beijing with a rather ambitious goal of capturing the essence of the city and its people the summer before the Olympics. The result is Boomtown Beijing, a film that paints a picture of not just a city or the sporting event …Read More
There’s this spot on my university campus that we’ve taken to calling “The Makeout Garden.†During the day it’s like any spot of green on the grounds of the ivory tower – a blip of green to contrast with the blase bathroom-tiled buildings of academic boredom. It’s full of elderly people performing taiji and students …Read More
Since it’s the May Labour Day holiday in China this week, lots of Chinese are out traveling, and since I hate crowds I am not. What I did spend my first day of the three day holiday doing was finishing up Rob Gifford’s great book China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising …Read More
I’ve gotten a little tired of all the stories about Chinese and nationalism around that I spent most of last weekend trying to avoid most foreign news coverage about it. But I was dragged back in an interesting way when I learned to a recent podcast on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) Radio’s Ideas program. …Read More
With the swarm of anti-France/boycott-Carrefour messages still plaguing the wireless networks, IM chats and BBSes, it was a pleasant surprise to run across Jason’s post at Over and Out sharing a QQ forward he received that – shockingly – doesn’t rise up and call to arms the seething masses of ultra-nationalists. For this laowai, I …Read More
Recall the old expression: teachers are to act in loco parentis. This means, if my high school Latin still serves me, that during school hours the teachers are responsible for assuming the role of parents in the lives of their students. Yet as anyone knows, this doesn’t really work. As teenagers, the last things we …Read More
Ah, springtime in Jiangnan: fields awash in patches of yellow canola blooms…plum and cherry petals whipping around the picnickers beneath them…lovers meeting secretly before the wife gets home… Yes, springtime is much more beautiful when it’s shared with an er nai. And why not? You’ve got the money to keep one–rent an apartment, buy expensive …Read More
Return to Top ▲
