For most expats in China, the name “Tsingtao†conjures up images of beer, but for fans of military history it’s a name associated with the most important episode of China’s First World War: the siege and battle for the German port settlement on the Shandong Peninsula’s southern coast. The Japanese attack, made with British assistance, …Read More
Neutral up until August 1917 and far from the carnage of Europe, China had a relatively quiet First World War. Its limited involvement in the conflict consisted chiefly of two episodes: the sending of Chinese labourers to France and Russia; and the 1914 battle at the German enclave of Tsingtao (Qingdao) on the Shandong Peninsula …Read More
The China Institute of City Competitiveness (CICC) has released a list of the 30 most beautiful counties in China for 2014. With little surprise to those who have visited, the tourist-laden picturesque heavyweight Yangshuo in Guangxi tops the list.Read More
Not long ago I went out to dinner with some friends who had just recently arrived in China. Since this was their first time in Beijing, we naturally went for the city’s signature dish at Quanjude. Just as any religious pilgrimage is accompanied by certain obligatory rituals and prayers, so too does the Beijing visitor’s …Read More
So the story goes that around 2000 years ago approximately 10,000 Romans, prisoners of Parthia after a failed campaign by Marcus Licinius Crassus (played in this blog post by Lord Laurence Olivier), were put to work guarding the Parthian Empire’s eastern borders in exchange for not being put into slavery or executed. Members of the …Read More
This post represents a bit of a milestone here at Lost Laowai, as it is (if the title didn’t give it away) our 500th one. The first post on Lost Laowai was back in September 2006, and we’ve averaged about 2 posts a week in the 3.5 years since. Going off visitation alone, the most …Read More
I spent several hours over the course of the last couple days compiling a retrospective look on 60 years of the People’s Republic of China, and after getting 1949 to 2003 down in a draft, I realized I didn’t want the site to go the way of the still blocked Peking Duck and Danwei, and …Read More
I’ve been debating with myself today about putting together a post on that topic which has the brass in Beijing with their gitch in a twitch. In truth, I’m a bit muddled on where I sit with the issue. On one side we seem to have Western activists shaking their fists and demanding action, recognition, …Read More
With the fateful anniversary just less than two weeks away, it’s not surprising that the sino-blogsphere is filling up with posts about [*TAM*]. It’s difficult not to comment on it. It’s hard to not feel a bit like there is a necessity to address what has now lain silent for two decades. The tragedy of …Read More
I need to rant. I was hoping I could hold my tongue on the issue, because I know what I’m about to say will only go towards stirring even the most moderate Chinese nationalist into fenqing-edness. But I can’t do it. This comment was the last straw.Read More
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