Most will remember back in 2012 when the video of an American impersonating 12 international accents in Chinese went viral. The half-Chinese Beijing resident, Mikeéš‹ (Mike Sui), is back with an all new video packed with at least as much funny and even more impressions.Read More
Possibly coming to a TV or Youku stream near you is a new sitcom called No Pets or Foreigners, which follows the misadventures of Melvin and Larry, two Westerners in Beijing, as well as their brusque Chinese landlord Mr. Li and his materialistic daughter Lingling.Read More
Laowai favourite, the Onion-esque China Daily Show has made the big time with a profile in the New York Times/International Herald Tribune, along with an interview with the site’s illusive creator, “Mr. R”. Traditionally, authoritarian states resent satire – laughter is powerfully subversive – and China is no exception, carefully controlling critical chuckles in the media …Read More
I’m a week away from finishing my first academic year as what can loosely be described as a university teacher in China. Someone told me that I should write some kind of retrospective/memoir, but that sounded like far too much work. I mean, I’m on holiday in a week. I’ve begun the wind-down and I’m …Read More
A lot of photos I choose to feature here are serious, gritty or artsy — felt it was about time for a humorous one. Taken at Suzhou’s famously-designed-by-IM-Pei museum, it looks like this guy is putting some Tai Qi lessons to practical use. Check out Jun Ballena’s photostream for a whack of beautifully vibrant photography.Read More
It’s tough being a Chinese press agency. It’s even tougher being the Chinese press agency. Everyone’s just waiting for you to stumble, people label you as a “mouthpiece”, call you “unethical” and “biased”, and dub you “pseudo-journalists”; but through it all you staunchly hold your head high and publish this:Read More
There is a Chinese saying, è™Žçˆ¶æ— çŠ¬å, which mirrors the old Western adage “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Love him or hate him, it’s tough to argue that the late Mao Zedong wasn’t extremely charismatic and a commanding leader. The same is not as often said about his grandson, Mao Xinyu. A new …Read More
“How can someone who exists on the fringes of a society understand that society?” Jack said. “You’re a laowai, a wai guo ren, an outsider. You can’t understand pigs without shoveling pig shit, you shouldn’t even fucking eat bacon. How can you be an expert on death without taking the occasional life?”Read More
Sometimes conversations in China turned sour. The risk substantially increased after the novelty of being somewhere new wore off and culture shock set in. Here it was very easy to idealize my beautiful country of golden fields and azure skies, and criticize my new home in the City of Perpetual Gloom. You can try staying …Read More
Today I read part 1 of the Forbes China Tracker Blog article Weird Things That People Get Used to in China (a translation of a Chinese article on NetEase).  I suppose it is about things that Chinese people get used to, but since I’m leaving soon (countdown: 4 days), I figured I’d write one based on the …Read More
Having a bit of a lazy day this Sunday past, I took up residence on my sofa and watched three Russell Peters DVDs back-to-back. Russell, for those unaware, is a Canadian-Indian comedian whose routine is largely made up of racially-centric jokes, and he’s milk-out-the-nose hilarious. I love stand-up comedy, and it is one of the …Read More
Ever wonder what happens when an edutaining Chengdu traffic cop runs square into China’s fÄ“i zhÇ”liú culture? Well, wonder no longer. Thanks to the relatively new blog, Veggie Discourse, having subtitled this in English, we can all enjoy a gender-bending, hair-raising motorcycle safety video together: If you’re outside of China, or have a good VPN, …Read More
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