Welcome back one and all to the September edition of Fact or Fiction. Those of you who read any or all of the last seven will know, every edition I will have a guest and we will discuss a few of the big issues in China of the day. Every answer will have a “Fact†…Read More
I was a foreign teacher in China for seven years.
They say life is too short. Well, then they ought to come to Wuhan, China.Read More
Here’s a great short animated film called “Miss Puff’s Goldfish Bowl” by Beijing-based director Skin 3 (皮三) and his team at Hutoon Studio. The melding of animation with real scenery and people is great — somewhat reminiscent to Linklater‘s “A Scanner Darkly” and “Waking Life”, though in this the protagonist and major characters are all …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
Want to travel this October, but can’t afford to go to Thailand? Â Don’t want to visit Guilin or Hong Kong again? Â Well then this post is for you! A little over a year ago I wrote a post detailing Pingyao, Xiahe, Tongren, Macau, Louyang, Emei Shan, Chongqing, Kashgar, Turpan, and Xishuangbanna as ten places to …Read More
This could be you: You’re in your late 20s and have lived in China pretty much since you graduated from college. Like everyone else, you started off as an English teacher but gradually moved on to other work, learning pretty decent Chinese in the process. And while you like living in China and consider it a second home, you’re beginning to think about moving on. For one thing, Mom and Dad are asking how much longer you’re going to stay there. You broke up with your significant other and you’re single again. And you’re thinking that with the lousy economy it might not be a bad idea to go back to school, pick up a Masters, and reassess your options in a couple of years.
As you probably have guessed, this hypothetical guy described above was me. As of the end of July, I am no longer a laowai, but rather an ex-laowai. Or, if the term ‘ex’ has too permanent and negative a connotation, I am a laowai emeritus. A laowai in exile.Read More
An intriguing photo of a Jiefang Lu street sign in Sanya by Django Malone. Anti-pinyin radicals (no pun intended) or just random graffiti?Read More
We took the 412 bus across the Han Jiang River and then the 26 电 down to a long wall. She led me off the bus and behind the wall. Two men sat playing cards, smoking, their puffs fast and panicky like a beached steamboat. They were sitting in the light and she took me …Read More
I do not know if I will be able to cope with the weather and culture shock. I had spent the whole summer in America grilling, drinking good beer, updating my Facebook account, and stewing about returning to the Middle Kingdom. Two weeks back in country and it was raining girls and I kept forgetting …Read More
When I first saw the title of this post, “Chinese Red Army performing ‘Beat It’“, I had assumed it was just the latest attempt at a mass MJ viral tribute. Which I guess it sort of is, just with less criminals. Either way, I laughed my bits off. The Er Hu solo around the 2:50 …Read More
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