The final Photo of the Week of 2007 comes from photographer Tom Saunders. As I’m in Canada right now celebrating NYE, I’m somewhat inclined to go out in a rye-induced graffiti binge spreading these numbers across the True North Strong and Free.
Every week we’ll feature an interesting, funny, beautiful or otherwise noteworthy photo here. If you have a photo you think might make a good Photo of the Week, throw it in the pool at the Lost Laowai flickr Group and if you’ve got a great caption for it, send that to us as well.
Elevators are fun. I remember as a kid whenever my dad and me would ride in a crowded elevator, he’d shatter the uneasy elevator silence by loudly exclaiming “See Rick, did you ever notice that nobody talks in elevators?”
I never realized how fun elevators could be until I came to China. Having studied mandarin for a while, it’s amazing the entertainment value that comes from overhearing stuff that your Chinese elevator-mates assume you can’t understand.
I hope that this post finds all its readers in good health, and that a happy and prosperous 2008 is heading your way.
Here’s my return to blogging at Lost Laowai after a busy few months of moving house and changing jobs. When I often blogged on my own site (which now languishes behind the ‘Great Firewall’ with all other Google Blogspot blogs) I did weekly satirical cartoons, so here’s a brand new one especially for LLW, based on a recent realisation that there’s a great deal more in common between Italian and Chinese people than might initially meet the eye.
With apologies to Milan Kundera for the title of the cartoon, here’s “The Unbearable Italian-ness of being Chinese” (Please wait …
Hey all, I’m technically on holidays, so please excuse the lame posting schedule and sorry to finally break the silence with the craptastic news the the Hao Hao Report is currently down.
The site is in the middle of switching servers, and breaking myself away from seeing friends and family I’ve not seen for a year and a half is proving quite the obstacle in getting it all done.
I do apologize profusely, and greatly appreciate everyone’s patience. Things will be back up and running on the 26th.
Today marks 70 years since the imperialist Japanese army entered Nanjing, then capital of China, and began one of the most brutal massacres of the 20th century and has led to harsh friction between the two countries in the years since.
I’ve always liked history, in a purely sofa sort of way. Back when my TV spat out more than CCTVgrime I spent hours of well-wasted time watching documentary after documentary on the History Channel.
So, when I came across The Rape of Nanking while I was hanging out in Northern Thailand a few years ago, it surprised me that I had gone a quarter of a century on this planet and never heard of Nanjing, never mind anyone raping it….
I vividly remember my first trip to Xi’an to view the Terracotta Warriors a few years ago. We took a public bus from Xi’an about an hour away to the site and I remember seeing dozens of factories lining the highway that showed off their wares: phony but authentic looking Terracotta warriors! This got me thinking, “if they can make fake ones look so authentic, would it be such a stretch to think that the whole Terracotta Warriors site is a big fake?” My thinking is that prior to this amazing discovery, nobody outside of China had ever heard of the city Xi’an but now not only is it world famous, the region reaps in billions of dollars every year …
Tired of sending the folks from home some tacky Chinese souvenir for Christmas? Why not send them something that makes a difference?
The Library Project has created some nice gift cards to help raise funds and awareness for their excellent cause - building libraries and donating books to under-funded schools and orphanages in China and across Asia.
The Library Project’s Gift Cards come in denominations of 50, 100, 250, and 500 children’s books (@ $1/book), and feature gorgeous photography taken at schools that The Library Project is currently supporting. If the recipient is in the US, postage is included - as is an envelope.
Not a fan of …
Religion is a pervasive topic of interest when discussing culture, especially in today’s global society - a society in which secularism and orthodoxy battle one another more ferociously than elderly Chinese grannies and repressed housewives at a Carrefour sale. What, too soon?
Though I know merciless missionaries have spread the good Christian faith the world over, I wondered what an analysis of Christian religious tenets from a Chinese perspective would yield. And so, in today’s article, I give you…
The Ten Commandments: Sinofied.
1. I am the LORD thy God. Thou shalt have no strange gods before Me.
Well this one is just silly. The Chinese don’t believe in god(s) - only rice and a …
Our Photo of the Week is a beautiful shot of the very picturesque Jiuzhai Valley (九寨沟) in Sichuan. The photo is one of a collection of equally beautiful images by Ben Kong.
Every week we’ll feature a funny, interesting or otherwise noteworthy photo here. If you have a photo you think might make a good Photo of the Week, throw it in the pool at the Lost Laowai flickr Group and if you’ve got a great caption for it, send that to us as well.
For the December holidays this year, as every year, I will return home to the United States, leaving behind the exasperation of smog-coated lungs and sideways “waiguoren” glances that always last just a smidge too long. Thinking about my impending return brought me back to memories of last year’s trek homeward. And as my mind wandered, I suddenly stumbled upon something. Something I realized would haunt me yet again, as it haunted me every time I returned westward. What is this looming specter of which I speak? It is something I call Sinofication Reflex Syndrome.
For those who have lived even a short time in in the vast hinterland that is China, falling into …
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