While most laowai are probably familiar with the phenomenon of the “ant tribe,” a recent article in The Economist introduced a number of other “tribes” of stressed-out young Chinese struggling to survive in the urban jungle. Perhaps the most unusual is the “crush-crush tribe” (捏捏族), who release their frustrations by hiding in supermarket aisles and [...]
Chinese Culture Posts
Mark Rowswell explains why foreigners hate Dashan
I find it unlikely that there could be a foreigner in China that doesn’t know the name Dashan, and there’s certainly no Canadians unaware of the mystical Big Mountain of Chinese. 大山 comparisons, jokes and CCTV9 Chinese lessons have been a formative staple over the course of my time in China.
This past November the following question was posted on Quora: Why do so many Chinese learners seem to hate Dashan (Mark Rowswell)? He seems like a nice guy. Does he secretly eat children or something?. I’m sure we all have our own answers to that question, but none are likely to come close to the insight and self-reflection that the big Canuck himself answered with yesterday.
Mark Rowswell, the man behind the Mandarin, broke it down into 5 reasons:
Interview with Charles Custer, director of ‘Living With Dead Hearts’
Nearly a year ago I posted about a documentary film being made by ChinaGeek‘s founder (and one-time Lost Laowai contributor), Charlie Custer.
The film, now titled Living With Dead Hearts, explores the issue of kidnapped children in China and how it affects the parents, the children and the whole community. And it needs your help to finish being made.
Earlier this week on his blog Imagethief, Will Moss wrote a poignant and humorous post that couldn’t have summed up better why, as a new father, this issue touches me deeply. So rather than rehash that point here with half the quality of Will’s post, please go read it.
After you’ve done that, please take a moment to watch the following trailer for the film, read my interview below with Charlie and consider giving what you can to help this film be made.
Gift Recycling: China’s Not-So-Underground Economy
As China celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival this past week, countless gifts were exchanged by friends, families, and co-workers in homes and offices all across the country. In the days following the festival, many gifts changed hands once again, this time behind store counters and in narrow back alleys. These second exchanges were part of a [...]
Review: Last Train Home
There’s an undeniable disconnect between being a foreigner in China and being a Chinese in China. Yeah, I know, thank you Captain Obvious. As self-evident as that statement is, it’s sometimes easy to neglect the truth in it and ignore the consequences of what it is to be Chinese in China.
Maybe this is only true for me, but when I first arrived in China I was fascinated with everything. I sucked it all in like a sponge. Every discarded baijiu bottle, weathered shoe repair person, steamy baozi vendor… it was all so noticeable. But after a time these things, and the millions of others of still frames that blur together to form a tapestry of modern China, began to blend into the background as I just got on with living. I shifted from being a curious tourist to a preoccupied resident.
Which is why I’m grateful for having caught Last Train Home, a documentary by Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Fan Lixin, as it re-humanized the mass of strangers just off the edge of my doorstep.
Taoism in modern times
In October of 2010, I was invited to take a welcome break from my life on the hamster wheel that is Shanghai, and visit Jinhua’s famous Taoist temple and caves. I was very excited by this invitation, partly because of my interest in Taoism and its place in Chinese culture, and partly because I had been invited by my new friend Kathy; a US-educated professor of Biochemistry, Taoist, and my guide to the considerable development of Taoist activity in and around Jinhua.
Love, with Chinese characteristics (a conversation)
“You need to understand,” Walter said, lighting a cigarette. “Chinese love is real love.” “And American love isn’t?” Nick said. “Western love,” Walter said, “is not real love. Not in the Chinese sense. It’s not. Their love is deeper, truer.” “Yeah,” Nick said, “I can see what you mean.” He could too. One night at [...]
Nearly half of luxury handbag market from purse-carrying Chinese men
I was the first of my friends to jump on the man-bag fashion-wagon. Despite the constant “murse-wearing” ribbing I took, and the defensive protests that it’s not a “European carryall“; there’s no denying the practicality of not having to load all your modern man-gear into your pockets.
That is to say, I’m quite open to the concept of a man with a purse-like device. Being “practical” is manly, even in heels and a dress. But upon moving to China, I noticed that the men of the Middle Kingdom take things to a whole new level. There were some ground-rules to murse-wearing in the West: it shouldn’t be fancy; if it wasn’t on your back, most of it should rest below your hips; think more Indy than Cindy; and the width of its strap was inversely proportional to its level of femininity.
Chinese men seemed, by comparison, to have quite literally “clutched” on to metrosexualism in a more drastic way. Seeing men walking around with designer purses that looked perfectly suited to carry a tampon and a compact just seemed bizarre.
A Riverside Meeting
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 [...]
