With Summer’s inferno holding much of China tight in her sweaty clutches, I thought it poignant for the latest featured photo to be a capture of something I had never seen before coming to China, and think is all around a fantastic idea — outdoor pool (as in balls and cues, not laps and pee). Throw in a bit of chuar and a whole lot of perspiring cheap beer and summer hot summer nights don’t get any better. This is the first of three photos (Pool II and Pool III) by the very talented Michael Steverson (aka Expatriate Games)
Archive for the ‘Chinese Culture’ Category
Photo: Outdoor Pool
Culture Shock…or Something Like It
I’m back in Canada now for the summer. While this should be easy for me after spending so much time in China, it’s not. This is a strange, strange place to me. What makes it worse is that I feel like I should get it, and people around me feel like I should get it too.
Over the last week or so, I’ve come up with a list of questions about this strange place called “North America” that I’m hoping some of you out there can answer, or provide other questions for your own reverse culture shock.
A Review of China: Portrait of a People by Tom Carter
I write this within a week of coming back to America after a year of teaching English at university in southern Hunan. While it was a wonderful experience, I was eager to get back home and move on to bigger and better things. But then Carter’s book came in the mail from Amazon. My immediate reaction: every expat coming to China should have one for the inevitable day culture shock strikes; the book should come wrapped in white paper with a red cross and the instructions: “For prevention and treatment of culture shock. Open if you have any of the following symptoms…” Just paging through it compels me to return to see what I can see, do what I can do, and meet whoever I can meet.
The Wedding
I went to a wedding last weekend. I’m not sure if it was a traditional wedding, if there really is such a thing among these billion grains of loose sand. I do know it took place in the bride’s hometown, outside. In the summer. A Hubei summer, no less. The mosquitoes were on the hunt, [...]
Laowai Lush Caught on Tape
Charles at ChinaGeeks pointed me to the following video in his most recent post, “What an Idiot Foreigner Shows Us About Xenophobia and Sexism in China.”
The video shows an extremely drunk foreigner stumbling down the street, having an incredibly patient cop try to help him out, exclaiming he loves China, hugging said cop, kicking at his father-in-law, falling off one of those coin-op children’s rides outside a shop, showing the children’s ride who’s boss, and then getting violent with the police before being carted away.
The laowai relapse
There I was, a 6-month China veteran, standing in the middle of a Beijing street, having my first ever argument with a tuk-tuk driver, while my shell-shocked parents and younger brother gaped in awe. To my credit, the argument was in Chinese. Not to my credit, my part of the argument consisted of about 3 [...]
24 hours / 24 photos — Spring Festival in Liuzhou
Liuzhou, China over one 24 hour period: 08:01:25 PM
Michael Steverson, better known as “Expatriate Games” in the blogsphere and on Flickr, has put together an awesome project entitled “Xin Nian Hao – 24 Hours in Liuzhou“. The series of photos and accompanying stories chronicle an entire day (one photo an hour) over CNYE and into the early morning hours of the first day of the new lunar year.
Chun Jie: The Next Generation
I really like Spring Festival. Honestly. Every year I hear the arguments about the “crazy Chinese and their crazy fireworks”, but despite the noise (and limb-losing danger) I have to admit that I get a bit caught up in the season.
I suppose I’ve not been here long enough yet to truly understand what that holiday feeling is, certainly not to the extent my wife and her compatriots do. Being home for the Christmas season this past December, I saw this in reverse. My wife likes Christmas; she liked the food, the gifts and the family visits (mostly the first two). But I don’t think she can really understand that “Christmas feeling” like those who have grown up in the culture do. That feeling, even at my rather ripe age and lack of religious penchants, that something magical happens between Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.
But even with the limits of cultural comprehension; by comparison, I think we can all get the significance of what this season brings. That warm feeling of family, a great connect that spans generations. For the young, a chance to get a bit of cash and some new clothes; for the old, an opportunity to look back and see how life and family has changed over the years.
Laowai Girls like Asian Boys
Bruce Lee, Rain and Jay Chou
The fanaticism with Asian men probably started with the increased availability of Asian media in America. It may have all started with Bruce Lee. Now attractive Asian men are common on American TVs and computers with boy bands, dramas, and Kung Fu movies.
Raising kids in China
For their Perspectives feature in the Expat Corner, eChinaCities asks laowai and native Chinese alike to comment on issues that affect all those who live in China. This week’s question was, “Would you rather raise your children in China or abroad?” I ended up writing a much longer response than is necessary for the Perspectives [...]
