Site Stuff Posts

Aug112011

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Posted By
Ryan

We’re looking for a few good Laowai

Lost Laowai Wants You Like to write? Got something to say about being a foreigner in China? Why not contribute your thoughts and opinions to the Lost Laowai Blog?

We’re looking to stir some fresh expat pee into the writer pool here. If you’ve got a unique voice, a solid ability to write, and — most importantly — something to say, we’d love to feature your contributions here. Whether you’re dredging out an existence as an ESL teacher, toiling away in the salt mines of Chinese learning, or comparing the size of your (expat) package at the local laowai bar; we want your thoughts, opinions and stories.

Check out the contribute page for some basic guidelines and short FAQ, and then get in touch! Simply outline who you are and why you’d like to contribute. Past writing experience is favoured, but not necessary. We’re a blog, not the New York Times, after all.

Dec252010

NoComments

Posted By
Ryan

Happy Holidays from Lost Laowai

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Lost Laowai.

To see how this very cool image was made, you need to check out the following video from our friends at NeochaEDGE:

Dec212010

3Comments

Posted By
Ryan

China Blog Network: Redux

Back in 2008 I added a new feature to Lost Laowai called the “China Blog Network”, with the simple premise of creating a Webring for China blogs.

Membership consistently grew over the next year and a half, but the script that was handling the CBN was beginning to buckle under the pressure. Wanting a more stable environment, as well as a more expansive and expandable set of features, I began work in my free time on migrating the CBN to its own Web site.

And while I am still flattening a few kinks and shooing a couple assiduous gremlins out of the system, I’d like to officially announce the launch of The China Blog Network (dot com).

Oct212010

4Comments

Posted By
Ryan

Hao Hao Report hits 10,000!

Lost Laowai’s sister site, the Hao Hao Report, hit a rather remarkable (to me at least) milestone today — 10,000 submitted articles. For a site that depends entirely on member-submitted content, I find that fan-frigin-tastic.

It truly would not have been possible without the amazing dedication of its motley membership, and so before I go into the rest of the post, let me use this small soapbox opportunity to first and foremost give a huge thanks to them.

Jul312010

6Comments

Posted By
Ryan

Laowai Answers to questions about China

For what feels like forever, I’ve been tinkering away at a new feature here at Lost Laowai, and I finally feel its at a stage where I can announce it. It’s called “Laowai Answers” and it operates pretty much on the same principle as any of the many of other “q & a” components out there — most notably Yahoo Answers and Answers.com — except ours is completely China-focused.

The concept is simple — have a question about China, post the question, get a answers from fellow China expats and travellers. Just a lil’ Laowai helping Laowai love. A two-way street where expats can gain and share knowledge about living, working and playing in this crazy country we call home (even if for some that’s only temporary).

Mar112010

5Comments

Posted By
Ryan

The 500th Post

This post represents a bit of a milestone here at Lost Laowai, as it is (if the title didn’t give it away) our 500th one.

The first post on Lost Laowai was back in September 2006, and we’ve averaged about 2 posts a week in the 3.5 years since.

Going off visitation alone, the most popular post in that time (and we take little pride in this) was “Zhang Ziyi nude on a beach” (due, in no small part to the fact that we’re high up in the Google results for “zhang ziyi nude“). Ironically, the post’s single (clothed) picture of Zhang has surely disappointed many a one-handed browser.

A better testament to post popularity, in my opinion, is found by taking a look at the posts that have garnered the most conversation over the years. Here are Lost Laowai’s top 10 posts based on comment count — which currently totals about 4,600:

Jan252010

4Comments

Posted By
Ryan

There’s something happening here…

Hey all, pardon the mess. Am in the process of getting Lost Laowai 3.0 up and running, and am bound to be breaking stuff repeatedly while I do so. Apologies ahead of time if you come to the site and get a dastardly PHP function error, or 404 not found notice. A lot of things [...]

Jan012010

8Comments

Posted By
Ryan

2010: The Year China Makes Contact?

Happy New Year from everyone here at Lost Laowai. Another year over and a new one just begun. Here’s to hoping that 2010 reverses what has been a terrible year for Internet openness in China. My New Year’s Resolution is to spend eight minutes each day sending positive mental messages to the switch flickers in [...]

Dec152008

1Comment

Posted By
Ryan

LLW on the move…

Just a quick note to let everyone know that should they be unable to reach the site over the next 24 hours it’s because we’re moving to better servers. Our servers are currently located in the US, but for whatever reason the pipe to the data centre is being squeezed when it hits its last [...]