The ad-hoc grassroots organization, China Foreign Teacher's Union, recently announced they had obtained a secretive ESL teachers blacklist used by various schools throughout China to keep tabs on teachers who become "problematic".
The list, sent to the group anonymously and entirely in Chinese, "contains the names of 796 teachers of which 673 are foreigners. 82% of the foreign teachers listed working in the Beijin…
I just wanted to share my story in case (like I was) there is another female expat out there looking for information on the experience of having an abortion in China. I was frantically searching the web for information on this when I found out I was pregnant here and found next to nothing, so maybe my story can help someone or put another worried expat at ease.
I found out I was pregnant while on May Day vacation …
The results of China's annual expat survey, conducted from September to December last year, are in. More than 175,000 expats participated in the survey via both online and offline voting.
The 10 cities were selected based on their performance in terms of policy and administration, as well as working and living environment for foreigners. Criteria required the cities be prefecture-level or above, and excluded Hong …
Our first few months in China were spent battling culture shock as I slogged through a haze of expat parties, dinners, and setting up house. I'll admit that I also competed with other wives in the endless search for the best deals on knockoff purses, tailored coats, and elaborate antique furniture. When I'd filled my closet and my house with pointless trinkets, I came to my senses and looked for something real to be …
Richard Brubaker recently wrote a poignant piece at All Roads Lead to China called "When the Ambulance Doesn't Come", in which he talks about the recent heart-breaking story of a 3-year-old British boy in Shanghai who died from injuries sustained when a partition at a restaurant fell on him.
Though the mother and restaurant owner rushed the boy to the nearest hospital, they were told by a security guard that t…
There's always "one more thing" that wasn't mentioned the first time around.
I'm in the middle of the registration process for a client's company.
Because I know the process, and because the sole reason for hiring my personal assistant Jimmy was to have someone who stands in lines, things are going much much faster for him than when I did the registration on my own -- but things aren't exactly going smoothly.
…
After my last post for Lost Laowai, where I expressed my annoyance with the irritating and pointless public announcements in Chinese public transport, I will now move on to another aspect of life in China which I find irritating: the tendency of the Chinese to address foreigners in English even when it would be easier for both to speak Chinese.
This particular irritation is perhaps not shared by all the foreig…
Over the years I've lived in China, certain aspects of life here have begun to bother me more and more. I think it's normal. Every long term expat has their pet peeves about China. There is one particular thing which began to irritate me when I had been living in China for around three years, and has bothered me ever since. I am talking about the constant noise pollution you suffer when you take any means of publ…
Philippines-based tour operator, A3 Tours & Travel, recently posted the following story on their Facebook page from a passenger on a Hong Kong flight. The tl;dr of it is that you should not naively believe your carry-on luggage is safe in the overhead bins -- the contents might not just have shifted during flight, they might have been lifted.
As many of us routinely fly, and specifically fly the flights li…
In response to "What tips and tricks have you learned that have made it easier to live in China?" recently asked on Quora, long-time China expat and Beijing resident Kaiser Kuo dished out some fantastic advice -- his last one, quite possibly the toughest to follow, is my fav.
Stay tuned after Kaiser's advice for a couple items of my own, but really these pretty much nail it:
Read Quote of Kaiser Kuo's answer to…
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