Foreigner loses it on a Chengdu bus driver

The bad laowai category on Lost Laowai has grown a bit dusty over the past year or so, as I questioned whether it was a good idea to lend attention to a very small section of the foreigner crowd who were behaving badly in public (and becoming Youku stars for their efforts). It appeared for …Read More

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Things Done Well: Sinica Podcast

From Manchus to Mo Yan, week after week Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn gather together some of the most well-informed journalists, writers and academics to talk about everything ‘China’. To kick off our new section highlighting Things Done Well, Lost Laowai talks to the hosts of our favourite China podcast, Sinica.Read More

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Video: Epic Chinese scooter driving fail

This Chinese scooter driver learns a valuable lesson about why it’s important to practice driving your new scooter on quiet vacant streets.Read More

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A look at yellow fever documentary ‘Seeking Asian Female’

I was pretty eager to sit down and watch “Seeking Asian Female“, Debbie Lam’s new documentary exploring ‘Yellow Fever’. I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the whole Asian fetish thing, and, admittedly, a bit defensive about it — my wife is Asian and I’m Caucasian. I suppose the thing that gets my back up …Read More

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16 Comments

Expat Advice: Having an abortion in China

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 …Read More

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Top 10 attractive cities for China expats — 2012 edition

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 …Read More

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19 Comments

The Reinvention of an Expat Trailing Spouse

In early 2003, I arrived in China burned out and disillusioned from my corporate position in a small company that had just been taken over by a large corporation. My last days there were spent watching long term managers escorted out of the building clutching paltry severance packages. I couldn’t get out of that toxic environment fast enough. With my expectations high, I gladly signed on as a trailing spouse and vowed to spend our proposed assignment sitting back and enjoying the stress-free life of a pampered housewife. Read More

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Do you know what to do when emergencies happen?

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 …Read More

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Chasing the Chinese Dream

Growing up on the east coast of America in a typical Chinese family, I feel that I’ve come to a general understanding of how two different cultures can clash. Oftentimes I find myself at odds with family members and Chinese family friends alike who regularly voice thoughts and opinions that I just can’t 100% agree …Read More

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6 Comments

Potcast: first-hand account on doing time in a Chinese jail

I’m not sure if it’s fitting or unseemly that I should be posting this today, April 20th, but here we are. A couple years back I remember reading about a foreigner who spent seven months in a Chinese jail. Other than a passing, “man that sucks,” I didn’t think much more about it. I certainly …Read More

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Never Ending Bureaucracy

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 …Read More

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On the Chinese vs. foreigner language wars

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 …Read More

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