I didn’t blog about the YouTube block earlier this month because I just couldn’t accept it as the truth. Sure, I got the denial of service message just like the rest of the folks stuck here behind the GFW, but something just wouldn’t let me believe it was actually happening.

I woke up each day, determined today would be the day that the balance in the universe would be set right, and I would again be able to watch ninjas give me advice and random clips of people getting hit in the balls. Every day I was left wanting. That is, until today.

YouTube is unblocked!!

And to celebrate, here’s a cool little video. If you can’t see it - it …

That was the nicest way I could think to put it.

 Forget self-censorship and beating around the bush. Let’s get right down to brass tax: Why is it that I always feel pressured by my Chinese friends, colleagues, and random acquaintances to believe in the “Glory of China”?

Hey, China! I’m here. I’ve lived in disparate cities all over your territory. I’ve traveled thousands of miles from home. I’ve spent thousands of dollars keeping my parents at bay by traveling a collective twenty-eight hours between China and my home country and back again, twice every year. I’m still here almost two years later. I get that China has its good points. This is not lost on me. Please do not tell me …

This week’s Photo of the Week is by an extremely talented photographer, Shelby Karns. I chose this photo because it captures the action and the joy of the moment, but also because it reminded me that sometimes things aren’t so different for kids here as they were for me when I was a tot.

Every week we’ll feature a funny, interesting or otherwise noteworthy photo here. If you have a photo you think might make a good Photo of the Week, throw it in the pool at the Lost Laowai flickr Group and if you’ve got a great caption for …

There are few things the Chinese seem to take as seriously as their coveted Traditional Chinese Medicine™.

Though TCM is a complex and multi-faceted health practice, some of it, it needs to be said, is complete bunk.

Walking into any pharmacy here is like taking a step into the hovel of MacBeth’s three witches. I’ve not actually seen newt eyes or frog toes in packages featuring old folks living healthy and rewarding lives, but I’m damn near certain they’re in there.

And it doesn’t stop in pharmacies. If you’ll pardon the pun, it’s boiled over into major supermarket chains as well. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I can, should I need, …

I’m a romantic. I like romatic places. China, in general isn’t.

I state my case:

Think China, think The Great Wall. Long. Visible from space. Testament to power, fear and a plentiful supply of labour. Kind of pretty in winter in the less frequented sections, I admit. Romance rating: 3/10
Think China, think The Forbidden City. Even the name gives you a hint, forbidding indeed. A vast, empty place. Not even the wooden sleeping chambers and tales of a myriad concubines can save points here. Romantic rating: 2/10
Think China, think The Terracotta Warriors. For terracotta lovers everywhere, the ultimate army, but for “lovers” per se ? Romance Rating: 1/10

Even the seductive promise of watching the sunrise from the top of a mountain - any mountain …

Announcer: Well folks, it’s that time again. “What time is that,” you ask? Well, my naive foreign friends, it’s time once again to play “What’s My Party Line?” Which - coincidentally - works for either our beloved CCP or a bunch of friends on a shaky 1950’s telephone connection. [chortle, chortle] Ahem.

Our contestants today include…

Ping! Born and raised in Beijing, Ping has recently returned from his first foray out of the Chinese wilderness. After a year of study at a British university who expressly demanded that we not use its name on the air - let’s just call it “Hame-bridge” - Ping has returned to China, fresh-faced, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and severely deprived of expensive, low-quality sidestreet showarma. Welcome, Ping!

Ping: Thank …

Sometimes, in China, people get bored.

Look, I hate to be the one to burst your tiny ethnocentric, Sinopheliac bubble, but after the first three months of requisite ooh-ing and ah-ing at all the Culture™, you’ve had your fill of berry-faced beggar children and all you want is a cup of hot chocolate and some Battlestar Galactica, please.

All Chinese temples look the same. There are tiled roofs, which are mostly yellow, with grass growing out of them, which is mostly green. There are old stones with moss on them, which are all sort of square. Occasionally, if you’re lucky, there are monks. In identical robes, with kindred haircuts. Sorry boys, I brake for wii access.

Cure for Sinophilia is Living in China, …

This week’s Photo of the Week comes from Douglas M. Paine. It’s a shot I’ve seen a hundred times, and have several of myself, however Douglas’ use of HDR gives this shot of Pudong just a sweet, sweet finish. Plus, check out that creepy looking face in the clouds on the right.

Every week we’ll feature a funny, interesting or otherwise noteworthy photo here. If you have a photo you think might make a good Photo of the Week, throw it in the pool at the Lost Laowai flickr Group and if you’ve …

Well, with YouTube blocked in China, and all the search engines all getting redirected to Baidu, what’s a boy to do but play with himself… erm… his Web sites.

I adore the Hao Hao Report. She’s my little baby, but her looks have always irked me. Due to a rather crappy separation between source code and styling, whipping up a custom template has always been a bit of a headache I wasn’t willing to endure. Until now.

With the Pligg software (the open-source software I run Hao Hao on) becoming more and more popular, even in this small niche, I figured it was about time I stepped up, sat …

Back in June, I posted about The Walking Dutchman, Jans Vroomans. This dude is pretty hardcore. He set out last year, on October 14 (2006), from the Netherlands. His intention was to walk all the way to China, passing through the Ukraine, Russia, and Kazachstan.

Ambitious hey? And here I find it hard to walk to Wal~Mart…