China Videos
Video: China, China…
Some days it just feels like this:
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Humour
The first time I used a squat toilet
Is successfully using a squat toilet a sign you’ve “adjusted” to life in China? I never grew comfortable with squat toilets, and the more public they were, the worse shape they were in. The absolute worst was in a public restroom in a smalltown bus station, where you had rectangle-shaped stone holes, side-by-side. No privacy. …Read More
Humour
Fun with the 100 RMB bill
Being bright pink, the 100å…ƒ note comes across as a bit of a 2D party. That with it you can buy a boatload of stuff in cheap-as-chips China also gives it a certain fun-factor. But I’m here to tell you, there’s more!Read More
China Videos
Shit Laowai Say
Alright, I’m a bit slow picking this up, as it made the rounds a few days ago, but felt it was worth the late share all the same. It really should be called Shit Shanghai Laowai Say as there’s a lot of very localized references in it (I miss Sherpa’s), but still quite funny.
What do you mean you don’t have a VPN? 🙂Read More
Featured Photos
Photo: The Shooting Stance
A lot of photos I choose to feature here are serious, gritty or artsy — felt it was about time for a humorous one. Taken at Suzhou’s famously-designed-by-IM-Pei museum, it looks like this guy is putting some Tai Qi lessons to practical use. Check out Jun Ballena’s photostream for a whack of beautifully vibrant photography.Read More
Teaching ESL
A few signs your MA in TESOL program is a bad choice
I’ve given some thought to doing an MA in TESOL. After all, I taught it in China, liked it, so why not earn 5,000 RMB a month instead of a mere 4800? All I need is a golden ticket. Luckily, I found one, via a Google ad on a message board. Upon seeing the heading, …Read More
China Travel
Prostitutes and Full Immersion Learning
The best thing about learning the language of a country you are living in is full immersion learning. Everyone is a potential teacher, and everything around you is your learning materials. I really learned this lesson during a recent trip to Beijing. It was a weekend, and all the hostels were sold out so we …Read More
Fiction
The Outdoors Poetry Exercise
Keith, already suspicious of John, is doubly suspicious now that John missed their dinner appointment. On a rainy Friday, he wonders about John’s motives for being in China, as he implements a fresh idea into the classroom: a poetry exercise, where the students go outside, and use English to write a poem about what they …Read More
Fiction
Keep It Simple and Stupid
Our hero is John, who is wandering through life without purpose. This wandering led him to a humanities degree, then to unemployment, and finally, to the great refuge of unemployed humanities majors: ESL in China. Though Wuhan later becomes an existential swamp for John, here at the beginning, everything is new and exciting. This is …Read More
Chinese Politics & News
Xinhua featuring weird science, poor grammar and hybrid boobs
It’s tough being a Chinese press agency. It’s even tougher being the Chinese press agency. Everyone’s just waiting for you to stumble, people label you as a “mouthpiece”, call you “unethical” and “biased”, and dub you “pseudo-journalists”; but through it all you staunchly hold your head high and publish this:Read More
China Videos
History of China in 3½ Minutes
This is just all sorts of awesome. Created by the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors (bio below), the video delivers what’s on the box — the (abridged) history of China in 3 1/2 minutes.
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China Videos
Canuck expat loses it at train ticket office
Some Gems: “Chinese people need to learn brains.” “It’s 2011. Chairman Mao is dead.” And the kicker: “See, I’m Canadian, I don’t have to shut up. Chinese people have to shut up. Canada people [sic] don’t have to shut up.”Read More
