There is a North Korean newsreel going around Weibo on how Americans live today. Its Chinese title is “The Deeply Suffering Imperialist American People”: I am laughing, incredulous and indignant at the same time. The things the narrator says are what you expect a satirist would come up with and said with such perfect deadpan […]
Too busy and too lazy lately, even though I’ve thought of a lot of things to say! So, here’s the short, bulleted version, in chronological order: A modern Chinese wedding. Boyfriend and I went down to Shanghai during the National Day holiday to attend one of his college friend’s wedding. It was interesting, to say […]
Liu Xiaobo, the professor and human rights activist who authored the Charter 08 petition that called for democratic reform, has the highest odds to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Liu, who was arrested last June for inciting subversion of state power, was sentenced to 11 years in jail in December. Unless you count the Dalai […]
Summits are not my thing. Even as much as I love travelling, the World Travel and Tourism Council’s annual get-together in Beijing these few days is just a bit dry and (save for a few interesting reports) unenlightening. Where’s anything about eco-tourism? Voluntourism? They did talk a lot about sustainability and doing environmentally-friendly things (especially […]
It’s impossible to escape the World Expo here in China. Billboards everywhere remind you it’s happening this summer. Its scary mascot, Haibao, pops up suddenly when you least expect it. New government regulations remind locals to behave themselves. There is a swell of national pride that makes any foreigner scratch his head in wonder of […]
“I believe that Chinese peacekeepers will win the glory for the motherland with their own strenuous efforts and successfully implement rescue and peacekeeping missions in Haiti.” Hu Yunwang, director of the 5th anti-riot police force in Haiti in 2007, to Sina.com. He is being deployed there again to help with peacekeeping efforts in the earthquake […]