Category: China
When China meets rural America
Insight into the decline of America’s heartland in the Atlantic by Stephen Bloom, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa: An interesting sidelight to the outflow problem is the rapid influx of Chinese students at the University of Iowa. The university vigorously recruits Chinese undergraduates, and has even set up an office in Beijing […]
The AP, China and taxes
It’s not unusual to find misleading, distorted stories in the media. It’s also not unusual for me to wave off the distortions, because, well, I know better and I can glean something from the story anyway. Today, however, I want to direct you to this AP story about foreigners in China squeezed by pensions, taxes. […]
Pre-Thanksgiving surprise
One of the things I like most about China is that, even though I’ve lived here for two (!!) years now, there are still surprises. For instance, when I found gummy penguins outside my office a couple of weeks ago. And then, in another instance, today, when I was at Wal-Mart after work buying the […]
Penguins outside my office!
The candy man staked out in front of my office today at lunch. Naturally, he and his cart captured my attention with all its colorful, sugary goodness. So many kinds of gummy candy! Gummy bears, gummy lychee, gummy Coke bottles, gummy worms, sour gummies…. Then, I noticed these! Gummy penguins! My sister introduced me to […]
Pollution: A Western conspiracy?
I’ve spent the better part of this week not believing air quality data provided by one U.S. Embassy, as suggested to me by this Chinese official. From Caijing: “China’s air quality should not be judged from data released by foreign embassies in Beijing,” Du Shaozhong, vice head and spokesman of Beijing’s environmental protection bureau, said […]
Snapshot of life
The giant mango
I bought a giant mango. How giant? How about 1.5 kilograms of giant? That’s, like, 3 pounds. It cost me, though. I paid 30 freakin kuai ($4.71) for it. But it was good. I treat myself so well.
I just ordered the Steve Jobs bio!
From Chinese Amazon. Like in the U.S., the book (Chinese edition) has already become the No. 1 seller on Amazon here, with the English version at No. 3, ahead of the Oct. 24 release. For those who can’t wait that long, I saw a street vendor selling a bootleg copy (or maybe a leaked real […]
The evolution of a street at lunch time
If I ever had any doubts about the reality of a rapidly developing China, they may be tempered by the explosion of lunch time choices available to me right in front of my office. When I first started working here food carts parked on the sidewalk carried little more than unappetizing pre-prepared he fan, a […]