Hung out with the foreigners from the office today after work. As usual, had very interesting conversations that provided intriguing perspectives on the motherland. Then met some more foreigners from the States who were here interning with some city planning folks. Made me wonder: As Westerners, we tend to think of our Chinese colleagues as […]
I wrote a post recently about a Web site featuring Chinese nappers. To ruin the fun and save you the time of looking at all the (hilarious) pictures, the point of it was: Chinese people can sleep anywhere. Like on bicycles, park benches and rocks, and usually in a really awkward position. Anyway, here is […]
I’ve been in Beijing for almost two months and had not yet eaten the famous Beijing kao ya (Peking roast duck, duh). Until tonight. A few of my colleagues took Chris and me to a nearby branch of Bianyifang. Most people are more familiar with Quanjude, but Bianyifang goes back further in history — like […]
Blue Frog is known for its hamburgers, but this restaurant looks far from any meat-lover’s paradise that I knew of back home. Instead, it had the trendy vibe of being a cafe by day and bar by night. When we arrived, there were people sipping juices from tall glasses, engaged in deep conversations or busy […]
Chinese beer has its fair share of critics (loaded with preservatives, bland, low alcohol content, etc.), but what are the alternatives? It’s either no beer or expensive imports. But Chinese beer also has a really weird pricing system that doesn’t seem to be governed by a normal market economy. Here is what you can expect […]
Oh, man, I’ve been one-up’d by one of my Chinese colleagues! Its main functions include selling postcards and philatelic products, customizing postcards and stamps and offering free seals of scenery of Tiananmen. Did any non-stamp scholars/collectors know what “philatelic” meant?
Here is an example of a routine polishing job: Democracy and freedom, as essential elements of a modern civil society, have already been recognized by the Chinese government… Recognized, though apparently not put into practice. But a little recognition can go a long way. At any rate, the piece it comes from was written by […]
First, comparisons to last year’s riots (“protests”) in Tibet focused on the media’s bias in naming the incidents, which led to speculation that discrepencies in reporting may be because Tibetans are peaceful Buddhists and Uyghurs are Muslims. Now, Glenn Greenwald is lamenting that if only Uyghurs were Christian, the Chinese government would be much more easily […]
After blocking Twitter yesterday, China seems to have blocked access to Facebook and AIM, as well. At least, I can’t get on them. I can’t find any reports of problems with AIM, but I have no idea why I can’t get on it (Chinese people use MSN Messenger, anyway). It went down around the same […]
China.org.cn sent me over to the Olympic Green last Wednesday for free. Impressions: The Bird’s Nest seems really small from the inside. The track and field were covered up from the concert the night before, so it was hard to imagine how they fit 10,000 athletes on it. The Water Cube is the cutest little […]