Last month I was in Yinchuan on business. I normally hate watching TV in China, but when I’m on a business trip, bored in a hotel at night, I’ll often turn the TV on. It was on one such instance that I happened to see a commercial which really disturbed me.
The beginning of the commercial had a man and a woman doing a soap opera-esque scene. I don’t remember it too clearly, because I wasn’t paying close attention at …
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Nowhere does this ring truer than in China, where guanxi reigns supreme.
Guanxi has been translated in a lot of ways, such as “relationships” or “social networking.” Since it’s so often sort of a shady business (especially in government), I prefer the more colloqiual translation “connections.” That way having my own guanxi makes me feel like I’m in the mob or something.
A while back I wrote about how I applied …
Recently I mentioned that I had been in the hospital. I’ll share some of that experience now.
The reason I went to the hospital is that over the past year I have developed a case of varicose veins in my right leg, behind the knee. I’m not crazy about going to the doctor in China, but since it has definitely gotten worse over the past year, I decided it was time to have it looked at. There’s an “international” hospital …
I’ve noticed a trend lately. A lot of the blogs I used to read are dead or dying. I think it’s at least partly attributable to problems accessing Blogger in the PRC. This seems to be the reason for lack of updates on Sinobling, Hangzhou Lovin’, and Chabuduo. Laowai Monologues is somehow managing to get new posts up, but not without a lot of frustration.
This trouble started about the time my last host started going bad, …
In my last entry I wrote about Wednesday’s concert and I said that the band I liked the best was 花儿 (the Flowers). Since writing that post I have gone out and bought their latest CD and given it a good listen. What to say? Hmmm…
At the concert, Flowers was certainly the band with the most energy and enthusiasm. They have quite a few fast-paced songs. I haven’t heard their earlier stuff, but listening to this new CD, I …
Yesterday I met up with some friends to go to a concert. Among them were Brad and Micah. We ate an early meal of sushi. The restaurant played Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do I Do for You” on repeat the entire time we were there. I was served an interesting California roll:
Is this normal for California rolls now?! I gotta say I feel there’s something wrong with mixing cantaloupe and wasabi….
Then we were on to the concert. …
The moon represents my heart. I wince when I type out this sentence. It’s terribly awkward English, but I really don’t know how else to translate it. I’m no accomplished translator or anything, but I’ve given this quite a bit of thought and come up with nothing better.
月亮代表我的心 (“The Moon Represents My Heart”) is an extremely famous song in China. Most foreigners here know it, and every Chinese person seems to know it. It’s a pretty simple song, but …
It’s one thing to be able to read Chinese characters. It’s another thing entirely to be able to read hand-written Chinese.
Here’s an interesting collection of autographs and little notes written by Chinese stars. Click on the thumbnails; there are actually decent quality scans on there.
Even if you can’t read Chinese, take a look. I think you’ll be surprised.…
Coincidences are a mathematical certainty, I suppose, but they never cease to amaze.
My most mind-boggling coincidence happened to me a few years ago when I was living in Hangzhou. I was on the 3rd or 4th floor of the computer market, browsing computer software and MP3 compilations. Just wondering around, I bumped into my old anthropology professor Dr. Smith, who had taught me 4 years previously in Osaka, Japan.
* * * * *
This morning I went …
John has lived in China for
11.5
years. He is a linguist focused on SLA and tech.
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