Sinosplice is 10 years old

Sinosplice 10th Birthday

It’s hard for me to believe, but the Sinosplice blog is already 10 years old today. My first post was April 16th, 2002. You can see 10 years of blog posts all on one page.

Through my early “China is so crazy” observations, to my English teaching posts, to my move from Hangzhou to Shanghai, through my Chinese blogging experiment, to my 3 years in grad school in Shanghai, to a stronger focus on Chinese pedagogy and technology, the only thing that’s really remained constant has been the “China” angle.

But what do I take away from the experience after blogging here for 10 years? Well, it was totally worth it. It wasn’t always easy to keep blogging all these years, but I’m totally glad I have. I frequently tell people that this is one of the single most rewarding activities I’ve ever devoted time to. It’s not that it was non-stop fun, or that it made me rich or made me into a great writer, but it’s connected me with people in ways I never expected. I met some of my best friends through my blog. I got my job at ChinesePod in 2006 through my blog. I’ve made many professional contacts through my blog, and it’s a great channel for new clients to discover my work at AllSet Learning. None of this was planned!

Nowadays blogging feels very corporate, or if independent, usually highly niche. When you look at the Sinosplice blog archive as a whole, it’d be hard say my blog is niche, because it’s changed so much over the years. Content, design, readers… it just keeps changing. I think a certain degree of flexibility with one’s theme is an important ingredient to keeping a blog alive long-term; when you’re overly focused you can write yourself into a corner and run out of things to say (or you just get bored).

So I’d just like to end this post by saying thank you to my readers, past and present, and to encourage those of you out there to put your voice online if you’re at all tempted. You don’t have to have an amazing start, and you don’t even have to be fiercely niche, but somewhere along the way you may find you have a lot to say, and keeping at it can really pay off in unexpected ways.

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. Kaiser Kuo Says: April 16, 2012 at 9:12 am

    Happy birthday!! Congratulations on hitting the 10-year landmark!!

  2. Pete Braden Says: April 16, 2012 at 9:49 am

    Congratulations, John. I got a lot out of your blog. Here’s to ten more good years.

  3. Congratulations, John. I passed my 10-year blogging mark early last year, and while time passes quickly, it perhaps seems less so when I read back about all that happened during those years.

  4. Happy birthday Sinosplice! John, your blog was one of the first I read, even before coming to China. It’s been a constant source of information, humour and entertainment. Thanks for that!

    I also echo your sentiments about the rewarding nature of blogging, as I’ve benefited from it in much the same way you have — especially having met some amazing people, yourself included, because of it.

    To 10 more years of Sinosplice.

  5. Someone thinks this story is fantastic…

    This story was submitted to Hao Hao Report – a collection of China’s best stories and blog posts. If you like this story, be sure to go vote for it….

  6. Happy blogging birthday! I’d refer to this as your blog’s China-versary. You’re a great guy John. 🙂

  7. Happy Blogiversary!

  8. Congrats, John. Sinosplice was one of the first China blogs I read, too, even before we started working together in ’03.

    However, let me go on record as missing chunky salsa.

  9. Great post. I think you’ve outlined all the very best reasons to keep a blog. Keep it up.
    -Ben

  10. Huge, 10 years, 1500+ posts! Nothing comes easy, but to think it all started with a single blog post. Day at a time – it all adds up.

  11. Keep up the splendid work, John.

  12. Thanks, everybody! One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that my readers get nicer and nicer. There was a time (years ago) when it almost felt like the only people reading my blog posts were trolls. This is way better! 🙂

  13. Congratulations! I’ve been a regular since late 2004, and I’ll keep Sinosplice in my reading list as long as it exists. Happy blogging and thank you.

  14. Happy Blogoversary!
    This blog was a major influence in me deciding to take up Chinese, and since it lead me to this terrifying and wonderful country I do feel a kind of connection to it, so congratulations on ten years, and good luck on the next ten!

  15. Congratulations, John! Reading Sinosplice I have learned a lot, been entertained and found out about other resources as well. Thanks!

    Doing another 10?

  16. Congratulations on having blogged for 10.0 years!

  17. light487 Says: April 16, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    Congratulations and Happy Birthday! 🙂

    Just curious.. is that a real cake? If so, what flavour was it and who did the decorations? 🙂

  18. Nice work, John! I don’t know if Skritter would ever have made it off the ground without you basically launching it right here on Sinosplice. May your blog ever hone its edge and grow its power until people worldwide know about China firstly as “that place from Sinosplice.”

  19. Congratulations, John! Doesn’t seem all that long ago, does it?

    And I’m with JohnB — bring back chunky salsa!

  20. Legend.

  21. Congrat on 10 years! It’s been fun, informative, and fascinating following your exploits and evolution the past decade. Thanks again to Sinosplice for helping fan the flames of my Sinophilia, spurring me to actually learning Chinese, and for being such a great resource on the language, country, and culture. Here’s to ten more!

  22. Tom Wills Says: April 16, 2012 at 11:28 pm

    Congrats! It’s not easy to keep a blog alive and relevant for that long. Have always enjoyed reading it, as well as your work on ChinesePod, and look forward to continuing, as long as you keep blogging.

  23. 10 years and counting! 艾老师 from UF recommended your blog back in ’06 and I’ve been following every since.

  24. John, been reading your blog since 2003 on a daily basis … Great work. Damn 时间过的很快啊。。。

    Best Regards from Switzerland.

    Z

  25. Erick Garcia Says: April 17, 2012 at 5:54 am

    I’ve been a reader since about 2008. Keep up the great work, John!

  26. James Theron Says: April 17, 2012 at 9:53 am

    I don’t visit here often enough, and have never wished a blog “happy birthday” before. To keep this up for 10 years is quite an accomplishment. Congratulations on this milestone.

  27. is that all ? come on John !
    I think this calls for a party of some sorts !

  28. Ten years! My goodness. I think I’ve been a regular reader now for at least seven of them. Keep it up!

  29. […] a few weeks ago this blog reached a milestone that I was reminded of a couple days ago when I saw this post about the 10-year anniversary of Sinosplice, one of my long-time favorite blogs. I had missed my own anniversary, which I’ll try to […]

  30. Congratulations on your milestone, and unfathomable thanks for your dogged persistence!

  31. […] of tin/aluminum anniversaries in the China blogosphere. Congrats go out to John of Sinosplice and Richard of Peking Duck for still being […]

  32. Grats john 🙂

  33. congratluations

  34. Would you believe I have read all 10 years worth of Sinosplice blog posts this year?

    Had been vaguely aware of this blog for ages. Read the first few 2002 posts at the end of the Christmas holidays. Just kept going, mostly reading the blog on my phone during commute type downtime. Finished all 10 years worth (apart from the last couple) just a couple of weeks before the anniversary.

    • Wow, really? What’s your impression after reading the whole thing in such a short span of time? What changes in the blog over time did you notice?

      • It probably took a few months for you to hit your stride, but from then up until a couple of years ago, it actually reads really well as a whole. The blog entries are quite random taken individually; language, living in China, hobbies, family, friends, girls, study, work, religion and more. Read as a whole, I felt they they covered all the important things going on inside the head of someone living life to the full. The blog entries built up the story of your life on a day by day basis and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

        A couple of years ago I guess, I felt that you stopped writing on the blog about the things that were the most important to you. The blog entries were still individually interesting, but the narrative thread was lost because I no longer felt that I was reading the story of your life. I missed that to be honest, but I obviously respect your right to privacy and still appreciate and enjoy the effort you put into to this, so I read through to the end (so far).

      • I see. I guess that makes sense.

        Thank you for taking the time to provide the reply.

  35. Carlos Luengo Says: April 19, 2012 at 10:16 pm

    Happy Blogiversary!

  36. Lar Fiore Says: April 23, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    Super awesome!! You and whomever is behind the scenes are an inspiration to us all. Full steam ahead into another decade …

  37. Hi John,

    Happy blogiversity from me as well. It’s a pleasure to read your blog.

  38. Happy birthday and good luck with this year edition of Language Lovers!

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