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Socks With a Story
I could feel her creeping closer to me, watching me. The subway car was almost deserted, and I had been entirely alone on a long bench before she boarded the train and sat down at the other end. But over the past minute, she’d slid closer and closer until I could feel her within a…
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Have Yourself a Merry Mini Christmas?
I live a 15-minute walk away from West Nanjing Road, Shanghai’s version of Rodeo Drive. This busy street is lined on both sides by luxury brand stores and massive high-end shopping malls, almost all of which are now decorated for Christmas. I was walking home via Nanjing Road last night when I passed by one…
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The Bridges of Taishun County
Guidebooks, as I’ve said before, are a great planning aid when I want to go somewhere specific or just want to browse for travel ideas. But guidebooks, of course, have an inherent limitation: they only describe those places that have already landed on the tourist’s map. In China, this often means that fascinating but difficult…
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The Ghosts of Moganshan
Saturday, November 10: Moganshan is a ghostly place, particularly on a foggy day in early November. We arrived at the top of the mountain late Saturday morning, and after a slow lunch in one of the few restaurants open during the off-season, I set off alone to explore. I followed a newly built set of…
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On the Road
Saturday, November 10, 8:20 a.m.: The highway cutting across Zhejiang province is smooth and empty, its three lanes containing only a few trucks and tour buses in addition to our own. Just beyond the barricade separating the road from the fields that sit beside it, billboards rise every few hundred feet. Visit Xitang. Buy China…
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The 18th Party Congress: A Shanghai Perspective
It’s been happening at least once, and generally more like two or three times, per day this week: I’ll be working away on my computer when things suddenly slow down. Gmail stops responding. Apple Mail goes offline. Google searches take minutes instead of seconds, and end in a message that “the server could not be…
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Where Am I?
I’ve been experiencing the strangest feeling lately: from time to time, I forget that I’m in China. I know this sounds absurd. After all, China seems like it’s almost inherently the polar opposite of the United States; every day here should be full of reminders that I’m in a different country, living inside a different…
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I Think I Need a … Guidebook?
As I packed to leave for Shanghai earlier this month, I worried about forgetting things. Most stuff, of course, I could replace here if I really had to (though not shoes—my 10WW feet are freakishly large in the U.S., let alone China), but so far I haven’t realized that I’ve forgotten anything important. One item…
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The Street of Eternal Happiness
I’m not entirely sure I can blame this mental lapse on jet lag and the sinus infection I was nursing last week, but I’ll try anyway. The street I live on here is called Changle Lu. I’ve been saying the name for days, without giving a whole lot of thought to the meaning behind those…
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If Anyone Needs Me, I’ll Be at IKEA
Getting my apartment was surprisingly easy. I picked it out on Saturday and went to Jacky’s office early on Tuesday morning, armed with my passport and an enormous stack of renminbi (the largest denomination is a 100RMB bill; I had seventy-nine of them to pay my first month’s rent and Jacky’s commission). Bathrobe Guy showed…
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Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 