I’ve just returned from a three-week work trip to Mainland China and Taiwan, which involved visits to six cities and twenty-two days of hotel breakfast buffets. (I was rather surprised when I woke up in New Jersey this morning and my only choices were oatmeal with peanut butter or toast with peanut butter—and that I’d … Continue reading Beijing: Brilliant and Beautiful
Winter in Beijing
China had just celebrated Chunjie, or the Spring Festival—otherwise known as Chinese New Year—when I arrived in Beijing in mid-February 2005, but spring felt very far away. Since Beijing and Philadelphia are at practically the same latitude, I hadn’t expected the winter weather to be anything I couldn’t handle. I’d packed a ski jacket, gloves, … Continue reading Winter in Beijing
Five Great Things about Beijing
In the mostly friendly Beijing-Shanghai rivalry game, I’m firmly on Shanghai’s side. I spent six months in Beijing in 2005, and have made regular visits since then, but I’ve never quite warmed up to the city. When people defend their choice to live in the capital, I point to Beijing’s chronically smoggy skies, its often … Continue reading Five Great Things about Beijing
The One about the Café in Beijing
Plenty of Western television shows are popular in China. When I lived here between 2006 and 2008, Lost and Prison Break occupied my classmates’ free time, while Gossip Girl became a hit after I left. More recently, the English-language press has developed a mini-genre of articles exploring the Chinese appetite for various Western TV shows: … Continue reading The One about the Café in Beijing
LA Review of Books: Troubled Waters
The LA Review of Books blog has a spiffy new layout, and they’ve also promoted me to co-editor of the China Blog. My latest post is now up at the site—a discussion of new writing on the Empress Dowager Cixi, who has long been blamed for all of China’s troubles in the late nineteenth and … Continue reading LA Review of Books: Troubled Waters
Shanghai State of Mind
Rivalry between Beijing and Shanghai goes back a long way. It’s often, in my experience, of a friendly sort: upon hearing that I’ve lived in both cities, Chinese will ask me (usually with a smile) which one I like better, and I’ll laugh as I declare that whichever one they come from is my favorite. … Continue reading Shanghai State of Mind
Under Construction: Three Tales of Urban China
Shanghai: The Building Fifteen people gathered in the driveway outside my apartment building as Dad and I approached, many of them screaming at each other, while two policemen seemed content to stand there and watch. I wasn’t sure what to do. Walk through the crowd to get to my door? Join the group to find … Continue reading Under Construction: Three Tales of Urban China
