Welcome to the Year of the Fire Monkey! Before I started working in Richmond, I associated Chinese or Lunar New Year with fireworks, the colour red, and strange timing (New Years was a month ago!). This year, I decided to interview my students and co-workers and ask what they thought
Facebook Founder Learns Mandarin Two weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg spoke with students at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Apparently he has been learning Mandarin Chinese, because he surprised everybody by speaking in Mandarin. So, how did he do? From my own limited, but immersive, expe
On the other side of the canola harvest This past weekend, my friend CJ and I went on an adventure to Luoping, which is about a 3.5-hour train ride away from Kunming, in Yunnan province, China. Luoping has several scenic tourist spots but is best known for its canola fields, which sna
The Inspector Chen Series What is it? The Inspector Chen books are a series of detective novels by Chinese poet and writer Qiu Xiaolong. The eight-book series follows Chief Inspector Chen Cao, a police detective, as he solves murders in present-day Shanghai. Who is it for? Anyone who
Can I go to China without a camera? A close friend of mine recently came back from a few months in India, and during our hours-long catch-up one of the things we talked about was taking travel photos. It seems like such an integral part of travel: bringing a camera, sending home pictu
Why China? and the struggle for answers Only three months until I leave for China, which means it’s time for a countdown post. I was planning on sharing my preparation checklist, but then I decided that’s boring (I need to get a visa and some travel insurance and go to the travel clin
Dumplings, please! When I was living in Hefei as a student I wrote a Facebook post called “Things I haven’t eaten in almost a year and will delight in soon.” This was over five years ago, and the list includes some items that are baffling to me now (salami with mayo on rye bread…?), b
Thoughts on travel and identity In six months I’ll be leaving for China to visit a close friend. When I leave, it will have been almost three years from the time I was last in China. As I think about my journey, I’m reflecting on how this trip will be different from others. It’l
