Jan 17, 2024 Comments(4)
Along with refraining from using bad language, visiting hospitals and cutting their hair, Chinese people are expected to adhere to some pretty rigorous superstitions over Chinese New Year. Read more>>
Jun 10, 2012 Comments(3)
Tianjin Satellite Television's popular reality show "Only You", in which contestants seek employment from a panel of judges called the "Bosses", has made headlines in the past, notably after a particularly harsh on-air criticism of ...... Read More>>
May 31, 2012 Comments(0)
Photo: worldmeets.us "You are in China. You come to China as foreigner it is your responsibility to know all the laws of China and obey them. You get no special treatment. You go now." Thus speaks the officious little turtleneck as he chucks my ...... Read More>>
May 21, 2012 Comments(2)
Photo: achive.glimpse.org My mother and my alma mater taught me that travelling is like reading—it's one of the best ways to "expand your horizons" and to learn about the "wider world." With this in mind, I came to China intending ...... Read More>>
May 12, 2012 Comments(1)
Photo: globalhub.org Mountains are indelibly etched into the cultural identity of China. So much so, in fact, that the film Avatar, rather than provoking timely musings on colonial expansion, instead spawned a series of discussions about which range of ...... Read More>>
May 10, 2012 Comments(6)
Photo: shardsofchina.wordpress.com Odds are, if you've been out to dinner in China, you've been offered cigarette after cigarette from a dizzying array of brands and boxes. Whether or not you accept them, each one has a specific meaning and makes a ...... Read More>>
May 06, 2012 Comments(0)
Editor’s note: The following article was translated and edited from an article that appeared in the Shenzhen Economic Daily newspaper. The article provides a surprisingly candid introduction to the history of Qincheng Prison, including its Soviet ...... Read More>>
May 04, 2012 Comments(7)
China is a tough place to get a handle on and Chinese culture has been confounding foreigners for centuries. While it is not appropriate any longer to call the Chinese “inscrutable,” (a colonial moniker used to describe the Chinese as ...... Read More>>
May 01, 2012 Comments(5)
Learning about the past is a task that an expat living in China ought to undertake. But if the moral imperative shtick just isn't enough to get you to go out and buy some narrated accounts of China's past, then you're in luck—you can also read them for free. ...... Read More>>
Apr 23, 2012 Comments(3)
Photo: eastasiaforum.org The xiǎo huángdì, or 'Little Emperor', phenomenon is one of those aspects of Chinese culture that attracts the most fervent commentary, both at home and abroad. Ever since the inception of the one-child policy over ...... Read More>>
Apr 22, 2012 Comments(12)
Editor's note: The following article is translated and edited from a story that first appeared on China News Service. The article discusses a women's psychological counselling hotline that is celebrating its 20-year anniversary, and discusses the primary ...... Read More>>
Apr 19, 2012 Comments(24)
Photo: movieline.com Several days ago as I was walking down a main street in Guangzhou city centre, I witnessed a young lady, squatting beside a tree on the pavement, howling with such unbridled anguish into her cell-phone it bordered on lunacy. Her ...... Read More>>
Apr 17, 2012 Comments(0)
Photo: 8asians.com Chinese New Year is usually a time of family unity – of gathering around the dinner table for a home cooked feast, of toasting the new year, of red envelopes, of fireworks. But for one family in Hunan, Chinese New Year's eve ended ...... Read More>>
Apr 12, 2012 Comments(9)
My turn to choose! Photo: laowaiblog.com The stereotype goes that a Chinese woman wants to marry into money. Love is only one consideration; potential partners must also display earning capacity, professional stability and the willingness to lavish ...... Read More>>
Apr 01, 2012 Comments(5)
Photo: ningin.com No one can deny that Chinese girls seem to be a lot more touchy-feely than their Western counterparts, you need only take a stroll along a high street or through a shopping mall in any of China's bustling metropolises to see countless ...... Read More>>
Mar 16, 2012 Comments(19)
At the Lai Lai dancehall in Shanghai's Hongkou district, older gay men gather to socialise and practice ballroom dancing. Most – if not all – are married to women, and their secret gatherings make a poignant sight. Moving gracefully around the ...... Read More>>
Mar 07, 2012 Comments(17)
Guns and politics are often interlinked. In America the Second Amendment enshrines the right of Americans to bear firearms while in China it was Mao who famously commented that 'political power grows from the barrel of a gun' (枪杆子里面出政权- qianganzi ...... Read More>>
Mar 03, 2012 Comments(5)
Raising children is never easy, no matter whether you're raising them in the United States, Australia, Norway or China. The challenges of raising children include sleepless nights, frets over illness, differing approaches to discipline, and stress over ...... Read More>>
Feb 29, 2012 Comments(26)
Editor's note: While many articles have been written about cross-cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications between foreigners and Chinese, often times, these articles are written from the perspective of the expat. The following article, which ...... Read More>>
Feb 20, 2012 Comments(1)
You can tell the ideals of a nation through its adverts, or so the popular saying goes. In the Red China of yesteryear, government officials sought to carefully stage-manage this link through propaganda, using adverts to extol the cultural values they liked ...... Read More>>
Feb 07, 2012 Comments(14)
A few years ago, after giving a presentation on the relatively sensitive topic of Chinese governance and public policy to a room full of Chinese scholars, a member of the audience asked me to clarify what exactly was wrong with the status quo. My response ...... Read More>>
Jan 23, 2012 Comments(0)
As China prepares for the lunar New Year, the entire country is suddenly awash in traditional decorations and folk art. For centuries, Chinese people of every region and background have made use of a wide range of colourful symbols to express their hopes ...... Read More>>
Jan 17, 2012 Comments(7)
If you want to spark a heated debate, simply ask a group of international people their thoughts on body hair. Chances are you'll get a range of opinions that run the gauntlet – from "Removal is a must" to "It's natural." This will ...... Read More>>
Jan 16, 2012 Comments(1)
"You never get a second chance at a first impression" is how the old saying goes, but returning to your adopted country after a stint away can be an exception. People have all manner of tales about their first steps onto Chinese soil, impressions ...... Read More>>
Jan 13, 2012 Comments(2)
Recently one of my friends, who works in a kindergarten, was on her way in to the classroom when a couple of parents ambushed her and thrust an envelope into her hands. Taken by surprise, she wasn’t altogether sure what was in the envelope or what she ...... Read More>>
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