Part One: The Patrons
A Chinese museum is a fascinating place. Not because of the exhibitions of history. No, in a country with a heritage longer than that of Jesus the ubiquitousness of artifacts is less impressive than expected. Nowadays, with a proliferation of middle class Chinese people embracing all forms of...
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Coming from America, or some nation similarly skilled in methods of clandestine waste removal – with magic, automatic flush toilets; color-coded trash bins; and troops of picker-uppers who carouse the streets in great machines with as much authority as fire engines – such unglamorous, undisguised removal may be a bit shocking. Here in...
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While most travelers come to this great land in order to see the famous structures it has erected – ancient walls, temples, and fortresses, or even the more recently built stadiums and towers – they regrettably miss out on another important, and arguably more impressive, sightseeing possibility. Here, not only can one...
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THE RED COATS ARE COMING! THE RED COATS ARE COMING!
Be it a tourist troop or school field trip, you will find these proliferating cherry swarms at most entry-fee free destinations in China. From the youngest shame-free squat-n-shitter to the saggy-jawed, corner-occupying coot, outfits of easy-to-spot-red are all the rage in this country...
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Hey, it looks just like me!
Have you ever wanted a view of the real China? Are you the sort of tourist who loves to dive into the heart of a place and see how it ticks, warts and all? You’re in luck. Inside Communist China’s new Living Museums, otherwise known as...
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Q: How many people does it take to clean a store front window? A: Here in China where excessive quantities of workers crawl around a business like lice on a head: As many as can fit + at least one.
Once a year Spring finds its way to the greatest and only real...
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While Western cultures love to adorn their homes with strings of lights and sling tinsel over trees, Chinese neighborhoods offer eye pleasure of a different sort. Ever a practical people, their decorations typically consist of edibles, including – but not limited to – sausage chains, seaweed streamers, and sliced radish festoons; aside from...
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It is a well known fact that each year the moon oscillates through its coquettish cycles of shyness and confidence, inching its way across sky, revealing all and then all but disappearing twelve times. The reason it does this, however, is not so well known. This is only because the Chinese do...
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China loves Walls. Chinese people build walls everywhere. Some are great, some are less so. Many serve multiple purposes such as advertising, keeping people in, keeping people out, hiding something from view, indicating property line, etc. Usually, when a wall isn’t tall enough to deter ninjas, they line the top with shards of glass....
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Look Mao no ropes!
Following the busy Spring Festival season (January to February), Chinese acrobats and Lion Dancers all over the country return to their blue collar day jobs.
Lifting your eyes up from the gray, uneven sidewalks (safer done while standing still – if you’re blocking a sidewalk, just pretend to speak into a cell...
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