Photos
Browse our photos here!
Conversations
Fair Trade iPhones (
12)
Trestle Rider: "
Chip is more than right, although conditions in..."
Forget marketable skills, in China you get paid to be white (
5)
Seth: "
Is it really that easy to get “teaching”..."
Political inoculation and personal empathy in China (
5)
reppac: "
Hi Joel, just came across your blog and it makes for a..."
Foreign baby in China essentials: IMPORTED BABY FORMULA (
29)
Katy: "
This UK website http://www.britishshoppingo..."
“Chairman Mao is like a god to us!” (
9)
Harland: "
Well, I suppose that excuses the fact that he..."
Defining You (Pt. 2): Pick your poison (
2)
Joel 大江: "
Do you have a link for that? I’d like to see..."
C.: "
There’s a guy at the Shanghai Expat site that has a..."
Split-pants vs. Diapers: which do you use? Parents, share your split-pants experience! (
25)
Katrijne: "
I live in Holland and did elimination communication..."
Why Chinese moms are superior mothers, and why their kids need serious therapy (
16)
Andre M. Smith: "
I checked Asian. I had heard it was harder to..."
Chinese “evil cult” propaganda in our Canadian mailbox (
6)
Joel 大江: "
Gives the impression they are well-funded,..."
Videos
See the
videos page!
Chinese take-out
Good good study, day day up!
Pronounced: guāzǐ liǎn
Means: Melon-seed Face. One of the ideal Chinese face shapes.
Albert at Laowai Chinese introduces two ideal and two undesirable Chinese face shapes: The Four Faces of Chinese People (women, really)
- 2012/03/22
InterWǎng Debris
Recent China internet debris.
Eating Bitterness: an intro to the unprecedented Chinese migrant worker phenomenon
If you're unfamiliar with the urban migrant phenomenon in China -- as in, the people who make the stuff you buy and their lives -- then China’s Urban Immigrants: A Diet of Bitterness is a fine overview with lots of links for further reading.
"Chinese metropolises are now home to an estimated 200 million rural-to-urban migrants . . . who occupy a precarious place in the urban hierarchy: while urbanites appreciate their labor, they are less enthusiastic about the migrants’ presence in their cities."
For more on this topic you can browse our Migrant Workers category, or if you like documentaries, see these reviews of two good documentaries on migrant workers:
- 2012/05/10
Chairman Mao enshrined -- literally
When one of my young, very privileged Party-family students passionately told me, "Chairman Mao is like a god to us!" I understood he meant it as a simile. And the god metaphor is common when discussing Mao and his Cultural Revolution personality cult. But as it turns out, in some incredible irony, some other Chinese mean it literally. I heard about this before, but this is the first time I've found pictures -- Mao actually enshrined in a local temple: Mao Temple in China – Chairman Mao Becomes Local God.
For more about Mao and the Mao Era, you can browse these topics:
- 2012/05/08
A deeper look into the dynamics of living with Chinese propaganda
Two insightful posts from Seeing Red in China, which is probably my current favourite China blog, about living in an aggressively and explicitly propagandized environment, and how Chinese try to deal with it. The propaganda still works, but in ways different than us foreigners probably tend to assume. Without further ado:
I tell [my daughter] that she must not be afraid to take a clear moral stand. “If you see someone is being bullied,” I said, “speak up for that person.” “Be the keeper of the good.” [But] Chinese parents would have to think twice, three times, or even lose sleep, if they are to instill these values in their children, because these qualities won’t serve them very well in the Chinese society.
We've written lots on propaganda, mostly the Chinese kind, including translations of the propaganda we've encounter in China. You can find it all in our Propaganda category.
- 2012/05/06
What's this?
I love the new set up! and cant believe you are
leaving so soon.. how excitting for you guys!
I look forward to reading your blog and keeping
up with ya’ll
The journey begins. Hold on. The next few years, and longer, will be a wild ride. Always know whom you follow. It’s all about allegiance, not intelligence.
Dan
we really miss you guys. i made yellow curry the other night and thoughts of you. you both are in our thoughts and prayers.
Thanks guys. Your encouragement is huge. It will be a little nuts for us for a while. The day after we arrive we’re hitting the ground running with the English school, alongside starting 9 credits each online, a small commitment to a local congregation, and we may be making a quick trip to Hong Kong to straighten out our work visas. Our plane leaves around midnight Friday night… sort of feels like we’re about to stick our heads into a firehose, but in 20 years we’ll be glad we did it!
Dan…
You’re right…it has to be about allegiance! I’m definitely not intelligent enough or creative enough to have planned how the last 6 months of our lives have gone! And I probably would’ve planned it all a little bit more boring and predictable, for sure. We’ve often remembered our last night of visiting with you, Brenda, and Isaac. That really helped me to understand that “out on the edge”, tackling things that feel way too big for either of us, and really having to learn to trust God is right where we need to be. It’s definitely a growing place…we are thankful to have friends that pray for us and remind us of what’s most important.
Kelly and Houston…
You ate yellow curry without us??????? (sob). (= Actually, we’ve found several nice little Thai places around the Hope campus, and have been eating pad thai and curry pretty regularly throughout this week. We miss you guys too. I’ll try to write a little more once we get settled in Taiwan.
Love all of you guys…Jessica
I was shocked to see Joel with all the hair! Wow! But the sacrifice is DEFINITE-
LY worth it. Are you guys settled? Are you able to send/receive email? If so, my email is address is rejoyce4ever@cox.net. I understand if circumstances there prevent that from happening. Communicating by blog or via postings through the Hope online program will work. It looks like I have Jessica in my group, which is tremendous. I look forward to hearing from you guys soon!