Saw this on the walk to work (I live and work in the same neighbourhood). These guys are out most mornings. Kicking myself for not having my real camera on hand and having to take these with my phone. Chinese shadow boxing is actually called 太极拳 (tài jí quán). More like this here: Read more
Read moreI ducked my head in this restaurant to see if they served dog. Turns out they don’t serve Japanese. And they totally weren’t seeing the slogan possibility with serving dog but not Japanese. Anyway: “Diaoyu Islands are inherently China’s territory, this restaurant will not receive Japanese people!” ...
Read moreWhen we were beginner language students I translated a dog restaurant menu just for fun. Now this week in Beijing they’re telling people to stop eating dogs. A friend posted this photo yesterday: “Please refuse to eat dog meat! There’s all different kinds of food, but ‘friends’ are extremely precious.” ...
Read moreI know everyone wants to talk about North Korea’s nukes and bird flu, but here’s the big news from our neighbourhood today: a legion of chengguan 城管 showed up to crackdown on vegetable gardens and backyard chicken coups, as was warned about in notices stuck on all the gates a few days ago. My hunch is the neighbourhood...
Read moreInterestingly enough, this was posted beside another notice about how people aren’t allowed to tear up the grass to plant vegetable gardens or raise chickens. Warm and Fragrant Briefing All Respected Property Owners, Hello: To counter the many recent instances in various places of people becoming infected with H7N9 bird flu, various...
Read moreWhen we first arrived in China it was early spring, and we quickly discovered it was standard for people to wear three or more pairs of pants. Indoors. I assumed it was because they had to, because they couldn’t afford decent heating or the facilities and infrastructure were just too old. Haha, silly foreigner… that’s...
Read moreThree photos from this Easter weekend in Qingdao that just happen to represent three different kinds of Chinese engagement with Christianity. Easter in Chinese is “Resurrection Festival” 复活节。 1. Three-Self Good Friday At the local Three-Self Patriotic Church‘s Good Friday service. Three-Self churches can seem stodgy...
Read moreGoing to class and book studying is not enough to learn a living, spoken language. If you’re aiming for ancient Hebrew or Koine Greek then schoolwork is enough because you’re never going to speak it; you just need to read it. But not for Chinese. A living language isn’t just knowledge in your head, it’s a skill you practice...
Read moreEvery week I hear more stories of people we know having run-ins with the Eastern Lightning/Church of Almighty God cult (东方闪电 / 全能父教会). My growing impression is that our city is just crawling with them. This past Saturday a friend (who’s unconnected to the one I mentioned last post), showed me this literature she was given...
Read moreHitting problems sideways goes back thousands of years in China. Wéiqí 围棋 (aka “encirclement chess” aka “Go”) is at least 2500 years old. And while they’re certainly willing to engage in head-on confrontation, using an indirect approach is the standard M.O. for Chinese authorities when dealing with...
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