For lunch today, I and some colleagues headed off to our favorite Hunan restaurant, across the street from our office. It’s a great place. By noon the place was full, and we were busy stuffing ourselves with all manner of super spicy peppers (a characteristic of Hunan cuisine), when suddenly the patrons at a nearby […]
The Great Mooncake Exchange
It’s Moon Festival today in China. Below is an essay I wrote about it a couple of years back. Time for it’s annual re-publication. Today is Zhong Qiu Jie, (lit. Mid-Autumn Festival) in China. In colloquial terms, it’s called the Moon Festival, because it’s celebration coincides with the full moon. Much like Thanksgiving in American […]
Conflicting Headlines
Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t these two headlines in the local media seem to be at odds with each other: 8.5 Million Autos to be produced This Year More Busses, Fewer Cars on ‘Car-Free Day" Just to be clear. Here in Beijing yesterday there seemed to be no evidence of it being "no […]
JW
It seems that there is no end to the "just when you think you’ve seen/heard it all….." experiences one can accumulate in a city like Beijing. Last night, as I was coming home from enjoying a wonderful foot massage with a friend at the end of a crazy busy day, I find myself in a […]
More on Chinese Slogans
As a follow up to my post earlier this week on the ubiquitousness of the word harmony in China today, here’s a good article that explores the role of slogans in political discourse here: From struggle to harmony, China slogans mark Hu era – Yahoo! News.
Confucius and the Minnesota State Fair
I realize that I’m a little bit behind the curve here with a post about the Minnesota State Fair, the annual get-together for for us Minn-e-soooo-tans. It ended last week, and since I’m on the other side of the planet from Minnesota, I saw no reason to comment on the event. My friend in Shanghai, […]
