The China Daily had an article today about the Tourism Bureau's announcement that the number of foreign tourists coming to Beijing in April and May dropped by more than 5% compared to last year. Here's the money quote: Beijing saw a marked drop in the number of overseas tourists in April, which fell by 5.3 […]
A Nation Mourns
The Chinese government today declared 3 days of national mourning for the victims of last week’s earthquake. The official death toll has now passed 30,000 and is expected to reach at least 50,000. Hundreds of thousands are injured. Five million are homeless. The observance began today with nearly a billion people stopping at 2:28pm to […]
Earthquake Relief
By now you’ve all heard about the terrible earthquake in Sichuan province on Monday. It was so strong that it was felt all over the country, even in Beijing. I was out of the country on Monday so I did not feel it. I’m glad, in that I’m quite terrified of earthquakes! The stories and […]
A Must-Read Article
The cover story in this month’s National Geographic is about China. The article, titled "Inside the Dragon" was written by Peter Hessler, one of my favorite writers about China. He always seems to be writing the articles and books that I wish I were writing! Here’s a teaser: Perhaps this awareness of a painful history […]
Beijing–The Forbidden City
For the past year or so, as we have been watching the Countdown clock for the Beijing Olympic Games wind its way towards 8-8-08, the question on everyone’s mind has been, what will it really be like here this summer, in the run-up to the Games, and during the Games themselves. Of course no one […]
To the Top
While the main Olympic Torch has been making its way around the world, and finally arriving back on home soil today, there is another torch that is being taken up to the summit of Mt. Everest, or Qomolongma, as it is called in Tibetan (and Chinese). There’s a large contingent of reporters (Chinese and foreign) […]
