Despite valiant defensive efforts this week (denial mostly) I have fully succumbed to the dreaded ganmao (common cold). Ganmao is a word that foreigners tend to learn early on in their time in China, because to sniffle or cough or sneeze in the presence of a Chinese friend will send immediately trigger ganmao le ma? […]
Some Things Just Don’t Translate
This sign is one of them. It says “Build a Civilized Traffic Environment.” And some things don’t need any translation — a child’s delight at freshly fallen snow!
We’re Having Weather
It's raining in Beijing this afternoon, the first time since October 24 that any precipitation of any sort has made its way out of the sky! Just this past week the papers have been filled with stories of the toll this severe drought is taking on the wheat crop here in northern China, so even […]
Farewell, Lantern Festival
The Boston Globe has a fantastic photo site called The Big Picture, which highlights some of the day's best photos from around the world. On February 11, they did a spread on China's Lantern Festival, with fantastic photos from all over China, including photos of the burning building in Beijing. This fire was the melding […]
Is Beijing Burning?
No, Beijing is not burning, but last night one of Beijing's newest buildings went up in flames….about the time I commented in the last blog post on a fire truck racing up my street. I'm on the other side of town from where the fire was, but given it's size, that truck on Beiwa Lu […]
The Battle of Beijing
It's a war zone out there tonight—the last night of the 2 week Spring Festival, and hence the last night that people in this town (country) can legally blow things up. Imagine a city of 20 million people with fireworks going off in every single neighborhood and housing estate. There's a smell of gunpowder (or […]
