Having spent 20+ years in China, working primarily in the field of education, I witnessed first-hand the national obsession with learning English in China. The good folks at China File have now put that obsession into pictures by translating an info-graphic that originally appeared on their Soho Business site. After citing statistic after statistic about the […]
Napping in Beijing
It’s not a new story, but it’s always a fun one. In the Bejiing IKEA (and, I presume, the IKEA stores in other cities), shoppers love to “try out” the displays, settling into the living rooms or offices for hours on end. One of the favorite activities is napping on the display beds and sofas. […]
July 4 Fireworks — Made in China
A question for my American readers — did you enjoy your local fireworks display last night? They were most likely made by hand in a small factory somewhere in China. The Asia Society blog recently posted a series of photos from a fireworks factory in China. Here is some of the accompanying text: Fireworks and the […]
8 Things I Love about the USA
Even though I have spent the better part of my life as an expat, I still love the patriotic American holidays and am unable to sing the national anthem without choking up. Last week a friend and colleague from Southeast Asia and I were walking around one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. We got to talking […]
Make it look like a parade
Years ago I had a poster hanging in my room that said: “When you’re being run out of town, get in front and make it look like a parade.” I thought of that this morning when I read an article in the People’s Daily (Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece) that referenced the hundreds of thousands of people who took […]
Pinch and a Punch
When I was growing up, the last day of each month and the subsequent first day were always a big deal in our family. Each of us would lie in wait for the other one, trying to be the first to land the dreaded first “pinch and a punch for the last/first of the month.” […]
