Is it 2019 already? Where did 2018 go? For that matter, where did 2000 go? And 1975? You get the picture…. Looks like Hong Kong was the place to be when the clock struck midnight. The amazing fireworks display gets going at the 1:48 mark. (Email readers, please click here to watch the video.) May you […]
Cover the Cars!
While visiting friends in an old neighborhood of Beijing last week, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before –quite a few of the cars parked along the streets and alleyways were covered. When I got to my friend’s house I asked her about it. The conversation proceeded like this: Me: Why do some of the […]
Remembering the Earthquake
On May 12, 2008 the ground began to shake in Sichuan Province. By the time it stopped, nearly 100,000 people had lost their lives. Anyone who was in China at the time can say where they were when they heard about it. I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the time, attending a conference. I was […]
The Fake Cars of Beijing
On my last few visits to China, I have noticed an interesting phenomenon — the conversion of 3-wheeled motorcycles commonly used by the elderly and handicapped into what I can only describe as fake cars. Someone is making serious money converting these 3-wheeled motorcycles into vehicles that look like they want to be cars when […]
And So It Begins
Last week, while making the trek to Tiananmen Square through multiple layers of security, I spotted this display in a souvenir shop: The return of the exalted-political-leader-on-a-plate souvenir, something we haven’t seen for a very long time. Two weeks ago, the current leader of China orchestrated a change in the constitution that will allow him […]
The 11th Foreigner
The National People’s Congress was meeting in Beijing for the past few weeks, and whenever that happens a new wave of silliness breaks out in the form of random (and mostly meaningless) “security measures,” ranging from bans on purchasing knives, flying kites, or rolling down the backseat windows of taxis. The silliness seems to have […]
