I finally got around to watching the award-winning Netflix movie “American Factory” this week. I had read good reviews and heard good things from friends who had seen it. But for some reason, I had found myself hesitant to sit down and watch it. I’m not entirely sure why — maybe because I could picture […]
Ten Documentaries on China
I’m a documentary lover; given a choice between watching a movie, a TV program (drama or comedy) or a documentary, I will almost always choose the documentary. There are numerous documentaries about China floating around out there so I thought I’d highlight some of my favorites, some of which I use in training/orientation courses for […]
Chinese Dreaming
For the past few months I have had the song “California Dreaming’” stuck in my head. I blame Chinese president Xi Jinping and his propagation of the notion of a “Chinese Dream.” It has become a feature of political culture in China that each new leader puts forth a slogan that he hopes will define […]
Becoming Normal
Living cross-cultural living means living with a nearly constant barrage of surprises. Particularly for those of us who have been abroad for a long time, it’s easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we’ve got the place figured out, that we know what’s up and what’s down, what’s in and what’s out. Sometimes we even […]
I’m Off to Fix Something
Yesterday morning I rode my bike to the office, which was a good thing because the street in front of the school where the office is located was a parking lot. A big bus and a big truck were face to face, completely surrounded by parked cars and cars trying to get around the parked […]
That Was Last Week
This week has seen an outburst of anti-foreign ranting on the internet in China. Recent events seem to have formed a "perfect storm" for this kind of thing: China and the Philippines are in a spat over an island in the South China Sea; video clips of a Brit molesting a Chinese woman on the […]
