Today is Saturday, October 8. The long National Day holiday is over, and China is going back to work. Wait a minute, you say, but it’s Saturday! True, but that’s not particularly relevant. You see, the holiday is a 7 day holiday, not a 9 day holiday. Day One was last Saturday. Day Seven was […]
To Xanadu
A number of years ago, I read a book called "In Xanadu: A Quest," written by travel writer William Dalrymple , in which he recounts his attempt at retracing the footsteps of Marco Polo from Jerusalem to Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan (who, at that time was the emperor of China. It was […]
Two Portraits
This evening I and a friend braved the crowds and headed down to Tiananmen Square, the closest thing that a communist country can have to a sacred space. On the north side of the square is the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian-an Men). To the south sits Qianmen Gate, and since 1979, the Mosoleum […]
Mirror Site
This is a friendly reminder that I have a mirror site. For those of you new to this site, who are outside of China (on the safe side of the Great Firewall of China), you can read pre-September entries at: http://www.outside-in.blog-city.com.
Happy Birthday, China
Today (October 1, 2005–I’m in a different time zone) is the 56h birthday of the People’s Republic of China. But wait, you say, I thought China was an ancient civilazation with 5000 years of history! Well, that’s true, but the nation that we know today was founded 49 years ago, when Chairman Mao stood atop […]
Health Club
I bit the bullet and joined a health club this week. There’s one across the street from my housing complex (upstairs from the Hypermarket), so it really couldn’t be more convenient. Really, it’s just a gym — a large room with treadmills, torture contraptions that supposedly sculpt muscles, and a room for aerobics. Over the […]
