Since I lived in Beijing for the last 15 years of my time in China, it’s not often that I get nostalgic for Changchun, the city in Northeast China that was my home for most of the 90s. Recently I found myself thinking of my time there and the experiences I had. I am, dare I […]
The Great Manchurian Christmas Scarf Incident
“Welcome to Qiqihar,” they said in one accord. “There’s been an outbreak of bubonic plague.” That ominous greeting notwithstanding, we were overjoyed to see our friends at the station in the middle of the night as we got off the train. We had spent the better part of 12 hours trundling across the Manchurian Plain, or […]
Memorial Cookies
As we were milling around the old Orthodox Church in Harbin on Sunday, an older Chinese woman came out of the church with a small bag of cookies in her hand. She came over to where we were standing and offered some to us. “It’s been12 years since our last priest passed away,” she said. […]
