2014/6/9 0:00:00
There is nothing quite like washing down a good bowl of chicken feet with a sickly sweet, pungent swig of baijiu you bought from the corner store for a few RMB to show that you’ve successfully adapted to the local Chinese culture. But if you think that Chinese drinking always starts and stops withbaijiu, then you’re sorely mistaken. China is home to wide variety of unusual beers and li...
2014/5/12 0:00:00
In 2008 I was new to China and couldn’t speak Mandarin well, but my hair was getting shaggy so I went to the barber shop. I took a seat, then told the guy “hen xiao” (very little), while signaling with my fingers that I only wanted a tad snipped off. Instead, he apparently interpreted it as “little hair left on the head.” To make a short story even shorter, I was called Lt. Dan (from Forest...
2014/5/8 0:00:00
Before I came to China, one of the first things I heard about was the live animal markets; a place, my colleague told me, where chickens and ducks were crammed into wooden crates, fish splashed about in tin buckets, and vendors wielded giant cleavers ready for your custom. During my first year living as an expat in Nanjing I never really crossed paths with this side of life in China, but over th...
2014/5/7 0:00:00
A return to one’s home country after living in China for several years can be daunting, yet it’s a chance to start a new chapter in one’s life. Those who’ve made the leap have spoken of their return to school, to finding stability in jobs or even creating their own business – all within the vicinity of their families and friends.
According to the sixth national census of the People’s Republic o...
2014/4/22 0:00:00
Starting on April 21, and lasting for three days, areas north of the Yangtze River can expect colder weather and those south of the river can expect heavy rain.
Chilly onshore winds from the east will bring cold weather to the northern regions, affecting all the Northern provinces. Temperatures are predicted to drop by around 6 degrees Celsius and can be expected to average around 12 degrees. E...
2014/3/3 0:00:00
Over its millennia of history the Chinese language has accrued a vast array of chengyus and proverbs, written down by Confucian scholars, Buddhist monks, warrior generals and even emperors, pontificating on everything from sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, to the meaning of life itself. Some of these have withstood the test of time, '千里之行始于足下' (A thousand 'mile' journey begins with a single step), wh...
2014/2/25 0:00:00
From March 1, China’s only train ticket booking site (www.12306.cn) will require thorough identity information verification. It can be verified online or at the ticket booth in the station. So don’t forget to bring ID.
2014/2/20 0:00:00
When the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 330 degrees, the solar term of “The Rains”(雨水) arrives. “The Rains” indicates that as the weather gets warmer, the amount of rainfall increases, at the same time the form of precipitation transforms from snowfall to rainfall. It usually happens on February 18 or February 19 and ends on March 4 or March 5. When passing the day of “The Rains”, the we...
2014/2/11 0:00:00
The Vice-minister of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection is briefing the press about the progress made in combating environmental pollution in 2013.
According to information released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 62 out of the 74 officially monitored cities in China did not meet the pollution standard on at least 15 days in December. That’s twice as many cities as in No...
2014/1/22 0:00:00
Lin, 38, who works in finance in Shanghai, says he always tries to buy an air ticket as early as September, more than four months ahead of the Spring Festival — which starts this year on Jan 31, the New Year's Day of China's lunar calendar.
"More Taiwan people are working on the mainland, and more mainland tourists are traveling to Taiwan during the New Year's break," says Lin, who has been wor...