Hot Pot Column

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Stuart Beaton

Time to put learning to the test

At the start of this semester, I was asked by the university I work at to give the students a pre-test, a sort of mock exam to establish their English level.
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David Drakeford

Loser pays, the winner takes it all

Pool is a great game. It has skill, tactics and a cooler cachet than its elder brother, snooker.
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Stuart Beaton

Holidays should mean time off, not confusion

The dean cheerfully informed me last week, "Wednesday is a holiday, you'll have to work Saturday instead!"
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Lisa Carducci

Saving time and face is a lost art

Transportation was unexpectedly smooth and I arrived at the meeting half an hour before time.
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Stuart Beaton

Because the night belongs to people

With the pleasant autumn nights upon us, my wife Ellen and I have taken to walking around the neighborhood we live in of an evening.
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Gus Tate

Chosen we may be, but clever and rich too?

My mother is Jewish. Funnily enough this makes me, despite my lack of faith in anything Jewish, Jewish.
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David Drakeford

Give and take of living in a Chinese compound

I live in what is often termed a "Chinese compound" which, unlike the "international compounds" of Beijing supposedly made to international specifications, is a simpler residence constructed to local standards - or rather the local standards of the 1970s.
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Sandra Lee

Fine day for a long talk about the weather

I had a colleague, Thomas, whose childhood was spent in Shanghai. During high school he lived in Hong Kong and for university he went to Europe.
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Stuart Beaton

Let loose on Tianjin's 'Kitchen Street'

The smell of metal under duress pours out of the kitchen. I race in, scoop the frying pan off the heat and dash it into the sink - only to be told: "You ruined my eggs!"
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Yi-Ling Liu

Oh, to be mistaken for a Beijing'er

I got into a taxi one day after work and recited my address to the driver. The loquacious, middle-aged man with a pronounced double chin turned around and asked: "Where are you from?"
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