Lifestyle
Lifestyle / Hot Pot Column

Don't ask if I'm good, and it's none of your business

[2012-12-18 11:34]

I think two things when a foreigner in China greets me by saying: "Ni hao ma?".

The art and science of predicting a baby's gender

[2012-12-12 14:23]

Pregnancy gave us a chance to test out the truth and falsehood of many Chinese methods of telling the gender of an unborn baby.

Everyone seems all geared up to solve my personal issue

[2012-11-29 09:54]

I was a little nervous on my way back to my hometown in Anhui province, as I knew my relatives would ask me when I plan to settle down.

Adventures on a red electric bike

[2012-11-21 09:43]

"Get off the road," an old man shouts as I swerve hopelessly along on my electric bike, avoiding an endless number of obstacles.

A fishy deal

[2012-11-13 09:21]

After more than a decade living overseas, I've come to consider myself a somewhat savvy expat. Yet I recently paid a princely sum for a fish and still wonder if I've been had or not.

New baby a sensation for 'aunties'

[2012-11-06 09:33]

All of a sudden, Chinese grannies were no longer just elderly members of our host society.

Day at the park can be disco inferno

[2012-10-23 09:19]

I had my first experience of outdoor exercise in Beijing. The sight fascinated me. In London, it seems the high crime rates keep people from lingering on street corners at night.

Where skin color attracts curiosity

[2012-10-16 10:13]

On seeing a black foreigner, a Chinese co-worker remarked, "He's too dark." I looked at my own skin and wondered what my colleague meant by "too dark".

The cure is colleagues

[2012-09-13 11:21]

I should never have gone to Happy Valley theme park. I do love roller coasters, but the problem was I loved it too much.

The fairest of them all is tanned?

[2012-09-06 09:15]

My own personal love affair with tanning started after I spent three months in Borneo off the eastern coast of Sabah, in northern Malaysia.

Missing piece in the new public bicycle service puzzle

[2012-08-30 09:33]

The problem with China (I hear you say, "One of the problems ") is that progress and improvement develop their own way.

You may not be Kobe Bryant but you're OK

[2012-08-21 09:36]

I walked into the schoolroom in Wuwei county, Anhui province, not having the slightest clue what to expect.

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