Gift of giving is one click away
[2012-01-19 11:11]As the Chinese New Year draws near, I am getting anxious: What gifts should I take to my hometown of Jiaxing, Zhejiang province?
A trip worth more than I bargained for to Taiwan
[2012-01-18 10:00]What I didn't know at that time was that mainlanders go to Taiwan with the purpose of buying, and visiting while buying, while my purpose was visiting first.
A cultural difference that pricks and drips through healthcare
[2012-01-17 10:11]My first look into the Chinese medical system came six years ago, when my wife and I traveled to see family in her hometown in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.
My inner cave person speaks Chinese
[2012-01-11 10:58]Back in the days when men were men and mammoths were wooly, language was a simple affair.
Time to accept I'm forever a foreigner in Zhengzhou
[2012-01-05 10:31]It's strange how I can be aware of how far behind China's first-tier cities Henan's provincial capital Zhengzhou is, yet still remain desensitized to the fact.
An all-consuming word that turns people into economic units
[2012-01-04 13:55]If there are two words in the English language that I find increasingly irritating, they are the words "consumer" and its plural.
Winter chills and warm hearts show a different theory of relativity
[2011-12-28 09:32]Spring Festival will arrive as early as Jan 23 in 2012. I'm wondering where I will spend it.
Now I'm learning how to live life all over again, from speaking to renting
[2011-12-22 15:22]Living in China, I feel that I've had to re-experience rights of passage I dealt with long ago in the US.
White lies about the man in red, and other things, color parenthood
[2011-12-21 15:45]As Christmas flies round again, some Chinese friends have asked me how we can justify lying to our children about the man in red.
Where the real deal hides behind facades
[2011-12-20 09:51]What is it about Beijing property developers?
'The cheese is always bluer on the other side'
[2011-12-15 17:09]Gorgonzola, Emmental, red Leicester, Port Salut ... every expat has a little nostalgia about home and something that they ache for.
Christmas came much too early this year for me
[2011-12-13 13:22]One afternoon in November, I was strolling through a supermarket in Beijing on a quick errand.
