Peering into the Precipice

At around the 24 month mark I’ve begun gearing up mentally for my departure from China. For me, the issue is a decline into normalcy, at which point many of the attractive features of life in China cease to exist. I think for many foreigners the first year in China is a honeymoon period; everything, [...]

Following an absolutely splendid vacation back home in Alaska I’ve returned to find China, well, slightly more secure looking. Upon entering China I found that the security process at Beijing Capital Airport (Terminal 3) has been clogged by the inclusion of several new pieces of machinery just following the baggage claim. While before suspicious looking [...]

Being a foreign expert in China has a wide array of perks. The Chinese find our features, such as deep set eyes and larger noses, attractive; most things are cheap and the standard of living is higher (for foreigners) than it most likely would be back home; and most importantly – the Chinese can’t resist [...]

Censorship is a hot topic in the West, especially regarding countries like China. I’m not going to go on a giant tirade about the all the news regarding Google, Yahoo!, etc, but one thing has struck profoundly since my arrival here. Within China there are nightly news programs, as one would expect anywhere. Increasingly I’ve [...]

I’ve been in China for about 10 days, and so far its been quite the ride. We’ll start with some broad, anecdotal facts on the city, China, and work down to specifics. Shenzhen is a massive city. Massive. The city’s official population is somewhere in the 2 million range, however in reality its districts are [...]