Magazine

Warlord of Crabs Awaits in Suqian Luoma Lake

Suqian was once best known as playing an important role in China’s infamous drinking culture, being a centre for the production of “baijiu”. Today, however, that image is being shed in favour of something altogether more healthy, as manifest...

Reliving the Past on Suzhou’s Pingjiang Lu

Few words capture the spirit of Suzhou’s Pingjiang Lu better than “enchanting”. As a true step back in time, this is the place to relive the old, to find some authenticity that dates back as far as the Song...

Poetry & Foreign Trade amid Classical Architecture

The crested letters, “VR”, adorn the former British Consulate’s wall in Zhenjiang. They stand for Victoria Reign, from Britain’s then Queen Victoria. As a great place from which to begin a visit to Zhenjiang, they are also just a...

Boats & Beaches; The Surf, Sands & Slipways of Lianyungang

China may not be known for pristine beaches in the same way that the Caribbean or other parts of southeast Asia are. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And we’re not talking about Qingdao where the grains of...

The Four Unlikenesses; Up Close and Personal with David’s Deer

Have a close look at the accompanying, beautiful photograph. Notice anything out of the ordinary? 仔细看看随附的漂亮照片。 注意到有什么不寻常的事情吗? These deer’s antlers are facing backwards. 这些鹿的鹿角朝后。 Part deer, part horse, part cow, part donkey; say hello to the “Milu”, or “Père David's Deer”. Outside of...

All Hope Abandon Ye Who Enter Here; Talk Like a True Nanjinger

Listen closely to the vocabulary employed in everyday use by many a Nanjinger and you would be forgiven for imagining a preoccupation with Dante’s vision of the afterlife. 仔细聆听许多南京人在日常生活中使用的词汇,你会被原谅想象对但丁对来世的愿景的痴迷。 I’m starving to death! I’m dying of thirst! I’m freezing to death! 我快饿死了!...

The Professional Chameleonic Unicorn; Vernaculars from Oz to Tipperary

Listening to a podcast with some of my kids this week, I paused when their eyes went glassy and asked them, “Do you understand?” They made that vague sound of wanting to say yes but having to admit that,...

The Princess in the Tower (Wrong Princess, Right Tower)

There was once a princess locked away in a tall tower. Kept away from all who might claim her beauty, covet her loveliness, take her virtue. And then one day there was a prince, fair and tall and from...

Latest News

Car-Bed Campers Turn Hotel Car Parks into Free Showers and Toilets

Chinese road trippers are swapping hotel rooms for the back seats of their own cars, folding them flat into...

China’s Metro Map Grows by Almost 65km Ahead of National Day

China’s National Day holiday has arrived with three cities adding new metro links. Nanjing, Qingdao and Changchun have opened...

Shanghai’s Railway Map Shifts East; Cross City to Hongqiao soon but a Memory

For years, Shanghai’s high-speed rail map has pulled passengers towards Hongqiao. That balance is beginning to change. New stations...

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