Archive for the year 2011
Halloween (万圣节) Posted by Stephen on Oct 30, 2011
Halloween or 万圣节 (Wàn shèng jié) is fast approaching, so get your costumes or 服装 (fú zhuāng) ready! Last year everyone and their kid brother was Lady Gaga (including guys), but I got a strong feeling that there will be more Qaddafi’s than Beijing knows what to do with them. Halloween is a time to cut…
Chinese Social Media: Weibo (新浪微博) Posted by Stephen on Oct 28, 2011
The social media movement is alive and well in the mainland, but you wont hear people raving about Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus. Unbeknownst to most American’s and Westerners, China is a nation of netizens, who take to blogs, forums and chat boards just like the rest of us. They clamor for the new Iphone5 (which is…
Yangshuo (阳朔) – Part Three – Li River (漓江) Posted by sasha on Oct 26, 2011
After a fun couple of days enjoying Yangshuo, we headed out of the town for a day trip. Starting from the town of Yangdi, we cruised along the beautiful Li River on a bamboo raft for a few hours, admiring the scenery. Check out some of the highlights in this short video. 一日游 – yí…
Everything But the Table: Lā Miàn Noodles (拉面) Posted by Stephen on Oct 25, 2011
As temperatures continue to plummet, the prospect of finding something hot and spicy to warm your belly becomes all the more appealing. If it wasn’t for today’s elegant yet simplistic dish, 拉面 (lā miàn) or pulled noodles, I don’t know how I could weather the frigid Beijing winter as it approaches. So if you want to…
Chinese Idioms (Vol. 4) Posted by sasha on Oct 25, 2011
It’s been a while since our last post about Chinese idioms (成语 – chéng yǔ). In Chinese, the word for idiom literally means “to become a part of the language.” All idioms are composed of four characters, and most come from ancient literature. As such, the meaning of the idiom itself is usually more than…
Water, water, everywhere? China’s Water Crisis (缺水) Posted by Stephen on Oct 23, 2011
China is facing a dire fresh water crisis and it’s only getting worse. After decades of environmental degradation, desertification and pollution, China’s arable land, waterways and aquifers are drying up, adding to concerns of an eventual water shortage that could have devastating repercussions on the Chinese economy and society. Now with the approach of summer…
Xià hé (夏河) Posted by Stephen on Oct 21, 2011
After waking up in a sand-filled bed, dehydrated and sunburnt, I figured my time spent in Dunhuang was at an end. I was continuing on my Silk Road trip to Xian and still had nearly the entire length (about 1500km) of Gansu province (甘肃) left to traverse. A series of buses and a long train…