A small piece of trivia crossed my path the other day, a few pictures from the ChengDu Police micro blog of eligible young policemen that may be suitable for 'shedding single status' this year...true, about 10 steely-eyed young men, 24-29 years old, each carrying automatic weapons or in poses of ’rushing to assist’ kittens out of trees and old ladies to cross the road... in full riot gear. It somehow had me giggling! Yes, I know that in other countries they do posters/calendars of semi-naked sports stars or local firemen going buff for charity with a strategically placed high-pressure nozzle over the nether-regions, but I haven't really seen the idea of photographing young men at work with the expressed objective of ’marrying them off’. What next, introducing 5 single farmers of the week on CCTV 4 between the news and weather report? Or Bachelors of the PLA between the pictures of them firing guns and driving tanks? Read more…

My Chinese friend has just bought a car - and I have been reticent to ride in it with her because, to be honest, I am a terrible backseat driver. Now, I don't claim to be an excellent driver - but I have had 20-odd years experience driving cars, trucks, buses, motorbikes, tractors and a multitude of motorized farm equipment, so I have a few years up on my friend (licensed 1 month ago). Read more…

One of my greatest joys when I first came to China was finding Chinglish - that curious mixture of words derived from mechanical translation of Chinese into English. It can be such a treasure - and a great source of entertainment as you try to decipher exactly what is being said such as “Please refrain yourself strictly, keep the flowers on the trees to prove you are a gentleman” (Please don't pick the flowers) and “enjoy the verdure essence from mountaintop scenic vantage not pleasant valley stroll” (Keep off the grass) and the others which are pure oxymoron “slippery when wet ... and dry” and my all-time favourite safety sign “warning, beware of unsafely danger strictlyness”. All of these featured in the Gardens of Suzhou a few years ago - but alas, have faded into obscurity. Read more…

I awoke a few mornings ago to a very startling sight, a pair of legs dangling over the top of my balcony. Read more…

I've been having an interesting conversation ’off-blog’ with a CLM lady about what is a ’typical' or a ’traditional’ Chinese lady - it is quite passionately personal in nature so I am loath to share too much lest I break her trust in the conversation but an interesting point came up about ’tradition’ and ’culture' in which my correspondent described her condition as a case of the “Emperor’s New Clothes”. Read more…

Ah, those 4 lovely little words that sum up a whole pile of misunderstandings and misdirections... For people living outside the Middle Kingdom, you might expect that this would be a pretty obvious thing...sure, I don't know China and I will probably not be able to get 5000 years of history, 60 years of propaganda and 40 years of geo-political isolation into perspective in a couple of weeks...but these words are not used like that! Read more…

I am sitting in a very cramped airplane seat on my way back to the Middle Kingdom wondering what i was really going back to - i had spent a few days in Singapore with a group of friends who are of “Chinese Origin” but not Chinese in nature - to be fair, they are younger and have many opportunities to travel, they have educational experiences that most people would kill for (living and studying in international universities) and I found myself constantly upholding the case for China and Chinese People in our discussions. One even accused me of being “wu mao” (this is a popular idea on the Chinese internet that there are netizens who try to sway public opinion toward the government by posting “good reports” on blogs and discussion boards - each “good posting” is said to attract a 5 cent (Wu mao) “public harmony” reward - so people can become rich posting nice things about government, officials and policies). Read more…

If you've read my last blog entry, you will know I have been traveling a little - I’ve spent a week in Singapore seeing some of my clients and business associates and taking a 3-day Middle Kingdom respite. Read more…

I am on my first sojourn out of the Middle Kingdom for quite a few years - well, not technically true, I have travelled outside the Great Firewall of China a few times, but mostly on business. This time, I have a few chill-out days where I have no business obligations, meetings or planning days so this means I am free to prowl Singapore's underground shopping mega-complexes, hang 'gibbon-like' from the railings in the public transport and find little quiet corners to sip sugar-sweet Indian Milk Chai, rediscover the delights of curry-puffs, pick lime-leaves from my teeth while gobbling bowls of Laksa, rip my way through layers of Roti Channai, chopstick-pick my way through extra juicy morsels of Roasted Chicken and Crispy Pork, negotiate Chilli Crab carapace, seek out Spicy Stingray and Banana Leaf Satay, slurp durian ice kajiang (a tower of shaved ice, mixed with the pulp of the fruit) and enjoy the cool sea breeze across the Harbour with a cup of Barley Water and a tall Kopi-O. Read more…

If you read the introductions on CLM, many Chinese women (over the age of 30) will describe themselves as being 'traditional'. Some chinese bloggers have also added a little to the discussion about 'real' Chinese women and 'virtuous' Chinese women through discussion of character and thought patterns. Read more…