A restaurant manager is speaking to the chefs about today’s menu and the importance of custom service. It seems a daily routine for many restaurants here. Quite a military style of management, don’t you think? Read More
An impressive mix of a library, a museum, and a business center (the tallest building in Guangzhou). Compared with Beijing and Shanghai, Guangzhou, one of the richest cities in China with population of 15 million, is more pragmatic and often viewed... Read More
A cozy bnb/bar/cafe in Guangzhou, owned by a well-known young writer named Pulizi, where expensive beers from all over the world are served. Its customers are mostly Xiaozi, "petite bourgeoisie," a young middle-class population attracted to western... Read More
A smiling college student dressed as a "red guard" is selling popsicles in Yuangshuo, Guangxi Province. Red Guards were a student mass paramilitary social movement mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution (Wikipedia).... Read More
Longji Rice Terraces, Guangxi Province. The locals include ethnic minorities such as the Zhuang and the Yao. 92% of the Chinese population are Han, and the rest are a mix of 55 ethnic minorities. Read More
"Carefully Slide" or "Caution, Wet Floor"? Despite Chinese government's effort to improve the quality of English translation in public, mistakes such as this one can be seen everywhere. Read More
Bike-sharing startups such as Mobike, Ofo, and Bluegogo, are completing fiercely in China. Rental bikes flood many cities, big and small. Users pay as little as 0.5 yuan (80 cents) for a ride. These bikes bring convenience and help reduce air and... Read More
China has 60 million “left-behind children” #留守儿童, who are left in rural areas while their parents work in cities. It’s a tremendous social challenge for China. In one village I visited, more than 80% of the children lived with... Read More
A grandma is sewing outside her house. I visited this village near #guangzhou while researching a book. The brick house, the stone-paved alley, her traditional clothes and cloth-topped shoes, the little wooden stool she’s sitting on, and the... Read More
Morning exercise in my hometown #nanchang. One of the sword dancers is my mom, who gets up early every morning to practice Tai chi and sword dance. Read More
Want a free haircut? Doubt you can choose a fancy style though. I didn’t get a haircut there but I stayed for a long while, if only to hear all kinds of gossips and social and political commentaries. Read More
Despite China’s economic boom, more than 70 million people in the countryside live on less than $1 a day. I am a volunteer at Mothers’ Bridge of Love (#MBL), a London-based charity, which helps children in rural China access education and has... Read More
China’s cityscapes have been drastically modernized in the past two decades but such local streets are still ubiquitous, especially in smaller cities. Compared to #Guangzhou, where I did my undergraduate and worked, my hometown #Nanchang has kept... Read More
Enjoying a well-deserved nap. Most such jobs are done by #民工，migrant workers. There are about 280 million of them in China, making up more than 1/3 of the working population. Many face institutionalized discrimination and are convenient... Read More
Poker and Mahjong are popular pastimes in China. But do you know that there is actually a game called American Mahjong? It’s a variant of the Chinese version, and there are even tournaments. Maybe they can be a good cure for phone/social media... Read More
