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…

I was surfing around on the Internet the other day in the area that Peter likes to visit - that tatty rag of a website ChinaSmack... not that I think it is particularly offensive in it's stories - since many of these are 'popular' Chinese postings on the Chinese social media sites - I usually read it to get a picture of the 'tastelessness and crassness' of some of the “foreign” posters - as vindication that staying away from such small-minded people is a very good thing! Read more…

This weekend I ventured into one of the dark and deceiptful places in my city - Bicycle Alley. Read more…

The Spring Festival coupling time is on the horizon in China, the time when young people look for the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' so they can return to their hometown with photographs of their prospective mate in a few months time. Read more…