I’m guessing most of you have never showed up in a Chinese restaurant in the States (or wherever else you might be) and tried ordering anything that wasn’t on the menu. Today I want to share with you a few authentic dishes that any Chinese cook should be able to whip up, even if it’s not on the menu. (I discovered that some restaurants even h [...] Keep reading »

As most of you know, I’m in the States for a few weeks visiting family. During my time here, I’ve realized just how much interest there is in China at the moment, and how little people know about China. So today I’m going to share my answers to the three questions I’ve been asked the most. 1. Does China have rich people? China has some incr [...] Keep reading »

February 3rd marks the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit, and for many of you that might be the extent of your knowledge of Chinese New Year (or as we call it in China, Spring Festival). So today we’ll look at how Spring Festival is celebrated. For most Chinese, it means returning to their hometown. Almost half of China’s population no longer [...] Keep reading »

The events in the Middle East have a lot of people wondering just how far these anti-government riots will spread. A few people have even been speculating as to whether or not they could pop up in China (Here, Here, Here, Here). I know I did for a couple of minutes after seeing a video that called for the “rabbits” to rebel (I’m not going to [...] Keep reading »

This might not be the most exciting news story for some of you, but it is BIG news. China is trying out property taxes in Chongqing and Shanghai in their latest effort to cool down the property markets. If you look at the article you can see that the property taxes are 1. pretty small (less than 1.5%) and 2. confusing as heck. For example, in Shang [...] Keep reading »

I’ve watched a few China themed movies lately and wanted to make a couple of recommendations for this very snowy winter. The Painted Veil – This isn’t historical, but it is a pretty great glimpse of what life in rural China would have looked like around 1900. The movie is about a doctor who accepts a position in the countryside t [...] Keep reading »

My wife and I are traveling today (in the US). So I thought it would be appropriate to share a couple of photo articles with you from the Peoples Daily. China is getting ready for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and this year they expect to sell 2.8 billion tickets for trains, long distance buses, and flights. As you can see from the photos here [...] Keep reading »

Continued from Yesterday The following post was written by one of my Chinese friends who is an active member of the Communist Party. What the Party Means to Me To me, any nation or ethnic group shares one common ideal so that they could be united, fighting for the same goal, such as racial superiority (Tom’s note: this is not a “loaded& [...] Keep reading »

Last week I posted a short piece by my friend who hadn’t joined the Party. Today brings us a post from his best friend who did join the Party. Again I have left it unedited, so I hope it is still understandable. His article was a bit longer, so I will be posting more of it over the next few days. Why I Joined the Communist Party I find that j [...] Keep reading »