China Expat Life

Sweatin’ it out in Suzhou

Despite the repressive heat and complete lack of rain (it’s only drizzled once or twice since I posted about it), the title is pointing more towards a different climate – the Olympic/visa climate. I’ve been intentionally quiet lately because, to be honest, my stay in China has been resting on a bed of nails. My …

July 25, 2008
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Beijing Blacklisting Blacks?

So, story goes – sometime yesterday afternoon both Shanghaiist and Beijing Boyce reported on a South China Morning Post article by Tom Miller entitled “Authorities order bars not to serve black people”. Mrs. Granite Studio (YJ), Danwei, Beijing Boyce and a number of others have jumped to the call and found no evidence that supports …

July 19, 2008
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Now that’s a launch party

I’m not sure what our little “Venice of the East” did to encourage it, but in the last six months to a year Suzhou has gone from having virtually no English city/culture magazines to having no less than three – and with the official launch of that’s Suzhou last night, there’s little doubt the mags …

July 12, 2008
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Who stopped the rain?

Suzhou is green. Hell, it’s a garden city. And a great part about it, is it stays green all year round. It makes the city a nice place to look at no matter what time of year you come here. The tradeoff is that it rains non-stop. We go from rainy season to typhoon season …

July 8, 2008
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Emergency Fundraiser BBQ for Xiao Hua

And now news of a barbecue of a different, and much more solemn and purposeful nature – I received word late yesterday from several friends that there will be an emergency fundraising BBQ for their friend Xiao Hua, whom was the victim of a hit and run here in Suzhou on Sunday and is now …

July 4, 2008
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Mailbag: Suzhou, home for cheats and liars?

Being that this blog has been around for a while now, and that it consistently lists at the top of the search results for many things “Suzhou”, I tend to get my fair share of e-mails from readers or random passers-by. Most of these are e-mails from folks moving to Suzhou, or China in general, …

June 22, 2008
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The True North Strong in Fee

For all the noise I’ve made about the recent visa situation here in China, or bureaucracy here in general, I tend to forget that this isn’t a China-exclusive thing. Before I can get my visa renewed next month, I need first to renew my passport. No big deal really, a couple of photos, an application …

June 18, 2008
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Our Apartment in Suzhou SIP (video/photos)

As I mentioned a couple weeks back, we’re moving to a new apartment at the end of the month. As it is fully furnished (I’ve yet to rent an apartment here that isn’t – though some call into question the definition of “fully”), yesterday we had to head over to the new place and meet …

June 8, 2008
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Quality of Life vs. Standard of Living

An e-mail to a friend this morning got me thinking about what it’s like to live in China. By “live”, I don’t mean in the common temporary sense, as a short-term contract teacher or business person might, but rather as someone who has no firm plans on the if and when of their eventual departure. …

June 4, 2008
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Redesigning The Duck

Back in 2004 when I decided to come to China I immediately hit the blogs to get a “feel” for what life for expats was like there. There were three blogs that immediately became my favourites, and have largely remained so in the nearly four years since. Mask of China Sinosplice The Peking Duck That …

May 21, 2008
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Movin’ on up … to the first floor

Well, it’s official. Mags, Addie and I are all moving to a new apartment at the end of June. We’ve been talking about moving for quite a while now, and with our lease up next month, it was time to either piss or get off the pot… alright, there was no pots, and I wouldn’t …

May 21, 2008
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Moment of Silence today

Just a quick notice to say to everyone that today officially starts a 3-day mourning period, and will include a 3-minute moment of silence across the nation at 2:28pm this afternoon. Whether you are a reader in or out of China, please join me in observing this moment of silence and taking the time to …

May 19, 2008
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