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- Best class ever: democracy September 18, 2007
- YuYao September 4, 2007
- Quantum aliens and gifted kids August 3, 2007
- Again, the summer school August 3, 2007
- Summer school July 21, 2007
- Breeding for mediocrity July 7, 2007
- Chinese dentistry June 19, 2007
- Chinese influenza and medicines June 12, 2007
- Critical thinking, “inappropriate for university students” May 25, 2007
- More bureaucracy May 23, 2007
- Legend and Arissa May 7, 2007
- Shanghai Museum of Natural History April 19, 2007
- Cooking segments April 7, 2007
- Fertile ground March 27, 2007
- Chinese superstitions March 4, 2007
- Beijing 3, The Great Wall of China March 3, 2007
- Beijing 2 February 22, 2007
- Beijing 1 February 16, 2007
- Frankenstein scar January 10, 2007
- Feng Shui management October 19, 2006
- Only English October 18, 2006
- Shanghai commuter trains 2 October 13, 2006
- Shanghai’s commuter trains 1 October 3, 2006
- Zheng He and Malacca September 7, 2006
- Banks August 12, 2006
- More visa crap August 12, 2006
- More around home July 21, 2006
- Home at Cloud Nine July 21, 2006
- Geography and another summer July 21, 2006
- Teaching futility June 30, 2006
- Huang Shan 2 May 25, 2006
- Huang Shan 1 May 21, 2006
- Longre April 29, 2006
- Nanjing April 9, 2006
- Be among women March 29, 2006
- Xi’an 4, museum March 16, 2006
- Xi’an 3 March 16, 2006
- Xi’an 2, Chinese archaelogy March 8, 2006
- Xi’an 1, terracotta warriors March 7, 2006
- Not booking flights February 18, 2006
- Another Chinese New Year February 17, 2006
- Zhongshan Park 3 January 30, 2006
- Zhongshan Park 2 January 30, 2006
- Zhongshan Park 1 January 30, 2006
- More on IELTS students January 7, 2006
- Staying for a bit January 6, 2006
- Hysterics and heresies December 19, 2005
- Not cancer November 2, 2005
- Bad attitude November 2, 2005
- Visa crap November 2, 2005
Category Archives: Travel & transport
YuYao
Last week we went to a historic town called YuYao. Actually the town itself isn’t historic, but in 1973 someone accidentally dug up some artifacts which turned out to be neolithic. Today there’s a large excavation of the archaeological site. It’s … Continue reading
Posted in Museums, Travel & transport
Tagged archaelogy, china, chinese, countryside, hemedu, museums, neolithic, ningbo, rural, trains, travel, yuyao
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Beijing 3, The Great Wall of China
Of course no visit to Beijing would be complete without a trip to the Great Wall. And unlike the other two most-famous Chinese tourist attractions (the Warriors, & Tiananmen Square), it’s actually not what you might expect. Chinese official sources … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities & history, Travel & transport
Tagged Badaling, china, chinese, confusion, drivers, grandiose, great wall, heritage, Mutianyu, propaganda, shuttlebus, Simatai, vandalism, world
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I have to reiterate an earlier comment about Chinese history: though Chinese shove it down your throat, actually it’s usually not physically obvious. Beijing is mostly a modern city, at least the way Chinese use that word. Most old Chinese … Continue reading
Beijing 1
I think seeing the capital of a country often helps one understand that country, and perhaps nowhere is this more true than China. The impact of Beijing on Chinese culture has been enormous. A settlement since 700 BCE, it was … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities & history, Travel & transport
Tagged beijing, china, chinese, cixi, desecration, destruction, forbidden city, mao, mausoleum, summer palace, tiananmen, tradition, xian
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Shanghai commuter trains 2
Re-reading the last one about trains, I think it does capture most of the essence of Shanghai train-travel. However, soon after I sent it out I took a trip along (the elevated) line 3 during the evening peak hour: something … Continue reading
Posted in Schools & teaching, Travel & transport
Tagged Baoshan Rd, china, chinese, commuter, crazy, crowded, halitosis, rat race, space, trains, zombies
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Shanghai’s commuter trains 1
For me commuter train travel in Shanghai is pretty much a daily event. Like Shanghai itself, it quickly becomes routine and familiar but also you never really forget its edge of craziness. Except at the busiest stations such as Xujiahui, … Continue reading
Posted in Travel & transport
Tagged beggars, china, chinese, communication, commuter, craziness, fight, patronising, platforms, pronunciation, push in, queue, shanghai, ticket, trains
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Zheng He and Malacca
Having just returned from Malaysia, one bit of it is very relevant to discussions about China. Malacca is one of the formerly independent Sultanates that combined to create modern Malaysia. It’s on the southern part of the Malay Peninsular, about half … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities & history, Museums, Travel & transport
Tagged africa, british, china, chinese, dutch, fleet, Gavin Menzies, lion, ming, port, portuguese, progaganda, ship, skepticism, treasure, Zheng He
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Huang Shan 2
I wrote recently to a friend that I sound like the worst kind of bourgeois, don’t I? Whining about toilets and the horrid, beastly peasants. “You there! Chop chop with that luggage!” Well, simply that is the reality I am … Continue reading
Huang Shan 1
Huang Shan in Chinese literally means Yellow Mountain, so in English it would be redundant to call it Mt. Huang Shan. Unlike certain watertowns near Shanghai which I recently discovered fraudulently label themselves as World Heritage sites (they’re not listed … Continue reading
Nanjing
The most recent trip was Nanjing for two days. It’s a “medium size” regional city of about six million, westish of Shanghai, and [in 2006] took about 3.5 hours to get there by train [now it takes much less]. Like … Continue reading
Postcards from Shanghai 