My trip to Harbin was predicated on entirely outdated information. History majors– take note! In my case, I knew that Harbin had once been a distant outpost of the Russian Empire, and when the tsarist regime went up in smoke, White Russians poured into the city to create a tiny expat community on the outskirts read more »

Yesterday I climbed the Great Wall of China. It’s a pretty damn big wall. Not big enough to be seen from space, though. That’s a load of hogwash. Who keeps saying that, anyway? The Great Wall of China, massive and impressive though it is, is still less wide than your average four-lane highway. Can astronauts read more »

According to the 2000 census Beijing has thirteen million people in it, with an additional three million visitors temporarily living here for business or tourism. It is a wopping big city. Peking University is one of the top in China, sort of the Harvard of East Asia. 46,000 students attend class here, three of which read more »

Some of the interesting things you can purchase in a Chinese supermarket include curried crabs and swordfish spine, popular American DVD’s and CD’s for two dollars or less, microwaves, and shoes that don’t fit. I decided to buy some sunglasses, and handed them to the attendant nearest me. She gestured for me to follow her read more »