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Category Archives: Book reviews
Chopsticks – everything you need to know (part 1)
The world can be divided into 3 areas depending on how people eat their food. The first area is where people use their hands to eat; this area, roughly speaking comprises most of Africa, the Indian sub-continent, the middle east … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews, Chinese cultural history, Food & Drink
Tagged Chinese cooking, chopsticks, eating utensils, tableware
5 Comments
‘Ferryman’ – the Scottish YA novel that is a best-seller in China.
Avid book readers in the UK would be hard-pressed to name the YA book by Claire McFall, a young Scots author, published in 2013. It has sold approximately 10,000 copies in Scotland, whereas in China over a million copies have … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews
Tagged after-life, bestselling books in China, death, demons, life-after-death, reading, souls, YA bestsellers
4 Comments
The Year of the Shanghai Shark
It is ages since I wrote a book review, about time I remedied that! The Year of the Shanghai Shark by Mo Zhi Hong is a wonderful lighthearted yet thoughtful depiction of an adolescent growing up in modern China. The … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews
Tagged basketball, Chinese adolescents, Chinese gambling, Dalian, gambling, IELTS, Mahjong, pickpockets, Shanghai Sharks
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On the Noodle Road: from Beijing to Rome with Love and Pasta
When the domestic exchequer is empty and the summer holidays are still some way off, there is nothing better than making yourself comfortable and doing some armchair travelling. I have recently enjoyed travelling vicariously from China to Italy over the … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews, Food & Drink
Tagged Central Asian food, Chinese food, Emilia-Romagna food, Iranian cuisine, Italian pasta, Kazakhstan food, Kyrgystan food, noodles, pasta, Persian cuisine, plov, Puglia food, recipes, rice, travel writing, Turkish cuisine, Turkmenistan food, Uzbeckistan food
5 Comments
Women only – Nǚshū – a secret language
In this more and more globalised, interconnected world, certain languages are becoming increasingly dominant – English (or a variation of it) seems to be spoken just about everywhere – and ‘minor’ languages with fewer speakers are slowly dying if not … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews, Uncategorized
Tagged Chinese history, Laotong, nushu, San Chao Shu, secret language, Sworn sisters, Third Day Book, women's language
6 Comments
Hanging Devils
I love reading crime fiction. Since my teenage years I’ve worked my way through many of the great and lesser writers in the genre, from Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Raymond Chandler, Ed McBain, and John D Macdonald all the way … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews
Tagged Chinese crime fiction, Chinese fiction, Chinese legal system, Crime fiction, He Jiahong, Helongjian
2 Comments
My Thank Less task
A year or so ago my teacher Annie told me that I was doing something that most English-speaking westerners do – which is not usual in China – I was saying ‘thank you” too often. I didn’t really take much … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews, Uncategorized
Tagged cultural norms, gratitude, please, politeness, thank you, xie xie
11 Comments
The Year of the Dragon 龙年
Chinese New Year is almost upon us and we leave behind the Year of the Rabbit and enter the Year of the Dragon 龙年 (long nian). The Dragon is the only mythical beast in the Chinese zodiac and unlike dragons … Continue reading
The Diary of Ma Yan – the life of a Chinese schoolgirl
In 2001, a French journalist Pierre Haski and others were travelling through the province of Ningxia in northern China together with the Chinese photographer Wang Zheng who came from that region, in preparation for an exhibition destined for Nice. Their … Continue reading
JASMINE TEA & JIAOZI 