Beijing Rocks!
Iāve always felt intimidated by Beijing. To me itās always been a big, cold city where the power of government looms large. But just one evening with these warm and generous people has already helped to disabuse me of that hang-up. š
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Sixty Stories
Yes, thereās a podcast about China that is both informativeā¦ and fun.
Leaving aside political and ideological differences, thereās much to be learnt from the stories of people living their lives in China. Whether youāre in the arts, business or science, every episode will provoke your curiosity and challenge your assumptions, no matter where in the world you live.
A big thank you to all 60 guests who have so far appeared on Mosaic of China, and a special thanks to everyone who joined us at the end-of-Season party in Shanghai.
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Inner Mongolia & Ningxia
I would just like to say something categorical. Iām D.O.N.E. with this whole āliving through historyā nonsense. "May you live in interesting times"? May you kiss my sweaty ass.
Iām sorry, I know there are many people who have had a truly awful time. Which is why I have allowed myself just this one privileged tantrum in 18 months.
I still canāt re-enter China on my visa if I leave, and thereās no end in sight. So we escaped Shanghai again to give me another sanity reset. Normal service will resume shortly.
Inner Mongolia å
čå¤ and Ningxia å®å¤ are both areas of China where minority cultures struggle for authentic representation. But we did our best to find it!
Hope you like the compilation video.
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Minority Report
6 Days in Guizhou Province. šš¦š¾
Note 1: We did a village-hopping tour in the ethnically diverse region of South-East Guizhou 蓵å·.
Note 2: This area is one of the wettest and hilliest parts of China. The geology is mostly porous limestone karst, so landslides are common. It was hot and humid, but we were incredibly lucky not to encounter much rain.
Note 3: There are very few young adults in this video, because many of them have left to become migrant workers in bigger cities around China.
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7 Days in Xinjiang
7 Days in Xinjiang. šš
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Note 1: This was a highly curated tour. We needed to submit our itinerary to the authorities and we could not make any spontaneous changes.
Note 2: I didnāt have any Uighur music in my collection, so the soundtrack is comprised of a mishmash of Urdu, Arabic, Turkish and... Brokeback Mountain. š¤·āāļø
Note 3: Thereās a little Easter Egg in the clip with the āno smokingā sign. Take a close look at the smoke coming out of the cigarette...
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Inconveniently Different
My trip this week is in the contentious region of Xinjiang, which you may have heard about in the news.
I live in China, where itās not possible to have an open public discussion about these things. But hereās what I will say.
I believe to my core that a society should not be judged on how it treats its majority. Thatās actually the easy part. A society should be judged on how it treats those who are most āinconveniently differentā to the majority.
Maybe thatās the Aboriginals in Australia; the Roma (gypsies) in Eastern Europe; the Rohingya in Myanmar; the Kurds in Turkey; the list goes on and on, and thereās one in your society too. You could even argue that the Trans Rights and the Black Lives Matter movements belong in this same awkwardly named category.
Please take a moment to think about the most āinconveniently differentā person near you. And in the meantime, hereās a photo I took today of a cute Uighur boy playing with a bucket. š¦š»šŖ£
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15 Years and an International Border
In 2006 I was in Tajikistan, travelling on the Pamir Highway as part of a 2-month trip through Central Asia.
This week a group of us have flown to the far West of China to travel down the Karakoram Highway, which hugs the border with Tajikistan on its way to Pakistan.
There are 15 years and an international border separating these two photos. But otherwise... not much difference!
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Defeated, Deflated and Depressed
These last two weeks have been a struggle.
I need to submit the draft of my masters thesis next week, but I have been feeling totally defeated š„, deflated š and depressed š.
Luckily a Valentineās Day change of scenery has helped to salvage a little sliver of sanity.
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Don't Judge a Passport by its Cover
While always mindful of the doors it has opened, I have never defined my identity by the passport I carry. And Iām definitely not going to start now.
Yes, Iāve lived in Asia for 17 years. Yes, my passport has recently changed colour. But the blood that runs through my veins is, and always will be, European.
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Mosaic of China Season 02 Begins
I spend most of my time either a) scuttling between coffee shops and a tiny recording studio š¦ or b) holed up at home, editing audio in my loungewear. š¦Ø
So it was lovely to bring together 100 people to celebrate the upcoming launch of the new season of the Mosaic of China podcast. A huge thanks to everyone who came, you have made this project come to life. š„š„°
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The New Normal in Shanghai
Iām conscious that for some people, Iām the only person they know on the ground in China. Itās been a while since I posted anything about the pandemic situation here. So hereās a quick update from today, October 21st 2020.
At this point we have avoided a large-scale second wave. But there are still localised sporadic outbreaks, after which that particular area goes back into a mini-lockdown. Testing, contact-tracing, the works. Right now thereās one in the city of Qingdao, a city on the Northeastern seaboard. During this period, anyone traveling back from a newly infected area goes into quarantine again. But all the while, the entire rest of the country continues as normal. And after a couple of weeks, the city comes out of lockdown and rejoins the rest of the country.
āNormalā feels pretty normal at this point in Shanghai. Many people still wear masks, but mainly as a courtesy. Theyāre only mandatory on public transport, at airports, and in other places where people might congregate in larger numbers. I never leave the house without at least having one in my pocket. Itās the same story with the health tracker on our phones, weāre always ready to show the code when asked, but these instances are getting rarer. Some buildings still take your temperature before allowing you to enter, but again it isnāt mandatory across the board. Most places are back to 100% occupancy.
Like everywhere else, we donāt know what tomorrow will bring. But this is a quick snapshot of life in Shanghai right now.
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