As I return to the United States and close the book on this chapter of my life, it's impossible not to notice the impact China has had on me. While I had studied in Europe, safari'ed in Africa and backpacked my way around Australia and Asia, none of these vacations could prepare me for the magnitude of living in the People's Republic of China. This year, I never settled for 'just having a good time.' Learning something, whether useful, interesting or silly, always came first. Even writing this blog has forced me to push my comfort level searching for more knowledge, [View Full Entry]

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Finally. The entry I've been waiting months to write. Since learning to speak Chinese has trumped every single option and defeated every other desire of mine since I stepped off the plane in Shanghai months ago, I could write a book about my experience on the subject. One thing that I can very proudly say is that when I boldly stated I wanted to learn Chinese, I followed through. It would have been so easy to give up and write it off to a useless quest. But all year, I've have summoned an inner nerd I never knew existed (the likes [View Full Entry]

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I knew practicing eating all those Yangzi River buffet dinners growing up would come back to pay dividends some day. Yet sadly, I’m sorry to report, there’s no General Tsao’ Chicken in China. Chinese food (or just plain “food” to the Chinese) is quite possibly its greatest global export and is truly in a ballpark of its own. The depth and array of palates and subtle flavoring reflects the incredible diversity of this enormous country and belies the simplicity of its culinary theory. With small restaurants serving up incredibly cheap - even for Chinese standards - helpings of their specialties, I [View Full Entry]

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China, themselves, chicken feet, spitting, English t-shirts, traveling to Tibet (does not apply to Tibetan people), bicycles, arm sleeve protectors, karaoke, talking on the phone really loudly, disobeying traffic laws, giving toasts, squatting, drinking warm water, sex boots, cigarettes, baijiu 白酒, 'Hey Jude' and 'Hotel California, hating the Japanese, working, saying 'I'm fine thanks and you?', construction sites, Da Shan 大山, short hair, the Olympics, jewish people, basketball, red hats, linguistic puns, tea, claiming their province has the best spicy food, burning coal, pop music, skin whitening cream, haggling, long pinky-nails, 'hello kitty' phone charms, tea, the Houston Rockets, oily food, [View Full Entry]

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So, thanks to everyone who expressed concern after this huge earthquake that struck Wenchuan 汶川 County here in Sichuan. I am perfectly safe and was never in any danger whatsoever. I figured I would have to wait 'til LA to get to experience my first earthquake (I'm totally curious to know what it's like to feel the freaking EARTH freaking MOVE!) and never guessed it one would strike less than 100km from my home in Chengdu. But unfortunately, I've got no war stories to relate. I rode out the earthquake 1,000km away in idyllic Yangshuo in southern Guangxi province, without a [View Full Entry]

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Chapter I - in which Mark Learns that All Benders Must Eventually Come to an End With Chengdu, Beijing and Hong Kong benders firmly behind me and a two week jaunt in Yunnan to come, a detox was in order. And let me tell you, there is no better Betty Ford Clinic than 2 weeks of reading Jules Verne while perched on Himalayan mountain top (which I guess has influenced not only my China experience but also my writing style). Up first was Kunming. If I thought Chengdu was a backwater capital, Kunming took it to a whole 'nother level. It's [View Full Entry]

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China is fun enough on your own. Throw in 3 friends with the stones to sac up and fly across the world for a visit and a journey to China's 4 corners (sort of) and it's downright epic. As my friends in Chengdu can attest, I had been dying for Aikes, Steve and Hannah coming out and seeing my life in China and I can promise, it did not fall short. Upon hearing that Gross had given up drinking (whaaaa??) I reacted the same way everyone else has over the last few months - he'll wake up in the gutter tomorrow [View Full Entry]

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China takes the thunder bucket to a whole new level. The thunder arrived so long ago (and has lingered so long, having never been flushed down) that all you can do is get in and out as fast as you can. Just heeding the basic call of nature can be fickle business (pun intended) in China. Some of the bathrooms I've used in China make the Ole' 3 Snow Hill St Thunder Closet look like luxurious spa. By far the worst I've ever encountered have been in Tibet, which almost lets you forgive the Han invasion as long as they just [View Full Entry]

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China's Peasant Revolution is still being waged. Only now it's being waged to empower the country folk to swarm into cities and sell pirated DVD's and knock-off Gucci bags. But while it's very easy to sit in America and be critical of China's political repression and unsavory appeal, the truth is I have yet to figure out a better way of lifting a predominantly destitute, peasant population with a 5,000 year tradition of blindly following 1 voice out of the kind of rampant poverty created by the incompetent Qing Dynasty and subsequent farce of a republic. Even today, the vast majority [View Full Entry]

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I know this is kind of cheating, but this article is a must read for anyone curious about China's newfound economic prowess. It helps to answer China's paradox of 'just how a repressive communist country can become the most dominant economic force in the world?' that has everyone scratching their heads. It's a long read sure, but well worth the time as this guy is a much better writer than I... http://www.american.com/archive/2007/november-december-magazine-contents/the-china-model [View Full Entry]

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