Anderson | Chinarchy

Moving to China YouTube Videos

by Anderson | 08/04/10

My friend “Ma Wei” who is a frequent commenter on this blog has posted some introductory YouTube videos on China.

In three short videos he covers the basics of living in China, including the economy, standard of living, working, dealing with the state, and the people and culture.

He’s about ten thousand times more succinct and on point than I manage to be, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy that.

My favorite video is the third, “People and Culture Shock.” Pretty much everything he says is right on target. I would qualify his observations by saying that they are less true in the major cities, Beijing and Shanghai, than for the other parts of China, although they still apply.

Anyway, enjoy.

Usher and Ethan

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by Anderson | 08/03/10

The fifth Chinarchy audio post. This episode I talk about going to an Usher concert, my awesome dancing skills, how my class environment has changed, dealing with a hitting problem, and the authoritarian vs. permissive parenting false dichotomy.

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Note: It’s forty-eight minutes long. Forty-eight minutes of baller. Don’t hate.

Jade Factory and Badaling

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by Anderson | 08/02/10

This past weekend I visited a jade factory and the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Badaling is the most popular, tourist-visited section and as you can see in the pictures below it is packed with people.

The jade factory was interesting, but it was mostly focused on selling you jade jewelry. We saw about 10% factory and 90% shopping area. Still, a lot of the stuff was pretty cool. A couple of us managed to get some raw jade from one of the workers, so we got a nice souvenir without having to buy some of the overpriced jewelry.

Check out the photos below.

Shanghai Photos

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by Anderson | 08/02/10

Hey there Chinarchists (what?) I’m back and I’ve got some vacation photos for you. I know it’s been awhile since my last post and that’s because I’ve been busy traveling and having guests. I visited Shanghai and also another section of the Great Wall.

Below is the gallery of the Shanghai photos; I’ll post the Great Wall photos shortly. Also, I’m hoping to have another podcast recorded tonight, so wish me luck motivating myself to do that.

As far as these photos go, I skipped the normal method of describing each one. Because I took so many I just have them in gallery form, so click each one and you’ll get a short description of what it is.

The only thing that warrants explanation is the creepy psychedelic tunnel photos. They are from a gondola lift ride that goes underneath the Huangpu River. It was so weird.

I’ll talk more about what Shanghai was like in the podcast, but for now, just check out the photos.