You shouldn’t do it like Ethan Epstein, who I can only hope is not a regular contributor to Slate. He wrote “Staring at North Korea,” in which he travels from Beijing to Dandong to…be incredibly disappointed by his high expectations. The DMZ, DPRK side There are few things terribly wrong with this article (if I should even call it that): First, he has the worst three-picture slide show ever, which fails not only to depict the stark differences between China/the outside world and DPRK, but fails to actually show anything (photos include a train departure schedule, a foggy photo of irrelevant geography across the Yalu River, and a Chinese Tesco supermarket). And he had three days to come up with those photos? Second, he fears oversleeping on the train and waking up in Pyongyang, the epicenter of “world’s most brutal regime—and with no former U.S. president to come rescue me.” Perhaps brutal for native citizens, but would the government even dare to pull a hair off your head without incredible international repercussions? Third, he talks about how local Korean food isn’t as tasty as Korean food in Seoul or Los Angeles. Granted it even was an “authentic” North Korean restaurant
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Yesterday, the WSJ posted an article called “An Expat’s Exotica.” It basically contends that expat havens such as Beijing and Shanghai are no longer considered “exotic” by Western standards because so many Westerners now live there and because these cities can now accommodate the familiar Western lifestyle. The author exalts those who veer off the beaten path, living in exotic places such as Changsha, Hunan or Wuhan, Hubei. He highlights a woman named Janie Corum, who is “pioneering the vast region for American businesses, striving to create a more comfortable environment (emphasis added),” paving the way for Westerners to discover China’s “remote corners.” This is the most ridiculous piece of journalism I have encountered in a while. That people still label countries (or parts of countries) as “exotic” is beyond me. Granted, much of Asia is still a mystery to many Westerners, but that is no excuse to call a culture exotic.* If anything, it a) just proliferates the need among Westerners to “understand” a supposedly mysterious and remote culture by infiltrating or dominating a foreign civilization (a la imperialism, colonialism), and b) perpetuates the notion of “Orientalism,” a European concept invented to label Asia as a place of exoticism,
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I really don’t know where some of my ideas come from. For example, in order to keep from growing a resistance to medicine’s effectiveness and subjecting my body to unnatural chemicals, I have adopted the take-if-you-really-need-it approach to medicine. It’s as if my taking a few days or weeks of medicine will change human DNA for generations to come. But seriously, it’s not a bad idea, right? But recently, I have found that bad things (be it sickness, bruises, or men) don’t go away by themselves. I thought I could trust my body or time to heal blemishes and wounds, but I was wrong. I. Sickness Last winter in Harbin, I made my third trip to one hospital (fourth trip overall) after the doctor made me take a CAT scan and a breathing test. I was suffering from breathing problems. She told me that I needed to spend at least one week living in the hospital to get medicine administered via IV for my sickness. Excuse me, what? Are you just trying to milk me for my money? I refused to pay exuberant amounts of money for something that can be solved without needles. Upon arriving in Beijing, I saw
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Please do not lean against and touch pieces of artwork in museums. Seriously? Come on. Do you have any respect? Would you want to spend months/years on a report and then have some person piss all over it? Yeah, that’s what it’s like. The culprits Sincerely, Girl who would kick your ass if you touched her artwork
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Exercise your right. Vote today.
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Usually in the States, when the stoplight is broken, cars stop at the intersection as if there was a stop sign. Not in China. If anything, it roughly translates into, “There’s no traffic signal denoting cross-traffic and pedestrian crossings, so speed up!” When you try to cross (even when there is a crosswalk), it’s as though you are in their way. They honk and flash their high beams as they zoom past. Would any of them dare to actually hit us? To test this theory out, a few friends and I attempted to cross. Crossing Running for your life as buses and aggressive taxis speed toward you is not advised.
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