China Archives - Page 3 of 5

How To Get a Full Ride Scholarship in China (then throw it away)

October 15, 2014 rubymary Comments 24 comments

If learning how to speak Mandarin and living in China is your dream, or even a plausible next step in your life, then you’ve got great timing—because China wants you, and wants you now.

China is allocating tons of money so it can lure 100,000 foreign students to China for the sole purpose of teaching them Mandarin. The United States and China created this 100,000 strong incentive to provide money for young American hopefuls to go abroad, study Chinese, love it, and give China some (hopefully) good PR. read more

American Misconceptions about China

October 3, 2014 rubymary Comments 17 comments

Here are some common China misconceptions I noticed from my fellow Americans:

It’s like 1984

photo credit: jellymc - urbansnaps via photopin cc — photo credit: jellymc – urbansnaps via photopin cc

“So Mary, how is life in China?” my friend calling from America asked.

“It’s ok, but the Internet here is terrible,” I sigh. “The Chinese government sucks and they block everything. I’m surprised they even allow Skype to work.”

Silence.

“…Mary…” I could feel my friend’s eyes searching the room, almost like he was looking for someone behind the wall wiretapping our conversation. “Are you sure you can… you know… talk like that? What if the government is listening now?” read more

Afternoon Tea in Shanghai

September 14, 2014 rubymary Comments 3 comments

It was one of those perfect Sunday mornings. I woke up naturally from a deep, full slumber to those rare, precious rays of sunshine pouring through my tiny one bedroom apartment in Shanghai. I heard my neighbor, a Shanghainese Ayi, conversing boisterously in Shanghainese with fellow friends on the balcony. The bike peddler downstairs made the rounds for scrap metal, his stereo box continually repeating the words “computers, TVs, radios..” into the early morning.

I pulled myself out of bed to the coffee maker where I brewed a fresh pot of coffee, fried up some eggs and looked out the window to my city-sprawl view of the Jing’an district. read more

Speed Dating in China

August 18, 2014 rubymary Comments 9 comments

The location for the Chinese-Japanese Friendship Group’s speed dating event seemed like a place where love goes to die. From the outside it looked like a local convenience store, the kind where you can easily purchase 50 cent baijiu (rice liquor) and tar filled cigarettes–maybe even a cell phone charge card. If it weren’t for the hand written sign taped to the wall adjacent to the shop keep, we would never know that a dating event lie in wait just beyond the foul stench of the convenience store’s stinky tofu, and up the stairs from the grime filled storage room. read more

Wang Lee Hom Making Asian Men Attractive

July 14, 2014 rubymary Comments 2 comments

Last weekend I saw Wang Lee Hom perform at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Knowing I love everything Chinese, my aunt bought us tickets to see “An Evening of Chinese Splendor,” a Chinese themed performance by the L.A. philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Zong Zu Ying (a famous communist-like folk singer) and Ruby Chen (pianist) were some of the big names to make it on stage, but there was only one singer that managed to get not only the girls, but the boys in the crowd scream in glee: read more

Being Half Asian in China and Japan

May 31, 2014 rubymary Comments 75 comments

Most people are stunned to find out that I’m half Asian half white. They’re even more stunned to find out I’m not half Japanese or even Chinese: I’m half Vietnamese (I know, I don’t look Vietnamese at all).

And I’m not only white–my father is 100% Irish. So I’m a complete 50/50 split of two very different cultures.

Being a Halfie in the USA

In my hometown (a very small town in Utah) my mom was the only Asian person in town, making my brother and I the only Asians in the school. Despite how un-Asian I look, I was constantly teased for being a “gook” or a “chink” and never a moment went by where I wasn’t racially profiled. Me liking Japan didn’t really help improve the situation, so memories of people yelling “hey ching chong wong” and other such uncultured insults are still a very fresh memory today. read more

The Shanghai Ronin is Leaving Shanghai

February 23, 2014 rubymary Comments 8 comments

Taking The Leap

The craziest adventure in my life was not joining the JET Programme and moving to a village in no-man’s-land Japan for two years as the lone foreigner. It was not dropping everything and randomly studying Chinese in Beijing. It wasn’t even venturing through the countryside of China and traveling by bus to the depths of Vietnam alone. No. All of those things, to me, are semi-normal.

The decision to move to Shanghai was the most rash, insane, and completely bewildering change of my life. read more

Moganshan, an Easy Shanghai Weekend Getaway

February 7, 2014 rubymary Comments 2 comments

新年好！

Happy Chinese New Year!

So it’s Chinese New Year, I have a long holiday, but I don’t have enough money to make it back to the states and I don’t want to join the throngs of tourists going to the Great Wall or Terracotta Warriors.

I wanted a holiday without the crowds, without breaking the bank, and without the hassle.

Getting Away From the City

The problem with Shanghai is that the closest getaways are Hangzhou and Suzhou, which are both huge, sprawling cities filled with so much congestion and clutter it’s actually more stressful going there than actually staying in Shanghai. Finding a nice, natural retreat from Shanghai can sometimes seem impossible. Therefore, I’d like to introduce two locations that are not only a short train ride away from Shanghai, but are also surprisingly vacant of the usual horde of Chinese tourists. read more

The Char Shu Bun Babe

January 26, 2014 rubymary Comments 2 comments

Habits. Schedules. Rituals. Sometimes it feels great to have routine in life, and nothing makes you feel warmer and fuzzier than finding out you have one in a foreign country. It helps you realize that yes; unexpectedly, you somehow managed to plant roots in this new place that you somehow home. The city is accepting you not as a foreign object or something that needs to be discarded; but rather, it’s slowly warming up to you and inching in closer and closer like a curious kitten meeting its new master. read more

Christmas Abound

December 27, 2013 rubymary Comments 2 comments

A Very Japanese Christmas

“Mary-sensei” my favorite 7-11 cashier in Niigata sweetly called my name. “How about a Christmas cake? We have so many flavors; chocolate, white and strawberry–and look at all the sizes! I think you would really enjoy having a cake to share with someone special on Christmas day.”

“I have no one special to share it with,” I reply, looking through the cake brochures. “And in America it’s a day spent with family, not a boyfriend.”

“Soudesuka…” the cashier looked hurt, and I felt bad for being so blunt and mean with my favorite cashier lady. She’s just doing her job trying to up the sales of Christmas cake and making small talk with me–I shouldn’t take my Christmas blues out on her. I cave in. read more

The Ruby Ronin

Connecting China, Japan, and the World

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