中文 Zhang Jie Yu 张建宇 is a 43 year old taxi driver from Beijing who has worked as a driver his whole adult life, having been interested in cars since he was a child. Here is his life on the road: What is your solution to heavy traffic in Beijing? All drivers need to calm [...]
Lu Kong is a 24 year old Chinese teacher who teaches Chinese in India. While at university, she studied how to teach Chinese as a foreign language and has been working in Mumbai, India’s largest city, for the last six months. She previously taught Chinese in Bali, Indonesia. Passionate about travel and cultural exchange, she [...]
Yu Jing is the 26 year old Artistic Director for Egg Gallery in Caochangdi Village, Beijing. In addition to his gallery duties, he produces his own iconoclastic artwork, employing an eclectic variety of media to showcase his flippancy toward artistic and societal establishments. A sampling of his works and related comments follow, along with an interview. [...]
中文 Su Yong 苏 勇 is a 32 year old chef from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in China. He has been featured on several television cooking shows, has 2,000 followers on Weibo (the Chinese Twitter) and recently opened a new Sichuan restaurant in Beijing. Sichuan cuisine is notable for its use of mouth [...]
Guanqiao Fan is a 22 year old film student at Beijing Film Academy. He is currently in the process of editing his fourth short film 南方 (The South), which he wrote, directed and starred in. The film explores a love triangle in a coastal Chinese town set against the rising tide of materialism. We sat down [...]
During a rainy April morning in Beijing, a quartet of female college students are in costume and on a mission. The students, dressed like characters from the iconic 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, are on a recruitment drive for their school’s movie club. The University of International Business and Economics doesn’t exactly seem like a [...]
Note: this article contains images of a sexual nature that may cause discomfort to some. Reader discretion is advised. 中文 What’s on Beijing’s mind? Sex, among other things. The first sex toy shop opened here in 1992, and there are now an estimated 2,000 “adult shops” in the capital. To gain some insight into this [...]
Zha Xi is a Tibetan migrant who moved to Beijing several years ago, in search of better economic prospects. A Buddhist, he is part of a group of Tibetan migrants who sell Tibetan artifacts and Chinese propaganda posters in Beijing. The posters, which are copies of posters printed in the 1960s, proclaim various messages intended [...]
John, the top tout in Beijing’s tourist entertainment district Tout (n.) Someone who publicly solicits customers in a bold way. “Hello, want beer?” “Hi, this great bar! Come inside!” “Good drink here!” The calls grow louder and more intrusive as you progress down Beijing’s Sanlitun Bar Street, a cornucopia of gaudy facades, neon lights and [...]
Beijing street dancers Lang Xin Long (left) and Liu Hong Wei (right) 中文 Liu Hong Wei and Lang Xin Long are two young, aspiring dancers who have moved to Beijing with dreams of stardom. On weekend evenings, they can be often be spotted dancing at a busy intersection in the heart of the city’s entertainment [...]
