“Let Love clasp Grief lest both be drown’d” –“In Memoriam A.H.H.” stanza 1, Lord Alfred Tennyson Love clasping grief as I said goodbye to...

If you are an American child of the 80’s like me, one of your earliest exposures to China might have been the Sesame Street Special, “Big...

“Return Slowly” sign at The Hermitage Community Last week, I heard a story. There was once a group of Western scientists that wanted to...

This summer, I spent some time in the U.S. getting to visit lots of family and friends.  I spent time in Michigan and went out on a East...

My Chinese class just finished reading an essay about emperor Kangxi, one of China’s greatest emperors.  Somehow in our discussion,...

Spring comes quickly in Beijing, and quickly proceeds to summer.  We hit the upper 80s already at the end of April, as we usually do....

This past weekend was a 3-day holiday in China, for the traditional Tomb Sweeping holiday.  I decided to do something that I would find...

Shortly after I arrived in China, I visited Yuanmingyuan (The Old Summer Palace) for the first time.  That was in October, and I could...

Spring has arrived in Beijing!  Actually, we had a day or two this past week that felt like summer was about to arrive (but most people...

Last winter, I saw snow on the ground ONCE, and it wasn’t very much snow.  Winter was cold and dry.  After surviving the previous winter,...

I currently have a six-month visa that can’t be renewed in Beijing.  In order to get a new one, I had to take a trip to Hong Kong.  Since...

After our beautiful day in Jiuzhaigou, we took a 9+ hour bus ride south, through the area where the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake was,...

On Saturday, I went on a group hike to a section of the un-restored Great Wall.  This section is far off the tourist path and some work...

Sometimes I like to take my camera out and take a saunter around my neighborhood, stopping to photograph whatever seems interesting. ...

I don’t start back to class until Monday.  So this week I decided to spend a day learning about and enjoying Beijing.  First, I went to...

My fall walk around the neighborhood is my second most popular post ever, so I decided to take a Spring Festival walk.  This is a time of...

“Welcome home,” a friend greeted me when I got back to Beijing from my travels.  It was a good feeling, to be welcomed back to this...

“All it takes is the decision to walk with some awareness, both of who you are and what you are doing” (An Altar in the World, Barbara...

If this blog is any indication, I go to the Great Wall a lot.  I promise this isn’t normal.  We just had more visitors.  When you have...

I had visitors this week, and I took them to the Great Wall Wednesday.  There are several portions north of Beijing, and the one we went...