Cup of Cha
This is China

Beijing is a dry place, as dry as Melbourne where I grew up.  Both cities struggle to supply sufficient water to their inhabitants. Now, in Kyushu southern Japan, the atmosphere comprises small pockets of moist air fitted between grape sized raindrops.
Showering at the gym, which is done seated at a low apparatus, there is a [...]

Continue reading “Making a Splash” »

Jerry Seinfeld has an old bit about chopsticks with the underlying premise that they are somehow silly and impractical. It’s pretty funny and sums up how many Westerners feel about the utensils, but it’s also fundamentally illogical. Here’s the original shtick:
I’ll tell you what I like about Chinese people. They’re hanging in there with the [...]

Continue reading “Why Chopsticks Make Sense” »

Some of you may have noticed that there has been a new, strange person posting on Cup of Cha. He is none other than TheOtherRichard: friend, commenter and overall thoughtful guy. He’s originally from South Africa, but now he speaks with a weird Australian accent. He’s based out of Beijing and Japan and should be [...]

Continue reading “Meet TheOtherRichard” »

Sino-Japanese relations have undergone a significant thawing of late and have certainly improved since recent incidents.  I am in Japan on business and something that has struck me since landing is the disparity between ‘foreigner’ (non-Japanese) and local reaction to my explaining that I live in China.
Foreigners are generally impressed, largely (and, yes, I am [...]

Continue reading “Sympathy from the devil.” »

In the dark days following September 11th, 2001, one of the only points of light was the international outpouring of sympathy and shows of solidarity with America. Had the US leadership been wise, it could have turned that moment of tragedy into a starting point for stronger international relations and united foreign policy. Certainly it [...]

Continue reading “China Can’t Afford to Blunder this Opportunity” »

When you first arrive in China the challenge is always figuring out what you can and cannot do in mixed company. But after a long enough time in the country the difficulty slowly becomes what is appropriate for American, not Chinese, society.
In the beginning I found it bizarre that many Chinese spit bones onto the [...]

Continue reading “Forgetting Cultural Etiquette” »

For three days this week I will not be writing any posts to respect the period of mourning announced by the government. Again, if you want to help financially, I would suggest you go to Give2Asia or the Red Cross. Reports have indicated that the government is especially looking for tents for people made homeless [...]

Continue reading “Three Days of Silence” »

One week out from the Sichuan quake China began three days of official mourning with three minutes’ mourning. I had assumed that this would be a silent affair, as those times that I have observed such things in the past, usually in connection with war, ANZAC day in Australia and Buss und Bettag in Germany, [...]

Continue reading “Three minutes silence” »

Wednesday I took off for a little stint in NYC, with the mandatory wedding that has to take place every home trip, and some relax time. My flight was the Continental Beijing-Newark direct flight, which is always really nice. I was looking forward to seeing the new terminal too…until I discovered I was heading to [...]

Continue reading “That Other Airport Terminal” »

Coverage of Wen Jia Bao’s presence in China’s earthquake affected areas has been blanketing the media since Monday. This has been a significant PR boost within China. That Wen, a man at the top end of power, should take the effort to leave Beijing and visit the area – and perhaps ‘put himself [...]

Continue reading “Earthquake Coverage – New PR Territory” »