China Segment

A few days ago I was privileged to attend the wedding of my wife’s cousin and his fiancée, who had been engaged for about 9 months. It was held in the home of the groom’s father’s mother (his grandmother). She has a farmhouse in Fengxian district 奉贤区, in the countryside of Shanghai. [...]

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It seems that some people in China don’t really have a childhood. Forced to hit the books hard from an early age in order to get into the best schools and prepare for the university entrance exams (高考), children here don’t have a lot of time to just have fun and be kids. [...]

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The other day I was talking to a friend here. She’s not going home for Spring Festival. She can’t afford it.
It’s not the train ticket that she can’t afford, or the time off work - every business pretty much shuts down over the break, save for restaurants and hotels. She can’t afford [...]

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For some reason, China doesn’t have ‘em. Which makes for interesting discussions about money. Who’s bank account should our money be kept in? My wife’s or mine?
For those of you confused, women in Shanghai often control the purse strings of their men. Whoever makes money in the family turns it over [...]

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Today is April 4th, a day the Chinese associate with death (the sound for the number 4 is si, the same as the sound for the word ‘death’).  It’s a day for visiting ancestors that have passed on, cleaning up the site, and paying respects.
How Qing Ming Day (sometimes called tomb sweeping festival, a rather [...]

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Yes, China has 5000 years of history… and it is still immature. From its leadership down to the average mother or child. How so? A warning, as I am about to generalize about a great many things. My examples:

Hitting a person (be they child, husband, wife or friend) seems to be [...]

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And… our first videos here at China Segment. It’s about time we succumbed to the power of You Tube.
The whole Edison Chen sex picture scandal has revealed several things:
1. He was an idiot for: a) having a pink ibook; and b) taking it in to a shop for repairs with hundreds of pictures of [...]

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The gluttony that is Spring Festival.  Eating, playing mahjong, eating, mahjong, sleeping, eating, eating, mahjong, eating, a little nap, eating, mahjong, sleeping… It goes on and on.
Often lunches are large banquet style affairs with lots of relatives.  Dinner is usually smaller and there is snacking all day.  Lunch starts at 11:00 or 11:30, (earlier if [...]

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Today while standing on a street corner I saw a young (30ish) father and his daughter waiting alongside me.  The father reached back and hacked up a good ol’ spit.  The daughter, watching the Dad, immediately spit as well, though without the preceding lung-clearing action.  She then looked up at Dad, admiringly, just screaming with [...]

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The main event at all Chinese weddings is the banquet, which is very much like the Western wedding reception, without the dance. There are speeches, food, wine, and more food. It’s a good time and I highly recommend cozying up to some local friends to get invited. In fact, in Shanghai some [...]

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