Chengdu
Stay the course
I recently wrote a post about my Chengdu Compound, and the comments on the post, and on Reddit, reflect two things, in general: 1) Good job, enjoy the palace 2) Watch out, Chinese landlords are evil and will fuck you And the feelings I have in my own heart about the compound revolve around these […]
The Pensioners are back
Retired doctors, nurses, and health workers converged on Chengdu’s government offices today for the third time in a month. The first time I was able to walk down and talk to them, as there were but several dozen. This time there are about a 500-600 – about a dozen dressed in hospital whites – and […]
We be sharing poetry about Chengdu.
Check it out here on the Chengdu Forum. Or below. Now I know where all the recycling goes down a funk street in hongpailou past the rows of ankle high plastic seats roundtables and dust covered plastic hats rough faced workers with mouths full of pigfat laughing out loud as they chopstick spar a bowl of pepper […]
Li Cheng Peng Book Signing in Chengdu
Li Cheng Peng, an outspoken ex-sports journalist turned censorship-slayer and social media darling has a new book out: “全世界人民都知道：SmILENCE” (The Whole World Knows: SmILENCE) He held a signing near my house in Chengdu and I went to check it out and take some photos. I bought the book and was hoping to get an autograph, […]
Anren Jianchuan Museum Cluster
I made a visit to the Jianchuan Museum Cluster a few months ago and then wrote a post for Chengduliving on the museum and Fan Jianchuan, the man behind the cluster. If you ever make it out here to Chengdu, visit the Anren Museum Cluster, for my money it’s the best collection of museums in […]
Insomnia
Sometimes I can’t sleep at night, I toss and turn, alarm bells and laughter going off in the street. Honking cars in my dreams. I can’t get no peace. So I get up and get dressed and toss on my shoes and walk through Hongpailou. Sometime I remember to bring my camera. These shots were […]
Adrift during the Holiday
I find myself sleeping, tweeting, taking notes. Talking to people I don’t know. Coffee and cigarettes. And carrying my son around on my shoulders so he can pluck leaves and people watch.
The Struggle for Hong Kong
Here in Chengdu, people have been asking me: “Hey, did you hear what they did in Hong Kong? They stood up to the government.” There is no mention of winning or losing. Only the fact the HK citizens have the courage to stand up to the government, something Chinese, in general, feel they lack. One […]
Silk Roads and Great Walls
What we today call the Chongqing Model and the Guangdong Model are just new names for an ancient struggle. Since the first brick was laid on the Great Wall and the first caravan set out across the desert, this country has been riven by the need to communicate with the outside world and the fear […]
The Empire Strikes Back
China-based hacks into commercial and political networks across the planet have made the news again, with the Trend Micro report on an attack called LuckyCat that targeted Asian defense systems as well as Tibetan networks. The attack was traced back to a graduate of Chengdu’s Sichuan University, Gu Kaiyuan. Gu currently works for Tencent and […]
Don’t wink at me
I am a stranger in a strange land. I need connections or I will wither and die. And the connections I need are not just with my native people, or with people similar to me, but with the people who inhabit this strange land. I learned to speak Chinese out of survival instinct and I […]
China-US Cold War and what we can do about it
Can it be denied that the US is actively engaging China’s border nations in an attempt to contain and control China? It seems pretty clear to most observers that such was the case years ago – Kissinger commented on the idea of containment back in 2005 – but with the recent moves in Myanmar and […]
Ode to Third Ring Road
You can catch me on the Third Ring Road, zipping down the sideline on my Bad. Moduh. Scooduh. I’m on there enough to have found myself a little community, people who all come from different backgrounds but share one thing in common every time they slip onto the Third Ring from some obscure exit choked […]
Imprisoned
Liao Yiwu is a Chengdu native and he recently escaped over to Berlin via the Horse and Tea Trade Route pathways of southern China. Reading his story today reminded me of a few things. Ever since I have lived in China, I imagined my escape route. There are a few, but the Yunnan-Guangxi one is […]
Excerpts from an Interview with Luo Fahui
This is a companion piece to ChengduLiving’s Portrait of a Chengdu Artist: Luo Fa Hui. Here I put together some excerpts from an interview back in October. Stay tuned next week for more Chengdu artist love, both here and at ChengduLiving.com On China’s Future: -有希望。中国朝着良性方向发展，不是以前那样封闭。现在我们很多人，都有机会和权贵坐在一起。这是大趋势，不是一个政党可以控制的，所以这个是个很大的希望。现在慢慢的改变，慢慢开始尊重人权，尊重人的思想，自由度，精神上的，越来越宽。首先是看着这30年的变化，亲身体会，当年是怎么样，现在是怎么样，随便怎么比。 There’s hope. China’s is moving forward in a good direction, […]
Up for Grabs
I spent a full year under the harsh lights of Ctrip’s corporate glare and I wrote a lot of stuff for them. It seemed like pissing into the wind, for the most part. I met great people there, but the Chinatravel.net site for which I worked is the mortally wounded man doggedly clinging to life, […]
What the Wenchuan Quake makes me think of
I still choke up every time I read about the kids that died in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. I’ll remember the pictures of a girl impaled on rebar as screaming parents reached up to her … one of them balanced on crumbling concrete trying to reach her before she faded out. I’ll see the blood […]
My wrist hurts
And when I was in Chengdu a few weeks a go I told my shifu Li Cuan about it and he made me pound on the iron circle for a while. it felt better afterwards. i am back at the 9-5 grind after a few weeks on the road filming stuff for the China Travel […]
Dorian’s First Birthday
Lil Dorian turned one on February 8th and we went to our old stomping gronds in San Sheng Xiang to celebrate with good friends. The Love’s were there and we went to our neighbors Xu Lin’s spot for lunch and tea. Her son FanFan was there and so was Bean’s father Laoba. Chinese have a […]
Holy Shit I miss Sichuan
Man I found myself teary eyed listening to the Ya Jian Bang sing about Sichuan food. I was thinking about what it would feel like kicking it with my peoples out there around a cheap ass table covered in steaming spicy ass delicious heart warming lip smacking eye glazing down home sichuan style dishes lord […]
My man Fu Qiang
Has just opened up a shop selling his CDs (compilations of music he digs) and art. He takes pictures and uses software to make his own impressions. pretty interesting stuff. You can check his site out right here. Here is a picture of Fu that he manipulated into an oil painting-type image: Here is a […]
I can’t stop laughing at Western businessmen
I don’t even know where to start laughing and where to end. It doesn’t matter. For years and years people like me (but with better jobs) have been saying that China has some issues and we need to help them along, but the money-men always trumped everything by drooling all over each other in attempts […]
The Du
Here is a little list of cool spots in Chengdu. This is actually a VERY incomplete list, but its a good start. holla.
Haiti
here is a short essay on Haiti and Chengdu and some of the similarities and differences in the disasters that struck here and there.
China reacts to Avatar the Movie
Avatar the movie opened up in China on January 4th, 2010. Lines stretched for blocks outside of most every theater in the nation for the next week as waves of Chinese went to see the next stage in movie evolution, 3D fantasy on a Hollywood scale. I went on the 6th and from the first […]
Crib finalized
Contract signed. The crib is real nice, we is happy. I wish I could show you pics, but i have to wait till those greasy bastards at the Bad Monkey send me the battery I forgot at their bar. (Excuses …) The house has two big courtyards, a lily pond, a chicken area, two floors, […]
Chengdu Living
Spent all day yesterday cooking up various meals and eating them on the spot. I’ve been brewing the soup for two days (into the third) now and its got sausage and taters and pork and garlic and ginger and all sorts of other random stuff in it. I keep imagining an inn back in the […]
Free to Post
I wrote an essay a while back about censorship in China, for Antiwar.com, and I basically said that within the parameters of black and white, all life transpires. Well i am now, thanks to Freedur, safely within the gray. Freedur is a VPN protocol that allows me to surf through a proxy and avoid sneaky, […]
Summer in Portland
is almost perfect. its not too hot and when it does get hot the rains come politely like butlers in the morning to dress up the day in dew making sure i dont know it even happened till i stretch yawn put my slippers on and walk out. a faint whiff of brimstone and stains […]
Mengding Mountain Tea
I took a trip last month while i was in china to my main homegirl’s tea spot. here are some pics: From Left to Right: Guan Da Ge, Xiao Bai, Chen Shui Yuan and Chen’s employees. Xiao Bai run’s the plant, Chen is my logistics, tea ware and oolong guy and Guan is my right […]
A long hiatus makes for a rambling post
So i will begin with an introduction: hi, this has been inaccessible for me for some time, but now i have hotpost shield so its all good (addendum: not all good). I am still in Chengdu and fly out of here on the 30th to Shanghai and then back to SFO for a while. Now […]
Work is the Enemy of Doubt
Fortuitous fortuitous this is the word of the day. I spent the last two days meeting my old tea suppliers Bai Ting Ting who provides me with the Honey Dew Tea that I love so much and my man Chen Su Yuan who has tea ware for sale and twin brothers Xiao Song and Da […]
The Du
MM-MM something about the Du makes me feel all homey. its easy as pie out here. the sky looks like dishwater and i aint seen the sun yet but instead i got down on some Pickled Pepper Beef and some of the tastiest gong pao chick en this fool has ever scarfed down. Got with […]
Back in China
Shanghai is a sea of skyscrapers as far as my eye can see. There are pockets of two-story blocks of old school homes with laundry hanging from lines strung between houses. The glow of the sun is like that of a streetlamp through fog. When i see the orange orb in the sky it looks […]
PEEP THIS!!
Julia Zimmermann came to Chengdu and stayed with me for several days chronicling the earthquake there for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung — my favorite German-language newspaper. Here is her finished work, in German. The photos speak for themselves and if you click on the slideshow to your right, you will see more of the same […]
Some ill from the Du
My man Chengduxi, who put up my Auryn tattoo back in the day — had to get it recolored by Poh in Pai, but so what — he’s got his sights set on the art scene .. he was once a drummer, still is, now he paints and generously puts it up for us to […]
When things die
I was in Chengdu for the past two days taking care of some business and I went to check out my old home in Three Gods Village. I have posted here about it earlier — the place is getting torn down to make way for high rise buildings and the people are forced to move […]
Beijing 2008
I am finally in Beijing. After several months of talking about it and changes to the plan on a weekly basis, I am now officially part of the whole “one world one dream” experience in Beijing. Yesterday was a beautiful day. The sun shone all day, the sky was blue and white lazy clouds hung […]
The death of traditions
It is so hot and humid in Chengdu right now that my brain is bathing in its own liquid, humming strange tunes to itself and sending me images of massive artillery guns firing into the distance. Spengler is a columnist for Asia Times who has derided the Europeans for lacking the courage to face the […]
My Neighbors
Here are some pics by photographer Andreas Mueller of the village i live in and some of my neighbors:
Blogger up in China!
Well i’ll be damned. After all this time, China has decided(?) to let blogger do its thing. So i am visible in China. This is a good thing. I am in shanghai now and chillin with my man Ferchak. I love his house. And his style too. A true gentleman scoundrel of the most elegant […]
it just keeps gettin thicker
ya’ll don’t even know. I went to Hanyuan the other day and just got back in the Du. I was planning on staying a month there, but things didn’t work out that way. On the way to Hanyuan I got a call from my man Philly in Beijing and he said: “yo, that security job […]
The Gov’s Side of the Story
So the meeting between the local government officials of Three God’s Village and the villagers took place today at 10am. The meeting was held in a bed and breakfast inn, one of the largest, across from the local Party Secretary’s house. WE sat under peach tree in bamboo chairs as the officials explained what was […]
serendipity
i just got back from Beichuan a few minutes ago. Beichuan was near the epicenter of the earthquake, so most of the villages in that area were destroyed or flooded. I met groups of people from Xuan Ping — a village near Beichuan that was flooded — scattered throughout the disaster area. One man was […]
aftershocks
today … bout three minutes ago, a large aftershock shook chengdu. the largest in a long time, maybe since the original quake. and it lasted for about one minute. here things rattled and my heart raced, but nothing damaging happened. but if it was this heavy here, then up north people died. and who knows […]
Luo Shui
We went to Luo Shui today, about 20 of us in several cars and trucks loaded with toys, paints, candy and other goodies for the surviving schoolchildren of Luo Shui town. We went to four different schools and each school had lost kids during the quake. The kids loved and we had a blast. My […]
False Alarms and Party Poopers
Yesterday Chengdu went crazy as every man, woman and child rushed to the streets to throw up tents (again) or jump in cars to head out of the city. Radio, CCTV, SMS and other media screamed out, “run fo’ ya LIVES!” and we all responded. Once again I had a large crew of people at […]
mom i can’t see your hand
A Poem by an anonymous Chinese circling the web(translated): Children quickquickHold fast to Mother’s handThe Road to HeavenIs so darkMom is afraidyou’ll hit your headQuickHold fast to Mother’s handHave Mom walk with you momI’m afraidThe road to heaven is so darkI cant see your handSince the walls felland stole away the sunI haven’t been able […]
A Theory of Relativity
First off: Blogger is blocked in China, so people cannot see it here, I cannot comment back to any of you and i do use a proxy. There is so much to tell … I drove from Chengdu up north to a place called Hanwang today, through the towns of Shifang and Mianzhu. Shifang was […]
Around Qing Cheng …
Yesterday i climbed as far as it is possible to climb right and Qing Cheng mtn is def. devastated near the top. Past the Tai An Old town basically every building lies in ruins. There are a few valleys which will take months to clear. Boulders and huge chunks of mountain clog the roads at […]
China handles business
President Hu Jintao made it to Dujiangyan today and shook hands with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao… Today I took a ride with a civil engineer and a security and infrastructure assessment expert around the northwest suburbs of Chengdu. We visited Chongzhou, Qingcheng Mountain and the outskirts of Dujiangyan. The purpose of the trip was to […]
To Mianyang
Tomorrow we will try and head up to see if we can help. THe local authorities and Red Cross have designated the Bookworm and Cafe Paname as two foreign est. where supplies can be dropped off and from which teams might be able to head up and help. Earlier today, a group of Brits trapped […]
I’ll make ya famous
Well Chengdu is basically back to normal. My friend Charlie’s harrowing experience is all over the web now — here is the AP story, which also has the video. You can check out the text here. We’ll be heading up north tomorrow in a caravan filled with goodies. It will probably only be a daytrip […]
Chillin in Flower Village
Well the tremors have picked up now and rumors are rife about another large earthquake. But rumors have been flying all day about no water, polluted water, airport open then closed and so on. its safe out in my little farmhouse and I got a crew out there and some kitties to look after. Charlie’s […]
Chengdu Earthquake day after
Here is a story I wrote that didn’t find space … its a time-pegged story which means I can probably not publish it anywhere else. So here you are, a look at what was happening in the Du the day after:In Chengdu a slight drizzle coats thousands of people who have taken to the streets […]
“Even if there is only a sliver of hope …”
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s speech is looped on TV and radio and seems to have an effect. One line that inspired was: “Even if there is only a sliver of hope, we will increase our efforts 100-fold to save those people” Rumors are out now about the water. Water is turned off in Chengdu […]
Spent last night with my People
I want to first reply to those who have commented about Qing Cheng Mountain: If anyone has ever been there you may remember the very large gate that leads from the parking lot into the actual temples area? That gate is gone. All of the small bed and breakfast inns along the road up the […]
We felt it comin …
My friend Rachel wrote the day before the quake: “I feel like the world is shifting” if ya’ll check the first few lines of my post “The Illusion of Coincidence” you’ll see that there was something in the air … just to embellish a bit: yesterday was Buddha’s birthday. The plates that caused this earthquake […]
A shaky night
There is a tremor going on as i write — has been shaking my building for the past three minutes. still shaking. had tremors all night and all morning and the news has been getting worse every hour. Chengdu seems ot be ok for now, but north of here it is real bad. Chinese Prime […]
No Sleep tonight
Well now that i feel i have done my part cross-referencing links and straining at Chinese characters its time to write lil something for my people. Its gonna be scary tonight for sure.. there was a tremor just now at 939pm and it last till 942. it wasn’t strong but if any of you have […]
updates on Chengdu earthquake: its getting worse
Thousands dead and injured in Beichuan county — the TV is not reporting any of this, getting it off of Xinhua news. All media is locked into the “central brain” local TV is reporting on the “man in the street” and constant quotes on how people felt, where they ran too … Update: Here is […]
updates on Chengdu earthquake: Deyang has at least five schools collapse
The schools are taking a hit across the northern part of Sichuan. Deyang is 45 minutes NE of Chengdu, Dujiangyan is 45minutes NW .. PArty Secretary’s statement is playing every two minutes on the news
Chengdu TV on earthquake
The tv news just reported 107 deaths and 648 injuries. They also say that gas is tough to come by — some people have been waiting for 3 or more hours for gas. the death toll is rising as the news report goes on — 4 people dead in Aba5 people in Leshan20 or more […]
rumors of more earthquakes coming
Rumors are spreading fast throughout the city that there will be another large earthquake this evening at 830pm … this has not been confirmed by anyone in the scientific world. from Shanghaiist:“Intrigue. There were rumours of a “huge impending earthquake” but concerned villagers in the Matang Village of the Maerkang County were told by the […]
More Updates for Chengdu Earthquake
The death toll is rising — so far it is up to 107 and the schoolchildren in Dujiangyan are not completely accounted for. The countryside around Chengdu a=has taken a big hit, with houses in Leshan, Guanghan and Guanyuan collapsing. The damage will be most extensive north of Dujiangyan — that area was also the […]
chengdu earthquake gets worse
Dujiangyan has been hit with tragedy. 900 schoolchildren are believed to be buried under their schoolhouse when it collapsed. DJY is 56km north of chengdu, making it less than 50km from the epicenter.
updates on Chengdu earthquake
we just experienced another tremor at 710pm. the locals are trying to drive out of the city, but most of the roads out are jammed-packed with cars. Cars are parked near the highways west, south and north out of the city, but they are not moving due to the traffic jams. Many people have taken […]
The Illusion of Coincidence…
A great many strange things have happened in the past few days … perhaps not as many as may be transmitted by the feeling that accompanies one or two strange happenings, but nonetheless … something is happening. I was sitting with my friend Himmler one evening. His woman Jodie and roommate Wu Tong were in […]
Basic Conversation with a Chengdu Cabbie
Oh shit! Wassup Laowai! Where you from? For real? Where you teach at? You aint a teacher? Where you study at? Oh so you a company man. How much you make? Writer?! Yeah right, lying ass. How long you been here? Holy shit! So you like Chengdu? Can you eat spicy food? Hell no. Really: […]
The tongue of the toad cannot reach the wings of the dove
you know there used to be a prostitute that hung out by the Fu Nan River that flows through the city of Chengdu. She was one-legged and had a dwarf patna. They would chill in the shadows under old willow trees and lean on the rails, gazing wantonly at the men that passed. Old men […]
holla
Let me know if you can see my entire blog and comment on it, cuz i can’t. I have been saving up my energy for this post because I am going to try and describe the inner working of a large state-owned enterprise chartered by the municipal government to promote Chengdu abroad. Even writing this […]
Aint nothin special bout me
i walked back to my house tonight around 2am and i live near the Tibetan district of town. there were police cars on every block with running motors and flashing lights. the entire neighborhood is surrounded and infiltrated. the only things moving were the cops fingers typing out a lazy message to his girl and […]
pear blossoms and rapeseed
i went walking through the orchards yesterday, but the people i guided there were uninterested in fairy-watching or pollen-passing, so i stowed away my plans and wait patiently for another day, hopefully soon, when i can walk the orchards again and drift off watching bees hop. will it be the same with the pack of […]
Hold a Fist Up for Tibet
Yesterday I talked with my editor Katherine about Tibet and she asked what was going on. I said well, if people in Kham and Amdo rise up too, then things will get real serious. And today my girl Nicole sends me an Ap story describing protests in Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan Provinces. So perhaps things […]
gou re de
Today i spent the whole day with my man Liu Yuan running from one massive development project to another, extolling the virtues of Chengdu’s real estate situation. I was interviewed a few times for the TV and all the girls in the house were giggling. the older women too. they would roll up on me […]
Back in The Du
I have been wrestling with being called a racist by people who read my occasional column on antiwar.com — i admit that i do have some racist-ass thoughts about China and Chinese. But at the same time i love these fuckers. what can ya do. anyway i am back in the dirty du, my home […]