My grandmother passed away last month in Shenyang. She was 92. Her health had been deteriorating steadily for the last five years, and as far as deaths go, hers was a peaceful one. All her loved ones managed to visit her in her last month of consciousness, and she passed away in her sleep –… Continue reading On Earth as it is in Heaven
Tag: travel
Saving Face
One of the things you hear the most about China is that people are obsessed with “face”. I’ve always thought this was a bit Orientalist, since it suggests that we (i.e. Chinese) are only concerned with superficial things. But sometimes, “face”, understood a strange intangible honour system, shows up in unexpected places in China. There… Continue reading Saving Face
Yellow Skin, White Masks.
I stood in the piazza, surrounded by tinkling espresso cups and beer glasses. This wasn’t Europe – this was Tianjin, a city near Beijing where I was visiting my aunt and uncle. This was “Italian style town”, an area of in the old Italian quarter of the city.[1] “Italian style” was a bit of a… Continue reading Yellow Skin, White Masks.