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Essay

It was during those two weeks that I discovered that my ideal lifestyle is what people call “quarantine.” There’s no denying it now, I’m a couch potato

Buying anything with three ‘Xs’ in front felt slightly humiliating, but nowhere near as humiliating as trying to put them on and realising that wearing them was tantamount to being castrated

In Xinjiang, we were received like old friends, with incredible warmth and hospitality and many late nights of drinking and music making. We were taught many songs. But upon investigation, many seem to be old Russian radio hits from the 1970s and 80s

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Likewise, in China outsiders must derive most meaning from context and from what is not said, rather than from what is. This is partly because China is a high-context communication culture

You bond with people quickly while recreating the challenges and hardships of the Long March (1934-35). And to this day, every time I go past that grand building, I feel a deep and humbling appreciation for the unique opportunities I have had as a resident of the capital

It’s quite possible that Chinese people who are forced to read Mark Twain in school don’t think he’s funny either. Not even human reproduction is fun by the time teachers turn it into a lesson