SubscribeMy friend Sally, a Master’s in psychology exchange student from Taiwan, is studying at Peking University (Beida) this semester. I’ve been happy to help her with some translations and she’s kind enough to contribute one of her stories here: “北大洗澡記” 每天晚上校園都有不少人手提著塑膠袋或是小提籃，裡面放著盥洗用具，在寒冷的夜晚裡，走向公共浴室洗澡。我則是和室友走向更遠的浴室，因為那裏洗澡的地方有門可以關上。我來到北大最讓我驚訝著的兩件事，第一件事宿舍裡沒有洗澡的地方，第二件事是洗澡的地方沒有門可以關上。我聽我室友說在公共浴室洗澡，大家彼此可以看到對方的裸體。不過後來拿到港澳台學生用的洗澡證，我的心情好許多。因為港澳台辦公室知道台灣、香港和澳門的同學不習慣這樣的洗澡方式。有了這張卡，我們可以被允許進入留學生公寓的浴室，保全人員會先檢察我們的證件才讓我們進去洗澡。 我的大陸朋友說，這樣的洗澡方式都常在北方比較常見，所以南方人到北方求學，常常會很不習慣。不過她說，她們得習慣環境，因為這樣的生活習慣在北方已經很久了，即使跟行政單位反應也是沒有用的。我聽完不能理解為什麼反應是沒有用的，於是我只好點點頭。 “Taking a shower at Beida” Every evening there are many students walking through campus, bringing their plastic [...]
Creative Wanderings
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Tag: Beijing
“北京小吃” Beijing snacks book
A good friend of mine here in Beijing shares my love for food and gave me this book yesterday! “北京小吃” Beijing snacks (or Beijing small eats). Although, I can barely read any of it, the pictures say a lot.. and to remind me that I have yet to explore any of the well known foods [...]
NanLuoGuXiang Hutong
A visit to NanLouGuXiang was great to see with all the small independent and creative shops. From the pottery to Tibetan yogurt and craftmanship items. It’s a shame to come across this article in the Beijinger noting the change in environment from an authentically developed ‘tourist attraction’ to one that will potentially be artificially enforced. [...]
capsule apartment
I thought my room was small; this is a very different lifestyle…! With space pressures increasing in Beijing, the first “capsule apartment” complex has now opened in China’s capital – and according to China Hush it’s found at least one tenant. China Hush reported the opening of the capsule complex in Liulangzhuang, Haidian, earlier this month. According to [...]
public toilet map
So smart to orient the map the same way the street is laid out! Proof that community living and communal bath houses and toilets are still used and needed, even in a ‘developed’ city like Beijing: I do wonder if this map is for locals or tourists, since it’s placed on a main street that currently [...]
Beef Noodle King
It’s funny and insightful that the USA is used for reference when beef noodles are an original Chinese dish. California is apparently home to the beef noodle king. And here’s a Beijing location:
Cherry Blossoms
A few photos from YuYuanTan Park (玉渊潭公园) this weekend:
haircut in the park
3RMB for a haircut in the park! Outside of YuYuanTan Park (玉渊潭公园) there are barbers-on-bikes giving haircuts and shaves:
tourists posing
It’s always a funny site to see tourists posing with monuments And I’ll be first to admit that I do the same. Even more entertaining is that the 2 couples were nearly on top of each other, attempting to take the same photo!
798: Weng Fen’s Experimentalism
As I had recently posted, I took a trip to the Beijing 798 Art Distrcit and here’s a selection from one of the gallery shows: An awe striking exhibit with tons and tons of eggs: The crumbling of LehmanBrother’s.