Speaking of China

Just across from the Western gate of Tsinghua University, one of China’s proudest institutions, sits a quiet reminder of foreign aggression on China and past humiliation — Yuanmingyuan Park (圆明园遗址), or the Old Summer Palace. The Qing Dynasty royal family lived and handled government affairs from Yuanmingyuan for more than 100 years, using the Forbidden [...]

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Sometimes, you hit walls in life in China. And sometimes, you hit walls on the way to the Great Wall. When my Chinese boyfriend and I toured Beijing, we discovered the obstacles that come when you’re young and traveling China on a budget.

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As a foreigner in China, sometimes your “foreign face” is your most useful asset. When my company attends a conference in Beijing, they bring me along, because my foreign face makes them look more international.

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When Frank, my ex-Chinese boyfriend, and I were forced together against our will — attending a conference in Beijing — he used language to create distance, making his heart as fortified as the Forbidden City in Beijing once was.

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It has barely been five days since I returned to the US, yet my mind is lost once again in China. I had some shocking experiences, such as hearing stories from my heart surgeon friend in Beijing. I had to convince my father-in-law to give up on nucleic acids, and never take them again. I [...]

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For those of you who don’t know, this year marks the tenth anniversary of my first landing in China — August 27, 1999. That day, when I stumbled into Beijing’s old international airport, never did I realize it would change my life entirely. That I would spend the majority of the next ten years living [...]

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