Winser Zhao of China Travel 2.0 interviewed me, and the article — called Meet a Yangxifu and Ask for More About China – Jocelyn and Her Love Story — just appeared on their blog today. Some of the things I talk about include:
My first impressions/experiences in China
Why I love China
How I learned Chinese
My Chinese inlaws’ [...]
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When you live as a foreigner in China, sometimes you can’t help but feel like a child. Maybe it’s because you can’t speak the language — or stumble through it, like a toddler playing with sounds and words. Maybe it’s because you don’t read the signs, and feel as lost as a little kid, abandoned [...]
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When you live in a foreign country like China, it’s easy to get lost, to stumble, to make a wrong turn. But the wrong turn — or step — can cost you your time, your health or even, your trip to Hong Kong.
On the evening of December 28, 2002, I took the wrong step [...]
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Posted in Ask the Yangxifu on Mar 5th, 2010
What should a cross-cultural couple (Chinese-foreigner) consider before moving to China — to live permanently? Here are some issues you should know ahead, from career and visa to the environment and real estate.
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When you’re in love, and only see each other every two weeks, on the weekends, you romanticize every meeting. You want it to be as perfect as a Tang-dynasty couplet, and script out the possibilities even before your lover arrives. You practice a new phrase, such as 望穿秋水 (wàngchuānqiūshuǐ – awaiting you with great anxiety), [...]
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My Chinese boyfriend, John, faced a seemster of dormitory despair — while I helplessly looked on.
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By December 2002, I had seen a lot of things at the Chinese Internet company in Hangzhou, where I worked. But spamming wasn’t one of them — until, in mid-December, when my supervisor, Mr. Fang, had a talk with me.
I was already worried when Mr. Fang asked me to follow him to the conference room. [...]
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As a foreigner in China, sometimes you touch people in ways you never realized. Something you say or do in a moment — a small, forgettable thing to you — becomes a lasting impression to someone else.
I didn’t think much about swimming at the Chenjinglun pool in Hangzhou. I’d been going there since September. By [...]
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Posted in Ask the Yangxifu on Feb 26th, 2010
How can Western women and Chinese men get along? Jocelyn, who has been married to her Chinese husband since 2004, shares her experience.
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I wanted it to be just another Saturday — as it was to my Chinese coworkers. I rode the number 44 bus to the office, as always. I took the elevator up to floor 12. And when I came to my desk, there was my ex-Chinese boyfriend, Frank, still sitting next to me, as usual.
In [...]
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