If you happen to be flipping through the Monday, February 21 Shanghai edition of the Global Times, you might just find a familiar face on page 16. Me, actually. 😉
The Global Times profiled me and Speaking of China for their newspaper, in an article titled A Love Affair With China. I have a PDF version of the article and a link to the online version. Here’s a snippet of it:
As a Western woman with a shorter Chinese husband, she has turned a lot of heads, but Jocelyn Eikenburg is determined to question and challenge stereotypes about Chinese men and Western women in love.
The 33-year-old American keeps a blog called “Speaking of China,” where she shares her understanding of Chinese culture and offers advice to those in family and dating dilemmas. She was named one of the “101 Inspiring Women Bloggers to Watch for 2010” by WE Magazine, a women’s online publication based in Florida.
Posting things that happened between herself and her husband and in-laws from rural Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and addressing issues such as how Chinese men can be really sexy and how Western women can meet Chinese men in China, Eikenburg has exploited a piece of blogsphere where intercultural couples, especially the rarer pair of Western women and Chinese men, can get the feeling of finding a community where they can discuss their unique cultural frustrations and confront the puzzling intricacies of cross-cultural relationships.
“I’ve long been obsessed with sharing the experience of marriage to a Chinese man in a meaningful way that others could relate to,” Eikenburg told the Global Times. “My goal is not really to make people agree with me, because not everything is simply right or wrong. I just want to encourage people to discuss these issues or topics that I bring up.”
There is one correction that wasn’t made, due to technical problems. The article states I’ll be moving to China this summer — but, actually, I won’t be moving to China until summer of 2013, at the earliest.
You can read the full article online: A Love Affair With China.
Great stuff Jocelyn, really wonderful! I love your flare and your success. You are an inspiration and I hope your success will climb up sky high. Best wishes, your dedicated reader. 😉
Ps. Although she is not your daughter, gosh, wouldn’t you love her to be? She is so cute! Absolutely adorable! But if you ask me, all chinese kids are!
@JF LOL! Are you suggesting something? Please read her latest entry. The pressure to have a baby from family & friends can be overwhelming at times.
At any rates, I’m glad she’s able to enjoy her China experience so much. China is, after all, quite distant from the West, both physically & culturally. It requires some serious getting used to.
I am not suggesting anything apart from a little banter and revealing that I think Chinese kids are so cute! Maybe it read wrong.. I completely respect any woman’s decisions and/or if she wants to have children, and I am not the most maternal of women. Does that clarify?
另人非常之极度之羡慕！