Today, I’m visiting Zhengyi Old Street (正仪老街) in Kunshan — a city wedged in between Suzhou and Shanghai. This old street is a leftover slice in between other parts properly planned by the city. On the horizon, I can see construction cranes, as if they are threatening the area; ‘we are coming to you next’. […]

It’s 06:30 in the morning and I’m driving to the San Gabriel Mountains, north of Los Angeles. I’ve been trying to sleep after an exhausting week at CES, but I’m too excited for this hike and can’t wait to depart the Airbnb we’re in. Every visit to the United States is an adventure. The most […]

If George Orwell, one of the best essayists, were alive today, he’d be firmly against AI. Not because of 1984 or ‘Big Brother’, but because in ‘Why I Write’, he listed four motives for writing; Historical impulse Political purpose Aesthetic enthusiasm Egoism   Neither of these motives survives if you let AI do the writing […]

This series is called ‘Secret Listening’, from the Chinese word 偷听Tōutīng. I know this can be — and should probably be — translated as ‘eavesdropping’, but secret listening captures it better and adds a bit of jest. These little stories or remarks stood out to me, and show a more personal side of China away […]

A week ago, I saw a nearby old lane (小湾老街) on Xiaohongshu — but when I wanted to take a look there, I found it was already demolished and turned into some kind of factory. I checked back on Xiaohongshu and saw that indeed, the last posts were from early 2024. There was a feeling […]

When I moved out of Shanghai’s city center, the differences were obvious to me, but now three years later I start to see the similarities again. The area in Shanghai that we live in now — the border of Heqing (合庆) and Tangzhen (唐镇) — is full of non-Shanghainese people. Many come from lower-tier cities in […]

In Shanghai, cars, scooters, or bicycles in public are exposed to the impulses of opportunistic advertisers. So while you’re asleep or at work, they may place cards or stickers — fancy designs promoting services ranging from fake diplomas to ladies of not-so-virtuous nature, as well as housing funds. I’ve been annoyed dozens of times by […]

My first time in an airplane was in some Cessna 25 years ago. I had never imagined I’d ever sit in a plane, because that was something for rich people. But then after our visit to Legoland in Denmark, my dad decided we’d see the park from above. The whole was so inconceivable, not just […]

Sometimes a place or thing becomes super memorable not despite its odd name, but because of it. In Kunshan (昆山) there’s a place that sells ‘Toilet Egg Pancake’ (厕所蛋饼), because their original store was next to a public toilet. It has already moved on, but the name remains. While their pancakes are so good (and […]

My parents visited Shanghai for the first time in seven years, and even though the city has changed a lot, I dare say it has changed not as much as I have. Sure. On the surface of Shanghai, a lot of stores have come and gone since 2018, and large areas of the city were […]