Partnership with swapsy.com – article written by Sandi Yu Original article found at https://www.swapsy.com/blog/why-you-should-go-to-china In 1996, Princeton graduate Peter Hessler became one of the first pioneer volunteers of Peace Corps to go to China and teach English. After spending two years in a small town near the Yangtze River, he completed a 400-page manuscript, but was rejected by almost all the publishers, one of them saying “we don’t think anybody wants to read a book about China”.(1) He finally found a publisher in 2001, and the book, called “River Town”, was named “A New York Tim ..read more

After two months back in the UK, I had satisfied my need for all the homecooked favourites that I had missed whilst away and was ready to give in to my ever-growing cravings for Chinese food. I began looking for recipes that I could try at home, without too many complex ingredients, and decided that for my first venture into the world of Chinese home cooking I would follow Blondie In China’s chilli oil (辣椒油) recipe. I’ve followed her YouTube and Instagram for a couple of years, having found it whilst researching Shanghai back when I first started studying Chinese, and have loved following her ..read more

In one of my recent pieces of Chinese homework I wrote the following sentence: 你是否幸福取决在于你对问题所做出的反应，而不在于问题本身。It translates to: ‘your happiness depends on how you react to a problem, not on the problem itself’. The homework involved writing a list of sentences, each containing one of the new grammar structures for that week. This was just one of the sentences I had come up with. I barely gave it a second thought: it was just a grammar exercise; I was undoubtedly tired and had a long list of other structures to use. However, in the lead up to last week’s midterm exams, I looked back at my work fr ..read more

After my diet for my first few days in China consisted mostly of 奶茶 (milk tea) and whatever vegetarian meal I managed to order (usually not inspiring enough to warrant eating a great deal of), I was hopeful that my time in China would result in losing a bit of weight. Matcha, Oreo and salty cheese Spoiler, this definitely did not happen as it did not take long for me to find the most amazing meals from both the campus canteen and nearby restaurants. The lack of a kitchen and ridiculously cheap prices, meant that for the entire four and a half months, I ate out twice a day for no more than £5 a ..read more

A huge amount has changed since my last post back in September. I have returned back to the UK, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic after the best six months in Asia, living in Shanghai for 4 and a half months before 6 weeks of travelling in South East Asia. A flight back to London from Manila, 4 months before I was due to come home was far from the return to Haslemere that I had either expected or hoped for. The entire year of 2020 has been a difficult one to cope with, starting with losing my purse and phone ten minutes into the New Year, and naively claiming ‘at least the year can’t ge ..read more

After a 90 minute flight from Changsha to Pudong International Airport, we finally touched down in our home for the next year. As we had gone through customs during our transfer at Changsha, it did not take long before we were sitting in the back of a taxi headed for our hotel for the night. Arriving at our hotel, in the most populated city in the world, it was rather strange to notice that the surrounding streets were completely deserted whilst the apartment buildings in view had very few lights on. It was only 10pm and seemed odd that the entire population of Shanghai were already in bed – b ..read more

Writing the first blog post for my Year Abroad in China from flight HU422, London to Changsha! Unfortunately no window seat, particularly disappointing since flying over London at night is always fun and I won’t be seeing the city again for at least 10 months. My seat in the middle section of the plane proved to be particularly unappreciated since one particular passenger decided to use my row as a sort of corridor between the two aisles- therefore clambering all over me, without warning, at various intervals throughout the flight. 我们去上海 – We’re going to Shanghai! From leaving home this aftern ..read more

After two months back in the UK, I had satisfied my need for all the homecooked favourites that I had missed whilst away and was ready to give in to my ever-growing cravings for Chinese food. I began looking for recipes that I could try at home, without too many complex ingredients, and decided that for my first venture into the world of Chinese home cooking I would follow Blondie In China’s chilli oil (辣椒油) recipe. I’ve followed her YouTube and Instagram for a couple of years, having found it whilst researching Shanghai back when I first started studying Chinese, and have loved following her ..read more

After my diet for my first few days in China consisted mostly of 奶茶 (milk tea) and whatever vegetarian meal I managed to order (usually not inspiring enough to warrant eating a great deal of), I was hopeful that my time in China would result in losing a bit of weight. Matcha, Oreo and salty cheese Spoiler, this definitely did not happen as it did not take long for me to find the most amazing meals from both the campus canteen and nearby restaurants. The lack of a kitchen and ridiculously cheap prices, meant that for the entire four and a half months, I ate out twice a day for no more than £5 a ..read more

In one of my recent pieces of Chinese homework I wrote the following sentence: 你是否幸福取决在于你对问题所做出的反应，而不在于问题本身。It translates to: ‘your happiness depends on how you react to a problem, not on the problem itself’. The homework involved writing a list of sentences, each containing one of the new grammar structures for that week. This was just one of the sentences I had come up with. I barely gave it a second thought: it was just a grammar exercise; I was undoubtedly tired and had a long list of other structures to use. However, in the lead up to last week’s midterm exams, I looked back at my work fr ..read more