As a foreigner, how do you deal with getting stared at 24/7? My policy is – no matter how hungry, tired, alienated or desperate to find a proper toilet I might be feeling – smile! Especially when you’re on camera.
Smile! You’re on camera!


A queer feminist anthropologist exploring the realities of culture, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Asia

As a foreigner, how do you deal with getting stared at 24/7? My policy is – no matter how hungry, tired, alienated or desperate to find a proper toilet I might be feeling – smile! Especially when you’re on camera.

Daily life in China can be strange, infuriating, illogical and altogether baffling. “Oh, China!” is sometimes the only thing that can be said.

A morning at Beijing Dance / LDTX Studios It’s the first rainy day since my arrival in Beijing. I am met, somewhat sodden, at Dawanglu station by a young Chinese woman named Jade. Clutching our umbrellas, exchange our thoughts about London, the city we’ve both left recently, and Beijing, where we’re both newly living. Jade [...]