The man in this interview has a fascinating story. Sidney Shapiro or 沙博理 has lived through Mao’s China into Hu’s China. Now in his 90’s, he enjoys a quiet life in his adopted home in Beijing. He is one of the few hundreds of ‘communist sympathisers’ (for lack of a better term) who joined the Communist Party’s effort in building the […]
Savoring a piece of handmade gouda as I am writing this post, I am compelled to tell the story of Marc de Ruiter. Marc is the owner of Yellow Valley cheese, http://www.cheeseinchina.com/dynamic/ a cheese factory in rural Shanxi/山西 province. I interviewed him for my radio show.
Marc came to China 10 years ago working with Chinese farmers on various projects to help […]
Mesmerised, in awe, yawning despite trying to suppress it as the 203rd country entered the stadium, rejuvenated, and extremely excited albeit sleepy. Here is a chain of emotions I experienced when watching the Opening Ceremony.
The theme was China’s past, present and future, presented on a gigantic Chinese painting paper scrolling out. The ancient civilisation was prominently featured. China’s Four Great Inventions/四大发明/si4 da4 fa1 ming2 was befitting showcased in quite an […]
The bonds between imperial China and Western missionaries are an eternally fascinating subject. Amongst them are Italian missionary Giuseppe Castiglione. He came to China to spread the gospel, but ended up spreading Western arts and science to the middle kingdom. Castiglione’s holy calling took a detour when his artistic skills impressed Emperor 康熙/Kangxi who later commissioned him to paint and design Western style houses […]
The 汉办/HanBan, China’s equivalent of the British Council responsible for promoting Chinese worldwide has teamed up with 湖南卫视/Hunan TV, China’s guru in reality show and LOL entertainment to produce a competition that selects college students with the most formidable knowledge of the Chinese language and culture.
The competition, known as 汉语桥/ hanyu qiao/ Chinese Bridge has […]
Today is Children’s Day 儿童节/ér tong jié in China. The incrediblly courageous children in ravaged Sichuan speak out loud love, peace and hope/爱、和平、希望/ ài, hé ping, xī wàng.
The boy in this clip has become a national hero. He is 9 years old and his name is 林浩 lín hào. Here he tells matter-of-factly in his […]
Hi, I am Jenny Zhu from ChinesePod.com. I bring you a slice of the Chinese language and culture in the daily podcast. But there is so much more than what a podcast has time for, so jennyzhu.com is a space of observation and reflection on the big, small and everything in between about China.