Tag Archives: beijing

AtW Podcast, Episode 20: Paddy Robertson

My guest for today is Paddy Robertson. He and I met on his first night in Beijing, about a year and a half ago. At the time, he was just beginning to study Chinese, and now he speaks the language far better than most foreigners, even among those who have been here for much longer than him. How has Paddy managed to learn Chinese so quickly? One big reason is that he works for Smart Air, which sells affordable air purifiers. His co-workers are Chinese, so he gets to practice the language on a daily basis.

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Beijing Bowl 2016, Ultimate Frisbee at its Finest

I recently had the opportunity to photograph the Beijing Bowl Ultimate Frisbee tournament. It was an exciting weekend, with many good teams vying for the coveted championship trophy. Though I haven't played Ultimate in many years, I was still happy to live my past glories by taking pictures of hucks, D's and layouts.

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The Fabulous Forbidden City

For many visitors, the Forbidden City (紫禁城) is the highlight of China. It was the Imperial Palace of the Chinese emperor from 1420 until 1912. Today, it's known as the “Palace Musuem” (故宫博物院) because it houses a large number of ancient Chinese artifacts. It has 980 rooms, and the buildings exemplify China's ancient architecture. The compound was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. With 14 million annual visitors, it is the most visited museum in the world. Will you be among them?

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Beijing's Jingshan and Beihai Parks

Almost everyone who comes to Beijing visits the Forbidden City, one of China's highlights. Afterward, most people go back to their hotel, or at least to a different part of the city. But if you cross the road to the north, you can visit lovely Jingshan Park (景山公园), in the exact center of Beijing. Not only is the park beautiful, with great views of the city and mountains, but is has some interesting history, as well. This is where Congzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, fled after Beijing fell in 1644. Out of options, the emperor hung himself from a tree near the park's entrance.

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Beijing's Summer Palace

The Summer Palace undoubtedly is one of Beijing's highlights. It has nearly 900 years of history, during which many emperors have used the park and its fabulous pagodas as a summer retreat.

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Beijing's Lantern Festival Fireworks

The New Year fireworks in China make the largest Fourth of July displays in the US look like child's play. And rather than just one or two nights, the festivities continue for over two weeks. The fifteenth day of the new year marks the Lantern Festival. Supposedly this is a traditional holiday where people carried red lanterns to temples, symbolically letting go of their past selves. But this year in Beijing, all I saw were fireworks. Lots of them, spread all over the city. The rumbles and explosions echoed off of buildings for six hours straight. Here's a short video to give you an idea of what it was like:

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AtW Podcast, Episode 10: Matt Sheehan

My guest for this episode is Matt Sheehan. Matt has lived in China for five years. He speaks Chinese fluently and works as a journalist for the Huffington Post. He also has a number of side projects, including a video series where he teaches Chinese people about ultimate Frisbee, a game he loves. Our discussion drifted into all of these topics, as well as Beijing's pollution, the state of the Chinese economy, the education system in China, Matt's walk across Beijing and much more.

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GMIC Beijing, 2015

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing. The GMIC is one of the world's largest mobile technology conferences, with over 400 speakers and 30,000 people in attendance. The conference was held in the China National Convention Center (CNCC), next to the “Bird's Nest” stadium that was made famous during the 2008 Olympics. Here are some of the highlights...

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The Smartest Air Filter In China

I've been living in Beijing, China since last August. Whenever I talk to friends in other countries, the subject of air pollution comes up. Is it really as bad as the international media makes it out to be?

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Observations From Five Months in Beijing, China

You can't visit a new continent (let alone two new continents) every year. This year is special for me, my only multiple-new-continent year. After spending nearly five months in China, I'm due for a break. I'm heading to Australia.

Friends back home are always asking what I think of Beijing. To be honest, even after living there for nearly half a year, I still don't know how to respond. I've written about many amazing experiences in China (the best so far being my trip to Inner Mongolia). In fact, there are many more facets of China that I love and have yet to write about. But almost every day, I find myself in a situation that makes absolutely no sense to my Western eyes and ears.

I could go on and on about China, but for now, I'll give you 10 observations from my limited experience in the country:

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