“Gong farmer” is an old expression for a person who cleaned excrement from privies back in the days. Good explanation of the etymology of the term here. China still uses what is euphemistically called “night soil” in much of its agricultural efforts. I remember the gong farmers emptying the pits in the place I worked […]
It’s a bit sad, but this guy has been sitting outside my apartment for about a week now. I can see him from my desk. He hangs around from around 7:30 am until dusk. He has a sign: It reads 废旧回收, which means ‘waste reclamation’. So he buys your shit and hopes to resell it […]
A Liuzhou man, Liu Zheng, is missing on Mount Everest following yesterday’s Nepal earthquake and the avalanches it triggered. Efforts to contact him have failed, although this may be due to infrastructure damage. Mr Liu has been at the northern base camp for some time preparing for an attempted ascent. Deaths reported so far have […]
In an extraordinary move, for the first time ever, Liuzhou Intermediate People’s Court has found for a plaintiff in a copyright theft case. Liang Weibin, an amateur but enthusiastic photographer from Liuzhou, sued a local media company when they used four of his pictures without permission or compensation. He was awarded ¥2,800 and the offending […]
Friday Food is an occasional article about one of the more unusual food items to be found in Liuzhou that week. This week we’re getting smoky. Maybe I’m missing Hunan or something. Here is another speciality of 湘西 or West Hunan. Known as 腊肉香干, it is cured and smoked pork belly with smoked dried tofu […]
To celebrate San Yue San, bunches of locals have been dressing up in their traditional costumes (or fakes thereof) and dancing around to promote various commercial entities. This bunch were parked outside the bbq shopping mall last night. Whether these people are actually of the ethnic minorities they supposedly represent is debatable. I had one […]
Friday Food is an occasional article about one of the more unusual food items to be found in Liuzhou that week. This week we’re getting into chewing gristle. This is 瓢香脆骨 which literally translates as ‘Fluttering Fragrant Gristle’. Sounds appetizing, no? It is a speciality of 湘西 or West Hunan. Pork gristle is stewed until […]
Now that the weather is being nicer I am resuming this series. Shaungchong Bridge, built between 2002 and 2004, claims to be Liuzhou’s longest at 4,088 metres, although the river span is about the same as other bridges. The approach roads make up more than half. It is also probably Liuzhou dullest bridge. Strictly utilitarian, […]
The local media are claiming that the LuoSiFen (螺蛳粉 – the local noodle dish) worldwide market is now worth 10 billion元 ($1.6 billion USD, £1 billion GBP). This somewhat unlikely claim is based on there being Luosifen outlets in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even the United States. At around 5元 […]