“Money is just money. But sexual companionship is priceless.”
Massaging the masseuse in Beijing and Bangkok
The Taiwan massage scene
A Taipei masseuse’s rare combination of expert technique and open-mindedness makes for the most intense of massages.
Yangtze River cargo ship, bats, Agricultural Bank of China (video)
Hypnotic video of cargo ship passing down the Yangtze River in Wuhan at night.
The ventriloquist’s dilemma: Asexual Anglo travelogues of China
The jostling voices and fraught sexual ambivalence of Anglo-Americans writing about China.
The Chinese art of noise
Putting a song on repeat is as logical to the Chinese as decorating the walls of a room with the same wallpaper.
How to have fun in China’s disposable cities
Chinese cities happily gut their historical districts to rebuild them into cheesy simulacra which in turn will soon see the bulldozer.
The Chinese university: A primer for prospective foreign teachers
When I asked students what they learned in their politics classes, they couldn’t even remember the names of the courses.
The poverty of the institutional imagination: The case of Beijing’s moats and canals
If it reclaimed its water system, Beijing could become a great city of canals.
Questioning China’s “5,000 years” master trope
When measured against other ancient civilizations, China is not 5,000 years old but more like 3,000-3,500 years old.
A modest proposal regarding sex work: Why all sex should be paid for
The sexual fees levied on hubby would compensate working wives for the housework they do on top of their day job.
On harpsichords and white pianos: The challenge of music in China
Our distaste for the white piano stems from certain associated stars of the Easy Listening school (Liberace, Clayderman, etc.): music for people who don’t like music.
The Chinese-Japanese cultural chasm on display at Starbucks
Profound cultural differences epitomized by Chinese and Japanese Starbucks.
The high priests of medicine: U.S. and Chinese hospitals
The USA and China both bear the distinction of having the worst health care systems in the world not attributable to national poverty.
Black forest cake blues: The customer service problem
The idea of cake, a jokester’s cake for flinging in the customer’s face.
From struggle sessions to public dressing-downs: China’s continuity of psychological control
At the Revolutionary University, students vie with another to express how much they enjoy hauling night-soil feces.
ISHAM COOK 