On my last trip to Beijing I was lucky to meet a good old friend from back in the happy uni days attending courses at the East Asian department. Unlike myself, she has immersed herself in the local culture and

Yong He Gong Lama Temple : Beijing
On one of my recent visits to Beijing I decided to stay at the Hutong area near Confucius Temple. It was a wonderful area, filled with local alley magic and temple shops, but it wasn’t all Confucian. In that area

Beijing Hutongs : Fangjia, Nanluoguxiang and Wudaoying
The Beijing Hutongs are alley-ways all across Beijing that represent a traditional disappearing way of life. During my first visit to Beijing I stayed in a five star hotel near Tiananmen square completely disconnected from local life, so for the

Tianning Temple Pagoda : Beijing
A couple of blocks south from the White Cloud Temple in Beijing is the Tainning Temple which is most famous for its huge 12th century pagoda, which at the time would have enabled visitors to see very far away into

White Cloud Temple : Beijing
Lots of religious worship sites around Beijing. I previously visited a Confucian temple and a large Buddhist temple next to it – Yonghegong. While Cloud Temple is a good example of a Daoist temple in Beijing. Dating back to the

He Xiangning Art Museum : Shenzhen
Shenzhen is trying hard to push for more art with dedicated art zones throughout the city. OCT Loft Contemporary Art Terminal is one fine example. But that’s relatively new, prior to that, not too far away also in the Overseas

Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution : Beijing
Lots of news recently about the uprising Chinese military power. They’re landing robots on the moon, they’re shooting down satellites, they’ve completed their own aircraft carriers and in general we get to hear more and more about tensions in the

OCT Loft Contemporary Art Terminal : Shenzhen
Shenzhen has a growing art scene and across the city the government is designating areas for galleries and artists. As an example, the Overseas Chinese Town has the Loft Art Terminal, a relatively new area that’s really taking off and

Xishiku Church of the Saviour Cathedral : Beijing
To my surprise, Beijing has a bit of a religious diversity. I wasn’t expecting to find anything other than Daoist, Buddhist or Confucian temples, but it turns out the colonial powers have managed to infiltrate in and somehow survive communism.

Tsinghua University Campus : Beijing
A few months back I made a quick stop over in Beijing to visit one of the famous local universities – Tsinghua University. Luckily for me, one of my former classmates is now faculty at the business school and so