Chinese chess, xiàngqí ??, is played in much the same way that regular chess is. The pieces just look different and have different moves. The board, as you can see, also has a different layout. The goal of the game is to capture the opposing general. [Continue reading Chinese Chess] 
English was officially named China’s second language in 2001. It’s common to walk down the streets and hear children yell, “Hello”, “Good-bye” and “How are you?” As we walked past this house, we were reminded of how much English is emphasized in order to have a better chance at gaining entrance to a university. [Continue reading English: China’s Official Second Language] I knew something was wrong when I poured the marinade over it… A couple days before, we were excited to find boneless, skinless chicken breasts at our local market. We happily purchased a bag and brought them home in anticipation of using a marinade that a friend had given us. After preparing the marinade, I [Continue reading Fizzle Chicken Delight] 
Lately, we’ve been having a few storms blow through. One morning, after a particularly active storm (which blew in our windows and soaked our living room), we found this tree blown down near the campus guest hotel. Later on that morning, a crane was brought in to set things right. Bamboo poles currently [Continue reading Thar she blows!] 
Jingzhou isn’t listed in any of the China travel guides you’re familiar with. However, it does have one of the most intact ancient city walls in the country. Sandra and I decided to take a day trip last week to see this unknown wonder. [Continue reading Jingzhou: An Unknown Walled City] The GIMP is a graphics editing program, much like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. It’s not as polished as those two heavyweight programs, but it has a surprising number of features and is completely free. Give it a try if you need to do some graphics editing. Update: This is still a pretty good picture editor. [Continue reading The GIMP] |