Beating the teahouse blues at the Bookworm

January 17, 2011

BEIJING, CHINA – Forget the zen tea ceremonies and tranquil gardens of Hollywood lore–Beijing’s traditional teahouses are not a spot to get your meditation on. These famously “renao” (a traditional concept describing an ambiance that’s waaaay beyond boisterous) establishments are known for their raucous entertainment (like live Peking Opera performances)… (more)

Writing Contest Finalist 2: What’s a Zhongguancun?

November 3, 2010

Note: This is the second of five posts in our writing contest finalist series. The Purple Passport’s Editorial Team has selected five finalists from the many entries we received. We will post these entries throughout the week and open voting at week’s end after all the entries have been posted.… (more)

Cleaning up at the Dirt Market

June 30, 2010

BEIJING, CHINA- So, apparently some Icelandic volcano erupted back in April (dunno, maybe you’ve heard of it?), and it left my petite Beijing pad packed to the rafters with stranded friends, all pacing, fretting, and pushing my phone bill to stratospheric levels as they ranted at hopelessly deluged airline staff. Let’s… (more)

The best churros in China (and more) at crowded Nan Luo Gu Xiang

October 26, 2009

BEIJING, CHINA – Since I live just around the corner and since I’ve been bombarded with tales of its fabulousness, this weekend I decided it was time: I needed to check out Nan Luo Gu Xiang. (It’s a narrow, 700-year old hutong alleyway which has recently been converted into an… (more)