Simpson's Paradox

I can’t always combine my love for China and games, but right now, I’m playing two different new Chinese releases. The first is RainBlood, an indie PC RPG from developer Soulframe. It’s technically not new, but the English translation is.  It’s a blend of mythic storytelling in fictionalized China, and hack-and-slash combat. I can’t tell yet [...]

I’ve noticed that Beijing is really low on graffiti. There are exceptions — names and dates scratched into the Great Wall or dust-signatures on cars — but there are almost no spray-painted tags or the type of graffiti I’d expect in a large city. TikiChris has noticed the same thing about Shanghai graffiti:
Generally speaking, graffiti [...]

I heard a rumor at school today that the Tous Les Jours bakery was picketed by anti-French groups (who apparently don’t know that Tous Les Jours is owned by a South Korean company). Anyone know if this is true?
Subscribe to Violet Eclipse by Email

“So Much Depends” with Chinese characteristics.

I thought that I was familiar with the demo class as a shady recruitment policy, but my current school’s plan for a demo class might actually be a record for sketchy Chinese ESL policies. Basically, the parents are going to be invited to watch a class in December. The reason we know about it now, [...]

“Stick, I need to get on your computer to print my skit for class.” My skit is a brilliant adaptation of The Emperor’s New Clothes, with Chinese characteristics.
“Right now? I’m in an instance!” That means fighting WarCraft bad guys on a Very Important Mission. “Just connect the printer to your computer. Here’s the USB cable.”
“Ok.”
“NOOOOOOOOOO! [...]

Today I had my first lesson with my gifted kids. This was sprung on me in a typically Chinese fashion, it was once mentioned in passing that I’d be team-teaching English club with Christina. When I got the details a few hours before the class would begin, I found out there were actually 2 sections [...]

When I took this photo, I was mentally composing a moving post about watching the change of seasons on the Yantai beach, and the weather returning to the winter weather that I saw when I arrived, and how I’ve had almost a year in China. I was going to tie it into the weird dual [...]