This day, 16 March, in 1990, the first meeting of the Shanghai Mayor’s International Entrepreneurs’ Advisory Conference was held at the New Jinjiang Hotel, with more than...
I’ve spent more money than necessary, wasted too many grumpy gulps than necessary on a tea which usually fails to reward. I’ve thought altogether too much about it.
And, as well as trying to understand my problem, there’s another reason to chase the mercurial charm of “biluochun” (碧螺).
Back in the winter of 2015, I drank a cup which stunned me. It came at the end of a long tour featuring some great teas. But it somehow capped the whole experience. Like fresh peas and gooseberries was the biluochun that day.
https://www.thenanjinger.com/magazine/strainer/meat-is-murder-im-going-to-need-a-toothpick-with-that/
It’s...
There’s an English word that begins with “b”. It literally means “female dog”. Don’t pretend you don’t know it.
The word has retained its full force during the many years since I first learnt it, while other “b” words, such as “bloody”, have lost theirs.
Secularism and permissiveness have prevailed. But even as the old lexicon of oaths and obscenities fades into quaintness, there is actually a whole group of curses that retain the capacity to shock.
These are the terms that will lose a broadcaster his/her job; the terms that imply/constitute...
I would normally have said no. But I was all out of tea that day.
Actually, I welcomed that big cup of coffee after another poor night’s sleep. The drink was ice cold, mercifully unsweetened and wrapped in the green of Starbucks’ gentle gorgon.
Among international brands, Starbucks is bucking a trend here, its China arm remaining wholly-US owned after other fast-food concerns have sold out to local firms. Starbucks has not splintered nor run away yet.
So it’s logical that my foreign colleague chose this brand for his gift to the...
Chinese food was the ultimate treat for me. You may sneer at those British-Cantonese restaurant dishes which so excited me: spare ribs, crispy noodles, crispy beef with carrots, etc. I am unrepentant. In our family, we each ordered one dish. Mine was always Lemon Chicken. Sure, the take-away version usually comes in a gloopy sauce with the same lemon-ness as “lemon-fresh” bathroom cleaner. But fresh lemon (word order is important here) is always used in the best restaurants. And, thanks to BritishChinese food evangelist Ken Hom, it’s a dish...
