The topic of promoting tourism seems to come up pretty frequently in the papers. Due to the fact that it’s an island, and that there are much less expensive options nearby, I don’t really think it’s that likely that Taiwan will ever be a top tourist destination for westerners. It already is a [...]

Recently, Lonnie (of OMBW) wrote about a pretty nice web tool that tests to see if a site is blocked in China or not. It’s free, and you can check your site’s accessibility from servers in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. The name of the site is Website Pulse.
It’s been pretty accurate as [...]

This is a recent test used in England:

Royal Society of Chemistry
Here’s a Chinese math test:

MSG must be one of the most maligned and misunderstood food components of the modern world. Superstition and fears about it are ubiquitous in the west, and yet, as Jeffery Steingarten, the great American food critic once put it,
“If MSG is bad for you, then why doesn’t everyone in China have a headache?”
[...]

In Taiwan, it seems that media is even more partisan than it is back in the States. Recently, the Liberty Times, a pro-Taiwan independence newspaper, suggested that English speakers not use the phrase “Chinese New Year” and that they replace it with “Lunar New Year. Here is an excerpt from the article: [...]

Here’s a Danwei video interview with the two founders of Antiwave, arguably China’s most influential podcast. “When I was a kid, my father used to tell me stories about the Japanese during the war. But history sometimes should just be left as history.”Pingke, a veteran of over a decade in the traditional radio [...]

David, turned up a surprisingly balanced article from the Taipei Times about learning Chinese in Taiwan. In the past, I’ve found most of that papers pieces about tourism or learning Chinese in Taiwan to be little more than advertisements, this one was long and pretty well thought-out.
Learning Chinese is hot, but you would hardly [...]

When John recently designed a “please speak Chinese” T-shirt, I was immediately tempted to buy one. I always love it when locals talk to me in Chinese, instead of trying to use English first.

请讲普通话。

Putting this on a shirt worn by a foreigner is cool on multiple levels. Not only does it demonstrate that [...]

The most amazing part is that the restaurant advertises the fact that it’s dog meat. C’mon, check out foodtube’s live journal. You know you’re curious.

Tone Marks on Roadsigns Part I- Mark’s opening argument.
Tone Marks on Roadsigns Part II- Prince Roy’s opening argument.
Tone Marks on Roadsigns Part III- Mark’s rebuttal.
Tone Marks on Roadsigns Part IV- Prince Roy’s rebuttal.

What should the road signs have on them?

Mark was right, characters and pinyin with tones (42%)

Prince Roy was right, characters and pinyin without [...]