First, some comments on the “Typical” English China blog
We got a very gratifying comment via email from a reader that ended with a little humorous jab at the English China blogosphere:
stumbled across this blog by chance … and now i’ve been here like four hours and can’t leave. thanks a lot for the hilarious insight and much-appreciated departure from the standard white-dude-in-china blogs. :)
First, I appreciated the props because Kai had just gone through a major redesign of the site. Second, I had a chuckle at the “white-dudes” comment…and since my inner dude is just as “white” as some of those “white-dudes” (and in fact many of them speak/read/write Chinese helluva lot better than I can), I’m allowed to laugh along with them, right?
We got another comment from Leo on our post about English China blogs increasingly translating Chinese fora:
I’ll give the English language China-themed blogosphere more respect when it’s more than just a bunch of white guys from a few countries, writing pithy rebuttals to the NYT, CNN, etc; and who tended to see China in monolithic qualities (frequent posts on China as a herd or group, rather than giving cities their own personalities, understanding regions beyond food, etc)…
So I looked at my China blog roll and for the first time stopped to think about the fact that a large number of the blogs, and indeed most of the exceptional English China blogs, were written by “white dudes.” But more so than this, I was also struck by the consistent focus of so many of these blogs: current events, politics, media, business, commerce, law.
“Typical” English China Blogs can be edifying, but weighty
Instead of profiling blogs by race of author, I’d instead observe that many of these “typical” English China blogs tackle weighty issues that really force you to think. I have these blogs on my blogroll because they really advance my personal course of study on China’s society and economy, and I fully intend to inflict CNReviews readers with such “serious” posts if it achieves my selfish purpose of clarifying my own thinking on issues I care about.
I have a lot of gratitude and respect for Dan Harris, Jeremy Goldkorn & Joel Martinsen, Sam Flemming, Rebecca MacKinnon, Thomas Crampton, Benjamin Joffe, Rich Brubaker, Will Moss, James Fallows, John Pomfret, David Wolf, Michael Pettis, Adam Minter, Richard Burger, George Godula, Gang Lu, Tangos Chan, Stan Adams, Jeremiah Jenne, Scott Sykes, and many others. But sometimes it just takes too much brainpower to follow everything you’re saying.
My shameful blogger secret: sometimes I secretly skip my Danwei feed!
Here’s a confession: more often than not, after a long day at work, I find myself secretly and shamefully avoiding my Danwei RSS feed (and yes, its always Danwei I feel most guilty about avoiding) to slouch over to the chinaSMACK RSS feed for a short, guilty, voyeuristic blog snack. That’s what this post is about: where to get an interesting, spicy blog snack to make your English China blog experience more tasty.
Ten Eclectic China Blogs you should follow
The answer to English China blog fatigue is to start following some Atypical China Blogs. And, yes, some of the best are authored by “white dudes” (although some of them may in fact be “fake foreigners“…Adam Schokora comes to mind). Here they are, in reverse alphabetical order:
- Wangjianshuo.com
- Stylites in Beijing
- RedBox Review
- IfGoGo.com
- Expatriate Games
- China Youth Watch
- chinaSMACK
- 88 Bar (八八吧)
- 6
- 56minus1 (伍拾陸 minus 壹)
1. Wangjianshuo
Wangjianshuo’s blog, one of the first and most consistently posting English blogs written by a native Chinese citizen, is a personal journal that provides insight into Chinese society through the eyes of a Chinese engineer who has progressed in his career to become the head of Baixing.com, a classifieds Website owned by eBay. He provides helpful insights to English-language people traveling to or living in Shanghai. What is great about Wangjianshuo’s blog is that it is written by an English-as-a-Second-Language writer, which results in prose that is more accessible to other non-native English speakers. As a result, he gets English readers from across the world: Africa, India, Middle East, Russia, Philippines, etc. Read Wangjianshuo (rss) if you want to read a personal journal that also adds useful travel and relocation information for foreigners. Twitter: @jianshuo.
2. Stylites in Beijing (stylites.net)
Stylites in Beijing is apparently part of a fashion blog genre called the “street blog”, and was recognized by H&M Magazine as one of the top 5 street blogs in the world. Nels Fryes, photographer and author of Stylites in Beijing, started capturing distinctive street fashion 2 years ago. Fryes also provides interesting little vignettes that showcase the diversity of experiences among Chinese people today. This blog is an excellent antidote to ignorant Westerners who think of Chinese as brainwashed, collectivist and oppressed people under the thumb of a totalitarian state. (You don’t have to tell them that people walking around Nanluoguxiang or Sanlitun Village is not the “real” China). Follow Stylites in Beijing if you are interested in issues of culture, taste, and fashion, as a reflection of change in China’s society.
3. RedBox Review
RedBox Review is run by Katherine Don, co-founder and Director of Red Box Studio, a Beijing-based contemporary art advisory firm. The blog features original articles, events listings, gallery reviews, and commentary on and links to other coverage on Chinese contemporary art. The blog is aimed at people who are either insiders already or interested in contemporary art. However, it provides an interesting view into what has been one of the hottest areas of contemporary art today, and an area that will undoubtedly face big changes as a result of the global economic meltdown. Follow RedBox Review (rss) to add the development of Chinese contemporary art to your view of China’s changes. Twitter: @redboxbeijing
4. IfGoGo.com
IfGoGo is a group blog run by Aw Guo (Guo Qirui), who also runs a big Chinese-language blog called Awflasher.com, featuring Adobe Flash and other Web technologies. Entitled “Chinese in English,” the blog provides a mix of personal stories, social commentary, and current events from the perspective of Chinese citizens, mostly of the generations born in the 1980s or 1990s. My favorite writers are Aw Guo, Cat Chen, and Lisa Lee, all of whom I’ve met in person. Side note: it has been shockingly hard to find Chinese who blog in English. I expected to find one “Wang Jianshuo” after another once I started digging, but after 16 months of looking, the only bloggers I found were the group on IfGoGo. If you know of any other native Chinese who blog consistently in English, please let me know. I wish they would blog more frequently. Follow IfGoGo.com (rss) if you want to hear Chinese voices, reflecting on the changes going on in China. Twitter: @awflasher @CatChen
5. Expatriate Games
Michael, the author of Expatriate Games, is a self-described “American experiencing mid-life” in China, with a focus on developing his photography skills and Photoshop skills. The result is a collection of portraits and photos that are evocative of China’s diverse society. He seems to focus on portraits, seeking to connect with the essence of China’s culture through its people. I think he goes a bit overboard with Photoshop, but his work provides an interesting window into contemporary China. Follow Expatriate Games (rss)to get a photographic exploration of China, from a newcomer to China that transparently expresses his experience. Twitter: @ExpatriateGames
6. China Youth Watch (chinayouthology.com)
Zafka Zhang (张安定) heads up a marketing consulting firm focused on Chinese youth marketing. This blog reflects that focus, observing brands, trends, creative culture, and Internet behavior of Chinese youth. The blog is not updated as frequently as many other China blogs, but has a nice “coolhunting” feel to it. Adam Schokora at 56minus1.com has a nice interview of Zafka Zhang. Expert on virtual worlds, involved in the Creative Commons movement, background as an experimental musician…Zafka seems impossibly…cool. Follow China Youth Watch (rss) to get a taste of youth culture…and Zafka’s impossibly cool life! Follow Twitter: @chinayouthology @zafka
7. chinaSMACK
We’ve blogged about repeatedly since we started following Fauna and chinaSMACK in August 2008. I consider it the most successful China blog launch of 2008. Tight concept. Good execution in virtually all aspects. Good selection of coverage. Hot and viral, and potentially GFWbait. Kai wrote extensively about chinaSMACK as the leader in the translation wave of China English blogs. Follow chinaSMACK (rss) to read about hot and viral internet stories and the reactions they engender in the Chinese internet.
8. 88 Bar (八八吧)
Run by Lyn Jeffery, Director at Palo Alto’s Institute For The Future, and by Jason Li, designer at Node in Barcelona, 88 Bar has a focus on technology and its impact on society. They are less frequent posters than some of the other bloggers, and are in the same blog “neighborhood” as Adam Schokora’s 56 minus 1. Nevertheless, Jason and Lyn have the nose for the interesting, especially where technology and culture intersect. Follow 88 Bar (rss) if you want to catch interesting stories about values, technology, trends, and society. Twitter: @LynJ @JasonLi @IFTF
9. 6 (thinksix.net)
I hesitated to include 6 because its so new, but hey, we were new once too. Blogger Adam Ash started the blog right after the Olympics, and has settled into an intriguing format–to follow the lives of 6 people (including himself). He is studying Mandarin at Beida so the people he encounters are from that milieu. Maybe its the “Real World” voyeurism. Maybe its the cool blog name. Maybe the promise to bring to life the thoughts and feelings of a few Chinese people that has appeal to me. Anyway, I’ll follow this blog and I hope those 6 people turn out to be pretty interesting! Follow 6 (rss) if you’re interested in reading in-depth biographies of diverse young people in China today. Twitter: @AdamAsh
10. 56minus1 (伍拾陸 minus 壹)
In just about 6 months, Adam Schokora has launched one of the most intentionally eclectic, and unintentionally important, English China blogs in the blogosphere. It delivers authenticity and personal expression, the core of what makes a great blog. It also has sufficient cohesive focus to become a niche publication on creative culture, design, social media, youth, music, and “things well done” as observed from his Shanghai vantage point where he can survey the “cool” landscape with kids like Zafka Zhang (see above). Why 56 minus 1? Adam explains in a CityWeekend interview here. Follow 56minus1 (rss) if you want to add creativity, music, and light to your blogroll. Twitter: @ajschokora, @56minus1
What blogs do you think belong on this list?
With all the interesting blogs about there, it was hard to come up with a top 10 list. What do you think belongs on this list?
Update 4/22: Far West China
Josh at Xinjiang: Far West China deserves for his recent post on his favorite China blogs. In all my tizzy of trying to work in the “white-dude” comments, I forgot to mention his inspirational post. He included CNReviews on this list and thus caused us to want to “pay forward” the love to some other, smaller, but deserving blogs. He’s got a concise blog list that includes the “right” major blogs as well as an interesting little blog called Hanzi Smatter that Josh characterizes as his Favorite Guilty Pleasure. Go check his post and Hanzi Smatter while you’re at it.
no mention of the shanghaiist or elaine chow anywhere?
Yes, Shanghaiist is a great blog. Kudos to Dan Washburn, Kenneth Tan, and all the contributors for developing one of the best English China blogs out there. We already featured Shanghaiist in an earlier post, English China Blogs to Watch In 2009..
We’re excited about Elaine Chow and look forward to linking up to her linkalicious Shanghaiist posts in the future. You can follow her on Twitter at @shanghailaine.
Is Shanghaiist really atypical or eclectic? Elaine’s funny faces don’t count.
Thanks for talking about us. We’re trying our best to improve in this year.
BTW, in reverse alphabetical order is great! My name “aw” always takes advantage in alphabetical order and I’m a little tired of that :)
IfGoGo is an ambitious project and I applaud all the people that step out of their comfort zone to blog in a language other than the one they grew up with. Wangjianshuo is a great role model and I hope IfGoGo can spawn lots of next generation Wangjianshuo’s!
Jianshuo is a great brand now, I love his blog and articles.
One of the big differences is, authors from IfGoGo are having different backgrounds: Teachers, Doctors, Officials (Gong Wu Yuan), Students…
They are not born bloggers like us and some of them even didn’t write a blog before IfGoGo, so it takes time before they could share ideas and communicate easily via a blog.
Anyway, thanks very much for your nice word, I think we need to do better!
You’re making me ashamed of the simple one-liners I wrote for my recent follow list! Great list and wonderful descriptions. I agree that you need to have a few “atypical” blogs to read along with the serious ones. Keeps me from getting bored as well as keeping things in perspective.
A couple of these are new to me and I’m looking forward to finding if they live up to your hype :)
Oh, I meant to give you a hat-tip for your recent list! I’ll do that now.
Ha! Completely unnecessary, but I appreciate it none the less.
Hey Elliott! I really appreciate the mention here. It seems a lot of folks are putting together an eclectic list lately. It’s nice to get the different perspectives and there are a few here I was unaware of before this moment, so thanks for that.
While it’s true I have been experimenting a lot with Photoshop lately, it’s just one aspect of photography I have been exploring. As I have mentioned on the blog, I am sure I’ll reach a happy medium some day! I was just in remote Rongshui County in Guangxi, I’ll be writing about it soon and including photos reminiscent of my usual photojournalistic approach.
I am a big fan of your writing, here’s to your continued success as your work evolves. Good luck as you continue to channel your inner white dude.
Don’t encourage Elliott’s inner-white-dude.
Cmon’ Kai, sometimes you just gotta’ let your freak flag fly….
Thanks. It would be fun to see some pre-Photoshop and post-Photoshop shots. In any case, keep exploring and trying new things…the “passionate amateur” approach reminds me of how so many things are done in China!
Thanks for the heads up on these blogs. I didn’t know about any of them except for chinaSMACK of course. Here are a few more that I follow:
http://maryannodonnell.wordpress.com/ (anthropologist in SZ, but not updated so frequently)
http://shenzhenundercover.blogspot.com/ (insightful writing from a chinese-american friend of mine, also not updated often)
http://www.sun-zoo.com/chinageeks/ (doing a bit of chinasmack style translation lately)
there’s also the Time and WSJ China blogs.
and finally, my own new photoblog out of shenzhen! (www.shenzhenphotos.com)
The blog in SZ hosted on WordPress.com is funny :)
This is a really good list and a couple of these are going to become regulars for me. So serious thanks for that.
Shanghai Scrap has been an old friend in the blogroll. Just followed you on Twitter and I’ll see you there: @AdamMinter
Thanks for your kind mention in such a nice group. No eye candies on +8* ;-)
For entertainment & culture, you should mention also Youku Buzz (http://buzz.youku.com/) with Kaiser Kuo.
Last, it’s less entertaining but I recommend “Angry Chinese Blogger” to get another view on politics. http://angrychineseblogger.blog-city.com/
Elliott: Thanks for the mention – even if I do fall into the “dull but important” category!
Yes, of course. We’ve been pimping ThomasCrampton.com since we were included on the AllTop blog list. Hardly dull! I’ll do another list of my favorite white-dudes-blogging-important-stuff-that-makes-me-think and your blog fits that description!
CNReviews readers, you can follow Thomas on Twitter at @ThomasCrampton
Things I’d recommend –
Chris Gill’s ShanghaiEye art blog, over at http://www.shanghaieye.net/english
Its been going for a few years now, and is probably the Shanghai equivalent of Redbox (which I’d never heard of till now) on your list up top.
The lesser / more vertical market interest stuff like SushiPanda, Jellymon, and possibly Lost Laowai, although it can be a bit angry ranty on occasion, but then again we all have our bad China days!
The Youku Buzz english blog is decent to follow, as is the newly started Taobaofieldguide.
Although I swear the TaobaofieldGuide guy is reading either my mind or my email. More than a few of the posts up there match things I’ve written about or researched before in some way or another, its quite scary, albeit co-incidence.
Although not strictly “pure” blog – the Feer blog is usually a decent read also.
In the also not a blog at all, but well worth following (if you are in China tech) is http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com
I have a slightly technical blog over at computersolutions/blog, but its no-where near as eclectic as it should be, so likely to not be of interest to most (although I do cover lots of random stuff).
Twitter has also come out from nowhere over the last 6 months to become an important communication medium, which has many of the usual suspects to follow – ImageThief et al.
Most, if not all of the bloggers or companies mentioned above are on there in one form or another.
I’m @compsolutions on Twitter, and thats my 2 cents!
Great suggestions. Here’s my thoughts:
Shanghai Eye – hadn’t seen that before.
Youku Buzz – Yeah, I think @flypig and @kaiserkuo are doing a good job. But still feels a bit like a corporate promotional effort…But good content. Not as gritty and independent as I think it could be…
Taobaofieldguide – I think this is interesting and accessible, but more of a useful blog than an “eclectic” blog.
Computersolutions/blog – I’ll check this out!
We’re not gritty because we’re not independent. Of course it’s a corporate promotion effort; no secret there! We’re not separate from Youku, and we blog on company time. The mission is simply to make Youku video and some of the memes and funny phenomena accessible to Anglophone viewers, nothing more.
Thanks for the excellent list. Some nice new finds here!
Yes, my comment was a bit shallow and thanks for responding!
Let me elaborate and try to save myself from my poorly chosen words…
Its trite of me to criticize it as corporate promotion when it explicitly is just that. You’re succeeding at bringing interesting memes and themes to English language viewership and I’ve seen other blogs pick up your videos and posts.
The question I’m pondering is: What makes a blog “corporate” and how could it be less “corporate” (with full disclosure of course) and more similar to independent blogs?
Here are some thoughts:
1. focus on the buzz more than just the video – what are people saying on BBS’s, comments and blogs about the video? this could get into the comment translation craze that was started by chinaSMACK (or I suppose by GlobalVoicesOnline)
2. not everything has to be tied to a video – can be commentary on internet (social media, video) phenomena and what other people are saying about it. some of the themes can be introduced through the videos (e.g. Shanzhai) and the carried on with follow on posts about the same subject without having a video. There may be 3-5 themes that you think Anglophone audiences should understand with some depth. It doesn’t have to be subversive or counter to corporate goals. But it can convey a sense of mission that the writers have to share some topic to their readers.
3. make it more personal. tied to a particular point that either you or @flypig wants to make. actually I think Ogilvy Digital Watch had a lot of personality and opinion.
It’s already a successful blog with what I consider to be a superstar team of bloggers. I think the formula can be adjusted to make it a more addictive media property than it is today. Thought I would just blurt out a few top of mind thoughts on how it might get there. Of course there may be corporate / PR constraints that need to be considered. It would be unseemly and inappropriate to be the video equivalent of chinaSMACK.
4. Pick fights with other friends/enemies/frenemies in the blogosphere. If there is some idiotic comment by David Brooks, smack him down with some video that demonstrates the opposite point. Or it can be more inside baseball…reacting to the opinions of the English China blogosphere commentariat with a video that calls those opinions into question. You have license to pick on us at CNR.
Anyway, free advice from a less experienced blogger than you guys…
Sorry, hadn’t realized you’d taken the time to offer such a thoughtful reply! Thanks much; some excellent suggestions here. Let’s see what we can push through. Unfortunately I can only afford to spend very little time on this because of other Youku-related commitments and a host of other things clamoring for my time. Making it more about the buzz, though, is one place we can start, though translating comments is extremely time consuming and there are so many excellent places these days doing just that.
Kaiser,
Rand from littleredbook seems to suggest that translating comments is extremely NOT time consuming, contrary to what many of us thought. Maybe Youku can find some BA360 caliber interns?
Rand doesn’t invest time translating because the fuck steals content.
WTF? Not including http://www.zonaeuropa.com/weblog.htm is fail. It is one of the best, unbiased and literal chinese translation blog.
Roland Soong / ESWN is a translation machine and one of the most important English Chinese blogs out there. That’s why we included ESWN in our earlier post English China Blogs to Watch in 2009.
So read that post and see if that makes you happier. My point of this post was NOT to keep recommending the same big blogs everyone already knows: Danwei, ESWN, Shanghaiist, Sinosplice, etc. My goal is to give little, eclectic blogs some more exposure so people see a different slice of the English China blogosphere.
OK with you? I thought so. Thanks for your comment!
As Elliott said above, and aside from chinaSMACK (which we shamelessly have a love affair with), this was meant to be a good list of blogs that are arguably out of the mainstream’s eye. Of course, that’s subjective, but I suppose Elliott, like I, think ESWN is big enough and well-known enough to be mainstream (we’ve certainly heaped praise upon it since time immemorial) already.
“(ESWN) is one of the best, unbiased and literal chinese translation blog.”
I concede that Roland produces some useful/interesting material. But unbiased? Not entirely, especially in his Taiwan-related contributions. Definite signs of nationalistic streak within, I feel.
Nothing wrong with having an opinion, of course, but he’d gain credibility if he allowed comments. Disenfranchising the dissenting voice may be his prerogative, but it doesn’t bode well should he become president one day.
LoL, the “no comments” feature of ESWN has been a big complaint of mine for eons as well. I suspect he doesn’t actually know how to add comments to his blog. I reckon he’s using some sort of ghetto desktop web publishing software (like Frontpage or something), is comfortable with it, and can’t be bothered to learn how to add more features to his website. Either that, or he just doesn’t really care about your comments. ;)
For me, the fact that ESWN doesn’t allow comments is the thing that sets his site apart from the rest of these time-drains.
It also shows that he possibly doesn’t need to be distracted by other people’s mostly inane chatter.
It may set him apart from these blogs, but it sets him right in with the traditional media camp, you know, with the one-way communication thing. Commenting is one of those new-fangled doodads that came with the internets.
Actually, Roland Soong has said himself that he used to read the comments on his blog, but on Technorati.
Now I’m confused as to whether I write a typical white guy blog or not.
How to tell?
@SwissJames
ou may want to refer to the excellent and super-fast growing blog: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/
(Elliott actually referred to “English” not white.)
@SwissJames,
Just added ISpyShanghai to my blogroll. Are you on Twitter?
I am, sadly, @ISpyShanghai
Elliot -
Inadvertently, you may have stumbled upon a point that I’ve often wondered about: why so few China blogs by white gals (as opposed to dudes)? I’d be very, very interested to see a CNReviews list of Top Ten White Female bloggers in China (after MacKinnon, you have …). I can think of a few good examples, such as Jen Ambrose in Shenzhen/Beijing (her posts on being pregnant and expat in Shenzhen was some of the best and most original writing on a China blog last year, and yet almost totally overlooked: http://jenambrose.blogspot.com/2008/06/you-have-lowest-birthrate-in-world.html).
If you expanded that to Asian chicks that blog here*, you might have a list there Adam.
*Yes, i wince at that too
Nice call on the jenambrose blog, will read more later.
@Adam,
I’m not taking the bait on “Top Ten White Female” LOL. But I was interested in highlighting the work of women English-language blogger/writers in China. I asked one of our occasional writers, Fiona Lee (formerly with The Beijinger) to pull together a list. Here’s what I have just by casually looking at my blogroll:
Elyse Ribbons – http://www.iheartbeijing.com/blog/
Sophia Beach, Xiao Qiang – http://chinadigitaltimes.net/
Diana Kuan – http://appetiteforchina.com/
Xujun Eberlein – http://www.insideoutchina.com/
Megan Shank – http://www.meganshank.com/
Jonna Wibelius – http://sheinchina.blogspot.com/
Siyan Yu – http://www.metrobloggen.se/jsp/public/index.jsp?article=19.4551593
Alice Poon – http://www.asiasentinel.com/
Fiona Lee – http://www.quirkybeijing.com/
Sky Canaves / Juliet Ye – http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/
Katherine Don – http://review.redboxstudio.cn/
Fauna – http://www.chinasmack.com/
Lee Ambrosy – http://www.sinopop.org/
Elaine Chow – http://shanghaiist.com/
Global Gal – http://global-gal.com/
Ana Campos – http://hanzillion.com/
Ana Campos – http://meiadeleite.com/
Toffler Neimuth – http://tofflerann.com/
Iris Jumbe – http://www.artonym.com/
Maggie Rauch (@rauch22) at http://www.chinasportstoday.com/en/
Mary Ann O’Donnell – http://maryannodonnell.wordpress.com/
Susanne Crosetto – http://beijingnotebook.blogspot.com/
Iris Yee – http://effedinbeijing.blogspot.com/
Gina Anne – http://www.ginaanneinshanghai.blogspot.com/
Jen Ambrose – http://jenambrose.blogspot.com/
Edna Zhou – http://ednainchina.blogspot.com/
Rebecca MacKinnon – http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/
Aimee Barnes – http://www.aimeebarnes.com/blog/
Luisetta Mudie / Sarah Jackson-Han – http://rfaunplugged.wordpress.com/
Jenny Zhu – http://jennyzhu.com/
Anna Greenspan – http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/
Josie Liu – http://josieliu.blogspot.com/
Various Authors including Angilee Shah, Susan Brownell, Nicole Barnes, Susan Jakes, Leslie T. Chang, Miri Kim, Kate Merkel-Hess – http://thechinabeat.blogspot.com/
Lisa Fredsti – http://papertigertail.blogspot.com/
Ying Chan (陈婉莹), head of China Media Project (but infrequent blogger) – http://cmp.hku.hk/
Any more come to mind? I’ll plan a more thoughtful piece at some point.
Ernie Diaz over at China Expat : http://www.chinaexpat.com
Rebekah Pothaar (that’s right, I spell checked it twice)
chinatravel.net/
twitter.com/bekpot
Ana Campos
meiadeleite.com
hanzillion.com
There are quite a few out there.
Agree with the article about not many Chinese locals writing in English, but then again- why would they?
Thanks for the tip. I missed Rebekah and noticed that she posts at Shanghaiist as well.
Swiss James,
Thanks for the mention and checking the spelling of my name twice…;-)
Elliott Ng,
Brilliant post. Many of these blogs are new to me. Love SHE in China. Consistent laughs and good insights. I also enjoy Shopgirl’s Shanghai for Siyan Yu’s fun and honest commentary. Glad the gals got mentioned.
Also need to add Maggie Rauch (@rauch22) at http://www.chinasportstoday.com/en/
Diana Kuan also suggested:
Toffler Neimuth – http://tofflerann.com/
Iris Jumbe – http://www.artonym.com/
Awesome! I’ve been complaining (mostly to myself) about the lack of female voices and I realize now that I have been missing out! Thanks for this list and thanks for including me, although I hardly feel in league with some of these other blogs. I’m attempting to ramp up my China related content, so if you’re interested in the not-traditionally feminine topic of aviation in China, among other things, stop by.
I’d add Jessica at http://thelocaldialect.wordpress.com although not updated too often, she blogs about life with her Chinese husband & raising a baby.
Some more to add:
Panthea Lee http://panthealee.com/
Sara Naumann http://gochina.about.com/
Anne Kokas http://shotinshanghai.blogspot.com
Have people looked at Google translate lately? I had not until today. Pretty impressive. This is Media Magazine’s newly launched China edition: http://digg.com/u11X1M
China Briefing of course: http://www.china-briefing.com/news, and their Asian site http://www.2point6billion.com are both pretty essential for China and China regional business. Serious, but informative.
Anthony Robinson, John Hjelset, and Chris Harding have identical IP addresses. Comment removed. -Elliott
Matt, your email bounced. Correct email next time?
Some of these seem to define “eclectic” as “uninteresting to almost everyone”.
“The blog is aimed at people who are insiders already” Well that’s not exactly helpful, eh?
Anthony Robinson, John Hjelset, and Chris Harding have identical IP addresses. Email invalid. Comment removed. -Elliott
“Anthony Robinson”, I think you, “Matt”, “John Hjelset”, “Chris Harding” are all the same person because you all have the exact same IP address. So I deleted 2 comments and left 2. I’d appreciate it if you could use 1 consistent name/address, a valid email account, and stop astroturfing my blog.
Hi Elliot,
I know Anthony personally, and asked him on Skype:
what are you talking about? i don’t remember commenting on anything… URL?
[4/23/09 2:32:20 PM] computersolutions.cn: really…
[4/23/09 2:32:50 PM] computersolutions.cn: can’t be too many anthony robinsons in shanghai
[4/23/09 2:32:58 PM] computersolutions.cn: http://cnreviews.com/people/bloggers/interesting-china-blogroll_20090421.html
[4/23/09 2:34:54 PM] computersolutions.cn: not you?
[4/23/09 2:34:55 PM] Anthony Robinson: it was not me, man. i basicallly never write on blogs… and if i do, my mode of communication is usually either extremely eloquent, or extremely crass… seldom brief.
I leave you to your own conclusions :)
Ah, the human flesh search engine at work? I see we have much to learn from China! Thanks for your contribution, Lawrence.
@Huron,
Agree that many of these are more niche and more unique than many of the larger blogs. It stands to reason that you might like only a few, depending on your own personal interests.
Well you need to get it sorted then mate, because I own a popular bar in Shanghai and people log in from my wi-fi.
Sorry about that. Just saw 3 different people commenting with the same IP addresses, and invalid emails, and all the comments were promoting Websites affiliated with Chris Devonshire-Ellis. Sounds like he has lots of fans at your bar. Does you bar have a Website?
One more thing, your email bounced. Wanted to find out more about this bar. Thanks!
Elliott Ng: thanks for mentioning mine ;)
I’d like to add http://www.shanghaiscrap.com to the list. It has been a great source of interesting and authentic information about what’s going on in and around Shanghai for several years. The author incorporates his professional focus (scrap trade) in a way that makes it interesting and understandable for a broad audience. Posts about once every day.
Never mind. Just found it listed by the author’s name (Adam Minter).
Thx, Herb.
Let me speak up for ESWN on comments — I can’t stand his profound biases against Taiwan, and what I suspect is also a very powerful anti-democracy bias, but when it comes to comments I understand him completely — he gets massive site hits, and managing all those comments would be a nightmare for him. Merely hitting “accept” would take a couple of hours every morning. I don’t blame him at all. I moderate my comments on my blog whose hit count is only a fraction of his, and yet I sometimes find it time consuming, or feel guilty that I was away from the computer all day, and left all those comments hanging waiting to be approved (causing another complication, double posting, which I have to read and then reject one of) — especially when people are carrying on conversations and arguments in the comments. If I had to do a couple thousand comments a day, which he’d probably get, I’d go nuts. Plus, since ESWN takes the tabloid approach, with plenty of gratuitous T&A (like today’s bonus nipple from Lynn Xiong), there’d be a disproportionate quantity of inane “whoa, nice tits!” comments that would add nothing to the conversation.
Cutting out comments also reduces the aggravation — threats to rape and kill one’s family, rants, etc. Life’s just too short.
Michael Turton
The View from Taiwan
Elliott – Well he has some good sites, so it’s hardly surprising. But anyway, don’t worry about it. If you don’t want to feature what sites people are recommending to you then thats up to you. Its your site, you censor what you don’t want. And my emails fine, try again.
Google Alert said that my name appeared in this post…
White guy in China blog. Guys like me. I’m a guy like me.
Good to know that a lot of quality blogs are coming from China :) Keep it up.
I hope you enjoy this blog for some off-the-beaten-track travel. We also comment on what is happening in China and review books.
I think my blog belongs on the list! http://www.chengduliving.com
Great post. Will consolidate all these bloggers into our site (http://chinablogs.com) which focus on selected English blogs on China.
Thanks,
Nick
I have a blog which is basically another “white dude in China blog”, except that I think I do have a good grasp of the differences between the different regions, since I like travelling and always stay with local people when I do. Here it is: thecapitalinthenorth.blogspot.com
man, you should put author wanglili’s blog –recordsoftoday dot com in this list at least as author wanglili focus on one topic–art of life in practice of author wanglili and author wanglili interpretes China Old Culture such as Art of War, Historical Recrods and many other China old Philosophy…in her blog.
Thanks for the very useful information. This is my first glimpse into Blogs in China.
Elliott Ng,
I’m interested in running this post on my Blog as a guest post, which would include your mug shot and a breif bio, with a one to four links back to the sites of your choice. If you are interested, would you be willing to edit/revise it down a bit so it would run shorter?
Thank you.
Lloyd Lofthouse
ps: No need to post this as a comment. I found your post on this subject interesting and worth spreading around with a chance to build a link back to your site to bring more people to you.
Hi,
I really like your blog. I was wondering if you had any advise on video blogging. I’ve just started and I’m new to it and to China. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the list. Already found Chinasmack the other night and was exactly what i was looking for. Because my website focuses on the whole of Asia, I always need a few links to good chinese web sites to give me cultural, current affairs or music news.
I know this post is outdated but I enjoyed these blogs and think that this one should definitely be included!
http://tandminchina.blogspot.com