Of mice and hopelessly confused men

The rat stared at me, I stared back, and then we both screeched: "Aiya!" This is the Year of the Rat, but whenever I've ever stumbled across these little critters, I've always been such a chicken.

I was recently staying at a very charming, colonial-style Wuhan hotel on the banks of the Yangtze River. As I was watching TV, a little fury fellow paid me a frightening visit.

It was about midnight and I was glued to the hugely popular CCTV series A Soldier's Story. It's a Chinese version of Forrest Gump about a farm boy who makes it good in the army. The show's actually quite addictive, once you get into it, and the Chinese language level is basic.