Your say

Seat yourself

"There is nothing like riding a bus full of Chinese to put you in touch with your fellow Chinese," writes James in his blog titled James' easy guide - how to ride a bus in China (www.Jameshuang.com).

He offers two subtle strategies to find a place to sit in the very limited seating available on a bus.

The first is to know when the bus system's passenger load is the lightest. James has observed that the best window of opportunity is between 10 am and 3 pm when everyone is at work or in school.

The problem with this strategy is that, like everyone else, you will probably be at work or school as well. So he offers the second strategy.

While slightly less effective, riding at the back of the bus, which has the most seats, makes it more likely for someone to get up and leave you that golden opportunity to sit.

Language 'Tree-ality'

After she had hung up after a conversation with a Chinese friend, Xan's (xanskinner.spaces.live.com) husband asked her "Do you feel good?"

It took her a second to realize he was asking "Do you feel good about having an entire conversation in Chinese?"

Taken aback, she realized that she had, indeed, just conducted an entire conversation in Chinese. But did she feel good about?

Her answer: No, she still felt very inadequate.

To her it felt as though she were running through a field full of tree stumps, trying to make it to the other side while not stumbling on a stump or tripping on her feet. "And, just like a field cleared of trees where the stumps remain, it wasn't a very pretty picture," Xan writes.

While tree stumps definitely wasn't her first choice of analogy, she feels it's quite accurate. She speculates that in many ways the English language represents the tree that has been reduced to a stump.

"Like tree stumps, these vestiges of my native language shape the initial way my mind attempts to construct the language, thereby interfering with my ability to 'run' across a very different field."

Xan writes that if she tries enough, ignores the bummed toes and continues her efforts, eventually she will make it to the other side of the field.

More than meets the eye

In China the role of an apartment complex is rather, well, complex. It's the jack of all trades for Beijing buildings, writes the Quirky Beijing blog (www.Quirkybeijing.com). Owing to a few contortions of Beijing's zoning laws and permits, most of the apartment complexes often double as company offices, providing the perfect launch pad for small businesses.

"The mixed use means that hidden inside even the most boring apartment buildings are all kinds of interesting places," the blog says.

Interesting places such as the Wain Wain Japanese restaurant, housed on the 35th floor of an apartment complex in Soho or the Fangart Gallery which is really a Duplex turned art deco. "On the outside of the building, there is nothing that would distinguish it from being anything else but an apartment block."

Where else but in a China apartment building could you find an office that has a bathtub?

(China Daily 04/18/2008 page19)