Blissfully at a loss for words in Beijing

As one who has long struggled with even the essentials of Mandarin, I've developed an odd but richly rewarding late-night hobby in China.

I enjoy watching Chinese television series that lack English subtitles, the dialogue of which I cannot understand, so that I can attempt to comprehend - through sheer guesswork and such clues as body language and context - just what the heck is transpiring before my eyes.

It's at once baffling and amusing. It's rarely easy to figure out, and I'm often mistaken. For example, in one series, the characters I thought were teenage boyfriend and girlfriend, based on their close relationship and bouts of seeming jealousy, turn out, apparently, to have been brother and sister. Baffling indeed.