Jottings from the Granite Studio

A Qing historian reads the newspaper…

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The gaokao, exams, and social mobility in Chinese history

June 6th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Today is the Gaokao (高考) when parents across China send their senior high school students off to take the most important exam of their lives by offering such helpful, encouraging words as, “If you do badly, your mother will die in a pauper’s grave.” Clearly in today’s China-A-Go-Go, competition for elite, urban jobs is [...]

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Tags: Chinese History

Xinjiang Hooters

June 6th, 2007 · 3 Comments

I’ve never done it. YJ has never done it before either. So last night we had a couple of beers and finally took the big step that every couple must before they get married in China…we went to one of those singing-dancing Xinjiang revue restaurants and it was….not as bad as it could have been.
Definitely [...]

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Tags: Beijing Journal