Archive - Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones

Gansu Travelogue 4: Leaving Gansu for Sichuan (Over the Hills and Far Away)

En route to Jiuzhaigou...

Aug 26 •

Gansu Travelogue 3: Temples, Horses, and more Temples in Tibetan Gansu

This is Part 3 of my Gansu-Sichuan travel series, retracing my 11-day trip in September 2024 traveling overland from Lanzhou, Gansu to Chengdu, Sichuan.

Aug 13 •

July 2025

Gansu Travelogue 2: Off the Beaten Track in Linxia City

My vist time visiting the "Little Mecca" of China

Jul 21 •

Gansu Travelogue 1: Tracing Back the Vicious Yellow River

My first meeting with China's mother river in Gansu

Jul 7 •

June 2025

Understanding Chinese City Tiers 2/2: Who's The Best? What's "Average?"

Actually we can learn a lot from Yicai's annual rankings of Chinese city tiers...

Jun 24 •

Understanding Chinese City Tiers 1/2: What's a Tier Anyway?

3rd Tier? 5th Tier? New 1st Tier? What does it all mean?

Jun 13 •

March 2025

Where Mists meet Dreams: A Father’s Resolve in Rural China

This is a repost of a essay first posted to Twitter on May 16, 2024.

Mar 18 •

February 2025

China Taxicab Chronicles 7: Lonely Mr. He

A single older gentleman shares his thoughts on ceramics, Shanghai, Chinese New Year, and preserving traditions

Feb 2 •

January 2025

Focusing on China's Carbon Emissions Misses the Forest for the Trees

No matter whether China's carbon emissions peak in 2024, 2025, or as late as 2030, I think we should be highlighting something else...

Jan 6 •

December 2024

Local Tourism, Corrupt Officials, and Jiang Zemin's "Black Heart"

A guesthouse owner's story from Jinyun County, Lishui

Dec 30, 2024 •

October 2024

Faces of Jingmaishan 4: Northeastern Coffee Bro Finds His Zen on the Mountain

This is Part 4 of my 4-part Faces of Jingmaishan series, which are short vignettes of people I met and conversations I had in Jingmaishan, a tea…

Oct 23, 2024 •

Faces of Jingmaishan 3: Grandma's Milk Tea

Chatting with a middle-aged milk-tea vendor about the development of her village

Oct 6, 2024 •

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts