Feed

Charlie Schroeder

By Charlie Schroeder 5/21 5:42pm

A New Yorker in China

Our columnist falls prey to a $185 tea scam. (Photo: AFP/Getty)

Oolong Suckers: Beware of Friendly Strangers Inviting You for Tea

We met outside the Forbidden City, under the large portrait of Mao. I was en route to see the great leader’s embalmed body, which lies in a mausoleum across the street in Tiananmen Square. She was heading that way too.

“Travel alone?” she asked, after bumping into me by accident.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Me too.”

It was mid-April, a couple weeks ago. The sun shined brightly. Not the polluted Beijing air you read so much about. It was a good day to be a tourist.

She told me her name was Xin and that she hailed from Shaanxi, near Xi’an, home of the terracotta warriors. She’d flown into town that week for a wedding and had the day to herself.   Read More

By Charlie Schroeder 3/26 4:49pm

A New Yorker in China

A Chinese classroom. (Photo: MIKE CLARKE /AFP/Getty)

Eye of the Tiger Mom: For Chinese Kids, Overscheduled is an Understatement

One night after my Cantonese class, a fellow student approached me to let off some steam. Like me, Jean-Baptiste was struggling mightily with the tonal language. “These evenings,” he said in a thick French accent, “would be much more enjoyable if I stayed at home and was a potato couch.”

I couldn’t have with him more agreed. Our instructor, a 60-something former “office creature,” is decidedly old-school. She follows the textbook to a T, and asks us to repeat after her. It’s immensely boring. Read More

By Charlie Schroeder 3/05 6:49pm

A New Yorker in China

Overflowing apartments in Hong Kong (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Squeezy Living: Cheek by Jowl, Elbow to Rib in Hyper-Crowded Hong Kong

My wife, Wendy, and I live in the North Point neighborhood of Hong Kong, a jam-packed residential and commercial district once ranked the most densely populated place on Earth.

Walking its streets, I dodge and dart to avoid the throngs, but I rarely make it a single block without getting an elbow to the ribs. To avoid bumping into others, I often tuck one of my arms behind my back, but even that doesn’t work. I bounce off of people so much that I no longer apologize.

In Hong Kong, more than seven million people live in an area that’s only slightly larger than Manhattan (population 1.6 million). Put another way, it would be like living on Manhattan if everybody from Brooklyn, Queens and one-and-a-half Staten Islands moved in.  Read More

By Charlie Schroeder 7:02pm

A New Yorker in China

Chinese New Year display in Hong Kong. (Philippe Lopez/Getty Images)

Cheap White Guy Confronts Lai See, the Chinese Custom of Giving Money Away

A few weeks ago, my wife, Wendy, came to me with some troubling news. “Don’t freak,” she said. “But we have to give Lai See for Chinese New Year.”

Lai See, which literally means “Good Luck,” are red envelopes that elders give to juniors. There are lots of different traditions, but in general, married couples give them to unmarried relatives, friends or colleagues.

This might not sound like something to freak about, until you consider that the envelopes are filled with money.  Read More