On the whole, mainland Chinese people just don’t do debt. During this global meltdown I visited a Chinese friend’s Korean restaurant the other day in Nanhui, the somewhat rural end of Shanghai, which is an hour and a half commute from where I live. As I walked through the door just before lunch rush hour […]
Rod MacKenzie
CRACKING CHINA was previously the title of this blog. That title was used as the name for Rod MacKenzie's second book, Cracking China: a memoir of our first three years in China. From a review in the Johannesburg Star: " Mackenzie's writing is shot through with humour and there are many laugh-out-loud scenes". Cracking China is available as an eBook on Amazon Kindle or get a hard copy from www.knowledgethirstmedia.co.za.
His previous book is a collection of poetry,Gathering Light.
A born and bred South African, Rod now lives in Auckland, New Zealand, after a number of years working in southern mainland China and a stint in England.
Under the editorship of David Bullard and Michael Trapido he had a column called "The Mocking Truth" on NewsTime until the newszine folded.
He has a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland. if you are a big, BIG publisher you should ask to see one of his many manuscript novels. Follow Rod on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/Rod_in_China
Posted inLifestyle
‘The problem with all you bloody white Sawth Effricens …’
“The problem with all you bloody white Sawth Effricens is that yer all racist but yer’ve all got black blood in you,” Hamish the British journalist cheerily announced to me in Long Bar, a pub with a truly colonial feel to it on West Nanjing Road in Shanghai, near where I live. I winced and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Bush’s recession solution: ‘Well, now, looky here, sell Taiwan arms …’
I can just picture this scenario in the Oval Office. “Whaddave we got here?” (says the president in his best Al Pacino tough-cop voice at his 3 024th murder scene) “Ahem, what we’ve got, Mister President, sir, is the need to restructure our definition of values in order to grasp and predict more clearly worsening fluctuations […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Marks & Spencer hits Shanghai — with a few sparks
“Senor! You, yesss you, you go back of the kew and wait there for hour and a half now, like what my wivve and I did. Okay? You go now. Scram.” The finger-wagging, apoplectic Spaniard (standing in front of us, actually) glared at me in the slowly swirling horde of Chinese. It was only a […]
Posted inLifestyle
A response to Ismail Lagardien’s “We do not have to apologise for not speaking ‘proper English’ “
I loved Ismail Lagardien’s article which was inspired by my innocuous – or so I thought — comment on another blog. I thought it was a compliment that he took to task my remark on using correct English. I laughed at the nickname he gave me in the commentary box when he replied to commentators […]
Posted inLifestyle
Mom’s taxi in China
The photo in this blog shows a typical sight at about seven thirty in the morning in many parts of China. Mom taking her child to school. The lorry bicycle is not just a form of transport, like the BMWs or Mercedes moms use to take their children to St Stithians or Brescia House in […]
Posted inGeneral
Nearly naked before mine maid (oh, I got to know her name later)
The late advertising guru, David Ogilvy, is well-known for saying “advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on”. Maybe true, but not quite so in the blogging world. I often sit at five am in my birthday suit and create a blog or two and trawl through my commentaries, reply if […]
Posted inLifestyle
Hey china, mind your manners. You becoming Chinese?
At the time, vegetarian Chinese food was new to me. The closest I thought a Chinese got to vegetarianism were those bowls of blackened fish heads some like to suck and crunch on while the fish’s eyes dolefully disappear into the slurping mouths. However, anything is possible in Shanghai, so all the meat meals on […]
Posted inGeneral
The wiles of the inarb (I’m Not A Racist But…)
I was naively thrilled when Ryland Fisher posted Black people can be among the most racist. I didn’t like the title. It was an obvious attention-getter, and, before reading the blog, I thought it was probably a spurious opinion. However, his final words, “I’m a racist. You’re a racist. Let’s talk,” moved me to write […]
Posted inLifestyle
Madam & Li: of maids and teaspoons
Okay, it’s a myth. Maids do not pinch teaspoons or other items of cutlery. The folk tale in my childhood circle of family and friends in Boksburg and Joburg was that “they” did. “Oh for god’s sake,” my mother would mutter as she rummaged through the cutlery drawer, “we’re down to nine teaspoons again. I […]
Posted inLifestyle
A survival guide to teaching in China
Have a rucksack for everything you’ll need: some schools will not give you a key to your shared office, though keys are given to Chinese teachers. This, I am solemnly told, is for “security” reasons. That is to say, while you will have considerable difficulty at night getting past the security guards on the massive, […]
Posted inLifestyle
‘I’m a racist. You’re a racist. Let’s talk.’ Bzzt! Wrong answer (part 2)
The second in a series The woman with whom I am sharing the lift as we descend to the ground floor of our apartment building is a complete stranger. I reach across and touch her clothing: gently pull at the blouse on her waist area. She keeps smiling at me, nodding. I smile back, as […]