The Disappearance of Newspapers

In China’s east, newspapers are ubiquitous. Living in Nanjing in 2009, I was spoiled for choices. In the ten minute walk to school, I would pass two or three news stands, each of them overflowing with newspapers from everywhere, including five to ten local papers like the Yangtse Evening Post, Beijing official broadsides like the …

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Under Surveillance – Subei Part V

Make sure to read this post to understand what happens in the following one. The day after our nighttime encounter with the police, we did little. I ran over to the bus station and bought tickets to get us out of town. The town had little to offer, other than the people, and we had …

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Negotiations – Subei Part IV

Make sure you read the previous post about our ride in a Chinese paddy wagon. Otherwise, you may have trouble following this post. After we took a ride in the Chinese paddy wagon, the rest of the night’s events were tedious. The short cop with the uniform took us to the hotel that I had …

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Ride in the Paddy Wagon – Subei Part III

This post is both exciting and disturbing, but, to understand it, you will need some background. To understand the authority under which the police apprehended us, read this post on hotels and foreigners. To understand the day before, make sure to have read this post about how we got into this particular hotel. We were …

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Mongolian Encounters – Subei Part II

We were in the tiny town of Subei, which I discussed in the previous post. During our explorations of Subei, we were walking along a country road lined just past the edge of town when a man pulled beside us on a little motorscooter. He just barely kept pace with us, wobblingly maintaining his balance …

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Subei – Part I

Make sure to check out this earlier post explaining why many hotels do not allow foriegners to stay. As I mentioned before, we had been trying to get into the wilds of the Qinlian Mountains that ran along the southern end of the Gansu Corridor, marking the northern-most extent of the Tibetan world. From Google …

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Camping At Mogao Caves

When we had been at the Mogao Caves the day before, a light breeze whisked through the leaves of the trees planted beside the caves. The next day, though, as we were walking into the desert to find a campsite, the wind whipped across the desert hills. Storming out of the red mountains that face …

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