I have been expecting my Beijing exploits to come to an end for quite some time now — things seem to have been conspiring against us since the very beginning. Still, it has been quite an experience and, while I may not have been here long enough to develop the attachment that I have for Japan, I find myself strangely fond of Beijing, China, and its quirky ways.

Of course, it’s not possible to spend time in China without visiting the various markets, getting a tailored suit, and just generally being a bit of a tourist:

Over the next few weeks, I hope to find a chance to go through the numerous photos I have taken and offer some up online. Thanks, for the time being, have to go to George for his photographic records.

One of the most important parts of exploring a new country and culture is — for me at least — trying all the new and exciting foods.

China is no different. In fact, China offers more opportunities than many of the places I have experienced to-date. This seems to be the result of a strange historical and cultural combination whereby food is initially eaten through necessity and then continues to be eaten through that dogged Chinese determination that is ‘saving face‘.

It’s quite amazing what you can get ‘on a stick’ here:

I am reliably informed that all of the most expensive foods taste bad. Taste is — apparently — not the point.

In a truly Chinese way, the lifts in my appartement building in Beijing are somewhat ineffectual. This one has given up ‘lifting’ for something a little deeper. I expect it’s only a matter of time before it asks ‘WHY’:

Ever since purchasing jbmorley.co.uk, I’ve been planning a redesign of the website. Something a little more modern. Anyone not reading via RSS or Facebook will have noticed that this redesign has now happened (quite some time ago in fact).

It would be hard, in this new design, to miss the mirroring effect on all images. What started as a small personal challenge of adding Apple-style image reflections to my WordPress image rendering plugin [seemingly, it is] has become a significant feature of the new design. People say copying is one of the highest forms of flattery. I hope it can be viewed this way.

Another significant aspect is the header. This has formed an increasingly important role in my last few designs and, with version 3.0, hosted almost entirely my own photos. While, the feature has been very popular, I have omitted it in this latest design, hopeful that this gives greater focus to the main content of the page and allows for better presentation of a wider variety of media.

Of course, as always, I continue to maintain all of my previous designs, any of which can be selected from the ‘Themes’ drop-down box. I am also slowly trying to add to the collection various designs produced for friends. While other projects keep this task from progressing at high speed, expect a trickle of different styles to be added in the coming months.

One of the things I lament living in China is the lack of time to comment on everything I see around me. But it’s not only time which restricts: the old adage runs, ‘if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all’.

In my young, obnoxious, and — I suspect — extremely judgemental Western way, I find it very easy to be critical of China. This fact alone has, to date, kept me quiet. Certainly, the last thing China needs right now is yet another dis-enchanted foreigner letting loose on Chinese foreign policy, human rights and other issues. There exist far better educated and informed people to do this…

I do, however, find the Chinese approach to flying flags quite disturbing:

In my understanding, one flies the flags of other countries alongside one’s own to show strong international relations, unity and understanding. Not so in China where the national flag is invariably flown above those of other nations.

There is no doubt that China is going somewhere. However, I’m not sure that the sort of extreme nationalism this suggests is really a necessary part of the process. One can but hope this is a lost-in-translation moment.