Stuck in the Middle Kingdom with You

Hi! Thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast, where we delve into all things China, including living and working there. This little episode picks up after the slightly explosive meeting we laowai had with the Chinese management team. We get to know some colleagues a bit better and take a group trip into town and get hot pot. Hot Pot

Hello and thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast. This episode introduces one of Changshu's best brains, Wang Ganchang, which leads into the Great Leap Forward. Yes, that Great Leap Forward. Street ettiquette: cars, bikes and pedestrians, just going wherever (in Shanghai) Wang Ganchang The commune is like a gigantic dragon, production is visibly awe-inspiring, 1959 Eliminate the four pests! For a great archive of Chinese propaganda posters, see  https://chineseposters.net

Hello and thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast. In this episode, I meet most of the other foreign teachers who were to be my colleagues for that year. It was also out first meeting with the Chinese management, and we laowai were ill-prepared for the cultural expectations of such a situation – and it showed.  The centre of Changshu, its pagoda and Yushan mountain in the background

Hi! Thanks for listening to the SMKY podcast, which is my account of living in China and exploring its history and culture. In this episode I settle into my new apartment which is literally inside the school gates, and talk about the region and the river. The joys of working for Hess in Taiwan :-/ – my old job before moving to China The Yangtze River Delta, home of the prosperous "Golden Triangle". Changshu is just above Suzhou, to the right of Lake Tai. One of the guards of the underworld in Fengdu Ghost City, which is way upriver on the Yangzte, near Chongqing The Ghost King at Fengdu Prefer to listen to your pods on YouTube? Video below

Pod link Hi, you've made it to the Stuck in the Middle Kingdom With You podcast, a story of teaching English in China peppered with tales from Chinese history and culture. This is a preface of sorts.  Laowai : rude and offensive or friendly or neutral? I'll spell it out here, 'cos this word is going to come up a few times. In this episode, we also mention the foreign tutors of China's last emperor and empress. Now that's a job! Shame that it was under such doomed circumstances. Reginald Johnston and Isabel Ingram with Empress Wanrong Puyi and Wanrong, China's last imperial couple