Author Archives: Will Moss

Was the China corruption website collapse story “newsiness”?

The greatest contribution that comedian Stephen Colbert has made to modern society is the concept of “truthiness”. Reading from the Wikipedia definition, truthiness is: …a satirical term to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or “from the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Was the China corruption website collapse story “newsiness”?

Why the Yilishen ant-farming scandal was the perfect China story

Imagethief recently found himself huddled in a wintry hutong courtyard in conversation with two longtime Beijing-based foreign correspondents. During this discussion we came to the conclusion that the recent Yilishen ant-farming scandal is more or less the perfect China story. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Why the Yilishen ant-farming scandal was the perfect China story

What to make of Edwin Maher?

Imagethief found the LA Times article on CCTV9′s western anchorman, Edwin Maher, quite interesting. I didn’t have time to comment on it when it first appeared, but in general I found the story balanced as it presented both criticisms and … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on What to make of Edwin Maher?

I hate Secret Santa

Imagethief likes the holiday season. He is not one of those December curmudgeons who bah-humbugs his way through Christmas. Give me trees, tinsel, candy canes and a big dinner with my friends. My dad used to roast a goose for … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on I hate Secret Santa

Notorious MDA: The Singapore government raps

From time to time someone will ask me why I left Singapore for China. This is a fair question. I lived there for nearly a decade, Mrs. Imagethief is Singaporean, and I have great affection for the place. Usually I … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Notorious MDA: The Singapore government raps

Hairy crabs, the hill of pain and the boulevard of a thousand massage touts

Imagethief went for a hike with some good friends on Sunday. Hiking is one of the things that I was sorry to give up when I moved to Shanghai, and that I’ve been most eager to rediscover upon my return. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Hairy crabs, the hill of pain and the boulevard of a thousand massage touts

Further adventures in glamorous international travel

Having arrived in Macau, the romance continues. First was immigration, where the lines crawled as officers stamped arriving passengers in with the indifferent sloth that seemed circa Vietnam, 1996. My immigration officer painstakingly inspected every stamp in my generously stamped … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Further adventures in glamorous international travel

The up is red

Imagethief was enrocketed to read on Friday that China’s taikonauts –whom I prefer to call “astronauts” because “taikonauts” sounds like they should be exploring my sugar bowl– are considering starting a Communist Party cell in outer space: “If China has … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The up is red

Deconstructing the White Rabbit wrapper

Imagethief has rather a sweet tooth. Hence my long acquaintance with the gym and the pleasures of the long run. One of China’s under-appreciated pleasures is the enamel-stripping joy of a chewy White Rabbit Milk Candy. I’m not the first … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Deconstructing the White Rabbit wrapper

Why aren’t you drinking the Wang Lao Ji?

Imagethief spent a busy two days helping some representatives of a European country manage a last minute press conference. This was a sudden request that had resulted in 36 hours of breakneck work involving much frantic communication, central European languages, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Why aren’t you drinking the Wang Lao Ji?