Elyse Ribbons 柳素英: Just Can't Leave Beijing!

Hey there China lovers! Well, if you've been an expat in China for long enough, then our latest interview certainly won't need any introduction. Elyse Ribbons is well known in China for her theatre and acting work - in fact, this creative, energetic, seemingly unstoppable woman has even founded her own Beijing-based theatre company - Cheeky Monkey Productions. In between this, she manages to find time for heaps of other interesting projects such as Beijing's Chocolate Appreciation Society 'Chocojing', co-ordinating Beijing's first 10-Minute Theatre Festival, appearing on countless Chinese game shows, MC'ing the upcoming TEDx Guangzhou event and organizing other cool things like the Beijing Art Walk. I've never met the lady, but I think she's seriously inspiring, and really hope to catch one of her live performances one of these days. Presenting the star of the show...  Elyse Ribbons! 

Hi Elyse, thanks for your involvement in we love china! Although you call Beijing home now, where is your first home town?   

Its a bit complicated, I was born in Detroit, Michigan but then grew up all over America, and I'm currently a citizen of North Carolina (I even vote from abroad!) but am a resident of Beijing :)

You’re an American playwright and actress living in Beijing, and you also have your own theatre group, ‘Cheeky Monkey Productions.’ Was your primary aim of moving to China to become involved in acting and theatre –or in other words, what was it that brought you to beautiful Beijing?

I studied abroad in Beijing as a student and just fell in love with the place. Moved over here not really knowing what I was going to do, but knowing that I would have fun along the way. I have worked in about a thousand different industries before (re)discovering my passion for storytelling.

When people imagine life as an expat in China, they would probably never consider the possibility of making it as a foreign actress in Chinese (and English?) language productions. Is this career path one you’d recommend to other expats, and do you think there’s a lot of opportunity here for actors of the laowai variety?

I wouldn't calling being a foreign actress in China a "career path" so much as a sideline. If you've ever heard about the problems that minorities have in Hollywood, that issue is multiplied greatly here. For me, I use it as a learning opportunity to better my Chinese and have a little bit of fun, but if it were my full-time job and more importantly, my reason for being here, I think I'd go insane. However, as a creator, I think China is *amazing* and the perfect place to be.

Why did you decide to start your own theatre group in Beijing?

 It wasn't a decision so much as the way the cards ended up being laid out.  Which is perhaps why its been working out so well.  As any long-term expat knows, plans don't ever go "as planned" here in China ;)  Its much better to "be like water" and go with the flow.

Is there much original, contemporary theatre produced in Beijing?

There is a *ton* of original contemporary theater happening in Beijing.  Much of it isn't the greatest, especially when you compare it to the heights of Chinese performance arts like Peking Opera, etc.  But, its developing with its own flavor and style, and a lot of it is challenging  but also entertaining.

In addition to your theatre work, you seem to have starred in quite a lot of Chinese-language TV shows, soap operas and game shows.  Do you have any funny stories you can share from any of those experiences?

In the finale for a game show I was in last year, I playfully stole the presenter's prompt cards from them (they usually hold them in their hands, like 3x5 cards) and was mockingly reading them aloud in between filming episodes.  These cards were printed out from a computer.  They included the names of the winners, typed, before we even filmed the episode.  Not surprising, but it was disheartening (but humorous?) nonetheless.

I read something on the Internet about your involvement with ChocoJing – Beijing’s Chocolate Appreciation Society! I think it’s incredible that such a Society exists – if there’s one thing expats complain about, it’s the lack of good chocolate in China. Are you still a part of ChocoJing?

Yes, I am still very much a part of ChocoJing, and especially as winter gets nearer, ChocoJing really amps up for some great events (its all about getting a nice layer to keep you warm up here in the northern capital, haha).  Anyone interested should email me at chocojing@iheartbeijing.com

On the whole it looks like you’re involved in a huge variety of creative pursuits – you’re the creator and producer of Beijing’s first international 10-minute theatre festival, ‘The Shifen Festival’, and you’re also one of the organisers of the ‘BeijingArtWalk’ – what is it about this city, do you think, that inspires so much creativity?

I think that its the juxtaposition of the old and the new, East and West, Beijingren and Waidiren, insanely rich and incredibly poor, government and culture... there's just so much going on, an artist need only take a look around them and be inspired.

It really seems like Beijing is a dream place to live for those with a persuasion to the arts. Can you see yourself ever leaving this place?

People often ask me what my "Five Year Plan" is and to be honest, I have no idea.  I'm pretty sure that I will always have a foot in China (Beijing) though I'm not sure in what capacity.  I have two anecdotes that I often use to describe my relationship to Beijing (neither of which is in good taste, ha) one of which I will share with you here:   Much like with an abusive boyfriend, Beijing will sometimes beat me down and slap me around a bit, but no matter how hard I try, I just can't leave.  But then again, maybe I'm just a masochist ;)

Read Elyse's blog here, her comic here and follow her on Twitter here.Thank you so much for your time, Elyse! 

Elliott Chen: A single thread amongst 1.3 billion others

Nihao! Nimen hao ma? This evening I’m very excited to present what I think is a seriously interesting conversation, with a good fellow called Elliott Chen. Born in Hong Kong, Elliott spent the first thirty years of his life living in California before deciding to return to China. Now living in the wonderful city of Mah-Jong (aka Chengdu), Elliott tells us about the joys (and the challenges) of his China ‘homecoming’, including the sharp conflict between feeling more at home here than he’s ever felt in his life vs. the all-too-often sensation of feeling like he’s “sticking out like a sore thumb.” It’s an interesting expat story, especially because the definition of ‘expat’ is more than a little blurred here. Thankyou for sharing your China story, Elliott!


Hello Elliott! What’s up in Chengdu today?
Well it's 1am, I just got back from a local reggae bar called Jah Bar here with a friend after work. They have an open jamming policy which allows me to rock out on electric guitar and play with local musicians. That's what makes Chengdu great...the relaxed life, and love of music here. Then we went for Shao Kao (Chinese BBQ) which is basically a delivery device for chilli pepper and MSG into the body.



You’re Hong Kong born but Californian raised, and after spending thirty years in the States decided to move to China a few years back. Can you tell us more about your decision to return to the ‘motherland’?
For me China has been a search for home and if I am to be honest, to run away from things in my life, but in a strange way to deal with them head on. For most Chinese-American, assimilation into mainstream American culture was our goal in the earlier portions of our lives and then we later begin to appreciate and discern the good and bads of both cultures. It is unfortunate that most of my Chinese-American friends back in the States are on a conscious level ignorant of both China, Chinese language, and what it means to be Chinese except in surface pop culture kinds of ways like Jay Chou or Chinese food. I lived in California most of my life and I got real tired of "Asian American Activism" which basically involved a bunch of Ivy League educated Chinese-Americans with little direct knowledge or experience with their historical culture, talking about things abstract political postulating. It is an easy way to form an identity and it has its own world, but I wanted to get to the real thing. I like to tell my friends in San Francisco, that I will take them to a real "farmer's market" sometime if they visit me. haha.


The wonderful thing about China is its brutal truth. You are force to deal with it everyday; it is in your face, practical, uncomfortable, and non-abstract. In my own life for example, I meet such kind everyday people, whose lives are constrained by their circumstances...people here are faced with hard choices everyday that we in the west are lucky not to have to deal with in the West. For example, my ex-girlfriend was studying to be a doctor and she would tell me stories of how families would be forced to let a family member die because the treatment was not entirely likely to cure them and it would bankrupt the family to try. China breaks my heart on a daily basis, but it is always honest. (Even when it is not).



Elliott's housewarming party in Chengdu.


Is there a big difference now between what China meant to you when you lived in the States, and what China means to you now?
Like most Americans, I did not have a terribly favourable impression of China. China associations were mostly negative like Pollution, Tianamen, and Tibet. But when I was laid off last year, I decided to take a 3 month trip here, and I fell in love with it - warts and all. At this point in time, China is undergoing one of the greatest changes in human history for a single country. The last century has not been kind to China, but now it is making up for lost time with a vengeance.


Ultimately, for me now China is about the wonderful people here. Especially the young ones. I feel privileged to know them as they try to find their place between tradition, history, tremendous pressures and their own desires. And being here I realize my life is a single thread amongst 1.3 billion others. Mine simply took a bit of a detour in the United States.


You said you’ve been really enjoying living in Chengdu. What makes Chengdu such a great place to live?
Chengdu is a secret I hope people don't find out about. The people here like to have fun and hang out, but not in a crazy. There isn't the snottiness of the Shanghainese or calculation of the Hong Kongers. It's got a little of everything, and not too much of any one thing. You can find bars galore here. It is a big city but doesn't feel so much like one. Lastly, as is commonly acknowledged the women here are the most beautiful in China, and so it doesn't hurt to be a single man here, though I haven't had luck recently with meeting the right woman in Chengdu. I'm still hoping it will turn around soon! The food is a bit too oily and spicy for my tastes, but it's ok I can deal.



Elliott with the Gao family in Shandong, where he spent three months. “They were the kindest people I have met, and they treated me to a home cooked meal that was full of warmth and fantastic food.”


My language teacher told me that Chengdu was voted the most “relaxed city in China.” Have you noticed many examples of this around the city?
Yeah the prevalence of Mah Jong (Ma Jiang) and tea houses is a testament to the local love for hanging out. The Sichuanese are not exactly known for their work ethic, which they themselves will readily admit.

Do you have a favourite word or expression in the Chinese language?
I'm admittedly partial to my native dialect of Cantonese which is much older and richer in my opinion. Don't even get me started on the shortcomings of Mandarin. But one common phrase to both dialects is "麻烦“ which translates as "bothersome" and doesn't have an English equivalent.


Some of my overseas-born Chinese friends have often said that things can be tough when they return to China. It seems that as long as you’re a foreigner who doesn’t have yellow skin, you can come to China and be praised for even saying “Ni-Hao.” My Australian-born Chinese friends said their Chinese is often ridiculed, even though they were raised in the West in a predominantly English-speaking environment, and yet they are expected to understand the fine intricacies of Chinese life and culture and speak the language fluently. Have you had any such experiences since you returned to China? Did you find them challenging?
Yes, a common predicament for us overseas Chinese. My Chinese is good enough to fool natives for about a minute. Then there is a weird pause where they ask where I am from. Then I tell them I am a foreigner. Then occurs a whole series of subtle facial contortions/expressions which communicate confusion, fear, awkwardness, curiosity, etc. I can literally see what they are thinking! I then usually tell them I am from Hong Kong, which puts them at ease and allows them to place me and my accent. If the relationship is a deeper one, I will tell them I am American Chinese which just confuses the crap out of them, as most of them have never seen or met an American Chinese person before. In some situations I am treated like a long lost brother, and in other situations I make them feel uncomfortable. It's a daily struggle. I am invisible, but also stick out like a sore thumb socially sometime. I am still trying to deal with it.



Elliott with three fellow ABCs (American Born Chinese) in Dalian. “The bald guy opened a American Sports bar (where the picture was taken) in Dalian, and it was very inspiring to meet another ABC in China chasing his dreams.”


You said that you felt more at home after 6 months in China than you did in 30 years in the States. Now that you have discovered China for yourself, how do you plan to reconcile your Zhongguo love with your life back in America?
I do miss the diversity, open mindedness, directness that is America. I miss being able to express myself in English and not needing help so much in America with basic daily things. However, I am in love with China and do not plan on going back any time soon. It's like meeting the love of your life after 30 years in a bad marriage.



Do you have any secret travel tips on the most beautiful place to go in Sichuan?
I haven't done too much travelling in Sichuan to be honest. I think China's beauty is not in places per se. (China's tourist spots are overcrowded, noisy, and overrated IMHO); it's more in small daily mundane moments and conversations. For example, on warm nites I like to eat at my favourite hole in the wall around the corner with local blue collar guys drinking beers and smokes as babies cry and cars drive by. It's simple cheap pleasures.

Closing thoughts?
I would like foreigners to know that if they only look at the surface of China, of course all they will get is surface things. But if they go deeper, with a non-judgemental attitude and talk to locals with an open heart, you will learn a lot about China and yourself.

Agnieszka Zielinska: Modern Nomad

Okay, okay, so I admit I was gone for a little bit longer than a week and a half there! Sorry guys, China just gets in the way sometimes. But all that really matters now is that not only do we have the site up and running again, but we’ve also got a great interview here with the lovely Agnieszka Zielinska. This lady has spent her entire life hopping from one side of the globe to the other, but has now found a few good reasons to settle down in Yunnan – well, for the time being at least!





Hi Agnieszka, where is your home town?
I'm from Poland, Warsaw. But I haven't lived there all my life. I lived in New York (since I was four-and-a-half to nine years old), then back to Warsaw. Then at about 14, moved to London for a year and a half, then Kiev, Ukraine for another year, then back to Poland, but Gdynia (in the north by the sea) for 3 years, then back to Warsaw for a year, then took a gap year and spent 10 months in ChongQing, back to Warsaw for about 4 years…and finally left in 2007 on an overland trip heading for China (without a definite plan).


You’ve been in China nearly two years now. Why did you decide to come here in the first place?
Like I mentioned above, I had a plan to travel and work and kind of change places and jobs and kind of be open to "what the road will bring". I made the decision to go to Kunming when I was staying in Beijing. I was talking with my resident friends, and I think the subject was pot, and I remember this guy saying, “Well, if you want pot then Kunming is the place for you” :) Kunming was on my itinerary, but I decided then and there to go straight to Kunming and establish myself there for an indefinite time.
I guess I am an expat (a.k.a. modern nomad). I’m so used to moving, living in different cultures and societies, learning other languages. And I loved Choing Qing and my experiences there, with no knowledge of Chinese at the time. The food, the TRAVELLING POTENTIAL.



What is your job here?
I am a 'wai jia', foreign teacher of English at the Einsun Computer College, 40 km away from Kunming, near Song Ming, Yan Lin.


A lot of people come here for six months or something and then fall in love with the country and decide to stay – did you ever imagine you’d end up here this long?
Actually, two years is quite long for me to stay in one place. But in Kunming (like anywhere in China) it's relatively easy to quickly establish work, guanxi, a comfort zone and you feel at home. For me, when I first came to China, I had to redefine everything i knew about China and Asia. China was so overwhelmingly large and interesting to me, that I saw it as 24 separate countries I would love to visit in the future. I think I might get 'itchy feet' again after I visit everything there is to visit in and around Yunnan.


Out of all the places that an expat could live in China, it seems like Kunming has a lot going for it – great weather, friendly people, beautiful environment. What’s your take on the benefits of living in ‘The Spring City’?
There are far too many foreigners for my taste in Kunming. I was never expecting it to be like this. In ChongQing, in 2002, one had a feeling like you're the only foreigner there.
Yeah, Kunming's weather is great and the endless camping, weekend get-away spots are also a great thing, but I'm sure there are many places in China one could make a temporary (or not) special home.
I visited my friend in Zhuhai last summer. And I totally fell in love with the place. I don't think Kunming's the only great place in China - no way. But, incidentally, Kunming has or is close to all the things I like - mountains (Yunnanese Tibet), pot, Laos, Burma, ru bing :), Easy, low-cost life.

What do you get up to on the average weekend in Kunming?
It depends of course on many things. But this season is definitely the time for outdoor activities - picnics, swimming in shui ku's, camping, travelling.



You’ve done a little bit of modelling for some Chinese fashion brands, what was that like?
Yeah, i got a gig for some obscure Chinese brand in ChongQing and Kunming. But those are easy, white-monkey gigs that many foreigners have as their option in China. I guess it's the same as doing a TV commercial in China.
Each interaction with Chinese professionals is an interesting experience. And the ratio of successful, pleasurable ones is half and half. So I had times when i met wonderful people, who I remained friends with, and other times when it included a lot of "pushing", and "standing ones ground" in negotiations. And other times when I felt I was that guy, Bill Murray, in 'Lost in Translation'.


What do you think is the most exciting thing about living in China right now?
About living specifically in CHINA (not just away, not Yunnan), well I sometimes wonder what will happen to Xinjiang and Tibet as seperatist sentiments escalate. How would the modern Chinese citizen feel when left with half the size of his country? Where are the Chinese feminists, who rebel against the parent's will?
But overall, I feel great about the lack of politics here. And maybe if Kunming will be become too modern and city-ish for me I'll move :)

Tony in Kunming - English Teacher

For our very first interview here on we love china, we decided to keep things close to home, and interview another expat living in China's Spring City, Kunming.Tony is an English teacher who works at Yunnan University. It's a really beautiful campus, complete with grassy lawns and peaceful gardens where students sit studying around tiny stone tables. Oh, and the basketball courts rule, and my shifty landlord gave me a card for the dining hall there so I can eat cheap food all the time. Anyway, over to Tony!



Students hanging out at the Yunnan University Basketball Courts.

Hi Tony, where is your home town?
That would be Hesperia, California...A bedroom community just a bit outside LA.


You’ve been living in Kunming for three years, and on and off even before that… so what bought you here in the first place?
I came here as a tourist initially.

Your job is teaching English speaking and writing at Yunnan University. What’s an average day at work like for you?
On a teaching day I would spend my day on campus teaching and interact with the students outside the class.On a non-teaching day, usually I would sit in my office and plan next week's lessons or grade papers.


What personal qualities do you think make a really great English teacher?
Patience, patience, patience. Understand the Chinese mentality and the fact that they are not as mentally mature as their counterparts in the US. Also, you should enjoy interacting with the students.



I just ask that because a lot of the colleges and universities around here seem to get quite frustrated sometimes – it seems like a lot of foreigners don’t take their teaching work too seriously, lied about their qualifications and actually don’t have experience, or they only stay for a month and then move on. What do you think – is this common?
I haven't conducted a formal survey so I can't speak with authority, however, that does seem to be a prevailing impression on foreign teacher in general. I think it is very common to have one of those traits you've mentioned but very rare if not at all for one teacher to have all those traits.


It definitely seems like Kunming is one of the best places you could live as an expat in China. What do you love about living here?
I wouldn't necessary say that Kunming is one of the best places to live, however, it does have its upsides as well as downsides.


After three years here, do you feel like you have completely adjusted to Chinese life, or are there still things you miss from home?
I would say I'm fairly adjusted to living in China, and yes of course there will be things I miss. I don't think it is possible to completely adjust to living in a different country no matter how long. The culture shock will never ever truly wear off. I would say it's the little things that most people would miss, like driving your own car. Being able to purchase things without bargaining, having people understand you 100% with any communication problems.


Could you speak any Chinese when you first moved here? How’s your Chinese now?
Yes I could...It has improved quite a lot since being here.




Do you think there’s a difference in the kind of expat that comes to live in Kunming, as opposed to, say, the kind of expat that wants to live in Shanghai?
I would say Kunming tend to get the back-backing variety as opposed to the business type in Shanghai or Beijing. My impression is that the crowd here are more carefree as there is less of a foreign corporation presence here so they are not here merely due to work. I would say we have two main types, those who come to retired and those looking to travel on a budget. Since Kunming's cost of living and standards of living is much lower than the coastal cities, this is an attractive advantage for both crowds.


Have you had any particularly memorable travel experiences in your years living here?
I would say my experience would be the norm, nothing out of the ordinary or worth writing home about. However, as I'm sure you've heard about the explosion at Salvador's awhile back. That would probably be closest it comes for excitement for me.

Finally, what’s the most delicious meal in all of Yunnan and where can we find it?
I would say anything that you can get your hands on. I personally like the street stalls that you find at night...I would stay away from the fancy restaurants though, while the food is not bad and for the most part authentic, you can't really get the dining experience that is the local experience unless you go to the dives.

WELCOME TO WE LOVE CHINA

Zebra Music Festival, Chengdu, 2009. Photo: Misse Ward

Welcome to we love china! There's no shortage of adjectives that can be used in the description of this country: beautiful, gigantic, weird, confusing, exciting, frustrating, challenging, full of opportunities and the old favourite, "full of contradictions."

When a coutry like China, doubly rich in history and opportunity, opens its doors to the modern world, you're guaranteed to get an equally fascinating diversity of people (at times, bordering on the weird and obsessed) - from all around the world, wanting to make some little corner of the motherland their own.

I have started this blog firstly out of a personal interest about what other expatriates get up to in China. If I've learnt anything from living here for six months is that not everyone here is an English teacher or a business executive in Shanghai (not that there's anything wrong with either of those two vocations, and I aim to interview plenty of both!). I've heard about a foreign man making money as a stripper for Chinese women and corporate clients, translators, International Development workers setting up eco-tourism projects in Sichuan, drug dealers making millions in Guangzhou, foreign actors and playwrights bringing their own productions to the stage in Beijing, musicians playing in bands in Kunming, and an expat who supplements income from his own karate-school by making organic pork sausages.

Who knows what else expats out there are getting up to? I think I'm not the only one who wants to find out!

From now on until (hopefully) forever, I will aim to interview a few foreigners every week about their experiences living in China. Please bookmark this blog if you think it sounds interesting, I hope it will grow to become a really useful information resource about living in China.

If you're an expat in China, whether you've been here for two weeks or twenty years, and you're interested in being featured on this blog, then please send a friendly email to misseward@gmail.com.
Happy China Loving!