Entries by donrutherford

Happy Valentine’s Day!

“I love you as mice love rice.”, as the saying apparently goes in China. While celebrating Valentine’s Day with chocolates, flowers, and gifts, is a relatively new phenomenon in China, romance has long been strong in the Middle Kingdom. The “Butterfly Lovers” is a Chinese legend telling a tragic love story of a pair of […]

Ellen James, Master Relationship Builder

Whether in travel or in business across cultures, new relationships are often mentioned as the source of the greatest satisfaction and reward. It may come from being taught a new word in the local language, understanding a person’s name, ordering food, sharing a train ride, or exchanging family details. There is something magical about the […]

China Train Travel by Don

November 20, 2015 We have logged over 7000 kilometres of train travel around China in the past 8 weeks. While in many countries that may sound like an ordeal, not in this land of quality railways. Main cities have huge modern terminals that keep people flowing through in great numbers, in an orderly fashion, and […]

Why Are There No Black Umbrellas by Ellen

November 6, 2015 When traveling without constant access to Google, we observe, we wonder, we guess and come up with any number of possible answers to our questions. It’s a fun game sometimes. Our most recent mystery has been ‘how come there are no black umbrellas in China’? We see every colour of the rainbow, […]

Canada China Business Council by Don

October 22, 2015 Would you consider doing business in China? Perhaps you already are here (in China). Challenges span language, laws, customs, and possibly corruption. The upside is entry into the world’s largest market with the fastest growing middle class in history. Of the many pieces of advice you may receive, not going it alone […]

Food by Ellen

October 20, 2015 No blog on China would be complete without a discussion about food. Ask for travel advice from any Chinese friend and it will include a rapt description of their favourite food from a region. “Oh you must go to…, as they have THE most delicious…, in all of China! “. So we […]