Editions

People always ask where the name Falafelinhotpot comes from.

القصة وراء الاسم

The answer was inshallah. Three weeks later, it happened.

ثقافتان لا تستعجلان

The homecoming - why the China-Arabia relationship is not new.

كان هنا قبل أن يولد فاسكو دا غاما

Every time I tell someone I speak Chinese, I get the same reaction.

السر النحوي الذي يجعل الصينية أبسط مما تظن

China and the Arab world have something in common that nobody ever taught you.

لم يقولوا لا أبداً. لكن الجواب كان دائماً لا.

It is cooked. It is placed in front of you. It is portioned without explanation.

لم يقل أحد أحبك. لكن المائدة كانت ممتلئة.

Most Arabs know China as a trade partner. A rising power. A complicated relationship.

٢٦ مليون مسلم. بلد واحد. قصص لم يخبرك بها أحد.

In China and the Arab world, you don't just marry a person.

الحب، الزواج، والعائلة التي لديها رأي في كل شيء.

Neither culture will tell you directly that you have done something wrong.

ثقافة العيب في الصين والعالم العربي.

In China and the Arab world, sharing is not a gesture.

لا أحد يأكل وحده. لا أحد.

In the West, the relationship between generations is remarkably horizontal. A twenty-five year old and a sixty-five year old can be genuine friends. They…

كلما تقدّمت في العمر، كلما ازددت قيمةً.

the deal from the relationship. They are the same thing.

العمل أمر شخصي. لطالما كان كذلك.

Every character started as a drawing. A picture of something real — an animal, a natural force, a shape in the world. Over thousands of years those drawings…

It is not a mistake. It is not an accent thing. It is a habit so deeply wired into how Chinese people communicate that it follows them even when they switch…

In English, you feel blue when you are sad. You see red when you are angry. Chinese does the same thing — but the colours land in completely unexpected places.…

Chinese has a whole vocabulary of animal expressions used to describe people — their character, their behaviour, their energy. Some are compliments. Some are…

Chinese is full of four-character expressions — 成语 chéngyǔ — that use numbers to paint a picture of a person's character, behaviour, or energy. The numbers are…

Many of you have been asking how to flirt in Chinese — well, today I am giving it all away unconditionally! Here are the actual phrases Chinese people use to…

In Chinese culture, 我爱你 — I love you — exists. But it is said rarely. Carefully. Only when truly meant. For everything else — the daily, ordinary, relentless…

So instead, Chinese people say something else. Something that sounds like maybe, or not quite, or let me think about it — and means no. Every single time. Here…