Section
Life in China
Everyday life here, sorted into what has been measured and what is only habit.
- Baduanjin in twelve minutes, movement by movement 2026-10-09·14 min read
A step-by-step walk through the eight-section brocade — a timeline table, what each movement asks of the body, the mistakes the official correction sheet lists, and the signals that mean stop.
- Fifty Chinese radicals, ranked by frequency 2026-10-09·13 min read
I counted how many of the 1,000 and 3,000 most common Chinese characters sit under each of the 214 Kangxi radicals, and wrote down every rule the count depends on.
- What groceries cost in China, channel by channel 2026-10-09·10 min read
Early market, wet market, neighbourhood shop, warehouse club, delivery app. Unit prices by category where a public source exists, plus three monthly baskets and the assumptions behind them.
- Why fast is the default in China 2026-10-09·9 min read
High-speed rail and half-hour delivery read as temperament. They are density, labour, a standard address, state capital, and a promised time written into an algorithm.
- Why Chinese people drink hot water, per the record 2026-10-09·10 min read
The history side of the habit — tea, fuel, bacteriology and slow plumbing — with a date and a link on every number, and a list of what I could not verify.