Please speak in mandarin and write with criterion’s word. 请讲普通话请写规范字. Most people in china don’t speak Mandarin as their first language. The government has been trying to standardize mandarin across the country. But the problem is that many teachers don’t speak Mandarin well. China (Taken with instagram)

Please don’t spit everywhere (just here) 请勿随地吐痰 Chinglish. Sign hung up in middle school. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

“dress properly, be self respecting” 自尊自爱注意仪表 sign on the stairway of a middle school. All the children have to wear uniforms, so they don’t have a choice to wear anything else. China (Taken with instagram)

There are no mirrors in village homes. I find this to be a very big challenge. Have you ever counted how many times you look in the mirror in one day and how much time you spend in front of the mirror? Also include all the times you look at yourself when you pass by a mirror or anything reflective & also count all the glances in the rear view mirror. I often have to look in the mirror for practical reasons - like putting in my contact lenses or picking food out of my gums. After not having mirroring access for several days, I go into withdrawal & start feeling uneasy. But eventually i just stop thinking as much about my appearance. I don’t know if it’s possible for me to live without mirror when I’m not doing fieldwork in rural areas. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

Children were very excited to see a visitor. I wish all adults smiled this big & uninhibitedly. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

First grader’s umbrellas hung up on window inside classroom. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

Apparently this framed drawing of a topless female is a best seller - there’s only 1 left. The shopkeeper told me that 10 were sold in the last month and it’s really popular among young males. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

Whoops @reginaldzhu dropped our Fieldnotes into the mud. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

The government’s new Healthy Lunch Program now gives students in rural areas an egg everyday. Many students put their egg inside their desk and save it for later. Some save it for their walk home or for dinner. The government program only covers lunch, so many students don’t get to eat a healthy dinner. They eat candy or leftovers. Some kids live on their own because their parents are working as migrants in the city and their grandparents are dead. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

Another Dong Minority custom is that when you toast alcohol 敬酒, if you want to display humbleness you need to position your cup lower than the other person and if the other person tries to put her/his cup lower than yours than you need to push their cup up with your other hand. So if the guest and the host toast each other, both try to show humbleness like in this moment with me and the head of the education dept, so our cups start out high and then move lower and lower to the ground as we both try to push each other’s cup up. I’ve had to quickly learn these customs to establish relationships with local authorities. Learning local drinking customs is a very important part of ethnographic fieldwork. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

These are the mushrooms we are having our dinner tonight. They only grow when it rains. They are meaty and have a crisp flavor. @kthread what are these? The Chinese word for them is 枞菌. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

Chicken hotpot for dinner tonight on the fire table 火铺 Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

The best part of fieldwork is the eating part. But usually this involves a lot of drinking and one of the local customs with the Dong minority group is that before the real drinking starts, everyone has to drink 3 shots - first shot is for the heavens, second cup is for the earth, third cup is for the ancestors. Before you drink the first cup you pour a few drops into the ground for the heavens and ancestors to drink. Then the REAL drinking starts after everyone is buzzed. Drinking and eating lasts usually about 6 hours. But this table set up is incredibly uncomfortable. The 3 inch high stools are made for midgets. I don’t know how i will last all night. I am so screwed. I just want to sit on the table 火铺. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

This is a 65 year old village party secretary who should be retired. His children, wife, and grandchildren live in the city. He lives by himself in the village because he wants to make more improvements in the village. He still farms 1 Mu of land everyday. People in XinHuang are known to have a leisurely culture like Li Jiang, Yunnan. I was told that a British writer came here and he said that everyone walks so slowly everywhere they go and everything moved so slowly he couldn’t take it. The old man replied, “we all end up in the same place when we die - a tomb in the ground. I chose to walk slowly to my tomb while you chose to walk quickly to your tomb. All the money in the world turns to ashes when you close your eyes.” Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)

Yes I’d like to ride the “vehicle rainbow bubble machine” please. Please take me to Brooklyn so I can sleep for months and I never have to hear the words china or Internet ever again. I’d like to play with doggies all day & eat beets & pistachio ice cream & guacamole & figs & dance to salsa. Thank you rainbow machine. Hunan, China (Taken with instagram)