Catshanghai

Our first baby is due in May.  Should our baby have British, Chinese or dual nationality? Ideally we would like our first born child to have dual British and Chinese nationality. This would make it easy to travel and live in Europe or China without any additional visas. I’ve just telephoned the British Consulate in [...]

We decided to spend New Year’s Day at Sanlin Forest Park near Fudan University. The taxi driver told us it would cost 80 RMB to go there so he suggested Binjiang Forest Park in Gao Qiao, Pudong. It cost us 100 RMB to get to Binjiang, but it was worth the journey. We enjoyed glorious [...]

Happy holidays everyone. This is my fifth Christmas in Asia. We spent this one at Nanning and Beihai in Guangxi, South China. We wanted to spend a few days away from people, bustle and rancid air. Nanning is a green, relaxed city surrounded by mountains whereas Beihai is a rundown seaside resort on the south [...]

I’ve just returned from Hainan Island with a group of 56 teenagers. It was a great trip, but I am happy to be home in Shanghai even though the Shanghai weather is deteriorating day by day. Highlights in Hainan included Houhai Beach and Yanoda Rainforest Park. I was a teacher supervisor, which meant I spent [...]

I live in Puxi but I need to get to my school in Kangqiao, Pudong. Here are my realistic commuting choices. I could ride a bicycle for 20 minutes before boarding a company bus that takes me to school. It’s a good workout that increases my heart rate without having to find a spare hour [...]

We continue to enjoy Shanghai with my Mum. Today we went to Red Town, Moganshan Lu’s art studios and on the Pudong side overlooking the Huangpu River. Much of Shanghai is closed during the first week of October to celebrate the 59th anniversary or The Communists seizing power in 1949. Red Town’s sculpture space was [...]

We’ve just come back from a relaxing two day trip in Nanjing, staying at Dongjiao State Guesthouse. It is quite an elegant hotel with rooms at 458 RMB a person, although breakfast and meals are extra. There is a swimming pool and hot spa area, but there is not very much to do there. We [...]

Jenny just got her Schengen visa to go to Spain next week. Hurray! The Schengen agreement allows visitors to travel around continental Europe without requiring a separate visa for each country, although the UK has a separate protocol. This means Chinese visitors need to get a visa for the UK and a Schengen visa for [...]

We got married in March 2006. As a Brit marrying a Chinese girl, we followed the UK Consulate’s guidelines of notarising the wedding certificate so it would be recognised abroad. This has made it relatively easy to get permission to visit the UK and France, although we still have to collect more than a dozen [...]

This audio file was recorded in anger and desperation after Jenny was sent home from the visa office after failing to bring her family’s red household book. She brought every other document you could think of including my bank statements and a letter of invitation from me, her husband. I spent an hour trying to [...]