Marjorie M. Liu's Blog, page 15

Fried Chicken and BUNS!

So, if you’ve read this blog during any one of my other trips to China, you probably already know that one of my favorite, FAVORITE, places to eat in Beijing is literally nothing more than a window on a street near Panjiayuan (the “Dirt Market”, which also happens to be the setting of my first novel, Tiger Eye).

You can see the window below. And inside that window, you can see what drives me craaaazy.

I know, it doesn’t look like much. It’s just bread, right? Little buns, sprinkled with sesame...

Tiananmen at night, in Beijing.

It’s great to visit Tiananmen during the day, but for me, night is when it comes alive. I don’t know why — maybe it’s the lights, or the great expanses that are empty of people, but every trip to Beijing requires a night drive, and we always come here.

Meow, Beijing.

Someone really loves this cat. Truly. That’s real cat food, and a beautiful bowl filled with water. It was set up outside, along a stone wall that borders a parking lot and an old residential neighborhood (see the second photo). Lots of nooks and crannies for a cat to hide — and there are a lot of cats in that area.

Also, the bird in the last photo? A Chinese Magpie. I’ve been observing them around Beijing for over a decade. Huge numbers here, inside and out of the city. And they are smart. Wh...

Dim Sum!

Cold day out, but we braved the icy roads to go have dim sum! What else would be worth battling the chill?

The food was delicious, but the highlight was discovering the HOT PINK Audi in the parking lot behind the restaurant. Now, it’s possible this isn’t a real Audi (just a car with the logo glued on), but I have the sinking suspicion that what we’re looking at is a super-expensive luxury car that someone really wanted in HOT PINK.

So, like, I can only imagine they bought the car in black…and t...

Beijing Winter

It snowed last night. Not much, but by Beijing standards, enough to cause snarls and wrecks all over the place. People here don’t drive well on good days, so when there’s snow and ice on the road — watch out!

So, it was a perfect day to stay in and write. I took an early walk through the neighborhood. Everything was quiet.

There’s a good article by Lee Child in the New York Times on how to “create suspense” in fiction:

So writers are taught to focus on ingredients and their combination. They’re...

Beijing + Staying True

Over the weekend I read a lovely, thought-provoking essayby artist and musician K’naan, called “Censoring Myself for Success“:

And for the first time, I felt the affliction of success. When I walked away from the table, there were bruises on the unheard lyrics of my yet-to-be-born songs. A question had raised its hand in the quiet of my soul: What do you do after success? What must you do to keep it?

“What must you do to keep it?” is a good question. In fact, most people start asking themselves...

More scenes from Beijing…

Ran around the other day, buying some things for dinner. Snapped photos with my iPhone, which has totally changed the rules of photography when I’m out and about. I never thought I’d say it — because I love my regular camera — but the iPhone is so easy. And the reason is simple — you can take photos without anyone noticing what you’re doing. Which means you’re capturing moments, real moments, without people stiffening up and giving you “the eye”.

By the way, it’s cold here. It’s only 21 degree...

A Beijing Market

On the outskirts of Beijing, in Shunyi, there’s a village market where locals come to sell, make, and buy. What’s amazing is that you can purchase almost anything there from the vendors that come in vans, on bikes, the bus — and it’s not just food, but clothing, shoes, toys. The man below had his sewing machine. If you needed something made, he could do it — right there on the spot.

Almost all of the following photos (except the first one) were filtered through Instagram, and were taken with m...

A Sunday in Beijing…

Ran around this afternoon, from lunch to the flower market (a warehouse full of the most exquisite, extraordinary plants — especially the orchids, some of which came home with me — see below), to another market where I got my nails done and then went shopping for fish and vegetables for dinner. There were some cute kids there — with huge personalities. Loved them.

Beijing, night.

Some snapshots from Beijing, taken tonight over a 4 hour period from 5 pm to 9 pm. The first photo was shot at a bus stop — the second, at a gas station, where the attendant was a young girl: cold and alone, and trying to stay warm by the heater.

Also: roast duck and buns, Christmas lights, traffic, street stalls, etc.