#6 CHINA

China is a country that has had a profound impact on my life. So much so that I don't know where to begin writing about my experiences there. Even choosing the photos for this blog was a challenge, not just because I had thousands to go through but because I needed to figure out the right way to tell this story or what anybody would want to read about.

One thing I do know for sure is that I've traveled through China more than any other country. I've explored the big cities of the east coast, sailed the Yangzte River, climbed the Great Wall, ridden horses on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, and visited the deserts and oases of Xinjiang. But, the more I traveled in China, the more I was pulled to its western regions, away from the crowds and pollution of the east coast. Of course, food was a big part of it, too; Uyghur lamb kebabs stole my heart, as did the spicy and numbing foods of Sichuan and the delicate and wild flavors of Yunnan.

过桥米线 // "Passing the bridge noodles," Kunming, Yunnan

I first visited China in 2001 when I went to Nanjing to study the Chinese language for four months during a college term abroad. I'd already studied Chinese for a year, but for a language that requires considerable practice and exposure, one year didn't amount to much once I got my feet on the ground. And so I stumbled through daily activities, never sounding eloquent or coherent, no doubt. But every day of speaking Chinese was a day of learning, and I was all about the baby steps at this point.

Thankfully, I also had two good friends with me on my term abroad, so I had their support, humor, and company every step of the way. But unfortunately, as the weeks went on, our compulsory group trips to the Three Gorges and Huang Shan and Beijing became less tolerable with the rest of our preppy college group. So, the three of us bailed on our classmates and instead joined the far more fun and diverse group of international students living one floor above us in the dormitory!

金马碧鸡 // "Golden Horse and Emerald Chicken" Temple, Kunming, Yunnan

At the end of my four months, I returned to college, more determined than ever to keep advancing my Chinese language skills, with the eventual goal of returning to China soon and for a more extended period. I progressed through intermediate and advanced levels of Chinese, mostly with private tutors, because all my classmates had dropped out. I went back to Nanjing for spring break that year, and I returned for a second term abroad the following year. When I finally graduated from college, I decided to move back to Nanjing and continue my studies because I was finally starting to get pretty good. I told myself it was a valuable cultural experience and educational. Still, the truth is, I'd also found someone special, and more than anything, my heart was pulling me back to China!

Great Wall of China circa 2001, Beijing

These were my formative years in China: I spent my time exploring the country, always looking for exciting new foods and adventures. I picked up a few new English teaching jobs in Jiangsu province, and over the next two years, I probably visited every village, town, and city north of Nanjing. And whenever I had time, I went west to Xinjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, and Ningxia in search of grasslands, temples, noodle soups, lamb kebabs, and big plates of chicken!

羊肉串 // lamb kebabs, Chengdu, Sichuan

大盘鸡 // "big plate of chicken," Beijing

Fast forward to 2005, and I moved to London to pursue a master's degree in Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). By this point, food had progressed from a mere hobby into a professional interest, and I was going to study the anthropology of food in China. Here, I learned about global agro-food systems, semiotics, the politics of ethnicity, Chinese traditional religion, and communist land reform policies. I also read endlessly about post-modernism and super-structuralism, which changed how I view the world and my place in it.