Migrant Worker

Shanghaiist mentioned this map made by a guy named Mark Wang. Basically you check off a list and it fills in a map of China showing where all you’ve been. I couldn’t resist:

create your own China map

The stuff in red only encompasses provinces I’ve actually been somewhere in. Passing through on a train doesn’t count in my book, and if it did, I could add about 5 more provinces to my list. All that huge stuff out in western and northwestern China is Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia, areas which are, to put it mildly, somewhat outside the Han majority “cultural center”. Xinjiang and Qinghai are currently foremost on my to-do list, I’d love to see Tibet proper but it is expensive and annoying to get the permits, and they kind of herd you around to tourist areas. I’m waiting, because there is a persistent rumor that the permit system will end within the next year or so.

I am also keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll get to head to Xinjiang (Korla, specifically) for work within the next couple months, that is, if I can finish up the last bit of translation on Pesticide Development in China: A Comprehensive Report. ::shudders::