The guidebooks give crash courses in it, many many novels have been written about it. When people repeat the catch-phrase, “China Rises”, communist marching and star-studded banners wave through the mind.

But China’s changed, it’s no longer the place it was in the 50s-70s. Not even close. It’s barely the place it was last week. North Korea, on the other hand, is virtually the same as it was when it was founded. Still a hereditary communist power (sweet irony) with a government clinging to the old ways with white-knuckles and a big gun. Still brashly refusing to go any way but its own, no matter how many people have to starve.

The West may lay criticisms on China and the lack of freedoms here, some of which are definitely not unqualified, but when you compare it to its tiny northeastern neighbour, you can’t help be see the stark contrast of how far this big beautiful country has come. If China’s the showcase for a country pulling itself out of a bad decision made 60 years ago, and a terrible system before that, the DPRK is the polar opposite.

Getting a clear picture of North Korea is a challenge though. It’s isolation and self-imposed segregation make it an island in a otherwise globalized world. I’m fortunate to have had a peak at North Korea living in China’s north east, and visiting the border with the DPRK. But I hope one day I’ll be able to actually go there and see it all for myself (even if it’s just the sanitized foreigner version in Pyongyang).

With that said, you can imagine the interest I had in a new project that came my way not long ago — designing the Web site for a new book, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. The book is written by Barbara Demick, who some may know as the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.

www.NothingToEnvy.com - designed by The Humanaught

I’ll let the design speak for itself, but here’s a bit more on the book:

In NOTHING TO ENVY, Demick follows the lives of six people: a couple of teenaged lovers courting in secret, an idealistic woman doctor, a homeless boy, a model factory worker who loves Kim Il Sung more than her own family and her rebellious daughter.

Demick spent six years painstakakingly reconstructing life in a city off-limits to outsiders through interviews with defectors, smuggled photographs and videos. The book spans the chaotic years that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, the devastating effects of a famine that killed an estimated twenty percent of the population, and an increase in illegal defections.

While many books focus on the North Korean nuclear threat, NOTHING TO ENVY is one of the few that dwells on what everyday life is like for ordinary citizens. With remarkable detail, Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime in the world today. She gives a portrait as vivid as walking oneself through the darkened streets of North Korea.

I just finished reading it and cannot recommend it enough to anyone with even just a passing interest in North Korea. If you’ve ever read Wild Swans (and I suggest you do), you’ll find some similarities, as both books tell their stories through the eyes of real people who lived through harrowing ordeals. Both explore what it is to live in a country where your thoughts are moulded into believing the omnipotence of a man and a system that are long-past failure.

For China-watchers, the book also shows the obstacle-strewn Chinese road that many DPRK defectors travel through to get out of a country that treats them like trash but wont let them go.

Truly a fascinating book.

It has been wonderful being home for the holidays, and a visit that has been full of firsts. It was Maggie’s first time seeing British Columbia (as we flew into Vancouver rather than Toronto, simply for the experience and to visit family out west). It was also our first opportunity to meet my 20-month-old nephew who was born shortly after our last visit to Canada.

My nephew is not the only new addition to our clan since our last visit. My cousin and my step-brother have both had children since we were last here, and being home has given me a chance to sit down with all the somewhat-new parents and pick their brains on being first-time parents.

That experience alone has made this visit home invaluable. We have lists of recommended reading, bags of baby gear, advice layered upon advice and, perhaps most valuable, the opportunity to spend some up-close and personal time with babies and little kids — something that has given us both a much stronger sense that, despite the regular fears I imagine all new parents-to-be have, we are ready for this.

Hands down the best part of being home though came in the form of a short trip to a small office in Oakville on December 23, 2009. For Christmas my sister and my mom decided to take Maggie and I to 3D Baby Vision, a fetal imaging clinic that specializes in keepsake 3d ultrasounds.

We got the works; a 30-40 minute 3D ultrasound session, a DVD recording of the session, a CD full of images of our unborn baby, and — most importantly — gender assessment.

Due to Chinese families (particularly in rural areas) favouring boys, and because of the country’s One Child Policy; Chinese doctors and ultrasound techs are legal restricted from revealing the sex of a child so as to prevent parents from aborting the baby if it is a girl.

While there are always ways around this, having the assessment done while we are here in Canada was a simple solution, and one we were quite eager to take part in.

It’s a boy!

Or rather it will be… or should be. Due to the position of the baby, the tech could only give us 90% certainty, but said that in the 5 years of the business, she had never received a call saying she had gotten it wrong.

I was asked a lot prior to knowing the sex what I hoped he would be, and I always said I was completely impartial. More than one person told me I was lying and deep down I had a preference. I really didn’t, and still don’t. I see the benefits and challenges of either — and at the end of the day I’m just thrilled to be a dad.

That said, now that we know I can focus on what having a boy means — basically, a little me. I’m in a lot of trouble. Of course I’m kidding. I’m excited to take part in all the “father-son” things that I took part in with my dad. Playing catch, going to games, etc.

I’m also pretty keen on the fact that as the only male child in my family, having a boy means that my family name with carry on (provided he doesn’t go on to hyphenate it — but who does that, really?).

Anyway, without further adieu, here are some photos:

As mentioned above, we were also provided with a DVD of the session. It really was a nice touch, but was a bit rough. It was littered with blank screens when the tech switched between 3D and 2D ultrasounds, and also displayed a few error messages that popped up on the system. Additionally, it was overlayed with a rather cheesy soundtrack that had to go.

So, a bit of iMovie magic, and I whipped together the following (Slow? Also on Vimeo):

Sadly, the holiday cheer and baby excitement has been overshadowed a bit the last few days. My paternal grandmother died just after Christmas, and we’ll be attending her funeral tomorrow.

The grief of losing a family member is terrible. It was barely more than a year ago that my maternal grandmother died. The most painful part when she died was being so far away from everyone. In that way, I am glad we happened to be here now.

I have a wide mix of emotions over her death, and don’t have the experience with death to properly put it all to words. However, the one feeling I am confident in is that to me her death was anything but a tragedy. I cannot begin to imagine a way in which it is a tragedy for someone to live 93 years; seeing, experiencing, creating, loving and giving all that she did.

I will miss her more than I can even guess at now; I can’t even fully comprehend that she is gone. But I know that I will always remember her as the amazing person she was and the infinite number of ways her life positively influenced my own.

It is a, ultimately life-affirming, conflict of emotions feeling the kick of my unborn son one day, and losing someone I love dearly the next. Truly, c’est la vie.

And with that in mind, I’d like to wish everyone a very happy New Year. May we all discover things in 2010 which make us more fully appreciate our lives and the way we live them. My best to all of you.

God I love the Onion.

Nor did the tech print them out much larger than a thumbnail. It’s sort of funny putting our experience up beside friends and family who have gone through all this and come out of it with large images burned to CD, DVDs, 3D ultrasounds, life-like action figures… and we get blurry ultrasound photos. I guess you get what you pay for, and at like $60 for the full ultrasound (and that’s the 2x VIP price) even the fancy foreigner wing is pretty inexpensive. We were told that if we bring in a disc they’ll burn some images for us if we slip the tech a few kuai.

We finally approached the topic of finding out the sex of the baby. As most know, but some might not, revealing the sex of the baby before birth is illegal in China. The law is a reaction to the traditional preference for boys, and resultant aborting of female fetuses (fetii?). For us, and I imagine most city-bred Chinese, it is an inconvenience.

The doctor told us that it depended on who the tech was and whether we could find out or not. At first it seemed like we’d find out, but then we were told that it’s too early and the ultrasound wasn’t clear. We believe that to be Chinese doctor code for, “You should have brought a hong bao“. We may just slip into an ultrasound clinic while we’re in Canada and find out there, saving ourselves the awkwardness of bribing.

A damn cool part of this checkup was that we got to hear the baby’s heartbeat. The doctor cautioned us that if the heartbeat wasn’t loud or immediately distinguishable that we shouldn’t be alarmed, as it’s normal for it to be quiet at this stage. It was a boomin’, so much so that we got a nice loud “tài hǎo le! from the doctor.

Here are the ultrasound pics:

Perhaps best known as “Other Lisa” in the comments at the Peking Duck (or @otherlisa on Twitter), Lisa’s a long-time blogger (her blog, Paper Tiger Tail is one of my favs., she was also a past contributor at the Duck) and has the distinction of having seen a side of China most of us expats have only read about in books.

Lisa was one of the first and few foreigners who entered China directly following the end of the Culture Revolution (read about it here, it continues to be one of my favourite blog posts gracing the ether). She is a fascinating woman, and so when she asked me to design a Web site for her soon-to-be-released book, Rock Paper Tiger, I jumped at the chance.

The site was launched early October, corresponding with her novel becoming available on Amazon for pre-order. As is the case with so many people I work with, I had never met Lisa in person, at least until this past weekend. Currently travelling through China, she swung by Suzhou and hung out with Maggie and I for a couple of days.

Suzhou Canal Night Cruise

It’s always great having people come visit Suzhou as it gives us a chance to dust off our tourist caps and take in a sight we hadn’t yet seen in our three+ years here. With Lisa it was the night cruise of the Suzhou canal. I was a bit apprehensive that the night cruise would even be open in the winter months, but a quick phone call to the boat operators and we were in business.

The cruise lasted 70 minutes and cost 60 RMB (off-season prices I think). We bought tickets and boarded the boat at a wharf on the south western side of the old city — on Pan Xu Rd. (江苏省苏州市盘胥路739号 0512-68118088) not far from the intersection of Xu Jiang Rd. The tour was mediocre. I’m glad I can say I’ve done it, but whether or not it was worth the 60 RMB/person is debatable.

The biggest problem I had with it was the seating was clearly designed for slim Chinese frames — had I not had proper leverage, I’m sure the chair would still be stuck to my ass. The deck was enclosed and heated, a bonus for the chilly November weather, but the glass windows made photos without reflections nearly impossible. What the enclosure gave in protection from the elements it took in visibility, and would have much preferred an optional open-air deck that afforded better views. There was a small spot on the bow, but after some Chinese dude trying to impress his girlfriend stood in front of the captain, we were banned from it.

The route was alright, but not as comprehensive as I would have expected. I sort of thought 70 minutes would have taken us around the entire outer canal of the old city (it surrounds the city like a moat and has been in place for about 2500 years). Instead we journeyed up the southern leg of the canal, and then turned around and backtracked. The tour operators tried to distract us from this redundancy with a musician plucking a sān xián and belting out some rather discordant (to my laowai ears at least) Kunqu, the local opera style.

The second leg of the route was slightly improved, as we headed up the western side of the city towards Shantang Jie, the spot you see in virtually any collection of Suzhou photos (here’s mine). It was cool to see at night — with virtually every building in the area lit up like a Chinese-inspired Christmas decor.

Here are some photos:

As I said, I’m not sure the 60RMB was justified, but I’m happy to have crossed it off the list of things I’ve been meaning to do. Having the opportunity to finally meet Lisa in person and get her thoughts on the changes in China, US political situation and life in general was priceless.

Be sure to pre-order your copy of Rock Paper Tiger, and let me know what you think of her site.

Here’s the song that kicked it all off:

Be sure to check out Playing For Change’s Web site. They’ve got a bunch more episodes.

The benefit of having two close friends go through everything we’re about to, only six months ahead of us, is a fortune we’ll never be able to repay. I’m sure I’m not the first to say that being on the road having my first child is equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. Being able to witness this whole process first-hand in the lead-up is amazing, and having two people that live only minutes away that I can turn to and ask the litany of questions I have about becoming a parent is just awesome.

Ric and Gin, I couldn’t be happier for you both. And as sleepless as the two of you no doubt are, it’s hard to tell through the glow you both have. Aria Marie is beautiful. A truly wonderful addition to your family, and our little tribe.

However, in recent months, and much to the contrary of years past, I’ve found it harder and harder to share much personal. I hadn’t given much thought as to why, and assumed it was just because I’m busy. But I now wonder if it might have something to do with what I’m about to write.

Maggie’s pregnant and I’m going to be a dad!

Let me just repeat that… Maggie’s pregnant and I’m going to be a dad!

And with that, let me fill in a bit of back story. A few months ago now Maggie and I decided that we would start down the road to having our first child and beginning our family. We started talking to friends about their experiences and reading books on conception — I had thought it was a lot less complicated than it is. For instance, I was surprised to learn that there’s only about 40 days a year the average woman can get pregnant — or only about a 10% chance per month — being 16 and drunk seems to up the odds.

Anyway, with slightly more baby-makin’ education than my middle school’s “insert tab A into slot B” instructions, we set to it (snicker snicker). After no joy the first month of “trying” (a euphemism that I plan to continue using long after we’ve stopped trying to get knocked up), at the end of August Maggie’s pee delivered the best message urine has ever given me. She was pregnant.

As you can see from the picture to the right, the second line wasn’t reassuringly strong. The box indicated that while no second line didn’t necessarily mean “not pregnant”, even a faint second line meant “baby”. To confirm things, we headed down to the hospital and re-did the urine test and also got a blood test. She was definitely pregnant.

We had already told most of our family and friends that we were trying, and so were bursting a bit to let them all know the good news, despite us both knowing full well the percentage of pregnancies that miscarry. The miscarriage rate was really the biggest reason I didn’t want to announce it too early here.

At seven weeks we headed back down to the hospital for our first ultrasound. Most literature says that an ultrasound should be able to distinguish a heartbeat in the embryo between 6 and 6.5 weeks. There was no heartbeat. Like a cold slap our hopes dropped a few notches and we began to assume the worse.

The doctor told us that it was still early, and that we should come back in a week or two and check again. That led us into our recent trip up to Dalian, and then this past week’s National Holiday. Though impatient to know one way or the other whether everything was alright, we assumed a bit of extra time could only make the results more definite.

And so this morning, at 10 weeks into the pregnancy, we returned to the hospital and had our second ultrasound, which showed a perfectly healthy peanut-shaped smudge complete with heartbeat. A good thing too, as I’m not sure what Maggie would have done had she been suffering through rather harsh all-day “morning” sickness these last few weeks for nothing.

Now it’s real. Despite having planned this, and known about it for more than a month, today it’s really begun to stick. Maggie’s pregnant, and I’m going to be a dad. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath since we began this journey, and while tomorrow I’ll start holding it again, today… well… today I just simply can’t hold my breath, the smile on my face just won’t let me.

Something has happened to me, and more on that later, but that is not the reason for my blog absence. I’ve simply been inundated with new projects. That coupled with a quick trip up to Dalian last week that left me without Internet for a few days, has kept me focused on other things.

Busyness has been a theme of late, a fact that has been reflected in my decision to step down as CNET Asia’s China blogger. It was a great gig, but when forced to choose between spending more time developing my own projects, or writing for someone else’s blog (even if that someone else is CNET), the choice wasn’t really a choice at all.

And while the Tech Dynasty may be finished, it has been replaced by the already excellent Sinobytes — written by my good friend Steven. You can still find all of my Tech Dynasty posts here on The Humanaught.

So what the hell have I been up to?

Looking at the last time I updated the portfolio page on Dao By Design, one would think things around DBD had stopped completely around a year ago. Very much the opposite is true. I’ve simply been too tied up with stuff to pay the site much attention. Cobbler’s children and all that.

And while a DBD site and portfolio update are well past due and soon on the way, I would like to take a minute to draw attention to some of the awesome projects I’ve had the good fortune to work on lately. There are a number more in various stages of development, and I would love to share them — but they’re just not there yet. Expect more frequent updates on projects I’m working on though. Until then, please check these out:

NeochaEDGE: NeochaEDGE is a daily-curated, bilingual website and discovery engine dedicated to showcasing leading-edge creative content and emerging youth culture in China.

I enjoy most projects I work on, but it’s always great to get involved with a truly rad group of people. The Neocha guys are just that. Neocha, for those that don’t know, is a large Chinese-language social network focused on creatives in China. NeochaEDGE was launched as a platform for the site to highlight some of that talent to a wider English-speaking audience.

It’s not every day I get to design the blog of someone as high-profile as Alan VanderMolen. It was good fun though, and helped along by the clear baseball theme I was able to work with. Alan’s blog is a must-read for anyone involved in the PR and new media scene in Asia.

Continuing with the sport-themed sites, Trojans 1972 – An Immortal Team of Mortal Men is a new novel by Bill Block, and while I don’t know the first thing about football (us Canucks play football with skates, sticks and pucks), putting together the site was a great excuse for me to re-watch Any Given Sunday for a bit of inspiration — I think I’ve also finally figured out what a “first down” is.

Few Web sites were harder to design than this one, not because of technical difficulties or the requirements of Lune Tours founder Jeff Levinson — a great guy — but because it’s impossible to read about all these great trips in China and not want to shut down the computer, pack up a pack and hit the road.

When approached to build the blog of network marketing guru Aaron Chen, I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive. You can’t work online for much time without bumping into (and, in turn, considering) the all-promising world of multi-level marketing. And while I have mixed feelings about, and a mixed history with, the industry; Aaron’s gone a long way to showing me it can be done with integrity, knowledge and enthusiasm. Even outside of financial independence seekers, his posts and videos are informative and interesting.

From the jet-set lifestyle of Aaron Chen, to the quiet and tranquil Daoist retreats of Daowest — the DBD portfolio is nothing if not diverse. Much like Lune Tours mentioned above, it was tough to sit still long enough to get this site done, and not run off to Sichuan and climb a holy mountain.

Hands On China and Volunthai: It has always been my mandate to volunteer a certain portion of my time and abilities to non-profit organizations that are doing work I support. Such is the case with both Hands On China, a network of groups organizing volunteer activities in China; and Volunthai, an organization that puts adventuresome Westerners in Thai homestays were they volunteer English teaching to rural Thai schools that couldn’t otherwise afford them.

With both projects I didn’t have much to do with the original design of the site, but more was brought on to facilitate some freshening up of both design, structure and code. For Hands On China this, among other things, involved creating a template they could use when expanding to other cities; and for Volunthai this meant taking an older static site and bringing it into a modern CMS-based system.

I’d love if you’d give both of these sites a look — not to enjoy my handiwork (which is mostly behind the scenes anyway), but because they are great organizations and always in need of volunteers.

Last week Maggie and I grabbed a flight out of PVG and made our annual pre-holiday trip to visit the inlaws and friends in Dalian. That we both work outside the confines of anyone’s schedule but our own, we are fortunate that we can travel when the rest of the country is distractedly focused on tying up loose ends before one of China’s major holidays. It makes for cheaper and less crowded travel.

Returning to Dalian, where I spent the first year and a half of my China life, is always a mixed bag. I love Suzhou, and I love living in Suzhou more than I loved living in Dalian. But at the same time, Dalian has the huge draw of both friends who have remained (or returned) there and a rather large nostalgia factor.

That it was the first place me and China started our near half-decade affair has left me with a strong impression of Dalian. Around every corner and down every road there seems to be an “oh, I remember that place!” moment, followed promptly by a “hey, but that’s new!” While living there I was always on the fringes of the city proper — living first in Jinzhou district (the “district” bit being a bit of an insult to the city, as it’s older than Dalian), where I met Maggie and where her family continues to live; and second in Jinsanjiao, on the northern edge of Dalian city.

Never having lived downtown may be one of the major reasons I was eager to leave Dalian, and upon looking back, may have lead me to judge the place a bit unfairly. While it is relatively Western friendly, my feeling about the place is that it doesn’t remotely compare to the Westernized parts of Suzhou. Dalian, despite all its development, is still in Dongbei, China’s northeastern rust-belt.

And while Dalian — more than most Dongbei cities, has spent lots of time and energy trying to reinvent itself, learning largely through trial and error what works and what doesn’t, Suzhou’s a decade or two ahead. As a comfortable place to live, Suzhou still takes the cake. However, let me compare a few differences between the two places I’ve called “home” in China:

Weather

Despite being a Canadian, I’ve no loyalty to four distinct seasons. While Dalian’s weather is much closer to that of which I’m used to, I wasn’t sad to leave Dalian’s icy winters behind when I moved south. What I hadn’t counted on was Suzhou’s absolute bunk climate. Even in winter Dalian is likely to have beautifully clear-skied and sunny days. Suzhou hasn’t had sun since the Song Dynasty.

While enduring Dalian’s northern winters may be a challenge, its summer is livable and its spring and fall are a good length. Not so in Suzhou. Suzhou’s summer is akin to living in a bathhouse for 4-5 months, and its winter is wet and about as close to freezing as you can get without committing to it. Winters are made all the worse by the peculiar evolutionary trait of those born south of the Chang Jiang being without the good sense to insulate their buildings. Fall and spring are things only existent in fables — as proof, it will be October tomorrow and I’m still in shorts and tees.

Dalian: 2 – Suzhou: 0

Food

This is another area where both places are nothing to write novels about — blog posts maybe. I find Dongbei food rather simple and bland, while Suzhou’s local fare is sweet and a bit odd (bull frog is a common menu item). My palate is much more inline with Hunan or Sichuan food, and I can’t get enough of the cumin-y goodness of Xinjiang food.

Where Dalian edges out Suzhou is that it has a wide selection of chuar locales. There wasn’t a place I lived or visited in Dalian that wasn’t a 5-10 minute walk from a street full of low-sitting tables and stools eager for you to grill stuff. While Suzhou has a few chuar spots, they are just that – few. And while my body is surely happy I’m not sucking back enough carcinogens to give my grandkids cancer and washing ‘em down with bottle after bottle of cheap brew, there’s a reason a chuar restaurant is usually my most anticipated event in Dalian.

Dalian also scores points over most Dongbei locations as being close to the sea, and for this seafood lover, that’s a huge plus.

Dalian: 2 – Suzhou: 0

Western Standards of Living

Now before the FOTBers or hard-core expats get their backs up, let me qualify this by saying — to each their own. For me, I’ve lived in China long enough that a bit of comfort is something I’m willing to look for. When I first arrived, and occasionally still in fits of boredom, I loved the chaotic cacophony that I had assumed was China. I felt it defined China in some way, and that I was missing out on it by living a cushy expat existence. But then I asked myself, would anyone live in those conditions if they weren’t forced to by finance or because they’re a cultural tourist? Probably not. At least not me.

And while Dalian has some charming and exclusive expat-geared communities and facilities, Suzhou gets all the points in this category. In fact, from what I’ve seen of Shanghai, Suzhou would give it a run for its money. The entire eastern end of Suzhou is row after row of wide, organized streets, designated and protected bike paths, international restaurants, and decently maintained apartment complexes.

Dalian: 0 – Suzhou: 3 (because few things top ‘livability’ for points)

Culture and History

The park at 2,500-year-old Pan Gate

Being that it was the native home to nomads, it is perhaps unsurprising that there aren’t many long-standing cultural spots in Dongbei, and what few the area has, virtually none of them are in Dalian.

Suzhou, by contrast, has been sitting here for 2,500 years just collecting culture like it might one day come back in style. Despite winning 3 points for its modernity, Suzhou has done a decent enough job maintaining its numerous historical sites — the revenue for which no doubt helped pay for the newly developed districts.

Both places provide good insight into what is China’s chimera-like culture, but for strictly bookish culture and history points, Suzhou wins hands down. There aren’t many cities in China that get their own Chinese sayings, nor do many still have monuments to pre-Qin kings.

Dalian: 0 – Suzhou: 2

Natural Scenery

Bingyu Valley, just outside of Dalian

Both Suzhou and Dalian have decent scenery. Suzhou’s Venice-like network of canals are fed by a number of lakes in the surrounding area, including China’s third largest, Tai Hu. Additionally, there are a good number of large hills (called “mountains”, but really?) for a day out hiking.

Dalian is also great for hiking, with Da Hei Shan and Bingyu Valley being particularly great spots to visit. However, where Dalian jumps ahead of Suzhou is its proximity to the sea. While perhaps not for everyone, it’s hard to deny the aesthetics of a nice sea-side sunset/sunrise. Coupling its drastic seaview vistas with its rugged hilly terrain, Dalian beats out Suzhou in this category.

Dalian: 2 – Suzhou: 1

Location

This was one of the primary reasons I was eager to move down from Dalian to Suzhou three years ago. While Dalian is well-connected via trains, planes, busses and ferries; Suzhou wins out simply for being directly adjacent to one of China’s (indeed, the world’s) largest cities. Suzhou’s proximity to Shanghai (just half-hour on the new fast trains) give it a huge leg-up over Dalian, which despite its connectivity is still in the relatively isolated northeast.

And while unlike Dalian, Suzhou doesn’t have its own airport, we’re happy enough borrowing the two in Shanghai, or a third in nearby Wuxi. Shuttles run from Suzhou to both of Shanghai’s airports, and because Shanghai PVG is a truly international airport, global direct flights are easy to come by.

The one downside to Suzhou’s otherwise unencumbered system is that it is virtually the last stop before Shanghai for all trains coming from the north. This can make it a bit of a challenge to get train tickets to Shanghai last minute.

Dalian: 0 – Suzhou: 1

Nightlife

I’m married, what the hell do I know about nightlife anymore?

Actually, I think both cities are pretty much on par with each other in this regard. Both have a couple of clubs, a number of pubs, and a few good miscellaneous expat hangouts (cafes and whatnot). The only edge I might give Dalian here is that it is generally cheaper to go out in Dalian than in Suzhou — which seems to have taken its pricing cues from its big sister to the east.

Dalian: 1 – Suzhou: 1

Final Score & Conclusions

Dalian: 7
Suzhou: 8

Not a striking difference, and admittedly my scoring is biased as all hell. At the end of the day, I would happily recommend (and have numerous times) either place as a good spot to live. That they have their differences is a great argument against the opinion (that I’ve more than once repeated) that all Chinese cities are indistinguishable at their core.

A few photos from my trip to Dalian