I have given China 3 year of my life so far, and estimating another 2 here before I move on. But recently, as most late twenties girls do, I've been secretly evaluating living styles of the more family-esque type. Yes, I am feeling the urger, the biological clock, or whatever it is called, and I've started thinking less like the single woman and more in the sense of when I'd like to start a family, what type of mother I'd be, and most pressingly, where would I most like to raise my family. And I have come to one decision quite easily. Beijing is not the place to raise a family. Don't get me wrong, I love this country, but along with the many things that I love comes a variety of things that are unsatisfactory. China is a developing country, you can't expect all the western privileges that we were born into, but that's still not something that I would consider compromising for my idealistic imaginary family.

Air and environment
First and foremost, the quality of the air in Beijing is unquestionably going to effect on peoples' health. I have found myself short of breath and with black dust on my hands after venturing out in Beijing. It's a product of Beijing's rapid development, and one that unfortunately isn't going to see any improvements soon. Living here, I sometimes feel that it's a risk I am taking with my health, and one that I am not willing to take on my future children's'.

The health scares
After the san yuan melamine health scares last year, another has recently been publicized in the English language media. According to the Beijing Evening News, there have been cases of students suffering with headaches and fainting after guzzling down Sprite.
Food and drink products are ones which we put an enormous amount of trust into, wherever we are in the world. And when things like this happen, it scares me.

The schooling
As a foreigner in china, your children will undoubtedly require dual-language schooling, which requires an international school. Unless you are an expatriate family living and china, in which case you'd probably receive free housing and schooling for your children, you are looking at 20,000 pounds a year school fees. Incredible! I know unqualified English teachers who know little more about teaching the English language than being brought up in a country speaking it who work in these schools. So is the money really worth it?

Of course, no city or country is without its flaws. I'm taking a very idealized view of my 'perfect' imaginary family and the kind of Walton style lives we'll have. But it begs to question, where we should position ourselves to give our children the best advantages. Is coming back to the UK the best decision all round, or should we venture elsewhere.

So, I put it to you; Where is the best place to raise a family?

The 3rd sign of the Chinese zodiac, the tiger, begins it's year long reign on the February 14th this year. However, much alike our western new year, the most exciting day is actually the eve. But unlike in the west where we find the most exciting party and drink with friends, lovers and, more often than not, a bunch of strangers, the Chinese New Years Eve is spent with family. In fact, the Chinese New Year 's Eve is the most important family day of the year. Needless to say that the seriousness of my and my boyfriends' relationship is left without doubt, now that I have been invited to share this day with his family.

The year of the tiger is said to ward off any household disasters, such as fire, theft and ghosts. However, if you are a tiger yourself, that is born in the year of the tiger, the year is believed to be unlucky for you. As with all other signs, if we find ourselves in the year of our own sign, the Chinese believe that we should wear the colour red to ward away bad luck.

Believe it or not, this year will actually be the first Chinese new year that I have spent in china. Usually I take advantage of the national holiday and come back to the UK. So this is year is extra special for me, and I've been researching and taking notes from my Chinese friends to learn about what will be expected of me when I join a Chinese family for the biggest festival on their calendar. Here's what I've learned;

1. Gifts aren't necessary
Unlike Christmas, gifts aren't a big thing during the Spring Festival. In some ways, I find it difficult to imagine children becoming excited by Chinese new year if there are no gifts, and no indulgences, but my boyfriend insists that when he was a child, he would become very excited about the fireworks and the hongbao (a red enveloped with money inside given to the children of the family by relatives and friends).
However, being the only foreign face in the crowd, I guess they might expect something a bit different, and I have bought a few gifts to take along for the family - I hope they appreciate that it's more of a 'thanks for having me', than a 'let's make it more like Christmas' gesture.

2. Offer to make the jiaozi
Jiaozi are like dumplings...well, I kind of think they're more like ravioli. They're boiled pasta-like bags with meat and vegetables inside, so yeah, I think they're like giant ravioli. It's these jiaozi that are the traditional food of Chinese New Year, and I've been told that it's very courteous and traditional for me to offer to help make the jiaozi. Expect disastrous stories post-chinese new year about this!

2. Fireworks
The thing about fireworks, despite them being quite pretty, is the louder the noise the better. The loud noises are believed to scare away evil spirits and keep us safe in the New Year. The previous few years, I've returned to china at the end of February or sometimes even the beginning of March, and the fireworks and firecrackers are still being set off. For a foreigner living alone in the middle of Beijing, this can feel quite scary and what I'd imagine a snippit of the blitz to have been like.

3. The city is a ghost town
I've become very used to there always being people around. You can walk around the city at any time of the day or night, and you will see people around. At first it may have felt odd, but now it's comforting. I hadn't released how used to living in the most overpopulated country in the world until we had a one week festival back in October called Mid-Autumn Festival. Of course, during festivals, people want to be with their families, but what I didn't realize is that a huge amount of people who live in the capital, are actually from smaller towns around china. So when they all return home, Beijing becomes eerily quiet and feeling quite deserted.

4. Mah-jiang is a must
I am very aware that mah-jiang is a popular game in china. Every park in the city is chock-full old folks sitting around on benches playing the games for hours on end. I like to think of Mah-jiang as the Chinese peoples' monopoly or dominoes, I guess. But then, how many of us actually dust of the old games and play a game of monopoly? I took the time to educate myself in the game of Mah-jiang, which seems pretty straight-forward and a game of matching up pairs. Then I was informed that the Mah-jiang that most of these people are playing is actually Taiwanese Mah-jiang, which is indeed a trifle more complicated than the former.

So, this spring festival, so long as I don't insult people with my gifts, poion people with my jiaozi and cry over the fireworks, I still have ample opportunity to embarrass myself with not understanding the rules to mah-jiang. As if communicating solely in Chinese was not enough stress. But then I'm sure I'll get even when I take my boyfriend back to UK to spend Christmas with my family.

大家新年快乐! - Happy New Year everyone!
How to say it in Chinese (da jia xīn nián kuài lè)

A somewhat chaotic show featuring The Deafout in studio with Chris. Also features a short preview to Einstellung's prestigious gig supporting German krautrock legends 'Cluster' at Birmingham Town Hall. This show was broadcast live on http://www.rhubarbradio.com on Monday 1st Feb at 8pm

Note - There is a small glitch in the audio in the first minute of this show. Reasons unknown.

Audio stream can be heard through Rhubarb Radio here

Or download the show direct from the Brumcast archive here

Brumcast 147 'In My City' features Hip hop, Electropop, acoustic, indie, metal, psychobilly, rock, punk and soul all written and performed by artists from Birmingham and the UK Midlands. It was broadcast live on Birmingham's own http://www.rhubarbradio.com on Monday 25th January at 8pm GMT. Download the podcast direct by clicking here!

Here's this show's playlist :-
1. B.A.D MC - In My City (4:20)
2. Electroflex - Five Years (3:27)
3. Leather Pig - Biggles bites the dust (5:06)
4. Stone Foundation - Holy Blue (3:45)
5. Johnny Normal - Time (3:05)
6. TV Influenced Me - The Whites (2:31)
7. Che - Somewhere New (3:07)
8. Black Fangs - V (6:18)
9. Dirt Box Disco - I want a really fast car (2:34)
10. Vinny and the Curse - Suicide Twist (1:56)
11. Liz Lawrence - Monday Morning (3:25)
12. New Killer Shoes - Lets Go Disco (3:28)
13. Untitled Musical Project - I don't need you honey, all I need is Rock n Roll (1:22)
14. Da Mighty Elementz - So Broke (4:37)
Brumcast is broadcast on Rhubarb Radio http://www.rhubarbradio.com Mondays 8-9pm GMT. Brumcast on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/brumcast
Brumcast download archive - http://brumcast.podOmatic.com

Brumcast 146 'We Will Always Sing' was broadcast live on http://www.rhubarbradio.com on Monday 18th January at 8pm GMT and the podcast of the show is now ready for listening and FREE download. Download it free and direct by clicking here

Here's this show's playlist :-
1. Squashed Cob - Chase (4:24)
2. Tommys Heroes - We Will Always Sing (2:50)
3. Black Mekon - Simplify (1:42)
4. Phyroxin - Inbound (5:58)
5. The Amateurs - Distant Fires (3:44)
6. Das Bastard - Gilber Killed Sullivan (3:23)
7. The Pad Foundation - the flashover (5:30)
8. MotherTrucker - Chudleigh (4:19)
9. At The Zoo - Love For Granted (3:34)
10. Johnny Foreigner - Palace Fires (3:53)
11. The Owsla - 1978 (4:24)
12. The Traps - The Honey Drip - MP3 (3:25)
13. The Graham Parsnip Liquidiser Torture Think-tank (Revival) - International Non Vacuuming Day (1:56)
Enjoy!
Little Chris
Brumcast is broadcast on Rhubarb Radio http://www.rhubarbradio.com Mondays 8-9pm GMT
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One of the best things about January is the return of Creme Eggs. We measure out religious festivals by the consumption of appropriate confectionery: Quality Street at Christmas, eggs at Easter, those fake buttons with hundreds and thousands on that taste like dog chocolate from the pick'n'mix when watching Mel Gibson films at the pictures, Ferrero Rocher at Ambassadors receptions (when held on the thirteenth Wednesday after Pentecost).

But the Creme Egg is different, at least round here. It says something about the esteem that Cadbury's is held in that people don't think it odd sending poets to protest about potential transfer of ownership of one large corporate identity to another, and the Creme Egg is the one people feel for.

It's the one people do this to:

It's the one people refer to first: back when I really wanted to be a music journalist I wrote a piece for now-defunct (aren't they almost all) magazine Flipside, the centrepiece of which was comparing Noddy Holder to a Creme Egg -- you know "from the Midlands", "associated with a religious festival", "covered in silver foil", "deceptively sticky and covered in hairs", that sort of thing.

It's the one that people brought up when I asked people on Twitter what I should blog about here.

So did you see Avatar?

Probably the most hyped film of the year and with the possible exception of The Dark Knight, the most anticipated.

What did you think of it? Did it live up to your expectations, one thing is for sure the film is certainly living up to the hype at the box office; the film has made more than $300 million dollars in seventeen days.

Now I know that I'm going to get slated for this, no Editors, no Johnny Foreigner, no Twang, no whatever is in your head....but this is my own personal opinion and believe me it was a HUGE struggle to get this list down to 15 (it should be 10!), anyways this is my submission to the Brum Bands of the decade at http://bluewhalestudios.wordpress.com/ THE BANDS ARE LISTED IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OF RELEVANCE/IMPORTANCE ETC! they're all great! Download the podcast direct BY CLICKING HERE! Alternatively the audio streams can be found at http://brumcast.podomatic.com
Here's the playlist
1. The Destroyers - Out of Babel (4:09)
2. The $hit - Smash 'N' Grab (3:21)
3. Miss Halliwell - I'm a Puppy (5:29)
4. Crash Repeat - Trigger (3:00)
5. Fade To Sepia - Solvent Jitterbug (2:42)
6. Modified Toy Orchestra - A Grand Occasion (2:07)
7. Scarlet Harlots - Benefits (2:18)
8. Mistress - In Disgust We Trust (4:28)
9. Sunset Cinema Club - Gojira Suit (4:49)
10. Einstellung - Und Das Rest Sind Doner (9:45)
11. Misty's Big Adventure - How Did You Manage To Get Inside My Head? (4:02)
12. The Courtesy Group - Brickhouse Blues (Live) (3:06)
13. Mayday (now Tantrums) - Nigel Brown (2:01)
14. Tantrums - Gorpse (3:37)
15. Old School Tie - God's Electric Super Scene (5:26)
16. Betty & The Id - End Is Nigh (5:41)
Hope you enjoy it and a Happy New Year to all!
Cheers
Chris
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Brumcast on myspace http://www.myspace.com/brumcastbirmingham

Bye bye Birmingham Post. I have been with you for more than 21 years. In those years you have been through eight editors, gone from being a broadsheet, to a tabloid, to a broadsheet and back to a tabloid again, only we don't call you that. You were black and white then, you're colour now. You were a six day a week publication when I joined. Now you are a multi-media operation of which the newspaper is only a part.

In those 21 years, I have changed too. My mother has died, I've been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I've lived in community, I've lived on my own and I've lived with my family. I've married, I've had a son, I've had two books published and I've learnt to sing jazz. I've gone from being an angry idealist determined to change the world to someone who is content to change her little bit of it and is happier than I knew was possible - same hairstyle though.

It's a pretty bleak midwinter right now. I've done all the tinkering on Farm Town I can possibly do for a day or so. It's a computer game on Facebook, in case you didn't know. I've caught up with all the Dr Who episodes I missed (mwah, mwah iPlayer), ready to watch Tennant go out with a great gush of emotion on Christmas night. And his Hamlet on Boxing night as no one could get tickets at Stratford or in London. I even watched the truly excellent Dr Who edition of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I'm confidently expecting Tennant to become a US TV star on the scale of Hugh Laurie with his next project.