Who is Mr. Qiao?
And why does he have a blog on joshuawickerham.com?
Your Narrator Can Use Chopsticks

After much ado, I have finally started posting to my Chinese language blog "I can Use Chopsticks."

Not only is this an attempt to get my Chinese language skills up to an acceptable level for grad school, have random native Chinese speakers correct my mistakes, and gain fame in the Chinese blog jungle, but the first post will also be my chance to connect my disperate identities--and set the record straight.

To most people who know me in China, I'm not Joshua Wickerham. To Chinese ears, that sounds too much like "David Beckham." To all but my best friends, I'm known as Mr. Qiao.

Qiao is a real Chinese surname. Add shu and hua and you get "Qiao Shuhua," which sounds something like Joshua. It also sounds like a real Chinese name, which doubly makes Chinese speakers smile. First, because I'm not Han, and secondly, because the name means "comfortable in China."

There's only one problem. As of this post, the one reference to my Chinese identity on the internet, an article on Xinhua about Fudan University's first undergraduate homosexual studies course, identifies me as "Tai Shuhua."

The reason? The Chinese reporter who interviewed me forgot to ask me my name. She had to get it from my then-boyfriend instead, who usually just called me"Josh" and told her I was surnamed Tai.

Tai means many things, my favorite translation being "sun." But qiao is better. With another character, it can mean "disguise."

So what was this "Mi-xi-gender" （Michigander or Mi-xi-genian to some) with the double-masked identity telling reporters at the Fudan Homosexual Studies course?

He was telling them about the media circus around a similar course at his alma mater, the University of Michigan, that "How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation," drew similar media attention, but was less a milestone in American society than the Fudan class was in China. Too bad that Mr. Qiao Shuhua--foreigner narrator for the Chinese masses--never officially attended either class.

If you're inclined, you can read Mr. Qiao Shuhua's blog, "Wo Hui Yong Kuaizi," (I Can Use Chopsticks) here.