Sense Oars, Opera Singers, and NGOs
comments on my two newest articles--covering very different aspects
of Shanghai life

I was happy with the way my interview with Shanghainese Opera Singer Huang Ying (Ying Huang to English audiences) turned out. She's a very down-to-earth, friendly opera superstar. She was very patient giving up parts of a sunny Italian afternoon while I dealt with technological issues in Shanghai.

I'm happy with my NGO article as well. I'd never had an employee of any state agency take interest with such a seemingly innocuous sentence. This is what they cut:

"It's no surprise that Beijing, with its loads of development groups, let the Shanghai government dole out this landmark legal certification [narrator's note: first legal status for an outside non-profit]. If the capital had done it first, every group in Beijing would be clamoring to get registered."

And there you have it. My sense restored. Of course, it's not the first time I've had print turn out different from copy, and it probably won't be the last. But I can mark this down as the first time a civil servant has done gotten to my prose.