Just Jennifer

Apologies to my Censor: The High and Low Adventures of a Foreigner in China by Mitch Moxley (Harper Perennial, July 2013)

When Canadian journalist Mitch Moxley becomes disillusioned with his dreams of becoming a writer, he answers an ad for a job as a writer and editor at China’s only English language newspaper China Daily.  It is the spring of 2007 and the Olympic will be in Beijing before long, so why not?  Spend a year in China, get some clips and maybe get a memoir out the time in China, soak up some culture, enjoy the Olympics and head for home.  Sounds simple.  Not so.  Five years later, Moxley finds himself in China, never having really mastered the language, never mind successfully navigating the political, social and cultural minefield in which he often becomes mired.  Moxley finds himself a star on the newspaper’s basketball team, even though he is unable to dunk in the regulation hoops.  He attends a beer fest in one of the former German port colonies only to have it rain the entire time.  Moxley assumes the name Tall Rice, Mi Gao, and becomes something of a legend in more than his own mind as he is named one of Cosmo’s most eligible bachelors and appears in a music video in spite of his inability to dance.  With a slightly deprecating manner that often ends with self-realization,  as was the case after he inadvertently and unthinkingly insulted his language tutor in public, Moxley learns to adjust, have fun and just be and before he realizes it, he finds himself fascinated and immersed in a strange new culture, so much so he forgets to go home.  Moxley easily joins the ranks of ex-patriot writers who let their adopted countries slowly work magic, knowing home is never far away, but that once he returns to Canada, life can never be the same again.