Top China Blogs. The Best China Reads, Generation 20.10

Before you read this list of blogs please first understand where I am coming from.  I’m a long form reader; that is, I tend to gravitate towards articles that take more than a commercial break to read. I am subscribed to the Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker.  I am aware that this makes me somewhat of a snob.  You should be aware that I am unapologetic about it.  Sue me, but I happen to like grammatically correct sentence structures and consider myself an aspiring SNOOT.

When it comes to bloggers, I like those who not only write well and give timely information, but also  give me an experience.  If the website looks like its stuck on an IE 6 platform I will not hesitate to click away.  I understand that I may miss a lot of good content this way, but we all miss a lot of good content on cable public access channels and no one makes a fuss about that…except for the people who have shows on public access channels.

Next, I Google in English. So, these are necessarily English language blogs.  In the future, I’ll try to vary up the offerings.

Finally, I have not included many of the blogospheres most established members.  I hope the folks who run those publications, and they should know who they are, aren’t offended by being left off.

With that said, here is my top 10 up and comer blogs.  All of the blogs here consistently churn out good material that makes me think AND they have innovative blog designs, or something that *pops*.  At the very least, the blogs here represent  the future of the China blogosphere in terms of design and content.  Fading are the days of all-text webpages.

1. Aimee Barnes

Aimee’s and our blog started up around the same time, in January of 2009.  She is one of the first blogs I started reading, and her work has only gotten better with time.

Simply put, she makes news and breaks stories like no one else’s business.  Over the course of 15 months she tallied hundreds of interviews with interesting people working on the intersection of China and the US.  She contemplated retirement in November of 2009 but, luckily for us, came back in January of 2010, refreshed and ready to write again.

Her blog has a distinctive look, and her pieces are long.  But, they are damn good reading, and her posts will definitely take you more than one commercial brake to finish.  Be warned, you will finish her post.

2. 10 Ton Funk

Previously known as MSGED, 10 TonFunk is just what it purports to be, in the title – 10 tons of mothercoddling funk for your brain.

As far as artistic design goes, no one holds a candle to Blogger Fred Distenfass’s eye for color and lay out. I find myself clicking over to this blog just to stare at it.

Topics range from hip hop to geo-politics and Fred always makes sure that his personality is out in full force, but is wise enough to not let his personality get in the way of the information.

3. HaoHao Report

HaoHao Report is a metablog for news stories.  The man behind it, Ryan McLaughlin, has two other  creations, Lost Laowai, an expat community, and the Humannaught, a personal blog named after Ryan’s alter ego.  Both should be considered honorary members of this list – their design is equally nice as HaoHao and after visiting them you should notice the similiarity.

HaoHao report has grown into a dedicated community of sinophiles that comb the deep recesses of the internet for the best English language stories on China. The site is sleek, fast, and one hell of a bargain for bloggers.  Right now, even when a story is not voted up to the front page, it can easily rack up a hundred hits.

Ryan is very good about soliciting feedback and then acting on it, so HaoHao Report will only get better. Look for this to quickly become the Huffington Post of China stories within the next two years.

His work has turned the, by contrast, unresponsive and uninspired Chinalyst into an anachronism (they can’t even register my blog because our RSS feed is too modern).

4. Adam Daniel Mezei

Once you notice Adam you’ll be surprised that you ever missed him in the first place.  That’s certainly been our experience here at Asia Healthcare Blog and at China Healthcare Blog, where Adam has become an honorary member of the team.

Though his site offers a mix of commentary on Prague and the two Koreas, in addition to China, the real reason to visit his site is that the man is a human information magnet.  If its worth reading, seeing, or hearing, Adam is there.

Name a good writer, Adam has read her.  Identify an important niche source of news, Adam is already the site’s top contributor.  Want an thought out opinion on a really popular story that the big media outlets have thrown into an echo chamber, but haven’t got the time to fully analyze, Adam has found someone who has, or he has done the work himself.

Did I mention that he’s an excellent writer, with an impressive publishing pedigree?

Coming up with this list would have been much harder without Adam’s amazing help.

5. Shanghai Street Stories

If 10 Ton Funk is a feast for the senses, then Shanghai Street Stories is the  countryside pasture owned by you Great Aunty, where you always hope to visit during the spring time, and once you get there you don’t want to leave because the day to day reality of your life in the city suburbs pales in comparison to the beauty of the pasture’s fractal simplicity.

The photos are always presented in stark hues of gray and red.  The give you a lens through which you can see Shanghai as you imagined it before you found a local Starbucks and the city became just like everywhere else.

Whether you’re in the mood for reading or not, Shanghai Street Stories is always a place you can visit during your online surf session.

Bottom line, the visuals are amazing because they don’t only give us pictures of Shanghai, but also paint the city and present it within a certain alternate universe that is even better than the everyday thing . (Recommended by Adam Daniel Mezei.)

6. Shanghaiist

What is it about Shanghai that inspires innovation.  Shanghaiist boasts writers that could do stories for Newsweek or some other high powered international magazine.  I particularly dig their investigative healthcare stories and wish that they made this a staple of their coverage.

The design is easy on the eyes despite the high number of ads.  This is no easy feat.  Without fail, however, I find myself focused on the story and not the surroundings.

Though they write a lot, and a lot of the material is of the quick type nature, their long, thought out  articles are more than worth the price of admission.

7. My Health Beijing

Dr. Richard Saint Cyr is not your typical expatriate, in Beijing.  But, he can tell you better than most people what the typical expatriate, in Beijing is like.  He’s even coined a medical term that covers the symptoms of life abroad in china, expatitis.

He is a new breed of China English language medical blogger.  As far as I know he is the only doctor blogging from inside the country. When he wants to, he uses that to his advantage by writing really innovative pieces that talk about life on the job,  in country.  I have him on my RSS feed just in case one of these pops up, and I have high hopes that this can one day become the focus of his blog.

For now he still spends a lot of time writing about what people should eat to stay healthy/stay in shape/etc.  With more articles on his life in the hospital, this blog jumps into the top 5.

8. Joop.in

Joop.in is Dutch for “Jump In!” says Adam Daniel Mezei who recommended it, but Adam is just kidding, but it would still be a very clever name for a site.  This blog does not always have  the best written English but its eponymous writer, Joop Dorrensteijn,is between China, Japan, and Korea and that alone is worthy of praise.  The content is full of personalized stories that are page turners and the design manages to stay clean.

Throw in the fact that he lives in Shanghai and is dating a Korean girl, and what you’re looking at is one of the truly globalized bloggers on the internet today.  It’s one thing to live in another country, and its completely another to be globalized.

A lot of wisdom to be had here.

9. Far West China

Admittedly, with its pixelated shapes, and sharp edges, this blog’s look is dated.  But, Far West China has been on top blog lists for as long as I can remember because blogger Josh Summers gets down and dirty into Xinjiang life and over time has honed his craft and become a real-deal investigative journalist.  Like other blogs on this list he breaks news, he doesn’t echo it.

Even during the riots, in 2009, Josh gamely sought ways to give the world updates through his twitter.  When that was shut down, he scoured the city for an internet connection with which to communicate to the world what was happening.

He is on this list for all of the above reasons, and because he represents an ideal – the entrenched blogger with a well developed biche niche and a sense of purpose.  The longer he reports, the better off we will be for it.

10. New Dynasty

Strictly speaking, this is an online magazine.  Loosely speaking, an online magazine is a collection of journalists moonlighting as bloggers, so New Dynasty’s place on this list is perfectly in line with the standards I put forth at the start of this list.

The writers for this site are truly excellent, Atlantic Monthlyesque even, and this kind of pen firepower is rare on the China side of the news.

Their design is very new age, and they are really doing pioneering work, China writing community speaking, with their logo.  I only hope that they figure out a better layout for their fonts.

Like HaoHao report, ND has a chance to become the Huffington Post of China news.  I think they could use a china healthcare writer, don’t you?  Bottom line, clue in to them and you won’t be sorry you did.