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Apologies to My Censor: The High and Low Adventures of a Foreigner in China
Inspired by his article “Rent a White Guy,” published in The Atlantic , comes a chronicle of Moxley’s outrageous adventures in Beijing--from fake businessman to Chinese propagandist to low-budget music video star--as well as a young man’s search for identity in the most unexpected of places.
Mitch Moxley came to Beijing in the spring of 2007 to take a job as a writer and editor for China Daily , the country’s only English-language national newspaper. The Chinese economy was booming, the Olympics were on the horizon, and Beijing was being transformed into a world-class city overnight. Moxley planned to stay through the Olympics and then head back to Canada. That was five years ago. In that time Moxley has fed a goat to a tiger, watched a bear ride a bicycle while wearing lingerie (he has witnesses), and has eaten scorpions and silkworms. He also appeared as one of Cosmopolitan’s 100 most eligible bachelors in China, acted in a state-funded Chinese movie, and was paid to pose as a fake businessman. These experiences, and many more, are chronicled in Tall Rice, the comic adventures and misadventures of Moxley’s time in China and his transformation into his alter ego—Mi Gao, or Tall Rice. The books spans the five years that Moxley has lived in China; five years that coincide with China’s arrival on the world stage and its emergence as a global superpower. A funny and honest look at expat life, and the ways in which a country can touch and transform you.
Mitch Moxley came to Beijing in the spring of 2007 to take a job as a writer and editor for China Daily , the country’s only English-language national newspaper. The Chinese economy was booming, the Olympics were on the horizon, and Beijing was being transformed into a world-class city overnight. Moxley planned to stay through the Olympics and then head back to Canada. That was five years ago. In that time Moxley has fed a goat to a tiger, watched a bear ride a bicycle while wearing lingerie (he has witnesses), and has eaten scorpions and silkworms. He also appeared as one of Cosmopolitan’s 100 most eligible bachelors in China, acted in a state-funded Chinese movie, and was paid to pose as a fake businessman. These experiences, and many more, are chronicled in Tall Rice, the comic adventures and misadventures of Moxley’s time in China and his transformation into his alter ego—Mi Gao, or Tall Rice. The books spans the five years that Moxley has lived in China; five years that coincide with China’s arrival on the world stage and its emergence as a global superpower. A funny and honest look at expat life, and the ways in which a country can touch and transform you.
300 pages, Paperback
First published July 2, 2013
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May 6, 2023
Another journalist with a book about their time in China that’s likely to be their only one. Some say there are too many books by white guys detailing their experiences in China in the salad days of the 2000s. I wonder if this crowd will be later remembered like the writers and artists that flocked to Paris in the 1920s. I doubt it. Published in 2013, by Harper Collins no less – and already forgotten – for me, China memoirs like ‘Apologies to my Censor’ are worthwhile reads. I’m still trying to work out what hit me when I moved to the Middle Kingdom in 2001 and these books help me with that.
Mitch Moxley arrived in China for the pre-Olympics boom in Beijing in 2007. A trained journalist with not much going on in Canada, he’d accepted a job at the China Daily, an English-language newspaper that’s a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party.
Moxley is not quite your quintessential loser back home who came to China to teach English and chase girls that wokesters once loved to hate. However, his late Generation X angst about being trapped in boring jobs and wanting to become a freelance writer despite little motivation to get out of bed some days are likely targets for critics. Does everybody have to be Peter Hessler-level committed to the task at hand? I listened to a podcast in which Moxley explains his editor wanted him to change his first draft so it focused more on his own problems rather than the situation of being a ‘white guy for hire’ in general. You can then understand he was annoyed by the criticism levelled at him for being self-centered.
The first part of the book about when he’s at China Daily is the most entertaining. Moxley and other foreigners working at the paper are there as window-dressing and bit-part editors rather than serious writers. Like many ex-pats in Asia memoirs, the profiles of weird and wonderful, flotsam and jetsom foreign colleagues make fun reading.
“When I arrived at China Daily, I was both appalled and thrilled by many of the men I met. Appalled for all the reasons above; thrilled because observing and drinking with them could be so entertaining, and because I figured no matter what I did I could always point to one of them and say at least I’m not like that.”
He makes friends with a local journalist Lois but apart from her, the local staff remain mysterious. Managers, reporters and editors playing a political game, Moxley understandably finds them hard to fathom. However, his observations on how censorship at the paper works are insightful.
“There were no shadowy Party agents leaning over reporters’ shoulders telling them what to write, and as far as I knew, day-to-day stories didn’t go to some high-up government official for approval or rejection. As the Vanity Fair article pointed out, and as I reinforced in my Globe article, there was no “thought police” at China Daily. Instead, reporters and writers simply knew what they could and could not report, and nobody ever challenged those limitations. In this way, change wasn’t coming from the bottom, and it certainly wasn’t coming from the top.”
No dictate then but everybody knows an invisible line exists and that in China it’s not hard to cross. I could be wrong, but in terms of self-censorship, Moxley seems careful to make his stance on China’s ubiquitous prostitution industry one that would please his editors at Harper Collins. Basically, he’s horrified by it. One of Moxley’s freelance stories is about the trafficking of Mongolian women. One woman he interviews for the story surprises him with her pragmatism.
“The boss paid the rent and the girls lived in the back room. When I asked her if she felt trapped, Gerlee, who came to Erlian after a falling-out with her Inner Mongolian boyfriend, said, 'I’m just looking for money. It doesn’t make it good or bad.'”
Moxley quits China Daily after a year. He then survives on voice recording work and the odd loan from his parents. He eventually gets a break by selling an article to the Atlantic called ‘Rent a White Guy’ detailing his short-term gig pretending to be an employee of a company he’s never heard of. The company wanted a few foreigners to pretend to be visiting bosses from the US on a quality control trip. All Moxley had to do for a thousand bucks was sit around the office for a week. The article goes viral and opens up doors for him.
A very solid four stars, maybe four and a half.
Mitch Moxley arrived in China for the pre-Olympics boom in Beijing in 2007. A trained journalist with not much going on in Canada, he’d accepted a job at the China Daily, an English-language newspaper that’s a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party.
Moxley is not quite your quintessential loser back home who came to China to teach English and chase girls that wokesters once loved to hate. However, his late Generation X angst about being trapped in boring jobs and wanting to become a freelance writer despite little motivation to get out of bed some days are likely targets for critics. Does everybody have to be Peter Hessler-level committed to the task at hand? I listened to a podcast in which Moxley explains his editor wanted him to change his first draft so it focused more on his own problems rather than the situation of being a ‘white guy for hire’ in general. You can then understand he was annoyed by the criticism levelled at him for being self-centered.
The first part of the book about when he’s at China Daily is the most entertaining. Moxley and other foreigners working at the paper are there as window-dressing and bit-part editors rather than serious writers. Like many ex-pats in Asia memoirs, the profiles of weird and wonderful, flotsam and jetsom foreign colleagues make fun reading.
“When I arrived at China Daily, I was both appalled and thrilled by many of the men I met. Appalled for all the reasons above; thrilled because observing and drinking with them could be so entertaining, and because I figured no matter what I did I could always point to one of them and say at least I’m not like that.”
He makes friends with a local journalist Lois but apart from her, the local staff remain mysterious. Managers, reporters and editors playing a political game, Moxley understandably finds them hard to fathom. However, his observations on how censorship at the paper works are insightful.
“There were no shadowy Party agents leaning over reporters’ shoulders telling them what to write, and as far as I knew, day-to-day stories didn’t go to some high-up government official for approval or rejection. As the Vanity Fair article pointed out, and as I reinforced in my Globe article, there was no “thought police” at China Daily. Instead, reporters and writers simply knew what they could and could not report, and nobody ever challenged those limitations. In this way, change wasn’t coming from the bottom, and it certainly wasn’t coming from the top.”
No dictate then but everybody knows an invisible line exists and that in China it’s not hard to cross. I could be wrong, but in terms of self-censorship, Moxley seems careful to make his stance on China’s ubiquitous prostitution industry one that would please his editors at Harper Collins. Basically, he’s horrified by it. One of Moxley’s freelance stories is about the trafficking of Mongolian women. One woman he interviews for the story surprises him with her pragmatism.
“The boss paid the rent and the girls lived in the back room. When I asked her if she felt trapped, Gerlee, who came to Erlian after a falling-out with her Inner Mongolian boyfriend, said, 'I’m just looking for money. It doesn’t make it good or bad.'”
Moxley quits China Daily after a year. He then survives on voice recording work and the odd loan from his parents. He eventually gets a break by selling an article to the Atlantic called ‘Rent a White Guy’ detailing his short-term gig pretending to be an employee of a company he’s never heard of. The company wanted a few foreigners to pretend to be visiting bosses from the US on a quality control trip. All Moxley had to do for a thousand bucks was sit around the office for a week. The article goes viral and opens up doors for him.
A very solid four stars, maybe four and a half.
February 28, 2015
This is a memoir by a guy who has a modest work ethic and a gigantic taste for alcohol. Then we get a myriad of stories of his fumbling exploits and the outcome of his five years of chasing his tail and the tail of a few women, too, whilst living in Beijing, China. This is not an uplifting story of man overcoming the normal obstacles of life. Au contraire.
Skip it if you have a limited amount of time to read and want to only read real gems. This ain't one of them.
Skip it if you have a limited amount of time to read and want to only read real gems. This ain't one of them.
July 24, 2013
This book is well-written, the author is a Canadian journalist and has written for a number of newspapers and well-known magazines, but I didn't much like his story.
For the first hundred or so pages, all he does is complain about China and his job and gets drunk almost every night. Now, he was in his late twenties at the time and did have an incredibly boring job working for the state-run China Daily newspaper where he did almost nothing, but I have little patience for people going to foreign countries and moaning and groaning about the lack of comforts compared to their homeland or for people (young or old) who spend a lot of time getting smashed. The second half of the book is better because he does leave his job and finds more interesting freelance writing work, finally learns to speak some Chinese, travels more throughout the country, and writes some published stories about his adventures (he does have some doozies), but I still ended up thinking this isn't one of the better books about life in China. The book is really more about him than it is about China.
I liked this book enough to finish it, but there are better books about life and travel in China, so read one of those books instead. Peter Hessler's books about China are great.
For the first hundred or so pages, all he does is complain about China and his job and gets drunk almost every night. Now, he was in his late twenties at the time and did have an incredibly boring job working for the state-run China Daily newspaper where he did almost nothing, but I have little patience for people going to foreign countries and moaning and groaning about the lack of comforts compared to their homeland or for people (young or old) who spend a lot of time getting smashed. The second half of the book is better because he does leave his job and finds more interesting freelance writing work, finally learns to speak some Chinese, travels more throughout the country, and writes some published stories about his adventures (he does have some doozies), but I still ended up thinking this isn't one of the better books about life in China. The book is really more about him than it is about China.
I liked this book enough to finish it, but there are better books about life and travel in China, so read one of those books instead. Peter Hessler's books about China are great.
November 22, 2014
The premise of this book was attractive and intriguing. A journalist goes to modern day Communist China, and finds himself working on the side of the propaganda machine. The summary in the back of the book even seemed decent, and the first few paragraphs of the introduction were tolerable. And then it just went downhill from here. The author's voice is whiny and terrible, endlessly complaining about the bureaucracy as if he was the only person in the world who had experienced it before. His descriptions of his fellow journalists (all Chinese) were patronizing and offensive. It seemed as if he had put himself in the shoes of colonialist Britain and decided that he would write the "Great Chinese ExposE".
As someone with journalism experience who has worked in China before, I do have some sympathy for the author's frustrations of the bureaucracy and red tape, but that sympathy is not enough to cover up all the shortcomings of this book. As a Chinese American, I am extremely offended by the descriptions in this book. The narrative tone is whiny and endlessly complaining, the narration is dry, and the descriptions are frankly derogatory. I endured the book for five chapters, and for the first time in my life, I could not finish reading a book.
As someone with journalism experience who has worked in China before, I do have some sympathy for the author's frustrations of the bureaucracy and red tape, but that sympathy is not enough to cover up all the shortcomings of this book. As a Chinese American, I am extremely offended by the descriptions in this book. The narrative tone is whiny and endlessly complaining, the narration is dry, and the descriptions are frankly derogatory. I endured the book for five chapters, and for the first time in my life, I could not finish reading a book.
September 29, 2014
not too bad, a rather interesting read. i thought it became rather repetitive after a while and pretty whiny when he kept stating and wondering whether he was happy or not in china and having constant doubts about his life... also seemed like he complained a lot.. quite a light read, would've been better if he had delved more into deeper issues such as when covering stories about prostitution (more objective stories and details about the world around him rather than what was going on in his mind - his subjective feelings/thoughts/doubts/complaints/worries which got pretty annoying after a while and i found myself rolling my eyes at some parts)
July 8, 2013
Mitch Moxley hits a personal low in his mid-twenties. His career is pretty much nonexistent and he's tired of the cold, gray Toronto winters. He starts looking for jobs overseas and stumbles on a job working for a state newspaper in China, the China Daily. He applies and lands himself a one year contract.
He heads on over, knowing that he isn't really prepared for life in Communist China but not really understanding what that means. He has issues with censorship at the paper almost from the beginning and quickly gives up trying to change anything or doing any actual reporting. He makes some friends, offends some people, drinks a lot, and starts heading down that tired old expat path.
Luckily, he does change directions. He finally goes into life in China with a bit of a Yes Man attitude and finds himself in some unbelievable situations. He watches all the buildup for the Olympics. He starts doing some serious reporting. Through it all, he slowly slides closer to the Chinese side on the Foreigner/Chinese scale.
I like reading books about people who are brave enough to pack up and move away from everything they know, not just to another city, but to a whole different country. I can't even begin to imagine the culture shock, especially going from Canada to China. I have been disappointed a couple of times in other books when the author chooses to write about his or her experiences partying and drinking. That is not even remotely what I'm looking for when I pick up this kind of memoir.
Mitch started down that path and I got worried but then he turned himself around and started writing about life in China, not life in bars. He started getting out and experiencing things that I can't even conceive of from my armchair in the States. "Rent a White Guy." Seriously? They do that? Human trafficking. Chinese dating shows. The Beijing Olympics. Chinese music videos. I found it all fascinating, occasionally scary, and sometimes hilarious. I learned a lot about a country that is very much a big unknown to me. This was what I was hoping to find when I requested a copy of the book for review.
If, like me, you love to experience other cultures from the safety of your home, go ahead and give this a try.
He heads on over, knowing that he isn't really prepared for life in Communist China but not really understanding what that means. He has issues with censorship at the paper almost from the beginning and quickly gives up trying to change anything or doing any actual reporting. He makes some friends, offends some people, drinks a lot, and starts heading down that tired old expat path.
Luckily, he does change directions. He finally goes into life in China with a bit of a Yes Man attitude and finds himself in some unbelievable situations. He watches all the buildup for the Olympics. He starts doing some serious reporting. Through it all, he slowly slides closer to the Chinese side on the Foreigner/Chinese scale.
I like reading books about people who are brave enough to pack up and move away from everything they know, not just to another city, but to a whole different country. I can't even begin to imagine the culture shock, especially going from Canada to China. I have been disappointed a couple of times in other books when the author chooses to write about his or her experiences partying and drinking. That is not even remotely what I'm looking for when I pick up this kind of memoir.
Mitch started down that path and I got worried but then he turned himself around and started writing about life in China, not life in bars. He started getting out and experiencing things that I can't even conceive of from my armchair in the States. "Rent a White Guy." Seriously? They do that? Human trafficking. Chinese dating shows. The Beijing Olympics. Chinese music videos. I found it all fascinating, occasionally scary, and sometimes hilarious. I learned a lot about a country that is very much a big unknown to me. This was what I was hoping to find when I requested a copy of the book for review.
If, like me, you love to experience other cultures from the safety of your home, go ahead and give this a try.
July 27, 2014
I loved Mitch Moxley's book for its honesty and for providing inspiration to anyone who moves to a new country or tries to make it in a competitive field.
Moxley moved to Beijing on a whim in 2007, a year before the Olympics. He was a freelance writer in Toronto and needed a big change in his life. Beijing gave him that change and so much more. And although Moxley had his ups and downs in Beijing, it was quite apparent by the end of the book that moving to China was a brilliant decision. Unlike many China memoirs written by North American men, Moxley's delves into the taboo territory of dating. He writes about loneliness, the small dating pool, and the difficulties many face in cross-cultural dating (he discloses that he can't speak for all, but this was a common theme amongst many of his friends).
I also loved reading about his writing career and how he felt insecure about his first job in China, writing and editing for the state-owned China Daily newspaper. But as the reader later sees, Moxley learned more about Chinese culture at China Daily than he would have at a foreign paper. In the long run, his experience at China Daily allowed him to get along better in China than many other expats. His chapters about Mongolian prostitution and trafficking, as well as the African community in Guangzhou, are fabulous and give the reader a look into a China that many people would never otherwise read about.
One of the most difficult parts of living abroad is deciding when and if to go home. I also enjoyed and appreciated this part of the book.
Moxley moved to Beijing on a whim in 2007, a year before the Olympics. He was a freelance writer in Toronto and needed a big change in his life. Beijing gave him that change and so much more. And although Moxley had his ups and downs in Beijing, it was quite apparent by the end of the book that moving to China was a brilliant decision. Unlike many China memoirs written by North American men, Moxley's delves into the taboo territory of dating. He writes about loneliness, the small dating pool, and the difficulties many face in cross-cultural dating (he discloses that he can't speak for all, but this was a common theme amongst many of his friends).
I also loved reading about his writing career and how he felt insecure about his first job in China, writing and editing for the state-owned China Daily newspaper. But as the reader later sees, Moxley learned more about Chinese culture at China Daily than he would have at a foreign paper. In the long run, his experience at China Daily allowed him to get along better in China than many other expats. His chapters about Mongolian prostitution and trafficking, as well as the African community in Guangzhou, are fabulous and give the reader a look into a China that many people would never otherwise read about.
One of the most difficult parts of living abroad is deciding when and if to go home. I also enjoyed and appreciated this part of the book.
December 20, 2016
By my own rules, I shouldn't have carried on with this. I started it because I needed something to read on the subway but before leaving for a vacation. I wanted some fluff. I'd gotten this from the remainder pile at Brookline Booksmith because I enjoy travel memoirs. I've read a couple books about China but don't know much. I thought I could learn something. Mitch Moxley has nothing to teach, except that if you spend your time doing drugs, drinking, and avoiding work, gee, your career doesn't advance. That's somewhat harsh, but not really. This started as a goofy story about one experience making money as a pretend businessman that he sold to the Atlantic. He milked it to get book length. I don't think I'm being unfair, but I admit, he's not a kindred spirit. Lack of a work ethic, any plan, or intelligent preparation for being in a foreign country did not endear him to me. The continual partying did not interest me either. I don't want to participate and watch fools get drunk nor read about it.
July 27, 2013
This is a great story! This was a fun and encouraging read as I got to see the adventures of Mitch Moxley, a foreigner in China. The book takes you through the years Mitch spent in China, how he worked for China Daily, how he decided to stay in China after he was released from his contract, and how he began to enjoy China -- flaws and all.
While I find many books entertaining, there are very few that can elicit laughter in me -- This book not only made me laugh, it tugged at all my emotions.
I highly recommend this book.
While I find many books entertaining, there are very few that can elicit laughter in me -- This book not only made me laugh, it tugged at all my emotions.
I highly recommend this book.
June 20, 2015
Aggressively mediocre, both in form and content. The style -- blandly written pap that seems to have been trimmed down from a diary -- works in concert with a series of adventures pursued, presumably for shock value, to display a disappointingly shallow understanding of China. The latter aspect of the book, the author's lack of insight as well as a dearth of intellectual curiosity, is its worst offense, given the volumes of excellent, sensitively written popular nonfiction on China available.
March 22, 2015
An account of the Canadian author's six years spent in China as a struggling journalist; first working for a Chinese newspaper, then freelancing. If you're expecting a deeply informative book of reportage about China- something along the lines of Peter Hessler's books, for instance- you'll be disappointed here. This book is more about the author's personal journey, complete with a lot of maundering and hand-wringing about where his life is going. Initially, upon moving to China, the author falls into a hard-partying lifestyle with fellow expats. As he says: "To say that we went out 'a lot' would be a drastic understatement. For me, living in China was a chance to say 'yes' to everything. Yes to drinking, to smoking, to partying until dawn. Yes to it all. Beijing was cheap and we were well paid and free to do anything. It was liberating and terrifying." He doesn't try terribly hard to learn the language, and doesn't seem to be interacting much with Chinese people other than some coworkers, preferring to associate with fellow foreigners.
Finally, on page 69, he writes this: "We were sitting around Rob's office at China Daily one afternoon, marveling at the scale of the country we were living in. I had never really taken the time to appreciate the vastness of China. I'd been in China four months and only visited Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian, and an unimpressive beach resort near Beijing called Beidaihe, popular with Siberian tourists. I glanced over the map and wondered what, exactly, was going on in all these strange places- Gansu, Qinghai, Shanxi, Shaanxi. I had never even heard of most of China."
From that point on the book begins to improve. He begins to interact more with China, traveling to different places, reporting on things like a government crackdown on Africans living in China; and Mongolian women being brought into China and forced into prostitution. There are also humorous anecdotes about how being an 'exotic' foreigner living in Beijing can lead to opportunities to appear in movies, music videos, and dating shows. The various unconnected incidents are glued together with a lot of personal angst, though, and there's not a lot of depth even to his serious reporting.
Ultimately, this is less "book about China" than "book about Mitch Moxley, set in China". There's nothing inherently wrong with that; a reader who knows beforehand that that's the sort of book they'll be reading, and is interested in that, will likely enjoy it better than I did. There are certainly worthwhile things here. But I found it a disappointment.
Finally, on page 69, he writes this: "We were sitting around Rob's office at China Daily one afternoon, marveling at the scale of the country we were living in. I had never really taken the time to appreciate the vastness of China. I'd been in China four months and only visited Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian, and an unimpressive beach resort near Beijing called Beidaihe, popular with Siberian tourists. I glanced over the map and wondered what, exactly, was going on in all these strange places- Gansu, Qinghai, Shanxi, Shaanxi. I had never even heard of most of China."
From that point on the book begins to improve. He begins to interact more with China, traveling to different places, reporting on things like a government crackdown on Africans living in China; and Mongolian women being brought into China and forced into prostitution. There are also humorous anecdotes about how being an 'exotic' foreigner living in Beijing can lead to opportunities to appear in movies, music videos, and dating shows. The various unconnected incidents are glued together with a lot of personal angst, though, and there's not a lot of depth even to his serious reporting.
Ultimately, this is less "book about China" than "book about Mitch Moxley, set in China". There's nothing inherently wrong with that; a reader who knows beforehand that that's the sort of book they'll be reading, and is interested in that, will likely enjoy it better than I did. There are certainly worthwhile things here. But I found it a disappointment.
September 14, 2013
A mostly entertaining read about the highs and lows of living in China from 2006 to 2012. Although some spots get a bit slow, the behind the scenes looks at China Daily, the Olympics and the 'Rent a White Guy' experience were humorous page turners.
There's also a bit of a coming-of-age-in-your-20’s story that's relatable for anyone who's ever had a quarter-life crisis. At times this was charming, but at other times it was a bit grating to hear how ungrateful the author was about the opportunities before him. On the one hand I appreciated the honesty about his complaints; I complained a lot in my late 20's, too. But on the other hand I was looking for something a little more reflective or redemptive in his perspective. I wanted to see this fleshed out a bit more. It felt shallow without it.
There's also a bit of a coming-of-age-in-your-20’s story that's relatable for anyone who's ever had a quarter-life crisis. At times this was charming, but at other times it was a bit grating to hear how ungrateful the author was about the opportunities before him. On the one hand I appreciated the honesty about his complaints; I complained a lot in my late 20's, too. But on the other hand I was looking for something a little more reflective or redemptive in his perspective. I wanted to see this fleshed out a bit more. It felt shallow without it.
October 18, 2013
Overall I enjoyed this memoir of a Canadian journalist in China. The stories are all interesting and generally amusing in some way, though I did find myself far more engaged with the text when Moxley stopped complaining about the things he didn't like about China and started finding valuable experiences.
I was hoping for a bit more of the country in this book and less of the author; perhaps because it was found in the travel narrative section at my bookstore, I expected less of a focus on the writer. I can't say I cared how many drugs he did or how much alcohol he consumed; I don't read books to hear the same banal stories that any Monday morning at work can yield. But the times when Moxley focused on the country and it's wonders made up for that in my mind.
I was hoping for a bit more of the country in this book and less of the author; perhaps because it was found in the travel narrative section at my bookstore, I expected less of a focus on the writer. I can't say I cared how many drugs he did or how much alcohol he consumed; I don't read books to hear the same banal stories that any Monday morning at work can yield. But the times when Moxley focused on the country and it's wonders made up for that in my mind.
July 24, 2017
I really wanted this book to be more than it was. I guess I don't really connect well with this sort of memoir. I think I have been very spoiled by the likes of Peter Hessler.
Although Mr. Moxley does provide good descriptions of his experiences I found the writing less than compelling because of his own shallowness and self-deceived lackluster for his own life and relationships.
Although Mr. Moxley does provide good descriptions of his experiences I found the writing less than compelling because of his own shallowness and self-deceived lackluster for his own life and relationships.
September 23, 2015
Giving up on this one part-way through. He's paid to do nearly nothing all day, and parties nights/weekends ... ho hum .... Perhaps that's unfair, but I'm not willing to invest more time finding out if there's anything more here. Off to Mount TBR for the next item to tackle ...
October 11, 2013
I guess I wanted more about China, less about the author's angst.
Did Not Finish
July 9, 2025DNF
August 1, 2021
This book is The Rum Diary if Hunter S. Thompson was far less talented. The book is also borderline racist about people in China and cruel to people in general, so there’s that too. DNF’ed in Chapter 4. The premise of this book is great but can’t recommend this one to anyone.
April 21, 2014
Mitch Moxley's autobiography about his time spent as a journalist in Beijing during the years surrounding the 2008 Summer Olympics is engaging and quirky. Clearly, Moxley enjoys living life to the fullest and he does not limit himself to reporting stories, he gets out there and becomes the story. His love for China, warts and all, makes Apologies to My Censor a thrilling read. I'm a lover of traveling and travel writing and this made me want to experience China.
It's Moxley's willingness to "say yes" to new experiences and his willingness to go outside of his comfort zone that makes you root for him. He poses in an ill-fitting suit for an the China version of Cosmopolitan Magazine's 100 Most Eligible Bachelor spread. He attempts to act the part of a suitor in a music video, much of his efforts so bad that the end up edited out. He goes on a dating show and wows the girls with some Elvis swagger.
The best chapter was one where he details working as a pretend business man for a company that needed western men to give them face. The concept of face and saving face pops up frequently. In this situation it's nearly unbelievable and fascinating to read. The men were hired to attend meetings and basically sit around an office and pretend to work for the company. In addition to detail the events in this book, Moxley sold an article about his experience to the Atlantic. The chapter is hilariously and aptly titled, Rent a White Guy.
Moxley also speaks candidly about this struggles as a journalist and to form a life abroad. He makes many friends from various parts of the world, all chasing their own dreams in China. A reoccurring theme is one of permanence and the inability to settle down when you don't know how long you plan on staying. Moxley has difficulties forming lasting relationships and often speaks with envy of his friends back home in Canada, friends who are married with kids, stable jobs and mortgages. Moxley feels the pull of both worlds and it makes his story even more compelling.
This is a great book for anyone who has ever dreamed of packing up and moving to another country.
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It's Moxley's willingness to "say yes" to new experiences and his willingness to go outside of his comfort zone that makes you root for him. He poses in an ill-fitting suit for an the China version of Cosmopolitan Magazine's 100 Most Eligible Bachelor spread. He attempts to act the part of a suitor in a music video, much of his efforts so bad that the end up edited out. He goes on a dating show and wows the girls with some Elvis swagger.
The best chapter was one where he details working as a pretend business man for a company that needed western men to give them face. The concept of face and saving face pops up frequently. In this situation it's nearly unbelievable and fascinating to read. The men were hired to attend meetings and basically sit around an office and pretend to work for the company. In addition to detail the events in this book, Moxley sold an article about his experience to the Atlantic. The chapter is hilariously and aptly titled, Rent a White Guy.
Moxley also speaks candidly about this struggles as a journalist and to form a life abroad. He makes many friends from various parts of the world, all chasing their own dreams in China. A reoccurring theme is one of permanence and the inability to settle down when you don't know how long you plan on staying. Moxley has difficulties forming lasting relationships and often speaks with envy of his friends back home in Canada, friends who are married with kids, stable jobs and mortgages. Moxley feels the pull of both worlds and it makes his story even more compelling.
This is a great book for anyone who has ever dreamed of packing up and moving to another country.
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August 29, 2013
This is the best, bar none, of the huge pile of my-expat-experience books I have read. And it stays firmly expat, so that with "The Fat Years" it makes a perfect duo of getting into China and being there and letting it be itself and learning what it, that China of today, is. Mi Gao has angst out the kazoo, but he does not make it China's fault, and he actually tells us what living there, being an expat to the full, does to a thinking person. The us-and-them aspect of living in a foreign culture, with one foot back in the home culture, does not get ugly for Mi Gao, but it hurts Mitch. That hurt is what propels the story, the sort of coming-of-age story that this is. The dual identity issue that being an expat, a true expat who loves the place they find themselves, and wants the blooming blossoming that it brings but knows all the while they do not now nor will they ever, belong here. But here is the place to know: and like T. S Eliot, the best of the expats, like Mi Gao, find that, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." And despite the unfortunate title and subtitle of Moxley's book, this is what it is at heart, the finding of the doubleness of one who loves the other..... who find otherness the way to the self but is never at home in either one. Disturbing, this real expat experience, and Mi Gao makes it as clear as he can---we connect, we find the depth we crave, and we cannot ever really "be" here. And the adventures of a near slapstick sort make it all a rollick of loving the stranger side of life and ourselves. And eating the truly weird food but never drinking the Kool-Aid.
October 22, 2016
A very informative memoir about living in China.
I can't say I supported the author entirely through the book as he grew into a more drunk and irresposible bachelor. When he broke up with Julia and broke the heart of Mary, I had to put the book down because I was crying from the lack of empathy he had about using her when she loved him. I know men and even women do regrettable things but I couldn't help myself but to wish the whole male race would die. Even before when he was arguing with Julia before they broke up because she wanted to get married and he wanted to have continued sex with no strings attached was absurd. He offically lost credibility with me.
The author however makes up for it in a unique perspective neither influenced by Western and Eastern culture to bring us a rich narrative of experiences such as camping in Western China, the Snow Hotel, reporting on Mongolian prostitutes and Mongolian Neo-Nazism, the censorship inside a Communist government being an accepted norm as well as the sort of gross and dingy stuff they don't tell you on travel commercials. That is why I was kind of pleased with the ending summary of living out each experience in life both good and bad. I also began to understand the author and his love for China in despite of it all. Though I can't say I think he is a Class A guy, it is still a very important read!
Except on further inspection through social media: just a pretentious asshole in his 30's who probably is still doing the same damn things.
I can't say I supported the author entirely through the book as he grew into a more drunk and irresposible bachelor. When he broke up with Julia and broke the heart of Mary, I had to put the book down because I was crying from the lack of empathy he had about using her when she loved him. I know men and even women do regrettable things but I couldn't help myself but to wish the whole male race would die. Even before when he was arguing with Julia before they broke up because she wanted to get married and he wanted to have continued sex with no strings attached was absurd. He offically lost credibility with me.
The author however makes up for it in a unique perspective neither influenced by Western and Eastern culture to bring us a rich narrative of experiences such as camping in Western China, the Snow Hotel, reporting on Mongolian prostitutes and Mongolian Neo-Nazism, the censorship inside a Communist government being an accepted norm as well as the sort of gross and dingy stuff they don't tell you on travel commercials. That is why I was kind of pleased with the ending summary of living out each experience in life both good and bad. I also began to understand the author and his love for China in despite of it all. Though I can't say I think he is a Class A guy, it is still a very important read!
Except on further inspection through social media: just a pretentious asshole in his 30's who probably is still doing the same damn things.
August 10, 2013
"Apologies to My Censor" is a funny memoir of Mitch Moxley's, a journalist, adventures in China. This is the book that you would get if Tucker Max were a little more worldly and told better stories that had a little bit less of the gross-out factor. Between the armchair traveling and the laughs, I really enjoyed this book.
I love reading stories about places all over the world. China is absolutely fascinating to me because it seems like someplace that is so different from so many of the other places in the world. Moxley finds this out very quickly when he takes a job for the English language newspaper, China Daily. He was sort of lost back home and is hopeful that this job will help him find his path. Beijing becomes sort of a long delay along the way but Moxley makes the best of it.
Some of the stories in the book are really funny. I loved reading about Moxley's comedy of manners as he tries to make his way through China and ends up offending so many of the denizens of the country. I also thought it was really interesting to read about China right prior and during the Beijing Olympics as the country was trying really hard to change their country's narrative to the outside world.
Overall, this book will appeal to those looking to travel the world with a couple laughs along the way.
I love reading stories about places all over the world. China is absolutely fascinating to me because it seems like someplace that is so different from so many of the other places in the world. Moxley finds this out very quickly when he takes a job for the English language newspaper, China Daily. He was sort of lost back home and is hopeful that this job will help him find his path. Beijing becomes sort of a long delay along the way but Moxley makes the best of it.
Some of the stories in the book are really funny. I loved reading about Moxley's comedy of manners as he tries to make his way through China and ends up offending so many of the denizens of the country. I also thought it was really interesting to read about China right prior and during the Beijing Olympics as the country was trying really hard to change their country's narrative to the outside world.
Overall, this book will appeal to those looking to travel the world with a couple laughs along the way.
December 9, 2013
I mostly skimmed this book, after delving into the intro and ending, so these comments are from my impressions, not a thorough read. My response also may be more of a generational thing, separated from him by a few decades. This Canadian author studied journalism in university and tried becoming a free-lance journalist with mixed results, especially financially. In order to better support himself and for adventure, he responded to an ad and subsequently became a "writer/journalist" for "China Daily", the English newspaper in Beijing and another voice of the Communist party. Although coming initially for a 1 year contract, he stayed for 6 years, from before and following the Olympics, as he transitioned from his early/mid 20's to early 30's, returning to North America and New York in 2013. The focus of the book seems more on negotiating his own development and emotional responses to the challenges of becoming a full-fledged adult, with relationships which were even more challenging with such a different culture and language. These were in addition to challenges as a journalist with a publication that was looking more for a propaganda writer, although not couched in that language; hence the title. The author certainly details some of the high points of the various experiences, as well as the low.
June 26, 2015
A very interesting look at life for an expat in China. Probably more interesting to someone who hasn't lived abroad like I have. Mitch and I had different reasons for coming to China, but there were several parts of his story that I could relate to, such as the difficulty of learning the language, the conflict of cultural norms, and the spontaneity of being asked to appear on TV or model for photos. Some things that I couldn't relate to were the drinking, partying, sleeping around, and searching for love.
The most interesting parts to me were:
Working at China Daily, exposing the way they operated at the time (and how lazy they were);
Travelling around China (and into Mongolia) doing freelance journalism and investigation;
Working behind the scenes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics;
Searching in vain for love and happiness while still participating in the self-destructive lifestyle of drinking, partying, and sleeping around (I don't think Mitch ever came to the conclusion that these two perspectives are not compatible).
I recommend it for people who can look past the lewd parts to see the real experiences of an expatriate.
The most interesting parts to me were:
Working at China Daily, exposing the way they operated at the time (and how lazy they were);
Travelling around China (and into Mongolia) doing freelance journalism and investigation;
Working behind the scenes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics;
Searching in vain for love and happiness while still participating in the self-destructive lifestyle of drinking, partying, and sleeping around (I don't think Mitch ever came to the conclusion that these two perspectives are not compatible).
I recommend it for people who can look past the lewd parts to see the real experiences of an expatriate.
August 20, 2018
It's very readable--those journalism chops shine through. The content needs a little work. Moxley acknowledges his bad behaviors, but also expresses frustration repeatedly with not being where he wanted to be in his career, which came off as whiny. I think more about how China was changing would have helped also--his thoughts about China occasionally felt a little incomplete and incoherent. He also mentioned serious news stories he covered but didn't provide any follow-up. I liked hearing about his dealing with life--why apartment hunting was a pain, the absurdities of the visa requirements. I also enjoyed his detailing about his freelance strategies. His stories were generally interesting.
August 3, 2013
This book is honest, funny and sad all at the same time. Mitch takes you along with him for his exploits in booming China; whacky stories of everyday life, a continuous stream of party nights and above all a continuous search to find direction. For those who aspire to be travel writers, this gives a glimpse into that life, or at lest one version of it. For those planning a wild and fun few years abroad, read this to get a sense of what it might be like.
January 8, 2014
I found that while the stories were great, the book lacked an overarching theme. I think it was supposed to be a reflection on "Only in China" experiences and randomness. A different title would have brought this together as I found the title was more meaningful, perhaps, to the author than to the reader in providing an overarching theme.
But overall a good book and great insight to life as an expat in China.
But overall a good book and great insight to life as an expat in China.
July 3, 2014
Moxley is a good writer, and I enjoyed the book. The development of his perspective on both China and life is punctuated by interesting events/mishaps which makes the whole story move along well. I would say that by and large the experiences he has are not that thrilling or bizarre, just interesting. There's nothing in here that was particularly shocking, at least not to anyone with a passing familiarity with Chinese culture.
November 23, 2015
Whiny journalist gets a job with Chinese state-run newspaper then spends his time divided between complaining about his job and getting drunk. First half of the book is pretty terrible and the reader gets no real sense of modern China. Second half gets better as he relates some freelance investigative journalism he does, but then reverts to whiny as he searches for endless novelty. Have read better books about China.
January 19, 2014
First Reads Giveaway
I always enjoy the memoirs of interesting people, and this was no exception. The writing was great in the sense that the downer parts (most of the first half) of the story made me feel down, and the amusing bits brought me back up. As for the content, I can only assume that it was an accurate representation of the country and culture.
I always enjoy the memoirs of interesting people, and this was no exception. The writing was great in the sense that the downer parts (most of the first half) of the story made me feel down, and the amusing bits brought me back up. As for the content, I can only assume that it was an accurate representation of the country and culture.
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