Doug Rooney

POV: If people talked about Ohio like they talked about Japan

A (Very Short) Queer History of China The Lives of Ancient Chinese Queer People

New Article: A (Very Short) Queer History of China

open.substack.com/pub/dougroon...

Two more images by Sha Fei (沙飞) - early 1940s. Sha Fei was one of the first Chinese photojournalists. Working with the Eighth Route Army in the late 1930s and 1940s, he produced some of the earliest frontline images of the Communist war against Japan.

Bilibili's audiobook feature is actually pretty great and user friendly (you can play video as only audio and download files onto your phone) but the English language selection is pretty much limited to the kind of books you might find at an airport bookstore

So in class I used Elizabeth I's Tilbury speech. Afterwards a student came up to tell me he knew all about Elizabeth thanks to research he did into the Gloriana Class battleship from Warhammer 40k. I am glad he is having fun

This is me every time 😂

Catching the autumn sun at Beijing's Temple of Heaven (Tiantan)

What Just Happened to Blued and Finka? China's Most Popular Gay Dating Apps Disappeared: What Does It Mean For the Gay Community?

Blued and Finka just disappeared: What just happened to China's most popular gay dating apps?

open.substack.com/pub/dougroon...

What Just Happened to Blued and Finka? China's Most Popular Gay Dating Apps Disappeared: What Does It Mean For the Gay Community?

Blued and Finka just disappeared: What just happened to China's most popular gay dating apps?

open.substack.com/pub/dougroon...

Two of China's most popular LGBTQ+ apps (Blued and Finka) have been pulled from the app store. Still a little unclear exactly why this has happened but it is leading to a lot of panic among the Chinese gay community

Went to Beijing's Temple of the Earth (Ditan Park) this Sunday. Everyone and their mum seemed to be in the park but as long as you looked up it was quite pretty

That sinking feeling when you arrive at a Chinese tourist site and realize an awful lot of other people had the same idea as you today

Finally got round to watching K-Pop Demon Hunters. Couple of Halloween costumes making a bit more sense now. Those guys at the club weren't doing slutty hanbok; they were doing slutty Saja Boys

There are a couple of restaurants I have noticed but also a lot of stuff on 小红书 too. Might be a 民国 vibe thing?

excellent 😂

Feel like I have seen a real rise in people using 北平 as opposed to 北京 on social media and in store signage or products and I am not really sure what it portends

Big fan of this wall's vibe

Autumn in Beijing's Temple of the Moon (Yuetan Park). This really is the city's best season

In my K-Pop era. Please send recommendations

Someone installed a smoke break in the leg press machine at my gym

Beautiful views across campus today

Autumn at Ritan Park in Beijing

One thing I really love about living in Beijing is the contrast between ancient and modern. Here is a picture of the Tan Wei (the altar at which Chinese Emperors would worship the sun during Spring Equinox) with the CBD in the background

Okay want to do one of these for China: You have an all expense paid holiday to China but you must spend it in one of the segments - which do you choose?

I have a theory British people are generally much more enthusiastic about Dubai than Americans because the UK doesn't really have nice malls so going to a place that is basically just a series of nice malls hits differently

All the Gen Z people I know make liberal use of voice notes. What has become of the youth?

Finally, mulled wine season is upon us