Kerryn Leitch

Kerryn is a Beijing sidekick – her costume is lousier than the hero but she gets the best one-liners

Posts by Kerryn Leitch

Post
Summer Shorts: Esther in Shanghai

Trailing classes – flash fiction by Kerryn Leitch

 

Esther landed in Shanghai with four bags, one husband and zero Mandarin. The air was frigid and zero was also the number of coats she had. She appeared on her well-heeled foreign hosts' doorstep wearing the entire contents of her backpack including a Bolivian alpaca hat, an Indian shawl and a tshirt with an outdated political slogan.

She waited patiently on the threshold exchanging glances with herself in the polished brass door plaque. Embossed in black was the arabic numeral 2 and a Chinese character which she traced with her finger. “Hao,” said the husband, “it means number.” “Two hao, two hao, two hao,” she fogged and traced.

READ ON...

Kerryn Leitch , Sun 31 August 2014 in

Help us continue to publish original stories from China by donating!

Read our anthology


While We're Here is available on Amazon or from the publisher

Link of the week

A new China Channel from the LA Review of Books, for Sinophiles and the Sinocurious alike

Quote of the week

“China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.”

– Charles de Gaulle

Ants in the hill

Alec Ash Tom Pellman Anthony Tao Karoline Kan
Christopher Cherry Courtney Han Sascha Matuszak Tom Mangione
Aaron Fox-Lerner Hannah Lincoln Nick Compton

 > See all

About us

A writers' colony of stories about China, founded by Alec Ash. We publish non-fiction sketches, fiction, poetry, translation and photography

Join the colony

If you want to write for the Anthill, check out our submission guidelines. Anything with a sense of story is game, both short and long form

Sites we like

For more treasure troves of narrative writing, fiction, photography, poetry and translation from or about China, explore other sites we like

Syndicate content

We're a 2014 Danwei Model Worker

Longlisted for The Browser golden giraffes 2015

Shortlisted for a Golden Giraffe

Testimonials

“People fortunate enough to live in China have a front-row seat to an astonishing transformation. Alec and the crew at the Anthill have been there to give voice to their musings on China, in all its weirdness, wonder and warts."

- Kaiser Kuo

"Everyone who lives in China has a story. The Anthill colony of writers have the foresight to write theirs down for the entertainment and enlightenment of all of us engaged in putting the pieces of the China puzzle together.”

- David Moser