BOGE XIAO · PORTFOLIO
Field notes.
I carry a notebook into bookshops, family meals, temples, and city streets. Begin with the new Vietnam series, or explore the earlier stories.
OBSERVATIONS · ENCOUNTERS · EVERYDAY LIFE
中文导读 Chinese introduction
这些笔记记录我在中国与越南遇见的人、地方和日常生活。越南系列保留完整中文原文，并配有英文改写；它们是具体相遇中的观察与思考，不是对一个地区的概括。
阅读越南系列（中英文）A NOTEBOOK IN PLACES
Follow a place
into a story.
Six stops across China, and a notebook from Vietnam. Choose a location to see the encounters recorded there.
Anhui, China
Huangshan 黄山
These notes include Hongcun, Doushan Street, and Chengkan. The marker shows the wider Huangshan area.
City and town area markers locate these published notes; they do not identify participants’ homes. Base map: Natural Earth. Further locations will be added as their notes are documented.
NEW SERIES · SEVEN STORIES · ENGLISH & 中文
My Vietnam notebook.
Small encounters from living and observing in Ho Chi Minh City, July–August 2026.
My first meal in Vietnam was Japanese barbecue
Following a friend to dinner unsettled my expectations about what a first meal in Vietnam should be.
Explore the story →
Visiting Mazu in Ho Chi Minh City
Familiar gods, a different language, and a temple that belongs to the city's everyday life.
Explore the story →
Why are there so many leaves on the table?
A goat-meat meal becomes a lesson in assembling flavor—and in learning with the hands and mouth.
Explore the story →FROM THE EARLIER NOTEBOOK
Six encounters across China
A collector of everything
An afternoon in a second-hand bookshop, and a conversation about the care behind a lifetime of collecting.
Explore the story →
Lives beneath the eaves
Three encounters in Hongcun, Shexian, and Chengkan: architecture, family histories, and the generosity of strangers.
Explore the story →
Memory in the making
Learning nyonya kueh with an Indonesian Chinese family, where recipes carry four generations of memory.
Explore the story →
The hands that remember
Maonan weaving, dyeing, and bamboo craft, encountered with a Minzu University research team.
Explore the story →
Listening to a city
A student team follows stories through riversides, old walls, street stalls, and everyday conversations.
Explore the story →
Everyday poets of Nanjing
A snack-shop owner follows the landscapes of poetry; a young bartender finds room for music between shifts.
Explore the story →