After 11 weeks away – 3 and a half in Europe, 7 and a half in China – I am back in Melbourne.

I did miss Australia. Smiles, efficiency, clean air; a general rationality to things.

But coming back from 7 weeks in Tianjin – the third city in China, 11+ million people, a potential new financial centre for Asia Pacific – I am in a shock when people here say – ‘Tianjin – where is that?’ Educated people. Policy people. Literary people.

In the first few days, it made me slightly depressed – that place I invested so much energy in discovering, is it really so meaningless? Now it makes me more angry – ‘hey, wake up, that’s where our neighbours live, that’s where Australia’s customers live; that’s where new migrants come from – at least, look at a map once in a while’.

But well, these things take time.

Meanwhile, thefakechina.wordpress.com is still going.