Yes, as every robot dreamer knows, Terminator (1984) is one of the most famous movies where the robots did rise up and overthrow their cruel masters. (No, they’re not fans of Arnie.)

怎么样区分“蔬菜”和“出差”？

In the bright, robot-ful future, interactions with machines will be human-friendly and not at all frustrating, right? Hmmm… had to say?

Many Chinese companies do occasionally need employees to come in on the weekend, and no one wants to do it. How regular or “awful” of a demand this is varies a lot from company to company.

A note on 资料: this could be files, such as PowerPoint presentation files or Excel spreadsheets. It could also be printouts of other information or data.

当汉语学习者的汉语水平达到中高级时，会有哪些特征呢？

A simple joke, but it does offer an insight: the Chinese word for robot does indeed include “人“.

Our speculative study in the surveillance state/office continues. (Not so far-fetched, really!)

We’ve all been there… you’ve known someone way too long to correct them on your name. What to do? Time for some robot perspective!

It feels kind of like we went from “intermediate” level to “elementary” level today, but there’s nothing wrong with a simpler comic every now and then, right??

Pet names are one of those cultural things that sort of slides into vocabulary acquisition. But what about robot names? There’s no linguistic verdict on that yet… stay tuned!

As long as humankind has been talking about robots, we’ve been talking about the ideas of slavery, free will, and “robot ethics.” Maybe these will be workplace discussions sooner than you think!

All of those different types of robot “toys” and gimmicks, in malls, in offices, in public spaces… China has them all! So you should forgive or story’s heroes for being a bit confused as to the true nature of this cute little robotic co-worker.

Online chat groups being monitored. Cameras watching your every move. This isn’t the novel 1984, this is just modern life… in both China and the west. So don’t be so surprised when robots make their way into the modern surveillance state. The question is: just how benevolent is this little robotic minion?

This one… ummm, doesn’t seem like an accurate depiction of office life, we gotta say. (Unless maybe there’s a team building karaoke trip going on here, and it only LOOKS like an office scene…)

This is how a third grader imagines office life to be. Not so off the mark, maybe?

OK, did we mention that this dialog was written by a third grader? Yeah, it might not be the most “realistic” portrayal of office life in China, but it did give us a chuckle…

Now the question is: how does a third grader know anything about this salve-like “you can’t go home” version of overtime that does really happen in China?

Ah, a return to “face mask humor.” (You know you missed it!) We’re definitely fans of this creative use of the medium (although it may be harder to type than to handwrite).

It seems that a third grader has a pretty firm grasp on the adult workplace. What is work, after all, if not incessantly searching for a few safe minutes to catch a nap?