New Year is the period when people make two things: summaries and plans. This is also something I want to do in regards of this blog.

LoveLoveChina (let’s abbreviate it as LLC) was started almost a year ago; you can see that the first welcome post was published on 29/01/2010, and I am quite happy with where it stands right now.

But first of all, I want to explain what happened to the blog few weeks ago when it was down. Generally speaking, technical stuff related to running a website is not my strong side and it seems that I made more than few mistakes in the settings which during the traffic spikes brought the server to its knees. Because of that my hosting company suspended the blog.

Actually, it happened for the second time during last three months and I was so frustrated that at some point began doubting if I should continue running the blog. But then the fellow blogger Fili (from filination.com) came to rescue and offered to transfer all my files to his dedicated server. And I gladly accepted his offer.

Another thing that you might pay attention to is that the incidence of posting has dropped lately. I can assure, however, that there is no lack of topics or lack of interest. In fact, there is a big list of posts waiting for their turn to be written (including the promised audio lessons and romantic tours).

Anyway, before sharing some of ideas regarding the future of LLC, let me summarize what one can find here today. Currently the blog has five channels of content:

1) Forums. I really hope that our forum will grow and turn into community. Not only you can start here the topics of your own but it is also the place where people can seek for help, ask questions and get answers.

2) The blog itself. I don’t foresee any major changes here. However, besides writing posts myself, I will try to contact other bloggers who would like to submit guest articles relevant to LLC and interesting to its readers.

3) Qin Ai De. This is a separate page on the blog. It’s a kind of dynamic blogroll featuring the latest posts from 10 selected blogs that are written by foreigners who are in relationship with Chinese women.

4) “Chinese Girls Daily”. This is the automatic digest of different links that are related to Chinese girls and shared on Twitter during last 24 hours. In truth, I can’t control the contents of this page, and am myself curious to see what it contains at any given day.

5) Posterous posts. They usually contain pictures, videos or links to other blogs of interest that I find on internet while browsing through Google Reader. Here it is linked from the widget “My Other Posts” that appears in the blog’s right sidebar.

Where would I like to take LLC in the future? First of all I want to keep the current features running. Hopefully, with time more guest posts will appear here. And I also have a lot of belief in forums. In short, I hope that LLC can become more community-based.

Because what makes blogs different from other sites? Interaction with readers. And I really think that LLC readership is special. Not only it is almost free of trolls and other not-so-pleasant internet dwellers, but it is also very supportive (which I personally felt when the blog was down).
Another thing that always makes me proud is that the majority of LLC readers have respectful attitude towards Chinese women. I think that yellow fever is not the tag applicable to our forum.

That’s why, no matter what changes are going to happen to the structure or contents of this site, it won’t belong to either of the following two categories: it will not be geared to sex (although publishing sometimes the pictures of beautiful girls is okay, right?) and it will not describe the advantages of having a feminine submissive Chinese wife.

So, let me know, please, how to make LoveLoveChina more interesting. You can always leave comments here or write an e-mail through the contact form in “About” page.

Constructive critics is the kind of feedback that I want to get most. For example, here is the mail that came from one of the readers (and which I cherish very much):

… I feel you’ve still yet to strike gold when it comes to the material. Your readers, myself included, are looking for deep insights into the Chinese Woman’s psyche, yet it’s been a while since I’ve had a eureka moment from reading your blog like the first time I wrote in. I encourage you to dig deeper and ask more penetrating questions…

In conclusion, I want to wish everyone a lot of happiness in 2011. Let it be the year of love and peace.

Yours Crystal Tao