Right, so my little birdy’s left the nest. I’ve just finished moving the Hao Hao Report into its very own domain - www.haohaoreport.com. I’m going to miss having the guy around here, but I’ll visit often… and so should you 
The Hao Hao Report, for those just stumbling upon this blog, is a little project I started back in… hmm… June? For anyone familiar …
Ah, Back To The Future. Great Scott did I ever ponder the title of that movie when I was a kid! It completely threw me for a loop. I’d just get to sorting out the direction it was pointing me when I’d hit that last word and all was lost. It is fitting then that it sits on top this post about the Chinese language in general, and one character in particular.
Hòu, simple enough really. I mean, without anything other than a bit of phonetic Chinese know-how it could bring to mind gardening, Amsterdam or gangster rap… these are all pleasant things - but DO NOT be misled. I suspect that this little innocent looking six-stroke …
I live in Suzhou, and as such am well accustomed to the pain-in-the-assedness of the seething swarms of scooters that buzz about the city, apparently oblivious to my peripatetic situation. These things are everywhere, and have more than once jutted in front of busses I’ve been on, causing the passengers in the back to intimately greet their until-then unknown friends in the front.
However, they’re cheap. They’re relatively convenient, and as most of them are electric, they are certainly better for inner-city air quality. They are also the way many people get to and from their livelihoods, and indeed for some, earn their livelihoods. Which is why I hope the powers that be wake up and smell the green tea and …
With a mere 610 days to go, the 2008 Beijing Olympics are quickly approaching. The nearer they get, the more displaced people can be found wandering around the city wondering where their neighborhood went. Well folks, always eager to utilize form and function, us here at LLW have discovered the solution: Mr. McGroovy’s Box Rivets.
These little dandies allow you to quickly, and firmly, connect cardboard in all sorts of fashions. You may remember, previous cardboard cities (sometimes called ‘forts!’) had to be constructed with expensive materials like tape or twist-ties, that just don’t stand up to the harsh Beijing spring winds - not like these babies.
As most hutongs have a small brigade of cardboard …
It would seem we go in phases here at Lost Laowai. We get heated posts about people being beaten, then we move into nerdier territory with computer stuff. Well, I’d just like to say - BRING ON THE LOVE.
At Lost Laowai, love is in the air. It’s months before Valentine’s Day, and months since Chinese Valentine’s Day, but that’s not stopping us from launching Hao Hao Friends - Lost Laowai’s friend-finder site. Basically, you sign up for free, check out all the good looking people (and skip past the non, ie. my profile). …
Well, since my old pandapassport post about expensive real software in China is doing so fabulous on the newly created Chinalyst’s Popular Content page, I thought I’d balance here it with a new post dedicated to helping foreigners shop for cheap hardware in China.
Anyway, I’ve been talking to some of my “people,” discussing my future plans to buy a new ninja-fied computer. I bought my current excuse-for-a-laptop on ebay 3 years ago for about CDN$400, and I think it’s soon time to buy a desktop. About the only function my laptop can successfully perform these days is pressing waffles.
Those who are in-the-know (i.e. my friends who are even nerdier than me) …
Ah, the Great Firewall of China - keeping the barbarians (with their porn, free thought, spiritual movements and user-generated encyclopedias) out of the Middle Kingdom.
Well, if you’ve ever had Kublai-like aspirations, here are a few proxy tools for scaling the wall, and getting back to reading the nefarious posts of all those Blogspot bloggers, and porn.
Tor: Anonymity Online
Easily the most important tool in a wallcrawler’s arsenal. Tor is a group of tools that with a bit of configuring, allows you to surf the net anonymously. Basically the software routes all your Web page requests through other people’s IP addresses (your Internet calling card), masking your identity …
Now, I’ve said my share of curses towards the lead footed (both gas and break) drivers of the over-stuffed death-traps that are China’s transit system, but man … some days it just doesn’t pay to ask for correct change…
Basically, the story goes… two dudes and their tight-panted tag-along get on a bus in Wuhan and put 5 RMB in the box. The bus driver explains that it’s 2 RMB/person, and therefore they owe another yuan. The guy, who apparently usually pays with a bus card (and gets a cheaper rate because of it, argues that it is 5 RMB for 4 people. Claiming the bus driver is trying to cheat him, he files his complaint to the back of …
I’ve decided that years of having really crap State-controlled TV has taken a huge toll on the populous of China. It has caused near all 1.3 billion inhabitants of the PRC to view the world around them as nothing but an uncontrollable, intangible source of entertainment.
It would seem to me that a numbness has overcome the gross majority of this nation and that when not directly involved in the situation around them, it all glosses over and an ignorant shroud cloaks them into thinking that the entire macrocosm exists simply in their being.
Having to venture out of the little oasis of my apartment a lot lately for …
About 2 months ago, me and my girlfriend got a dog - don’t ask me why, that’s another story. His name is Pepe. “Pepe Q-tip” to be exact, due to the fact that it looks like it’d be really easy to clean your ears with him. Anyway, to get to the point, it seems that little Pepe is growing up of late, often becoming quite… shall we say, “romantic” with his stuffed Doraemon toy.
Today my girlfriend had her Chinese tutor over for their regular Chinese lesson. The tutor is a young university student, working part-time in an agency specializing in teaching Chinese to …
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