I didn’t blog about the YouTube block earlier this month because I just couldn’t accept it as the truth. Sure, I got the denial of service message just like the rest of the folks stuck here behind the GFW, but something just wouldn’t let me believe it was actually happening. I woke up each day, [...]
Archive for October, 2007
A Treatise on the Persistent Rubbing of Chinese Loyalist Excrement in the Faces of Certain Beijing Bloggers
That was the nicest way I could think to put it. Forget self-censorship and beating around the bush. Let’s get right down to brass tax: Why is it that I always feel pressured by my Chinese friends, colleagues, and random acquaintances to believe in the “Glory of China”? Hey, China! I’m here. I’ve lived in [...]
Photo of the Week: Higher Baba!
This week’s Photo of the Week is by an extremely talented photographer, Shelby Karns. I chose this photo because it captures the action and the joy of the moment, but also because it reminded me that sometimes things aren’t so different for kids here as they were for me when I was a tot. Every [...]
Snake Oil Sensibilities
There are few things the Chinese seem to take as seriously as their coveted Traditional Chinese Medicine™. Though TCM is a complex and multi-faceted health practice, some of it, it needs to be said, is complete bunk. Walking into any pharmacy here is like taking a step into the hovel of MacBeth’s three witches. I’ve [...]
Awww! Romantic Wuzhen
I’m a romantic. I like romatic places. China, in general isn’t. I state my case: Think China, think The Great Wall. Long. Visible from space. Testament to power, fear and a plentiful supply of labour. Kind of pretty in winter in the less frequented sections, I admit. Romance rating: 3/10 Think China, think The Forbidden [...]
The Party Line, Round 1
Announcer: Well folks, it’s that time again. “What time is that,” you ask? Well, my naive foreign friends, it’s time once again to play “What’s My Party Line?” Which – coincidentally – works for either our beloved CCP or a bunch of friends on a shaky 1950′s telephone connection. [chortle, chortle] Ahem. Our contestants today [...]
Dance Dance Robotlution
Sometimes, in China, people get bored. Look, I hate to be the one to burst your tiny ethnocentric, Sinopheliac bubble, but after the first three months of requisite ooh-ing and ah-ing at all the Culture™, you’ve had your fill of berry-faced beggar children and all you want is a cup of hot chocolate and some [...]
Photo of the Week: Shanghai at Night
This week’s Photo of the Week comes from Douglas M. Paine. It’s a shot I’ve seen a hundred times, and have several of myself, however Douglas’ use of HDR gives this shot of Pudong just a sweet, sweet finish. Plus, check out that creepy looking face in the clouds on the right. Every week we’ll [...]
HHR: More hao-looking than ever…
Well, with YouTube blocked in China, and all the search engines all getting redirected to Baidu, what’s a boy to do but play with himself… erm… his Web sites. I adore the Hao Hao Report. She’s my little baby, but her looks have always irked me. Due to a rather crappy separation between source code [...]
The Ultimate Laowai: The Walking Dutchman
Back in June, I posted about The Walking Dutchman, Jans Vroomans. This dude is pretty hardcore. He set out last year, on October 14 (2006), from the Netherlands. His intention was to walk all the way to China, passing through the Ukraine, Russia, and Kazachstan.
Ambitious hey? And here I find it hard to walk to Wal~Mart…
