Are you a laowai who’s left China for cozier shores, but miss the fun and frustration that Chinese Web surfing brings? Do you spend nights longing for the roulette-like spin of trying to access Web sites in one of the world’s most censored nations? Have you found yourself typing in nonsensical URLs in hopes of [...]
Archive for October, 2008
Ladies of Neocha – Tomorrow’s Afternoon Tea
Neocha, China’s premier online creative community, has just released the third album on its Netlabel: Tomorrow’s Afternoon Tea / 明天的下午茶.
You may remember a post a while back where we interviewed Neocho CEO Sean Leow, and talked about their awesome NEXT player, which streams indie Chinese music for free.
The new album contains 10 tracks loaded with the syrupy sweet sounds of some of China’s best female indie vocalists. And, get this, it’s 100% free! You can download the entire album from this link [38 MB zip file].
On Having Favorite Characters
Recently a friend of mine from Australia recently confided that while he likes learning Chinese, he still fails to see the utility of characters. “I still don’t see why they just don’t use pinyin,” he said with a shrug. I began to explain why characters are, in fact, useful, beginning with the sheer number of [...]
Is it ultra-Nationalistic Jap hating time again already?
The ebb and flow of Chinese Nationalistic fervor mixed with undying “historic” hatred of the Japanese should really replace ping pong as China’s national sport. Japanese & Chinese Students Fight In Shanghai: A group of drunk Japanese foreign students making noise get into a fight with Chinese students at a university in Shanghai. Two Chinese [...]
The Empire Strikes Back – MS games pirated Chinese PCs
found on: 51jms.com. In my four years in China I’ve yet to see a legitimate version of any software here. Generally when purchasing apps and games in the Middle Kingdom you have two choices – pirated software that looks pirated, and pirated software that looks real. Like pretty much every other media, most notably DVDs, [...]
Photo of the Week: Kaifeng Street
The comments on this photo’s flickr page say it all – “classic China”. As the warm weather is quickly becoming a memory, I wanted to slip this image, by Elephant on a Bicycle, in here before we bundle up and don our long undies for winter.
Capitalism with American Characteristics
Banks collapsing, countries on the edge of bankruptcy, a near-return to the Great Depression. All looks somewhat surreal when viewed from the other side of the planet, does it not? Precisely when – or how – the global crisis will impact on ordinary people in Asia is hard to estimate, but it’s likely to, in [...]
Can’t we just call it chuar?
By Barry M I was just leaving a comment on the always refreshingly drinkable Beijing Boyce blog when I saw one of my biggest Chinese Pinyin pet peeves – chuanr. 串儿, for those who’ve been in China for less than an hour, generally means tasty bits on a stick. Chuàn/串 (meaning to string together) + [...]
Tighter reigns, business as usual, or lost in translation?
Not sure if you’ve heard the news, but China has banned Western religious music. Well, technically, it was banned all along, but only now are the powers that be getting their red and yellow panties in a bunch. The banning news hit the wire after The Messiah, as to be performed by Britian’s Academy of Ancient Music at [...]
Skateboarding from Switzerland to Shanghai
Rolling into Shanghai’s People’s Square last Sunday, New Zealander Rob Thomson was met with surprisingly little fanfare. No media to greet him, no friends or family to congratulate him. A lonesome end to an amazing journey.
The random Chinese man he asked to take his photo to mark the moment had no idea that Thomson has just completed a world record breaking odyssey. He had, in the course of 462 days, travelled an amazing 12,000 km solo and unassisted across Europe, North America, and China on a longboard skateboard.
Now relaxing for a few days in Shanghai before heading back to his native New Zealand, Rob was kind enough to field some questions for Lost Laowai.
