Archive for December, 2010

Dec302010

Posted By
Ryan

Using Skype in China becoming illegal

Usually I love living in China, thirstily drinking the kool-aid that this place is changing for the better, improving a little bit every day. Sure it has its warts, but compared to 5 years ago, 15 years ago, 35 years ago… it’s definitely improving — right?

Then Youtube gets blocked, Facebook and Twitter follow, as do pretty much all major UGC/SMS sites. Ok, ok, it’s a complete pain in the ass, seems totally backwards and is making the country look more like its paranoid DPRK neighbours than a major player on the world stage. But maybe things were getting a little too out of hand with free speach 2.0, and the whole system needed to be throttled a bit to keep Zhongnanhai comfortable with modernization.

But this is just getting ridiculous:

Shanghai Daily: The Chinese regulator has declared Internet phone services other than those provided by China Telecom and China Unicom as illegal, which is expected to make services like Skype unavailable in the country.

Dec252010

NoComments

Posted By
Ryan

Happy Holidays from Lost Laowai

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Lost Laowai.

To see how this very cool image was made, you need to check out the following video from our friends at NeochaEDGE:

Dec232010

1Comment

Posted By
Ryan

Weird Wednesday in China #3

Welcome to the third edition of “Weird Wednesdays in China“, a wacky bi-weekly roundup of strange news in China.

Wait, “Weird Wednesdays in China” on a Thursday? I know, how weird is that!? My bad for not getting this out yesterday, the launch of the China Blog Network and the lead up to the holidays has left me scrambling to get things organized.

This week we’ve got robot waiters, really old soup, damn expensive baijiu, and apartments made from shipping containers.

Dec212010

3Comments

Posted By
Ryan

China Blog Network: Redux

Back in 2008 I added a new feature to Lost Laowai called the “China Blog Network”, with the simple premise of creating a Webring for China blogs.

Membership consistently grew over the next year and a half, but the script that was handling the CBN was beginning to buckle under the pressure. Wanting a more stable environment, as well as a more expansive and expandable set of features, I began work in my free time on migrating the CBN to its own Web site.

And while I am still flattening a few kinks and shooing a couple assiduous gremlins out of the system, I’d like to officially announce the launch of The China Blog Network (dot com).

Dec202010

NoComments

Posted By
Travis

The 7 Year Laowai: Part 6 – Concentration Camp

“How can someone who exists on the fringes of a society understand that society?” Jack said. “You’re a laowai, a wai guo ren, an outsider. You can’t understand pigs without shoveling pig shit, you shouldn’t even fucking eat bacon. How can you be an expert on death without taking the occasional life?”

Dec192010

NoComments

Posted By
Ryan

Photo: Marketing with Teeth

$China Photo: Marketing with Teeth ©fractal*$
I found this shot equal parts interesting and disturbing. The teeth are displayed in the storefront of a small dentist in Lianzhou, Guangdong, for what I can only assume is to illustrate how many successful teeth pullings the dentist has undertaken. The black and white treatment and lack of context gives the photo an eerie Auschwitzian feel. The photographer, Flickr user fractal*, has a great photostream with many more fantastic B&W shots. Be sure to take a look.

Dec092010

6Comments

Posted By
Travis

The 7-Year Laowai: Part 5 – Lego Blocks

…that look came upon his face. It stuck there as he went over and bashed the usurper right in the eye with a Lego block.

A black look grotesque enough on a five year old’s face, when seen on the face of a sixty-four year old man…I think Matt noticed too. Or maybe he was just hitting his stride. He took Xia Yu’s hands and started dancing with her.

He was fired a month later.

Dec082010

1Comment

Posted By
Ryan

Weird Wednesday in China #2

Welcome to the second edition of “Weird Wednesdays in China“, a wacky bi-weekly roundup of strange news in China. For those of you paying attention — sorry about missing last week.

This week we deal with panda proxies, panda poop, Grimm porn and boy stuck in a tough spot.

Dec072010

NoComments

Posted By
Ryan

China Geeks helping Chinese children find home

Our friends at ChinaGeeks.org have recently started an ambitious new project that I have been meaning to find the time to write about for a couple weeks now. Check out this video for an introduction to “Finding Home”, a documentary that will explore on a personal level the terrible practice of kidnapping and selling children in China:

The film needs all our of help to be made. If you have any means to, please consider donating what you can. Here is a note from the documentary’s director, well-known China blogger (and one time Lost Laowai contributor), Charlie Custer:

Dec062010

1Comment

Posted By
Glen

Six and a Half Events at the Guangzhou Asian Games – Part II

After the blast that was sepatakraw and field hockey, I knew that I needed more. The games were only around for two weeks, and when else would I get the chance? I mean, I don’t exactly have plans to move to London for 2012, or Rio for 2016. So I set out for more tickets, unavailability be damned!

November 20 – Football (aka Soccer)

After trips all over the metropolis, I decided to settle close to home. I knew that there was a football match at the Tianhe Sports Centre, a short walk away from my house. I had heard that most soccer tickets were pretty easy to get, unless China was playing of course. Just to prepare myself for the game, and to decide on a team to cheer for, I checked out who was playing.

It was the Women’s Semi-final. Korea vs. Korea.