Though this GWP failed to attract a huge number of submissions (I’ll blame it on everyone busy preparing for the holiday), we did get some good quality posts.

I kicked things off with my rundown of the good and bad of Chinese supermarkets.

Rick, in his post Black + White = Fucking Grey, summed things up with:

China is like a really cheap, slutty ex-girlfriend with crabs. You know without all the make-up she’s way ugly underneath, and you know she’s way dirty and you shouldn’t go near her…

…but all the same, you can’t help but be somewhat attracted.

Jeremy, in a two-parter, compared and contrasted the places China can show you both around the country and in your self, with some of the country’s short comings in education, civility towards the impoverished and the environment.

Philip, asking the question: China 好不好?, constructed the most eclectic list of the group.

And Heather, who gets extra kudos for being the only blogger to take part that isn’t a writer here at Lost Laowai, wrote a rapid fire post further illustrating that there’s a lot to love and a lot to hate about living in China.

A big thanks to all you that participated. And if, by chance, you were just about to post on this topic but like myself lost track of the date – please do so anyway, I’m happy to include your posts on our [GWP Links] China: Love It ~ Hate It summary page.

On the walls of China’s public schools you might find Karl Marx and even Friedrich Engels (an overture to more weighty propaganda to follow in later life), but you will also find images of Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin along with detailed profiles of these great men of science. These framed homages often line corridors, or take pride of place in between the windows inside classrooms, as if Einstein’s beaming face or Darwin’s fulsome beard might provide light and sunshine of their own.

It has been heartening for me to see, over the past few years, not the visages of Mao, or Lenin, or any representations of some God or other, on the walls of Chinese schools, but affectionate portraits of scientific luminaries. And, in so doing, are sending out a wholly desirable message to the children: that earnest study, thorough research, scientific rigor, and solid and corroborated proof leading towards an insightful scientific theory that advances the realms of science and human thought – that all of those things represent the very best of human endeavor, and is the best possible conclusion to their current studies.

Thankfully lacking from a Chinese student’s education and school environment are any images or stories of Gods, or any incitements to what Richard Dawkins would term ‘religious delusion’ or ‘blind faith’.

There may be weekly flag-raising ceremonies – which seem rather staged and overly patriotic to us casual Europeans, with every student lined up and forced to ‘dance’ in perfect harmony in time to some vaguely militaristic music – but it’s surely better than a dose of God and religious fear-mongering, which is the mode of most religions to keep everyone singing from the same song-sheet. And it’s religion that peculiarly understands that you’ve got to nail ‘em while they’re young. Well, and McDonalds, too.

The children in China are, I understand, being cowed into being one homogenous being, with exhortations to be valuable citizens, with a dosage of fear of being cast-out thrown into the process of keeping the students thinking and acting as one. And yet, essentially because this is outside the stricture of organised religion, it appears to me as a welcome focus on more tangible things, such as striving forward, science, and great effort in the name of achievement. This is in contrast to the religion which pervades schools in many countries, which focuses on moral policing, religious dogma, and a deliberate undermining of science in order to bolster the pillars of whatever religion it is that’s seeking to sustain itself.

Look at the ludicrous situation that is ongoing in the U.S., with some schools in deeply conservative and Christian areas seeking to undermine, and perhaps even remove altogether, the teaching of Darwinian evolutionary theory in American public schools, in favour of the fairy-tale story of human advancement as it appears in the bible. It’s like the 16th century all over again: before it was the Catholic church against Galileo (who pointed out, somewhat inconveniently for the Pope, that the earth goes around the sun. Oh, and the earth ain’t flat too), and now it’s enraged Christian Moms and Dads with no grounding in science who are seeking to have their children’s education white-washed of anything that doesn’t click with the bible.

What the fundamentalist Christians (and, perhaps, all Christians) lamentably fail to understand is that scientific theories are, technically, just theories, in that they cannot be absolutely judged as being correct, but that they are essentially correct on the basis of a great deal of rigorously tested scientific evidence. And that’s a hell of a lot better than a story, which is, essentially, just a story; and never anything more.

The only possible result of these tussles over Darwinism in America is that the U.S will become even more of a laughing stock and/or pariah than it is already in the international arena (see: Kyoto protocol; Iran; Iraq; trade tariffs), and also that China will overtake America in a number of fields even faster than it is already. Europe seriously needs to sit up and take notice too.

See all those tens of thousands of Chinese kids in universities in the U.S, Europe, and Australia studying sciences, business, and I.T.? And see how they are then snapped up by Morgan Stanley, Pfizer, Microsoft and Google because they are far ahead of most of their Western counterparts in terms of their commitment to success? That’s quite possibly because they wasted no time being taught that some geezer called Noah stuffed every single animal on earth (but not dinosaurs, apparently) on a huge boat, and instead sat in class looking up at Einstein’s cheeky chops and thought, “I want a piece of that”. And, fair enough, they strived to achieve it.

And there but by the grace of science go they.

Submissions are trickling in, and a number of people have sent e-mails saying they’ll be participating, so while we wait, here are a couple of entries.

The first, from yours truly, explores the balance of love and hate in Chinese supermarkets. The second, from fellow blogger Rick, delves into a number of topics that affect expats here. And the third, from Jeremy (The China Expat) is broken into two parts as it was written in two different stages.

Give ‘em a read and don’t forget to write your own. I mean, you’re probably going to write something on your blog anyway, why not give this topic a go and help show that you can both love and hate China at the same time.

Check out the original post for all the submissions details, and keep your eye on the GWP Links page to see the most recent submissions.

Sept 28, 2007

• China: Hao bu Hao 好不好? :: By Pip Baily [added]
• Why I love China & Five things I hate about China :: By Jeremy
• China Evaluated: Black + White = Fuckin’ Grey :: By Rick

Sept 26, 2007

• In Love & Hate of Chinese Supermarkets :: By The Humanaught

We’re big fans of the dao and the wacky balance therein here at Lost Laowai, and as such wanted to offer a chance for the China blogsphere to delve into the things they both love and hate most about this country.

There’s no limit on the number of things you can list, or the depth to which you explore them – however, we do ask that for every yang you have a yin (and who doesn’t like a good bit of yin?).

What we mean to say is if you’ve sat down and come up with 100 things you dislike about China, we’d like you to challenge yourself to find 100 things you love as well.

For anyone not familiar with what Group Writing Projects are all about, perhaps an explanation is in order. Basically, GWPs are a good way for blogs of a semi-related niche to come together and create a focused amount of content on a particular topic, while also increasing exposure for all blogs that take part.

It’s a chance for lesser known blogs to get some exposure, and also for all involved to discover new and interesting blogs to read.

To participate, here is the process to follow:

1. Write a “China: Love It ~ Hate It” post

• Check to see if other submissions have been posted for concepts or ideas.
• Feel free to add, subtract or modify this idea – be as creative as you can. As long as it sticks to the theme, it’s fine.
• You can write it in any form you like (songs, poems, rants, humorous posts, as told by fecal art, anything you want). We only ask that you stick with the concept of balance between love and hate.
• Come up with a snazy title for the post that might attract some interest from other readers. You are not required at all to use the “China: Love it ~ Hate it” title, but are welcome to if you wish.

2. Let us know when it’s done.

• Once you’ve posted your story, simply fire us off an e-mail (Contact in the top menu bar) with the following information:
  Title of Post, Post’s Link, Your name (or online alias)
• The deadline for this group writing project is Monday, October 1st.
• You don’t have to link back to this post – but it might be a good way to get others involved and help this project grow. And we’d sure appreciate it .
• Additionally, you are more than welcome to use the GWP graphic above in your post. Simply download it, or just link to it from here.

3. What happens next?

• I’ll be doing a “daily” post of submissions on here. Additionally, I will also be adding your post to a central “China: Love it ~ Hate it” submission list to make it easy for everyone to view all the posts related to this group writing project.
• The final list will be posted next Tuesday, October 2nd.

4. Don’t be shy – get around.

• This is where you take over. Be sure to check out the other submissions and see what people love and hate about China. Leave comments and make connections with other Sinosphere bloggers.
• There is no formal ‘judging’ as this is not a competition. Instead, I suggest perhaps you can surf through the submissions at the end of the week and list the one(s) on your blog you feel were the best and share the linky linky love.

If you’ve any questions, please contact us or simply leave a comment here. I look forward to reading what you come up with.

If so, the first thing you need to ask yourself is: What value are you providing to your readers?

If you can’t answer this question clearly & with a purpose, maybe it’s time to change, even if it’s just a little.

China bloggers: Sometimes Missing the Forest for the Trees

It’s pretty easy to see that most of the ‘easy’ topics in the China blog-o-sphere have already been done. If you have a blog about China, you probably have written about a number of such topics. Don’t beat yourself up about this, we all have slightly different views on similar issues, and it’s good to get multiple perspectives on many issues.

Many blog posts by expats in China are also focused on current events – again, this is fine, after all a multitude of opinions about any given event is good (as long as it isn’t taken to the extreme)

Another side of the China blogging spectrum are cute little observations, sometimes-pointless rants, or just thoughts about our lives. This is a great way of getting down your memories, and oftentimes we can teach others more through stories than from straight-out advice.

But couldn’t China Bloggers do more?

As bloggers in China, we could do so much more, and make China blogging more than just a collection of observations about living in the middle kingdom.

There are some who have already made some major steps in this direction, including:

• Lonnie, Yanzhi, and others at The Dream Blog
• Ryan with Lost Laowai and The Hao Hao Report
• Ben Ross with his partial How to Order Chinese Food
• And many, many more (additions below added post-publishing)
• Rick’s Dalian Dalian
• fiLi’s Chinalyst
• John’s China Blog List
• The Library Project
• This guide to Chongqing

But you don’t have to open an entire site dedicated to a specific idea or theme to provide some extra juice to the China expat blog-o-sphere – just a little bit more effort is all that it would take.

In fact, together we could get a hell of a lot more done together than individually. That, of course, is the point of this blog I am writing on, but there are other things that could be done.

What more could China bloggers do?

Just some thoughts:

• A Collection of City Guides about China – These could be completed individually by different bloggers in China, and then compiled in one place or all compiled at any blog that contributed one of the guides. Think Lonely Planet – with much more in depth content.
• A Thorough Guide to Living in China – With contributions from many different people. Kind of like the wiki on this site, but in a free ebook book / manifesto form.
• A collection of crazy stories about China – again thrown together as a free book or resource.
• Some version of a YouTube China show that is entertaining and maybe even useful – Yes, Sexy in Beijing is a pretty good example.
• An expanded China food guide, along the lines of Ben’s site but with additional food categories, more functionality (ranked by ratings and paired with audio, as possible examples), and a printable version of the guide.
• Any number of ideas that are probably already floating around your head – share them below instead of keeping them secret, where they might die a quiet death anyway.

What do you think? Share your thoughts below (I’m ready to be torn a new one if necessary)

ps – Though not on the scale of the projects or even of the half-thunk ideas above, it’d be great if you participated in another China blogging project I just posted: Why Come to China? – Help to provide advice to those pondering this question.

And if you start your own China blogging project, let me know, ’cause I’ll probably want to take part. As hopefully many reading this would.

We had a last minute submission from Liu Kaiqin:

• 出乎意料之外?? （in China) :: By Liu Kaiqin

Who also sported some rather creative Chinese for the project, which I’m about to borrow.

Be sure to check out the complete list of of submissions here:
“工乍　工　长门巨山　丁升巨门　山升闩丁　工　长门口山　门口山”

I really appreciate everyone’s hard work at helping fill in this topic with a solid amount of interesting and informative content.

If you read any of the posts, or have anything to add about this project and how we can improve the next group writing project, please leave a comment. Additionally, we’re wide open for suggested topics for the GWP.

So, if you’re still interested in sharing your misconceptions or what you “thought you knew” about China before you came here, please write it up, post it on your blog and then send us the link.

Jut a reminder that it doesn’t have to follow the same format as the other submissions – you are absolutely free to interpret this project in any way you see fit.

Get the full details at the related post. And see what others are writing at the Official “If I Knew Then What I Know Now” Submissions page.

A big thanks for all those that have submitted thus far.

Recent Additions:

• If Only I Didn’t Know Now What I Didn’t Know Then :: By Zhongyuan
• 5 Really Basic Things About the Internet in China That I Wish I Knew Before Coming Here :: By Alex
• Can Anybody Live Here :: By Chris
• Does Life Imitiate Zhang Yimou Movies, or Does Zhang Yimou Just Make Sh*t Up? :: By Lauren
• 3 Things I wish I knew before coming to China :: By Jeremy

• A guest abroad and a foreigner back home :: By Steven
• 6 Things Everybody needs to know before going to China :: By Rick
• A City Slicker In Guangzhou: That One Thing! :: By Lonnie B. Hodge
• Anti-Guanxi :: By Jeff G Deutsch
• Beijing? So, is it a large city? :: By The Humanaught

Thanks for the submission guys!

There’s still a few days left, so if you’d like to help make this group writing project super-fantastic, be sure to get your submissions in and send us a quick e-mail at staff (at) lostlaowai (dot) com with the info stated in the guidelines.

In the post, entitled “The Years BC“, Kim recounts the (often entertainment-industry induced) rather skewed knowledge he had of China before moving here last year. He shares tales of stereotypes, evil villains, kung-fu legends and the fact that in his younger years, like most of us, had no idea China was different from Japan (and Korea was just unknown).

For a while now I’ve wanted to find a topic to launch group writing projects here on Lost Laowai in an effort to bring together fellow Sinosphere bloggers in a creative and constructive manner. Well, in true Chinese form, why come up with something new when you can just copy the brilliance of others?

So, welcome to Lost Laowai’s 1st Group Writing Project.

A group writing project is a good way for bloggers in the ‘sphere to come together and get to know other semi-related blogs and possibly make some new friends while doing so.

It’s also a chance for lesser-known blogs to get some extra traffic from people who might not normally run across their site.

To participate, here is the process to follow:

1. Write a post relating to your pre-China knowledge of the Middle Kingdom

• Check Kim’s or other submissions for concepts or ideas.
• Feel free to add, subtract or modify this idea – be as creative as you can. As long as it sticks to the theme, it’s fine.
• You can write it in any form you like (songs, poems, rants, humorous posts, as told by fecal art, anything you want).
• Come up with a snazy title for the post that might attract some interest from other readers.

2. Let us know when it’s done.

• Once you’ve posted your story, simply fire us off an e-mail (Contact in left sidebar) with the following information:
  Title of Post, Post’s Link, Your name (or online alias)
• The deadline for this group writing project is Monday, June 18th.
• You don’t have to link back to this post – but it might be a good way to get others involved and help this project grow.
• Additionally, you are more than welcome to use the graphic above in your post. Simply download it, or just link to it from here.

3. What happens next?

• I’ll be doing a “daily” post of submissions on here. Additionally, I will also be adding your post to a central “If I Knew Then What I Know Now” submission list to make it easy for everyone to view all the posts related to this group writing project.
• The final list will be posted next Tuesday, June 19th.

4. Don’t be shy – get around.

• This is where you take over. Get out there and see what other people thought about China before winding up here. See if they compare to your own pre-China notions. Leave comments and make connections with other Sinosphere bloggers.
• There is no formal ‘judging’ as this is not a competition. Instead, I suggest perhaps you can surf through the submissions at the end of the week and list the one(s) on your blog you feel were the best and share the linky linky love.