Go Communist Party!
Friday, October 16, 2009
This Week's Alarming Statistic
14,000: Number of active Facebook users left in China, down from 1 million before the site was blocked in July.
Go Communist Party!
Go Communist Party!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
IKEA
The last time I went to IKEA, it was a crazy madhouse. Most things in China are a crazy madhouse, and you get used to it, but IKEA on a Saturday really tops it all. People are packed in, shunted along the zig-zagging track they lay out for you, smashing into each other with their carts and purchases. There's people crawling all over everything, sitting on the chairs and couches, and sleeping--I kid you not--in the beds. They hang out and play with their kids in the kids' section, and they relax and chat in the living rooms. They have their hands all over everything and yet nothing in their bags or carts.
The LA Times confirms today how ridiculous this is. IKEA barely turns a profit in Beijing because everybody comes to look and touch and play but not to buy. Even if you don't read the whole article, at least look at the picture. It's hilarious. And SO TYPICAL.
The LA Times confirms today how ridiculous this is. IKEA barely turns a profit in Beijing because everybody comes to look and touch and play but not to buy. Even if you don't read the whole article, at least look at the picture. It's hilarious. And SO TYPICAL.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
It's like this:
I like when Chinese people begin an explanation. You'll ask a question, and if the answer seems particularly complicated or may require several sentences to make clear, they'll start out with a little hand gesture: both hands extended sideways in front of them, palms open, fingers together, like they're framing two sides of a box.
"Shi zheyang," they'll say. "It's like this." And then they'll begin their explanation.
Careful, though--if your question is too direct, or too pointed, or if you accidentally asked about something they don't want to talk about, they'll get around it by saying, "Oh, that's 'bu hao shuo...' 'not good to talk about,' or sort of, 'it's hard to say'." They might say, "oh, everything's 'hai xing'...'it's fine, it's the same, it's still ok'." They'll wheeze and waffle a little, and assure you that everything is great while simultaneously managing to be a) completely vague and b) quite unenthusiastic and yet c) not awkward or particularly uncomfortable, or at least, not making you feel that way.
It's quite a talent. Pretty soon, you'll take the hint and drop the matter or change the subject.
"Shi zheyang," they'll say. "It's like this." And then they'll begin their explanation.
Careful, though--if your question is too direct, or too pointed, or if you accidentally asked about something they don't want to talk about, they'll get around it by saying, "Oh, that's 'bu hao shuo...' 'not good to talk about,' or sort of, 'it's hard to say'." They might say, "oh, everything's 'hai xing'...'it's fine, it's the same, it's still ok'." They'll wheeze and waffle a little, and assure you that everything is great while simultaneously managing to be a) completely vague and b) quite unenthusiastic and yet c) not awkward or particularly uncomfortable, or at least, not making you feel that way.
It's quite a talent. Pretty soon, you'll take the hint and drop the matter or change the subject.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
So! Finally back in Beijing
Back in Beijing as of last week. I started work last week, too, and will be moving in to a new apartment today!
Work: at 51give and its non-profit arm, 51Sim (Sim= Sustainable Innovation Movement). Both are involved in microfinance and rural development work in China, particularly focusing on renewable energy and sustainable projects.
Right now, as my first project, I'm taking over a business plan competition for university students with business plans in green energy. It should be pretty neat to see what they come up with, but I'm walking in in the middle of the whole thing, and the final event is in 2 weeks, so I guess that's a little crazed. Wait, crazed? Me? Never.
Most people in my office are Chinese--I'm the only American--but there's a French girl, a Mexican girl, and a bunch of Brits. It's hard to break the ice when everyone is afraid to speak to me because they don't know if my Chinese is passable or not.
Commuting in the mornings here is the most ridiculous thing ever. I'm not sure there's any other place on the planet more crowded than Beijing subways at rush hour. In the trains, it is 80,000 degrees, approximately, and you are pressed in among strangers with barely room to breathe. To get off at your stop, you have to elbow and shove people out of the way, while saying roughly, or possibly yelling, "I'm getting off! Let me off! I have to get off!!" If you don't push and shove and kick, you will miss your stop. Once off the train, you are shunted along in a veritable crush of people. This morning I am pretty sure I bruised a rib on a railing when shoved from behind going down a staircase.
What else? Apartment: more on that soon. It's a decent place but needs some work to make in habitable. My bedroom, in particular, resembles a Neanderthal cave more than a modern living space. It's decorated with absolutely HEINOUS reproductions of European masterpieces. For instance, you know the painting of Napoleon on the rearing steed, brandishing a sword? There's a 7-foot high print of that in the master bedroom. All the pictures are in incredibly tacky golden gilt frames....really, it's a gem in interior decorating. I'll put up some pictures for everybody's amusement in the next few days. We're living in Dongsishitiao, on the East side, if that means anything to anybody. No?
OK: back to my boring and awkward life at work, pretending I am useful. ha.
Work: at 51give and its non-profit arm, 51Sim (Sim= Sustainable Innovation Movement). Both are involved in microfinance and rural development work in China, particularly focusing on renewable energy and sustainable projects.
Right now, as my first project, I'm taking over a business plan competition for university students with business plans in green energy. It should be pretty neat to see what they come up with, but I'm walking in in the middle of the whole thing, and the final event is in 2 weeks, so I guess that's a little crazed. Wait, crazed? Me? Never.
Most people in my office are Chinese--I'm the only American--but there's a French girl, a Mexican girl, and a bunch of Brits. It's hard to break the ice when everyone is afraid to speak to me because they don't know if my Chinese is passable or not.
Commuting in the mornings here is the most ridiculous thing ever. I'm not sure there's any other place on the planet more crowded than Beijing subways at rush hour. In the trains, it is 80,000 degrees, approximately, and you are pressed in among strangers with barely room to breathe. To get off at your stop, you have to elbow and shove people out of the way, while saying roughly, or possibly yelling, "I'm getting off! Let me off! I have to get off!!" If you don't push and shove and kick, you will miss your stop. Once off the train, you are shunted along in a veritable crush of people. This morning I am pretty sure I bruised a rib on a railing when shoved from behind going down a staircase.
What else? Apartment: more on that soon. It's a decent place but needs some work to make in habitable. My bedroom, in particular, resembles a Neanderthal cave more than a modern living space. It's decorated with absolutely HEINOUS reproductions of European masterpieces. For instance, you know the painting of Napoleon on the rearing steed, brandishing a sword? There's a 7-foot high print of that in the master bedroom. All the pictures are in incredibly tacky golden gilt frames....really, it's a gem in interior decorating. I'll put up some pictures for everybody's amusement in the next few days. We're living in Dongsishitiao, on the East side, if that means anything to anybody. No?
OK: back to my boring and awkward life at work, pretending I am useful. ha.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Yunnan Part Three
After we left Lijiang, we headed to Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world (well, one of). The river is the Yangtze, before it gets really big and spreads out across the plains of central China. The gorge is named TLG because supposedly, in ancient times, a tiger leaped right across the frothy rapids to the other side.
On the first day, we walked ~14 miles, including 5200 meters vertical ascent (and then the worst part was, we had to come back down that same day). The second day was much shorter; we descended right down to the water (it was a raging river) and saw the purported "tiger leaping stone." Given that the opposite bank was a sheer cliff, I find it difficult to believe any sort of tiger was doing any sort of leaping...
Pictures.
On the first day, we walked ~14 miles, including 5200 meters vertical ascent (and then the worst part was, we had to come back down that same day). The second day was much shorter; we descended right down to the water (it was a raging river) and saw the purported "tiger leaping stone." Given that the opposite bank was a sheer cliff, I find it difficult to believe any sort of tiger was doing any sort of leaping...
Pictures.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Yunnan Part One
I just spent a week in Yunnan, eats of Tibet, south of Sichuan, north of Burma, Laos, etc. I'm putting pictures up in installments, cause I have a lot. First I flew to Kunming, then took an overnight sleeper bus to Shangri-la up in the mountains. Kunming was nice and warm, but we drove up hill for 12 hours, and by the time we got to the Tibetan plateau, it was snowing. Great.
For these first few days I was by myself, then met up with Jill and Claire in a town called Lijiang south of Shangri-la. If you're one of those types who likes to look at a map to see what happened, here it is.
Our trip: Kunming--> Shangri-la--> Lijiang --> Tiger Leaping Gorge--> Dali-->Kunming.
Pictures of Shangri-la come first.
For these first few days I was by myself, then met up with Jill and Claire in a town called Lijiang south of Shangri-la. If you're one of those types who likes to look at a map to see what happened, here it is.
Our trip: Kunming--> Shangri-la--> Lijiang --> Tiger Leaping Gorge--> Dali-->Kunming.
Pictures of Shangri-la come first.
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