Sep 09
minipost-(Letter) East is East and West is West… will they ever meet? (a famous poem)
Written by: Joel | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture | Tags:america, China, culture, East, nationalism, race nation, racism, Rudyard Kipling, West
33 Comments » newest
33 Comments » newest
Here’s a bit from a famous poem by a famous colonial-era British author. I’ll put the original and then an updated version, since his English is old and a little hard to understand. It’s from “The Ballad of East and West,” by Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Continue reading »
Sep 06
(Letter) Chinese people like it when you “lie” to them
Written by: Joel | Filed under:culture, language | Tags:cross-cultural communication, expats, foreigners, mianzi, miscommunication, nonverbal, 言外之意, 面子
100 Comments » newest
100 Comments » newest
Sep 05
minipost-Pocketbook References for Tibet
Written by: Allen | Filed under:-mini-posts, Analysis, culture, Letters, politics, religion | Tags:China, featured, tibet
187 Comments » newest
187 Comments » newest
Two of the most commented threads over the last week relate to Tibet. Even a neutral posting on the administration of the website has also somehow “devolved” into a debate over Tibet.
Sep 01
Recently completed mega-construction projects in China
Written by: Nimrod | Filed under:culture, Environment | Tags:architecture, buildings, development, infrastructure, mega-projects
59 Comments » newest
59 Comments » newest
For about two decades straight, day-and-night, 24/7, China has been the world’s construction ground, with architectural marvels and giant infrastructure springing up at a swift rate and on an enormous scale. The Beijing Olympics set some ungodly tight deadlines on a few of these projects, but with sheer drive, massive manpower, capital investment, and the directive planning power of the state, nearly all of these mega projects have been completed in a matter of years — unheard of anywhere else in the world.
The world may know about pieces like the Bird’s Nest, the Qinghai-Tibet railroad, and the Three Gorges Dam, but here are some others that have been delivered around China in the past 5 years.
1. Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3, biggest building in the world:
Here’s a pretty good discovery channel documentary on its construction process, and alludes to some of the land issues we encounter in a fast-developing China.
Continue reading »
Aug 29
minipost-An Imperfect Perfection – Follow up
Written by: Allen | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture, music, News, politics | Tags:Lin Miaoke, mime, olympics, Opening Ceremony, Yang Peiyi
54 Comments » newest
54 Comments » newest
A few weeks ago, accusations and charges of fakery in the Opening Ceremony flew in the Western media like hotcakes when it was discovered that two Chinese girls had participated in performance of the “Hymn to the Motherland” in the Opening Ceremony. We had a discussion here a few weeks ago.
Well – a few days ago, it was found out that the Australians also faked – not just one signer – but the entire orchestra! I thought this would make for an entertaining read.
We don’t need to get into the politics again… but I just wanted to follow up in case some of you missed the story…
Aug 29
minipost-(Letter) One of the things we love about living in China: our neighbours
Written by: Joel | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture | Tags:Chinese landlords, Chinese neighbours, foreigners, Tianjin
5 Comments » newest
5 Comments » newest
This is a happy China story that also happens to have some fun cultural elements in it.
When we moved into this neighbourhood a year and a half ago, we’d just begun language school and could hardly communicate at all (now we’re fluent in Chinglish). We picked this neighbourhood because it has a great outdoor community atmosphere and it seemed to be average (economically) for Tianjin: not the poorest hutong (some of which recently got bulldozed) but also not a newer development. It’s mostly danwei apartments. Continue reading »
Aug 28
minipost-Beijing Welcomed You … so did you remember its song?
Written by: Nimrod | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture, music, video | Tags:Beijing, olympics, star ensemble singing
28 Comments » newest
28 Comments » newest
The Olympics are over (except for the Paralympics, that is) and people have trickled out of Beijing, but still in their heads and mine is probably this catchy (some say annoying) song that was sung by an ensemble of veritable who’s-who in today’s Chinese popular music world. Chinese people seem to really like this kind of qunxing (群星) or star-ensemble singing, where phrases are sung by their favorite stars.
Aug 28
A letter from a Chinese to Dalai Lama (originally written by Zhu Rui)
Written by: Allen | Filed under:culture, politics, religion | Tags:Tibet China Dialogue
104 Comments » newest
104 Comments » newest
Note from Editor (Allen):
[edited 2008-08-31 (originally I failed to attribute the source to Zhu Rui’s blog, for which I apologize)]
Here is a letter brought to our attention by guest blogger Skylight originally published in Zhu Rui’s blog.
A nation of 1.3 billion has many voices. Here is a minority voice that I (Editor) do not necessarily agree with but that I still respect as legitimately Chinese.
The following is the complete post written by Zhu Rui.
Aug 24
minipost-(Letter) A China-friendly foreigner’s Post Secret
Written by: Joel | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture, Letters | Tags:Chinese, Chinese identity, cultural identity
36 Comments » newest
36 Comments » newest
Just saw a China-related Post Secret (I swear it’s not mine! 😉 ). Continue reading »
Aug 23
(Letter) Lots of us want to love and respect China, but right now China isn’t helping
Written by: Joel | Filed under:Analysis, culture | Tags:cultural differences, face, olympics, protest zones, West
82 Comments » newest
82 Comments » newest
This will probably make some people angry, or at least get people’s emotions fired up. But that’s not what I’m trying to do. This is a totally honest Western perspective from a Westerner who is usually very positive toward China (we are learning Chinese in China and want our kids to grow up here). I’m writing this hoping we can have a real conversation and understand one another better.
Continue reading »
Continue reading »
Aug 21
Has He Kexin’s age been changed to older or younger?
Written by: Nimrod | Filed under:Analysis, culture, News | Tags:age fixing, featured, gymnastics, He Kexin, olympics
231 Comments » newest
231 Comments » newest
Even though Buxi isn’t back, why don’t we return to a fine tradition of this blog? This post from Niubo (牛博), a Chinese forum often filled with discontent with how things are, has something interesting to add about the age of Olympic gymnast He Kexin. Translation below:
On the question of the Chinese gymnast He Kexin’s age, one fact is certain, that is, there is an inconsistency between the local athletic bureau and the central athletic bureau. So, is it that:
1. The local athletic bureau is correct, and the central athletic bureau changed her age to older?
OR
2. The local athletic bureau falsified, and changed her age to younger?
Aug 17
(Letter) The religious politics of reincarnation
Written by: Otto Kerner | Filed under:Analysis, culture | Tags:dalai lama, Panchen Lama, tibet
80 Comments » newest
80 Comments » newest
Some of the comments to a recent post show what I believe are misconceptions about the religious politics of the Dalai Lama’s putative reincarnations. One commenter writes:
Since the next reincarnation of Dalai Lama supposed to be “discovered” by the current Penchan Lama, how can a democratically reincarnated Dalai Lama have any religious legitimacy?
Aug 14
(Letter) Chinese gymnasts age controversy
Written by: guest | Filed under:culture, Letters, News | Tags:age fixing, gymnastics, olympics
1 Comment » newest
1 Comment » newest
Last night after the women’s gymnastics team final, NBC announcer Bella Caroli commented that the Chinese team cheated with underage athletes, and their passports were doctored by the Chinese government.
After some digging, it seems the age allegation had surfaced some time ago, but was quelled after passports and birth certificates where produced to the satisfaction of the gymnasts federation in charge.
Have not seen much of this since, except the NBC commentator and some 2nd tier reporting from NYT.
The reporter mentioned that there were some government documents on this, so I set out to find them. Here’s what I found while searching the gov.cn domain:
Continue reading »
Aug 13
(Letter) Patriotic Anthems Compared: China’s “God Bless America”
Written by: guest | Filed under:-guest-posts, culture | Tags:patriotism, song, translation
4 Comments » newest
4 Comments » newest
Someone had mentioned the significance of a patriotic anthem “歌唱祖国” performed during the Olympics opening ceremony. Had to look it up since it is completely foreign to me. It’s also commented that it is the equivalent of “God Bless America”, a patriotic anthem that’s well ingrained with most Americans. Continue reading »
Aug 12
minipost-(Letter) Are you offended by this picture?
Written by: guest | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture | Tags:racism, sensivitity
40 Comments » newest
40 Comments » newest
It’s apparently an advertisement in Spain’s best-selling newspaper. The Spanish Olympic basketball players, donned Li-Ning Spanish uniforms, are seen in this ad making slit-eyes gesture. Continue reading »
Aug 11
minipost-(Letter) Who are you watching at the 2008 Olympic Games?
Written by: guest | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture | Tags:athletes, canada, olympics
25 Comments » newest
25 Comments » newest
No. I don’t mean the protesters or the political dudes mugging for the photo op. Continue reading »
Aug 10
minipost-(Letter) Avoid East – West deadend conversations
Written by: guest | Filed under:-mini-posts, culture | Tags:communication, humor, stereotype
17 Comments » newest
17 Comments » newest
One of the Most common type of East – West deadend conversations 🙂 Avoid it if you want to make friends and influence people. 😉
Continue reading »
Continue reading »
Aug 08
One of the interesting things about the Opening Ceremony is the outside world gets to see (or is made to pay attention to) a slice of raw Chinese public opinion on full display.
Besides obviously the home team, Taiwan probably got the loudest cheers from the Chinese crowd at the Bird’s Nest today, a sure head-scratcher to foreign pundits stuck in a brain warp, I’m sure, but no real surprise to Chinese people and those who know China.
As we watch the Opening Ceremony, let’s make a list of the teams that got the loudest cheers from the Chinese crowd today. It is bound to be interesting.
Continue reading »
Aug 05
How do the Chinese really feel about Japan, the new Yomiuri/Xinhua Survey
Written by: bianxiangbianqiao | Filed under:Analysis, culture | Tags:Japanese, survey
100 Comments » newest
100 Comments » newest
August 15th is drawing close. It is a good time to think about China’s relation with Japan.
Besides, a new survey on this topic was discussed in Yomiuri Shimbun, August 4, 2008.
“Only about one-third of Japanese think the relationship between Japan and China is good in contrast to nearly 70 percent of Chinese who view the relationship positively, according to a survey conducted jointly by The Yomiuri Shimbun and a weekly magazine published by Xinhua News Agency.” Continue reading »
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