Thursday, July 31, 2008

Open contraversy

The opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics Games has still a week to go, but has already created media controversies.

This time, a South Korean TV network, SBS TV released video footage of rehearsals of the ceremony, violating the implicit consent of not leaking details by the media. Details of the opening ceremony was guarded as "state secret" by China, understandably to keep the stunts fresh. It was said that those who were invited to the rehearsal had signed on to the no-disclosure agreement.

This gave Chinese netizens new ammunition to get angry against South Korea. Public opinions in China towards South Korea have not been particularly warm and fuzzy since Koreans claimed rights to cultural heritage of many Chinese traditions. Many people have dubbed the Koreans "cultural thieves" and "men from Mars" since then, and the newest episode added new controversy to the fire. Even CCTV has showed discontent in its news program "One Plus One".

It's not clear whether SBS has "the right to report" or it has violated "professional ethnics", as many claimed.

[update: SBS TV formally apologized.]
PS: Travel channel is currently having a "China Week". The varieties of food on display are having me drooling.

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Friday, July 25, 2008

Will capitalism save virginity?

To believers of market, market will find a solution to everything. Will it save virginity - in China?

China was traditionally a conservative country in sexuality. We've had the likes of Xi Mengqing in old novels like The Golden Lotus and anecdotal stories about gayish princes, but mostly it's hush hush. As the capitalism first arrived when China began its "open and reform" program, sex was also a vocal point of personal freedom as debated subject, so much so that also all Chinese famous novalists at the time all included sex, sometimes pervert sex as part of their depition. Mo Yan, autor of Big Breast and Wide Hips, Su Tong, Jia Ping'ao were all among them.

Then there came Shanghai Baby, a euphoria novel of sex adventures, from which the calling "beauty writer" was born. BTW, the author was relatively tame and far from "beauty" before she made a name, from what I knew of her. And there was Mu Zimei, a blogger famous for publishing details of her many sexual encounters, led the sex revolution to the pinnacle. That's why stories like disco bunny comes as no surprise to the Chinese.

Now, a new wave of chastity is quietly making waves. Surprisingly, one of the force in this new found chastity is the raw and unapologetic Chinese style capitalism. As this Danwei translation of a South China Weekend story tells, while some young women are not try about using their sexuality to their economic advantage, others now see keeping virginity before marriage as an advantage in the competitive marriage market. In economics jargon, the market has reached an equilibrium!

The question then is why virginity is cherished and being seen as an advantage. That's the question I pose to my friend, who is also a Chinese.

"That's because Chinese males are deeply insecure about their sexuality. Having a virgin without prior sexual experience as a wife helps them not being exposed sexually."

She is equally unapologetic.

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奥运礼服


看了今天亮相的08奥运会中国代表团“奥运礼服”,真是很无语。偶能怪谁呢?怪国旗的颜色?还是怪设计师的理念?五星红旗的红黄两色纯度过高、太过明亮,实话说并不适合黄种人的肤色。这就寄望于设计师在色彩和款式上与细节处巧妙设计,结果看到的竟是单纯颜色的堆砌,好似张艺谋的电影。

当初有设计师曾归纳出最能代表华夏文明的六种色彩,即所谓的“国色”:中国红、琉璃黄、国槐绿、青花蓝、长城灰、玉脂白。叹气,现在看来优雅端庄的后四种已全被舍弃,难怪被网友戏称番茄炒蛋白米饭。

07年奥运组委会曾向社会公开征集礼服设计方案,短短几月内,评委会收到了来自全球的设计方案超过2000个,也因此在坊间引发“国服热”,汉服、唐装、中山装,究竟孰能体现古国风范、中华神韵的争议不绝于耳。

最终,考虑到中国体育代表团的礼服应同时体现“历史的元素”、“当下的智慧”与“未来的概念”,所有的“国服”均被放弃。若是在设计上稍微借鉴一下“国服”的中国元素,不知道礼服的效果会不会好些?

还好还好,也有养眼的。名字叫“青花瓷”系列的颁奖礼服尽显中国风韵,多少是个安慰。

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

人生的意外

因为懒,读到喜欢的文字,心中暗暗赞叹之余往往不记得收藏
还有空间一些音乐,可能不太稳定,播放器里的连接莫名消失了
开始有点心疼,都是遇到的所爱

很快就释然。或者大家之间的缘分就是这样长的吧。
读过。听到。遇见。已是福份。

如世间的珍宝。人生只百年。谁又敢说,谁拥有谁呢。
遇见一日,便用心体会它的美,它的独一无二。
不让它泯没。不让它孤单。

人生或许就是这样。许多不相干的人和事,
只因一些微妙的连接,而串联在一起。
由此及彼。由彼到风马牛的另一端。

最后,只剩下渺小的人。
惊叹,种种意外的人世间。

清水白石下寒沙
很喜欢。好的心情。分享给到来这里的每一位。
说过的,遇到,终究就是缘分。

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Monday, July 21, 2008

The Myth and Common Sense

It's fun to check your level of common sense, especially when it comes to China.

Let's first be entertained by a story straight out of the Jame Bond movie - if you so wish to think. An UK band gets their name right: Panic! at Disco. It's reported a Shanghainese disco bunny compromised an UK government official. A top aide to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was seduced by a hot woman he met in a Shanghai disco, who came back to his hotel room. In the morning, his (unencrypted) Blackberry was gone.

With my common sense, I see it no more than an extra curriculum activity by shrew "service provider". There is no ethnic code in Shanghai sex deal world that a women won't nick your cellphone or other valuables.

But it doesn't prevent UK officials to extend their James Bond pedigree and painted it as a honeytrap operation. "A senior official said yesterday that the incident had all the hallmarks of a suspected honeytrap by Chinese intelligence", as Times UK reported. Maybe when you are an UK government official, your common sense is wired differently.

The same panic was shared by U.S. government officials. There were numerous report about their hysteria about Chinese cyper espionage. I will care not to list them, you can just google for it. Almost every official has had some sort of claim about his laptop being compromised during trips to China, the most famous being allegations that US Commerce secretary's laptop was hacked during a December trip to China.

The common sense here is that China's web space is ripe with all sorts of malware. If you plug your laptop into China's network unprotected, chances are your computer will come into contact with some sort of malware or spyware within minutes. That has happened to me before. Or if your computer is protected, the firewall will have a line that such such ip address tries to contact your computer without authorization. On the other hand, it would be extremely difficult for the Chinese government to pinpoint your laptop on the open net if you are mobile and gets online possibly from anywhere. But maybe senators and secretaries are not tech savvy enough to know?

The myth is not limited in the James Bond world. Apparently it can be propagated in the bar world also. South China Morning Post reported a story that Beijing authorities are to ban Blacks (Chinese don't usually bother to call blacks "African _" because racial tension with blacks was a no issue historically with China) and Mongolians from bars During Olympics, based on one anonymous source. The stories was subsequently debunked, but still managed to catch some fire among some media and blogs.

My common sense tells me there is no way Chinese authority would pursuit such a policy during Olympics when a significant proportion of Olympic athletes are of African ethnic origin and are likely to frequent bars. Not to mention Beijing will be under the whole world's watch during the time. My common sense also tells me there's virtually no way to successfully tell Mongolian women from Chinese women from the looks. But apparently common senses of SCMP's reporter and quoting media's are very different and, should I say, unique.

Beijing was notorious for lax in enforcing the rules. And Western press often rightfully pointed it out. Now that in the wind of Olympics, China begins to enforce formerly lax enforced visa laws, Washington Post calls it China growing unfriendly to foreigners. And enforcing rules to shut down a foreigner owned club that lacks performance license catches the attention of the Time. Sure, it brings some inconvenience to some individuals, but my common sense tells me no matter what intentions are, a rule is a rule is a rule. Protest the rule if you must, but don't protest the enforcement of it as unfriendly. My common sense, as I know of China, also tells me that foreigners have long enjoyed super-national status in China, Chinese have long been very friendly to them. In fact, many foreigners working in China are doing so without proper visa or documents. They are staying on tourist visa but earning money in China. Oh, they are not doing hard labors as many Chinese do also. Where did the rule promoting western media go this time around? For visa, I believe average Chinese traveling to Europe or America have to jump through far more hoopla than foreigners to China. Just ask any random Chinese. In fact, there was an article on this blog of a rant by a famous Chinese sports reporter of American visa officials' attitudes. But these seem completely escape the media. The unfriendly article is particularly funny because it was frequently said of China as Xenophobia on those papers, yet the story turns out so many foreigners who are working in China illegally and live comfortable lives, including the lead-in story. But, somehow, the fault is still on China.

Of course, Chinese can probably do more. Beijing's People's University sent out students from its Sociology Department to observe people's public conduct and concluded that manners had greatly improved. For me personally, I wish Chinese have learned how to wait a line. I was in a double-line waiting for taxi dispatches in Beijing airport a couple years ago. A Beijing young man cursed out almost looked like wanting to start a fight because I was not taking advantage of the spaces in front of me in the parallel line, waiting instead patiently the man in front of me. To him, it slowed him down. Of course, he saw me as a Chinese. There's no telling what he would do if I was actually of different skin color. My guess is he would be less rude. That's a myth now, but also my common sense.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008

Murky Love Economics

The thing about life is that its unpredictable and doesn't subject to one single rule. I would always be aware of the "universal truth" unearthed. Many ideas are inspiring or illuminating. But more often than not, there's always qualifications, in small prints, that need to be noted.

Let's take a look at some of the main points of this very interesting and well written piece by Ben Stein: Lessons in Love, by Way of Economics.

In general, and with rare exceptions, the returns in love situations are roughly proportional to the amount of time and devotion invested. The amount of love you get from an investment in love is correlated, if only roughly, to the amount of yourself you invest in the relationship.
Oh what the statistical panacea. What about business failures? What about concept like sunk cost, stop-loss in economics?
High-quality bonds consistently yield more return than junk, and so it is with high-quality love.
The problem is, as we know in the investment world, junk/investment grades can be down or up graded, reversed in a whim, even with name brands. GM might look all mighty blue chip in a day, and slip to junk status to the next. Sometimes, even professional graders - read, Moody's etc - can't provide accurate grades in time, otherwise we won't have subprime crisis. How do you expect we to excel in love bonds in which most of us are amateurs? The negative situation rings more true:
the absolutely surest way to ruin your life is to have a relationship with someone with many serious problems, and to think that you can change this person.
Mr. Stein further urges us,
Research pays off.
Not necessary. Some qualifications are required. Too much research makes you a timid investor, and too much time in research doesn't necessary gives you competitive edge in a competitive market where everybody else does the same. And we all know researches don't earn best money in the finance world, they end up being hired by the more competitive personalities.

Ok, if you think this is all too picky, I agree. However the gist of the stories is, that theory is better at rationalize than practice, and that economics is a science that cares about outcomes in aggregates and statistical results, but love is a very personal thing. While Economics can sweep exceptions as anomalies, personal pains can't.

In the end, we can at least agree that love, like many other aspects of life, needs to be "managed".

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

人人都是艺术家

一个很有趣的涂鸦网站Artpad
你可以在上面的画板用一些很简单的工具创作出具有你个人风格的涂鸦

贴几个偶画的:-)


你站在桥上看风景
看风景的人在楼上看你
明月装饰了你的窗子
你装饰了别人的梦


记得当时年纪小
你爱谈天我爱笑
有一回,我们并肩坐在桃树下
风在林梢鸟儿叫
不知我们怎么睡着了
梦里花落知多少


黑夜给了我黑色的眼睛
我却用它来寻找光明
嘿嘿

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

KTV inside birds nest?

A look inside the Bird Nest, a passage to the VIP room.

If you think it looks somehow familiar in style, you are right. It looks like KTV, with generous use of gold color and metal in ornate material.

I'm left wondering if it is the designer catering to the Chinese sense of wealth and style, or Chinese asserting control of creativity.

In other news, I've struggled in Wii of Olympic games representing China. If it's any indication, Olympics is hard. The most difficult game for me? Trampoline, twisting accordingly in the midair. And the one I excelled? Baseball! Go figure.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Red Cliff, Panda, and Chinese Films

The newest buzz out of the Chinese film world is Red Cliff, a famous battle story out of The Three Kingdoms.

The general Chinese verdict seems to be "it's entertainment", also some of the entertaining attempts are so caricaturistic, borderlining absurdity. Amid the controversy and critiques, the film sells, amassing the top box-office receipt in China. Nowadays, China takes on a very American rule - controversy sells.

But sorry Chinese, I'm not sure your complaints are relevant. This picture, from the clips I've seen, isn't filmed with you as the key audiences, rather, it has the Western viewers in mind. Outside of the fact that John Woo has never been truly outstanding besides staging scenes and working the camera angles (see Mission: Impossible II), if you view the film from an angle of someone whose knowledge of The Three Kingdoms as heard passingly at best, you won't see all the absurdity and controversy. All you see are giant battling fields - reminiscent of Rome Army nevertheless, witty humorous retorts - if somewhat modern - between generals and warlords, caring and vulnerability, and love scenes - how can a Hollywood movie be complete without one? Look, it all makes perfect sense. It's just those of you who are too versed in the story and characters that are nitpicking.

Think of the last blockbuster, dreamwork's Kung Fu Panda. The sentiments were divided along the lines of resisting: how can Hollywood produce such crap about our beloved Panda? And alternatively, proudly embracing: it's really wonderful Hollywood can nail the Chinese cultural down so precisely in the film, with a by-line of why can't we make it? Although the latter thought makes very good point about education and creativity, the two views actually share the same psyche - that of lack of confidence. The glee over Hollywood's major production featuring Chinese stories and wits underlines the fact that most Chinese are still seeking being recognized and respected by the Western culture, despite the fact that Chinese cultural that's embodied in the film is actually quite shallow, nor is it ground-shattering. The film is actually very much hollywood, both in value - the underdog hero story, and production. We are not part of the world props up some of unduly praises of the film.

Back to Red Cliff, why doesn't a Chinese made film focus more on Chinese audiences then? You can just look at the numbers. Kung Fu Panda has earned $19.29 million in China between its June 21 opening and July 6, making it a box-office smash by Chinese standards. Comparatively, it earned more than $350 million world wide. So there is little wonder Red Cliff shifts its market focus elsewhere.

China has proved it can produce quite fine art films. It is no stranger in the international film festival circuit. China can produce some entertainment "big picture" also, when it really put money into it. What's mostly lacking is the in-between and blending of the two. Both the amount and variety are far more to be desired. It is on this ground that we can come to understand the paradox of Red Cliff, both of under criticism and hugely successful commercially - because good films are too few, and far in between.


[不管时间是如何把岩石染上颜色的,毫无疑问赤壁正红。
  
  网上的评判大致是可悦,可色,可恶,虽忍俊处可谓极致出另见天地,但终究还是比较娱乐的。票房则大有斩获。就算中国的电影没学到家,于争论处见销售利好却已是一板一眼。
  
  不过同胞们的口水大致是用错了情。据我的有限观察,赤壁的主要目的观众群本不是国内的大众。吴宇森虽然长处仅限于场面的展现和镜头的控制,却 也应本无意于为网络流行语丰富词汇。但如果你想象自己是一名西方对三国一无所知的观众,也许仅有的模糊印象也来自隐约的耳闻,那么这部影片就很容易被理解 和接受。你将看到的是宏大的战争场面,甚至很容易和印象中的罗马人的战场联系起来;看到幽默急智的大将谋事,虽然他们的对话有点现代感,但无伤大雅,也和 心理预设并不冲突;他们甚至有多面的柔情和脆弱;当然还有爱情场面,没有女色的好莱坞片还叫好莱坞片么?总之,这会让网上所有自作多情的“很强大”的评论 没有用武之地。无疑,赤壁是拍给西方观众看的。
  
  不如回过头来看看前段时间热门的功夫熊猫。极端的观点无非两种。鄙视之抵制之者有,捧上天欣喜欣慰者也不在少数。甚至听说有引发为什么中国不 能拍出功夫熊猫的感慨。这样的感慨虽然有健康的关于创作力和教育的讨论,但终究还是建立在对影片对中国文化“准确地把握”上。其实,两种态度都反映了一种 相同的心理状态--对文化的不自信。好莱坞大片用中国熊猫和对中国文化的结合运用是让某些人如或钦点的原因。我们终于被承认了,我们成了世界的一分子。而 其实功夫熊猫是再典型不过的好莱坞片,从underdog hero story到故事的叙述方式。其中中国文化只不过皮毛,早已进入西方的知识领域。
  
  现在回到赤壁,为什么中国拍的大片却不是以大陆观众作为主要假定观众创作呢?答案看看功夫熊猫的数字就行了。熊猫作为大热片,在中国的前两周 收入是$19.29百万。而相比较,它的全球收入是$320百万。赤壁,已经作了好莱坞人的吴拍的电影,把主要市场盯在国外就毫不奇怪了。
  
  中国已经证明自己能拍出好的艺术片来。国外大大小小的电影节中国艺术片拿过的奖也不少。中国也似乎证明了所谓“娱乐大片”能拍的马马虎虎-- 只要能投入足够多的钱,国外电影市场也能分很小的一小勺。中国缺少的,是这两者之间的,和把这两者结合起来的电影。以及相称的电影市场。目前的电影市场无 论在数量上还是种类质量上都乏善可陈。那么也就不难理解主要并不为中国观众所拍,“很娱乐”,很受争议的赤壁,票房走红也就很容易理解了--我们的可看的 电影从数量和质量上都太少了。]

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Monday, July 14, 2008

The seat-belt story

From inside JinMao Tower, a picture she took
Ask my friend who was recently back from China what was her most remembered impression about China. She told me it was the confusion of identities, sometimes people took her as an American, other times people took her as a Chinese.

She told of the seat-belt story that She was unexpectedly pinned down to be American. It was in Nanking. She fastened her seat-belt as soon as she got on a taxi without even thinking much. Little would she expect that it would trigger taxi drivers long talk about all things Chinese and American. As it turned out, she was the first passenger who fastened seat-belt that taxi driver ever carried, although the "fasten your seat-belt" sign was preen on the glove box. The taxi driver went on to have a full lecture on how Chinese were too smart for their own good and never respects little rules. (China has now the most moto accidents in the world.) When my friend indicated she was Chinese also, he insisted that She was American, not Chinese.

This reminds me of a story told on James Fallow's blog. Roughly, Bus drivers in China were hit by an extra cut on highway fees because highway fare collectors were not well paid, they in turn changed the route to detour on crappy roads and waited to take on extra passengers, to make their ends meet. It seemed nobody was seriously enforcing the existing rules and those practices are implicitly understood. And nobody was willing to face to his own responsibilities first. The result was very unefficeint outcomes and wasting of time. Most people who had taken long-distance small buses could tell the same experience.

So maybe small changes will come, since that taxi driver recognized fastening seat-belt as responsible thing to do, and even admirable in his eyes.

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残缺 完整

作者是一个叫天心的朋友

一个圆缺了一角,受到其他圆的嘲笑。
他感到沮丧,为什么自己不象其他圆那样滚动自如,轻快飞驰呢?
于是他决定寻找,寻找最适合自己的一角。
他一路走过,有时停下来观赏风景,有时和蝴蝶嬉戏,有时和花草聊天,他唱着轻快的歌谣:呀依呀依呀哦,心中充满了期待。
他遇到了很多残缺的一角,不是太大,就是太小,找来找去,居然没有适合他的一角。他有些泄气了。
就在他要放弃的时候,他发现草丛中停着一角。
“也许你正是我要寻找的那一角!”
那一角睁着迷糊的的眼睛:“什么?我是你丢失的一部分?”
“试试就知道。”
啊,他们在一起真是完美!他第一次有完整的感觉,现在他是一个完整的圆了!
于是,他象其他的圆一样飞奔起来,越来越快,快得都来不及看看周围的景色了,也不能和花草聊天,和蝴蝶嬉戏了。他感到有些乏味,有些疲惫,这就是他想要的生活吗?
原来那些完整的圆从来都没有体会过因为残缺而带来的悠闲自在,所以才会嘲笑他。他完整了,感觉到从未有过的充实,可是,他却更向往缓慢的游历生活了。
他停下来,轻轻地把那一角放下,说:“我们在一起的感觉太棒了!可是,必须得牺牲另一种生活,也许分开更幸福!”
一角说:“没有遇见你以前,我不知道自己是什么。我静静地呆在草丛里看着星空,不知道为什么存在。直到你告诉我,我是你的一部分。我才知道自己也是圆,是个更残缺的,残缺到不知自己是谁的圆。因为和你一起,才有了自己的价值,才知道圆的生活,才经历了那些令人目眩的飞驰。离开你,我是什么?谁也不会以为我是圆了。”
他说:“你可以等待其他残缺的圆来寻找你,也许那样更适合。”
一角说:“其他的圆?无非是你遇到的情况,不是大了,就是小了,即使是合适的也舍弃不了悠闲的生活。”
他说:“我会来找你的。我会永远想念你,因为你是我在这个世界上唯一的最亲密的部分。”
一角不说话了,躺在草丛里,不去看他。
他犹豫着,还是走了。
他可以跟花草聊天了,他也可以跟蝴蝶戏耍了,他浪迹天涯,走过了看过了许多许多壮观的美景。
可他们填补不了他的空虚,那空虚源自无人分享和懂得;他们也驱赶不走他的孤独,那孤独源自生命的残缺。他感到比以前更强烈的孤独。因为他残缺的部分一下子又空了,不仅漏风,还经常被树枝卡住,被石头绊倒。因为不完整,残缺处更容易受伤,布满了泥土和污水,使他很快就憔悴和衰老了。
他开始强烈地想念失去的一角。他决定去找她。
当他回到原来的地方,却找不到原来的一角了。那一角因为不圆无法滚动,渐渐被沙土掩埋,已经不再光彩照人了。也因为残缺,她甚至比以前更残缺了。因为残缺总是比完整更脆弱,易受到伤害。
他们互相看了一眼,谁也没有认出谁,如路人般地错过。
*************************************************
以前读这篇文章,没有这么深的切身感受,以目前的心境去体会,才感觉人生巨大的悲剧性

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Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Pictures of Austria

[Filing up my photos of Austria, I find most of them are palaces and churches, the usual postcard material. What surprisingly pleases me are pictures with people in them. The tranquility of abbey and boisterousness of square are better caught with human figures. Austrians, they really like the taste of icecream, they never work overtime, and they see themselves as more cultured than those soccer hooligan states. That's my general impression of them.]



整理奥地利的照片,多为皇宫歌剧院等处,和明信片上可见也没太多不同。最后却还是最喜欢画面上有人的几张,修道院的静和广场的动因画面中的人物而丰富。

昨有朋友中国回来。下飞机手上所拿读物竟是《读者》!问之何以看这老古董。答曰:别人随手给的,机场无可看杂志,前面所买中国现今的小资杂志,其语言和所云实在甚难理解,读不懂了。呜呼如是,我实在承认,我做文盲已经好多年了。就好比奥地利人如此懒散,也终有点没落贵族气质。一边数着欧洲杯的钱,一边数落着没有素质的球迷们。一边感慨经济不振,一边满不在乎地啃着3,4欧元一个的冰激淋,而商店简直有一半时间不在营业状态。

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Some updates about this blog

Long overdue.

The comment setting is switched to "anyone" which means you can leave comments as "anonymous". However, you are encouraged to get an openID, which will make commenting easier and communication more fluid. If you have a google or Yahoo ID, you already have the openID, you just need to sign in to it. To require openID is to prevent Spam.

I've also been experimenting with the "sphere related content". Sphere is a new search engine said to be content based and intelligent. It gives you links to related blogs and article. More things to read if you find something you are interested. So far, I find it works ad hoc, unless it's a hot topic, and not working at all for Chinese language posts.

This blog, as a blogspot site, is currently available in China. But there is no telling if and when the accessibility will be interrupted by the government, with "the great firewalls of China", although many big companies especially foreign one do not subject to this restriction. It's mostly a nuance, since you can always go around it with a proxy. And if you use firefox (btw, isn't firefox3 lightening quick?), you can always get a proxy add-on.

Also, you can use the translator on the right column. But always be aware the peril of machine translation.

Lastly, for some amusement, the top google keyword to reach this blog is actually for image search - hooters. And I can tell you it was from all over the world. Who would have thunk it?

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大陆游客来台


这两天看新闻说台湾部分景点挂上了五星红旗,增设了简体字指示牌,劝阻了法轮功示威者,警诫了一贯穿着暴露的槟榔西施...原来台湾也喜欢搞这一套,形式主义害死人呀。出门旅游时,人们不就是要品尝当地的美食,看当地的人文景观,了解当地的文化吗?大陆游客到台湾就是要看、要买、要吃、要用台湾风格的东西。据说法轮功什么的是怕大陆游客看了不舒服,其实没那么严重,在香港或者国外类似团体的抗议多了去了,再说现在资讯这么发达,广大人民群众早该见怪不怪了。

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Tuesday, July 8, 2008

闲话





寂寞掩柴扉,苍茫对落晖。

鹤巢松树遍,人访荜门稀。

嫩竹含新粉,红莲落故衣。

渡头灯火起,处处采菱归。

——山居即事


寂寞与温暖 苍茫与生机,
每次念及都有百感交集之慨。
喜欢王维,喜欢他的沉静 洁净 悲悯
据说他还有一个难得的好品质——不乱写情诗:)

早些时候贴过一篇写王维的文章实在印象深刻
再读还是喜欢

说起这些诗人,杜甫不玩浪漫是真汉子,只可惜太老
李白酗酒,很是烦人
李商隐倒是怜香惜玉,可惜太喜欢乱写情诗
还有个李贺,据说文如其人,冷冰冰的,不好玩
数来数去还就王维了,虽说总是有种虚幻感,但说好听的那是出尘呀

又一说王维字摩诘,想起很久以前看过的一篇文章,
将王国维,王维,维摩诘三人联系起来分析,太有创意了
既然都字了摩诘,可见确实好佛之人,在感情上守口如瓶也都可以理解
所以这样气定神闲的人做朋友应该还是不错的,只是千万别爱上他

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Monday, July 7, 2008

Here comes communists

Poster on the picture left says "No service for communist bandits", and the board across the top the of the shop on the right says, "President Chiang, Communist Bandits have landed". Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of Nationalists who lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan sixty years ago.

We all know about the historical direct flights between Mainland China and Taiwan by now, and how local community leaders and businesses are doing what they can to accommodate, and to attract more mainland tourists.

But these pictures are much more interesting. Besides the amusement value - calling mainland tourist "communist bandits", a term used by then-in-power nationalist government - it's also much more encouraging than the official propaganda.

The official happy-all-round picture that's painted surely doesn't represent the whole truth. Besides, most of about-face work is done to attract businesses, and has little value in evaluating where the cross straight sentiment is going. Those posters, however, shows some Taiwanese still regard the mainland as the renegade force, just as mainland see Taiwan as a renegade island. Although the second poster is suspicious of marketing motive.

If there is still quarrel, there is still family. It's when disagreement becomes polite smily faces that two sides go their seperate ways.

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Sunday, July 6, 2008

Summer Delicious

This "Naked Among Watermelons" picture recently on exhibition in MOMA is created by Israeli artist Sigalit Landau in 2005.

Of course, Sigalit Laudau wouldn't know watermelon had Viagra effect, according to recent studies.

Freaky coincidence.

I'm wondering when "Have you taken your watermelon" becomes a new catchphrase.

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Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy 4th

Good things about summer are always nice weather, live music, and outdoor sports, and being 4th of July today, it's also fireworks, big and small, above the lake and from backyards.

What defines America, a nation of short historical roots and composed mostly of immigrants and their offsprings? It's fist and foremost the ideas that are found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Some argue this national identity is weakening. Certainly not, judging by the amount of fireworks I hear. Compared to other years, traffic is unusually light. Maybe the hovering gas price does have effect. But the celebratory mood is still there.

I find the following quote quite on point:

America is a way of life ..abundance of land; large families, and assertive children; the importance of religion; an astonishing array of voluntary associations; and a hard-working population that was meritocratic, materialistic, competitive, and on the move.


On a related note, this reminds me of hot abated topic of what defines Chinese. IMO Chinese, being a people of deep historical roots and long civilization, doesn't define themselves depend on the possession of the red passport. What constitutes the cornerstone of my Chinese identity is the understanding of Chinese history, culture, and above all language, which one can't really master without good understanding of Chinese history. Chinese language is so distinctively different from other language system that there's no substitute to appreciate it's beauty. By the time you learn to recite and appreciate the poems of Tang Dynasty, you are inevitably wired to be Chinese. It was said that 80% of what you learn is useless. For a Chinese, it's probably 95% - who else do I talk to about the intricacies of Three Kingdom and my vast knowledge about those two thousand years outside of the Chinese circle? It's far easier to talk about Socrates than Zhangzi outside China. No wonder the old Chinese dynastic empires called anyone who were versed in Chinese culture "Chinese", and anyone else "barbarian". Chinese language and culture, which holds key to Chinese way of thinking, and understanding of closeness (or you can say crowded) of people and family ties are what defines Chineseness for me.

Happy fourth.

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