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.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Here comes communists
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.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy 4th
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. Related Content of This Rocking Post
Monday, June 30, 2008
走出迷城 Out of the labyrinth
[The Weng'an incident, which hasn't been as intensely covered by Western press as Tibet, shows the urgency of China's getting out of the labyrinth - The traditional cycle of violence-as-opposition-of-violence and oppression of information gets China nowhere. ]
网上惊闻贵州因命案草菅而乱之事。评论则多冷嘲了事，未言之下也就官逼民反之意。中国的知识分子历来既没骨头又视己绝对正义。
纵观中国自古来所信奉官逼民反，暴力的政权出暴民，起义革命以暴制暴，如此循环往复。民众或出离愤怒，或旁观而呼。殊不知没有制度的突破，不寻找非暴力之途径，则永远用更高之暴力替代，历史仍然重复。烧几辆车几个楼或可一舒胸中之恶气。然终究于事何补？谓盖要吸引外界之目光，若能团结向心，亦有和平之方法。以一种暴力发泄而指望另一法理得以伸张，设若得，于国于民气得益乎？以暴力加控制应对请求司法公正的民众的政府更是愚不可及。而这次西方媒体却失却了报道的热忱。古之法则，影响中国至深。伟如毛者，反官僚与腐政亦止发动文化之革命。动荡后一切如故。或许中国之走出迷城只有至有产者众多，为保护自身利益反复博弈，终需建立制度而走上真正法治。泪。
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Hotel Fox
Hotel Fox 位于丹麦的哥本哈根，是Porject Fox的部分，由大众汽车公司提供赞助，由原先的Park Hotel改建而成。它于2005年4月25日开始对外营业，所有房间均是由国际顶尖的平面视觉设计师设计，21位设计师为Hotel Fox出了1000个点子最后完成了61个风格不同的房间。
房间分为SMALL,MEDIUM,LARGE,X-LARGE四个类型。定价在125欧元和215欧元。所有房间的设计将会至少保留五年
酒店外观(61个房间的窗外遮雨小篷也都不一样哦,是和房间内的主题相一致的)
风格不同的房间(每一间都是由艺术家们自己设计并亲手绘画完成,家具摆设也是艺术家们亲自挑选)
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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Action Art
You call me crazy, I call it art.
Hollywood's KongFu Panda is sweeping through China, and a Chinese artists' boycotting of the movie quickly becomes news. Zhao Bandi, who advocates the boycott by writing public letter to the authority and using his own blog as a fighting ground, is an action artist, or performance artist.
Because of his work of goofy performance arts, some wiser bunch suspects the boycotting itself is his form of action art, perhaps referring to many boycotts of french products and others following the Olympic Torch episode. However, he emphasizes he isn't performing and really means it when being interviewed. "Hollywood movies," he says "is representative of homogeneous American culture." And he wouldn't let his beloved panda, whose image appears in almost all his action arts, be used and demeaned.
Wow, he is serious!
But hold on. Who is to say his public denial about performing an action act isn't part of the whole scheme? isn't in itself part of the art? That's the beauty of permanence art - you are never sure which part of his action is art and which is not! So the thought goes, all the way to the deepest Chinese philosophical thinking.
More over, when you join the discussion, or join to criticize, ridicule him, as many media and blogs do, you become part of the action. Brilliant.
I'm not sure Zhao himself realize that. But looking from afar from my angle, China today is a giant stage of action art.
Just recently, a young writer, Hanhan, opens his usually boasting mouth again on TV, pronouncing many prominent literary figures in history - not only those acclaimed ones in the new republic but also many classical ones in dynastic history - overrate and not good at language. Fine, he is entitled to his own opinion, although his remarks are often of bad taste. The curious thing is that his remarks stirs an echo. His fans trumpet him as a hero, others reply serious arguing in favor of those classical writers, still others denounce him. The fact that Hanhan is just a character and likes to provoke seems escape everybody. Beijing Youth Daily even organizes a multi-page discussion of the topic!
Every society has its characters and oddballs. The more open a society is, the more chance of such oddities are, and the more tolerant the public of it. The uniqueness of China seems to be high the media attention and public participation of those. Energies are spent on trivial acts, as if all member of society are part of some action art. Westerners charge Chinese being "sensitive" and "overreact", but they don't know many Chinese create the same way to the trivial issues within.
Part of the reason, I speculate, is the unprecedented freedom of speech Chinese enjoy, and the same time the boundaries of free speech. Because of free speech, everyone has an opinion and seems excited to expressed, often in an extreme way to attract attention and being unique. And because of the limit of it, more energy is paid to seemingly trivial debates.
The slow unfolding transition, the so-called reform, also has a toll on people's nerves and culture. In a way, the Chinese are putting into a slow cooking furnace where every aspects of the society has a side of new and another of old,it challenges the norm of language and behavior contently. Looking outside of it, you see a giant stage of action art. Even the language is fluid. Maybe one day, Chinese will simply use mistress for mistress, in stead of the more colorful er nai, meaning second breast literally, a term that reflect the more innocent and righteous majority's contempt.
Art is not always easy to be understood, and sometimes has a thin line from strangeness. I'm more in anticipation of Wall-E.
真爱与赝品
忙乱一番，终于可以静下心，听她讲述自己的闪婚经历。
她讲得平心静气 偶听得惊心动魄——
只第二面，对方就认定了她。而她心里也充满好感。用她的话说：心脏几乎要从胸腔里跳出来...但只一瞬间她又装得若无其事，好像根本没在意这位才俊。回家之后她脑子里全是那人，随后细节自不必说郎情妾意一拍即合。她总结道：千万不能把你的心情表现出来，当你还不能确定。但是当你一旦遇到真爱，就要下定决心...
“真...爱...”偶茫然滴看着一脸幸福的她。到底什么是真爱?拿什么来确定你遇见的就是真爱？是那种“神圣的疯狂”状态?还是热恋期的那份迷醉、至乐、强烈的爱意、看任何事物都顺眼的高能量状态？克氏说：“恐惧不是爱，依赖不是爱，嫉妒不是爱，占有控制不是爱，责任义务不是爱，自叹自怜不是爱，不被人爱的痛苦不是爱，爱不是恨的反面，正如谦卑不是虚荣的反面一样。”这么多像爱的形式和景象都不是爱，也许真爱是一个自己遇见另一个自己。可是如果没有自己，怎么找得到另外一个自己？偶疑惑。
她说：“好了，我确定你的那些都不是真爱，统统归为赝品”说这话时一脸同情。好...吧，就算不是真爱MS爱的东西都被叫做赝品，但并不代表失去赝品就不伤心，要是有真品就不会稀罕赝品，可是如果什么都没有，那赝品也是续命的宝贝，碎了也要痛哭流涕。而也因为有的太少，因此就更加悲怆。再说谁知道真品存在吗？如果在，它会来吗？
这就是感性和理性的区别吧。随着年龄增长，内求和反省变成了如影随形的糟糕的生活习惯，平日里总习惯睁大眼睛看啊看，想把一切都看清楚，不知不觉开始理智化——缜密的分析看似有理，但不能击中人心，总是哪里不对的样子，因为隔离了情绪。
最终，她的真爱是“我爱你”，偶的真爱成了“我忘不了你”。总害怕自己被别人忘记，是因为自己会忘记别人...
偶告诉她偶宁愿相信通过疼痛和疗伤把赝品改造成接近真品的方式。再说，也许别人眼中的赝品，在自己这里也可以变成真的宝贝，只要觉得值得。
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Have a case against hypocracy? Google will help
In a review of some of the keywords related to China in 2008, you'll likely to find words like: internet, privacy, moral, Runaway Fan, and and his self-proclaimed crusade against hypocrisy, among others. Now let's switch gear. Here is an interesting case in the U.S. where juries will try to decide whether sexually explicit material is obscene.
In the trial of a pornographic Web site operator, the defense plans to show that residents of Pensacola are more likely to use Google to search for terms like “orgy” than for “apple pie” or “watermelon.”
residents...are more likely to use Google to search for terms like “orgy” than for “apple pie” or “watermelon.”
Granted, defense has still many bars to hurdle. For example, how to pick the controlling "common terms"? How to compare the popularity of sexually explicit searches versus the more benign searches? Do you aggregate them? “Orgy” or "group sex" may be the top search hit, at the same time a very small percentage of all other guilt-free hits. Then you have to worry about the distribution of hits among residents to know how representative of a community those hits are.
Chinese internet users are certainly no strangers to hypocrisy and internet, they long understand the difference in behavior when anonymously online - the so-called internet mob mentality - and offline. But notes to Chinese Fans, The U.S. is a far more conservative, if you wish, country than China, socially or legally. Such a case while may provide occasional boon to police coffer would most likely be ignored in China. And we would lose chance to see such ingenious defense. Maybe the crusaders should pay more attention to google to get the real scoop.
Watch out. Google will shred your hypocrisy. Related Content of This Rocking Post
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The tenuous online relationship
It is said that internet gives us unprecedented power to reach out to other people. Products like Twitter works to strengthen our real life relationships. But it doesn't make our relationships any easier, online or not, especially between a man and a woman.
A while ago, there was an interesting article, exposed on NYT. The writer, reflected her life online and offline working as an online antagonist digging entertainment dirt. It reminds me of another story I have heard. To protect the privacy, I'll omit their names.
He and she met when they volunteered to manage an online group and their bulletin. She was the first to notice him and brought him into the fold. So naturally they were close. They worked together with a handful of other people, identifying the issues, finding out the actual situation, communicating with local activists, writing lead articles, etc. Much was needed to be sorted out of the once chaotic situation, and instant messaging became their best friend amongst back and forth discussions. For a while, they communicated a lot, mostly within the group, but sometimes privately also. Besides the online chore, they would discussed random things like films, jobs, or even fashion occasionally. Since they were worlds apart, she's in Australia and he's in America, his day was her night, he would end up sometime having to urge her to go sleep if it was getting too late. There seemed to be emotional bonding between them beyond being colleagues.
Truth be told, it was never easy in managing the right relationship, especially juggling between different sexes, even on the internet. He soon quits the volunteering work, he was tiring out. However, the jovial stretched on, if only by momentum. They continued to hang out, around forums, by messaging. It looked like the bond would outlast the shared passion, until...
As they said, all good things must come to an end. It was a valentines day. She asked him what he world gave her for comfort, virtual or real. That made him grumble just a bit. Before that, he had received an email letter from her, professing her fondness of him, to which he politely deflected. You can probably chalk it up to cultural differences. Americans take holidays like valentines day a bit more seriously of its cultural content, choosing their gifts or message selectively, while Chinese tend to take western holidays more as an excuse to celebrate or relate. She probably didn't mean to pressure, nevertheless he felt the uneasiness. Or you can theorize the gender difference, girls just want to have fun while boys are more sensitive about it. In any case, he felt things needs to be taken a different direction.
he became more careful in interacting with her, more choicy in his words, and distancing himself a bit, hoping senses would come around. In reaction, she spent more time lurking, seldom seen around. Only if togetherness wouldn't be out-weighted by foolishness. Finally it comes the day she couldn't bear, and decided to disappear from their online circle...
Internet is a dynamic new place to meet with people, sometimes even getting emotionally connected. But, as quickly, that connection could be gone, just a mouse click, or network outage away. Online relationships, as in the story I tell, can be not only tenuous, but also no less stressful. It can create emotional drainage of its own, as exposed has shown. The closeness we share online has a thinner veil. It depends more on verbal interactions and exchanges of ideas. It is ripe for misunderstanding also. After all, without additional information from facial expressions - the warm eyes, the tightening lips, the knowing smiles - language doesn't come close to fully express ourselves. And when real passion develops, there is always the anguish of unreachability. When that cartoon figure in your chat opens its arms across the screen, do you feel the warmth? or some you seriously want to smash your computer for the anguish?
The cyber world poses new questions. The persons behind the virtual world are actually real, how to deal with emotions experienced through virtual world connection? Do you run your online world as a parallel universe, separating it with your offline world, or do you let the two intertwine, encroaching into each other.
Then it comes the question, is the delicacy of online relationships really that much different from those of offline? They are subject to the same prejudices, misunderstandings, different attitudes. Take romantic relationships, some grow love out of psychological whim, others regard it as everlasting passion, and we are all wired with different signal and receptive systems. I'm not sure he and she would have reacted differently were they in a real life situation. It may as well what they see out of a healthy friendship doomed their online rapport.
What makes online relationship seemingly more tenuous, I think, is the tendency of superficiality. We don't usually seek to know each other, or feel comfortable enough to be known, very well in the online world. Even there, the difference isn't huge. Isn't our daily interactions getting more cursory as we getting busier and busier? Ultimately, it's just the pressure and nuisance of relationships., sometimes too close for comfort, other times too flimsy for durance.
He told me he still looked up her webblogs now and then. She probably did the same.
More pictures of Namibia
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纳米比亚曾经是德国殖民地，但她的官方语言却不是德语，而是英语和非洲语。也许是想尽早摆脱殖民阴影的原因。可是由于教育跟不上，普通民众却很少有人会讲英语。
纳米比亚幅员辽阔，人口相对很少。大片大片的庄园，之间无法建立有效的经济联系。庄园主很多都是德国人，本地黑人则大多是打下手。因为文化知识的缺乏，他们也无法参与庄园里高级一点的管理工作。庄园生活虽然工资低微但能节省许多城市生活的费用。纳米比亚虽然不富有，生活费用却并不低廉。很多生活用品价格和中国美国没有很大区别。和中北非相比，这里起码没有战争。
从作为一个游客的观察角度，纳米比亚的经济应该还很是很依赖德国。大批的游客都是来自德国和欧洲，很多庄园顺带作游客生意，政府对于德国游客也有额外的优惠规定。好一点的餐馆里就餐的绝大多数都是本地和来自欧洲的白人，乍一看几乎不相信到了非洲，黑人只有服务生才能看到。倒是麦当劳里大多是本地黑人。非洲人大概有乐天的天性，生活并没有让他们失却乐观，他们会三五成群围聚在建筑物边歌唱。
如果中国当初一直沿着二战前的轨迹走下去，纳米比亚的这些现状会不会也是中国的现状? 从绝对来说应该不会，因为中国人向来重视教育， 而且人多。但从相对来说，应该也会有这种依赖性的尴尬。又，听说美国开始对中国游客开放。当他们带着照相机和升值的人民币来的时候，是传统地“到此一游”还是会看到更多的生活？ Related Content of This Rocking Post
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Windfall time
It's not autumn yet, but don't tell the Big Oil. The war in Iraq is finally paying some dividends, for some.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.Key words: no-bid, future contract. Western big oil companies regain control over Iraqi oil field, mission accomplished. When will it be reflected in the pump price is another matter. The price: trillions of government spending and a couple thousand young man's life.
In the other news, China raises gas price today by about $0.6 a gallon, bringing it closer to the international price. The wealthy on the coastal regions are sure to complain, but the old price surely wasn't sustainable. In a way, China, given its world manufacturer status, was subsidizing the whole world. What it will entail on the inflation front is interesting to keep eyes on.
Stumble upon: One of the best analysis on China I read recently Related Content of This Rocking Post
Monday, June 16, 2008
穿着雨靴的小猪 The mud-phobia piglet gets her boot
看了这篇新闻，心中充满对细心的小猪主人的好感。
美丽的名字。墨绿色的小雨靴。有性格的猪宝宝。
英国约克郡一头名叫“灰姑娘”的小猪可能是世界上第一头患有洁癖症的小猪，自出生后，它一直不肯和兄弟姐妹一起在泥巴中玩耍。直到近日主人为它定做了4只小靴子，它才终于肯和泥巴亲近。
“灰姑娘”自出生后一直拒绝在泥巴中玩耍，后经兽医诊断，这头小猪患有“不洁恐怖”的疾病——一种害怕泥土的恐惧症。这也是迄今为止人类发现的第一头害怕泥巴的猪。
“灰姑娘”的主人黛比表示：“这是我见到的最奇异的事情。这批小猪出生后不久，都纷纷跑向泥巴中玩耍，只有‘灰姑娘’静静地呆在猪圈边，望着远处的泥巴浑身发抖。起初我们以为它只是不愿意离开猪圈或者母亲，后来才发现，只要将它放到没有泥巴的地方，它就显得非常高兴。”
近日，主人用4个绿色的橡胶笔筒给“灰姑娘”量身定做了4只精美合脚的小靴子。有了靴子的保护，现在“灰姑娘”也愿意在泥巴中走一走了。
story Related Content of This Rocking Post
Is grass greener on the other side?
For a new documentary comparing education in India, China and America, yes seems to be the answer to the question. The film, Two Million Minutes, has drawn mixed reactions from academics.
I am not experts. But having experienced both, I have opinions of my own. If education is a pyramid, American education is loosely plowed at bottom but shining on the top, while Chinese education is rigid on the bottom but petered out at the top.
Before college, Chinese students works far more harder than American counterparts, often to an unnecessarily daunting level. For Americans, only those "nerdy" types concentrate a lot on studying before college, but the rope begins to tighten up in the college. For Chinese, much of the work is done before college, so college is a time to "have a life" besides studying, although job competition makes their life relatively harder than it used to be. At the post-graduate level, such as Ph.D., the rigorousness of Chinese program is no competition to the American. Also, Chinese education is comparatively more goal oriented while American education emphasizes more on the ability to learn.
I had seen some American business graduate student having no slightest clue what square root is, which would be unthinkable to a Chinese - he would have had no opportunity of graduate education in China. But I guess that student finished up his education and got through life just fine, by putting in continuous work. Whatever the route it takes, that seems to be the point of education.
You can watch the youtube trailer here.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Clapping
Two relatively old news: One, Beijing Olympic committee issued clapping guide of Olympic cheers; Two, in the 110 hurdle of Goodwill games, clapping was very sporadic when an athlete from an African country was introduced and he raised his hands to gesture.
Yes, both are a bit hard to get used to, but both are aspects of China. And they are related in understanding the colloquial "why do they do that?".
Talking about clapping, I'm glad no one clapped at the end of showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, including a battalion of kids in the theater. It would have made me feel aged.
I was a huge Indy fan, having watched all Indy movies, many twice. I'm not sure how it got 77% percent rotten. All that action and the plot failed to engage me, to a point I began to wonder about why they kept a silly posture striding two moving vehicles through the Amazon, wasn't it easier just to swirl the car to shake the enemy off? or how come Indy and his troop survived three trips over the waterfall without a bruise. I know, it's a cardinal sin of watching an action movie, but that can't be all my fault, can it? Is that because Harrison Ford seemed to have lost his joie de vivre, or because I'm getting too old for this? Probably both.
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