Thoughts on 9/11

I wasn’t thinking about writing about 9/11 in this space. It’s not really a China-focused issue — Chinese people died on 9/11 but the country hasn’t participated in Afghanistan or Iraq — and the personal connection it has for me is a very tenuous one. The reason I am writing about 9/11 is because I [...]

Some Suggested Reading for a Sunday (from One-Eyed Panda’s Del.ico.us Feed)

Here’s some articles I’ve enjoyed from the last week that I think are worth Sharing:

Use “Caution” Least “Lust” be Misjudged, The Sex is the Key to Understanding — an article asking people to look beyond the sex in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution
China Has a Morality Crisis by Xujun Eberlein — China has a moral crisis [...]

Snow Yesterday in Shanghai for the First Time Ever… Uh Sorry In About Three Years

It snowed yesterday here in Shanghai for the first time in about three years. I still see snow on the roof tops and some of the cars, but there isn’t as much as three years ago when I lived around East China Normal University (I’m a former student there) and I saw students building snowmen. [...]

What’s Behind the Anger of the Common Chinese Man?

Josh at Cup of Cha has a great piece on the anger of the common Chinese man especially the fist fights and beatings that you can sometimes see in the streets.  This is usually accompanied by a large crowd who don’t do anything but simply watch.
For a foreigner, this usually means stay away. You don’t [...]

Watching Antonioni’s China

This afternoon on the way back from lunch, Winnie and I stopped at the DVD store. There we came across a copy of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Cina: Chung Kuo (China: the Middle Kingdom). The film is a documentary that Antonioni shot in Beijing, Henan, Suzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai during a five-week trip and later aired on [...]

I’m a Radio Star!

Well at least a small star…I’m going to be featured as a commentator on the issue of “lurking” on blogs on the latest episode of the CBC Radio program, Spark. You can download the podcast here.
J.

Participating in a Virtual Community

Virtual communities have been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve been spend a lot of time participating on the blog and wiki of the CBC Radio show, Spark, a show about how people use technology. I’ve also spent a lot of time reading Global Neighborhood’s series on virtual communities. And it’s made me realize [...]

Covering China’s Fashion Scene

I just finished Ian Kelly’s excellent Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy. That got me thinking about the fashion scene in China and then about two great blogs that cover that scene.

Shopgirl’s Shanghai Lifestyle Blog: Written by a 20-year-old Swedish-Shanghainese girl who spends a good amount of time in Shanghai. It does a great job of [...]

India’s Tata Unleashes the People’s Car

Today, India’s giant Tata conglamorate unleashed it’s US$2,500 People’s Car. It’s supposed to be an affordable car for the developing world. Since China has such a growing car market, it made me wonder if the People’s Car would sell well here. I don’t think it will for the following reasons:

 A car called the People’s Car [...]

The Sound of Beijing

 Note: Apologies for the large gap in posts. I’ve been suffering some post-New Year’s laziness and now I’ve come down with an eye infection which has slowed me down a bit. I hope to post more frequently starting next week.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Chinese underground rock music lately — mostly Beijing [...]