March 30th, 2007 Chris
Everybody needs a free press.
There was a weird, semi-celebratory jitter going around the China blogosphere for much of the past two days. Sometime Wednesday, BlogSpot came back from the Net Nanny’s netherworld and into the off-blue light of the free-ish Internet. That we were all jumping for joy is telling: LiveJournal, Xanga, free Wordpress.com blogs, Wikipedia, BBC News too many others to count are still blocked. But at least one came back. And if I had to choose which to unblock, BlogSpot would be it, based solely on numbers.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad when I can read Jottings from the Granite Studio, Teaching Online Journalism and Loughrie Does Korea sans proxy, but it’s a sour joy.
And it didn’t last. Here’s (some of) what I can’t access freely at the moment: My old BlogSpot blog, my Blogger dashboard, Salon.com, the Christian Science Monitor, Howard Owens‘ blog.
It’s stopped being a surprise now. I flip on Tor or go through PK Blogs and deal with the crawling pace of downloads. This is China, as I’m often told, which means stuff doesn’t work like it should.
I’m getting starry-eyed and soap-boxy here, so let me back up. I started thinking about all this again a week ago, reading a post on Mindy McAdams’ blog about Malaysia’s unique ways of keeping the press in line. That’s just traditional outlets, mind you. The goverment doesn’t go after the Internet directly, she wrote. Here’s how it all works:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in News | 13 Comments »
March 30th, 2007 Chris
Every time I see my friend Miguel, I know I’m going to wake up the next day with a headache.
It’s not his fault. I just can’t switch languages fast enough. Every time I see him, it means I’m speaking three languages in one day.
Miguel is a Spaniard and fluent in Italian, so I usually try to speak as much of la bella lingua with him as possible. Now that there’s a group of Venetian girls studying in Dalian, I’m getting more practice, since some of them don’t speak English.
I’m not tri-lingual by any stretch. My Chinese is starting get somewhere, but I’m losing Italian vocabulary by the minute, and the slop I’m making of both languages is getting uglier. Yesterday in class, I caught myself saying: 我家有å…å£äººï¼šå¦ˆå¦ˆï¼Œçˆ¸çˆ¸ï¼Œä¸€ä¸ªå¦¹å¦¹ï¼Œä¸¤ä¸ªå¼Ÿå¼Ÿï¼Œe io (There are six people in my family: my mother, father, a sister, two brothers and me). For some reason, that sentence just sounded better with the last two words in Italian. I suspect the more three-language days I have, the more of a mess my Chitaliano is going to become.
With all this in mind, I’m a little apprehensive these days, because at the moment I feel like I’m learning three languages: written Chinese, spoken Chinese and everything that goes into web design, since Wordpress is a bit more manual.
Now, technically, Chinese is one language with one very complicated writing system (if you don’t count pinyin or traditional characters, which frighten me). And technically, web design is not a language but a series of interconnected tools (not tubes, Senator Stevens). Then again, I’m what you might call, technically retarded, and I can’t seem to get a real home page working or sketch a real Chinese character.
All this is making my head spin.
For anyone in Dalian reading this, apologies in advance if I start swearing at you in Portuguese for no reason.
Posted in mess of a language | 3 Comments »
March 29th, 2007 Chris
This might be a fluke, but maybe not. I think somebody just turned BlogSpot back on.
It didn’t work an hour ago, when I tried to read Granite Studio and came up empty, as I have for more than a week. But I was on Yellow Wings just now, where Mersault was venting his frustrations with the blocked internet, when I realized that no proxy was running. Tor was off. I didn’t go through PK Blogs. Nothing.
According to Great Firewall of China—itself blocked—that shouldn’t happen. Everything is still blocked, the test site says.
And yet, Granite Studio loaded like it should. So did my old site. LiveJournal and free Wordpress blogs still appear blacklisted, but BlogSpot is loading.
What happened?
The timing is ironic: I was just writing a post here about China’s censorship, and why it needs to stop. Maybe someone got my telepathic message.
Super quick update: It looks like it’s not just Dalian. Reports from Beijing and Guangzhou say BlogSpot is working there, too.
Posted in self-indulgence | 5 Comments »
March 26th, 2007 Chris
Well, it’s official. Intel is setting up shop here in Dalian.
The factory will produce chipsets, a key component in personal computers, mobile phones and other products, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said at a news conference.
The facility in the northeastern city of Dalian will be Intel’s first wafer fabrication factory in Asia and its first built from scratch since 1992, reflecting China’s growing importance as a market for high-tech goods.
This isn’t really new news here. I’ve yet to meet anyone who didn’t know about Intel coming, though few people had details. I first heard about it in December from a local business consultant. He said at the time that when Intel does come, their suppliers won’t be far behind. As their supply chain tightens up, it could mean a huge boom for this area.
Today’s LA Times offered a similar analysis, as well as some insight into why Intel chose Dalian over other cities:
In picking Dalian, a port city about 290 miles east of Beijing, Intel passed up other Chinese manufacturing hubs such as Shenzhen and Suzhou, as well as more developed Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia — underscoring China’s predominant economic role in the region.
Chinese and Western analysts said Intel almost certainly received substantial tax and other incentives from Dalian officials to locate there.
China’s central government has been trying to revitalize the country’s northeast region, a one-time industrial stronghold that has trailed the coast in economic development.
There are serious questions ahead, though. The LA Times questioned whether Dalian has enough fresh water for Chip manufacturing.
Supply Chain Digest asks: Is Intel giving too much away?
While Intel already has final chip assembly operations in Asia, it does not have have one of its very high tech wafer fabircation plants there. The possibility of Intel making the move already has some concerned that the dominant chip provider will wind up transferring too much technical know-how to China, enabling the country to eventually produce high-end chips itself much sooner than it could othewise.
There are current limits of chip exports to China and other countries that may have potential military uses, and a move by Intel to build a state-of-art plant in China is sure to trigger both regulatory review as well as a backlash among some in Congress and elsewhere concerned about issues ranging from national security to outsourcing of jobs to national competitiveness issues.
We’re all watching. I’ll post updates if I hear anything new.
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
March 26th, 2007 Chris
There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is dangerous.
—Hannah Arendt, 1977
in The New Yorker
This new meme going around is an interesting one. Last time I got tagged, I had to list five little-known facts and seven successes. It was all about me and a bit self-indulgent. As I said in the title of that post, “Did you really want to know all this?”
The latest game, “Thinking blogs,” is more to my liking, and not just because I’m out of personality quirks to share. I’m always curious what other people are reading, what informs them, and who they think is worth promoting. That China Law Blog thinks well enough of this little project to list me alongside the Granite Studio, Kaiser Kuo, the Useless Tree, Sinocidal and the Peking Duck is humbling, and I think it says more about how far I have to go to understand this country.
Anyway, before this gets too incoherent, here’s who makes me think, and how they do it:
The Humanaught
This was the first China blog I ever read, and it’s still one of my favorites. Ryan writes an observational blog, but more than that, he promotes the blogosphere. His brainchildren include the Hao Hao Report and Lost Laowai. I’m actually starting to think he has found the ability to bend time, since he’s been giving me handy pointers on setting up this blog, along with running his own, and working, and living the life of a newlywed. Or, like Dan Harris at CLB, he doesn’t sleep. Something we should know, Ryan?
Panda Passport
Man, I am so glad Rick is blogging again. He puts me to shame, really. While I noodle around about daily life, his blog is doing something I’ve never managed: being useful. Before he restarted his blog, he ran a Dalian guide and restaurant listing. Now he’s my one-stop-shop for web tools I can’t (or won’t be bothered to) find on my own. Oh, and he makes a point of highlighting a “China stolen-media-of-the-day,” which makes him either complicit in the thievery or a net hero, I’m not sure which.
China webmasters
This is a brand new one, but it deserves attention. My friend Alex is learning to build a website in China. In the process, he’s compiling all kinds of relevant information on the pitfalls, tools and strategies for being master of the web.
And, going outside the China blogosphere:
Invisible Inkling
Another Ryan, another smart guy. I used to live in Santa Cruz, and I used to hate the Sentinel, our local paper. It never covered the university like I wanted, I didn’t like its politics, and it was the local paper, and nobody liked the local paper. These days, I look at it and think, “Damn, interesting stuff happening there. And good stuff.” This is a guy who’s helping make that happen.
Teaching Online Journalism
This was the first blog I found in what now constitutes half my daily read. Mindy McAdams teaches at the University of Florida, and I suspect many of her students will be the ones who reshape journalism into something vibrant, sustainable and significant as news transitions from print-focused to the web-driven.
This always feels a bit like an exercise in guessing who reads my blog. I completely struck out last time, which is partly why I picked people I can call and hassle. Let’s see if this round goes better.
A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.
—Anonymous
Posted in self-indulgence | 4 Comments »
March 25th, 2007 Chris
Welcome to the new digs. Come in, make yourself comfortable. Eh, shoes off, this is still Asia and I’m hosted in Hong Kong. Those of you coming from my old BlogSpot site, great to see you. Anybody new, don’t be shy. Pipe up in the comments and let me know what you think.
I haven’t fully moved in, as you can see by my lack of a theme or widgets or much else beyond my imported posts and blogroll. Much work remains. But all that aside, it’s great to be here, under my own domain name and working off Wordpress. I’m still breaking in the software, but I already like it better than Blogger for reasons I’ll detail later.
Again, welcome, and enjoy the coming conversation.
Update: Theme added. Sidebar meddled with. How’s it looking?
Update 2: New blogroll added. Tried to install a real home page. Failed. About page is gone, too. This is harder than I thought it would be. Still having fun.
Posted in self-indulgence | 5 Comments »
March 20th, 2007 Chris
Alex here in Dalian emailed me this tidbit:
Three out of every four unique Blogspot.com URLs that appeared in the top 50 results for commercial queries were spam, the study said. Blogspot is the hosting site for Google’s blogging service. Blogs created for marketing purposes are sometimes referred to as “splogs.”
And I assure you, Google, I am not one of them. Move is definitely happening. Just have to pick a server (I’m looking in Hong Kong), pack all my content into a virtual pickup and maybe get a friend to help me arrange furniture…er…widgets. Don’t worry, though. I won’t disappear from this space for a while.
Oh, and BlogSpot is blocked again, for fuck’s sake….
Posted in projects | 3 Comments »
March 16th, 2007 Chris
To be honest, I never really thought spending two years in the same newsroom with Loughrie would do me much good. I mean, he’s a good guy and all (in his own way), but he doesn’t really have the kind of moral framework you want rubbing off on you.
Last night, though, more often than I should admit, I was thinking: “WWJD.”
“What would James do?”
Check. Raise. Fold. Yeah, I’m talking about poker here, nothing cosmic. But when I had a pile of photocopied 100-RMB bills in front of me and the guy across the table said “All in,” what the hell else was I supposed to conjure up?
I almost didn’t play at all. I didn’t even think I’d go out. There are always excuses to stay home and mope, so I dragged myself to the Tin Whistle. The game was a fund raiser for the Wolfhounds, Dalian’s ad hoc Gaelic football team. I keep meaning to join, but that means regular practices and running and not being lazy. And I haven’t decided how not-lazy I want to be this semester. I figured I could do more for the team as a piss poor poker player than a piss poor footballer.
The game was no-limit hold ‘em, starting with 16 players at two tables. A few went for too much too early, and I got a good flop or two that put me ahead. An old golf pro used to tell me: “If you don’t know what you’re doing, fake it.” Works for poker, too, I guess.
Somehow I made it to the final table. I had a wad of paper cash (no chips to be found in Dalian) in my back pocket, which I kept promising to lose so I could go flirt with the Italian girls. It was somebody’s birthday, and they didn’t mind my Chitaliano. I kept saying that, figuring I’d be out in a round or two, then taking the next pot.
It went on like this for hours. Around 1:30 a.m. there were two of us left, me and another equally unlikely player. Martin didn’t come to the final table with much. He got there because someone got too ambitious or didn’t have the cards or something. Hell, I don’t even know how I got there, so it’s no use speculating. But Martin hung in, and he let me knock out Jim, who brought the most money to the final table and who everybody figured would end up with something.
We went back and forth more times than I can count by recollection. I had a big lead, so I figured it was just a matter of time. Then he went all in on a flush draw, clubs. I had a pair of 2s. Both our hands were balanced on the river card. I dealt it: 2 of clubs. That gave me three 2s, him a flush. We started calling him Lazarus after that. He just wouldn’t die.
Two hours into St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish were singing Pirates of the Caribbean songs (Yo-ho and something about rum), and we were still playing.
I went for broke a few times after that, and I won every hand on the last card. When I needed a jack, a jack came up. It happened three times in a row. We were even, then I was ahead, then he took one and I took the next. At 2:30 a.m. we contemplated splitting the pot. Four hundred each would be a good night’s take. He held out, went all in on the next hand and brought me down to a minimal pile again. One more finished it.
How did Martin win? Hell if I know. I’m typing this up with a hangover and trying to figure out how I played five hours of hold ‘em last night and finished second in a field of far better players. My friends back home will testify: I don’t really do this sort of thing. Gambling ain’t me. My worst nightmare, I’ve often said, is a no-limit game with Loughrie and a few of our old editors. Deal me out.
Look how much happier Martin looks with all that fake cash.
Shoulda been me.
Posted in the Dalian life | 7 Comments »
March 14th, 2007 Chris
I got an email yesterday from a local reader named Bianca responding to my review of China Wakes. She would have posted it as a comment, but Blogger has mysteriously put everything in Chinese lately, and I can’t switch back to English (another reason I’m switching to Wordpress soon). Regardless of how her thoughts got here, they’re sharp enough to deserve a new post.
—
In terms of your question “Can a book published a decade ago about current events still offer accurate insights?” When considering China’s relationship with Africa I would have to say yes. While I haven’t read China Wakes, the statement, “China will demand far more of the world’s energy resources” is a precise description of what China wants from Africa.
I have recently moved from Durban, South Africa to Dalian and South Africa was one of the 8 countries President Hu Jintao powered through on his Africa tour shortly before I left. I think there is a point in trying to figure out which move China’s development is going to take. The truth is that a relationship with China and Africa is inevitable but it is the nature of this duet that needs to be closely watched.
With big promises of debt relief and development such as building railway lines, China is dangling the juicy carrot in front of Africa’s eyes, asking it to sell it’s soul and provide mineral resources for money and development.
The MG Online reported on China’s recent attempts to ‘colonise’ Africa:
“China has made Africa a centrepiece of its diplomacy, seeking access to energy and resources on the continent to feed its rapidly expanding economy, as well as the strategic benefits that come with the backing of Africa’s 53 countries at the United Nations.
“Chinese President Hu Jintao offered Africa $5-billion in loans and credit during a China-Africa summit in Beijing last year.
“He followed up by announcing ahead of a trip there last month that China would lend $3-billion in preferential credit over three years and double aid and interest-free loans.”
The criticism of China’s interests in Africa by the West has been widely debated as many argue that it is a major contradiction made by the West. Obviously debt relief and development are two things that Africa desperately need however the cost to Africa and consequences which inevitably occur need to be seriously considered. The relationship between China and Zambia is a prime example of the huge potential of this going bad.
China has spent millions in Zambia building railway lines and employing Zambians at their mines. The cost of this has been that many Zambian small-business owners have lost out as the Chinese have invaded the informal market sector as well. Another atrocious backlash is the mistreatment of workers at the mines and this goes by unnoticed, as because of the financial contribution made to the country, China is accountable to no one.
If this were to occur in many other Southern African countries where political instability is present it could result in a dangerous and messy situation, which would be difficult to get out of. On the other hand perhaps Africa should jump for the helping hand in making it more developed and less dependent on the West. I think we will have to see – let’s hope Africa makes the right decision.
—
Posted in News | 3 Comments »
March 12th, 2007 Chris
I’m on a Great Firewall kick this week. Here’s another unappetizing morsel:
Go to a blocked page, like VOA News or China Redux. Use a proxy to get around it. I use Tor, which gets around just about anything (including South Korea’s block of at least one North Korean website–can’t find the link now), but it drags down my speed to something resembling dial-up. Remember those old DSL commercials in the USA where people shouted “modem!” as a swear word? It’s that slow.
So I usually don’t leave Tor running any longer than I have to. As soon as the blocked page is loaded, I hit the Tor button (a handy Firefox add-on), and the web returns to reasonable speeds.
Here’s the problem: When I try to save a blocked page on del.icio.us, the bookmark window is likewise blocked. Tor gets around that, too, but I’m back to slow browsing. Del.icio.us tags work when using Anonymouse, but it grabs the whole url. And I just prefer the built-in Tor to the web-based Anonymouse, so it’s not much help.
Again, I don’t know if this is a local problem or something widespread. Anybody else running into this?
Posted in projects | 2 Comments »
