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baroness radon: "
I remember a Starbucks cup from several years..."
Lorin Yochim: "
“Saving the world…one cup at a..."
China’s ‘century of humiliation’ and the Olympics (
1)
Afi: "
The most irmpotant reason why China may not invest in the..."
Foreign baby in China essentials: IMPORTED BABY FORMULA (
24)
damien: "
I am going to have a baby in china , are there USA..."
Steve Jobs, Apple, China and Us [updated] (
16)
Dr Ross Grainger: "
The American CEOs I mentioned are less..."
Max: "
I understand that, but look what Erica wrote: “paying too..."
Affordable gadgets vs. Chinese workers’ rights (
2)
Joel 大江: "
Do you know what got him interested in Chinese..."
Meredith: "
Mike Daisey, who is featured in the CBS News article..."
Happy Lantern Festival 2011 from Tianjin, China! (
7)
Joel 大江: "
Hi Rachel! These photos and video were taken on the..."
Rachel Harwood: "
We are expats in Teda, and this is our first..."
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Chinese take-out
Good good study, day day up!
Pronounced: guó bǎo
Literally: National Security/National Treasure
Means: The two terms are homophones, and "national treasure" often means "panda". A writer at Seeing Red in China explains the rest: "how panda becomes the symbol for Chinese security thugs: Chinese national security (more like secret police) is called 国保 (guó bǎo) for short, and it’s pronounced exactly the same as 国宝, national treasure. Netizens sometimes refer 国保 as 国宝, jokingly, hence Panda, China’s national treasure. Kungfu Panda movies provided the basis for Panda to be a martial character."
With the recent confrontation between Batman actor Christian Bale and some infamous Chinese security thugs, online Chinese are been passing around "Pandaman vs. Batman" jokes, and photoshopping "Pandaman" into all kinds of scenarios, including movie posters and images from other security embarrassments and scandals. See here, here and here for more.
- 2011/12/19
InterWǎng Debris
Recent China internet debris.
Affordable gadgets vs. Chinese workers' rights
Three recent news articles (and one response) return the spotlight to the mammoth electronics factories in China that make most of our favourite electronics, pointing out what everybody knows and no one wants to think about:
Happy Chinese workers spell the end of affordable tech (ZDNet)
"Human and worker rights reforms in China would have serious negative consequences for the efficiency and cost of the gadget supply chain.
[...]
"Foxconn’s client list reads like a celebrity tech roster that includes Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, Lenovo, IBM, Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, Microsoft, Sharp, Sony, Motorola, Asus, Acer and Vizio... tablet runners and e-reader champions Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Yes, your Kindles and Nooks are also made by the very same companies with the same awful working conditions that make products for Apple."
The dark side of shiny Apple products (CBS News)
"...our most popular electronic devices are largely made by hand ... MANY hands, as it turns out ... hands that often are very over-worked, or so industry's critics contend."
[...]
""I met workers who were 12. Do you really think Apple doesn't know?"
"But what was news were the suicides..."
In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad (NYT)
and
BSR: New York Times’ Apple-Foxconn article contains untruths, inaccuracies, and misleading info (Mac Daily News)
- 2012/02/06
Those aren't Chinese New Year's fireworks; they're "recreational munitions"
From Nankai Rob's Chinese New Year 2012 post "Spring Festival Time. . .Lock and Load":
"...parties are held on a scale so massive that Caligula would have nodded in approval, and enough recreational munitions are set off to make the Battle of Waterloo feel like a suburban bar mitzvah. You’ll notice my careful word choice here: “recreational munitions” rather than “fireworks.” “Fireworks” as a term carries with it more celebratory, even innocent connotations, but you can’t define Chinese celebratory fireworks by the intent behind them. Certainly they’re set off with great excitement and joy, but you can, after all, also lob a grenade into a dumpster with great excitement and joy, and most of what is being set off these days qualifies for inclusion in the dumpster-grenade category. So: recreational munitions."
For more about the genuinely stunning Chinese New Year fireworks phenomenon with photos and video, see:
Happy Chinese New Year!
- 2012/01/22
Tension rising with Mainland students in American universities
Interesting observations at China Law Blog about how Mainland Chinese students studying in the USA -- in contrast to Chinese from other countries -- are apparently generating a lot of anger among the American students: Chinese Students In America. It's Bad Out There.
It seems that Mainland Chinese attitudes toward education don't play well among their American classmates. For example:
"They cheat all the time. It is pretty unbelievable how often I have seen them cheating. I am always complaining to my professors about this, but they usually just act like they are too important to deign to deal with something like this. Just come watch a test being adminstered and it will be obvious. They are allowed to get away with it because they pay the foreign tuition rate."
"One student told me of how all the students not from China agreed not to speak one day to see what would happen. There was no class discussion and the teacher asked them not to do it again."
- 2012/01/11
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Apparently upperclass parents of primary school-age children in Taiwan won’t go for this sort of thing, according to our boss who made it big as a marketing consultant, so I have to lose the hair and the beard. It’s worth it for China, and I guess Taiwan is close enough.
The beard went last night (Jessica cried), and the hair cut appointment is for 3pm today. Joanna and Julia are quite happy about the whole thing – one of them is even paying for the hair cut. 
Canada:
China:
Taiwan:
The States:
Ecuador:
Brazil:
Haiti:
UK:
Well I must say that will be different. A clean cut Joel, thats something your going to have to post soon.
Hey Joel,
You are quite a dashing guy under all the hair. With or without the hair we love you for who you are.
Taipei will be a great experience for you. I can’t wait to tell you where all the good restaurants are.
God bless.
David
Baton Rouge
oh man, I can’t wait to eat… everything!
…now I can’t brag to all my friends that you look like you know who!
Who? An 18-year-old Bob Saget (to quote my sisters)? Btw, that third picture isn’t current…. it’s from the mid-90′s, maybe soph year.
Joel, those images take me back a number of years to uganda, when you let your head hair run into your chin hair. Through all these years, I never realized your close visual relation to the blue clues guy, but man, that is scary on many levels.
thanks for being oppressed for the sake of the kids. I just read the last comment by you that told me the last picture wasn’t current. I thought it was recent, I could not get over the difference. when are we going to see pictures?
That’s right, it’s all for the kids… or their parents… or to get us to Taiwan. Pictures? Eventually… once I’m done mourning. =)
Hey, happy anniversary to you and Joey, by the way!
What a shock for the first visit to the new website! I think I’ll have to make a memorial to the old Joel. We sure will miss him. ;) You know, what’s funny is that lots of people have commented in several continents that I look like Steve from Blues Clues. Maybe we’re long lost brothers.
Enjoying freedom and missing the daily mental stimulus of class,
Brian
You totally look like the Blue’s Clues guy! I’ll make sure to mention that to our boss when they’re ready to hire more teachers in a couple months.
I can’t wait to see the no beard/no long hair look…it’ll be great! :) obviously by the “english” this is Tami and not ryan. haha. I’ll email you to get my own name soon! hope you guys are doing good!
Tami :)
Eleven posts off you simply getting a hair cut and shave. That’s bragging right yo! I’ll be glad to make it twelve.
Peace and Grace on your trip.