MetaFilter posts tagged with China

Snow Sculptures

netbros — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:52:31 -0800

Winter is here in the northern hemisphere and there is snow in many places, including China. In Beijing, heavy snows can stop the city but can’t stop the fun, as this snowman and snow sculpture collection shows.

Choosing Central Asia for a bride

Abiezer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:45:19 -0800

Fascinated by the Orient An exhibition of the letters, photographs and maps bequeathed to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences by the great explorer, archaeologist, geographer and Sanskritist Sir Marc Aurel Stein. Journeyer in the footsteps of Alexander, explorer of Central Asia and West China, surveyor of the antiquities of India and Iran; after a long life of journeying through and studying central Asia, Aurel Stein found his final rest in Kabul. He is also remembered for rediscovering the oldest dated printed book still in existence, a copy of the Diamond Sutra in the caves at Mogao. That the latter and many thousands of other manuscripts collected by Stein now reside in the British Library is of course, like his other 'treasure hunting', not without controversy.

A House Divided Against Itself

hermitosis — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:08:45 -0800

Planned demolition in Liuzhou goes dangerously wrong.

All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you.

humannaire — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:49:45 -0800

This past Tuesday, China executed Briton Akmal Shaikh for heroin smuggling, the first foreigner to be executed in China since Italian Antonio Riva was put to death in 1951. Shaikh's family, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and U.N. officials all had asked for clemency based on the fact the 53-year old, father-of-three Shaikh was a mentally ill person who believed he was a pop star on a mission for world peace and had been duped into being an unwitting drug mule. Nonetheless, regardless of international outcry, Shaikh was put to death. The outcry continues. A music video has been created for Shaikh's music single, Come Little Rabbit.

腾蛇乘雾，终为土灰

Abiezer — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:57:48 -0800

Man from the Margin: Cao Cao and the Three Kingdoms You'll perhaps have read or watched reports that archaeologists believe they have found the tomb of Cao Cao (曹操) (of course, not everyone agrees with the identification). Warrior, strategist, statesman and poet, Cao Cao lives on in the cultural memory of China, a by-word for cunning and of course a central character in the great historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and hence also recent John Woo blockbuster Red Cliff. To understand the man in his historical context, there's little better in English than the 1990 George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology given by now-retired Professor Rafe de Crespigny, one of the foremost Western scholars of the Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms periods of Chinese history. He makes several of his vastly erudite essays on Chinese history available at the ANU's website.

General Tso's Climate

seanmpuckett — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:43:17 -0800

A short piece in the Guardian from Mark Lynas: sitting in on the final climate negotiations at Copenhagen. Students of negotiation tactics will find this passage particularly compelling:

The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao, did not deign to attend the meetings personally, instead sending a second-tier official in the country's foreign ministry to sit opposite Obama himself. The diplomatic snub was obvious and brutal, as was the practical implication: several times during the session, the world's most powerful heads of state were forced to wait around as the Chinese delegate went off to make telephone calls to his "superiors".

It seems as if the new world superpower is finally starting to throw its weight around.

Lantern Slides

vronsky — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:40:02 -0800

Gertrude Bass Warner Lantern Slides::Rice Festival::Japanese Child::Sumo::Bride and Groom::Dressing Hair::Tengu Dancing

New South China Mall

shii — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:14:00 -0800

An eccentric Chinese entrepreneur built the world's second largest shopping mall in a rural area with no airport and no freeway. Today, that mall stands almost completely empty. An interview with the director. Previously on MetaFilter: a photo gallery and report.

Is Racism Alive and Well in China?

inara — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:27:04 -0800

The New York Times online's Room for Debate blog tackles the issue of race in China. It's also worth reading the readers' comments on this one.

Bye, Bye Butterstick.

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:25:10 -0800

Tai Shan the panda more commonly known as Butterstick is being deported to China. His parents will be joining him at the end of 2010.

Sister Ping and the Golden Venture

reenum — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:11:13 -0800

Cheng Chui Ping came to the US like many others from the Fujian province in China. Through hard work and determination, she rose in the ranks of New York City's Chinatown business community. But, "Sister Ping" was not one to follow laws if it didn't suit her. Among the snakeheads who engaged in human trafficking, none were better than her. Working with notorious gangsters, Sister Ping set up a global network to help smuggle Fujianese immigrants into the US. Sean Chen and others were among those who were on the ill fated trip that ultimately sent Sister Ping to prison. Their ordeals were not over either. Many spent years in immigration detention centers, waiting to enter the country they had endured so much to get to. Sister Ping is due to be released from prison in 2030.

Chairman Mao's Underground City

Kattullus — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:33:27 -0800

Chairman Mao's Underground City is a pictorial travelogue of a small part of the tunnels that Chairman Mao had built under Beijing to serve as a nuclear fallout shelter. The intrepid urban explorers come across some surprising things. The complex, which was built by hand, could house three hundred thousand people for up to four months and had amenities such as restaurants, cinemas and roller rinks. Here's a short Travel Channel feature on the Underground City.

George Soros on the Way Forward

kliuless — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:42:21 -0800

Soros lectures
You can slog through the video, but I preferred the transcripts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 + to me, it started off rather abstract* (admittedly on his part) and slow (covered ground; note soros tag) and doesn't really get interesting until 3 -- "The event that forced me to thoroughly reconsider the concept of open society was the re-election of President Bush..." [altho he can get a bit arrogant ("even I, who discovered—or invented—reflexivity, failed to recognize...")] -- and gets better from there... so i'd skip to that if you're so inclined :P kinda previously... and btw, as a bonus, also see... - Why Do We Hate? - What Makes a Nation Rich? - How Much Is Enough? - What the U.S. Long Bond Market Is Telling Us (cf.) - The G20 in 2050 (viz.) - Rare earth: The New Great Game [1,2,3,4,5,6] --- *in fleshing out his concept of reflexivity he goes thru (among other things and in other words) descriptive vs. prescriptive (or normative) theories, instrumental rationality and empiricism, false thinking and truthiness, the law of unintended consequences, &c. so if you're into that sort of stuff... have at it!

Nine Nations of China

smoke — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:35:26 -0800

Patrick Chovanec, associate professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, has written an interesting map of "The Nine Nations of China". It's a little bit "Libya is a land of contrasts", but nonetheless an interesting primer.

Ethnic groups of China

joeclark — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:25:21 -0800

Ethnic groups of China – that is, the officially recognized ones, in their respective finery. (Photo essay, text mostly in Chinese. Via.)

Lithographs from the Touchstone Studio

Abiezer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:33:13 -0800

Envisioning Chinese Society in the Late Nineteenth Century: Words and Images from the Dianshizhai Pictorial Very nice online presentation of translated content from the famed nineteenth century Shanghai pictorial journal (China's first); Dianshizhai (点石斋画报) was modelled on Britain's Punch and produced as a supplement for Shen Bao subscribers. Flash is used so elements in the cartoons can be clicked for further information: a young woman repels a thief with martial derring-do; a customer bilks on the bill in a street eatery in Hangzhou; small-town society and politics with the muddle-headed magistrate; a non-performing temple bell offers a chance for sceptical commentary on religion; the gentlemanly pastime of cricket-fighting.

Who's to blame for the snow in Beijing?

up in the old hotel — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:59:19 -0800

It's snowing in China. Who's responsible? To help end a severe drought in northern China, the Beijing Weather Modification Bureau has been using silver iodide to make it snow. It's debatable whether this even works. Nevertheless, it's snowing heavily and many Chinese are not happy about it.

Incidentally, it was the late Bernard Vonnegut (Kurt's brother) who discovered that silver iodide could be used to seed clouds and produce rain.

The Economist: The World in 2010

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:09:43 -0800

In 2010, Obama will have a miserable year, NATO may lose in Afghanistan, the UK gets a regime change, China needs to chill, India's factories will overtake its farms, Europe risks becoming an irrelevant museum, the stimulus will need an exit strategy, the G20 will see a challenge from the "G2", African football will unite Korea, conflict over natural resources will grow, Sarkozy will be unloved and unrivalled, the kids will come together to solve the world's problems (because their elders are unable), technology will grow ever more ubiquitous, we'll all charge our phones via USB, MBAs will be uncool, the Space Shuttle will be put to rest, and Somalia will be the worst country in the world. And so the Tens begin.

The Economist: The World in 2010. Previously: 2009, 2008, 2007. How did we do last time around? Guest contributions: President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso lines up Europe's priorities President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev argues for dialogue and cooperation President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed wants his island nation to remain above water President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would like for Islam and the West to live in harmony President of South Africa Jacob Zuma says Africa should rise to the occasion Director-General of the World Health Organisation Margaret Chan predicts the development of the flu pandemic Managing director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn explains how to prevent another crisis CEO of Yahoo! Carol Bartz believes business leaders should tap into the information flood Chairman of HSBC Stephen Green argues that the financial sector should welcome emerging economies CEO of Fiat Group and Chrysler Group Sergio Marchionne thinks greener cars require bolder action CEO/CTO of SpaceX Elon Musk says the private sector should handle space travel

Oriental Angel

djduckie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:37:19 -0800

Lou Jing was your average 20 year old woman from Shanghai, until being on Go! Oriental Angel, an American Idol like singing competition show, had to point out the obvious. Lou Jing is half Chinese, half African- America, something China apparently wasn't ready for.

Viewing Tianmen Mountain from a Great Distance

HopperFan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:54:22 -0800

Tianmen Shan (天门山, Heaven's Gate Mountain) is an incredible cave natural arch eroded through a karst syncline. And yes, someone had the bright idea to fly stunt planes though it - an opening only 30m high, 70m deep, and 30m wide - it's a great video, though. Tianmen Shan may be unique among the world's great arches(view from the back) in that its formation is recorded in history. Documents from China's "Three Kingdoms" period report that the entire opening formed in one cataclysmic event when the back of a huge cave collapsed in 263 AD. As a result, the name of the mountain was changed from Songliang Shan (嵩梁山) to Tianmen Shan by the emperor of that period, Emperor Wujing. Thus, Tianmen Shan is also one of the very few natural arches with a precisely known age. To get there, you drive up Tongtian Avenue (Avenue toward Heaven), which has 99 turns, symbolizing that Heaven has nine palaces. Then you take the Tianan stairs (also known as Tianti, or the Celestial/Heaven Reaching Ladder), all 999 steps - and there's no platforms for stopping. Alternatively, you can take the cable car (if you're at all afraid of heights, don't click on this pic) straight from the city - which they claim is the longest cableway in the world with a distance of 7455 meters and a height gap of 1279 meters. The mountain itself is quite famous, being the subject of a poem by Li Bai, 'Viewing Tianmen Mountain from a Great Distance.' Should you want to go, it's located about 8 km south of the city of Zhangjiajie (formerly Dayong) in northern Hunan Province, China.

汉字不灭，中国必亡

moorooka — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:35:52 -0800

Widely regarded as the greatest Chinese writer of the twentieth century, Lu Xun was so deeply unimpressed by the Chinese character-based writing system that he is reported to have said "if Chinese characters do not fade away, China will perish!". In his 1934 "An outsider's chats about written language" (menwai wentan）, he discussed the matter using the pseudonym Hua Yu, which means both "China's Prison" and "China's Language". Lu Xun was by no means the first Chinese scholar to blame the writing system for his nation's backwardness. Indeed, Lu Xun had been preceded by dozens of individuals from the late-Qing period onward who had devised simple and more efficient writing systems, including alphabets, for the various Chinese languages. In the essay Lu Xun favorably compares Latinization of Chinese to the kana-like phonetic Zhuyin Fuhao or bopomofo alphabet, which is still taught (although soon to be phased out) in Taiwan.

China and Pollution

movicont — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:56:21 -0800

Lu Guang, a freelance photographer, took disturbing photos of the effects of pollution in China. Birth defects and other problems affect heavily polluted villages, leading some to be called "cancer villages". Industrial polluters are often protected by a lack of transparency. Zhang Jingjing, one of the few environmental lawyers in China, has difficulty encouraging pollution victims to exercise their rights. Hu Jingtao has promised to "curb the rise in CO2 emissions", but whether or not any actual change has been enacted is yet to be seen.

Goodbye, "Leih Hou Ma," Hello "Ni Hao Ma!"

zarq — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:57:09 -0800

"Chinatown" communities across the United States (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco) are undergoing a shift in linguistic identity, as recent immigrants are more likely to natively speak Mandarin (the official spoken language of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan,) instead of Cantonese. Also see these anecdotal reports about similar changes in Vancouver and Oakland, CA. Good news for the tri-literate: signs like this may soon become commonplace. :) The Language Atlas of China The PopUp Chinese Podcast and Arch Chinese site provide basic Mandarin lessons. Also see: Mango, ZhongWen and LiveMocha

Uh oh.

strangeguitars — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:21:24 -0800

It's armageddon all over again. Chinese have created a black hole.

Two Chinese Brothers

escabeche — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:03:57 -0800

"This is a novel born out of the intersection of two eras. The first is a story of the Cultural Revolution, a time of fanaticism, repressed instincts, and tragic fates, similar to the European Middle Ages. The second is a story of today, a time of subverted ethics, fickle sensuality, and every kind of phenomena, even more like the Europe of today. A westerner would have to live four hundred years to experience the vast differences of the two eras, but a Chinese would only need forty years for the experience." Yu Hua's Brothers, a sprawling, foul-mouthed, comic-historical epic, and the best-selling novel in China's history, is available in English. (The quote above comes from the afterword to Brothers, not included in the US edition.) The New York Times didn't care for the translation, by Eileen Chow and Carlos Rojas; Chinese litblog Paper Republic criticized the review, leading to an interesting comment thread in which both Chow and the NYT reviewer participate. Yu got even tougher treatment from local critics, who were baffled by Yu's abandonment of his previous restrained, literary style. Cang Hang (translation via Paper Republic) calls the book "a 500,000 character trash heap." Read an excerpt from Brothers and listen to the relevant podcast at NPR.