MetaFilter posts tagged with China

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.

Santa's Shopping (Epi)Center

DarlingBri — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:10:36 -0800

34 industries, 62,000 stalls, 320,000 commodities for sale, 4 million square meters of selling space: welcome to the world-famous Yiwu Wholesale Market in the Zhejiang Province of China, "where Santa Claus comes to shop." As the factory outlet for the planet’s manufacturing epicentre, it's the perfect place to stock up on Christmas stockings since the city also known as "Sock Town" produces over three billion pairs of socks for Wal-Mart, Pringles and Disney each year. (Licensed exporting to 212 countries probably helps with Santa's distribution logistics.) All is not entirely kosher in Sock Town, however, with reports that "100,000 counterfeit products are openly traded and 2,000 metric tons of fakes change hands daily."

Living in Hell

WPW — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:22:13 -0800

Infernal Landscapes. The work of Lu Guang, who has been given this year's $30,000 W Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. It's inescapably reminiscent of the work of Edward Burtynsky.

Why the Chinese support the Communist party

shetterly — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:26:21 -0800

Why the Chinese support the Communist party Interviews with four elderly Chinese. Among the answers: "We used to live in a tiny house, over ten people all together, just a place of over ten square metres. Now I often say to my husband that life has been totally different for our grandchildren, not only from ours, but from their parents too. They have nothing to worry about, no need to worry about food, clothes."

Ai Weiwei hospitalised

WPW — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:41:46 -0800

Ai Weiwei, one of the leading Chinese artists of his generation, has undergone emergency brain surgery after being beaten by police. Ai attracted the attention of the authorities for his involvement in the Sichuan Earthquake Names Project, which aimed to gather the names of schoolchildren killed in the 2008 earthquake in southern China. He was confronted by police on 12 August in the city of Chengdu and beaten. The officers threatened to kill him. Since the attack he has complained of dizziness and headaches. In mid-September he entered hospital for surgery. “What does that say about our state, which is just getting ready to celebrate its sixtieth year of existence, when this is the answer to legal investigations?” Ai told the German media. He has since released pictures of himself in hospital. The attack and subsequent events have only filtered through to the Western media slowly, but could reignite the debate within the creative professions about engagement with China. Previous posts on Ai Weiwei, Sichuan.

The Journey of a Thousand Miles (or The Long March)

kliuless — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:55:42 -0800

Doing Business in China - "the first step toward sanity in dealing with 'China' is to recognize that there are dozens, hundreds, perhaps tens of thousands of separate realities all lumped together under that one label." BONUS -Outplaying your partner: Poorly Made in China by Paul Midler -Excerpts from Zhao Ziyang's 'Prisoner of the State' -Peking Over Our Shoulder: Our Chinese shareholders get nosy. -The Ongoing Chinese Annexation Of The US Consumer: The irony is that the US consumer is now essentially a vassal state of China's production complex, and all the unbalanced trade and credit flows do, is provide the funding to stimulate the US consumer to purchase even more Chinese products. -The China Consumption Gap: China must essentially retool its growth strategy from an investment-led one, with commensurate changes in policies and incentives -- from education, to health care, to pensions, etc. -- across the board. -Politics Permeates Anti-Corruption Drive in China: Some critics wondered if Beijing's crackdown on executives was really an excuse by the Communist Party to eliminate rivals and their corporate supporters. -"If you thought the Olympic opening ceremony was impressive, just wait for the parades and public ceremonies in Beijing on October 1, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China."

One giant leap for Chinese Internet Censorship

allkindsoftime — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:18:05 -0800

Chinese news site dispense with user anonymity. Includes an updated list of sites China actively blocks, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International (?!? - both links work only outside of China). prev

"Jia Junpeng, your mom is calling you to come home and eat."

tapeguy — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:28:11 -0800

China's latest Internet obsession began with an anonymous post on a computer gaming forum: "Jia Junpeng, your mom is calling you to come home and eat." After attracting more than 17,000 replies in six hours, the original message went on to appear in All Your Base-style photoshops and on t-shirts amid claims by internet marketing experts that they invented the whole thing. Why did the joke travel so fast and so wide? Childhood memories, according to China Daily. Or maybe it was because of a team of secret viral "internet promoters". See also: Toyota's co-opting of the Leeroy Jenkins World of Warcraft video, Russia's Preved! bear and all your memes.

Design Within Reach?

geoff. — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:36:23 -0800

Beijing loves IKEA - but not for shopping. "Every weekend, thousands of looky-loos pour into the massive showroom to use the displays. Some hop into bed, slide under the covers and sneak a nap; others bring cameras and pose with the decor. Families while away the afternoon in the store for no other reason than to enjoy the air conditioning."

New Dominion

Abiezer — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:28:33 -0800

China’s wild west Considered journalism on the historical and political background to the recent inter-ethnic violence in Xinjiang.

I have been arrested by Mawei police, SOS

awfurby — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:58:33 -0800

Peter Guo was held by Chinese police for 16 days, but managed to get himself released. Peter's Twitter profile, blog.

But what lesson can be learned from my experience? I think the most important factor is strong command of the use of Internet, especially Twitter and modern tools for communications.

Axis of ChiRan

adamvasco — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:47:44 -0800

Multi - polarity in Eurasia. Pepe Escobar on Iran, China and the New Silk Road 1 & 2
Iran and China just signed a $3 bn. deal for China to help develop Iran's refinery capacity in Abadan and the Gulf. ( previous )

The state of high-speed rail, August 2009

acb — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:12:59 -0800

The Guardian ran a series of articles looking at the state of high-speed rail travel today. France intends to double its length of track over the next decade, and China is planning a massive rail-building programme, including a high-speed line which will halve the travel time between Beijing and Shanghai to 4 hours. In Germany, domestic air travel is rapidly going extinct, and Spain's network has made day trips between Madrid and Barcelona a possibility. The USA, which has long neglected its rail network, is planning up to 10 high-speed lines. Meanwhile, Britain's only high-speed line goes to France, but there is talk of a 250mph line from London to Birmingham and beyond, possibly by the early 2020s. Meanwhile, the CEO of France's rail operator, SNCF, weighs in on what the UK should do.

Flying pigeon run over by Buick

concreteforest — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:30:23 -0800

With a forecast of 20 percent growth in sales throughout 2009, China is a fascinating example of a society grappling with the effects that the automobile brings. Personally, I'd stick with bikes for the city, guys - it seems more fun.

The Longest Way

shii — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:29:09 -0800

Guy takes a picture of himself every day... as he walks across China. (slyt)

"Files Vanished, Young Chinese Lose the Future."

Keter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:12:08 -0800

Imagine you're living in China, trying to work your way out of the family date farming business (which garners approximately $450 annually). You do all the right things. You apply for (and receive) Communist Party membership. You study literally to the point of collapse, and despite coming from coal-town origins, you score high on your gao kao ("high test," more-or-less the only thing that matters in getting into a Chinese university). Your already-poor family goes deep into debt to send you to college, and you even manage to come out with a degree. Classic rise-up-by-your-own-bootstraps tale, right? However, finally, when you go to apply for a job—your state-sanctioned educational, occupational, and political records are inexplicably, awfully gone. What has happened to that plain manila folder (!) that serves as your only legitimate, official history in Chinese society? Probably stolen and sold so a party official's child can get everything you worked so hard for. And then, of course, your family is detained by party officials when your parents demand to know where the hell your life went. Of course. Then again, local corruption by local officials in China isn't terribly surprising. It's had some time to evolve. This just isn't what you normally think about when you think "government corruption."

Caijing (财经)

KokuRyu — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:39:38 -0800

Caijing (财经) is an independent, Beijing-based magazine devoted to reporting on business in China. The publication's title means "Finance and Economics." Periodical China has suggested 3 key factors that have made Caijing successful. The first is investigative reports, the second is the unique perspective of commentaries, the third is Caijing's three guiding principles-independence, uniqueness and exclusiveness... (However) how much freedom exists in the current Chinese press market for a magazine with such liberal reporting remains questionable. Hu Shuli, the founding editor of the biweekly magazine, was once suspended from a reporting job in 1989 because of her sympathy for the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, yet she has cultivated first-name familiarity with some of China’s most powerful Party leaders. Since 1998, when she established Caijing, she has guided the magazine with near-perfect pitch for how much candor and provocation the regime will tolerate. From a recent article in Caijing about increasing social unrest in China: Mass incidents are breaking out all over China, but the causes are specific, the threat to government is limited and the solutions are within reach

ba ling hou: best identified by their ambivalence

kliuless — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:59:58 -0800

Beijing's underground: "Five years ago, none of my students at Tsinghua or Beida had any interest in what we would call countercultural stuff," says Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Beida's -- that is, Peking University's -- Guanghua School of Management who owns D-22 and the Maybe Mars label. Today Mr. Pettis estimates that a quarter of his students have been to rock clubs and maybe 5% to 10% "are really knowledgeable and sophisticated."

These guys play rough

littlerobothead — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:02:26 -0800

There's no way we get all this stuff and everything is done fair and square and everyone gets treated right. A Chinese employee of Foxconn, entrusted with fourteen (maybe sixteen) prototype iPhones misplaced one before they could be shipped; what followed was his detainment and torture at the hands of company police, and his eventual suicide. Shanghaiist has confirmed the story. Fake Steve weighs in.

Ethnic conflict in China

Kirth Gerson — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:14:35 -0800

"On the evening of July 5th, several hundred Uighur youths went on a bloody rampage [in Urumqi, Xinjiang] following a peaceful demonstration over a separate incident of ethnic violence at a Guangdong toy factory. . . . In the days that followed, bands of roving Han vigilantes armed with kitchen knives, hammers, metal pipes and other improvised weapons sought to mete out revenge in the Uighur suburbs of the city. . . . Caught in-between these increasingly polarized and agitated ethnic communities is the Chinese state, which, rather than orchestrating the brutal oppression of the non-Han minorities, finds itself increasingly powerless to stop the spiralling circle of ethnic hatred which its policies helped to foster in the first place." Here is a news report on the Guangdong toy factory violence that preceded the Xinjiang rioting. Here is a translation of the Gongmeng (Open Constitution Initiative) study of China's Tibet policy referred to in the linked China Beat article, with an introduction by the Campaign for Tibet. The report is carefully critical of the government's approach to Tibet: "Ordinary Tibetans have a far keener and evident sense of deprivation than any sense of government help, and like many people living in provinces in the interior, are deeply discontented with the local power-brokers."