Giladon-line » china

Bon Appetite!

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:08:38 +0000

This is a poster right outside a Hot Pot restaurant in Shenzhen. You can also spot these types of images around Hong Kong – huge posters of full roast ducks smiling out from bus stations across town. The Chinese have absolutely none of the Western hypocrisy around seeing what animal their meat came from. On the contrary – they actually appreciate seeing its form on their dinner table (teeth and all…). There is absolutely no way such a poster would be used to advertise a roast in any American restaurant.

But you gotta admit, the cow (or goat?!) looks kinda happy with that grin. Heart-warmingly sickening!

Chinese Immigration @ Hong Kong – Shenzhen Border

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:00:08 +0000

Once I crossed into China at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border, I spotted these signs everywhere – ‘No U-Turns’ and ‘No Refluence’! I’m fascinated by just how the Chinese authorities chose these words. Definitely not a gwailo working there and most probably translated from a Mandarin-English dictionary. Mandarin is so poetic, seems reasonable that they chose this ‘flowy’ word instead of its straightforward English substitute – ‘NO ENTRY’! When will dictionaries have more cultural pointers like – ‘BTW, if you do NOT want to make a fool of yourself, absolutely DO NOT use this word when giving people directions!’.

Hahley-Davidson

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:49:59 +0000

This is a fashion store in Shenzhen, China. Lots of Hahley-Davidson fashion items for an L.A.BOY like me

Leaving Neverland

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:06:27 +0000

A friend put it nicely as we were sipping our 7-11 champagne out of plastic cups in front of Mes Amis, right after the Hong Kong Sevens final game. She said ‘This city is like living in Neverland; you never have to grow up, and nobody thinks you’re ridiculous for doing things your own way’. Gwailo power is what we used to call it. Gwailo power, of course, applied only to us expats.

Hong Kong is a bubble in every sense – geographically, politically and socially. A unique gem in the heart of the South China Sea, strategically located short distances from all major East Asian destinations. The city calls itself a ‘World City’, a sarcastic label for this detached metropolis in my eyes. If it WERE a world city, its people would truly care about the consequences of their actions – the unfolding environmental disaster which they breath in every day, their apathetic approach and acceptance of Mainland China’s injustices and their lack of interest in world news.

Wealth in this city was historically connected to the rise in the manufacturing industries of Guangdong region. Up until the nineties, Hong Kong served as the main gateway into and out of China. It’s phenomenal wealth multiplied exponentially during the colonial times. But Hong Kongers are paying the heavy price now. As China opens its gates to the world, Hong Kong loses its competitive advantage. It is no longer the base for managing manufacturing and production lines. While the current generation does not receive as many financial benefits as their predecessors, they are paying the high price with their lungs. Until China is pressured to regulate its manufacturing etiquette (a term that doesn’t really work in mainland China), we are all to blame for this constant gray that hovers over the city. We strengthen the smog with every single Made-in-China product and material that we purchase.

As clean as this city tries to be (and post-SARS it is SUBSTANTIALLY cleaner), pollution levels are alarming. I saw the sun probably twice during my two week stay. A constant gray covers the city, as pollution streams come in from Guangdong. Sure, when I lived in Hong Kong I had gotten used to the gray, but coming from sunny California was difficult this time. A local restaurant owner in Causeway Bay once told me about his days growing up in Hong Kong some fourty years ago – clear blue skies and daily swims in the Victoria Harbour. These days are long gone. I would dare even dip a finger in the victoria harbor. Why are the people of Hong Kong so apathetic to these so-called externalities which directly affect their environment? Why do they not come together against the environment hazard unfolding in the Mainland?

Oiwan Lam, Global Voices Online Editor explained just how difficult it is to motivate Hong Kong youth towards activism. They don’t see the point. Hong Kong has never really had wars, nor an army. A space in-between. A bubble.

However, one thing I’ve always appreciated about expat life is how integrated different age groups are. It is common to hang out with a variety of people, from younger to older, it doesn’t matter in Hong Kong. This trip, however, I felt different. Maybe its because I’ve spent too much time in the States, but this time I started noticing things I could not excuse. For instance spotting a colleague from the past (probably in his 50’s) flirting and dancing real close to a 20 year old young Eurasian girl. Something I would have easily let pass by while living there, but could not this time. It just wasn’t right. Neither were the young Thai girls getting it on with fat old white businessmen.

Perhaps I’ve grown up, or maybe I finally feel I’ve left this city for good. This visit, I kept my eyes wide open. Constantly comparing, and noticing little faults I’d never seen before. I used to love living inside this perfect shielded world. Now am on the outside looking in. Realizing it is about to burst.

[tags]hong kong, HK, travel [/tags]

mInfo: Chinese Mobile Phone SMS service

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 22:21:22 +0000

“Will it rain today?” Apparently mInfo, a Shanghai-based mobile search startup, is working on a service that will be able to answer such a question on our phones.

They intend to understand natural language queries inputed by users on their mobile phones, and to deliver highly relevant answers. The service allows you to retrieve search results using SMS or WAP. Their revenue model is that of a common search service – generating revenues from target advertising and allowing clients to bid for search result ranking. I just wonder how well that works with SMS, since the length of each message is extremely short. I also hope this service has extremely good NLP (natural Language Processing) analysis, since we are ever more sensitive to span in our mobile phones. Somehow it is bearable in our email, but when it comes to phones, and users paying per message they receive, spam messages will not be tolerated.

(source: shanghaimomo)

This same company has recently acquired Guanxi, a city guide which allows you to SMS keywords in English, Mandarin, or Pin Yin from your mobile phone to search locations in cities right across China. The service responds to your SMS with the result/s of your search in the language that you used to search. If there is more than one matched venue for your search criteria, you will be sent a list of the matched venues, replying with the number of the corresponding venue from the match list will get you the address and directions of your selected venue. To get these details in Chinese simply reply with a C.

The service owns two short codes, one for China Unicom users:

and the other for China Mobile users:

Upon signing up to this service, you have to insert your China ID Card Number or your Passport Number in order to receive a one month free service. And that’s the part where myself and probably 90% of the other potential users click the x on the top right of our browser. Interesting service, especially for gwailos with minimal Chinese language skills. But still doesn’t seem ready for mass use.

China: SMS protest helps halt chemical plant construction

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 07:13:17 +0000

In the Chinese city of Xiamen, authorities have halted construction of a chemical plant after residents sent more than 1 million mobile phone text messages protesting possible pollution dangers. What is interesting here is that in such a regime where people have limited power when getting together physically to protest, ubiquitous technology such as SMS helps amplify their united voices, and in this case actually made a difference. (although I found these photos of a rally that happened there on flickr -> so not sure if only the SMS made the gov’t decide, or if it is just a nice title to have in the news…)

Part of a text message widely forwarded said the chemicals produced at the plant could “cover Xiamen in a nuclear bomb, causing the people of Xiamen afterward to live with leukemia and deformities. We want life, we want health!”
Across China, public awareness of environmental issues began to crystallize after an explosion at a chemical plant along northern China’s Songhua River in late 2005. The spill contaminated water for millions of residents in one of China’s largest cities and forced the government to begin to address the problem of widespread pollution.
But despite repeated vows of crackdowns, chemical spills and other incidents are near daily occurrences, according to the state’s environmental watchdog.
The heated reaction in Xiamen, a city with 1.5 million residents, shows how public opinion has changed. According to Xinhua, nearly one million text messages were sent protesting the plant’s construction, eventually forcing the government to capitulate.
Despite intense government controls, China’s Internet and cellphone texting remain a freewheeling space. The Xiamen texting highlights the use of a new medium to spread a message in China. Already, Chinese mobile phones are used to send text ads.
The city’s reversal is one of the most visible cases in China whereby texting — which is harder to block than Internet messages — was effectively used to quash a government initiative.
Yet, there were signs the government was attempting to clamp down. Xiamen residents contacted by phone said they could no longer forward the text message that discussed organizing a protest for June 1.
Other residents said some Internet postings about the project were being deleted. One worker at a local university said officials there had warned everyone against participating in the protest.
(source: WSJ)