April 2012
19 posts
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“(One) facility that intrigued me… handled online orders for a different...”
– From “China Makes, the World Takes,” by James Fallows, in the July/August 2007 Atlantic. Great stuff. I rediscovered this one by picking up a copy of Postcards from Tomorrow Square, Fallows’s collection of essays about China. It might be a bit elementary for you longtime...
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China only allows 34 foreign movies to be shown in... →
theweekmagazine:
… which means studios have to compete for precious few slots.
Hollywood sees China, with its massive population and a rapidly growing middle class, as an irresistible source of revenue growth, particularly at a time when fewer Americans are going to the movies. China has about 6,000 movie…
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“Who are you? What do you want? You love doing? These are not important, it is...”
– Mad Men synopsis, as translated by SoKu.com, one of China’s main video-sharing sites
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A Body, a Scandal and China →
The scandal is the talk of China, and the government has lost control of the narrative. This scandal may have far-reaching effects on the national leadership, and it should, for it points to a larger truth: China’s political model is simply running out of steam.
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Rumor, Lies, and Weibo: How Social Media is... →
The tug-of-war between the government and the people over truth and rumor happens every day in today’s China. The rise of social media has made the struggle harder and the stakes higher. … “Why does the U.S. not censor rumors?” asked one Weibo user last November. “No matter how wild they are, nobody bans them, and the creators of rumors do not worry about getting...
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Shanghainese women have a reputation for being insufferably stuck-up and materialistic. It’s a refrain I’ve heard since my first night here: Whatever you do, don’t date a Shanghainese girl. (I’ve even heard it from a few Shanghainese girls, which is always funny.) I can’t corroborate the warning with any first-hand evidence — the only Chinese women I’ve...
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Urine-soaked eggs a spring taste treat in China... →
Basins and buckets of boys’ urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in “virgin boy eggs”, a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young boys, preferably below the age of 10.
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“There are two religions in China,” the rabbi said. “One is food. the...”
– From “Kosher Takeout,” by Patricia Marx, in a January 2009 New Yorker, about mashgihim (kosher inspectors) in China, which is now the fastest-growing exporter of kosher goods on earth
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Chinese Woman Gives Birth to Septuplets, Has One... →
SHANGHAI, CHINA—In the second such documented case ever, Jinan Huang, a 33-year-old Shanghai woman, gave birth to septuplets Monday.
Jinan, who is in stable condition following the 31-hour delivery, has been given one week by government officials to decide which child she will keep.
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Chinese Insider Offers Rare Glimpse of U.S.-China... →
In a joint conclusion, the authors say the level of strategic distrust between the two countries has become so corrosive that if not corrected the countries risk becoming open antagonists.
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Both Mr. Wang and Mr. Lieberthal argue that beneath the surface, both countries see deep dangers and threatening motivations in the policies of the other.
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In China Press, Best Coverage Cash Can Buy →
“If one of my companies came up with a cure for cancer, I still couldn’t get any journalists to come to the press conference without promising them a huge envelope filled with cash,” said one Shanghai-based private equity investor, insisting that he not to be named because he feared journalists would boycott covering his companies altogether.
March 2012
21 posts
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The Atlantic: Why Are Some Countries More... →
Good analysis from The Atlantic, but I’m dubious of the EIU’s index, at least with respect to Shanghai, which they rank five spots above New York. I moved here from New York, and there is no way Shanghai is more expensive all-around. Maybe if you buy into the real estate bubble here, maybe if you eat overpriced Western food for every meal every day, maybe if you attend movies every...
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China Clamps Down on Social Networking Over Online... →
Heavy, heady stuff. BTW, here are the rumors being referred to.
