NEW DYNASTY eMag - Newest Stories and Articles

The Only Difference

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:57:47 GMT

After being married to a Chinese woman for two years, I have noticed one question constantly comes up in conversations with both Chinese and Western people. “What are the differences between Chinese and Western girls?” The differences really aren’t that dramatic or unfathomable. But there is one difference that everyone who wants to date or marry a Chinese must understand. The role that our families play in our lives is very different.

Many years ago, I was having the “cultural differences” conversation with some Chinese friends. People kept bringing up the usual suspects of food, entertainment, way of life, and the rest of the trivial ones I was accustomed to hearing. The conversation was generally boring and I gave my standard tape recorder answers. Until one of the guys at the table piped up and uttered one of the most insightful things I have heard in a long time. He said: “The biggest difference between the China and the West is that in the West you marry a girl.

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Versuche es mit Gemütlichkeit...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:49:16 GMT

Meister Yoda sagte einst: Furcht ist der Pfad zur dunklen Seite. Furcht führt zu Wut, Wut führt zu Hass, Hass führt zu unsäglichem Leid.

Eine der Yoga Weisheiten besagt: Die Gedanken sind der Ursprung aller unseren Gefühlen und Handlungen, deshalb gilt es sie zu beherrschen.So wäre es theoretisch moeglich, dass man Ärger, Wut und andere Gefühle erst gar nicht entstehen lässt. Also könnte ich theoretisch cool bleiben und durch das Leben gehen ohne mich aufzuregen, das wäre schön! Ich will es mal versuchen. Wir laufen am Abend zum schönen neuen Restaurant an der Ecke. Wir müssen nur ca. 1 km bis zur Ecke laufen und dann nochmal vielleicht 0.5 km. Nicht weit. Es ist ein warmer Abend und eigentlich könnte alles einfach nur schön sein.

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Eine letzte gute Tat

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:42:08 GMT

Man macht sich immer Gedanken, wie man die verbleibende Zeit am besten verbringt, was man am besten macht. Viele Ratgeber fangen mit dem Satz an: Stellen Sie sich vor Sie haben nur noch sechs Monate zu leben! Aber das hier ist nicht sowas... im Gegenteil hier geht es um meine letzten Taten bevor ich in den Flugzeug von Frankfurt nach Peking einstieg.

Tja, was macht man während der letzten Stunden des Urlaubs? Sagen wir mal, im Urlaub in Thailand. Also ich würde wahrscheinlich nochmal ein typisches Gericht essen, was ich sonst nur in Thailand finden kann. Oder ich würde nochmal einen schönen Tempel besuchen oder wenn ich im Bangkok bin, vielleicht noch einmal mit dem Boot oder mit der Fähre auf dem Fluss fahren.

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Tuscany Restaurant

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:15:11 GMT

Tuscany Cellar & Restaurant is one of the finest Italian restaurants in Xi'an. “Tuscany Cellar & Restaurant” is located in Xi'an (Gaoxin District).Tuscany offers an exquisite selection of food and wine choices to meet the taste of any customer. Here you can relax in a comfortable environment and experience the pleasures of the italian Tuscany region.

We are a family owned restaurant and take pride in everything we do. From the fine ingredients we use to the wines we carry, you can expect only the very best at Tuscany. Please visit us anytime you are in Xi'an for the ultimate italian Tuscany experience. 你好, 欢迎来到塞乐意大利酒窖餐厅。坐落于西安高新区的塞乐，以精致的美食和美酒满足食客需求。在这里，你可以在舒适的环境下放松从而体会塞乐的异域风情，品尝选用上等配料而制作成的优质美酒。我们是一个家庭式餐厅，非常荣幸能给您带来家一样的就餐环境。我们热忱欢迎您来品鉴！

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Reality Check

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:50:15 GMT

These days I never seem to have nearly as much time as I used to to randomly drift around the internet, catching up with some of the quality blogs that are out there. Since I’m no longer doing a desk job here in Xi'an like I was in HK, the temptation to waste an hour or three of the day never rears its head.

Good in a way, I guess, but it’s been a while since I’ve been able to find out what’s going on in the more interesting corners of the globe, and challenge the idea firmly held by all women that any guy who has anything at all to do with the internet must immediately be a first class geek or soap dodger extraordinaire with halitosis. Plus the fact that the Chinese government won’t let me onto Blogspot sites, Facebook and Youtube, plus an ever increasing number of other platforms, just in case a rash spate of personal opinions breaks out within the country - and who knows where that might lead.

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Misconceptions

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:58:25 GMT

Chinese, Japanese, Korean. Over the past two years I’ve spent a fair few hours with these mainstays of east Asia and been exposed to assorted cultural phenomena, some of which have left me at a complete loss. Anyone who tasted even the smallest bit of China will know it is a land of extremes: weird and wonderful, infuriating and endearing, rich and poor, snow and sand, meticulously organised and hopelessly remiss, socially open and politically closed, irritatingly predictable and eternally elusive, unnecessarily bureaucratic and erm… unnecessarily bureaucratic. It provokes similarly extreme responses from those who experience it, the kind of place you either love or hate. Yet those who hate China can’t help but find it interesting, and those who love at times want to crush it beneath their feet. Is it possible to actually ‘get’ China? Despite the claims of some, the answer is resolutely no. There are certain aspects of Chinese culture that are completely unfathomable to those who have not grown up with them or in the shadow of them.

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Stumbling in Xi'an

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:37:27 GMT

“I’m Doug Stanhope and that’s why I drink.". If you have ever watched Charlie Brooker’s “Newswipe” you will be familiar with the statement above. If not, you get the general idea. Sometimes the reason to drink can be as simple or complicated as all that utterance entails. And in celebration of the hapless liquor pigs around the world, let’s do a little something about boozing it up Xi’an style.

I’ll start off with the normal options and slowly move into the less traditional and infinitely more interesting ones. There are a plethora of options available in Xi’an when alcohol is involved and I truly feel sorry for people in Xi’an who don’t drink. Drinking is a time honored tradition in Western culture and thankfully heavy boozing in Xi’an is not like England in the 1800’s.

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The Chinese Dichotomy

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:27:19 GMT

I spent 12 hours in a factory on Monday resolving concerns, fighting with resistant engineers, negotiation with managers, hobnobbing with the owners over lunch, discussing solutions with line managers, reviewing standards with QC/QA folks and generally working though every single production issue imaginable to try and jump start a stalled project. What did my 12 hours get me? A signed agreement that the factory will deliver the promised product a month late and I won’t be charged for it! I was quite pleased. Really.

Now this factory is world class—in terms of production capabilities, machinery and facilities, that is. They have over 3000 employees, are privately owned and some minority owners are Japanese technology companies who are also the biggest customers. But problem solving, customer service, real-time communications and “win-win” are concepts that management has yet to embrace (or even define).

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Pretty Bubbles in the Air

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:17:26 GMT

My wife came to me at the end of Spring Festival this year and exclaimed, “I think we should buy another house.” We talked it over for a bit and I agreed to go shop around and see what was out there. I was against the idea, for reasons I will get into later, but went along anyway because she has proven to be smarter than me on numerous occasions. After several weeks of looking around and literally reading anything I could get my hands on about the housing market in China, I vetoed the plan. Here are my reasons.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty though, let’s get one thing perfectly clear. I am not an economist, my father was a CFO for numerous companies in the US for 25 years, and spent the last 10 years consulting for small and medium businesses looking to expand and/or merge with larger companies. Unfortunately for my brother and myself, the apples fell far from the tree, rolled down the hill, ended up in a river, got fed into the ocean, and washed ashore in Asia.

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Preguntas y Respuestas

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:46:42 GMT

¿Por qué los camiones en China son azules? No lo sé, la verdad, pero sí que es cierto que es el color predominante. Me da que el azul es un color asociado en China con el trabajo: el color de los monos de los obreros, de las vallas de los lugares en construcción... De la misma forma que en España los camiones y las excavadoras de las obras suelen ser naranjas.

¿Por qué las ventanas se abren hacia fuera? ¿Hacia afuera? Qué raro, las de mis casas y las de mi oficina se abren de lado, son correderas. ¿Por qué no se ven minusválidos por la calle? Porque China no tiene una asociación tipo ONCE que les ayude, les incorpore al mercado laboral o en definitiva les facilite la participación en la sociedad. Existe una Asociación de minusválidos de China presidida por un hijo de Deng Xiaoping (que quedó parapléjico en la Revolución Cultural, cuando unos Guardias Piojos le tiraron por una ventana), pero no parece tener el poder económico y la influencia de la ONCE.

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Dirty but not-so-secret...

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:40:32 GMT

Well, we saw the World Cup, which has kept much of China up til the wee hours watching (and even dying for) a sporting competition in which they have no involvement. You can't blame their lame-ass commentators for being a bit miffed that countries with a fraction of China's population are in the competition, when China, with its 1.3 billion people, is unable to find 11 blokes who are half-decent at kicking a footy around a field for 90 minutes.

I was thinking about this rather odd situation the other day, and then the realization struck me: China are crap at team sports. In individual pursuits, they do ok. China performs well in gymnastics, diving…ping pong…um…badminton. However, when it comes to a group of people actually cooperating to meet a common objective, China fails dismally. Soccer? Basketball? Forget it.

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Why We Don't Like It

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 02:36:38 GMT

It is sometimes said that if you want to keep your friends there are 3 topics that you should never discuss: Politics, Religion, and Abortion. Anyone who has ever engaged in a discussion about any of the above three know that the conversation usually gets heated, as all involve people arguing from an emotional response to the topic based in a personal belief.

Any man who is married understands that when your wife is having an emotional response to something based on her own personal belief it’s best to go “Caveman”; just nod and grunt your way through until she loses steam. Trying to argue is futile and any logic or rationale you think you can bring to the argument is like trying to put out a grease fire by throwing water on it. Well, music is a topic that should be added to that list. This is very true for those of us living in China. The topic of Chinese Music will usually be met with the rolling of eyes and knee-jerk reactions that border on soul crushing insults.

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Migrant workers given no pay but sticks

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:16 GMT

On July 21, 118 migrant workers (mostly from Hubei) were beaten by a group of more than 300 people wielding the wooden clubs in Lintong District (临潼区), Xi’an, after they failed to get back their unpaid wages, and 9 of them were seriously injured. 14 days have passed, not only do they find no support for their life, but also they have to bear the medical care fee. At last, these helpless migrant workers resorted to their hometown media for help.

It was learned these migrant workers mostly are from Hubei. On April 15, they were led by a subcontractor to Xi’an to undertake a bridge project in Lintong that links the railway lines from Baotou (包头) to Xi'an. Reportedly, the project belongs to Baotou-Xi'an Railway Project Department under Xi'an Railway Engineering Company of China Railway Electrification Bureau. But the Project Department side did not sign a contract with the construction side. On June 29 after they completed the project, the Project Department refused to pay the subcontractor and migrant workers.

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第一次现场观看极限运动。很精彩

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:49:18 GMT

听说解放路万达广场将会举办一次极限运动赛事，不仅十分好奇，大概是攀岩之类吧。名字听说过，但不知道具体是做什么。尽管天气十分炎热，还是前去看看。毕竟这样现场观看的机会也不是很多。正午十分，艳阳高照。万达广场步行街中心地带，已经搭建起比赛场。高高低低的一些障碍物，有台阶，有楼梯扶手，还有高台。面积跟一个篮球场差不多，或者要大一些。

很多选手骑着样子古怪的小轮车，车座极低，看来似乎经常不用坐下的。身手十分矫健敏捷，可以操纵车子，做出各种造型来，还有滑轮和滑板的选手。看来这就是极限运动了。看了组织者们发放的材料，知道这是中国极限精英赛西安赛区的比赛，会在全国十个城市比赛。站在那里，看比赛有序进行，分为：直排轮街区赛，滑板街区赛，小轮车街区赛等。天气是在是太热了。现场气温应该达到了40摄氏度，站在场外观看已是挥汗如雨。场上的选手们还有驾驭着各自的器械，做出各种高难度的动作，尽可能具有变现力。实在是很不简单的。

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Special: Jennifer Su

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 05:04:18 GMT

Jennifer Su (born Jennifer Tsou; Pennsylvania, USA) is a television and radio presenter in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Thailand and Johannesburg, South Africa. She is an exceptional woman of many talents. You'll know her best for her TV Presenter role at Sky News where she anchors the "African Business News" and presents "Stylefyle" for RTHK Radio 3 in Hong Kong. Being a Chinese-American, she is a fluent speaker in Mandarin and also Thai and has been on TV since child age.

But that is by far not all about Jennifer. Besides being a TV anchor and Radio Presenter she is a successful Corporate MC, Photo Model and Singer as well. Her latest work as a Singer is the popular World Cup anthem and music video "Rise Up" a production of its own kind in South Africa. Jennifer donates all proceeds from her album sales and concerts to various charities and foundations in Thailand. She is also a presenter of "The Hollywood Report" along with South African TV and radio presenter, Gareth Cliff on 5 FM, part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

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Mao's Revenge

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:10:28 GMT

If you're North American you have heard the stories of Montezuma's revenge. Horrible stories of visiting Central and South America and getting a stomach bug that side-lines you from travel for days at a time while you pray to any God who will listen to make your body stop exorcising the demons of last night's supper.

It’s a common story for all traveler’s to share around a hostel bar table and can usually bring about a series of one-ups that clears out a table faster than a guy expressing his heartbreak at a Super Bowl party. And in this vein of naming the stomach bug based on a region’s leaders, I would like to present “Mao’s Revenge” for common use for those of us floating around this great land. Mao Zedong was not the biggest fan of foreigners, albeit with good reason, and would probably not be super impressed with the increasing amount of us here in China.

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Xi’an Underground Notes

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:49:34 GMT

Sometimes we like to think of the past in a deluded nostalgic way that just takes the good and conveniently leaves out the bad. My memories of my 7+ years in Xi’an are inevitably littered with omissions and thought of in the way an American sees a Norman Rockwell Christmas poster. But I do have one glaring exception to this rule and that is in the music scene that once thrived here and threatens to have a stunning re-birth.

After living in Xi’an for about 4 months in the spring of 2004 my friends and I stumbled across some concert posters on the top floor of the Bai Hui market in Xiaozhai. Being an avid music fan, due mostly to having no musical talent, I convinced the others to start attending these shows with me. They jumped at the idea and whether we were went to a show on Bar Street (DeFuChang) or one in a condemned roller skating rink in an alley outside XiGongDa, the concerts never disappointed.

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HIV in China

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:37:19 GMT

A Growing problem. As many people know, December 1st is International AIDS awareness day. So as a way of preparing for that day I have decided to write about the latest AIDS statistics relating to China. Right now there are an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV in China, with many more unaware that they have been infected. This year saw a 30% increase in the number of new cases reported. According to the Ministry Of Health there were 183,733 new-recorded victims of this virus.

Should we start to panic here? Should we worry? Well the answer is both yes and no. First we should look at the history of the epidemic in China. Back in the mid 1980's the sale of blood was very common and a popular way of making money. Many people living in the rural areas were so poor that they would sell their blood for what was at that time, a more than reasonable price. This blood went unchecked and was often contaminated with other viruses besides HIV.

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China Mobile Madness

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:33:41 GMT

If you were asked to name an invention which has changed the way we live today, you would probably answer with either the car, the computer or the mobile phone. The mobile phone is my topic for this post! First, there is no difference between a "Mobile" and a "Cellular" telephone. They are merely different names given to the same object.

I purchased my first mobile phone way back in 1996. At that time the mobile market was just beginning to flourish, with much smaller, compact devices being manufactured. But still you could only really use them for making voice calls. However all that was about to change because also in 1996 a new service was introduced which quickly became popular. The S-M-S.

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Studying Chinese: Tired?

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:07:56 GMT

Alright. All of us here are well-aware just how loquacious the average Xi'an cabbie can be, certainly far more aware of that, than the correct spelling of loquacious. He’s no doubt the first guy you had your real didao Chinese conversation with - aside from your teacher of course, who has already gone through 40 years of having us dim-witted foreigners asking the same basic questions after completing unit 3.

I tell you, there’s a limit of just how busy or tired someone can be. But upon starting to learn the lingo here, ni mang ma? ni lei ma? are drilled into you as if this was your key to the conversational elite that overpopulate this country. That, I guess, or Chinese people are constantly tired, or busy, or both, like a monolithic pillar of cultural understanding. Or perhaps they just have great comeback lines to those questions that you never really appreciate, simply because you don’t have a bloody clue what anyone’s saying to you. Imagine, all that scything wit going to waste. Frittered away on the ears of another laowai obsessed with what I’m doing, or whether I want to drink tea.

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Guerrerines de Xi'an

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:52:09 GMT

Una noticia que nos ha pillado a casi todos de sorpresa es la concesión del Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Ciencias Sociales a los arqueólogos que estudian los Guerreros de Xi'an, uno de los yacimientos arqueológicos más famosos del mundo. Estos guerreros vigilan la tumba del Primer Emperador chino, Qin Shihuang, primero en unificar diversos reinos del norte del país, y primero en unificar diversos muros más al norte que acabarían formando la Gran Muralla.

La noticia es simpática, está bien que a veces desde la comunidad internacional se salga del discurso "chinaesmalaynosvaaconquistaryademascomenperro", aunque supongo que dar el premio a China es sobre todo un gesto para dar a conocer esta especie de "premios Nobel españoles" al país más poblado del mundo, donde no se conocen demasiado.

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German industrialists attack Chinese

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:37:57 GMT

Two of Germany’s most prominent industrialists have attacked the business and investment climate in China during a meeting with Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier. The criticism from the businessmen, the chief executives of Siemens and BASF, came against a backdrop of rising discontent among foreign businesses operating in China. The German executives’ comments were all the more striking as they were made directly to the Chinese premier, and in public, as part of Angela Merkel’s four-day state visit to the country.

Jürgen Hambrecht, chief executive of BASF, the chemical producer, hit out at restrictions on foreign business and complained of foreign companies being forced to transfer business and technological know-how to Chinese companies in exchange for market access.

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German Chancellor visits Xi'an

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 03:57:36 GMT

German Chancellor Merkel arrived in Xi'an yesterday evening (Friday, 16.07.10) to continue her China visit which started last thursday when she arrived in Beijing following an invitation of China's Premier Wen Jiabao. Merkel will visit China for 4 days.This is Merkel's fourth visit to China as Chancellor.

According to plan, Merkel will further take part in a symposium of german and chinese businessmen in Xi'an. Her first visit to Xi'an will also take her to one of the most known historic sites in China: The ancient terracotta army. Interesting anecdote: Merkel celebrates her 56th birthday in Xi'an today. Furthermore, Merkel will visit BYD's automobile factory. Angela Merkel's visit to Xi'an could increase Germany's chances to become the European site of BYD for the coming generation of electro automobiles. BYD cooperates since quite a time with german automobile producer Daimler to build electric cars.

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Dunhuang: City of Sands

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:32:04 GMT

The dry-mouth, red-eye 5am wake-up, the manic shower, the sudden realisation that you haven’t packed any underwear - and then out the door before you really resolve the pressing matter of how many pairs of shoes to take. One long cab ride, a characteristically stressful check in, and a mad dash for the gate: it could only be an early morning flight from Beijing airport.

An hour or two later, my eyes open and out the window I can see nothing but sand - as far as the eye can see, miles and miles of nothing. China may well be the most populated country in the world - but a rather large percentage of it contains a huge amount of nothing at all. I had a sneaky feeling that this trip out to the North West would confirm this suspicion of mine. As the plane came in to land, there was still nothing to be seen. “What the hell are we doing here?” I heard someone ask - excellent question, but I was very excited to be finding out the answer.

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Crap, just crap.

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:52:18 GMT

CCTV 9 is hands down the biggest pile of crap on TV, anywhere. China Central Television boasts like 15 different channels, rather originally named CCTV 1, CCTV 2, CCTV 3 and so on, until you get to 12. After this, other handles are used, probably because everyone forgot what they were before, plus the fact that no-one could stand watching the rest of them to check what number they actually managed to get up to.

They are all, without exception, rubbish. As a result, my obscenely large television here at home is nourished almost entirely on a diet of pirated DVDs, plus the odd CD, if I can stand being in the same rooms as the accompanying bright blue screen when it is playing. Should lethargy have overcome me entirely, and I find myself in the unfortunate situation of eating my Teriyaki Chicken on the sofa alone, with no energy left to trudge to the DVD walk-in library, I might give the box in the corner a run for its money, and allow one final chance to redeem itself from the nadir of my criticisms.

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Real estate prices in Xi'an

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:57:30 GMT

As of today, the average housing cost of downtown Xi’an, the most developed and inhabited metropolis in Northwestern China, is slightly over 5,500 CNY per square meter (646 EURO or 820 USD). For a common household comprising of 3 family members, an apartment measuring 70 square meters or more (753 ft2) is essential in comfortable accommodation. Preferable is an apartment of 100 square meters or larger in size which would be worth over 550,000 CNY or 82,000 USD. And that is without any interiors nor furnitures at all.

Though not much for some US residents and EU citizens, that’s a ton of money for a common household in Xi’an, China, let alone an individual. Multiply it by 5 and you get the rough average real estate price for Beijing and Shanghai.

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¡España es el dueño de la gloria!

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:53:51 GMT

España se consagró campeón del mundo por primera vez en su historia. La Furia superó 1 a 0 a Holanda, en tiempo suplementario, en un encuentro de alto nivel futbolístico y emotivo disputado en el estado Soccer City, en Johannesburgo. El mediocampista del Barcelona, Andrés Iniesta, anotó la única conquista española, a cuatro minutos del final del cotejo.

Los dirigidos por Vicente del Bosque se adueñaron rápidamente del esférico en los primeros pasajes del encuentro y sorprenden a La Naranja, que presionó por todos los sectores del campo de juego, pero tuvo poco contacto con la Jabulani. A los 4 minutos España dio el primer aviso. Como sucedió ante Alemania, un defensor español ganó en el área adversaria. Esta vez fue Ramos, que con un testazo desde el punto penal provocó una soberbia respuesta de Maarten Stekelenburg.

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Navigating Crowds

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:21:44 GMT

Have you ever seen one of those little robotic floor sweepers? It looks like a tiny UFO that drives around your floor and sweeps up whatever gets in the way. When you first unleash the robo-vac on your place, it has no idea about anything and it knows only to move in straight lines. If it bumps into something then it changes course and continues again in a straight line until it yet again bumps into something else.

A good one of these machines is supposed to create a map of your floorplan and get used to the location of items…I guess. This machine essentially works on the premise that it will bump into things and it’s only solution is to wait for the unavoidable and make a course correction afterwards. The Chinese are understandably upset because they have not been properly credited with the development of this machine artificial intelligence that they so obviously created thousands of years ago. If you change the word “robo-vac” to “ person” then you are left with a pretty good description of crowd navigation in China. It’s amazing. You would think that being surrounded by over a billion of your fellow countrymen would, over time, necessitate the evolutionary development of some sort of proximity detector.

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Collecting Tolls in Xi'an

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:26:25 GMT

On 22. June Xi'an was scorched by hot temperatures. On North Street in Xian City, a female “toll collector” shuttled amongst the car traffic, stopping the cars here to collect tolls. Maybe because it was too hot, this female “toll collector” only wore her bra, and was called “the most niu toll collector”.

Many car owners have encountered “toll collectors” collecting money. Yesterday, this journalist personally experienced being stopped by a “toll collector” collecting toll, and in comparison to those “toll collectors” previously encountered, this one “toll collector”, whether in terms of dress or attitude, is apparently even more extraordinary. Yesterday the ancient city of Xian was scorched by hot temperatures. On North Street in Xian City, a female “toll collector” shuttled amongst the car traffic, stopping the cars here to collect tolls. Maybe because it was too hot, this female “toll collector” only wore her bra, and was called “the most niu toll collector”.

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The Healthy Department

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:13:18 GMT

I spent part of last weekend helping translate for a friend who was in the emergency room of a local hospital. Probably more scary to me than being sick in China is being taken to a hospital in China. My father was a doctor in a small town (the only OBGYN in a couple of counties) so I spent probably weeks of my childhood in the lobbies and waiting rooms of hospital rooms waiting for him to deliver babies so we could get on with whatever family activity was being postponed.

(I also endured many many embarrassing comments by girls in highschool who had been to my father’s office.) Yet even in a small town hospital I never saw blood (or dirt or urine) on the walls or garbage on the floors. Nor did I ever remember complaining about how putrid the bathrooms were; because they weren’t. I never got infected with something from someone else in the hospital or from unclean instruments - I never knew of anyone else who did either.

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Fishing in Xi'an

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:32:46 GMT

Fishing, that's a leisure activity which is not only helpful for refreshing your mind but also helpful to improve your power of patience. Being a Bangladeshi guy, I can live without meat and noodles but I can't without fish and rice as it is our national food. After five years living in Xi'an, I discovered an awesome place for fishing with wonderful landscape of mountain and stream.

If you like fishing, you shouldn't miss out such a beautiful spot if you visit Xi'an. It's called Yang Qiao which is located at the edge of Southern superb. It will only take 40 minutes for you to get there by bus from the TV tower. You can take either 905 or 923 bus to the South and simply get off at Yang Qiao. Afterwards, walk towards South for 50 meters where you will see a big gate and a sign board for fishing.

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Xi'an Models: Rebecca Li

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:04:07 GMT

She was on our list of future ND Models for months and finally arrives today. Every single reason would be good enough to feature Rebecca Li but for the most unknown ones we’ve never published these sensational shots until now. We felt it was time, big time. There is too much in her portfolio today to keep it silent any longer and time is going by.

Rebecca Li is a Canadian-Chinese model with family roots in Xi'an and a fresh newcomer to the fashion world. She is famous for her appearance on highly featured Events in Canada and she is on the right way to reach even higher goals including appearances in Canadian Magazines. Be ready to add Rebecca to the list of new top models making it big lately!

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Old Man for Sale

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:49:58 GMT

An aged man was seen a short while ago selling himself near the Dongguan Baxian An (That's the Temple of the "Eight Immortals", 八仙庵) in Xi'an. He walked around the area with 2 selfmade cardboards attached to his body. The cardboard on his back reads “I am selling myself, for only 20,000 Yuan. My skills: Singing, dancing, looking after the house (housekeeping), cleaning the yard, washing and cooking. I am Cheap! And much better than a dog. Who wants to buy me?”

And on the front cardboard he wrote: “Something happened in my family. An aged man is looking for urgent help! What terrible fate could have occurred to this man that he sees no other way out of his misery? Perhaps we will never know it. Dozens of people were turning around when the man passed by but so far noone seems to be able to help yet and the aged man is still making his rounds. Older people in such economical emergencies can be seen more often now in Xi'an, than it was the case a couple of years ago. Hopefully, it is not the beginning of a new trend.

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Zusammen oder getrennt?

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:04:52 GMT

Erst vor kurzem wurde mir klar wie anspruchsvoll die Aufgabe eines Kellners hier in China ist. Stellen Sie sich vor, sie arbeiten als Kellner in einem chinesischen Restaurant mitten im Industriegebiet. Jeden Tag von 11:30 bis 13:30 stürmen Hunderte oder vielleicht Tausende hungrige Leute aus den unliegenden Firmen und wollen von ihnen nicht nur gutes, billiges Essen, sie wollen auch schnell bedient werden.

Nun, jetzt sind Kaffeehäuser und westliche Restaurants in China so in Mode! Die armen Kellner haben auch noch eine weitere Schwierigkeit: Die Ausländer! Diese Leute, die so schwer zu verstehen sind, selbst wenn sie ein bisschen Chinesisch sprechen…Fuwuyuan! Maidan! Fenkaide! Herr Ober, die Rechnung! Getrennt! Der Kellner schaute mich an und vergewisserte sich: Fenkeide shiba? Getrennt? Wow! Er hat mich verstanden! Dui! Fenkaide!

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Western Media on China

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:15:25 GMT

Apple Admits Child labour was Used to Build iPods and iPhones in Chinese Factories.This is at best an (educated) guess but at worse a lie Apple did not admit this. From the article: The exact location of the factories has not been identified. Apple has factories which supply parts in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, the U. S., the Czech Republic, Malaysia and the Philippines, but most of its products are assembled in China.

Why does this article lead with China? Why not the US? Or Taiwan or Thailand? Not sexy enough? Not “threatening" enough? Just another example of media bias that I talk about below. Now we may find out that later on that this is all true. Wouldn’t surprise me. And since most of their products are made in China, odds are it is true. But we don’t know for sure yet–so how can you lead with that? Yes, the article points out specifically that in CHINA there were cases of underpayment and chemical poisonings. But we do NOT know if China used underage workers at this point. Of course ‘using kids’ sounds really evil, and we need a new villain so that’s the lead in.

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