A somewhat biased view on China…
Who told you the traffic in Beijing is one of the biggest issues, just after the pollution?
This week starts the Summit between China and the African Nations and the traffic will definitely not be an issue, at least for the Officials attending this summit.
Beijing Government has outlined regulations to smooth out traffic flow for the upcoming summit between China and African nations, set to start from Nov.1 to 6. The Airport Expressway will be closed completely and many areas in CBD will be closed from time to time during above period. The hotel shuttle bus to the city areas will be suspended as a result.
Take this into account if you have to reach the airport between the 1st and the 6th of November. With just JingShunLu (京顺路) and the old Airport road open to public it might take more than one hour to reach the airport…
If they do this for a political summit, I’m wondering which drastic regulations they will take for the Olympic Games in 2008… Fortunately, by then we will have the subway going from DongZhiMen (东直门) to the airport!
In Europe, we still have some schools where students have to wear the same uniform everyday. Well, in China, this rule is applied to most of the schools in the country.
Which is okay for me… But the news I saw today in China Daily made me wonder how far this rule may be applied!
Over 200 middle school students in Suzhou (苏州, Sūzhōu) of Jiangsu Province (江苏, Jiāngsū) were forced to have their hair cut recently when the school decided their hair, either too long or too trendy, didn’t match their neat student roles.
No wonder the students strongly objected to the school’s action, decrying it as a violation of their freedom.
Side note for people living in the Occident: This is not usual in China… 
I’m not sure that everybody will enjoy this video as much as I do… But I’m sure that Greg, Burnasse, Louloutte and - of course - JayJay will do!
We should organize parties like that again!!!
Thanks JayJay for sharing this with us!!! *snif*
Eric Meyer has been in Beijing for… a very long time!
Next week, on Tuesday, he will organize a conference about his last book “Robinson à Pékin”.
|
Please note in your diary the next conference of Eric Meyer He will present his last book “Robinson à Pékin”. Free Entrance Fees Please come along with your friends! |
Please note that his book and the conference are in French.
Four persons have been sentenced for 13 years of prison in Ningbo (宁波, Níngbō) in Zhejiang Province (浙江, Zhèjiāng) and Xiamen (厦门, Xiàmén) in Fujian Province (福建, Fújiàn). This is the major crackdown against producers of unlicensed copies of movies, software and clothes. Other shorter sentences have been reported elsewhere in the country.
13 years! Waow…
Will the pirated DVD shops disappear - once more - from the cities around China and then come back in 2 or 3 weeks? I’m quite amazed at the differences and similarities between the situation in Asia and the one in the Western countries. In the West, you cannot buy pirated DVDs in the street for 50 cents of a dollars… People over there do not need that, they just go on the Internet and download whatever serie or movie they want on their Media PC.
Source
Business Week, 2006-10-20
This morning, I received two funny chinese road signs from Christophe. This reminded me an article I read in China Daily last Wednesday:
For more than 30 years, a former engineer from Changzhou of Jiangsu Province has contributed almost all his energy to reading books and finding misspelled words.
Li developed an interest in spelling during the 1960s, when he was promoted from an engineer to a quality inspector in charge of inspecting circuit diagrams. He felt sick whenever he found some wrong words in diagrams and reports, and got accustomed to encircling them. He once registered a consulting company to help publishing houses correct misspellings in their books, but it collapsed due to sluggish business.
Nonetheless, Li won such a reputation that even the People’s Literature Publishing House once paid him 20,000 yuan (US$2,529) to proof-read 26 literary classics.
Last Friday, Li departed the city on a trip to find misspellings on nearby road signs.
I hope Mr. Li will start a website with all the misspelled road signs he will find!
Continue to see the two pictures from Christophe…
Recently, I noticed that both Wikipedia and Blogger (the Google Blog Platform) are available from China Mainland. No need anymore to browse Wikipedia with the Gollum Browser. It’s getting better!
But only better, the access to Google Video is still forbidden… by Google themselves. Why does Google prevent Chinese people to access the Videos? Is it for a legal reason? With the recent purchase of YouTube by Google for a mere 1.6 billions USD, I was getting worried about loosing YouTube too.
I had a look on the Internet and of course, there is a solution! And the solution is partially provided by Google!
1. Download and install Tor, an anonymous Internet communication system.
2. Download and install Google Video Player.
3. Set the Google Video Player proxy to localhost:8118
4. Start Tor.
5. Search for a video on Google Video.
6. Change the url from http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2458967493428649738 to http://video.google.com/videogvp/CompetingandCollabor.gvp?docid=2458967493428649738
That’s it! It took me less than 5 minutes to setup the whole system, download time included.
By the way, I currently have no access to YouTube from my appartment… I hope it is just temporary… :-S
Links
Tor, an anonymous Internet communication system
Google Video Player
Google Video
YouTube
Source
Isaac Mao
People in China and especially in Beijing use to say that the life here is safer than in the Occident. While I fully agree with them, I still have to admit that the situation is changing. Here is what the management of the building where I live shared with us this morning, a message from the Criminal Investigation Regiment of Beijing Public Security Bureau.
|
Dear residents, In order to prevent you and your family from swindling, the Criminal Investigation Regiment of Beijing Public Security Bureau reminds you that: be vigilant against such cases and call the police if necessary. - Someone peddles medicinal material to you in a low price or sells you treasured objects handed down from ancestors, such as gold ingot, gold Buddha, etc. - Someone tells you that you have fallen ill or your family is suffering disasters and claims that he/she can cure you or avert disasters. - Someone opens a canned drink before your eyes and claims having won a prize; another one instigates you to buy it. - Someone sends you messages in the name of a certain company saying that you have won a prize. - Someone sends you messages in the name of a bank saying that you consumed in other provinces and cities by swiping cards and the expenses will be deducted from your account. - Someone phones you in the name of the State Administration Taxation saying that he/she can rebate the tax for your car or house. - Someone has a mind to exchange currencies with you in a high price. - Someone tries to strike up a conversation with you and then borrow your mobile phone to make phone calls. - Someone sells you goods on the Internet in a price obviously lower than the market. - Someone calls you saying that one of your families run into an accident and an amount of money will be needed. - Someone calls you saying that one of your families was kidnapped and asks for money from you. - Someone posts you prize-winning tickets, which is called “scratch card swindles”.
Beijing Security Bureau |
Anything else to add to this list? Have you encountered any swindles by yourself?
Tomorrow is Friday 13th… and well there will be plenty of reason for not staying at home! hehehe…
First, you have the launching party of AujourdHuiLaChine.com, an French language website with informations and videos about China. Thanks to Camille and Hikari Productions for this party that will take place at The Bed near HouHai and starts at 20:30
Then you also have the Wig-or-Hat Party at the Taniwha next to Bar Blue and Cheers in Sanlitun. The good news is that we will have a Happy Hour from 8 to midnight, buy one get another one for free! But of course do not forget to bring your most scandalous wig or your weirdest hat and, why not, a pair of funny glasses…
By the way… Taniwha… Tanewha… Is it the same bar as the one that used to be in the old mythic Sanlitun South Street?
Links:
Aujourd’hui la Chine Website
Post on Camille’s Blog
YouTube’s co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen and their 65 employees must be quite excited and happy about this acquisition. What about us, poor users?
Both YouTube and Google provide online videos for the Internet users all over the world… All over the world? Not really… If you go to the Google Video Website from China and try to watch a video, you will have the unpleasant surprise to get the following message:
Thanks for your interest in Google Video.
Currently, the playback feature of Google Video isn’t available in your country.
We hope to make this feature available more widely in the future, and we really appreciate your patience.
So far, YouTube was providing a good - if not better - alternative to Google for the Chinese Netizens. I hope - I mean… I really, really hope - that it will stay like that after this acquisition. According to a Google Statement, YouTube will continue to operate independently with its headquarters in San Bruno, California. Let’s see…
Source:
People’s Daily Online - 2006 10 10
Links:
YouTube
Google Videos
[powered by WordPress.]
[hosted by TodayInChina.]
