Today in China

Google unofficially introduced a new feature in the Image Search Engine… the Facial Recognition!

Try this, go to the Google Image Search Engine and search for China. You will get maps of China, images of the Great Wall as well as some pictures with Chinese people.

Now, add “&imgtype=face” to the url. You will receive only mostly receive imagesof people!

Similarly, adding “&imgtype=news” will trigger a search of images related to Google News items only.

Source:
Ars Technica, 2007-05-30

Here are the Top 10 Rules for bargaining in China I discovered in this morning’s edition of Beijing Weekend.

1. Dress down.
2. Feign fantastic disinterest.
3. Speak as much Chinese as you can.
4. When consulting with friends, use Pig Latin to speak freely among yourselves.
5. Pantomime a cardiac explosion after they offer their first outrageous price. Call the first price offered “luyouzhedejiage” (tourist price). Explain you’re not a tourist but actually living in Beijing. The usual tongue-in-cheek retort will be “Of course you’re not; I can clearly see you are Beijing ren”. Laugh heartily.
6. Panjiayuan’s peddlers love funny business, so fun finaglers with an aptitude for amusement will wheel better deals.
7. Tell them you come frequently with Chinese friends who’ve told you local prices.
8. Purport that another stall has the same thing for cheaper (about 10 yuan more than your willing to pay.
9. Once you’ve just got them where you want them, scrupulously inspect your item for any defects. Any blemishes offer final bargaining chips.
10. Start ridiculously low and increase your price by increments of 5 to 10 yuan. When you and the vendor come within 10 yuan of each other, offer to meet them in the middle.

So now, what are you waiting for? Take a cab and go practicing your new skills at panjiayuan, known also as the Thieves Market… And this name does not really come from the numerous pick-pockets you’ll find there but from the skilled shoppers…

Source:
Beijing Weekend, 2007-05-31

The concept of the TV Show ‘J’irai dormir chez vous’ (’I'll come sleep at your place’) by Antoine de Maximy is quite easy to understand. Here is the description made by Jenny Beaumont on her blog:

He travels around the world by himself, rigged with a hand-held video camera, a small camera on his shoulder and one on an extension that allows him to film himself filming. And meeting people. Because that is the object of his trips, he wants to meet the “real people” of whatever area he’s visiting, get himself invited to dinner and eventually to spend the night. It’s brilliant. And he’s hilarious, always smiling and making the best out of what sometimes turn out to be not-so-great situations.

So, why do I talk about this on Today in China? Well, yes! After Mali, Corsica, UK, Scotland, Bolivia and Canada… he finally made it in China!

So, enjoy! (ahem… sorry, but it’s all in French… However, I heard he is working on a longer movie in English!)

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With the new Search without boundaries Google features, you may search the Chinese language web in your own language!

For this, open the ‘Search Results’ of Google Translate. Now, let’s define that we want to search Simplified Chinese pages but in English.

We search for ‘beijing olympics’ and Google automatically proposes ‘北京奥运’ as a translation that will be used to search the web in Chinese. However, if the translation doesn’t seem appropriate for you, you may still edit it and provide a better one.

Below, you’ll then get Chinese Simplified search results and a (machine) translation of these search results into English. Choose the result you are interested in and continue browsing from there with all the Chinese pages automatically machine-translated for you by Google.

So, what searches do you want to do on the Chinese Web which opens suddenly in front of your eyes?

The Red Ball Summer Challenge 2007 - Division 1 of Red Ball’s 5-a-side football leagues for amateur and corporate teams - just started last Monday and the Beijing Buffalos are in 3rd position!

Another good news from Red Ball Football Club: Business as usual.
Dispite rumours of soon-to-be-’chai’-ed, the Football complex and our neighbours remain open. (for those who do not know, chai (拆) is the chinese character written on the building that have to be destroyed…)

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foneVillage is Beijing’s first mobile VIP Membership Community! So, how does it work?

You will first need to register. There is a free trial offer but I will concentrate on the normal way you register. You have to pay 200RMB to get 1200 foneVillage points, corresponding to 1200 RMB of Discount.

Then, if you go to one of the foneVillage venues, when you checkout, send an SMS with the venue’s code and the amount of the bill. foneVillage will immediately send you an SMS with your discount.

Besides discounts, you will also get access to vouchers, special events and prizes.

As an example, here are the current venues for dining and their related discount.

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A friend of mine asked me the interesting question: Do Chinese Provinces have specific flags?

Well, in a country as huge as China that only has one time zone instead of at least 4 or 5… You will not be that surprised to know that Chinese Provinces have no specific flags. So, what could we use to differentiate them?

A first approach to differentiate the different territories of China would be the Chinese Characters used to differentiate the License Plates.

Then, another approach, more colorful, would be to choose one local beer for each territory… For this, you may check the website Klausehm.de providing a huge list of Chinese Beers.

ChinoChano (Spanish language blog) already proposes the following Beer Flags:

Yanjing Beer, the symbol for Beijing, would be even better than the olympic logo.

For northern Heilongjiang province, a fresh and “Hapi” Harbin Beer.

Tsingtao Beer could be Shandong emblem.

Dali Beer is perfect for Yunnan, backpackers mecca.

West Lake Beer suits for Zhejiang.

Even Tibet could have the “Lhasa Beer” for a flag.

Couleurs de Chine is organizing its fourth Tennis Tournament on Sunday May 20th at East Lake Villas from 8h30. You may register by going to GUSTAMENTA (in front of the French School) on Wednesday 16th (14h-16h), Thursday 17th (12h-14h), Friday 18th (15h30-17h) and Saturday 19th (10h-12h). The cost of the event is 250RMB (tournament+dinner) or 150RMB for just the dinner. Special fee for students is respectively 150RMB and 100RMB

Since 1998 Couleurs de Chine has been arranging sponsorships for children of ethnic minorities, mainly girls, from the Great Miao Mountains (in the north of Guangxi province and south-east Guizhou). In 2006, 3930 children (3594 girls) have been able to start school or continue their studies thanks to the sponsors who have agreed to help them throughout their school careers.
In addition, Couleurs de Chine ensures the building and the rehabilitation of schools and dormitories.

You may check their website for more information.

It has been reported that the portrait of Mao Zedong hanging above the gate of the Forbidden City has been defaced by a 35-year-old from Xinjiang province on Saturday afternoon. It left a slight burn mark in the lower left part of the portrait.

The portrait has quickly been replaced by a new one.

Source
ABC Radio Australia, 2007-05-14

Some of you asked me for this since I moved in my new appartment back in February. Here is the view I have from my appartment when facing East! Click on the picture for a bigger image.