Saturday, March 6, 2010
Ever wondered how to be a corrupt Chinese official?
Well, here you go - check it out, blogger Wan Xiaodao has complied this list of rules to follow.
http://chinadivide.com/how-to-be-a-good-corrupt-official-20100305.html
Friday, February 26, 2010
Emily's Adventures in Shanghai in the New York Times!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/technology/25iht-rshanblog.html
Monday, January 18, 2010
What does China Censor online?
Below is a link to a very cool graphic illustration of the keywords and phrases that the Chinese government censors.
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/what-does-china-censor-online/
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Google Pulling Out of China
What do you think?
Online news sources reported today that China has (naturally) censored the news that Google is threatening to pull it's company and online services out of China. However some Chinese were seen at Google's Beijing offices creating a make shift memorial in support of Google.
The New York Times reported:
"One of the students said that she wanted to make a public gesture of support for Google, which steadily has lost market share to Baidu, a Chinese-run company that has close ties with the government. The government should give people the right to see what they want online,” said the woman, Bing, who withheld her full name for fear that it might cause her problems at school. “The government can’t always tell lies to the people.”
I agree with Bing, as do many other people, some more willing than others to publicly voice their opinions.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
VPN is revolutionary! Why did I wait so long to get it?
It's been an eventful year, even though I haven't been blogging I've been busy with a multitude of other things. I started my cupcake business (http://www.emilyscupcakes.com) which has been so much fun and kept me quite busy when I'm in Shanghai.
Cupcakes aside it's been an eventful year to be living in Shanghai, the city which is literally changing before my eyes, is preparing it's self to host the 2010 World Expo. Winter isn't the most beautiful time to be in China - it's cold, dark and polluted - but Shanghai keep truckin' on pushing up more and more buildings, supposedly "beautifying" the city and inserting the Expo mascot Haibo onto every street corner and street sign.
The expo begins in May and lasts 6 months, it'll be interesting to see how many visitors actually come to Shanghai for the Expo. My guess is that there will be many domestic visitors and people from other neighboring asian countries but I'll be surprised if we receive a lot of visitors from further away. I was living in Nagoya, Japan when they also held the World Expo back in 2004 and while it was an interesting "event" to go and see, it wasn't something I'd travel great lengths to go and see.
We'll have to wait and see....and in the meantime it's very much winter in Shanghai, so I'm off to fill up on more hot green tea, snuggle into my fabric market cashmere blanket and watch a bit of my pirated satellite BBC TV.
Cheers!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
I've been a slacker blogger
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Why I am staying in Shanghai for May Holiday....
http://gunsella.interproit.com/yellow.htm
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
China's Middle Class
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/05/china/middle-class/leslie-chang-text
Friday, April 17, 2009
Follow up...
Here's the story posted on Shanghaiist.com:
"Hundreds of parents set to the streets on April 15th in a peaceful march, begging for help in finding their missing children. Originally reported by the New Express (translated by Danwei), the parents claim that about 1,000 children have gone missing from the Dongguan area since 2007. At their wits end, they've set out to draw more attention to the apparent, widespread abduction problem.
Neither the New Express nor the Shanghai Daily piece on these families' plights suggest a reason for the kidnappings, but according to the New York Times, many of the children are being sold off to other Chinese families desperate for a male heir. The children, most of whom are young boys are also suspected of being sold to buyers in Vietnam, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
"Male heir" is probably one of the better outcome for these children, otherwise they often end up as indentured servants, for-hire beggars, or prostitutes. The lucky ones get sold to orphanages for adoption to wealthy foreigners.
The police at Wednesday's march appeared sympathetic to the parents' ordeal, escorting them peacefully down the street. According to a number of marchers however, the police and government have been mostly unhelpful in tracking down the missing children. In a case cited in the Shanghai Daily article, a child was located and brought to a local police station, but before his parent could claim him, an impersonator took the child as his own.
The Chinese government claims that total abductions number about 2,500 people per year including both women and children, but some non-profit organizations argue that the number might possibly be upwards of 100,000.
Either way, the number is too high. More attention needs to be paid to this issue both here in China and elsewhere in the world where human trafficking is an issue. Both buyers and sellers of other human beings need to be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Read all about my hometown!
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/travel/escapes/17Amer.html
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Interesting China News....
Read more here:
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/10/help_wanted_ambassador_to_beijing
Some good news for those of us who own Real Estate in China:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123961738509213209.html#mod=residential_real_estate
Monday, April 13, 2009
Hainan Island - Girls Weekend!
Basic Stats on Hainan (Hai = Ocean, Nan= South) Island:
Location: Hainan Island is located in the South China Sea, separated from Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula to the north by a shallow and narrow strait. It has an area of 33,920 square kilometers, making China's southernmost province also its smallest. Hainan is comparable in size to Belgium.
View Larger Map
Native Peoples: Hainan first enters written Chinese history in 110 BC, when the Han Dynasty established a military garrison there. Settlement by mainlanders was slow however and from early on the island was considered to be fit only for exiles. It was in this period that the Li people arrived from Guangxi Province and displaced the island's aboriginal Austronesian-speaking peoples.
Tourism: We will be staying in Sanya, a town on the southern tip of the island, Sanya is supposedly the most common tourist-y location with nice beaches, hotels, outdoor activities, etc. We're looking forward to spending a lot of time on the beach, reading and relaxing away from the craziness of Shanghai.