iLook China recently ran a guest post by Lionel Carver (no idea if that’s a pseudonym or not), which details the writer’s experience being a guest of the government in a Chinese jail. Subtitled with “A Cautionary Tale for Expats in China“, I was curious to read both what Carver endured and, perhaps most voyeuristically, …Read More
I’m trying to be a good citizen or resident or businesswoman or whatever you want to call me. I figure I use the things that tax money buys. I use the roads and the street lights at night. I use the parks and the heavily subsidized public transportation. So I figure it’s only right that …Read More
As China celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival this past week, countless gifts were exchanged by friends, families, and co-workers in homes and offices all across the country. In the days following the festival, many gifts changed hands once again, this time behind store counters and in narrow back alleys. These second exchanges were part of a …Read More
I was the first of my friends to jump on the man-bag fashion-wagon. Despite the constant “murse-wearing” ribbing I took, and the defensive protests that it’s not a “European carryall“; there’s no denying the practicality of not having to load all your modern man-gear into your pockets. That is to say, I’m quite open to …Read More
Usually I love living in China, thirstily drinking the kool-aid that this place is changing for the better, improving a little bit every day. Sure it has its warts, but compared to 5 years ago, 15 years ago, 35 years ago… it’s definitely improving — right? Then Youtube gets blocked, Facebook and Twitter follow, as …Read More
While taking a break from my usual browsing of lolcats and youtube videos, I stumbled across this post by Shaun Rein entitled How to Deal with Piracy in China. I’m not especially familiar with Rein*, but once I ascertained that he was a businessman in China for the long haul, I felt that I could …Read More
A couple weeks back I wrote a rather exhaustive (at least for me) post for CNET Asia titled “Human flesh search engines — crowd-sourcing ‘justice’“. In it I called the human flesh search engines a “rather uniquely Chinese phenomenon”. I’d like to rescind that statement. Rather, I’d like to adjust it to say a “rather …Read More
Wokai, or “I start”, is a new(ish) Web site offering microfinancing to China’s poor. There are few things that make me tingle like the principle of microfinancing does. I’d like to think I have a philanthropist’s heart (if not the wallet), and as much as I believe “give it and forget it” charities unarguably do …Read More
Well, that was pretty quick. Just two whole months since the worst of the melamine in Chinese brands of baby formula scandal – and tragedy – two of the companies involved in the food tainting, YiLi and MengNiu, are already starting PR drives to build up trust, and rebuild their shattered sales in the lucrative …Read More
found on: 51jms.com. In my four years in China I’ve yet to see a legitimate version of any software here. Generally when purchasing apps and games in the Middle Kingdom you have two choices – pirated software that looks pirated, and pirated software that looks real. Like pretty much every other media, most notably DVDs, …Read More
It’s a damn good thing that I live in a city where the accepted legal tender is basically Monopoly money, because finance gives me the heebie jeebies. It always has. My pre-adolescent lemonade stands went bankrupt, the last time I balanced a checkbook was during a particularly awesome round of hacky-sack, and the merest whiff …Read More
I just got finished reading that Time Out Beijing, one of the city’s preeminent English-language entertainment guides, has been suspended indefinitely. Not, as one might guess, because it had been publishing subvert-the-youth articles or anything of the sort – but simply because it wasn’t properly licensed. Fair enough. I mean, in pretty much any country …Read More
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