ChinaSMACK

For people who just want some idea on what things are like in China, I recommend ChinaSMACK: http://www.chinasmack.com/ Granted, it gives an internet-centric view of things, which doesn't do justice to all the disconnected rural parts of China, but at least it's a bit more real than what you get most other places.

Google's Human-flesh search engine: http://www.google.cn/intl/zh-CN/renrou/index.html Google translation (weak): http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=zh-CN|en&… (btw if you search for anything, it informs you (in Chinese) that it's an April fools joke) For translations of these kinds of forum discussions see http://www.chinasmack.com

"To deny something that exists, and if there is open evidence that it does exists, really has to hurt one's own credibility." --Careful with that thinking, you likely live/cameup in a somewhat free/democratic society If you talk to folks who have to live in say Russia/Putin-stan today when the government lies and everyone knows that the government knows that everyone knows they're lying it's actually a mechanism of intimidation and control. It really boils down to "we can get away with saying or doing whatever we want-- what are YOU going to do about it?" or "Your facts don't matter, your information doesn't matter, your data doesn't matter, your truth doesn't matter-- all that matters is power and we have the power and we're in charge." This strategy is a bit different from the casual/blatant general dishonesty of the current American president (it seems to be a bit of a personal tick rather than this kind of deliberate thinking) --- but it is absolutely a well-worn trick of nightmare authoritarian regimes. If you're not already familiar, check out these journalists: - julia ioffe - masha gessen If you want some provocative Chinese muck-raking, these sometimes be useful/interesting resources: - https://www.chinasmack.com/ - http://www.chinauncensored.tv/

Chinese really is well-suited to poetry. This carries over into song lyrics, even for pop songs. Here are two that I really like: * Tian Mi Mi by Teresa Teng - http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/teresa_teng/tian_mi_mi.html - which includes a line "your smile is like flowers opening in the spring wind" * Sky by Faye Wong - http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/more/chinese-pop-songs/sky-by-zhang-jie… - one of many beautiful lines translates as "The sky. Piled with layers and layers of longing." There are certainly great lyricists in English, but the two songs I linked above were both massive popular hits. Teresa Teng and Faye Wong during their respective heydays are probably best compared with people like Madonna in the 80s/90s or Beyonce today (in terms of popularity, media attention, etc.). Is there anyone in mainstream pop music writing lyrics as beautiful as the ones I linked above? (Fun side note: Faye Wong is a huge admirer of Teresa Teng, and has a great cover album of Teng's songs called Decadent Sounds of Faye. The arrangements of these songs are great and Faye Wong sings them beautifully).

One common misconception is that all censorship is done automatically based on keywords. While it's true that internet searches in particular, and visits to banned websites are greeted with a connection reset, the censorship of message boards is done by hordes of low-paid individual workers (the "50-cent party" [1]) that are local to each district. Your girlfriend's post (which was a one-word post, and an inflammatory one at that) was probably spotted by whichever worker(s) were responsible for monitoring that message board. When such a post is removed, it's typically referred to by netizens as being "harmonized", a play on Hu Jintao's "Harmonious Society" slogan [2]. You should check out the archives of a site like chinasmack or chinahush[3], who have translated summaries of popular chinese message board topics and gives a good feel of the day-to-day life of a chinese netizen. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonious_Society [3] http://chinasmack.com http://chinahush.com

I'm in Harbin, but location has little to do with it since this pertains more to cyberspace than meatspace. The pro-Google sentiment I refer to in the beginning was coming from mostly Western blogs and social news sites. For a Chinese netizen perspective, chinaSMACK translates comments from popular BBSes here (though I don't know about authenticity/bias - my Chinese isn't that good yet). Here's an example regarding the Google announcement: http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/google-threatens-leaving-china-chine… It's difficult for me to gauge the Chinese reaction on my own, though. A handful of translated comments or an online poll don't amount to anything, really. Doubly so once you're aware of the "50-cent gangsters" who are paid to astroturf online (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party and http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20091221_1.htm). The best resource I have are my adult students who spend the time online and can give me their impressions. So far, their responses have been to the tune of: "If Google leaves, what am I going to do!? I use GMail and many other services, and the search engine is better than Baidu for finding information in English. It's a critical part of my work!" It should be noted that all of them (university-level and older) are aware of the censorship, they just have differing ideas on its necessity. Do they feel like the West is unfairly criticizing China? The Party loves playing the victim, probably because Western media affords…

A glossary for those interested in Chinese internet terminology: https://www.chinasmack.com/glossary#%E4%BA%94%E6%AF%9B%E5%85%9A

While I agree with your other words, is the last paragraph really necessary? If you want us mainlanders to trust you, it is advisable to not praise Japan when it is not directly related to the conversation. Mainlanders are also perfectly capable of doing it, although we are not doing as good as we can. https://www.chinasmack.com/chinese-football-fans-pick-up-trash-copying… Downvote me all you want, I still support your democratic movements. But if you truly want mainlander to hear your voice, talking about how good Japan is is counterproductive. If you want to make friends with the victims, it is not a good idea to talk about how morally superior the criminals are. Please explain why are you down-voting this. I changed my mind seeing your previous posts, and I may change again if you can point out my mistake.

I don't think cheating is a part of Chinese culture, however, gifting seems to have been as recently as 2013/2014 in education [1] [2]. In business, it's still common to give your boss a gift in order to get a promotion [3]. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-china-parents-bribe-to-get-stu… [2] http://www.chinasmack.com/2014/stories/teacher-scolds-class-for-not-gi… [3] https://www.rnw.org/archive/what-give-chinese-boss-who-has-it-all-or-n…

On the other hand, people's lived experiences: http://www.chinasmack.com/tag/food-safety

I don't know the original sources of this joke, but this version is pasted from http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/stories/what-if-district-9-alien-prawns… - Aliens land in Beijing, Beijing people would ask the aliens if they believe in capitalism or socialism. - Aliens land in Shanghai, Shanghai people would drag the aliens to the zoo to put on display. - Aliens land in Guangdong, they would be eaten… - Aliens land in Wenzhou, Wenzhou people will ask the aliens: is business easy to do on your planet?

For anybody unaware, there is a whole network of sites like this that translate native language stories and commentary into English (depends on the editors, but the content varies from serious news stories like this to silly/interesting slice-of-life stuff from reaction on internet forums). China: http://www.chinasmack.com Indonesia: http://www.indoboom.com Russia: http://www.russiaslam.com Japan: http://www.japancrush.com Korea: http://www.koreabang.com

Mongolia's capital Ulaan Baatar is also called the coldest capital in the world. Harsh temperatures during the winters force the poorest people to live in the canalization, where are heating pipes: http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/mongolian-homeless-living-unde… I think, it cannot get worse than that.

This whole, "oh the west is just as bad" troupe needs to die. But if they do have children, they don't have to endure this: http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/stories/shanghai-black-girl-lou-jing-ra… Can you even imagine a "mixed" kid who grew up entirely in the US being cussed out by well over half the commenters on a talent show, and for even the kids mother to be attacked relentlessly for being with a man of a different color? The WSJ link doesn't even get into the worst of it. You should have seen the weibo comments on Lou Jing.

http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/pictures/recycled-slop-swill-cooking-oi… Even my relatives stopped buying street food for me there. Generally it's really unsanitary. Even street food in NYC is unsanitary, china is definitely worse.

Yes, Xuzhou (a Chinese prefecture-level city) has moved to prohibit the "human flesh search" ( http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/xuzhou-government-outlaws-human-fles… )

Thank you for your honest reply, I just upvoted you. > While I agree with your other words, is the last paragraph really necessary? If you want us mainlanders to trust you, it is advisable to not praise Japan when it is not directly related to the conversation. I agree that the last paragraph is not necessary. But I did learn something from your reply to my last paragraph. I personally separate the Japanese people we see nowadays from the wartime Japan under militarism, and I think this sentiment is popular among the recent generations in Hong Kong (and perhaps in Europe and US, etc). Older generations in Hong Kong, who experienced the Japanese occupation, think differently, understandably. So to a Hong Konger like me, praising Japan does not have any strings of nationalism attached. It is like praising the spice in Thai food (and this is irrelevant to whether we like Chinese food, or China). And that's why I am being over-insenstive here, and I could have done better. Likewise, most of Hong Kong people could separate mainland people from CCP. > Mainlanders are also perfectly capable of doing it, although we are not doing as good as we can. > https://www.chinasmack.com/chinese-football-fans-pick-up-trash-copying… Thanks for letting me know something I was not aware of, and I sincerely praise those mainlanders for their effort. Keep up with the good work. As your linked article also suggests, Japan is leading the world in cleaning after themselves,…

This is an absurd story. Of course a woman can be a "maker". Of course an attractive person can be a "maker". But Naomi Wu's entire shtick seems to be "skimpily dressed girl with fake tits does stereotypically nerdy male activity". Look at her Youtube channel [1] - every video starts with an anime cartoon of her, obviously intended to titillate. People have frequently criticised startups for using sex to promote their products. (E.g., Geeklist, a few years back [2]). Now a scantily clad woman is a feminist icon? I get that there's a view of the world whereby the Geeklist woman was being exploited, and Naomi Wu is simply owning her sexuality, or whatever. For most outsiders it simply looks like fashion. Using sex to promote tech products was passe, and now it's in again and slightly edgy, but only if you're cool enough to pull it off. She has an explanation about how the breast implants really express her interest in bodyhacking and the outfits reflect the cyberpunk style of Shenzhen. (B.S., by the way - most of Shenzhen is just a normal Chinese city). And when all her photos and videos are of her in a skimpy outfit, wearing makeup and with hair styled - she's choosing to present herself in a certain way. She could do a video wearing a sweater, working on a late night project with a ponytail and bagged eyes, but she doesn't. She knows looking good will get her videos more clicks. (It takes a lot of effort to look good consistently, which is why engineers and scientists of…

I've read enough articles over the years that this move on China's part is not surprising to me at all. I think the average person in China is quite fed up with the lack of morality and social compassion in the general public - due to news articles like the ones I am about to link you. Extreme lack of good samaritan behavior: http://www.chinasmack.com/2015/stories/old-chinese-woman-abandoned-in-… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Wang_Yue http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/videos/shanghai-pudong-airport-stabbing… Chinese tourist behavior: http://www.chinasmack.com/2015/videos/thai-model-rants-about-chinese-t… http://www.chinasmack.com/2014/videos/thai-flight-turned-back-due-to-u… http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/mainland-chinese-tourists-defac… I think the majority of the West believes that the government is behind everything. But the truth is that most of these kinds of changes in China are actually reflected in the people's opinion. In this case, the PEOPLE in China are really sick and tired of seeing news articles like few I have linked. The government has just decided that this seems like the best method to achieve what the people want. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but you have to remember that almost nobody in China has ever read 1984. They don't share your values.

> People in their 20s (just), 30s, 40s know about the Apple 'cool' factor but on a recent trip to SE Asia I would guess 60% or more of the teens were using non-iPhones. I can't speak for the rest of Asia, but judging by my extended family, the Apple craze in mainland China is still pretty ferocious. A combination of the materialistic culture and view of Apple as a luxury brand often leads to situations like [1] and [2] popping up in the news. Of course, each country is different. Was it Indonesia where Blackberry had a 90% market share among the youth? [1] http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/chinese-freshman-girl-demands-a… [2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126172/Chinese-boy-sells-kidn… > Finally if the iPad mini is "good enough" for most people then it will cannabalise the full iPad sales. This was the same argument against the iPod mini. As Apple has stated before, they'd much rather cannibalize their own products than have a competitor do it.