Results tagged “blogs”

A blogger out of Fujian has compiled an open-source google map that places major pollution sites around china. While similar sources have existed in the past, this is the first one that allows other users to contribute sites with pollution problems. The map, which was created by Guo Baofeng, has attracted a lot of interest on Chinese BBS' and Forums: check it out while you still can, because you never know when it could suddenly disappear.

Yesterday was my first time to Shenyang city. And it was the first time I was so “warmly” welcomed by Shenyang people that I almost slept on the street last night.

As China's indie music scene has grown ever larger and more varied, blogs have popped up to keep us English-language speakers in the know. We've long relied on China Music Radar and Rock in China Wiki, as well as Kungfuology (both Andy Best and now Jake Newby) and SmartShanghai and a host of other sites we're probably just forgetting right now - feel free to add them in comments.

If you're reading this blog in China or if you've got one of your own here, you're part of a national trend: having blogs is about five times more popular in China than it is in the US. If you're listening to some music online and instant messaging at the same time, you're an even more typical Chinese Internet user.

• A hotel room that has stories to tell [Danwei] "But to see the photos as a realistic reflection or criticism of the social morbidity is not the only angle to appreciate them; take a closer look, you may find these photos do resemble a mystery/detective movie."
• China's navy turns 60 [Straits Times] "China's navy will mark its 60th anniversary with a ceremony starting on Thursday dubbed the 'naval Olympics' that will display the country's nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, state media said. The four-day event involves 21 vessels from 14 countries in the eastern city of Qingdao and includes a fleet review to be held Thursday - the fourth one in China since 1949."
• China Blog Guide: Ten Eclectic China Blogs You Should Follow [CNReviews] "The answer to English China blog fatigue is to start following some Atypical China Blogs. And, yes, some of the best are authored by “white dudes” (although some of them may in fact be “fake foreigners“…Adam Schokora comes to mind). Here they are..."

Since nobody's had the brilliant idea to set up a Xinjiangist yet, we rely on various blogs getting blocked on and off to learn what's going on about the region. If you already have Far West China and Opposite End of China (possibly taken down?) already on your blogroll, consider adding this one too: The New Dominion.

You’ve seen her byline all over the site for the past several weeks, and now we’re ready to make it official: We are happy to announce that Elaine Chow is the new Editor of Shanghaiist.

Congratulations to Matt Mayer who yesterday became (we believe) the first person to visit every station on the Shanghai Metro system in one day.

That's what Matt Mayer, the guy behind the ExploreShanghai metro map is trying to do right now. He laid out his plan, and the rules, here, a blog post that finished with: "147 stations, eight lines, one manic Monday. Wish me luck!" You can follow Matt's progress live on Twitter. His last message: "50 shanghai metro stations completed in 3h 7m 33s. Station 50 is west nanjing road. Shame i dont have time to visit marks and spencers :)" You can get in touch with Matt throughout the day. We're sure he'd love to here from you — it's going to be a long, boring Monday.

Bryanboy, the campy, witty, bitchy Filipino fashion blogger who says he's "so gay I sweat glitter" is in Beijing right now. While in the Jing, Bryanboy has been tramping around town in his Dior moon boots, visiting posh hotels, shopping at American Apparel and Uniqlo, visiting haute couture exhibits, and molesting cute boys. With so much to do, it's no wonder Bryanboy's blogging activity has been light, but he did take some time off to educate his readers on what Chinese toilets look like. Baboosh!

Nominations for the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards will close in around 24 hours. Go make your nominations for Best Asian Weblog and 29 other categories now: http://2009.bloggies.com/

• Black and White Cat translates a collection of headlines from the earliest editions of Xinhua Daily, Jiangsu Province's oldest party newspaper. In its bid to oust the Kuomintang, the CCP positioned itself as a champion of democracy and demanded for change, human rights and general elections.
• Tao Wang of UBS explains to Thomas Crampton why he thinks the new wave of unemployment is unlikely to cause unrest in China.
• EastSouthWestNorth has a set of pictures of what is supposed to be Guangdong's most run-down school.

Littleredbook.cn is a promising new blog from Shanghai-based ad agency bloodyamazing. Their mission: "Our mission is to make the world of advertising & creative in China more accessible to companies outside the Middle Kingdom. You'll find here the most relevant information for researching and eventually launching your own China campaigns."

• Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap says China's block of the New York Times does not matter as much as it once did.
• Chris Gill of Shanghai Eye says he has it from a reliable source that the HSK, the Chinese proficiency examination for foreigners will be scrapped in two years.
• Jenny Leung of China Digital Times interviews Qi Hanting, the student who founded the Anti-CNN website.

• Why Is Prof. Yang Shiqun Being Investigated? Read His Class Syllabus [China Digital Times]
• Reclaiming Old Shanghai? [The China Beat]
• China: 08 Charter, signers arrested and questioned by police [Global Voices Online]

• Fons Tuinstra of China Herald says AT Kearney's 6% forecast of China's economic growth in 2009 is ludicrous and offers his own projection — a very precise 8.94%.
• Bob Chen of Global Voices Online gives a good summary of some of the worries and questions that Chinese bloggers have with regards to the 4 trillion yuan economic stimulus package recently unveiled by the central government.
• Tim Johnson of China Rises looks back on his Thanksgiving experiences around the world and observes how easy making a proper thanksgiving dinner in China has become.

Shanghai-based blogger Elaine Chow plunks down 150 kuai and writes, "It took one last elevator to bring me up those three final levels. This time, as I stepped out of the elevator and into the walkway, it was hard not to gasp." Read it all here. And read all of Elaine's Gizmodo posts here.

Many Chinese did not follow the American election closely. But political observers say there was little doubt that Obama has captured the imagination and support of young Chinese, particularly those who are studying English and the political systems of other countries.

• The Dalai Lama entertains the idea of himself going to hell and of his lineage coming to an end at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. [China Rises]
• The WSJ's China Journal tells us of a "rare and violent strike" among cabbies in Chongqing yesterday protesting against fuel shortages and heavy fines.
• Sam Flemming of the China IWOM Blog tells us of Gome's launch of a tuangou (团购) or "group purchase" opportunity through the Chinese forum KDS. This is interesting because tuangou activities are usually initiated by consumers.

Picture of art by handicapped Guiyang beggar from ChinaSmack

Photo from Marc van der Chijs

Video: polskipekin follows three groups of artists around Beijing and asks them for their take on what it means to be painting in a rapidly evolving China [h/t Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei]

Chuck Culpepper of the Los Angeles Times has been tracking this and as of his latest posting yesterday, the Beijing Olympics "MPC" leaders are — you guessed it — Armenia. Australia is No. 2. USA? 30th. China? 40th. (We have a feeling the Aussies might climb back to No. 1 after their efforts in the pool this morning.) Australia is not the two-time defending MPC champs, however. That honor goes to the Bahamas, which has the population of a Shanghai city block. They were tops in Sydney and in Athens.

Thanks to Twitter’s perpetual failures, Lu’s Fail Whale now features on t-shirts and coffee mugs while other artists create kinetic Fail Whale sculptures.

Freshly fired from Windows Underground, Brad finally has time to blog again. Here's a snippet from "My Shanghai Story (Part 1)", about the Texan's introduction to Shanghai's underground live music scene: "About a month later John, some other friends, and I went to our first real underground rock show at the Sus2 Music Factory (a real factory!) where Reflector (反光镜) and Loudspeaker (扩音器) played a late-afternoon show to a crowd of pierced/mohawked/Dr Marten’d students. I remember complaining that Loudspeaker’s guitarist was out of tune, and when I got home I downloaded Reflector’s EP from their website. Their song 'Wuliao Contingent' (无聊军队) is still in rotation on my iPod."

• With constant building demolition, commercial clutter and disapproval from Chinese authorities, it's no wonder graffiti in Shanghai is generally a rare sight. Juxtapoz features some exceptional masterpieces around Moganshan Road.
• Peking Duck's Richard analyzes the "iconic" theory applied to the CCP in China: "the main fault lies with the local authorities, not with the central party, which is trying as best they can to control their local counterparts." Richard quotes from an article in the Washington Post by John Pomfret, who states that this very theory ("Local CCP bad, central CCP good") is one of the "perverse reasons why the Communist Party can maintain power in China."
• The writers at Slate compile an exhaustive list of everything that could go wrong at the Beijing Olympics. Possible plights include locusts, terrorism, and drought.

Western journalists have long lauded China's blogs as edgy, provocative and balanced alternatives to China's official newspapers. Now, we have science on our side: In a new study at Middlebury College, assistant professor Ashley Esarey analyzed the 2006 news content of over 500 Chinese blogs. Esarey found that some 61% of Chinese blogs carry criticism, with only 19% of Chinese official news media doing the same. While Imagethief does point out that explicit criticism of local or national government individuals is low among Chinese bloggers, the WSJ highlights other areas of Esarey's research:

some 36% of blogs demonstrated “pluralism”–- the presence of two or more opposing perspectives–- as opposed to just 5% of newspapers. Meanwhile, only 4% of blogs carried national propaganda, as opposed to 21% of newspapers.

Photo from Mike Chen

Jonathan Watts, the China correspondent for The Guardian, has recently put in his year so far article about the internet here. It covers a lot of familiar ground and quotes Zonaeuropa and Danwei.org, among others, as sources. One of the most quoted facts in these kinds of articles is the world’s most read blog being “Lao Xu”. Lao Xu is the Sina.com blog of actress/writer/director Xu Jing Lei 徐静雷.