I slipped a story about regional combat sports in China into the Economist.
China
Chongqing’s Cheating Heart
Ok now I am going to get into some hater shit. I watched an old Katt Williams special last night and he was talking about Star Players and Haters. This essay is actually an older one that’s been in my Stuff Folder for a while, but as I was cleaning up my desktop in preparation […]
Flashlights in the Dark
I have to admit, I haven’t read a single story about foreign journalists with China visa problems. I found them all to smack of the same droll, insular, looping urgency of first world problems. If all of the reporters were white, I would just say “privilege” and dip my face back into the Stream and […]
Stay the course
I recently wrote a post about my Chengdu Compound, and the comments on the post, and on Reddit, reflect two things, in general: 1) Good job, enjoy the palace 2) Watch out, Chinese landlords are evil and will fuck you And the feelings I have in my own heart about the compound revolve around these […]
I wanna move to Cheung Chau Island
This happened a while ago, but I have to write chronologically, or things that get lost in the ether become floating, flailing spectres and I can’t be responsible. The new visa regulations instituted sometime in July have trickled down into the Chengdu Basin, resulting in my first ever 10 day visa. A penalty of sorts, […]
Last time I was in Shanghai
… was back in April to visit Chen Jia and her Taiji studio, as well as catch up with a few old friends. Here is a link to a post about Chen Jia and her school, and below are two pics. One is the breakfast of champs for anyone who did what I did my […]
The Pensioners are back
Retired doctors, nurses, and health workers converged on Chengdu’s government offices today for the third time in a month. The first time I was able to walk down and talk to them, as there were but several dozen. This time there are about a 500-600 – about a dozen dressed in hospital whites – and […]
Caixin is awesome, but the sun is still gonna blow up someday
This article here, Urban Platforms in a Policy Pressure Cooker, is just one example of Caixin Online’s excellent reporting on China’s political and economic landscape. The high-quality English is also extraordinary, as most Chinese media almost never nail the news voice that, for better or for worse, dominates the international media’s idea of what is credible […]
We be sharing poetry about Chengdu.
Check it out here on the Chengdu Forum. Or below. Now I know where all the recycling goes down a funk street in hongpailou past the rows of ankle high plastic seats roundtables and dust covered plastic hats rough faced workers with mouths full of pigfat laughing out loud as they chopstick spar a bowl of pepper […]
Sinocentrism
I keep reading stuff in the news that reminds me of stuff I wrote a long time ago. My ego demands I put it here for my mom and friends to read, and agree with. Today’s example is an excellent essay by Dr. Christopher Ford, called Sinocentrism for the Information Age: Comments on the 4th […]
Nothing to See Here
Nobody at my office, in the city’s government building, seems to care much about what happened to the deputy sec. of the whole Province last week. Everyone just at their computers, doing their thing. Noon rolls around and everyone heads downstairs for lunch at the cafeteria. Outside on the street a protest at the gates […]
Same Work, Same Pay
About 200 pensioners are camped outside of the Chengdu municipal government office building to protest imbalances in benefits offered to private and public sector employees. They represent around 50 state-owned hospitals, clinics, and community health care centers and, from the looks of it, they aren’t going anywhere until the imbalances are addressed. “People from the […]
Was the Wen Jiabao Story a Leak?
The NYT story on the Wen Family finances that came out in October, Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader, is lauded by mainstream media figures as a journalistic coup and an example of gumshoe investigative journalism. But a small minority of media outlets, led by erstwhile Western media darlings Boxun and Mingjing, counter that […]
KTVs and Ketamine
Every time I hear the China version of this song, Nana’s Lonely, I think of Huang Shan dancing in front of the speaker in a dark KTV room, wearing nothing but a bra, panties and shades. A cigarette in her hand and a couple random girlfriends dancing with her. Dominating the huge glass table is […]
Sovereignty
Recently we’ve been treated to a few events that have brought out the reactions of Chinese netizens across the spectrum of opinion, from the reform-minded to the nationalistic, and what we have read in the state-owned media and in the comments on Sina Weibo helps to shed a bit of light on Chinese society. Chinese […]
Chen Guang Cheng in Limbo …
Chen Guang Cheng’s great escape from house arrest, oppression and beatings has taken an awkward twist, with the activist in the custody of the Chinese government and the US administration feeling the heat from human rights activists across the world. The Twitter-verse turned from joyous to shocked to depressed as word came through from […]
On the run in China: Chen Guangcheng escapes!
Chen Guangcheng is an activist in China’s northern Shandong Province. He is blind and lives in the tiny rural village of Dongshigu, where he fought for the rights of peasants and especially women who faced forced sterilization and other abuses. He was imprisoned more than 4 years for his efforts and then placed under house […]
Foreign Men, Represent
If I were single and still in the Game, I would hold myself and all others to an oath of silence on the sociological phenomenon of overeducated, fine-lookin, lonely young ladies populating Starbuxes all across China. But I am out of the game and busy raising two of the most handsome muggle men this world […]
Calcified Culture, or Unique Characters?
This essay might sound a bit familiar, if you read this blog, as I seem to be circling the idea of change as a possibility. Last essay I wrote on this topic was Silk Roads and Great Walls, and that dealt briefly with the high-level impediments, this one here is a look at the grassroots […]
The sins of the father …
I was struck today by John Garnaut’s profile of General Liu Yuan, embedded in an investigation into PLA corruption. What moved me and stopped me in my tracks, and made me come back here to write this, is the revelation that Liu Yuan is the “last surviving male descendant of Liu Shaoqi”. I know little […]
Bo Xilai’s Dream
Something is happening across China, something impossible to stop and with consequences difficult to foresee. It began with the death of Deng Xiaoping, continued with the Jiang Zemin-Zhu Rongji era and has now reached the point just before chaos. It helped give rise to Bo Xilai and his pretentions to the throne, defined his entire […]
China watchers are high
Whenever I open Twitter to see what the people are saying, I end up feeling like the kid who showed up late to the meth smoking session and didn’t bring his own stash. Everyone is already knee deep in a conversation or three and most of the time it’s the act of yapping that is […]
Foreign Tax not about Foreigners
Perhaps this issue is old hat and considering the fact that much of the implementation and enforcement of China’s Social Security Law is, shall we say, open to debate, there might be no purpose at all in even thinking about it. But I have been. And I have come to the conclusion that every expat […]
Silk Roads and Great Walls
What we today call the Chongqing Model and the Guangdong Model are just new names for an ancient struggle. Since the first brick was laid on the Great Wall and the first caravan set out across the desert, this country has been riven by the need to communicate with the outside world and the fear […]
The Empire Strikes Back
China-based hacks into commercial and political networks across the planet have made the news again, with the Trend Micro report on an attack called LuckyCat that targeted Asian defense systems as well as Tibetan networks. The attack was traced back to a graduate of Chengdu’s Sichuan University, Gu Kaiyuan. Gu currently works for Tencent and […]
Don’t wink at me
I am a stranger in a strange land. I need connections or I will wither and die. And the connections I need are not just with my native people, or with people similar to me, but with the people who inhabit this strange land. I learned to speak Chinese out of survival instinct and I […]
Speaking of rumors …
The Bo Xilai Incident will not die a quiet death. The plodding censors in the Chinese government are stirring up the rumor pot, and no one is sure if that is the goal or just a byproduct of incompetence and the absurdity of Web censorship in general. According to a recent CNN article, “Heavy hand […]
A different take on the Wang-Bo Scandal
I didn’t have the confidence to step into the Wang-Bo scandal that has raged across the mainstream Western media (and parts of the Weibosphere) because I just couldn’t confirm anything. And neither can anyone else, but that doesn’t seem to stop them. For the West, the sacking of Wang – or whatever you call having […]
Mother’s milk under attack!
There are daily examples all across the world of the media mis-reporting the news and influencing public opinion. Some of them we just let go and forget about, but others have to be confronted and exposed. Today a story spread across parts of the Chinese web that attacked the natural power of women to breastfeed […]
Escaping the China Winter
It’s amazing how winter in most Chinese cities cancels out the sun. The skies seem to turn gray across the board, from Jiangxi to Sichuan and Guangxi to Harbin. Only a few pockets of sunshine are immune to the meteorological oddity known as “China Winter” and I am in one of them now, the tiny Bai […]
China-US Cold War and what we can do about it
Can it be denied that the US is actively engaging China’s border nations in an attempt to contain and control China? It seems pretty clear to most observers that such was the case years ago – Kissinger commented on the idea of containment back in 2005 – but with the recent moves in Myanmar and […]
Yining in Xinjiang Province bans beards and burkas
The Yining Government just released a plan of action that targets beard and burka-wearers across the municipality. The plan calls for a house-to-house search for any bearded men or women wearing non-revealing clothing and then ordering them to shave and strip. Disobedience will be met with prison terms. The new plan comes on the heels […]
Dying Cultures
I often wondered if generations before us have felt this same sense of impending doom that our epoch currently feels. I don’t wonder about it anymore because I have come to the sad conclusion that, yes, of course past peoples felt the dark hand of Death coming for them … because it was coming for […]
Buddhism in China
Several years back I was in a taxi cab headed somewhere and the guy sitting in the front seat was a Fullbright Scholar here in China to study Buddhism. I jokingly asked him “What Buddhism?” and he huffed and puffed and got out of the cab. He probably thought and still thinks I am an […]
Scattered Fam
So we’re on the eternal search for “the Spot” that will allow me to sip tea and write best sellers while bean makes big big money and the lil ones scamper. Possible locations are (were) 1) Pacific Northwest, specifically Portland and Northern Cali, but also and not limited to Canada or northern Washington. 2) Dali […]
A few days in Sanya
For years I avoided Hainan because as far as I had heard, it was a dirty, rude knock-off of nicer islands farther south and west (Bali, Phuket, Hawaii). Well, after four days and five nights in Sanya, I am going to have to set the record straight for any others out there who may have […]
Pros and Cons
I’m headed to Sanya this weekend to write up some travel stories about the island .. the beaches and some of the luxury hotels. I’ve never been to Sanya and its been a LONG time since i was in the vicinity of beaches and sun and fresh tropical fruits. I’ve heard all sorts of things […]
What the Wenchuan Quake makes me think of
I still choke up every time I read about the kids that died in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. I’ll remember the pictures of a girl impaled on rebar as screaming parents reached up to her … one of them balanced on crumbling concrete trying to reach her before she faded out. I’ll see the blood […]
Why I came to China …
I walked into the Minneapolis Institute of Arts one day way back in 1998 and saw this massive hunk of jade. It had been commissioned by Emperor Qianlong himself to be carved according to the ancient 4th century poem, “Prelude to the Orchid Pavilion,” by Wang Xi Zhi, one of China’s greatest calligraphers. As soon […]
New China Travel Video: 48 Hours in Shanghai
Stephan Luc Larose and I have put together our latest video, 48 Hours in Shanghai. The first part is below for you to check out. If you live in China and do not have a VPN. Get one. Please share this if you like it and if you don’t, leave an evil comment. Here are […]
Chinese Winters Suck
These past days I feel like I am just holding on … waiting for this miserable winter to end. Winters in China are exceptionally difficult because there is no escape from the wet, damp cold. Homes have no insulation, no heaters, no storm windows … cracks everywhere let the cold air in the hot air […]
Visa Issues
I made a very big mistake and assumed that I could re-new Dorian’s visa in Germany. His visa expired while we were in Germany for Christmas (close enough) and my plan was to apply for a tourist visa to China in Germany and then re-apply for a relative visa once we got back to China. […]
Horses and Tea and all manner of Roads
I’ve been up and down the “horse and tea trade route” a few times. basically the road from Chengdu south to Bangkok, as far as I am concerned. It extends west all the way to Lhasa and beyond and north to Xi’an, but basically the middle half (Yunnan and Sichuan) is where a lot of […]
Anti-Japan Protests Rock Chengdu
The conflict between the Chinese and Japanese is getting heated. First Chinese “fishing boats” enter “disputed territory” and snoop around.. Japan sends in destroyers to see what’s going on; the Chinese boats allegedly ram the destroyers. Japan arrests everyone then releases the crew while holding onto the captain for a week. China goes apeshit. Screams, […]
Big Bosses
I got a new story up, a lil something about a big boss I met back in the day called: Boss Sung’s Wife. I met a lot of bosses during my time here in China. I wrote about some of them but I always loved the Boss Sung character. He was truly over the top. […]
Can’t Truss It ..
No No No No! I try not to get sucked into these discussions anymore, but part of my daily routine is to open sites like Atimes.com and Antiwar.com and others and when I read certain passages I just can’t help my emotional response. Last week, during the peak of the Sino-Japanese pissing contest over rocks […]
Commando Style
Here is a post I wrote about the Big Bus Tour in Shanghai. The interview kinda goes into the exciting way things can get done here “commando style” in China without really getting into it at all. Be sure to peep the accompanying photo — that’s Chris Tucker with Jackie Chan. Love it. Check out […]
Chinese Baby Products Pose a Danger
Last night I spent about an hour putting together a baby bed for Dorian. It was a pretty shoddy little bed and a very shoddy set of instructyion, but with a little love it will serve its purpose. But after finding some little nails in part of the bed I am anxious about what else […]
I can’t stop laughing at Western businessmen
I don’t even know where to start laughing and where to end. It doesn’t matter. For years and years people like me (but with better jobs) have been saying that China has some issues and we need to help them along, but the money-men always trumped everything by drooling all over each other in attempts […]
Lu Guang’s Photography: Pollution in China
Makes me real nervous to see pics like this. I know that pollution is everywhere, but seeing it up close and personal like these pictures by Lu Guang is still disturbing. For an English translation, go to ChinaHush’s post here. In related news, here is a small story about “grow houses,” which are houses built […]
“Don’t be Evil” — Tell that to Wall Street
After Google announced that it might leave China, Wall Street and other stock exchanges around the world reacted in typical fashion, by buying Baidu stock and selling Google stock. Baidu’s stock jumped by at least 12%, while Google’s slid by about 1%. For the money-men — the same people, let us not forget, who caused […]
Google unlocks the vault!!!!
Everything the Chinese government has blocked is now available via Google, including pictures of Tiananmen, articles on Free Tibet and the Dalai Lama and everything else. According to Google’s own stats, the most searched for terms in the past 24 hours were Tiananmen and the Chinese for it 天安门 And this picture here says it […]
Google fed up with China
You can check out the full article on Google and China here at Chengdu Living. Check it out and leave a comment. PeaceS
China reacts to Avatar the Movie
Avatar the movie opened up in China on January 4th, 2010. Lines stretched for blocks outside of most every theater in the nation for the next week as waves of Chinese went to see the next stage in movie evolution, 3D fantasy on a Hollywood scale. I went on the 6th and from the first […]
Crib finalized
Contract signed. The crib is real nice, we is happy. I wish I could show you pics, but i have to wait till those greasy bastards at the Bad Monkey send me the battery I forgot at their bar. (Excuses …) The house has two big courtyards, a lily pond, a chicken area, two floors, […]
Chengdu Living
Spent all day yesterday cooking up various meals and eating them on the spot. I’ve been brewing the soup for two days (into the third) now and its got sausage and taters and pork and garlic and ginger and all sorts of other random stuff in it. I keep imagining an inn back in the […]
No surprises anymore
Almost a year ago today, I posted a link to China’s Charter 08 and mused about a possible “transition” led by China to a more ethical and just governance … Well the architect of the Charter is in jail and was sentenced recently, according to BBC reports, but that is just a small indication of […]
The American Dream and the Written Word
So I am reading Daniel Boorstin, The Seekers, which is the third in a series that begins with The Creators and continues with The Discoverers. Boorstin is one of my favorite historians. So in Seekers, Boorstin explores the philosophers and “idea-men” that helped to establish the foundations for Western political and social systems. What I […]
Free to Post
I wrote an essay a while back about censorship in China, for Antiwar.com, and I basically said that within the parameters of black and white, all life transpires. Well i am now, thanks to Freedur, safely within the gray. Freedur is a VPN protocol that allows me to surf through a proxy and avoid sneaky, […]
to all the beauty in your life
back in Shanghai, listening to Christmas music. i had a small panic attack in the vancouver airport as i watched asian people be asian and realized that my ass was headed back to China to live for a while and be a father and all that. started trrrrriping. in my own head of course. was […]
this could have been anyone of us
In this story right here, I find a very familiar young man: went to evergreen and became slightly radicalized. got a girlfriend and did what he thought was best — take action instead of talk. got caught and ran for his life to Dali, a place i know well. ran around the town and got […]
Sigh
Headed back Here And just to make it even more lovely, i read more about Chinese products ONCE AGAIN making consumers sick and otherwise doing everything they should not be doing. My lady wants to stay just one year or so, because in 2011 a chemical plant will be built just a an hour or […]
Moses in the NYT
Dr. Russell Leigh, that is. My old Professor at the U of M was on CNN last year during the Olympics and now he has an Op-Ed in the NYT clearly and coldly explaining what is really going down. Check it out. In my last post i said that the Han arguments of “ingratitude” are […]
Xinjiang protests continue
Here is the BBC on the protests … there is some decent video here showing a large group of Han thugs headed to the Uigher part of town for revenge and also a crowd of Uigher women demanding to know where their men were taken. The NYT has a repeat of yesterday’s story with a […]
Violence in Xinjiang
Uighers in Urumqi rioted over the past 24 hours, destroying property, killing people and fighting the police. The immediate cause for the riots was a brawl in Shaoguan, Canton Province that began after some fool posted a note on QQ saying that 6 Uigher boys had raped 2 Han women. Han workers then rampaged through […]
Summer in Portland
is almost perfect. its not too hot and when it does get hot the rains come politely like butlers in the morning to dress up the day in dew making sure i dont know it even happened till i stretch yawn put my slippers on and walk out. a faint whiff of brimstone and stains […]
Work is the Enemy of Doubt
Fortuitous fortuitous this is the word of the day. I spent the last two days meeting my old tea suppliers Bai Ting Ting who provides me with the Honey Dew Tea that I love so much and my man Chen Su Yuan who has tea ware for sale and twin brothers Xiao Song and Da […]
Chinese girls are silly
My man told me earlier i the week that he would never marry a Chinese girl, even though he has been here for several years and chases them down like the bunnies they are. I remember thinking the same thing for a while, but it only hit home when .. i went home (or Portland). […]
Shanghai
I miss the quiet of my dungeon and the wind through Oregon’s trees. Its sunny here and i am about to be in the Du with all my friends again and its gonna be hard to leave. I am trying to stay for one month but i can feel the pull of oblivion on the […]
Back in China
Shanghai is a sea of skyscrapers as far as my eye can see. There are pockets of two-story blocks of old school homes with laundry hanging from lines strung between houses. The glow of the sun is like that of a streetlamp through fog. When i see the orange orb in the sky it looks […]
Vision of a Man
I wish i had a better keyboard cuz there is something i need to work out and for me keyboards are … key. I notice a lot of bad ass women out there. women who have been in the trenches of love in their twenties, been hurt, been disregarded, been underestimated. In response, i find […]
Tell it like it is
Losar is underway and the NYT and Atimes marked the Tibetan New Year with stories about the seething people of Tibet, pinned down by the boot of Communist China. Kent Ewing in the Atimes wants to know when the policy will change. He hits on the real deal in Tibet briefly, way down in his […]
China’s Charter 08
“China, as a major nation of the world, as one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and as a member of the UN Council on Human Rights, should be contributing to peace for humankind and progress toward human rights. Unfortunately, we stand today as the only country among the major nations […]
how my people do
this is my brother Mike Jones. this is how he do. bend knee and pay tribute.
Democracy in China
Does anyone remember the Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute campaign and the Crying Indian as kids? How we were taught to throw stuff away. I think that was such a powerful and successful campaign for me because it hit me when i was young and I still carry garbage around in my pocket until i […]
to my Chinese peoples
I just had a dream of China in 2028 and it was a beautiful vision. I thought of a metaphor: an old man who has shed his skin, thrown away his cane and run a marathon. I felt the pain of shedding skin, the anxiety of throwing away the cane, the suffering of running mile […]
Bumpin it in China
So here is a lil blurb about the music scene in China and below is my man Himmler’s response: the article is pretty accurate. one point I’d add though is that the falling cost of producing music (the digital era – hardware is effectively obsolete at this point) happened ten years ago and hasn’t yielded […]
Asia-Europe Meeting
A while back I was sitting in my friend Zhuang Jian’s villa outside of Chengdu, drinking some rare pu’er, smoking herb and chatting with a collection of people there. Zhuang always had artists, musicians and vagabonds over because his house was our dream: plum, peach and cherry blossoms, tea and incense, old bamboo and potted […]
China vs. Portland
In Portland, cars will stop on a busy street and let pedestrians cross. Even with a whole line of cars behind them. The pedestrian then turns to the car, nods or waves, receives a nod in return and life goes on. This is not law. It is just how people do here in Portland. When […]
Ma Shan acts like a Child!
I heard this a lot when i was in China (and sometimes here as well) and i always wanted to put across my response: Thank You! Over there in China, children and women should never be listened to, according to an old saying attributed to some white-bearded sage. For China to become what it wants […]
A nation of loners
Here is a interesting story about China’s One Child Policy … Update: This link actually goes to the column of the day for the Jakarta Post. Today’s was “How to get a Brazilian Booty.” so take a chance.
Its all bad; its all good
My landlord Nikki V is doing a piece for KBOO Radio about austerity measures people (may or may not have learned from their parents/grandparents) are using to get by in “this nasty economy.” I listen with mild interest, because so far my economy seems unaffected by Wall Street’s 777+ drop this week after the big […]
The Coming Storm in Xinjiang
A Muslim pilgrim near Hotan This post here (with accompanying IHT article) tells of the latest heavy-handed policies used by the Chinese government to win the hearts and minds of the Uighers in East Turkestan/Xinjiang Province. Here is Reporters Without Borders with more bad news. Has everyone forgotten or ignored the fact that during […]
Old News and Forgiving Old Friends
Although we may already know that Bush’s policies on pretty much everything have been resounding failures, this in depth analysis of the incompetence and duplicity of the Bush Administration is a good place to look if you want to get angry. Remember: McCain will be the same type of leader, haplessly sure of himself in […]
Serendipity
I have been talkin about getting portland and china together for a long time on this blog, and look what Mayor Adams is up to RIGHT NOW … its pretty exciting. Too bad he isn’t coming to Chengdu …
The Aftermath
This will be my last post with Olympic connotations. The Western AND Chinese media are starting to evaluate for themselves what the meaning of this vast spectacle that went down in Beijing really is. I will just lay down a bunch of links and let you get down on it: This article in Time is […]
Back in the Du part Du
So I am back in the Du and it feels all right. As soon as I get here and start meshing with my real people again i realize that my work in China will never ever be done. There is so much to write, create, document and promote … I am tied to here forever. […]
The Security Establishment
Now that I have finished my stint in a semi-corporate setting in a security company, i can let you know a little bit about how things work. These companies do business here with the permssion of the Chinese government. This means that they are under the constant supervision of the Public Security Bureau. As such, […]
Dont Believe the Hype
So the Games are over and the Western media is tapping into the fear the American nation has for China’s rise. Its all smoke and mirrors, people. America is in the doldrums because the media tells us we are; China is gonna take over the planet because the media tells us they are. The reality […]
Penultimate Day: A couple pics
I will have a few pics here … i lost my camera and never really bought a new one. I know thats the main thing this blog lacks — besides wit — so i will do my best in the future to have some images. so for now:
Day 15 – Ending with a Bang
Today was quite a day. I watched Cuba whup up on the US in the baseball semifinal and then headed to a spa to wash my stankin sweaty body and watch the US whup up on Argentina in basketball. On the way to the baseball game, i shouted out GO USA! and told jokes in […]
Day ?? – Big Day for team finals
The last two days have been pretty fun, but i have not been able to watch anything. The women’s beach volleyball, men’s volleyball, water polo, softball, the track and field .. i get it offa blogs or Chinese TV. My ticket magic has run out. I have tix to the US-Cuba baseball semifinal tomorrow, but […]
We Need Your Help
I was thinking about young Chinese this morning. Last night i was chillin with Li Du, Zachary Mexico and Liang Kegang in a KTV establishment. It was a young PSB dude’s birthday and he wanted me to come out and drink with him cuz we have been chillin together during this Holland Heineken House gig. […]
Patriotism and Nationalism
I know China is being held up as the petri dish for this discussion, but i urge all peeps to check their surroundings and see where the petri dish really is. patriotism is the love of the land, the people, the culture, the history nationalism is the love for an illusion provided by the State.
Days 9, 10 and 11 … The Hustle Eclipsed
Its becoming somewhat of a blur for me these days, i had to ask if today was Day 12 or what. I am writing on the 12th day at noon, about the last three days. I suppose the theme of the past few days has been the death of the hustle. The scalpers are gone […]
Days 7, 8 and going on 9 … Sleep Deprived
The last few days I have been running on fumes a bit. And for those of you who have done that, it means alternating between falling asleep while someone talks to you and being unable to shut your mouth at odd hours of the night. The Chinese look to have the Gold Medal count locked […]
Day 6 – The Calm Before the Storm
The second week is just around the corner and I felt the lull today. Indeed, the preliminaries and qualifying rounds are almost over. The Chinese blitz on the gold medals will have its Dunkirk in a couple days when athletics begins and “their” sports come to a close. On ticket sales, one noticed a slight […]
Day 5 – I Love China
What a difference a day makes. Today I went and watched the China-Spain B-Ball game and it was off the chains. The big difference between yesterday’s tennis and today’s hoops was that the Chinese know and love hoops. The guys in front of me loved Clyde “the Glide” Drexler and the old man in back […]
Day 4 – Chaos and Order
Welcome to China ya’ll. Today started off fine, I woke up and went and did some gong fu with my man Shifu Li Chuan cuz he’s back in town and we showed Yves and a few of his Dutch partners some moves. While chillin with Yves in his apt later, I realized I did not […]
Day 3 – Dank and Dreary … USA whoops China in B-Ball
Today I saw a one armed Cockney Englishman marching through the crowds around the water cube trying to sell swimming tix for 2000k US. The hustle continues … I’m getting deeper into the tix biz and its fun. Today it was hazy and dark all day and then it started to rain at about 4pm […]
Trolls.
Anyone who has written or who reads about China issues has encountered the ChiCom Troll. I didn’t realize there was such a distinct term for these people, i always called them “brainwashed fanatic spittle round the mouth haters” — anyway here is an introduction to trolls that made it into the NYT. Basically, for web […]
Hu Jintao Steps Up
It is a beautiful morning here in Beijing. The sun is blinding white, reminding me of a graveyard shift I pulled in Alaska once. We were driving up to Ketchikan from Bellingham (on a fishing boat) and I watched the sun come up while passing through one of the countless channels between the countless islands […]
Moral Authority?
Its not hard to imagine how China manages to get away with being one of the more brazenly oppressive nations to hold the Olympics in recent times. The USSR was able to do so, but only with half the world boycotting and in 1936, Nazi Germany’s Olympics were held before boycotts were widely used as […]
What did you think was gonna happen?
The fools of the world who believed Chairman Rogge and the Chinese BOCOG are to blame for their foolishness. There are several stories out there: The frog and scorpion, the fool and the snake … whoever thought that the Games would change the nature of the snake, was probably dreaming of dragons …
One Last Roast
Indeed, I wrote a lot about how perfect my “Leaving” is, as it comes almost to the day when i arrived 8 years ago. I spoke a lot about how everything seems pre-ordained. Well, now I am beginning to experience what that actually means. These days in Beijing will be a further searing of my […]
Down in Kokomo
Will the damn Games just start already … All day I got BBC hollerin about censorship, human rights and nationalism in one ear and CCTV hollerin about the glory, sacrifice, achievements and bursting pride of the Chinese nation in the other ear. In the middle, i compile reports. I tell Prof. Han to find the […]
The good news is
That the Chinese are ready to do this. Just Imagine: Your dad grew up smilin if he got some pork in his rice bowl.Your granddad grew up smilin if he got to shoot the invader that raped his village You are smilin cuz pork is in everyone’s bowl. No one dares invade. You got access […]
busy day
In this small blurb about a photo that made it into a tabloid about the Tiananmen protests in 1989, we see another example of the many people these days who don’t know about what happened and frankly don’t care, yet face the consequences for their ignorance. I wrote before about a couple of copy editors […]
My Worm Ridden Hound named “Dog”
I am amazed at how rumors fly around this country. its a thing of beauty to watch a story go from one part of the nation to another — at the ground level — finally coming to a feather light landing as an encapsulation of some human condition within a four-character phrase. The phrase dutifully […]
caterpillar fever
Oh, about 5-6 years ago i saw my first pile of cordyceps in Kangding, Tagong and throughout the Kham area of western Sichuan. Tibetans were slanging the dried worms on the ground for several RMB (like 10 – 20) for a pile of about 250 grams. I didn’t buy any, because at the time I […]
Feelin for Liu Xiang and Obama
Yeah I been criticizing Obama a lot here, I guess its cuz I was so excited and inspired by his nomination run and then to see him do the necessary shuck and jive towards the center of American politics made me lose my fiery optimism. But there is a quote in this here tale that […]
Chicken Grease
Played cards with the boys last night and it was good “craic.” I think that’s how you spell the Irish version — the lone Irishman at the spot won all the damn money, even though at the end all he could spit out were mumbles and curses, followed by a bellowed “Fiiive!” — referring to […]
We exist
Last night was great fun. I met up with Zachary Mexico and Li Du of Kunming Paper Tiger fame. I took along a couple of work associates to see if everyone would be able to mesh. It worked out fine. my workmates deal with foreigners all the time, are highly educated and the communication lines […]
A Smoggy day in Beijing
There is a situation going on right now at east gate in Beijing. About 100 people and are in the area. The issues is with the demolition of several apartment blocks to make way for a park. The residents have made a “last stand” in front of the last building. Anytime people actually get hifey […]
Picture me Laughing
china gives peeps designated “arrest me” zones to do their thing. “Chinese people know better than to go demonstrate in a {issue} zone during the Olympics, except maybe a few people with nothing to lose,” he said. “They know the risk of retribution is very high.” He added: “It is not a step toward allowing […]
Aint Nothing Changed
Things is hectic in this piece … for real. after the K’ming bombings the government made a few changes to security that are putting a crimp in everyone’s style. In the Metro lines the only security they have are cadres of fussy old women — the same people who yell at bicycles that cross the […]
When things die
I was in Chengdu for the past two days taking care of some business and I went to check out my old home in Three Gods Village. I have posted here about it earlier — the place is getting torn down to make way for high rise buildings and the people are forced to move […]
propagandja
My man Mike the B. and some info on the Freddie Mac thing, which i said was sinister a few days ago …
like i said, communicate
Here is a story that is pretty interesting, in that it shows the polarized views of this country that people have. I am sure that the woman in the story did not have the right documents. She either did not register, was never registered, had a wrong visa or some other glitch that she probably […]
No Fun Olympics
Check out my no-fun dork shoes: China’s “top-down” approach to security in the Olympics guarantees that there will be very little mirthful exchanges between the people (in public places at least) and the Games here will be … well … all business. 2am curfew. anti-drunken partying behavior by the coppers. random security checks. jumpy cops […]
Indocrination II
My good friend and patna Fraggle Beanmilk has just been hired by a large daily newspaper here in the Du. They signed ol’ Beanmilk to a three year contract and the training began yesterday. So far, she has learned that Marxist Theory on the media is right in line with the current Party theory and […]
Laughs
(snicker snicker) (cackle cackle)
Surprise! Beijing is a polluted city!
Sigh. The truth the world has refused to confront always comes out in the end, be it war for oil, Bush is a fool, we need alternative energy or China is polluted … it funny how long it takes before people admit the truth to themselves. I think it takes at least three large stories […]
My Neighbors
Here are some pics by photographer Andreas Mueller of the village i live in and some of my neighbors:
Patterns of Development in China
Francesco Cisci is the Asia editor for La Stampa and a frequent contributor to Asia Times. Here is an essay of his that does a good job of tracing China’s cultural changes and is also invaluable for me in that the patterns he describes course through my story about the Hakka.
Three God’s Village and The Hakka – lil Update
I have gotten a glimpse of the historical record of the Hakka that settled in Three Gods Village where I live. They arrived in Sichuan during the reign of Kangxi — first in Longquan (not far from where I am) then eventually in this village. The trip took 4 months from Guangdong where they are […]
Hakka in Sichuan
Hey. I am doing research on the Hakka people in Sichuan. The Hakka are sometimes referred to as the “Jews of China.” They reportedly originated in the Yellow River Valley and migrated south to Fujian and Guangdong to escape wars and famines. They settled in and around the Pearl River for many centuries, retaining their […]
The elephant in my bathroom
how silly we humans be. Sports are and have been one of the ultimate political experiences for societies since the dawn of the ball. A discus tossing match between a Spartan and an Athenian was the grand catharsis of the day. A football match between Turkey and Germany is passionate, bloody and emotional because it […]
2008 Olympics: For Chinese only!
The visa situation in China is getting more and more frustrating for foreigners trying to do anything here. How to extend or wiggle one’s way into a longer stay burrows itself into every conversation at least once or twice these days. If you have a Z-Working visa and want to extend it, you must leave […]
Blogger up in China!
Well i’ll be damned. After all this time, China has decided(?) to let blogger do its thing. So i am visible in China. This is a good thing. I am in shanghai now and chillin with my man Ferchak. I love his house. And his style too. A true gentleman scoundrel of the most elegant […]
it just keeps gettin thicker
ya’ll don’t even know. I went to Hanyuan the other day and just got back in the Du. I was planning on staying a month there, but things didn’t work out that way. On the way to Hanyuan I got a call from my man Philly in Beijing and he said: “yo, that security job […]
The Gov’s Side of the Story
So the meeting between the local government officials of Three God’s Village and the villagers took place today at 10am. The meeting was held in a bed and breakfast inn, one of the largest, across from the local Party Secretary’s house. WE sat under peach tree in bamboo chairs as the officials explained what was […]
Wandering Blind
I can’t read my blog right now, but that might end. It has been a common occurrence since I started this thing. Sometimes my proxy works, sometime it dont. So here is a bit of an update on the “they tearin down my house” saga: My neighbors and I had a powwow today and learned […]
Will Autumn Ever Come?
“Young Fool, only now, at the end, do you understand …” Yesterday I arrived back home from Dujiangyan and there was a small crowd of my neighbors laughing and gathering near my yard. I walked up and saw that the Local Party Secretary and his tall, thin greasy crony were present. I heard them talking […]
Mainstream
For the past week I have been a scab for USAToday. I haven’t actually written anything for them, but just in case the Tangjiashan quake lake bursts, then I should be there to write something up about the ghost towns of Beichuan, Mianyang and Mianzhu and all of the people whose houses and fields have […]
The Case of Wang Shi
The Chinese government has decided to clamp down on the schoolchildren issue to ensure social harmony and stability. All protests are dealt with by black-clad police and the media has been warned from on high to keep their mouths shut about the schools. They can’t even mention it. Instead, Wang Shi, CEO of one of […]
serendipity
i just got back from Beichuan a few minutes ago. Beichuan was near the epicenter of the earthquake, so most of the villages in that area were destroyed or flooded. I met groups of people from Xuan Ping — a village near Beichuan that was flooded — scattered throughout the disaster area. One man was […]
what does it take
Today i rolled through Dujiangyan and took a look at the field hospital set up by the German and Sichuan Red Cross. The field hospital is there to take over from the seven local hospitals that are no closed due to damage from the quake. They take on all of the patients that are not […]
some pics
kitties peep dude in the background. it was a good day. for badass motorcycle love, hit up Carl
Luo Shui
We went to Luo Shui today, about 20 of us in several cars and trucks loaded with toys, paints, candy and other goodies for the surviving schoolchildren of Luo Shui town. We went to four different schools and each school had lost kids during the quake. The kids loved and we had a blast. My […]
It aint funny
I can’t comment back because blogger is blocked in China … it isn’t funny, what happened to Falun Gong followers in China. The brainwashing campaign in China, which i posted on before, is extremely successful. The kids here know nothing of the torture and persecution. When falun gong is mentioned in China, people invariably laugh, […]
Kids Day
Tomorrow is kids day in China so a group of us are headed north to Shifang to play drums and be funny guys for the kids in the refugee camps. I already have a song called “Stank Feet” all thought out. Today I read a notice issued by the police to the citizens of Shifang, […]
Addendum
This is my house — the farm. About 10km southeast of Chengdu in Three Gods Flower Village, where farmers grow roses and tulips and offer up their homes as teahouses for the semi-affluent of the city. There are some quiet nooks here off the teahouse path where one can chill. This is Tenz, my half-Tibetan […]
Test Runs for the Big Show
Wass happenin ya’ll? Its been an easy few days recently. My cats are in heat again so the dirty toms are serenading us all from the backyard. Big Tenz had a rough day of chess yesterday hehehehe … he brought his projector to the Farm and we have been enjoying wide-screen Planet Earth sessions. The […]
Tapfere Leute
Photo by Julia Zimmermann
Pictures of Qing Cheng Mountain
I posted some pics here of Qing Cheng after the quake. If anyone has any information or people they would like me to contact, please let me know. I am headed back up there this weekend.
Woe unto the Enemies of the State
Patriotism at the expense of another nation is as wicked as racism at the expense of another race…Let us resolve to be patriots always, nationalists never.– Rev. William Sloane Coffin Today at 2:28pm, the entire Chinese nation stood at attention for three minutes to remember the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake. Today’s edition of the […]
A Theory of Relativity
First off: Blogger is blocked in China, so people cannot see it here, I cannot comment back to any of you and i do use a proxy. There is so much to tell … I drove from Chengdu up north to a place called Hanwang today, through the towns of Shifang and Mianzhu. Shifang was […]
Around Qing Cheng …
Yesterday i climbed as far as it is possible to climb right and Qing Cheng mtn is def. devastated near the top. Past the Tai An Old town basically every building lies in ruins. There are a few valleys which will take months to clear. Boulders and huge chunks of mountain clog the roads at […]
On Brainwashing
In China, indoctrination of the youth begins very early. At age 6, young kids are given their first Chinese Reader to learn the vast collection of characters, poems and proverbs that make up the Chinese language. The book begins with a small rhyme about flowers and their need for the sunshine, then goes into the […]
HK Torch Relay
here is a column i wrote for Antiwar.com that will not get published: On Friday the torch arrives in Hong Kong. Demonstrators from around the world are arriving ahead of time to take advantage of this opportunity: after Hong Kong the flame will be traveling through Mainland China, where security will be extremely tight. This […]
Rationalism is Bleak
Today has been another magnificent day in Chengdu. I am sitting in the Bookworm, a fine place to ease back and read/write be smart with myself and I am using my OWN computer. For the past three weeks, I have been using any computer I could because I lost my damn power source while up […]
crackers
be they American from Pennsyltucky or Chinese from Hunan, they make life difficult. Because their lives are difficult. Cracker ass crackers. I am working on a Sichuan Guide for Odyssey these days and a collection of essays about Chengdu. Its a smooth way to wrap up this chapter of my life. Sometimes I feel leaving […]
Anger
so the inevitable has happened. i was talking with some friends (chinese) aboutthe possibility of a cultural revolution style environment here in china and we all agreed that it would be very possible and even likely. makes me want to go to beijing even more i say … i have seen mobs in china. the […]
Benedict Wang?
Its hard work being a thinker in China. I spoke with a young Chinese friend of mine the other day about the indoctrination of students and the amazement with which the West contemplates pro-government, hysterically patriotic young people. Something we have little or no experience in, since the end of WWII. She said: “It is […]
i’m so slick
not just cuz my insides are covered in hot pot goo, but because twice now i managed to slip through the cracks in the chinese visa system. last august 10th, they raised the prices for american visas almost 100%. i got my visa the 8th. haha. this month, they said no more F visas for […]
in case you aint heard II
After spending some quality time with large numbers of the youth of this nation last weekend, I have a few thoughts i must convey: if China is looking to be a superpower, to whom would they look for examples of what to do? Both US and Chinese education systems indoctrinate the youth. In america we […]
in case you aint heard
the youth of the nation …
Kun Shan
The western media feels guilty for spearing the Chinese. At least some of them do. After jumping all over the Tibet story from the Tibetan perspective — lambasting Chinese state media along the way — reporters are starting to look for Han Chinese living and working in Lhasa to tell the story from their perspective. […]
what are they thinkin?
I wrote a column a ways back about the “real China” and how the world would get a glimpse of it this summer during the Olympics. We laowai are already getting a taste. Visas are a constant source of anxiety. Not nearly as bad as it is in the US for my homies from India […]
the pot boils over
Let me give you a lil background on whats been going down. Hotan is in southern Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, which is in the northwest of China. It borders Pakistan, Afghanistan several other stans and Russia. And Tibet. Southern Xinjiang is separated from northern Xinjiang by the Taklamaklan Desert — the name means: […]
holla
Let me know if you can see my entire blog and comment on it, cuz i can’t. I have been saving up my energy for this post because I am going to try and describe the inner working of a large state-owned enterprise chartered by the municipal government to promote Chengdu abroad. Even writing this […]
Zobel
As told by Markus Tong: “I was guiding a group of people through the Tibetan highlands near Lhasa. we stopped at a village and walked around. We met a young boy, who was selling a piece of paper with Buddhist script and paintings on it. He asked for Y20, I got him down to Y14. […]
hong kong feet
as of yesterday, China has adopted US-like security measures for all flights. I had to take my shoes off and they took my bottles of liquid. I tried to crack some jokes to keep their minds off of my stankin ass feet. Supposedly the measures have been implemented nationwide. China is very good at campaigns […]
the young tibetan diaspora
like i be sayin:you can’t stop the youth
faded
I am just a few short miles from Aba, where the Tibetans burned down a police station last week. Since that incident it has been mostly quiet. This is a big tourist area and the troubles do not seem to have affected business much. Busloads of Cantonese rumble through daily, honking, yapping and taking funny […]
Aint nothin special bout me
i walked back to my house tonight around 2am and i live near the Tibetan district of town. there were police cars on every block with running motors and flashing lights. the entire neighborhood is surrounded and infiltrated. the only things moving were the cops fingers typing out a lazy message to his girl and […]
you’ve lost your smile
well it seems the media blockade is working or I just have not been keeping my ears open. Here a response to my last blog from Big Daddy Villar: “I’m in a bit of a rush and really only had time to look at about two paragraphs of your blog. But from what I’ve read […]
gettin paid
i should be putting this down for an article for Antiwar.com or somebody else, but events move to fast and I enjoy the freedom of this blog. But hell, ninja needs to get paid. Last night I was interviewd by KBOO in P-Town about the Tibet protests. I was caught a little off guard by […]
China censors
It might be hard for an American to imagine what life would be like under a dictatorship of the proletariat. What happens, among many other things, is that news is completely censored as are your modes of communication. My gmail account is spotty and has been for weeks. But since the protests I can barely […]
The diaspora
yesterday i got a message from a young girl — 21 yrs old — and a reporter for the Chengdu Economic Daily. In our society, a young girl will be the bleedingest heart you’ll find. and if she’s smart enough to be a crack reporter, she will most likely be passionate and serious about her […]
Qiangba Puncog must hang
The day after the deadline and people here in China are talking about the protests, both my Laowai homies and my Chinese homies. It is safe to say that foreigners and Chinese disagree 100% on the Tibet issue. An article in the NYT today talks about the long simmering hatred that has finally boiled over. […]
Hold a Fist Up for Tibet
Yesterday I talked with my editor Katherine about Tibet and she asked what was going on. I said well, if people in Kham and Amdo rise up too, then things will get real serious. And today my girl Nicole sends me an Ap story describing protests in Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan Provinces. So perhaps things […]
The Ends Meet
This one is for my man Flesh if he ever reads this. I have been in China for eight years. Eight, written as we write it, is formed of two circles, or a Moebius Continuum .. Infinity. As the Chinese write it .. it looks like nothing of the sort. But eight is auspicious. When […]
Laowai tai duo
yo i am in Lijiang, which i knew sucked hard balls but now after five years i returned to check it out and lord almighty does it suck. the Chinese tourists here are insecure racists and their desires and idiosyncrasies have rubbed off on a local populace that is struggling not to become rude and […]
Dali Town
it always hard for me to escape the monkey in this town. cuz i don’t try hard. the other night we were dancin to irish music, fully lickered up throwin each other and girls all around the bar — twirlin people and flippin each other and such. i received a massive bruise on my thigh, […]