First it was a coal-byproduct in the wheat gluten killing dogs and cats; then it was diethylene glycol in cough-syrup shipped to Panama; now the New York Times is reporting that toothpaste, also shipped to Panama, contains this same, poisonous, dietethylene glycol (a cheap substitute for glycerin). Do the Chinese have it in for Panama or something?
This could turn out to be a BIG, BIG problem for China. While I always have to point out the sensationalism of news stories (nobody is believed to have been harmed by the toothpaste, and it's unclear how many pets died from the gluten, though hundreds of people were killed by the cough-syrup in Panama), there is real reason to be concerned about products, particularly anything you ingest that comes from China.
What surprises me is that I thought counterfeiting was mostly an internal thing. Within China, there have even been cases of counterfeiting rabies vaccine (which is essentially intentional homicide), but I always though economic incentives and the importance of exports to China's economy would keep this in check. Guess I was wrong.
Now, many of the products being shipped from China are going to be subject to increased scrutiny, and the Chinese seem less likely to get approval to ship poultry abroad, something they've been lobbying for. What's worse, "made in China" could be seen by the consumer as a black mark on an otherwise reputable product.
While the New York Times is absolutely right that regulations are often lax, and enforcement before the fact lacks teeth, the Chinese government gets VERY serious about these things once they start shaming the country. My guess is that many of the people behind these incidents may be executed. And yet, these things still happen. What is it about China that makes people willing to take such risks? Did they not think people would figure out what happened when they put a poisonous chemical in medicine?
I've been itching to get a Chinese perspective about all of this, but the Chinese media is completely avoiding the issue, and I'm afraid bringing it up will result in either denial (it's a US plot), embarrassment and unease, or even get them in trouble if they believed it and told others. . .
By the way - to any government censors who may be reading this. Hi. You know, nobody reads my blog anyway, just my parents and friends. And just because I have a blog doesn't mean I have journalistic integrity. Feel free to tell me to shut up, I will. Just don't deport me.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
China's Traffic Problems
One of my least favorite aspects of life in China is dealing with virtually all forms of traffic, whether on bike, in a car, or on foot. To some degree, this is to be expected, given that this is the second most populous city in the most populous nation on earth, but it still gets to me.
Cars making right turns, for example, are a constant source of irritation for me. The US standard of coming to a full, or even rolling stop at a red light is entirely absent - in China, drivers don't even really slow down, and right turns proceed throughout the whole traffic cycle. For a bicyclist, this is extremely dangerous - when you have a green light, and you pedal past a bus sitting at the front of the last straight-going lane only to be nearly run over by a taxi hurtling through it's right turn without even braking, you begin to see the sense in some of the traffic regulations one finds so onerous in the west.
In fact, there seems to be a general disrespect that drivers of cars show towards pedestrians and cyclists. My guess is this is a class thing - you have to be upper-middle class or rich to drive a car in China, and I think they view pedestrians and bikers as plebs who should get the hell out of the way. Drivers on the campus of Beijing Normal, taking streets that are FULL of walkers and bicyclists, honk at anyone in their way, and speed past with inches to spare. That kind of behavior would get you lynched at a US university, where it's pedestrians are generally the ones showing no respect.
Of course, I can understand their frustration - while jaywalking seems to be a universal in big cities, it's taken to another level in China. People also seem to prefer walking in the bike lanes to walking on the sidewalks. Sure, there are lots of narrow sidewalks, or even streets without them, but you often see an empty sidewalk, and a whole stream of pedestrians in the bike lane.
The strangest thing to me is that people often step into the bike lane, or even into the road with their back towards traffic! No looking both ways, not even the right way, just plunging right in with the expectation that drivers and bikers will avoid them. And for the most part they do. Aside from a few close calls, a brush or two, and one not-even-fender-bending bike collision, we haven't been involved in or seen any big accidents.
I've seen one or two car collisions (after the fact), one of which looked pretty serious, but I have to say I'm really surprised at how seldom they occur.
of course, people here generally don't where seatbelts (even educated types), so when they do happen, the results are disastrous. I've heard that over 300,000 people a year die on the roads in China. When I go out tonight, I'll drink to my not becoming one of them while I'm here.
Cars making right turns, for example, are a constant source of irritation for me. The US standard of coming to a full, or even rolling stop at a red light is entirely absent - in China, drivers don't even really slow down, and right turns proceed throughout the whole traffic cycle. For a bicyclist, this is extremely dangerous - when you have a green light, and you pedal past a bus sitting at the front of the last straight-going lane only to be nearly run over by a taxi hurtling through it's right turn without even braking, you begin to see the sense in some of the traffic regulations one finds so onerous in the west.
In fact, there seems to be a general disrespect that drivers of cars show towards pedestrians and cyclists. My guess is this is a class thing - you have to be upper-middle class or rich to drive a car in China, and I think they view pedestrians and bikers as plebs who should get the hell out of the way. Drivers on the campus of Beijing Normal, taking streets that are FULL of walkers and bicyclists, honk at anyone in their way, and speed past with inches to spare. That kind of behavior would get you lynched at a US university, where it's pedestrians are generally the ones showing no respect.
Of course, I can understand their frustration - while jaywalking seems to be a universal in big cities, it's taken to another level in China. People also seem to prefer walking in the bike lanes to walking on the sidewalks. Sure, there are lots of narrow sidewalks, or even streets without them, but you often see an empty sidewalk, and a whole stream of pedestrians in the bike lane.
The strangest thing to me is that people often step into the bike lane, or even into the road with their back towards traffic! No looking both ways, not even the right way, just plunging right in with the expectation that drivers and bikers will avoid them. And for the most part they do. Aside from a few close calls, a brush or two, and one not-even-fender-bending bike collision, we haven't been involved in or seen any big accidents.
I've seen one or two car collisions (after the fact), one of which looked pretty serious, but I have to say I'm really surprised at how seldom they occur.
of course, people here generally don't where seatbelts (even educated types), so when they do happen, the results are disastrous. I've heard that over 300,000 people a year die on the roads in China. When I go out tonight, I'll drink to my not becoming one of them while I'm here.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Eeeeek! A Caterpillar!
Now I know cultural differences can be vast, but I was flabbergasted by this. Cicadas are mentioned in our latest reading text, which led us to discuss bugs, and our teacher to say that the bug she is most afraid of is mao mao chong, or caterpillars.
Caterpillars?!? They're so cute! And they don't bite, they just crawl on you!
I'm pretty into nature in generally, and I like bugs, but even so, some creepy crawlies get to me. I wouldn't want spiders of a certain size crawling on me, and while I think I could do the fear-factor sit-in-a-tub-full-of-cockroaches thing for money, I would definitely be flipping out during it. And this is a place in which fried scorpions (big ones, too) are a street snack, along with grasshoppers, and some sort of bug still in their chrysalis. And yet, somehow, caterpillars are freakout worthy. . . Baffling.
So then I asked my hui hua (conversation) teacher which chong zi (creepy crawly) she thought most terrifying, and she replied bi hu, or wall tiger. I looked it up in my dictionary, only to find that it means GECKO! Yet again! Another cute little thing that in American sells us car insurance, and here it's apparently terrifying.
It just baffles me that the Chinese can eat so many things American's find disgusting (and a little terrifying in a culinary context) and yet be petrified of them when alive. Of course, my teachers may not be in the eat anything demographic - they've both said they think Cantonese people are freakin' weird for their propensity to eat strange and exotic things (monkey brains, apparently - maybe Indiana Jones should have gone to Hong Kong to find the temple of doom).
For those who haven't heard, there's a saying in China - the Cantonese will eat anything that flies except an airplane, and anything with four legs except a table. Just don't show them a caterpillar while they're doing so.
Caterpillars?!? They're so cute! And they don't bite, they just crawl on you!
I'm pretty into nature in generally, and I like bugs, but even so, some creepy crawlies get to me. I wouldn't want spiders of a certain size crawling on me, and while I think I could do the fear-factor sit-in-a-tub-full-of-cockroaches thing for money, I would definitely be flipping out during it. And this is a place in which fried scorpions (big ones, too) are a street snack, along with grasshoppers, and some sort of bug still in their chrysalis. And yet, somehow, caterpillars are freakout worthy. . . Baffling.
So then I asked my hui hua (conversation) teacher which chong zi (creepy crawly) she thought most terrifying, and she replied bi hu, or wall tiger. I looked it up in my dictionary, only to find that it means GECKO! Yet again! Another cute little thing that in American sells us car insurance, and here it's apparently terrifying.
It just baffles me that the Chinese can eat so many things American's find disgusting (and a little terrifying in a culinary context) and yet be petrified of them when alive. Of course, my teachers may not be in the eat anything demographic - they've both said they think Cantonese people are freakin' weird for their propensity to eat strange and exotic things (monkey brains, apparently - maybe Indiana Jones should have gone to Hong Kong to find the temple of doom).
For those who haven't heard, there's a saying in China - the Cantonese will eat anything that flies except an airplane, and anything with four legs except a table. Just don't show them a caterpillar while they're doing so.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Cheng Yu of the Day
Cheng Yu are Chinese idioms, usually four characters long, often associated with a story, either folk or historical. And there are THOUSANDS of them. I think I'll have learned over 100 from my texts this semester alone, along with a bunch on the side.
Today's is: Qi2 Lv2 Zhao3 Ma3 (the lv is a lu with an oomlaut over the u)
Ride donkey, search for horse.
It usually means to be with one girlfriend while on the lookout for another.
Today's is: Qi2 Lv2 Zhao3 Ma3 (the lv is a lu with an oomlaut over the u)
Ride donkey, search for horse.
It usually means to be with one girlfriend while on the lookout for another.
Sweet! Chinese Swears
So I made a new Chinese friend last night through a Japanese classmate of mine, and he's very cool. Smart too. Fucker speaks excellent english, some cantonese, and good Japanese as well. Works at CCTV - I may have to try to exploit that connection.
It's good to have a male Chinese friend because most of the students offering to be language partners are female, and while that's fine, given the cultural rules concerning male/female interactions, I definitely would not ask a female language partner to teach me any of those oh-so-interesting words that you don't find in the dictionary.
I don't know if there's a definitive book out there on Chinese swearing, but there should be, because it's cool and interesting, and definitely full of insights into the culture. Anyway, without further ado, some gems from my new friend.
"I fuck your eight generations of ancestors" (wo3 cao4 ni3 zu3 zong1 de ba1 bei4r)
Fuck off/fuck yourself - literally "pull your dick inverted" (la1 ji1 ba dao3)
Fuck off/fuck yourself - literally "roll your dick into a young calf" (gun3 ji1 ba du2 zi)
This one I knew for a long time, but wang2 ba1 dan4, which means "turtle egg" is usually translated as bastard, but occupies essentially the same place in the language as motherfucker - questioning someone's parentage is generally pretty serious in China.
"stupid cunt" - sha3 bi1 - a favorite of Beijing taxi drivers having to stop for another car or a pedestrian.
Another intersting thing is that the closest analogue of dammnit is "ta1 ma1 de" which means "his mom (possesive)". It can be used alone or like the F-word in the english language, as an adverb, adjective, or emphatic word. Sweet.
It's not surprising that most of these words are male-oriented - in the past women weren't even supposed to leave the house (nei4 ren2 - inside people), and just going out in public unaccompanied was looked down upon, let alone using such salty language with others.
Now, of course, Chinese women are out working, shopping, doing almost everything men are doing. Behavorial standards continue to be different - women don't drink or smoke nearly as much, and there is certainly still a lot of sexism, but it will interesting to see how this aspect of the language evolves as women start to participate in the less seamly parts of public life.
It's good to have a male Chinese friend because most of the students offering to be language partners are female, and while that's fine, given the cultural rules concerning male/female interactions, I definitely would not ask a female language partner to teach me any of those oh-so-interesting words that you don't find in the dictionary.
I don't know if there's a definitive book out there on Chinese swearing, but there should be, because it's cool and interesting, and definitely full of insights into the culture. Anyway, without further ado, some gems from my new friend.
"I fuck your eight generations of ancestors" (wo3 cao4 ni3 zu3 zong1 de ba1 bei4r)
Fuck off/fuck yourself - literally "pull your dick inverted" (la1 ji1 ba dao3)
Fuck off/fuck yourself - literally "roll your dick into a young calf" (gun3 ji1 ba du2 zi)
This one I knew for a long time, but wang2 ba1 dan4, which means "turtle egg" is usually translated as bastard, but occupies essentially the same place in the language as motherfucker - questioning someone's parentage is generally pretty serious in China.
"stupid cunt" - sha3 bi1 - a favorite of Beijing taxi drivers having to stop for another car or a pedestrian.
Another intersting thing is that the closest analogue of dammnit is "ta1 ma1 de" which means "his mom (possesive)". It can be used alone or like the F-word in the english language, as an adverb, adjective, or emphatic word. Sweet.
It's not surprising that most of these words are male-oriented - in the past women weren't even supposed to leave the house (nei4 ren2 - inside people), and just going out in public unaccompanied was looked down upon, let alone using such salty language with others.
Now, of course, Chinese women are out working, shopping, doing almost everything men are doing. Behavorial standards continue to be different - women don't drink or smoke nearly as much, and there is certainly still a lot of sexism, but it will interesting to see how this aspect of the language evolves as women start to participate in the less seamly parts of public life.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Abortion In China
Interesting read at nytimes about single women getting abortion in China. They really do need to get on the sex education bandwagon if they want to have family planning - despite the deep prudishness of the culture.
The point I want to make about abortion in China though relates to the "old" face - women getting forced abortions. People often criticize China for this practice, calling it a human rights violation, but they rarely attack the idea behind the one child policy itself.
It seems to me that there are three ways to enforce such a policy 1) prison terms for offenders, 2) hefty fines impoverishing both parent and child, and 3) forced abortion. Given those choices, and especially for a developing country in which most of the penalties will be meted out on the rural poor, option 3 seems the least harmful to me.
Yes, the one child policy is coercive - that's the whole point of it. Then again, taxation is also coercive; if you don't pay, you go to jail. The freedom to have a child may be a fundamental right, but it's already abridged once you have the policy; the question is whether it's justified. Given the fact that it hasn't stopped China's population growth (particularly in the countryside) and has led to many illegal, unreported children, you could argue the policy is a failure, in which case it clearly is unjustified. On the other hand, India's population is slated to overtake China's, so there probably has been some population restricting effect.
I certainly don't know what the right solution is, or even what the costs of unchecked population growth would actually be (I suspect they would be less that the costs of the one-child policy), but when we criticize the policy, we should be clear about what aspect of the policy is objectionable, and to my mind, it's not the forced abortions.
The point I want to make about abortion in China though relates to the "old" face - women getting forced abortions. People often criticize China for this practice, calling it a human rights violation, but they rarely attack the idea behind the one child policy itself.
It seems to me that there are three ways to enforce such a policy 1) prison terms for offenders, 2) hefty fines impoverishing both parent and child, and 3) forced abortion. Given those choices, and especially for a developing country in which most of the penalties will be meted out on the rural poor, option 3 seems the least harmful to me.
Yes, the one child policy is coercive - that's the whole point of it. Then again, taxation is also coercive; if you don't pay, you go to jail. The freedom to have a child may be a fundamental right, but it's already abridged once you have the policy; the question is whether it's justified. Given the fact that it hasn't stopped China's population growth (particularly in the countryside) and has led to many illegal, unreported children, you could argue the policy is a failure, in which case it clearly is unjustified. On the other hand, India's population is slated to overtake China's, so there probably has been some population restricting effect.
I certainly don't know what the right solution is, or even what the costs of unchecked population growth would actually be (I suspect they would be less that the costs of the one-child policy), but when we criticize the policy, we should be clear about what aspect of the policy is objectionable, and to my mind, it's not the forced abortions.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Want To Be A Celebrity? Move To China
These days, while people are still impressed that a "lao wai" can speak Chinese, the site of a foreigner is just not the spectacle it once was, at least in Beijing. In addition to Da Shan, there are now several foreigners on TV who speak perfect Chinese, damn them all.
But even a bus ride from Beijing things can be totally different. This weekend Ryan and I went on a volunteer trip to teach english at a high school outside of Shi Jia Zhuang, the captial of HeBei province (where Beijing is located). Shi Jia Zhuang is one of 50 or so Chinese cities that have like 5 million people, but somehow aren't big enough to show up on the conciousness of anyone outside the province. The city itself seems to be booming - lots of new skyscrapers, and lots of luxury brands being sold to the ever-expanding class of Chinese nouveau-riche. But just outside the city, the surroundings revert to the endless expanse of half-countryside half-suburb that is rural China.
The school was huge - more than three thousand students attend, and the main building was a giant four-story courtyard with giant classrooms on all sides. This being China, the facilities were rudimentary - troughs for bathrooms, with sinks constructed of concrete and tile and smells that make you want to rip out your olfactory center.
We sat in the principal's simple office for a bit and then went to a mid-size auditorium (100 or so people) where the students were all waiting. As it turned out, we wouldn't be teaching at all, but would be answers students questions in English, and where we could, Chinese. Our rudimentary Chinese set off rounds of applause, but when they asked if we could sing Chinese songs and I pulled out a little Jay Chou (you don't know him, but they do, oh yes they do), they went crazy. We sat for five classes and in between each one we continually signed autographs for the kids, who apparently don't realize that we're a couple of nobodies. While Da Shan may be cemented at the top, there's plenty of room in the Chinese heart for foreigners who speak a little, especially if you can sing Qian Li Zhi Wai.
We had dinner at the house of the local top dog - not sure if he was a government official or just a local business leader, this being China it was probably both. We had some fabulous dumplings and lamb skewers, and were plied with as much Chinese liquor as they could get us to drink (we still had two classes of students after dinner. . .). Man, not only is most Chinese booz 50+ percent alcohol, but they were drinking out of huge shot glasses, such that when asked to "gan bei" (dry glass) I definitely could not get it down in one gulp and was forced to become more acquainted with the taste of lighter fluid than I'd like.
Unfortunately if I want to do business in China, I'm gonna have to get used to it - refusal to drink is impolite, and is viewed as a sign of dishonesty. Notions of alcoholism as something other than a bad habit have not caught on here. Of course, they want to outdrink you to save face, so maybe I can squeak by with a few shots and then protesting that I'm a lightweight and we Americans just can't drink as much as Chinese people. . . Take that western stereotypes!
But even a bus ride from Beijing things can be totally different. This weekend Ryan and I went on a volunteer trip to teach english at a high school outside of Shi Jia Zhuang, the captial of HeBei province (where Beijing is located). Shi Jia Zhuang is one of 50 or so Chinese cities that have like 5 million people, but somehow aren't big enough to show up on the conciousness of anyone outside the province. The city itself seems to be booming - lots of new skyscrapers, and lots of luxury brands being sold to the ever-expanding class of Chinese nouveau-riche. But just outside the city, the surroundings revert to the endless expanse of half-countryside half-suburb that is rural China.
The school was huge - more than three thousand students attend, and the main building was a giant four-story courtyard with giant classrooms on all sides. This being China, the facilities were rudimentary - troughs for bathrooms, with sinks constructed of concrete and tile and smells that make you want to rip out your olfactory center.
We sat in the principal's simple office for a bit and then went to a mid-size auditorium (100 or so people) where the students were all waiting. As it turned out, we wouldn't be teaching at all, but would be answers students questions in English, and where we could, Chinese. Our rudimentary Chinese set off rounds of applause, but when they asked if we could sing Chinese songs and I pulled out a little Jay Chou (you don't know him, but they do, oh yes they do), they went crazy. We sat for five classes and in between each one we continually signed autographs for the kids, who apparently don't realize that we're a couple of nobodies. While Da Shan may be cemented at the top, there's plenty of room in the Chinese heart for foreigners who speak a little, especially if you can sing Qian Li Zhi Wai.
We had dinner at the house of the local top dog - not sure if he was a government official or just a local business leader, this being China it was probably both. We had some fabulous dumplings and lamb skewers, and were plied with as much Chinese liquor as they could get us to drink (we still had two classes of students after dinner. . .). Man, not only is most Chinese booz 50+ percent alcohol, but they were drinking out of huge shot glasses, such that when asked to "gan bei" (dry glass) I definitely could not get it down in one gulp and was forced to become more acquainted with the taste of lighter fluid than I'd like.
Unfortunately if I want to do business in China, I'm gonna have to get used to it - refusal to drink is impolite, and is viewed as a sign of dishonesty. Notions of alcoholism as something other than a bad habit have not caught on here. Of course, they want to outdrink you to save face, so maybe I can squeak by with a few shots and then protesting that I'm a lightweight and we Americans just can't drink as much as Chinese people. . . Take that western stereotypes!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Apartment Troubles
Oh China, why must you always be so sketchy? I try to do everything on the up and up here - communist countries entail mounds of paperwork, and any detail out of place can result i delays or impasse. But even though I went through a real estate broker, my apartment is sketchy somehow. When I registered with the local police (and today, when a repairman came to fix the fuse that had blown) I was told by my agent I should say this is a friend's apartment, and not that I've rented it.
Sigh. I have a signed contract, and I went through the proper channels, and yet, somehow, I still have a sketchy apartment. That's China for you. If anything happens, I'll deny any knowledge of impropriety. My best guess, though, is that my landlord's dan wei (work unit) probably gave him this apartment, and they don't want him to rent it.
I do feel bad for my real estate agent, as my landlord is permanently in Gansu (bumblefuck China) on business, so she has to handle any problems I have, including this latest electricty problem, and I'm not sure she's getting paid for it. Not that I could even help the situation - she would almost surely refuse any money from me. Chinese pizza guys even refuse tips (from Chinese pizza places - Dominoes people do - Yay capitalism!).
The electrical problem turned out to be simply that we had tripped the circuit breaker by plugging in the fan on wednesday night and lost power to half the outlets. This should have been a simple matter of re-flipping the switch, but the switch is in a locked box that I lack a key to. The repairman came, but claimed he couldn't break the lock without the owner's permission. Eventually my agent showed up with some dude in tow who simply put a metal bar into the loop of the lock and pushed, and it opened. Seems easier that opening a Kryptonite bike lock with a bic pen!
Electricity is back, and as I write I'm watching the Taiwanese parliament have a brawl - I seem to recall this isn't the first time I've watched a similar scene there. On the one hand I wonder why their government is so crazy - but then I think it would be pretty cool to see our senators go at it every once in a while.
Now my only problem is that Gmail is down. . . Always something. . .
Sigh. I have a signed contract, and I went through the proper channels, and yet, somehow, I still have a sketchy apartment. That's China for you. If anything happens, I'll deny any knowledge of impropriety. My best guess, though, is that my landlord's dan wei (work unit) probably gave him this apartment, and they don't want him to rent it.
I do feel bad for my real estate agent, as my landlord is permanently in Gansu (bumblefuck China) on business, so she has to handle any problems I have, including this latest electricty problem, and I'm not sure she's getting paid for it. Not that I could even help the situation - she would almost surely refuse any money from me. Chinese pizza guys even refuse tips (from Chinese pizza places - Dominoes people do - Yay capitalism!).
The electrical problem turned out to be simply that we had tripped the circuit breaker by plugging in the fan on wednesday night and lost power to half the outlets. This should have been a simple matter of re-flipping the switch, but the switch is in a locked box that I lack a key to. The repairman came, but claimed he couldn't break the lock without the owner's permission. Eventually my agent showed up with some dude in tow who simply put a metal bar into the loop of the lock and pushed, and it opened. Seems easier that opening a Kryptonite bike lock with a bic pen!
Electricity is back, and as I write I'm watching the Taiwanese parliament have a brawl - I seem to recall this isn't the first time I've watched a similar scene there. On the one hand I wonder why their government is so crazy - but then I think it would be pretty cool to see our senators go at it every once in a while.
Now my only problem is that Gmail is down. . . Always something. . .
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Korean Drinking Games
Ryan and I went out last weekend with my classmates, who, aside from one other American and a Japanese guy, are uniformly Korean. This homeogeneity has been very interesting, not only from the perspective of being a minorority to a different majority in the classroom, but because I have had relatively little exposure to genuine Korean culture.
My first discovery has been that Korean food is terribly underrated and underexposed in America. The flavors are a great deal more subdued than Chinese food, which is good or bad depending on your perspective, but also involves a lot more pickled and fresh vegetables, and a lot less grease. Korean barbecue is particularly fun, grilling your own meats, wrapping them in lettuce with a little sauch and kimchee, and trying to wolf the whole thing down in one mouthful. I don't see why this type of dining isn't a hit in America - some Korean entreprenuer needs to get on this.
And while we have yet to set the China beer pong craze in motion, I've had a lot of fun playing drinking games popular with my Korean classmates. Soju, the Korean liqour, is particularly well suited for drinking games - it's served chilled, unlike sake, and has a pleasant taste and aftertaste, but is only 20% alcohol, so it won't take you out like playing games with normal strength liqour, which is for serious winos and dumbasses only. One simple game is called "three, six, nine", but no, it has nothing to do with the Ying Yang twins. You go around in a circle, each person counting one number starting with one, but you can't say three, six, or nine, and instead you clap. Thirteen, sixteen, and so on also get a clap (and no speech), but the thirties are where it gets interesting: every number in the thirties gets a clap, but thirty three, thirty six, and thirty nine get two. This part is the easiest to screw up on, particulary after a few rounds of the game, and it's always amusing when somone does, because any screw up means you drink. You can, of course, pull for your fellow players giving hardy-livered young men a chance to be chivalrous in front of the ladies.
Another game involves counting to the number of people playing the game minus one, but this time the counting is random. You shout out your number and raise your hands, but if you do it at the same time as someone else, shout the wrong number, or are the last one left (thereby giving you incentive to jump in), you drink.
Asian drinking games: simple, elegant, and brutally effective. They also seem to go well with the asian drinking style which usually involves drinking some form of liquor around a big table along with food. It's funny, most of the time I don't think of Asians as big drinkers, but they definitely are - I can't imagine it being acceptable to bring a bottle of booze to a western restaurant and start drinking cups of it with your meal, but that's totally cool here. And the level of rowdiness we've displayed at several Korean BBQ meals defintely would have gotten us 86'd from classy western establishments. Public drunkenness is also much less stigmatized here, and there doesn't seem to be much awareness of alcoholism as something other than a bad habit, which is almost certainly not a good thing.
I think this is probably related to our conception in the west of Asian men not being macho or manly. Aside from martial arts stars (who are often desexualized by association with religious or meditative themes), there's a decided lack of Asian men being portrayed as sex symbols or tough guys, though other minorities, particularly blacks and hispanics are regularly portrayed that way. In fact, I can't even think of an Asian male from the US who is a genuine movie star. Why is that?
My first discovery has been that Korean food is terribly underrated and underexposed in America. The flavors are a great deal more subdued than Chinese food, which is good or bad depending on your perspective, but also involves a lot more pickled and fresh vegetables, and a lot less grease. Korean barbecue is particularly fun, grilling your own meats, wrapping them in lettuce with a little sauch and kimchee, and trying to wolf the whole thing down in one mouthful. I don't see why this type of dining isn't a hit in America - some Korean entreprenuer needs to get on this.
And while we have yet to set the China beer pong craze in motion, I've had a lot of fun playing drinking games popular with my Korean classmates. Soju, the Korean liqour, is particularly well suited for drinking games - it's served chilled, unlike sake, and has a pleasant taste and aftertaste, but is only 20% alcohol, so it won't take you out like playing games with normal strength liqour, which is for serious winos and dumbasses only. One simple game is called "three, six, nine", but no, it has nothing to do with the Ying Yang twins. You go around in a circle, each person counting one number starting with one, but you can't say three, six, or nine, and instead you clap. Thirteen, sixteen, and so on also get a clap (and no speech), but the thirties are where it gets interesting: every number in the thirties gets a clap, but thirty three, thirty six, and thirty nine get two. This part is the easiest to screw up on, particulary after a few rounds of the game, and it's always amusing when somone does, because any screw up means you drink. You can, of course, pull for your fellow players giving hardy-livered young men a chance to be chivalrous in front of the ladies.
Another game involves counting to the number of people playing the game minus one, but this time the counting is random. You shout out your number and raise your hands, but if you do it at the same time as someone else, shout the wrong number, or are the last one left (thereby giving you incentive to jump in), you drink.
Asian drinking games: simple, elegant, and brutally effective. They also seem to go well with the asian drinking style which usually involves drinking some form of liquor around a big table along with food. It's funny, most of the time I don't think of Asians as big drinkers, but they definitely are - I can't imagine it being acceptable to bring a bottle of booze to a western restaurant and start drinking cups of it with your meal, but that's totally cool here. And the level of rowdiness we've displayed at several Korean BBQ meals defintely would have gotten us 86'd from classy western establishments. Public drunkenness is also much less stigmatized here, and there doesn't seem to be much awareness of alcoholism as something other than a bad habit, which is almost certainly not a good thing.
I think this is probably related to our conception in the west of Asian men not being macho or manly. Aside from martial arts stars (who are often desexualized by association with religious or meditative themes), there's a decided lack of Asian men being portrayed as sex symbols or tough guys, though other minorities, particularly blacks and hispanics are regularly portrayed that way. In fact, I can't even think of an Asian male from the US who is a genuine movie star. Why is that?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
This Country Has No Spring
Rough Guide and Lonely Planet make a point of telling you that Spring is the best time to visit China (followed closely by the fall), but they neglect to tell you that spring lasts all of two weeks. At the beginning of this month there would be the occasional nice day, but several times I was wearing my jacket indoors during class. For the last week or so, I can't even wear my light spring jacket on the bike ride to class without starting to sweat. The sun is out in full force, and by noon it is quite warm.
This is unfortunate. I like a hot summer better than a freezing winter, but not a whole lot better - I long for the warm (not hot) sun and cool breezes of a New Hampshire (or Chicago) spring, but this is Beijing, the land of unforgiving whether.
The Chinese seem to pay little attention to matters meteorological. In February I was aghast at the men riding bikes with no hat, no gloves, and only a suit jacket (although they might have had long underwear). Today, the only change in their dress is that I'm pretty sure they've ditched the long underwear, if they ever had it at all. Maybe capitalism does make us weak, in which these guys won't be so tough for long.
Fortunately, we've been spared any of the dust storms which stuck regularly during march and april a few years back. I would sorta have liked to see just one, just for the experience, but I suppose I'll get over it.
This is unfortunate. I like a hot summer better than a freezing winter, but not a whole lot better - I long for the warm (not hot) sun and cool breezes of a New Hampshire (or Chicago) spring, but this is Beijing, the land of unforgiving whether.
The Chinese seem to pay little attention to matters meteorological. In February I was aghast at the men riding bikes with no hat, no gloves, and only a suit jacket (although they might have had long underwear). Today, the only change in their dress is that I'm pretty sure they've ditched the long underwear, if they ever had it at all. Maybe capitalism does make us weak, in which these guys won't be so tough for long.
Fortunately, we've been spared any of the dust storms which stuck regularly during march and april a few years back. I would sorta have liked to see just one, just for the experience, but I suppose I'll get over it.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Why Don't We Have This?
Here in China, many keys have 3 dimensions. Our apartment key, for example, is shaped lake a cross, or a t. Three of the four surfaces are cut to conform to the pins in the tumbler. I can only imagine that more surfaces means more complexity and greater difficulty in picking the lock. Perhaps it also makes the lock less vulnerable to bump keys. . .
At any rate, why is this something I've only seen in China? I can't imagine we lack the technology in America?
Saturday, April 14, 2007
They Love You Long Time - In Prison
Don't start an internet porn site in China, some dude just got life in prison for it.
Maybe the Bush administration can give them some pointers on how to police this sort of thing. Good luck to 'em I guess - seems about as likely as elliminating cockroaches.
Maybe the Bush administration can give them some pointers on how to police this sort of thing. Good luck to 'em I guess - seems about as likely as elliminating cockroaches.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Pic Of The Day
The fantastically cool "bird's nest" stadium being built for the 2008 Olympic Games. It's right across the street from where I train Jiujitsu, which is in another olympic complex.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Olympics Move China On Darfur
According to the New York Times, Mia Farrow pressured Steven Spielberg (who's an artistic adviser for the 2008 games) to pressure China to do something about Darfur, and it's having some effect.
For all those who said China shouldn't get the games because of it's human rights violations, I would like to point out that without the games there would be little leverage to pressure China to do something. More broadly, I think this makes the point that engagement leads to more influence, while isolation leaves us with less ability to either change or predict and situations that may arise.
More broadly still, the Olympics are about world cooperation and piece, and if we exclude large and important countries like China (or the USSR in 1980, or, for that matter, Nazi Germany in 1938)we turn it into something else. The Olympics aren't supposed to create a perfect world - they are about putting aside fights to participate in sports. And without holding the Olympics in Germany in 1938, Jesse Owens wouldn't have made nearly as big an impact. It's called the Olympic GAMES - let's not turn it into some sort of western democracy and human rights club.
For all those who said China shouldn't get the games because of it's human rights violations, I would like to point out that without the games there would be little leverage to pressure China to do something. More broadly, I think this makes the point that engagement leads to more influence, while isolation leaves us with less ability to either change or predict and situations that may arise.
More broadly still, the Olympics are about world cooperation and piece, and if we exclude large and important countries like China (or the USSR in 1980, or, for that matter, Nazi Germany in 1938)we turn it into something else. The Olympics aren't supposed to create a perfect world - they are about putting aside fights to participate in sports. And without holding the Olympics in Germany in 1938, Jesse Owens wouldn't have made nearly as big an impact. It's called the Olympic GAMES - let's not turn it into some sort of western democracy and human rights club.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Thoughts On the One Child Policy
I was surprised to see that this week's text in our conversation class covered the one child policy. Westerners generally think that any controversial topic in China is basically off limits - but that hasn't borne out. We've had texts on poverty, the cultural revolution, and now the one child policy. Granted, we're not digging deep or conducting new research into who was responsible for what (and I imagine there would be some limits placed on that), but we are talking about it.
In the west we tend to think of the one child policy as a terrible infringment on human rights, and in a way, it is - it fundamentally restricts the freedom of reproduction. But if you want to argue that births shouldn't be restricted (at least in a cost/benefits context) you have to be prepared to say that the additional population growth wouldn't be as bad as the policy. We also have to remember that in addition to the horrible crowding and inadequacy of many services (university education, which is ridiculously exclusive, comes to mind), China doesn't have tons of arable land to begin with, and what it has it is losing to water scarcity and soil erosion.
There's even a somewhat liberal side to the policy - minority peoples are exempted. The Uighur family that runs a local restaurant has at least 4 kids.
And as far as forced abortions go, my thinking has come to this - if you're going to have the policy you should enforce it, otherwise get rid of it. How to do that then? Well, you can fine the person or impose other economic penalties, which is generally what they do. Besides being inegalitarian and allowing the rich to do what they want, this just doesn't have enough of an effect - people in the countryside continue to have more than one child and thhe fines don't seem to have an effect. What about putting the parents in jail? Not only do you have to deal with the costs of imprisoning these people and loss of workers and tax revenue, but you have to see to their other children. The only alternative is forced abortion, which seems better to me than imprisoning parents or impoverishing the children through draconian fines. Besides, isn't one of the main problems with forced abortion that you make their reproductive choices for someone, which is what you're already doing by instituting a reproductive policy?
The main problem with the policy seems to be that it doesn't work. China's population is increasing and has never decreased. In fact, it would really be a problem if everyone did follow it - each generation would be less than half the size of the last. Can we say workforce and social security problems?
There's also problems with the fact that in the cities the policy is enforcable and enforced quite rigidly, while in the countryside it is openly flouted. You have a situation in which the most educated and best of people (who are best able to provide for children) are not even reaching half a replacement birth rate, while the country-folk are far surpassing it. The 'eugenic' flavor of this argument troubles me, but then again it's based on education and environment - not the idea that poor, minority, or retarded people are genetically flawed.
In the end, I think China would have more success with a less rigid policy, even if it was much less effective. The fact that people are used to flouting laws here is a big problem - it effects everything from taxes to traffic to corruption. When governments institute unenforcable laws (think of the war on drugs), every other law is undermined in some small way. What needs to happen is a change in the culture (the love of huge families, and especially the preference for boys), and that takes lots of time. I think it would be useful to approach it like we approach public health problems - use incentives to get people to change their behavior with the idea that it's in their own interest.
In the west we tend to think of the one child policy as a terrible infringment on human rights, and in a way, it is - it fundamentally restricts the freedom of reproduction. But if you want to argue that births shouldn't be restricted (at least in a cost/benefits context) you have to be prepared to say that the additional population growth wouldn't be as bad as the policy. We also have to remember that in addition to the horrible crowding and inadequacy of many services (university education, which is ridiculously exclusive, comes to mind), China doesn't have tons of arable land to begin with, and what it has it is losing to water scarcity and soil erosion.
There's even a somewhat liberal side to the policy - minority peoples are exempted. The Uighur family that runs a local restaurant has at least 4 kids.
And as far as forced abortions go, my thinking has come to this - if you're going to have the policy you should enforce it, otherwise get rid of it. How to do that then? Well, you can fine the person or impose other economic penalties, which is generally what they do. Besides being inegalitarian and allowing the rich to do what they want, this just doesn't have enough of an effect - people in the countryside continue to have more than one child and thhe fines don't seem to have an effect. What about putting the parents in jail? Not only do you have to deal with the costs of imprisoning these people and loss of workers and tax revenue, but you have to see to their other children. The only alternative is forced abortion, which seems better to me than imprisoning parents or impoverishing the children through draconian fines. Besides, isn't one of the main problems with forced abortion that you make their reproductive choices for someone, which is what you're already doing by instituting a reproductive policy?
The main problem with the policy seems to be that it doesn't work. China's population is increasing and has never decreased. In fact, it would really be a problem if everyone did follow it - each generation would be less than half the size of the last. Can we say workforce and social security problems?
There's also problems with the fact that in the cities the policy is enforcable and enforced quite rigidly, while in the countryside it is openly flouted. You have a situation in which the most educated and best of people (who are best able to provide for children) are not even reaching half a replacement birth rate, while the country-folk are far surpassing it. The 'eugenic' flavor of this argument troubles me, but then again it's based on education and environment - not the idea that poor, minority, or retarded people are genetically flawed.
In the end, I think China would have more success with a less rigid policy, even if it was much less effective. The fact that people are used to flouting laws here is a big problem - it effects everything from taxes to traffic to corruption. When governments institute unenforcable laws (think of the war on drugs), every other law is undermined in some small way. What needs to happen is a change in the culture (the love of huge families, and especially the preference for boys), and that takes lots of time. I think it would be useful to approach it like we approach public health problems - use incentives to get people to change their behavior with the idea that it's in their own interest.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Pic Of The Day
A random field of toilets in WuDaoKo, a university district teeming with bars, students, and Korean restaurants (Korean barbecue is DELICIOUS)
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Please Leave The Elevator On
Appropo of my last post, I'd like to grumble about the elevator situation in my building.
I don't mind that even though looking at our hallway you would think we live in a tenemant (I chalk it up to different priorities) yet we still have elevator attendants to press the buttons for us. Hey, they're students, and they need some extra cash.
But we have two elevators, and only one is ever operational, because there's only one attendant at a time.
And why, dear god, do the elevators both have to be shut off after midnight? Some of us have been out, and are drunk, and wouldn't like to walk up seven (thank god I'm not on the 20th floor) flights of stairs.
I'm glad people are interested in saving energy, but c'mon, I'll pay extra for this. Please? We could even make up for the lost energy by turning off some of those garish neon lights over the roadway.
I don't mind that even though looking at our hallway you would think we live in a tenemant (I chalk it up to different priorities) yet we still have elevator attendants to press the buttons for us. Hey, they're students, and they need some extra cash.
But we have two elevators, and only one is ever operational, because there's only one attendant at a time.
And why, dear god, do the elevators both have to be shut off after midnight? Some of us have been out, and are drunk, and wouldn't like to walk up seven (thank god I'm not on the 20th floor) flights of stairs.
I'm glad people are interested in saving energy, but c'mon, I'll pay extra for this. Please? We could even make up for the lost energy by turning off some of those garish neon lights over the roadway.
Banking In China
God knows I have had my share of problems with banks in America, like when Chase gave me an inactivity charge that sent my account negative on an account they insisted was free , and then added overdraft charges, but I would love to be dealing with any major (or minor) American bank for my time in Beijing.
Most of your banking and the utility purchases (which are done through the banks) have to be done in person. No mailing checks, no online banking, not even a electronic kiosk in the bank - no, you get a number and you wait. I've just returned from trying to pay my internet fee and buy more electricity, but when I got there I encountered at least 40 people waiting in chairs, got a number 201 (now calling 51), and didn't see a single number called in the five minutes I stayed.
Now I understand why China wants to keep around lots of meaningless service jobs. Unemployment is a political sore spot in the west, let alone in a country where thirty years ago people were told not to care that they didn't have cars or television because they had an "iron rice bowl" that could not be broken. But the costs of slow banking include not only all the tasks done by hand (and the mounds of useless paper generated) that could almost certainly by done much cheaper online or by a machine, but the 50 people waiting, probably for at least an hour each, on a Monday morning at 10:30. Those people aren't at work, they might have driven or taken public transportation to get here, and I'm sure they hate waiting as much as I do. They may not be obvious, but all these things have costs.
Foreign banks have recently won the right to do business in China, thanks to its membership in the WTO. I dearly hope that they bring some semblance of international banking standards and force these decrepit organizations to adapt or perish.
Most of your banking and the utility purchases (which are done through the banks) have to be done in person. No mailing checks, no online banking, not even a electronic kiosk in the bank - no, you get a number and you wait. I've just returned from trying to pay my internet fee and buy more electricity, but when I got there I encountered at least 40 people waiting in chairs, got a number 201 (now calling 51), and didn't see a single number called in the five minutes I stayed.
Now I understand why China wants to keep around lots of meaningless service jobs. Unemployment is a political sore spot in the west, let alone in a country where thirty years ago people were told not to care that they didn't have cars or television because they had an "iron rice bowl" that could not be broken. But the costs of slow banking include not only all the tasks done by hand (and the mounds of useless paper generated) that could almost certainly by done much cheaper online or by a machine, but the 50 people waiting, probably for at least an hour each, on a Monday morning at 10:30. Those people aren't at work, they might have driven or taken public transportation to get here, and I'm sure they hate waiting as much as I do. They may not be obvious, but all these things have costs.
Foreign banks have recently won the right to do business in China, thanks to its membership in the WTO. I dearly hope that they bring some semblance of international banking standards and force these decrepit organizations to adapt or perish.
Friday, March 30, 2007
US To Set New Duties On China
Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez announced that the US is going to put duties on Chinese imports because the Chinese government is subdizing the companies in questions.
I have a couple takes on this. First, this isn't really a change in policy, we're just not applying the "Communist countries don't count" exception to China anymore. This makes a lot of sense. China is not a Communist country - I think it's best described as authoritarian capitalism with a large, decaying sector of state-owned firms.
I'm not an economist, so I don't really know whether the Chinese government is subsidizing these companies (I'd be willing to believe it though) or what the effects of such duties are likely to be.
Reflexively I tend to be a free-trade kind of guy. If the other guy wants to subsidize our consumption (and the low prices at Wal-Mart are the result of low-priced Chinese exports), let him. On the other hand I can see limits to this kind of thinking - if, say, all of America's paper producers go out of business and China starts raising the prices, it certainly won't be better for consumers (this is what Rockefeller used to do with oil back in the day). Then again, we could reopen the paper plants at that point - it's not like the technology will dissappear, and if China is forced to continously subsidize us in fear of a resurgance of domestic competition, so much the better for us.
I also wonder, what would be the effect of a sizable dimunition of Sino-American trade? We tend to think of ourselves as dependant on foreigners because of our large debt, but thinking about this has made me wonder. If our trade with China suddenly went to zero, we would be left without our cheap televisions and ipods, but with a pile of money, and start looking for other places to spend it, including domestic products, or different products alltogether. Meanwhile China would be left with a surplus of televisions and ipods that exceed their domestic demand, and are out of the price range of most of the country. They'd also be missing all the dollars that were flowing in from America. I know which situation I'd rather be in. Of course, as I said, I'm not an economist, and all of this speculation could be based on some faulty logic, so who knows.
I have a couple takes on this. First, this isn't really a change in policy, we're just not applying the "Communist countries don't count" exception to China anymore. This makes a lot of sense. China is not a Communist country - I think it's best described as authoritarian capitalism with a large, decaying sector of state-owned firms.
I'm not an economist, so I don't really know whether the Chinese government is subsidizing these companies (I'd be willing to believe it though) or what the effects of such duties are likely to be.
Reflexively I tend to be a free-trade kind of guy. If the other guy wants to subsidize our consumption (and the low prices at Wal-Mart are the result of low-priced Chinese exports), let him. On the other hand I can see limits to this kind of thinking - if, say, all of America's paper producers go out of business and China starts raising the prices, it certainly won't be better for consumers (this is what Rockefeller used to do with oil back in the day). Then again, we could reopen the paper plants at that point - it's not like the technology will dissappear, and if China is forced to continously subsidize us in fear of a resurgance of domestic competition, so much the better for us.
I also wonder, what would be the effect of a sizable dimunition of Sino-American trade? We tend to think of ourselves as dependant on foreigners because of our large debt, but thinking about this has made me wonder. If our trade with China suddenly went to zero, we would be left without our cheap televisions and ipods, but with a pile of money, and start looking for other places to spend it, including domestic products, or different products alltogether. Meanwhile China would be left with a surplus of televisions and ipods that exceed their domestic demand, and are out of the price range of most of the country. They'd also be missing all the dollars that were flowing in from America. I know which situation I'd rather be in. Of course, as I said, I'm not an economist, and all of this speculation could be based on some faulty logic, so who knows.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Calling All Winos
All winos will want to move to China after reading this. Your days of brown bagging it on the streets of America are over, now you can CLEAR bag it. We found this plastic bag of alcohol (53%) at Wu Mart. Granted, it was in the cooking alcohol section, but so is Er Guo Tou (which people drink in freakin' restaurants!), and anything that's not expensive enough to go in the glass case. Besides, look at the guy pictured on the bag. He hasn't been cooking.
I doubt we'll muster the guts to try this stuff, but I had to shell out the 3 kuai (less than 50 cents) just to take this picture. Man, winos in China have it easy. An hour or so of begging (how hard can it be to get 3 kuai?) and you're set for the rest of the day!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Why are drug dealers in Beijing black?
Last weekend we went out to San Li Tun, the most developed bar strip in Beijing, for some pizza and to check out the scene. It looks like a lot of fun, with good places to hang out and good food, though with prices that aren't far removed from America.
Just like the guide book said, we were approached by several African (although one had an English accent) fellows offering various wares (don't worry mom, we turned them down). This struck me as extremely odd - why aren't the drug dealers Chinese (in Dali the shitty weed is sold by old ladies)?
It's not as if poverty or lack of opportunity can explain it. For one thing, there's plenty of Chinese with no opportunities, and second, China has no immigration, so you can only get in if you have a job or you a tourist. Are these guys really on tourist visas?
There's rumours that these guys are the sons of the ambassadors or other high-level diplomats from various African nations, but I have to wonder why those people would be selling drugs as well. And does their status really give them effective immunity?
Rumour has it that the police don't really care what foreigners do as long as no Chinese are involved, and the demography of drug dealers does seem to lend credence to that. It's not as if the Chinese poice are not allowed to do racial profiling, and if they wanted to catch these guys they certainly could. Then again, perhaps these guys are safe because of their connections and the police lie in wait for their customers (who would do such a thing?).
At any rate, it just seems bizzare for there to be such a marked association between race and illicit career when all those concerned are foreigners. It's definitely there though - I saw four black people on San Li Tun that day. Three offered me drugs. The other was wearing a "Citigroup Wealth Management" hat.
Just like the guide book said, we were approached by several African (although one had an English accent) fellows offering various wares (don't worry mom, we turned them down). This struck me as extremely odd - why aren't the drug dealers Chinese (in Dali the shitty weed is sold by old ladies)?
It's not as if poverty or lack of opportunity can explain it. For one thing, there's plenty of Chinese with no opportunities, and second, China has no immigration, so you can only get in if you have a job or you a tourist. Are these guys really on tourist visas?
There's rumours that these guys are the sons of the ambassadors or other high-level diplomats from various African nations, but I have to wonder why those people would be selling drugs as well. And does their status really give them effective immunity?
Rumour has it that the police don't really care what foreigners do as long as no Chinese are involved, and the demography of drug dealers does seem to lend credence to that. It's not as if the Chinese poice are not allowed to do racial profiling, and if they wanted to catch these guys they certainly could. Then again, perhaps these guys are safe because of their connections and the police lie in wait for their customers (who would do such a thing?).
At any rate, it just seems bizzare for there to be such a marked association between race and illicit career when all those concerned are foreigners. It's definitely there though - I saw four black people on San Li Tun that day. Three offered me drugs. The other was wearing a "Citigroup Wealth Management" hat.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Dear Chinese Government
Hi, I hope you're reading this - I have a little suggestion.
Please oh please oh please require all cabs in Beijing, and later on in the rest of China, to stop taking the seat belts out of the back seats, and put them back if they have. We foreigners, and I'm sure some Chinese, like them, and there's really no added convenience to not having them. Every time I take a cab, I worry that I may die because there isn't a seat belt to restrain me if I crash. I know I sound whiny, but I've been strapping in since Fred Flinstone used to tell me to buckle up for safety, and it's a hard habit to break.
I'll admit that Americans have gone kind of safety crazy with respect to kids and the numerous alarms, leashes, and other safety contraptions we've thrust upon them, but you really can trust us on this seat belt thing. They work.
Besides, don't you want to show how safety conscious you are during the Olympics? What better way than protecting your foreign friends with a good ol' an1 quan2 dai4?
Please oh please oh please require all cabs in Beijing, and later on in the rest of China, to stop taking the seat belts out of the back seats, and put them back if they have. We foreigners, and I'm sure some Chinese, like them, and there's really no added convenience to not having them. Every time I take a cab, I worry that I may die because there isn't a seat belt to restrain me if I crash. I know I sound whiny, but I've been strapping in since Fred Flinstone used to tell me to buckle up for safety, and it's a hard habit to break.
I'll admit that Americans have gone kind of safety crazy with respect to kids and the numerous alarms, leashes, and other safety contraptions we've thrust upon them, but you really can trust us on this seat belt thing. They work.
Besides, don't you want to show how safety conscious you are during the Olympics? What better way than protecting your foreign friends with a good ol' an1 quan2 dai4?
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Weirdest Thing Ever
Chocolate Cheese.
No, I'm not making this up. They sell it at the Wu-Mart across the street. It's actually not bad, but it's kind of surreal eating chocolate flavored cheese, even if the cheese is totally artificial to begin with. It tastes kind of like really thick pudding.
And doesn't the picture kind of look like lunch meat? But it's not, read the packaging.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Ughghgh Rice Vomit
No, not me.
But someone.
Beijing seems to have more public vomiting that any other place I have ever been, even Dartmouth. A week ago, on the way back from Jiu Jitsu we saw two people vomiting on the road side, assisted by their friends.
And on the way to class I would say we pass a pile of vomit nearly every other or every third day, often on the bridge across Xin Jie Kou. It's nasty too, non-digested rice and some goop.
I have two theories. 1) the drinking. We don't think of Asians as huge drinkers in the US, but they are, and they like their BaiJiu (liqour). 2) Milk. Maybe these unfortunate souls got sucked in by some western ad for dairy products and didn't realize they were lactose intolerant.
Whatever it is, it's gross. Apparently though, according to a Korean student in my class, it's even worse in Seoul.
But someone.
Beijing seems to have more public vomiting that any other place I have ever been, even Dartmouth. A week ago, on the way back from Jiu Jitsu we saw two people vomiting on the road side, assisted by their friends.
And on the way to class I would say we pass a pile of vomit nearly every other or every third day, often on the bridge across Xin Jie Kou. It's nasty too, non-digested rice and some goop.
I have two theories. 1) the drinking. We don't think of Asians as huge drinkers in the US, but they are, and they like their BaiJiu (liqour). 2) Milk. Maybe these unfortunate souls got sucked in by some western ad for dairy products and didn't realize they were lactose intolerant.
Whatever it is, it's gross. Apparently though, according to a Korean student in my class, it's even worse in Seoul.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Chinese Mulletude
China is not only the most populous nation on earth, but also, I am increasingly convinced, the one with the largest population of mullets.
Particularly for women, the mullet is very much a de rigeur hairstyle here. Our real estate agent had one, one of my professors has one, and both of the elevator attendents in our building sport the androgynous mullet look.
How did this happen? How did a hairstyle that's associated with rednecks and hicks in the US become so chic in the middle kingdom? Of course, it's entirely possible that the mullet developed independently here, but it seems likely in the age of the internet and television that the original Chinese proto-mullets were inspired by mullets overseas. But what were they thinking? And why aren't the internet's mullet awareness sites on to this?
Particularly for women, the mullet is very much a de rigeur hairstyle here. Our real estate agent had one, one of my professors has one, and both of the elevator attendents in our building sport the androgynous mullet look.
How did this happen? How did a hairstyle that's associated with rednecks and hicks in the US become so chic in the middle kingdom? Of course, it's entirely possible that the mullet developed independently here, but it seems likely in the age of the internet and television that the original Chinese proto-mullets were inspired by mullets overseas. But what were they thinking? And why aren't the internet's mullet awareness sites on to this?
Friday, March 16, 2007
Please Stop Honking At Me
I hate being honked at. In the US it pisses me off, but in China it goes to a whole other level. If the warning alerts me to potential harm or averts a fender-bender, I'm fine with it, but when people honk just because they're impatient, or do the Chinese honk-just-to-announce-your-presence thing, it really gets under my skin.
There's just something about the sound of it - it's so sharp, loud, high pitched. I can't help but stiffen up and get agitated when that sound suddenly bursts into my consciousness. Sometimes, getting home from a bike ride, I really hate China, and really dislike the Chinese. It's gone after an hour or so outside the range of those horns, but it's surprising how an irritating noise can creep into your attitude towards an entire nation. Of course I don't really dislike the Chinese, but you realize how malleable human emotions are, and how small things could develop into deep set attitudes.
What I really want though, is to be like this old lady here:
There's just something about the sound of it - it's so sharp, loud, high pitched. I can't help but stiffen up and get agitated when that sound suddenly bursts into my consciousness. Sometimes, getting home from a bike ride, I really hate China, and really dislike the Chinese. It's gone after an hour or so outside the range of those horns, but it's surprising how an irritating noise can creep into your attitude towards an entire nation. Of course I don't really dislike the Chinese, but you realize how malleable human emotions are, and how small things could develop into deep set attitudes.
What I really want though, is to be like this old lady here:
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Two Words: Hearing Aids
By my calculations, in about 20 or 30 years the market for hearing market for hearing aids in China is going to be booming, for the following reasons:
A) The horns. Honking in China is not like the US. You honk to greet. You honk to let someone know you're behind them. You honk when you pass. And you damn sure honk when you think someone has intruded into your space in the slightest. Thing is, they have the same loud horns that are used in America for emergency warning. Someone should make a "Asia" horn that is softer and lower.
B) Conversation level. For some reason, people just talk louder here - it's just a cultural thing. It's not quite shouting, but most people talk with a very full, quite loud voice. Although for some reason, some Chinese women speak so softly you can barely hear them. Must have something to do with notions of feminine modesty
C) Cell phones. The decibel level doesn't drop one iota when people switch from face-to-face communication to cellular. If anything, it sometimes increases. People don't seem to have grapsed that constantly having someone shout into your ear can be a bad thing, especially when you have your nifty little in-ear bluetooth headset.
D) Music. Young people the world over seem to like loud music, but in many places this is expressed mostly in clubs and rock concerts. Now I haven't been to any rock concerts here, but the clubs certainly throb as violently as any in Europe or the states. What is different is that you will hear ear-splitting music blasting form a store fronts in the cities, as if this would have an enticing effect on passers by. I have seriously covered my ears while walking down the street. The increasing ubiquity of MP3 players and iPods can't help this any.
Most people in the world don't seem to be taking threats to their hearing seriously - in Chicago I constantly saw people iPodding it on the L, even though you have to crank up the volume to hear over the train, and this has been shown to kill your hearing. But safety is especially unconcerning to the Chinese at this point; this is a country where most people still don't where seat belts, and tell you reassuringly that it's ok when you try to put yours on. There are going to be a lot of people with hearing problems in the coming years - I just hope the hearing aid manufacturers are getting ready.
Wait, scratch that. They're probably already made in China.
A) The horns. Honking in China is not like the US. You honk to greet. You honk to let someone know you're behind them. You honk when you pass. And you damn sure honk when you think someone has intruded into your space in the slightest. Thing is, they have the same loud horns that are used in America for emergency warning. Someone should make a "Asia" horn that is softer and lower.
B) Conversation level. For some reason, people just talk louder here - it's just a cultural thing. It's not quite shouting, but most people talk with a very full, quite loud voice. Although for some reason, some Chinese women speak so softly you can barely hear them. Must have something to do with notions of feminine modesty
C) Cell phones. The decibel level doesn't drop one iota when people switch from face-to-face communication to cellular. If anything, it sometimes increases. People don't seem to have grapsed that constantly having someone shout into your ear can be a bad thing, especially when you have your nifty little in-ear bluetooth headset.
D) Music. Young people the world over seem to like loud music, but in many places this is expressed mostly in clubs and rock concerts. Now I haven't been to any rock concerts here, but the clubs certainly throb as violently as any in Europe or the states. What is different is that you will hear ear-splitting music blasting form a store fronts in the cities, as if this would have an enticing effect on passers by. I have seriously covered my ears while walking down the street. The increasing ubiquity of MP3 players and iPods can't help this any.
Most people in the world don't seem to be taking threats to their hearing seriously - in Chicago I constantly saw people iPodding it on the L, even though you have to crank up the volume to hear over the train, and this has been shown to kill your hearing. But safety is especially unconcerning to the Chinese at this point; this is a country where most people still don't where seat belts, and tell you reassuringly that it's ok when you try to put yours on. There are going to be a lot of people with hearing problems in the coming years - I just hope the hearing aid manufacturers are getting ready.
Wait, scratch that. They're probably already made in China.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
God Damn Chinese Is Hard
My classes are killing me. Well, not really, but I'm definitely feeling the pressure from all the work. Every week I have to memorize and learn 150 to 200 characters, so by the end of the 15 week semester, I'll have added say one or two thousand new characters, assuming some overlap. But I still cannot read a newspaper without using my dictionary every other sentence.
Compounding this difficulty is the fact that there are many words which are for literary use only. In English we have modes of speaking that are better suited for writing, and you can choose to sound literary and erudite or earthy and colloqial, but it's not like there are words which are exclusive to either style.
Then there's ancient Chinese. I'm not studying this, but a thousand years ago, they used the same characters, but the grammar was completely different, and some characters had different meanings.
I've studied this language for 2 years already, and I'm beginning to think it's going to take another year before I can read a newspaper, and maybe another year till I'm anything approaching fluent.
Why didn't I pick Spanish?
Compounding this difficulty is the fact that there are many words which are for literary use only. In English we have modes of speaking that are better suited for writing, and you can choose to sound literary and erudite or earthy and colloqial, but it's not like there are words which are exclusive to either style.
Then there's ancient Chinese. I'm not studying this, but a thousand years ago, they used the same characters, but the grammar was completely different, and some characters had different meanings.
I've studied this language for 2 years already, and I'm beginning to think it's going to take another year before I can read a newspaper, and maybe another year till I'm anything approaching fluent.
Why didn't I pick Spanish?
A Flat Tire Repaird For 25 Cents
So we're setting out for Jiu Jitsu, and as I start riding, I discover that my front tire is totally flat. During the day, Beijing has bicycle repair stands on virtually every street corner, but at 7 PM, most of them are closed. Luckily, the stand near the Wu Mart across from our apartment was still open.
The guy popped my tire off in like two seconds, filled the tire up, found the leak, patched it up and had me on my way in ten minutes. The charge for this prompt and expert service? 2 Yuan. Roughtly 25 cents. I love this country.
If I got a flat tire on my bike in Chicago, or worse, in Wausau, I'd be walking home. But in Beijing, I was back on the road in no time.
The guy popped my tire off in like two seconds, filled the tire up, found the leak, patched it up and had me on my way in ten minutes. The charge for this prompt and expert service? 2 Yuan. Roughtly 25 cents. I love this country.
If I got a flat tire on my bike in Chicago, or worse, in Wausau, I'd be walking home. But in Beijing, I was back on the road in no time.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Why Don't We Have That Here?
On that same trip to Carrefour on which I got so frustrated with the fa piao system, on my way out I noticed another little thing that would be useful in America: coin operated cell-phone rechargers.
You put in a coin and there's like 50 different plugs for all different kinds of phones, and you charge yours up. Can you hear me now?
You put in a coin and there's like 50 different plugs for all different kinds of phones, and you charge yours up. Can you hear me now?
I Hate Fa Piaoing
As amazing as some aspects of China's development are, there are still sectors that are astoundingly ancient and inefficient. Do some shopping outside of the major tourist centers, and you will soon encounter the ordeal that is fa piao. Fa piao means to make or fill out a reciept, and it is one of the most inefficient and infuriating processes I have ever seen.
We were in Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, a week or so ago, and I thought I'd pick up some shaving cream. Turns out though, that if you want shaving cream, you can't take it to the check out counter like everything else, you have to go to the costmetics counter (which had a line), have them fill out a reciept (fa piao), go pay, come back with another reciept, and then you can take your shaving cream, which you won't have to pay for in the regular checkout line because you have your piao.
First of all, what concievable purpose does this serve? It's not like this process will allow them to track their sales more efficiently. And it's not like it deters theft. In fact, it probably makes theft easier, as you can just forge a reciept.
Don't they realize that today it's all about customer service? and if there's one thing we hate more than waiting in a line to check out, it's waiting in two lines?
And it's not like this is restricted to the most expensive items in the store, it was shaving cream. At our local Wu Mart (a Chinese big-box retailer), we had to fa paio for a power strip costing less than $2, while we could take five or ten dollar items straight to the register. Who comes up with this crazy system?
At Gome, an electronics store who's owner is China's richest man at the moment, you have to fa piao for EVERYTHING. I wonder if there's some sort of onerous government regulation that requires this madness - I cannot fathom why the French superstore would tolerate this nonsense otherwise.
Overall, paperwork in China is a serious impediment to progress. They're sticklers about filling out mountains of forms (all with 3 carbon copies) that they could never possibly have time to look at, even though they often have computers at the same desk.
That's China for you though, one minute you're impressed by how clever and innovative something is, and the next your cursing their crippling beauracracy.
We were in Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, a week or so ago, and I thought I'd pick up some shaving cream. Turns out though, that if you want shaving cream, you can't take it to the check out counter like everything else, you have to go to the costmetics counter (which had a line), have them fill out a reciept (fa piao), go pay, come back with another reciept, and then you can take your shaving cream, which you won't have to pay for in the regular checkout line because you have your piao.
First of all, what concievable purpose does this serve? It's not like this process will allow them to track their sales more efficiently. And it's not like it deters theft. In fact, it probably makes theft easier, as you can just forge a reciept.
Don't they realize that today it's all about customer service? and if there's one thing we hate more than waiting in a line to check out, it's waiting in two lines?
And it's not like this is restricted to the most expensive items in the store, it was shaving cream. At our local Wu Mart (a Chinese big-box retailer), we had to fa paio for a power strip costing less than $2, while we could take five or ten dollar items straight to the register. Who comes up with this crazy system?
At Gome, an electronics store who's owner is China's richest man at the moment, you have to fa piao for EVERYTHING. I wonder if there's some sort of onerous government regulation that requires this madness - I cannot fathom why the French superstore would tolerate this nonsense otherwise.
Overall, paperwork in China is a serious impediment to progress. They're sticklers about filling out mountains of forms (all with 3 carbon copies) that they could never possibly have time to look at, even though they often have computers at the same desk.
That's China for you though, one minute you're impressed by how clever and innovative something is, and the next your cursing their crippling beauracracy.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
China Creating Giant Investment Fund
China is looking to diversify it's foreign reserves, which is currently mostly in US treasury bonds, and will create one of the world's largest investment funds in order to diversify it's holdings with riskier assets.
Fundamentally, this seems like a good idea. There's no reason for a country, which theoretically should be a longer term investor than most individuals to only buy treasuries. As a gigantic investor with no short-term requirements, they should be able to achieve substantial returns, similar to what many Universities have done with their endowments, except an order of magnitude larger.
There may be a message in this for America as well: we won't finance you forever. China is not, of course, the only purchaser of US treasuries, but it is a large on. What would be more significant is if China were to dump the treasuries it currently holds, sending the price down and putting pressure on the US to raise interest rates. According to the article, China is more likely to shift its purchases rather than getting rid of the assets it already has.
This is actually what I thought the US should have done with Social Security. There's no reason diversifying the trust fund has to include private accounts; why not just create a giant social security endowment and invest in a range of assets. I guess this is another instance of an authoritarian government being able to push through policies that in a democratic one get bogged down with all sorts of interest groups trying to make the system more favorable to themselves.
Fundamentally, this seems like a good idea. There's no reason for a country, which theoretically should be a longer term investor than most individuals to only buy treasuries. As a gigantic investor with no short-term requirements, they should be able to achieve substantial returns, similar to what many Universities have done with their endowments, except an order of magnitude larger.
There may be a message in this for America as well: we won't finance you forever. China is not, of course, the only purchaser of US treasuries, but it is a large on. What would be more significant is if China were to dump the treasuries it currently holds, sending the price down and putting pressure on the US to raise interest rates. According to the article, China is more likely to shift its purchases rather than getting rid of the assets it already has.
This is actually what I thought the US should have done with Social Security. There's no reason diversifying the trust fund has to include private accounts; why not just create a giant social security endowment and invest in a range of assets. I guess this is another instance of an authoritarian government being able to push through policies that in a democratic one get bogged down with all sorts of interest groups trying to make the system more favorable to themselves.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Why Don't We Have That?
The Chinese are very keen on preventing shoplifting, so in many stores you can't take any sort of backpack or bag (even a plastic shopping bag from another store) in, and you have to leave it at the entrance. Fortunately, many of the larger stores have a very user-friendly and convenient method for doing this.
You press a button, a locker opens, and a reciept with a barcode prints out from the panel in the middle. You put your stuff in, close the door, which locks, and you leave. When you come back, you hold the barcode up to the scanner right below the printer, and the locker opens! This is easy and so simple, I cannot imagine why these things aren't all over America.
Why don't they have this at the gym so you don't have to carry your own lock or a gym locker key? What about stores in America? or bus stations and airports (there it may be the terrorist paranoia that prevents leaving anything for any amount of time)?
Basically, why should there be any situation in which a nation that is much poorer and somewhat less technologically advanced have nify gizmos that we don't?
You press a button, a locker opens, and a reciept with a barcode prints out from the panel in the middle. You put your stuff in, close the door, which locks, and you leave. When you come back, you hold the barcode up to the scanner right below the printer, and the locker opens! This is easy and so simple, I cannot imagine why these things aren't all over America.
Why don't they have this at the gym so you don't have to carry your own lock or a gym locker key? What about stores in America? or bus stations and airports (there it may be the terrorist paranoia that prevents leaving anything for any amount of time)?
Basically, why should there be any situation in which a nation that is much poorer and somewhat less technologically advanced have nify gizmos that we don't?
Coolest Thing Ever
It has nothing to do with China, but this is freakin' sweet. I hope to see one next time I'm in the US.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
The Upward Trajectory
Whenever I get dejected about the political situation in China (it is, after all, an authoritarian country with rule BY law rather than rule OF law), I'm comforted by the continuous improvement virtually all aspects of life (with the exception of pollution) over the last 30 years.
Granted, coming out of the Cultural Revolution, China was not in a very good spot. Not only were people dirt poor after 20 years of failed economic policies, which in turn came after a gigantic world/civil war in which million were slaughtered, but there was a climate of fear that remained after what is perhaps the largest outbreak of totalitarian madness in history, and one most people still don't know much about.
Yes, the country is Authoritarian, but it used to be Totalitarian, and that's a big difference. Mess with the government, and you're going down, but these days if you don't rock the boat (and even if you stop once you've gotten the message they don't like it) you can pretty much live as you like. You can't move anywhere you want, and money is a severe limitation on much of the peasantry, but no one in China is enforcing rigid controls on thinking, private speech, or personal activities.
The story everyone is so interested in is the economic rise of China, and this goes hand in hand with the expansion of personal freedom here. China has awakened from its communist slumbers by allowing entrepreneurship, ownership, and choice in economic affairs. It's impossible to separate this from a basic shift in thinking, from a view in which the party and the greater good of society should dictate everything about your life, to one in which the government can manage a society in which people make their own choices.
There is still a long way to go here. Many people live on less than $2 a day, and people are still getting in trouble for advocating for the powerless, and agitating for greater freedom. But looking at the past 30 years, I can't help but be optimistic. The cultural and economic forces that have created the current prosperity cannot be easily bottled up, and will probably continue to create more opportunity and more freedom. There will be attempts to curtail this or that expansion of freedom, but in the long run, the government cannot turn back from this course (did I just say 'stay the course?) without the risk of losing everything they've gained, or even plunging the country into chaos - something that would be a disaster not only for the Communist party, but everyone in China, and indeed, everyone in the world.
Given these choices, I think the government will continue on its present path - slowly loosening its grip, carefully watching the expansion of the country. There's always a place for worry and preparing for disasters, but the recent past gives me great confidence that China will continue to become a better and better place to live, for Chinese and Lao Wai.
Granted, coming out of the Cultural Revolution, China was not in a very good spot. Not only were people dirt poor after 20 years of failed economic policies, which in turn came after a gigantic world/civil war in which million were slaughtered, but there was a climate of fear that remained after what is perhaps the largest outbreak of totalitarian madness in history, and one most people still don't know much about.
Yes, the country is Authoritarian, but it used to be Totalitarian, and that's a big difference. Mess with the government, and you're going down, but these days if you don't rock the boat (and even if you stop once you've gotten the message they don't like it) you can pretty much live as you like. You can't move anywhere you want, and money is a severe limitation on much of the peasantry, but no one in China is enforcing rigid controls on thinking, private speech, or personal activities.
The story everyone is so interested in is the economic rise of China, and this goes hand in hand with the expansion of personal freedom here. China has awakened from its communist slumbers by allowing entrepreneurship, ownership, and choice in economic affairs. It's impossible to separate this from a basic shift in thinking, from a view in which the party and the greater good of society should dictate everything about your life, to one in which the government can manage a society in which people make their own choices.
There is still a long way to go here. Many people live on less than $2 a day, and people are still getting in trouble for advocating for the powerless, and agitating for greater freedom. But looking at the past 30 years, I can't help but be optimistic. The cultural and economic forces that have created the current prosperity cannot be easily bottled up, and will probably continue to create more opportunity and more freedom. There will be attempts to curtail this or that expansion of freedom, but in the long run, the government cannot turn back from this course (did I just say 'stay the course?) without the risk of losing everything they've gained, or even plunging the country into chaos - something that would be a disaster not only for the Communist party, but everyone in China, and indeed, everyone in the world.
Given these choices, I think the government will continue on its present path - slowly loosening its grip, carefully watching the expansion of the country. There's always a place for worry and preparing for disasters, but the recent past gives me great confidence that China will continue to become a better and better place to live, for Chinese and Lao Wai.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Chinese Military Spending
Is increasing, and America is worried about it. Worry is certainly justified; China is the biggest emerging power and also the most militaristic. In addition, China is an authoritarian country that may not be restrained by popular anti-war sentiments.
Still, on some level the American response is just comical. Here we are, the biggest, baddest country in the world (our military budget of 481 BILLION is almost ten times China's official military budget, though their actual spending may be twice that), waging an unpopular war against nearly unanimous opposition in the rest of the world, and we have the gall to tell them to be more transparent and peaceful.
It's amazing that we sometimes don't get that not everyone is on board with the "America as global policeman" thing.
Still, on some level the American response is just comical. Here we are, the biggest, baddest country in the world (our military budget of 481 BILLION is almost ten times China's official military budget, though their actual spending may be twice that), waging an unpopular war against nearly unanimous opposition in the rest of the world, and we have the gall to tell them to be more transparent and peaceful.
It's amazing that we sometimes don't get that not everyone is on board with the "America as global policeman" thing.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Why The @#%& Don't They Get This?
While we were travelling throughout China last fall, we encountered a large number of hotel bathrooms that just flat out stank. Not post-crap stink, but straight-up sewer stink. We soon discovered the problem: they don't have the S pipe here. You know the S-pipe, right? The little bend in the pipe underneath your sink which ensures that there will always be a little water in the pipe preventing sewer gasses from coming up. Despite the ubiquitous presence of high-tech cellular phones, flat-screen televisions, and now fleets of luxury cars, this staple of western plumbing has yet to catch on here.
Thankfully, the shower and kitchen drains of our new apartment seem to be thusly equipped (a non-smelling bathroom was one of our key requirements). Here is the interesting variation beneath our kitchen sink:
After a few days, however, we noticed a nasty rotten vegetable smell coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the bathroom. Soon after, we made a shocking discovery: our bathroom sink has no S curve. Fortunately, we can close the drain in the sink, but it just amazes me that such a basic (and oh so necessary) plumbing fixture continues to be left out of even fairly new constructions.
There is hope though - in Chengdu we noticed a public bathroom in which an enterprising plumber had seen the problem and devised a solution. He bent a loop into the pipe running down from each urinal.
Thankfully, the shower and kitchen drains of our new apartment seem to be thusly equipped (a non-smelling bathroom was one of our key requirements). Here is the interesting variation beneath our kitchen sink:
After a few days, however, we noticed a nasty rotten vegetable smell coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the bathroom. Soon after, we made a shocking discovery: our bathroom sink has no S curve. Fortunately, we can close the drain in the sink, but it just amazes me that such a basic (and oh so necessary) plumbing fixture continues to be left out of even fairly new constructions.
There is hope though - in Chengdu we noticed a public bathroom in which an enterprising plumber had seen the problem and devised a solution. He bent a loop into the pipe running down from each urinal.
Why Don't We Have That?
Nothing irritates a person more than someone stealing your parking space (except maybe keying your car), but back in the US we don't have anything to prevent it. Even the CEO of a company usually only has a sign, which can be ignored. In Chicago during the winter, people on our block would resort to putting chairs out in the street to reserve their spot. Here in China, they believe in the direct approach: a lockable stand that prevents any car from moving into your space until you unlock it with a key. It could even be improved, I suppose by activating the lock mechanism by a proximity sensor you put on your car.
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