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"The most ridiculous interview I heard with my own ears: Interviewer: "What did you have this morning as breakfast?" Applicant: "Bread." I: "Nothing else?" Applicant: "No." Interviewer: "According to American law, we cannot grant you a visa." Applicant: "....". I was sitting beside the person when he was rejected. You know, it is funny to reject someone according American law just because he only had bread in the morning."

From http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20060519_getting_us_visa_in_china.htm

The correct answer is of course "ham, sausage, a side of bacon, and a bloody mary to wash it all down"

"The most ridiculous interview I heard with my own ears:
  Interviewer: "What did you have this morning as breakfast?"
  Applicant: "Bread." I: "Nothing else?"
  Applicant: "No."
  Interviewer: "According to American law, we cannot grant you a visa."
  Applicant: "....".
I was sitting beside the person when he was rejected. You know, it is funny to reject someone according American law just because he only had bread in the morning."

From http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20060519_getting_us_visa_in_china.htm

I love riding the MagLev in Shanghai - most of the passengers are usually Japanese tourists, snapping photos of the overhead display as it reads higher and higher speeds until that magic number of 433 - running the length in 7 minutes and 20 seconds. The fun is over much too soon...

see http://blog.bcchinese.net/bingfeng/archive/2005/10 /26/40133.aspx
and http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20051107_bbc s_interview.htm

Well, the only thing matters is the taste of the audience, reporting the full truth is not always the best business. That's the way Confucius edited The Annals Of The Spring and Autumn.

Happy holiday!

How do we know that the people who are 'speaking out against the BBC' aren't themselves being coerced into doing so in an attempt by the chinese govornment to negate the BBC's coverage of Chinese freedom of speech issues.

How do we know that the people who are 'speaking out against the BBC' aren't themselves being coerced into doing so in an attempt by the chinese govornment to negate the BBC's coverage of Chinese freedom of speech issues.

There are *plenty* of blogs and blog hosting services in China e.g. http://blog.sina.com.cn/

Of course, the majority of these blogs are in Chinese. Just because you can't read it, doesn't mean they don't exist.

There're a handful of Chinese who blog in English:

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives.htm
http://ming.weblogs.us/

Imo, the best English language blogs on what's happening in China are :

ESWN
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/weblog.htm

and

Danwei
http://www.danwei.org/

From: Someone living in China

A perspective on the market in China, from a blogger in Shanghai with a middle class income or higher:

Personal computer's price are still not lower enough for people as TV to them. Computer costs 4000 - 6000 RMB, which is about 2 or three months' salary. Here is how I see the market: people with university education or higher tend to have a computer at home. People with a child older than 10 tend to buy a computer. Others may not want to spend $$$ on computers...Good Internet cafe charges 5 RMB or higher (per hour, about $1.25 US.) Internet at home is still relatively expensive. China Internet Market Analysis

I assume these Chinese systems are roughly equivelent to the $500 entry level HP Pavillions sold at Walmart. Not gamer specs by western standards. You can clone Bejeweled endlessly, but you probably do not have the domestic base to warrant investment in projects like The Sims or Half-Life, asssuming you can slip them past the censors.

It is much harder to export culture than technology and it is popular culture that drives game design and sales, not the O/S. The United States and Japan are good at exporting culture, China is not.

Alas, the maglev's official home page (I think; at least they sell tickets) is all Chinese and out of date to boot. In the meantime, the best place to go is Wangjianshuo's blog, in particular the well-illustrated Maglev in depth story.

Things that suck about the maglev:

• It only runs every half hour, which kind of defeats the point of having a superfast train.
• Tickets cost 75 RMB (~$9) a pop, this in a country where 800 RMB a month is considered a decent wage.
• It doesn't go into the city, you have to transfer to a subway and ride another 6 stops just to get on the Puxi side of the river.

Cheers,
-j.

Alas, the maglev's official home page (I think; at least they sell tickets) is all Chinese and out of date to boot. In the meantime, the best place to go is Wangjianshuo's blog, in particular the well-illustrated Maglev in depth story.

Things that suck about the maglev:

• It only runs every half hour, which kind of defeats the point of having a superfast train.
• Tickets cost 75 RMB (~$9) a pop, this in a country where 800 RMB a month is considered a decent wage.
• It doesn't go into the city, you have to transfer to a subway and ride another 6 stops just to get on the Puxi side of the river.

Cheers,
-j.

Alas, the maglev's official home page (I think; at least they sell tickets) is all Chinese and out of date to boot. In the meantime, the best place to go is Wangjianshuo's blog, in particular the well-illustrated Maglev in depth story.

Things that suck about the maglev:

• It only runs every half hour, which kind of defeats the point of having a superfast train.
• Tickets cost 75 RMB (~$9) a pop, this in a country where 800 RMB a month is considered a decent wage.
• It doesn't go into the city, you have to transfer to a subway and ride another 6 stops just to get on the Puxi side of the river.

Cheers,
-j.

This prototype looks like crap compared to currently running trains in tokyo (360mph) and shanghai:
360 mph tokyo maglev
Shanghai shuttle
The 'Detroit People Mover' even makes this prototype look like a joke. American Maglev has nothing but a few patents and engineers, no assets or capital available to repay the huge loan, apparently. This reminds me of a certain Simpsons episode..

I'm guessing he means This. another splurge here [torrez.net]