China Unblocks the BBC (In English)

An anonymous reader writes in with news that China has unblocked the BBC Web site — the English-language version at any rate. No announcement was made, because China has never acknowledged blocking the BBC for the last decade. The Chinese-language version of the site has been blocked since its inception in 1999. The article speculates that the easing of censorship may be tied to the upcoming Olympic Games.

Comments

english corners... the horror

[fliptout]

Go to English corners? Holy Jebus! :D

Ok, that outlandish advice has actually worked well for me, though I bet most foreigners get tired of the same old tired questions the students ask. "Where are you from, why does the usa support taiwan, do you like chinese food, how long have you studied chinese, what is your job, can i have your phone number, how old are you, are you a cunning linguist(ok not really)etc"

My experiences:
My first English Corner- girl I am dating asks if I can go to her University's English Corner. I grudgingly agree.. I get there and... I am the only foreigner there! What's more, I am a guy who has been suckered into going to an all girls' uni.. Sweet!

Second, a year later, a girl outside my university(BLCU) solicited me to go to her school's EC. Later she and I had some crazy dates- her consumption of beer probably correlated to being a physics masters student.

Most of the other times were favors where I could not say no. All in all, the English Corners were good fun, though not the best place to practice speaking chinese. You could definitely get a sense of peoples' politics and personal beliefs. Plus, it is fun to play the part of the eccentric foreigner...which is not a stretch for me.