My blog

Label... Category... Standard Entry Video Information Press Release Event News

• Putting the best foot forward….for august anyway

  Monday, Jul 21, 2008 7:53PM / Standard Entry / Members only

  Talk putting the best foot forward…there has been a major effort to crack down on unsavory content on the web prior and during the olympics, for example:

  1) Audits and closing down of all sites that do not have an ICP license. Basically to run any type of website in China you need some sort of ICP license (to different degrees depending on what kind of content is on your site). This has always been the rule, they just haven’t been very vigilant about closing down sites that don’t have it.

  2) Scanning for unsavory keywords

  3) Disallowing entry into datacenters for basically the whole month of August. Yeah, that means if your servers hardware goes down, too bad. Gotta wait until the end of august to get in there.

  Looks like they aren’t kidding around.

  
  

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• Making a dent in saving the environment? 对环保的贡献？

  Monday, Jun 2, 2008 4:41PM / Standard Entry / Members only

  What do these 3 things have in common?

  

  

  

  It’s that they all cost 1 RMB!

  Believe it or not, most restaurants charge you 1 RMB for napkins and for the really annoying skinflints, 1 RMB for chopsticks (even for reusable chopsticks and towelettes) ! Small Fat Lamb (hotpot restaurant) use to be like that, but I think they’ve since changed.

  Besides being nickeled and dimed to death, what I wanted to point out was that starting today (June 1st), a new policy has been implemented that does not allow stores to give away free plastic shopping bags (defined by a thickness of 0.025mm). Yep, that means all supermarkets, shopping centers, roadside stalls, etc. This law was passed earlier this year in January as a means to improve the environment. Furthermore, as a part of the initiative, the gov’t is trying to curb the production, sale, and use of the bags while increasing the number places you can recycle them.

  Brushing aside the enforcement aspect, I think it’s a great idea. Chopsticks and napkins, not so much. To steal a great phrase, I already “refuse plastics bags with impunity” and think that until there is some kind of financial impact, there won’t be much of a change in consumer behavīor. Let’s just hope it works!

  As an aside, I think US is even more plastic or package happy than China.

  这三个东西有什么共同点？ 都是一块钱呀！

  我刚来的时候很难接受在莫些餐厅用筷子还要一块钱。。。我记得小肥羊原来就是这样的，不过现在应该取消了。今天去了优衣裤才发现禁止提供免费塑料袋的政策已经实施了。 虽然之前一些朋友会嫌我抠门因为付那个毛巾的一块钱我都不愿意（这些东西还要付钱我很反对因此我从来不用）。。。但是我非常认同对塑料袋的政策。 我觉得人是个习惯的动物，如果没有什么额外的刺激，人是不会改变得。

  反证除非实在没办法的话，我通常都拒绝拿塑料袋。。。希望这个新政策真正对环保有贡献。

  
  

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• Earthquake & 9-11

  Wednesday, May 21, 2008 6:31PM / Standard Entry / Members only

  The earthquake in Sichuan happened a little over a week ago, but I was actually oblivious to it until 10 minutes later some of my friends IM’ed me asking if I felt it. Nada…but for some of my friends in high-rises, they said the entire building shook laterally at least 3 feet for almost 5 minutes! That’s pretty incredible considering the earthquake happened about 1000 miles away from Shanghai which is still farther than say Chicago to DC (~650 mi).

  To be honest the aftermath of it reminds me a lot of 9-11 back home, in the way that people are responding to the natural disaster, hearing about amazing human feats of survival, workers digging tirelessly to rescue the victims under the rubble…

  From what I hear it’s been covered a lot back in the US, but I think here are a few links worth passing along. (It might be a bit slow for those of you not in China)

  (From 南方都市报)
  looks like a tornado went thru there…except imagine if there were hundreds of tornadoes simultaneously)

  

  (From 南方都市报)
  a couple taking their wedding pictures as the earthquake happened - this is 8 minutes after the first earthquake

  

  People getting together in shanghai to remember the earthquake victims

  Lastly, the government put out a notice saying “为表达全国各族人民对四川汶川大地震遇难同胞的深切哀悼，国务院决定，2008年5月19日至21日为全国哀悼日。在此期间，全国和各驻外机构下半旗志哀，停止公共娱乐活动，外交部和我国驻外使领馆设立吊唁簿。5月19日14时28分起，全国人民默哀3分钟，届时汽车、火车、舰船鸣笛，防空警报鸣响”

  Essentially it says, from 5/19-21st, to remember the victims of the earthquake, the gov’t has decided that the flag will be at half mast, and must cease all public entertainment events. Further, on 5/19 at 2:28 there will be 3 minutes of moment of silence.

  In response websites grayed out their logos or sites or even shut it down entirely for 3 days.

  

  

  

  

  
  

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• Using IM to go viral in China and boycotting french goods

  Thursday, Apr 17, 2008 3:20PM / Standard Entry / Members only

  As I signed onto MSN instant messenger yesterday, I was greeted with a bunch of “heart china” signatures.

  too lazy to take my own screenshot, here is one from shanghaiist
  

  Similarly reported by Shanghaiist and Wangjainshuo according to QQ MSN China tabulates over 2 million users adding this signature! (in chinese)

  To summarize, this was a response by chinese netizens to all the negative press China has been getting in the world arena. Furthermore, there has even been a call to boycott French goods (like carrefour) given what happened in Paris during the torch relay.

  Politics aside, what I wanted to highlight was the phenomenon of using IM signatures as a viral tool in China. People in the US use email as the primary tool for everyday communication whereas in China it’s IM (as mentioned here and here). In one signature change, you’ve accomplished the equivalent of sending out an email to your 100+ contacts on your contact list. Moreover, when you email something funny or interesting to your friends, you probably only select a subset of friends whereas your IM signature is a broadcast to your entire contact list no matter if they are acquaintances or best buds.

  I wonder why IM signatures hasn’t caught on in the US?

  
  

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• Yet another step closer to localization - tooling around in a bike

  Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 12:47AM / Standard Entry / Members only

  At the behest of my friend to by a bicycle, I succumbbed and bought this bike last week. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!

  Mine is the shiny red one.

  

  

  

  And it folds up too! Which is nice in case I get tired and can just put it in a taxi or head to the nearest subway.

  I was a little worried with no gearing and the 16″ wheels, but luckily shanghai is as flat as a pancake so I haven’t missed those nicer options. The purchase ran about $80 which was just about the cheapest one they had, some of the nicer ones run up to $500-600 (20″ wheels, superlight frame, gears, disc brakes, etc).

  So simply put, having a bike is a game-changer. I can’t say that I’ve missed having a car, but I do feel a renewed sense of freedom. Plus, it’s a decent way to get good exercise - when I’m not inhaling car exhaust that is.

  Plus, I feel like this is also a good way to see and get to know the city better…check out some of the pics I took during my recent rides

  French concession area is a good place for a nice relaxing ride

  

  

  

  plus I found this cool old school motorcycle with a sidecar

  

  

  

  Believe it or not, the following pictures are all from the same block

  

  

  

  

  

  

  I found out the hard way that you get fined for ignoring this sign….luckily it was only 5 rmb’s.

  

  These bike lanes make it much more pleasant to ride on the street - though in shanghai, you can’t seem to get away from people no matter what you do

  

  

  
  

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