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| 600 |
Traveled to Beijing with China Eastern Airlines Martin, this is not an official China Eastern Airlines website, so take my advise just as it is, and try to confirm with them finally. I don't think you need to reconfirm your flight though. |
| 599 |
CRH Train from Shanghai to Hangzhou The ticket I bought was 54 RMB single trip. |
| 598 |
Gas Price and Plastic Bags @Benny, they are charging 5 RMB for the pretty durable and nice bag - not plastic. It has nice color and design, and is very cute, the bag you may think of when you are in a fashion store. So I think it is reasonable. |
| 597 |
Gas Price and Plastic Bags Today, news reports that there is no #90 gas in gas stations in Shanghai. They are forced to use #93. |
| 596 |
Gas Price and Plastic Bags I agree that waste is a product of wealth. Many of my western friends criticized Chinese for eating some parts of the animal that they don't eat. Well. If people get hungry long enough, and they are forced to be more clever to cook almost all part of a cow, or chicken. Throwing it away is not an option for many of us. |
| 595 |
Gas Price and Plastic Bags On return of waste, China did much better before, but just because of poverty. Beer bottles are always recycled, since by selling beer bottles to waste collection station, it can generate significant amount of income for house hold. Just because people now afford to throw away many "waste", people consume more. |
| 594 |
NBC Interview at my Home Thanks! Yes, Yifan is pretty cool when he meets strangers - very serious, at most time. :-) |
| 593 |
Shanghai Dazhong Taxi Hmmm... Yes. I also encounter a bad Dazhong taxi or two in the last half year, but overall, their quality are among the most reliable in Shanghai. I will talk about Qiangsheng shortly. |
| 592 |
Avoid Blog Blocked in China @Meg, if your own .com is blocked, there is not too many things you can do, if there is any. There is no way to find it out because the existence of this block itself is pretend to be a secret, and no way to find out how long it will be blocked, if there is any chance for it to be unblocked. |
| 591 |
MovableType 4.2 is Disappointing @Susan, I believe I will be with MovableType no matter what. I have many great and close friends in MovableType team, and I started to use it since 2002. I will continue to provide feedback but I don't think there is a reason to switch. Above all, blog is all about the content, instead of tools. Even notepad can make a good blogger. |
| 590 |
I Got my Nikon 50mm 1.8D It is 760 RMB. I just want to be conservative in selecting lens. I know there is no end for any lens. |
| 589 |
The World is Not Created by Genius - Part II Hmm... Dingli, the average may be smaller a little bit, but don't change too much. We played the same game again during the same group of people, again, it is still around 22. |
| 588 |
Life, An Accumulation of Mileage Net.cn User ID: 10279619 |
| 587 |
I Hope We can Start to Talk about History Just want to clarify my points. It is absolutely not the right thing to claim that the two sides are equally wrong. It is just one side say something to one person, but the other beat or kill as a response. So there is not doubt about it. However, there are so many things that we need to learn from that event that we need to avoid in the future. I do hope we can really engage many people, scholars, normal people to think about it and propose something for the benefit of future China. |
| 586 |
Hangzhou Bay Bridge - Just a Bridge @Gman, yes. It is now the longest cross sea bridge in the world. |
| 585 |
Hangzhou Bay Bridge - Just a Bridge I agree with you on the point that it is more significant to Ningbo. However, the connection of two powerful cities can hardly be beneficial for only one side. By combining the power of Yangshan Port and Beilun Port in Ningbo, I believe the whole Yangtze Delta area is more competitive in the international trade environment, although it introduces more competition between the two ports. |
| 584 |
Happy Birthday to Yifan @derek, you are very true, and it was exactly what Wendy complained for. Finally, we moved the "colorful paper" to more obvious location, and Yifan did spent several seconds with it. |
| 583 |
I May Not Attend the CNBloggerCon 2008 in Guangzhou Well, I want to add, that it is just my personal experience, and my personal expectation to the conference. For me, I just turned from "definitely" attend to "maybe". For the first conference, my rating is, the only conference I would choose in China, and now, it is just one of many, although it is still relatively more interesting than others. |
| 582 |
Zhuazhou - Gift Picking at 1 Year Old Mmm.... It is completely up to Yifan to pick his career or life when he grows up, just like he picks the thing that seems most interesting to him. I think we have completely let him go, to lead his life, not continuation of mine, or Wendy's. |
| 581 |
Nice Shanghai Blogger Meetup They are still holding the meetup, but I didn't participate any more. If you want to find out more, search for "Maria Trombly". She is the organizer. |
| 580 |
I Felt Afraid of Public Opinions Now @STLPlace, if there is any comment that does not show up, don't worry. I check the "pending" queue frequently (once every two days at least), and will release comments like yours. There are also many spam comments in it as well. So don't worry. |
| 579 |
Hard to Use Metro Instead of a Car @ILH, I don't think moving company location is a good choice. The current location is considered convenient for most of people, although it is really tough for some who lived very far - they have to wake up at 6:00 AM to use public transportation - I mean metro - to get to work. Also, it is near Metro Station - 2 metro lines are nearby and will be 5 different metro lines go around the same building. So I don't think I can move it to a better location. The problem for this city is, not only me, many many people face the transportation problem. The only way to live close to company is to always rent, and change house when you change job or your company change location. If you really want to buy a house, you give 10%+ to the government as tax, and pay something about 5% (not exactly but in this range) to the government when you buy one. 15% of house price (in million RMB) may well justify to keep longer commute hour. |
| 578 |
Hard to Use Metro Instead of a Car @sjtu20, thanks for letting me know. I even didn't know that. I talked with Margaret, the anchor woman of PBS' NewsHour, but don't know where the program may turned out to be. |
| 577 |
I Felt Afraid of Public Opinions Now @Diedier, I don't know about boycotting French product after the boycott of Carrefour. I may be the extension of it, instead of a new one. Anyone knows it? |
| 576 |
Hard to Use Metro Instead of a Car @DC, is there parking on the Meihua Road? I didn't see it at least one month ago. If it is the case, that is great. Before, I only see policeman putting fine ticket on the window there. I don't trust the guarded bicycle parking, since the person will leave after working hours - some at 8:00 PM, or 9:00 PM latest. If he is gone, my bike is gone, not an option. I have friends who got the bike stolen at guarded parking, and they can compensate you 50 RMB - 50 times of the fee you paid at most. Sometimes they only give you 10 RMB as compensation, depends on where you parked. @ldskaie, you are so kind to provide the tip, but that does not work any more. Based on the situation I described, if it is still the case, it is the best free park and go facility in Shanghai. However, they are not stupid. Now in the morning, if you drive to Metro, or B&Q or Decathlon, there is security guards at the gate. Their opening hour is 9:00 AM. You cannot enter the parking area unless you show them something to prove that you are doing business with them. Hmmm... Not working. |
| 575 |
Hard to Use Metro Instead of a Car Xujiahui is definitely downtown, and the concept of downtown is expanding and expanding. Xujiahui is the downtown of downtown now. @Давид, bike is not an option for me, because of the same parking issue and thief issue. Unless you are very confident that your bike is extremely bad, you don't want to park it near a Metro station. It will be gone within a week. |
| 574 |
I Felt Afraid of Public Opinions Now @siefried, I don't accept the fact that people "cannot analyze an issue from multiple perspectives". No matter I like it or not, my opinion is just one of the many opinions people may have (and the very rare one considering the large population). I don't think I am titled to position myself higher than anyone - I am not. That is the reason I feel afraid, and lonely, instead of happy - I am trying very hard to grand my reasoning to solid facts, so at least I know what my opinion is, despite of what others say. |
| 573 |
Leave Home Early to Avoid Traffic Jam Hi Thalia, nice to meet you and happy to know that you are in Shanghai. I should be blogging about it when it comes. Jian Shuo |
| 572 |
Avoid Maglev for Hongqiao to Pudong Transition @Gandhi, let me help you to draw this time table: 1. Arrive at 8:40 AM 2. Get out of the Hongqiao Airport at 9:00 AM after claiming baggage. 3. Wait for a Shuttle Bus up to 20 minutes. Adding buffer, so it is 9:30 4. From Hongqiao to Pudong takes 40 minutes. Adding another 20 minutes buffer, so it is 10:30 5. Check in at 11:00 6. It is still one hour left. So, I think you can catch the flight. |
| 571 |
Hello from Nanjing The youth hotel in the Zhongshan Ling area is very good. |
| 570 |
Avoid Maglev for Hongqiao to Pudong Transition :-) You are both right - to give people the directions is one of the reason I started this blog. |
| 569 |
Meeting Place: Starbucks at Jinyan Road, Pudong @Joyce, my meeting place in Raffles Area is Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - better than Starbucks with less people AND internet access. |
| 568 |
Introduce Yourself @all, thanks all for your self introduction. It helps other readers to know who are reading and commenting on this blog - and give people (including me) some idea about the distribution of reader across the world - I have more diversed readership than I thought. |
| 567 |
Avoid Maglev for Hongqiao to Pudong Transition @DKWan, bingo! Thanks for the update. |
| 566 |
Meeting Place: Starbucks at Jinyan Road, Pudong Yes. I think i tis Lemon Lamington - I remember I saw the name like this on the badge. But, what is a Laminton? |
| 565 |
More Accidents in 2008 Terror does not mean terrorism. It means the lack of security - no matter it is because of natural disaster, or operation mistake. When we see too many bad things, especially to something very close to you, you feel that bad things may happen to you at any time. That is the sense of insecure. |
| 564 |
Photos of Carrefour after Boycott @solopolo, what happened? I didn't notice anything... |
| 563 |
Slow Internet Connection in Early May @Shrek7..... There are so many things in China that "should" be like this, but it works that way. I hope we can "let the blocking stop". |
| 562 |
At Harvard More photos can be found at http://wangjianshuo.com/photo/ |
| 561 |
Photos of Carrefour after Boycott Thanks for RWM and xge - different time may show different view. To take their observation, you get get a more complete view. |
| 560 |
Shanghai Pudong Airport to Suzhou Em... A taxi seems a reasonable solution for you, and Suzhou is just one hour's trip. So you can take a taxi there. Talk to the guy at the international arrival hall, and ask him to arrange one for you. They are reliable - be sure to find the guy with uniform and badge. |
| 559 |
From Pu Dong Airport to People's Park Yes. There are buses to Wuxi. Check out the Pudong Airport category of this blog, and I have photos of the bus. |
| 558 |
Slow Internet Connection in Early May @AussiePB, congratulations! I will check out the site later (yes, it is blocked in China) - the whole blogspot.com site. |
| 557 |
Photos of Carrefour after Boycott 1:00 PM, today, in Xinlicheng Store in Pudong. |
| 556 |
Automatic Door in Metro It is interesting that this page became a marketplace for automatic doors. Often, it happens without my noticing it. |
| 555 |
PVG: Car Rental Service @Dutchinshanghai, Since the Shanghai-Ningbo cross sea bridge just opened today, it should be within 200km to get there. If you take a taxi, that is about 600 RMB single trip (but think about the guy need to get back with empty car). But if you hire a car, that is not a taxi rate. I assume less than 1000 RMB is what I expect. Please note: I didn't try it and may over-priced the trip... |
| 554 |
Decathlon Store Locations in Shanghai @alexander Song, Most of the tennis shops are hidden in large shopping malls - like Grand Gateway in Xujiahui, or Raffles in People's square. I don't remember any specialized shop for tennis for now. |
| 553 |
Generalization Plays the Trick @Tony, those two are more like "Mixing" trick - mixing too not so related things together, so when you say A, they say you are saying B... |
| 552 |
Your Opinion about French Revolution @Alex Dong, I am reading the book by Lin Da. It is the pretty calmed and "negative" reflection of the event. I love it a lot. That is the starting point of my research about the French Revolution. |
| 551 |
Metro Line M8 in Shanghai Under Construction @chee8218, I didn't know that. Let me find out what is the Singapore Metro Logo... |
| 550 |
Death and Religion in Tibet @stephen, Thanks for the reminder. There are two issues. 1. The comment index page had some problem and now it is fixed - and even better. You can always check the last 100 comments. 2. The comments are always attached to the daily blog. I just implemented a cache on client side. You didn't see update just because it is cached. Press F5 to refresh the page will show the latest version. |
| 549 |
Mixing, Muddling, and Confusing @Peter Duong, it is the same for me to read the history of China itself. You get many versions of the same history. My struggle results in the thoughts that all the versions are correct versions. We have to accept the fact that there are many true version of the same fact in this world. It is just from different part or from different perspective. |
| 548 |
Four Types of Consciousness @TibetanLady, Thanks for your comment. Labeling and using the label as a way to fight between people is bad, but classification is the only way we can understand the world. We can try to classified things better, but we need to do it for discuss. |
| 547 |
Grace Wang Called a Traitor @nyy, Regarding "Would you please consider deleting messages calling people "idiot"?" I won't do it immediately when I see personal attack. I made it clear that attacking an opinion is absolutely OK, but attacking a person, like calling "idiot" for a named person is not acceptable. If there is a tendency that the flaming keep on, I typically will jump in and ask people to stick to the basic rule. I do reserve the right of deleting a comment if it breaks this rule, but in the last 5 years, I almost haven't exercised this right. |
| 546 |
Grace Wang Called a Traitor @nyy, Regarding "Would you please consider deleting messages calling people "idiot"?" I won't do it immediately when I see personal attack. I made it clear that attacking an opinion is absolutely OK, but attacking a person, like calling "idiot" for a named person is not acceptable. If there is a tendency that the flaming keep on, I typically will jump in and ask people to stick to the basic rule. I do reserve the right of deleting a comment if it breaks this rule, but in the last 5 years, I almost haven't exercised this right. |
| 545 |
Mixing, Muddling, and Confusing @mac, "God-like" is always what my wife, Wendy, complaining about me. She said, "Everytime, you tried to think as a God as though you are not involved in the whole thing". or "Why you are so arrogant to think as a God?" Remember my personality type in MBTI? I am ENFP. That is because of personality. There are many types of people, and people find other guys with different personality hard to understand, or even claim people with different thinking pattern are crazy. I love the saying: "I am not crazy. We are just different". For the statement about whether I am with the side of Grace Wang or not, I want to clarify - in case there are misunderstanding for this post, that I try to avoid simply saying: "I am on this side or the other side". I want to make it clear, just as I am not on the side who claim Grace is a traitor, I am not on the side of Grace either. What I can say is, I agree with Grace on this, and disagree with her on that. I think I have past the age to claim whatever some person said (Grace or whoever) is what I believe in... In this sense, I am not on her side. |
| 544 |
Four Types of Consciousness @dalas, (please allow me to use English to response to your comment for the sake of many readers on this blog who dont read Chinese) I agree with you on these points: 1. I am 12 in 1989, and I only got some limited "facts" during that time. I didn't know what was going on behind the fact that my favorite cartoon program was paused and replaced with burned bodies all the time on TV. I still don't think I know what happened - I don't pretend to know. 2. There are big interest conflict between US and China, and it is so between any country, and there are conspiracy group behind man political events. I am aware of this. However, I don't agree on some of your argument. What I am doing is to seek the truth - what is happening in this country. In the last few years, I talked with many people (I recorded some of the conversation and my thoughts on this blog during the last 5 years) just want to know more. I am trying very hard to understand different perspectives - what are those guys protesting for? What can be wrong in China, and what can be wrong in the western countries, just because I love this land. I often question people's confidence of knowing exactly the truth, since the more I learnt, the more I know the importance to be humble to history, and don't be too easy to say: "You are wrong. This is what right looks like!". Sorry if I sound like arrogant - but I am often misunderstood when I say: what you heard from this source may not be the truth (in Tony and the student case, I am very sure what the students said (overthrow the government thing) is not the complete story). People may perceive that I imply I know more than them - I don't. On the conflicts between US and China, it is more of the two governments. I am more concerned in the people to people field. These are completely two different fields. I don't want to mix to two. Let the politician and conspiricist in both side do their job to protect the interest of the two countries, and I do my job to increase communication between the people. I don't know how you feel after reading the 100 to 200 long comments (like yours) on this issue, at least I personally learnt so much during the direct conversation on this blog in the last few weeks. Imagine how big the influence it will be on me after reading 26,000 of them? I admit that I may also be mislead by my comm enters, which I don't can be avoided. As I always believe, the world is much more complicated than we can imagine. For your final comment about patriotism, do you agree that just as you have your right to use your way to help this country pass this difficult time, I also have the right to use my way to help. We can discuss about what is the best way to help (is it boycotting, or protesting, or something else, please give me suggestions), but up to now, I still believe that I am doing something to help this country. If you think otherwise, please share your thoughts, as many others have done on this blog, instead of just ask me to stop doing what I am doing. I accept any accuse that what I am doing is not helping this country, or helping keep the world away from World War III, but I don't accept any claim that my intend is not helping. |
| 543 |
"Love China" Blooms on MSN Messenger @rat in hat, it is sad to see the change of religion, like Buddhism, and the damage to the temples and religions are exactly something western world attacking China for "lack of religious freedom". It is partly true because Christine and Buddhism in church and in temple are now with strange flavor, because monks and pastor are under the leadership of the Party who is Atheist. When I recite my politics book in middle school, I was so naive to ask: "The textbook is telling us religions are some the ruling class to fool its people, why we still keep those bad places like churches or temples?" I don't know whether that is still in today's textbook, but I guess that is why people's perception of religion is not that positive. Regarding which religion is good or bad, we are not in a position to make that judgment. |
| 542 |
Grace Wang Called a Traitor @lin, thanks for posting the popular (if not the most popular) article about Grace's article. However, after reading the analysis, I just feel sad. The tone of the critizing article is familar to me, and the logic is very familiar to me, with those back in 1920, back in 1960s. I would say, I completely disagree with what is stated in the article you quoted. I will talk more about it in the coming blog. |
| 541 |
Street Scenes of Nayang - Part II Thanks. I am changing the wrong term I used to call the jam. |
| 540 |
Four Types of Consciousness @Tony, there is no surprise that the 20s student you met talk about the event that way. If he is 20 years old, at that time, he is only 1 year old. In China, after that date, it is not a topic people can discuss, or mention. Even something align with the CCTV statement is discouraged. They just want people to forget... However, there are many people who won't forget. |
| 539 |
Grace Wang Called a Traitor @GN, thanks for the link. I laughed when I read about what Luxun said in 1918 - Angry Youth is not new, and it is like today in his time, even before CCP was formed. |
| 538 |
Friends Started to Boycott French Products @Jana, this is to answer your question posted in this thread on April 22 - I almost ignored the question -- about what does it mean by "unify the thinking... of officials and the masses" "unify thinking" is a very frequently used term by governments and the Party in China. It is considered to be the most important thing to get everyone to think exactly the same, with no other "noises", before people do something. The whole sentence that appeared on Tibetan Daily implies that "officials and the masses" are thinking different things, which is not good. The education campaign's goal is to "unify thinking" of everyone, and people can think completely the same - according to what the Central Party Committee want them to think. My thoughts have been unified for many times when I was a student, and now, I obviously need some education to get "re-unfied". :-) |
| 537 |
Grace Wang Called a Traitor @TibetanLady, please keep on to share your thoughts about Tibet, since obviously, not many people who talk about the topic, including myself have been to Tibet or understand the culture and history enough. To have Tibetan to tell people their perspective on this blog can bring a lot of value to everyone. Thanks for the two comments you made. We are listening. |
| 536 |
Four Types of Consciousness @Allen, I mentioned about my type in the article (and I know people may see me completely different from what I see myself). @CRM, don't worry. Not everyone is involved in this. My guess is your friends are polite to you before you and behind you. No matter how tough the international relationships between countries are, the friendship of people are seldom affected. |
| 535 |
Street Scenes of Nayang - Part II @ZL, any scene can be found similiar in almost any other city or country, especially "not so developed" scene. The difference, whether the scene is the main stream in one city or it is the "backstreet" scene in another city. There are also scenes like what I posted in Shanghai, but pretty rare, but in Nanyang, it is the main stream. Meixi Road is one of the best roads in the city in old times, and still keep the prosperity of shops and eateries. To be honest, i enjoy the scene a lot. |
| 534 |
"Love China" Blooms on MSN Messenger Hi guys, I have to say, please keep discussing and stop personal attack here. The rule for this blog is, we welcome the strongest attack to an opinion, but we cannot tolerate even the slightest attack to a person, because this lead to no where, and we don't need to waste energy on it. Some examples: "This is the worst idea I heard of, because..." I am pretty fine with it, and it is attacking the idea. "You are the worst person I have ever met" is not OK on this blog, since it is attacking to a person. This is the rule. I do appreciate people who shared so much about what they think, and helped each other (inside or outside China) to understand important international stuff around us. It is a miracle that it happened even without a user registration system on this blog in the last 5 years. During the recent unpleasant days, there are too much conflicts and angry in the Internet space, and I am so impressed by people (both sides of the protester camps) to really TALK here. It's not easy to archive, and we should be happy that we finally did it. So keep the conversation going. To be specific, I saw some comments regarding GN's comment. I don't agree with what GN said, but I do want to defense his right to express himself on this blog. For my friend who are new to this blog, history like this on this blog may help: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20070923_dont_leave_aussiepb.htm Finally, just a reminder, I reserve the right to stop flaming discussion thread, although in the past 2000 discussion threads, in the last 5 years, I never exercised this right yet. Happy debating! |
| 533 |
Not Just Identify Problems for China - Solve Them! @Disagree, thanks for clarification. I understand your point more clearly and that is also what I think. To future the thinking, even if we think some mentality is childish, we can contribute to a better world by thinking of way to live with "different" mentalities. Taking the example of you and your cousin, if your cousin thinks that way, there must be some way to help him understand the real situation instead of simply holding a sign with "Your Fault, Not Mine!", or "STOP Falling!". The kid won't understand. Sometimes, tolerate is a better option. I am not implying people in China is childish. It is the same to people in western world, that people in China also need to tolerate the different. I will always call it different, because each party translate may the word "different" to "childish". |
| 532 |
Yifan in His 9th Month Ha, Carroll. When I posted Yifan's photo, I know a comment from you is always guaranteed. :-) Thanks a lot. |
| 531 |
Friends Started to Boycott French Products The other reason why people boycotting French product is, since it is not allowed to protest (well. Legally speaking, it is allowed, with a permit, but no one can get the permit), boycotting is the only left way to show anger. If people do not boycott, what can people do? |
| 530 |
More Discussion on Tibet @Peter Duong, you have provided very good comments (this one and the last one). I do appreciate your true wish and your effort to turn China into a better country. Your explanation about how protest works in US, British and France helped a lot. I know something, but not to such degree. Thanks for that. For your question about "How people in the United States best support positive change in China?" Well..... It is a very tough question to answer. To be honest, I don't know exactly how. Because for the same question, "How people in China can make a positive change in China?" I also don't have a clear answer. Pretty sad, isn't it? If protest, writing to a congressman, or vote for a new mayor, governor, president is a way to make positive change in US, there is no similar way to make the change in China yet. The frustrating for me is, there is not so many ways for people to make a positive change in the current system, and that is, maybe, the fatal problem in current China. However, if there is something for sure that we need to do, it is economic improvement. It changes people's mind dramatically. If I review my change in my political view (in other word, to form a political view), I will give credit to my economic change, or in simple word, get richer. Then I may worry about something I don't care at all. Being able to travel (even within China) make a big difference for people. More trade, more economic cooperation will finally pay off. For human rights issues, keep pushing using protest may make a difference, but not sure whether it is positive or negative, depending on how skillful people make it. The case in Pairs definitely will push majority of people in China to the government side, and may last so in the next few years. |
| 529 |
Not Just Identify Problems for China - Solve Them! @Disagree, regarding your comments about people in other country's thinking is "plain childish", I do have a different idea. I agree there are different mentality in this world, but don't simply say it is childish or not. Although I do agree with you that for people need to take protest fairly and don't put an equal sign to protest again a government to protest against a country, it IS the current mentality, and people need to respect it. If you think the western world has formed a mature way of thinking for this world, it is just from the western point of view. If so, you may feel people with some religions (especially those religions you are not familiar with) even more childish, since they believe in something you don't believe in. Maybe to die for something just spiritual is not mature, from your perspective. If the mentality of a country is "Olympic = Wedding", and not knowing it IS a big problem for the rest of the world, although it is ALSO a problem for people in China. That is the reason I am trying to stand in the middle to help people in China (me included) to understand how it works by sharing the great comments (including yours), and help others to understand how people in China thinks. Any communication problem is a two-sided problem. Just my 2 cents. |
| 528 |
More Discussion on Tibet @Peter, thanks for sharing your point-of-view from "protester" side. Exactly as what you experiened, by reading what you shared here changed the image of protesters for me as well. When we (me as an example) focus too much on what is right (Olympic game as a celebration event, anti-violence....), we ignore what is wrong. It will not be any surprise for me and many people in China to understand that what you saw is true - and what the refugee said is true. We know that. Just like myself, I clearly know that if I cross the line further, I will be one of the refugee who need your help (if I am lucky to be able to get any help when it happens). I don't think people in China are denying that fact. However, it is just like the blind man and the elephant story (my favorite), that everyone just see part of the whole situation. Me the same. It is also very hard to focus on both part at the same time. That is the reason I have many articles on this blog talking about the positive side of China, where there are many negative comments complaining I am talking the dark side. I also have many articles talking about the dark side. It is the same: I also receive attack that I didn't mention the bright side. So the recent articles about such a big and controversary subject of "CHINA" all have a disclaimer linking to the page: Blind Men and the Elephant page. To be rational, I want to tell my fellow Chinese that don't take the protest too personal. They are also protesting back in 1989, and they are always protesting for something that people in China should also protest if they are allowed. Even in the protester group, there are different opinions. Those who want to improve the living condition for Tibetan may also want to protest against other protesters who want it to be independant. I also want to say to protesters (for whatever reason), that China has improved a lot (although far from perfect), and the government needs to have some credit about the basic human right: food and shelter. Everyone hope that everyone has all human rights, but during my understanding, it is already hard enough to ensure food for many places in China. We may argue that free of speech is ensential in this process, but we also need to agree that if there is a conflict (I did see conflicting situations which many of my western friend cannot imagine and don't agree), I would say food is more important. Keep on protest, and make it clear about your opinions, instead of do it in a destruction way that lead the country to nowhere. Peter, if you know more protesters, I'd love to hear what they have to say. They are welcome to this blog as long as everyone is seeking to understand, instead of attack. |
| 527 |
Friends Started to Boycott French Products @Confused, good question. I guess that is the key questions many people may ask. First question, why anger against France is stronger. For several reasons. Reports from blog and message from people in France described that it is not just the protesters, many people (bigger portion of common people) in Paris joined the violent protests (I saw many pictures with body attack). Besides that, three particular events gave people strong impressions about Paris: 1) Disabled girl Jin Jing was attacked on the wheelchair by Pro-Tibet protester. 2) The Paris Mayor hanged banners in the city hall, an action perceived as representing the city, instead of just protestres. 3) The headline about "the miserable defeat of China" in the major newspaper. This is my guess about why anger against Paris is stronger than UK, and US. For UK and US, based on what I learned, people still think it is the Pro-Tibet group who made the trouble. For Paris, it is clearly the government (and some extends it to the people there) who are anti-China. This perception may be far from the truth, just as China's image in the international stage, but that is how the whole thing is "PERCEIVED". For the second question about there are Chinese product in Carrefour, as I said, boycotting is an immature way of handling problems. It is based on the simple judgment that the world is completely black and white, and boycotting French Products "ONLY impact those French". However, the current world is a well connected world, and it is so hard to distinguish who owns which part. If you ask people who boycotting some product, they may also get very confused, and may ask back: "Well. It seems so. So, tell me what's next I can do just to make them feel bad?" I want to make it very clear that I don't like what is happening in Paris, especially those *violent* protesters, I don't think boycott really do the work. For the last question, about why Chinese tend to take criticism for government so personally, there are two reasons, I think. First, due to 50 years of education by the current government, people have formed the thinking logic that the Party = the Government = the whole country. To the extreme extend, people are educated that the Party is the mother, and Chairman is the Sun.... This believe may fade out a little bit in the last 20 years, but is still there. For this part, I think it is more of a problem in China, instead of the rest world. The second reason: because it is Olympic. If it were not Olympic Games, people may not take it so personally. Olympic is a dream of Chinese people for 100 years (please note: this is long before the current Communist Party was formed). Being invaded by many countries in the 1800s, and being a backward country for even longer, people in China do want to find a change to get back to the center stage of the world. That is the dream of almost everyone. For people outside China, it may be hard to understand the importance of this Game to normal people in China. So, by definition, Olympic don't have too much to do with the government, in some sense. Unlike people in many other country who just take it as a sport event, people in China don't think it that way. So, because of this, any attack to the Olympic Game in Beijing is the attack to the people. Just as I told delegation from the US Congress, it is like the big fat wedding ceremony of the PEOPLE, not the government. Ruin the opening ceremony of a company is not a big deal for its employees, but to ruin someone's wedding is completely another story. In conclusion, I won't say who is right or wrong in these unpleasant days. However, I do hope people understand each other more. I hope people in China to understand not to take political protest too personal, and hope people in France and other country to understand, people will DEFINITELY take it personal if you attack Olympic Game. |
| 526 |
What the Term China, or France Means? @mac, calm down. I like discussion, although I don't expect myself to answer every single comment, and even if I try to join some discussion, I will try to carefully state what I believe, with no expectation that the other end may agree with me or even understand (understanding is the hardest part, although people often claim to be). Back to your questions, I hope I am in the position to say I understand your feeling. The collapse of value system after knowing many truth will be the main theme for many people in the next decade in China. I experience that during my month long cross North American trip in the winter of 2004. Turning from trust of what we are educated since we were born, to completely lose trust is a very hard time for everyone who ever experienced it. I was also turned very negative for some time. However, as Tommy described it very well, that is also not the whole story. After 4 years of seeking for the truth (via this blog, and many other ways), I feel pretty calm now, and I started to learn more about China. After that, I am even more confidence about the future of China. I started to understand the root of many imperfection of the country, then we can solve it one by one. The good thing is, when we try to discover, there are many promising solutions for many problem. As you mentioned in your question 1, 2, 3, GFW is certainly a shame in our country. With the wisdom of the great nation, we are still not able to remove it. There are even more serious problems within this country, like people's right to make decisions, pollutions, economic imbalance, unfair treatment to people in remote area like Tibet, and Xinjiang, morale standards... I can list many of them. However, that is not the whole story. There are so many bright side also - the economic improvement, the slow but gradual awareness of the political needs of more people, and the transform of the society, just to name a few. We are the people who need to contribute to a better China, instead of just complainer, like those outside the country. Young Generations like myself tend to be able to identify a problem, but often fail to solve the problem. The feeling that they cannot change anything turns into desperations and anger. Many problems are easy to identify, just like the potential conflict between China and France (the criss around Torch relay). My belief is, I need to do something to HELP SOLVING the problem, instead of doing something just because everyone is doing, and don't care about the consequences. My way of doing it is to start conversation between people in France, British, US, and all the other countries to talk with people in China. Although it is not as big as people may wish, I think at least it is a solution I can think of. Again, I'd like to help if you think my experience is worth to listen. However, don't expect me to help you understand how the world is working (I don't know yet), and it took me four years to understand a little better than before. Sometimes, only time can help. |
| 524 |
Culture Matters from ICS Roger, Culture Matters is a great program. To share something that is not well known about Sammy, the well-received host: 1. He is not just a host. His real life title is the CEO of Sunny TV - a Hong Kong based TV network. 2. He is also the founder and CEO of AsiaPlus TV, a TV network founded in Taiwan. 3. He was a talk show host in San Francisco. 4. He was a general manager of a TV station in San Francisco. For me, his experience in TV industry is very impressive. No wonder many people love his talk show. He brought many new things to the station. |
| 522 |
Why I Didn't Cover About Tibet @DB, sure, we cannot be over-precious on facts - even the language we are using are not precious, so we have to tolerate the limit of information. Just for this matter, I really have no idea of what is going on - pretty confused now, not because I don't have information, just because I have too many versions of conflicting information. It is just like only people with one watch can tell you with confidence about the exact time. For those who have two or more watches, they can only tell you approximate time - no two watch in this world reports exactly the same time. |
| 521 |
Shanghainese Girl Marrying Foreigners @johnm, please pay attention to your words. It is firm rule on this blog that: Attacking any oppinion? Definitely yes. Attacking any person? Absolutely no. Please provide evidence or show your oppinions. If the personal attack continoues, I have to remove your comments from the board. @DB, and @AussiePB, and others, thanks for the comments. I am happy to see although it is a hot debate, you guys are still keep like gentlemen, and opened the door of communication. Hope everyone gets something by joining the discussion. My personal experience, no matter how "nonsense" someone's comment first appear to be, after sometime, calm down, or even better, read it again after one year or two, you will probably start to understand or agree part of the comment - this is true for people from both sides of the debate. Happy "debating"! |
| 520 |
Visited Yangshan Deep Water Port @susan, from Xinzhuang, take A20, and A2. That's it. |
| 519 |
Pre-Paid GPRS Sim Card in China He only need to pay the local fee (if he is using a mobile phone), or don't need to pay anything if they are using a fixed line phone. |
| 518 |
Bus from Beijing Airport to Tianjin @Bruce, I hope I will visit Tianjin one day. I have never been there yet. I will definitely report more about the city after my visit. |
| 517 |
Train from Shanghai to Nanjing @Dena, suggest you to take train, as stated in this article. |
| 516 |
Beijing Airport Terminal 3 (T3) Opens @Carroll, the white pannel is not solar pannel. It is glass window, so it is not so dark in the parking lot. I have taken some pictures and will show the picture in the next entry. |
| 515 |
Avoid Taxi with BX in Plate Number @Tuija, you have my permission. Actually, you don't need to ask me since at the end of each article, I have the disclaimer: Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at March 26, 2008 12:58 AM Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20080326_avoid_taxi_with_bx_in_plate_number.htm |
| 514 |
Personal Guide to Astor House Hotel, Shanghai @Nigel, it seems the site cannot be opened here. Not sure whether it is the site's problem or because of the GFW. |
| 513 |
Expressways in Shanghai - Part II Typically, you can expect 60 KM/hour, and in some sections, like all the expressway near A20, it can be slower in rush hours. In sections outside A30, it is common that people drive at around 140 KM/hour. |
| 512 |
Shanghai Zoo I didn't go to Beijing zoo, but based on my impression from Shanghai zoo, Beijing one should be better. :-) |
| 511 |
Expressways in Shanghai - Part II The speed limit is typically 110 KM, while some limit to 120 KM |
| 510 |
Expressways of Shanghai There is an update to this article recently. |
| 509 |
I Love Koala! Koala is very cute especially when they just wake up - didn't know how aggressive they are. |
| 508 |
Welcome ICS Readers @caroinlamma, I meant not just record what is happening - just like a grocery list, try to explain why it is important, and how it can help the readers. This should be a more complete view of what I said. @ZL, interestingly, the ICS channel comes from STV (Shanghai TV Station), and leveraged the current Oriental TV, and now someone seems to use this channel in Nanjing. @Joanna, welcome to Shanghai! |
| 507 |
CZ3456 Black Box Audio Revealed It was too hard to really recall what is going on. The final words of the captain was pretty scary. |
| 506 |
Advice Needed on Rental for Foreigners T and Zhen Mei, thanks a lot, and it helps me to get perspective from other people's eyes. |
| 505 |
Advice Needed on Rental for Foreigners @AussiePB, I guess the problem is with your host. You can change your hosting service, or move it to another server, and most of the time, the problem is solved. There are long list of IP addresses that were banned by GFW. Maybe you are unlucky, and your site is now sharing an IP with some sites that was banned. Remember, the ban is both IP based and domain based, and I don't think your newly registered domain is on their list. So change an IP may work. |
| 504 |
China Eastern Airlines Hmm... Sorry to hear that, AussiePB.... It happens for other airlines also... I still travel with China Eastern more often since it offers much more choices than others (for me) |
| 503 |
China Eastern Airlines Depending on the ticket you buy. Full price ticket are subject to change for free. If you bought discount ticket, try your luck - they may or may not change for free. |
| 502 |
Hong Qiao (SHA) v.s. Pu Dong (PVG) Airport I would suggest you take train from Shanghai South Railway station. It takes about 2 hours to 2.5 hours, depending the train you choose. That is also the cheapest way if you don't choose the fancy trains. |
| 501 |
PVG: From Pudong Airport to Hangzhou Suzhou definitely - may take one day. Shanghai takes more time. You should take at least two days (including one night) in Shanghai. |
| 500 |
Culture Matters from ICS @Carroll, I did a search on Internet and understood the meaning of Aloha - although may not be complete. It is so nice that you are in Hawaii. Say hi to Jim for me. |
| 499 |
Lantern (Yuanxiao) Festival Most of the camera has a "fireworks" mode that you can use. If you don't have that, and if it allows you to set the parameters, set the aperture long enough, and make the light compensation to -3, it also does the trick. |
| 498 |
Readers Wanted for TV Interview @Mimi, thanks a lot for your kind words! |
| 497 |
Living Cost in Shanghai (2007 Edition) @saroj, I think the first thing is to read the guide in this article: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20071226_foreigners_individual_income_tax_in_china.htm Foreigners Individual Income Tax in China. This is an introduction about foreigner tax calculation. Also, I believe this article helps if you want to understand the rate for different levels: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20070108_personal_income_tax_in_china.htm According to the article, it will be 15% if you are earning less than 5000, or 20% more than 5000. 3 | 2,000 < $ < 5,000 | 15% | 125 4 | 5,000 < $ < 20,000 | 20% | 375 |
| 496 |
TV Guide in Shanghai Yes. I need to mention that CCTV9 and ICS are the only two channels offering English programs in Shanghai - I mean by default in the cable TV in everyone's home. |
| 495 |
Readers Wanted for TV Interview @Claudia, thanks a lot. Thanks for being with us for 2 years! Today is the Yuanxiao festival in China. Hope you have a great day. |
| 494 |
Readers Wanted for TV Interview @AussiePB, I guess they are OK in weekend of the next week - there are enough time from now to the finish of the filming. If you want to participate, that will be great. Maybe I can ask Coco to help to setup time. |
| 493 |
Readers Wanted for TV Interview Hmmm.... Maybe I will try to have a try. The program in online and can be watched on the Internet anyway. |
| 492 |
TV Guide in Shanghai @elliottng, you are right. Something to mention is, these are the by default channels for anyone in the city with cable - without cable, TV is useless. Also, this is just for Shanghai. In other cities, they have local province TV station and city level... |
| 491 |
Photos in the Garden outside My Home @nice, yes it is. |
| 490 |
That is Easy - Easy Solution to Complicated Problems Thanks DB for the sharing. My current point of view is, why ask someone to spend 1.5 trillion USD, instead of giving the power of making decisions to the people in provinces, and cities? China is big, and has a tradition of powerful central government since Qin Dynasty. The government needs to be so strong and powerful, that keeps the whole country united, at the cost of democracy and economic development. I don't think any one can make really reasonable decision on behalf of 1 billion people, so it does not make sense to ask a single person or a group of people in Beijing to make decision on behalf of people in places they have never been. There are something that demand national wide effort, but for most of the issues, it should be solved at local level. Currently, there are two weak local government, and a too strong central government in China. |
| 489 |
Map of Motel 168 Thanks DKwan, I didn't know that. Also, to add, I completely have no idea about visa or permit stuff for visitors. |
| 488 |
Yifan Eats Orange Thanks a lot. Yes. I am very happy everyday when I play with him. |
| 487 |
I Fixed My Sony P8 Battery Hi everyone, didn't expect to receive so many comments. It did work, and I heard that you can try on all different rechargable battery. Not always work, but it is the same. You put it into the freezer - along with ice. Again, I do want to put the disclaimer here: It sounds dangerous - only only when you put it into the freezer, but also for the days to come - who knows what happens if the battery is handled like this. Will it be more likely to explode? No idea. So, do try it at your own risk. |
| 485 |
Software for Newly Installed PC Hmm... I don't like Ghost or similar software. The problem I am facing is not to keep the system the same - I do want to have a clear starting point, so I can refresh the system. I installed a lot of system, which I intentionally "lose" during upgrade - for those that I rarely use. |
| 484 |
Life, An Accumulation of Mileage CTC BS100500295 - 36581663 |
| 483 |
Beijing to Shanghai CRH Train @ana, en. You are right. |
| 482 |
PVG: From Pudong Airport to Hangzhou The Bus is from Pudong Airport to Hangzhou Huanglong Stadium. Price: 100 RMB per person. Departure time: 10:30, 12:00, 13:30, 15:30, 17:30, 19:30 Travel time: 3 hours |
| 481 |
International Channel Shanghai - ICS I didn't know the ICS is in Nanjing also - it is strange that how come Oriental TV gets to Nanjing. |
| 480 |
Conversation with IPowerWeb Support It proves one thing - if someone provides really bad technical support, and it still has many customers, it means.... it must have provided some other values - like cheaper package? |
| 479 |
Watching Spring Festival TV Show Now At least in Shanghai and the area near my home, larger shops are still open. |
| 478 |
Jian Shuo Wang at Kijiji China https://titanium.corp.ebay.com den-exm-04.corp.ebay.com msstd.galaxy.corp.ebay.com galaxy.corp.ebay.com |
| 477 |
Skyscrapers in Lujiazui It seems Lujiazui is becoming more and more interesting with the new buildings. On the background of this, the Shanghai Stock index dropped to by 7% today to below 5000 points. @cheery, I am not familiar with Canon camera. Sorry that I cannot help. I don't want to be anything to anybody. :-) |
| 476 |
Snowing Huangshan I meant Wendy left Huangshan at 5:00 PM and got to Shanghai at 11:00 PM. My typo. |
| 475 |
Shanghai Metro Line #4, #6, #8, #9 Opens Hmmm... There are still many lines to be built, and many of them are along the Zhaojiabang Rd. The one near Madang Road, and Xujiahui Rd. should be Madang Road Station of Metro Line #9. The current #9 is just the west section, and the line will continue to run along the Xujiahui Road, go to Pudong, and in far future, winds up to Chongming Island. I am not sure about the second station. It may be Dapuqiao Station of Metro Line #9. Line #9 will be completed in 2009. |
| 474 |
Shanghai Car Plate is NOT Investment @elliottng, there are many other regulations, and regulations always change. It is not predictable, thus the investment is of big risk. |
| 473 |
Top 3 Issues of Shanghai Tourism @tom, please do not use this forum to ask for information you just asked. |
| 472 |
Living Cost in Shanghai (2007 Edition) @Ashok, for the 13 month term, it typically mean that you will get double pay in the last month - in 12th month. For the other questions, I think I have briefly talked about it, although I think I should update it and issue Living Cost survey for 2008. |
| 471 |
Video about Shanghai Yes. It is obvious that Paul Merton paid serious effort to record his trip - he must have take extra steps (like film from both inside an outside, and from many directions to record the same trip). |
| 470 |
Winter Arrives Hi luckymandarins, you may need to buy more stuff. These days, Shanghai is really cold - I have put on all the warm cloths I have. A normal jacket does not work. |
| 469 |
Weird Places in Shanghai via Google Earth George747, you are right for all the question you answered except #1. It is a metro station near the World Expo site. There are two lines intersecting there. #6 is the oil storage near Waigaoqiao. Yes. It is more interesting than sudoku. How about let's play a game of "Where is it?" on Google Earth. That must be very interesting. |
| 468 |
Snowing Huangshan Yes. It is very beautiful. Meanwhile, it is very cold there. Wendy simply hang up my phone because she felt her hands were so cold and didn't want to hold her mobile in hand. |
| 467 |
Snowing Huangshan @TW, it was said to be very slippery. People have to buy the anti-slip equipment to attach to their shoes so they can go up. |
| 466 |
Near to Both Metro Stations Hehe. This is exactly the problem to have too many choices. |
| 465 |
Train Tickets in Shanghai Railway Station @Dan, there is no train or train station in Pudong. Your friend can arrive at the Train Station, and take Metro Line 4 or Line #2 (via Line #1) to come to Pudong. More specifically, your friend needs to take Line #6 (transit at Century Ave). |
| 464 |
PVG: From PVG to Ningbo You don't need to depart from airport unless you choose to stay in one of the three possible hotels near the airport - may not be a good idea. You can take train from Shanghai South Railway Station. |