brian's Comments

Surrounded by Negative News in US

yeah...what about China? Hmm....well let's see. How about more than a 100 children with kidney stones from contaminated milk powder in yet ANOTHER contaminated food scandal? This doesn't catch your attention, WJS? Let's face it, there's shady companies all over the world, but contaminating food for children seems to be something the Chinese particularly excel at. Assuming they're able to eat anything from underneath the rubble of buildings that government safety inspectors didn't bother checking, in an earthquake prone zone.

Think of this while you write the "Chinese economy just keeps expanding."

So does the pile of bodies....

Posted by Brian at 2008-09-16 10:47:49. More

Gas Price and Plastic Bags

Ecodelta - great idea on the battery cars. Until you realize that this electricity doesn't come from a magic wand, it comes from China's burning of very low grade coal. Until the country's power generation is cleaned up, hybrid cars won't make a noticeable difference.

Also, most of the vehicle emissions are not caused by passenger cars. They're caused by the legions of old trucks and buses that roll around this city and this country. However, the government won't implement restrictions on those because of vested interests in maintaining their support.

So buy all the battery and hybrid cars you want, perhaps a .3% difference in air quality can be achieved.

Posted by Brian at 2008-06-21 10:37:41. More

How We Can Help?

ikuu:

I'll answer the question for you: since the government is corrupt and inept, they did not have emergency response plans or sufficient resources available, even though this is a KNOWN earthquake area. So they needed to make sure that only Chinese teams got there first, even though foreigners could have arrived earlier with better equipment. Once again, like in the snowstorm, the gov't's image is more important than people's lives.

And the Chinese people keep tolerating it.....incredible.

Ask also why the government did not enforce construction standards or materials in this area, either.

Posted by Brian at 2008-05-17 10:50:25. More

Mixing, Muddling, and Confusing

WJS:

Another ridiculous piece....arguing back and forth about whether Grace Wang is naive or not. That's a minor issue.

Where is the outrage, the shame, that a woman who tried to mediate or settle a dispute BECAME THE TARGET OF DEATH THREATS....by an enraged mob culture, provoked and abetted by the organs of the state? Why is this not discussed? Instead the focus is 'Western media bias' or 'everything's OK because the GDP is going up'? Have you all lost your minds?

Rat in the Hat (now there's an appropriate name!) : "...pretending to be a victim of Chinese mobism." Pretending? So you are claiming that the death threats, putting her family into hiding, actions against her parents' home, and her family's ID being plastered across the media....you're claiming this didn't happen?

There's a huge difference between CCTV and CNN. If you can't tell the difference between slips of detail and outright, government-intervened fabrication, then, well, I feel sorry for you. And so you're aware; remember that coverage of Grace Wang and the thuggish Chinese government and your Olympics coverups have also been reported by Al-Jazeera. Surely you can't claim that Al-Jazeera is a tool of the American government?

And I also don't like the use of the euphemism "GFW"...you make it sound like it's some sort of computer malfunction or software. IT IS YOUR GOVERNMENT. If you don't see any problem with saying, "I've had to be careful with what is said because the government blocks my blog", you need to open your eyes a LOT wider.

"Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action" Goethe

"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves" Edward R. Murrow

"In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one to mobilize us." Thich Nhat Hanh

Posted by Brian at 2008-04-25 15:56:16. More

Friends Started to Boycott French Products

Ha.

If your boycott of French products is as effective as your boycott of Japanese products, I'd say the French have nothing to worry about.

Again - your government WANTED the world spotlight and then discovered to their dismay that they can't control it. The world isn't anti-China. Every country and every government in the world is criticized for something. Get over it.

A small group of people disturb your precious torch run and you automatically blame the whole country for it?

If you really want to express your outrage to someone who has REALLY hurt the Chinese people, pull out some of your currency and look at the Great Leader. Last I checked, the French hadn't killed 50 million Chinese. Learn your own history.....

Posted by Brian at 2008-04-12 12:22:02. More

More Discussion on Tibet

Gunjan,

While I generally agree with most of your comments I must wholeheartedly and completely disagree with your comment that Canada is practicing colonialism in Afghanistan. I am an Engineering Director in China but I was formerly a Canadian army officer. What Canada is doing is supporting the rule of law and stabilizing a country fractured on all sides by geopolitics. Canada has a long proud tradition of unbiased peacekeeping in many parts of the world and was the only country that tried to lead an unconcerned world against the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
If you want to cast accusations around, I can do it equally as well...I was posted for a time with the United Nations and was directly involved with the Pakistani-Indian tensions. Trust me, this is not an area where India nor Pakistan has distinguished itself. Racism and colonialism is not confined to white faces, my friend.
Also, last time I checked, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe were not going bankrupt or floundering....the U.S. is.
But in the end, as I said, I do generally agree with you....the Chinese are being strangled by their own restrictive government which is partly held in power by misguided nationalism. Let me put it this way...Chairman Mao and his henchmen starved (in many cases intentionally) more people than Stalin, yet he's revered and his portrait is on the currency.

Posted by Brian at 2008-04-10 13:24:21. More

Error in Western Media Report about Tibet

Dunk,

I hope Hu Jintao buys you a lobster dinner for that remarkable insight. "Make your own fake stories"...um, ever wonder why the Chinese press is NOT focusing on the text or the stories, only the pictures? Because that's easy to do when they've forced Western media to use whatever they can get their hands on.

I also get a pretty good laugh when you mention "at the beginning". You must be referring to that press tour that the CCP put on for a select few foreign journalists a few days after the uprising started - where the locations were carefully staged and interviews were monitored.

"Fool people all around the world"? Ha, believe me, no one around the world is getting fooled as to what your government is getting themselves into. Good luck with those Olympics!!

Posted by Brian at 2008-04-09 10:45:06. More

Error in Western Media Report about Tibet

This post is unbelievably outrageous. Wang JianShuo, you can now officially apply for a job at Xinhua. First, you claim you want to evaluate the truth, and you don't post anything you don't know about. Sorry, recycling CCP conspiracy and paranoia stories doesn't cut it.

Yes, the media sometimes makes mistakes. But there is a world of difference, a planet sized gap, between incorrectly captioning a photo and the CCTV/Xinhua approach of complete fabrication. If you can't understand that, and especially in your privileged position, then you and the rest of the Chinese 'bloggers' deserve to be the first ones loaded on the train when the next Cultural Revolution starts.

It's amazing that in the year 2008, the Chinese people can be so easily misled by distorted patriotism and bizarre government press releases. Where is your Chinese pride when the rest of the world just shakes their head at how easily the Chinese people are duped and controlled by their government? Ever wonder why there is no dissenting opinions out there? Any dissenting columnists? Do you ever sit and wonder how, in a population of 1.3 billion people, everyone has the same opinion? Open your eyes.

Doctored photos? Are you kidding me? Do you know how many doctored photos I've seen in Shanghai Daily, China Daily....and the Chinese language papers are many times worse. And as other people have pointed out, part of the reason for the inaccurate photos IS BECAUSE THE CHINESE GOV'T shut out foreign media. Please show me some examples when a Chinese overseas reporter has been barred from demonstrations in the U.S., Europe, Japan, etc. You can't - and that's the difference. The Chinese leaders have often cited the Paris disturbances - well how in the world did they know about this? Because the rest of the 'civilized' world you want so much to be a part of has recognized and enshrined for decades press and information freedom. (and while we're on that topic....I'll point out that anyone arrested in France for those disturbances have rights to a lawyer, a fair court system, interviews with media, and a trial free of gov't interference - please compare to how anyone arrested in Tibet for those 'violent uprisings' are being treated)

It takes more than a few skyscrapers and a magnetic train to be modern and 'world class'. It takes emancipation and freedom of people, equal rights enshrined by law, representative government, and most importantly, freedom of information and the rule of law. But it also takes a nation of people who can think for themselves and demand better, who believe in improvement of their society for the rest of others, and don't sit sulking in the dark corner of their victimhood.

Until then, friend, you better believe that the spotlight your gov't so badly wanted to turn on itself is going to show some very dark areas.

Grow up and get used to it.

Posted by Brian at 2008-04-09 10:24:18. More

Mega-Projects and Raising Power of China

I wonder how people living in Lhasa feel about "...the energy and passion of life here in China."
The Chinese seem unable to comprehend that it takes more than a few large buildings and stadiums to become a world-class city. Doesn't mean much to have dozens of skyscrapers when just down the street you have millions of people crowded into ramshackle apartments with communal kitchens and bathrooms.
You can hardly drink municipal water (when it's even available) in China, yet the priority is building luxury condo's and swimming pools?
The author must have recently started employment at Xinhua.

Posted by Brian at 2008-04-01 09:57:45. More

Shanghainese Girl Marrying Foreigners

I went the opposite way, so to speak. I didn't go looking for a shanghai girl to date but I found one anyway. That is to say she left to study English in my country (Ireland) and I met her. Now we have being a couple for a while and will probably marry. Being a foreigner doesn't seem to matter to her or for that matter her family. If anything her mother is happier that she met me.

You mention

"Are Shanghainese girls marry foreigners just for money?"
"Are foreigners treat girls in China not as seriously, and play with them?"
"Are the Shanghainese girls just show off, or something else?"

Well as for the money not in my case I am not by any means rich. As for the not treating seriously well maybe in some cases. Are the girls showing off? Again maybe in some cases.

Why do so many shanghai girls date foreign men? Well there is one possibility. There were a lot more girls born than boys in the last 20 years or so. Or so my girlfriend tells me anyway.

Posted by Brian at 2007-12-17 22:48:22. More

Pudong Airport Maglev in Depth

I notice a few people have been asking for information about where to purchase model Maglevs.
The plastic model company, Revell, makes a 1/87 scale model (HO scale for model railroaders!). I think it is still current, but I have not got access to their latest German catalogue.
It is a very simple model which can be placed on its special track for display. No gluing is necessary.
Unfortunately, where the windows should be, it has black painted stripes, instead of a tinted glass effect!
I was very disappointed with this, as I had purchased two of them to convert to working models for a modern era train layout I am building.
I consider the failure to have transparent windows on the actual model - which are clearly and misleadingly shown on the front of the box - to be dishonest advertising.

Posted by Brian at 2006-08-08 00:25:45. More

Does Hotmail Work in China?

Well i havent tried tor yet as the university seems to block attempts to establish a connection with it. I can however use it with 201 adsl modem. Using my proxy in ireland works for a majority of things that are blocked such as wikipedia but strangely does not work for hotmail. Just a note google.ie and google.com in english seems to be blocked recently too. It occationaly works but most of the time is blocked or is blocked soon enough. (especially the images search for obvious reasons but google.cn works fine (no surprise)). Now gmail is not working now possible because google is blocked -> look at wher ewww.gmail.com redirects you its a subnet in google which would explain why its blocked. I think this is all a radical improvement of the censoring system where some things are going to stop working completely for a while until the firewall is improved. Just a guess but i cannot understand how the proxy is not working if tor works unless they have some way to monitor known proxys. for instance while surfing stuff like wikipedia works fine but if you try to visit a really anti ccp website (think it was laogai.com or something) the proxy will stop working instantly. tor will work. Im not too informed on how this works but its just confusing because i thought tor just changes proxys every so often to hide your ip. As for joe well he probably is an intelligent guy studying or working in shanghai. Some people just act silly on the internet to see your response it gives tehm a buzz.

Posted by brian at 2006-05-23 20:45:12. More

Does Hotmail Work in China?

Bill gates sucks! Bet he couldnt decide to block the whole of Ireland or England because some people dont have registered copies there would be a big outcry form consumers. Is he not rich enough to let people check their mail for free? You can open a hotmail account running linux as windows sucks so why would he block hotmail now? Just to note that outlook is still working so perhaps i reccoment setting it up and see what happens. That link seems to work sometimes kinda dodgy im not too sure on this but if you login with outlook then try to log in using that link it seems to work, (might be just a coincidence. Ill never buy microsoft software again it just sucks.

Posted by brian at 2006-05-10 16:43:35. More

Does Hotmail Work in China?

This is really annoying now i cant access my email for a week. I tried using my proxy in trinity college and no luck even tor wont work! So im not entirely sure its the chinese firewall or a microsoft problem. I emailed microsoft just now and wait for there responce (probably none). Its really frustrating the internet on campus here in beihang wont allow chinese to access ANY foreign websites which i dont think is a very productive in the sense of education. So i had to buy a 201 modem before and it worked mostly untill this week. Usually the firewall has periods of overdrive where it blocks everything but these usually only last a few hours but this is quite annoying!
Mikes link doesnt work (isnt that the link that hotmail.com points to anyway?). Set up outlook express and it seems to work for me. this is quite strange. hahahah man i was just pinging hotmail to get there ip and then use that and it just started working again lol guess they sensed my anger

Posted by brian at 2006-05-09 16:54:30. More

March 20 Taiwan Election

I definitely agree about freedom of choice. But our world doesn't always work perfectly when everyone has everything their way - does it? Sometimes we have to compromise. Look at Scotland, Whales of the UK? If they had remained independent, whos to say there may not have been more wars, leading to cycles of violence? A compromise was reached that benefitted everyone. In Hong Kong, and Macau, a compromise was reached.

All I'm saying is every situation is different. I don't think stating independence, when virtually already independent, just to start a bonfire, is needed right now. The losers won't be China, nor the U.S., nor anyone else, so much as the people of Taiwan, who will suffer under the instability of being the so-called 'battleground' between ideologies of China and the U.S., or whatever. If they state independence, they may perhaps become locked in a direction they can't deviate from or work to compromise in the future, even when China is a friendly green giant to everyone else.

Posted by Brian at 2004-03-21 08:28:05. More