Voting From Abroad & Fast Food in China

I made it to the US consulate this morning to send my absentee ballot to Boulder. Originally I was going to send in a Federal Write-in ballot, basically just a blank form for people who have not received their real ballots in time; but my procrastination paid off, as I received my ballot on Sunday. It felt good to participate in our country's political system, especially so in a swing state (I tried to register in Cook County, but that is a story for another lawsuit). There were a few too many Colorado ballot initiatives for me, so I had to do some homework to find out what they were all about (half of them I left blank as they have been eliminated from consideration due to wrangling between Colorado's labor and business powers).

Anyway, the point of this pointless story is that this year FedEx offers a free service, called "Express Your Vote", which will overnight my ballot back to the US. I don't know why this (relatively expensive) service is offered, or who funds it; but I definitely would thank them if I had the chance. I especially like that I can track it (my ballot is currently somewhere in the air between Shanghai and the states). I can rest easy knowing that if my man loses Colorado by one vote, it won't be my one vote.


On an unrelated note, I was reading the Economist today as I ate my spicy chicken sandwich at a local KFC, when I came across this article about Burger King making moves in mainland China. The article astutely points out that KFC's dominance in China is due in large part to Chinese consumers' preference for chicken, and the relatively localized menu that they feature here. I think one thing that the article ignores is the role of skillful marketing in McDonald's mainland success (KFC not withstanding).

Marketing, especially focused on youngsters, is what keeps McDonald's growing in China, and helps them to overcome the general distate for the stuff from more traditional palates, as older (middle-aged and up) folks are dragged along by their Xiao Huangdi (little emperors). The kids come for Ronald, free toys, ice cream, and a kids' clubhouse atmosphere. The adults that accompany them are stuck with the food offerings, while McDonald's is 'stuck' with their money. I'd be interested to see if anyone has done any research into the percentage of McDonalds mainland business that is directly related to kids. I'm sure it would be higher than in the west, and that in tier-2 and tier-3 Chinese cities (ie not Shanghai, Beijing, or GZ) it would be the highest.

Of Personal Interest

First: Michael Pollan's recent piece for the NY Times magazine. It's an open letter of sorts, to the next president, advising him on food policy. I think that it is true to form for Pollan in that it is insightful, timely, and rather dry. He illustrates, convincingly, the environmental and health problems resulting from our rather anti-free-market agricultural system. If, like me, you have in interest in the absurdity of the US food system and policy related to it, this article is definitely worth a look. I think it's going to be tough for any politician to substantially fix our farming/ food system, because ending the subsidies that keep it afloat would be tantamount to political suicide. Even though the main beneficiaries of the current policies are giants like ADM and Cargill, changing/ ending farm subsidies can always be spun to seem like a politician is crushing the non-existent Jeffersonian ideal of an American farmer. What's more, truly "fixing" our food system as Pollan has suggested here, would take more than just a change in government policy. What he recommends could take many years, and would involve a shift in Americans' dietary habits, which are a big part of our culture. What will be necessary and unavoidable is weaning American agriculture off of petroleum products. Expect changes.

Second: I read an article in last week's Economist about the money that the music industry has been making from music based video games like Guitar Hero and others. I figured some money was going to the artists and record companies for these games, but I had no idea how much. Apparently, I underestimated the games' popularity, as the article mentions that: "Aerosmith have made more money from “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith”... than from any of their albums." To me, that's just incredible.

That's all I got.

Plastic Hong Kong Dollars HK$

Back from HK. How cool is this? I'd heard before that Hong Kong had bills made of plastic, but it seemed like straight monopoly money when I received this HK$10 bill as change yesterday. Not only plastic, but see-through as well. Apparently they are also longer-lasting than paper money.

This segues nicely to "I For One, Welcome Our Chinese Banker Overlords". Someone else's joke, but check out the links for interesting stuff on China's foreign currency reserves. On second thought, if you're in the US right now, you'd better just find pictures of adorable kittens or something. Best not to think about the ~$6000 you owe China.

Skype surveillance, HK, etc.

I've read a lot in the last 5 or so days about how some evidence has surfaced that Skype is being watched/listened to in China. This is of course not very surprising to me, and I might actually care about it if I could get Skype to work properly in my building. Take this morning, for example: I'm able to watch parts of the presidential debate in live streaming video, but just after that Skype is all but useless. I won't pretend to understand how my internet chooses when to work and when not to, but I pay for China Telecom ADSL, and everyday it seems to have problems of some sort. My guess is that my building's internet pipes need cleanin', as the patchiness doesn't seem to come at any regular times.

Now I'm off to Hong Kong for the next 36 or so hours to renew my visa. This should be the last time I'll have to do this, as in about 3 weeks I'll be starting a new (real) job and will be able to get my own genuine, bonafide work permit. I've got some catching up to do on the blog in the next few days, as I still want to get out some entries on my trip to Dongbei, my impressions of Hong Kong (from a longer trip this summer), and link to some recent photography that's been sitting on my camera waiting to be uploaded. Ahhhh... laziness.

Mao Era vs. Reform and Opening Up

The China Rises blog had an interesting post today noting that China has now spent more time in the Reform and Opening Up era than it did under Maoism. I'll refrain from commenting on the Mao era, except to mention the quote from Deng Xiaoping, architect of the Reform era, in which he said Mao was "seven parts good, three parts bad".

Aside from that, during last week's National Day holiday, the advertising/big brother flat screens in my building's elevators had a message commemorating 30 years of 改革开放 (Reform and Opening Up). Basically, there was a globe on a red background, and the message came in two parts: first (a rough translation), "For thirty years, we've watched (learned from) the world." Then, "Now, the world is watching us." I should have got pictures...

Weather changing, Suzhou, and yelling on the phone

I feel I need to get something up here before I leave too much time between posts, so here's a post on a bunch of nothing. First, Shanghai's temperature has dove over the last two weeks from swampy heat and humidity to refreshingly crisp autumnal coolness. I'm liking the change, so far.

Last week, China's National Day was observed with a week-long holiday for most non-service sector workers. Unfortunately, since I'm working at an English tutoring center, I still had to work a few days. Apparently, my students' parents didn't like the idea of a whole week of relaxation, as several of them mentioned that I was just one of many tutors they had during the week for various subjects.

I did manage to make it to Suzhou for about 36 hours with Adam and Sam, which was a relaxing break from Shanghai, in ways that watching DVDs in the apartment can't compare to. Highlights included Suzhou's traditional Chinese gardens, canals, Lin Biao's car, a steampunk bar, and not being surrounded by 40-100 storey buildings on all sides. I'll link to the pictures when I get them up later. Suzhou is just a ~30 minute high-speed train ride away from Shanghai, and at ¥52 round-trip, not a bank breaker, so I'll be back to see what I missed this time around. I'll soon be checking out the nearby Jiangsu province cities of Yangzhou and Nanjing, both of which are quite close and seem interesting enough to merit a visit.

One last thing: I always chuckle to myself when I see or hear out-of-towners/country bumpkins screaming into their cellphones on the public transportation here. This past week saw a big influx of such types on sightseeing missions to Shanghai, so I was startled out of my morning commute/coma several times by a man screaming at his ostensible friends or loved ones, "HEY!!! IT'S ME!! YEAH I'M IN SHANGHAI!!! GET THIS, A LAOWAI IS SITTING ACROSS FROM ME AND LOOKING AT ME IN A SORT OF SURPRISED WAY!!! YEAH I CAN'T FIGURE THEM OUT EITHER!!"

Nighttime Street Food in Shanghai

Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, and all the Fixins

Ever since my first trip over here, one of my favorite aspects of Chinese city life is the street food. It’s usually small, quick, cheap, and really 地道 (didao, authentic). One of the best things about street food in China is the variety, especially at night, when people do their greasiest post-bar eating (and some men make the trip [or are sent] from apartment to the local grill for seared lamb and chicken testicles, two examples of the many substances that are said to make one ‘strong’, as in viagra strong). Staples of nighttime street food in most Chinese cities include: fried rice and noodles; fried dumplings; 麻辣汤 (malatang), a soup with your choice of noodles, fresh veggies, meat, and spiciness, all cooked in a communal pot; and finally chuan’r, the nearly ubiquitous kebabs of various meats and veggies grilled (most often by a Uyghur or Hui person) and then dusted in spices.

Regularly these various street foods are found at different shops and stalls, spread throughout one’s neighborhood and found by wandering around. Many of the mobile fried rice and chuan’r guys will have a usual corner on which you can find them most nights. However, if you luck out like me, you could find that you have a little night market in you neighborhood.

Notice the long Chuan'r grill in the foreground

Unfortunately these places, and many street food vendors in general, are slowly being shut down. Times were I knew three places in my neighborhood where I could have live poultry slaughtered while I watched (never have actually tried this), now I only know of one. Regardless, I still have a little night market by me, at a busy intersection in front of the Shanghai friendship store and next to a KFC, but busier.

At least once a week, I’ll go there for some green bean, mushroom, eggplant, and lamb chuan’r, or the occasional flat top grilled squid. Last week I tried a new and delicious item, grilled shellfish. A few guys from Jiangsu province grill oysters, scallops, and large, attention-grabbing blue mussels.

My local shellfish griller, from Jiangsu province

As they cook, they add chopped garlic, sauce, tiny rice noodles, chives, and for the oysters a substance best described as a Chinese salsa.

Topping them with the rice noodles

The noodles kind of soak up the juices, making it easier to eat the whole deal with chopsticks. The smell of them cooking, as the garlic mixes with the boiling juices, is fantastic. The shellfish are of unknown provenance, but look, taste, and smell very fresh. This is a new favorite of mine, which at 5 kuai (RMB) a pop are not cheap, at least for street food, but well worth it.

Almost done, we've got oysters in front, a blue mussel, then scallops in back

Presidential Candidates on China

As I have heard both presidential candidates say some pretty uninformed things about China in the past, it is good to see that they have taken the opportunity to explain their thoughts and strategy regarding the world's most populous country. As has been reported by many different China related blogs, McCain and Obama have both written essays for the American Chamber of Commerce in China. It seems that both are sticking to relatively safe positions, but the essays are interesting nonetheless. The "China Rises" blog has posted both essays, along with a succinct summary of both candidates' China strategies put together by the Asia Foundation. Definitely worth checking out (here).

The writer of the blog, Tim Johnson, mentions that there may be some nostalgia for the presidencies of both Bush 41 and Bush 43 in China, as they are both considered "friends of China" (41 was de facto ambassador to China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations). I would generally agree with his position, but add that when he mentions 'China', it should be thought of as the leadership in Beijing, not the country in general.

Addendum: From the China Law Blog, best summary of the essays so far:

"Anyway, I give you McCain and Obama, in their own words, on China, written for AmCham. The summary of both is that China has done great things (duh!), still has a ways to go (duh!), and the US should cooperate, except where it does not make sense to do so (duh!). Yada, yada, yada. One can hardly blame America for focusing more on Sarah Palin's glasses?"

Interesting China article

One of my favorite China-based writers, James Fallows, has written an excellent piece for The Atlantic, entitled "How the West Was Wired". It is an incredibly interesting read for anyone with an interest (even passing) in or link to China. I won't go into to much detail about its content, but Fallows explains the philanthropic efforts of two Taiwainese businessmen in China's vast and underdeveloped West.

I feel that it's important to write and read about such things for American and Western audiences, as the western regions are often overlooked in our mainstream media coverage. Looking beyond the financial, manufacturing, and political might of the leading cities Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing, respectfully, often gives us the best impression of what challenges China continues to face. It is especially heartening to see novel approaches to surmounting these problems, like that of the Taiwanese businessmen mentioned in the article.

Phenomena Appreciated by Caucasian Folks #1: Satiric Blogs and/or books written by satiric bloggers

Note: this is the first in a long series of clever blog entries that is expected to lead to a book deal.

My brother just returned to Shanghai from a short trip back home, and brought some goodies back along with him. In addition to freedom, giardiniera, and Tapatio hot sauce; he also brought out a copy of the new Stuff White People Like: The Book. It is probably the most prominent of the recently released books springing from blogs. It is a hilarious, topical, and dorky look at stereotypical liberal white self-absorbtion. It basically expands on the concept of the blog original: and includes about double the content, with each 'entry' spoofing some facet of white culture.

I can't get enough of it, but it leaves me wondering, is this the kind of humour that we will still find funny 5, 10, or 15 years from now, or will it seems completely innane? My bets are on the latter, so I am enjoying it while it's still fresh.

Who controls Shanghai's Nighttime Teddy Bear racket?

This is one of those things that seemed really weird when I first got here in 2006, but that I hardly notice now. If you are in a relatively well trafficked area of Shanghai after about 10pm most nights, mobile Teddy Bear dealers like the one shown above will come out. If you tend to over-think things, this raises a few questions: First, who's buying Teddy Bears at three in the morning? Second, is there a Teddy Bear kingpin of Shanghai (all signs point to yes), and do rival Teddy Bear outfits ever have 'rumbles' over territory? And last, are all the Teddy Bears made in some factory town in Zhejiang Provinces that specializes in just Teddy Bears, supplying 40% of the world's carnivals with over-sized stuffed animals?

Looking Down (Literally) on Shanghai

Jin Mao Tower in front and with the World Financial Center about a month ago

World Financial Center on Tuesday with the Jinmao behind

A few days ago I checked out the newly opened World Financial Center with my friend Nic, who was visiting Shanghai. I figured that having a visitor in town was just about the best time to do such a trip, as it is a little hard for me to justify spending ¥150 to go to the top of a building which I see every day on my way to and from work (I still have never made it to the Sears Tower). Despite the high price of admission to the new tower’s observation deck, the “Bottle Opener”, as it is known to some locals, is a breathtaking addition to Shanghai’s skyline.

Shanghai's Pudong area with the Huangpu river

I first saw it in 2006, when I ascended to the observation deck of the adjacent 88-story Jinmao Tower with a group from my CIEE study abroad program. At that time it was maybe two-thirds the height of the Jinmao, so it was a bit surprising to see it towering over the Jinmao when I arrived back in Shanghai this April. When I returned to the Jinmao this summer with my cousin Andrew, the “Bottle Opener” was an impressive thing to behold, rising well above the already massive and iconic Jinmao. At that time, though the exterior looked finished, much work was still being performed on the windows and interior. As we watched from the Jinmao, clouds passed through the opening in the top of the Bottle Opener and incredibly miniscule workers were lowered from cranes to complete some work on the behemoth’s mid-section.

The top of the Jinmao Tower, the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Huangpu River, and Puxi (the west bank of the river)

The observation deck finally opened this week and Nic and I decided that the WFC would be our tourist ‘activity’ for the week. We arrived via a cab that dropped us off in what appeared to be a construction site parking lot, and eventually made our way around to the shiny main entrance. There, we were first bombarded by the forced and stilted English of the tour-guides, who were seemingly selected for their jobs on purely aesthetic qualifications.

Tourists crowd the 100th floor observation deck

After about a ten minute wait in line we were able to buy our tickets in the basement staging area, and make our way to the first of about 5 lines we had to wait in to make it to the top. Thinking we were about to board an elevator to the top, we were instead treated to a psychedelic and incoherent light show involving a spinning miniature of the tower. After five wasted minutes, we took the high speed elevators up to the ninety-seventh floor. This deck was not yet at the top of the building so we made our way up to the line to get to the very top, the small deck above the space in the Bottle Opener. After a long wait for the incredibly small elevators, we finally got up to the 100th floor observation deck, which gave us an incredible view of the sprawl of Shanghai. The deck’s floors were glass, which at 474 meters, is not for the vertigo-inclined.

Walking on glass 474 meters above ground

A highlight for me was seeing workers nonchalantly taking their break on the 97th floor open deck. Altogether it was an enjoyable experience, though I look forward to returning on a less crowded day.

A couple of workers enjoy their break

Later that night, on my way home from work, I was treated to the spectacle of the Bottle Opener lit up like some type of strobe light, as seen in this video I took from the Century Avenue Metro Station.

Sir Charles and Good Riddance

So I finally got around to watching the documentary "The Year of the Yao" last night. I heard about it a while back, but didn't seek it out because it sounded a little boring. Anyway, a friend lent it to me, and I was pleasantly surprised. It details Yao Ming's first year in the NBA, and his cultural and personal adjustments to the 82-game season and life in Houston. Yao had an American-born live-in translator, who narrates the flick. Despite some unnecessary cameos by Bill Walton and the always annoying Steve Francis (formerly Stevie Franchise), it was an enjoyably interesting movie.

Unsurprisingly, the most entertaining scenes seemed to include Charles Barkley: cultural insensitivity involving him, and loud (and usually wrong) proclamations coming from his mouth. This reminded me of a recurring topic of conversation during the Olympic basketball tournament. While watching the wholly Chinese language broadcasts during 2 of the games, several different people randomly mentioned how awesome it would be if Charles was thrown in with the Chinese broadcasters with no translator. Just Sir Charles disagreeing with whatever he heard, loudly, and confused Chinese hosts. I can't imagine better television. It would be comedy at its best.

Oh, and good riddance to Jay Mariotti, internationally reviled (I'm in a different country) as one of the worst writers in sports. Not that I've ever touched a Sun-Times, but one of his crappy anti-Chicago columns seemed to make it in front of my eyes every couple months; and nothing was worse than accidentally watching a bit of Around the Horn after class the last few years. I hope he finds a plum assignment in Karachi or somewhere else a long long way from Chicago.

Teacher, do you think your life is interesting?

The question, and the student's unexpectedly depressing reply to my answer, caught me off guard a little bit. I am teaching English, and though I don't enjoy it, the money is decent. Today, during a tutoring session, one of my students mentioned that they would like to become an archaeologist later in life. So I pulled out my laptop and showed some pictures of the archaeological dig I participated in during the summer of 2006 in Rome. As I showed the photos, class ended, and I was packing up my stuff when the student asked, "Teacher, do you think your life is interesting?"

"Uhh... on the whole, I guess, yeah." About half of my students are of the type that enjoy studying English in their free-time, and this was one of the more enthusiastic of those. "Why do you ask? Don't you think your life is interesting?" I asked.

"Everyday is the same as the one before and the one after. It's all study and work.", came the reply. This was especially surprising given that summer vacation is still in session for Chinese students. Ordinarily, the Chinese students I'm familiar with just seem to accept that their lot is to work hard as students and do as their parents wish. I tried to explain that working hard now was a way to have fun and do interesting things later, or something to that effect, but the sentiment wasn't genuine.

Really, I was just happy that I never had that type of pressure, and that I was never part of a system where the numbers are so stacked against each student.

Delicious Xinjiang Food

Last night my brother, a friend, and I went out for Xinjiang food. Xinjiang, the vast, relatively sparsely populated province in China’s northwest, is home to the Uyghur people. Xinjiang food is distinctly Central Asian, and doesn’t share much with other styles of food found in China. There is a lot of meat, in big chunks, often skewered and roasted on an long open grill. They do bread exceptionally well, and everything is liberally dusted with a ubiquitous mix of spices. Also, there is no pork, the staple meat of Chinese food, to be found here, as the Uyghurs are a Muslim people. It is a delicious, and occasionally necessary break from traditional Chinese food--in ways that lunch at McDonald’s can’t compare to.


In the picture you can see most of our meal. There’s the mutton fried rice with roasted carrots, which I think must have been cooked in lamb fat. The thinly sliced red meat is cold venison, which was delicious and sort of similar in flavor to cold brisket. Then there is roasted lamb ribs. The skewers are called 羊肉串, or chuan (r), commonly pronounced with an ‘r’ ending in Beijing. The lamb meat is skewered with bits of fat that melt into the meat during grilling. Not pictured is the lamb heart skewer, which I ate too quickly to photograph. We also had fried eggplant slices, dusted in spices; and a dish consisting of chopped up lamb meat with carrots and hot peppers that was placed into fresh tortilla-like pancakes.

A necessary accompaniment to Xinjiang food is Xinjiang Black Beer. It is possibly my favorite brand of beer in China. It has all the flavor, body, and alcohol that beers like Qingdao and Yanjing lack.

Time for a Chinese Mea Culpa?

According to several sources, the IOC has opened an investigation into the age of one of the Chinese gymnasts. I kind of doubt if anything will come of this, and I don't really care about the gymnastics competition. But, this is the appropriate time for someone in BOCOG or the Chinese government to issue a mea culpa so this thing is put to rest once and for all.

First, the young girl doesn't deserve to lose her medals, and neither does the Chinese team. If the age-fixing allegations are true, they were used by their coaches and sporting officials, and are too young to understand the repercussions. Second, someone highly positioned in the government or BOCOG (the organizing committee) should reprimand, or even dismiss the sporting and government officials responsible for the ostensibly faked passports.

The Olympic games have been a rousing success thus far, and China is safely ahead in the all-important (over here) gold medal count. Why let this stupid little controversy snowball into something bigger or sully the reputation of the games. Taking the people responsible (for the alleged cheating) to task would show that the highest levels of government had no connection to this matter (though their push for golds probably inspired the coaches and officials). This, I think, is the only surefire way to prevent any further loss of face from this embarrassing issue.

On an unrelated note, anyone interested in the recent events in the Caucasus or Russian relations in general should see Gorbachev's Op-Ed from the NYtimes.

Who Will Win the Medal Count?

The unfortunate news of Liu Xiang's injury and withdrawal from the 110m hurdles not withstanding, China has a lot to be proud of in this Olympics. According to the most current listing on beijing2008.com, China leads the US in gold medals by a huge margin, 43-26. It would appear that the battle for most golds is safely in China's hands, barring some unfathomable dominance in the remaining events on the part of the US.

Locals Watching an Individual Gymnastics Competition on Changshou Road

However, in the overall medal count, the US still holds a slim lead, 79-76 (the remaining sports would seem to favor the US holding on to its lead). In previous Olympics, I had always thought overall medal count to be of more importance than the gold count. But most Chinese people that I have spoken with regarding this topic have said something to the effect of "of course gold is the most important", and the Chinese media list the medal count accordingly; meanwhile most US sources list the medal count as an overall ranking. Really, I don't think either is as important as people make them out to be, but my personal opinion is that overall medal count is a better barometer of a country's overall athletic culture. But, surely gold medals are still worth more than silver or bronze, right?

Well, some columnists have recently suggested a sort of weighted point system should be used to determine an unofficial overall ranking (ie. Gold = 3 pts, Silver = 2, and Bronze = 1). Well if that were the case, the current ranking would be as follows:
1. China, 176 pts
2. USA, 157 pts
3. Russia, 76 pts
4. Great Britain, 74 pts
5. Australia, 69 pts
And so on down the list. But the problem here for a freedom-loving, sushi-eating American such as myself, is that the Red, White, and Blue still doesn't come out on top.

So, purely for laughs, I've decided to devise my own medal count, which will take into account only sports which I (and my football and baseball loving friends) care about, or ordinarily consider sports. So, with that in mind, the following adjustments will be made: men's diving is out, but women's diving is in (for more, see Guo Jingjing); women's (children's?) gymnastics are definitely out (I don't care whether it's a good rule or bad, but it's pretty clear the Chinese team cheated on the age rule. Also, the Karolyis are a little creepy to me, don't know why.); arbitrarily, badminton is out, and table tennis is in; all shooting is out, (I saw pot-bellies on some of the competitors, and when I see pot-bellies in sports, I expect them to be quickly offset by a crushing tackle, a 400 ft. home-run, or a 97 mph fastball.), though archery remains; goodbye trampoline, your sport is a joke (to me); and finally, women's weightlifting* is out.

So where does that leave us? According to my calculations for the first ever for-entertainment-purposes-only-sports-that-actually-count Medal Count, the rankings now look like this:
Overall:
#1: USA, with 64 medals
#2: China, with 43 medals

Gold medal count:
#1: China, with 24 golds, 10 silvers, and 9 bronzes
#2: USA, 22 golds, 19 silvers, and 23 bronzes
(OH NO! Well, this one should change if basketball comes through, women's beach volleyball continues to roll, and the Track & Field athletes pull their weight.)

Point system:
#1: USA 127 touchdowns (points shall be known as touchdowns if the US is leading)
#2: China 101 TDs

So what's the point of all this? First, medal counts are probably not a good gauge of any country’s collective athletic prowess (if it were so, the Republic of Michael Phelps would be more athletic than approximately 60 medal-winning countries, including a billion plus Indians), or its sporting culture. Second, any medal count should be looked at with a grain-of-salt, and when I make the rules, the US always wins!!

*On women's weightlifting: If the US women had won any medals, I would absolutely be counting them, as there is a thriving amateur culture of US lifters. However, as far as I can tell, women's weightlifting in China goes against many Chinese cultural norms regarding the expectations of a woman's behavior. I could see a young American girl taking up weight-lifting for a love of the sport, and having the support and even encouragement of her parents; however, I would generally say that exactly the opposite would happen were a young Chinese girl to decide that weightlifting was her sport. Basically, I have seen many women in weight-rooms at health-clubs and my schools in the US, but can't remember one instance of the same in China.

The Chinese women that dominated this year's weightlifting competition came from a government athletic program, and for the most part come from peasant, country backgrounds. They were hand-picked by officials at a young age after showing physical promise of some kind, and then their parents signed them up for the elite sporting schools that offered one of the few roads out of their villages. This may not be true for every single competitor, but it is for the majority. This system goes against everything that I see as good about sport in the US (ie. spirit of competition and love of the game). There have been a few different articles about this system lately, but one of the best comes from the Wall Street Journal and can be seen here.

The Most Popular American Team in China??

One of my favorite things about the Olympics is cheering for my country in sports I normally pay little or no attention to. In fact, it seems that once every four years is a perfect amount for me when it comes to the majority of Olympic sports. During my quadrennial obscure sports binge, I'll often just turn the TV on to whatever sport is live and see if it piques my interest: judo, a little; swimming prelims, ehhhh; air pistol, no thank you.

Anyway, tonight I found myself watching the tail end of an early round women's volleyball game between Team USA and Team Japan. I had heard from a few friends that women's volleyball is a pretty popular event over here, but I was still a bit surprised by the sheer volume of the chants of "USA! USA!". I didn't expect there to be that large an American contingent present at such an early match, and the camera shots of the crowd didn't seem to show a whole bunch of Americans (usually quite easy to spot, even in massive crowds). And I definitely didn't think the crowd was anti-Japan enough to be that pro-US. So why the positively Mark Rowswell -ian cheers? (The man know in China as 大山，or Da Shan, is a subject for an entirely different post).

My unasked question was answered soon enough, during the end-of-day wrap-up on CCTV-2. The anchor said that they were going to a brief interview with the US coach, and to my surprise she was a native Chinese speaker (please remember that news regarding this sport does not make it into my normal reading material). In fact, the US coach is none other than "Jenny" "The Iron Hammer" Lang Ping (郎平). Lang Ping, I soon found out, is an iconic athlete in China, nearly as famous as Liu Xiang or Li Ning (the athlete/ entrepreneur who lit the torch). She led the Chinese volleyball squad to a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

I cannot express how great I think it is that the US team has this person coaching for them. For one, the team members' Olympic trip to China is assuredly a different experience entirely from the run-of-the-mill (from my standpoint) trips that most teams will be having. Also, I think anything that gets the home crowd waving the red, white, and blue is very cool.

Still, it may be a stretch to say that they are more popular with the locals than the USA basketball squad.

Update: I was just perusing my usual China related media, and saw that the Wall Street Journal's China Journal just published a similar post entitled "Return of the 'Iron Hammer'". Apparently somebody over there was watching tonight's match as well. While I assume that none of the readers of the aforementioned blog would deign to read this one, for pride's sake I must mention that according to Google Reader, mine was published 2 minutes earlier. If you have time, compare the two entries, and let me know what you think (and remember that they are paid to blog).

It's Go Time!!

After 8 long years of preparation and 30 years of economic reform and opening up, China will begin its coming out party tonight with a Zhang Yimou directed extravaganza of an opening ceremony. Some preliminary events have already started. Word out of Beijing this morning on the air quality is not good, to say the least. The official air pollution index, however, refuses to inch past 100, which is slightly suspect. This is really a shame, as I was hoping for nice clear skies for the opening ceremony, but I don't think it will cut down on the majesty of the event itself. Too bad we can't transport Shanghai's weather to Beijing for one day, as the sky is blue, and the humidity is mercifully low. I for one, will be watching the ceremony at a party thrown on the rooftop of a friend of mine. After all this time and build up, it's still hard to believe that the games are actually here.

For the past few weeks, the security presence in the city has noticeably increased. This has been especially so in areas such as the subway stations, landmark buildings, and sporting venues. Today in the Century Avenue subway station, in addition to the security guard wanding bags for metal objects that has been present the past two weeks, there were also police officers with sniffer dogs (friendly black labs by the way). I also saw a group of volunteer security guards, ostensibly local residents, sporting red armbands, ala present-day parking attendants and the red guards of yesteryear. I'd heard of a similar 'posse' in Beijing, but didn't know they were organizing these guys as lookouts in Shanghai as well. I guess the more the merrier when it comes to safety though.

I seem to once again be able to easily post new photos, so there are some new ones from the last few months here.

DVD Speakeasies of Shanghai

When I first arrived in Shanghai for study abroad in 2006, I was, as a movie-buff and cheapskate, impressed by the ubiquity of illicit DVD stores around the city. It seemed that wherever one went in the city, there was a bootleg DVD store at every corner, or at the very least a few 3-wheel bicycle cart vendors selling 5-kuai (yuan) discs. During my semester I amassed a rather large collection of these DVDs.

Beijing, however, was different. I was there last summer for around 7 weeks, and I may have bought 2 DVDs during that time. The lack of friendly and disreputable DVD dealers there is due, one assumes, to stricter enforcement of the law and higher police presence in the Capital.

This time around in Shanghai, I happily discovered that many DVD stores were still around, albeit with slightly higher prices. However, I noticed that first runs from the states were taking longer to arrive on the shelves, and some didn't come at all (e.g. Hancock was spotted for the first time today, and still no Indiana Jones).

A few weeks ago my entertainment world came crashing down around me as every known store in my neighborhood, and hundreds throughout the city were hit by systematic raids. The stocks of stores that were unlucky enough not to receive advance word through the grapevine were confiscated, and the operators were told not to reopen, in the words of one local owner, "for a long time". Why this brash and affronting observation of laws that have been on the books for years? According to the owner of one of my favorite local haunts, he was simply told “For the Olympics.”

But a few intrepid DVD stores that I occasionally visit are holding the torch (pun intended) for the Shanghai knockoff DVD scene, although in a slightly different format. The first store I visited, which I walk past regularly, had cleaned their shelves of all stock, but their doors were still open daily. I was a bit confused by this, so I went to ask the owner, who sits surfing the web in the front of the shop all day, what was going on. He was the first to explain the Olympic connection to me, and he directed me to the back of the shop, where after crossing between a row of shelves and a wall, I climbed the stairs to his living area. Next to the bathroom, in a small storage room, he had set up his stock, TV shows on one shelf, and movies according to genre. The newest were on a table in the center, and thousands of DVDs in sleeves were in boxes arrayed on the floor. When I left he said he’d be getting a new shipment the next day, which indicated he wasn’t just getting rid of old stock.

About a week later, I passed another shop, which had appeared previously to have shut down under the financial strain of the raid. However, as I walked past, the proprietor, who recognized me from past trips, pointed to the back of the store. There, past renovation work and concealed behind a sliding door that matches the adjacent wall, was his store. Except that his store had a better selection than before, was better organized, and even had a brand new cash register. This week the construction at that particular store was finished, and the front end has been converted to a shiny new stationary and school supplies store. On a recent visit, as I was ushered to the back, the worker calmly but intently looked out front for strolling cops as he opened the sliding door.

I should also mentioned that one of the more expensive stores that I know from my study abroad time was seemingly never raided and has gone on doing business as usual. When asked about the reason for their luck, a worker there only said that yes, the other stores had shut down because of the Olympics, though he would not divulge how they had been able to avoid a similar fate.

为奥运会。 (For the Olympics)

As the Olympics fire up this week, it is interesting to look at the steps that China’s leadership has taken to present their best face to the world. From ordering migrant junk collectors off the streets of Beijing to shutting copyright infringing DVD stores in Shanghai, all sorts of measures have been put in place to avoid any type of embarrassment during the games.

Interesting Olympic News

First: I'm kicking off the Olympic season in style tomorrow, as I'll be taking in the USA-Russia game of the USA Basketball International Challenge. I am very pumped for this one, as it has got to be the greatest collection of sporting talent I'll ever see in one place (being a Bulls fan, I could make the argument that any of the Bulls games from the nineties that I attended beat this one out by having Jordan on the court, but I'll try to restrain my hyperbole). I've never seen any of the following players live before: Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Lebron, Kobe, or Dwight Howard, so I am, I think, understandably excited. The game will be held at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, home of the Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup.

Next, a couple of interesting Olympic related articles. The first is from the New York Times Sports magazine, and it profiles Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang. Liu is not especially well known in the US outside of track and field fans, but he is a gold medalist and world champion, and an unequaled sporting celebrity in China. In my unscientific analysis, Liu has more pressure on him than any other athlete in the world this year. Personally, I just think it's cool that he went to the same university in Shanghai that I attended for study abroad.

The Second comes from MinnPost.com and detailed an interesting interaction that a journalist had upon his recent arrival in Beijing. Apparently the journalist in question was politely told to "Write only good news", and "No politics". I found this one via the Shanghai Scrap blog, and I echo their sentiments in saying that the police officer's family background and high level English indicate he is only working the airport under the extraordinary circumstances of the Olympic season.

A Hack's Analysis of China's Economy

To preface this post: this is my opinion and I am not going to take the time to list any evidence for what I am saying here (blogs, especially unread ones, don't need "sources").

I'll have some time during this coming week to make some more posts of substance.
To answer Leo's question, I don't think that the rate of growth will be significantly slower (depending on your definition of significant) this year than the past few.

But the slowdown in the US and Europe is being felt over here nonetheless. It doesn't seem to have brought on much of the doom and gloom I've been reading in the US press, but it has had an impact.

Also, the declining dollar has hurt the economy over here, as China holds more foreign exchange reserves, mostly dollars, than any other country, so the government's assets have declined in value. The Yuan is linked on a floating peg to the dollar, so inflation has been exacerbated by problems in the US. This has mainly hurt the less well off in China, as staples have increased in price at a quite high rate.

It seems I'm rambling, so to sum it up, I feel that in the short term, the rate of growth will be slightly slowed. This is actually a good thing, as the worry is that it will overheat if it just keeps growing at the present rate, creating a massive bubble and unchecked inflation.

Long term it seems that there are some internal problems (eg, income disparity and environmental problems) that could pose more of a threat to continued economic growth than what I think will turn out to be a short 'recession' in the US.

The Current State of Internet Controls

So I am right now being surprised by China's internet controls. I am accessing blogger without the benefit of a VPN, which is a first for me. A quick check revealed that the website of Amnesty International is also open for me to check out, which comes as a huge shock, considering the news out of the Olympic press center yesterday. I honestly can't remember any other time I've been able to access Amnesty's site unchecked, but it's not like I am trying every day or anything. Maybe the reporting on this forced the issue a little bit?

In my short, and so far surprising check of various commonly blocked websites, I have seen the Great Fire Wall act as never before; if I try to access, say, the commonly blocked chinadigitaltimes through google reader, it will block anything related to google for about 5 minutes.

Also, apparently yesterday a Korean camera crew recorded some of the dress rehearsals for the opening ceremony. If I try to watch the clip on youtube (or a more recent one or here)it gets all of youtube blocked for a few minutes. However, if I just go to youtube and watch a random video, no problem. It seems that perhaps the controls have been focused in in advance of the games.

Chinese Political Satire Has a Long Way to Go

Brought to my attention by Big Will, these Chinese political cartoons are quite funny, if you consider just how inane and unfunny they are. Apparently most of them poke fun at the west, and especially the US. And while most of them deal with real and serious issues such as the income gap in China and US oil consumption, they just about completely miss their marks.

Now, in defense of the cartoonists, these appear to all be taken from mainland English Language news sources, and the cartoonists are not native speakers. Humor, is I think, probably the most difficult thing to understand and translate into a second language. But still, these cartoons are just silly!

My personal favorite is the oil consumption one I linked to above. The wife, commiserating with her hubby, says: "My dear, now I know how you feel when you enter the oil station." Awesome...

I guess when it's very difficult to skewer your own government or leaders for fear of punishment or being branded unpatriotic, you go where you can.

Any thoughts?

Blogging in China

As I am sure you are all aware, China's internet is censored. This is done by a system known as the "Great Firewall", or GFW (More info: Fallows ). The GFW allows the Chinese government to prevent netizens over here from accessing websites that it considers subversive, or too difficult to monitor/control. Included amongst these sites is Blogger, which I am using now, and many of the news sources I access on a regular basis.

I am able to access all these sites quite easily by using a program called Witopia personalVPN, which, in layman's terms, tunnels under the GFW (Witopia). This also allows me to use flickr, which though not exactly blocked, often has trouble displaying images over here. It is, to put it mildly, a valuable resource over here, especially for someone who needs a constant flow of information like I do.

Welcome

After a couple of false starts, I've decided to start blogging in earnest. In the coming days and weeks, I will be writing about my travels around China the past few months, the Olympics, what I am up to now, and my views on China and the world at large. Please comment, criticize, and let me know what you think.

To fill you guys in: Right now, I am living in an apartment in Shanghai's Jingan district with my older brother. After waiting for too long for a sweet job or internship to fall into my lap, I've started tutoring English here in Shanghai part-time, and am still trying to decide what to do long term. Though English teaching isn't particularly to my liking, it is a good way to keep busy and earn some much needed cash.

In about a month, I will probably start working for an SAT prep center in Hangzhou, helping to develop a book for Chinese students, and possibly necessitating a move down there. More on that later, as the details become clearer.