in some lighter news, yao ming makes an unexpected appearance at the world basketball championship (or somtehing like that )
http://sports.creaders.net/newsViewer.php?nid=485986&id=1091943
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 12:03 (thirteen years ago) link
my bad, I'm pretty sure it's the asian basketball championship
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 12:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Zambia had its elections today, the incumbent (Banda) running partly on the strength of his initiative to bring in the Chinese. It seems to have all gone a bit bloodbath.
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 21 September 2011 19:58 (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Sata won this. He's less favourable toward China making inroads so this will be interesting. Bloodbath was overrated btw.
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 23 September 2011 07:18 (thirteen years ago) link
more bummerz
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/world/asia/rape-case-is-a-rarity-in-chinese-justice-system.html?pagewanted=all
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Friday, 23 September 2011 11:08 (thirteen years ago) link
"Anhui province is today announcing the cancellation of Chaohu city."
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/21/140633602/the-curious-case-of-the-vanishing-chinese-city?sc=tw&cc=share
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 23 September 2011 17:14 (thirteen years ago) link
sounds like a borges story
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Friday, 23 September 2011 17:15 (thirteen years ago) link
when I started reading it I thought "bet this is going to be economically motivated" and hey it was
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Friday, 23 September 2011 17:16 (thirteen years ago) link
"It's a good thing," says one old man who gives him name as Mr. Guo, as others nod in agreement. "There's too much corruption. The officials take all our money."
hmm
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 23 September 2011 20:58 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/world/asia/two-tibetan-monks-set-themselves-on-fire-in-protest.html
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 11:41 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/what-we-really-need-to-fear-about-china/2011/09/14/gIQAPrMy0K_story.html
During my most recent trip this past week, I also I taught classes at Tsinghua University, for an entrepreneurship program run by UC-Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship. The students there were very much like those I teach at Duke and Berkeley. They were hungry for knowledge, connections, and ideas. The only difference I noted was in the answer to one question: Why do you want to become an entrepreneur? American students usually talk about building wealth or changing the world. The Chinese said they saw entrepreneurship as a way to rise above “the system,” to be their own bosses and to create their own paths to success. They clearly did not cherish the idea of working for a stodgy state enterprise, an autocratic government, or what they deemed to be an opportunistic foreign multinational.
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 17:34 (thirteen years ago) link
they wanna be their own bawse
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:46 (thirteen years ago) link
that may be an interesting distinction on a theoretical level but I bet it just means they want to make a lot of money and be a baller
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Take Robert Hsiung, who graduated from Stanford in 2008. He received several job offers in Silicon Valley, Singapore, and Hong Kong. But he chose to become an entrepreneur and to move to Beijing, because the economy was booming and the number of Chinese Internet users was increasing rapidly. Robert’s first start-up, a social-media company called OneCircle.cc, was a moderate success. His next company, FoxFly, failed because larger players moved into his market space. In August, he launched his third start-up, which is building a professional-networking application. Robert told me that he had absolutely no problems recruiting top engineering students. And even though he had failed, Chinese investors readily invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in his latest start-up.
this? this is the best anecdote you got for us?? a guy who failed 3 times?
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:49 (thirteen years ago) link
article doesn't have any real substance to it
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:50 (thirteen years ago) link
tho it is true that americans are not particularly entrepreneurial these days, it's silly to frame it as a competition w/ the chinese and it's better to talk about reasons why (access to $, health insurance, etc.)
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:52 (thirteen years ago) link
otohhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204010604576595002230403020.html
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:53 (thirteen years ago) link
it's about a broader change in culture that's begun to accept failure as a part of the entrepreneurial cycle. sure, it's a trend piece and ultimately trend pieces are always a touch puffy, but plenty of what i'm reading suggests there's a native entrepreneurial streak taking root. is that what you're contesting?
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:55 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm contesting 'Our policy makers are right to worry, but they are worried about the wrong things.'
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:56 (thirteen years ago) link
china's entrepreneurial streak is the worst thing that's ever happened to it
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:58 (thirteen years ago) link
it has to be pointed out that the 'failure is a good thing in the world of entrepreneurs' is actually a pretty foundational bedrock tenet
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:59 (thirteen years ago) link
basically there are good reasons to have beef w/ china (cue dayo jpg) but 'they will suddenly become the world entrepreneurial leaders + this will be bad for america', I mean...
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:05 (thirteen years ago) link
― dayo, Tuesday, September 27, 2011 7:59 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark
of what
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:08 (thirteen years ago) link
entrepreneurs!
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:09 (thirteen years ago) link
it's their mantra - so that when they do inevitably fail they will pick themselves up by their own bootstraps because they are self-motivated and self-driven and that's why they are destined to succeed, do you see
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:10 (thirteen years ago) link
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:58 (11 minutes ago)
― dylannn, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:11 (thirteen years ago) link
― dayo, Tuesday, September 27, 2011 8:10 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark
sure, there's a sense of false hope embedded in the thing, but i'm not really seeing what you're getting at?
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:12 (thirteen years ago) link
"a bunch of failing business are bad for china"?
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I was just responding to iatee's point that a entrepreneur w/ 3 failed businesses is somehow to be lauded - it's not, but it's not necessarily a bad thing either from the view of someone encouraging entrepreneurship
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:14 (thirteen years ago) link
if those businesses have been depending on an economy w/ too much easy money floating around, then yeah
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:15 (thirteen years ago) link
ok right, i guess i misunderstood u xp
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:15 (thirteen years ago) link
chinese have very different cultural conceptions toward credit than americans do ime. I don't think it's that easy to get credit, nor do most chinese want credit. think all bets are off though if you're a state-owned company
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:16 (thirteen years ago) link
a lot of chinese people still operate on a straight cash, homie tip. banks in chinatowns are built with an extra-ordinary number of safeboxes because families like to keep their assets in hard cash in the safebox rather than in a bank account.
but china's new middle class is getting more and more into credit cards now, from what I can tell. so there's a cultural change happening too, credit cards probably act as a signal of wealth. but I'd be surprised if it was reported tomorrow that a lot of individuals were suddenly overextending themselves on credit in china.
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:18 (thirteen years ago) link
o snap
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/asia/shanghai-subway-accident-injures-hundreds.html?_r=1
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 21:29 (thirteen years ago) link
i am going to move to dalian.
― dylannn, Sunday, 2 October 2011 03:48 (twelve years ago) link
forreals?
― dayo, Sunday, 2 October 2011 11:02 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/infamous-beijing-nightclub-heaven-internal-training-photos-leaked-online.html
lmao never take photos
― dayo, Sunday, 2 October 2011 12:23 (twelve years ago) link
experienced firsthand the pervasiveness of prostitution in china is impressive
― dylannn, Monday, 3 October 2011 02:47 (twelve years ago) link
http://maryannodonnell.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/historic-ironies-the-fanshen-metro-station-shenzhen/
― dylannn, Monday, 3 October 2011 07:11 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/03/china-rural-poor-left-strandedhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/02/china-becomes-an-urban-nation
― dylannn, Thursday, 6 October 2011 03:46 (twelve years ago) link
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/jiaoqu/guida.jpg
my alma mater btw
― dylannn, Thursday, 6 October 2011 03:53 (twelve years ago) link
bubble starting to burst?
Bankruptcy crisis in Wenzhou impacts nearly 90 percent of familieshttp://news.qq.com/a/20111008/000146.htm(2011-10-08) ― On October 4, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid an official visit to the southern city of Wenzhou, long known for its entrepreneurial streak, to address a crisis of surging bankruptcies in which small and medium-sized businesses have defaulted in startling numbers on high-interest loans provided by private lenders in recent years, as larger banks have refused loans to smaller enterprises. The Beijing News reports today that the crisis has “dragged in” close to 90 percent of families in Wenzhou, where private lending has become a common form of investment. Since April this year there have reportedly been regular suicide attempts by company bosses in Wenzhou, and since last month alone there have been 25 documented cases of bosses jumping from buildings or throwing themselves in front of traffic.
http://news.qq.com/a/20111008/000146.htm
― 2001: a based godyssey (dayo), Sunday, 9 October 2011 11:54 (twelve years ago) link
a good post on what it means for your family when you go against the g'ment in china:
http://chinageeks.org/2011/10/the-utterly-indefensible/
― 2001: a based godyssey (dayo), Sunday, 9 October 2011 12:01 (twelve years ago) link
Fuckin' hell, I did not really know about the Hukou system. (xpost to dylannn's Guardian link)
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 9 October 2011 16:10 (twelve years ago) link
oh yeah, hukou system is key. my girlf is in rural guizhou right now so those caught my eye. it's the poorest province in the country and yeah like those two guardian pieces.............
i've been trying to follow that wenzhou thing, since all the mandarin lang media here are running with it as a bubble bursting story but................
why am i so burnt out on shit like that chinageeks "essay"????????????????????????
― dylannn, Monday, 10 October 2011 02:39 (twelve years ago) link
because it's indefensible and reprehensible and sucks
― Autumn Almanac (Schlafsack), Monday, 10 October 2011 02:42 (twelve years ago) link
evan osnos does it more elegantly
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos
― 2001: a based godyssey (dayo), Monday, 10 October 2011 02:42 (twelve years ago) link
i hate to say that, actually, but my reaction is like... yeah, okay, six year old kid detained... who gives a fuck? who gives a shit about liu xiaobo????? i am open to being convinced that guys like this matter but i feel like they're so irrelevant to the realities of "life on the ground" (1) because teh government marginalizes them obv 2) because their interests are........) and we'd be better off if we kept our eyes on stuff like wenzhou's private lending meltdown or the hukou system or WHATEVER, shit that is actually fucking up millions of lives. it's just a reality that china produces cranks and lunatics and not credible figures of opposition. i take liu xiaobo a bit more seriously than i take li hongzhi.
― dylannn, Monday, 10 October 2011 02:45 (twelve years ago) link
sometimes i feel like..... it's like if someone tried to understand china by reading a lot about noam chomsky
― dylannn, Monday, 10 October 2011 02:47 (twelve years ago) link
er, america, i mean
I think you've gone native
― 2001: a based godyssey (dayo), Monday, 10 October 2011 02:48 (twelve years ago) link