09.27.10
Posted in Chinese Nationalism at 20:50 by Nator
Just saw this for the first time, though I’m told it has been around for years:
Going by the common Chinese designations, China is the “dragon” and Japan is the “bug”. We will eat you and make you disappear.
But you are what you eat, and China does consume much of Japan’s fashion, entertainment, and popular culture. (It also draws heavily from Korea, itself raised on a heavy diet of “bugs”.)
And, of course, the dragon needs the bug. After all, you eat to survive. (An angry dragon would just breathe fire and burn the bug to a crisp.) Hard to imagine where China would be without all the technology and direct investment from Japan.
Anyway, it’s a clever little animation, despite the ugliness behind its intent.
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09.13.10
Posted in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau, Laowai, Law and Order at 14:25 by Nator
I was sorting through some old papers over the weekend and came across the card for Grand Profit International Travel Agency.
I used their services several times, back when it was difficult and expensive to get an F visa in Beijing. The same visa bought in Hong Kong was cheap and easy to get, and I am always up for a trip down to HK. Here’s the price list on the back of the card (from around 2005):
Beijing has become the better option in recent years, as the HK places got more expensive and less reliable. Trader’s Link is probably the best-known agency in Beijing; it’s still expensive, but generally reliable. The only trick now is to time your visa renewal with a China entry, due to the policy of making all F visa holders leave the country once every year, regardless of how much time is left on one’s visa.
I talked to the new manager at Traders Link on my last visit; he said the place is run by the Public Security Bureau. A bit surprising, but it does explain the ever-growing number of meaningless gestures required in the application. (My favorite part of that procedure is having to stand in front of the reception desk as they photograph me with the company logo behind me to prove that I actually came into the office.)
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09.07.10
Posted in Beijing, Laowai, Law and Order, Manners, Sports, Traffic and Infrastructure at 12:18 by Nator
I witnessed my first authentic Chinese fire drill when riding out of my apartment complex this morning. The basic form was the same as I have seen back home: A white Volkswagen Jetta was stopped in the intersection where the street meets the side road of the Third Ring Road. The driver got out, followed by the front seat passenger and then a back seat passenger. Each of them walked around the car and re-entered in a different seat. The car then drove away.
But just like the “Chinese food” in America that bears little resemblance to the wide range of fare available here, a real Chinese drill is a far more nuanced and complex performance in its homeland:
- A true Chinese fire drill should be performed not when stopped at a red light, but right in the middle of a crowded intersection, where one can block multiple directions of traffic instead of just a single lane.
- Participants in an authentic Chinese fire drill should not run around the vehicle in a wacky, chaotic matter; instead, it is preferred to keep a slow and steady pace, and not to betray any sign of concern about possibly blocking other vehicles.
- Expert Chinese fire drill practitioners prefer perform at the peak of rush hour; a weekend night out with friends would be unacceptable to the masters of this art.
- The audience shows its appreciation for the performance not with a couple of short taps on the car horn, but instead with extended blasts lasting five seconds or more.
It seems the rest of the world is has barely scratched the surface in terms of understanding this part of Chinese culture.
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