I’m a big fan of David Cross, mostly from his work in Mr. Show, and was surprised to find several videos of his travels through China for VBS.tv. The series is called “The Vice Guide to Travel – China”, and Cross is joined by Gavin McInnes. I found three episodes: China, Day in Shanghai, and All American Pies. All are worth checking out. In one episode they watch part of Super Bowl XL between the Steelers and Seahawks, which would mean the trip was filmed in early 2006.
It’s always interesting to see well-known personalities reacting to things the rest of us notice here in China. (I remember seeing a short video of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on a similar trip a few years back but can’t find any clips online.)
You’ve heard it said that Chinese will surpass the US because they are willing to work so damn hard (for less money, under tougher circumstances, for the sake of national glory, etc.) Well, China will continue its ascent, but lets dispel this notion that the people here work so much harder than Americans or Europeans.
Evidence? A survey currently running on www.highpk.com is asking Chinese people whether people to choose their preference:
1. “work to live / overtime is basically a pressure that hides the enjoyment of life” (工作为了生活 — 加班根本就是一种压榨，剥夺了生活的乐趣)
2. “live to work — overtime is an expression of my hard work and is the elevator to success” (活着为了工作 — 加班是我努力工作的表现，是通往成功的阶梯).
Well, as of right now, with nearly 15,000 votes/comments in, a whopping 90% take option #1, that working is to support life but not more.
And living in China, I believe it. People here are not cramming every minute of the day to work harder and do better. Heck, even the designer of the story image took shortcuts. See how he mixed up the English with the Chinese in the picture above? “Work to live” and “live to work” are in the wrong places. Obviously that dude was not OTing to get his image done correctly.
SHTig Quick Translation: Important Information: The French government is preparing US$ 20,000,000, and Carrefour is preparing US$5,000,000 for a May 1st sales promotion. It’s said that Carrefour’s senior management is insolently planning to cram pack its stores on May 1st with Chinese people, with the hopefully result of causing some people to be trampled to death. French television is also actively preparing to record the mad rush of Chinese shoppers at Carrefour stores, to show Chinese people smashing each other up.
If you are a patriotic Chinese, send this information to your friends and family, and don’t go shopping at Carrefour to chase some tiny discount that will cause loss of respect, national spirit and will make the foreigners laugh. We can’t let the foreigners once again make us the sick men of East Asia. Even though our efforts might turn out to be negligible, by us all uniting together it will show our strength to the foreigners. Good hearted Chinese people please send this to 10 friends.
SHTig’s Quick Comments:
1. I don’t believe this in full, especially the ridiculous part about trampling and wanting the Chinese to lose face. I did go shopping at Carrefour on April 13 in Shanghai. They had a very good promotion running (spend RMB500 on select items, get a voucher for RMB250 to be used within April). April 13 was a Sunday. The store was crowded, but not nearly as it usually is. The checkout line was shorter than normal. Anecdotal.
2. This note has an unnecessary pandering tone to “the foreigners” as it is. Are any of us foreigners really that important?
3. Carrefour is an unfortunate target in all of this (as is the Olympic torch). Can someone tell these petitioners that Carrefour is not a State-owned enterprise, so attacking it is not akin to attacking the French government?
4. One thing is universal with these spam requests — no matter what the language, they beckon you to forward them to others. Would be funny if they had added “send this to 10 people or else your daughter will hook up with a laowai”
NATOR ADDS: I got this letter, with ” 爱国的中国人转发50个 ” (“Patriotic Chinese people please send this to 50 friends”) added to the last sentence.
There’s plenty of information out there on the Darkie/Darlie story–check out Danwei and Sinosplice, for example. I had no idea the brand was so old, though. Check out this Late Night with David Letterman clip (the Darkie reference is several minutes in, but the whole clip is enjoyable, so just watch all of it):
However, the Chinese name of the brand, 黑人牙膏 (in English, “Black Man Toothpaste”), has not changed; a Chinese-language advertising campaign reassured customers that “Black Man Toothpaste is still Black Man Toothpaste”. This is because the term 黑人 does not have any negative meaning in Chinese. The phrase 黑人 (hēi rén) in Chinese is a general term for persons of African descent.
While in many cases heiren carries no negative meaning, in many other cases it does. In the latter usage, it’s somewhat analogous to the term “Chinaman”, which Wikipedia admits is both neutral and offensive in meaning, depending on who you ask.
It was a nice beautiful Saturday morning, the was sun was shining, I was on my second cup of coffee reading the news, girlfriend still asleep, my quiet time… and then I had to get myself blacklisted…
I have been having a sore neck for a couple days now but this morning while I was taking a shower, suddenly the pain spiked and it was so severe that I almost vomited.
I was dragging myself out of the shower to get ready for work as my Aiyi asked me what is wrong with me. I told her my neck really hurts, she took a split second look and proclaimed:
The United States will open its fifth consulate general on the Chinese mainland in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province in central China and a major city on the Yangtze River, early next year. Read the rest of this entry »
