This is nice. The Beijing government will start tracking all 20 million people in real-time through their mobile phones. From South China Morning Post: Wireless communication experts said the system would be particularly useful not only for following the whereabouts of individuals but also in detecting any unusual gathering of a large number of people. […]
More to come about my trip to Anhui later, but here was one of the highlights of my trip: It’s chou doufu (stinky tofu), Anhui-style! Delicious. It’s a distinctive charred black, not the usual deep fried tofu brown color, and it’s actually made with dou gan (dried tofu) instead of regular tofu. For those people […]
Apparently, that’s what the Economist thinks. According to its annual survey of the living conditions of world cities, Beijing is 72nd out of 140 cities, higher than Tianjin, Suzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian and Qingdao, the other Chinese cities on the list. The rankings are based on 30 indicators in categories of stability, health care, […]
In addition to Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and YouTube, China has blocked LinkedIn, the lamest social networking site. Apparently, the non-protest protests on Wangfujing, the famous pedestrian street in Beijing, last week was organized through LinkedIn. A LinkedIn user identified as “Jasmine Z” last week set up a discussion group to post opinions on whether the […]
On Jiuhua Mountain right now, one of China’s four Buddhist mountains. (More on that later.) Right now, the sky is clear, the village is dark and everywhere is quiet at 9:30 at night here. Just me and the stars splattered across the sky, a much-missed sight when I’m in Beijing. Nothing else can fill me […]
But I’m in Anhui now, so I get a reprieve from “worse than hazardous” pollution. “Hazardous” is the highest level on the US Embassy’s pollution rating system, which goes up to 500. The reading for Sunday afternoon, via @BeijingAir: 02-20-2011; 16:00; PM2.5; 526.0; 500; Beyond Index // Ozone; 3.6; 3; Good That was right after […]
Today’s comparison: Number of prisoners. You’ll hear a lot about the people China puts in its prisons (mainly because we are morally outraged by these “crimes”). To many unenlightened people, China is a scary place — Big Brother and all that. While, yes, you can get put in jail seemingly on a whim, and your good […]
Fr0m The World of Chinese: Click the picture to enlarge.
Take the only set of keys between the two of you. Make sure his phone is out of battery with a broken screen. Get into an argument about keeping each other informed of whereabouts right before he leaves his office to come home. Watch a movie and fail to notice when he allegedly rings doorbell. […]
Did you know Beijing has bunnies? With the Year of the Rabbit coming, I’ve been trying to think of when I ever saw a rabbit in China. Turns out they do exist here, if only in pictures. From the AP via Gawker.