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A dishwasher and proper Ikea counter top would have been nice, but Cai Li knew that would cost at least two years’ salary. The cold water tap made her hands all rough and cracked. She resolved to invest in rubber gloves instead.
I am so in love with @koangirl’s Awesome Mops of China. Even though this one kind of breaks my heart.
I defend my thesis tomorrow. Finally, nine (…ish) months of work comes to an end. An honest miracle that I’ve made it, really.
Anyway, for those interested for any particular reason, here’s my abstract:
In the last three years, the microblogging platform Twitter has become popular in mainstream culture as a method of allowing users to provide status updates to the rest of the world via Internet and mobile phones. While some of these updates, or “tweets,” may be mundane and trivial, these updates can play a bigger role in citizen journalism, where they have begun to create and break the news while simultaneously defining what is important. In China, Twitter is proving to be an effective political tool against censorship and the Great Firewall, which restricts access to “subversive” sites and regulates the flow of information. This paper will provide an overview of censorship in China, and using a case study of tweets from the Xinjiang Riots of July 2009, will explain how Twitter has become more than just a website; it allows voices to speak out from behind the Great Firewall and poses a threat to the Chinese government and censorship on a whole.
Tumblr no longer blocked in China. I think this means the government realized that over-emotional hipsters posting photos of bacon-laced clothing no longer pose a challenge to the regime. Hopefully for me, this will mean more regular posting.
Awesome.
Also, never under-estimate the power of bacon.
![Ordos, China: A Modern Ghost Town [TIME photoessay]
Meant as home for one million people, the Kangbashi district remains nearly empty five years after construction began
So eerie.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kzyxnbDA651qa61zdo1_500.jpg)
Ordos, China: A Modern Ghost Town [TIME photoessay]
Meant as home for one million people, the Kangbashi district remains nearly empty five years after construction began
So eerie.
So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong.
A massive Google-China battle rages tonight.
Also, Hong Kong’s probably pissed.
Edit: Oh yeah, the CPC’s probably really pissed.
Gaelic Football in China:
(It was windy, I couldn’t get a good photo. Shut up.)
So it completely slipped my mind on Wednesday that I have photos of China that are appropro for Paddy’s Day. Namely, the annual All-China Gaelic Games. So here’s a belated Irish in China post.
Go Mikey Go! (Game against Shanghai; Mikey’s the one who started the Dalian Wolfhounds)
There’s a surprisingly large Irish expatriate population in China, and they’ve of course brought their national sport, Gaelic football, to the Chinese, English, Americans, Australians, and whatever other nationalities will stand for the rough sport. I played keeper in the Games in Beijing ‘08 and Shanghai ‘09, both for the Shenzhen Ladies (though I trained with the Dalian team, we didn’t have enough for a full girls’ team.) I famously fractured my foot in ‘08 post-games and my appearance in ‘09 was completely guilt-tripped by my captain, but the Games were ridiculously fun nonetheless (despite my foot wanting to destroy me for making it suffer through an entire football competition).
Also, for anyone who knows me personally, Gaelic football was basically where my obsession fondness for the Irish took root.
Dalian Wolfhounds men’s team, Beijing 2008 (Check out the air pollution! healthy sporting conditions to be sure!)
REVIEW OF THE BLOG I WRITE FOR: SHANGHAIIST.COM“Shanghaiist boasts writers that could do stories for Newsweek or some other high powered international magazine. […] The design is easy on the eyes despite the high number of ads. This is no easy feat. Without fail, however, I find myself focused on the story and not the surroundings. Though they write a lot, and a lot of the material is of the quick type nature, their long, thought out articles are more than worth the price of admission.”— Asia Healthcare Blog’s Top 10 China Blogs
No disrespect, I mean I write for them too, but I think the review’s a bit much. I mean…Newsweek? Come on.
Definite props to Elaine though for all the time she puts into Shanghaiist. I remember the horrible, horrible day after Intern KTV Night, she still managed to put together a day’s worth of news while the rest of us were useless as rocks; blobby, hungover rocks.
A change was needed.
Everyone and their mother now refers to China’s booming economy as a “bubble,” which started to make me cringe every time I looked at my tumblr.
So I’ve changed the URL to plain old ednacz, which I suppose I’m okay with anyway. This is my personal site, and it’s not always going to revolve around China, especially as I’m graduating in two months. (eeps!)
But just for the record: the backstory!
I thought up ‘the China Bubble’ when I was 18 and studying abroad for a year in Dalian. Some expat friends and I noticed that we became completely different people -unrecognizably different- in a country like China, where you’re treated like a better class of some sort just for knowing English.
Maybe it had nothing to do with the English. But I’m positive that had I gone to Europe, I would not have changed the way I did in China. Something about that country gives expats a superiority complex, a feeling of near-invincibility; the ability to do whatever the hell you feel like doing, norms and mores and morals be damned.
Life doesn’t feel real over there. China brings out the Hyde to your Jekyll. I’ve had my China-Edna friends meet my Etown-Edna friends and they find it impossible they’re talking about the same Edna.
So that’s the Bubble I had always referred to: the Alternate Universe that is (often) expat life in China. Not any of that economic crap, because in that Bubble, theorists bank on the bubble eventually bursting. This one doesn’t ever burst, if you don’t want it to.
I’ve noticed in the last few days, I’ve been doling out a lot of advice about teaching in China and moving there in general. More than I usually dole out, anyway.
It seems everyone in their 20s is going to China these days instead of finding a proper job. No more of that, post-graduation-backpack-trip-across-Europe tradition.
I’m also finding that while I love being the go-to for advice on these matters, it also is really frustrating to repeeeeatedly explain China and its job market to people. Especially super anxious 25-year-olds.
(I could totally do it for pay, though. Maybe I should find a job as a China consultant. Hm.)
