Reckless fireworks - back in Shanghai

OCTOBER 18, 2008: To faithfully go back to this "blog's" origins, here's a (digitally enhanced) group email. Photos

Why? Well people just now started recklessly firing off big fireworks amidst the spinney of skyscrapers that boxxey and i find ourselves living in now. I'm talking big explosions going off right next to the people's windows in the buildings opposite us maybe 50m away. The explosions were happening maybe 5 metres from some other people's windows. (The photo is the place during the day.)




If any of said windows happened to be open, as ours was, the people inside could expect to be sprayed with fresh and colourful hot embers. I don't know if you knew this, but it seems fireworks, at least home-use fireworks here in the home of fireworks, only get about 10 storeys up before they run out of thrust. They launch into the air like a Spider Burton mongrel punt, and when they hit the top of their trajectory and start to fall, then they explode. Actually this morning we had these little canisters of explosive floating past our 9th floor window in slow motion and then exploding. That they explode then the is plan, but i saw at least one fail to and fall, smoking, into the bottleneck entrance of the underground car park. Brave, whoever picked it up and got rid of it.

This place we're in, it must be said, absolutely rocks, but the journey here, on our no-seat train tickets, sucked worse than we imagined. We got to the train station's departure gate (Chinese train stations, we were reminded, are like airports elsewhere) about 4 hours before the train was due to leave, which was about 1/2 an hour before the next person. The strategy worked, and when we were let on we staked out a position next to the slinky-style carriage-join area, by a locked door with a window. Sitting on our luggage we were quite comfortable, even smug, until between 10 and 15 more people arrived to inhabit the same slinky-join. As we protected our initial advantage it became a bladder battle. Everyone was going to Shanghai, 18 hours away, so if you got up, any breathing space you previously had would be gone when you got back.


At Huizhou, the first stop out of Shenzhen, even more people piled on despite there being nowhere for them to go. This fella below used the chaos to his advantage by jumping off and snatching 2 instant noodle cups from a hapless platform cart-pusher. Over the following hours, he managed to phase himself into our leg space. He was a chain-smoking kid of about 20, his shirt stained and holed, heading away from his family home during "Golden Week", to look for work in Shanghai.


Which is pretty much what we were doing. On the day we arrived, on zero hours sleep each, we somehow managed to house-hunt through about 5 or 6 rat infested holes before coming across the place we're in now.

We're smack in the middle of the old city, the somewhat forgotten walled city (the wall's gone and no-one seems to know about it nowadays) that existed before foreigners came to Shanghai, and home of the Mandarin Garden and that tea house that's on just about every "oriental" bowl, including the Turk's. Our ninth-floor bay window has one of the most interesting views i could have hoped for: the old city is ringed by an oval-shaped road (Zhonghua Rd) built on the site of the former city wall. Within this road (wall) is an expanse of low-rise, high-density Chinese bustle, ringed by the dense skyscrapers outside. The high-rise we live in is part of a mohawk cutting down the middle of the oval, so our room overlooks a quilt of jumbly rooftops across to the forest of skyscrapers beyond, which is pretty unreal. In the other direction, through the unremarkable blockade of the neighbouring buildings in our complex, we can see skyscrapers in Pudong on the other side of the river that play ads and tripped-out visualisations on their, uh, well, themselves - The whole skyscraper is basically a giant TV screen.


Here's a panorama from the other side (someone else's room), it's quite detailed and probably chopped off here so suggest clicking to view full size.


I can say that based on what i've seen most of Shanghai outside of the old areas is - how did they describe Perth that time? - "boring and functional." Not even in a communist way. Just in a chaos-being-well-under-control way, a place with plenty of malls, where people can live inane lives inanely, walking on nicely paved, tree-lined sidewalks wide enough not to have to bump others or step over roadside sellers' blankets. In other words, quite nice. But where we are, the tiny back streets and alleyways within that jumbly patchwork are the most interesting i've seen Shanghai get, all "chaos constructions" with split-system airconditioners, fighting-insect mini-markets, illegal gambling tables with crowds of onlookers (some holding card games, others holding insect fights), and occasional interesting smells between the rubbish piles. In one filthy thoroughfare I saw a woman walking her trophy-dog, a magnificent Collie, with the leash in one hand and a brush in the other, stopping about every 10 steps to brush some part of the dog. I wasn't much of a Shanghailander last time, probably because Minhang isn't exactly in Shanghai. But with about 90% of Shanghai's interesting places within 1/2 an hour's walk, there's really nothing to complain about...ah, nothing to complain about, that good old boring group email formula.



The apartment we live in is supposed to be a 3 bedroom one, i believe. The owners are apparently a union of family members from Fujian who have bestowed responsibility and residence benefits on a Gen-X relative, Mr Zhou (i.e. "Mr Joe"). Zhou was kind in letting us move in the day we arrived, saving us hundreds in foreigner-hotel fees (you can't stay anywhere cheap in Shanghai if you're a foreigner). But the apartment wasn't yet finished, and we were the first to move in.

The whole apartment, it turns out, is a DIY job. When performing some installation task or another, Zhou is the archetypal cowboy - cigarette in mouth, mobile in one hand, massive powerdrill in the other, digging out big holes in the brand new wall. Wonky archetraves and non-flush skirtings aren't the worst of Zhou's worries. He's also had to rewire the whole house in order to count the individual rooms' electricity consumption. I'm somehwat surprised that he survived, especially when i asked him if being an impromptu sparky was dangerous, to which he replied "impossible!"

Once he'd finished making 3 bedrooms into 5 and renting them out as such, Zhou decided to move his own family in. Problem was, he had nowhere to go. So what did he do? He ordered in some glass panels and sliding doors, and sectioned off a part of the communal living area. Then he moved his family in, who now live behind the glass.

XINHUA: "Human flesh search engines": the embrace of angels and demons

Google China's April Fools joke this year was to advertise "Google Human Flesh Search", which could, they said, find even "the prettiest jungle girls, the most impressive mountain herdsmen, the most mysterious desert caves, the most most romantic final encounters...its highest aim is: 'not seeking the best, just the most meat'.".

It took me quite a while to work out what 人肉搜索引擎s, or 'human flesh search engines', actually were, so of course i fell for Google's joke . . . ha ha. I initially thought it was about searching FOR human flesh, but the essence of it is flesh-and-blood people - the 'human flesh search engines', who are usually hardcore bulletin-board vigilantes - doing detective work online. However, considering the cases 'human flesh search engines' have been involved in - tracing the Tibetan torch-grabber, getting the stiletto-wearing Hangzhou kitten stomper fired, finding the students who filmed themselves abusing their 70-year-old teacher, and identifying the girl who ranted against earthquake victims, to name but a few - the 'human flesh' part actually does fit both searcher and the searched. Given that you can't ban the former (or anyone) from joining dots, it's in the latter's perspective that the issue lies. That's why i've mostly called it 'human flesh searching'.

It's a weird fusion, this 'human flesh searching', of Mao-era mob 'criticism' and the internet's power over (Communist-style) information suppression. The most interesting perspective i've seen is that from a Chinese-American writer called Xujun Eberlein, who said she considered it was a uniquely Chinese phenomenon that was born of the high number of smart, well-educated, intellectually under-utilised young people. I like this theory cos i often wonder at all the well-presented uni graduates standing all day glassy-eyed in department stores being ignored, mindlessly repeating "welcome welcome", clapping outside shoe stores, waiting on tables and even flipping burgers (though apparently the latter has status). I'm quite prepared to believe that some of these people live exciting online lives of blog wars, scandals, outrages, clues, investigations and torches of righteousness.

This article has me close to my wits end with Xinhua, definitely with Xinhua's features. I think i'm gonna stick to short, punchy "news" articles. You'll know why when you don't get to the bottom of the article below!

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"HUMAN FLESH SEARCH ENGINES": THE EMBRACE OF ANGELS AND DEMONS

September 24, 2008

Source: Young China Online/China Youth Daily

After a rent dispute, shared-house tenant Ms Cui left without saying goodbye, and the owner, Ms Lin, posted a 1000RMB reward on the internet for anyone who could find Ms Cui. The post included Ms Cui's real name and telephone number, and set off the 'net pals'[*] "human flesh search engines". Ms Cui believed Ms Lin's actions have influenced her reputation and work, taking Ms Lin to court demanding an apology and 10,000RMB compensation for spritual damage.

On the afternoon of September 19, Beijing Changping District People's Court handed down its decision, rejecting Ms Cui's demands.

"We can look at this case as typical of the disputes that 'human flesh searching' produces. So, how should we regard 'human flesh searching', this new and rising online phenomenon? How do we go about making rules to ensure law-abiding citizens' rights and interests aren't intruded upon? These questions merit eveyone's consideration." The academics and common 'net pals' this reporter recently interviewed are all concerned at the constant stream of 'human flesh search' incidents.

Actually from the day it appeared, 'human flesh searching' has prompted a number of uproars and online incidents: From 2006's "Cat cruelty" incident to the "Tongxu-gate"(?) incident, from late 2007's "Beijing white-collar women death blog" to this year's "Online videos insulting the Sichuan Earthquake disaster zone", 'human flesh searching' has allowed the details of the searched to be publicised in detail, leaving them with nowhere to hide from the force of the internet.

Should 'human flesh searching' be completely condemned?

Generally speaking, 'human flesh searching' refers to the information search and provision method in which "collectors" put out questions and "respondants" answer. In the narrow sense it refers to the internet as a platform and a resource to progressively obtain someone's or some people's information, then arranging and analysing it and finally identifying a person - it's a process by which people find people.

Psychological consultant Hu Juan believes 'human flesh searching has grown into a huge force due to its being based in "power in numbers". Many of today's citizens' rights are agglomerated and realised through online mass mobilisation activities.

The "online community" gives people the right to participate equally, converting them from passive receivers of information to active providers of inforation, increasing the sense of self-accomplishment. So 'human flesh searching' is a step towards allowing everyone to become "policemen", "judges" and "moral adjudicators, and the online masses, representing a grassroots population, are experiencing an unprecedented "illusion of rights".

In Hu Juan's opinion, 'human flesh searching' certainly doesn't lack positive socialism - it is a harbinger of the modern citizenry's consciousness and maturity, and passion for the full protection and restoration of society's moral values system.

'Net pal' "Silver Romance" believes 'human flesh searching' has a definite use - 'human flesh searching' has taken the clues left by fake, ugly, evil etc. phenomena and brought about an excellent kind of public supervision and restriction, answering the whole society's longing for fairness and justice.

At the same time, 'human flesh searching' can gather into one single technology all the jumbled bits of information that search engines miss, expanding the internet's usefulness. After the Great Wenchuan Earthquake, communication and transport were cut off across a large area, and hundreds of thousands of people couldn't get information from friends or relatives. Many websites quickly launched people-search functions, mobilising the power of the internet to search for information from the disaster zone, making use of the 'human flesh searching' technology.

With some public issues, 'human flesh searching' has had an extremely important influence. For example, the "South China Tiger" incident, where the 'net pals' discovered the [Calendar picture tiger] and dug up the factory it came from, completely changing the course of the issue. And with the "Cat cruelty" scandal for which two nurses were fired, the victory of morality and justice was easy to see.

One website community board editor says: "The internet has gone beyond the power of imagination, when villainous scandals appear, the 'net pals' come together with unprecedented unity, and with a sense of responsibility and righteousness. With search engines allowing for investigations, people power is stronger than ever.

Where are the boundaries of 'human flesh searching'?

Wang Fei, the plaintiff in what media have called "China's first case of internet violence", whose wife recorded his liaisons with a mistress on a blog, [and then committed suicide saying this was the reason] making him the target of the human flesh search engines. After his phone number, address, and work details were revealed, Wang Fei took the host website of his wife's blog to court, claiming the website had invaded his privacy and damaged his reputation.

As in Wang Fei's case, Ms Lin wrote a post on the Tiantong Gardens message board with Ms Cui's real name, phone number and named her as "a cheater to the end who broke her oath with Tiantong Gardens! I hope people can provide clues." Ms Cui believed Ms Lin's post contained insulting and degrading language, publicised her personal information and had defamed her.

According to media reports, the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court has already heard Wang Fei's case three times but has still not reached a decision. The Chaoyang Court has convened judges to deliberate on the 3 critical questions of 'human flesh searching': 1 - the relationship between publication of common individuals' personal information and invasion of privacy; 2 - the inappropriate absence of supervision of 'net pals' comments and their degree of responsibility; and 3 - the limits of moral criticism and privacy protection.

A judge named Wang told the Beijing media, searching the internet is not under scrutiny, the issue at stake is that some 'human flesh searches' haven't been limited to the online world, but have led to real physical and mental harm approaching that of real-world incidents of violence, and will come under the jurisdiction of the law.

In the September 19 judgement, the Changping Curt found Ms Lin's posting behaviour hadn't constituted defamation of Ms Cui. The presiding judge found that citizens have the right to freely express their opinions, and this freedom included making comment on real issues and expressing one's emotions. Although the post contained the words "cheater" and "disgrace", this should be seen as Ms Lin's expressing her angry response under the circumstances of the rent disputes she had experienced and Ms Cui's consistent procrastination when paying rent. The situation wasn't one of fabricating a story and privacy violation [?].

Public opinion is more responsive on the question of whether to regulate 'human flesh searching'. This year in June this publisher carried out a public opinion survey which indicated nearly 80% of the masses believe 'human flesh searching' should be better regulated. 28.8% agreed that "Realising the real-name internet system will make people take responsibility", and 26.4% of the masses believed "Internet administrators must strengthen monitoring to make behaviour stay above society's bottom line." 24.8% of the masses support "legislation and enacting comprehensive regulation and restriction."

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*I refuse to use the word 'netizen' and this translation is direct from the Chinese anyway.

ORIGINAL LINK: “人肉搜索”天使与魔鬼的拥抱

XINHUA: Premier Wen Jiabao and Australian PM Kevin Rudd on the Phone

Maybe it's the tone slip-ups that add amusing surrealist moments to the most inane conversations. More likely it's simply novelty value, but either way, oreigners who speak Chinese - from the "knee how"s right through to the old China hands - have a certain automatic charisma in China.

Kevin "Lu Kewen" Rudd is popular among the common folk here. Given they know nothing of any of his policies - he has none anyway - his popularity is the kind of that has been forbidden fruit to the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party since Mao's personality cult. So being seen and associated with "Lu Kewen" as much as possible might help fill the gap left by the Chinese leaders' self-imposed charisma embargo. Crackpot theory? Sure, but why on earth was the text below the #2 story on the front page of Xinhua today?

And if you find yourself wondering if Kevin really said the paraphrased words attributed to him in the third para, i assure you that he did. In fact, they probably didn't need to be paraphrased, as Kevin's Chinese is all "steadfast"s and "facilitate"s and "promote"s; it's made for Xinhua.

PREMIER WEN JIABAO AND AUSTRALIAN PM "LU KEWEN" ON THE PHONE

Xinhua Beijing, October 10.

State Department Premier Wen Jiabao held a telephone conversation with Australian PM Kevin Rudd ("Lu Kewen") on the 6th, with both sides exchanging views on Sino-Australian relations as well as the international financial crisis, climate change and other problems.

Wen Jiabao positively appraised the progress made by the two countries in mutually benefitcial cooperation, and indicated that China was keen to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Australia and the international community in response to the many current complicated global challenges, and jointly advance world harmony and continued development.

"Lu Kewen" lauded the Chinese side's positive actions and clear stance in response to the international financial crisis. He said the international community needed to strengthen cooperation, establish robust institutions and ensure the international financial system's transparency and consistency. The Australian side wanted to continue to strengthen communication and cooperation with the Chinese side in this and every other bilateral area.

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ORIGINAL LINK 温家宝总理与澳大利亚总理陆克文通电话

XINHUA: Official-flavoured names taking over in the schoolyard

I find this article interesting because of the way it adopts the pro-Cultural Revolution stance of heaping the blame for a modern problem on traditional culture, that problem being the Communist Party presence on campus. I may be up a creek with no paddle here, but it's as though the Party is trying to retain face while paving the way for reducing its own influence on campus. I love the way both the writers and the speakers feel the need, in making their criticisms, to lay down their pro-harmony credentials!

TEACHERS BECOMING "DIRECTORS", OFFICIAL-FLAVOURED NAMES TAKING OVER IN THE SCHOOLYARD

From: Xinhua Net Zhejiang Channel

Reporters: Liu Lili & Zhang Daosheng

Before our eyes, more and more students have started calling their teachers in administrative positions names like "Head", "Director", "Secretary" etc. Even among the students, "Squad leader", "Chairman" and "Minister" have replaced "classmate", "brother" and "sister".....

More than a few people believe this "official title-isation" of school titles could have an unhealthy influence on the formerly simple staff-student and intra-student relations. But others believe it could allow students to become accustomed to society earlier and that there is no need to stop it.

---Schoolyard "official-flavoured" naming becoming heavier---

With higher-education's proportions continuing to increase, almost all higher-ed institutions have large numbers of Directors, Deans and mid-level cadres, outside of the overall school leadership. Additionally, under every institution are large numbers of Department Heads, Office Heads, Student Office Heads, Laboratory Heads, etc. and most those who have taken on such positions are actively involved with teaching, many with high technical posts and high-level backbone positions. Since these teachers began their administrative roles they became leaders, and for students, "teacher" has become "Dean", "Director", "Section Chief", etc.....

Not only has the addressing of teachers changed, more than a few classmates have started calling each other "Chairman" and "Minister". Besides the various types of higher education institutions' student organisations, there are also the Communist Party Youth Leagues, student unions and other organisations etc., and each one has created numbers of its own Ministers, and Vice-Ministers. Additionally each class has established a "Squad Monitor" and "Assistant Squad Monitor" and "Union Branch Secretary", and even within the classroom there are floor leaders and classroom leaders.

Zhejiang Forestry College 2nd year foreign languages major Gu Jiewen said: "In first year when we first entered the university our class were all very close. Since then many classmates have taken on school and college cadre roles, and many of their classmates have begun calling them "Minister" etc.; I think there is now a distance between classmates. Since then i have also taken on a student union leader role, and younger students have started calling me "Minister". So many people say it that i'm used to it now."

Zhejiang University Chinese Department researcher Shang Yiying said: "Before, when i used to come to the school administration bureau to deliver reports and analyse activities, it didn't matter whether the others had administrative positions, we just called them all "teacher", and the feeling was very cordial. But recently under the "leadership" of some high-level students it has started to be more convenient to address people by their official title, and i've started calling these teachers "Director", and "Division Head" "

In opposition to the "official title-isation" phenomenon in the schoolyard, Zhejiang Forestry College's Youth League [Party??], has issued the following suggestions to the student body: "Within the schoolyard, it is better to address each other as 'teacher' and 'classmate' "; "Let student-teacher and inter-classmate relations become more upfront."

Many students have expressed support for this suggestion. Gu Jiewen believes the "bureaucratisation" of schools isn't desirable and could easily ruin close relations between teachers and students. "There are now fellow students suggesting a return to the previous ways of address, and i absolutely agree."

---Addressing according to position in order to be ready for society?---

Those behind the proposal believe that since the official titles' "invasion" of the schoolyard the change has not only been in name-calling, it's also had an influence on relations between classmates and teachers, to the detriment of the construction of harmonious culture within the schoolyard.

Regarding the proposal, Zhejiang Forestry College Youth League teacher Wang Kang indicated his support: "Relations between teachers and students and relations between students and students can't be equated with other relations in wider society. We can't simply regard it as administration being administered or as relations between higher and lower levels." He said, "I believe this proposal can help clean up schoolyard culture, and can actively help to maintain proper student-teacher and student-student relations; it's deserving of support."

However, there are also those who believe schoolyard name-calling doesn't matter at all. They say schoolyard "official title-isation" can help students understand and become ready for society, and it really doesn't have any disadvantages for their future.

Zhejiang Forestry College Economic Management College student Jiang Feng believes getting students used to addressing their counterparts by strict titles has no disadvantage. "Isn't it just a name? I believe that addressing people by their title is a form of respect," Jiang Feng said. "And our whole society has developed this kind of atmosphere - after university students graduate, they'll definitely want to be using official titles for their bosses and superiors. This isn't just a traditional rule of interpersonal communication, it's about good communication and has a use in exchange between people. I believe that when students start using these official terms of address while studying, it has the benefit of allowing them to integrate into society faster."

Other students believe social intercourse is a field well worth knowing, that knowing how to address someone is a point of refinement and that calling people, particularly those in high positions, by their titles can express greater respect and thereby facilitate opportunities for communication.

Zhejiang Forestry College Student League Cadre Zhang Lingling said: "Despite the lack of closeness shown by the official addresses between students and teachers and among students, you can't kill the [practice] with one whack of a stick; and especially among those later-year students marching towards society, there's no harm in learning proper manners at school. And besides, the callng by official title of leaders and Cadres within the school environment also corresponds to a trend in society."

On the opposite side, experts and teaching personnel generally believe the "official title-isation" is actually the embodiment of the Chinese people's many years of official-minded ideology, and that it is not worthy of promotion. In the schoolyard, for them, calling one another "teacher" and "classmate" is better.

Zhejiang Forestry College Youth League Secretary Cai Yonghua has assumed the work of overseeing student cadres for many years. He believes that university students are the group of young people who grasp knowledge best among society, and are leaders of social trends; despite society's existing official addresses, he says, especially in official circles, this isn't society's actual direction.

"For thousands of years, in every dynasty of China, there has existed the "Scholar-official" and his official-minded ideology. But this doesn't mean it's right or popular," Cai Yonghua said. "When it comes to university students, we should still be actively promoting harmonious student-teacher and student-student relations. Only then can they, after they graduate, lead society's practices to facilitate greater harmony between people."

Zhejiang Forestry College's Professor Wang Changjin has continuously undertaken research into traditional culture. "China's culture really emphasises moral relations, specifically speaking of superior/inferior and equal relations, and so as long as we accept each other, what we call each other makes no difference," Professor Wang opined. "In general, official titles are used for work purposes, but China's official-minded culture has a very deep influence, which people often take from their work into their general lives."

Professor Wang said the promoters of schoolyard "official title-isation" were taking a one-dimensional view because systems of organisation in schools, civil society and work units weren't the same.

Zhejiang Forestry College Assistant Director of Students Ma Xiaohui said: "Some university students call their superiors by their official titles because they think it will benefit them in their career, the reason being that they have brought their thinking from their homes and society into the school; we can also say it's the influence of traditional Chinese official culture on them. But in fact, employers are humanising and are becoming more and more human-oriented. Many work-units' ideas are even the exact opposite of the students', and this is a huge change brought about by social development."

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Original link 老师变"处长"，官味称呼入侵校园

Long awaited videos!

At last, here are the videos promised in two previous posts.

In case you've been following this blog, these are the videos you've been waiting for. If you haven't, and you're here anyway, these videos are probably why you're here.

The first one i must say, from a position of no humility at all, is probbly one of the best videos uploaded to the internet this hour....as for the second one, the Klong Boats one, it's atrociously filmed, i admit, but if you haven't been on them then it's probably right to subject yurself.

Specimen 1: England's glory


Specimen 2: The fastest way to get across Bangkok...by a mile. As long as you don't mind occasional splashes of raw sewerage; i did wake up expecting blood on the pillow for several mornings after a large globule managed to score a direct hit into my inner ear.