8 pm date, but how to get there?
You could take the Metro, which results in a Sweet Date.
Or you could take the bus, which may result in extreme agitation, long ride times... possible death...
and missing the date.
The wall ad in full.
Shenzhen, China.
Okay, so today I came upon Dating-Chinese-Women.com. I swear I was not looking for dating sites. Just came upon a blog directing me to this site (honestly!). That being said, i did learn some valuable information.
I had no idea there were this many English language Chinese dating websites. Dating-Chinese-Women.com has some damning reviews, such as this one for ChinaDarlings.com:
Just to be clear, we’re not stating that this site is an “evil” internet site -you’re by no means likely to get conned here. What we are saying is that it’s a pathetic web page and you might be in severe danger of being bored to death. Unlike datingchinese.com, this website is not even good for a laugh. We suggest that you you should not bother wasting your time on it unless your idea of an excellent internet Chinese dating experience is wandering around for days on end in a large empty space attempting to locate anyone who might be breathing.
He's another for DatingChinese.com:
If you ‘re searching for a night of cyber lust and you tend not to worry about the thought of a wanton seduction with someone who may perhaps secretly be a hulking, hairy Nigerian guy, then DatingChinese.com or Obridge.com would possibly be your new home away from home, but for a serious Chinese girlfriend and dating Chinese women online in hopes of an enduring loving relationship, give these two web sites a firm pass!
Seems like a lot of the sites are nothing but scams:
One thing you should never do is trust GagaMatch.com and think you’re going to meet your perfect Chinese match there. This site has nothing to do with dating Chinese women and has everything to do with scamming innocent men. Join this site and you will find yourself paying exorbitant fees to send messages to beautiful Chinese women that don’t really exist. Are there any real Chinese women on the site? We can’t say for sure, but if there are then they’re being played just like the men are, and you could spend a lifetime on the site, not to mention thousands of dollars, without ever meeting one.
I never got the online dating thing. I guess it's still popular in the West and I know of foreigners that have used DateInAsia.com. It would be interesting to research Chinese language dating sites and their current popularity (mental note made).
Apparently not all is bad. Top pick - ChinaLoveMatch.com:
Given the extent of its personal service, the vast array of onsite features, the high security it offers, and especially the huge number of real and beautiful Chinese women members, the fees to become a Gold member on ChinaLoveMatch.net are really very reasonable, lower than on many sites which offer very much less. For one fee you are able to meet, message and chat with every member on the site – no fees for individual introductions and no translation fee. Again, if it is marriage or a long term relationship you’re looking for, don’t be hesitate – ChinaLoveMatch.net offers everything you could want in dating Chinese women online!
So you heard it hear first, guys. Don't be hesitate!
You don't need to know the language to appreciate the commercial below for Tencent QQ messenger. It reminds me of my mom and I now, except she's on her iPad and we're using iMessage. I recommend you watch through to at least 1:52 into the video, when you will hear the most annoying sound in all of China. Beep beep beep beep beep beep... That last message she types says, "儿子，生日快乐."
"Son, Happy Birthday."
Came across an interesting infographic today courtesy of thenextweb.com. Was made for gplus.com. Click the infographic for a larger version. I have also written some comments below.
Comments:
1. When was the Huffington Post blocked? I certainly don't remember not being able to access it for the past few years and it is online currently. I can vouch for the other sites being censored, but the Huff Post is not.
2. Facebook is blocked, but a lot of my Chinese friends are on it anyway by way of a VPN.
3. While Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have all fallen by the wayside, one website that surprisingly became unblocked a few years ago was Wikipedia. It is the largest web property I know of to become unblocked.
4. Why didn't they include the largest copycat platform of them all, QQ? If you haven't heard of it, you will at some point in your life. It's like AIM back in the 2000's but bigger. Much bigger. According to Wikipedia, in July 2011, QQ (owned by the company Tencent) had a total of 812.3 million ACTIVE user accounts. Among the younger generation, I tend to think a QQ number (the means for identifying your account) is more important than a phone number. I met someone new last night and we exchanged QQ numbers, not phone numbers. Even hospitals use QQ to answer treatment inquiries. For a really cheesy introduction to QQ (really really cheesy), click here. I am saving Tencent's sectacular Chinese New Years commercial for a separate post.
5. In the list of copycat platforms, by far the most popular are Weibo and Youku. I did make a Weibo account (read about it here), and I think I have only posted once or twice. I might have to try it again. I also have a Youku account and used it to post some videos earlier in this site's life. A few weeks ago I then switched to Youtube in the hope I could upload videos straight from my iPhone using the Youtube app (while not viewable without a VPN in China, these videos would be much more convenient to upload from the phone itself). This was a great plan until I later realized I have a Chinese iPhone which does not have a Youtube app :.(
6. 500 million Chinese internet users... How many people are in the US? The US still has a higher percentage of users, with around 80% internet penetration (similar to Japan, Korea, and Germany).
7. Instant messaging is big, really big. Not only is there QQ, but MSN Messenger is also very popular. I have accounts for both.
8. I'm surprised the online gaming percentage isn't higher. I must have seen a farming or kart racing game appear on the computer screen of at least 90% of the people I know and encounter each day. If the number of Chinese people playing farming games each day actually did the real thing, no one would go hungry in the world. You think people in the US are addicted to Farmville? You haven't even seen the surface of true online farming addition until you walk through a Chinese office during lunch. There are farms everywhere.
He's back...
Glad to see the Iceman Kimi Raikkonen returning to Formula 1 with Lotus Renault. One of my best memories was in 2005, watching the Japanese GP with two friends at an off campus apartment (hello Pete and Sean) on a big screen. Kimi went from starting (almost) dead last to passing for the win on the last lap. We went so crazy when he passed Fisichella that the neighbors called security to complain about the noise. Have embedded the video below, although it is the BBC feed and not the American Speed Channel feed we watched at the time. Good memories.
This deserves two smiles! : ) : )
I will miss the #15 Perky Jerky Toyota. Didn't even get a chance to know you.
Pretty ridiculous.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Much Ado About Stuffing | ||||
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This makes me sad : (
Two years and counting in Shenzhen and still have not been to see a performance at the Theater. A beautiful building.
Coastal City. Shenzhen, China
I previously posted about ex-NBAer Stephon Marbury and his problems in China. Now, four NBA players are currently under contract to Chinese Basketball Association teams (three from my Denver Nuggets alone!) and there could be controversy ahead. These players took a gamble there would be no NBA season, and now with the season scheduled to start on Christmas, I have a bad feeling they are going to start acting up in the hope of being let out of their contacts. And according to Yahoo Sports, the Chinese teams themselves are also expecting this. In some cases the players have already been plenty immature.
[J.R.] Smith has had multiple clashes with his team, and some Chinese officials fear players becoming obstinate and purposely missing practices and games once they realize they’ll be held to their contracts...
Chinese teams invested heavily when they signed NBA players, also providing hotel suites, personal drivers and chefs to make the players more comfortable.
Again, what's with the hotel suites? Why not rent a really nice apartment? It's certainly cheaper and just as nice. No room service or spa?
“If they think that they’re going to make things difficult, not play, create problems, what’s going to happen is that the teams will not release their letters of clearance they’ll need to sign in the NBA,” a Chinese Basketball Association official told Yahoo! Sports. “There’s no way out.”
Good. These players took a chance and lost out. Just because you are American does not give you a right to come to China, sign a contract, and then expect to just be able to walk away with no repercussions if you feel like it.
I have advice based on my experience but I don't expect anyone to take it. If, and only if, I as a player have behaved professionally thus far in the season, I can see the possibility of asking the Chinese team, very, very nicely, to let me out of my contract and return to the NBA. But in return, I sign a contract that promises I will return during the summer for the next five years to train with the Chinese team, teach young and upcoming players in the Chinese team's system, and advertise the team's upcoming season. I don't know exactly how the contracts work, but I would certainly be promising longer-term cooperation with the team in exchange for letting me return for the start of the NBA season.
Unfortunately, it seems most of the American players have already pushed their luck too far and have no room to negotiate being let out early of their contracts.
Chandler has required far less maintenance than his two former Nuggets teammates. Smith has constantly clashed with Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls officials since arriving in China, and the complaints about him include missed practices, allegedly faking injuries and relentless demands on living conditions and transportation.
Thank's for doing so much to improve America's image in China. J.R., I'll have to catch a game before you leave (or start faking injuries and illness) so I have the chance to personally boo you.
Futian, Shenzhen, China
I was surrounded by fake diamonds. Shenzhen, China
From a new restaurant opening celebration Saturday night.
You always see stories about pedestrians coming to their fellow mans' aid when in need. Unfortunately, there have been two very depressing and very public stories in the past month or two here in China that make me question if anyone will be there for me if god-forbid I do have an accident and am hurt while riding.
Chinese toddler run over twice after being left on street
It begins last Thursday when a two-year-old girl totters into a narrow lane in a wholesale market in the thriving industrial city of Foshan in Guangdong Province and is hit by a small, white van. The driver pauses, and then pulls away, crushing the child for a second time under his rear wheels.
And then comes the very depressing and sad part:
One by one, no fewer than 18 passers-by are seen on closed circuit television ignoring the girl as she lies, clearly visible in the road, haemorrhaging into the gutter. Not a single one of them stops to help.
She later died in her hospital bed. Her name was Yue Yue.
Once is bad enough, but then three weeks later this happened: Chengdu woman leaps from bridge into oncoming traffic.
As the clip reveals, the jumper lands on the road in front of an orange car, which brakes, stalls for several seconds, and then merges into the left lane and motors off, leaving the woman prone in the middle of a busy four-lane highway.
Even when traffic nearly comes to a standstill, drivers continue to nonchalantly chug by in a shockingly passive scene reminiscent of zoo trams passing a dull exhibit. Fortunately, the cameraman (seemingly the only driver sympathetic to the woman's plight) dialed emergency number 110 to report the incident.
So the big question is, why aren't pedestrians willing to help those in public that are hurt and need aid? While reading these stories, one reason that did not come to my mind but is very compelling is the fear of legal repercussions. France24 has a very good article with social feedback about the incidents. In the article, a Beijing lawyer identifies a possible legal implication as a cause so many pedestrians did not stop to help. In the story, he is quoted as saying:
It’s hard to only accuse the onlookers in these stories. There are reasons behind this behaviour. In 2006, a court in the city of Gulou, in Nanjing, sentenced a man called Peng Yu to a 40,000-yuan fine. [The woman accused Peng Yu of beating her, while he maintains that all he did was help her get to the hospital after she fell to the ground]. I understand that people are concerned of falling into this kind of trap. I think these videos only show part of the story. I am sure there are many others who would spontaneously help a person in need.
So maybe that's it. There is just too much fear of possible legal repercussions if a pedestrian helps out and the situation turns ugly. This is a scary proposition for someone like me that is now riding to work every day and would be relying on help from pedestrians if I ever did have an emergency situation. There have been a few times I have needed emergency help (for example, when running down a purse thief) and people have always stepped in to assist me. But have I just been lucky so far? Is it because I'm a foreigner so Chinese people are more willing to help me? Maybe I have not yet been in the type of situation that pedestrians don't like to assist with? I have no idea.
To finish, the most unbelievable quote comes directly from the driver himself that hit Yue Yue the baby.
If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan ($3,125). But if she is injured, it may cost me hundreds of thousands yuan.
I think this post deserves another sad face :.(
From Shandong Province, where I lived for two years in the city of Qingdao.
I wonder if my cats would do the same. Will probably be too busy playing with fake mice and yarn balls.