Author: Lyn Jeffery

Lyn Jeffery is a cultural anthropologist and researcher at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit group in Palo Alto, California. She studies new experiences enabled by connective technologies.
Virtual China

Douban.net, cont. Be part of a bridge space.

Posted on by Lyn Jeffery

A bridge space: where Chinese and non-Chinese can collide and create new online experiences and connections.

Jason blogged the English beta version of Douban.net, which opened in 12/2005, below.  Something like All Consuming, the original Chinese-language version Douban.com went live in 3/2005 and now has (according the the Douban website) over sixty thousand registered users, over a million collections and ratings,…

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Virtual China

everything under the sun

Posted on by Lyn Jeffery

The purpose of the Virtual China blog is to explore the burgeoning Chinese online world, which we define broadly as "virtual experiences and environments in and about China."  We like the broad definition since "China" is found in many forms online, in multiple languages, and experienced by Chinese and non-Chinese people around the world.  However, we also try to focus on those aspects of virtual…

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Virtual China

virtually quitting the Party

Posted on by Lyn Jeffery

The Epoch Times, the controversial and strongly anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) paper linked with Falun Gong, claims to have registered over 8 million public withdrawals from the CCP, the Communist Youth League, and the Communist Young Pioneers via its “Quitting the CCP” website.  The number is unverifiable and the withdrawals are not considered official in China.

The…

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Virtual China

Pirate servers profitable

Posted on by Lyn Jeffery

Two Chinese computer science university students made a pot of money–over US $150,000–operating 43 pirate servers of Shanda’s (Nasdaq: SNDA) online game
Legend of Mir 2.  They were arrested in February.

If legal game operators are not delivering a reliable experience (see post below), there may be even less incentive for players to use official servers.

link

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Virtual China

Almost storming ‘The Gate of Ahn’Qiraj’

Posted on by Lyn Jeffery

wow2_1

Imagine you and 500 members of your alliance have just spent 4 and a half hours organizing yourselves, going on the long journey to the Gate of Ahn’Qiraj in World of Warcraft (WoW), and undertaking a quest.  Just before you kill the final boss and get the loot, you’re all disconnected from the server.

Frustrated?  If you’re Chinese, you send…

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Virtual China

Sister Furong tops the list

Posted on by Lyn Jeffery

FurongSister Furong (芙蓉姐姐) tops the list of one Chinese internet user’s “Most Disgusting Chinese Women of 2005.”  A list we might not pay much attention to if it weren’t for the way that Internet stardom has shaped it.  In addition to Sister Furong–for whom a Baidu search reveals 3.8 million results–“Hooligan Swallow” is another Internet star, who comes…

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Virtual China

what’s on the BBS today: the inventiveness of farmers

Posted on by Lyn Jeffery

Water_carSubmarine

Everything under the sun is happening in China.

“Open up your perspective: the best of Chinese farmers’ wisdom” (my loose translation) shows us some of the DIY projects taken on by those deemed “farmers” (农民) in the current Chinese social system.  The car drives on land and in water; the submarine is one of a…

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