Rising star classical musician chooses Hong Kong over China, alludes to corruption-fueled practices

Posted on by Jason Li

From the WSJ by Nicholas Frisch:

Mr. Sheng’s 2001 MacArthur “genius” grant propelled him into an elite circle of globally famous Chinese composers. His peers include Tan Dun, an Oscar-winner for the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” soundtrack, also with a premiere at New York’s Metropolitan Opera to his name; Chen Qigang, a student of the late French composer Olivier…

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“Only” 45.8% of China’s netizens have been attacked by a virus in 2010

Posted on by Jason Li

I was skimming through the latest “state of the Chinese internet” report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). It’s a pretty comprehensive study by a government body that interviews 60,000 people from 31 regions/areas.

One section that caught my eye was internet security. The report was boasting that only 45.8% of those polled had been attacked by a virus or Trojan…

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Slang term of the day: tubaozi

Posted on by Jason Li

In China, the arrival of the tubaozi, the much-ridiculed “potato buns” from the countryside who got rich without ever living in a sophisticated first-tier city…

Via the Chinese Economic Review, in an article about the evolution of luxury consumers in China.

The Image of an Ideal Primary School in China

Posted on by Jason Li

Above: 10AM Communication’s ad for Capitaland showing off its philanthropic efforts. The setup is that many schools were destroyed by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, and that Capitaland has helped re-build 15 schools across China. The video features their star project, the first “green hope” (whatever they mean by that) school in China.

The Singapore-based…

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Illustrated introduction to the four tones of Mandarin Chinese

Posted on by Jason Li

(Disclaimer: This is a repost of a blog post I wrote at my day job, which I think 88 Bar readers will also find interesting. Apologies for the plug.)

We’ve started playing with the newly released ShowMe app, which lets you create Khan Academy-style video tutorials. So far it’s been pretty great. Below, we’ve included the first…

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Ethnography of Tech

Tricia Wang, undercover migrant worker extraordinaire

Posted on by Jason Li

Follow Tricia in her adventures to put herself in the shoes of migrant workers in Wuhan and to understand youth at the borders (economically and geographically) are using technology in China.

First stop: Room, board and internet in an underground tunnel:

I’ve been touring underground tunnels looking for a short-term…

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