八八吧 · 88 Bar

Victor Hsu, or guccio, day-time job banker in Shanghai, is the main guy behind Moleskiner.cn (打造中文谱写的Moleskine传奇 (Creating a Handwritten Chinese Moleskine Legend).

On his Flickr, he’s detailed him and his friend (an MS employee)’s “just Geeky!” collection:

Items of interest: x4 Moleskines, MUJI stationary (sketchbook, pen bag & pencil box), Hipster PDA, HP iPAQ,…

Continue readingAnatomy of a Chinese Moleskine Consumer

Here’s one way to use Molive, the citizen journalism site where folks post pictures of the strange and wonderful things around them in China: bringing everyday street-level publicity efforts, the kind you see all the time in Chinese cities, to a wider stage. An apprentice journalist in Nanjing decided to help an old man passed by on the way to work, who…

Continue readingbringing street appeals to the web

This excerpt from a submission to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, written in 2002, still stands strong for anyone trying to understand how the goverment affects the Internet in China.  David Cowhig covered the Internet for the Environment and Technology Section of the US Embassy in Beijing for many years.  Check out the entire piece–it’s readable and remains highly relevant.
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Continue readingnot Big Brother, rather a loose collection of Little Brothers

Just discovered China Daily’s wonderful treasure trove, Newscartoon site.  Trying to puzzle through cartoon dialogue is a pleasurable challenge for me (Jason, however, seems to have no trouble!) — and it’s a really different way to understand what’s important in China at the moment, and how current events are being interpreted, at least from an official point of view.  The site also…

Continue readingChinese political cartoons, social commentary

You can find the top 100 Chinese websites, calculated daily, at China Internet Index System (CIIS) 中国互联网指数 .  Today’s top 10 are: 1) Baidu.com; 2) QQ.com; 3) Sina.com.cn; 4) Netease 163.com; 5) Sohu.com; 6) cn.yahoo.com; 7) Taobao.com; 8) TOM.com; 9) Vnet.cn (who knew?); 10) Soso.com.

CIIS is a joint effort by Internet research and incubator Chinalabs.com (directed by Bokee.com…

Continue readingChinese Alexa

We’re taking a respite from the usual translated comic today because I’ve stumbled upon something much greater: a forum post entitled 找一找你心中的最帅的帅哥 (Find your ideal hot boy).

In the post are six pages full of airbrushed men, presumably all from Japanese manga/anime. They range from the dark silent type:

(Character = Sasuke from Naruto.)

…

Continue readingSunday Hot Hunks Special

Following up on the previous post, the Etymology of 顶你个肺 (“Hit Your Lung”), Sinodrom pointed out that the comments section of the original Chinese blog post suggests an alternative, more widely accepted, explanation for the term.

A translation of the first comment:

The writer is wrong, I don’t know if your…

Continue readingEtymology of 顶你个肺 (“Hit Your Lung”) Reprise

ESWN reports on a set of controversial photographs, involving a group of female RenMin Univeristy Graduates, that made their way onto the internet.

Netizen’s initial clamor: “Whores!”

Southern Metropolis Daily’s rebuttal: “Nobody should criticize these female students who are brave enough to set themselves free.”

My take: “Looks like they’re having fun,…

Continue readingRenmin University Graduates

ESWN has translated a post on ChineseNewsNet about the existential crisis of a mainland Chinese doctoral student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Here’s the ending:

“This problem had been present a long time ago, but it only manifested itself much too late.  I believe that this problem is shared by my fellow students.  I believe…

Continue readingA Tsinghua Student in Hong Kong’s Existential Crisis

Spend some time wandering around among the spectacular maps, objects, and Flash video tours of recently excavated materials from the Liao empire (907-1125), online at the Asia Society.  The “Selected Liao Dynasty Sites” section shows you where some of the actual sites are located, ranging across northeastern China, from Liaoning to Hebei.  “Virtual Tours of Liao Tombs” provides a 360 degree turn…

Continue readingvirtual tomb tours