2008 May | Virtual China

Monthly Archive for May, 2008

Gamers flock to 24-hour McDonalds

Published

on May 13, 2008

in Commerce, Environment, Games, Internet cafe and Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

A friend mentioned this to me when I was back in Hong Kong: Young professionals, after overworking themselves far past midnight, gather in McDonalds armed with… PSPs and Nintendo DSs.

Even though they are strangers to one another, they will get together for a good multiplayer game of, say, Monster Hunter. It’s popular enough that one local gaming magazine published a list of McDonalds to play.

They even offer 20 whole minutes of free Wifi! (Free Wifi is not easy to find in Hong Kong.)

Siliconera and Kotaku have more on this topic. Image taken from this post.

Corporate cross-cultural pollination in action

Published

Jason Li

on May 11, 2008

in Art, Commerce, Design, Education, Translation and Travel

. 2 Comments

Was passing by Heathrow and picked up a pamphlet about…

And I checked the website, which said they were co-hosting “over 800 events nationwide spanning art, design, cuisine, culture, science, business, technology, education and sport [that] will capture the imagination and advance the UK public’s understanding of China.”

Their lineup seems pretty impressive, and includes these works:

Above by Chen Shaohua, 1992

Above by Ji Ji, 2006.

There is, in addition, an educational component:

Lastly, they even conjured up a clever marketing ploy: To put paper pigeons in Leicaster Square that act as discount coupons:

For more information, see the HSBC Cultural Exchange website.

Question: Are there similar corporate program(me)s in the US?

Re-usable chopsticks are in?

Published

Jason Li

on May 8, 2008

in Art, Design and Environment

. 0 Comments

This happened several months ago, but I think it’s still worth capturing.

From PFSK:

“While single-use chopsticks may be a convenient option for restaurant owners and patrons alike, there is a small group of Chinese DIY designers and young environmentalists who are taking initiative to counter their use. One such group called ‘Unigreen’ has made an open offer online to hand-stitch a free chopstick / soup spoon holder for anyone who pledges to only carry reusable chopsticks.

Original post on PSFK. More pictures of chopstick bags from Unigreen’s blog.

Featured artist: My Little Dead Dick

Published

Jason Li

on May 2, 2008

in Art and Photos

. 0 Comments

According to a quote from nerve.com on the artists’ website:

“The ecstatically romantic story of Madi Ju and Patrick Tsai (Pat Pat)
tells you everything you need to know about the inspiration behind
their gleeful photography. Taiwanese-American Pat Pat was raised in
California and schooled in New York. Jolted by the Iraq War, he packed
up and moved to Taipei to seriously pursue photography. Three years
later, he met Madi, who lived in China, on the internet. They
rendezvoused in Hong Kong, fell in love, quit their jobs and struck out
on a pan-Asian adventure together…”

And presenting, the photographing duo known as My Little Dead Dick.