Chinese man. Builds robots. In his backyard. Some walk. Some pour tea. The latest pulls a rickshaw.
His wife of course, prefers that her husband spend her time more productively and make money rather than fidgeting with robots in the middle of the night, and sometimes burning down the house (happened once — didn’t stop him).
Spotted by the BBC, surprisingly enough. If you don’t want to sit through the entire clip, watch the last 30 seconds.
Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to have a DIY/geek community backing him (as he might in the US), especially since he lives in a semi-rural area. This phenomenon is similar to Lyn’s post about the homemade planes, which in the US is backed a small but intense community of "ultralight" enthusiasts. When will the proliferation of the internet in China link up like-minded DIY hobbyists? And what will be the nature of the Chinese DIY community?
Thanks to China Digital Times for the link to this rather extraordinary video, posted by someone called daughterofchina, whose producers are using the Internet and Youtube as a means of online environmental activism. It would be nice to know more about who produced it. I searched Yoqoo (which I notice is now calling itself Youku, thank god), Baidu, and Tudou and could not find it on any of these Chinese video sharing sites. It must have been posted there, however, so perhaps it has been deleted?
The video calls attention to water pollution in Wuxi and the protests against the PX chemical factory in Xiamen, the latter which has been blogged in depth on ESWN and Global Voices Online.
You can find a collection of Chinese videos of newscasts on the Wuxi polluted tap water issue here.
We should really start a list of what new services and infrastructure are being promised for Beijing in 2008 Olympics. Here’s an interesting one: live TV coverage on the new subway line. The line:
will have a transmitter every 200 meters that can receive
above-ground TV signals, said Ding Shukui, assistant general manager of
Beijing Railway Construction and Management Co. Ltd….The locomotive and the last carriage on the train will be equipped
with receivers that can transmit signals to the eight liquid crystal TV
sets in each carriage,
Memedia is a Chinese blogging collective that, as I noted last month, is a project of Isaac Mao’s among others. It’s going strong with its 6th issue (looks like the longest yet!) put out on 4/22. What Memedia is doing is a quantum leap into opening up dialogue and understanding across the Chinese- and English-language blogospheres and other virtual environments. Not only does it give readers a taste of what’s top of mind for some of China’s top bloggers, it gives us access to their thoughts on technology and society in China and around the world; and it then gets translated into English at GVO (by Nan Yang, who manages to capture the tone of what must be very tough translation work). Of course, the blog posts that Memedia references are in Chinese and still unaccessible to non-Chinese readers, but this could have an ESWN-level impact if they can keep up the momentum and the translation. There simply isn’t anything else like it.
Issue 6 looks at everything from Twitter to the GFW censorship of Baidu Japan, from the number of Chinese sex workers to buying tickets to the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony. Great stuff!
Kissing contests are spreading throughout China, with one popping up every few months. They’ve already hit SiChuan, NanJing,QianWei, and most recently Shanghai!
A kissing contest involves couples who compete to see who can hold their kiss the longest. The latest winners from Shanghai hit 5 hours and 40 minutes. And of course, the contests are documented on blogs and BBS’s. From 走走看看—赵静的BLOG:
Check out the new Chinese weekly online magazine, Memedia, a cooperative effort among over 100 (and counting) prominent Chinese bloggers. It looks like a blog but at present is a weekly, with hopes to eventually become a daily. So far, issues no. 1 and 2 offer super condensed, link-heavy news about web, tech, media, and international events–it’s a mirror of the collective wisdom of the participants, with links leading back to blog posts on their own sites. Memedia describes itself as follows:
Coming from the combination of three terms, Me/Meme/Media. Memeda will provide interesting things, important things, diverse things, for us to enjoy together….
This is an open, collaborative project. Each person has the opportunity to contribute, and you can participate in our public Skype channel, providing clues to news or introducing your latest discovery.
Earlier we blogged about the "nail house" 钉子户 in Shanghai–these are the residences of urbanites whose neighborhoods have been "moved" 动迁 and who are the last hold-outs–they stick out like nails in an otherwise modernized environment. Making the rounds of Chinese portals and BBS in March, this "greatest nail house in history," from Chongqing, which is renowned across the city.
On March 19 the China Legal Daily published what it claims is the first interview with the woman who owns the house. Her demand? To be given an apartment in the new building that is going up on the same spot, with comparable square footage to the house she now lives in. This will be impossible, says the developer. According to Chongqing law, says the article, there are three possible ways to compensate owners in this type of situation: 1) provide housing on the same spot; 2) provide housing in another spot; 3) provide a sum of money. The city is only willing to provide Ms. Wu, the resident, with the third option, but she is not willing to accept a sum of money.
Because the two parties cannot come to an agreement, they have not budged since relocation at the site started in September, 2004. although excavation of the worksite is already well underway…"On January 11, 2007, the developer brought an administrative action against Ms. Wu with the department responsible for relocation, the Chongqing Jiulongpo District Housing Management Bureau. The result was a demand for the resident being relocated to voluntarily move within 15 days and to return the house to be demolished by the developer. If the party being relocated does not agree with this ruling he or she can file a suit with the Chongqing Jiulongpo District Court within 3 months or apply for a reconsideration within 60 days from the Chongqing Jiulongpo District Government or the Chongqing Municipal Housing Bureau.
Ms. Wu’s response to the Legal Daily reporter: I simply won’t accept this mistaken ruling!
The Jiulongpo District Housing Management Bureau says it will apply for a legal ruling to institute forced relocation.
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