http://www.virtual-china.org An exploration of virtual experiences and environments in and about China. Tue, 13 May 2008 19:16:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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. ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/05/13/gamers-flock-to-24-hour-mcdonalds/ 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 ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/05/11/corporate-cultural-pollination-in-action/ 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 ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/05/08/re-usable-chopsticks-are-in/ 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 ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/05/02/featured-artist-my-little-dead-dick/ Spotted on the streets of Hong Kong: "Wifi available here," it says Unfortunately, it's just a convenient place for the telecom company to advertise that they are offering wifi... for a fee. Correction: From a comment by Alex: "Actually this is not true.  PCCW had been offering paid Wifi access at more than 400 ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/04/29/a-modern-phone-booth/ It's one of the wonderful things about blogs.  You can find really smart people who are blogging their thoughts rather than writing super long, boring reports.  And if those people are economists, how great is that?  If you are NOT someone who likes to spend much time on economic reading, ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/04/24/economists-blogging-china-2008-you-might-want-to-know/ Plagiarized book alert! The offending item is: Inside: Tons of illustrations used without permission, and texts ripped straight from the Little Chimp Society site. The offenders are listed as being from Hong Kong (see here for full details), but when the offended parties tried to contact them, they found out that the ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/04/20/maybe-hk-crooks-plagarize-illustrators-bloggers/ The Olympic torch protests have caused quite a stir online and offline, and that on the whole, I've found a lack of balanced viewpoints or real voices from real people. So here is my attempt to mitigate that: 1 Famous Chinese Journalists Oppose the Carrefour Boycotts "I would like to tell those friends ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/04/17/bringing-some-perspective-to-the-torch/ Headline image from 玩聚 on ju690 (with my translation in white): The story goes that an officer within Chong Qing city administration (城管) looked up 城管 (city administration)"on Baidu Baike (= Baidu's Wikipedia competitor) and found the following: "City administration... A mafia (黑社會) that bullies storekeepers unable to pay their rent or ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/04/11/citys-men-%e5%9f%8e%e7%ae%a1-egao-ed-on-baidu-baike/ Cool: TBWA's Olympic ad for Adidas. Makes sense? I don't know -- yes, there are many people in China and so I'm guessing the theme is something grandiose along the lines of "standing on the shoulder of billions." But it's looks a bit like they're competing somewhere in hell -- not ... http://www.virtual-china.org/2008/04/10/olympic-ad-of-the-day-tbwa/