Cup of Cha
This is China

One of the oddest things about Beijing is its bizarre scale. You can’t walk anywhere. One block is about a kilometer long. Housing complexes expand over dozens of acres. Coming from Brooklyn, where anything you want is a five-minute walk, Beijing is bizarro world.
And one of the cornerstones of Beijing’s madness is the lack of [...]

Continue reading “No Roads Lead to Starbucks” »

In New York I sometimes get phone calls from wrong numbers. Sometimes they are speaking in Spanish. Come to think of it, that happened once with my US number in Beijing. Can you imagine living in Washington Heights and accidentally calling China? Anyway, callers are usually apologetic in the US, or sometimes embarrassed causing a [...]

Continue reading “I Do Not Call Wrong Numbers” »

In China, all too often, criticizing any aspect of Chinese society or the government is taken as an affront to the entire country. On my blog I pretty much say whatever I want, but in my personal interactions I try to be a little more cautious. Nevertheless, it also strikes me as bizarre that talking [...]

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Yesterday I did most of my moving into my new place, only two blocks from the old one. I was able to get all of my stuff over there in a few taxis rides, but taking 10 suitcases away freaked out the doormen at my old building. In order to move lots of stuff, apparently, [...]

Continue reading “Permission to Move Sir” »

I remember Bill Clinton’s first presidential election in 1992. He was cool, smart, likable and most importantly, he really cared about the average American. He gave people hope and made them feel like America’s best days were ahead of them. There was a Bush in the White House, a war in Iraq had just ended, [...]

Continue reading “Clintons Should See the Writing, End Cynicism” »

China announced that it removed 200 million ‘harmful’ pieces of information last year from websites. The article is really short (the harmful bits were removed before publication) so here it is in its entirety:
China removed more than 200 million items of harmful online information last year, according to the National Office for Cleaning Up Pornography [...]

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My new favorite news source is a little paper called Beijing Today. Earlier this week I wrote about the article that turned me on to it, but the more I dig, the better it gets. (And yes, this will be the last post on these guys, although I strongly encourage you to read the paper [...]

Continue reading “China’s Answer to The Onion” »

Not to make light of IP abuse in China, which is rampant and discourages innovation by reducing the rewards associated with creativity, but it is safe to say Microsoft can sleep well knowing no one will be buying fake versions of Vista.
About two months ago I bought a new computer, and even considered switching over [...]

Continue reading “Microsoft Unconcerned About VISTA Piracy” »

Beijing’s new subway system, which has already added line No. 5, is in the midst of a major overhaul for the Olympics (and for a modern China). But as I touched on the other day, the system being set up may not be that convenient for the Olympic visitor.
Case one is that of the Olympic [...]

Continue reading “Beijing Subway Not Designed for Olympics” »

The internets has made buying Olympic tickets one of the easiest things in the world. Before the internets, a series of tubes that connect people to one another, it would have been impossible to sell tickets to sporting events. This is why events prior to 1996 had no people in attendance.
For the Beijing Games, an [...]

Continue reading “Olympic Ticket Confusion, Part Deux” »