While the press always focuses on censorship, I believe my friend Jo found a much stronger reason for its existance. It is a Hongbao-olicy.
A Hongbao (红包) or red envelope containing money is given to family and friends especially at weddings and Spring Festival. However another use of red envelopes is delivering bribes to government employees in exchange for government contracts, land use rights and laws/regulations. I wonder how much money Jinhui Computer Systems invested in their Hongbao-olicy to get such a favorable government contract.
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( 0 / 0 )A bad workman always blames his tools. I always think that my HP laptop is too heavy and so I only carry it home when I know that I will really have to work on the weekend. Today, having popped into the office to pick up some books I forgot (its dragon boat festival), I did feel sad that this gentleman's tool is a lot heavier then my laptop. Hmm I guess he also takes his work home on weekends.
I have tried one of these hammers, they are totally evil. Made of three strips of bamboo, they cunningly pinch the skin on your hands so hard it brings a tear to your eye. This makeshift handle is also very bendy which makes it even more fun to work with!
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( 2.8 / 39 )The Chinese love to eat new and interesting things. My girlfriend and her friends love to eat Bull-Frog. Its delicious!
I am not so brave, I will settle with eating a baby alien.
Mmmmm! Delicious
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( 3.1 / 36 )As a child I have fond memories of watching "It's a Knock Out" on television. It was always hilarious to watch competitions where two teams would race each other over some muddy pool and slip and fall in. To my delight the local municipality at Zhang Jiang Underground station thought it would be great to stage "It's a Knock Out - with Chinese characteristics". Everyone would join in! You see you had no choice, because if you wanted to go home on that day by underground (it was raining heavily, walking was not a option) you would have to face the gunge tank by walking across wobbly stepping stones.
China seems good at reactive measures, such as this novel solution to crossing a flooded section of pavement. Yet as you can see below China is getting better at proactive measures. The Stepping stones are still there should another flood come.
I suppose better drainage would be the long term proactive solution, but then we would not get the chance to see a young lady slip into the gunge tank, much to the adoration and hoots of laughter from the crowd.
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( 2.8 / 33 )A trip to Hong Kong was billed as shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Perfect for avid readers of the Diary of a shopaholic I guess. For us it was an escape from “China”. I don’t mean this in the political sense but rather a cultural cosmopolitan sense. Hong Kong is a true international city in a way that I think Shanghai and the mainland can never be. You will never see an Indian or Caucasian working on a building site on the mainland as you do in Hong Kong. Shanghai and the mainland can never be a home to foreigners simply because you are either a “delegate” business person seconded by a foreign company to China or you are an English teacher. China would never say “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”. Yet Hong Kong still has such a feeling. You feel that you are not a foreigner in Hong Kong, because it is filled with foreigners of all strata of society living there.
So the picture above is a different view of Hong Kong. It shows the feelings I felt when I was there. Yes there was shopping, but it was the sense of freedom I felt on Lantau island that summed up my weekend.
Thank you Hewlett Packard for paying for this team building, it was much appreciated.
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