July « 2005 « Shanghai China Snippets

July 30, 2005

Kids Vaccinated Against Corruption | Blame the West

Filed under: China News Soft — Shanghai @ 9:37 am

I paraphrased the title of an article in the China Daily that reads “China to ‘vaccinate’ kids against corruption”

China plans to ‘vaccinate’ the younger generation against the evil of corruption by teaching a new class, as part of the on-going nationwide anti-corruption campaign.

So far so good, actually I would say it is about time. Hold on, I read on and the real reason pops up.

The new education program is aimed at protecting the young from the “bad influence” of certain corruptive concepts and phenomena from the West, says a document from the Ministry of Education (MOE). “It is of vital importance for students of all levels to bear anti-corruption in mind and fight against corruption,” it says.

Right, that’s it.. The West is corrupt. It’s a – let’s pump some more lies into those innocent heads – campaign. Almost thought there would be some reflection.

Luckily the article gives a bit of space to a different voice. Writer Guo Songmin was quoted as saying.

“The changing situation is not key to the corruption problem. The essence of corruption lies in the answer to the question: ‘Who’ has been corrupt deeds and set a bad example for young students?”

Thanks god, reason is still allowed for now.

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July 29, 2005

Supermarkets in China | My Favorites

Filed under: Shanghai Life,Shanghai Prices — Shanghai @ 10:13 am

Lately a lot of visitors ended up here because of searches in Google for “Walmart Shanghai”. I wrote a very short post about their coming here a couple of days ago. – see my post ‘Walmart Shanghai is coming“

I thought I make a list of my “favorite” supermarkets in China.

1. Mom and Pop Shops

In Shanghai these are the shops that make a neighborhood lively. Run on 20 square meters or less, some specialized in all forms of nuts, the next one selling anything you might need one day, from a new water tap to cigarettes. If you ask for it they definitely will also have some phone cards in their drawer.

As the building craze continues here in Shanghai they slowly disappear. Instead huge apartment buildings, made of pure concrete and ready to crumble down in about 5 to 10 years take their place.

New high rises means less shops, less life in the street besides people going and returning from work. If you go to Pudong you can see what the rest of Shanghai may be one day. Huge dormitories and no shops around. There, you have no other choice then get into the car and drive to a supermarket
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July 27, 2005

What Kind of Job

Filed under: Shanghai Life — Shanghai @ 9:59 am

A friend’s daughter was asked what she wanted to be once she was a grown-up. She took her time to think about it. Others suggested some jobs, like doctor, journalist etc. Her reaction, Neehhh, too tiring.

I don’t know whether this is universal or not for kids these days. I only know that when I was that age “tiring” was not one of the benchmarks about my possible future job. It is now though.

Making computer games was something she would consider. She is 10.

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July 26, 2005

Hungry | Shanghai Restaurants

Filed under: Shanghai Restaurants — Shanghai @ 7:32 am

I just had dinner but in case you haven’t, take this menu as your inspiration.

The waitress told me later they had used software for the translation.

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July 23, 2005

Airco Cold |

Filed under: Whatever — Shanghai @ 10:19 am

It has been pretty hot lately here in Shanghai. To sweat is nice for loosing weight but even that has its limits. The several Airco’s at home are very busy, the airco’s in the city department stores etc are also on temperature ‘Ice” eventhough they officially should be at 26 degrees celcius. As a consequence of the constant changing of the temperature environment I have a cold.

Well, just reread this piece and it is no literature. Then again, it resembles my state of mind.

In the mean time for something different I can suggest the latest post of lalaoshi about the growth of China’s economy. He writes much better than me so go..

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July 18, 2005

Pig Sperm in Space

Filed under: China News Soft — Shanghai @ 9:02 am

It reminds me of a game we used to play when we were kids. We would sit in circle and one of us would start-off.

“I go to the moon and I take a .. toothbrush. ” The next one in the circle then continued by saying “I go to the moon and I take a toothbrush and some water.” Now the third one is on. “I go to the moon and I take a toothbrush, some water and some pig sperm.”
Pigs in space
Photo by Kodoma

With its next space mission “China plans to bring animal seeds to the outer space for the first time in its second manned mission” according to Source: Xinhua

It is also not ordinary pig sperm. After a long selection process it has been decided “The sperms will come from two carefully chosen Rongchang pigs”
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