Shanghai China Snippets Observations about living in Shanghai and China in general

July 29, 2006

Train To Lhasa Cracks Up Yaks

Filed under: China Travel — Shanghai @ 7:16 am

The train to Lhasa, [tag]Tibet[/tag], that just a couple of weeks ago started rolling, is faced with some new challenges. It is still climbing to 5,072 metres (16,640ft) above sea level but its safety is apparently threatened.
Yaks block train to lhasa

These are the culprits (in no particular order):

  • Cracks
  • Shifting Sands
  • Yaks

Less than a month after the opening of the line across the [tag]Himalayas[/tag] to Tibet, it has become unstable in places because the foundations are sinking into the permafrost, railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping, told the [tag]Beijing[/tag] News today.

planners have failed to cope with a far less timid and more numerous beast – the yak, thousands of which graze along the tracks and wander across them.

“These form dangers to passengers on the train,” Mr Wang said.

I am a bit saddened and hope there will be no retaliation against the yaks. The endangered Tibetan antelope already has its own tunnels, let’s give the yaks their own.

Source: The Guardian

July 27, 2006

China Internet User Statistic Up?

Filed under: China Statistics,Chinese Multi Media — Shanghai @ 3:01 am

The latest numbers from CNNIC ([tag]China[/tag] [tag]Internet[/tag] Network Information Center) about internet usage in China show that usage is rising faster than before. [tag]CNNIC[/tag] says that China now (July 2006) has 123 Million users. That’s 12 million more than the last survey.
China internet statistics 2006 July
January 2006 vs July 2006

The last time CNNIC published numbers was in [tag]January[/tag] 2006. At that time the total number stood at 111 Million. Compared to the previous period (July 2005 until January 2006 where there was an increase of 8 million) it showed a lower growth rate indicating the China internet user population wasn’t growing as fast anymore. The opposite seems to have taken place now. The last half year has added 12 million new users.

Changing Numbers

It’s not really clear why suddenly usage is increasing faster. 4 million users extra growth over half a year is a lot. It could be that the results are part of a never published 5-year plan that needs to be followed rigorously. Or maybe it indeed grew faster.

[tag]Chinese[/tag] Online Friend-Maker Market

Other research, this time from Iresearch, talks about the Online Friend-Maker market. The title should speak for itself but just to be sure, this online friend making ranges from finding pen pals, marriage material to one night stands.

The widest known website offering this kind of services is probably the friendfinder network. 96333.com and Yeeyoo are players in the Chinese hemisphere.

Iresearch says China had 46.4 million friend seekers at the end of 2005. It predicts there will be 111.6 million users (trying) to make friends in 2008.

I use this friend-maker research as an example to show how wobbly the statistics seem. Year on Year growth of the total internet population is somewhere between 16 and 20 million, at least according to CNNIC Right now there are the said 123 million.

That would make 160 million users in 2008, in the most ideal scenario.

If 111.6 million of them are going to be looking for friends online that would equal 70 percent of the internet users. That’s a lot.

Sources:

CNNIC – Chinese

Iresearch – The information about the online friend maker market came to me by email and I am unable to find the article on their site. Then again, it’s pretty much impossible to find anything there in a logical way.

July 17, 2006

Learn Chinese Sites

Filed under: Chinese Language,Chinese Multi Media — Shanghai @ 7:35 am

Linese.com is China’s attempt at the online learning experience. Launched a couple of days ago it’s time for a review.

Linese.com Review

Well that’s what I thought before, but I learned from a comment on the Peking Duck that it’s actually a private backed venture so I am not going to waste much time on it. It would have been much more fun if it would have been a government sponsored site though.

Basically the site is bad, navigation doesn’t work, links are dead, registration module ends up nowhere (today it does again) and Chinglish is the choice of language. There may be useful content but my attention span is about 3 seconds so it doesn’t work for me.

Maybe I am too harsh but the fact that they send out press releases while the site is not up to par is definite a no no. Check it out for yourself here

So where can you go in case you want to master Chinese.

Good sources for learning Chinese

I suggest, but it’s up to you of course, to read my review of Chinesepod and Serge’s Melnyck Learn Chinese podcasts. If you like to read annotated articles from the China daily you may like to try out NewsinChinese. Another option is to check out a whole bunch of learn chinese websites. In case you only want to translate some words try Chinese dictionaries which has listed the best ones available.

July 14, 2006

Dell China Chinglish Service

Filed under: Shanghai Life — Shanghai @ 7:49 am

My warranty of my dell laptop is running out and Dell China reminded me of this already a couple of times. Now I do know that they know that I am a foreigner. For those simpletons living in China they actually have an English interface.

The emails they send out have, how convenient, an English subject telling me I should renew. The text in the body of the message is somewhat harder to read as it is in Chinese.
Dell China Customer Service

OK, I thought, I can kind of guess what needs to be done, so I went to their website, the English part, and filled in all my details including credit card number etc in order to buy my warranty.

2 days later I receive an email.

Dear Van,

Pls kindly offer me the CVC code of your credit card. CVC CODE of your credit card is the last three digits in credit card holder signature panel which is on the back of your credit card.

Now my surname is not really “Van” it’s “van Xxxxxx” but I am used to that. In [tag]Thailand[/tag] I had the same experience and as the hotel where I stayed had lots of Dutch customers, they probably think the whole population has the same surname.

The rest of the message is rather troublesome. “Kindly offer your CVC code”…. I am sure the rep means well but to me this is a rather big security issue. The cvc code is the last straw needed to really start shopping on my behalf. Shouldn’t they have asked me when I filled in my credit card details in a secured environment?

They replied to me that there are other ways to pay.

You can take your passport to the company windows of the Construction Bank of [tag]China[/tag]

If you see a guy waiving his passport in front of a window of the [tag]Construction Bank[/tag], yeah, it will be me.

July 13, 2006

Learning Chinese Got Easier but HOW?

Filed under: Chinese Language — Shanghai @ 5:16 am

Who doesn’t want to learn [tag]Chinese[/tag] these days. I do, well, actually I still do despite that my level is still below sea level after a couple of years here.

[tag]China[/tag] launched a website a couple of days ago, called Linese, that aims to help learners of the [tag]Chinese language[/tag] in the whole wide world.

I intend to write a full review of this brilliant [tag]learning tool[/tag] as well as point you to sources that actually make sense if you are serious about [tag]learning Chinese[/tag]. This weekend it will be published.

As a teaser I’ll show you their presentation of an [tag]interactive lesson[/tag].
Linese learn chinese website

I almost canceled my big plan to write this planned review as the [tag]People’s Daily[/tag] made my hopes go up. Would it be really possible to be lazy and still learn chinese. And how exactly?

learn chinese the easy way

Sources: People’s Daily, Linese

July 11, 2006

An Euro Collector

Filed under: Shanghai Life — Shanghai @ 1:31 am

red umbrella
Hello, I am an English teacher, How are you?

It’s 15:00 and I just finished my hamburger in [tag]Rendez Vous[/tag]. It’s freaking hot and we’re waiting for a taxi on [tag]Nanjing Xi Lu[/tag]/[tag]Tongren Lu[/tag].

I am fine, thank you, while keeping my eyes focuses on available taxis.

Where are you from?

Slovakia (I intended to say Mars but I decided to behave a bit more and just name a different country)

Ahhh, so nice, It’s part of the European Union, right?

Yes, it is.

Oh, how interesting.

He holds a red umbrella to shield him from the sun and maybe use it to poke it in my eyes later.

Do they use Euro’s?

Today yes, yesterday No. (I am sure by now he must have figured out I am not in a talking mood.)

Taxi’s are still passing by, loaded with the lucky ones enjoying the airco.

Do you know, I collect Euro’s?

(Really I think by myself, what a coincidence.}

Do you have any?

No, and do you mind, I am trying to get a taxi.

July 10, 2006

China Northern Airlines Guidance

Filed under: Whatever — Shanghai @ 1:40 am

While doing some research on [tag]Chinese Airlines[/tag] I used an old bookmark of [tag]China[/tag] Northern Airlines. Their main domain is re-directing now to [tag]China Southern Airlines[/tag] that has absorbed them. Surfing a bit more on that old bookmarked site, I ran into this beauty of company philosophy .

china northern airlines

Guided by the spirit of the 15th Party Congress and Deng Xiaoping’s theory, and under the leadership of the Party committee of CNA, we will insist on the major ideology of ” the representatives in three parts “, firmly adopt the idea of ” the aviation for the people “, ensure safety in flight, try hard to raise economic profits, steadily improve our services, and keep to the spirit of hard struggle, so as to satisfy the passengers and owners of cargo through our good services. We will make more contributions to our country’s economic construction, to the flourishing development of the civil aviation, and to the steady improvement of the enterprise.

It must have seemed like a sound business plan in those days.

Source: China Northern Airlines Sentiment

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