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

Apparently there is a “Care for the Next Generation” organization here in China that came up with the luminous idea to educate the younger generation about the perils of playing computer games too much and too long.

In co-operation with some other friends the Care people have produced a 38-episode Internet addiction themed television show, called “The Story of Shan Dian Mao”.

The aim is to show teenage viewers the horrors of using the Internet too much.

Now just get those addicted internet game players to find some time forwatching the show and everybody will be happy.

Source: ChinaTechNews

As the Bird Flu is still in it’s developing rural phase “smart” business men have found a new niche, Tonics, disinfectants, oils, masks and even down clothing are sold on online auctions like Taobao.com and promise prevention of the spread of the disease.

A seller from Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning Province, was selling various masks for 5 yuan (62 US cents) each. The seller said the “anti-virus masks” could effectively prevent SARS, bird flu and other diseases spread in the air.

A seller from Shandong Province promoted star anise essential oil that he claimed was produced in France and could protect people from the bird flu. The seller claims star anise is a key ingredient in Tamiflu. The oil was selling for 69 yuan for a 10-milliliter bottle yesterday.

Reminds me of the the many Westerns I watched on TV where opportunistic doctors/business men sold their cure-for-alls from a wagon.

As far I have been told only Tamiflu “might” help in treating. Pretty much unavailable right now as all governments are buying it up.

Source: Shanghai Daily – Sellers claim ..

Update 3

It was wishful thinking. Access Wiki using a pr*xy and here in Shanghai it’s a nice white page.
The only question left is, which site is next..

Update 2

There might be some hope… but it’s a long shot. I just went to wikipedia using a pro*y detour and noticed they have technical difficulties.

Although I don’t know much about Firewalls/Routers etc I can imagine that Chinese Networks cache a lot of websites and as right now wikipedia is not accesible at all, at least that was the message that I got, it may be that once Wikipedia has its servers online and working the Chinese Networks can start caching their files again and access is again possible.

Like I said, this is a long shot, as I am no server/internet router specialist.
It may even be wishful thinking but hopefully not.

Update 1

Although I was at first hoping this would be a temporarily glitch I am afraid it is not. Go China, Go ..:(

Wikipedia is a great resource for information. It’s the free version of an encyclopedia that is maintained by volunteers.

Anybody who likes to add/edit information can do so and eventhough at times information is a bit manipulated on the whole it’s a great alternative to a commercial encyclopedia.

It seems now that this encyclopedia is not available anymore here in China.

One of the supposedly 30000 censors who monitor the web for things a “Chinese is not supposed to have access to” has decided to push his red button that closed the entrance gate to China. I wonder whether The Great Firewall will outlive the fixed version.

P.s. China Herald was the one who informed me on this and after giving it half a day I think it’s a real block, then again, maybe things will turn out to be temporarily.

The Shanghai government is not very amused with all those new, modern words, mostly abbreviations, that have become part of the online vocabulary of young urban Chinese.

The government plans to “forbid the use of a series of new words and abbreviations made popular on the Internet, from both the schools and official documents,” according to an official statement from Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress.

Terms such as “MM” which refers to “beautiful woman”, and “PK” which means “player kill”, and “Konglong”(dinosaur), which means “ugly girl” are in common usage. These colloquialisms are alleged to infringe the purity of the Chinese language, and therefore should be limited in use, the government says.

In case you like to improve your online Chinese. Here are some words that will keep you communicating, for as long as it is allowed of course.

• “BT” (short for “Bian Tai”) means abnormal
• “Qingwa” (frog) ugly boy
• “GG” (short for “gege”) older brother
• “JJ” (short for “jiejie”) older sister
• “FT” (short for “faint”) faint
• “GF” (short for “girl friend”) girl friend
• “BF” (short for “boy friend”) boy friend
• “Kao” expletive
• “PF” (short for “pei fu”) admire
• “PP” beautiful
• “PLMM” beautiful girl
• “TMD” (short for “ta ma de”) expletive his mother
• “SB” (short for “Sha bi”) expletive
• “SF” (short for “xi huan”) to like
• “88” (pronunciation similar to “bye bye”) bye bye
• “3Q” (pronunciation similar to “thank you”) thank you
• “94” (short for “jiu shi”) that is
• “42” yes
• “PMP” (short for “pai ma pi”) to- bootlick

Source: Interfax China – Shanghai to ban the use of Internet slang …..

Update, some new Chinese Internet Slang

• “520” I love you
• “NB” (short for niúbī) Bull’s dick- Somebody/something is super great
• “5555” (Short for wǔwǔwǔwǔ) Sound of crying

Not so long ago regulations for allowing foreign investment in Chinese media companies were curbed. Basically reversing one year old Chinese regulations that opened up this market a bit.

One of the bigger foreign media players, Newscorp, has already some ventures in China. They have a license to operate in Southern China’s Guangdong province and in exclusive mainland hotels. All still small stuff but at least they are in.

The new regulations seem to have frustated the owner of Newscorp, mr. Murdoch, a bit as he been heard saying the Chinese authorities “were quite paranoid about what gets through.”

The thing is that he lashed out in 1993 as well which probably forced him to do a lot of buttering up. Now he may get his grease in line as these things won’t go unnoticed.

The media in China, whether it is newspapers, the internet, tv or for that matter anything that can carry a message is all state organized and controlled. Investing in it or creating the option is a long term strategy which will need a lot of patience, good will, timing, sensitivity and on forehand accepting you may loose out big time.

Lashing out may add up some extra years for the Murdoch empire before their toe-hold becomes a foot-hold.

source: Murdoch hits ‘brick wall’ in China, calls Beijing ‘paranoid’

I am listening and watching BBC World right now while I am typing this . Thanks to some research done by Fons of the China Herald into the peer-to-peer media streaming world.

Besides that it’s interesting to see P2P used for live tv streams I am actually pretty happy with the fact I can watch some real news instead of CCTV-9.

I know, I know, it probably isn’t the most Intellectual Property friendly software.

Then again , my excuse is that I would love to pay for it, the Chinese cable company just doens’t offer it.

Fons tested two services and based on his experiences I am using Sopcast which seems to be more crash friendly. It works like a charm.

Sopcast
PPLive