Shanghai China Snippets http://www.chinasnippets.com Observations about living in Shanghai and China in general Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:03:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 en Blocked Hotmail a Hot Search in Google.cn http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/06/02/blocked-hotmail-a-hot-search-in-googlecn/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/06/02/blocked-hotmail-a-hot-search-in-googlecn/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:03:49 +0000 Shanghai Chinese Multi Media http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/06/02/blocked-hotmail-a-hot-search-in-googlecn/ The Chinese firewall had an active day. Twitter blocked, Flickr blocked, Microsoft’s new search engine Bing.com blocked.

In general the average Chinese user won’t give a a hoot. Twitter….. Flickr….. and that pancake search engine.

It’s mostly the foreigners here that will have to find other ways to express themselves. Should be good for productivity, although there’s still facebook.., at least for now.

But blocking Hotmail…, that does affect the average Chinese user if not many Chinese business that still use Hotmail.

How for example will Mr. Hou cope with the fact that he won’t be able to read all inquiries about becoming an urban farmer.

No surprise then that today the hottest searches on Google.cn are all about “logging in to Hotmail.

google cn hotmail hot

and for some strange reason all those people seem to search only for it on Google.cn as Baidu’s visitors have other things on their mind or maybe they don’t use email.

baidu hotmail

Let’s see which one of the above will be the first one to make it back. My bet is Hotmail.

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/06/02/blocked-hotmail-a-hot-search-in-googlecn/feed/ Osteria Italian Restaurant - Less guests is better http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/05/23/osteria-italian-restaurant-less-guests-is-better/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/05/23/osteria-italian-restaurant-less-guests-is-better/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 05:34:30 +0000 Shanghai Shanghai Restaurants http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/05/23/osteria-italian-restaurant-less-guests-is-better/ Clicking an ad I ended up at the website of the Osteria restaurant

I’m a bit puzzled by the fact that if I bring 7 or more friends I’ll be charged 10% more.

osteria-spirit-italian-restaurant.png

Still, I may try out the place one day, just with a small group though.
It seems from the pictures like an enjoyable place and the reviews seem ok as well.

Osteria Restaurant
226 Jinxian Lu / Shaanxi Nan Lu
Website: http://www.osteriaspirit.com/connect.html

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/05/23/osteria-italian-restaurant-less-guests-is-better/feed/ My Wife Wants to Divorce Me http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/03/25/my-wife-wants-to-divorce-me/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/03/25/my-wife-wants-to-divorce-me/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:32:02 +0000 Shanghai China News Soft http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/03/25/my-wife-wants-to-divorce-me/ I just asked her if she felt less happy after US bank Lehman Brother’s went bankrupt in september 2008.

Yes, of course, was her answer. Since that moment my happiness index plummeted to very low levels. Before all was ok, also thanks to Lehman Brothers but now….

“What’s the exact score now”, I asked. Well, at most 45. And before? “Well, at minimum 78″.

I followed up with, “Would you still marry me now, you know, considering the financial crisis and so..?”

“No, of course not. Don’t you know, foreigners don’t care about saving. They just spend it, they’re not responsible, they don’t want long term wealth”

“So what now”, I asked. “Well, better to divorce”, she said. “A score of 45 is less than 50 so no good.”

Yes, it’s hard but luckily fiction based on a brilliant article in the local waste paper aka Shanghai Daily that quotes research from the website Hongniang.com.

And so life in China continues to be lived in stereo types. Better think twice before marrying that foreigner!! (unspecified if he’s Asian, European, North/South American, African or god forbid Oceanic)

By the way, We’re still happy.

—-
Thanks to a tweet of http://twitter.com/fonstuinstra retweeting http://twitter.com/niubi
(Next article will be based on a tweet of a retweet of a retweet)

If you want to read the full article, proceed hereafter.

FOREIGN men have been losing their attraction as potential husbands for unmarried Chinese women since the global financial crisis started, a survey by a matchmaker Website shows.

The survey, carried out by www.hongniang.com, used the US banker Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy in September 2008 as a starting point.

Before the crisis, 6,594 women who were married to foreign husbands reported an average score of happiness worth 72. For women aged 25-30 the score was 76 and for women aged 31-40, 68.

After the crisis, the average score dropped to 54 for the 4,377 surveyed, with scores of 63 for the group aged 25-30 and 45 for the group aged 31-40.

The Website did not say how the scores were calculated.

The proportion of women who were willing to marry a foreign man slumped from 42.5 percent to 16.8 percent. And 68 percent now prefer to marry a Chinese man as a first choice, compared with 53 percent before the crisis started, according to the survey.

The change reflects the fact that Chinese women prefer a stable lifestyle, said
Fang Fang, a marriage adviser of hongniang.com.

She said Chinese paid more attention to the accumulation of wealth and felt unsafe without savings, while most foreigners did not care that much about saving.

Source: SH

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2009/03/25/my-wife-wants-to-divorce-me/feed/ Brand America, Chinese omelettes and running 1 km http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/11/01/brand-america-chinese-omelettes-and-running-1-km/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/11/01/brand-america-chinese-omelettes-and-running-1-km/#comments Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:58:16 +0000 Shanghai Whatever http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/11/01/brand-america-chinese-omelettes-and-running-1-km/ Weekly Snippets

Brand America

The Brand America is getting close to Sanlu status. Unfortunately it’s easier to change to melamine free baby milk powder than to an USA alternative.

Healthy Running

Chinese school kids have run 3 km since the mandatory exercise program started.

“Primary schoolchildren run 1 km per day, junior high school students 1.5 km, and senior high and college/university students 2 km.”

My step-daughter has been running her daily 800 meters since June

She enjoys it and feels fitter. Maybe an idea for European and US Schools as well considering the increase of obesity

Chinese Omelette Recipe

1. Get an iron wok, make sure there’s some rust left in it.

2. Ingredients

3 eggs, preferably from a brand with “green” in it
2 table spoons of local milk, preferred brand Sanlu
Some MSG for seasoning purposes.

3. Put the eggs in a bowl, add the milk and MSG and whisk it.

4. Poor the mixture in the wok and swish it around so that a fine layer of egg sticks to the side of the pan.

5. Leave the egg mixture alone for a few minutes to allow it to cook and “set up.”
Once the egg whites have actually turned white you’re ready to serve

Enjoy your melamine breakfast

Dressing Up

I survived last night’s US Dress up contest, otherwise know as Halloween, in my own clothes.
I’m afraid though that in the future not dressing up will make me an outsider as the number of costumes in the street was considerable.


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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/11/01/brand-america-chinese-omelettes-and-running-1-km/feed/ My Favorite Beijing Olympic Quote http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/08/23/my-favorite-beijing-olympic-quote/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/08/23/my-favorite-beijing-olympic-quote/#comments Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:24:52 +0000 Shanghai China Olympics http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/08/23/my-favorite-beijing-olympic-quote/ Yesterday, just before the football match Belgium - Brazil was about to start. The anthems had been played and the referee was about to start the match.

Behind me, on row 3, a little girl asked her dad, “Which one is China?”.


note: I had promised myself that I wouldn’t write anything during the Olympics but this was just too cute.

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/08/23/my-favorite-beijing-olympic-quote/feed/ Bill Gates Makes It To Baidu Logo http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/07/bill-gates-baidu/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/07/bill-gates-baidu/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:29:23 +0000 Shanghai Chinese Multi Media http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/07/bill-gates-baidu/ Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and co-founder, who officially retired has made it into the Baidu Logo. Click the logo and you will get to his profile (in Chinese)

He is the second American who makes it to the top of the page of China’s most popular search engine. US Presidential candidate Barack Obama was the first.

Bill Gates Baidu

To see more person logos, click here

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/07/bill-gates-baidu/feed/ Vertical Blogging in English http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/04/vertical-blogging/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/04/vertical-blogging/#comments Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:18:09 +0000 Shanghai Chinese Multi Media http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/04/vertical-blogging/ ┏━┯━┯━┯━┯━┓
┃ｉ│ｌ│ｎ│ｐ│Ｃ┃
┃ｃ│ｏ│　│ｐ│ｈ┃
┃ａ│ｇ│ａ│ｅ│ｉ┃
┃ｌ│　│ｌ│ｔ│ｎ┃
┃ｌ│ｖ│ｓ│ｓ│ａ┃
┃ｙ│ｅ│ｏ│　│ｓ┃
┃　│ｒ│　│ｃ│ｎ┃
┃　│ｔ│ｂ│ａ│ｉ┃
┗━┷━┷━┷━┷━┛

Hope you can read it, formatting didn’t go so well.

Do it yourself.

Read for the reasons of this vertical blogging here.

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/07/04/vertical-blogging/feed/ Is that water or alcohol? http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/23/water-alcohol/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/23/water-alcohol/#comments Fri, 23 May 2008 06:37:39 +0000 Shanghai Shanghai Life http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/23/water-alcohol/ Entering the building the female guard looks at the big jug (5 litres) I’m carrying.

When I open the door, she asks, Is that water or alcohol?

I wonder what else they’re thinking and not saying :)

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/23/water-alcohol/feed/ Black and White Search http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/19/black-and-white-search/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/19/black-and-white-search/#comments Tue, 20 May 2008 01:52:00 +0000 Shanghai China News http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/19/black-and-white-search/ search engines mourn

Search engines in black and white for the 3 days mourning period that started yesterday with 3 minutes of silence on 2:28 PM.

3 minutes/days to think of the devastation the earthquakes in Sichuan have caused.

If you like to donate, I suggest you to check the Shanghaiist website which is very up to date with the latest news.

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/19/black-and-white-search/feed/ Google and Kingsoft Launch Free Chinese Dictionary http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/google-kingsoft-chinese-dictionary/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/google-kingsoft-chinese-dictionary/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 15:23:21 +0000 Shanghai Chinese Multi Media http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/google-kingsoft-chinese-dictionary/ Google and Kingsoft launched today a free Chinese-English-Chinese dictionary.

Now go and read the Chinese bbs yourself to really find out what’s going on in China.

If you install it on a non-Chinese operating system you probably see a lot of weird symbols (not Chinese but more machine language like), on the first page of the install, tick the box (you probably agree of giving away your privacy to Kingsoft and Google and whoever else is listening in) and then continue with clicking wherever it shows a (n) on a button.

You can download it here.

t/t (Twitter Tip) to Tangos for referring me to the Sina article with the link to the download.

Here’s a screen shot.

Google Kingsoft Chinese dictionary

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/google-kingsoft-chinese-dictionary/feed/ China Olympic Torch Relay on Google Maps http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-route-china/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-route-china/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 06:24:37 +0000 Shanghai China Olympics http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-route-china/ Just noticed that Google maps is keeping track of the torch relay.

China Olympic Torch Relay Map

Check here for yourself.

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-route-china/feed/ Olympic Flame On Top of the Everest http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-flame-everest/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-flame-everest/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 05:53:02 +0000 Shanghai China Olympics http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-flame-everest/ The torch has made it to the top of the Mount Qomolangma/Mount Everest and was ignited by Norbu Zhamdu at 9:18am May 8.

Olympic Flame Mount Everest

It’s the first time the torch went that high. Let’s hope the rest of the journey will be in the same spirit.



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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/08/olympic-torch-flame-everest/feed/ Shanghai Photo of the Week - 1 http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/04/shanghai-photo-of-the-week-1/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/04/shanghai-photo-of-the-week-1/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 04:04:42 +0000 Shanghai Shanghai Life http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/04/shanghai-photo-of-the-week-1/ A new Sunday series with a photo of the week, taken from Shanghai Daily Photos.

Rabbit Art to be seen in the Ju’Roshine Life Art Space (169 Jinxian Lu, near Maoming Lu)

Rabbit Art

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/04/shanghai-photo-of-the-week-1/feed/ Element Fresh Dots And Staff Toilets http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/03/element-fresh-dots/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/03/element-fresh-dots/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 03:58:58 +0000 Shanghai Shanghai Restaurants http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/03/element-fresh-dots/ The place is close, Nanjing Lu, the coffee is getting more expensive every time (regular Yunnan brew from 12 Rmb to 16 Rmb) but the terrace makes up for that.

There’s just one thing that keeps amazing me, and this is based on 4 years of research.

Every time I go to the bathroom it’s occupied. And every time it’s one of the staffers. Now I understand that staffers also need moments of rest and quietness and I wholly endorse that but please give them their own toilets.

Element Fresh Spring Day

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]]> http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/03/element-fresh-dots/feed/ ZonaEuropa’s Title Tag Changed to EastSpitjWestNorth http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/02/zonaeuropa-title-tag/ http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/02/zonaeuropa-title-tag/#comments Fri, 02 May 2008 14:47:35 +0000 Shanghai Chinese Multi Media http://www.chinasnippets.com/2008/05/02/zonaeuropa-title-tag/ Update

Mystery solved, it was a typo and it has been corrected, see comment by ESWN.

While getting updated on the latest in China I visited the always very informative EastSouthWestNorth blog to read the translated essay by Huangfu Ping.

Zonaeuropa title tag

Suffering slightly from professional deformation I didn’t start reading the text of the article right away but looked first at the top left corner where the title tag is displayed.

EastSpitjWestNorth, it reads. Is it a typo, was it hacked or something else?

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