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kinginbeijing
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Name: Thomas
Country: China
Metro: Shanghai
Gender: Male
Interests: I am interested in interesting things
Expertise: I am an expert in making new blogs when my old ones get blocked
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message me
Member Since:
2/24/2006
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| Dear blogwatchers,
As some of the more observant among you may have noticed, it's been a bit quiet in bloggytown lately - no loud music, gambling, drinking excessively, salacious dancing etc. Well, sadly this is because a week and a half ago access to this particular $ite from Shanghai/China was.... erm... how to put it.. denied? For obvious reasons we won't go into the politics of the situation, but needless to say King in Beijing will be back (when he can find time to open a new bl0g account and actually write something). Thanks for reading for the past year and a half, it's been lots of fun and hope to catch you all in cyberspace very soon. Until next time friends, good luck and good tasty to you all, zaijian!
KiB | | |
| This fell out of the washing when Isabel was taking it off the line...
I think she's just discovered what shirt-tails are for...
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| Blog? What's a blog? How does someone 'update' a blog if he doesn't know what a blog is? Aaaaah that blog! It's all coming back to KiB now, as (painfully) is the habit of studying Chinese. A new term has kicked in, which means a return to the old routine. Early rise, cycle to uni (glacing at 'Westrooper' a.r.m.y clothes shop and always mistaking the mannequin for a fully kitted up soldi3r):
 Easy mistake to make really...
Past Chinese Elvis's DVD shop, and stop off at the fruit shop for a quick chat with the guys that run it ('cold/hot/raining/snowing today huh?'). Riding along the death trap that is the one-way road to uni, narrowly avoiding cars sailing along at 40mph, honking happily to themselves, and then past the smiling guard and into uni.
Then follows 3 hours of rapid-fire Mandarin, punctuated by a 15 minute break in the middle. Witnessing the mayhem outside the classrooms during the break is a people watchers dream. One of the most unexpected and interesting parts of studying here is the chance to meet people from all the world. Old stereotypes are confirmed or rejected with new ones formed just as quickly, and the chance to study how these people from different nations and cultures interact with each other (or not, as the case may be).
Watch the Koreans, all wearing their baseball caps and smoking, the Italians in unfeasibly large sunglasses strutting around, the Japanese all huddled together smiling nervously, the Americans trying to look inconspicuous until the next election, the really annoying Algerian riding his scooter around, and of course the French being, well, French.
It's obvious that you can't really judge a nation on the people that have travelled out of it to make new lives in another country. These people are a little different - they've come to China because of ambition, interest in the culture, for want of a new challenge and many other reasons inbetween.
One thing holds them all together, and that's the fact that everyone is here to learn Chinese. Some are more studious than others, but the atmosphere is always one of almost nauseating happiness, as most chat away in their various proficiencies of Mandarin.
It's strange to think that in a few months it'll be exam time again, and then everyone will disperse back to their various corners of the globe, but until then KiB will be standing outside in the break - chatting to and watching the multinational classmates that are his new friends here in China - secretly glad that term has started again.
Until next time blogwatchers, good luck and good tasty, zaijian!
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| Evening all, and happy lantern festival!
KiB and fellow teachers at Long March Middle School were today taken to a community centre to be entertained (and entertain) the local oldies. Now, when this blog thinks of these establishments in Britain, it would usually imagine a gaggle of 70 year-olds in cardigans shuffling quietly around in their slippers sucking Whethers Originals through their dentures.
However, this was not the case here, where the entrance of the lao wai into the compound was greeted like the arrival of the Beatles in America circa 1964. We were straight into the games, which involved skipping, running hoopla and Chinese hacky-sack. Then came the performances, with some Indian dancing, singing and dumpling-making. As usual the performances from the foreign friends were a mixed bag, from the 'hastily put together' to the 'slapdash', but went down pretty well.
It was madness, but good fun, and demonstrated how alive Shanghai/China's elderly are. You see them all around - doing tai chi in the park, walking backwards along the road singing and clapping, doing leg stretches, you name it! None of this 'retire at 50 and spend the rest of your life on the allotment nonsense for these guys, and they're much better for it.
A few things (mostly stolen from the Shanghaiist) to keep you all going over the weekend:
1) A picture of a sign taken in Century Park (not entirely sure when). A classic example of the Chinglish language..
Cool. 2) If the recent stock market problems persist over here, you know there's one person who won't be going hungry. Great name as well, Wuqibalaqiqige, very catchy.
3) Sad news from the pig world, but what happened to one that escaped?
Have a good weekend blogwatchers, good luck and good tasty, zaijian!
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| Some close to the KiB may think that the world's most famous humorously but incorrectly titled blog from Shanghai might spend a little too much time on the internet. Perhaps some sort of device could be invented that would trigger an electric shock through the keyboard whenever he logged onto the 'spooks' website and started playing the games, or maybe get one of those comedy boxing gloves to come and punch him in the nose if he begins to browse through the China Law Blog?
Or you could just send him to China's new treatment centre for internet addiction. As the article and video demonstrate, hardcore gamers are subjected to all kinds of treatments (both humane and otherwise) at the camp in order to rid them of their problem. Now, this blog would go so far as to say that if you have a country with the internet, you will have a few people in that country that will become internet addicts - it's a sad fact of life that people with addictive personalities exist, but they do. Internet addicts exist in Britain just as much as China, and the Chinese method of getting them outdoors to do some exercise seems to be a perfectly reasonable one. But is drugging them all?
A good start would be to look at the route cause of the problem - why do people spend up to 15 hours a day on the internet? Because they're lonely? Maybe, but this isn't exactly a new problem. Social isolation has always been a norm for teenagers, growing up in a society where you feel you don't quite fit. The internet has been a positive thing for many people growing up, as it lets them feel they're not alone in the world, just as putting on a Smiths record would for teenagers 20 years ago.
It's easy to demonise one particular aspect of society because it gets you a bit of publicity, but more and more families here have both parents working, and the pressure cooker of exams and study can drive students away from the real world and into a virtual one.
Anyway, socially commentary mode off, it's time to get back to the characters. Classes begin again tomorrow, with KiB in super-scary high class where he won't understand a thing (probably). Until next time blogwatchers, good luck and good tasty, zaijian!
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