It is being widely reported that this looks like Google removing their censorship in China. What I see though, is Google finding a way to remove itself from the problems it faces in China.

"We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China." Google blog post

China seems to like to be the best at everything, even if it doesnt always turn out the way they had intended. (See South China Shopping Mall for example) Also see 'The Onions' satirical and funny take on a certain recent rather large parade.

Here are two Chinese building projects that are fantastic but a little crazy:

"You visit the first external ramp of the museum with your own private car, like a SAFARI, you park your car on the roof and visit by foot the internal ramp going down," said Francesco Gatti of 3Gatti, the architecture studio which won the commission.

恭喜!恭喜!! 今天庆祝国庆!
gōngxǐ! gōngxǐ!! jīntiān qìngzhù guóqìng!
Congratulations! Celebrate Chinese National Day Today!

Whilst I was going to write a piece about the huge Chinese National Day parade today, I thought I would link to some other great references that have much better pictures and stories than I do. As it is the largest and biggest parade in the history of well... ever. I think I will let the bigger publications have their time with this one.



One question I have heard a lot from my friends is why celebrate 60 years?
60 is a big number for the Chinese to celebrate because of the 12 year cycles of the Chinese Zodiac. 60 Years marks 5 cycles of the entire zodiac.

Probably the best video of the day here from Dan Chung on vimeo

Chinese farmer, Gao Xianzhang from the village of Hexia, in Hebia, northern China, has created baby buddha shaped pears. Gao spent six years perfecting the intricate baby shaped pears, carefully crafting each one which grows inside an individual, baby buddha shaped plastic mould.


It is reported that Gao has made 10,000 of the baby buddha pears that he hopes to sell in the UK and EU. In China they are selling very well indeed and have certainly not been affected by the recession.

The pears are snapped up as soon as they are off the tree and Gao says that they are considered lucky and cute. Lucky things in China have a massive marketing boost and catch on very quickly.


This is a bit behind the times... The Daily Mail reported this about two weeks ago, I meant to write about it then, but ran out of time, many apologies

Despite what I thought to be true and right, I posted this proverb the other day:

画蛇添足
huà shé tiān zú
Draw a snake with legs

Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.

"I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China.

Mrs Duan said she was so scared she grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to death before preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.

The snake – 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger – is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China's West Normal University in Nanchang.

A Chinese boy has stunned medics with his ability to SEE in pitch black with eyes that GLOW in the dark. Nong Youhui’s dad, Ling, was always concerned that Nong's eyes weren't 'normal'.

“They told me he would grow out of it and that his eyes would stop glowing and turn black like most Chinese people but they never did,” said Ling.

Medical tests conducted in complete darkness show Youhui can read perfectly without any light and sees as clearly as most people do during the day.

Experts believe he was born with a rare condition called leukodermia which has left his eyes with less protective pigment and more sensitive to light. The precise cause of leukodermia is very complex and not fully understood. It is known that as a result of this auto-immune disorder, eyes are more sensitive to light and without as much protective pigment as would be found in normal eyes.

Qixi Festival (七夕節 qī xī jié) literally "The Night of Sevens" is also known as Magpie Festival or in more modern times Chinese Valentine's Day. It falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar, which this year happens to fall today.

On the Chinese Valentine's Day, people in love like to go to the temple of Matchmaker and pray for their love and the possible marriage in China. People still single will do the same thing to ask their luck of love in the Matchmaker temple.

The Chinese Valentine's Day is also called The Daughter's Festival. Long ago, Chinese girls always wanted to train themselves having a good handcrafting skill like the Weaving Maid. The skill is essential for their future family. Young girls traditionally demonstrate their domestic arts, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband.

According to Chinese legend the love story is about the 7th daughter of Emperor of Heaven (织女 zhī nǚ) and an orphaned cowherd (牛郎 niú láng). They were separated by the Emperor. The 7th daughter was forced to move to the star Vega and the cowherd moved to the star Altair. The beloved couple, a cowherder and a weaver, are allowed to meet only once a year in heaven on this day.

In true Chinese style where superstition of numbers is incredibly strong; In Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, a large-scale festival will be held at the Huaqing Pool. Residents have been invited to contribute love stories, with 77 pieces, representing the seventh day of the seventh month, being read aloud. 77 couples will participate in a collective wedding ceremony, Tang Dynasty style.

A 20 year old Chinese farmer, Jiuxian Town, Songxian County, Henan Province, China has created his own Helicopter. Wu Xizhao, ever since he was a child, dreamed of flying so he wouldn't need to climb mountains anymore. It would appear that he realised his dream using principles that he learned in middle-school physics and other knowledge found by surfing the Internet on a mobile phone to create this helicopter.

The blades are 1.8m-radius propeller made from Elm tree wood, and a 150CC motorcycle engine provides the power. The frame is reinforced with steel pipes, and he claims that his single-seat copter can fly up to 2,600 feet. I am guesing that it 2600 feet length not height...


His father, Wu Xizhao, said his son had spent less than £1,000 on developing the helicopter.

"He loves machines. At one time or another, he has taken apart and put back together every gadget in the house," he said.

The trail flight of the villagers helicopter in Jiuxian Town, Henan Province, China was on August 1, 2009. It drew many villagers out to watch the contraptions trail flight. Sadly, the Chinese government won’t let Wu fly for safety reasons, which I guess is a sign of our times.

At 20 years old, this whole story does make you wonder what you are doing with your life? He has invented and built a functionable helicopter realising his dream.



What do you do?

China View today reported that 44 Chinese Characters (many of which are in common use) are likely to be amended. This has caused widespread criticism from Chinese nationals who think the change is "瞎折腾" (blind torment: meaning similar to a ‘pain in the neck’) Whilst some complain that one billion people will have to learn Chinese characters anew.


However ministry officials and some experts said the revisions would only target 44 characters printed in the Song typeface on publications, in other words, the revised characters would only be used by computers and printing machines. These changes from the governments perspective is that it will unify the typeface and printing standards of Chinese characters, whilst not affecting the Chinese public too badly.

These 44 characters are to change from the Kai typeface to the Song typeface, most often in these cases a slight change of only one or two strokes are changed. "The characters printed in our textbooks adopt the Kai typeface, and we don't need any change. But students would be easily confused by the revised characters on other publications," said Wang Jiayu, a Chinese language teacher at a primary school in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.


Among the 44 characters in question are:

琴 (qín) violin,
征 (zhēng) musical instrument,
魅 (mèi) demon/magic,
籴 (dí) buy grain,
褰 (qiān) to lift clothes,
巽 (xùn) part of the trigram,
瑟 (sè) Se (type of harp),
琵琶 Pipa (lute),
亲 qīn parent、
杀 (shā) kill、
条 (tiáo) ribbon 'item'、
茶 (chá) tea 、
新 (xīn) new、
杂 (zá) miscellaneous、
寨 (zhài) camp / village,
恿 (怂恿) (sǒngyǒng) instigate,
瞥 (piē) glimpse,
蓐 (rù) mattress,
溽 (rù), muggy,
缛 (rù), elaborate,
褥 (rù) mattress (again),
耨 (nòu) hoe 'weeding tool',
薅 (hāo) to weed,
唇 (chún) lip,
蜃 (shèn) mythical sea creature, and
毂 (gǔ) hub.

Another 55 characters are considered allogeneic (异体), and to be recovered or unified in some way, among them 淼 (miao, flood), 喆 (zhe, same meaning as 哲), and 堃 (kun, same meaning as 坤, female).

There is always conservatives and moaning regarding any change, especially with regard to unification where some people feel they are loosing identity through the changes. However this small amount of changes are unlikley to cause any real loss of identity and arent anywhere near as big as the simplification in 1965 to the Printed General-use Chinese Character Table. (the proposed changes are just 0.57% of all the characters in the ‘Printed General-use Chinese Character Table')

The changes being made to the Song typeface are a technological based upgrade as Song is a typeface thats origins are from when block printing flourished in China. Because the wood grain on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes. To prevent wear and tear, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened. Song typeface is characterized by design with thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes; triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes; and overall geometrical regularity. This typeface is similar to Western serif fonts such as Times New Roman in both appearance and function.

This is different to the Kai (Kaiti) typeface which is more even with the strokes looking more like the caligraphy that we are used to with both horizontal and vertical strokes being fairly consistant.

字型寫法比較 (Font Comparison)


Despite this criticism and controversy that surrounds this move by the governemnt to unify the print into an understandable and universally understood set of characters there seems to be a lot of confusion around it. Personally I think it is much ado about nothing, there seems to be very minor changes proposed and won't really affect people in the way that they think it might.

To me it seems that the 44 characters that are due to be 'changed' aren't really being changed so much as look slightly different in the different font. It is like us having a font where the a has a curl, and a font where the a doesnt have a curl. The differences seem to be in the majority where dots turn into strokes. For example on the bottom of 茶 (chá) the different fonts mean the symbol looking slightly different, but certainly not unrecognisable.


Maybe living in the West has adapted me to seeing lettering in different ways with the several standard fonts. Or it could be that my personal learning of Chinese has not yet given me the ability to write characters properly, nor learnt enough to see characters that are very similiar already.

What do you think about the propsed 44 character changes?

A 41 year old Chinese man says he likes to relax by eating live snakes and washing them down with beer. Wen Xide of Wangzhuang village, Zhumadian, says he has been eating live snakes for 10 years.

He started by eating one to win a bet with friends for a packet of cigarettes.

"From then on I became addicted to eating live snakes," he said.

Wen demonstrats his habit in the street, chewing down two live snakes bit by bit over a bottle of beer.

"It's a bit smelly, but they're very delicious," Wen said.

Wen says his son is now following his lead and has eaten eight live snakes this year.

But Wang Tianming, a doctor specialising in digestion at a local hospital, said Wen could suffer nerve problems and risked infection from parasites.

Tyhoon Morakot has landed in the coastal area of Beibei in Fujian with heavy rain and winds of 118.5 kmp/h. The typhoon has already dumped 100 inches of rain on Taiwan in just 24 hours this weekend. Dozens are lost, and it is reported several have died in this storm. Morakot, which claimed 21 lives when it hit the Philipines on Friday, is the first major storm to hit Taiwan during this year's typhoon season which runs from July to September.

In China weather stations issued a "red alert" - the highest possible - in anticipation of Morakot's arrival which is expected to bring winds in excess of 70mph.

Early reports said that parts of Fujian already had 12 inches of rain from early Saturday until Sunday morning, Xinhua added.

More than 490,000 residents of Zhejiang and 480,000 residents of Fujian have been relocated and some 35,440 ships called back from the sea. So far; 155 passenger ship sailings and 34 domestic flights have been cancelled. Most major highways have also been shut down as a preventitive measure.

Beijing Airport has confirmed that airlines have canceled their flights bound for Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in east China. Precaution measures were put in place, there were no major passenger delays.



Some villages in Fujian and Zhejiang were already becoming cut off by rising waters, with official riding bicycles to distribute drinking water and instant noodles to affected households, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. Many villagers from these regions have been on rescue missions to save the fish they have bred from the fish farms.

Photo Source
Huffington Post
Shanghai Daily

The World record for amount of people simultaneously performing Taichi was smashed last night, the anniversary of the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony. Almost 34 thousand people from all walks of life gathered at the bird's nest for a 6 minute taichi performance.

The 33 thousand, 9 hundred and 96 people performed taichi at the 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium. They successfully created a new Guinness World Record, breaking the record that was made by 30 thousand and 648 people in 2004 in Henan province.

The Olympic flag has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre: blue, yellow, black, green and red. This design is symbolic; it represents the five continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.


"Dancing Beijing" is a milestone of the Olympics. It serves as a classic chapter of the Olympic epic inscribed by the spirit of the Chinese nation, calligraphed by the deeper import of the ancient civilization, and molded by the character of Cathay's descendents. It is concise yet deep inside, bringing forth the city's gradual changes and development. It appears dignified yet bears a tune of romance, reflecting the nation's thoughts and emotions.

"Dancing Beijing" the embelem for the 2008 Sumer olympics shows the eastern ways of thinking and the nation's lasting appeal embodied in the Chinese characters. It is an expression that conveys the unique cultural quality and elegance of Chinese civilization.

The color "red" is intensively used in the emblem, it carries Chinese people's longing for luck and happiness and their explanation of life. Red is the color of the Sun and the Holy Fire, representing life and a new beginning. Red is mind at ease, symbol of vitality, and China's blessing and invitation to the world.


The iconic olympic rings and Beijing's ident were complimented with these cute characters. Fuwa served as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship, peace and good wishes from China; to children all over the world.

Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals and the olympic flame. Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors of the Olympic Games.

Despite many of the troubles on the way, the torch relay was one of the most spectacular things that occur preceeding the games. The torch was carried by 21,880 torchbearers and travelled over 137,000km; making it to the summit of the highest mountain in the world, Olympia - Marathonas - Athens (Greece), Istanbul (Turkey), St. Petersburg (Russia), London (Great Britain) – Paris (France), San Francisco (USA), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Muscat (Oman), Islamabad (Pakistan), Mumbai (India), Bangkok (Thailand), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Jakarta (Indonesia), Canberra (Australia), Nagano (Japan), Seoul (South Korea) and Pyongyang (North Korea) amounst many other places.

Chinese climbers display flags at the top of the 8844.43-meter summit of Mt. Qomolangma (Everest) in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on May 8, 2008. Mt Everest in Chinese is called 珠穆朗玛峰 Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng. (literally meaning bright pearl summit: though 圣母峰 Shèngmǔfēng refers to the sky goddess of the mountain).


The Olympic Flame was carried through London by 80 torchbearers including double Olympic gold medal winner Dame Kelly Holmes and England cricketer Kevin Pieterson. During which time there was an attack, as with other places in the relay, these troubles threatened to put a stop to the incredible tradition. But the epic journey itself is so incredible, hopefully they wont cancel future torch relays.

China invented fireworks, and put on one of the most amazing displays the world has ever seen in the Olympic opening ceremony. It featured a colorful display of nearly 30000 fireworks, and was absolutley spectacular coming from the new National 'Birds Nest' Stadium. Again not to go without controversy, it was revealed that some of the fireworks (about 55 seconds) had been digitally enhanced for the recorded viewing, however that shouldnt really detract from the spectacle, and what was done, was using new technology to create an even more incredible show.

The sparkling display that lit up the night sky included giant dragons, the five Olympic rings, footprints and even smiling faces. The show was divided into several parts and ran throughout the ceremony. The pyrotechnics were not just for the Bird's Nest, but all across Beijing. Fireworks were set off from 29 other locations, including Yongdingmen and Tian'anmen Square.