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October 2007 - Posts
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Yes, that was our reaction when we saw these pictures, but sorry to disappoint all you Facebook whores (that includes ourselves!) out there, the image on the right is just a Facebook clone, Xiaonei.com (?????????). It looks like the portal was started around 2005 (less than two years after Facebook was born), and since then, it has grown exponentially to cover around 2,000 university campuses in Greater China. They have just recently started to pan out their services to cover high schools and companies (though one wonders how they would do it with a name like that because "????????? literally means "in school").
So, it is confirmed. Mashable reports that Facebook has just registered the domain name facebook.cn, and while facebook.com.cn was registered by some other Chinese guy, the domain actually points to facebook.cn. David Feng of Blog Nation discusses the chances of Facebook China: Sucking away folks from even the ???copycat??? version of Facebook will be no easy deal. Xiaonei easily has the lion???s share of users (in particular if compared to Chinese users of Facebook), so to get them over to Facebook China (if it does indeed launch) is going to be one big coax. (The Chinese, like the Swiss (as 12 years in Switzerland have no doubt told me), like ???local stuff???; they???ll ask themselves why should we switch?.)
But it???s not impossible. Long story cut short, if Facebook China can become the whole Facebook but in Chinese (we???re talking about most, if not all, Facebook add-on apps in Chinese), if Facebook China can use local servers (which at the same time would have to get these guys removing ???unhealthy stuff??? as deemed by our ubiquitous, at-a-loss-to-take-the-right-pills Net Nanny), if Facebook can start a good awareness campaign here in China??? that???ll pretty much see them succeed.
In the social networking world, China is becoming a magnet for these Web 2.0 sites. Just sometime ago, the traditional and simplified Chinese versions of Friendster were launched, so Facebook making this move is not totally out of the blue.
Well, who knows? Facebook may simply buy over Xiaonei, but they should be warned. Simply buying over your mainland copycat is not a shortcut to success. Just look at the case of Ebay/Eachnet. It turned out to be quite a disaster, and even with TOM Online on board since earlier this year, the joint venture still appears to be a bit lost in the woods.
MySpace China has been criticised for being too much of a virtual translation of MySpace International and ignoring the need for localisation. Being somewhat late to join the party, Facebook will have the benefit of learning from the experiences of MySpace China and Facebook China. It will be interesting to see how all this pans out.
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 We told you it was going to be the biggest, baddest, spookiest, scariest Halloween didn't we? A whopping 700 of you Shanghaiist freaks came to storm the gates of hell and turn the city upside down last Saturday, and my what a party that was. One of our friend's girlfriends was too spooked to enter because "there were too many freaks and weirdoes" but hey that's just the way Shanghaiist likes it. At one point in the party, we thought we saw Osama bin Laden make out with George Bush.
Many thanks to Ken Yip and Jack of Shanghai Studio for the pictures. More pictures from the wonderful guys at EnjoyClassifieds here. For those of you with more pictures of people making a fool of themselves that you'd like to share with us, put them up on Flickr and tag them shanghaiist or add them on on our Facebook group (remember to tag yourself in the pictures!). There is still a wonderful video coming up so stay tuned!
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- China urges UN support for Olympic Truce in 2008 [Bangkok Post]
China asked the UN General Assembly Wednesday to adopt a resolution supporting the Olympic Truce, a time-honoured practice from ancient Greece to respect the sportive events that will take place in Beijing next year. - French foreign minister in China with sensitive issues on agenda [AFP]
France's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner held talks with China's leaders Wednesday to pave the way for President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit and push Beijing on a range of sensitive issues, including Myanmar and Iran. - How Beijing is trying to meet "green" targets [Reuters]
How Beijing is spending 120 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) to combat its chronic pollution and create a clean, green Beijing ahead of the 2008 Olympics. - Beijing suspends Olympic ticket sales, apologises for fiasco [AFP]
Beijing Olympics organisers apologised on Wednesday after suspending ticket sales following a booking system meltdown, their first major blunder in preparations for next year's Games. - China starts developing new heavy-duty carrier rockets [Xinhua]
China is building a new range of carrier rockets designed to send heavyweight satellites into space, boosting the current carrying capacity by nearly three times. - Fuel shortages spread into central China [IHT]
The worst Chinese fuel crisis in two years spread to the capital and other inland areas Wednesday, even as the country's top refiner pledged to guarantee supplies to a market crippled by the gap between state-set pump prices and record crude markets. - China-ASEAN cooperation projects on the rise [China Daily]
Chinese and Southeast Asian businesses will put $6.15 billion to jointly build machinery, building materials, consumer electronics, farm produce, foodstuffs and other projects, the organizers of the fourth China-ASEAN Expo said here Wednesday. - China's Alibaba generating heat with impending IPO [SF Gate]
Alibaba.com, the Chinese e-commerce site, will go public in Hong Kong next week in one of the hottest technology initial public offerings since Google.
Photo from theshanghaieye
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So, as some of our commenters in a previous post brought up, Youtube is indeed back! So what was behind the temporary block ??? was it the 17th Party Congress or was it Youtube's Hong Kong/Taiwan versions? I guess we will never know. But enjoy it while it lasts people. You never know when the block will come back up, but when it does, you know you have VPN to fall back on ;-)
There's no better time than this to show you our favourite Youtube video of all time. It isn't China-related but shows the reach that the mass media has in our lives today. Very thought-provoking and profound. From the makers: A machine with a doll face mimics images on television screen in search of a satisfactory visage. Doll Face presents a visual account of desires misplaced and identities fractured by our technological extension into the future.
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Still looking for something to do for Halloween? Here are a few parties that should be worth checking out. If you are stuck hanging around People's Square head over to the MOCA where you will find (besides interesting art) a wicked Halloween party featuring lots of killer tunes from Bananas Soundsystem. For those who aren't keen on going downtown, head out to Xujiahui where Harley's Bar will host Banana Monkey and more Banana DJ music. At Logo bar 3 bands are going to dress up as the Misfits, Sex Pistols and Ramones and churn out some gnarly tunes. Billed Punks for Monks, all proceeds from ticket sales will go to a charity helping the monks in Burma.
Halloween Party - MOCA - 10pm(free)
Harley's Halloween - Harley's Bar - 10pm(30rmb)
Punks for Monks - Logo Bar - 10pm(10rmb)
MOCA - Inside People's Park, next to Barbarossa. Enter from 231 Nanjing West Road (Entrance gate between Starbucks and Shanghai Art Museum)
Harley's Bar-????????????265???????????????
Logo Bar-?????????13?????????????????????
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Great grab by Swiss James of ISpyShanghai.com in Suzhou! Note carefully what her t-shirt says.
Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Simply post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos[at]shanghaiist.com.
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- You may have noticed the above special green signs appearing on new exit gates near subway station exit stiles. What do they mean? Starting on Oct 19, passengers over 70 years of age carrying a social security card with proof of age can ride Shanghai public transportation (bus and metro) for free during off-peak hours. By the end of the year, the Metro company plans to install automatic card readers to quicken the entry process for these senior citizens, who can now pass through the newly installed exit gates. This is all part of a plan to improve service to the city's elder residents.
- Metro Operations is bringing in army communications specialists to train Line 8 staff to "put a smile in their voice". Line 8 is set to open by the end of this year.
- Be careful swiping your stored-value card when you exit a metro station; starting from the 27th of October, a new Metro Operations rule comes into effect declaring that passengers who did not swipe on their way out and need their card to be reset the next time they hope to ride the subway will need to pay the maximum fare of RMB 9 to get their card cleared.
- The Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company is submitting a joint bid with the Guangzhou Metro to build a subway line for the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, located just north of the Russian border with Kazakhstan.
- China Daily tells us that "Super subway spurs underground love" when speeddating.com founder Tang Feng arranges for Shanghai white-collars to meet up in subway stations for speed-matchmaking parties. These daily commuters enjoy a special attachment to and resonance with the Shanghai subway system and feel like they can form a special connection with fellow commuters in the familiar setting.
Cross-posted on the Shanghai Public Transportation blog
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- You may have noticed the above special green signs appearing on new exit gates near subway station exit stiles. What do they mean? Starting on Oct 19, passengers over 70 years of age carrying a social security card with proof of age can ride Shanghai public transportation (bus and metro) for free during off-peak hours. By the end of the year, the Metro company plans to install automatic card readers to quicken the entry process for these senior citizens, who can now pass through the newly installed exit gates. This is all part of a plan to improve service to the city's elder residents.
- Metro Operations is bringing in army communications specialists to train Line 8 staff to "put a smile in their voice". Line 8 is set to open by the end of this year.
- Be careful swiping your stored-value card when you exit a metro station; starting from the 27th of October, a new Metro Operations rule comes into effect declaring that passengers who did not swipe on their way out and need their card to be reset the next time they hope to ride the subway will need to pay the maximum fare of RMB 9 to get their card cleared.
- The Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company is submitting a joint bid with the Guangzhou Metro to build a subway line for the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, located just north of the Russian border with Kazakhstan.
- China Daily tells us that "Super subway spurs underground love" when speeddating.com founder Tang Feng arranges for Shanghai white-collars to meet up in subway stations for speed-matchmaking parties. These daily commuters enjoy a special attachment to and resonance with the Shanghai subway system and feel like they can form a special connection with fellow commuters in the familiar setting.
Cross-posted on the Shanghai Public Transportation blog
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 So both Myspace and Friendster have their own China versions. Now Kaiser Kuo of Ogilvy Digital China Watch points us to a report on China Business News (??????????????????) which cites an ???industry insider??? who says that Facebook plans to release additional language interfaces and intends to enter the China market as early as December this year. The paper also claims that "Facebook has given up its initial plan to set up its own China-based site like MySpace has done with MySpace.cn, but will instead acquire an existing SNS in China."
But as Fons Tuinstra of China Herald notes, Facebook may avoid the Chinese internet censors by establishing a Chinese-language operation outside China instead of finding a local partner, but it may end up getting blocked almost instantly, like Youtube did (sigh...).
A commenter on Kaiser's blog said: Whatever they do i hope they seamlessly their link Chinese version to their English version. Click ???and swithc language. Those who are perfectly bilingual ( which i am NOT) should be able to communicate with their Chinese friends in Chinese and with their non-chinese friends in english ??? without changing platforms. Otherwise 2 monoligual silos will be created. That would be - from a mutual understanding point of view- a missed opportunity.
And Rebecca MacKinnon, once again, hits the nail on the head: Really too bad. If they do end up having to create different Facebook "silos" in order to be compliant with Chinese government censorship requirements (and maybe other governments with other language services too), it isn't just a missed opportunity to provide a great global, multilingual service that many people would find incredibly exciting.
The silo-ing of social networking sites like Facebook (and MySpace China already) is a sadly missed opportunity to build bridges of communication and understanding between the Chinese-speaking world and the English-speaking world. God knows we desperately need better communication and understanding between native Chinese speakers and native English speakers these days.
Is this inevitable? Isn't this situation also serving to "ghettoize" Chinese internet users instead of giving them a multilingual on-ramp to a global human network? If I was a Chinese internet user I'd feel like my government is holding me back by controlling the web in China so much that Facebook can't open its doors for me to a global multilingual and multicultural network - a network that would be best not only for my social life but also for my career and business.
Earlier this week, we were treated to a very interesting tidbit of information by Thomas Crampton, and we suspect MacKinnon may have had this in mind when she wrote the above. According to Crampton, the Chinese internet rarely links to foreign websites. In fact, only six percent of the Chinese Internet???s hyperlinks leave China???s webspace! This information was based on a study of 40 million external links on 5 million pages of 15,000 sites in China by Professor Jonathan Zhu of City University of Hong Kong (and Tobias Escher has more). The geek in Shanghaiist finds all this very interesting. It is true, isn't it? A significant chunk of this huge global jungle that we call the Internet really is just local activity. But we do wonder if similar research has been done for other countries and language groups on the Internet.
Related links
Ogilvy China Digital Watch: Facebook to enter China: CBN report
China Herald: Is Facebook getting itself blocked?
RConversation: Facebook goes to China... will it censor too?
Thomas Crampton: China???s Internet rarely links to foreign websites
Tobias Escher: The Internet is local and Chinese do not link abroad
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 Shanghaiist has just touched down in Beijing. And just as we were wondering if it was just us, or if the air in the Jing was really that much worse *cough*cough*, this is what we read:
Earlier this week, we received an email from reader Matt Dalton looking to put together a Mask Week in Beijing. And they're looking for Shanghai organisers to do the same! Here's what they envision: Greetings From Beijing!
As I read in your latest environmental post, Shanghai is the world's second most polluted city and we have the dubious honor of living in the most polluted city in China. Needless to say, pollution is an issue here in China but we can't forget that it is also a global problem. Anyways, after going though a couple days with dangerously high pollution indexes, a few of us have come up with an idea to increase awareness of this serious health issue.
The idea is a week long event starting 11/17/2007 (Yao, Yao, Yao, Qi/ Want Want Want Air) to 11/24/2007 called Mask Week.
The idea is simple.
1. Buy a mask. (The best one possible to protect you from air pollutants) Still, simple cloth masks, although not very affective can still raise awareness. You can buy them cheaply in local pharmacies, supermarkets and so on.
2. From the time you wake up on the 17th to the time you go to bed on the 24th wear a mask whenever you go outside. Just live your daily life but when you step out the door, wear a mask. (Yes we realize that indoor air pollution is more dangerous because it is concentrated but this is aiming at outdoor air pollution.)
And that's it.
But before we can carry this out, we need to spread the word as much as possible. The best way to do this is to tell to your friends, family, classmates, coworkers ...anybody anywhere about Mask Week. The last thing this should be is some kind of "laowai only" event. We want people from all walks of life to join.
Anything you can do to help is a step in the right direction. For example you are good at photoshopping, you can create fliers that catch people's eye to hand out or post in places like bar streets, universities and so on. Go online to your favorite forums and blogs and copy this message or create your own. Just remember, this is NOT a protest. This isn't about being angry at whoever or whatever you feel is causing air pollution. It is about showing people that you care for your and their health and that air pollution is a serious problem.
If you decide to participate, please take some time and educate yourself about air pollution. Who knows? Maybe with a little more awareness we will all be able to breathe a little easier!
Shanghaiists interested in helping Matt with the Shanghai part of the event are welcome to contact him at mattman_30 AT hotmail DOT com.
Photo of museum exhibit of child with anencephaly from Taco Hose
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 Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's meeting with the Dalai Lama [Reuters]:
"It's gross interference in China's internal affairs. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition... This disgusting conduct has seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined Sino-Canadian relations... The Chinese side demands the Canadian side ... correct its mistaken conduct, immediately adopt effective measures to eliminate adverse impact (from the meeting) and stop winking at or supporting anti-Chinese activities by Tibetan forces."
The Dalai Lama quotes Mao [The Canadian Press]: The Dalai Lama pointed out that modern-day China is ruled by a one-party system and said the father of Chinese communism, Mao Zedong, insisted on criticism from both inside and outside the Communist Party. He called Chairman Mao's philosophy “very wise” but added that domestic criticism of the Chinese regime has been “wiped out.
Photo from China Rises
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- South Korea starts construction of space centre [Channel News Asia]
Asia's space race is heating up with China's latest launch of its first lunar orbiter. And neighbouring South Korea is working hard to catch up. - Malaysian police officer denies illegally amassing US$8m in assets [Channel News Asia]
The head of Malaysia's Commercial Crimes Investigation Division has denied allegations that he illegally amassed more than US$8 million in assets. - India rediscovers East Asia [Asia Times]
The visit of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to India in August; India's multi-nation military exercise with the navies of Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United States in September following the trilateral naval exercises with Japan and the United States in April; and the planned visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to China following China's and India's first joint counter-terrorism training in November were all events confirming that India's "Look East" policy is in full swing. - Thailand heads for straitjacket elections [Asia Times]
The first parliamentary election to be held in Thailand since last year's military coup is generating excitement for all the wrong reasons. Political parties, the media and analysts are up in arms over a raft of restrictions imposed last week on candidates in the run-up to the December 23 poll. - Indonesian President Releases Music Album [Asian Offbeat]
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has released his first music album, a collection of love ballads and religious songs he wrote, state media said. The album, entitled "My Longing for You", contains 10 songs written by Yudhoyono after he became president in 2004 and features some of the country's popular singers, Antara news agency said. - Tajikistan - Expect the unexpected from the President [Eurasianet.org]
Locals cynically call him "papa," or praise him as their "king." Some expats, meanwhile, call him "big head." Whatever the moniker applied to him these days, Tajik President Imomali Rahmon is showing himself to be a man full of surprises.
Photo of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from Asian Offbeat
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 The guys from Meiwenti Productions are back with the 6th instalment of their Shanghai Short Film Contest to be held in three years. So budding directors, start getting out your lights and cameras and start shooting. The deadline for submissions is November 25 and the awards ceremony will be on December 8 at a yet-to-be-disclosed location. And... since "6" is the devil's number, the organisers have decided that this will be a horror-only fest. Looks like some people haven't had enough of Halloween!
The awards up for grabs this time round are:
??? Best Film
??? 2nd Best Film
??? 3rd Best Film
??? Best Actor
??? Best Actress
??? Most Original Script
??? Audience's Favourite Film
For more information and submission specifications, please refer to Meiwenti Productions.
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 Want your 6min 40sec of fame? Have some interesting ideas that you've been dying to share with the world? Then put together 12 powerpoint slides of 20 seconds each (no boring lectures or grandmother's tales please), and get in touch with the organisers of Pecha Kucha Night volume 8 at info@far-china.net.
From the organisers: Pecha Kucha Night is for designers, architects, photographers, architects, interior designers, graphical designers, game designers, artists, fashion designers, inventors, creative students or anyone else with ideas the world needs to know about. If you want to present a new building, furniture, book, add campaign, fashion line, gadgets or any other idea or design come and share it with us!
Pecha Kucha Night volume 8 will take place on the 16th of November as part of the Shanghai International Creative Industry Week. The location this time is the main auditorium of building "1933" in Hongkou. The doors will open at 19:00, the presentations will kick off at 19:33 sharp.
More information for budding speakers here.
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Left: Sabra, a Japanese FHM-style magazine that typically features sexy busty ladies (no nudity) recently conducted a photo shoot in Shanghai featuring Nonama Takizawa (????????????). Needless to say, it caused quite a stir ??? and we're not talking about the kind that happens between someone's crotch. Well some Chinese guy got hold of the video, and uploaded it with the most hateful and incendiary speech (too rude to translate here) ??? and Youku in their wisdom decided to make it the main feature of the day. Great hope yet for Sino-Japanese relations, ladies and gentlemen.
Middle: This is probably the most kickass busker-with-Chinese-characteristics that we've ever seen here. Watch Luotuo Xiangzi (????????????) attract a huge crowd of curious onlookers on Beijing's main shopping street Wangfujing before being led away by some security guy, and still holding up with his act!
Right: A girl is robbed on the streets of Shenzhen, and passers-by are all running away.
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As John Meckley finds out in the Yangpu district, good graffiti is to be found in this city!
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 In this day and age, you can define "torture" however you want to, and for a long time, we considered the practice of inputting Chinese characters on a Mac to fulfill our definition. OS X has a built-in simplified Chinese input that does the job, but doesn't really hold a candle to any of the Windows XP input methods???and when Sogou came out with their input method, and Google copied it, we considered that battle to be over.
A few months back, we started browsing Chinese Apple sites, because, like all geeks, we wanted to pimp our Macbooks without having to spend money doing so. There we came across two Chinese input methods???one called FIT (Fun Input Toy), and the other called QIM (and we don't know what that stands for).
We tried both, and what follows is a personal and thus very unscientific rundown. For us, the real issue is speed???and the only way these things can be fast is if they, like Google and Sogou's input methods, have dictionaries that include common proper nouns, phrases, and slang. And though it's a tall order, being able to string together a whole sentence is another great feature that Google and Sogou sometimes can handle.
First off, FIT is completely free to download and use. And while it is much better and smoother than OS X's native input method, it still has some limitations in terms of vocabulary and stringing together sentences. For example, if you type in w'j'b' you get, as one of your choices, Wen Jiabao. However, if you type in h'j't', you don't get Hu Jintao as one of the choices. M'z'd will get you Mao Zedong, but typing in z'e'l' will not get you Zhou Enlai, and even typing 'zhou en lai' won't get you that. Of course, typing l'y'c' will get you Li Yuchun, the Super Voice Girls champ and pop idol. However, FIT isn't that great for longer or more complicated sentences. Any sentence involving over eight characters will probably involve you having to stop and choose and piecing together the sentence that way, rather than getting it right (or even 90% right) in one fell swoop.
On the other hand, QIM is shareware and thus you have some kind of 10,000 hanzi limit before the demo expires???supposedly you can keep using it, but will not have access to advanced features. Priced at around $20 US, we think it's a bit expensive, but then again, we're former shoplifters, so take that last bit with a grain of salt.
However, QIM has two distinct advantages???a Sogou dictionary and QIT. QIT is another package, and kinda big???120mb or so???and adds to QIT an intelligent sentence construction function. Thus you can type in whole sentences, and QIT, we have to say, gets it right, again, barring sentences that somewhat complex.
We first tested QIM and QIT out by typing c'n'm', hoping to get the sentence/phrase 'cao ni ma' (f*ck your mother). This was the result:
 As you can see, the right choice is #3, the first two referring to 'hymen' (chu nv mo) and 'newbs' (cai niao men), respectively.
However, the more sentences we tried, the more we began to feel as if QIT has an insuperable advantage over FIT. For example, we tried the sentence wo'xiang'ming'tian'yong'dao'zi'zi'sha, which roughly means 'I would like to kill myself with a knife tomorrow.' Here is what you get with FIT:
Many of the characters are wrong???a native speaker would likely not follow the intended meaning of the sentence at all. However, try that very same sentence with QIM, and you get:
That sentence is completely correct.
The Sogou-dictionary helps a lot, too. It even contains some commonly used Shanghainese slang, as you can see here:
 and here:
So on the whole, we have to side with QIM and QIT over FIT. We don't know what's going when the demo/free trial period is over???for $20, we'd expect the input method to read our mind and perhaps suggest a couple of synonyms from the thesaurus to make us look smarter when we are IM'ing girls.
One last note: From the FIT page we also found out that some folks have been working on Chinese input for iPhones, which do not natively support Chinese inputs. You can check out the fruits of their labor here.
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 A few weeks ago, we introduced a coffee service that delivers Yunnan coffee to your door. Now, Shanghai coffee lovers can get their beans from Vietnam sent to them as well, courtesy of HaoHaoCoffee. We asked founder Matthew Newhook a handful of questions about Vietnamese coffee and his service, and he was kind enough to respond:
What's so special and unique about Vietnamese coffee?
My wife & I traveled to Vietnam earlier on in the year and as we sat in a small cafe in Hanoi marveling at the millions of bikes that whizzed by I did as I always do and ordered a cup of coffee. When it arrived I took one sip and I was blown away. I looked at my wife and commented this was by far the best coffee I had ever had in my life. Quite an introduction!
Most Vietnamese coffees share a very distinctive taste, very rich, aromatic and full-bodied. Some blends such as Weasel, house and premium blends have a unique cherry & chocolaty nose. Other coffees, such as the espresso and creative coffees, have a more traditional flavor. In either case the coffee is excellent!
Coffee isn't one of the first things that come to mind when I think of all the things that can get delivered to my place. What specifically about Shanghai led you to choose this business model?
The first thing that any coffee addict looks for when moving to a new place is how to get their fix in the comfort of their own home. Although it's getting better now I've always found that getting decent coffee in Shanghai is very difficult. I don't personally care for any of the store-packaged coffees that are available, and find the big chains overpriced, overcrowded and generally the coffee is fairly detestable anyway.
Given the fast paced life in Shanghai finding the time to search out a good coffee can be difficult, and ordering online is very convenient and very low risk,
especially if using cash on delivery. Delivery of your coffee straight to the house or office... what could be better?
Your website says that these coffees are best enjoyed Vietnamese-style. What is that exactly, and does that mean I should avoid brewing it with my crappy Mr. Coffee machine?
Vietnamese coffee is traditionally brewed one cup at a time. The coffee is ground quite coarsely and placed in a maker that sits on top of the cup like a hat. A small amount of water is poured in and then allowed to drip through slowly. We have a complete set of step by step directions here.
At home I drink the coffee both Vietnamese style, and in my Bialetti Italian stove top coffee maker. I've also used a bodum. All deliver excellent results -- although for the authentic Vietnamese experience go for the Vietnamese coffee maker!
Ok, where can I get a Vietnamese coffee maker?
We had some when we initially opened the site, but they all sold out very quickly. We just got a new shipment, and I'm happy to say we have lots more for sale!
Do you ever drink at any of the big coffee chains here in Shanghai? Do you feel like a total sell-out if you do?
I'm definitely not a coffee snob. I like any quality coffee. However, I don't like the big chains myself. I prefer small more intimate places like La Bella and Vienna Cafe the than the big crowded chains.
One of your products is Legendee Weasel coffee. Is it true that this coffee is shat out by Vietnamese weasels? Feel free to elaborate.
One of the rarest and most expensive coffees in the world is Weasel coffee. The animal is actually an Asian Palm Civet which enjoys, as we all do, a nice coffee. The civet, however, eats his coffee in the form of the coffee berry. The berry is eaten, and the bean passes through undigested to be, well as you say, shat out. The beans are then manually picked out by some brave workers, well cleaned then washed
and sold for enormous prices.
Trung Nguy??n developed an enzyme treatment process to mimic the changes produced by the civet thus replicating the process and taste through far less disgusting means! I haven't tried real Weasel coffee (too expensive for my blood), but I can assure you that the Legendee Weasel is the best coffee I've ever had!
Eric Hu is Shanghaiist's Food Editor. Email tips, recommendations, and news and gossip about Shanghai's food scene to food at shanghaiist.com.
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- Marc van der Chijs spends the weekend watching sailing races at Dianshanhu, a lake about 50 km outside Shanghai, and recommends it as a great weekend greataway. Membership at the sailing club starts at just RMB2500/year (gawd, that's cheaper than our gym membership), and you can rent boats there by the hour, if you're not bringing your own boat along, that is. Driving on the way to the lake, Marc catches sight of a fake Chinese aircraft carrier made out of concrete and with fighter jets parked on the runway. Of all the weird things he's seen in China so far, Marc says this ranks in the Top 10.
- In the meanwhile, Wang Jianshuo (yes, the most Shanghai of all Shanghai bloggers) reports from another lake — the Dishui Lake (滴水湖). He says that Jinjiang Inn, China's answer to Holiday Inn, which is always "brave enough to open the first hotel in a newly developed area" has opened a new outlet at the lake. He takes a few pictures, and yes, the hotel does look like it is in the middle of nowhere.
- The Shanghai Show is back in action after the Youtube block (yay for Shanghai) and shows us their fancy new camera (maybe they decided putting together a daily video was too time-consuming). We have an unfulfilled childhood dream of becoming a pornstar and wonder if their former-Playboy-photographer neighbour can help us in any way. Also, we tried looking at their new videos (for some reason they've chosen to host with imeem.com instead of some mainland Chinese alternative) and gave up halfway. It just took FOREVER to load for this busy blogger.
- Shanghaiist's own subway fetishist Micah Sittig gets us wet with pictures of the new Baoshan Lu subway station, where Line 3 splits off from Line 4. He also marvels that the Metro City (Xujiahui) globe is "now covered with LEDs and flashing psychedelic patterns" (haha) and reveals that the that the Line 4 Nanpu Bridge Station has "a unique layout, with opposite-direction trains on two different levels directly above/below each other". Hot stuff.
- Meanwhile, at another subway station, Longyang Lu to be precise, Swiss James of ISpyShanghai took this picture that you see up there.
Photo from Swiss James of ISpyShanghai.com
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 We told you about the lavish homecoming party that was thrown by Pizhou (邳州) in our neighbouring Jiangsu province for its party secretary Li Lianyu (李连玉). John Kennedy of Global Voices Online informs us that Chinese netizens have reacted strongly to the series of pictures we showed you. On one particular forum, 800 comments were received on one single afternoon. Here's a kickass selection of comments that he picked up, followed with his translations:
太牛的场面 让我呕吐了好久
It was too much to watch something like this, kept me vomiting for a long time
21世纪的中国竟如此落后，这些欢迎群众的自主人格在哪里？！
21st century China could actually be this backwards; don't these crowds of welcomers have any independent personality at all?
嗨，终于知道当官有多好，我想当官！！！！！！！！！
Hey, finally I see how good it is to be a civil servant, I want to be one too!!!!!!!!!
一看就知道这SB是个作威作福的“土皇帝”，绝对不会亲民！！
One look and you can see this SOB is a “mud emperor” who rules roughly over his people; you won't see him kissing anyone!!
胡总看看吧！我们的公仆、我们的人民就是这样？！丢人！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
President Hu, are you seeing this? Is this how our civil servants, our people, really are? So embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
这些人肯定是下级组织的,可见巴结拍马在那个地方已经相当流行!!
这些人肯定是下级组织的,可见巴结拍马在那个地方已经相当流行!!
还拿五星红旗!还有军队~~~~~~~~~靠!
一定要温总理看看~这个大书记!!
These people must be of lower rank in the Party organization, you can see how popular ass-kissing is in that place!!
These people must be of lower rank in the Party organization, you can see how popular ass-kissing is in that place!!
They even brought the five-star red flag! And there are soldiers there~~~~~~~~damn!
Premier Wen must see this, this great Party secretary!!
浪费国家资源,该杀!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wasting the nation's resources, […] deserves to be killed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
李书记，人民的好书记，我太感动了！上海的习书记上调中央，我代表1800万上海市民欢迎李书记来上海当书记！
Secretary Li, the people's good secretary, I'm so moved! Shanghai's Xi Jinping has been transferred to the Central Government, so I represent the 18 million residents of Shanghai in welcoming Secretary Li to come be Shanghai's Party Secretary!
李书记，怎么看着你就像金正日呢？人民的好书记啊好书记！！！
Secretary Li, why is it that I think you look like Kim Jong-il? The People's Good Secretary aaahh Good Secretary!!!
书记，你是谁啊？
这待遇和小平同志、江主席、胡主席差不多吧？
胡主席去你们县也不会这样吧？
如有疑问请亲自问主席！
Secretary, who are you?!
This is about the same treatment that Comrade Xiaoping, Chairmans Jiang and Hu receive, right?
If Chairman Hu goes to your town, he'd get the same treatment, right?
If you have doubts you can ask the Chairman yourself!
李书记在邳州这么小的一块地方都有这架势
到了中央那还不直接压倒江书记？
他不是一个人的书记！他不是一个县的书记！他不是一个省的书记！
他是一个国家的书记！他是全世界人民的书记！他是银河系的书记！
支持李书记竞选宇宙书记！
If Secretary Li has such muster in such a small place as this
If he went to the Central Government, wouldn't he just push Secretary Jiang Zemin straight out?
He's not a People's Secretary! He's not a township Secretary! He's not a Provincial Secretary!
He's a National Secretary! He's Secretary for all people of the world! He's Secretary of the Milky Way!
I support Secretary Li in running for Secretary of the Universe!
李书记，北京人民欢迎你
快来领导我们吧
Secretary Li, the people of Beijing welcome you
Hurry, come lead us!
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 Every now and again you'll find something in the Indian press about China in which they fawn over Shanghai as the symbol of all that is going right with China. We recently came across more of these observations, no doubt occasioned, at least indirectly, by the recent launch of China's first lunar probe.
The lead paragraph of a Calcutta Telegraph article reads:
China has outpaced India in science in two decades and acquired a staggering lead that keeps widening, the most comprehensive analysis yet of Indian and Chinese research has said.
Chinese research output has increased a hundred-fold since 1980 but India’s has only a little more than doubled, shows the analysis published today in Current Science, a journal of the Indian Academy of Sciences.
First of all, there's something inherently disturbing about the way that they talk about scientific/scholarly output as if it were some mass-produced widget on an assembly line. But more importantly, we wonder if whoever did this research and wrote this article really has any clue about what is behind China's "great scientific leap" forward. Both the Chinese and, to a lesser extent, the English language media has been rife with reports of academic corruption in China—plagiarism, padding the resume, the publish or perish attitude, and perhaps most seriously, the overly politicized nature of academe itself.
The Calcutta Times article talks about how many scholarly articles and citations Chinese scientists and academics are getting, but many within China seem to realize that there's not too much quality behind all this quantity. Sending the same paper to several journals doesn't really increase the amount of quality work being published, and is also a violation of academic ethics. The pressure to publish also means that, contrary to established academic standards, there are often more than two principal authors on certain papers, again making Chinese academics seem much more prolific than they really are.
And why is there all this pressure? Some have likened Chinese academia to Chinese politics—meaning that people seem to be more interested in jockeying for more power and money than they are in conducting the kind of research that would actually advance human knowledge. You're expected to produce a certain number of papers each year if you want to survive and advance in this system. And once you get on that hamster wheel, there's no stopping. It's not unheard of for some Chinese academics to produce over 100 papers a year, a fact which no doubt makes the Indians nervous—how do you compete against a nation of scientific eggheads that can produce a paper every couple of days and maintain that rate throughout an entire year?
Prominent intellectuals like the Chinese-American mathematician S.T. Yau, have raised the alarm, but as is always the case, the outspoken critics can yammer all they want, the system doesn't change, or at least not as fast as you'd hope.
Yet another year has gone by without a Chinese person winning the Nobel prize in anything, and like with everything else, this issue is being debated on the internet. When will the Chinese win a Nobel prize? How many years will it take?
Lu Xun, arguably China's most famous modern writer, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1927. In response he wrote that he hoped he would not get the prize, because he didn't feel as if any Chinese person at the time was deserving of the prize. In fact, giving the prize to a "yellow-skinned" person might be a good way of stroking the Chinese ego, making them feel as if they were equal to other nations that already had Nobel laureate writers, but that the overall effect of this would be very bad.
The cartoon says, from right to left: fake results, fake research, fame/fortune. Taken from zgszrx.com.
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 This is your final warning!
Where: Shanghai Studio, No.4, Lane 1950 Huaihai Zhong Lu, near Xingguo Lu (????????????1950???4???,????????????)
When: Tonight, 9 pm until the last demon is exorcised!
Drinks: RMB 25 beers, RMB 30 standard drinks and house wines
Entrance: RMB 35 (includes a free beer or soft drink)
For those of you who still haven't gotten your costumes (shame on you!), you still have a few hours left!
See photos of last year's party here and here!
Party video to be shot by VisionRouge!
Party photos to be shot by Ken Yip!
We've added two new bars and opened up more of the bomb shelter for this year's party!
Visit the Shanghaiist Halloween Party on Facebook, Upcoming, CityWeekend, SmartChina, ShanghaiExpat and SmartShanghai!
Also on Shanghaiist
Shanghaiist Halloween Party: Do you like scary movies?
Shanghaiist Halloween Party @ Shanghai Studio: Are you ready?
Shanghaiist Halloween Party: Get your Halloween costumes NOW!
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Photo from nozomiiqel
Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Simply post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos[at]shanghaiist.com.
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 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China(ICBC), the world???s largest bank by market capitalization, is buying 20 percent of South Africa???s Standard Bank Group Ltd. Standard Bank is based in Johannesburg and has branches in 18 African nations. The USD $5.5 billion price tag marks the most expensive overseas investment by a Chinese firm to date. Earlier in the week, CITIC Securities, also a state owned company, swapped USD $1 billion worth of equities with Bear Stearns. Both tie-ups are just the latest examples of corporate China???s aggressive international merger and acquisition binge, started back in 2004 when Lenovo bought IBM???s PC business.
But, the ICBC move has an added layer of political complexity: the bank is majority owned by the Chinese government. As a 25 percent shareholder of Standard Bank, the largest bank in Africa, ICBC, therefore by extension China, now has a direct mechanism with which to shape Africa???s finance. And just so happens, Beijing has taken a real interest in Africa as of late, what coincidence! Senior Chinese leadership, including both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have, on separate occasions, led good will tours to the continent. Last November, Beijing organized a two day China Africa summit, attended by leaders of more than 40 African nations.
Most Western observers believe China's foreign policies towards Africa are driven directly by China's voracious appetite for natural resources. A strong Sino-Afircan bond would ensure China's mineral and oil needs are met for the next decade and beyond. Some have gone so far as calling China a ???neo-colonialist???, a charge China, of course, vehemently denies. What is undeniable however is China's growing influence on Africa, eerily reminiscent of empire building campaigns undertaken by prior superpowers. Whether China will actually go down that road remains to be seen.
Jay Sheng is Shanghaiist's Business Editor. Email tips, news and gossip about business in Shanghai and China to biz at shanghaiist.com.
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Li Lianyu (李连玉), the Party Secretary of Pizhou (邳州) with a population of 1.6 million in Xuzhou city, Jiangsu Province returns home from the 17th Party Congress in Beijing and receives a hero's welcome. The local government puts together a grand ceremony with banners everywhere screaming "Welcome Secretary Li's Glorious Return From the 17th Party Congress." (h/t to CDT and A Floor Sweeping Monk)
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We didn't realise there was going to be a Part 2 of Sufei's Shanghai trip. But wow, this episode really kicks ass. Sufei goes with her dad to house No. 240 on Nanchang Lu (南昌路) which used to be called Route Vallon before the war. This was where he spent the first years of his life and so they were presently surprised to find the old landlord alive, and still living in the house! Watch the clip for more surprises.
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Don't put on your party hats; no, leave those stupid little things at home. This is the weekend is all about Halloween and ghoulish costumes. Kicking things off tonight is the STD (great inspiration when designing your costumes) Halloween bash. Locals Banana Monkey and the Drop Kicks will be joined by Xian based 24-hour Party People... the icing on the cake being Misfits cover band, Horror Business. Nothing goes better with ghouls'n'ghosts than a little Misfits music. If you aren't into Halloween but still want the live music then check out didgeridoo master Phil Conyngham bringing his talent to the crowds (hopefully) at Live Bar. SKO, new school punkers from Beijing will be playing over at Yuyintang.
Saturday things start to get even wickeder with the Lab hosting a Halloween party at 4Live featuring beats from the Lab Dj's and Pharaoh (but of course, everyone knows where the most kickass Halloween party is going to be!). While Chaos, a German film group will host a surreal film and live music interactive show at Yuyintang. Also worth checking out is chill, Lonely China Day from Beijing, who earlier this year played at the SX/SW festival in the USA and will be gracing Shanghai with back to back performances, Saturday at Live bar and Sunday at 4Live. So get off your ass, stitch together some kinda costume and head out. The great thing about Halloween parties is that you can get pissed out of your mind, make an ass of yourself, and be secure in the knowledge that your identity was hidden under 3 layers of latex and paint.
Friday - October 26th
STD - Halloween Bash - 4Live - 10pm (30rmb)
SKO - Yuyintang - 9pm
Phil Conyngham - Live Bar - 9:30pm (25/30rmb)
Saturday - October 27th
Chaos Interactive Film Festival - Yuyintang - 8pm (50rmb)
Pharaoh's Live in the Lab Party - 4Live - 10pm (30rmb)
Lonely China Day - Live Bar - 9:30pm (35/40rmb)
Sunday - October 28th
Lonely China Day - 4Live -9pm
Yuyintang - ????????????1731???(?????????)?????????????????????
4Live - 8??????- ????????????8???7??????
Live Bar - ??????????????????721??????????????????
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 A quick note to interrupt your last-minute Halloween costume shopping (we made our costume yesterday ... you'll definitely hear us coming) to let you know what films we plan to show at the big Shanghaiist Halloween Party on Saturday night. If you haven't been to Shanghai Studio, it's a spooky maze-like place that occupies an old bomb shelter. So if music and dancing are your things, we've got rooms for that. If chatting and drinking are your things, we've got rooms for that, too. For those of you who have "other" activities in mind, there are also plenty of dark hallways and corners for you to do your thing.
And then there's the scary movie room with a projection screen and limited seating. We've decided to show one movie each from the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s. Here's the planned lineup (start times are estimates, since the person operating the DVD player will more than likely be drinking):
Here are the terrifying party details, once again:
Shanghaiist Halloween Party, once again at spooky Shanghai Studio ??? the bar in a bomb shelter. Saturday, Oct. 27, 9 pm till the last demon is exorcised! Expect a haunted dungeon atmosphere, great Halloween music, drink specials, scary movies ... and plenty of surprises! Be there OR DIE!
Shanghai Studio, No.4, Lane 1950 Huaihai Zhong Lu, near Xingguo Lu (????????????1950???4???,????????????)
See photos of last year's monster bash here and here!
Party video to be shot by VisionRouge!
Party photos to be shot by Ken Yip!
We've added two new bars and opened up more of the bomb shelter for this year's party!
Entry: RMB 35 (includes a free beer) at the door. No advance tickets.
Visit the Shanghaiist Halloween Party on Facebook, Upcoming, CityWeekend, SmartChina, ShanghaiExpat and SmartShanghai!
Sorry for all the exclamations marks. Halloween is our favorite holiday.
Also on Shanghaiist
Shanghaiist Halloween Party @ Shanghai Studio: Are you ready?
Shanghaiist Halloween Party: Get your Halloween costumes NOW!
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Who is Yacht ?
Yacht, a musician you will love like a rainbow after the rain, or a lollipop after visiting the dentist.
Any one remember the Blow? Well, the Blow’s last 2 albums was 90% Yacht and Yacht is made up of one man….the multi – talented Jona Bochtolt.
Happy, positive rainbow music on speed, Yacht might currently be best known as that guy who used to be in the Blow or for touring with Architecture in Helsinki and LCD Soundsystem . But, that is about to change. With the release of his debut album ‘ I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real.’, earlier this year, Yacht has gone on a whirlwind world tour through the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and, most recently, China.
Speaking in tongues, people being possessed, their bodies to twitch and move in spastic spurts and idol worshipping… a Yacht show is less concert and more of a religious experience. In Shanghai I had the chance to catch up with Yacht and aft | |
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