傻冒儿 Stupid Hat aka ShaMao'er

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Shamao will be heading to China on Saturday for the first time since he moved back to the US almost a year ago now.  Should provide some good, more timely, fodder for future China related posts.  Should be interesting...

Playboy

Beijing is also expected to permit distribution of Playboy magazine in China for at least a month to meet the demand of overseas visitors during the Olympics, the sources said.

How typical and stupid for so many reasons.  First, who the hell even reads it anymore?  Second, I have no choice but to view it as racist.  In my experience, Chinese tend to think of foreigners as depraved sex fiends.   Now I will admit that the actions of many Westerners in China may contribute to this view (with the full cooperation of Chinese women of course), however I always found this funny in a country where there is literally not a village, town or city that does not have some sort of whorehouse (whether ktv, massage parlor, or barbershop) on every block.

Names

I was thinking today that Chinese don't seem to name things after people.  I was reading an article about some little island that the Russians are returning to China.  The Chinese name for it was Heishanzi dao, so literally black sand island.  The Russian name looked like it was named after someone which would be normal in Western tradition. 

Chinese nomenclature in general is kind of interesting.  What first struck me when looking at the name of the island was the simplicity of the name.  Similar name related thoughts have struck me many times in past (particularly with regards to animals that are not native to China where most seemed to be called a type of deer, elephant, or fish).  It would be interesting to know the background of English animal words such as giraffe, ostrich, or kangaroo.  I suspect that they are all corruptions of local languages where the animals are native.  Chinese does not seem to have traditionally borrowed in this manner. 

Back to the naming of geographies and the like.  I was trying to think of a single Chinese natural feature in China that is named after someone (kind of like Pike's Peak or Mount McKinley etc.) and couldn't think of any.  Likewise buildings and even companies also don't seem to often be named after people.  Has to do with the individual's place within society I guess.  I may be completely wrong about this and just be unaware of the the names of lots of places.  If anyone knows of any named after people please let me know.

Names

I was thinking today that Chinese don't seem to name things after people.  I was reading an article about some little island that the Russians are returning to China.  The Chinese name for it was Heishanzi dao, so literally black sand island.  The Russian name looked like it was named after someone which would be normal in Western tradition. 

Chinese nomenclature in general is kind of interesting.  What first struck me when looking at the name of the island was the simplicity of the name.  Similar name related thoughts have struck me many times in past (particularly with regards to animals that are not native to China where most seemed to be called a type of deer, elephant, or fish).  It would be interesting to know the background of English animal words such as giraffe, ostrich, or kangaroo.  I suspect that they are all corruptions of local languages where the animals are native.  Chinese does not seem to have traditionally borrowed in this manner. 

Back to the naming of geographies and the like.  I was trying to think of a single Chinese natural feature in China that is named after someone (kind of like Pike's Peak or Mount McKinley etc.) and couldn't think of any.  Likewise buildings and even companies also don't seem to often be named after people.  Has to do with the individual's place within society I guess.  I may be completely wrong about this and just be unaware of the the names of lots of places.  If anyone knows of any named after people please let me know.

No more human faces with animal heart

Could the Chinese government handle the PR over Tibet any worse?  You would really think that they would learn.  There must be someone at the Ministry of Information under the age of 50 who would have some idea of how to present things for foreign consumption.  They honestly don't seem to have improved much since the 1970's.  A good start would be not to translate directly comments/phrases that are used in domestic media... i.e. a monster with a human face and  an animal's heart.  I have a feeling that the original Chinese does convey exactly the same meaning as the translation.  You'd think they would know that after 30+ years.   

I know so many Chinese in China who have a pretty fair understanding of how westerners think and who could write statements that would be far less grating (and at times just plain twilight zone level weird) to Western ears.  There are even enough American and other Western traitors working at the China Daily that you could get one of them to do it.  Must be the typical mis allocation of resources common to any centrally planned economy. 

Sourcing

I was doing some research yesterday on manufacturing quality control better practice in China when I came across the Sept 2007 Congressional testimony of Mattel CEO Robert Eckert regarding the lead paint related recalls of Chinese made toys.   The testimony was very interesting, I was surprised at the level of detail regarding Mattel's operations. 

The last I remembered, Mattel had issued an "apology" to China, saying that the recalls were the result of its own "design failures".  I remember thinking when I heard that that it was typical China ass-kissing by Western corporations.  It turns out that with a close reading of the "apology" one learns that it refers only to the loose magnet related recalls and not to the lead paint. 

There were 3 main reasons given for the lead paint issue.  All of these should be familiar to anyone with responsibility for procurement in China, but usually aren't familiar at all:

1) Use of undisclosed subcontractors by approved vendors
2) Use of undisclosed manufacturing facilities by approved vendors
3) The sale by a subcontractor of approved paint provided by Mattel to its vendor (who then provided it to the subcontractor) and then substitution with inferior (in this case lead tainted) paint

This follows on nicely from a meeting I had last night with a major global corporation who runs a large fleet of vehicles and found a very high level of non-conformance in safety related parts it purchased in China.  In that case there was an issue of undisclosed subcontracting and substitution of components as well.

With the proper controls in place, it is perfectly possible to realize low-cost savings while ensuring consistent quality.  Unfortunately, company after company after company is sourcing in China and company after company after company makes the same errors.  Its really quite depressing.    

Jealousy

Image from James Fallows Blog.

One of my friends in China told me the other day that I am jealous of their life there...

Golden Shield

This is just a great article from a great journalist on a great site. 

The Connection has been Reset

The technical information in the piece is really interesting of course, but it is the cultural aspect that I find most fascinating.  My strong impression, gleaned both by direct questioning (not too useful) and by round about probing, is that most Chinese are only vaguely aware of the extent of their golden shield; are completely unaware that it is the reason the internet is so painfully slow in China; and most intriguingly, seem to feel this to be a perfectly understandable and appropriate government function. 

This goes to a fundamental difference in the Western vs. Chinese understanding as to the underlying purpose of government.   I have the feeling that this type of internet control is not so much a function of autocracy, or communism/Leninism, or even fascism, as it is of underlying culture.  It would be interesting to know if historical Western historical autocracies (say Louis XIV France or even Nazi Germany), would have been able to erect something such as the Golden Shield without significant popular dissent.  I suspect not. 

R E S P E C T

Spielberg's Olympic Pullout Angers Chinese Media, Pubilc

It never ceases to amaze me how surprised and indignant Chinese are when things like this happen. What do they expect? It is not as if they don't know what the outside world is like, they do.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the simple fact is that no matter how many skyscrapers they build; no matter how big their GDP is; no matter how advanced their military becomes or how many astronauts they send into space; as long as they remain the corrupt autocracratic government that they are today they will never get the respect of the world. Things like this will continue to happen on a regular basis.

Letters from a Chinese Official II

A long time ago, maybe a year or so back, I published an excerpt from a little book I have titled
Letters from a Chinese Official  published in 1903.  I had intended to keep publishing excerpts now and then but then misplaced the book during the move back to the US and just now noticed it again. 

This time out of curiosity I did a quick Google search on the title and have now learned that the book was a fake and was in fact the product of a British anarchist historian, not of a Chinese Official.  So, while that is disappointing,  the book is still kind of interesting but now in an opposite way.   It now represents the viewpoint of a Western Sinophile who believes Chinese society and culture at the time to be much superior to the West. 

Now remember, this Brit is writing at the turn of the 20th century, at the height of the industrial revolution in Britain.  So the criticisms of the West that are supposedly the observations of a Chinese official are written in that context.  What is striking is how well the descriptions / criticisms of  the West  at that time resemble China of today.  Maybe the apologists are right after all and China just needs another 100 years of development.  Of course by that time we will all have asphyxiated in the byproducts of that development....

Here's an excerpt for your reading pleasure:

...."You have dissolved all human and personal ties, and you endeavor, in vain, to replace them with the impersonal activity of the State.  The salient characteristic of your civilization is its irresponsibility.  You have liberated forces you cannot control; you are caught yourselves in your own cogs and levers.  The making of dividends is the universal preoccupation; the well-being of the laborer is no one's concern... You produce, not because you will, but because you must; you consume, not what you choose but what is forced upon you."