China Blog Additions
A few new- or new to me- China blogs for you to feast on, though only one of them is in traditional blog format. Drumroll please...
1. Chinasmack- what Chinese 姑娘 and ä¼™å are saying on the internet- a useful summary of the more interesting trends on the Chinese interwang, translated into English.
2. Sexy Beijing- a video podcast series, Sexy Beijing concerns the adventures of one Anna Sophie Loewenberg, a Jewish-American princess who roams the streets of the nation's capital talking to locals about sex, love, marriage, and life.
3. Opposite End of China- The China you hear about most is the coastal part of factories, mega-cities, and urban blight. Thousands of miles away lies Xinjiang, an "autonomous region" larger than Western Europe. Not a whole lot is known about Xinjiang, few Westerners live there, and fewer still blog. So that's what makes Opposite End of China unique and interesting. Plus, author Michael Manning recently ran afoul of a Chinese ultra-nationalist dude. Funny stuff! His whole blog is worth bookmarking.
Reading
Two interesting articles on China from the American media:
1. From the Washington Post, the Chinese government has arrested a dissident for signing a petition calling for political reform.
2. From the New York Times, Chinese exports are down, signaling worry.
The two events might seem unrelated; after all, one is a purely political story while the other is economic. Yet in China, the health and viability of the Chinese Communist Party largely depends on the health and viability of the economy. Something to remember.
Recipes
As a culinary region in China, Yunnan doesn't have the same cache as Sichuan, Hunan, or Guangdong. That doesn't mean, however, that Yunnan food isn't good. In fact, some of the regional specialties are absolutely delicious and difficult to find outside of Yunnan. These include "Grandma's potatoes", a mashed potatoes dish that's spicier than what your mom makes for Thanksgiving dinner, stir-friend broccoli with goat's cheese, and Yunnan-style hash browns.
Fortunately, these dishes aren't too difficult to re-create if you're far away from Yunnan. Here's a recipe for Grandma's potatoes, (courtesy of GoKunming). Scroll to the bottom of the entry for links to other recipes. Follow them, and you won't be disappointed.
Weekend Reading
Some pieces to intellectualize your weekend:
1. From The Economist- Thailand will not mature into a stable democracy until it allows criticism of the monarchy.
2. From The Guardian- Simon Jenkins on how terror- and the mere threat of terror- has turned America into a cowed nation.
3. From The Atlantic- James Fallows interviews the head of the China Investment Corporation, a man who overseas $200 billion of China's US dollar holdings. What does he say?　"Be nice to the countries that lend you money"
UPDATE: Fallows link fixed.
Two New Blogs
Two new additions to the blogroll:
1. Sinoscape- this is the blog of my friend and roommate Matt Burton, an Australian who has lived in Yunnan for more than three years. Matt's a very good amateur photographer and he already has uploaded quite a few great photos of the province and of China at large. Well worth a look both for photography buffs and people interested in seeing what China looks like, particularly in more rustic areas.
2. South of the Clouds- this is a blog by a friend of mine, Jeff Crosby, who has lived and worked in China since 2000. Jeff is a professional translator/interpreter who also has extensive knowledge of China's burgeoning arts scene. Jeff and I went on a recent cycling trip together (more on this later) with two other friends, so check his site for his account of our trip.
San Francisco, Explained
Chris Tavelli, who owns the Yield Wine Bar in San Francisco's revitalized Dogpatch neighborhood, noticed recently that demand for his best-seller, an organic wine from Chile's Lymari Valley, had plummeted.
The likely reason? The wine's name, Palin Syrah, sounds a lot like Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee
Oops!
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Counting Characters and Such
Praxis, the company behind the LanguagePod series, has started a cool new blog called Learning on Your Terms. It's written by John Biesnecker, a veteran of the China expat blogging scene and a Praxis employee. For insight into learning a foreign language (not just Chinese), there's a lot of interesting material there.
Through a link on this post I found a list of all Chinese characters by frequency, all the way up to 10,000 or so.
As I mentioned in my first ever post for Lost Laowai, there isn't a magical number of characters one has to know to achieve "fluency", and in any case few people actually can quantify their own personal "character count". I've always been morbidly curious, anyway, so for fun I read through the list.
Characters 1-1,250- no problem.
1,250-2,250- iffy. Know some, don't know others
2,250-3,000- few and far between
3,000-10,000- nada
John guesses 3,500 characters are necessary to achieve proficiency, though as we know characters don't really matter, words do. So while I was feeling sorry for myself a bit, I remembered that about a year ago I'd probably be limited to 200, and a year before that no more than 40. So hey- progress is progress!
Throwing a Bone
-Over the past week and a half one of my good friends from college, Jascha Pohl, has been traveling with me in Yunnan a bit before he heads off for some much-needed tropical time in Vietnam. Jascha has been blogging about his trip at his (semi) eponymous site Jascha Pohl Sucks (an inside joke from college, perhaps subconsciously borrowed from the 90s band Primus). Well worth a read.
-For those of you who read Chinese, have a look at my friend Tracy's (陈雪) blog. Tracy recently completed her Masters in Anthropology at Yunnan University and as part of her thesis research interviewed yours truly and several other Kunming laowai. She's an insightful writer and always has something interesting to say, particularly lately when discussing the earthquake.
- While on the subject of academia, congratulations to John "Sinosplice" Pasden who this past weekend successfully defended his masters thesis in applied linguistics. John's site remains a great resource for those interested in learning more about the Chinese language.
- Finally, congratulations to Chris Waugh for his great HSK result. I still haven't gotten my results back yet, but I hope that I'll be able to post them here with pride (if you hear nothing, then assume it's back to the drawing board 