The scanners originally put into use throughout the Shanghai Metro during bulked-up security efforts for Expo 2010 have been largely left in place seven months on --- much to my and many other commuters' annoyance. However, this vexation is not brought about because everyone is being relentlessly strong armed into scanning their bag. It's quite …
Category: China
Dispatches from beyond the Great Firewall
Google Users Turn Elsewhere to Avoid Headaches
Using Google these past three weeks has been damn right hellish. Even with a VPN (virtual private network) on, Google Chat periodically kicks out. Running undistinguishable searches at my office (where there is no VPN) has ultimately led me to the oh so vexing "can't-open-page" screen. It's not like I'm searching for "corrupting" info about …
Continue reading Google Users Turn Elsewhere to Avoid Headaches
Paranoia Spurs a Run on Salt in Shanghai
At a mom-and-pop dumpling restaurant in Shanghai’s French Concession yesterday evening, all reactions to the destruction wrought across north-eastern Japan could be quickly compressed into a single unified response: “horrifying.” However, this general feeling of dismay was breed of its own motives. “All of the supermarkets close to here have sold out of sea salt,” …
Is China Looking to Singapore for Lessons in Filial Piety?
Who would have thought that passing assertive laws that forced the majority of a population to bear no more than one child would have harmful effects on a society? Well, it’s starting to happen in China as the coevals of America's “baby boomers” (engendered by Mao’s well thought-out policy of “人多好办事,” or “more people gets …
Continue reading Is China Looking to Singapore for Lessons in Filial Piety?
A Walk Through Dazu, Chongqing
“China is the factory of the world.” It’s a perfectly common statement to make these days. Plenty of people have said it themselves or at least acknowledged it, and yet, for the most part, I had only passively taken it into account until I heard it uttered out of the mouth of Mr. Liu. The 52-year-old …
Justin Calderón 