Year-end Top 10: Official Say Stupid Things
1. "We are of high-level positions. So don't bother to call the police."
Yu Fuqin slapped a 19-year-old tour guide twice in the face for touching an ancient mural in Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. When questioned about the issue by security staff, Yu Fuqin’s husband stepped in and said, “We are of high-level positions. So don't bother to call the police.” It turned out that the husband, Zhou Wei, is a lieutenant colonel of the No. 221 Regiment Corps and the wife is a party secretary of a hospital attached to the regiment.
Consequence: the husband and wife were removed from their posts after an online outrage against their behavior.
2. "Why doesn't the public reveal their assets first? And why don’t the entrepreneurs make their profits public to their employees?"
When journalist asked a provincial member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) about officials’ asset declaration program, this official said, “Why doesn't the public reveal their assets first? And why don’t the entrepreneurs make their profits public to their employees?”
Consequence: Unknown.
3. "I will have your website shut down if you dare to report it."
An education official was slapped in the face by a female teacher during a banquet. When asked by a journalist about the incident, the official told the journalist, “I will have your website shut down if you dare to report it."
Consequence: The official remains in his post and the teacher was suspended in early September.
4. "Go straight to the fifth floor. Don't choose the first or second floor."
A 66-year-old villager sought help from Shi Guozhong, a local official from Chengde, Hebei province. When Shi refused to help the villager, the 66-year-old claimed he would commit suicide by jumping from a building. Shi Guozhong told the villager, “It's none of my business. Go straight to the fifth floor. Don't choose the first or second floor.”
Consequence: Unknown.
5. "You are doomed to be punished if you fight against the government. Any action against the government is illegal."
Throwing a self-made Molotov cocktail at authorities is illegal but stating “you are doomed to be punished if you fight against the government. Any action against the government is illegal" is just stupid. Pan Rong from Minhang district of Shanghai was proclaimed “a brave woman” by netizens for throwing the cocktail at authorities to protest the forcible demolition of her house. She and her husband failed to prevent the demolition and were imprisoned for eight months for throwing the cocktail.
Consequence: house demolished and owner imprisoned.
6. "You are a mouthpiece for the party (CPC) or the people?"
After luxury houses were built in a region intended for affordable housing in Zhengzhou, Henan province, journalists interviewed the local official Lu Jun. Instead, Lu Jun asked the journalists if they were “a mouthpiece for the party or the people.” Lu implied that the ruling party has interests at odds with the people.
Consequence: Lu was suspended from his post.
7. "Build, baby, build! We will make up for your loss."
Wang Aimin, mayor of Langfang of Hebei province, issued a slogan to attract investment to the real estate industry. He said, "Real estate is a good industry to invest in and we will offset all the losses of the developers who come to invest - by providing free land as compensation."
Consequence: Unknown.
8. "I say 99 percent of repeat petitioners are mentally ill."
Sun Dongdong, a Ministry of Health expert and a professor of Peking University, told the press that “99 percent of repeat petitioners are mentally ill.” Chinese law allows people to challenge government or judicial decisions they consider unfair by filing petitions to dedicated departments in most ministries and institutions.
Consequence: Dongdong apologized.
9. "Which media organization do you work for?"
Zhou Jihong, head of the Chinese national diving team, felt she was above the questionings of the press by asking the journalist “which media organization do you work for” when the journalist asked her about the rumor that she fixed the diving competitions at the 11th Chinese National Games.
Consequence: Unknown.
10. "Are you a member of the Communist Party (CPC)?"
A dog management office in Zhengzhou has received a storm of criticism for spending 7.3 million yuan ($1 million) in two years -- money that came from charging license fees from dog owners -- without providing more services to the public. An investigation was conducted by a local newspaper.
Wang Guanqi, a local official with the bureau of budget administration, refused an interview and asked the journalist, "Are you a member of CPC? And you have to get approval from our bureau CPC committee if you want an interview."
Consequence: Unknown.
The Chinese Worker: Runner Up as Time’s Person of the Year 2009
The number 8 is sacred in China; in fact, it is the number that all important things revolve around. We all know what happened on August 8th, 2008 at 8:08PM.
However, there’s another more important aspect of the number 8 in China today. The Chinese have a word for it: baoba. Baoba means “protect eight,” the 8% annual economic growth rate that officials believe is critical to ensuring social stability. So when the world is in an economic slump, most people thought 8% was unattainable.
But China has done it and it remains the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
8% has been protected and the credit goes to the millions of Chinese workers; that is why the Chinese workers were nominated as the Time’s Person of the Year 2009.
Millions of Chinese workers leave their families behind to head for coastal cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou to work in factories that supply the world most of its goods. In and near these factories, according to Time, are “the people who are leading the world to economic recovery: Chinese men and women, their struggles in the past, their thoughts on the present and their eyes on the future.”
Do you believe the Chinese workers should be Time’s Person of the Year? What sacrifices does China have to make to obtain 8% or above year after year.
Chinese husband allows wife to attack him once a week
The 32-year-old man, who was named by the Chongqing Evening News as Mr Zhang, took the unusual step after suffering intense abuse from his wife, who studies kung fu.
"I don't want to beat him, but arguments are inevitable and I can't help myself," his wife told the newspaper. She added that in the week before they signed the deal, she had beaten him up three times.
Mr Zhang said his wife, who is a sales manager at a trading company, had studied kung fu since her childhood and that he was attracted to her "strong and independent temperament".
He also admitted that he had suffered at her hands throughout their six-month courtship. "Before we got married, she had a wild hairstyle and I teased that it made her look like a tigress. During the argument that followed, I said some bad words and I got a taste of her kung fu for the first time."
He said that he had tried to bite his lip in order to avoid being punished, but that he "never wants to lose an argument" and so always ends up with "bruises and scars all over".
In order to curb his wife's aggression, Mr Zhang proposed signing a contract in front of his in-laws. If his wife breaches the contract, she has to return to her parents' home for three days. "She is very obedient to her parents, and her parents will support me and blame her," he said.
His wife said that she always feels regret when she sees her husband with a black eye. "Now that we have a contract, I will force myself to drop the use of force," she said.
Mr Zhang's parents told the newspaper that although they felt bad that their son was regularly attacked, the couple were a good match. "They have a good marriage, so we can say nothing about it," said his father.
Chinese Cop’s Drink Death ‘In Line Of Duty’
A police officer in China has been declared a revolutionary hero after drinking himself to death at an official dinner.
Chen Lusheng, 38, a traffic policeman in the southern city of Shenzhen, "died in the line of duty" following the epic drinking bout at a dinner with officials in October, the state-run China Daily said.
Mr Chen was awarded the designation of "martyr" after his family complained that compensation offered over his death was inadequate, it said.
The status means the relatives could get more than the 360,000 yuan (£32,500) normally paid out over the death of a working sergeant.
The policeman had become notorious for his drinking ability and "became a target of the hosts, who, one by one, asked for the officer to 'gan bei'," the paper said.
"Gan bei" is Chinese for "cheers", and literally means "drain the glass".
After vomiting, Mr Chen was taken to rest on a nearby sofa where he was soon found breathless and with a purple face, the report said. He later died in hospital of suffocation.
The police officer's death was the latest in a string of casualties arising from the Chinese tradition in which officials and businessmen ply guests with strong liquor at elaborate banquets to frequent cries of "gan bei!"
A village party secretary in eastern China was found dead last month after a night of boozing with businessmen.
And a water resource official in central China died in July after excessive drinking at a formal dinner.
The state Xinhua news agency said in July that about £45bn in public funds is spent each year on official banquets.
We don’t read the letters, we read the words. Amazing!
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig!
====================
According to a research at Cambridge University, it doesn't matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be at the right place. the rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole.
Amazing!
“The Joy of Quitting”
Yesterday I read an article on Seth Godin's blog called "The Joy of Quitting." I really liked it and want to share it with everyone. (BTW, Seth's blog is blocked in China for reasons I do not know, perhaps Typepad is blocked so Seth is affected.)
The governor of New York faces an interesting choice.
He can do the natural thing, the thing with momentum, the thing he's been trained to do his entire life: run for a full term. That involves raising a lot of money, living on the road, compromising a lot to gain support and almost certainly losing, probably in the primary.
Or, he can quit. He can win the embrace of his party, of power brokers and his family by quitting now, as opposed to losing later.
It's hard to see a better illustration of the Dip. In elections, you win or you lose. He's almost certain to lose. The dip is deep and long and essentially unsurvivable. If he quits now, anoints an electable successor, acts as a power broker and walks away while he can, he gets to choose his next life. If he runs and wins, that's terrific. But if he runs and loses... not so good.
I can understand why it's hard for him to quit. It's unnatural. But that doesn't mean that he (and the rest of us) can't profit from deciding in advance when to quit (before the market decides for us).
After the decision, going down the path is the easy part.
14 Days in America – Part Two: Met the Parents
Last time I was in Los Angeles was a year and half ago when I went back to visit my parents. More than a year later, I'm back and I brought my wife with me. My parents have not met my wife before (only communicated via phone and seen her in pictures) so this will be their first time. While traveling over the Pacific, my wife voiced her nervousness; she asked a sorts of questions from what should I call them to how much should I eat at the dinner table. She asked me to give her a rundown of my parents' likes and dislikes; she was especially concerned about my mother's. I listed a few and told her everything is going to be alright and my parents are nice people. However, I sensed my pep talk did not help much.
We arrived at LAX on time and customs was without incidents for both of us.
As we waited for our parents to pick us up that the airport, I can sense my wife's uneasiness, and in fact, I was getting uneasy as well. All of a sudden, I saw my parents pushing a luggage cart into the terminal where we were waiting. I ran up to greet them and introduced my wife. My wife called out "Hi Dad, hi Mom" and my parents answered with a smile; we loaded the luggage onto the cart and then headed for the parking lot; nothing more and nothing less. It was nice.
In the car my Mom and wife sat in the back talk while my Father and I were in the front discussing about our itinerary in the next two weeks. Even though I was talking to my father, my attention was on my wife. I was concerned that she would feel awkward in a new environment meeting two people she has never met before. But I do worry too much and it seemed my mom and wife are hitting it off just fine.
Waiting for us at home was delicious food my parents have prepared ahead of time. BBQ ribs and fish filet and stir-fried Italian spaghettis - all the things I love!
That night we sat around and talked about life in Beijing, our feature plans, job, and our impending vacation. It's been a long time since I've talked face to face with my parents and with my wife besides me, I felt perfect.
More tomorrow...
14 Days in America – Part One: All Good Things Must Wait
I've just came back from a 14 days trip through the American west with my wife and I have to say the experience was fantastic.
In the past 14 days, we've traveled more than 3,000 miles through 3 states (California, Nevada, and Arizona) and saw some of the tallest, deepest, and most beautiful natural wonders in the world.
Day One: At the Airport
Our journey started back in Shanghai, China and it didn't quite start smoothly. We bought China Eastern Airline's ticket and that required us to stop at Shanghai before departing China for Los Angeles; Shanghai is also the place where we have to pass through customs and that's where the trouble started. An airport attendant has asked me to fill out a customs form and sign my signature; I gladly complied and returned the form to the custom agent. I thought I would be done with customs in a few seconds and head for the trans-pacific airplane which was waiting for me at the terminal. To my surprise, the agent took a minute to look at my passport and then told me that there's a problem with my signature. According to the customs agent, the signature I have provided does not match the one on my passport. I told the agent that the signature on my passport was signed 8 years ago, its normal that the signatures do not match up exactly.
Well...he ignored my comment and went back scrutinizing my passport. Five minutes went by and he found nothing conclusive. So he called his superior (I assume) to have a look. His superior came over and the two men started scrutinizing my passport. Fifteen minutes went by and they still couldn't decide what to do. Mean while my plane is getting ready for boarding and I'm getting nervous.
The two agents fondled my passport as if it contains some kind of secret map to a treasure island. I not sure if they don't know what they are doing or just not convinced that my passport is real, but after awhile they called in their colleagues. Five agents huddled over my passport trying to decipher it. After 5 minutes, the 5 agents still couldn't make a decision. I told them I've been in and out of China many times and this is the first time someone ever questioned my passport signature.
After some time, the customs agents decided that my passport was real and the signature discrepancy is passable. So after more than half an hour of delay, I was on my way out of China and on a plane to Los Angeles.
More tomorrow and pictures coming soon...
The new Sony Vaio can fit in your back pocket, so can mine
Here's a promotion Sony did boasting that their new Vaio is so small and portable, it can fit in your back pocket:
I like Sony and I personally use a Sony Vaio FZ440, but from the promotional picture above, it seems like those laptops can barely fit; they are streching those back pockets a little bit too much don't you think? And if you do that in China, well...you Vaio is going to get stolen faster than you can say "Sony".
But, I like the concept of ultra small and ultra portable, and I'm a stylish person, so let me see if I can do the same with my computers:
IBM ThinkPad:
Not bad, but not comfortable.
How about an Apple:
Looking stylish....
Now, the ultimate challenge, how about my Dell Desktop:
Ouch!
Rock and roll version of the ABC Song
We've all sang and heard of the ABC song, little kids sing this song to learn their ABCs. Here's the orginal version:
A~ B~ C~ D~ E~ F~ G~~
H~ I~ J~ K~ L M N O P~~
Q~ R~ S~~ T~ U~ V~~
W~~ X~~ Y~ and Z~~
Now I know my ABCs.
Next time won't you sing with me!
While here's another version, rock and roll version, sang by a chubby (and some what cute) Chinese: