Ran_Dom on life and China, and life in China

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195400192009-03-02T10:35:27.066+08:00Ran_Dom on life and China, and life in ChinaMan muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu können.Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-51356262797401795772008-09-21T14:39:00.003+08:002008-09-21T14:47:48.102+08:00Post_Olympic resolution..

... is to re-activate this BLOG and share some thoughts and anecdotes about China and living in it.A resolution currently, let's see.. :)

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-35393841781777736592007-07-02T05:23:00.000+08:002007-07-31T01:49:59.561+08:00Discovering Beijing's Olympic Stadium - the "birds nest".

Today was a terrific day! Why? I'll let pictures speak for themselves:How the Olympic Stadium in Beijing is going to look like once done (in March 2007):How it currently, July 1st 2007, looks like and how we, Nina and I, experienced it:Apparently some of the migrant workers also liked to have Nina around: ^^I am impressed by HdM's "new baby" and enjoyed the interactions with some of the 15000 (

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-76538044782213901162007-07-01T01:19:00.000+08:002007-07-01T04:23:44.133+08:00When will Bush finally be impeached?

Digg just surfaced a story that made me think of this again. The story announced "White House Changes History: Erases 'Mission Accomplished' Banner" and claimed that the Whitehouse had silently modified the video of the speech "Dubya's" had held on May 1st 2003 announcing that major combat operations in Iraq had ended. By cropping the video, so the claim, they removed the fat and proud "Mission

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-30538413130102263792007-06-30T22:51:00.000+08:002007-06-30T23:26:17.091+08:0010th anniversary of "2 systems, one country" - interesting present

A day of increased propaganda here in Beijing as Hong Kong marks its 10th year under a "two systems one country " arrangement.While reading up on it the following line in an article written by my favorite British news service (ask Tas which one that would be) caught my eyes: It describes one of the presents, next to two baby pandas, offered to HK by Hu:"[...] It is a waxworks statue of the late

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-66557275198268021342007-06-29T21:00:00.000+08:002007-06-30T15:59:32.041+08:00Cosmic Dancer

"[...] we have all been summoned to become Cosmic Dancers who do not rest heavily on a single spot but lightly turn and leap from one position to another. As World Citizens, the Cosmic Dancer will be an authentic child of its parent culture, while closely related to all. The dancer's roots in family and community will be deep, but in those depths they will strike the water table of a common

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-63963546992335478532007-06-29T02:29:00.000+08:002007-07-01T00:42:04.000+08:00Quoting a Chinese Governor

In the context of the slavery scandal of which the tip has emerged recently in Shanxi, where reportedly "more than 1,000 'slaves', including children and mentally retarded men were working for long hours with no pay in primitive brick-making kilns in hilly and remote counties [...]", let me quote part of the self-criticism (heard before..?) of Governor Yu:Governor Yu admitted that the incident “

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-67220392052117093262007-06-26T23:00:00.000+08:002007-06-30T05:00:20.642+08:00Beijing's Digital Scavenger Hunt.

Last Saturday, slightly more than one year after Exoweb's digital scavenger hunt, it was again "digital scavenger hunt" (click here for more info about what a digital scavenger hunt is all about) time in Beijing. This time Vinny, creative as hell and spicing up not only Beijing's impro theatre scene, and MCK called and a bunch of roughly 30 people responded. Among them:"toodle pip" .. meaning Tas

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-54733540286661759972007-06-26T00:09:00.000+08:002007-06-26T00:33:01.023+08:00Wanna reserve tickets for Beijing Olympics 2008? 4 more days.

Just a reminder for all those of you that may potentially be interested in tickets for the Olympic Games, which are going to start here in Beijing on August 8th, 2008 at 8pm; 8 (bā 八) being an auspicious number according to Chinese culture because it sounds like the word 发/fā meaning "fortune", "prosper"..Reserve before June 30th!How to reserve? Turn here: http://www.tickets.beijing2008.cn/

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-18624182430091558702007-06-22T02:48:00.000+08:002007-06-25T23:52:09.782+08:00If I had to sketch out my philosophy.. :

.. then the passage I just reread after coming home from another one of these legendary Poker evenings with the boys would definitely be part of it:"When shall we come to recognize that health is as contagious as disease, virtue as contagious as vice, cheerfulness as contagious as moroseness" (in Huston Smith's "The World's Religions")I guess Monty Python (and may be Aida) would simply crucify

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-24773481804926950382007-06-18T17:17:00.000+08:002007-06-25T22:50:26.982+08:00Roaring Exoweb :

Exoweb, the dynamic and geeky company I have been working for during the last 1.5 years has been growing quite significantly - while I, fossil in the meantime, was still “ExoMate 25” when I joined, we will soon be welcoming our 54th colleague.Rocking? Sure! One issue we had to tackle, however, was one that everyone shaping up faces: with increasing muscles even a shiny T-Shirt starts to tweak.

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-54250351004844576022007-06-18T04:02:00.000+08:002007-06-25T23:55:39.098+08:00How traditions can give "face" and goose bumps to a 老外 (lǎowài) :

Yu Bo aka Kelly, one of my colleagues, and her boyfriend Hong Yan got married!Yep, another one of my teammates, most of them younger than me (Cindy, another workmate of mine put this on her BLOG in the following, lovely way: [...] 当时看到他的时候觉得想不到他只是比我大两岁[...] or as much as "When I saw him [me] he looked more than only two years [our actual age difference] older than me".. well, well, it must have

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-33902491962074111892007-06-18T03:20:00.000+08:002007-06-25T22:53:00.941+08:00Sexy Beijing

Sex and the city, now also in Beijing.."Sexy Beijing" is a series of small clips (to be found on youtube) produced by the "local" Carrie Bradshaw, SunFei. It provides fun insights into some of the issues making our days here in Beijing.Check out this one called "lost in translation". It's about how and what English names some Chinese choose for themselves.. Best one I've personally met so far,

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-12510778080332389762007-06-05T00:13:00.000+08:002007-06-30T04:21:37.710+08:00Today, June 4th, 18 years ago - Remember

And what if Cao's proposal to impeach Li on the basis of a violation of Art.29 of the Chinese Constitution would have trumped?The conditional sucks.Remember.china, politics

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-19863867993969086042007-05-31T00:36:00.000+08:002007-06-25T23:58:41.598+08:00Chinese stockmarket - currently "Chinese roulette"?

There seems to be only one thing crazier (and more "hyped"?) than the current reported GDP growth of China: China's, resp. Shanghai's stock market.While reported GDP growth in 2006 was 10.7%, the Shanghai Composite has surged some 62% since the start of 2007 alone. Sustainable? Yeeeeah, sure... A sign supporting Alan Greenspans remarks from last week, that it might be about time to get out of the

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-65272887781190885482007-05-24T01:32:00.000+08:002007-05-24T01:53:20.592+08:00Beijing Olympics: Rockets against the rain

During previous Olympic games rockets were installed to keep away airplanes navigated by potential terrorists. In Beijing rockets are not only going to target terrorists but also clouds that get to close to the Olympic sites. Well at least if they threaten to let it rain..Parts of an article published in The Daily Telegraph:[...] Wang said aircraft and rockets would be used to spread silver

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-58736677967683720662007-05-23T01:00:00.001+08:002007-06-25T23:03:41.848+08:00Ready for global warming?

Random: while reading up on a story on "Schwarzenegger accuses Bush of 'inaction and denial' on global warming" spread via digg.com, I found the following:Check out more of these Diesel ads here. Global warming going fashionable... Creative, even if I'd prefer energies to be spent on fighting global warming rather than on getting the right cloth to be served water the "Diesel" way.. ^^

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-24056751116926773012007-05-22T10:11:00.000+08:002007-06-25T22:55:55.800+08:00The Olympic Stadium in Beijing - The 'Bird's nest' - and other architecture in China

Lots has been written and said about the monumental National Stadium that is currently being built here in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.As a "Bebbi" myself I'm obviously kind of proud to say that it's HdM (Herzog and de Meuron), architects from Basel, that have won the competition and get to realize their project... ;)Anyway, I just read an interesting article written by Guido Mingels and

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-4774361958047684502007-05-20T03:21:00.000+08:002007-06-25T22:58:47.479+08:00An unexpected Chinese language partner :

I was sitting at the lakefront in Tuanjiehu park, one of the green oasis I frequently find refuge in. The weather was a treat, the weeping willow’s scent in the air and I in for a lengthy brainstorming. I was in the ‘flow’.But then an elderly man passed by. I noticed him because the rhythm of his step changed, slowed down, broke. I looked up and saw that he was staring. Foreigner! Unusual, yes,

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-14443261592311724502007-05-02T14:16:00.000+08:002007-06-30T04:25:01.464+08:00Souvenirs

One of these nostalgic moments.. My mum cleaned the house and dugg out fotos. Hopps, they are in my inbox and me way back, in my souvenirs.. Oh boy, having a great childhood is definitely super important, and if I could hand out an Oscar for being the parents of the century I wouldn't hestitate a second to hand it over to my parents. You would give your Oscar to your parents? Great!I love the

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-11820593570936449632007-04-24T01:02:00.000+08:002007-06-30T04:26:27.467+08:00News is what "is supposed" to be news..?!

Reported by Reuters today: BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday launched a campaign to rid the country's sprawling Internet of "unhealthy" content and make it a springboard for Communist Party doctrine, state television reported.With Hu presiding, the Communist Party Politburo -- its 24-member inner council -- discussed cleaning up the Internet, state television reported.

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-35784279936693957412007-04-21T18:44:00.000+08:002007-06-30T04:27:54.921+08:00The English corner at Ren Da (People's University) :

How many Chinese already speak English and, if so, on what level, is a tough question to answer (eg. discussion). However, I would say that it is relatively safe to say that the proportion is increasing rapidly. Chinglish is under constant attack, even though far from being doomed anytime soon (a) for the obvious difficulties of learning a language that is completely different from one's own and

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-40883716993742312172007-04-20T18:22:00.000+08:002007-06-26T00:01:05.718+08:00I love to get stuck in traffic :

Beijing traffic has incredible potential to wreck ones nerves. The number of cars increases dramatically while the infrastructure tries to keep track. However, the latter is not only loosing the race but also suffers the legacy of some insane errors of construction (little example: the offramps of the ringroads are just about 100meters AFTER the onramps..). Public transport (except the two

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-85730465763654305002007-04-15T11:05:00.000+08:002007-04-15T11:37:51.983+08:00Spring feeling

"Das Jahr wird älter und täglich jünger. O Widerspruch voll Harmonie!" I like this citation and the poem ( Erich Kästner - der April) that comes along, since it expresses spring feelings very well and reminds me of a very special person - Pli - who is going to enjoy numerous autumns more feeling and enjoying most beautiful spring feelings, I am convinced!Everyone, enjoy the energy of spring, the

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-52103128798737599912007-04-14T23:06:00.001+08:002007-06-26T00:05:23.727+08:00西安 Xī'ān - ancient warriors in the contemporary "mist"

Xi'an, in Shaanxi province is a city of great historical and cultural importance. It is situated in the South West of the "Northern Capital" (34°16′N 108°55′;)) and figures just below the latter on the check list of numerous China travellers. While it took me 9 months to finally see the Forbidden City from the inside (yep, I live in Beijing..), I, last week, and after 17 months in China, set out

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540019.post-55188051675011858632007-03-25T23:52:00.000+08:002007-04-15T10:59:44.539+08:00Tickets for the Olympic Games in Beijing :

500 days to go until Beijing will host the world.500 days of activisim englobing just about everything from finishing up all construction sites (including some mind blowing Olympic facilities and the CCTV tower) to the perceived need of educating the population on how to best host the international guests. Fascinating, funny and at times disturbing to observe.thanks TobyBarnesBeijing seems to be

Domhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171501304288067193noreply@blogger.com0