“From the cases we cracked in recent years, we found a high proportion of young people who were found guilty of cheating, rape or robbery were using the Internet and were corrupted by online filth,” Wu said.

REALLY???? I MEAN… REALLY??????

China has roughly 123 million Internet users, most of whom are young people

Is it not incredibly apparent here that, if you arrest a young person for some crime, it’s entirely likely that that same young person might be a big fan of, you know, the internet? Doesn’t that statistic indicate that if the zillion other kids in China on the internet aren’t blowing each other’s heads off that it’s just simple demographics that kids who get arrested are online?

I don’t know why I expected China to be any better than the US or Canada on this point. Maybe because they actually devoted some resources to the problem of internet addiction. My only hope is that they don’t actually believe this rubbish and it’s really just a poorly-disguised thrust for conservative values.

Probing deeper, though, the even bigger piss-off is the entire KIDS V GROWNUPS battle which underpins the issue. The thought that these experts grew up in the era when television was just catching on, lived through the exact same polemic of their own then-ignorant elders, and are now repeating the exact same thing to their own, more media-literate kids drives me crazy. Doesn’t anyone have some perspective on this?

It seems that kids at school have broken their legs hopping the wall of the campus in the dead of night to score some DSL. I think it’s amazing that China is all uptight over problematic internet use, with litigation and military schools to clamp down on it, but can’t be bothered with chemical dependence problems.

Paradoxically, it’s exactly that same difference which makes people back home brush aside internet addiction but completely lose their shit if kids sneak a beer or, God forbid, the reefer.

Oh and – all the poor people wear slacks and dinner jackets, and all the rich kids wear blue jeans and running shoes.

I used to be all stuck up about not eating anything even remotely “Western” in China, for fear that I would become entrapped in some kind of bubble or worse, succumb to everyone’s stereotyped expectations. Recently, however, I’ve cracked and gone in for a few foreign foods here. To pretend that the local people aren’t chowing down on coffee, sandwiches, and pastries would be touristy to the point of self-deception.

• Subway
  • Opened to massive anticipation on part of the various ESL teachers, many of whom have no patience at all for Chinese food. I’ll admit that even though I eschew KFC and McDonalds, I am willing to buy into Subway. It was basically the only fast food joint I ever solicited in Canada, so I may as well support them abroad. Not too often, though, because they’ve recreated everything here perfectly down to the last detail, including the price which is equivalent to Canadian dollars – and therefore tenfold the price of a meal anywhere else in town. I only ended up in there one night because i was invited out to party at the last minute, and I needed to get something in me before we went for a drink. Subway was the closest possible thing that was still open. The equation for foreign fast food chains opening in China is completely different, because there’s no way in hell they can compete with street vendors or local, independent restaurants for either coverage or value. The chains are scarcer and significantly pricier. Therefore, they rely on novelty for their staple business. I scoffed at the idea, but i was reminded that with the population size in China and the prices they charge, if a fast food joint can entice everyone in even just once to try something, they’ll easily turn a profit. Perhaps maybe they’re right. A caveat of this is also the fact that a lot of people go in knowing the food won’t be very good, but eat it just to be seen. All this aside, the Subway here did a good job.

• Happy Tom
  • I recoiled as we came within line-of-sight of this place – mostly from the insane clown in stars and stripes at the door. There was pizza, but it was of about the same quality as something out of the frozen food aisle back home. Discouraged by that, I tried some of the Chinese food (it’s a buffet style restaurant) and I was shocked – SHOCKED – to find that it was terrible. I hadn’t realized how truly blessed I’ve been thus far. I think I’ve been eating consistently excellent food since I arrived here everywhere I go. I must have become numb to it, because the tepid, burned cabbage and limp, fried rice sent shocks through my system. I had to doublecheck with everyone else at the table just to be sure that there wasn’t something wrong with me. The place was nearly empty, but that didn’t stop them from throwing a schmaltzy tape of 生日快乐 (happy birthday to you) on an infinite loop over the sound system for the special birthday boy. We thought it was the saving grace when we found out one of the fountain drinks at the bar was beer, but it was really watered down, to the point where we couldn’t possibly get trashed on it before the place closed. I guess it is a kid’s restaurant, after all.
    

• 七月咖啡
  • The crown jewel of cafes in Changsha. Whenever I go to get coffee anywhere, it’s really easy to take shots at all the pretense and the inevitable legion of little holes in the Western veneer they’ve attempted to throw over the place. Parasols in coffee for instance. This is what makes 七月 stand out. It is flawless in both menu and venue. This isn’t like the other joints in town that I suffer to go to because I don’t have any better options – I look forward to going here. Instead of oceanic marble floors and servers in French maid costumes, this place is stacked on 3 very cozy stories sub-divided into little booths with sofas and curtains. Someone clearly bummed around Paris or Milan for 5 years, took notes, and then created this oasis in Changsha just for me.

I’ve never felt too strongly about piracy laws in China. I suspect at this point the CCP must be tacitly condoning it because they’re probably just as sick of 10 channels of CCTV as everyone else. However, I think there’s some faulty reasoning at work on part of those who aim to sue China over this:

The group contends the Chinese government has fuelled movie piracy by
limiting the release of foreign films in China. Only about a dozen new
Hollywood films are allowed to be screened in the country every year.

I don’t normally stand up for the CCP’s uptightness, especially where censorship is concerned, but these studios are being insanely imperialistic by implying that they are being shortchanged by a foreign country’s laws. I don’t even understand why they consider this a loss, since they aren’t allowed to sell most of their wares here to begin with. I mean, I do understand that they’re being greedy, I just don’t think they can support remuneration logically. See if that stops them.

I would like to work for a country magazine for my first job, something like Country Life or Lancashire Life.

At the end of the day i’ll work at any magazine that will emply me as long as it doesn’t have a bad reputation. I don’t want to work somewhere where there is a bad atmosphere or a lot of office politics.