Triscribe

Category: Beijing

  • It Can’t Be the End of August

    I’m in denial that it’s almost the end of summer.

    This Slate article by Daniel Gross raises a good point: it’s kind of hard to criticize government health insurance if you’re a recipient of government health insurance. Well, no one said that hypocrisy isn’t funny.

    I’ve really enjoyed watching Nova ScienceNow this summer. It had a good presentation on how algae could be used as a biofuel (better than say, ethanol; at least algae can give us oxygen back). I thought it was a great idea.

    Saw “Julie & Julia ” (FC had also seen it; he said the movie makes one hungry; I’ll second that). Good movie!

    This was a great story about how Roxanne Shante, one of the first female rappers of the 1980’s, went on to earn a Phd. in psychology from Cornell, all paid by the recording company, per her recording contract (which otherwise gave her paltry royalties, sadly). Apparently, those clauses in an entertainment contract (I think these clauses are in some professional athletes’ contracts) that the employer pays for the education of the employee – or the service provider, if you will …- are worth it. You can get your dream, or pursue new ones.

    Speaking of the 1980’s, interesting ideas on what ye olde ’80 tv stars should do. But, really – I count Arsenio Hall as a 1990’s tv star, not an ’80’s star (contrary to what Television Without Pity says in the foregoing link). Oh well.

    Thought this was an interesting article in Time magazine about John Kerry‘s post 2004 election life and how his current situation – as Senator from Massachusetts dealing with the future and a leading foreign affairs leader – has been. I thought it was poignant that the article mentions how Kerry has on his wall his invitation to the Obama inauguration and a handwritten note from Obama thanking him: “‘I’m here because of you’” – a reminder that it was because of Kerry that Obama made that amazing speech at the 2004 convention and received an early endorsement.

    Of all the various pieces about the presidential summer reading, I thought John Dickerson’s analysis was most pragmatic yet insightful (yeah, really, is he really going to read all that? Bill Clinton was a voracious reader, apparently, and it was a bit much when it turned out he read the same mainstream mysteries that I was at the time). But, really, couldn’t President Obama read something nice and light? It kind of makes me feel bad that I still haven’t finished reading the McCullough’s bio on Adams or Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals” for some years now, and Obama apparently will have already gotten through both books by the end of the summer (well, granted he read Goodwin last year, and took the Adams one with him to the Vineyard this summer)…

    I’m not ready for the fall, but Television Without Pity is already doing the fall tv previews – complete with recommendations on what to watch, dvr, or online. While I am looking forward to news episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Fringe,” and even the new shows “Glee” and “Community,” (and maybe even more “Law & Order” so we can watch more of the alternate universe DA election of Jack McCoy and the continued hijinks of ADA Michael Cutter), the shows I really want to watch aren’t going to be on until… 2010… (I’m talking about you, “Lost,” among other things).

    I think series like “Smallville” outlasted its lifespan. (technically, so has “Heroes,” in my opinion, but apparently there are still fans out there). “House” has tired me out too, so perhaps I am in need of a boost of good new stuff.

    Because we’re lawyers and Asians here at triscribe, consider the following:

    Puer tea (or Pu-erh or other spellings) is about to be better regulated, in hopes that it’d be the next big thing, like Champagne from Champagne or something. Hmmm…

    Angry Asian Man posted a Q&A with Ken Chen, Executive Director of The Asian American Writers Workshop – who admits that he was once a lawyer and that it is a source of frustration (or “what makes you angry”) that people don’t read more Asian American/Asian writers.

    I’ll concede that I ought to read more Asian/Asian Americans. I should read more, period. Can someone fund my lottery fund to help me pursue this lovely idea?… hmmm….

    I had no idea: Scottish actor Gerard Butler was almost a lawyer, but bailed on qualifying (or failed or was asked to leave his apprenticeship or however it works in Scotland) and ended up acting instead.

    What is with lawyers/lawyers-to-be and the arts? Hmm….

    Trailer for a C-SPAN thing – apparently, they might have actually gotten the Nine to be talking heads; minus Alito and Sotomayor, so a tad dated – but still – they’re actually all talking? About the court building itself, of course – not about anything substantive… Still, an interesting trailer. Very spiffy looking.

  • Observations

    Hip hop comes to China, via Chinese American expats and general American influence. Could it mean (political) expression? Hmm.

    Apparently, US Dept. of Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, is having a great time visiting China. Besides the job of reassuring people that the US economy isn’t totally imploding, he gets to use his Mandarin skills. Well, I’m guessing that he can still speak Chinese decently; he did spend a semester or two at Beijing University.

    I really have fell behind on this: the passing of Him Mark Lai, Chinese-American historian. Sad that both he and Ronald Takaki are no longer with us. See also Asian Week’s coverage on Lai and its continuing coverage on Takaki.

    Fascinating post by Hyphen, including a link to this video on Him Mark Lai on YouTube by the Chinese Historical Society of America:

  • Blast from the past – check!

    Someone who is a great guy and showed me so much…. Read about Russian Paul. Now I know approximately how old he is hah!

  • Weirdness weather

    Am in Beijing today and tomorrow, flying back through Typhoon Wipra perhaps on Wednesday.

    Was a strange weather experience.  Overcast this morning and hazy. Ok but then the weather took a turn for the nasty ugly.  After lunch time, the weather turned darker and from the 19th floor, couldn’t see anything. By 3pm, it was like night time/midnight.

    Air quality was noticeably stuffy.  Autumn is supposedly the best time for Beijing.  Temperature wise, it is very comfortable.   It’s the other stuff that makes it difficult to handle.

    Last night, supper with one of my colleagues. We went to grilled meat place Beijing style.  Think of it like a Beijing style churrasco.  I even tried grilled silkworms. Tasty actually, but the crunchy skin was a little difficult to take.  It was like eating shrimp skin that was fried/grilled.  A little tough and not a fun experience.  Taste was good admittedly.  Will try again I think.

    ready silkworms for grilling!

  • TGIF! or How Weather is Weird

    Nor’easter – signs of… snow? Well, drizzle and flurries, anyway. Umm, this must also mean that May is going to turn out beautiful – sunny and pleasant – or else we’re facing a heat wave in “spring.” All the more to remember that Earth Day is coming; let’s save the Earth!

    Umm, yeah, I am waiting for the return of “Heroes.”

    Alma Mater Law School’s AALSA Alumni dinner on Wednesday night – good food as usual; the inspirational speeches; the realization that yes, we APAs (and APA women as a subgroup) have ways to go.

    Yahoo posts this AP article on Beijing’s National Aquatics Center (where the Olympics swimming events will be held) as a “Bubble Wrap” building. Seeing the pictures – well, I kind of see what they mean. Feels like you want to pop the bubbles. Then again, I’m just not into modern architecture – just feels weird, period.

    With the upcoming 40th anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia (legalizing interracial marriage), the trend in the US demonstrates a rise in interracial marriage; how this changes race issues and how America views the issue of race — well, our country is a work in progress – the democratic experiment (warts and all) – and how the diverse people in this country relate to one another – well all of that continues.

    A link on a literary blog led me to this: an article on Qiu Xiaolong, the Chinese mystery writer based in St. Louis. Quite interesting.

  • Beijing 北京 back to Taipei 臺北 (台北)

    hey FC, wanted to mention I like what you’ve done with the little tweaks here and there.

    Arrived back in Taipei yesterday. My traveling seems to be always rush rush these days. I forgot my laptop battery pack at my friend’s home in Beijing. The trip out to Beijing airport early morning was pretty busy for 6 am. Most of the highway roads are at least 6 lane highways, 3 each way and plenty of road traffic hmmm. Got to Beijing airport by 6:30am ish and wham, road jam as everyone just stopped at the international airport. I have to say, they got to do a better design and quickly speed up the build up of Terminal 3. There’s no way that they can support Beijing 2008 with two terminals which are about the size of CKS Airport Taiwan.

    At the Beijing airport with the mad rush of international flights early morning, there was a remarkable 5 immigration agents on hand to check your passports …. so everyone was feeling the squeeze. But before then they had a system I’ve never seen before in any other international airport.

    So, you arrive at the terminal and you need to check-in. But before you check in, you need to pass the Customs gatekeepers with your “Goods to Declare” or “No Goods to Declare” card. The problem is that there were only 3 lines but then in the middle of it, they closed down one of them! So all the folks in that line had to go back to the end of the line in the other two custom lines. Ouch. The reason? They were only for the airline crews. Huh? But can’t they also service the other people? By that time, we’re talking about a few hundred people queued up. So everyone’s trying to cut into line and moving forward (just like on the highway, roads of Beijing). Once you’re through, then you go to the airline counter to check in. My Cathay Pacific agent was very nice. He put a priority check-in tag on my luggage so that it would arrive first when I got to Taipei. (It did, I didn’t have to wait long and it came out fast, instead of last). I’ve travelled so many places before and never knew that you could get this nice customer service feature. Great because I hate waiting at the luggage claim carousels.

    So then after the speedy efficient Cathay Pacific check-in (Cathay is starting to get my vote for top airline award here in Asia-Pacific), I hit the immigration check-in wall. When I get there, they saw my English written declaration/exit card but with my Taiwanese Tai Bao Zin “passport” and he said I had to fill it out in Chinese. WTF! Apparently, someone who was Taiwanese had to know how to write in Chinese, not English. So anyways, I did that quickly as best I could (thank God for my drawing abilities learnt as a kid), and then on my way. Had about 10 minutes to spare before boarding time.

    Flight into HK, I had 10 minutes to spare before my transfer onto CX406 to Taipei. One of the downsides of the hub system is that they really cut the transfer times close. By the time I got there, they were already boarding. Luckily there were other planes feeding that flight so I was able to settle in and deposit my bags in the plane’s luggage compartments. Managed to catch the latest Batman movie. Liked it a lot. Wasn’t sure but was that Gary Oldman as the good cop? I was surprised because he seems to always play the bad guys.

    Taipei is very warm and the weekend is good. Catching up with B- with some QT time this weekend. It’s been nice to decompress from the work and enjoy.

  • China adieu — for now

    Another beautiful day in Beijing… as I near the end of my visit, the weather gets warmer and my comfort level with the city gets higher and higher.

    Read in the NYT about the China development – economic and social – and have faced the reality. Yes, the driving here is nuts. The amount of cars is off the wall as well. Bicycles I’m happy to say, haven’t changed, ubiquitous but slowly dying out, replaced by cars. I even saw motorized bicycles.

    China certainly has caught my imagination in a big way. The meetings I’ve had with locals, expats doing business or thinking about doing business, seems to be what it must’ve been like in NYC way back when it was just a big tower of babel of people coming to trade and make money. Beijing is like that, and that’s not even talking about Shanghai and Shenzhen which arguably much more so than Beijing. Beijing is like the 3rd city behind these two. Beijing has about 18+ Million people, those “living” here and those who are “temporary” – meaning they live here but are technically migrants because they’re from out of town but have set up residences to work. That’s nearly as many people as whole of Taiwan.

    Sat in an entrepreneurial meeting where startups were taking turns making their business cases in front of their peers and panelists. Given a chance to refine their business plan and talk about business issues. Talked with a consulting firm whose been in China for 25 years (that would be 1980 !!!) and learning about their views of China and business operations. Then talked with a project management firm about working together and seeing how to develop the market.

    CCTV, Chinese TV has alone over 14 channels, not including the other places and satellite TV options. Man, China is BIG.

    As for culture – I found out about these talented 12 Girls. Going to pick up a couple of CDs or two, for a mere 10 RMB (legit prices)

    Lots to think about and consider on my flight back to Taipei.

  • The mother of all tech goodies – Hilon IT Mall

    Hilon IT Mall….

    And I thought Malaysia’s Sungei Wang/Plaza Loh Yat/BB Plaza was good at it but Hah! Hilon the original in Beijing. 10 floors of just tech goods, from laptops, pc parts, PCs, office equipment, mp3 players, Apple, Ipods, digital cameras, you name it. The guys are aggressive pitching their wares. Have to be careful though, some are just bad fakes but look real (gee, haven’t we heard this before)? I was checking out the USB 2.0 portable slim hard drives and they guy was saying not to worry because his goods were real. We could call the Samsung or Hitachi number to verify the serial numbers on the HDs to make sure they were legit !My friend bought a webcam so he could communicate with his wife in NYC and allow his wife to see her daughters in Beijing.

    I also did a drive through around Zhongguancun central where Hilon Mall is located along the west side of Zhongguancun near a lot of the universities, Peking University and Qinghua University. Then drove all the way east again where I’m staying with my friend. This area is known as the foreigner enclave and it’s got some of the best stuff around. of course security is good too. Private guards posted all around who will salute you when you enter and leave the compounds… stuff like that.

    I’m about 1 block (1 Beijing block is at least one NYC avenue block in the east-west direction) from the Canadian Embassy and 4 blocks from the US Embassy. Western food is good too – bread just like in the US and the Chinese made jams also like Smuckers.

    China has come a long way baby.

  • Warm day!

    Had some internet problems with my new Asus laptop. Missing network controller seems to not allow me to use a regular RJ45 line to plug into the internet. So I was kinda down, borrowing terminals here and there from my friend’s company dealing with entrepreneur startups in China.

    Past couple of days was warm, but the winter dryness is killing me. Used up most of my small hotel lotions I pack with me and had to buy chapstick, Chinese style which costs about USD 4 :-0. Been sampling the eats and boy I haven’t been disappointed. Other than being a bit on the salty side, just delicious. Cheap but not so for the local people. Folks are still poor where the average salary for new grads – 3 yr experienced people is about 1500-2500 RMB. Dinner for two could cost us about 100 RMB. The average Beijing rental is about 1000 RMB. This evening was invited to eat at a Sichuan place near An Ding Men MRT station, Beijing. Great stuff and was literally stuffed. At the begining of my trip I weighed a svelte 95kg but since then have gained about 2 kg.

    Interesting thing about the taxis in Beijing. It’s a fleet of them that would crush the yellow cabbies of NYC. They run it like the NYC medallion system but they don’t allow individual owners. The other neat thing is that they’re easier recognizable in various ‘colors’
    – there’s the all red Citroen fleet which is older. The cabs usually have a metal interior cab around the cab driver.
    – there’s the local sketchy looking all-red Xiali which looks really beat up.
    – there’s the all baby blue Citroen fleet
    – there’s the Elantras
    – there’s the Jettas

    The last two have combinations of yellow +
    a) maroon
    b) purple
    c) white (rare)
    d) brown
    e) blue
    f) green

    And the cars on the road are new and of the expensive kind. Mostly VWs but the Japanese and the Hyundais’ are popular as well. Everyone in Beijing wants a car.

    Got two more meetings tomorrow and then call it a trip. Unfortunately no chance for sightseeing :-(.

    ps- Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends. And I thank God for all his continued blessings.

  • Beijing Day 3

    Today was a much nicer day here in Beijing… sun came out, from the 23rd floor, I could actually see something, not a lot but not bad. Needed the warmth because am coming down with a cold, sore throat and sniffles and sneezing :(. Haven’t had that in a while.

    Last night’s dinner was interesting. Went to a restaurant specializing in Guizhou cuisine. What that means is goose was prominent. We had goose roasted goose heads, goose intestine, goose soup in clay pot. The other interesting speciality of this restaurant located in Zhongguancun area was dog meat. Particularly dog meat in a hot pot :-o. My friend and I took a pass.

    Tonight’s dinner was cool, very interesting variation of the hotpot. Spicy but with hoisin sauced mixed in there. You can choose a bunch of different ingredients that’s cooked in a thick sauce on a hot plate. Yummy. Good winter food. Had to come back early for a conference call, otherwise would have gone in for some spa action… maybe tomorrow. My classmates and dinner mates will probably hit up some Korean food tomorrow night. There’s a little Korean town thing near Zhongguancun and our hotel which we can do. It’s fun.

    Seminar is pretty weak but I’ll get my PDUs so I don’t care much. Hit up a supermarket this evening after dinner and got some OJ, vitamin C drops and Halls for my cold. Hope it’s not too late. Can’t afford to be sick :-|.

    If it gets too lame, I might join my new friends on a Beijing sightseeing tour…..