http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen Providing China news and notes since July 2009 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:41:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I write this down as a record for the future, and also as a cheeky note regarding my personal predictions . I believe the two most significant forces in China right now are the accelerating negotiating power of the formerly underpaid worker and their subsequent rising wages, and the overheating ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2010/07/19/the-crucial-events-of-the-next-two-years-in-china/ Besides currency evaluation, there is another issue constantly on people's minds regarding China, which is its rapidly growing real estate prices, a phrase quick to bring a stomach twist to any American, like trying to eat hotpot again after your last outing leaving you incapacitated for two days. There is a ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2010/04/03/chinas-real-estate-market-the-next-shoe-to-drop/ I'm starting to wonder if the Chinese might have a fundamentally different perspective on sustainability than the west. After all, the Chinese have been one continuous nation for 5000 years (or at least they are in their heads), and that whole time war, earthquake, and storm haven't budged them. In ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2010/03/25/chinese-sustainability/ I expect the fireworks industry in China must claim many lives. A friend got hit in the face, and I saw at least one person fall into a frozen lake. But make no mistake: the 4th of July is a sucker's game. New years in China is a true event, ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2010/02/17/fireworks/ When I graduated, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be involved in the production of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of China, a wonderful project in which I was able to work with a team of incredibly skilled and generous people. I put a good deal of myself into ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2009/12/15/in-favor-of-copyright-holders/ Last night, our power shut off, while I was in the middle of a Skype call and my roommate was cleaning up after his epic dinner party. It left the apartment immediately in utter darkness. If such an event happens in the States, it is usually the result of at ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2009/12/07/responsible-energy-use/ So I randomly clicked a link this morning, and was brought to a html'ed webpage... not a particularly unusual occurrence, except the link was to a movie, and the movie was hosted on Youtube, blocked in China for years. Hooray, thought I. China has finally unblocked Youtube, and I'll be able ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2009/11/29/youtube-you-trixie-minxie/ My best one-liner at Thanksgiving was a macabre tale of international finance gone wrong. Sitting there, in one of China's most flash hotels (The Grand Millenium, I recommend it highly), we were discussing the nature of America's current budget, outlook, and how the consensus among retired state department and defense ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2009/11/29/us-currency-measured-in-dollars-cents-and-irony/ One thing that always surprises me about the Chinese is how they will take English and twist it and take control of it... even beyond what we do in America. One example of prominent use is the term 'netizen,' something without any particular cachet in western writing, but that I ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2009/11/27/chinese-english/ China's artificial class divides has additional benefits: frequently I hear a call from my window, men and women, riding around on tricycles collecting various types of trash. These are then sorted into cardboard, styrofoam, bottles, and hundreds of other categories, in hole-in-the-wall hutong spaces. It is dirty work, but clearly ... http://baoblogs.com/tomchristensen/2009/11/26/scrappers/