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I haven’t seen the movie yet, but if there is full frontal nudity in it, how the hell did they not see it all of this time? Seriously, that is mere stupidity.
I’m a student at Sichuan University, and there are tons of students in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s (even an old Japanese guy in his 60’s). Don’t feel too old, as there will always be others older. Anyways, you are never to old to learn something new.
I’m a student at Sichuan University, and there are tons of students in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s (even an old Japanese guy in his 60’s). Don’t feel too old, as there will always be others older. Anyways, you are never to old to learn something new.
Is this entire guanxi thing something deeply inherent in Chinese culture or is it just a Mainland, post-Cultural Revolution, thing? How does guanxi work in Hong Kong and Taiwan? I imagine that it does exist, but not in the way it does here. Taiwan takes a lot of pride in maintaining Chinese culture, far more then the Mainland does.
China Bishop Placed in Isolation After Quitting Government Post
Okay, I may have gotten a few things wrong in my original post, but that just shows how complicated the matter is.
Here are some things from Aljazeera: Christianity: China’s Best Bet and China Church Ordains New Bishop
I do remember reading various short headlines on Aljazeera on the subject over the years too, as well as some of my teachers and priests back in Catholic school mentioning it. My memory doesn’t serve me well on what they said though.
Just so you know, all “Catholic” things in China are not sanctioned by the Vatican since by law in order for Christians to practice legally, the teaching have to be approved by the government. Hence here, the state has the final say in what the Gospel can be here. Because of this, there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries and the “priests” here are not acknowledged by the Vatican. When the state-approved “Arch-bishop” of Shanghai switched his allegiance to the Vatican a few months ago, he disappeared immediately.
There are always tons of people, mostly students who love the game, playing at the courts at Sichuan University. I don’t know if they have a league or anything, but you could always join a random group and perhaps learn a bit of Chinese while you’re at it. I’m sure none of them would be unwelcoming.
I originally edited my above post to add much more to it, but then when I finished, it said that the post was too old. So here is as much as I remember.
I’m curious as to whether 天下 can be applied to the South China Sea. Vietnam was occupied by China for a thousand years until 1000 AD (if that means anything to the topic). If the discussion is going to compare China and the US as regard to territory, what is the difference between 天下 and Manifest Destiny? In there lies the answer.
I’ve talked with quite a few Chinese about Japan and, regardless of whether they like it or not, almost all of them see it simply as derived from China (the only few that don’t have spend time there). The differences they see are closer to Japan being a first world country as opposed to one with its own developed culture and history. One of the reasons they say this is that the Japanese you characters in their writing (the fact that they also use Kana is claimed to be besides the point, but still).
One of the causes of systematic ignorance in China is also the same as the US: both are countries that cover huge amounts of territory, with its population spread over a large amount of that land, and a large enough world power to affect the workings of other countries with its own problems. Though the US is a multicultural society (especially compared to China), it is still one society. The differences are kept on a smaller level (neighborhoods at most, but usually in individual families, and even individuals themselves), and under the fact that they are all united by being “American” and (al)most always English-speaking. Both countries are incredibly inward-looking. I’m American myself, coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, and growing up there, it is easy to have the rest of the world as an afterthought. In Europe, you have entirely different languages and cultures within short distances (at least in comparison). So the physical distance between cultures does make a difference.
As for China, I’ve never come across a people with such a strong sense of unity, of “being (blank),” even if they do not like the government. Note this is only true with mainlanders, I haven’t had the same feeling from overseas Chinese (even those who are fluent in the language), and do not know if it also applies to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. Though there are differences in the dialects (to the point where they are not mutually intelligible), they are still united by the writing system, mitigating the language differences. The ethno-centrism of the Chinese plays a large role in the political situation of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau (why not Singapore is beyond me). I still haven’t wrapped my head around how profound this view (and I doubt I ever will). Like 天下, it seems from China being the only civilized nation around for almost all of its history is the source of such views.
The topic of the rise of (Meiji) Japan as compared China during the same era has been analyzed to death by academia (and if the topic is going to be pursued, then scholarly works should be consulted). A much more interesting topic is the comparison of China now to America during the Gilded Era. Both are corrupt as hell, had terrible pollution and living conditions, and whose economic engine where driven by large corporations.
As regards to the first question, the answer is much tricker then it seems like because it stems back to their ancient world world (天下), which is dramatically different from our modern (Western) one. How they saw territory in ancient times is very different from how it is seen now. One of the reasons why the Japanese claim the Senkaku Islands and did not give it back at the end of World War II when they gave Formosa (Taiwan) back is by saying that it was never part of Taiwan to begin with. Their reasoning is that there is no evidence of it ever being settled, or having any evidence of human involvement there. Though I don’t know the specifics about 天下, I do know that the reasoning the Japanese are besides the point in regard to the ancient Chinese worldview. This is a valid point of discussion, and please do not simply draw your evidence from Wikipedia on the matter.
It is from this that Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan are part of China. I have heard people say that the entirety of Mongolia should also be part of China, since it was governed in the same way that Tibet and Xinjiang was in the past. If you are going to start to go into discussions about a free Tibet or Xinjiang, then it should be talked about the differences of what it means to be part of China then as opposed to now.
I’m having trouble with chrome, though I’m on OSX 10.5, which has stopped being updated. The problem is that whenever I type anything into the search/address bar (even if it is an website address), it does a soso search of it. Sometimes when it does a proper google search, the links are again redirected to soso and then even when I click on the soso links, all that comes up is a soso search of the site. Though it also often doesn’t load at all (but I’m not getting weird coding that Jenise is).
Other google sites haven’t been working the same, I often get the soso thing.
I would totally go, no questions asked. I don’t know if enough people know of him to actually be able to draw a large enough crowd that he deserves, especially on a Thursday when people have to work the next day.
Anyone have a copy of Lord of the Rings Risk (the one with Gondor & Mordor), Axis & Allies, or Diplomacy? I prefer Lord of the Rings Risk because the board is more then twice the size as regular risk and there is much more variety to the layout. I didn’t bring mine with me because I couldn’t fit them in my luggage. I don’t know about playing Diplomacy with close friends. When my friends and I back in the States would play Risk, we end up hating each other bitterly due to the alliances we made and broke; then again, a day or so after we play everything was mostly cool (mostly).
I’d be down to meet up and play whatever.
There are a few board game bars outside near the Lazy Pug/movie theater. If you are going northeast on first ring road, turn right at the movie theater near the Lazy Pug and go down the street until the first street, which is a T intersection on the left. The board game places are on the second story of the building with the Wowo in it. I’ve never played Settlers, but they do have it at the places I said. I a much bigger fan of Risk and Axis and Allies. I’ve always wanted to play Diplomacy though.
Anyone good at Go/围棋? I’m just started playing and would like to get better.
I clicked on the Chengdu one, but it failed to load. I’m not using anyway to get through the firewall though, so that is probably the problem (though the idea of censoring information given out by a foreign diplomat does in my mind infringe on their right of diplomatic immunity).
