grumpy
Posted by wangbo in ranting, tilting at windmills on June 10, 2008
I should’ve stayed in Yanqing. Yeah, right. Back in the real world, I have to work.
Well, I spent a happy weekend doing nothing. In fact, I just about spent the entire time online. See, the broadband connection we have up there is worthy of the name broadband: It’s fast, it’s reliable, it’s good. I spent Sunday afternoon first watching old NZ music videos on last.fm, then watching old Billy T. James skits on youtube (and if you can open that link, you’re luckier than me). I can’t do that here because the broadband isn’t very broad, making streaming video or audio incredibly frustrating- basically, for youtube, hit pause, wait for the whole thing to load, then play it- and it’s expensive. Watching videos or listening to music more than just occasionally is going to burn through our prepaid internet so fast it’s ridiculous. And besides, there’s no point trying to stream any radio station outside of Beijing, because the frequent skips, pauses, and stalls make it far too frustrating. Why would you want to listen to a song in randomly-sized chunks separated by equally randomly-sized gaps of silence?
And just to add insult to all-too-frequent injury, last night and this morning the internet was completely crapped out. I did get one very brief period of connectivity this morning, long enough for me to check my email, and then back to nothing. At first, I just plain didn’t have a connection. Then I had a connection, and, like I said, it worked for a short while, but then nothing- the computer insisted it was connected, but the “connection” was so slow that I couldn’t even get back to the university homepage to log out.
I’ve ranted about this far too often as it is, and I’ll probably rant about it again, but: There’s something seriously wrong when I can get better, faster, more reliable broadband in a village at the foot of the mountains on the extreme northwestern edge of Beijing municipality, a stone’s throw from the Hebei border, than at this big, fancy, allegedly famous university.
Anyway, back online now. For now, at least.
hahahahahahaha
Posted by wangbo in news, ranting, tilting at windmills on June 7, 2008
Yeah, nice joke. I ranted about this before, but a quick review: According to the rules, any New Zealand citizen who has not been in New Zealand in the last three years is disenfranchised. Still, it is good to see the parties recognising the potential of the expat vote. Just one little snippet from the end, though:
There was also a lot of discussion about interest-free student loans, and wildly varying levels of knowledge about the election.
Do those varying levels of knowledge include the fact that those of us who haven’t been home in the last three years are not eligible to vote?
unity
Posted by wangbo in Chinese study on June 7, 2008
I’m reading this article in Chinese National Geographic thinking, hmmmm….. I dunno, maybe, but this needs a real historian…… The theory goes that China’s owes a lot to its frequent natural disasters- its writing, for starters, but more importantly, its national unity and the Chinese peoples’ deep consciousness of and desire for said unity. And, of course, the Chinese peoples’ deep abhorrence of the division of the country. I can’t find a name for the author, all it seems to have is the title:
2008年第6期卷首语 祖国的另一面：多灾多难
Issue 6, 2008 preface Another side of the motherland: Many disasters and calamities
I don’t get it
Posted by wangbo in ranting, tilting at windmills on June 6, 2008
I don’t get it. All these protests about the rising cost of fuel, I mean. I just don’t get it. And I especially don’t get why the price of fuel has become a political issue in which allegedly left of centre politicians promise to bring the price down. It’s quite simple: Reality. Oil supplies are finite, and getting rapidly more finite. Therefore, the price of oil, although it may fluctuate up and down over the short term, is only going to rise over the medium to long term. We need new technology to replace our dependence on fossil fuels- or perhaps, as that Queenslander showed, a return to old technology. Probably both together would be best.
And have these people not noticed global warming and its cause?
Yup, sorry, folks, but it’s time to stop whingeing and start adapting to better technologies (old or new). And don’t tell me it can’t be done or the technology isn’t mature enough or whatever. There are interesting experiments underway- experiments that don’t eat up our food supplies– and vast oceans of unused resources- I mean, how much waste oil from fast food is needlessly, stupidly dumped when it can be turned into fuel?
And where is the political leadership? Does no politician have the balls to stand up and tell people that oil prices are only going to rise, these price rises are good as they serve as an encouragement to move to better technologies, and we should pull our heads out of our collective posterior, deal with the change, and start making these new technologies work?
Reality, people. Try it one day.
Oh, and just to make it clear: Yes, I do sympathise with people who are just trying to make a decent living and put bread on the family’s table. No, I do not sympathise with people who seem to think cheap petrol and diesel are some kind of God-given right. And considering the parlous state of the world’s fisheries, a Europe-wide fishermen’s strike can only be a good thing.
more good news
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on June 5, 2008
Here’s a very positive article from Worldwatch on China’s windpower industry. A snippet:
In 2007, cumulative wind installations in China exceeded 5 gigawatts (GW), the goal originally set for 2010 by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner. The Commission had set the target in its 2006 mid- and long-term development plan for renewable energy. The plan’s target for 2020 was 30 GW, a level that is now projected to be reached by 2012, eight years ahead of schedule.
In March, the NDRC revised its mid-term target, doubling it from 5 GW to 10 GW for 2010. Yet this new goal is still too modest, with wind installations likely to reach 20 GW by 2010 and 100 GW by 2020. China is witnessing the start of a golden age of wind power development, and the magnitude of growth has caught even policymakers off guard.
Go China!
good news
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on June 5, 2008
Air New Zealand is experimenting with biofuel made from jatropha nuts. Good on them, and I hope the experiments succeed. Biofuels are a long way from perfect, but jatropha, at least, does not need to either take up farmland or replace forest, does not divert anybody’s food supply, and produces jet fuel:
Group strategy manager Abhy Maharaj said jatropha met all the airline’s “non-negotiable” criteria.
It was cheaper than traditional jet fuel, emitted less carbon dioxide and was socially responsible – it was grown on land unsuitable for food crops, which had not been forest land for at least 20 years.
I hope they succeed.
Oh, and I should’ve included this article on the fish ‘n’ chip oil-powered tour bus. More good news, and a reminder that waste oil from fast food is a huge, untapped resource- and another biofuel that neither replaces forest nor diverts food supplies.
cave dwellers
Posted by wangbo in Chinese study, news, random on June 2, 2008
Here’s an interesting piece from Southern Daily: Some people in Guizhou actually prefer to live in a cave, and the recent rainstorms down there show why:
17户人家乐做“山顶洞人”
17 families are happy “mountain-top cave people”
从不漏雨，从无泥石流，近日暴雨淹了半山腰的房子，洞里一点没漏水
Rain never leaks in, never any mud-rock flows, recently rains flooded half the houses on the waist of the mountain, absolutely no water leaked into the cave.
“给我们建的房子，这次都淹了，洞里一点没漏水，还是住这里好。”昨日下午，在有着“亚洲最后一个穴居部落”之称的贵州紫云县中洞里，53岁的王凤忠感慨地说，虽然断电4天、洞内桌椅全发霉，但比起山腰处的房子，还是住洞里安全。
“The houses built for us were all flooded this time, absolutely no water leaked into the cave, it’s still better to live here”. Yesterday afternoon, in a cave still bearing the name “Asia’s last cave-dwelling tribe” in Middle Cave in Guizhou’s Ziyun County, 53 year old Wang Fengzhong said emotionally, although the electricity was cut for 4 days and the tables and chairs in the cave were all mouldy, compared to the houses built on the middle slopes of the mountain, living in the cave is still safer.
截至5月27日20时，贵州省已有25个县(市、区)不同程度受灾，因灾死亡30人，失踪13人。
Up till 8pm on May 27, 25 counties (or cities and districts) in Guizhou Province had been hit by disaster to varying degrees, with 30 people killed and 13 missing.
安家在海拔1800米的洞穴里
Settling in a cave 1800 metres above sea level
67岁的王凤强坐在洞口高处，头上就是电视信号卫星接收器，在海拔约1800米的家门口，他出神地俯视山下，身体几乎一动不动，“我平时没啥事，就坐在这 里往下看，高兴，不会冷清，我住了一辈子都挺好的。”他说从来没见过这么大的雨，自己家在中洞最外面，风把雨吹进来，家里有点积水，但这两天已基本吹干。 其余16户人家则安然无恙，其中包括他的弟弟王凤忠家。
67 year old Wang Fengqiang sits on a high point at the mouth of the cave, on his head a TV satellite receiver. At the gate of his home 1800 metres above sea level, he looks over the valley below, entranced, his body almost completely motionless, “Usually I have nothing to do, I just sit here looking down, happy, I won’t get lonely, I’ve lived a pretty good life here.” He said he’d never seen such heavy rain, his own home is the closest to the outside in Middle Cave, the wind blew the rain in, a little water built up in his home, but the wind has basically dried it out these two days. The other 16 homes, on the other hand, escaped unscathed, including his younger brother Wang Fengzhong’s home.
王凤忠毫不掩饰对中洞生活环境的自信。他出生后就住在洞内，多少大风大雨都看过了，洞穴从不漏雨，也没有泥石流。不过这次还是有些不一样：5月26日，中洞彻底断电，电力公司上山抢修了4天才恢复；洞内小学紧急停课，因为桌椅全霉了。
Wang Fengzhong can hardly conceal his confidence in Middle Cave’s living environment. Right after he was born he moved into the cave, and through all the big winds and heavy rains he’s seen, the cave has never leaked and never had a mud-rock flow. Even so, this time wasn’t quite the same: On May 26, the electricity in Middle Cave was completely cut, the power company came up the mountain to repair the power supply, and it was four days before it was restored. The cave’s primary school urgently stopped classes because the desks and chairs were all mouldy.
穴居部落洞内躲过暴雨侵袭
Cave-dwelling tribe evaded the storm’s attack in the cave
中洞位于离安顺市76公里的格凸河畔，距紫云县城约35公里，洞里有17户苗族人家，分王、吴、梁、罗四大姓。上世纪50年代，他们和祖辈从居住了百年的 “下洞”往上迁徙，搬至中洞，居住至今。在这个长215米、宽115米、高55米的山洞里，他们使用木柱子、竹篱笆建房，天然的溶洞顶是共同的屋顶。“当 年是因为穷，住不起房子，就住山洞。”王凤忠说，现在不一样，政府帮忙造了房子，但自己不愿意住。
Middle Cave is situated on the banks of the Getu River 76 kilometres from Anshun City, 35 kilometres from Ziyun County Town. 17 Miao families live in the cave, bearing the surnames Wang, Wu, Liang and Luo. in the 1950s, they and their ancestors moved up from the “Lower Cave” they’d lived in for hundreds of years, moving to Middle Cave, where they’ve lived until today. In this 215-metre long, 115-metre wide, 55-metre high mountain cave they use wooden pillars and bamboo fences to build homes. The roof of the natural limestone cave is their common roof. “That year it was because we were poor we couldn’t live in a house, so we lived in the cave.” Wang Fengzhong said, it’s not the same now, the government helps them build houses, but they themselves don’t want to live in them.
据了解，由于中洞与世隔绝，洞内光线差、湿气重，出于健康考虑，当地政府想让人们迁出，所以早在上世纪80年代，为中洞居民在不远的山下修建了新房。记者看到，十几栋平顶水泥房散落在山腰平坦处，周围已长满野草，木质的门窗上，长出青苔和蘑菇。
It is understood that because Middle Cave is isolated from the world, the light in the cave is poor and the humidity high, and from health considerations, the local government wants to move the people out, and so as early as the 1980s, built new houses not far away below the mountain for the Middle Cave residents. This reporter saw them, a dozen flat-rooved concrete houses scattered around a flat area halfway down the mountain, the surroundings overgrown with weeds, lichen and mushrooms growing on the wooden doors and windows.
王凤青是王凤忠的堂弟，对于不愿离开，他们有共同的解释：住了一辈子，习惯了；换个地方，就怕还没洞里安全，这次大雨再次证明了这一点——山腰处那十几栋屋子都被淹了。他们还说，只有一种离开的可能：跟着孩子去外地。
Wang Fengqing is Wang Fengzhong’s cousin, and as for not wanting to leave, they share an explanation: Having lived here all their lives, they’ve gotten used to it. If they change to a new place, they’re scared it won’t be as safe as in the cave. This rainstorm proved this point once more- those dozen houses halfway down the mountain were all flooded. The also say there’s only one way they’ll leave: Going with their children to another city.
近几年村落渐渐有了商业味
The last few years the village has gradually taken on a commercial flavour
据王凤忠回忆，2003年9月，洞里通电，之前用煤油灯；洞里人最盼望冬天，因为上午会有阳光洒到洞口空地上，能有一个小时，大家聚在一起晒太阳；不过，他也强调了几次，虽然洞里潮湿，但大家都没有风湿病。
According to Wang Fengzhong’s memory, in September 2003, the cave got electricity. Before there were kerosene lamps. The cave dwellers look forward to winter most, because in the morning the sun will shine on the empty ground at the mouth of the cave, and for one hour everybody will gather together and sun themselves. And besides, he emphasises several times, although it’s damp inside the cave, nobody has rheumatism.
布依族女司机班旋和记者一起登山进洞，她有些怀疑王凤忠的话，“我听说，洞里养的猪，养着养着就站不起来，关节出问题。对人应该也有影响吧。”她5年前来 过中洞，这次重返却感到失落，“没以前那么纯粹了，以前房屋整齐、干净，真像一个小村庄”，现在每家房子都有了区别，例如王凤忠，他门前挂起“农家饭”的 牌子，标明价钱，还铺了水泥地。
The female driver of the Buyi ethnicity Ban Xuan, who climbed the mountain and came into the cave with the reporter, had some doubts about what Wang Fengzhong said, “I’ve heard that pigs are raised in the cave, and as they are raised, the can’t stand up because their joints have problems. This should affect people, too.” She had come to Middle Cave five years before, but felt a sense of loss on this return. “It’s not as pure as before. Before all the houses were neat and clean, it really looked like a little village.” Now every house has changed, for example, Wang Fengzhong has hung a “Country-style food” sign outside his gate, indicating the price, and has laid down a concrete floor.
Wow, that’s a really weak ending to the article. Could the reporter not have followed up on the pigs? How’s about a little exploration of how the cave-dwellers are apparently cashing in on tourism (that’s what I presume they’re doing, considering the “Country-style food” sign- that’s clearly aimed at city folk looking for a little rural getaway).
hohum
Posted by wangbo in Chinese study, life in Beijing on June 1, 2008
Yesterday brought a trip to Wangfujing. Today has been spent sitting at home- and a good thing, too, I’m not feeling that good and the last thing I want to do is go outside. I think I’ve gotten a cold, which is not surprising considering the amount of dust that’s been blowing around.
Anyway, Wangfujing. See, I want to get a feel for HSK Advanced, to see just how advanced it is and what my chances may or may not be. The nearest bookshops selling such things are at Wangfujing. I chose the good old Foreign Languages Bookstore over the Wangfujing Bookstore because there’s never as many people in there. Well, we found some practice tests in both book and loose-leaf form, a couple of grammar books and only one textbook. So we took the textbook and the bigger of the two grammar books.
I haven’t really sat down and had a proper look at either book, yet, but I will say this much: HSK Advanced reading doesn’t look too scary. Longer texts and apparently long-answer questions instead of stupid multiple choice, so I’ll have to work really hard on my reading speed, but otherwise the texts didn’t look too difficult. Writing is just plain scary. Really, that terrifies me. lzh’s overall impression was that it was fairly similar to high school 语文/Chinese.
The grammar book is rather daunting in its size, but grammar was one of my weak points (well, comprehenisve was my weakest point, but we didn’t see any book at the Advanced level focussing on comprehensive), and so I need to work on it. Still, sitting at one of the drinks stands afterwards, I got only one question wrong on a randomly selected page of practice questions.
Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ll be ready for Advanced at the end of this year, but hey, might as well start preparing now- or as soon as I get the latest round of essay marking out of the way, at least.
But there’s one question I have about Wangfujing: What bright spark decided on the timing of all that demolition that’s going on? There are going to be huge, ugly holes in Wangfujing through the Olympics. Not a good look.
a short one, but it’s Yanqing, so….
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on May 29, 2008
You know, I’m a sucker for any news from Yanqing. But hey, Yanqing is a great little county. This one is about farmers who invested their own money to establish an ecological scenic spot.
延庆农民投资建生态风景区
Yanqing farmers invest to establish ecological scenic spot
京报网讯 近日,延庆旧县镇云瀑沟生态风景区将向游人开放。这一景区是由旧县镇三里庄村农民许永利、张铁所投资100万元建成的。下半年,他们计划投资725万元, 开发建设旅游观光区、休闲度假区、野外生存区、佛教文化区、民俗旅游区等,并提出“沟内游、沟外住”的管理理念,将休闲区与观光区分开来,并注重绿色环保 观光游,尽量减少污染源,使生态保护与旅游经济并重。 据了解,该项目有望成为旧县地区继龙庆峡风景区后的又一旅游景区。
Jingbaowang reports: In the next few days, Yunbaogou Ecological Scenic Spot in Jiuxian Township, Yanqing will open to tourists. This scenic spot was established with an investment of one million yuan from Sanlizhuang Village, Jiuxian Township farmers Xu Yongli and Zhang Tiesuo. The plan to invest 7.25 million yuan over the next half a year, developing and establishing a tourist sightseeing area, a leisure and holiday area, an outdoor living area, a Buddhist culture area, and a folk customs tourism area. They will advance a “tour within the gorge, live outside the gorge” management idea, separating the leisure area and the sightseeing area, and emphasising green, environmentally friendly sightseeing, limiting sources of pollution so far as possible and placing equal stress on ecological protection and tourism economics. It is understood this project will hopefully become a new tourist scenic spot in Jiuxian Township, following on Longqingxia Scenic Spot.
(杜群慧 耿孟林)
(Du Qunhui, Geng Menglin)
It seems I can only write Chinglish today. Good thing I only have to give my students a test this afternoon, and therefore don’t actually need to speak. So long as I can write the topic on the blackboard in something approaching passable English, I’m good…..
Anyway, I’m really liking the huge emphasis they’re putting on environmental protection with this one. Ecotourism should be a good thing for Yanqing to develop.
oh?
丰台网吧下月实施电子实名登记
Fengtai netbars to implement electronic real name registration next month
And how many times has such a proclamation been made, only to never be realised? We’ll see:
京报网讯(记者孙颖 通讯员温庆义 赵智和)丰台区辖区内的137家网吧月底前将安装网吧经营管理系统,从6月份开始全部实现电子实名登记,如网吧允许未成年人上网,系统可第一时间发现并及时予以查处。
Jingbaowang reports (reporter Sun Ying, copyeditors Wen Qingyi, Zhao Zhihe) The 137 netbars within Fengtai District’s administrative area will install a netbar business management system by the end of the month, and starting from June will all implement electronic real name registration. If a netbar allows a minor to get online, the system can promptly investigate and prosecute the case as soon as it is discovered.
这套网吧经营管理系统与丰台区文化行政执法队的系统联网,分为网吧平台和监管平台。网吧平台的主要功能是在网吧场所端实现电子实名登记上网,监管平台的主 要功能是运用信息技术为行政执法提供技术手段,为监管决策提供数字依据,如未成年人上网,系统可第一时间发现并及时予以查处。
This netbar business management system is networked with the Fengtai District Cultural Administration Law Enforcement Team’s system, split between the netbar platform and the supervision platform. The main function of the netbar platform is the implementation of electronic real name registration at the netbar end, while the main function of the supervision platform is to use information technology to supply technological methods for administration and law enforcement, to supply a digital basis for policy decisions, so that if a minor gets online, the system can promptly investigate and prosecute the case as soon as it is discovered.
I dunno, this whole thing seems very confused to me, especially that second paragraph which is supposed to tell us what the system does and why. I’m not sure it tells us much of anything, or if anybody knows what it was actually supposed to tell us.
And what is 第一时间发现 doing in there? Twice? “The first time it is discovered”? Something tells me it should say “as soon as it is discovered. Problem solved. Arctosia, in his comment, confirms my suspicion that it should have been “as soon as it is discovered”. Translation amended. Thanks Arctosia.