Michael Zhao at Forbes talks about TopFlash Media, a company I have come to know well for their ads in the No. 1 Subway here in Beijing. The ads flash past on the walls of the tunnel when the train reaches its top speed between stations, usually for 15-20 seconds. I've seen ads for cell phones, an online gambling site, et al - they aren't hard on the eyes, and the quality of the images is quite good, although it seems to cater more to a computer/cartoony style than photorealistic.
The Chinese government has been historically reluctant to adopt transparent government, but they occasionally can open up a little, though they may have been overwhelmed when they received more than 200,000 comments on a proposed labor law. This far exceeds the average number of comments for a draft law, although it is not unprecedented - the American effort to regulate big Tobacco garnered something in the millions. However, for a government not used to dealing with it, such a high volume of input could discourage transparency in the future. My money is on China continuing to be "selectively transparent," but drafting additional regulations to control the comment process to the point where it may be meaningless.
Tainted pet foot certainly tugs at the heartstrings, but it hardly compares to the complete failure of supervisory regulation that allowed a poisonous solvent to worm its way into Panamanian medicines and kill more than 100 people.
And lastly, one of the best short op-eds I've read in translation, about the passive-aggressiveness that pervades modern China, and modern society in general (I think the author is fooling himself that we're THAT much more civically responsible...) Since I'm a foreigner, I have a good excuse not to speak up, and in fact, a good reason not to, most of the time. It's not worth creating an incident when I see someone throw trash on the ground (although I am absolutley merciless to my Chinese friends), or someone just being unspeakably rude, cutting in line, etc...and I know I'm not experiencing some xenophobic backlash, because I quite often hear the other Chinese in line curse softly under their breath. But it's different when it's your own country and your own people.
That's all for now. There will be some original content at some point.
ooo a post!!!! yea, as soon as this quarter is over I'll get more up on my website. I figure it will turn more into a journal as I start work.
Posted by: venture160 | May 21, 2007 at 09:53 PM
jiangkeshen, nice to see that you have a blog. :) i'll definitely subscribe. hope all is well in china!
Posted by: lululu | June 16, 2007 at 03:20 PM