My micro-blogging addresses. Feel free to follow me:
www.twitter.com/BoydJones
www.zuosa.com/BoydJones - Chinese site.
http://fanfou.com/boyd - Chinese site.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Famous Huaqing bathing pool of Yang Guifei - Xian, China
Famous Huaqing bathing pool of Yang Guifei - Xian, China
Originally uploaded by BoydJones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Guifei
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Photo of a photo of the Clintons during their Xian visit
Photo of a photo of the Clintons during their Xian visit
Originally uploaded by BoydJones
Photo of a photo of the Clintons during their Xian visit.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Guardian and toddler in Xian in 2004 - open-back pants
Guardian and toddler in Xian in 2004 - open-back pants
Originally uploaded by BoydJones
Toddlers in China are often clothed in open-backed pants -- pants with slits that allow for easy urination and defecation on the streets (given the dearth of public toilets in China).
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Xian Incident Bullet Hole - taken in 2004
Xian Incident Bullet Hole - taken in 2004
Originally uploaded by BoydJones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi'an_Incident
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Amnesty International weighs in on the Beijing Olympics and Human Rights
Amnesty International UK's first video about the Beijing Olympics and human rights:
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Podcast RSS feeds blocked in China
When I was last in China (in March), I found it fascinating which podcast RSS feeds the Net Nannies blocked and which they did not. This motley mix of censoring the benign and leaving salty feeds uncensored (e.g., the Distorted View podcast) really emphasizes the keystone cop nature of China's Net Nannies.
BLOCKED RSS PODCAST FEEDS:
60 Minutes
Escapepod
Pseudopod
Scott Sigler
Pacific Coast Hellway
UC Radio Podcast
Best of National Geographic
The Economist
Talk Radio News
The Onion Radio News
This American Life
Well Told Tales
Comedy Central Stand-up
WSJ Tech News Brief
NOT BLOCKED:
Distorted View
BBC - Best of Today - not salty, but interesting that this BBC feed is not blocked given that the BBC was in a tiff with China a few years back, etc.
BLOCKED RSS PODCAST FEEDS:
60 Minutes
Escapepod
Pseudopod
Scott Sigler
Pacific Coast Hellway
UC Radio Podcast
Best of National Geographic
The Economist
Talk Radio News
The Onion Radio News
This American Life
Well Told Tales
Comedy Central Stand-up
WSJ Tech News Brief
NOT BLOCKED:
Distorted View
BBC - Best of Today - not salty, but interesting that this BBC feed is not blocked given that the BBC was in a tiff with China a few years back, etc.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Chinese Nationalism on the Rise - Taiwan, Tibet, Olympics, etc.
Mainland Chinese are mad and they aren't going to take it anymore. Invigorated with new-found wealth (largest foreign exchange reserves in the world since 2006, per capita income up by a CAGR of 11% over the last half a decade, largest carbon polluter in the world, world's 3rd largest economy, etc.), the Chinese are responding as best they can to what they perceive as perfidious foreigners trying to break apart their historic Union (Taiwanese and Tibetan separatists).
For example, I received a chain e-mail from Chinese friends about Tibet, the French and Carrefour (a large, French supermarket chain that has expanded aggressively into Asia and China over the last decade and a half). It calls for a boycott of Carrefour:
5月8日-24日正好是北京奥运会的前三个月.请您不要去家乐福购物.因为:
1. 家乐福的大股东捐巨资给达赖
2. 法国支持藏独者甚众
3. 法国总统声言抵制奥运会.
那么我们现在就抵制一下家乐福.为期与北京奥运会同长.前后17天,让他们看看中国民众的力量. 请转发.
It reads:
May 8th - 24th is exactly three months prior to the Beijing Olympics. Please do not go to Carrefour to shop / purchase. Because: 1. Carrefour's largest shareholder has given money to the Dali Lama. 2. France supports Tibetan Independence severally. 3. The French President declared a boycott of the Oympics. Now, therefore, let us boycott Carrefour for a bit. For a period of time as long as that of the Olympics themselves. For these 17 days, make them see the strength of the Chinese people. Please forward this.
(Point 3 refers to President Sarkozy's demand that China open talks with the Dalai Lama, etc. as a condition for Sarkozy to attend the Opening Ceremony.)
China now has the world's second largest Internet population and we will see Chinese netizens being increasingly proactive in using the Web to further their agendas.
For example, I received a chain e-mail from Chinese friends about Tibet, the French and Carrefour (a large, French supermarket chain that has expanded aggressively into Asia and China over the last decade and a half). It calls for a boycott of Carrefour:
5月8日-24日正好是北京奥运会的前三个月.请您不要去家乐福购物.因为:
1. 家乐福的大股东捐巨资给达赖
2. 法国支持藏独者甚众
3. 法国总统声言抵制奥运会.
那么我们现在就抵制一下家乐福.为期与北京奥运会同长.前后17天,让他们看看中国民众的力量. 请转发.
It reads:
May 8th - 24th is exactly three months prior to the Beijing Olympics. Please do not go to Carrefour to shop / purchase. Because: 1. Carrefour's largest shareholder has given money to the Dali Lama. 2. France supports Tibetan Independence severally. 3. The French President declared a boycott of the Oympics. Now, therefore, let us boycott Carrefour for a bit. For a period of time as long as that of the Olympics themselves. For these 17 days, make them see the strength of the Chinese people. Please forward this.
(Point 3 refers to President Sarkozy's demand that China open talks with the Dalai Lama, etc. as a condition for Sarkozy to attend the Opening Ceremony.)
China now has the world's second largest Internet population and we will see Chinese netizens being increasingly proactive in using the Web to further their agendas.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Toilet as "loo"
Taken a few years ago at the Henan Provincial Labor Union building. I assume someone just a dictionary and translated toilet as “loo”.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Way around the Great Firewall o' China
Found a neat way around the Great Firewall of China! E-mail me for more info. Better not post it here otherwise the Chinese Net Nannies might get wise.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Happy Lunar New Year of the Mouse!
Happy Chinese / Lunar New Year of the Mouse /Rat! (Mouse and rat are referred to using the same word in Mandarin Chinese).
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tests reveal toxic delta vegetables - Pearl River Delta, China
Well, I guess it is not enough that one can not breathe the air in Guangdong let alone exercise (for fear of injuring your lungs), but now apparently you can not eat the vegetables there due to toxic pollution.
Tests reveal toxic delta vegetables
High lead, cadmium levels in food
Zhuang Pinghui and Cheung Chi-fai
Jan 18, 2008
Serious heavy-metal contamination has been found in vegetables from the Pearl River Delta and in the soil they grow in, a mainland report says.
Surveys of densely populated cities such as Guangzhou, Foshan , Dongguan and Zhongshan discovered the soil contamination, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday. Samples taken in areas such as Nanhai and Xinhui - among the province's main vegetable-producing areas - showed serious contamination.
An expert said the areas did not supply Hong Kong's vegetables.
Although the contamination may not be serious enough to lead to food poisoning - because most chemicals can be washed away before consumption - the findings confirm the fears of environmentalists that Guangdong's breakneck economic development over the past three decades has caused serious environmental damage.
The soil sampling - initiated by Guangdong's Agriculture Department - is being carried out after Chen Riyuan , a professor at South China Agriculture University, submitted his own study to the government last year alerting it to the problem of heavy-metal contamination of vegetables.
Another study conducted by Sun Yat-sen University examined vegetable samples taken from 12 wet markets in Guangzhou. It confirmed that contaminated vegetables had found their way to consumers.
Lead levels in leaf samples tested were 37.5 per cent above acceptable limits and cadmium levels were 18.1 per cent too high. In samples of root vegetables, the level of lead was 26.3 per cent above acceptable limits and cadmium 9.7 per cent too high.
It is not the first time researchers have found chemical contamination of Guangdong's farmland. In 2005, a State Environmental Protection Agency survey found 40 per cent of the delta's cities suffered from heavy-metal pollution, with the contamination "serious" in 10 per cent of cities.
Contacted yesterday, Professor Chen said he hoped the government would be able to come up with solutions. He said his study showed the problem had been controlled in big cities but was prevalent elsewhere.
"Land that has suffered low levels of pollution can be treated through technology," he said. "But it will be very costly to deal with land with serious pollution."
He suggested growing flowers or trees as an alternative.
Professor Chen said Hong Kong should not worry because vegetables supplied to the city mainly came from so-called "pollution-free" production bases in the province. According to the Guangzhou Daily, Guangdong has 260,000 hectares of farmland qualified as pollution-free.
Wong Ming-hung, director of the Croucher Institute for Environmental Science at Hong Kong Baptist University, said there was no cause for panic since most of the chemicals could be washed off leaf vegetables.
"The top priority now is to conduct research to find the sources of these heavy metals. Contaminated land should be left vacant," he said.
Edward Chan Yue-fai, of environmental group Greenpeace, cautioned that the problem could spread as polluting factories moved inland.
Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety would not comment on the Guangzhou Daily's report.
High levels of lead can damage virtually every system in the body. It is especially harmful to the developing brains of fetuses and young children.
Tests reveal toxic delta vegetables
High lead, cadmium levels in food
Zhuang Pinghui and Cheung Chi-fai
Jan 18, 2008
Serious heavy-metal contamination has been found in vegetables from the Pearl River Delta and in the soil they grow in, a mainland report says.
Surveys of densely populated cities such as Guangzhou, Foshan , Dongguan and Zhongshan discovered the soil contamination, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday. Samples taken in areas such as Nanhai and Xinhui - among the province's main vegetable-producing areas - showed serious contamination.
An expert said the areas did not supply Hong Kong's vegetables.
Although the contamination may not be serious enough to lead to food poisoning - because most chemicals can be washed away before consumption - the findings confirm the fears of environmentalists that Guangdong's breakneck economic development over the past three decades has caused serious environmental damage.
The soil sampling - initiated by Guangdong's Agriculture Department - is being carried out after Chen Riyuan , a professor at South China Agriculture University, submitted his own study to the government last year alerting it to the problem of heavy-metal contamination of vegetables.
Another study conducted by Sun Yat-sen University examined vegetable samples taken from 12 wet markets in Guangzhou. It confirmed that contaminated vegetables had found their way to consumers.
Lead levels in leaf samples tested were 37.5 per cent above acceptable limits and cadmium levels were 18.1 per cent too high. In samples of root vegetables, the level of lead was 26.3 per cent above acceptable limits and cadmium 9.7 per cent too high.
It is not the first time researchers have found chemical contamination of Guangdong's farmland. In 2005, a State Environmental Protection Agency survey found 40 per cent of the delta's cities suffered from heavy-metal pollution, with the contamination "serious" in 10 per cent of cities.
Contacted yesterday, Professor Chen said he hoped the government would be able to come up with solutions. He said his study showed the problem had been controlled in big cities but was prevalent elsewhere.
"Land that has suffered low levels of pollution can be treated through technology," he said. "But it will be very costly to deal with land with serious pollution."
He suggested growing flowers or trees as an alternative.
Professor Chen said Hong Kong should not worry because vegetables supplied to the city mainly came from so-called "pollution-free" production bases in the province. According to the Guangzhou Daily, Guangdong has 260,000 hectares of farmland qualified as pollution-free.
Wong Ming-hung, director of the Croucher Institute for Environmental Science at Hong Kong Baptist University, said there was no cause for panic since most of the chemicals could be washed off leaf vegetables.
"The top priority now is to conduct research to find the sources of these heavy metals. Contaminated land should be left vacant," he said.
Edward Chan Yue-fai, of environmental group Greenpeace, cautioned that the problem could spread as polluting factories moved inland.
Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety would not comment on the Guangzhou Daily's report.
High levels of lead can damage virtually every system in the body. It is especially harmful to the developing brains of fetuses and young children.
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