Category Archives: Trends and Buzz

Banned words on Blogcn

Posted on 2005-08-01 by Jeremy Goldkorn

A Chinese blogger called Made in June (六月制造) has discovered the list of words banned from Blogcn.com, China’s second largest blog hosting company.

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Beijing Bestsellers: Getting motivated

Posted on 2005-07-31 by Joel Martinsen

Evidently whole-grain bread, and not cheese, is the key to success. Harry Potter #6 is tops again this week, again in two versions. One wonders if impatient Harry Potter fans won’t keep the English edition on the list until the … Continue reading →

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Through the looking-glass of Current Affairs

Posted on 2005-07-28 by Joel Martinsen

Cover of the July/August issue of Current Affairs. How do you get schoolkids interested in world affairs? Simple. Tell news stories in cartoon form, or wrap them in allusions to Jay Chou or Stephen Chow, and the kids’ll be all … Continue reading →

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New edition of Modern Chinese Dictionary

Posted on 2005-07-27 by Joel Martinsen

The Modern Chinese Dictionary, published by The Commercial Press, goes on sale in its fifth edition today. It adds 6000 new entries and removes 2000 obsolete, regional, or rarely used terms. The release of a new edition provides an opportunity … Continue reading →

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A dozen ways to die in Shanghai

Posted on 2005-07-25 by Joel Martinsen

Jumping off the 32nd floor of the Kerry Center has a success rate of 100%. Here’s a useful tourist map of Shanghai – it labels fourteen choice spots to go kill yourself. Adapted from a location map for the 2002 … Continue reading →

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Tsui Hark to film Brigitte Lin biopic

Posted on 2005-07-25 by Joel Martinsen

Can Cecilia measure up to Brigitte? Tsui Hark, fresh off the premiere of his new wuxia flick The Seven Swords, has finally received permission from Brigitte Lin to film The Brigitte Lin Story. And the actress he’s fingered to play … Continue reading →

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Author of To Live has a new book out

Posted on 2005-07-25 by Joel Martinsen

Yu Hua, the author of To Live, which Zhang Yimou turned into an award-winning movie, has written new novel. Brothers 《兄弟》 is Yu’s first fiction in a decade, and at over 400,000 characters it’s nearly as long as his previous … Continue reading →

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American conservatives look at Japan’s WWII record

Posted on 2005-07-24 by Jeremy Goldkorn

Will the American right pay attention to Japan’s WWII record when it comes to atrocities committed against Brits and Aussies? Powerline is the name of a carefully-written, deeply conservative American blog kept by three lawyers who live in Minnesota and … Continue reading →

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Nanny and corporate thuggery: Rebecca MacKinnon vs. Cisco

Posted on 2005-07-22 by Jeremy Goldkorn

Rebecca MacKinnon: Cisco’s actions are ‘odious’ Former CNN Beijing bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon has been organizing a campaign of sorts against American technology companies that she believes are complicit in censorship and other sinister activities on the Chinese Internet. This … Continue reading →

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Debate over China’s national flower

Posted on 2005-07-22 by Joel Martinsen

Plum Blossom With 5000 years of history you can’t have just one National Flower. China is finding it difficult to chose a single representative from among the vast field of candidates that show up throughout traditional art and culture – … Continue reading →

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