Allow me to catch up a bit
Time for a bit of house cleaning. I find not by design, but by habit that I'm getting a post out every 4-5 days or so. Not sure I can keep up the pace. I have alot of topics still to broach. Some take awhile to nail down. A simple post such as this below took me 3 days to write, over fits and starts.
First a shout out to my readers.
Latvia, you’re back…..but
then you left again….?
Kyrgyzstan…..thx for showing up!
Now, with as serious a face I can muster, as modestly as I can
attempt……how many China Bloggers have viewers from Kyrgyzstan? (not too damn many, thank you very much!)
Hello Bangladesh ….and India…keep it up!
China….yes, one would think I would naturally have a lot of
viewers from China, but actually, I do not.
Something abt the VPN, you see. However,
suddenly, over the past month, Chinese viewership has spiked. I imagine my views in China would greatly
increase if not for the inconvenience of needing a VPN. As I’ve said before, though, I simply do not
have the time or expertise to manage a site easily vulnerable to attack, or
being hacked.
Me wonders if my blog ever gets translated into Chinese?
I’ve toyed around with the idea of writing a post in
Mandarin, for kicks and giggles. Dunno,
may actually do so one of these days. Lot
of work though. (I don’t use translation SW)
One area I really don’t get too many views from, is Latin
America, beyond Brazil.
You’ve probably noticed a good deal of my posts are
apparently what folks call “long form”, ie actual writing. The long articles I’ve written recently are
abt 2000 words. I’ve noticed some folks
just write maybe 500 words and stop. Their
belief being the reader of the blog doesn’t have the time or attention span to
go beyond that.
Could be right….don’t give a shit.
I will admit I do get a bit disappointed when some of my
better, thought out, not necessarily longer posts don’t get the views they
should.
Then again, to my great astonishment, one of my shorter,
relationship oriented posts wasn’t as widely read as I had anticipated.
EMAIL
A lot of folks recently have been asking me for my
email. I tend to give you one of the
China accts I use. Pls folks do not
forget that even what you consider to be private thoughts are published on the
blog for all to see. That’s the way it’s
set up. I know a few of the guys asking for advice tend
to cringe when Sweden(for ex) sees their comments made public…..sorry.
Still, some of my, actually all of my relationship oriented
posts are still going strong. As this
blog gets older I’m still surprised how you guys are able to dig these things
up. A lot of these are really buried
deep in the mine, so to speak.
Pollution
Just a quick hit on this.
It’s not bad in Shenzhen. It really
isn’t. I don’t think it is. The key is to live in an area with a lot of
trees, albeit quiet and peaceful. Still,
as Shanghai and Beijing are overwhelmed by what looks to be a semi-permanent
blanket of toxicity overlooking their cities, one wonders how long their
respective expat communities can last?
Singapore anyone?
Hong Kong maybe?
Those expats though that have staked their careers on
Beijing and Shanghai, are pretty much screwed.
Esp if they have bought an apartment and have a Chinese family. Kinda hurts one’s mobility. Yet how can the expat in good conscience
raise his family in such a toxic stew? S
or L, something has to give.
Beijing is encapsulated in a bubble of toxic air that will
last for decades to come. The very
system of government guarantees this.
And all we can only speak of is what we can only see, ie air
pollution.
China as such is now becoming motivated to solve the air
pollution problem in China. Why?
Because it’s visible, that’s why, and the constant criticism
of the West is now impacting the FACE of the leadership.
Yet…..what of the water and soil pollution? Is it just as bad? Methinks it is, yet for the timebeing will
simply go unchecked, and pretty much unregulated. Why? Simple: what can’t be quantified, ie what the foreign
press can’t see or notice on a daily basis, the gov’t will not rush to improve.
For instance, the creek that runs past
the factory I use in Shenzhen has stank of garbage and scum for ages. I’ve seen no noticeable improvement over
these past 10 years. Nor do I expect
to.
It is in this regard I greatly feel sympathies for the
ordinary Chinese people. And it wouldn’t
surprise me if the actual longevity of THE MASSES actually begins to
shorten. (I’m sure scientists are on this as I write)
As I’d said in another post from a very long time ago, the
natural abilities of the Chinese People to improve their living standards
without impacting their health has now hit upon the proverbial glass
ceiling. For China to continue to grow,
it will have to no longer just get up early as a people, work hard and turn in
early as well.
Nope.
Now the people find themselves having to think smarter. Treading water isn’t good enough, and won’t
do. China now has to actually think in order to grow. Merely working hard won’t cut it. China has to grow smart now. The days of the West “discovering” the hard
working Chinese laborer are past. Products
are more complicated now. More Hi-Tech.
I just don’t believe China’s middle managers(the most
important people in the country!) have the skillset to help China solves it’s
environmental problems. Not even close. The temptations of corruption are just too
great. It’s easier to simply take the
money and run overseas. A competent man
within the current system that is setup to run the country’s affairs simply
doesn’t stand a chance. A low end city
bureaucrat makes more than me!
That’s why the Chinese like to laugh at our own American “style”
of corruption. When a mayor in a mid
level city goes to jail for stealing “only “ $70,000, how can the Chinese not
laugh at the “incompetency” of our leaders?
And I’m sure every other country that reads my blog has the same
problem!
Uncle Xi can’t solve all of China’s problems. He needs help. And I don’t think he has it. In English we say “he doesn’t have a very
deep bench’.
China History Podcast
I finally finished the last Podcast! Did it abt a month ago. I started from the beginning, did not skip,
and listened to every damn one. I learned
a lot.
Now I’m listening to Sinica.
I skip around a bit though. I find
their style very different from CHP, but their podcasts are rather
infrequent(abt once a month). And I’m
only interested in maybe abt half of them.
I find the podcast a good way to stay abreast of what Beijing’s expat
community thinks of current events. (you
say you don’t care? ) However, they did have a really interesting podcast on
the Manchu’s which was very educating. Still, I like their non PC style quite a bit,
as it suits my own mentality.
From listening to the podcast I can also tell they seem to
have a “rock scene” there, which makes me extremely jealous. Shenzhen doesn’t have one to talk about.
They do also have a Chinese language podcast that I try to
get my wife to listen to. She listened
to a few, and feels the podcast is 反华 or Anti-China. ( She wonders
why the girls on there with the excellent Mandarin haven’t been detained
yet. She considers their jobs quite
risky)
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