International Workers Day

And open thread for those who labor…or labour…and yeah, I know it’s May 1st in the rest of the world. But I thought I’d share the holiday joy…

The Discussion: 95 Comments

otherlisa-
I feel that your spelling of the word labour clearly illustrates your American bias that infects this blog with irrelevancies such as hurricanes and examples of cannibalism along the Mississippi. You probably don’t even know that Hainan is blessed yet again with hosting the latest Miss Surgically-Enhanced, so warped with hatred against your Commander-in-Chief are you.

September 4, 2005 @ 8:14 pm | Comment

If we spell “Saviour” the wrong way, will God send us to hell? I’m betting on the American spelling, because God is an American. A rich white one of course.

September 4, 2005 @ 8:27 pm | Comment

Dear TPD,

Ivan is wrong. I’m not rich, and I’m not White. But I do want you to use the American forms of spelling because the British get on my nerves.

Sincerely yours,
God

September 4, 2005 @ 8:31 pm | Comment

And the type of refugees in New Orleans typically are the type with big appetites

Hurricanes, I appreciate dark humor but that joke falls flat on its face

September 4, 2005 @ 8:37 pm | Comment

Keir – *Snort*!

So what does it mean that my preferred spelling is “colour”?

I’m goin’ to hell fer shure…

September 4, 2005 @ 9:49 pm | Comment

Oh, heavens.

Last time I read, only 60% of Chinese people were literate in so-called Putonghua.

But. whatever. You want to throw out cheap shots like that, go right ahead. It doesn’t do you any favors.

September 4, 2005 @ 10:41 pm | Comment

Ah, “anonymous” is blowing the dust off the old “US exporting its culture” trope, I see.

Yeah, Chinese hate wearing clothes depicting Mickey Mouse and Snoopy. They hate Hollywood movies. Chinese hate consuming at KFC, Starbucks and Pizza Hut. And they really hate wearing clothes adorned with written English, especially if it’s misspelled.

They hate these things so much they even make illegal copies of them, just to hate them all the more I suppose.

Actually I don’t believe the person who wrote that comment is Chinese, I don’t think many Chinese would make a claim so absurd on its face.

September 4, 2005 @ 10:44 pm | Comment

Yeah. Please. Don’t watch our movies! For gods sake, don’t watch our TV! Stop, now! Before it’s too late!

September 4, 2005 @ 10:47 pm | Comment

Kitsch Free Chinese Culture

September 4, 2005 @ 10:58 pm | Comment

40% of Americans are illleeterate???

Did you slap your head and out came that number or do you have a solid source?

A little known fact about macroeconomics: Whenever there is an export there must be a corresponding and equal import or set of imports that equals the value of the exports.

So, if the US is exporting MM, McD, KFC, etc. that means there are people who are willingly importing those goods. I have yet to see US Marines on Beijing streets herding unwilling, downtrodden Chinese into Mickey D’s for a ration of bad food.

You’re whining is first rate if I didn’t know better I would say you’re a certain brit in GZ who has the initials BM. Definitely not Martyn.

September 4, 2005 @ 11:10 pm | Comment

“BM”?

September 4, 2005 @ 11:23 pm | Comment

I stumbled onto this blog a few days ago and have enjoyed the intelligent posts so far – until this mud slinging match now.

September 4, 2005 @ 11:26 pm | Comment

sorry, PC. This sure hasn’t been a good week for me. I’m hoping to regain my temper and my good humor after another night’s sleep.

September 4, 2005 @ 11:41 pm | Comment

Uh, you guys do realize that anonymous is an English guy, right? This kinda gave it away

But you don’t stand a chance at colonising us English with your linguistic imperialism! Not a chance!

September 4, 2005 @ 11:53 pm | Comment

Of course, American “English” is essentially a bastardisation of the English language.

Hardly.

The differences in the English language between Britain and America can be traced back to early American writers and novelists. They wanted to define a new style, something that set them apart from their English counterparts. Something unique, something that identified them and our culture as American.

Why should Americans take heed to the way the Queen does anything? She’s your queen, not ours! That’s a characteristic that sets American’s apart from Europeans. You strive for conformity, we dare to be different.

September 5, 2005 @ 12:04 am | Comment

There is a good book by Bill Bryson on the evolution of American English.

September 5, 2005 @ 12:10 am | Comment

According to the CIA World Factbook, the literacy rate in America breaks down like this:
 
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total
population:
97%
male: 97%
female: 97% (1999 est.)

September 5, 2005 @ 12:11 am | Comment

You know Anonymous, I think it’s pretty ironic that American English is the internationally preferred language in the Business World.

Doht!

September 5, 2005 @ 12:15 am | Comment

And the number in China that speak Putonghua was set (SET) at 53%!

September 5, 2005 @ 12:23 am | Comment

Apparently I’m the only one who’s noticed that today, Monday, is not in fact International Worker’s Day.

In the world outside North America, Labor (or “Labour”) Day is celebrated on May 1.

September 5, 2005 @ 12:43 am | Comment

“It doesn’t do you any favors.”…
favours, damnit! favoUrs!!!!
I thought the reason why the Yanks spell words incorrectly is back in the days of the first newspapers. To save space for the columns they decided to get rid of all superfluous letters. That’s what I heard in school,. anyway…

September 5, 2005 @ 12:44 am | Comment

Keir are you the kind of loon who says “X, Y, zed” as opposed to the correct version, “X, Y, Zee”? No wonder Canada’s in such decline….

September 5, 2005 @ 12:50 am | Comment

Canada’s in decline? I didn’t get that memo.

September 5, 2005 @ 12:58 am | Comment

And we always heard that the English used all those extra letters to pad their homework assignments. I mean, if you’re assigned a 5-page essay, you can only narrow the margins so far before it becomes obvious, so the extra “u”s help you make it to the bottom of the page.

September 5, 2005 @ 1:08 am | Comment

Vaara, I know, I know, but I was trying to spread the labOUR joy around…

September 5, 2005 @ 1:30 am | Comment

This discussion about English spelling is getting very boring. I bet none of you who are rubbishing the spelling of American English has ever had any proper linguistics training. Any decent linguistics textbook would have told you that language is an arbitrary communication system. It changes with time. Regional variations of a language testify to the popular use of a language across regions – nothing more, nothing less.

September 5, 2005 @ 2:15 am | Comment

To lighten the discussion a bit, please read the following from the bilingual Polish Online News: (it’s listed under the column “Humour” with a bit of my variations towards the end)

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German,which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be dropped in favour of “k”. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent “e” in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”. During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou” and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

NOTE from Fat Cat: you may want to try this on the spell checker

September 5, 2005 @ 2:20 am | Comment

Yeah, a lot of people dont and dont know how to speak Putonghua, this is ture, absolutely ture, 50% might be a bit on the high side, I lived in a village in Hubei during my childhood, most of my neighbours spoke dialect only, including my mum. when they went to big cities, they had problem communicating to others. but still they could get things done without too much hassle, the only thing was that people called them ‘tu bao zi, or xiang ba lao’, which is saddening. sometimes we complain that foreigners look down on Chinese and don’t ‘do as Romans when they are in Rome’, but on the other hand, we Chinese look down on our own countrymen, this makes me more heartbreaking. especially those Nouveau riches, dring VM santana kind of guys, are the most cruel humanbeings. too bad. some laowai say ‘chinese wanna judge others, learn to judge yourself first’, I cant agree more. we are living in such a world whereby we are allowing some bastards set fire wherever they want, but we are not tolerating peasants lighting a lamp. everytime, I go back to mainland, I wish something can change, not the ever growing skyscape, not the wider road, but the mindset of people, the way they think and the way the do business. why spent so much time drinking baijiu during lunch time, arent they suppose to work after lunch. why spent so much effort talking about guanxi without thinking of how to improve the infrastructure and how to establish a more relaible system. you can be lucky that you get things done this time, but no one can gurantee this guanxi will be sustainable.

I was used to a sturbborn guy, I didn’t know how to solve problems, I insisted I was right and listened to others blindly. I am glad that I received education in both China and western country. which gave me a chance to look at things from different persepctives. there are two sides on every coin, we chinese tend to look at the coin on one side only, and the chilling thing is that we refuse to look at the other side when others tell us to. I keep hoping one day Chinese can be more gracious, people can be considerate instead of so rude, I thought that was due to education, but when I look at some college educated people are also rude and don’t even have a word ‘manners’ in their dictionary, I wonder what’s wrong with we chinese people. but the interesting part is when we come to western countries, we automatically change the way we behave, we don’t spit anymore, we give way to others, we say thank you and sorry constantly. we have the chance to experience religions, through which I think benefit a lot. It strengthened me.

There are times I just wanna go back to China and make my tidy contribution to the country, but when I seriously look at the people around me, I know I really cant force myself to go back to the old way of doing things, there were times people really drive me crazy and make me sick because they are so ignorant and sturbborn. they are like frogs in the well. there were times that I really want to convince them that there are always different ways to do things, there are always room for improvement, but they simply tell me off and say this is China. we have our own ways. I know I am not ready to go back. there were also time that I simply want o give up my dark red chinese passport and be a ‘better’ citizenship. but whenever I saw chinese five-star flags flying in the sky; I bloody proud of myself and my coutry, and I know I deeply love the country where I was born.I can feel my heart beat, when CCP host live press conference, I was blood touched and hoping this is a good sign. when Zhu Rong Ji vowed to crack down on corruption. I damn cried and thought oneday China will become another Singapore, Zhu will be another Lee kuan yew, but things are not alawys what we expected. Local high profile chinese still come to foreign countries and show off at the expense of the ppor farmer. Chinese went to Malaysia and protested the little ‘big key’. evertime there is a visit to foreign factory, there is always a punch of people, lao Zhang, lao Wang, lao Huang…foreigners asked me why there are always so many chinese people for such a small conference, I damn didn’t know how to answer.

Foreigners living in China have a complicated feeling, oversea chinese like me have a even more complicated feeling. when foreigners bash China and Chinese people, I want to defend by fault, but after I pause for a while, I totally stun, they always have some bloody points. emotions aside, I know I have to agree most of the time. I always keep my finger crossed that China will not go wild like 16 years ago. aaaaa, I need a break.

September 5, 2005 @ 2:31 am | Comment

Haha! Danke, Herr Fat Kat! 🙂

Hui Mao, thanks for pointing out that “anonymous” was English. I missed that line, but noticed “here in China”. However, the quality of the English, no less than the sentiments, made me suspect it was a non-yankee westerner.

I chalk up my mistake to being another barely-literate ‘Merican. 😉

September 5, 2005 @ 2:41 am | Comment

Samdl, thanks for a thought-provoking post.

September 5, 2005 @ 2:48 am | Comment

I’ve just noticed a discussion of blogs like pekingduck on China Daily’s news talks. Interesting.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/22/content_462460.htm
………………………………………

English blogs in China:the disappointing ethnocentrism
majones bbs.chinadaily.com.cn Updated: 2005-07-22 09:48

I would like to draw the attention of readers to the plethora of English-language China blog sites that currently pollute cyberspace. As a foreigner living here in China, I am deeply disturbed and embarrassed by the blatant anti-Chinese discourse that most of these sites peddle.

Sites like Peking Duck (www.pekingduck.org), The Horse’s Mouth (thehorsesmouth.blog-city.com/) and the Angry Chinese Blogger (angrychineseblogger.blog-city.com/) all identify themselves as anti-Chinese Communist Party sites, though they also pretend to like and to admire the Chinese people.

September 5, 2005 @ 3:38 am | Comment

Anonymous pontificator, and Wolfgang: Is that you again, Mark?

September 5, 2005 @ 4:12 am | Comment

Why is it that the most opinionated and charmless people who feel the need to subject us to their criticisms always seem to do anonymously? From now on I’m ignoring anyone who hasn’t the guts to identify himself. The last post excluded as I agree wholeheartedly.
As for you ‘Fat Cat’: It’s a bit rich you complaining about the quality of the comments seeing as I can’t recall having seen you contribute anything before.

September 5, 2005 @ 4:22 am | Comment

Of course it’s the friendless freak. Those long comments are cut and pasted from the internet only this time he’s (wisely) provided one of the sources to cover his tracks.

In addition, only the insignificant freak uses the word ‘nonsense’. As I say, he’s wierd.

Also, only the lunatic freak would “in passing” post the link to his pathetic China Daily post, which, by the way, attracted the biggest trolls on the internet to come to his defence.

And you and Richard actually sat and had dinner with the freak last night? Why didn’t you kick the coward’s head in? After all, he’s only brave when being either anonomous or pretending to be a woman behind the safety of his keyboard. I’d be surprised if his salary is more than 10,000 yuan per month.

September 5, 2005 @ 4:26 am | Comment

Yeah Sam; I ‘investigated’ the guy you refer to and the writing style indicates the affirmative. No one else ever seems to decide to write “By the way, I just happened to come across this site and was immediately embarassed by the vitriol and bile directed towards my friends the Chinese. Funnily enough I also discovered a number of others I’ll mention, including The Horse’s Mouth which is simply the most disgusting pile of hatemongering and childishness since Mein Kampf. If this continues I will have no choice but to submit my views to the China Daily blog. Now THAT is a quality purveyor of information. That esteemable Lady Martina de Valery of Quirnal agrees with me implicitly and I dare say she may have some words to say about the subject very soon.”

September 5, 2005 @ 4:31 am | Comment

By the way, I went to the site the guy directed us to (you know, the one complaining about all these purveyors of filth which to me simply state the obvious). Trouble is, because he’s availing of himself of the China Daily site, any comments I post which don’t agree that the fascist CCP ” has brought about more good than it has bad” will be blocked (Which shows how hypocritical his feelings of free speech are). Were I to mention any of the innumerable evils the party has committed and continues to commit against its most vulnerable and voiceless subjects, any chance in hell it won’t be blocked. Such people are no better than the Lord Haw Haws or Tokyo Roses whose lives are spent on nothing more than as fascist apologists.

September 5, 2005 @ 4:42 am | Comment

Keir, what are smoking? Or are you really Keir? No one seems to have complained about my posting before. You can ask Richard, Other Lisa and Martyn. Expressing opinion is one thing. Making racist comment is another issue altogether. I can see an attempt here to hijack the site while Richard is away and Lisa is probably sleeping. Shame on you.

September 5, 2005 @ 6:45 am | Comment

Umm…….
Fat Cat or whatever you’re calling yourself now: what racist comment?

September 5, 2005 @ 8:21 am | Comment

On a more significant note, my girlfriend has just told me that she heard Hu Jintao saying that the KMT should actually take some credit for fighting the Japanese! Who knows what direction we’re heading now… With the ‘rehabilitation’ of Hu Ya0bang’s corpse and now this,I’m starting to feel slightly optimistic.

September 5, 2005 @ 8:26 am | Comment

Europe “heading for third-world status”.

What ever happened to the Lisbon Agenda?

September 5, 2005 @ 8:38 am | Comment

British English is like a nasty little caterpillar that became a beautiful butterfly on fertile US soil. The nasty little caterpillar is no longer necessary. Please step on it.

September 5, 2005 @ 9:06 am | Comment

Here is something for celebration of Labor:

http://laborcamp.mcad.edu

There are several songs there set to Mao poems and writings (in Chinese and in English). One also features actual archival recording of Mao speech.

September 5, 2005 @ 9:57 am | Comment

Now what were those american english words that the phrench banned from their language?

September 5, 2005 @ 12:24 pm | Comment

Some interesting statements from the CPC leadership in the last few days. This Reuters article has Wens most interesting quote:
China, where the Communist Party has enjoyed a monopoly on power since 1949, is moving surely toward democracy, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday.

“China will press ahead with its development of democratic politics, that is reconstruction, in an unswerving way, including direct elections,” Wen told a news conference ahead of an EU-China summit.

“If the Chinese people can manage a village, I believe in several years they can manage a township. That would be an evolving system.”

China has introduced direct elections for village chiefs in more than 660,000 villages, and many of those elected are not party members. But it has dragged its feet on expanding suffrage for the election of officials at higher levels.

Wen has in the past defended the delay, saying China is a vast, populous, underdeveloped country and levels of education are inadequate.

Beijing’s limited experience with democracy, observing its effects in the former British colony of Hong Kong, leaves it far from convinced that the system is effective.

The Communist Party fears that if it were to allow full, direct elections in Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, democratic winds would blow toward the mainland and one day the people would vote it out of power, analysts say.

September 5, 2005 @ 4:55 pm | Comment

I have a post from Martyn to put up about that article…will try to squeeze it in shortly…

September 5, 2005 @ 5:08 pm | Comment

Actually, the true masters of the language are the Irish. The English invented the language and then the Irish taught them how to use it.
🙂

September 5, 2005 @ 6:49 pm | Comment

Hear hear Ivan… if all of China’s English teachers were from Belfast, we wouldn’t understand a word Chinese people say. But they’d write gorgeous prose and poetry.

As for MAJ’s post over at China Daily… I never realized how truly awful their comment boards are. I’m not referring to the bad writing – I mean visually.

September 5, 2005 @ 7:00 pm | Comment

D’oh, I can’t believe I didn’t immediately peg “anonymouse” as the One Desperately Seeking Acceptance. In retrospect it seems obvious, all the trappings are there (except for a pretentiously phony name).

I refuse to believe Richard actually dined with the guy, unless the loser left with a couple fewer teeth.

September 5, 2005 @ 11:55 pm | Comment

Will

I see that your new Imagethief URL doesn’t have the little favicon thingy with the cool Imagethief logo when one saves Imagethief on Firefox Bookmarks.

You stole my Imagethief favicon, you took it away from me without any warning or nothing. Now Imagethief is “just another” website on my Bookmarks.

Even AsiaPundit has a favicon and that site is only a few months old. Ha! You’re being totally shown up by AsiaPundit!

September 6, 2005 @ 12:17 am | Comment

My apology to Keir. I have confused you with “What is his name”. In one of his postings that’s now been deleted, he made derogatory comments about the Australian Labor Party and convict heritage. However, I stand by my criticism about some previous uninformed comments made in this thread about the spelling of American English. I believe that comments of this kind will only give someone (such as “what is his name”) a chance to turn the discussion into a kind of nationalistic mumble gumble.

September 6, 2005 @ 12:20 am | Comment

Ermmm, I don’t think they dined, I think they just ran into each other. But we’ll let Richard tell the tale…

September 6, 2005 @ 12:50 am | Comment

Oh, and my apologies to one and all for not banning “anonymouse” sooner. What made it more complicated is that a bunch of different posts came in under the same IP, and I am not sure if they are the same person…Shanghai Dumplings, please step forward! I didn’t ban that IP because I couldn’t be certain that more than one person wasn’t using that address – it looked like a proxy server.

But if any of you more internet savvy people can clue me in…is it possible for different folks to have the same IP via a proxy server?

September 6, 2005 @ 12:53 am | Comment

No, no way

September 6, 2005 @ 1:22 am | Comment

Oh.

Good to know.

Okay, Angry American, Shanghai dumplings and whatever that name you used to post that bullshit cannibalism in New Orleans post?

You’re gone.

Too bad. I thought several of your handles were making some good points. But if you are going to screw around, use multiple identities and say offensive, stupid things under one identity or another, then all of you, collectively, will be banned.

September 6, 2005 @ 1:37 am | Comment

Great.

I agree with Fat Cat above, I didn’t even bother to respond to yesterday’s crap about British/US English. Only a very stupid troll indeed would pick on such an totally pointless subject to try and stir up trouble. Try again. Imagine all the cut+pasting and www searching he did—now all gone to ‘delete’ heaven.

September 6, 2005 @ 1:48 am | Comment

I was confused, cause Shanghai Dumplings sounded pretty sane. Hard to believe they are the same person.

September 6, 2005 @ 2:06 am | Comment

Also, he/she/whatever was posting under two separate IP addresses. One of them was clearly in China (started with 218), the other started with 69, which is generally here on the West Coast. And both 218 and 69 had that silly post about cannibalism, so I guess he/she/whatever was using a proxy server.

Anyway, keep me informed about this kind of crap, and I’ll delete ASAP.

September 6, 2005 @ 2:08 am | Comment

Speaking of International Workers’ Day, you can see a post I put up today that pays tribute to Chinese coal miners here. It’s a PowerPoint slide show with Chinese text. The pics alone are worth it, but if you really need to follow the Chinese but can’t I’ve put up a rough and dirty translation that should give you the gist. The original PPT seems to originate on a Chinese BBS, but I’ve uploaded it onto CSR Asia so it’s easier to view.

September 6, 2005 @ 3:20 am | Comment

Thanks Stephen, I’ll check it out now.

September 6, 2005 @ 4:11 am | Comment

I’m for Chinese as the official European language. First, it would just be fair because it would be everybodies second language and a small minority wouldn’t have the advantage to speak in their mother tongue. Second, it’s a very pragmatic language as it doesn’t bother around with such nonsense as declination, conjugation and irregular verbs. Third, Chinese caracters are just beautifull and we wouldn’t have these boring debates about misspelling. Fourth I am German and I just can’t take it that those Brits not only won the war but now even are in the position to impose their language on us.
I want my emperor back! : (

September 6, 2005 @ 4:28 am | Comment

Lol

September 6, 2005 @ 4:31 am | Comment

It’s a bad day all round when Shulan himself submits to nationalistic fervour. Bring back the Kaiser.

September 6, 2005 @ 4:33 am | Comment

By the way Shulan. That ball was over the line in the 1966 World Cup. It’s a proven fact.

September 6, 2005 @ 4:35 am | Comment

That’s how you are fooled by the propaganda of your press. They are is spinning the facts.
Wake up! : )

September 6, 2005 @ 4:55 am | Comment

By the way, what does lol mean? I saw this several times but have no idea what it could mean. My dictionary isn’t helpful either.

September 6, 2005 @ 4:57 am | Comment

Lots of Laugh
or Laugh Out Loud

September 6, 2005 @ 5:04 am | Comment

thanks.
Oh and by the way Martyn, it’s a great day as my flight to China goes tomorrow and I’ll finaly will be back after 3 long years of abstinence.

September 6, 2005 @ 5:30 am | Comment

@shulan:
“Third, Chinese caracters are just beautifull and we wouldn’t have these boring debates about misspelling. ”

Right…instead you’ll have these boring debates about which version of the character to use…

September 6, 2005 @ 5:40 am | Comment

Great news on the China trip Shulan. Please let me know if you’re in Guangzhou at any point. As you know, 3 years is a very long time in China years. About the equivilent of 30 years anywhere I’d guess. Those places you used you go? Gone. The places you used to remember? Changed totally……

September 6, 2005 @ 6:08 am | Comment

boo, you are right but every plan made by humans has it’s little flaws. Don’t be so pessimistic or I am tempted to call you a German.

September 6, 2005 @ 6:10 am | Comment

Shulan, if you called me a German, I’d take that as a compliment.

September 6, 2005 @ 6:30 am | Comment

Shulan said:

Oh and by the way Martyn, it’s a great day as my flight to China goes tomorrow and I’ll finaly will be back after 3 long years of abstinence.

What? You’re coming back to China just to get laid?

Sorry guy, I couldn’t resist that one.

September 6, 2005 @ 6:41 am | Comment

Or alternatively, it could mean that’s planning on hitting the drink big time! Although I don’t think it’s possible for a German to not drink for 3 years.

September 6, 2005 @ 7:15 am | Comment

Other Lisa asked:

Oh, and my apologies to one and all for not banning “anonymouse” sooner. What made it more complicated is that a bunch of different posts came in under the same IP, and I am not sure if they are the same person…Shanghai Dumplings, please step forward! I didn’t ban that IP because I couldn’t be certain that more than one person wasn’t using that address – it looked like a proxy server.

But if any of you more internet savvy people can clue me in…is it possible for different folks to have the same IP via a proxy server?

Yes, anyone using the same proxy server WILL have the same IP address when looking through your logs. Shanghai Dumplings, if you suddenly find yourself banned i’d suggest changing to a new proxy server.

September 6, 2005 @ 7:36 am | Comment

Whatever, Mark Jones,,

September 6, 2005 @ 8:30 am | Comment

It wasn’t me!

September 6, 2005 @ 9:00 am | Comment

Really!

September 6, 2005 @ 9:30 am | Comment

Pay attention to me!

September 6, 2005 @ 9:36 am | Comment

With MAJ, we can all have the last laugh because he works for a Chinese company! Hehe. Only the real, genuine expats losers work for Chinese companies because the pay is so very low.

I knew someone here in Shanghai who worked for Netscape and they were paid 8,000 yuan per month. I knew another that worked for some apparel exporter, 16,000 per month. Therefore MAJ is probably on about the same.

Piecce of advice MAJ, we true expats are on about 70-90,000 per month, tax-free, plus accomodation.

Read it and weep loser.

September 6, 2005 @ 9:50 am | Comment

Well, okay, I’ll try to exercise some discretion about banning what look like proxy servers. Shanghai Dumplings, you should still be in good shape.

But this will all be back in Richard’s lap soon…

September 6, 2005 @ 11:07 am | Comment

By the way, the much maligned (by Verity Troll) Will Bunch spreads the blame around here

September 6, 2005 @ 11:13 am | Comment

Other Lisa, is it possible for you to stop moaning for a while and give us all a rest? Or are you going to start talking and mourning about katrina again and the gross incompetance of Bush, fema, 10,000 etc? No please, anything but that. I will come back to pekingduck after you’ve stopped.

September 6, 2005 @ 12:47 pm | Comment

A pictorial comparison between US rescue efforts in Hurricane 2005, and Chinese rescue efforts in Flood 1998:

http://x7.putfile.com/9/24814264699.jpg

September 6, 2005 @ 1:30 pm | Comment

Why, how interesting. “sick” is also…let’s see…RC, John, Paul, Rich, Ron, Expat, Mark…am I leaving anybody out?

You get your wish. You’re not coming back. Anybody who is so much of a coward that he hides under a multitude of identities and uses them to hurl insults can find someplace else to make a mess.

September 6, 2005 @ 3:32 pm | Comment

An interesting analysis of the China Youth Daily issue:
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/politics/2005/09/02/china_media/

September 6, 2005 @ 3:52 pm | Comment

Very interesting, maybe we can get a post up about it later.

September 6, 2005 @ 4:39 pm | Comment

Could someone give me the link to the post on which anoymous or whatever his name is (or are they different people?) posted the message/s that made him so (at my current point of view) bullied (name calling, and violent suggestions to kick someones head in, I thought were above teachers, I thought Mark said he taught history?) by everyone?

And how are people getting texts to show up in italic?

September 6, 2005 @ 6:38 pm | Comment

Different Mark, garnwraly.

And I don’t know what threats you are talking about.

September 6, 2005 @ 7:06 pm | Comment

Oh, for the italics, you need to use simple html codes – unfortunately if I try to demonstrate it here, I will just end up with italicized text.

What you’ll need to do is use the shift key and use the symbols above your comma and your period. So substituting those carots for , and . what you get looks like this:

,i.text here,/i.

I know that’s a little confusing but I can’t think of any other way to explain it.

September 6, 2005 @ 7:17 pm | Comment

Dear Other Lisa,

You are, of course, more than welcome to delete this comment, and I have no doubt that you will, but I am posting it here simply becasue I have no other means that I am aware of to communicate with you at present.

I have not visited this site for at least two weeks, maybe longer even (I’ve been away in Hong Kong and Tianjin for work for much of that time, and I have spent the last two days in Zhuhai, also for work) and so it has come as quite a surprise to me to discover that my name is still being mentioned on these pages – and that people are still posting comments under my name and using my IP address (or so it would seem – since people seem so sure that it was me who wrote them). I don’t know what crimes I am alledged to have commited this time, but I must say here, that I am disturbed by Shanghai Slim’s comment, that I ought to have had my teeth knocked out, and by the other Mark’s comment, that I ought to have had my head kicked in. Why the need for such violence, I wonder?

For the record too, I did not dine with Sam and Richard. I returned to Shenzhen last Sunday afternoon from Tianjin, and my fiancee and I were shopping at the supermarket in JUSCOs. We had just emerged from the check-out, when Gao Ying realised that she had forgotten to buy tea leaves, and so she wandered back in. It was while I was waiting for her in front of the check-outs with all of our grocery bags in hand, that Sam and Richard came along – an extraordinary coincidence when you think about it. I must say here, that Richard is much taller than I imagined him to be. He seemed nice enough, but I could tell that he was uncomfortable in meeting me, and so we only chatted very briefly, for no more than a minute or two really. It was a civil and polite exchange, though he wasn’t exactly friendly – but then again, we didn’t really invest any time in getting to know one another.

And finally, the only reason why I have come to this site now, is because I needed to re-read the Pomfret article that Richard reported on back in the November 2004 archives, as I shall be mentioning it in a follow-up to the China Daily article that I wrote earlier in the year, which China Daily have requested that I write.

I shall now get back to my work, as I am preparing for yet another trip (this time to Wuxi in Jiangsu, via Shanghai). I’m sure the more vindictive of your readers will delight in my having posted this comment, as it gives them an excuse to fill this thread with more of their puerile insults! 🙂 I shall leave you all to it.

Regards,
Mark Anthony Jones

September 6, 2005 @ 8:50 pm | Comment

Delete

September 6, 2005 @ 8:56 pm | Comment

MAJ, I’m going to let Richard to decide what to do with your latest, “gee, I don’t care about being here but I can’t stay away” screed.

Clint/Fake MAJ/John/Bill/Paul/Rick – I’m really tempted to delete you en masse and ban your IP, but I’m not going to do it. It’s Richard’s call. I find it fascinating however that you, like your buddy, Rich/Ron/etc. hide behind a multitude of identities, since you’re another one cut from the same mold. I’m wondering why I’m supposed to have any respect for your opinions when you can’t even stick to one handle, when you’re making it look like there’s a whole bunch of guys who think the same way you do. Instead, there’s just two of you. Or maybe just one.

All right, that’s my sermonette for the evening. Time for a new open thread.

September 6, 2005 @ 10:07 pm | Comment

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