Archive for the 'china' Category

Check out Neocha.com for Chinese indie music

孙智谦 on 29 Jun 2008

 
Neocha image
 
Are you tired of Chinese popular music? I am. Over all, it stinks. I mean, I’m a huge Jay Chou fan, and I like almost everything Sun Yan Zi and Wang Li Hong put out. But for the most part, Chinese pop music - like pop music everywhere - all sounds the same, and it’s all pretty mediocre. No creativity, no individuality. I really appreciate the traditional Chinese value of putting the group over the individual and not rocking the proverbial boat, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. It absolutely fails when it comes to music. Music is supposed to be creative, so just following along with the crowd definitely doesn’t cut it. Thankfully, in every culture there are always those independent people who like to experiment with new sounds and ideas and create something fresh. (Really, if you haven’t checked out InLove, do it. Yes, Lu, I’m always advertising your music!). I recently came across a post at Lost Laowai reviewing a great site called Neocha (aka “new tea”). I won’t go into what the review says since that would be totally redundant. Just check it out for yourself or head on over to neocha.com to get connected with great (and of course some not-so-great) Chinese indie music.
 

Entertainment and Music and china | Comments (4)

Chinese video sites: an obnoxiously long list

孙智谦 on 25 Apr 2008

 
Chinese Video Sites
 
I was looking up Chinese video sharing sites after my buddy teople introduced me to a few, and I came across a great post on Danwei.org with an overly-lengthy-in-a-good-way list of them. Careful not to overdose, Chinese junkies. And if you’re interested in seeing a good comparison of the sites, check out this post on China Web2.0 Review.
 

Entertainment and china | Comments (6)

Nobody concentrates harder than old Chinese ladies

孙智谦 on 02 Apr 2008

 
I found the video below on blog.howma.com and had to post about it because of how awesome it is. Yeah, it’s pretty cool how well the guy in the video dances, but the real story is the old lady on the couch behind him…
 
If you had a guy in your living room wearing a suit coat with no shirt, pajama bottoms, and slippers, and he was dancing all up in ya face like MC Hammer, you’d probably laugh hysterically, right? Or you’d glance up once in a while to watch for a few seconds, right? At the very least, you’d giggle or something. I think most Westerners would. But not old Chinese ladies! The one in the video just keeps on knitting/sewing/doing-whatever-she’s-doing and pays absolutely no attention to the guy whatsoever. It’s like the he isn’t even in the room! I don’t think it’s possible to concentrate any harder than that. And that’s why if I ever find myself in a tag-team Operation competition, I’m taking an old Chinese lady as my partner.
 

 

Culture Clash and Entertainment and Random Stuff and china | Comments (7)

Things the Chinese invented…

孙智谦 on 22 Feb 2008

 
I’ve joked before about how many things the Chinese invented, but I didn’t really know what all they had invented. I mean, a few things I knew, but for the most part, I was clueless as to what all we use in our lives that the Chinese came up with. So I did a little searching and found that Wikipedia has an incomplete but pretty good list. Here it is, for better or for worse…
 
  • Battens in cloth
  • Belt drives
  • The blast furnaces
  • Bituminous coke
  • Cast iron
  • The chain drive
  • The repeating crossbow
  • The escapement mechanism
  • The exploding cannonball
  • The fire arrow
  • Firearms
  • Fireworks (not Adobe Fireworks, the real thing)
  • Gun powder
  • The horse collar
  • Hulk compartments/Bulkheads
  • The kite
  • Land mines
  • The lottery
  • Noodles
  • Paper
  • The pound lock
  • Woodblock printing and movable type
  • The multistate rocket
  • The rudder
  • The sailing carriage
  • The seismometer
  • Silk (ok, technically they didn’t INVENT it, but you get the point…)
  • The sluice gate
  • Stirrups
  • The toothbrush
  • Toilet paper
  • The trebuchet
  • The trip Hammer
  • The wig
  • The wheelbarrow
  • The winnowing machine
And here are some inventions that, according to Wikipedia, “are considered by various authors to have been first discovered, discovered contemporaneously with other civilizations, discovered separately after other civilizations, or simply used by the Chinese:”
  • The abacus (first appearance: Mesopotamia, 2400 BC. First certain appearance in China: 12th century AD) - Is it just me, or is this a pretty huge difference in time???
  • Armillary sphere (invented by the Greek Eratosthenes), with the world’s first water-powered armillary sphere by Zhang Heng
  • Various automata
  • Bellows
  • The compass (wet and dry)
  • Camera obscura
  • The cannon
  • Chain pumps
  • Crossbows
  • Drydocks
  • Flamethrowers
  • Flash locks
  • Early explosive grenades
  • The Odometer (also by Archimedes and Heron of Alexandria)
  • Paddle wheels for boats
  • Paper money
  • Parachutes
  • Pontoon bridges
  • Porcelain
  • The postal system
  • The saw
  • Segmental arch bridges
  • Star catalogues
  • Tea
  • Teeth (I’m pretty sure this one doesn’t belong on the list, guys)
  • Collapsible umbrellas
  • Vaccinations
  • The water clock
  • The water wheel (also of Greco-Roman tradition)
  • Windmills
That’s a lot of stuff…
 

Random Stuff and china | Comments (4)