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chinaSMACK seems to be seeking stories with some pop interest and shock
value<br>
whereas the Hopium War seems to be about lullabying the huddled masses
back<br>
to sleep with muted tones of gentle rhetoric, for a change.<br>
<br>
*<br>
<br>
In ancient China there was a legend about a roadside tavern that served
<i>jiaozi</i> <br>
(a kind of Chinese ravioli). Before they would run out of meat they
would add<br>
some sedative drug like Hopium to their dishes, and when next hapless
customer 'awakened'<br>
from his little nap he was the picture of a changed man --
exsanguinated, eviscerated, <br>
depiliated, quartered, and made to hang on hooks in high places.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 1/16/2011 12:34 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4D31CC7D.1020403@illinois.edu" type="cite">
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Fascinating. Thanks for this.<br>
<br>
ChinaSMACK as revenge for the Opium Wars?<br>
<br>
On 1/15/11 2:46 AM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4D315ED3.9050203@pigs.ag" type="cite">
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<blockquote type="cite">China is the worst offender. China has
aggressive, sophisticated interception technology that places itself
between every reader inside China and every information source outside
China. We've been fighting a running battle to make sure we can get
information through, and there are now all sorts of ways Chinese
readers can get on to our site."</blockquote>
<br>
Back in the early 90's the term "bamboo curtain" used to be used to
describe China's rather isolationist policy, as<br>
opposed to the Iron Curtain of Eastern Europe. An iron curtain is nigh
impenetrable. A bamboo curtain<br>
can snap closed suddenly, according to the analogy.<br>
<br>
Now I would describe it as more of a "Beaded Curtain". The curtain is
there sometimes but it doesnt<br>
provide much of a barrier. My Chinese friends are at least as familiar
with Wikileaks as I am.<br>
<br>
Most of the Chinese that I know are quite familiar with the means of
negotiating around the curtain, anyway.<br>
<br>
YouTube is seriously hindered in favour of the homegrown Chinese
competitors like YouKu.com and Tudou.com, etc,<br>
both of which often offer material that YouTube would not permit. Lots
of YouTube videos are replicated<br>
on YouKu, Tudou, and Renren, etc.<br>
<br>
Woman going crazy down on Caroline Street. <br>
Actually its Nanjing...<br>
In a "flash" all hell has broken loose...'she was gone and I was black
and blue...'<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/1OZJg-XfbI0/">http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/1OZJg-XfbI0/</a><br>
<br>
Google is partially blocked or harassed in some markets in favour of
the local competitors baidu.com, sina.com, sohu.com, etc while<br>
yahoo.com is not generally messed with. I met Google's COO at a
get-together here recently and we discussed animal production in China<br>
and etc. He said that Google's business in china is the sales of
geographically specific advertisements that appear on websites all over
china.<br>
The fact that there search engine is often messed with does not
interfere with Google's core business in china, which is web
advertising.<br>
<br>
ChinaSMACK (<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.chinasmack.com">http://www.chinasmack.com</a>)
covers one portion of the often silly side of urban Chinese pop culture
and might be interesting to some.<br>
<blockquote>chinaSMACK is a daily-updated collection of translated
internet content from the Chinese-language internet. These latest
stories, pictures, videos, and topics have become very popular,
spreading across China’s major BBS forums, social networking websites,
or through email forwards sent between normal Chinese people everyday.<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
Chinasmack is not blocked at all in Beijing. I don't care. I seldom
have much interest in pop kitsch. The Chinese know much more<br>
about western and US pop kitsch than I do.<br>
<br>
chinasmack notes one way to circumvent the curtain (there are other
ways)--<br>
<blockquote>Certain parts of the website includes information from
websites that may be blocked in China (or other countries) such as
YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. As a result, any page of our website
that includes information from these blocked websites may cause the
page to load more slowly than normal. When we embed YouTube videos and
YouTube is blocked in your country, you will only see a blank square.
We have designed the website to minimize this unfortunate effect upon
your browsing experience and thank you for your understanding that
these are beyond our control. One way to avoid this problem is to use a
proxy or VPN. For example, chinaSMACK has tested VPN services by <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.chinasmack.com/go/freedur"
target="_blank">Freedur</a> and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.chinasmack.com/go/fbvpn" target="_blank">FBVPN</a>.<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
chinasmack has this to say about what some "liberals" would call "vile
hate speech": --<br>
<blockquote>We believe racism and bigotry is a major part of the
internet, including the Chinese-language internet. We try to offer an
honest look into the big Chinese-language internet, so we will
sometimes translate racist Chinese and racist Chinese comments. As a
result, we believe it would be unfair to hide the racism and bigotry of
non-Chinese people.
<p>This does not mean we will not moderate racism and bigotry
completely. It only means that we will not pretend it does not exist.
It is not our goal or policy to hide the truths about people and
society. Please fight racism and bigotry by condemning it wherever you
see it.<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>chinasmack also has a glossary of popular internet slang.<br>
</p>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.chinasmack.com/glossary#%E6%93%8D%E4%BD%A0%E5%A6%88">http://www.chinasmack.com/glossary#%E6%93%8D%E4%BD%A0%E5%A6%88</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.chinasmack.com/glossary#SB">http://www.chinasmack.com/glossary#SB</a><br>
<blockquote><br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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