Month: March 2007

My girlfriend once pointed out to me that Chinese bikes always have the seat quite low. “No one would do that in Holland”, she said, where people take bicycling quite seriously. “You can’t use all your leg strength and you get tired easily”. Of course, it’s a cliche to say that China is a “land of bicycles“. Gone are the fleets that once packed every street, replaced by a thousand honking Volkswagens. But there’s still millions of bikes, and as far as I can tell only one group places their seat high enough to extend their legs fully: sanlunche, or tricycle, drivers. Considering they haul people, furniture and nearly anything else this makes alot of sense. Most other bicyclists appear to keep their seats low in order to maintain a lower center of gravity, something helpful if you’re in congested traffic (read: always) or brake suddenly, but many suffer back problems as a result. Enter inventor Luo Jianping’s two seater bicycle – high seat to speed and energy conservation, low seat for traffic. With this, you may be able to outrun these guys.

Note: Bicycle cops look even dumber when their knees knock their elbows

There are some minor bits of technology that simply never took off in China. For example, here’s an article trumpeting the convenience of the answering machine, in which the author points out he doesn’t have to get out of the bath anymore when his phone rings. Voicemail and answering machines, however, are not at all common in China.

Another one is the clock radio. Though many are made in China, they are not readily available in shops. Consider this blog entry by a Chinese woman living abroad in the UK:

I have seen a cool device used to wake up the dramatis personae in many films in the past. As soon as I arrive the UK I found it called CLOCK RADIO in electronic shop by accident.

After a all night consideration I have decidedt to buy a cheapest one without caring if it is made in China. But, now I have another problem. The clock costs 3.49 pounds but the battery costs the same price!!!

In the end I bought the device and battery~~coz I really want to be woken up by live music in the morning but not the boring buzzer~

I am looking forward to the next morning:P~

That’s right – the clock radio, for most Chinese people, is simply something you see in the movies. Neither the clock radio or the answering machine are gadgets that Chinese people cannot afford or lack access to. These items just simply never caught on. And there are consequences – for example, clock radios gave birth to the witless phenomenon known as “The Morning DJ”.

One phenomenon I’ve stumbled onto in the Chinese internetz is a particular form of nationalism: the map of China revealed in nature phenomenon. It’s as simple as flipping through a baidu search for “Chinese maps” – numerous people and news sources post articles and pictures of rocks, trees and even clouds that look, at least to them, like China’s current territory. Sometimes they even have the appropriately sized pebbles for Taiwan and Hainan, like this one on sale at Taobao for an asking price of a modest 1,000,000 RMB (roughly $130,000 USD). Various stone collectors have rocks with markings that resemble China, depending on which historical period you’re thinking of, how patriotic you’re feeling at the moment, and perhaps how much you squint:

“Rock found resembling China” seems to also be a perennial news story as well, offering more examples:

Of course, there are also those that people have made as well from natural materials, such as tree roots, forests, and DNA:

But mostly I’ve come across pictures that are like some sort Rorschach test, where netizens have posted and shared photos of things in which they see China. In previous dynasties, the legitimacy of the Emperor was said to derive from the stars. Some Chinese netizens seem to see China reflected back in other parts of nature, but some even see it in the sky.
Frankly, I think it looks more like North America. Perhaps the poster would say “Naturally – you’re an American! As a Chinese, I see China!” Perhaps, but after searching Google I have yet to so easily find even one example on the web of an American saying “Look! That cloud looks like the US mainland!”, let alone “And those little ones to the left are Hawaii!” No, in America, as well as Europe and Latin America, it is not the outlines of nations that appear to us in fuzzy shapes. No, these Rorschach tests reveal a different priority:

Shrine to the Cookie Sheet Virgin Mary that appeared in Houston 3 weeks ago
The Glasgow Jesus Ultrasound

Image Courtesy of thetasteyoulove.com
David Barbosa phoned one into the New York Times this past week: A People’s Sexual Revolution in China. David’s editors are to be congratulated for choosing a headline that has an honorable heritage stretching back to 1988.

Two Chinese Boys check out Barbosa’s award

桂晶BBOX秀 更多相关视频

Via Shanghaiist, China’s very own beatbox website bboxcn.com. They’ve got a whole bunch of mp3s for download as well, like The Roots’ Do You Want More?, and a graffiti photo album. Worth taking a closer look at…