Sino James

2005 has been declared "The Year of France in China". The last time that happened was the Opium wars and boxer rebellion. But now it's a different sort of invasion, that of cutting-edge French electronica for an outdoor wkend festival. Try this for the English version. It started at 3pm, but until 6pm I swear there were more police than people...they are wary of large outdoor crowds (for some reason), esp foreigners. Yesterday I read that Beijing City govt employes 440,000 for it's security service!! Good luck with the Olympics guys!! oh yeah...the music was great and it was def fun!!

Feeling nostalgic for the company of guards, I checkout out Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City on Sunday. Now, before you get the impression China has guards everywhere, that is not the case. The Square is under constant surveillance and you know the guards are there, ready to pounce on any hapless demonstraor, but you really don't see them. In fact, China is slowly changing and allowing more freedom to complain.

It was purely coincidental that I wore red. Hello Chairman Mao.

Damn! They really are everywhere...inside the Forbidden City no less. It's all the more amazing considering the place was off limits to foreigners for 500 years

One of the funniest signes I've seen here yet. This was on a section of the Forbidden Palace undergoing renovation.

umm...so you've probably heard that China tries to limit internet access to "safe" websites. "Safe" meaning those websites where the avg Chinese citizen will not read bad things/opinoins about China. Recently, they started blocking access to blogs. That includes mine and all at blogspot.com! So now I just go through AOL to access it.

some of Mongolia's 53% of under-25 yr-olds

Soviet monument

...just got back from 4 days in Mongolia
The place is dirt-poor, literally. I’ve seen abject poverty in India which was 10 times worse than Mongolia, but they are still poor. The country as a whole doesn’t have much. The city was in a state of disrepair. Think of what your city would look like if no money was invested for 10 years on roads, infrastructure, schools, streetlights, busses, everything (the Soviets left in 1991). The city is a mess, but the countryside is just amazing! It’s like a land time forgot. Here are some interesting stats: 53% of the population is under 25. 51% live in poverty, although they’re not starving, they get by on $20 per month since they provide a lot for themselves from farming and raising livestock and live in Gers…those little round houses.

The picture above is interesting. It's a monument/mosaic to Soviet-Mongolian friendship and cooperation. This section of the mosaic depicts the defeat of Nazi forces by the Red Army which included Mongolian soldiers...and then came the Cold War.

Office blocks

Hong Kong Hillside

While in in Hong Kong June 26-29 I was able to fit in a couple days of sightseeing. Unfortunately I couldn't stay longer but I def want to get back there to explore the New Territories and Kowloon.

HK was handed back to Chinese hands after being in British control since 1840. It is now part of the "One China, Two System" formula: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_country,_two_systems
"The economy has almost recovered from a downturn due to turnover jitters in 1997-2003" No kidding, they have one of the nicest malls I've ever seen...and a Disney World will be opening soon!

Great Wall at Badaling

Hey there,
Welcome to my blog: Sino, Inc. This is my 1st attempt at a blog, so don't complain if it's not that great! Time to dig out my old high school english creative writing notes and see what i remember.

I'm calling it Sino, Inc. because this sure doesn't feel like the American archetype of a communist country. Beijing is a mix of modern offices and apt blocks with a smattering of ever dwindling "hutongs" which are the old-style neighborhoods of small, cramped houses and shops.

This blog is meant to be a collection of thoughts, observations, pictures and other random stuff I come up with. You can make comments too, just click on the link. So to start with, here are some observations...

Beijing is a like a combo of NYC/Denver/LA. huh? ok...it's big (16 million ppl, NYC is 10mil), everyone drives and the public transport sucks like LA, and the weather is dry and hot/cold like Denver. Beijing is on a high plain with mountains to the north and west. Like all US cities without good natural boundaries, it suffers urban sprawl. I live on the 3rd ring road. There are 5 total. 15 years ago when #3 was built, there were only farms beyond it. Much like Atlanta though, the city has seen a massive building spree which has gobbled up surrounding land like an overzealous amoeba.

I live on the 3rd floor of a medium-age concrete 24 story apt building. Medium-age means 1980's. It is showing it's age, esp in the halls and stairways. The apt itself is fairly modern with a small kitchen, large living room, 2 bedrooms (most are 2 bedrooms apts...China 1 child policy), a sunporch which doubles as the clothes dryer, and a normal bathroom. I've you've ever lived in an older building in NYC or downtown ATL, it's very similar.

The sun rises at 4:45am and sets at 7:42pm. There is no daylight savings time and the whole country is 1 time zone. So sucks to be u if u live in a western province and have to get up at what is really 3am :) The sun is so bright I can't sleep after 6am so it's a perfect time to get in a morning jog. Only 5 mil ppl are awake this early so it's really nice and quiet :)