A while back I recommended Blogsome.com for bloggers looking for free hosting that works in China. Soon after, it was blocked. Grrrr.
Recently, at the Shanghaiist party, a fellow blogger remarked to me that any blog host with the word “blog” in the domain name inevitably gets blocked. Interesting observation.
If that is the case, then WordPress.com, a new, FREE blogging host, seems like a good way to go. (WordPress.com is different from WordPress.org.)
Just in …
I’ve been getting a lot of “how are your classes going?”-type questions lately. I’ve been delaying answering the questions because I wanted to be able to give a more comprehensive answer, but I just found out today that at least one of my classes for this semester won’t begin until October 26th, so I guess I might as well talk about my impressions thus far.
I’ve only had three different classes to date. I will eventually have at least four, …
Recently I bought a new notebook for scratch paper and random notes. I didn’t even glance at what it said on the cover. I just liked that it was lined and spiral bound.
Later as I was scrawling “Scratch Paper” on the cover in big, lazy black letters I discovered the word Gospel boldly staring up at me. In the upper left corner, I read, “Gospel. Faith. Committed.”
Now I feel kind of strange. My random jottings have been elevated …
I’ve seen it so many times in Shanghai… propaganda telling Shanghai residents to “be a cute Shanghainese.” The word for cute in Chinese is 可爱, and it’s not one of those tricky words to translate. “Cute” is pretty much just “可爱,” and “可爱” is pretty much just “cute” (except when it’s being “lovely”). So why is the government always telling its people to be cute? I have no clue.
Anyway, I’ve been meaning to get a picture of one …
Ever since Flickr moved its data to servers in the US, I’ve been complaining both online and offline about how maddeningly slow Flickr pages load in China. This weekend, though, Flickr suddenly started loading normally again. Afraid that it wouldn’t last, I immediately did something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while: I moved all my old photo albums onto Flickr. Each photo album became a “set” on Flickr. (You only get unlimited sets if you’ve paid for …
I’m announcing this late because I don’t want the story to be picked up by any major Shanghai websites. It’s an experiment, and we want to keep the numbers reasonable. If you’re a Sinosplice reader that lives in Shanghai, feel free to show up, though.
Thanks to Tien for all the help!
Update: Although we only had 10 people, we all had a good time, and we all did some swapping. I’d say it was a success! We’re all hoping …
Why are the ads placed on the back of the front seats in Shanghai taxis almost always for breast enlargement or weight loss? I am puzzled.
I recently saw one ad that I liked for a weight loss treatment, though. It used a pun:
spa瘦身魔法让“想瘦”变成“享受”！
Obviously the pun doesn’t translate, but the literal meaning is:
Spa figure-slimming magic turns “desire to slim down” into “enjoyment“!
The wordplay is based on the word 享受 which is …
Jamie’s recent post outlined his history with China. It was a history which crossed mine. The most significant common experience was had in a college in Hangzhou we call ZUCC. (If you’re American, you say Z-U-C-C, kind of like F-B-I. If you’re Aussie or kiwi, you say “Zook,” rhyming with it “book.” I have always wondered about that little cultural linguistic difference.)
In chronicling my three years at ZUCC, I aim to do three things:
A while back (years ago, I believe) I offered to host Jamie Doom on the Sinosplice Network (wow, that page is really in need of a makeover). Apparently Jamie is aware of neither the gradual decline of the Sinosplice Network nor the unspoken statute of limitations on such a verbal offer (it’s one year). By resurrecting my long expired offer, I was put in an embarrassing situation which I handled deftly… by agreeing immediately to host him. And then set …
From Ape Rifle:
I guess that is one of the biggest downfalls of the transnational life: you meet amazing people, only to let them go as we all drift back to our respective countries or chosen corners of the world. This will be my fourth consecutive year of goodbyes, and I think that emotionally I’m getting rather tired of it. Could it be time to settle down somewhere for real? Do I need to stop being such a goddamned
…
John has lived in China for
11.5
years. He is a linguist focused on SLA and tech.
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