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October 2005 - Posts

Dongxi: New Literary Magazine Looking for Contributors

Posted Sunday, October 30, 2005 5:11 AM by will
The editors of Dongxi , a new literary magazine serving readers in China, are seeking contributors. They've asked for a shout on Imagethief. This site doesn't normally take advertising. But, as Imagethief is a supporter of the idea of literary magazines Read More...
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Bingo: Harmless Granny Pastime or Evil Terrorist Threat?

Posted Thursday, October 27, 2005 1:46 AM by will
For those of us who are endlessly amused and horrified at all the crummy, knee-jerk ways the government has found to spend money since 9/11, Bruce Schneier's security blog is essential daily reading. Mr. Schneier not only regularly links out to interesting Read More...
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The Disease You Ought to Worry About (Not Bird Flu)

Posted Thursday, October 27, 2005 1:16 AM by will
There was an interesting contributed article in the Asia Times Online (spotted via China Digital Times ) about a disease that poses a very serious threat to Asia. Not bird flu (still mostly affecting birds it turns out, despite apocalyptic media coverage) Read More...
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Nominate the Horse: A Crony for the Little Man

Posted Wednesday, October 26, 2005 1:05 AM by will
Who does Imagethief endorse as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court? This was a tricky question, and the explanation is going to diverge from the topics this blog normally entertains. It also enters into territory upon which I have exactly Read More...
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Toxic Packaging Banned - Toxic Food Still Available

Posted Wednesday, October 26, 2005 12:22 AM by will
It is with very little excitement that I note that China's regulators have banned "harmful plastic wrappers" for food items, according to this bombshell article in today's China Daily : Among the tough new measures proposed are: The administration will Read More...
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A Strange and Terrible Addiction

Posted Tuesday, October 25, 2005 9:01 PM by will
Years from now, when I live somewhere other than China, you could perform a test on me. You could blindfold me and fly me anywhere in the world, walk me into an office, take off the blindfold and ask me where I was. Even if all people, writing and photographs Read More...
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Blogroll Changes

Posted Monday, October 24, 2005 9:27 PM by will
The Imagethief blogroll has grown quite a bit in the past few months. In general, I have added bloggers to the roll for one or more of the following few reasons: I read them regularly (this is pretty obvious) I read them irregularly but they are good Read More...
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Trapped! Like Rats!

Posted Monday, October 24, 2005 6:41 AM by will
China has vowed to close its borders at the first sign of human transmissible bird-flu, regardless of the economic consequences. You can read about it in this Reuters story : China will close its borders if it finds a single case of human-to-human transmission Read More...
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Identity Theft! How Do You Know I'm *Really* Imagethief?

Posted Sunday, October 23, 2005 9:04 PM by will
Identity theft. Ooh, I get chills. It sounds awful, like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers . As though weird, tentacled pods might be hidden under our beds, cranking out sinister doubles armed with a devious plot to take over the world. And Read More...
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Chinese Tourists Abroad - The Story Behind the NYT Story

Posted Sunday, October 23, 2005 9:01 AM by will
A couple of days ago the New York Times ran a story by my old friend, Singapore-based correspondent Wayne Arnold, on the issues being raised by the growth of the number of Chinese tourists in the region. In brief, Chinese tourists are widely seen as uncouth Read More...
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Imagethief and the Spectral Tiger: A Dongbei Travelogue

Posted Sunday, October 23, 2005 7:41 AM by will
It was the same conversation I’ve had a hundred times in China. “Where do you come from? How did you learn to speak Chinese? Do you like China?” But it was the first time I’d had it buck naked in front of five inquisitive and slightly fey Chinese guys Read More...
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The Bitter Truth: Your Presentation is Boring and No One Cares

Posted Saturday, October 22, 2005 11:49 AM by will
Imagethief has spent much of the last two weeks at trade shows, at which he has been subjected to the exquisite agony of several corporate presentations from many different companies. This has made me dwell on many of the ghastly presentations I have Read More...
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Shenzhou Verdict: Proud and Bored

Posted Saturday, October 22, 2005 6:57 AM by will
To further understand how the Shenzhou space program is affecting locals, I conducted a survey of young, Chinese professionals to gauge public opinion. My sample size was one, so the margin of error is relatively high. But the results were interesting, Read More...
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Get Your Rocket Up! Imagethief Applauds China's Space Program

Posted Thursday, October 20, 2005 9:18 AM by will
So China’s two astronauts have just returned from four days in orbit to heroes’ welcomes , and China has just announced plans for a spacewalk by 2007 and a female astronaut. Imagethief would like to take this moment to applaud the Chinese space program Read More...
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China in a Nutshell - No. 863

Posted Thursday, October 20, 2005 8:03 AM by will
My company has just moved into new premises in Oriental Plaza, Beijing's swankiest office development, right at the shopping-mad intersection of Wangfujing and Chang'an Jie. It's shiny, prestigious and glamorous. And the fire doors on our floor are jammed Read More...
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It's War! Psyche!

Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2005 7:40 PM by will
On the heels of the great Shanghai Skyscraper Scandal, this story from Mainichi Shimbun provides another deep glimpse into the wellspring of mutual love and trust between China and Japan: Fake Yahoo news site falsely reports Chinese troops invade Okinawa Read More...
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Wednesday PR Blog: Run For Your Lives! It's Bird Flu!

Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2005 12:04 AM by will
There is no force so unstoppable as an idea whose time has come. Even if that idea is a panic-inducing over-reaction to a story that has been in slow buildup for about eight years. Bird flu has catapulted off of the science section and gone straight to Read More...
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Shanghai Narrowly Averts Dastardly Japanese Architectural Plot

Posted Tuesday, October 18, 2005 10:43 AM by will
I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else, but I've been drowning in client events all week and not spending much time on my usual sources of hard-hitting China current events, the China Daily and Xinhua. This Reuters story , via CNN, has to be read Read More...
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Journey to the Planet of the Techno Vixens

Posted Sunday, October 16, 2005 9:35 AM by will
When all the intellectual posing is over and done with, we are all, at the end of the day, just a bunch of horny primates. That's why, down through the ages, people who have wanted to call attention to themselves have relied on one basic but timeless Read More...
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The Chinese Media and Abuse of Trust

Posted Sunday, October 16, 2005 8:59 AM by will
ESWN has translated an interesting article from MediaChina.net on how people representing themselves as journalists are extorting money from organizations and officials either by offering to provide them with good press coverage or threatening them with Read More...
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Saturday PR Blog: Chinese SUV Not All It Is Crashed Up to Be

Posted Friday, October 14, 2005 9:27 PM by will
Anyone who lives in China knows that the Chinese leadership gazes with envy at the IBMs, Toyotas and Samsungs of the world, and is hungry to establish China's own international champion businesses. Anyone who buys Chinese products knows that there is Read More...
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Stewardess, My Elephant Won’t Fit in the Overhead Compartment

Posted Thursday, October 13, 2005 9:37 AM by will
On the flight back from Shenzhen to Beijing. Flying is becoming a recurring theme of this blog. I guess it’s an inevitable consequence of being a frequent traveler. Especially an economy class traveler. I don’t think I’d have much to write about if I Read More...
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How to Survive a Chinese Drinking Party

Posted Wednesday, October 12, 2005 10:40 AM by will
Imagethief is in Shenzhen, supporting a Japanese client company at the Seventh Annual China High Technology Exposition, currently occupying a huge amount of space at one of Shenzhen's two convention halls (our first taxi driver took us to the wrong convention Read More...
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Guardian-Taishi Fallout

Posted Wednesday, October 12, 2005 10:33 AM by will
Controversy now swirls around the events in Taishi and the veracity or culpability of the Guardian's correspondent, Benjamin Joffe-Walt. It's worth reading this post by foreign correspondent and blogger Myrick, chief blogger of Asiapundit, on his take Read More...
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Bear Taps Man's Bile

Posted Wednesday, October 12, 2005 6:20 AM by will
Imagethief is all for cultural relativism. It's silly to arbtrarily apply our western values to other cultures, regardless of how superior we might secretly (or, in the case of Americans, not so secretly) think we are. I believe that we need to respect Read More...
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Monday PR Blog: How Not to Generate Investment for China

Posted Monday, October 10, 2005 8:31 AM by will
It is often, and usually correctly, said that most of PR is common sense. Don't say dumb things. Treat your customers well. When you make a mistake, admit it, apologize, learn and move on. And so on. There really are very few "golden rules" of PR because Read More...
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How to Sell a Dead Fish

Posted Sunday, October 09, 2005 6:16 AM by will
As always, I had a nice time visiting Singapore. It was slow and languid, like an extra-large tropical resort. It was seductive enough that I had to constantly remind myself how I felt when I left, sixteen months ago: stir crazy and bored silly. While Read More...
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Imagethief Tries Medical Tourism

Posted Thursday, October 06, 2005 6:35 AM by will
Imagethief's feeble and poorly filtered mind is easily preyed upon by media hypesters. That's why I have been obsessed with bird flu, recently, as the volume of coverage in the major media has risen to near-hysterical proportions. A media aphorism suggests Read More...
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How You Can Tell the Seasons are Turning in Beijing

Posted Sunday, October 02, 2005 8:38 AM by will
Chinese people have completely flexible yardstick for the change of seasons. "Oh, autumn begins at the mid-autumn festival." And then, "Well, the real start of autumn is after the first rain following the mid-autumn festival". And finally, "You'll know Read More...
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The Strange Lunacy of Translators in Airliner Cockpits

Posted Saturday, October 01, 2005 7:39 AM by will
Singapore is now completely infatuated with China, and the average Straits Times has about seventy-six pages of news from China. I am really good friends with two of the ST correspondents in Beijing, so I will mention that much of this coverage is of Read More...
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