A few things spotted over the weekend and worth sharing.

Comparing Chinese and US surfing habits
Silicon Alley Insider uses Pew and CNNIC data to build a chart showing the differences between the surfing habits of Americans and Chinese. No huge surprises -- more e-commerce for Americans, more games and IM for Chinese-- but interesting nevertheless and easy to read.

Update: Ryan McLaughlin gets into this in some detail at The Tech Dynasty.

On translating the word "宣传" and a recent media pissing match
David Bandurski of the China Media Project comments on a recent online slang between a foreign columnist for the China Daily and a China-based journalist for the Daily Telegraph over whether foreign media unfairly label the Chinese government's public communication efforts as "propaganda". Bandurski takes his usual literate approach. His piece includes links to the original articles, which are worth reading also. This is a week old, but still worth the time.

Imagethief has friends who work or who have worked in Chinese media, and finds nothing wrong with their professional choices. However, I also fully believe that "propaganda" is a perfectly appropriate word to use in describing the efforts of the 宣传部 (a phrase that I personally translate as "Propaganda Department" although others translate as "Publicity Department"). I work in the propaganda business, and know it when I see it. The US government also disseminates plenty of propaganda. But, as Bandurski points out, there are substantial and meaningful differences into how the US and Chinese government manage their respective relationships with the media.

Related on Imagethief:

What to make of Edwin Maher? (Dec, 2007)

Spend some vicarious time in Taihe
Ben Ross, who wrote a memorable series of blog posts about working in a Chinese hair salon in 2007, has written a post from his recent travels in Taihe, in Anhui province. It is an affectionate and nicely illustrated portrait of a part of China most of us will never see, and reminder to those of us in the tier-one bubble that "China" is more than what we see on a day-to-day basis.

 

Mr. Ross and friends, and not a Starbucks in sight.