Imagethief arrived in China on June 6th, 2004, a naive and wide-eyed whelp of just 36. The last five years have been quite an education, and it's an older and
(incrementally) wiser Imagethief who corresponds with you today. China years are like dog years. It's not so much the frequency of events as the amplitude. China seems a nation always on the threshold of crisis, with about one reliable trip per year over that threshold.
Let's be honest: I'm addicted to the rush. To be a foreigner in China is to live in a state of perpetual voyeurism, like being a guest in the household of a proud but slightly dysfunctional family. For someone who enjoys writing, this is solid gold, and for five years this blog has been the collecting point for various scribblings on current events in China. There are more talented writers out there, and certainly more talented voyeurs, but I've been thrilled at how many people have taken the time to read and comment. The blog has been the starting point for many of my best friendships in China. It is also, as I've discovered, read by a good share of the foreign-correspondent community. For a PR man, that's gratifying.
So I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read, comment and e-mail. And to let you all know that I'm going take a little time off from the blog. Anyone who's been reading for a while will know that I write a lot less than I used to (and anyone who hasn't been reading for long can track the trajectory here). Partially this is a result of changes in my life, including expanding professional responsibilities and, more importantly, the birth of my son in early 2008. But it's also the result of a bit of creative weariness. Since June 12, 2004, I've written just a shade under 1,300 posts. At the risk of stating the obvious, that's a lot.
So I'm going to put the blog on the shelf for a few months to give myself a chance to restore a little creative vigor. To anyone out there who is devastated by that news and is now reaching for a fistful of sleeping pills, it's just a freakin' blog for chrissake. Get over it. But also, this is not retirement. Imagethief will return in early 2010, so keep that entry in your RSS reader alive. In fact, it's entirely possible that the occasional post will go up in the meantime, but it will be strictly an as-and-when thing.
Yes, I realize a hiatus is blog readership suicide. But, really, what's it going to do? Bottom out my ad rates?
Meanwhile, if you want to stay in touch, you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Friendfeed or just send me an e-mail at dwmoss at gmail dot com. Facebook and Friendfeed largely echo my Twitter feed, but they also catch my occasional photo and video uploads. If you "friend" me on Facebook, please identify yourself as an Imagethief reader or I'm liable to ignore you.
I don't want to leave you empty-handed. I did miss the actual fifth anniversary of Imagethief, but it's not too late to celebrate. In commemoration of a half-decade of snarky, juvenile ranting, here is the chronology of my stay in China as documented in selected Imagethief posts. Even if you don't read the actual posts, the topics are a nice recounting of five years of life in China, at least via the things that catch the eye of a PR man. It's also a wonderful reminder of how cyclical China news topics are. Or, perhaps simply how cyclical my own interests are.
See everyone in 2010.
Five years of life in China as seen through Imagethief
2004
Just one, as many 2004 posts were banal expat observations, like the one below.
Nothing here is in English: Imagethief fresh off the boat and stating the obvious in his first post. June 12, 2004.
2005
The most prolific year, following a six month hiatus that started when I began working in Beijing.
Singapore Straits Times journalist detained in China: Ching Cheong is arrested in China. May 30, 2005.
Why American Internet firms betrayed me, not China: MSN censors controversial words. American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 1. July 4, 2005.
Cheap Chinese coffins in the US -- Another fiendish plot?: America agonizes about cheap Chinese coffins. July 12, 2005.
Remain calm -- The killer pig flu is under control! Pig flu! Aaaaarrrrggghhh! August 2, 2005.
No "Half Life" for China's half-pints: China cracks down on violent video games. August 6, 2005.
Keep your filthy orgy off our wall: A foreigner is photographed taking a leak on the Great Wall. Scandal! August 10, 2005.
Run silent, run cheap: America agonizes about Chinese submarines. August 12, 2005.
Only 79,000 attempted intrusions? Chinese cyber-spies are slacking! America agonizes about Chinese hackers. August 22, 2005.
Do you, uh, Yahoo? You're busted! Yahoo gets in trouble for complicity in the arrest of a Chinese journalist. American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 2. September 8, 2005.
Shanghai narrowly averts dastardly Japanese architectural plot: The Shanghai World Financial Center changes its round cut-out to the now infamous "bottle-opener" shape. October 18, 2005.
American Internet firms in Chinese peril: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 3. November 2, 2005.
Qianmen and Xianyukou alley get the chai: The "redevelopment" of one of my favorite areas of beijing begins. November 6, 2005.
How to write a generic China bird flu story: Bird flu! Aaaaarrrrgghh! November 8, 2005.
Hello Kitty meets the Power Rangers: 5 Olympic mascots: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, Nini. November 11, 2005.
The Harbin water crisis: Tons of benzene spill into the Songhua river. Chinese press reports blow a local cover-up. November 26, 2005.
China cracks down on anonymous mobile phones: The regulator tries to enforce real-name registration for phone numbers. Still trying. December 5, 2005.
2006
The golden age.
The martyrdom of Michael Anti -- Analyzing Microsoft's motivations: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 4. January 5, 2006.
Congress to grill US net firms on China: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 5. January 14, 2006.
Quick thoughts on Chinese media Google-trashing: Chinese media question Google's right to operate. American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 6. February 23, 2006.
China broadcast shocker -- SARFT to limit period dramas: Because they might give kids the wrong impression. Not to be confused with a July, 2009 order with similar content. March 3, 2006.
Socialist concepts of honor and disgrace -- Now translated: Remember this? Since superseded by the more compact and flexible "Harmonious Society". March 15, 2006.
Protest banners fly near new CCTV headquarters: And they're still working on the goddamned thing. April 16, 2006.
Bill Gates and Hu Jintao in the gaze of the Mighty Thought-o-Tronic: Hu Jintao visits Microsoft. One of my favorite deployments of the Thought-o-Tronic. April 19, 2006.
Q: What do my Chinese colleagues think of Bush and Hu? George W. Bush and Hu Jintao meet in Washington. It goes less than smoothly. April 21, 2009.
Shanghai commits ironic PR suicide: Shanghai gets pissed at how it is depicted in a silly, American action movie. May 17, 2006.
The strange case of the disappearing blockbuster: The Da Vinci Code is yanked during its run in China, for murky reasons. June 13, 2006.
Foxconn shoots themselves, Apple in the foot: Foxconn causes PR trouble for Apple. Not to be confused with recent developments involving the unfortunate suicide of a young Foxconn employee. August 29, 2006.
The elephant in the newsroom: Imagethief dismisses China's ambitions to become an International news power. October 22, 2006.
Olympics mean a softer touch for foreign correspondents, maybe: Sorely tested in the breach. December 2, 2006.
E-Bay E-jects from China: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 7. December 20, 2006.
2007
The year I lived in Shanghai.
Once again, Starbucks ain't the problem with the Forbidden City: I leap to the defense of the ill-fated Starbucks. January 17, 2007.
Principles are good -- What happens when they are tested? American tech firms announce a set of "principles" for operating in democratically challenged regimes. January 21, 2007.
And for the fake ant-breeder, death! The great Shenyang medicinal ant pyramid scheme of '07. (I wrote about it in more detail here.) February 15, 2007.
How to turn one terrible scandal into two: The China Railway 12th Bureau Group Company is caught trying to cover up a subway construction collapse in Beijing. April 2, 2007.
American IPR hawks, remember the little people: America threatens China with WTO action over piracy. I plead for mercy. April 10, 2007.
Melamine hogs: America agonizes over lethal Chinese pet food. Early harbinger of the melamine scandals of 2008. April 26, 2007.
Did the "Genocide Olympics" influence China? Mia Farrow fires a broadside against China's human rights record in the run-up to the Olympics. May 16, 2007.
I say "tomato", you say "massacre", let's call the whole thing off. Debating the nomenclature of whatever it was that happened in Tian'anmen Square twenty years ago. May 20, 2007.
Technology at work in Xiamen chemical plant protest: The Xiamen PX plant protests. June 1, 2007.
China's food crisis PR strategy: Blame everyone else: The monster Chinese food quality crisis scandal of 2007. June 4, 2007.
China launches successful anti-piracy campaign against movie pirate: Pirates of the Caribbean is yanked from planned distribution in China, for murky reasons. June 17, 2007.
Nobody said media whoring would be easy: The rise of Zuola, China's first celebrity "citizen journalist". June 23, 2007.
Lessons from the great cardboard bun hoax of '07: CCTV is caught airing a hoax story on bad steamed buns, reminding everyone why it is so widely loved and respected. July 19, 2007.
...and sometimes they blow up in the faces of PR risk-takers: The product quality scandals, continued. Mattel comes a cropper. August 2, 2007.
Bang! China shoots its own Olympic PR in the foot: Foreign correspondents covering a protest outside Olympic headquarters are arrested along with protesters. August 7, 2007.
Imagethief discusses "Incorruptible Warrior" on BBC radio: A videogame designed to teach proper, Chinese values to spotty youth. August 7, 2007.
China's new labor law won't just make work for lawyers: The new labor law comes into force. November 12, 2007.
China moon photos -- That's all the conspiracy theory you can manage? China orbits the moon. The Chinese don't quite believe it. December 6, 2007.
What to make of Edwin Maher? Foreign CCTV9 news anchor Edwin Maher runs headlong into the teeth of the Chinese expat blogosphere. December 10, 2007.
Gumby's love-child named Shanghai World Expo mascot. Introducing Haibao. Who here wants to see him impaled on a stick and roasted in a campfire? December 20, 2007.
Hijacking the Olympic agenda, big time and small time: TV personality Hu Ziwei accuses her husband of having an affair, in a live press conference. His press conference. His Olympic press conference. December 29, 2007
2008
Back to Beijing for the Olympic year. I actually wrote very little about the actual Olympics, despite attending. It was, to say the least, well covered elsewhere.
Let me tell ya about Edison Chen's dirty photos: The Edison Chen scandal. To this day, the most viewed post ever, thanks to people looking for the photos. I find that funny since, having seen the photos, I can report that the only way to get less erotic photos of naked people would be to sneak a camera into a nudist colony for octogenarians. February 13, 2008.
Steven Spielberg pulls out of the Olympics: Oh, man. This won't look good in the brochures. February 13, 2008.
Scandalous death of a propaganda image: A faked photo of Tibetan antelopes near the Qinghai-Tibet train is caught out. Not to be confused with a similar episode involving a tiger. February 24, 2008.
Tibet and the trouble with unassailable national myths: Analyzing the role of communication in the Tibet unrest. March 19, 2008.
Imagethief does Beijing's new Terminal 3: The Olympic airport opens. It's really, really big. Which is pretty much the most that can be said for it. April 8, 2008.
Jack Cafferty brews more trouble for CNN in China: It's official: CNN is the most hated foreign news organization in China. April 16, 2008.
Inside Carrefour's crisis management in China: Anti-French protests after trouble in Paris during the Olympic torch relay. April 30, 2008.
5/12, 9/11 and three minutes on Monday afternoon: The devastating Sichuan earthquake of 2008. I attend the memorial in Tian'anmen Square. May 21, 2008.
The mysterious outage of video sharing site 56.com: They never fully recovered. June 14, 2008.
An unfortunate glimpse into my Olympic stream of consciousness: Tweeting the opening ceremony. August 8, 2008.
Why I don't care about the opening ceremony's fraudulent footsteps: Olympic scandals, part 1: August 12, 2008.
Gymnasts, now and then: Olympic scandals, part 2: August 14, 2008.
iPhone girl: Brilliant Apple PR or lucky accident? Foxconn gives Apple good PR. For once. September 6, 2008.
Coke and Huaiyuan: Let the PR slanging begin: Coke's failed attempt to purchase Huiyan. September 11, 2008.
Melamine in Sanlu milk powder? Now that's a crisis! The great melamine food scandals of 2008. September 15, 2008.
Illegal baby part 2: I fought the law and the law won: Incidental to everything else in 2008, my son was born. And was almost immediately in trouble with the Chinese authorities. October 5th, 2008.
Pardon me, but who gives a damn about Gong Li anyway? Gong Li takes Singaporean citizenship. Chinese netizens have the entirely predictable reaction. November 16, 2008.
2009
Bring it on home.
It's official, China has eleventy-billion Internet users: China becomes the number-one Internet using nation on earth. A highly over-rated fact in Imagethief's opinion. January 14, 2009.
China to spend RMB 45 billion beefing up its international media: Imagethief dismisses China's ambitions to become an International news power. Again. And in more detail here. January 14, 2009.
So what are you getting mom for "Serf Liberation Day"? A really strange holiday. January 21, 2008.
Mandarin Oriental Beijing goes Irwin Allen: Part of the new CCTV compound burns down, unleashing a vast outpouring of sympathy for CCTV online. Oh, wait, that's not sympathy... February 9, 2009.
What the "grass mud horse" means and doesn't mean: Rise of a Chinese Internet meme. March 13, 2009.
Chinese cyberspies? Sheer lies and heinous fabrications: America agonizes about Chinese hackers. Again. April 9, 2009.
Oh, Jackie: Superstar Jackie Chan opens mouth and inserts his flying feet at the Boao Forum for Asia. April 21, 2009.
Hubei cigarette purchasing plan extinguished: Hubei officials had been ordered to smoke more cigarettes... May 7, 2009.
Consultants say hardened Chinese death-nerds are coming for your daughters: America agonizes about the Chinese linux. May 13, 2009.
Down the quarantine rabbit-hole in Shanghai: Swine-flu! Aaaaarrrrrgggh! May 19, 2009.
Why I'm not in a tizzy over China's new Internet filtering software: The Green Dam Youth Escort fiasco. June 8, 2009.
Rough for Expo with all those robot fights breaking out in that nameless city: Shanghai gets pissed at how it is depicted in a silly, American action movie. Again. June 29, 2009.
Riots in Xinjiang and the price of omission: Xinjiang explodes. July 7, 2009.
Annual best-of and most-popular collections
Best of Imagethief 2008
Best of Imagethief 2007
Best of Imagethief 2006
Best of Imagethief 2004/5
My other project.