Oh well. And down came the Great Firewall of China on all things blogspot.
My only regret: no one ever getting to read about my quitting story. Until next time...
Sunday, May 31, 2009
you can't read this if you are in China
Oh well. And down came the Great Firewall of China on all things blogspot.
My only regret: no one ever getting to read about my quitting story. Until next time...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
interesting, real history you won't find at the Ming Tombs
From texts provided by the Ming Tombs:
The Underground Palace of Dingling was the first 13 Ming imperial tombs ever excavated. With the approval of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, trial excavation began in May 1956 and proved successful in a year. The underground palace was composed of five halls, one in the front, one in the middle, one in the rear, one on the right and one on the left. With a stone latch unfastened, the palace halls measure 1,195 square meters in total area. Over 3,000 cultural objects were unearthed. In 1959, a Dingling Museum was erected on the original site and formally opened to the public.
From Wikipedia:
Ding Ling (Chinese: 定陵; pinyin: Dìng Lìng; literally "Tomb of Stability"), one of the tombs at the Ming Dynasty Tombs site, is the tomb of the Wanli Emperor. It is the only one of the Ming Dynasty Tombs to have been excavated. It also remains the only imperial tomb to have been excavated since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a situation that is almost a direct result of the fate that befell Ding Ling and its contents after the excavation.
The excavation of Ding Ling began in 1956, after a group of prominent scholars led by Guo Moruo and Wu Han began advocating the excavation of Chang Ling, the tomb of the Yongle Emperor, the largest and oldest of the Ming Dynasty Tombs. Despite winning approval from premier Zhou Enlai, this plan was vetoed by archaeologists because of the importance and public profile of Chang Ling. Instead, Ding Ling, the third largest of the Ming Tombs was selected as a trial site in preparation for the excavation of Chang Ling. Excavation completed in 1957, and a museum was established in 1959.
The excavation revealed an intact tomb, with thousands of items of silk, textiles, wood, and porcelain, and the bodies of the Wanli Emperor and his two empresses. However, there was neither the technology nor the resources to adequately preserve the excavated artifacts. After several disastrous experiments, the large amount of silk and other textiles were simply piled into a storage room that leaked water and wind. As a result, most of the surviving artifacts today have severely deteriorated, and replicas are instead displayed in the museum. Furthermore, the political impetus behind the excavation created pressure to quickly complete the excavation. The haste meant that documentation of the excavation was poor.
A severer problem soon befell the project, when a series of political mass movements swept the country. This escalated into the Cultural Revolution in 1966. For the next ten years, all archaeological work was stopped. Wu Han, one of the key advocates of the project, became the first major target of the Cultural Revolution, and was denounced, and died in jail in 1969. Fervent Red Guards stormed the Ding Ling museum, and dragged the remains of the Wanli Emperor and empresses to the front of the tomb, where they were posthumously "denounced" and burned. Many other artifacts were also destroyed.
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
The Underground Palace of Dingling was the first 13 Ming imperial tombs ever excavated. With the approval of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, trial excavation began in May 1956 and proved successful in a year. The underground palace was composed of five halls, one in the front, one in the middle, one in the rear, one on the right and one on the left. With a stone latch unfastened, the palace halls measure 1,195 square meters in total area. Over 3,000 cultural objects were unearthed. In 1959, a Dingling Museum was erected on the original site and formally opened to the public.
From Wikipedia:
Ding Ling (Chinese: 定陵; pinyin: Dìng Lìng; literally "Tomb of Stability"), one of the tombs at the Ming Dynasty Tombs site, is the tomb of the Wanli Emperor. It is the only one of the Ming Dynasty Tombs to have been excavated. It also remains the only imperial tomb to have been excavated since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a situation that is almost a direct result of the fate that befell Ding Ling and its contents after the excavation.
The excavation of Ding Ling began in 1956, after a group of prominent scholars led by Guo Moruo and Wu Han began advocating the excavation of Chang Ling, the tomb of the Yongle Emperor, the largest and oldest of the Ming Dynasty Tombs. Despite winning approval from premier Zhou Enlai, this plan was vetoed by archaeologists because of the importance and public profile of Chang Ling. Instead, Ding Ling, the third largest of the Ming Tombs was selected as a trial site in preparation for the excavation of Chang Ling. Excavation completed in 1957, and a museum was established in 1959.
The excavation revealed an intact tomb, with thousands of items of silk, textiles, wood, and porcelain, and the bodies of the Wanli Emperor and his two empresses. However, there was neither the technology nor the resources to adequately preserve the excavated artifacts. After several disastrous experiments, the large amount of silk and other textiles were simply piled into a storage room that leaked water and wind. As a result, most of the surviving artifacts today have severely deteriorated, and replicas are instead displayed in the museum. Furthermore, the political impetus behind the excavation created pressure to quickly complete the excavation. The haste meant that documentation of the excavation was poor.
A severer problem soon befell the project, when a series of political mass movements swept the country. This escalated into the Cultural Revolution in 1966. For the next ten years, all archaeological work was stopped. Wu Han, one of the key advocates of the project, became the first major target of the Cultural Revolution, and was denounced, and died in jail in 1969. Fervent Red Guards stormed the Ding Ling museum, and dragged the remains of the Wanli Emperor and empresses to the front of the tomb, where they were posthumously "denounced" and burned. Many other artifacts were also destroyed.
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
another potential trainwreck that we all know is coming...
"Mwo-haha! I've got you right where I want you Beijing..."
Friday, May 1, 2009
ways to completely demotivate your employee pt.1
Slip a fake 100 RMB note into your employee's monthly cash salary, then deny plausibility when confronted with the fraudulent banknote.
Monday, April 20, 2009
"So, what's it like to work there?"
Recently, while at work, I learned the phrase: 道可道，非常道... dao4 ke3 dao4, fei1chang2 dao4.
Three of us, foreign and non-foreign coworkers working together to reach a consensus, arrived at a kind of conflated translation of the expression which we loosely came to understand as a kind of reflection or meditation on the underlying tenants defining the core principles of Taoism. To quote a coworker from an unrelated department:
"It is as if everything you know and have learned, you have discovered to not be true. No, maybe this is not right... It is like everything is different and in the end becomes something... different."
--Oh, so you mean it means like, it expresses that you can't trust anything you've ever learned? And that everything you know, and have learned, is just a part of your own personal environment.
"Oh, no. It's a very difficult thing to translate. Let me check online."
(nearly half an hour later...)
"道可道，非常道... It means like everything you know is not necessarily true..."
--I... think, I understand...
This is what it's like to work here: 道可道，非常道. The Way is The Way, that's exactly what It is. The Way. No matter what happens--absurd directives from higher-ups, common knowledge that the office is more like a Fantasy Camp that an actual company--it happens. It just does.
You either get used to that, or... (as I recently experienced) ... you go a little mad. Lucky me that it happened as I "knelt at the foot of the Buddha", that is, if Buddha were Klamm.
To quote my immediate superior during a discussion concerning our future affairs:
"It doesn't matter what you say or what you do... that's as good as it gets."
Or, in other words:
Your world can be turned upside-down, over and over again, doesn't matter how many times, but that doesn't matter. Gravity is always pointing in the same direction.
Everything eventually changes in some way, thus change is a fixity.
Total Information Awareness
Three of us, foreign and non-foreign coworkers working together to reach a consensus, arrived at a kind of conflated translation of the expression which we loosely came to understand as a kind of reflection or meditation on the underlying tenants defining the core principles of Taoism. To quote a coworker from an unrelated department:
"It is as if everything you know and have learned, you have discovered to not be true. No, maybe this is not right... It is like everything is different and in the end becomes something... different."
--Oh, so you mean it means like, it expresses that you can't trust anything you've ever learned? And that everything you know, and have learned, is just a part of your own personal environment.
"Oh, no. It's a very difficult thing to translate. Let me check online."
(nearly half an hour later...)
"道可道，非常道... It means like everything you know is not necessarily true..."
--I... think, I understand...
This is what it's like to work here: 道可道，非常道. The Way is The Way, that's exactly what It is. The Way. No matter what happens--absurd directives from higher-ups, common knowledge that the office is more like a Fantasy Camp that an actual company--it happens. It just does.
You either get used to that, or... (as I recently experienced) ... you go a little mad. Lucky me that it happened as I "knelt at the foot of the Buddha", that is, if Buddha were Klamm.
To quote my immediate superior during a discussion concerning our future affairs:
"It doesn't matter what you say or what you do... that's as good as it gets."
Or, in other words:
Your world can be turned upside-down, over and over again, doesn't matter how many times, but that doesn't matter. Gravity is always pointing in the same direction.
Everything eventually changes in some way, thus change is a fixity.
Total Information Awareness
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
movin' shop
Good News:
That's Beijing is moving locations! because damned if we aren't all about to start an armed uprising over the ghastly commute we daily suffer! Southwest Beijing Businesses Housed in Governmental Regulatory Agency Office Park Buildings reprasent!
Better News:
We're moving into a hotel! owned by Zhong Dian Media, the shady media company holding some kind of stake in the current retarded stewardship of That's Beijing. And it's right next to the subway!
Awesome News:
The name of the new place is the Rich Hotel! Awesome! We're going to be Rich!
Older Man: This has bad idea written all over it.
Young Girl: I am frustrated with my work to point of insanity.
Young Man: We now sleep where we work! My parents will be over-joyed!
That's Beijing is moving locations! because damned if we aren't all about to start an armed uprising over the ghastly commute we daily suffer! Southwest Beijing Businesses Housed in Governmental Regulatory Agency Office Park Buildings reprasent!
Better News:
We're moving into a hotel! owned by Zhong Dian Media, the shady media company holding some kind of stake in the current retarded stewardship of That's Beijing. And it's right next to the subway!
Awesome News:
The name of the new place is the Rich Hotel! Awesome! We're going to be Rich!
Older Man: This has bad idea written all over it.
Young Girl: I am frustrated with my work to point of insanity.
Young Man: We now sleep where we work! My parents will be over-joyed!
no 会, ma恩
Actual office conversation had while work was trying to be done:
"Excuse me, [Syme], what's the difference between the words 'competition' and 'contest'?"
--Context.
"No. 'Contest'. What's the difference between the two words: 'competition' and 'contest'?"
--The difference between the two is the context in which you use them.
"'Contest' not 'context'."
--I know. The difference is the context in which you use them.
"No. 'Contest'; what is the difference?"
--The two words: 'contest' and 'competition', they differ according to how you use them.
"I'm not talking about 'context', 'contest'. What is 'context'?"
--Context is how in one situation you would say one over the other, it just depends on the situation.
"What's the meaning? 'Context'?"
--'Contest'?
"'Context' is the right say? What's difference with 'competition'?"
--'Contest' and 'competition' are different according to context, in one situation you say one...
"What is 'context'?"
--There's no difference in the meaning, just it depends on when you say one or the other?
"What is difference in meaning? 'Context' and 'competition'?"
--Wait, 'contest'.
"Context."
--The difference between 'conTEST' and 'conTEXT' is one letter, they have different meanings.
"Oh, I understand. It's difficult! 'Contest' and 'competition' have same meaning."
--Yes!
"I understand... What is 'context'? How to spell?"
(Conversation eventually came to an entropic end after 5-10 minutes or so...)
Almost there!
"Excuse me, [Syme], what's the difference between the words 'competition' and 'contest'?"
--Context.
"No. 'Contest'. What's the difference between the two words: 'competition' and 'contest'?"
--The difference between the two is the context in which you use them.
"'Contest' not 'context'."
--I know. The difference is the context in which you use them.
"No. 'Contest'; what is the difference?"
--The two words: 'contest' and 'competition', they differ according to how you use them.
"I'm not talking about 'context', 'contest'. What is 'context'?"
--Context is how in one situation you would say one over the other, it just depends on the situation.
"What's the meaning? 'Context'?"
--'Contest'?
"'Context' is the right say? What's difference with 'competition'?"
--'Contest' and 'competition' are different according to context, in one situation you say one...
"What is 'context'?"
--There's no difference in the meaning, just it depends on when you say one or the other?
"What is difference in meaning? 'Context' and 'competition'?"
--Wait, 'contest'.
"Context."
--The difference between 'conTEST' and 'conTEXT' is one letter, they have different meanings.
"Oh, I understand. It's difficult! 'Contest' and 'competition' have same meaning."
--Yes!
"I understand... What is 'context'? How to spell?"
(Conversation eventually came to an entropic end after 5-10 minutes or so...)
Almost there!
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