FEATURE-Food safety an Olympic challenge for Beijing Games - updated article that I had blogged about. It's interesting about the nationalism angle and playing the PR game.


An old blog post of mine:

• Wary US Olympians Will Bring Food to China

Online Sellers and PayPal Change!

The IRS is going to have PayPal start reporting a 1099. In other words, the IRS is going to know how much money you have earned off eBay real soon. In the past, the IRS had no easy way of knowing which led to people selling online forgetting to include it in their taxes. Since my PayPal for my Learning Chinese Educational Products goes through my shopping cart, it's counted.

When my wife was selling on eBay girl's dresses a while ago, it was pretty hard to get the data needed for our taxes out of eBay and PayPal. If you do less than $10,000 gross or two hundred transactions you are exempt.

Earthquake in CA - Biggest Issue - Phones Jammed

My wife tried to call me and managed to leave a voice mail on my cell phone. And after about 5 attempts I finally managed to retrieve that. No damage, some CD's fell off a shelf. My home is fine.
Article about the phone issue - Post-quake callers put strain on 'maxed out' phone system, state says

Since I am a Ca native, my earliest memory of one is the Sylmar quake of 73. Later ones included Northridge (my parents house had a broken water line on a sink, which flooded the upstairs) and Whittier (few more cracks in their house). This one was closer, being centered about 8 miles from my house in Chino Hills. Since the building code is designed for earthquakes in CA, and keeps on improving, even a 5.6 only does minor damage.

Apple in China

Can Apple Break Through China's Great Wall of Counterfeits? from MacNews World. I am surprised there has not been more of an iPhone Clone. As far as I can tell, it's been all smoke and no fire.

Interesting quote from a related article:

"Cheap, high-volume mass-produced electronics do well in China, and low-volume luxury brands do well in Beijing and Shanghai. But Apple products fall into a third category: high-volume luxury."

Disneyland in Shanghai?

Disney Rumors Spur Money Grab In a Chinese City from the Wall Street Journal. I hope Disney has learned from the Hong Kong Disneyland with what went right, and what went wrong. The rumor is China's Disneyland would open in 2012, and will be announced after the Olympics in September.

Unlocking DVD PC Players

Some more info. on how to unlock the DVD Player on your mac or pc from Popular Mechanics. It's nice to find out there is even a free solution out there.

For people in the US who live near place with a lot of Chinese, if you go into the local Electronics store you can buy a zoneless DVD player. Around $35. Many ethnic Chinese use them so they can play DVD's from China and Taiwan. I have also seen them online.

My opinion, the zoning in DVD's does not prevent people from watching them. It just adds to the inconvenience. The original goal was making it so the movie studios could offer different prices in different areas. Europe has the highest prices, then the US, then Asia. Reality is it's easy to buy a zoneless DVD player in Europe, I know, because I have shipped a few orders of DVD's over there. They can buy in the US, pay shipping, and it's still cheaper than buying there. My frustration is on Chinese Children DVD's not having them available in the US easily for children who want to learn Chinese.

And what I have seen, if you can believe it, is the prices for Disney that has wonderful dubbed versions of their DVD's in Taiwan, is about the same as in the US. I was importing Mulan in Mandarin on Video, but with the switch to DVD's that have Region Coding stopped that.

Older related posts:

• Playing Chinese DVD's Region Issue
• Zoneless DVD Players

Running your own web site

Flipping Web Sites, Selling the Niche from the NY Times. Interesting article about people who buy up badly designed web sites, do some tweaking, and resell them.

I hope I would not be considered a badly designed web site!

And by using drop shipment, the shipping part becomes easy. I am against trusting your shipments to a third party, it adds cost and problems. You can outsource, but you have the danger of outsourcing what makes you a special place to shop. Where when a customer E-Mails, phones, or calls a person who knows a bit about the Learning Chinese for kids(me) can answer the questions and give meaningful recommendations.

China's Cars, Accelerating A Global Demand for Fuel

China's Cars, Accelerating A Global Demand for Fuel from the Washington Post.

Key Points:

• More Buicks were sold in China than in the US, because of the Buick's historial brand as a luxury car in China going back to Sun Yat Sen.
• Cars are a symbol of wealth, so high mileage is not valued highly. Having a car that allows for a chauffeur and size is.
• Demand for oil is increasing by 20% per year.
• 40% of the increased demand for oil came from China.

A revealing quote:

"People want to have a car that shows off their status in society. No one wants to buy small."

China - When will it be a Soccer Superpower?

The Goal China Can't Reach - In Soccer, it looks like it will be a while. Fascinating article that gives you a lot of information about China's society.

Two great quotes:

These days, everybody wants to be the boss, and nobody wants to be the goalie.

Chinese, especially boys, are brought up to believe that China is exceptional. (You Americans should be able to relate.) But we're not satisfied simply with believing this ourselves; we want others to believe that we're a great nation, too.

Spam Posts - Getting tired of them

Sample Spam:

• A good place for adults to learn Chinese for free that I would like to mention is annoying URL

Another one from the same place (and this is after I had told them not to do this).

• Learning Chinese is a wonderful and enriching experience. A fantastic place to study is online! annoying URL

Hong Kong Report and Police scuffle

Sad - Scuffles at Olympic Ticket Sales between some Hong Kong Reporters covering it and police after problems with an out of control crowd trying to get olympic tickets stampeded, and there was a video of the fight.

During the Olympics business is not as usual, and video cameras in cell phones are changing all the rules...

Product Reviews for Learning Chinese Products

Learning Chinese Product reviews are a challenge, the biggest problem is getting them. I don't know why, I am only asking for a few sentences, and you can even do it anonymous to the public (I can still see who you are since you need to login to do a review, which prevents the wrong type of people doing them).

Product Reviews are great for the learning Chinese product that has lots of them and if laid out correctly, but what about the Learning Chinese product that has none?

And it's challenging to get people to do reviews! I am even offering a monthly drawing for cash, and the number of reviews I get is, umm, pretty sad. Don't get me wrong, I deeply appreciate every review I get! But I wish I had more of them. I don't mind if you review a product I carry that you bought from another vendor! I know you probably regret not buying from me, but please don't let that stop you from doing a review!

Sirens & New Chinatown

In the new Chinatown I live in, Rowland Heights it's fascinating and a bit scary to watch what happens when a fire engine, ambulance, etc. has it's siren going.

The state law in California are you pull over to the right of the road when you hear a siren. And sometimes the emergency vehicle uses the wrong side of the road.

So what happens here? People stop in the middle of the road, and if on the other side just keep on going. And after the emergency vehicle passes, they don't keep much of a distance.

I am surprised the local sheriffs don't just wait near the ambulance or fire station for them to get a call. The tickets would be so easy...

Olympic Mascots Analysis

Here's Another Olympic Sport: from the WSJ - All about China's Olympic Mascots. I finally understand why they are so strange looking, and no, they are not aliens. They are mascots designed by committee. Just as a camel is a horse designed by committee. And of course there is also, Meet the evil Olympic Mascot.

The Olympic Mascots say a lot about China

• Mascots were designed by committee (group consensus)
• Negative comments about them in China have been suppressed
• 60% Chinese like them, and 40% don't.
• One of them symbolizes the Tibetan Antelope

China's Stolen Children

UK documentary that is available on You Tube - China's Stolen Children. This web site sucked way to much of my time today http://research-china.blogspot.com/

There have been stories in the local Chinese Newspaper about families from Taiwan vacationing in China and having their son kidnapped.

I wish China had a freer press, that would help a lot with exposing these issues and cleaning up the system. As did The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, cleaned up the Meat Packing industry in the US.

408 Posts! I can't believe it.

I find it astonishing I have done 408 posts so far on Chinese Language and Culture related topics. Some day the posts are easy because of my interaction with customers, and other days I need to hunt to find one. Right now there are so many Olympic themed articles that it's easy. Face Mask wearing by USOC athletes is one I may do.

PTSD & China's Earthquake

An article in a local paper, China's earthquake: Invisible wounds by Timothy A. Kelly, director of DePree Center Public Policy Institute in Pasadena wrote of the horror that the rescuers and survivors are dealing with including depression and PTSD.

PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, not only affects combat soldiers, but others who have been exposed to long periods of stressful activity. Especially if they have not been trained to deal with it before hand. This is an article about how this is affecting Chinese Troops who participated in the earthquake rescue - Attrition: Chinese Army Hit With PTSD Epidemic

Chinese Earthquake Poem

Please Hold Onto Mother's Hand, My Child.

Come, my child, hold onto Mother's hand quickly

The road to Paradise is too dark; Let your Mother show the way

I am afraid, Mama - Paradise road is too dark

When the walls collapsed, the sun went out

I will never again see your gentle eyes

Go ahead now, my child

The road ahead of you will not be too sad

But you must always remember my face

So we may live together forever in the next life

Mama, do not worry

The road to Paradise is crowded now

There are many classmates and friends

Mama, Mama, please don't cry

Tears cannot light the road ahead

Let us be on our way

I will always remember your face

In the next life we will be together again

I promise

From an aricle in the San Gabriel Tribune about PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) among people involved with the earthquake.

Red Thread - Chinese Adoption Myth

There is an ancient Chinese belief that an invisible, unbreakable red thread connects all those who are destined to be together. It is a red thread that is tied around the ankles of those who are destined to meet.

The Red Thread by Grace Lin is a cute book of this story.

The color red symbolizes good luck, happiness, joy, life's energy, and for brides, since it is of energy as symbolized by fire. This is why you get Red Envelopes for Chinese New Year filled with money!

The Red Thread myth is very popular in the Chinese adoption community with a lot of businesses using that name including a custom Chinese Adoption Video service, a Chinese Adoption Agency named Red Thread, and with even a magazine of that name, Red Thread Magazine. With the huge amount of children adopted from China, there also happens the orphanage family. There is a connection among the parents who go as a group together to China and use the same adoption agency.

China Is Growing Unfriendly to Foreigners?

China Is Growing Unfriendly to Foreigners, Visitors Say from the Washington Post -Worrisome. I hope after the Olympics are done things get back to normal on the Visa.

Other examples of reducing risk:

• Parents Protest Squashed
• China to Bar Entertainers It Deems Threat
• China: Rights Activist Is Charged

My opinion is the Chinese Government is being extra careful right now to make sure nothing embarassing happens until after the Olympics. The challenge is the very act of reducing risk of bad publicity, can actually create bad publicity. The law of unintended consequences.

Retiring Friend at USPS

Today a person who has known my daughter since my wife was pregnant 14+ years ago retired from oue local Post Office.

I went their with my daughter to give her a card and a cake from Nie Nie Ruby Bakery. It's nice to meet and work with nice people, and she was always was so helpful when were were dropping off our packages. From when I first started and had the postage done at the Post Office, to know where I do it at the office and just drop off the packages.

Thanks for all of your help and I hope you have a wonderful retirement!

Due to privacy reasons I did not include her name in this blog post.

Running an Internet Business with no Internet?

This happened to me Wednesday morning. I come in to my office, and no Internet. It cost me a good two hours of wasted time, and a bit of stress.

So I call up Verizon and have an hour long chat with them. I finally gave up. The landlord shows up and I get on the phone with Verizon since I have all the info. to get through their system, and I end up in some automated purgatory. No, it was worse that purgatory. I could not get out of it, repeatedly pressing 00000 or ###### or ****** did nothing! The system finally agreed I had a problem and I handed the phone to the landlord. I thought it might be counter productive for me to speak to Verizon at that time. Somehow the landlord got it working again, I am not sure how. We had changed out 3 hubs and I could get Internet access at the modem, but none after the hub.

And when a customer called and left a message about the status of their order. I could truthfully say it was shipped and I did take my laptop down to the modem to get some Internet access, so I could call back the customer. At least I did not get a phone order while it was out.

So I went home, printed out my orders, and came back. Luckily there was Internet access in the afternoon so I could print out my postage.

When your running an online business, and your information is all online, having your Internet out is pretty annoying.

Apple opens store in China!

Lucky Chinese! Apple just opened their first Apple store in China. I don't have an Apple currently, but I do have a huge soft spot for them. Especially after doing trouble shooting.

A friend of my wife called last night asked how much I paid for my Dell laptop, since she had just bought one. She also asked what she should do about all the spyware and viruses on here Dell. My comment was buy a Mac. And for the why, my guess was teenage son who is probably doing file sharing.

And a friend asked why is there anti-virus software for Mac's; Marketing was my answer, it's not needed.

Hopefully China will soon legally get the iPhone, outside of Hong Kong.

My computer history:

1. TRS 80 that only had 40 character display (so it only showed half a line on a TV). Sold within a few months. Fun for programming in basic. May have used cassette tape drive.
   
2. Apple IIE with a CPM Card. WordStar for word processing! 5 1/4 disk drives, two of them. Also VisiCalc (the first spreadsheet).
   
3. Mac SE with two 3.5 disk drives! MS Word for word processing, what a change from WordStar. Fonts! And easily doing Bold and such. Purchased during my Senior year at college.
   
4. Get married, and due to work buy a 286 with word perfect, since my company uses IBM clones. First job involves desktop publishing on a PC, it's challenging using Ventura. Macintosh is so much easier to use, but the cost. Useful for C programming class I am using.
   
5. Buy a Mac+ and LaserPrinter doing Desktop publishing at home.
6. Buy a Pentium 1 with Windows for work reasons. Windows 95/98.
   
7. Buy a Compaq desktop with Windows XP Home. I no longer understand the chip designations. My wife buys an IBM laptop that has a wonderful keyboard!
   
8. Buy my Dell Laptop.
   

1 in 4 California high school students drop out, state says

1 in 4 California high school students drop out, state says from the LA Times.

I am glad that my state, California is finally getting a better understanding of the drop out rate. It's sad the high percentage, and in Los Angeles, I assume city, 1 in 3. I did my student teaching in a Los Angeles High School that has a 60% drop out rate. I had nice students, but many just did not see school as that important. I find the high drop out rate incredibly sad and in my opinion a huge failure of our society. In our ever increasingly technical and skills driven economy, education is key for a high paying job. The lure of a job at Home Depot that gives short term more money is nice, but in 10 years it's not going to be what you want. There was one student who dropped out of school and was a cashier at Home Depot. My friend called her the young entrepreneur.

Many of the issues mentioned in Walkout, the poor graduation rate are still issues, 40 years later. I would love to get a copy of a tale of two cities, that compared Lincoln High School in East LA, with Palos Verdes High School (super rich) by Paula Crisostomo (now director of government and community relations at Occidental College in Los Angeles).

$42 Billion Olympic Cost for China

China Counts the Cost of Hosting the Olympics per the WSJ for a two week show. China is definitely getting a lot of attention, as this article shows Crowding China's Red Carpet. And the infrastructure built for the Olympics will be there after. Still, $42 Billion is a lot of money.

And the $42 Billion is an estimate supplied by a Chinese agency. Is it the true cost?

Interesting... Among some Chinese officials, there's a saying: "The Olympics are a basket, and it contains whatever you put in it."

35 Million Kids Learning Piano in China

Interview that included that tidbit - Lang Lang: A Life In Music, So Far. 26 year old Pianist who won his first Piano competition at age 5. The video of his piano playing is wonderful! They are also auctioning a rare Red Concert Steinway he played starting at $160,000 to help the Earthquake victims in China. http://www.langlang.com

So my daughter's competition is 35 Million others learning Piano. Wow!

Panda Research Center In China Copes With Sagging Tourism

Panda Research Center In China Copes With Sagging Tourism - from NPR Not surprising since it's in the middle of a disaster zone.

My Panda Books:

• The Year of the Panda by Miriam Schlein
• Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle
• Dinner At The Panda Palace. English. Softcover.

Chinese in America History Sale

Fun subject, so I did a Weekly Sale on it. From the Admiral who may have been in California before Columbus, to the Gold Miners, people who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad, Chinese in the US have had a fascinating history.

When in Chinatown, do what the Vietnamese do

When in Chinatown, do what the Vietnamese do - What the article misses is many of the Vietnamese in Chinatown are ethnic Chinese. It's changing Chinatown in Los Angeles, but Chinatown in Los Angeles is always changing.

Images for Learing Chinese - Which is best?

I am still thinking/considering/going in circles about My Daughter's Picture on ChildBook's Front page. Does it represent the best image for Learning Chinese? This article is an interesting read and game me more things to think about on selecting the right image for my Learning Chinese Materials.

So what are my competitors doing? One has a nice picture taken from their books, another has a beautiful collage of Chinese related items, and another does different graphics depending on the season (wonders of having a husband whom is a graphic artist).

Chinese in America

Newcomers Have the Numbers to Upend City Politics from the NY Times, about how immigration in NY is changing the politics.

Interesting quote:

while some of those who immigrated from China tend not to understand multiparty politics, the project found.

The Chinese community in the US is a sleeping giant politically, the challenge is they are so diverse. The only thing I see they have in common is respect for education and food. Politics, language, income, etc. have a huge amount of difference. What does a fifth generation person who's ancestors came over in the Gold Rush have in common with a person who arrived from China on a 747 a couple of months ago?

Negotiating and Discounts

Phone orders can be very annoying, because some people think they should always get a discount. Even when the item is cheaper than everyone else and on sale!

I was talking to another owner of a business selling items for learning Chinese, and they had the same complaint. Their policy is just keep on repeating they don't discount. My goal is to have fair prices so none of the negotiating is needed. Win win is my goal with customers.

Playing Chinese DVD's Region Issue

I just found some software that looks like it allows the playing of different zoned DVD's on a laptop. AnyDVD - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I am not sure how it works, how much it costs, legality in your area, etc... i.e. use at your own risk. There is a 21 day free trial. This is for information only. Prices is in Euro, because many people in Europe will buy DVD's in the US that cost less than in Europe, the only challenge is that pesky region coding.

DVD's are usually made with Region Coding, so you can only play it in your laptop DVD's from your region with the copyprotection being in the hardware. You get so many chances to change the zone, but after that it's permanent. Somehow the software can still read a DVD of another zone.

Chinese, Taiwan, and the iPhone

The Iphone is coming out this Friday and will be available in 36 countries on Friday, with more to follow. China and Taiwan are missing from the list. Seems strange, since China has a huge demand for grey market iPhones, the iPhone is manufactured in China by a Taiwanese firm. And then this report BBC NEWS | Business | Apple pulls China iPhone release.

My guess is there is a technology issue, where China is trying to develop their own cell phone technology. Not to mention the revenue issue, where China's Mobile company is getting the benefit of gray market phones with no added cost to them. I have seen so many ethnic Chinese with unlocked iPhones. Taiwan I am not sure, may be another monopoly situation where they don't feel a need to share the revenue. The iPhone will be sold in Hong Kong.

Chinese handwriting functionality added to iPhone firmware which will make it even better for the Chinese market. This should result in some great software applications being written for the iPhone. The iPhone used to only display Chinese Characters, where not it allows them also to be input.

Yes, I am thinking about getting the iPhone when it comes out. May be not the first day. I am surprised the GPS is not as good as I thought it would be (weak antenna). The monthly data/voice cost is a bit higher than I would want. I don't care about the data access, I just want the combination phone & calendar. I used to have a series of Palms that all died.

Learning Chinese and No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind, or NCLB may be impacting the teaching of foreign languages, such as Chinese per this article. Language Study Left Behind? from the Connecticut Business News Journal.

I have mixed feelings NCLB, I like the idea, but unfortunately the implementation has lacked some common sense. And then 9-11 came along and there went the focus on education that the Bush Administration had. Actually putting in measurements for schools is great, unfortunately states can set them as low as they want that increases their compliance on paper with NCLB.

The idea is because school districts are being forced to focus on basic English Language and Math scores due to NCLB, Foreign Languages funding and hours are being cut.

Of course if the students were at grade level, there would be no need for extra focus on this. Learning a foreign language is a great asset, but if you have not even mastered the basics it's hard to build on a foundation of sand. There are schools that have a 60% drop out rate, and then there are schools like my daughters that just had a Siemens Science winner. And they are located within 30 minutes drive of each other.

Why Engineers should learning Chinese

Learn a Foreign Language As an Engineer? from Slashdot.

Interesting discussion on what language an Engineer may want to learn. The discussion, or at least the higher rated comments missed the point that a huge amount of manufacturing is done in China, and since relationships are important in China for getting things done, learning Mandarin Chinese helps. China is making everything from A to Z, from basic manufacturing of cheap goods to some pretty advanced equipment that is competing with market leaders like Cisco.

Yes, I know about the copying of Cisco's IP and counterfeit computer hardware. It still says something they are able to make that level of counterfeits. China government is pushing for China to stop being a follower on technology and just competing on price. It's interesting to watch and there is a lot of potential for making money in China.

Olympic rings transform China

Olympic rings transform China from the SF Chronicle. For better and worse, China is changing because of the Olympics. The question will the positives last? I hope the negatives don't.

An interesting quote:

"Competition and the desire to defeat one's peers would have been repugnant in classical China," Johnson said. "So the Olympics are profoundly un-Chinese."

But we are not in classical China, and I would argue since the 1949 revolution there has been many changes in the culture & society in Mainland China.

Riot Aftermath - Official Sacked

Chinese Bloggers Score a Victory Against the Government because the officials who messed up got fired. This is after China Riot - 30,000 People. My guess is the government was forced to take some type of action. There is a huge amount of anger in China against corruption and the central government has limited power. Especially when corruption probes get to high up. So some corruption probes are OK, but to many does not make the country look good, so this is discouraged.

My opinion is if China wants to advance, they need to fix the corruption issue. The nice thing about having true freedom of the press, is corruption gets out. Yes, I know the US used to have a real corruption issue back in the days of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Machine of NY and the the Meat Packing Industry was horrible. This prompted the writing of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair that helped clean up the Meat Industry. Tammany Hall was hurt when a Republican La Guardia (who hated Tammany Hall) was elected Mayor for several terms. Chicago still has a machine, but not as bad as the days of the original Mayor Daly.

I see International News helping to clean up China. From food safety to drugs to toys. All these have been in the last year in the international eye.

Firecrackers - How Legal? Chinese New Year

Firecrackers are an integral part of Chinese New Year, and in our area you hear a lot of them on the 4th of July. I don't believe for individuals you can legally buy them legally. I assume businesses can buy them. NY had some issues a while ago with firecrackers for Chinese New Year. A book about the art of firecrackers when they used to be legal in the US, now it seems to vary by area. And in California it seems to require some type of licensing for Chinese New Year to get them legally. Of course a lot of people do manage to get them off the books. Or buy them on an Indian reservation or in another state.

The negative is firecrackers can terrify animals, this used to happen with my dogs and I had to stay home with them every 4th of July to keep them calm. One time they almost clawed through a door while we were out, they were that scared. I had a neighbor show set off so many firecrackers the area was thick with smoke, not to mention the state of my dogs.

And from a parents viewpoints, this is a bit scary: Parents are Liable for Fireworks Damage Caused by Their Children

Bookfairs for Chinese Children Books and Learning Chinese

A local school is starting a bilingual Chinese program. Bilingual kindergarten planned in Hacienda Heights at Wedgeworth. Nice school. I hope more schools due true bilingual classes. This is where kids actually learn both English and another language.

The perceived problem with bilingual education in California that resulted in passage of Proposition 227 was kids in it were not becoming fluent in English. Bilingual education was seen as a way of teaching English. Because of Proposition 227 passing bilingual education in California plunged, as did the sale of Bilingual Chinese Books to schools. A couple of publishers I know got hit hard by this. True bilingual education is not using it as a method to teach English, but teaching both languages. A class is either done fully in Chinese, or in English in a full immersion environment. Biligualism is possible, I just look at Europe that graduates people with wonderful English ability, in addition to their native language.

So I should investigate doing book fairs at local schools. I have seen them done by a local independent American bookstore. Of course selling online makes it easier on payment, not having to give change, no labeling needed, etc. Something to think about.