Giving Out Some Love....

There are a lot of great (and even more not so great) blogs out there and I enjoy at least taking a look at what else is out there in the China blogsphere, recently there have been a number of posts I've enjoyed on other blogs and so its time to pass around some love...

On the Fringe - Go Ride a Bike
I love the idea of bike riding and think its one of the best ways to get to know a city. I've had a lot of great weekend bike riding adventures in Beijing (one to this place more love for That's BJ to come) and its really one of the best ways to get around that city. Unfortunately in Shenzhen, at least in Luohu, and often in other parts of the city as well, bike lanes are non-existant, forcing those who want to ride for their health, the environment, or just to avoid traffic to ride on the sidewalk, not a good idea.

Stranded on the Largest Island - A Change Comes Over HK
Well, this isn't so much "showing love," but if you want to read a very interesting article, read the post (and the link to the article). This is straight out of a John le Carre meets Red Corner Richard Gere spy story and my guess is that much (if not all) of it is ficticious/all in the writer's head. While its nice to flatter yourself, this isn't the late 80s/early 90s and the PSB has far larger problems to deal with.

The UGLY Chinese Canadian - Big Mountain and Other Adored Round Eyes
I've really enjoyed this blog, especially lately, but one thing he must know, at least among the expat blogsphere, you simply can't say anything nice about Dashan, the meaner the better, he is pure evil (I've made that point in the past, but can't remember where)....

Beijing Boyce - Hooters: A place for bird lovers
This is a great blog in general, though with how often it seems he goes out and drinks, I can hardly imagine the condition of his liver. While I thought I used to be up on the "in spots" in Beijing, I don't think I could hold a candle to Boyce. I found this entry particularly interesting,

Ben's Blog - The Time China Blog and Other Media Greviances
I've talked about Ben's blog before and his stint in the barbershop was certainly interesting, but I really enjoyed this post which hits hard at Time and other western media outlets that only see (or want to see) the problems in China and fail to show more than just one side of the issues.

All Roads Lead to China - Why Lou Dobbs Scares Me More than Chinese Toothpaste
Lou Dobbs doesn't belong on CNN, he belongs on Fox News and his show, supposedly focused on business, has become a flag waiving, anti-immigrant, anti-globalization, and more than anything, anti-China rant over the past few years. So often the points he is trying to make fly in the face of logic and just ignore the current state of the world. We cannot, and shouldn't want to, push back globalization and while there are some problems, there are a lot more benefits, even with US interaction with China. You don't believe me, read this article about a woman who forced her family to stop buying anything "Made in China" for one year and see what you think (even if you do believe me, go to the article, its well worth it).

Danwei - Serious Patriotic History or Giant robot battles?
Danwei is an absolute must daily read, though it can be aggravating at times, if I'm not quick enough (ie posting it within a few hours of seeing it), it will probably pop up on Danwei before anyone else can bring it up. Plus, they find all different kinds of very interesting stories, this is a perfect example. A movie about the Nanjing massacre being released right around the time (7/7) that the war with Japan started? Must be a big hit in China where patriotic mobs even attacked people driving Japanese cars a few years back? No? The fact that Chinese would prefer seeing Transformers to understanding a bit of the history of Nanjing and seeing a very excellent movie is fairly disappointing. Perhaps they feel Transformers is a "theater" movie and Nanjing is a "fake DVD" movie, but still, this makes you wonder about those times all that anti-Japanese fervor is built up...

Black China Hand on Yi Jianlian
This seems to be an excellent blog, unfortunately I can't view it in China, though typically can read it thanks to Chinalyst. His post is based on this article from ESPN. He makes some very good points, but the reality is that this sort of situation has existed for a long time in other sports around the world, namely soccer, and isn't unique to China. In recent years, it's even popped up in the US soccer leauge, the MLS, where players even wanted to go to other teams abroad, but their clubs wouldn't allow it. I just think it was idiotic of Milwaukee to draft Yi, considering how clear it was that he didn't want to go. Sort of like Lindros and Quebec, but let's hope Yi has a far better career than Lindros.

And that's it for this blog wrap up, perhaps I'll do this again soon...Keep posting those great entries!