Live from Shenzhen: I'm Back and Handing Out the Love

I hahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifve no idea how people like Dan Harris do it, maintaining a successful legal practice as well as a successful daily blog (perhaps that is one of the perks of being a named partner), but I don't have my name on the door (or any door for that matter) and therefore am stuck writing on the rare occasions when I have the time and inclination to do so. Between work, traveling all over southern China for work, new friends, a terminal addiction to facebook and dianping, and looking for an apartment in Beijing, blogging hasn't really found a place in the mix. Beyond that, to be honest, there isn't a lot happening right now as China (or the world goes), fortunately. Certainly there are some major issues, but perhaps this is sort of the calm before the storm, when Congress really hits out at China, but right now, there just isn't too much to talk about. Of course, there is always the fact this blog is on blogspot which is still blocked in China, thus destroying a major part of the potential readership...

To ease my way back into the game and to clear out a lot of what I've been collecting, here's another simple blog wrap up...

First off, last month's issue of Esquire had an article on Shenzhen titled, , that is now available online (though thanks to my inside source for the advanced copy). It's a good read and for the most part paints a pretty accurate portrait of this city, if a bit (or WAY) over the top. World famous DJ, Paul Oakenfold, weighed in on the China club scene in the Guardian, overall he was very complimentary about China's burgeoning scene, but then he said this:

"Playing in somewhere like Shenzhen, a big, polluted, overpopulated, industrial city, you can be the only Westerner in the club. You are a long way from home and you feel it."

What? Where the hell was he? I don't have much love for southern China, but just like Dalian IS NOT Dongbei (more on that later), Shenzhen is not southern China. Shenzhen is big, but inside Guan Nei, it is NOT polluted, overpopulated, nor industrial and it is quite possibly China's most livable city. While foreigners don't overwhelm in Luohu, there are plenty in Shekou, the closest thing to a Western city area that I've seen in China.

Enough of that, on the blog front, Lost Laowai chimes in on the recent popularity of China bashing in an excellent article. Guangzhou Bang, a newish(?) blog that has become a popular read for me, has a hilarious post about when Zhang met Petra. Imagethief has an interesting post on the Chinese film industry, though I think much of the problem is that since Zhang Yimou figured out crap sells (thanks to Ang Lee), he hasn't made a decent film, Jiang Wen has been banned from film making for the past 7 years, and everyone who isn't making crappy period pieces is making crazy and impossible to understand avante garde films.

Lao Wai Wen Shen has a thought provoking post on how similar things are across China. While I completely disagree with everything he/she says and feel you could make a similar example out of any other country if you tried, it does get one to thinking and is worth a read and wider discussion.

To close it out, a great NYT story on fashion and our love/hate relationship with it, the crazy story of a 9 year old college student， and a funny story on sohu about trying to get away from Chinglish menu items (mostly in Chinese) that includes this piece of genius:
童子鸡
新版译法 Spring Chicken
民间译法 Chicken Without Sexual Life(还没有性生活的鸡)