Postcards From Planet Google
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Looking Over the Northern Border, and Over Their Shoulder
This article talks about the difficulties of maintaining a secure U.S.-Canadian border in light of 9/11. This line caught my eye:

Canadians keep post office boxes in the United States because mail service is better.

Whodathunkit?

More media fun:

• Hot laptop burns scientist's penis (Reuters/CNN.com)
  No comments necessary...
  
• North Korea names an air hammer a national 'hero' (The Age)
  I guess you run out of human heroes when everyone outside of Pyongyang is starving to death.
  
• Field of Screams (Forbes FYI)
  The incredible (literally) story of how Washington PR man Nick Naylor was hired by North Korea to stage a celebrity Pro-Am golf tournament in the Axis of Evil.

Gotta thank Vic for the last two links.

I'm determined to make some progress on my law school apps this weekend. Wish me luck!

A couple of articles that caught my eye:

Scientists Planning to Make New Form of Life (Washington Post)

Scientists in Rockville are to announce this morning that they plan to create a new form of life in a laboratory dish, a project that raises ethical and safety issues but also promises to illuminate the fundamental mechanics of living organisms.

To ensure safety, Smith and Venter said the cell will be deliberately hobbled to render it incapable of infecting people; it also will be strictly confined, and designed to die if it does manage to escape into the environment.

More worrisome than the risk of escape, they acknowledged, is that the project could lay the scientific groundwork for a new generation of biological weapons, a risk that may force them to be selective about publishing technical details. But they said the project could also help advance the nation's ability to detect and counter existing biological weapons.[...]

Let the slide down the slippery slope begin!

Black-White Harmony: Are You Kidding Me? (NY Times)

I've actually wanted to write about blackpeopleloveus.com for awhile. Thanks to Vic for pointing out the site to me initially. It's definitely meant to be funny, but works in really subtle ways to tackle a real interesting issue. As an Asian American, I've definitely experienced some of this, and I'm probably guilty of such behavior as well. The key point here is that there is more to American race relations than the more obvious issues like affirmative action and civil rights.

Now onto more important matters:

I've never had a "Turducken" before, but I'm convinced that I have to have one. Hmm...how am I gonna get one of those in Shanghai...?

Hi everyone. Well I'm still alive. Just that life has been crazy for the last few weeks. /when I've had free time, I've preferred vegging out to working on anything. a nasty habit that's causing me lots of problems. Maybe I've been too pampered, and too indulgent of the feel-good whims of American society, feeling that it is my birthright to be able to veg out in front of a TV, or lie on my bed listening to music for hours at a time after any period of extended stress that lasts longer than a day or two. I sometimes feel that I spend more time rewarding myself for relatively minor achievements (i.e. getting organized enough to drop off my dry-cleaning) than actually putting in time to do the things that I really should be doing. Such as:

-My law school apps
-Trying to find some paid writing gigs
-Figuring out how i can actually get my work done at my job, rather than just despair that everything is too difficult and that i don't know anything.

This job is driving me crazy. I mean there's been a good side. I got to go to Taiwan for the very first time (albeit for only about 40 hours). Over 2 weeks I travelled to Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Taipei, and Beijing. Had over a dozen banquet-style meals, met CEOs, govt. officials, company directors. Talented movers-and-shakers all over "Greater China" (at least that's how the people at Oriented describe it.) Of course I was operating on very little sleep and subject to never-ending requests and demands from the head-honcho. He never seems to be satisfied. Every once in awhile he'll surprise me by saying something nice (and occasionally, actually doing something nice. But those moments often make me feel even more uncomfortable, like it should make up for all of my misgivings about him and the work.

Still, it is a good opportunity--though one I am screwing-up, albeit partially due to my fatigue of late. It didn't help to get back from the trip and then instantly catch a wicked cold. Now my hacking winter cough is in full-swing. One of my least favorite parts of the season.

********

It's obvious that the job is consuming me. I'm now bitching about work on a regular basis to DY. Unfortunately the business-world is totally alien to her, so she can't really respond to my complaints with any tips or advice. She can only snuggle up and tell me it'll be OK, which I appreciate, but isn't totally sufficient. Then there's the fact that since I'm so exhausted, I usually want to pass-out before midnight, since I have to get up at 6:30am to get ready for work. Usually she has to get up even earlier, but she only has to work 3 days in a row, then gets like 4 days off in Seoul. So she's perfectly happy to give-up sleep to make the most of our time together. I'd like to do that too, but I need to get as much rest as I can to try in order to be somewhat conscious at work, which is a serious issue considering all of the things I have to get done and have been failing or forgetting to do. Poor girl. She doesn't deserve a basketcase like me.

AIM exchange of the day

V: i've never been to taiwan. what's been the big draw so far?
L: the people
V: locals, expats, abcs?
L: ti's a small big city
L: made some great friends so far
L: mix of abs and locals

*****

V: ic. i find the people in shanghai are so-so, personality-wise. if i were to leave here today, there's probably only 1 or 2 people i'd keep in touch with as friends. however, in terms of business or other enterpreneurial-type things, this town is bursting with talent and energy. it's a weird dichotomy.
L: yeah, i definitely got that feeling for hte short time i was there

I've started work and am facing an identity crisis. I guess the lack of sleep is playing a big part. Yes, I am now proudly working banker hours. Well, not quite, the latest I've been stuck at the office is 7:30, that's about 11 hours in the office. My friends in NY have dealt with much worse. Oh well. But you know, ironically, now that I've started working, I've had several people call me with job offers. It's like how chronically single guys suddenly become chick magnets when they're in a relationship. Well, in both fronts, I've pledged to keep my options open. Although I feel a little slimey for thinking that way...

Much of Sunday was spent chillin out at a champagne lunch hosted by Eric, a guy from New York that I met randomly at a networking event last month. He's new in town and is looking to find people to hang out with. Anyway, phatty meal, with Apple crepes, croissants, scones, brie, fruit salad, and the aforementioned bubbly. Word. And I just showed up in my ratty 30 kuai track pants that I bought in Guangzhou. I think my ghettoness is genetic. It'll take another generation or two to get snuffed out. Anyway, this guy had a sweet apartment which seemed pricey to me (nearly 3 times my rent) but it comes out to around US$800. Now in New York...

I'm sure that the Bali blast is gonna start to rattle all of us Western expats in Asia. Although I hadn't made any plans to go to Bali, I was invited once about a year ago (though my friends ended up not going for scheduling reasons). What this does do, is definitely continue to discourage me from Indonesia, and possibly Malaysia, too. I always had two reasons to avoid Indonesia: a) I'm American and Muslim countries aren't exactly the safest places to be for us. b) I'm Chinese American, and the memories of the reports of the anti-Chinese riots in that country are still fresh in my mind.

But yeah, that club in Bali is totally the type of place that I would've hung out at if I had visited there. Luckily China isn't a hotbed for Islamic terrorism, but isn't it only a matter of time before Muslim separatists from Xinjiang and the rest of Western China start targetting the Eastern Chinese coast? I'd think Shanghai's return to the capitalist world and it's cosmopolitan atmosphere would make it a nice target. It's a scary thought. Another reason to cut back on the partying...

Spotted in Shanghai:

Canto-pop queen Anita Mui partying last night at Guandii. I was towards the front of the line at the club (hey, it's no secret, I'm no VIP) when she was escorted into the club with her posse after her big Shanghai concert. Dude, the woman is pushing 40, but was dressed in a baggy track suit with a beanie on her head, a pair of shades, and inch-thick caked on make-up. Blecch. It got more surreal inside later that night when she made her way out of the VIP lounge and onto the dance floor, grinding her crew of what looked like 17-year-old wannabee HK B-boys. She was wearing a David Beckham jersey (she's supposedly a huge fan), and just looked like she was in high school. It was pretty funny stuff, considering that I associate her with my aunts, who were fans of hers in the 80s. Personally, I've never seen the appeal. I don't like her music, or her movies, and she's not particularly attractive (many people think she looks like a guy). I'll take Teresa Teng any day!

Too bad I'm in Shanghai. I really want to see David Henry Hwang's new remake of Flower Drum Song. Hwang gives his thoughts on his new work in this week's Sunday New York Times.

Hwang hits on a couple of a key theme that I feel is important as consumers and creators of "ethnic" art. That what we may consider stereotypes, were at one times breakthroughs. Like Hwang, Flower Drum Song has always felt like a guilty pleasure. I first saw it, ironically, in an Asian American Studies class, where I think the purpose was to look at how white America saw APAs in the 50s and 60s. But I actually really enjoyed it, seeing it for what it was, a real breakthrough work in that era. I even went back to read C.Y. Lee's original novella. As we move forward, we don't have to accept stereotypes, per se, but we should respect the work of those that came before us, with a firm understanding of the contexts of each artist's work. Instead of just bitchin' everyone out like Frank Chin...

Anyway, a few quotes that I liked from Hwang's piece:

• When I began writing "M. Butterfly," for example, I knew very little about opera and considered Puccini's heroine, Cio-Cio-San, to epitomize the stereotype of the submissive Asian woman. Yet by the time the show opened, I had gained new respect for Puccini's work and intentions. In his own time, the composer had done something bold and progressive by making his Japanese heroine the virtuous character and rendering her American lover as the cad or villain. One era's cultural breakthroughs may calcify and become stereotypes through time. Culture is a living thing, constantly changing and evolving; intercultural work has always existed, as artists have incorporated new influences through migration, conquest and commerce. In this light, the very notion of authenticity became much more complex and elusive.
  
  
• I have come to embrace that explanation; you cannot necessarily judge attitudes of earlier eras by today's standards. Moreover, I began to realize that one generation's breakthroughs often become the next generation's stereotypes.
  
  
• At its core, a stereotype is bad writing: a one- or two-dimensional cutout devoid of humanity, and therefore prone to demonization. Whether your characters are cooks, laundrymen, computer scientists or gangsters, if they are well written, they will exude humanity, which is ultimately the most effective weapon against stereotypes, and the most visceral measure of authenticity.
  

After an 18-day hiatus, I now have a new apartment, possibly a new job, and more importantly...

A NEW CABLE INTERNET CONNECTION!!!

Woohoo. The added bandwidth will help me flood your caches with more of my mindless chatter. I'm sure you just can't wait!

Other things worth mentioning:

• As I mentioned last time, North Korea is starting a Special Administrative Region, which would supposedly allow unfettered capitalism at the border town of Sinuiju, just across the Yalu River from China's teeming Communists with a capital 'C'. Well, the original choice to oversee the DPRK's little experiment, Chinese-Dutch Yang Bin, got arrested for tax evasion. There's a bit of a back-story to this, as it seems that Beijing wasn't consulted about this new economic zone, or the tapping of an ethnic Chinese (who does most of his busines in China). So the arresting of Yang is most likely no mere coincidence. So Pyongyang has responded with a new choice: Ex-South Korean Prime Minister Park Tae-joon. I guess the North Korean government is pretty desperate, cause putting a South Korean in charge is a pretty bold move considering the the two Koreas are still technically at war.
  
  
• Apparently, Congress has lost it's mind. This week the Senate gave President Bush authorization for use of force against Iraq under the War Powers Act. This Slate piece goes over the implications of this week's Congressional action.

Holy Evil Axis Batman! North Korea (or the DPRK as the lads of Chosun like to refer to themselves) is going to start a Special Administrative Region, modeled on the special status that Hong Kong and Macau have in China. And guess who's gonna run the thing? Nope, no Koreans. It will be a Hong Kong businessman of Dutch birth. A DBC (or HBC) if you will. So dude, you mean if I had a $900 million company, I could run a city in North Korea? Damn, we Chinese be running everything.

At Fudan, last semester, there were 4 students from North Korea. It definitely created an interesting dynamic. Our class consisted of:

4 North Koreans (all men)
3 South Koreans (all women)
2 Americans
4 Japanese
1 Thai
1 Indonesian
1 German

Considering how backward NK is, it's not surprising that Pyongyang only sent men over. I was told that the only NK women allowed to go abroad, were all studying in some university on Shandong Province (perhaps, not coincidentally, the birthplace of Confucius, father of East Asia's neuroses....) What is weird was that there weren't South Korean men in our class, even though there were a ton in the program. I think I heard that none of the classes with North Koreans had South Korean men. South Korean men are obligated to serve 2 years in the military, primarily to protect the country from the Communist threat. I don't know if it was a request from Pyongyang or Seoul to lessen the contact between these students. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a mutual feeling. Yet apparently, there's no threat from the women. (which may be true. i don't think any of my South Korean female classmates were fantasizing about hooking up with a mysterious North Korean.

But back to having an Overseas Chinese run the North Korean S.A.R. at Sinuiju. It seems that North Korea's relation to the PRC is much like how Korea traditionally served as a tributary state of China's. It seems that Kim Jong-Il's model is China. It struck me that whenever the North Korean kids were asked about their country: it's society, customs, attitudes, beliefs, etc. The answer was invariably, "It's much like China." Yet how about this story in the Times about forced abortions in NK prisons. These prisons mainly held people who were caught living illegally in China. The guards would say stuff like:

"The guards would scream at us: `You are carrying Chinese sperm, from foreign countries. We Koreans are one people, how dare you bring this foreign sperm here,' " Miss Lee, the vocational student, recalled. "Most of the fathers were Chinese." The New York Times (June 10, 2002).

Hmm...not that friendly anymore, huh...

This week's Travel section in the Sunday New York Times features another Shanghai article. Wow, two Shanghai features in a week, must be a new record. Funny how this was this week's "Frugal Traveler" article, yet they managed to squeeze in a stop at M on the Bund. I guess I'm just to poor right now, but I find nothing frugal about M. Can't wait to finally score a job. I'm not really a big fan of unemployment. People are buying me dinners and I feel like a big leech. Sheesh. By the way, the end of that Times piece mentions the Shanghai pajama phenomenon, which the Associated Press expounded on about a week ago. Hmm...it seems like I'm turning this into a blog of Shanghai media coverage. (And damn I think. I should've written that pajama piece!)

Looks like I might be scoring an apartment soon. I saw an older place that I liked off of Gao An Road in the French Concession. It's a short walk from the Shanghai Library and right by the subway station and a strip of restaurants and bars on Hengshan Lu. Got some issues to address with the landlord, but it's looking good. And even if it doesn't work out, it looks like there are similar units floating around in the neighborhood, which is so much more interesting than living on Siping Road (aka "The Boulevard of Death"). Never live in a place facing a 7-lane boulevard. Crossing the street to catch a cab was like playing Frogger.

It sucks that there are so many restrictions on the net in China. Almost every free webpage service is blocked. Somehow Blogspot and Netscape.com's webpage servers have gotten through (maybe cause AOL Time Warner has been pressing hard to invest in China).But I'd like to use a service with FTP access. Then it would be easier to do more cool things with the site. (For example, I wanted to install Blog Amp. Instead I have to manually tell you that I've got Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Park Ji Yoon on repeat.)

I feel less isolated today. Was on IM with my bro, Vic, and Nelson today. I also spoke on the phone with my mother's friend, who is helping me look for an apartment here in Shanghai. I saw Joe, a friend of my cousin Tracy's husband, Jeff. Joe is an awesome guy. Really friendly. Him and his wife, Harriet, are the epitome of the new Shanghainese yuppie. They are very...modern. I hate to say "Westernized" cuz that's so overused, and I also don't feel that that's what they are. They are firmly Chinese, but have a very cosmopolitan attitude about them. They're not really that into tradition for tradition's sake. They're in their 30s and don't plan to have kids. For them, they have what they want. Steady careers, a car, a nice apartment, they get lots of exercise, and they have access to most things that they like. They seem genuinely happy. Good for them.

Tonight I'm also having dinner with a bunch of Fudan kids. My classmate from last term, Yoshiuke, is celebrating his 25th. Man, did he change in just a few months. He used to have hella curly hair that looked like Junichiro Koizumi's (the Prime Minister of Japan). But he got his hair cut back in Nagano last month. Now he looks a lot like Ichiro except with way more facial hair.

I understand the desire to deal with barbers in your home turf. My first-ever haircut in Shanghai resulted in me unknowingly agreeing to a cheap perm. I took no photos of myself during that period...it is too painful to recall...

Hmm...yet another New York Times article on Shanghai. Some editor at the times really likes this city. Haven't had the chance to run a LEXIS search, but I would bet that there's been a spike in Shanghai articles in the times over the past 12 months. Maybe I am here at the right time. Maybe I should try to score some writing gigs of my own.

Anyway the article itself describes a phenomenon that I've been seeing around me. Everything is coming down. Take for instance, the view from my old apartment, facing south. You can see the high rises going up all around. See those old two-story houses in the middle? It's pretty clear that they're all going down in the next year or two. An extension to the subway line is being built just south of the neighborhood, with a station immediately adjacent. So this is hot property for developers. By the way, this is just a 10 minute cab ride from the Bund.

Now I could cry for the lost architectural heritage, but it makes me wonder sometime. Those old houses look cute on the outside, but on the inside most are really disgusting. Even the residents don't like it. No matter how hard you clean, dust seems to always get in to dirty up the homes. Many lack natural gas which results in a lot of people cooking with coal, which contributes to the mess both there and in the air all around Shanghai. Most residents are happy to upgrade, the main issue is that they usually don't get to stay in the same neighborhood. The poor are shipped out to inconvenient suburban developments while yuppies (like me I guess) swarm in to fill up overpriced downtown locales (even though this neighborhood isn't really downtown, but you get the point.) Hmm...I guess they haven't heard of mixed income housing around here.

The point is, it does make sense to upgrade the housing stock around here. The population really requires it. I think you need to preserve some areas, as housing (not like the ultra-touristy Xintiandi, which has its charms, but is ultimately Shanghai's version of NY's South Street Seaport or SF's Pier 39. But the conditions of a lot of these neighborhoods are so bad, that the economic incentive is to tear down and start all over. The only hope is to designate a few small neighborhoods in very central areas for preservation, allowing people to gut interiors while preserving the exteriors. It'll be expensive, so such remodeling jobs will be of interest to a limited class of people. But convenient locations in historic areas should hopefully lure some nouveau-riche. It worked in SoHo.

Alright, I've finally gotten around to starting one of these. I've been a blog lurker for almost a year now. Inspired primarily by favorite Spam-loving friend. I wanted to do a full website (haven't had one since I lost my old university account after graduation 2 years ago), but I'm broke and it seems that every free webpage provider is blocked from the Net in Mainland China. One of the many sacrifices I'm making by being here in Shanghai. Oh well. At least the food is cheap. Also, I've discovered that NPR has been "unblocked." Woohoo!

I've been back in Shanghai for a week and things are going well. I've got the two writing assignments, an English-language instructional tape recording session on Thursday, and a possible job offer. Not bad. A week ago, I was wondering what the hell I was doing back here. Hopefully coming here is the right decision. We'll see.

Backdating

[These are old entries from my old personal page at Asian Avenue.com]

2002.03.16 12:50AM Beijing Shijian
Progress Report

I`m actually in Shanghai now, but so much has happened in the past month that only now am I ready to pause. Well actually, not that ready. But I felt I need to put something up here. I`m starting to get better vibes about Shanghai, though I still feel like a visitor (which I am). It`s not like New York, where I felt at home on day 1. But we`ll see, I`ve been busy with classes and my "Ten" article to really get a good feel of the whole city. But that`s coming soon...

2002.02.03 1:06AM PST
Counting down

Kicked it with the extended fam tonight. A semi-informal going away party for me. About two dozen--aunts, uncles, cousins and po po--grubbin and stuff. Since I`m skipping town before Chinese New Year, this is the closest thing. I actually haven`t celebrated the festival with my family since high school, but i`ve got a good excuse this year...I`m gonna experience the real deal in the motherland. Speaking of China, finally got that visa. Had to jump through a million hoops, but finally I got it. So now it`s just time to pack. What does one bring when staying indefinitely in a foreign country? I had visions of living a very zen minimalist life with me merely bringing glasses and a change of clothes, nothing that couldn`t be held in a mere satchel...Yeah, right. My packrat self will not be subdued. I`m already freakin out over how much deodorant I should bring with me (apparently, it`s really expensive in the mainland) and whether or not I should bring my old, already-filled journals with me. (on the one hand, they could really inspire some of the writing I`d like to get done while I`m overseas. on the other hand, if something were to happen, I`d hate to lose my best record of the past 5 years of my life...) I`m such a whiny brat. Why are you still reading this?

2002.01.26
Progress reports

Report #1: It was G`s birthday party last night. Kickin` it with the Pilipinos (and us Chinese groupies). I hadn`t seen G in about 2 years, and most of the people at the party I hadn`t seen in 3 (coincidentally, at another party thrown by G). It was cool seeing the high school peeps again. I hung out with these kids a lot junior and senior year but lost touch with them. S and E, who I usually look up when I`m in town, I`ve known since elementary school days, but they actually haven`t kept in touch with most of the other people from our class, basically which leaves my lazy-*bleep* to contact other people, which of course I almost always fail to do. Anywayz...since we didn`t have a 5 year reunion, this was like the next best thing. G said it was too early to do a full-fledged reunion, people are still the same. I beg to differ. Maybe being away for most of the last 5 years makes me more sensitive to change.

NOTE TO SELF--Seems like everyone has either: A)Gotten into a long-term relationship (with someone from MHS, no less!) B)Gotten fat I`m currently at neither (though maintaining my beer consumption patterns makes "B" more and more likely), so I feel like the odd one out. I mean dude, M got married and has a kid! If I had stayed West Coast, would I be with someone from the hometown? Milpitas is a surprisingly incestuous town, considering few families have lived here longer than like a decade. But maybe that`ll change. People seemed to be pretty fond of this place.

Report #2: Hopefully I`ll spend less time with angst-riddenthoughts about high school. My Air Canada ticket to Hong Kong is paid for. I am good to go. I`m leaving on Feb. 6th with an Open Return. It`skinda cool when people ask me "When are you coming back?" and I can honestly say, "I have no idea..." DUMB LINK OF THE DAY: Slate.com`s David Plotz dissin` on U2. That ain`t right.

2002.01.24
The in-between times

Well my year-and-a-half as resident of New York City, and my 5 1/2 year stint on the East Coast has come to an end. I`m sitting at home back here in the Bay Area. But this place no longer feels like home. People are supposed to leave their hearts in San Francisco, but having been through everything(and living there during 9/11, I do mean EVERYTHING), one can`t simply pick up and leave. But that`s just as well. I`m off to China in 2 weeks for an indefinite stay, and by the time my time in Asia is through, my notions of home will probably be even more messed up! Wish me luck!