Jottings from the Granite Studio

YJ and I are in Tianjin celebrating the Spring Festival with family. The train ride over was uneventful, everyone was queuing, nobody was arguing, it was–truly–a New Year’s miracle. Tonight: Dumplings, cheesy television galas, and then bring on the explosives; it’s going to be rocking in TJ tonight. Last year the residents [...]

[Read more →]

So…the Patriots lost. Proof–if such was necessary–that betting against the I-Ching is just not the best of ideas. Nevertheless, it was an excellent game watched in good company,* and Tim of Texas Tim’s proved a congenial host.
And hey, 18-1 ain’t too shabby. Now, I will go and repeat that line over and over [...]

[Read more →]

So Froog and I finally decided on Texas Tim’s Roadhouse for the Super Bowl. Breakfast, post-game Mexican food buffet and a big screen. The Rickshaw was a good alternate, but we’d rather have one giant screen over lots of little screens. Froog’s friend Tulsa told us that NBC might be filming the crowd at Goose [...]

[Read more →]

It looks as though we’ll be hitting the magical 7 RMB/$1 mark sooner rather than later. News from China’s Central bank this afternoon that the the dollar is down to a record low of 7.196 RMB. (For those Europeans gloating out there at the Americans’ misfortune, the Euro also fell to 10.56 RMB.)
Belt-tightening all [...]

[Read more →]

CCTV reported this morning that over 170,000 passengers had been stranded at the Guangzhou Rail Station due to heavy snow. (Details here.)
For those not blessed to have ever been in China during the Spring Festival travel season (春运), think of the days before the Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations combined and then quadrupled. It’s total bedlam [...]

[Read more →]

Today’s People’s Daily reports Chinese paleoanthropologists have discovered a nearly complete 100,000-year old skull (albeit in 16 pieces) at an excavation site in Henan province:
“It is the greatest discovery in China after the Peking Man and Upper Cave Man skull fossils were found in Beijing early last century, and will shed light on a critical [...]

[Read more →]

One of the best times to walk around Beijing is just after it snows. With a fresh coat of white powder covering the mud, grime, pollution, and concrete, the city almost looks wholesome. The key is, of course, to walk. Beijing motorists–not known for their safety and skill under the best of weather conditions–have a [...]

[Read more →]

As a native New Englander, I’ve been a Pats fan from way back. Yes, even when they were the “Patsies.” Now that they have become the New York Yankees of the NFL, I’ve come to realize how much fun it is to root for the dark side.
So when I heard from my buddy Froog that [...]

[Read more →]

Just some random links from the Chinese blogosphere on this Monday:
I always enjoy blogs that are about something, whether it’s law, or the media, or, for that matter, history. Along those lines, I’ve discovered a new blog called Beijing Sounds - 北京的声儿 that is devoted to the sounds of the Chinese language, particularly the local [...]

[Read more →]

It’s been a busy week here in Beijing. The Olympic year is not yet two weeks old and China is already doing its damnedest to serve up a whole stir-fry of crazy.
First off, 2008 has thus far not been kind to CCTV. While the state-run station has never really considered itself either yellow or [...]

[Read more →]