New Year Mayhem in Beijing
As most people with an interest in China are probably aware, the 26th marked the first day of the lunar new year, ushering in the year of the Ox. I will make no comments about being gored or being bullish but only note that the fireworks frenzy that grips Chinese at this time of year seems to have been even crazier than ever. This may be because we have just moved into a new compound, four apartment blocks sandwhiched between a couple of old fashioned lowrise Beijing neighborhoods whos residents seem to tak particular relish in causing explosions. The sheer scale (and cost) is hard to convey. Every neighborhood in the city puts out enough firepower to serve as a perfectly respectable July Fourth display, contiuing for hours on end. There are rules about when fireworks can be let off (often ignored) but generally speaking it is a chaotic free-for-all that to my knowledge is unique in this otherwise carefully controlled society. Obviously, somebody high up thinks it's a good idea to let people blow off steam (and blow themselves up too; I have never seen numbers of deaths and injuries but they must be horrifying) once a year. Here's a thirty seconds of video fo what ahppened only actually inside out apartment compound. Think of this continuing for hours on end. And from the lines outside the temporary tents set up on street corners to sell fireworks, there's plenty more to come.
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Is China going to file with WTO complaints about the Intellectual Property violation by all western countries using the firework technology ? China complained about IP violation of silk and china used in the west (http://www.takungpao.com/news/08/06/20/ZM-922179.htm). This complaint illustrated very well China's understanding and appreciation of IP protection. I suspect China can produce proof that these Chinese technologies were Chinese inventions, and were invented in the last century, and didn't fall into public domain.
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I guess from now on that anybody who behaves like a idiot on this board, has to pay you a royalty fee. You surely hold the patent of idiocy on this board.
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sing666: Thanks for your endorsement of my exposing of idiocy of the Chinese officials. And knowing that it hurts makes the delicate and easily hurt Chinese feelings helps too.
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I repeat this again. I am a Canadian.
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sing666,
Come on chill out. You've got to admit John Smith has a good sense of humour. China is not at all humble about its cultural chauvinism, is it?
Nice find, John Smith. I've bookmarked the link under laudable arrogance, sub-category: out of their minds. -
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C.A.Yeung: The sad part of the story is that it is not out of their mind. They were speaking their mind when they were being chauvinists.
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Doesn't this blog musing say a lot about the universal foreign mindset? Encounter an experience unknown to oneself leads to the assumption the locals are incapable of handling the situation; pheer.
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John Smith and CA Yeung have mistaken cultural chauvinism/arrogance displaced here by Smith as laudable humor. I have to admit that American bashing is a national sport in Canada beside hockey.
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sing666: "displaced" ? You are Canadian ?
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