Watching China

"The name brands and context are new, but much of the original concubine content remains unchanged. "

"[M]uch of the humor is culturally specific, and in the case of China, that means that much of what is interesting, funny or compelling about something said by strangers is in the nuances of regional dialect."

Kris, my co-worker at Bryght, and Robert are back in China as part of China Access 2008. Be sure to look at Kris' photos as well as Robert's, which they are posting to the China Access 2008 pool on Flickr. They helped organize BarCamp Shanghai (see also barcampshanghai.org for the attendees list and sessions). They (wisely) crossposted announcements at Bryght, Raincity Studios, and Daily Vancouver's 2010 Olympic coverage (Kris, among others, post stories and announcements related to their Torino 2006, Beijing 2008 and Vancouver 2010 adventures to that site). I'm looking forward to the photos and ideas that come from BarCamp Shanghai, which I won't be attending. Maybe I'll go to the second one, though, or possibly when Beijing technology buffs organize one for the capital.

A quick shoutout to Micah Sittig, who's weblog I had been reading for a while now, and who is listed as a BarCamp Shanghai organizer. He posted some great photos from China's first wiki conference, so I look forward to his documenting the event as well.

"The typical westerner who is in China 'for business' doesn't speak a word of Chinese and their job doesn't require it because all of their Chinese colleagues speak English."

Apparently 维客 (wéikè) is the Chinese word for 'wiki'.

He splits his time between Shanghai and Vancouver.

He splits his time between Shanghai and Vancouver.