Interesting little video about the world learning English. And check out China. My goodness. Are they motivated or what? They view learning English as pure opportunity. Very interesting perspective. > Read More... | Digg This!
Interesting little video about the world learning English. And check out China. My goodness. Are they motivated or what? They view learning English as pure opportunity. Very interesting perspective. > Read More... | Digg This!
There was a big park outside my hotel in Fuzhou earlier this week where thousands of people gathered on Monday night to sing and dance. You just had to see the size of this park with hundreds and hundreds of people packing into various sections all over the place. Some sections were too dark to take photos, but walking among hundreds of happy people in the dark on a nice warm night was calming -- especially after a long day of OpenSolaris presentations.
I was with Shaoting Duan from Sun China, and she asked around and found out that this is really quite normal for this park. We walked around for a couple of hours. I was the only foreigner in sight, and everyone noticed me, too. It all got pretty friendly at one point when a keyboard player said hello to me -- into his microphone for everyone to hear -- and asked me to play along with the band. I`m absolutely serious. What ever gave him the idea I could actually do such a thing I`ll never know, but it was a charming thought nonetheless.
You know, I often write about community building for OpenSolaris. I try to learn from those who have gone before, and I try to build on top of what`s already there. Well, to me these scenes below represent communities in their purest form -- people just coming together for their own reasons. And that`s a significant learning experience as well. Anyway, it was a lovely night.
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I'm in Beijing for the week. Just got in. Really wild ride to the hotel
from the airport. The driver got lost. Three times. Ok, it happens. Not
a big deal. He was a charming fellow and trying very hard to please me.
But each time he stopped and got out to ask for directions, he left the
car running in the street. In the middle of the street. In
traffic. With me in it. Now, Beijing is known to be a rather busy
place. In fact, it's one of the most densely populated places on the
planet. And with the lines on the road being mere suggestions, why
would you park your car in traffic with a customer inside as you dart
through oncoming traffic to ask for directions from the guy all the way
over there on the sidewalk? I must admit, this has never happened to me
before. Fortunately, the guys in the gigantic trucks were able to see the car in time and dodge around me with horns blasting. Got my
attention, though, that's for sure.> Read More... | Digg This!
"America and China should enjoy their medals -- but we should each also reflect on how the other team got so many. " -- Thomas Friedman, New York Times.
Friedman`s column focuses on what the Chinese and Americans can learn
from each other, which is a lot on both sides, but the best quote in
the article is this one right here: "Walking through the Olympic
Village the other day, here?s what struck me most: the Russian team all
looks Russian; the African team all looks African; the Chinese team all
looks Chinese; and the American team looks like all of them." That's
never been so clear to me as it is now. And I bet the "looks" bit Friedman
cites as diversity also extends to behavior, perspective, and thought processes as well. > Read More... | Digg This!
A conversation with Bob Woodruff, ABC News:
"The Chinese are everywhere, they are engaged." -- Charlie Rose,
commenting on Bob Woodruff's documentary about the Chinese in Angola,
Brazil, and Cambodia (among other regions) in a massive attempt to
secure access to resources.
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Silicon Valley: If we ignore China, will it go away:
"From Hong Kong to Singapore to Tokyo to Beijing and Sydney, they get
it. But here in the Valley, there?s push back to the idea that China
poses a threat to the Valley?s continued tech dominance. It took me a
while to realize why. The Valley really is threatened and, rather than
confront the challenge, prefers to remain in a state of denial. It?s
easier in the short term. The questions I?m asked here in the Valley
mostly center on Chinese government politics, Internet censorship,
counterfeiting, and pollution. Sure, these are big issues, but there?s
very little curiosity about what new technologies are being developed
in China. It?s just a given that there really aren?t any, so why bother
asking?" -- Rebecca A. Fannin, VentureBeatShould be an interesting decade, eh? Not asking questions is a fascinating position to take in any situation. Looks like an interesting new book. Will check it out.
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A great conversation here between Charlie rose and Ted Koppel on China. Looking forward to viewing Koppel's new program.
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In Changing Face of Beijing, a Look at the New China:
"If Westerners feel dazed and confused upon exiting the plane at the
new international airport terminal here, it?s understandable. It?s not
just the grandeur of the space. It?s the inescapable feeling that
you?re passing through a portal to another world, one whose fierce
embrace of change has left Western nations in the dust." -- New York
TimesThat's from the first paragraph of the Times article on architectural changes in China. The bit about "fierce embrace of change" is most impressive to me. I don't buy the stuff about leaving Western nations in the dust at all because you have to judge a country based on a variety of issues. But China is certainly thinking big and that's really cool. Can't wait to see all the new buildings this fall after the summer Olympics.
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"I was not ready for the real impact of hearing all those horns and alarms start at exactly the same time - it was like the whole country was crying out together, still trying to grasp the magnitude of the horror that shook the country exactly a week ago." -- Melanie Gao.
I've heard from several people about what happened today. I can't imagine.
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This is a difficult article to read. The photos are even more heartbreaking.
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You catch that Fortune article -- You
have 7 years to learn Mandarin
-- about China surpassing the United
States economically in seven years? Whether it's seven years or fifty
doesn't really matter, I suppose, since people will be arguing
about how to measure this for a while. And the measurements themselves
are changing, it seems. How convenient. Whatever. I think it's cool
either way because it offers new opportunities, and thatīs what Iīm
after. In fact, aside from the word freedom, I canīt think of another
word that describes Americans better than the word opportunity. Can you?But Fortune seems defensive. We are supposed to "worry" about this, and we are told that American individuals "can avoid competition with Chinese workers by doing place-based work, which ranges in value from highly skilled (emergency-room surgery) to menial (pouring concrete). But the many people who do information-based work, which is most subject to competition, will have to get dramatically better to be worth what they cost. For government leaders: Improve U.S. education above all."
The first part of that paragraph is ridiculous. You can't "avoid competition" in a global economy, and Iīm not "worrying" at all. Why not embrace the change as an opportunity? In fact, wouldn't be cool to live in China for a bit to check all this out first hand? Wouldnīt it be cool to learn some Chinese and interact with Chinese from their perspective for a while? I donīt see very many people in the US thinking this way about the rise of China (and India, for that matter, and some other emerging markets around the world, too). In fact, Sin-Yaw Wang has it right when he comments about the Fortune piece: "The new generation of business leaders, now in their 20s or 40s, must learn to do business in China and with Chinese. 7 years is not that long to master a language, especially when one is not even trying." I agree. And Iīm reading this view (the not trying bit) over and over again. Itīs defensive. Oh, well. I suppose thatīs an opportunity for those who see it differently, right?
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Fascinating piece about this guy Li Yang teaching "Crazy English"
to huge crowds of people in China. His technique is rather unique, but
I can see how it may have significant benefits for anyone learning
another language as an adult. The larger language issue in China,
though, is illustrated by this utterly amazing quote from the article:
"Linguists estimate the number of Chinese now studying or speaking
English at between two hundred million and three hundred and fifty
million, a figure that?s on the order of the population of the United
States." Just think about that. Just think about how that changes
things in the future with language barriers beginning to melt away and
what means for global communications and global economics. Also,
Ampontan has a detailed analysis of the article that's well worth reading and adds some interesting context from Japan.> Read More... | Digg This!
Grab a bite on the way home from work in Shanghai from a perfectly agile and mobile kitchen.
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