Walking the Path

I’m stealing a page from the Sinosplice blog with this post because today is my fifth Chinaversery. Five years ago today I moved to Shanghai. I know it sounds stupid but it is surprising that it has been five years it feels more like three. But so much has changed in the five years since I came here and not just the fact that the Beijing Olympics finally happened — I’ve changed.

I feel a lot more confident with who I am and what my goals are in life. When I came here five years ago I didn’t really have a clue what I was going to do. I had just been laid off from my job at a national Canadian business magazine and had been freelancing for three months. I knew a girl in Shanghai and I wanted a new start so I was going to come here and make a go of it for a year. But I wasn’t sure where things were going to lead. Five years later and I’ve got a good career in marketing, I’ve seen a lot of the country, learned the language and I’ve built a life — things didn’t workout with the girl but hey I found somebody much better.

I am not sure what the next five years will bring, but I do know that I am happy.

J.

Is she waiting for marriage proposals?

Ever wonder where your iPod or iPhone were made? They’re assembled at a factory in the city of Shenzhen owned by a company called Foxconn.  China’s Internet users have been doing a bit of detective work there in the last week that has put the company in the international spotlight. According to The Shanghai Daily a picture of one of Foxconn’s female assembly line staff ended up on an iPhone that was shipped to the UK.  The UK resident who bought the iPhone was so surprised to see this cute girl peaking back at him when he turned the phone online, he posted her picture on the web and “iPhone Girl” was born.

It’s been confirmed that the girl works for Foxconn but so far nobody has been able to speak to her directly. Shanghaiist thought that she must be negotiating her movie deal and the launch of factory worker Barbie from Mattel. But I tend to think she’s either oblivous to all the media hype or hiding away waiting for marriage proposals from rich Chinese guys and Lao Wais. Maybe she even wants to move to the UK with the guy who bought the iPhone.

Oh and how did the image end up on the phone? Turns out all iPhone cameras are tested before they’re sent out and this image wasn’t deleted.

From the look of the picture the owner of that iPhone got a nice surprise.

J.

Damage in Myanmar (Source: IHT)

Yesterday I read an article on the aftermath of last spring cyclone in Myanmar that really touched me.

It mentioned the destruction and the more than 100,000 people dead, but it was these lines that stuck in my head:

there are the stories of wandering ghosts, whose cries for help can be heard at night in haunted places that no villager dares to enter.

Relief after being long delayed is now getting to the people, but what about their psychological needs? There is some obviously unrecognized damage there. How are they going to be fixed? Is the government or the medical system going to do it? Do they even care? Or is this something people are going to have to slow themselves?

I have a feeling that it is the latter is the solution to the problem. The same can be said of the suffers of the Sichuan earthquake. Assistance has been given to deal with the physical losses but what about the suffers’ mental problems?  Maybe those who showed signs of trauma at the time, but what if the trauma didn’t surface at the time but a year from now when people wake up with constant nightmares of watching their colleagues and classmates crushed all around them?

I thought maybe that the Chinese government would invest in psychological care after the earthquake but they haven’t. But investing in care for the people of the earthquake would have a lasting effect to all the drunks, drug addicts and abused wives that fall through the cracks. Many of these people end up in jail when they could be getting help in a mental institution or maybe even better served with medication and regular outpatient care. That would be such a big savings to the Chinese government and maybe help China get closer to the socialist paradise that it has always wanted to be.

Just my two cents.

J.

Monday marked the end of the project which has been taking up much of my work and personal life for the last couple of weeks.  I haven’t been blogging since them I’ve been spending a lot of time just reading other people’s blogs. One that I am really enjoying is Peijin Chen’s A Shameful Waste of Madhouse Time.

This guy is a complete polymath. He reads a ton of things in both English and Chinese and give his opinions on this multiple times each day. Every post is short and to the point and definitely not a waste of time to read.

Check it out!

J.

I’m in the middle of a major project at work — no that’s not right. I am struggling with a major project at work at the moment. and that is seeping up all of my time and desire to blog so posting will be a bit light here for another week. I hope to get on top of things this week so that I can write something soon — as this space is a real outlet for me. But I don’t want to turn this blog into a spot to rant about the failures of PowerPoint (or my failure to master the program), so I’ll just stay semi-silent until I finish the project.

On a more positive note though, Winnie and I did watch the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday with some friends at a Greek restaurant in Gubei. It was simply awesome especially the fireworks. I do hope that this put a lot doubts to rest about whether China was ready to host the Olympics or not. I’ve also been watching the Olympics on and off all weekend. As of right now, China has six gold and two silver medals.

It was sad to hear about the murder of an American at the Drum Tower yesterday. My thoughts are with the family, but I am wishing deep in my heart of hearts that there is no backlash against China for it. It sounds like it was just a deranged man and the family was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Look for posts again soon.

J.