Debritz.net

I've declared war on bad manners here in Shanghai. In the past I would just shrug my shoulders or shake my head when somebody tried to run me over, spit in my path or push me out of the way, but after six months of suffering I'm bloody sick of it. Twice now I have told off people trying to push their way in to the lift before others (including me) have stepped out, and yesterday I stopped a bus from cutting in front of me while I was legally crossing the road. I also wagged my finger at the driver, and pointed to the lights to indicate exactly what she was doing wrong. Really, there is no excuse for presumably intelligent office workers or professional drivers to be so ignorant. It's not a matter of cultural differences, it's all about good behaviour that ought to know no borders.

In case you missed Spencer Howson's 612ABC program on Tuesday, here's what I said:

At Showbritz, there's a further follow up to this devised by Spencer's funny friend Daniel Viles.

Chinese food - the stuff the locals eat here in China, not the Western fast-food version thereof - is good for you. In fact, according to this story, it's so good it could help cure the so-called obesity epidemic.

I think the ABC News headline writer meant Batman. Given that the story is about Christian Bale's mother, it's easy to see how the mistake was made.

My internet connection has been slow and unreliable over the past few days, meaning I can't access some sites (including several news sites). It also means that posting to this site may be impossible on some occasions. I will attempt to post at least once a day, so please return soon if there's nothing new here.

This is from news.com.au:

I know what the writer means - that church services are often boring. However, when you consider the allegations surrounding Stilnox - in particular the harm users have apparently inflicted on themselves - it's probably not entirely appropriate.

Another case of security overkill? A friend spotted this item on an expat website, posted by a guitarist looking for an amplifier:

I am stuck in Beijing, where the Olympics is making my life miserable! Believe it or not, one of the crazy regulations here is that nothing electronic can be shipped here until the end of September, or later. Hence, there are no decent amplifiers. The dealers are understandably even more p'd off than the customers

According to this BBC story, many Beijingers have been issued a booklet that lists eight things they shouldn't ask foreigners visitng for the Olympics. The don't-go-there subjects are:
+ how much they earn and how much they spend
+ how old they are
+ whether they are married
+ whether they are healthy
+ where they live
+ where they work
+ what their religious or political beliefs are
+ what they are currently doing.
I guess that still leaves sport and the weather.

If all goes to plan, I will be on the air with Spencer Howson on the 612ABC Brisbane breakfast show on Tuesday, July 22, speaking about some of the matters raised on this blog and at Showbritz.com. Here's a link to the live stream.

My local DVD store, and a bunch of others, have just reopened. So is there a crackdown on fakes or not?

From a Google search for Purdue University in Indianapolis. It's good to see they have their priorities straight. Yes, the Boilermakers are a football team.

While there are many difference between the office cultures in the East and the West, some things are universal. Like nepotism. A friend relayed to me this conversation that took place in a Shanghai office recently:
Expat employee: So what do you do here?
Chinese employee: I don't really know. My parents are friends of the boss.

A friend is already calling Beijing the "no-fun Olympics". Why? Because the authorities have banned flags and banners and even innocuous slogans such as "Go China!" Even worse, as I've already reported, those of us who don't want to attend the Games or watch them on TV won't even able to get our hands on a decent DVD.

A colleague claims the hottest item of apparel in Sydney now is a T-shirt with the slogan: "I was touched by the Pope Down Under."

I don't know what to think about the crackdown on DVD piracy which, I assume, is the reason behind the closure of the shop near my workplace. While I'm generally in favour of copyright holders getting their dues, it seems to me that there is no such thing as a legal DVD in China, so foreigners who want a bit of comfort viewing will have to go cold turkey. Also, like just about every other crackdown in China, this one is bound to be half-a*#@d. The vendor of decidedly dodgy digital discs near my local Metro station seems to be unaffected thus far, even though he's hardly difficult to spot. And even if they do make good on the pledge, it's only a 100-day crackdown anyway. Why all Chinese anti-crime campaigns must have start and finish dates, I simply do not know. Surely the law is the law is the law and it should be upheld all the time.

A few months ago, a Chinese official complained that the video screens on Metro (subway) trains screened too many commercials and not enough public service announcements. Metro bosses complained that they would lose revenue but, as I remember it, they agreed to change things. Well, there have been quite a few more public service ads on the trains lately. Problem is, many of them feature people speaking, and since there is no audio and there are usually no subtitles - even in Chinese - the whole thing is a complete waste of time of money.

I nearly got run over again this morning. The following sentences from this Guardian story (albeit about a different Chinese city) may help explain why:

The sudden flow of wealth and the endemic corruption manifest themselves in odd ways. Many locals pay substitutes to take driving tests for them; leaving many of the city's new rich with big cars but only the most basic driving skills.

It's impossible for pedestrians walking along one side of Wulumuqi Rd S near the T-section with Dong Ping Rd to use the footpath (sidewalk/ pavement) because it is fenced off to accommodate a guard post for the American consulate. Every time I have been there, including last night, the pedestrian thoroughfare on the opposite side of the road, outside the Bulldog pub, has also been blocked by a flash car parked on the footpath. Last night, accessibility was made even more difficult, and pedestrian safety further compromised, by another car parked across the zebra crossing. I asked the driver, who was nonchalantly leaning against his vehicle, whether this was legal in China, and he said: "Yeah." Of course, I could have checked this matter with the police officers who were hanging about just 100 metres or so up the road, but I suspect they would have done nothing. Their car was parked smack on the corner of Wulumumqi and Tao Jiang Rds, creating a traffic hazard of its own.

I lost my mobile phone, and I was told by a very nice man in a shop in Nanjing Rd that I would have to take my passport to China Mobile to get a new SIM card before I could buy a new phone. Well, that's all very sensible, except that there are people thrusting SIM cards at me from booths approximately 200 metres apart on every main road in Shanghai and I'm sure none of them ask to see passports. Of course, I'm equally sure that potential bad guys would use the legitimate channel to purchase a phone connection so they could be traced.

Let's all go to the Pinnacle Peak steak house and forget about the tautology.