Archive for the ‘China’ Category
Monday, February 21st, 2011
My local grocery store Chung Hing at Kennedy Road and Finch Avenue in Scarborough/Toronto, Canada was held up by gunpoint yesterday, Saturday February 20, 2011 at around 16:10 in the afternoon. Five black guys, faces hidden behind bandanas and guns drawn, marched into the store and demanded cash. The cash registers were locked. While these thieves would rather steal for a living, they also risk the lives of those that shop and work at this store. For me, my wife and two kids had just checked out. They were petrified. A single police car with one officer arrived just as my wife left the store. An hour later a neighbour reported that there were 12 police cars at the store, now long closed for the day.
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Chung Hing Chinese Grocery store Held up At Gunpoint
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Tags: black, Canada, chinese, Chung Hing, family, grocery, gun, Ontario, police, robbery, Scarborough, store, Toronto
Posted in China, food, Kids, Retail | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
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Sometimes our Canadian multiculturalism goes a little too far, even for a Chinese Canadian like myself. Here in Toronto, Canada and especially in Scarborough, my area of the world is biased towards Chinese, especially from the Mainland. Nofrills, a local big box grocer, decides to put Billy Bee Honey, 1 litre bottle on sale for $6.88CAD. This is high quality Canadian honey, which I have used for many years without issue. At the store I pick up four bottles and head to the cash, only to find that those I picked up are not the ones advertised on sale. The difference between the two: the advertised honey has an English-Chinese label and the one I picked up has an English only label. It was annoying to have to drop my bottles of honey at the cash, reenter the store and purchase what Nofrills calls “ethnic” Billy Bee honey. I am all for ethnic but please do not discriminate against English only labels and products. Nofrills, intended or not, you need a smack upside the head.
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 Billy Bee Honey: Bottle on the right called ethnic is on sale, the one on the left is not |
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Ethnic Canadian Honey on Sale but not original Canadian version? Really?
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Tags: Billy Bee Honey, Canada, China, chinese, discrimination, Honey, labels, Mandarin, multiculturalism, Nicks, Nofrills, Scarborough, Toronto
Posted in China, food, Nonsense, Retail | No Comments »
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
The Chinese character Dai/Tai: the earth/dirt, a field, to share, a saber (weapon)
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dai/da4i (Mandarin)/Tai (Cantonese, Japanese)/Thài(Gan, Jiangxi)/Tè (Hokkien)/?ái or ??i (Vietnamese)/Dae (Korean): Ranked 57 of the 100 most common Chinese surnames (2006), gaining from 64th in 1990
- put on; wear: put on one’s gloves, wear glasses
- respect; honour: love and respect
- Da4i: a surname
Permanent link to this post (56 words, 1 image, estimated 13 secs reading time)
Tags: 100 common Chinese surnames, ?ái ??i, chinese, chinese character, Dai, dirt, earth, field, honour, lao bai xing, put on, respect, saber, share, surname, sword, Tai, Tè, Thài, wear
Posted in China, hobby, Learn, Nonsense | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
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Confused, I am, when China has a scandal that hurts a lot of Chinese people, there is a government investigation, and those that protest and asked for the investigation, and their lawyers, are given long jail sentences. A world of hurt landed on the shoulders of Zhao Lianhai, the father of a 3 year old boy sickened by China’s tainted milk scandal in 2008, who just received a 2.5 year sentence for “inciting social disorder”. As a strong supporter of the People’s Republic of China, I question why they need to use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat. Zhao Linhai‘s sentence is unjust and casts China’s government as a bunch of thugs.
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China Jails Activist Dad due to Tainted Milk Scandal
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Tags: activist, China, food safety standards, inciting social disorder, milk, protest, Sanlu, scandal, tainted, Zhao Lianhai
Posted in China, food, Kids, Retail | No Comments »
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
Hallowed Eve, or Halloween is an interesting tradition in North America, where kids of all ages dress up in scary costumes, and knock on neighbour’s doors for candy and treats. The kids will exclaim “Trick or Treat” and will expect some kind of treat. Halloween is a North American farming tradition where ghosts and other scary monsters call on your house. They will leave you in peace and allow you a good harvest season if you give them a treat. Here are some guidelines to follow for Toronto, Canada for parents of Chinese kids.
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Tips for Chinese Parents on Halloween in Toronto, Canada
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Tags: Canada, Chinese kids, costume, Halloween, Toronto
Posted in China, food, Kids, Learn | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 15th, 2010
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Atrio of trends from three different countries have come together for this posting. Strangely I have lived in all three countries and somewhat understand their cultural backgrounds. Japan has been through a decade of economic slowdown and 20% of its newly university graduated cannot find adequate work. More than a year ago I began to read about China’s “ant colonies”, newly university graduated who can not find work, who are underemployed or who have found work in their chosen fields but are poorly paid. Finally is my real life experience here in Toronto, Canada, of being newly graduated but unable to find work in my chosen field, or in the information technology field. There are too few employment opportunities for the number of graduates, resulting in a huge number of young people, depressed because they cannot find gainful employment. While I will not dwell on the negative aspects of unemployment, student debt and poverty, is there a positive side to widespread student unemployment for society at large?
Tags: ant colony, Canada, China, Generation Screwed, hikikomori, Japan, kyoiku mama, new graduates, new recruits, tangjialing, Toronto, youth unemployment
Posted in China, Kids, Learn, Retail | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
China's 60 mile traffic jam of coal trucks lasted 10 days.
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Contrary to popular belief, China is still Communist. There has been no change of political will, only the naive belief of foreigners that as China becomes wealthier that China will abide by its own rules of law. This is not the case, as the Toronto Star’s Asia correspondent Bill Schiller, found out. He traveled a little outside Beijing into the countryside only 3 hours train ride away, only to find out that things are run differently in the countryside. Reporters do get hassled and told in uncertain terms to leave.
Tags: Beijing, Bill Schiller, censorship, China, clogged, cultural differences, hassle, highway, journalism, Toronto Star, traffic jam
Posted in China, Nonsense | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
Jiucai (garlic chives) in bloom, growing at our front doorstep, Sony H4, macro 4x zoom
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This hardy Chinese herb seems to grow everywhere near our house in Toronto, Canada, self seeding without assistance. Jiucai is also called garlic chives. Put it into soup, stews, omelets, and jiaozi. You chop it down but leave the roots and it will grow back, multiple times in a season. Somehow this dainty little plant has moved to many sections of our backyard and have proliferated, but the most convenient is a clump near our front door. So handy yet tasty.
Permanent link to this post (97 words, 1 image, estimated 23 secs reading time)
Tags: bloom, Canada, China, chinese, garlic chives, herb, jiaozi, jiucai, omelet, soup, stew, Toronto
Posted in China, Environment, food, Nonsense | No Comments »
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
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Living in North East Toronto, Canada is a very large community of Mainland Chinese, many who are recent immigrants. When they ship their lives half way across the world to Canada they bring with them some surprising gems. I picked up this Daou unicycle at a garage sale. It has a 12.5″ rear coaster wheel with back brake, and a skateboard truck up front. The seat is unicycle style, with a black steel handle in the front. Apart from the “Daou” label, under the seat there are two quality stickers from the Chengdu Zixingche Lingjian San Chang, or the Chengdu Bicycle Parts Factory #3. After a couple of key changes this contraption rides much like a unicycle (no left-right stability), but has anterior-posterior stability, allowing the rider to coast. You can pedal backwards to brake, which is good enough to skid the tire. This unicycle rides quite well, can travel at faster than walking speed and allows the rider to coast. Due to the small skateboard wheels up front it can endo if you hit a large sidewalk crack.
Tags: 12.5" wheel, bicycle, Chengdu, Chengdu Bicycle Parts Factory #3, Chengdu Zixingche Lingjian San Chang, China, Daou, hege, safety, Schrader valve, skateboard, Toronto, truck, unicycle, you
Posted in bicycle, China, hobby, Kids | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 13th, 2010
Chinese People's Liberation Army revolutionary movie lipsynchs Waving Flag by K'naan
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This is very disrespectful to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, or Jiefang Jun, and will probably get censored within China very soon, but is very funny. Since I am in Toronto, Canada, getting Toudou video is difficult. The original source is from Chinasmack. Thankfully others have uploaded Tudou video to Youtube. These are old videos of PLA plays, video mixed to modern songs. Though the lipsynching is not great, the whole video does pull it together.
Waving Flag by K’naan
Beat It, MJ
Madonna Feat Justin Timberlake
Tags: China, lipsynching, music, People's Liberation Army, Tudou, Youtube
Posted in China | 1 Comment »
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