Weixin photo from Jianshen Qu Ba, unknown origin, complete article
China is a separate world and becoming even more distant. This is especially true with the internet. Wechat 微信 is part of China’s social media and a very good example. Their information ecosystem, heavily monitored and censored by the government, is often smartphone ecosystem, and not web site based. I occasionally monitor Chinese social media and often read some of their articles.
While the content can be very good, for fitness articles they almost always use white models. I find this very strange. There are more than enough jacked Chinese guys and beautiful Chinese women in Asia. The photos also have no sources.
It is not as nice as actually being there, but when you’re stuck in Toronto it continues to be interesting. It is a lot faster.
Today I’m going to Shandong Province, Yantai City. It’s a coastal town about the size of Toronto’s 4M people. In China that’s a 3d tier city, barely big enough to warrant note on China’s large single page map. The place I’m going to is somewhat near Ludong University, about 1.5km away.
Shandong Province, Yantai City, Ludong University, Qingnian Jiayuan 山东省，烟台市，鲁东大学，青年家园。
GPS: 37.533098, 121.366479
Plus Code: 8Q93G9M8+5J
Shandong Province, Yantai City, Ludong University, from Baidu Maps
BinZhou City is a mere 1.5 hrs from Xi’An. I was touring around here using Baidu Maps. It is a lot of fun. The neighbourhood looks pretty nice. There is a high school and a middle school in the same area, with a mountainous backdrop.
Shaanxi Province, Xi’An, BinZhong City, Chengguan District， north west corner is the Chengguan Town junior high school, Ziwei middle school, and Jiaotong university senior Sunshine high school
陕西省，西安，彬州市, 城关镇初中紫薇中学，交大高级阳光中学
GPS: 35.048437,108.068438
Plus Code: 8P7C23X9+99
Xi’An Shaanxi China, BinZhou City, ChengGuan，North-West corner, Map by Baidu
No doubt that Western and Chinese language and culture are very different, so it should not be surprising that passwords will also be very different. Here’s an interesting article about some of the language differences.
Password cracking hack software often uses a master password vocabulary file, but usually in a single language. If you know multiple languages and use them in your passwords it will be even harder for hackers to crack your sites.
Stephen Mosher, Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order
2017
This book provides a historical perspective to try to explain China’s current hostile behaviour to the US, ASEAN and the world.
Intro
-While other conquerors allowed subjects independence, China rules with dominance in all aspects of life, using the mandate of heaven
-China looking to dominate the world in order to bring harmony, peace
-US idealists: work with China, find common ground, find a mutually beneficial solution
-US offensive realists: world is a perpetual competition, China wants to dominate
-China are offensive realists, for a very long time, always perpetual war, which is why they want to dominate SCS, the world
-China need for domination deeply rooted in history
-in order to maintain order, China uses nationalism, patriotism
China is well known for its ability to detain foreigners from exiting the country. It is often used to settle business conflict between foreigners and Chinese companies. The Chinese company contacts the police to say that a foreigner has not paid or lived up to some business dealing and Chinese border control puts a ban on the foreigner’s exit. These are called “exit bans“.
Bian kong, “边控“， short for bianjing kongzhi, “边境控制” is a system that can bar a foreigner from leaving China. We normally call it an “exit ban”
China, Xinjiang, Urumuqi, Midongnan Lu, Bingtuandekun 新疆，乌鲁木齐, 米东南路, 兵团德坤, This is the front gate
I am in Toronto, but can use Baidu to virtually go to China. It is fun to be able to walk through China and take a look. Today I went to Urumuqi, captal city of Xinjiang, China. Urumuqi, Xinjiang is not only far, but probably off limits to foreigners. The map is old, pics taken in 2015. The place I wanted to go is not yet on the maps.
新疆，乌鲁木齐, 米东南路, 兵团德坤 Xinjiang, Urumuqi, Midongnan Lu, Bingtuandekun
GPS: 43.901088, 87.612782, Plus Code: 8MM9WJ27+C4 These locations are inaccurate due to Chinese national security laws
Adolescent Psychological Development Base 中国青少年心理成长基地, part of the Beijing Tongjun Chinese medicine hospital 北京桐君中医院, in Daxing District, found on Baidu Maps
As I work in IT, I have always been fascinated by internet addiction. While in the West we do not seem to have many formal programs to counter internet addiction, China has gone the radical route of military style boot camps. One such institution is the Adolescent Psychological Development Base, Beijing, run by Tao Ran, an ex-army psychologist.
As a Canadian, living under martial law is unheard of. We simply do not have such situations that warrant martial law. After 30 years, I still have strong memories and impressions of living under martial law in Beijing, 30 years after the Tiananmen Square killings. Who wrote and rewrote what history is for others to debate. My impressions and memories remain intact, burned into my brain, forever.
