Homework in Zhuhai

Two girls working on their homework in Zhuhai, Guangdong

I need to finish some homework of my own before finishing a post about Xiaomi and Apple. I haven't posted during the past couple of days partly due to trying to better understand a not-so-small matter that was unfolding in the U.S.

I am proud to say my country had the grand idea to not implode itself, at least for now.

More of the usual themes here are on the way.

External Hard Drive Woes and a Waterside Scene

Today I was not able to access one of my external hard drives.  I am not sure whether the problem was related to either a recent experience of data uploading much slower than usual or dropping the hard drive from the height of a typical desk. Since I deliberately chose a hard drive with military-grade shock resistance that "incorporates a vibration- absorbing silicone outer shell, a reinforced hard casing, and an internal hard drive suspension damper as a last line of defense" and that "is rugged enough to protect against excessive vibration or sudden jolts", I had thought the drop would not be of any consequence, especially since it seemed rather inconsequential in military terms.

Whatever the case, I now get an I/O error when trying to access the disk and this: "diskarbitrationd[13]: unable to mount /dev/disk1s1 (status code 0x00000047)". None of the the simple tricks I have tried allow me to see any data. However, the computer can at least recognize the brand of the hard drive when I take a look under the "Volumes" directory using a Terminal window. If none of this makes sense to you, no worries. On that note, the reason I have shared this exciting news is I thought a reader might have some insights to offer. If anyone has grand advice for how I personally may be able to at least recover the data using a Mac, I'd certainly appreciate hearing from you.

One of the side effects of today's fun was not writing a post I had planned for today. So instead, I will share a photo I took this evening in Zhuhai while taking a waterside walk to clear my mind after a day of unexpected travail.

No travail for me here.

The NRA in Zhuhai, China

As I enjoyed a street side late night meal of barbecued fish and vegetables in Zhuhai, China, yesterday, a shoeshiner walked by. My sandals weren't deserving or in a need of shining, but he decided to sit down with me for a chat. I asked if I could take his photo since he was wearing a hat that was remarkable to see in China.

He did not speak any English and had no idea what the words on his hat meant. As I started to explain "NRA" to him in simplistic terms--"they like guns"--he looked at me like I was crazy. I realized that explaining gun rights and organizations with political interests in the U.S. could take a while.

I had fish to eat. He had shoes to shine. So I dropped the topic, especially as he didn't seem particularly interested.

It's just his hat.

Still a Variety of Mobile Phones for Sale in Nanping, Zhuhai

In addition to an Android Store having changed since my visit last year, the selection of mobile phones for sale and which brands were most promoted in a shopping district in Zhuhai's Nanping Town changed as well. I will share here some of what I noticed during two recent visits. It is not intended to be an exhaustive review, and it represents only one shopping district in Zhuhai with a large number of mobile phone stores.

1. Last year many of the stores had Nokia storefront signs, even though they sold a variety of phones. Many, if not all, of those signs have been changed to something else. A few of the stores now have a China Mobile sign similar to the ex-Android Store. Some stores still have Samsung storefront signs.

2. There are several Chinese brand-specific stores for smartphones. For example...

ThL has a brand experience store:

Oppo, a brand that had a striking marketing campaign including Leonardo DiCaprio, has a store:

Zopo has a store as well.

3. Vivo, Doov, Xiaomi, and HTC are all more prominent at stores selling multiple brands.

International brands common elsewhere in the world can be found as well.

4. As before, a variety of cheaper feature phones are available, but I think the selection of Chinese brands differed. The following photo includes Kliton, Ouki, Siwer, Fmee, Youme, Telsom, and others:



For examples of other Chinese mobile phone brands (and some creative imitators) I saw a couple of years ago in southwestern China, see posts from Chengdu here, Zigong here, and Zhaotong here.

To sum it all up: Some of the brands available have changed. The "favorites" have changed. More smartphones are available. What has not changed is the great variety of brands available.

I will have more to say on these points later.

An Early Morning Scene in Zhuhai, China

The Fate of the Android Store in Zhuhai, China: Part II

A year and half ago I took a random bus ride in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, and ended up in the town of Nanping. As I explored the area, in a shopping district I stumbled upon a store that caught my eye and wrote about it posts here and here. At the time, there was much buzz about a fake Apple Store in China. As I later pointed out, a large number of unlicensed stores selling Apple's products and to varying degrees looking like Apple Stores could be found throughout China.

However, the store in Nanping seemed especially unique to me. For a refresher, here is the first photo I shared of Zhuhai's Android Store:

Ah, the memories...

Four months later I returned to Nanping and found the Android Store remained and now had a imitator nearby.

Recently, I was able to return to Nanping yet again. For the Android Store's fans, I have some difficult news to share. Although it retains some of its previous spirit, the Android Store had a bit of a makeover:

At least there's an Android inflatable arch.

A number of other nearby stores also had changed to China Mobile storefront signs as well.

Despite the change, Android Store fans may be able to take heart from something else. The imitator down the street remains mostly the same on the outside and in Xiangwan, another part of Zhuhai far away from Nanping, I saw this store one evening:

It didn't only sell phones with Android though.

In a later post, I will provide a look at some of what the above mobile phone store and others in Zhuhai are now promoting and selling. There are some notable differences from last year.

Xi Jinping's Advice for New Zealand

Last year I shared the story of a young man I met who would regularly travel from mainland China to Macau to purchase baby formula produced in New Zealand. Like many others in China, he did not trust Chinese baby formula due to a number of milk-tainting scandals. He was also not confident that the foreign formula he could could purchase in mainland China would be genuine. In a later post, I commented on the creative approach taken by a Chinese baby formula company to garner the trust of Chinese consumers through advertisements placed on far-away London buses.

So I must admit my jaw dropped a bit when I saw the Chinese news agency Xinhua had this to say about a recent meeting between China President Xi Jinping and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key:

Xi stressed that food safety concerns people's health and urged New Zealand to take tough measures to ensure food quality and thus maintain the sound momentum of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

As Josh Chin reported in the China Real Time Report, I was not alone in my reaction:

In a country where authorities routinely accuse other governments of casting hypocritical stones, the notion of Mr. Xi berating another country’s leader over food safety proved too much to bear for many social media users [in China].

“He should be saying this to himself,” wrote one microblogger. “How does he have the gall to say this to the New Zealand prime minister?”

For more about what prompted Xi's recommendation to New Zealand and how Chinese responded online, see Chin's full article here.

Human Nature on a Road in Zhuhai

"Luck" had it today that while walking through a residential area in Zhuhai, China, I saw something relevant to a point I made yesterday about public urination in China:

Yes, a child urinating into a subway trash can in Hong Kong is unusual. But elsewhere in China, someone helping a child urinate* in public as seen above is not. Sometimes the event is kicked off by the adult making a windy whistling sound which can supposedly cause a desire to urinate. I would be interested to know if there are any empirical studies on the effectiveness of the technique.

I only took the photo because of its relevance to the recent post. I do not plan to make this topic a regular theme here. Maybe that will bring you some relief.



* No, I don't believe all the liquid on the ground is from the child. I suspect much of it is from a nearby drainage pipe possibly connected to a washing machine or sink.

"No Spitting" and "No Peeing" in Hong Kong and Macau

Today Beijing Cream shared a photo of a mother from mainland China helping her boy urinate into a trashcan. The mother's and boy's actions would not be highly unusual except for the fact they occurred in a Hong Kong subway station. In short, in my experience kids publicly urinating is not common in Hong Kong or nearby Macau. I have seen numerous examples elsewhere in China though. If you look closely at a set of photos I took at Nanmen Square in Yinchuan, Ningxia, you can see a case of public urination I felt comfortable including with other "everyday scenes".

At least for now, I'll refrain from further discussion about public urination in China, but I would like to address a possibility Beijing Cream raised regarding the photo they shared:

This was taken inside a subway station in Hong Kong right in front of a sign that appears to say “No Peeing.” (I can’t tell for certain, but wouldn’t it be great if really was a “No Peeing” sign?)

Some signs in the Hong Kong subway have caught my attention before, and I'm pretty sure a "no peeing" sign would have made that list. I appreciate that the lack of detail for the sign in question can make it look like a warning against public urination, but I strongly suspect the photo captures one of the Hong Kong MTR's "no spitting" signs:

From Cory Doctorow, some rights reserved

However, Beijing Cream may instead be heartened by a sign I recently saw in Macau. I must say it is my favorite "no peeing" sign to date:

It seems somewhat just though.

The sign appeared to be effective during my brief time in front of it. I didn't spot any public urinators nearby. Maybe the Hong Kong MTR should take note.

Scenes from Two More Temples on the Macau Peninsula

Over a year ago I shared some scenes from the Kun Iam Temple, A-Ma Temple, and the Lin Fung Temple -- all located on the Macau Peninsula. I recently stopped by two other temples on the Macau Peninsula, so I will share a few more scenes.

On the eastern side of the Macau Peninsula I visited the Tin Hau Ancient Temple (天後古廟):

On the western side I visited the Hong Kung Temple (康公廟):

Both temples were very quiet. And I suppose I must have been quiet too. Someone at the Tin Hau Temple closed the gate while I was inside. I thought a repeat of the experience I had at a Macau cemetery last year might be in store. But this time the gate was not locked, and I was able to slip out without disturbing anyone.

For more Macanese temple scenes, see the earlier post here.

Macau Wants "No Smoking" to Mean "No Smoking"

At Posto Fronteiriço Das Portas Do Cerco, the immigration check point at Macau's border with mainland China, I saw a large sign with a message for visitors arriving in Macau.

400 Macau Patacas (MOP) equals approximately 50 U.S. Dollars

That one could be fined for smoking in a non-smoking area seemed like useful information. That smoking is prohibited in a non-smoking area seemed rather obvious to me though. But then I recalled examples of people ignoring "no smoking" signs in China. So maybe the added emphasis is worthwhile.

Earlier this year, Macau enacted new regulations requiring casinos to designate at least half of their public space as non-smoking areas. Some wrinkles need to be ironed out though. For example, in one case a casino was reported to have surrounded an air monitoring device with air purifiers. And a review found more than half of the evaluated casinos were not fully complying with the requirements. Even when casinos follow the regulations, creative strategies can defeat some of their purpose -- for example, placing most of the popular games in smoking areas. Not surprisingly, Macau's government plans on revising the regulations.

Casinos are big part of Macau's economy, and some worry that the no-smoking rules will hurt business. But Macau's government seems committed to improving the indoor air quality for more people, even if it means telling people they can't smoke where they can't smoke.

Censorship and Creativity on China's 6-4th National Day

Today, October 1, is the National Day of the People's Republic of China. For many in China the public holiday means 7 days off work. For many others in China it means working to serve the seas of Chinese travelers. For my hotel in Zhuhai it means doubling the rate of my room.

China is celebrating this notable holiday for the 64th time.

64 ...

6 4 ...

6-4 ...

6-4 is also notable in China. On that date in 1989 civilian protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square were the target of a violent crackdown. Mentions of the date are often censored in China, and it is not uncommon for it to be obliquely referenced with terms such as "May 35". As the South China Morning Post reports (via China Digital Times), some saw today's 64th National Day as opportunity for another indirect reference.

Bloggers jumped at the rare chance to mention and discuss the word “64”, referring to June 4th, allowed by online censors though still strictly monitored, by paying condolences to the students and civilians who died in the 1989 incident.

“64, hard to forget,” a Zhejiang blogger wrote, posting a photo of what looked like an official flower display featuring the number “64” and the Chinese words “hard to forget”.

It wasn't long before the post and reposts were censored. However, the photo made its way from Sina Weibo to online services outside of China were it will not be censored:

1st time in 24 years, 6 and 4 are NOT sensitive numbers in China! (characters in the pic: "unforgettable". 六四不再是敏感词。图 pic.twitter.com/Duo9ONbrEV
— Rose Tang (@rosetangy) October 1, 2013

I doubt most people in China saw these posts or are thinking about Tiananmen Square today. Nonetheless, the attempt to leverage this holiday to call attention to another day reminds me of a comment by Hu Yong, an associate professor at Peking University's School of Journalism and Communication: "Censorship warps us in many ways, but it is also the mother of creativity".