Great photos of another water town in China. We’ve been to more than one. This link will take you to photos of Zhouzhuang, which is near Shanghai.
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http://www.mysplendidconcubine.com/Zhouzhuang.htm
We recently traveled to Zhujiajiao Water Town where we discovered glimpses of a more modern world mixed with the old historical world. This water town was full of rich architecture elements and history dating back to the year 1700. This town boasts 36 stone bridges found across the rivers. 
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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse
Through microblogging, there is a strong connection between Yang Lan and China’s next generation, since Sina.com owns Sina Weibo, a sort of Facebook-Twitter social network with more than 56% of China’s microblogging market. Sina Weibo adds 20 million new users monthly. Ten thousand are overseas Chinese in North America. It is estimated that the site has about three billion page views daily.
Yang Lan says, “My generation has been very fortunate to witness and participate in the historic transformation of China that has made so many changes in the past twenty to thirty years.”
In the video, she uses several examples of how microblogging is changing China. She says the public’s reaction shows a general distrust of government, which lacked transparency in the past. She explains how the younger generation, which calls itself a tribe of ants, is different. Most of this generation is well educated with a literacy rate better than 99% and 80% of city Chinese go to college.
In addition, social justice and government accountability is what these young people care most about, and the power of microblogging gets the word out — any accusation of corruption or backdoor dealings between authority or business arouses a social outcry and unrest.
“Fortunately,” Lang Yan says, “we see the government responding more timely and more frequently to the public’s concerns.” She closes her lecture with, “Our Younger generation is going to transform this country while at the same time being transformed themselves.”
Return to Reinventing China through Synergistic Cultural Innovation – Part 1
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
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14 Comments | business, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese women, cultural differences, media, politics | Tagged: China, Facebook, Microblogging, Overseas Chinese, Sina Weibo, Sina.com, the power of microblogging in China, Twitter, Yang Lan | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse
In a recent post, Oprah Times Four in China, Yang Lan (born March 31, 1968—her father was a college professor and her mother an engineer) was quoted saying China’s younger generation was turning away from television and using the Internet for entertainment and information.
In fact, on Ted, where she lectured in July 2011, Yang Lang offered more insight into China’s next generation of young citizens and how they are changing China.
Forbes lists Yang Lan as one of China’s 100 richest worth $120 million. Forbes says she started out as a TV presenter for a popular variety show in 1990 and became one of China’s most recognized TV interviewers. Together with her husband, Wu Zheng, she launched a diversified company called Sun Television Cybernetworks; recently Sun took over Sina.com, China’s leading internet portal.
Yang Lan says China’s younger generation of citizens and leaders are urban, connected (via microblogs) and alert to injustice. The video embedded with Part Two is from her presentation on Ted. Although it is about 18 minutes long, it is worth the time if you want to learn where China is headed and what is powering the innovative cultural changes taking place.
Yang Lan says, “The traditional media [in China] is still heavily controlled by the government; social media offers an opening to let the steam out a little bit. But because you don’t have many other openings, the heat coming out of this opening is sometimes very strong, active and even violent.”
Continued on April 25, 2012 in Reinventing China through Synergistic Cultural Innovation – Part 2
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
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Leave a Comment » | business, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese women, economy, education, media, politics | Tagged: China, Forbes, microblogging in China, microblogs in China, Sina.com, Sun Television Cybernetworks, the power of microblogging in China, Wu Zheng, Yang Lan | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse
As a public school teacher in California (1975 – 2005), we had an annual form we had to fill out that counted the girls, boys, and ethnicities in each of our classes. In fact, the annual school report card that was posted online identifies the ethnic, racial demographics of each school so we know how many Caucasians, Latinos, Asians, Philippians, African Americans, etc. attend each school.
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In America, we are supposed to be color blind but our government makes that impossible.
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Many colleges and universities in the US have ethnic/racial quotas to make sure everyone is represented on campus. To achieve this, even when it may be illegal, universities lower the entrance requirements for African-Americans and Latinos while Asian-Americans have to score higher than even Caucasians to be accepted.
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I always felt this was wrong and that everyone no matter what his or her ethnic, racial, or sexual orientation or sex should compete on an equal playing field for entry into college. You know, merit.
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I Reblogged this post from MRCYRIAC.com because it makes a point.
The only thing that binds Asian Americans is the common fear of disappointing our parents.
Yesterday we took a look at the demographic rise of the Asian American community. And since I took the effort to examine what a Hispanic is a few weeks ago, I thought I’d just touch upon what it means to be Asian American.
I never liked the word Asian. I suppose all racial/ethnic categories are arbitrary and invented, but Asian takes the cake for the silliest. It always seemed absurd to lump together 60% of the world’s population into one group. And as far as geography goes, Europe and Asia are obviously part of the same landmass, so why this arbitrary boundary of the Ural mountains? What do folks from Saudi Arabia and Japan have in common? Malaysia and Mongolia?
While growing up, it was easy to see solidarity and understanding within the Black, White and Hispanic…
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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse
This is where I enjoy shopping when in Shanghai.
The Huxinting Teahouse has been around for awhile (several centuries–it was restored in 1784). This pavilion was turned into the tea house in 1855. Nice place to stop and have a cup of tea. Go early. It gets crowded.
The area in Shanghai around the Huxinting Teahouse is a good place to shop. Many small shops. Do not pay asking price. Be willing to bargain. Start low and meet in the middle. Don’t be too cheap either.
The following video gives you a musical tour of the sights of Shanghai’s Old District including Yu Yuan Garden and Huxinting Tea House.
For more about Shanghai, also see:
Shanghai
Shanghai’s History & Culture
Shanghai Huangpu River Tour
Eating Gourmet in Shanghai
Chinese Pavilion, Shanghai World Expo
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
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Note: This edited and revised post first appeared on February 20, 2010 (Note: the author took the photos but did not produce the video)
5 Comments | business, China, Chinese Culture, economy, environment, food, tourism | Tagged: Asia, Business and Economy, China, Huangpu River, Pudong, Shanghai, Shanghai's Huxinting Teahouse, tea | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse
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