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Monthly Archives April 2009

Sharpen your knives

When an April Sunday morning condenses in humidity that makes the manhole covers perspire, and the overcast sky smothers Beijing’s cacophony of car horns and screeching brakes, the apartment courtyard can take on an ethereal quality, floating in the eye of the storm awaiting the release of morning classes and the beginning of lunchtime traffic. [...]

Posted 19 April 2009 † syz § street vendors ‡ Comments (9) °

Chickens and Loogies

On knowing what’s normal; a wán v. wánr (玩 / 玩儿) showdown; defining a Beijinger

Picture a Shàngdì spring day of 23° (73° for you folks back in Minneapolis) with a sky so blue even the Ministry of Environmental Protection can give Beijing a reasonably believable API of 53 . The apartment koi ponds brim with [...]

Posted 17 April 2009 † syz § beijing-r § běijīnghuà § wàidìrén § érhuàyīn ‡ Comments (12) °

Put back in place

On continuity in an age of fragmentation — lessons from YU

Right-sizing through consolidation seems to be a global trend. GM, for example, after sucking at the government teat a little too hard, is being asked to go from, well, the Chevy Suburban to the Tata Nano of the American car industry.
The Beijing Sounds Studios cannot [...]

Posted 05 April 2009 † syz § Yuèmǔ U. § beijing-r § érhuàyīn ‡ Comments (2) °