Forums > Living in Kunming > Chinese can still shock me! Not sure how deeply critical any of us have really learned to be under the constant bombardment of advertising-speech that really got going only about a hundred years ago. I agree that the spokesman did appear genuinely puzzled, and I think that is a good example of the depth of confusion we are all in, to one degree or another, under the constant bombardment I've mentioned and its manipulation of what appear to us as commonsense cultural attitudes. Works for political discourse as well (obviously).
Consciousness-raising - i.e., bringing subconscious attitudes into greater clarity so that they can be dealt with in the light of a possibly enhanced reasoning ability - is difficult.
Boycott garbagethought, when you can see it, and the horse it rode in on. In the long run, a very, very big project. Wish I could say I am optimistic about successful long-term results in the time available...
Forums > Food & Drink > KFC versus Dico's Bad choice, but Dico's if you must make it, simply because it's a bit cheaper and the company has not yet reached Masters of the Universe status.
Forums > Food & Drink > Most delicious McDonald's Menu Item? The coffee, if you're in an area and can't find any anywhere else. Once in awhile I'm okay to nibble on the fries/chips. The pancakes for breakfast, once in awhile, because it's hard to find them elsewhere and I like pancakes once in awhile. But none of these items are particularly good.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Discrimination in ESL The discussion above is interesting, but I don't think any of it justifies the way the OP has apparently been treated.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Chinese can still shock me! The ad is indeed disgusting, and I have been avoiding Darlie toothpaste since I first became aware of it. It indeed does reflect attitudes embedded in Chinese culture (as well as in many other cultures), but cultural phenomena are not autonomous of economic, political and historical influence - and they do, and must, change. Economic interests are quite obviously embedded in the Darlie company's use of such cultural attitudes to promote their product - as I've indicated somewhere else, the goal of advertising is manipulation before it is communication (or, for God's sake, driven by any desire for the public good), and this manipulation is driven by the desire for competitive economic advantage.
How is this a good way to run a society, in China or anywhere?
Kunming educator finalist for Global Teacher Prize
发布者OK, Dazzer, such policies can go wrong, but then there's the issue of providing the best of everything for those with the most resources, including cash in the bank.
Chinese-owned factory attacked in Myanmar, straining bilateral ties
发布者@ Peter: I agree - 'lone happy confederate'? Maybe in Vientiane government circles; elsewhere, the average person doeswn't think about it, tho in Luang Namtha, for instance, I've heard some resentment from local people.
@ Trapeze: I agree - have always thought that occupation of a factory by workers does tend to indicate that they have a rather definite point of view.
Kunming police begin drive to register e-bikes citywide
发布者My appreciation of the advantages of tracking depends on my trust of the trackers. For ebikes in Kunming, I tend to trust the present effort because I think it will help locate stolen etc. ebikes - tracking of individuals can be, and is, done in more effective ways, and I don't particularly trust the goals of the trackers engaged in such. So I attempt to avoid them when it seems worthwhile to bother about it, but I don't have any serious worries about it in the current social environment. But then all environments are undergoing constant change.
Kunming police begin drive to register e-bikes citywide
发布者Granted that GPS can be used to track people on ebikes, but there are so many ways to be tracked these days (cellphones, license plates, street cameras, etc.), many of which are virtually unavoidable, that I'm not going to worry about a GPS on an ebike.
Yunnan coffee bean output grows 50 percent
发布者@ Dazzer: Not at the moment, but monocultures are a problem.
My point was just that I like the coffee.