Featured Post
Visitors are seemingly allowed to take photos everywhere in China now, including at such places as museums and the terra cotta warrior pits, so I have hundreds of technically illegal photos. Back when most tourists in China were foreigners, our tour groups would arrive at the terra cotta army exhibit, the local guide would [...]
Aqua City, Empty Gesture, Boot Camp, Cao Cao
Aqua City! One of the newest and best-funded shopping malls in Nanjing is called Aqua City (shuiyoucheng). In tribute to the canal culture of Nanjing and the entire Yangzi Delta, long waterways loop around the stores, connecting several ponds with fountains of colorful, dancing water. One of the fountains has a stage in the middle. The [...]
Where have all the good technical writers gone?
In the early days of Taiwan’s booming IT industry, not a small part of Pristine’s business came in the form of writing technical documentation and localizing that documentation into the major languages of the world. But as the industry matured, and cost-cutting became the mantra for squeezing out the competition, so went the budgets for [...]
Standards, but what’s the point?
Masters of IT hardware standards Taiwan may be, but this has not translated into noteworthy capabilities in the softer side of information technology. No where is this more true than in web development in Taiwan and especially web development standards as defined and mandated by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission. The RDEC, as it [...]
Food Signs in China
Food Signs - Gaoyang Restaurant in Yinchuan Food Signs - Pingliang 1 Food Signs - Pingliang 2 Food Signs - Pingliang 3 Food Signs - Pingliang 4 Food Signs - Pingliang 5 Food Signs - Pingliang 6 Food Signs - Yinchuan 1 Food Signs - Yinchuan 2 Food Signs - Yinchuan 3 Food Signs - Yinchuan 4
Ancient Rock Carvings Near Yinchuan, Ningxia Province
The first photo shows XiXia or Tangut script next to an older carving of some nomad’s deity; the script is sort of a Buddhist commentary on the earlier image. The XiXia script has to date between the early 11th century and 1227, when Genghis Khan’s army took vengeance on those duplicitous Tanguts. The script looks pretty [...]
Asides
- Although Lohas is the consumer-friendly soft-sell version of social and environmental responsible living, the Chinese 樂活 often completely ditches the pesky environmental consciousness usually attached to the Lohas mindset. Although dedicated Chinese Lohas/樂活 sites still attach some importance to green consumption and living, when referred to by more mainstream media, especially lifestyle product advertisers, the term 樂活 more often than not just connotes "good living" without any of the socially progressive baggage. With slow living having established the similar conceptual construct of 慢活, 樂活 was ripe for the 'if it feels good do it" kind of marketing. Come to think of it, that's kind of happened with Lohas as well... #
Welcome to Pristine Soapbox
This is where Pristine people sound off on the cool, quirky, frustrating, and inspirational world around us from a distinctly cultural and linguistic perspective.
Recent Posts
Categories
Recent Comments