And that is what this is, don’t you know. It’s a collection of videos that I picked up out of Chinese media. I have highlighted certain parts of the videos for your attention and I comment on it. It’s not really a complete investigation into Chinese society, but rather snapshots of what exists today. And if you look carefully you will be far better served to see it for what it is, instead of the heavily promoted narrative that China is bad.

I like to think that these videos are fun. They are not made by the Chinese Government as part of a pro-propaganda campaign as the folk on Alex Jones claim. It’s just average folk posting videos. Much like average folk in America have been using Tiktok. Same thing, more or less.

Please click on the picture to watch the movie. It will open up in a separate tab.

Small Business Opportunities

When I was a young boy in Bridgeport, CT I had a “girlfriend: all of 5 years old. She was much older than the 4.5 years old boy-of-the-world that I was growing up to become. Anyways, in our neighborhood, it tended to be lower middle class and the time frame was the early 1960’s.

Everyone had a side business that they were running out of their basements. Our neighbor had rabbits in cages that they performed experiments upon for the United States government. And there were others who operated small stores out of their living rooms. My “girl friend” had a father that made rock sugar candy and other elements out of big 55 gallon drums in their basement.

We used to sneak down and get a string or two out of the big barrels and chew on them as we went off adventuring as part of our childhood.

You really don’t see that much any more. Few people try to operate their own businesses out of their residences for money. It is too expensive, not just in the regulations and OSHA requirements, but the IRS, the DHS, and just about everyone else will have a say at to what you are doing. And if you break one of the millions of unspecified laws, you can be guaranteed a trip to jail, if not prison.

Americans tend to no longer have self-employed businesses out of their homes any more.

But this is not the case in China.

For the ladies trying to get started in their own clothing line…

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To the guys who want to make things out of steel, and bars…

Most Westerners will probably relate to this story…

But the Chinese think small and then work their way up. Westerners like to think big and try to sustain it no matter what.

Here’s an interesting story about the “high life” that Westerners have become accustomed to within China, while the rest of the Chinese nation toils on a mere few dollars a day.

From Frans… (and NOTHING having to do with Metallicman)…

This is a story I have to share, it is sitting in my mind for too long.
In  this story, I do not mention the real names of the people involved.  Instead, I use either initials or an alias. People, familiar with this  story will obviously easily recognize who's who.  Please don’t share  this story with others.
  
From 2009 to 2012 I worked for a small WOFE, owned by a Canadian businessman; let's call him "Bill G."

We had a manufacturing plant in the Southern suburbs of Shanghai and a luxurious headquarter in Jingan district. 

Bill  and I were the only foreigners, working in that company, making medical  devices for clients in various European countries. We didn't had  Chinese or American clients. 

Bill had earned some money in Saudi Arabia and moved to China in 2005 to establish the new company. 

Bill  had the appearance, but not at all the personality of Leonard Cohen.  Bill was by all means a special guy. He was irascible and very  short-tempered. Several times per week, he was loudly scolding Vivien,  his private secretary or other Chinese people of the middle-management:  the purchase manager, finance manager, quality manager, production  manager and very often the HR manager. (She was loudly crying, each time  he scolded her)
 
I was the Engineering Manager, and to be  honest, Bill paid me very well. I was also often acting as the General  Manager when Bill "disappeared". That happened quite often and nobody,  not even his ex-wife or his son in Canada knew where he was or why he  was away. 
 
One day, after I submitted my expense note from  a business trip to Hong Kong, he blustered to my office and started an  abuse tirade to me. I shouldn't have booked a business class ticket and  stayed in 5 star hotels. "do you think you're working for MNC here ?" he  shouted. (Yes, I have worked 15 years for MNC before and I was used to  business class flight tickets and 5 star hotels). During his tirade, I  packed my laptop and other belongings and called a taxi to leave. When  he noted that, he asked what I was doing.  I explained him that I no  longer wanted to work for him. He returned to his office but when the  taxi was there, he came to me to excuse him. He promised never to do  that again and I stayed. 

That was only 3 weeks after I worked for Bill G.  We later had many other collisions. 

One  day, when we were traveling in the company car (both with our private  secretary) to potential new suppliers in Ningbo,  we got another  explosion. He wanted to buy an old fashioned, yet solid, cheap, but  highly unsafe cutting press, while I wanted a much more automatic,  modern machine with all kinds of safety protection screens and devices. I  threatened him, saying that in case he would buy the unsafe machine, I  would write an email to him with cc to the local police station,  explaining that he, not me, will go to jail in case of a work  accident.   After another abuse tirade, he agreed to buy the machine I  proposed. 
 
He was terribly envious on me because I could  speak Chinese with everybody in the company and he, in spite of all his  efforts, couldn't. He rented a private teacher to learn Chinese, but he  didn't had the perseverance to learn to speak some sentences. Every day,  at the back seat of the company car, he used his carton cards with  Chinese characters and their meaning. I told him he shouldn't learn  hànzì characters but instead learn pinyin and speak Chinese. But he  didn't accepted my recommendation because his Chinese private teacher  was full of the beauty and cultural significance of hànzì characters. 

One  day, he said to me (probably out of envy) that I shouldn't "lower  myself" by speaking Chinese to the people in the factory !  He also once  said to Mr. Zhao, the production manager: "I'm the company president, I  expect everybody to speak proper English with me". 
 
From  time to time, he blustered to the workshop, climbed on a pedestal (a  couple of palettes) and started shouting to the poor assembly workers,  almost all very young Chinese girls who came from the countryside to  Shanghai and who didn't understand one single word of his tirade in  English. 
 
One day, he came to my office and sat down in a  corner, silently.  When I asked him what was wrong, he explained that he  finally realized that there was something wrong with his attitude. He  had decided to go to Tibet for 3 weeks and convert to Buddhism there.  When he came back, he was indeed much calmer and controlled, but after a  while, his tantrums returned, albeit less often. So then he registered  for yoga classes. With a private teacher, every evening one hour. It  indeed helped a bit. 
 
At the end of 2011, his daughter  came over to Shanghai to study Chinese language at Shanghai Normal  University. She went back to Canada one year later. 
 
At  the Chinese New Year dinner (and the KTV afterwards), Bill didn't knew  well how to behave. Sometimes, I or Lina (the HR Manager) had to take  the lead. It was an act, not a spontaneous party. 

One day, Bill  invited a potential new customer from the USA for a factory visit. They  came over with 3 people; none of them had ever been to China before.  During the dinner in a famous, very Chinese restaurant, one of the three  pushed his chair away from the table and refused to touch the food. He  was "afraid to be poisoned". Really !
 
Bill was living in a  big luxury apartment in Huangpu district. With an attached small  apartment for his Ayi. When I told him that opposite to his compound,  there was the biggest escort service company of the globe, he acted as  if he didn't knew. There indeed were several thousands of girls (and  boys) working there and luxury cars were driving in and out the basement  day and night. But he didn’t knew it. 
 
He didn't trust  people, he was unable to build a stable relationship with Chinese  people.  "All Chinese are cheaters" he often said. No wonder he was in  constant conflict with staff, suppliers and our European customers.   Vivien, his Chinese private secretary, acted to the outside world as if  she supported Bill unconditionally.  

One day, when he once again  messed up the whole factory, the workers threatened to strike. I called  his brother (let's call him Rob G.) back in Canada in an attempt to  persuade Bill to be more reasonable. Some days later, Rob came over and  stayed in China for a while. He finally gave up his job as policeman to  act as a handyman and go-between between Bill and the production staff.  By the way: Rob was very different from Bill. He was a man of the world,  although he had a very particular language with a lot of spicy words.  He was living in a house in the famous Thames town in Songjiang, far  away from his brother. 
 
One day, we got an official letter  from the local government, announcing that, because of the hot weather  (and everybody in Shanghai switching on their air conditioners), the  whole industrial park would be switched off from the electricity grid  for two weeks. When Bill was in utter panic, preparing an email for our  clients to announce the shut down, I was able to calm him down. And went  to the other factory owners in the industrial area. In a meeting that  afternoon, we decided to send a  Chinese factory boss to someone of the  local government to persuade them to not switch us off. The hongbao  (small fee) that we collected from each of the 12 owners was very  convincing for the guy from the government. We were not switched off  from the grid. 
 
To release his stress, Bill decided to go  to a Jazz club every Saturday night. He paid for a private table, right  in front of the Jazz orchestra and invited Vivien, his Chinese private  secretary (she was happily married to a chief constable) and his  daughter (when she was in Shanghai). He didn't had real friends. I, as a  Jazz music addict, went to that same club for years, usually sitting in  a more dark corner in the back. Every time, he invited me  enthusiastically at his table but I often declined as I didn't wanted to  expose my friends to his behaviour. 
 
Because of a new EU  commission regulation, we got in trouble with the sales one of our core  products in Europe. And consequently Bill's company came in financial  trouble. Before, I had tirelessly tried to convince Bill to increase the  sales price of our products. As I had, much more than him, excellent  contacts with our clients, I knew that they would be prepared to pay a  bit more for our services. But he didn't listen to me. Instead, he  started to cheat both our suppliers and customers. He didn't pay  suppliers, some of them entirely dependent on our products. He borrowed  money from our main customer and never paid it back. 

I told him that he should fire me because the company could no longer bear the cost of my salary. But he didn't. 

Sometime  later, when I returned from a trip home (and to one of the customers),  he asked for a private meeting in a restaurant near to my home in  Shanghai. There, the high word came out. Right before, I told him I knew  why we were there. During my trip to Europe, the day before I returned,  he had secretly fired my tooling manager, quality engineer and my  private secretary.
 
I still today have excellent contacts  with all the former people of that company. Back in 2017, Mr. Zhao, the  production manager, who also had taken over my tasks, called me to  inform me that Bill once again disappeared. Two days later, when the  salaries to the (remaining) workers had to be paid, Bill had blocked all  bank accounts. I recommended Mr. Zhao to close the factory. 
Today,  Bill is still without a trace. Even his ex-wife, his son, daughter or  his brother don't know where he is. He's certainly not in China anymore.  Some people suspect that he is living in hiding in Venezuela.
 
When  I was living in Suzhou and went to that Jazz club in Shanghai, I met  there by big coincidence Vivien, Bill's ex private secretary. She was  drunk and hooking up with an older American guy, something I haven’t  seen her doing before. 

When I said to her "Hi Vivien, how are you  doing ?" she replied: "Hi Frans, you're looking well, but I'm no longer  Vivien, I’m Christine now".  I was speechless. 
 
Last  year, Mr Zhao started a brand new company in Songjiang from scratch. He  has gradually taken over the manufacturing of some of the products we  made before. He has the full confidence of our former clients and  suppliers. When I was there last year, he had only five people working  for him but the future of his new company looks bright.  

-Bill Brockenblock 

Ah.

But enough of that. China has changed. It’s a new world out there and the high powered days of living well inside of China are merging to a new reality.

Relationships

This world is filled with all sorts of people. But humans are humans, men are men and women are women. It’s how we interact with each other that is important.

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That’s the ol’ softie in me. Don’t you know.

Incidentally, the restaurant that they are both working in is a “Hot pot” restaurant. Basically it is a big pot of soup that you dip meats and vegetables into. Much like a Fondue. However, you also then dip it into sauces after you eat it, and you get to make your own sauces. It’s all very delicious. In the background we see a guy spinning what looks like pizza dough. Nope, that is how you make noodles in China. You make it by hand and that is what he is doing.

Now, you all might be confused, but this is taking place in a restaurant where they both apparently work, which is something that you can see by the aprons that they are wearing. My guess is that this is the very famous restaurant chain; Hai De Lao.

haidilao
https://www.haidilao.com/en/index/index.html

The Haidilao  brand was founded in 1994 in Jianyang, Sichuan. Since 1999, it has  gradually opened up markets in Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Beijing. In 2015,  our restaurant opened up in Taiwan was, and 10 stores have been opened in Taiwan by now. In 2017, our restaurant opened up in Hong Kong and opened two stores by now.

.

Yeah.

Hotpot. Great in the colder weather. As it tends to steam up my glasses. LOL.

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A “Brick House”

In America we refer to a strong stout woman as being built well. Or as we say “built like a brick house”. You can find these women all over the world. Not just in the United States, but in China as well. Here is a woman that I would consider a “Brick House”.

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Speaking of relationships, here’s some more girls.

Girls that resemble friends of mine

Here are some girls that resemble some of my friends that I have inside of China. As you can well guess they are nice and really sweet. They are smart too, and really interesting. Each one is like a book… full of stories and adventures.

Many I have met in the KTV’s, but also others that I have met in my day-to-day activities. All are really nice, and they are absolutely great conversationalists.

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This next girl reminds me a lot of a friend that I met at my last KTV trip. She was a lot of fun, but unfortunately I was drinking fake VSOP and that really took away from the full enjoyment of the evening. Word to the wise, when the alcohol is in question, don’t drink it. Buy your own. Bring your own, or stick to beer.

Contemporary versions of Chinese pop

Here’s a couple of contemporaneous renditions of a very popular Chinese pop song by Jay Chou. The song itself is around ten years old, but the singers breathe new life into it, and it’s all very lovely. This is the kind of music that people sing when they go to KTV’s and get drunk and belt out a song or two.

The name of the song is 千里之外.

But the new versions will not make any sense, or give you an appreciation for what is going on unless you watch the original music video. And that is why I have embedded it here…

千里之外 the original MV

Please click and watch this cute four minute mini-drama.

It’s in *.mkv format.

MKV files are actually multimedia container formats. An MKV container can incorporate audio, video, and subtitles into a single file—even if those elements use different types of encoding. For example, you could have a MKV file that contains H.264 video and something like MP3 or AAC for audio.

-What Is an MKV File and How Do You Play Them?

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The video is in the MKV format, which should be read by both windows and Microsoft systems. However, if you are unable to view the video, you can access it here…

https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzgzMDIxNTUyMA==.html

The song is about life, relationships, and taking opportunity even at the cost of love. Ouch!

Oh. You have to let those your love move on with their lives…

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In the video is a story about a young boy and girl.

The boy is just a handyman, but the girl is a singer and she is destined for great things. She gets an opportunity to become a great singer, but she won’t leave the boy. She loves him, don’t you know. And she wants to day with him. No matter what.

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And then one day, her big break happens. A big important man comes to her and offer her an opportunity of a lifetime. It’s an opportunity that you just do not turn down. It is something you just don’t say no to.

And she says no.

But the boy loves her.

He can’t allow her to waste her life with him.

So he tells her to go. He forces her to go. He grabs the contract and says “yes” before she even knows what’s happening.

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Yes, and she leaves. Three years later, she returns. Rich and famous. But the boy is there. Just the same old job, making ends meet. And the song has a refrain about your loved ones moving on to bigger and better things, while you are left behind…

The Lyrics to 千里之外

Jay Chou – 千里之外 (Far Away)

Chinese Lyrics

"Far Away (千里之外)"
 (feat. Fei Yu-Ching)
 
 屋簷如懸崖風鈴如滄海我等燕歸來
 時間被安排演一場意外你悄然走開
 故事在城外濃霧散不開看不清對白
 你聽不出來風聲不存在是我在感慨
 夢醒來是誰在窗台把結局打開
 那薄如蟬翼的未來禁不起誰來拆
 
 我送你離開千里之外你無聲黑白
 沉默年代或許不該太遙遠的相愛
 我送你離開天涯之外你是否還在
 琴聲何來生死難猜用一生去等待
 
 聞淚聲入林尋梨花白直得一行青苔
 天在山之外雨落花台我兩鬢斑白
 聞淚聲入林尋梨花白直得一行青苔
 天在山之外雨落花台我等你來
 
 一身琉璃白透明著塵埃你無暇的愛
 你從雨中來詩化了悲哀我淋濕現在
 芙蓉水面採船行影猶在你卻不回來
 被歲月覆蓋你說的花開過去成空白
 夢醒來是誰在窗台把結局打開
 那薄如蟬翼的未來禁不起誰來拆
 
 我送你離開千里之外你無聲黑白
 沉默年代或許不該太遙遠的相愛
 我送你離開天涯之外你是否還在
 琴聲何來生死難猜用一生
 我送你離開千里之外你無聲黑白
 沉默年代或許不該太遙遠的相愛
 我送你離開天涯之外你是否還在
 琴聲何來生死難猜用一生去等待 

English Lyrics

Beyond A Thousand Miles (Faraway)
           
The roof is like a cliff ,the wind chimes are like the blue sea I wait for the swallow to return
 The time has been arranged to act out an accident you quietly leave
 The story is outside the city,the heavy fog won't disperse,can't see the dialogue clearly
 You cannot tell by listening the sound of the wind doesn't exist,it is me who is sighing with regret
 I waken from the dream ,Who is at the windowsill opening the ending?
 That future which is as thin as a cicada's wings cannot withstand being torn apart by whom
 
I send you away beyond a thousand miles,you are silent, black and white
 The silent era perhaps it shouldn't have been,the too distant love
 I send you away Beyond the end of the sky,are you still there?
 Where is the sound of the piano coming from? It's hard to predict life and death I use all my life To wait
 
I hear sounds of tears so I enter the woods searching for the white pear flower I only get a row of moss
 The sky is beyond the mountains,the rain falls down on the flower stands, I'm grey at the temples
 I hear sounds of tears so I enter the woods,searching for the white pear flower I only get a row of moss
 The sky is beyond the mountains,the rain falls down on the flower stands I wait for you to come
 
Glazed white all over you,transparent like dust your flawless love
 From the rain you come,the poem becomes sorrowful I'm drenched now
 
Pick up the lotus from the water surface,it's as if the shadows of the boat sailing are still there,yet you don't come back
 Covered by the years,the flower you spoke of blossomed,the past becomes blank
 
I waken from the dream,Who is at the windowsill opening the ending?
 That future which is as thin as a cicada's wings,
 cannot withstand being torn apart by whom
 
I send you away beyond a thousand miles,you are silent, black and  white,the silent era,perhaps it shouldn't have been,the too distant love
 
I send you away beyond the end of the sky,are you still there? Where is  the sound of the piano coming from? It's hard to predict life and death I  use all my life
 
I send you away,beyond a thousand miles,you are silent, black and  white,the silent era,perhaps it shouldn't have been,the too distant love
 
I send you away,beyond the end of the sky

 Are you still there?
 Where is the sound of the piano coming from?
 It's hard to predict life and death
 I use all my life To wait

https://lyricstranslate.com

The remakes of 千里之外 (Far Away)

The first “remake”…

In this, we have a British talent show. Very similar to “America’s Got Talent”. And it takes place in the UK as you can tell by the judges and the musicians. Of course, it is being judged by both British folk and by Chinese folk.

I think that this young Chinese lass has great potential and an outstanding voice. And when she hits those high notes, I just get goosebumps. It’s pretty exceptional, and a real surprise to the song. A real twist. I’ll tell you what.

The first remake… sung by a lady named 阿兰.

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And the “classic version”…

And the classic version that everyone and their grandmother sings to in the KTV. When you watch the other “judges” and the audience look up to the ceiling, open palm their hands, and have that “far away” look in their eyes, it is this guy that they are emulating…

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And it is indeed grand.

The song sung in Hong Kong

Here’s another fellow in Hong Kong. This guy really belts this song out. Check it out. It’s pretty much an attention grabber. It’s two singers 林峯、and 王祖蓝 and they both sing 千里之外.

Now for the BEST version

This is the BEST version, and I just love it. In fact, I think that I like it better than the original, or the KTV versions. It just stands on it’s own. I think that female singer just really makes this version so very, very special.

She is BREATHTAKING.

If you want to download the next file directly click on this button. It is one of my most favorite renditions.

If you don’t, then no problem. Just click on the picture below.

You will also notice the show and the audience. This is all China. And as stupid and crazy as the show appears, this is the normal kind of thing inside of China. With those strange cartoon sounds, the text bubbles that float in the air, and the really strange dressed television hosts. Yup. It’s all China.

Hey!

This gal is a stunner!

Yes. She is breathtaking. I rarely say this about a woman, but in this case, her beauty, her confidence, and her stance is just… well, astounding… and breathtaking.

I just love her strong confidence, and womanly charm.

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Are you tired of this song yet?

I think that I have beaten this dead horse long enough. LOL. I guess that none of the neocons in the Military-Industrial Beltway in Washington DC has ever heard of this song, could care less about the Chinese people and their society, and just want to destroy things so that they can get a new addition to their third mansion.

But that is just my opinion.

Comparisons

We need to compare China with America for some real educational benefit. Let’s take a glimpse at some American Country and Western music…

…and some urban music.

One of my personal favorites… (*.mkv format) is Tim McGraw singing about his plans to get out of the rat-race and get down to a more stable and slower pace of life. I really enjoy this song and what it represents to me. (On a personal basis.)

Music of the American Countryside…

Jen, this video is for you. 

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Music of the American Urban Areas…

This is pretty typical. If not threatening to steal, kill, rape or murder, the gals sing about how tough and strong they are and how invincible their “booty” is.

“It’s a very sassy song, very kind of woman empowerment,” Lopez said in a behind-the-scenes video posted to her YouTube page. “[It’s] kind of giving you taste of what you give out, letting guys know that we’re not going to take any junk."

-Jennifer Lopez flashes her butt in risqué new music video

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I have my own opinions about all this. I guess that music represents the society that it originates from. But I am the outlier.

I am a minority opinion.

The Internet rages on and on about this last video…

Sometimes, a song is so steamy, the only logical next  step is a super-sexy music video. For that, we can thank trailblazers  like Prince and Madonna, who established the right to show a little skin  in music videos like "Kiss" and "Express Yourself." 

MTV deserves its  share of credit—can anybody ever forget their first time watching  t.A.T.u.'s music video for "All The Things She Said"?—but then YouTube  blew up, and suddenly you could watch any steamy music video any time you wanted.  

It became a sort of guilty pleasure, listening to a great song while  watching a hot person do hot-person things like make out with someone  equally good-looking, move their hips like no one was watching, and wear  an outfit so tight you  wonder how they got it on in the first place. 

You could spend hours  watching gorgeous celebrities pour suspiciously watery milk on their  Spandex-bound bodies (we still love you, Fergie!). And, if we're being  honest, we have spent hours watching that (and we still love you, Fergie). 

If I had a choice between the strong woman singing the Chinese song, or J-Lo singing about her empowered butt, I would choose the Chinese Lady (金志文 and 白雪). Not the American gutter trash.

But that is just me.

Chinese Gals

Now, after watching J-Lo promote her booty I have to ask myself if this is what America has become?

And maybe I’m a “little out of it” being inside of China.

Maybe the comment that I have become too distant from what America stands for. Maybe I am not “with it”. That I need to get more in tune with what America represents…

…”democracy”…

Just ask the “Doctor of Democracy” himself, El Bush-Bo’ Limbaugh.

But I don’t stand shoulder to shoulder with the evil psychopaths in Washington DC. I stand with the founders of the United States who believed that the United States must stay a Republic. And that once a “democracy” it will turn into an oligarchy, and in short order, a military empire.

They were right, by the way.

But to be honest, if America stand for people like Mike Pompeo and big booty, I don’t know if I really want to be part of that reality. It’s uh…”yucky” don’t you know.

Actually.

So anyways, here’s a sampling of the chicks that surround me in China. And no, they are not all big, black and stacked with enormous “booty”. They are just average and come in different sizes and shapes, just like they are supposed to. And I am just fine with that. Short, plump, big, thin, robust, or petite. I love them all.

For instance, here’s a tall thin skinny girl…

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I like her, she’s a cutie.

Next up is a “village girl”. We would call her “corn fed” back in rural Pennsylvania. We see her dancing about with her hat, and her arm protectors. Ah. It’s so China.

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Common Chicks

Moving on, let’s check out this chick. She is really a rather common archetype and is the kind of girl that you would meet time and time again in all the adult venues and establishments. She’s cheerful, fun and playful.

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I know, I know, you all want to see more than just pretty girls. Well, I’m going to get on to it. I promise.

This next girl is dancing in a restaurant.

Most restaurants in China have private dining rooms. You just book the room, and you close the door and you eat in peace. It’s everywhere, and depending on the establishment, you can have a bathroom, a television, a tea set up, and a Majong table. You just have to go to the right restaurant, and the cost for the room isn’t all that expensive either. So most people tend to use the rooms than to sit in a big open eating area like you have to endure in the United States.

Check it out…

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Now, I would like to continue with (yet) another girl.

I would say that she is pretty typical. And she really is. I can go to just about any public area and point out tens of girls that look just like her. And see, not all girls in China are all that busty. So don’t get confused. I think she is cute and having fun, and it is that sunny disposition that I just love and can eat up.

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Maybe I should have called this post learning about China by looking at pretty girls part 75, eh?

Parking Garages

I’ve covered this before, but the parking garages in China are beautiful, clean, well-lit, and attractive. And I have mentioned it before, it sure is a drastic contrast to the dungeon-like dark, dingy, dirty, cesspools that Americans use to part their cars in.

Here we have a typical chick dancing inside one of the parking garages that are everywhere.

At a train station

Have any of you guys gone to what constitutes American trains lately? Yeah. I’m talking about Amtrak. And yeah, it’s pretty awful. All the train-stations combine the worst elements of Detroit and the US Post Office. Well… not all of them are like this. Some are nice. Especially the ones near the large Urban Areas.

.

Well, I think that American rail is under utilized because of the cultural differences between the USA and China. I have to ask the reader, just how often do you and your friends and family ride American rail?

Well, with the massive network of High Speed Trains in China, The rail is used extensively. It is cheap, clean, well taken cared for, and is often preferable to flying in aircraft. The Chinese rail network is vast.

Here is a cute chick inside a Chinese rail terminal. Yeah, they all (stations that is) kind of look like this, more or less…

In a grocery Store

Here we have a chick dancing inside a small town supermarket. I do like these places and the prices are truly affordable. But don’t expect to get high grade Western food there.

Road Construction

When I lived in PA, that’s Pennsylvania for all you’se guys who aren’t aware of the Pennsylvania slang, the local department of transportation was constantly “fixing” the roads. You would think that the roads would last more than a few months, but then again, the very next season, more millions of dollars needed to be dished out to pay for road construction.

The potholes in PA are a big long-time, on-going, joke.

They’ll never get fixed. It’s just a big ol’ slush fund for the wealthy to siphon money from Pennsylvania taxpayers. But, anyways, I well remember one summer when it too two entire seasons lay down a new bridge. That’s five to six months. A real slow pace, and the disruption of our lives in the local community was horrific.

That’s what happens when you have a nation run by corrupt bankers.

China is a nation of engineers, builders and designers. And it shows. It’s not just two complete 6000 bed, and 10,000 bed hospitals going up in two weeks like what happened in March 2020. It’s everything.

Here’s a bridge going up in one day.

China DOES NOT PLAY.

Chinese Idea of Beauty

It all has to do with the shape of the face. Sure there are numerous characteristics that might mitigate the value of a person’s beauty. However, for the most part, if you are clean, have a good complexion, are pleasant, and have an oval face with strong thick black hair, you will pretty much be considered attractive.

I would say that this next chick has a face that well-represents the Chinese idea of beauty.

Average Life

Here’s just two girls going for a walk in the city.

It’s very common, and this is what it is like. It shouldn’t matter one way or the other, but the Mike Pompeo narrative is that the XinJiang Muslims are terribly repressed within China. That the Chinese people are starving, and hungering for “freedom^TM” and “democracy^TM” and they can’t wait for the great American military to invade and rescue them!

And the lonely Muslim women are forced to sleep with government officials…!

China forces Uyghur Muslim women to sleep with govt …
https://www.opindia.com/2019/11/china-uyghur...

Nov 08, 2019 · Han Males are sleeping on the same bed as Uyghur Muslim women in China whose male family members, often husbands, are locked up in ‘reeducation camps’ in conformity with a diktat by the Chinese regime, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported last week. The information comes from government officials who spoke to them on the condition of anonymity.

Really?

You must be brain dead to believe this propagandized bullshit.

.

Oh, by the way. These videos are from Tiktok and WeChat. Both of which was banned by Trump / Pompeo. So if you watch them you are risking a life in prison for …

…I don’t know.

The official reason is “national security”, but when the DOJ asked to prove it the administration came up empty handed. Never the less, if you are an American, you’d better slam your computer shut, and erase everything before a NSA or DHS SWAT team breaks down your door and takes you off for questioning….

Speaking of an average life, here’s two chicks running in Chinese park in the dead of winter.

Improvements to selfies

Many Chinese women like to improve their pictures by adding special effect and other colorful enhancements. I don’t really like them, but then again, I am from the “old school”. I guess to “each their own”…

• What Selfies in America vs. China Can Tell Us About Beauty …
• China’s Selfie Obsession | The New Yorker
• Selfies from Xinjiang workers show real stories
• China’s selfie culture: youth obsessed with the power of …
• A great risk – Dangerous selfies – CBS News

.

Here’s an article out of the United States in Yahoo! that disagrees with me.

They say that the Chinese ideal is thin with big eyes. Yet they don’s provide any pictures of this ideal, and I can tell you that it is not something found in China. But you can read their opinions yourself here…

Nowhere is this difference more obvious than on Chinese social media, where you won’t find any of the contouring, lip-lining or thighbrows that fill Instagram feeds in the United States. In China, it’s all pale skin, big eyes and rosebud lips.

The fair-skinned standard: There are overlaps in how each  nationality shoots its self-portraits: Chinese girls take photos at an  angle to slim their faces, just like selfie queen Kim Kardashian West recommends.  Chinese women are also influenced not only by their own country’s  ideals but also those of neighboring East Asian countries like Japan and  South Korea, all of which favor slim figures and youthful,  innocent-looking beauty.

Combined with imported Western beauty  ideals like large breasts, these influences have fused to create a very  definite Chinese physical ideal with little wiggle room for women who  fail to meet the standard.

“Chinese beauty ideals basically come  from the media: TV shows, celebrities. A lot of Chinese beauty ideals  are quite Western,” Chinese culture expert Janny Chyn, who provides  cultural immersion tours through her company Shanghai Pathways, told Mic. “The main difference is that we like white skin.”

Many women in China strive to be baifumei: pale,  rich and beautiful (with a heavy emphasis on pale). The ultimate  baifumei is actress Fan Bingbing, adored and emulated for her  translucent white skin, large eyes and “melon seed” (oval-shaped) face.

“There is a strong standard of beauty in China, and it requires you to  be as white as possible, with big eyes,” Thibaud André, consultant at Daxue Consulting in Beijing, told Mic.

Cute wins out over sexy: Flick through Instagram in the U.S. and you’ll likely see a lot of flesh, especially in the summer. Everybody from Kardashian West to Drake  has been known to get a little thirsty on social media. Not so on  Chinese social networks like Weibo, where big eyes, bunny ears and cute  slogans abound. And it’s not just among teenagers.

“The big  difference is that we want to be cute. You will see women pretending to  be teenagers when they are grown-ups,” said Shanghai Pathways' Chyn. 
 
“Pretending to be cute is never offensive. It’s more controversial to be  sexy. If you’re cute, no one can disapprove.”

One Chinese guide to taking selfies says “innocent and cute”  photos will always prove the most popular and are also easy to take.  That means less vamping and less makeup aimed at overt sexiness. While  girls all over the Western world might have been sucking on bottle caps  last year to get Kylie Jenner’s lips, women in China are more likely to underplay this feature, using lighter or coral lipsticks.

This  desire to be cute also manifests itself in big, puffed-out hamster  cheeks, a sweeter alternative to the more overtly seductive “duckface.”

When skinny trumps curves: There’s no denying that Americans feel huge pressure to be skinny, what with 20 million American women  experiencing a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in  their lives. Social media plays its part in promoting skinniness,  glorifying thigh gaps and spreading "fitspo“ slogans. But the recent movement  to embrace plus sizes, along with the popularity of curvier celebrities  like Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and the Kardashian crew, has brought a bit  more variety to social media that makes space for curves. (See: ”belfies.“)

Chinese  social media, on the other hand, sees the glorification of skinniness  above all else. This has led to a number of selfie trends, including one  challenge  to twist your arm behind your back to touch your belly button and  another to stack coins on your collarbone to demonstrate thinness.

”[Actress]  Angelababy represents the beauty standard right now, super slim,“ said  Daxue Consulting’s André. "All over Weibo, Chinese women are posting  pictures showing how slim and how white they are. That’s definitely a  trend.”
And while America isn’t perfect — a curvy body is still  more celebrated when it includes a slim waist — there is at least some  diversity in the types of bodies deemed attractive.

“Americans  prefer a fit body, a fit figure. It doesn’t need to be skinny, it  doesn’t need to be chubby but it needs to be fit and healthy looking… In  China I only hear, ‘Girls should have really thin bodies,’” said one  participant in an Asian Beauty Secrets video about American vs. Chinese beauty standards.

Who needs makeup when you can digitally edit your selfies? Selfie trends like contouring and strobing have changed what products many American women have in their makeup bags, as we prioritize looking “camera ready.”

Not  so in China. Although the cosmetics market is growing, women there  still wear far less makeup than girls in the states, according to André.  There’s little need for special selfie-ready makeup when you can use  apps to change what you look like instead.

“Our selfies are very  high-tech,” Chyn said. The functions on Photoshop-like apps lay users’  beauty desires bare: The most popular Chinese beauty app, Meitu Xiuxiu,  allows you to whiten your skin, slim your face and make your eyes  impossibly huge. By contrast, Facetune, an app used by Tyra Banks, focuses on whitening your teeth, smoothing out skin and applying more makeup.

Understanding  the pressures women elsewhere face might be just the thing to make us  examine where our own beauty ideals come from. Maybe we’ll even put down  the bronzer, delete the Photoshop app and face the world as we really  are. Just maybe.

Ahhhh

The “news” out of America is about 80% bullshit, 10% truth, and 10% out of the “outer limits”.

• Armpit Selfies Gain Popularity In China

I have yet to find even ONE armpit selfie in China, and I have been looking!

• Goths in China are posting selfies as a form of protest …

This reminds me of an event while I was in university. Friday was designated as “wear jeans if you agree with LGBT rights” day. Well, since I and about 90% of everyone else in the university ONLY had jeans, we were left with two options; [1] wear the jeans or [2] stay home and miss class. Most, like myself, came to class wearing jeans.

It had nothing to do with anything else.

I think that most Chinese Goth folk are taking selfies because they are human, and it’s a thing that everyone is doing. Not that they are trying to “protest” the “evil communist tyrants”. Or whatever the Mike Pompeo narrative is today.

Gyms in China

Yup. China has gyms and the rates are pretty reasonable. The only thing that I do not like is that they tend not to be air conditioned. That is because the Chinese believe that you need to sweat to get rid of the bad chi (energy) inside of you.

While people are realizing the importance of sport for health and better  appearance, fitness industry is also booming in China in recent years.  More and more people become members of fitness studios  and the fitness apps are being used everywhere. 

With the technology  development and the changing lifestyle of consumers, the fitness  industry also needs to work on new concepts to adjust people’s needs for  fitness in the future. Fitness industry in China was facing transformation. 

Instead of working  out in gyms and fitness studios, nowadays fitness can take place  everywhere. Due to the high penetration rate of smartphones in China, fitness apps are well used  by fitness enthusiasts. People can easily get fitness tips, find  fitness studios and get connected with other fitness enthusiasts and  professional trainers with apps in their smartphones. 

According to rough estimation, there were nearly 100,000 fitness studios  in China. Most of them were opened in bigger cities.  Beijing and Shanghai are the Chinese cities with the biggest market for  fitness studios. 

Fitness studios with innovated concepts are also first  introduced to these two metropolises. 

To be noticed is that the numbers  of fitness studios in second-tier cities are growing faster.  Considering the brands and types of fitness studios, the Chinese market  has showed a great variety. 

While the big chains owning hundreds of  studios are still expanding, the smaller boutique studios which focus on  more individual personal training for certain groups are becoming  increasingly popular. And people are apparently willing to spend more in these boutique studios. 

With the growth of the fitness market, the consumption of high-tech  sportwear and wearable devices are also expected to grow. 

Fitness  studios with high-tech apparatus might also be more competitive in the  market, while the less qualified trainers are facing the pressure from  their customers who can get professional information from various  channels. The future of fitness industry should be a cooperative  competition of various industries and sectors with more highly  personalized and individual offers. 

-   Fitness industry in China - statistics & facts | Statista                                         

Chinese Beaches.

If you perform a google search about beaches, or swimming in China you will see these images of hordes of people all crammed together. It’s actually funny. that’s not the way it is at all. It is the narrative that the American government wants people to think. But not the way it really is.

.

So what is it really like?

Well, I have a house on the beach. And every day I see it, watch the sun rise and the sun set on it and watch the people come and go on it. And NOT ONCE did it ever resemble what you might find on the American websites, search engines or “news” articles.

Here’s some images of what Chinese beaches look like. It’s the real deal, you-all.

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And here is another young lass… She’s a bit on the thin leggy side, but you know, isn’t she attractive though? Look at that smile. I love her confidence. Smile (check). Confidence (check). Beach (check). Small bikini (check, check, check).

Dance Class

Dancing is very popular in China. Perhaps the biggest “craze(s)” lies in the styles related to “Spanish Samba” and K-Pop. In my office building on my floor (were) two K-pop dance troops and one Samba studio. Making my floor about 50% devoted to dancing with pretty girls of all ages.

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The girls above seem to be middle school age. My guess.

Forward Thinking

Global Times editorial celebrates moon mission and poverty elimination, a tandem neither the Outlaw US Empire nor any other nation has achieved. The key as ever is balance:
 
"For a long time, some people believe China has not done enough to  balance these developments. Voices have existed that China invested  excessive resources to fields such as aerospace. Despite difficulties,  compared to other countries, China has tried its best to reach a balance  and has achieved positive results.
 
"Since China implemented the reform and opening-up policy, the most  prominent and well-known national goal has been achieving a moderately  prosperous society. People's livelihood and fairness and justice have  always been the focus of attention in Chinese society. A  technology-centered national strategy and people-oriented economic  development have highly integrated. 
 
"In the past few decades, the Chinese people have been developing the  aerospace field, but their livelihood has also been improving. The  lunar exploration project is not a political vanity project - it is well  within the ability of Chinese society.
 
"The progress in high-tech areas such as aerospace has pushed up  China's strategic competitiveness overall. At the same time, people are  living better lives. Without the advancement in high-tech areas, China's  prosperity would lack the backbone and long-term guarantee....
 
"China has long implemented a market economy, but has maintained  the guiding role of the government. This prevents our market economy  from repeating and hovering at a low level, and also prevents us from  being satisfied with the low-end prosperity of the global value chain.  The Chinese nation's self-motivated spirit continues to release  momentum, successfully supported by the country's system. Thus, we can  move forward in a balanced manner and with a clear sense of direction."  [My Emphasis]
 
This same methodology can be seen in Putin's governance and also  glaringly absent from all Neoliberal driven nations, which partially  explains their problems. I'm going to single-out this one sentence from  the concluding paragraph for it admits a truth no Neoliberal nation has  even acknowledged:
 
"There are unlimited possibilities in space, and most resources that support the human being's future development must be outside the Earth." [My Emphasis] 
 
I know of no major nation that has admitted directly or through its  main media voice that the earth is finite with a limited amount of  resources that will govern the overall degree of potential development.  For me, that means China has admitted to itself that at some future  point there'll be a requirement to shift to a steady-state type of  political-economy for all nations and thus the world. 

That's a far more  advanced view of economics from the Neoliberal model that doesn't admit  to scarce resources or that there's a limit--a Junk, unrealistic model  to be sure. 

Classrooms

School is much more intense in China than it is in America. For starters, all the children must learn English AND Chinese. Their classes are very regimented, and success is mandated by culture. If they want to be an individual and “go their own way”, it is not permitted. they must work as a team, be a team player and do their best. Failure is not an option.

Final comments

What the American (and British) media presents as “China” has very little resemblance to what it actually is.

Pompeo unloads on US universities for China ties
https://apnews.com/article/technology-mike-pompeo...

Dec 09, 2020 · Pompeo took aim at universities across the U.S., claiming they refused to address the Trump administration’s concerns about China’s attempts to influence students and academics. He specifically called out the president of MIT, alleging he refused to host Pompeo’s speech, and a senior official at the University of Washington over a case ...

And…

Exclusive -- Mike Pompeo: China Infiltrating Our ...
https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2020/12/14/mike...

Dec 14, 2020 · In September, Pompeo  said he was “hopeful” that branches of the Confucius Institute — an  organization run by the Chinese government — across America’s colleges  and universities would be closed by the end of 2020. The Trump  administration designated the Confucius Institute’s programs as foreign  missions of the Chinese Communist Party.. China is a greater threat than Russia in the ...

And…

Pompeo vows tough U.S. stance on China but is open to talks
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/pompeo-vows-to...


Aug 21, 2020 · Pompeo said the Trump administration is open to talks with Beijing but the U.S. would maintain its tough stance. “President Trump is serious about protecting our information, our networks and ...

China is depicted as an evil, dirty, corrupt, tyrannical “regime”. When in reality it is a single-party, social democracy based on Confucian values and traditional culture. Over the last four decades the nation has worked hard to make China what it is today, and what it is…

…is really astounding. It is a middle class neighborhood populated with hard-working, intelligent people. They are fiercely patriotic, almost hysterically so, and all the nonsense from (former) President Trump and his side kick Mike Pompeo are all lies.

Pompeo blasts China for suppressing coronavirus ...
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pompeo-blasts...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid harsh blame on China on Sunday for engaging in what he called a “classic Communist disinformation effort” and for working “to make …

As a sanity check, here is a video of the the events in China during 2020.

As you watch the three minute video can you identify which items that you are aware of from the Western news media?

Go ahead, watch and count the number of events that the American and British “news” media reported on…

Do you want more?

I have more post like this in my China Index and all the sub-indexes.

China

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