tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9355979690056710412024-03-07T07:05:19.359+00:00ChoChoPKA <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog">Blog</a> of socio-techno-linguistic rantsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-7333726717639902462015-08-31T01:18:00.001+00:002015-08-31T01:21:36.763+00:00Khitan, Tsai Wan-lin, and an Italian"China" in Russian is "<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9">Китай</a> (Romanize: Kitai). So where did that come from? Many history books explain the origin of "China", but not "Kitai".<br />
<br />
Before the Mongolian conquered the Southern Song Dynasty and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liao_dynasty">Liao Dynasty</a>, they were still in the Mongolian steppe. They looked south and saw the Liao Dynasty founded by Khitan people. So they called northern China "Khitan". Then they brought this term with the conquering of Moscow.<br />
<br />
Not only the Russians call China "Kitai" today, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo">Marco Polo</a> described northern China also with "Catai" during his visit. After returning to Venice, he joined a war, got captured, and shared his experience with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustichello_da_Pisa">Rustichello</a>, who wrote a book about it. In turn, "Catai" morphed into "Cathay" in English.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/CX_Marco_Polo_Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/CX_Marco_Polo_Logo.png" /></a></div>Fast forward to the 20th century. In the Republic of China in Taiwan, two men, Tsai Wan-chun and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsai_Wan-lin">Tsai Wan-lin</a> established the Cathay Life Insurance. In British Hong Kong, an Australian and an American founded <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Pacific">Cathay Pacific Airline</a>. <b>And its loyalty program is called the Marco Polo Club!</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.b81.org/~cchang/blog/archives/qidan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.b81.org/~cchang/blog/archives/qidan.jpg" /></a></div>Nowadays very few understand the Khitan language, and only within the academia. The Khitan people never ruled Taiwan or Hong Kong, but it was corporations from these places that bring the name worldwide.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-54043187847698873282014-04-15T18:10:00.000+00:002014-04-15T18:12:01.365+00:00Photoshopped celebrityI don't understand why people have such a problem with photoshopped celebrity images. This isn't like selling a physical product where the image must be truthful to what you get. In entertainment, the product is the image itself. As long as it looks good, I don’t care how it is derived. If someone looks like naturally, more power to them. If someone needs a little photoshopping, then part of the credit goes to the photoshopper. Someone works hard for this.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-29091967651806614932013-12-30T07:52:00.000+00:002013-12-30T07:52:06.849+00:00The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend?The political and ethnic landscape of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus">Caucasus</a> is very complex. On a world map, you see only three countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. But there are also three other "countries" with limited recognition. The map at the lower left is a political map, while the map at the lower right is an ethnic map.<br />
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caucasus-political_en.svg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Caucasus-political_en.svg/293px-Caucasus-political_en.svg.png"/></a><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ethnic_Groups_In_Caucasus_Region_2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Ethnic_Groups_In_Caucasus_Region_2009.jpg/293px-Ethnic_Groups_In_Caucasus_Region_2009.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
When I read about how the international community responded to these self-declared "countries", I remembered the old proverb "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". But because the relationship is too complicated, too many parties are involved, I decided to make a recognition/non-recognition graph to help myself understand.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeJ23EM_hvwVciFzR49owO-dwT8KXYoFwMdBamWDumVUdLwvvXSruqyjbeei0ZZ2dD5wrqMxPiZ6YWhoPy81erBgKPAX2IiKsv4AbFOB4RVZaYNxa_T2sYc_H1gQMUbtXkFKS0s4ACl0/s1600/CIS-2+en-us.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeJ23EM_hvwVciFzR49owO-dwT8KXYoFwMdBamWDumVUdLwvvXSruqyjbeei0ZZ2dD5wrqMxPiZ6YWhoPy81erBgKPAX2IiKsv4AbFOB4RVZaYNxa_T2sYc_H1gQMUbtXkFKS0s4ACl0/s758/CIS-2+en-us.png"/></a></div><br />
From the graph above, we learn:<br />
<ul><li>There is no single "principle" that applies to all cases. "Self-determination" and "respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity" are both nice words. But they contradict each other. Any party in the graph that has a blue line and purple line coming out of it is not consistent.</li>
<li>While the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is usually true, nothing is black and white, just like interpersonal relationship. Because the U.S. and Turkey are among the first to recognize Kosovo, I put them on the left. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cyprus">Northern Cyprus</a> is basically a Turkey-made product, so it is on the left as well. But the U.S. is in a good relation with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus">Cyprus</a> too. Also, there was a rumor that Turkey and Russia would trade recognition of Northern Cyprus with recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This rumor is <a href=" http://www.rferl.org/content/Russia_Rejects_TradeOff_With_Turkey_On_Recognition_Of_Separatists/1844751.html">denied</a>. But if true, then there would be no clear boundary between the left and the right in this graph.</li>
</ul><br />
I do not pretend to be an expert on the politics in Caucasus. The graph is an oversimplified representation. I'm sure the reality is much more intricate than that. As for "countries" with limited recognition, the graph has yet to include <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somaliland">Somaliland</a>, <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Sahara">Western Sahara</a>, and <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine">Palestine</a>. This is merely a product of my interest in making diagram.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-81517294738082908042013-04-08T17:33:00.000+00:002013-04-12T00:18:55.129+00:00Comparison of news between Mainland and TaiwanI like to look at politics <a href="/search/label/Political%20symmetry">with a symmetrical perspective</a>; I also like to observe <a href="/search/label/Media%20behavior">media behavior</a>. So why don't I combine the two and share what I observe from news from Mainland China and in Taiwan.<br />
<br />
<table class="wikitable"><tr><th></th><th>People's Republic</th><th>Republic</th></tr>
<tr><td>We see this everyday</td><td>Some minister-level official signed an agreement with his/her counterpart. Our leaders are busy.</td><td>Key found in drink, dog jumped off a building, automatic doors of a convenient store slammed on customer, disputes between restaurants and consumers (news with no journalistic values)</td></tr>
<tr><td>International news</td><td>Israel is bombarding Palestine again. Civilian death toll has reached X. (But never mention how many civilians Hamas has killed.)</td><td>Did Beyoncé mime when she performed at the U.S. presidential inauguration?</td></tr>
<tr><td>Political alignment</td><td>align with The Party</td><td>TVBS, CTI, China Times, Era, ETTV, UDN, and the China Post obviously pro-Pan-Blue<br />
FTV, SET, the Liberty Times, and Taipei Times obviously pro-Pan-Green</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workers and farmers</td><td>now produce much more, thanks to xyz program from the government</td><td>are protesting on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketagalan_Boulevard">Ketagalan Boulevard</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>College/grad students</td><td>innovate new techonlogy</td><td>are protesting on Ketagalan Boulevard</td></tr>
<tr><td>Bad habits die hard</td><td>like to educate viewers so and so land has been Chinese territory since antiquity</td><td>like to speculate the emotion of the person being reported. Must use literary 4-worded idioms.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Female anchor's voice</td><td>low</td><td>sharp</td></tr>
<tr><td>Languages</td><td>Mandarin, dialects of Han Chinese, Mongolian, Uyghur, Tibetan, Zhuang, English, Spanish, Russian, French, Arabic, Korea, Japanese, and Portuguese</td><td>Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, English</td></tr>
<tr><td>English news</td><td>Propaganda to native English speakers</td><td>English learning material. Sometimes they speak very slowly.</td></tr>
</table><br />
If I were to describe the two positively, then I'd have to say that Mainland news have broader vision, while Taiwanese news enjoy higher press freedom.<br />
<br />
Last but not least, let's enjoy 2 new clips<br />
<iframe width="600" height="450" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8i7ALezcXSM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe width="600" height="450" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fe75rUs_kBw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-416607405684160472013-02-21T13:46:00.000+00:002013-02-21T13:48:38.468+00:00The Ministry of Foreign Affair of the ROC is so politically incorrectIf you land on this page because you search for independence vs. reunification or the relationship between Mainland China and Taiwan, I'm sorry that you will be disappointed.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.boca.gov.tw/content.asp?CuItem=11">U.S.A. page</a> from the tourist information website made by the MOF says<br />
<div style="padding: 2em">Unless necessary avoid crime-prone areas and areas where blacks and Hispanics congregate.<br />
Original: 若非必要,盡量避免前往黑人及西班牙語裔等聚集且治安差之區域</div>Screenshot<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2MaeXb0MJjQ3_dk4LpENqByqQX0rTkFYAb5ZbLeEUWW7NdDkimTx0VGtSqPsN-YsylvHd9WY3EJhKa3rokSgl73BfybFpBuRGdpdNCxcVfAwMbt9H6Hi1wuyHE1teO_qNYaGNitzlDZY/s1600/The+Ministry+of+Foreign+Affair+of+the+ROC+is+so+politically+incorrect.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2MaeXb0MJjQ3_dk4LpENqByqQX0rTkFYAb5ZbLeEUWW7NdDkimTx0VGtSqPsN-YsylvHd9WY3EJhKa3rokSgl73BfybFpBuRGdpdNCxcVfAwMbt9H6Hi1wuyHE1teO_qNYaGNitzlDZY/s1600/The+Ministry+of+Foreign+Affair+of+the+ROC+is+so+politically+incorrect.png" /></a><br />
<br />
What if a domestic tourist site made by the Ministry of Internal Affair warned people to avoid areas with a high density of a certain demographic group? I wonder.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-56186345460765559142012-10-11T00:43:00.000+00:002012-10-11T00:43:10.378+00:00HTC≠TaiwanWhen are people going to realize that HTC is not a Taiwanese company, Samsung is not a Korean company, and Sony is not a Japanese company. They each has capital, stock holders, employees, materials, factories, and customers worldwide. HTC and Taiwan mutually do not belong to each other, nor do they represent each other.<br />
<br />
Consumer electronics have been reduced to mere instruments to vent nationalist sentiments. Mob justice like that is the Boxer Rebellion in the 21 century.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-14336788503811747182012-09-29T06:09:00.000+00:002012-09-29T06:09:39.283+00:00The United States, the Soviet Union, Genghis Khan, and algorithm<table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse"><tr><td style="width: 50%; border-right: solid 1px #ccc; vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Prokudin-Gorsky" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="392" width="288" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Sergei-Prokudin-Gorski-Larg.jpg/288px-Sergei-Prokudin-Gorski-Larg.jpg" /></a></td><td style="width: 50%; vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Alim_Khan" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="249" width="288" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Prokudin-Gorskii-19.jpg/288px-Prokudin-Gorskii-19.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-right: solid 1px #ccc; vertical-align: top;">Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944)<br />
A Russian photographer and a pioneer of color photography. His technique was to shoot black-and-white photos of the same object three times, each with a red, green, and blue filter. Between 1909 and 1915, he documented the people, the landscape, and the culture throughout the empire. His dream was to educate the schoolchildren of Russia, when color projector became available one day, of the vast and diverse history, culture, and modernization of the empire.</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">Mohammed Alim Khan (1880-1944)<br />
The last emir of the Emirate of Bukhara. The emirate had became a Russian protectorate before he was born. The emir is claimed to be a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. He succeeded his father in 1911.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-right: solid 1px #ccc; padding-top: 10px;">He arrived at Bukhara in 1911 and took a set of photos of the emir Alim Khan.</td><td style="padding-top: 10px;">Photographer Prokudin-Gorsky took pictures of him in 1911.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-right: solid 1px #ccc; padding-top: 10px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution">Revolution happened in 1917</a></td><td style="padding-top: 10px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution">Revolution happened in 1917</a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-right: solid 1px #ccc; padding-top: 10px;">Prokudin-Gorsky was appointed to a new professorship under the new regime, but he left the country in 1918. He settled down in Paris in 1922.</td><td style="padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;">The Red Army could not take Bukhara in 1918. They did in 1920. Alim Khan fled to Afghanistan eventually.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-right: solid 1px #ccc; padding-top: 10px;">Died in 1944</td><td style=" padding-top: 10px;">Died in 1944</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-right: solid 1px #ccc; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: top;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress">Library of Congress</a> of the United States purchased his work from his heirs in 1948. In the early 21st century, assembling his photos has become exercises in computer science algorithm in many universities.</td><td style=" padding-top: 10px;">Alim Khan's daughter Shukria Raad Alimi worked as a broadcaster in Afghanistan. She left Afghanistan with her family three months after the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979, and landed the United States eventually. She joined <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America">Voice of America</a> in 1982.</td></tr>
</table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-4146918040735927752012-08-23T05:17:00.000+00:002012-08-23T06:02:51.455+00:00Olympics, Politics, and the true nature of Pan-Blue and Pan-GreenThe Olympics is a sports event? Of course not. The Olympics must be politicized. It would be foolish for politicians to not fully capitalize an event that happens only once every 4 years. In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Summer_Olympics">1936</a>, Nazi Germany used the Game to showcase their National Socialism. In response, the Soviet Union, Spain, and some individual Jewish Americans boycotted the Game. In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Summer_Olympics">1968 Mexico City Olympics</a>, the student movement flew a black-dove-shaped kite in protest of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatelolco_massacre">Tlatelolco massacre</a>, two African Americans <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute">raised their fists in black gloves</a> during the medal ceremony for the civil right movement, and Czechoslovakian athlete Věra Čáslavská turned her head down while the Soviet Anthem was played, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to suppress the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring">Prague Spring</a>. In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics">1980 Moscow Olympics</a>, the United States led her allies to boycott the Game in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union led her allies to retaliate in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Summer_Olympics">1984</a>. The most peculiar of all is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Summer_Olympics">1976 Montreal Olympics</a>. Almost all African countries boycotted the Game because the IOC refused to ban New Zealand, whose rugby team had been touring South Africa, a country that had the apartheid policy.<br />
<br />
In 2012, there are at least 4 incidents about flags<br />
<table><tr> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_National_Council" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="63" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Syria-flag_1932-58_1961-63.svg/125px-Syria-flag_1932-58_1961-63.svg.png" /></a></td> <td style="padding-right: 10px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Syria" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="83" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Flag_of_Syria.svg/125px-Flag_of_Syria.svg.png" /></a></td> <td>The civil war is still on-going. A <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9299502/London-2012-Olympics-Syrian-athletes-may-compete-under-neutral-five-ring-Olympics-flag.html">report</a> in May hinted that the Syrian athletes may bear the neutral Olympics five-ring flag. But it turned out that they still used the existing flag.</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Libya" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="63" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Flag_of_Libya.svg/125px-Flag_of_Libya.svg.png" /></a></td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Libya_under_Muammar_Gaddafi#Great_Socialist_People.27s_Libyan_Arab_Jamahiriya_.281977.E2.80.932011.29" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="63" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Flag_of_Libya_%281977%29.svg/125px-Flag_of_Libya_%281977%29.svg.png" /></a></td> <td>The ship has sailed, but <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/20/libya-olympic-athletes-new-flag-kidnap">forces of the old faction still try to stop the athletes from bearing the new flag by kidnapping the president of the Olympics Committee of their country</a>.</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_North_Korea" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="63" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Flag_of_North_Korea.svg/125px-Flag_of_North_Korea.svg.png" /></a></td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Korea" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="83" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Flag_of_South_Korea.svg/125px-Flag_of_South_Korea.svg.png" /></a></td> <td><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/football/9428873/London-2012-Olympics-North-Korea-flag-blunder-an-embarrassment-admits-BOA-chairman-Colin-Moynihan.html">I believe it's an honest mistake</a></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="83" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg/125px-Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg.png" /></a></td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Taipei" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="83" width="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Flag_of_Chinese_Taipei_for_Olympic_games.svg/125px-Flag_of_Chinese_Taipei_for_Olympic_games.svg.png" /></a></td> <td><b>Same old same old</b></td> </tr>
</table><br />
For the very last item, the debate is getting really old. In the article "<a href="http://chochopk-en-us.blogspot.com/2012/02/political-symmetry.html">Political Symmetry</a>", I have pointed out that on the subject of the Flag of Republic of China, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Green_Coalition">Pan-Green</a> likes to criticize Pan-Blue for "loving to use them for the most part, but would compromise in an international setting or when encountering the Communist", and inversely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Blue_Coalition">Pan-Blue</a> would criticize Pan-Green for "normally not using them, except in an international setting or when encountering the Communist". Because of this symmetry, both sides get to say what they say <b>in an infinite loop</b>. Such infinite loop is not without precedence, to say the least.<br />
<br />
What I'm trying to say is not "Because this is so cliché, so stop talking about it". It would sound like I'm trying to avoid a certain topic. I'd like to offer an alternative perspective, something that the Facebook populace has not said. I'd like to reveal the true faces of Pan-Green and Pan-Blue.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; float:right; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.presidentchen.com/cny2003/310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=" margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="225" width="300" src="http://www.presidentchen.com/cny2003/310.jpg" /></a><br />
Chen Shui-bian visited New York in 2003</div>Everyone knows that the Pan-Green never liked symbols or icons related to the "Republic of China" or the Flag that is "Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth". On the contrary, they prefer symbols and icons that is green in principle, or with the outline of Taiwan. Such claim can be seen from the picture to the right where "overseas Taiwanese" welcomed Chen Shui-bian in New York. The only problem is that factions of Pan-Green have not agreed on a single flag that is commonly recognizable and satisfy the desirable traits. So the second best option is the Blue-White-and-Red Flag of Republic of China, which is a commonly recognizable icon for Taiwan. They would stop using the Flag when it cannot be used as a weapon against Pan-Blue, because they don't like the Flag fundamentally, much like the HK-ers using the Flag in 7-1 Rallies as a mere instrument against the Beijing government (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HK_Causeway_Road_July_1_march_2010_Republic_of_China_flags.JPG">picture</a>). Pan-Green and Pan-Blue supporters alike must acknowledge this fact about Pan-Green.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, the KMT has a recurring pattern of making compromises in its hundred-year history.<br />
<ul><li>To overthrow the Qing Dynasty, they made an alliance with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triad_%28underground_society%29">Triad</a>, which later became an criminal organization.</li>
<li>To maintain a republic system in the early republic days, they gave the presidency to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Shikai">Yuan Shikai</a>.</li>
<li>To fight the Beiyang warlords, they joined forces with the Chinese communists and the Soviet Union, making the so-called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_United_Front">First United Front</a>.</li>
<li>To united the north and the south, they made a pact with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Xueliang">Zhang Xueliang</a>. After the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_reunification_%281928%29">Unification of 1928</a>, Zhang had significant autonomy in the northeast and the north.</li>
<li>To fight the Japanese during the Second World War, they joined forces with the communists again, forming the so-called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_United_Front">Second United Front</a>.</li>
<li>In the later years of the Second World War, they traded Mongolian independence with the Soviet Union, in exchange for Xinjiang not getting independence.</li>
<li>In 1981, they negotiated with the International Olympics Committee so that athletes could participate in the Olympics and other international games, with the name "Chinese Taipei".</li>
</ul><br />
It goes without saying that any compromise consists of cost and benefit. In the said compromises, whether the benefit outweighs the cost is up for debate. But the debates would be out of the scope of this article. Regardless, Pan-Green and Pan-Blue folks must realize the compromising nature of the Pan-Blue. Pan-Green folks must not only see the cost, and Pan-Blue folks must not only see the benefit.<br />
<br />
It sucks to be Pan-Blue because compromising policies are hard for political marketing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-25209794544882637762012-06-04T03:53:00.000+00:002013-02-08T16:45:36.019+00:00News ticker in Taiwan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc56DJC-PzJ9dAqXgvnLbGvXbgDhjJu1ZOC-2EGkVZuF7KXiHNMcdqJbDb7ynIVKc0evbGGAOwVoAdfKjMeSOSsWDCRuqikB_mIAB8e5f35mYCsmqM9_wZ38IvVWWbjXBc6mVx376DMxA/s1600/TVBS_News_Guing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc56DJC-PzJ9dAqXgvnLbGvXbgDhjJu1ZOC-2EGkVZuF7KXiHNMcdqJbDb7ynIVKc0evbGGAOwVoAdfKjMeSOSsWDCRuqikB_mIAB8e5f35mYCsmqM9_wZ38IvVWWbjXBc6mVx376DMxA/s400/TVBS_News_Guing.jpg" /></a></div>New channels in Taiwan always come with new tickers. They come in vertical format and horizontal; they tell you weather, lotto numbers, stock prices, exchange rates, minor news, reminders like "Watch the grand finale on channel XY", and how many points has <span style="color: #7F7F7F"><s>Chien-Ming Wang</s></span> Jeremy Lin got.<br />
<br clear="both"/><br />
Alright, jokes aside, amongst these seemingly standardized things, you can still find differences across the world, and the subtle variations are shreds of evidence that reveal the different state of minds. The Chinese Wikipedia actually has an article about <a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%E9%8F%A1%E9%9D%A2">news screen</a>!<br />
<table style="border-collapse:collapse;"><tr><td><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taiwan_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="218" width="290" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Taiwan_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg/290px-Taiwan_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg" /></a></td><td><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japan_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="218" width="290" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Japan_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg/290px-Japan_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="text-align: center"><td>Mock Taiwanese news screen</td><td>Mock Japanese news screen</td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_TV_Simulation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="163" width="290" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/China_TV_Simulation.jpg/290px-China_TV_Simulation.jpg" /></a></td><td><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HK_TV_News_Simulation.png" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="163" width="290" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/HK_TV_News_Simulation.png/290px-HK_TV_News_Simulation.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="text-align: center"><td>Mock Mainland-Chinese news screen</td><td>Mock HK news screen</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USA_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="218" width="290" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/USA_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg/290px-USA_TV_News_Simulation_1.jpg" /></a></td><td></td></tr><tr style="text-align: center"><td>Mock American news screen</td><td></td></tr>
</table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-73543496979698245242012-02-12T00:44:00.000+00:002019-03-21T23:56:42.297+00:00Political Symmetry<table class="wikitable"><tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%91%D1%82!"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 435px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ru/f/f7/Ussr0437.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></td> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Sam"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 404px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Unclesamwantyou.jpg/300px-Unclesamwantyou.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_a_flag_over_the_Reichstag"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 217px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/14/Reichstag_flag_original.jpg/300px-Reichstag_flag_original.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></td> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 233px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima_by_Joe_Rosenthal_retouched_2.jpg/300px-Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima_by_Joe_Rosenthal_retouched_2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 150px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg/300px-Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg.png" border="0" alt="" /></a></td> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 158px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/300px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png" border="0" alt="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg/300px-Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg.png" border="0" alt="" /></a></td> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg/300px-Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg.png" border="0" alt="" /></a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table class="wikitable"><tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;"></td> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Green_Coalition">Pan-Green Coalition</a></td> <td style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Blue_Coalition">Pan-Blue Coalition</a></td></tr>
<tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Toward the Communist Party of China and Chiang Kai-shek </td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Would criticize Pan-Blue "sympathize CKS, but they are too soft on the Communist whom CKS opposed the most"</td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Would criticize Pan-Green "criticize CKS, but their dogmatic opposition of the Communist is no different from CKS's"</td></tr>
<tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Toward the Flag and the National Anthem of the ROC</td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Would criticize Pan-Blue "normally love to use them, but would compromise in an international setting or when encountering the Communist"</td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Would criticize Pan-Green "normally don't use them, except in an international setting or when encountering the Communist"</td></tr>
<tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Unification vs Indepedence</td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Not willing to unify, dare not to declare independence</td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Not willing to declare independence, dare not to unify</td></tr>
<tr> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Attitude toward external entities</td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Some are Japanophile, but they don't say that publicly. On the contrary, the hostility toward Mainland China is quite public.</td> <td style="vertical-align:top;">Some are Mainland-Sinophile, but they don't say that publicly. On the contrary, the hostility toward Japan is quite public.</td></tr>
</table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-5759559079425204242012-02-01T04:06:00.001+00:002012-03-07T04:46:27.139+00:00Root cause analysis of the differences between Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese ChineseAnyone who speaks Chinese understands there exist differences between the Chinese used in Mainland China and in Taiwan. Examples include<br /><ul><li>Mainland uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters">simplified characters</a>; Taiwan uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters">traditional characters</a></li><li>Mainland uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin">Hanyu Pinyin</a>, a Chinese Romanization scheme, as the standard for teaching Chinese and denoting pronunciation in dictionaries; Taiwan uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo">Bopomofo</a> (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ)</li><li>For metric length units, Mainland uses "米, 釐米, 毫米"; Taiwan uses "公尺, 公分, 公釐"</li><li>Mainland uses Gregorian calendar; Taiwan uses the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minguo_calendar">Minguo calendar</a> (although Gregorian is becoming ever more common)</li><li>For Western movie names, Mainland often translates literally; Taiwan often adds its own interpretation, e.g. <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_The_Curse_of_the_Black_Pearl">Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl</a></i> is known as "加勒比海盜:黑珍珠號的詛咒" in Mainland; and "神鬼奇航:鬼盜船魔咒" in Taiwan, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29">I, Robot</a></i> is known as "我,機械人"; and "機械公敵" in Taiwan</li><li>For technology terms, Mainland also translates verbatim; while Taiwan usually uses words that are more literary, e.g. "computer" is translated as "計算機" in Mainland; and "電腦" in Taiwan (although many Mainlander are used to "電腦" too), "mobile phone" is translated as "移動電話" in Mainland; and "行動電話" in Taiwan</li><li>The quotation mark is different too. Mainland uses “”; Taiwan uses「」 (Most people probably don't notice this)</li></ul><br />Upon reading the first bullet point, old-guard Kuomintang would immediately raise the banner of "The communist is the destroyer of traditional Chinese culture" and use the same rhetoric to explain the rest of the bullet points. But do you really think that Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and their fellows thought "we are the bad guys, so we must destroy traditional Chinese culture. To destroy traditional Chinese culture, we must do this, this, and that". Of course not. To find the root causes of these differences, one must start from the different ideologies of the two sides.<br /><br />During the martial law period, the Republic of China reiterated itself as "the Chinese people", "the legitimate representation of the Chinese culture", and "the guardian of traditional values". Such ideology culminated during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Cultural_Renaissance">Chinese Cultural Renaissance</a>, started in 1966 in response to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution">Cultural Revolution</a> in the People's Republic. Because of this, Taiwan continued to use traditional characters and Bopomofo, created in the early years of the Republic. Taiwan uses "公尺, 公寸, 公分, 公釐" for metric length units because "尺, 寸, 分, 釐" were length units used in ancient China. The Minguo calendar is system similar to calendar era used in imperial age. And literary words are usually used to translate foreign terms.<br /><br />On the other side, the People's Republic of China emphasized itself as the "New China", where new systems must be established, and remnants from the imperial age must be removed. In addition, Marxism downplays the distinction between races, and ultimately seeks to establish a world without racial boundaries and political borders. Under these principles, Mainland uses simplified Chinese and Hanyu Pinyin because they are "new". Mainland uses Gregorian calendar so that they have the same standard as (most of) the rest of the world, therefore removing the distinction between countries, and also moving away from a construct inherited from the imperial age. Using “” as the quotation marks is the same thing. As for metric length units in Mainland, the word "meter" was first translated phonetically as "米", then prefixed with words that represent 1/10, 1/100, 1/1000, namely "分, 釐, 毫", to construct "米, 釐米, 毫米". Such construction follows the same pattern as the origin of the metric system because "centi" means 1/100 and "milli" means 1/1000. By doing so, they adhere to the principle that the world is one big family and racial distinction should be deemphasized in Marxism.<br /><br />If we only look at the intents of the two ideologies, both seem positive. So some people might say it is natural to have regional variants of the same language. No variant is better than others. However, there are still a lot of people looking at this subject with "good v.s. bad" in mind. So I feel that I must present my take on this. If we really have to evaluate the differences on a scale of "good or bad", how should we do it?<br /><br />To criticize something, one must fully understand it first. One must not accept or reject something wholesale because of ideology. Every item must be evaluated separately, with science and logic. I personally think that Bopomofo is more suitable as a tool for teaching Chinese as the first language, while Hanyu Pinyin is more suitable for transliterating Chinese words with Roman letters (e.g. names on passport, or to export concepts of Chinese origin, such as Bagua). The detail reasoning of that probably warrants <a href="http://chochopk-zh-tw.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-post.html">another full length article</a> (Chinese only). I also think that Mainland's translation of the word "Islam", "伊斯蘭教", is better than the Taiwanese version, "回教" (the religion of Hui) because the Hui people are just a small part of the Muslims. The Gregorian calendar is better than the Minguo calendar. Imagine every country and regime has its own calendar system, isn't that very inconvenient and quite pointless. There's a reason someone invented the metric system. As for movie titles, I personally can't stand the Taiwanese practice of adding their own interpretation. How is "I, Robot" related to "公敵" (enemy of the state) in any way? Translations that are too literal or too colloquial are probably unsuitable for a cultural products in the Chinese world either. Slight modification is acceptable. For example, "Speed" (1994) is translated as "生死時速" (lit. per hour speed of life and death) in Mainland. At least the notion of "speed" is preserved. There is no way to rationalize the Taiwanese counterpart: "捍衛戰警" (lit. defending police). Last but not least, for computer and mobile phone, I think the Taiwanese version, "電腦" and "行動電話" are better because "計算機" can be confused with arithmetic-only calculator. Although "移動" and "行動" both mean "mobile", "移動" sounds more like a verb, while "行動" sounds more like an adjective. So "行動" is better.<br /><br />Therefore, one must first fully understand the root cause, examine each item individually, and not have ideological prejudice.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-77817515233297209092012-01-12T06:16:00.001+00:002012-01-12T06:19:26.288+00:00Food SafetyThere was this one time when I was grocery shopping and I saw many ingredients on a package. I wasn’t sure which ones are good and which ones are bad. So I decided to collect a few, do a quick look up, and share the results with everyone.<br /><br />Just because something is approved by the government doesn’t mean it’s completely harmless. The fact that “it may cause xyz” doesn’t necessarily means it’s a big deal. The effects on human listed below are mostly copied from Wikipedia, without further verification. So take this with a grain of salt. The more common ones are listed in bold.<table class="wikitable"><tr><th>Chinese</th><th>English</th><th><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number">E number</a></th><th>Effects on human</th><th>Found in</th></tr><tr><td>抑霉唑</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enilconazole">Enilconazole</a>, a.k.a. imazalil, chloramizole</td><td></td><td>Causes cancer according to California's Proposition 65</td><td>Exterior of oranges</td></tr><tr><td>噻苯達唑, 噻苯咪唑, 噻苯唑</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiabendazole">Tiabendazole</a>, a.k.a. thiabendazole, TBZ</td><td>E233</td><td>High dosage may cause liver and intestine disorder, also cures lead poisoning or mercury poisoning</td><td> Exterior of oranges </td></tr><tr><td>Probably 苯基酚鈉</td><td><a href="http://www.exponent.com/Sodium-o-phenylphenate-SOPP-on-Fruit/">Sodium-o-phenylphenate</a></td><td></td><td> Causes cancer according to California's Proposition 65</td><td> Exterior of oranges </td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%B3%E7%B2%BE">麩胺酸單鈉</a>, a.k.a. 味精, 谷氨酸鈉, 穀氨酸單鈉</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate">Monosodium glutamate</a>, a.k.a. MSG</td><td>E621</td><td>Disputed, approved in the EU.</td><td>Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce, instant noodles, many other products</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td>肌苷酸二鈉</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disodium_inosinate">Disodium inosinate</a>, a.k.a. disodium 5'-inosinate</td><td>E631</td><td>No harm found so far, approved in the EU.</td><td>Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce, chips, instant noodles, snacks</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td>鳥苷酸二鈉</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disodium_guanylate">Disodium guanylate</a>, a.k.a. disodium 5'-guanylate</td><td>E627</td><td>Bad for children under 12 weeks, those with asthma or gout, approved in the EU.</td><td>Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce, instant noodles, snacks, packaged soup</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%83%9F%E9%85%B8">菸鹼酸</a>, a.k.a. 菸酸, 維生素B3, 維生素PP</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niacin">Niacin</a>, a.k.a. vitamin B3, vitamin PP</td><td></td><td>Bad if in excess or shortage</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A1%AB%E8%83%BA">硫胺</a>, a.k.a. 維生素B1</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamine">Thiamine</a>, a.k.a. vitamin B1</td><td></td><td>Bad if in excess or shortage</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A0%B8%E9%BB%84%E7%B4%A0">核黃素</a>, a.k.a. 維生素B2</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riboflavin">Riboflavin</a>, a.k.a. vitamin B2</td><td>E101</td><td>Deficiency leads to cracks at the corners of the mouth (angular cheilitis). Excessive dosage taken orally is probably not toxic. Approved by the EU and the US.</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps, instant noodles</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B6%E9%85%B8">葉酸</a>, a.k.a. 維生素B9</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folic_acid">Folic acid</a>, a.k.a. vitamin B9</td><td></td><td>Good for pregnant women</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%99%E9%85%B8%E9%92%A0">丙酸鈉</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_propionate">Sodium propionate</a>, a.k.a. sodium propanoate</td><td>E281</td><td>Unknown, approved in the EU.</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps, bakery products</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8B%AF%E7%94%B2%E9%85%B8%E9%92%A0">苯甲酸鈉</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_benzoate">Sodium benzoate</a></td><td>E211</td><td>When combined with vitamin C, it forms benzene, a known carcinogen, but approved by the EU.</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps, soft drinks</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AA%B8%E6%AA%AC%E9%85%B8">檸檬酸</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid">Citric acid</a></td><td>E330</td><td>Unknown, approved in the EU.</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps, Hsin Tung Yang soy bean paste</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%8A%E8%83%B1%E6%B0%A8%E9%85%B8">半胱胺酸</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysteine">Cysteine</a></td><td>E920</td><td>Has antitoxic property, approved in the EU.</td><td>Wonton and dumpling wraps</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%8C%E6%B0%A7%E5%8C%96%E7%A1%85">二氧化矽</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_dioxide">Silicon dioxide</a></td><td>E551</td><td>May cause silicosis, bronchitis or cancer if inhaled. May cause dementia if drunk with water, approved in the EU.</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indomie_Mi_goreng">Indomie Mi goreng</a></td></tr><tr><td>瓜爾豆膠, a.k.a. 瓜爾膠</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guar_gum">Guar gum</a></td><td>E412</td><td>Wikipedia has unreferenced list of effects, approved in the EU.</td><td>Indomie Mi goreng, Nissin Demae Itcho (出前一丁) XO sauce seafood flavor</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%9F%E8%82%B2%E9%85%9A">生育酚</a>(可表現<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BB%B4%E7%94%9F%E7%B4%A0E">維生素E</a>活性)</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocopherol">Tocopherol</a>, a.k.a. TCP (has vitamin E activity)</td><td>E306-309</td><td>Beneficial for the most part, approved in the EU.</td><td>Indomie Mi goreng, Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E8%81%9A%E7%A3%B7%E9%85%B8%E9%92%A0">三聚磷酸鈉</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_triphosphate">Sodium triphosphate</a>, a.k.a. STP, sodium tripolyphosphate, TPP</td><td>E451</td><td>Healthy with moderate amount, approved in the EU.</td><td>Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A3%B7%E9%85%B8%E9%92%A0">磷酸鈉鹽</a>(包括磷酸一氫鈉, 磷酸二氫鈉, 磷酸鈉)</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_phosphates">Sodium phosphates</a>(包括monosodium phosphate, disodium phosphate, trisodium phosphate)</td><td>E339</td><td>Probably not good for kidneys, approved in the EU.</td><td>Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor, Pocky</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AD%E5%81%8F%E7%A3%B7%E9%85%B8%E9%92%A0">六偏磷酸鈉</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hexametaphosphate">Sodium hexametaphosphate</a>, a.k.a. SHMP</td><td></td><td>Unknown</td><td>Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E8%97%BB%E9%85%B8">海藻酸</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alginic_acid">Alginic acid</a>, a.k.a. algin, alginate</td><td>E400</td><td>Unknown, approved in the EU.</td><td>Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor</td></tr><tr><td>抗壞血酸棕櫚酸酯(油溶性<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BB%B4%E7%94%9F%E7%B4%A0C">維生素C</a>)</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascorbyl_palmitate">Ascorbyl palmitate</a> (fat-soluble vitamin C)</td><td>E304</td><td>Approved in the EU, the US, Australia, and New Zealand</td><td>Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E6%A2%A8%E9%85%B8%E9%92%BE">山梨酸鉀</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_sorbate">Potassium sorbate</a></td><td>E202</td><td>No harm found so far, but has irritant property. Approved in the EU.</td><td><a href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha_sauce">Sriracha sauce</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%9A%E7%A1%AB%E9%85%B8%E6%B0%A2%E9%92%A0">亞硫酸氫鈉</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bisulfite">Sodium bisulfite</a></td><td>E222</td><td>Approved in the EU</td><td>Sriracha sauce</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%84%E5%8E%9F%E8%83%B6">黃原膠</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthan_gum">Xanthan gum</a></td><td>E415</td><td>Excessive amount may cause diarrhea. May trigger allergic response to those allergic to corn, gluten, soy, or milk, approved in the EU.</td><td>Sriracha sauce</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B9%B3%E9%85%B8">乳酸</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid">Lactic acid</a></td><td>E270, E472b</td><td>Approved in the EU, the US, Australia, and New Zealand</td><td>Hsin Tung Yang soy bean paste</td></tr><tr><td>麥芽糊精</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltodextrin">Maltodextrin</a></td><td></td><td>Unknown</td><td>Instant noodles and package noodles</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td>紅40(人工色素)</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allura_Red_AC">Red 40</a>, a.k.a.. Allura Red AC</td><td>E129</td><td>May lead to hyperactivity in children. Approved in the EU and US, banned in Switzerland.</td><td>M&M, snacks with saturated colors (both sweet and savory), red colored flu syrup</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9F%A0%E6%AA%AC%E9%BB%84">黃色5號</a>(人工色素), a.k.a.. 檸檬黃</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartrazine">Yellow 5</a>, a.k.a. Tartrazine</td><td>E102</td><td> May lead to hyperactivity and reduced intelligence in children. Banned in Norway, was banned in Austria and Germany, until overturned by EU. Approved in the US. Many organizations call for bans of Yellow 5.</td><td> M&M, snacks with saturated colors (both sweet and savory)</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td>黃色6號(人工色素)</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Yellow_FCF">Yellow 6</a>, a.k.a. Sunset Yellow FCF</td><td>E110</td><td> May lead to hyperactivity in children. Banned in Norway and Finland. Approved in the EU but reduced safe dosage in 2011. Approved in the US.</td><td> M&M, snacks with saturated colors (both sweet and savory)</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td>藍色1號(人工色素)</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Blue_FCF">Blue 1</a>, a.k.a. Brilliant Blue FCF</td><td>E133</td><td>Was banned in many European counties. National Institutes of Health in the US claims it does not lead to hyperactivity in children.</td><td>M&M, snacks with saturated colors</td></tr><tr style="font-weight: bold;"><td>藍色2號(人工色素)</td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_carmine">Blue 2</a>, a.k.a. Indigo carmine</td><td>E132</td><td>Harmful if inhaled</td><td>M&M, M&M, snacks with saturated colors</td></tr></table><br />Tocopherol (has vitamin E activity) and ascorbyl palmitate (fat-soluble vitamin C) are sometimes labeled as “preservative”. But it’s not as scary as the name “preservative”. Compounds with names that look like something in a chemistry textbook aren’t necessarily bad. Some are good, but some are bad too. “All natural” isn’t always good either, such as drinking liquid lard directly.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26uDD2YTWQlA8CyEn_qBA24SHx9NwIdUwucz2ChmDTVKdSfoOdpM6_ZF18st-xCWg3U6W_heFXztl5my4fQxnWuMmac2SqSC5PogSUJDwb26OQlkC4awrQQvEekOZOPR9CBrBTjgH-U0/s1600/IMG_20111202_193533.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26uDD2YTWQlA8CyEn_qBA24SHx9NwIdUwucz2ChmDTVKdSfoOdpM6_ZF18st-xCWg3U6W_heFXztl5my4fQxnWuMmac2SqSC5PogSUJDwb26OQlkC4awrQQvEekOZOPR9CBrBTjgH-U0/s320/IMG_20111202_193533.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694005088593977074" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Oranges are coated with enilconazole, tiabendazole, and sodium-o-phenylphenate</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-yvbo-hg4XinAq3wTU5fLPQCfer2q0srgMXJ2nfbx3E7-EuCMVFlzTKCb2P1qgXJNwXLjGPnV3CWuGwijZsT3caSUeWR034nl6MFY1jikJUQ51KNx_bjX5WOUJXXiCyawjP4ajTSS78/s1600/IMG_20111218_144043.jpg"><img style="margin-left:155px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-yvbo-hg4XinAq3wTU5fLPQCfer2q0srgMXJ2nfbx3E7-EuCMVFlzTKCb2P1qgXJNwXLjGPnV3CWuGwijZsT3caSUeWR034nl6MFY1jikJUQ51KNx_bjX5WOUJXXiCyawjP4ajTSS78/s200/IMG_20111218_144043.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694007316082680706" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7eIEGZT0OE-eE2Amz9UkNUJ6uGortKp3ZWQolRS0TARKbwwkUueoxaCYPRLwk2T7PxyX2RaiF-zrWCQZG3mCxI91x-T9rl9oTN3OQbRpfBrjL2hiMkVnbkdX1uPgoWl_yXYBpaoz_kQ/s1600/IMG_20111217_154104.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7eIEGZT0OE-eE2Amz9UkNUJ6uGortKp3ZWQolRS0TARKbwwkUueoxaCYPRLwk2T7PxyX2RaiF-zrWCQZG3mCxI91x-T9rl9oTN3OQbRpfBrjL2hiMkVnbkdX1uPgoWl_yXYBpaoz_kQ/s200/IMG_20111217_154104.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694007425749960706" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce contains MSG, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmMrDEAHKPHIW37R7ZrAIAcML8nQlDh7XMulq8TI4R61hzbFoqwhPKBcyf2_zA_NcuEmLtUXDzGRLriAzl8n6UGkXQDcXNezN65eGlHBuBcpaEMOWlhTM8V37ScTrsWWI9YWX-BZ2sYOY/s1600/IMG_20111217_154152.jpg"><img style="margin-left:105px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmMrDEAHKPHIW37R7ZrAIAcML8nQlDh7XMulq8TI4R61hzbFoqwhPKBcyf2_zA_NcuEmLtUXDzGRLriAzl8n6UGkXQDcXNezN65eGlHBuBcpaEMOWlhTM8V37ScTrsWWI9YWX-BZ2sYOY/s200/IMG_20111217_154152.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694009678078868050" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLADq3zSRbisesYS2Kck4rBzD8WQ8Bk8y9IagxF6D6h6CJYAP6kpihMB1kxRJD2c9jWiOdsawAf8PF-dJXVSDtvH8qhBCbUQflUYZkgnND5TpjwnJOKltBD2ULFzxj3n_3S18sJMT5xWk/s1600/IMG_20111217_154228.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLADq3zSRbisesYS2Kck4rBzD8WQ8Bk8y9IagxF6D6h6CJYAP6kpihMB1kxRJD2c9jWiOdsawAf8PF-dJXVSDtvH8qhBCbUQflUYZkgnND5TpjwnJOKltBD2ULFzxj3n_3S18sJMT5xWk/s200/IMG_20111217_154228.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694009820450669426" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Wonton and dumpling wraps contain sodium benzoate</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6dVtu6j1uRI4JeVC0IJIiFSbuTgyyl0KDD-62abqgSVAZUdaP3HNdh6RyniMpSXjIn4bHLhWeMUoqUhpqwAcQJTnGxET9O8eoGs2xIlJpfvldmjLoosc3DzORcPJkXry2hAFeRx_bwjw/s1600/IMG_20111218_143216.jpg"><img style="margin-left:105px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6dVtu6j1uRI4JeVC0IJIiFSbuTgyyl0KDD-62abqgSVAZUdaP3HNdh6RyniMpSXjIn4bHLhWeMUoqUhpqwAcQJTnGxET9O8eoGs2xIlJpfvldmjLoosc3DzORcPJkXry2hAFeRx_bwjw/s200/IMG_20111218_143216.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694021962239782946" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KXStAe8-gaC5lXHQy8Np9NChR9_xyV3hZgCgL8Ps6n2EY_-pK9smWIsAjB5nZLolh5b5k4oXa73l2KERGJaaLnV24hjrp-xlInlQqU4WUqLGYFEGVrPHaMjVQ3zjksWOXt3tOrLp7Tk/s1600/IMG_20111218_143137.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KXStAe8-gaC5lXHQy8Np9NChR9_xyV3hZgCgL8Ps6n2EY_-pK9smWIsAjB5nZLolh5b5k4oXa73l2KERGJaaLnV24hjrp-xlInlQqU4WUqLGYFEGVrPHaMjVQ3zjksWOXt3tOrLp7Tk/s200/IMG_20111218_143137.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694022139390162450" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Indomie Mi goreng contain silicon dioxide, MSG, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUze4OBMM7jNgkJPW3u22ieUp-tosfrZnim5bcXNCgxUt3X4mur-lVZ5uI_8RKzXkRrWV8xNzV2-TDkTrByIDhef1cMoMq6JYc3iS6KQmkizVgVQPaCfal5XTdVk7zWK1pQml2D15hrNU/s1600/IMG_20111218_143250.jpg"><img style="margin-left:130px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUze4OBMM7jNgkJPW3u22ieUp-tosfrZnim5bcXNCgxUt3X4mur-lVZ5uI_8RKzXkRrWV8xNzV2-TDkTrByIDhef1cMoMq6JYc3iS6KQmkizVgVQPaCfal5XTdVk7zWK1pQml2D15hrNU/s200/IMG_20111218_143250.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694025138632447426" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2S3AmbOvqQUGjTmhSslx1eIq0NqQ2ECFHj2VCJS9SIBsox80CQ4uCRyOuxojhopAf0jqbYp2S9VfpHd6vOseXGtduke3QJ1qnsOq3bOZ7oqw37gQDe9CCnwjdinSCxAr1VXz5MK3Hs8/s1600/IMG_20111218_143243.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2S3AmbOvqQUGjTmhSslx1eIq0NqQ2ECFHj2VCJS9SIBsox80CQ4uCRyOuxojhopAf0jqbYp2S9VfpHd6vOseXGtduke3QJ1qnsOq3bOZ7oqw37gQDe9CCnwjdinSCxAr1VXz5MK3Hs8/s200/IMG_20111218_143243.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694025244044186498" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Nissin Demae Itcho (出前一丁) XO sauce seafood flavor contains sodium phosphates and MSG</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMr3wGXrA0j97OjEPazRjvEZON9yAh1nHpYJ1RewQ3DLhn9Qci_XmrhGG-xJ_OBEd5cKchqZjZBk9OlZhnP3kN0fmYBnq7mQEiQptndDCpPrj0051yGVpk5bh-CSUJWw6H4gAmeUwc98/s1600/IMG_20111218_143349.jpg"><img style="margin-left:30px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMr3wGXrA0j97OjEPazRjvEZON9yAh1nHpYJ1RewQ3DLhn9Qci_XmrhGG-xJ_OBEd5cKchqZjZBk9OlZhnP3kN0fmYBnq7mQEiQptndDCpPrj0051yGVpk5bh-CSUJWw6H4gAmeUwc98/s200/IMG_20111218_143349.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694026748611393458" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAuZ2Cl_s4mMnT-2dOayGgXN1gCBwqWa-JiAFib68NAuCyB63zYWkWqPa033tjazZonKTZ4Ye08nX3Woqb6m3PXPeE1dKwneK51U4t_FvbZdKCzSCUTbUa7nFH8AYTzeWZRyUGT98kOfw/s1600/IMG_20111218_143337.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAuZ2Cl_s4mMnT-2dOayGgXN1gCBwqWa-JiAFib68NAuCyB63zYWkWqPa033tjazZonKTZ4Ye08nX3Woqb6m3PXPeE1dKwneK51U4t_FvbZdKCzSCUTbUa7nFH8AYTzeWZRyUGT98kOfw/s200/IMG_20111218_143337.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694031628207566002" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQb5eDrtYpzggxA8RlTjVmC6pIXKxpkmKPvlbNrtbqyFVJeehsHKe8gI1v4z4Xd1lUdmkoDToqStRX_i-msVM6rIwFSwf1bCD9ZK70fxX7MZSEsWLRjWGbc5ShSncz0dq3htlOXWxJJE/s1600/IMG_20120104_221711.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQb5eDrtYpzggxA8RlTjVmC6pIXKxpkmKPvlbNrtbqyFVJeehsHKe8gI1v4z4Xd1lUdmkoDToqStRX_i-msVM6rIwFSwf1bCD9ZK70fxX7MZSEsWLRjWGbc5ShSncz0dq3htlOXWxJJE/s200/IMG_20120104_221711.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694031777426071842" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Tainan Yi Mien (dried noodles) has outer package and inner package contradicting each other. And some of the translation is wrong</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZBVvgqWB3FHmLx2bNLFHRMlxJscr2eQiv4VCUmZ4N3-gR1DE9z5keGnyjnA5_X0pPgfgsavkemkZgG0-ZFeo79VIE7zgaDG6P1Ab6AsC0IaQ-wLVrsQSZgOS1hiV7wRIQ6sTvXowyTE/s1600/IMG_20111218_143540.jpg"><img style="margin-left:155px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZBVvgqWB3FHmLx2bNLFHRMlxJscr2eQiv4VCUmZ4N3-gR1DE9z5keGnyjnA5_X0pPgfgsavkemkZgG0-ZFeo79VIE7zgaDG6P1Ab6AsC0IaQ-wLVrsQSZgOS1hiV7wRIQ6sTvXowyTE/s200/IMG_20111218_143540.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694034246358540546" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_W28uL_appeoHNfO_uS9OCv3gMOwmGyIOnIiSGvsZUMguOXYqQrMh4yLlN473Q7Bst3nEtZYUlkAf2k1jzwIaQyMr_q6_rphWorXu-MX_LjPMLdYfzgcyBrbizKP9QgMqC6676ZA7ipw/s1600/IMG_20111218_143533.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_W28uL_appeoHNfO_uS9OCv3gMOwmGyIOnIiSGvsZUMguOXYqQrMh4yLlN473Q7Bst3nEtZYUlkAf2k1jzwIaQyMr_q6_rphWorXu-MX_LjPMLdYfzgcyBrbizKP9QgMqC6676ZA7ipw/s200/IMG_20111218_143533.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694034340085717010" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Some Japanese noodle seasoning contains disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIv6cdzX7A4qajNwPfS7prs0n7X1ISSl8K6JKWI5NzduZ436PsGQsXVKMyXodvGUee5__oeplnQ9TTiaDBg02FnM-ft6bTjxyaZ7VFJ_K5GBqFGJkza7TLvb03lpXFMaqHk6rj0kzzWuI/s1600/IMG_20111218_144203.jpg"><img style="margin-left:155px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIv6cdzX7A4qajNwPfS7prs0n7X1ISSl8K6JKWI5NzduZ436PsGQsXVKMyXodvGUee5__oeplnQ9TTiaDBg02FnM-ft6bTjxyaZ7VFJ_K5GBqFGJkza7TLvb03lpXFMaqHk6rj0kzzWuI/s200/IMG_20111218_144203.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694034910140323570" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-WHuHe91zvMHtjfA2SlhOEDXVHz4MeqQEN8JY8xeYGu-ADOZQ6ntM0EQk3rRESM_cI3-Do_Y4G3twaUzat_U2z4VNiXOUHMOKD91wao76luNSovxMcsiP9Lh_Mo4nHPhS1ItSWrhqbOw/s1600/IMG_20111218_144154.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-WHuHe91zvMHtjfA2SlhOEDXVHz4MeqQEN8JY8xeYGu-ADOZQ6ntM0EQk3rRESM_cI3-Do_Y4G3twaUzat_U2z4VNiXOUHMOKD91wao76luNSovxMcsiP9Lh_Mo4nHPhS1ItSWrhqbOw/s200/IMG_20111218_144154.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694035078985914162" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Sriracha sauce xanthan gum</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdho-LGL0atXtR5LIPGBEvN6cw-Gb85JSjV4uiQvJM7iWrqjaYVjquX2Fx_wtn2XhVWZ1y4PjnCejRoKtFklK5_vYlEQ6Maaygbm18RK8ds_XSJKGbFtGmYafpaa5qKP5BvBDQDadKsdY/s1600/IMG_20111218_144723.jpg"><img style="margin-left:155px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdho-LGL0atXtR5LIPGBEvN6cw-Gb85JSjV4uiQvJM7iWrqjaYVjquX2Fx_wtn2XhVWZ1y4PjnCejRoKtFklK5_vYlEQ6Maaygbm18RK8ds_XSJKGbFtGmYafpaa5qKP5BvBDQDadKsdY/s200/IMG_20111218_144723.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694035578148403234" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg997RprebX0NKvVo_2V_DYSwa4B_2OScHkwIKhDeTnHDpUXSomJDls_nXw3abTx8nxO2DYVcGK-3EKHcYWSUFZNV2MPPFyywr1w4NN6RAzQfD8PN9Nv8ScrAG1Qj5Vv32fvncuIYLUv9o/s1600/IMG_20111218_144716.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg997RprebX0NKvVo_2V_DYSwa4B_2OScHkwIKhDeTnHDpUXSomJDls_nXw3abTx8nxO2DYVcGK-3EKHcYWSUFZNV2MPPFyywr1w4NN6RAzQfD8PN9Nv8ScrAG1Qj5Vv32fvncuIYLUv9o/s200/IMG_20111218_144716.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694035762910961778" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Hsin Tung Yang soy bean paste</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqiZ0rtKiD03qGwFTzHj4hVg7bgUAXW49M8LaJstRHl98gKgT-H0YDqTfLYA3MLgXB7ND8_7-CGGiEkRmLzuzxsQ0fLPDr7ea15vvFDGYrCVJUKlCX9Y6v9mdGZU7V7uGPuB2dX01OVI/s1600/IMG_20111218_145101.jpg"><img style="margin-left:155px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqiZ0rtKiD03qGwFTzHj4hVg7bgUAXW49M8LaJstRHl98gKgT-H0YDqTfLYA3MLgXB7ND8_7-CGGiEkRmLzuzxsQ0fLPDr7ea15vvFDGYrCVJUKlCX9Y6v9mdGZU7V7uGPuB2dX01OVI/s200/IMG_20111218_145101.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694036073076999234" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ScfJQFXKcijZ1fRVrHZJbfRulR6lkukaxD_xawQffS_-kJH_In1Ro5yOQt0c_3N9fKy90sjnrAEYupFwob6uhIIga_di_9z01D2QKJjT4QnqpYEYG9phYM7cckLiyvl9t6t-qHA46GU/s1600/IMG_20111218_145055.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ScfJQFXKcijZ1fRVrHZJbfRulR6lkukaxD_xawQffS_-kJH_In1Ro5yOQt0c_3N9fKy90sjnrAEYupFwob6uhIIga_di_9z01D2QKJjT4QnqpYEYG9phYM7cckLiyvl9t6t-qHA46GU/s200/IMG_20111218_145055.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694036379602654898" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Some Korean packaged noodles. I am too lazy too look up the outrageously many number of ingredients.</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioA24S7hLKi_g8LYEucKvcYPf1P1zuajGFqV1ykurTmeHMwzWpqsjnmYNMe54FuBjzStPGJG_TLPLZooS3wSkeIY_hR6OnrfJDxlCRWj_qDbO3OQV6jFtWjh1xhjdU-YIpTYMhN9qkUTE/s1600/IMG_20111224_154649.jpg"><img style="margin-left:155px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioA24S7hLKi_g8LYEucKvcYPf1P1zuajGFqV1ykurTmeHMwzWpqsjnmYNMe54FuBjzStPGJG_TLPLZooS3wSkeIY_hR6OnrfJDxlCRWj_qDbO3OQV6jFtWjh1xhjdU-YIpTYMhN9qkUTE/s200/IMG_20111224_154649.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694037457912673490" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcZ7JjKyw9K8orrYeUYOsAyq2KblH_evFJVZc0ibTOZTnmfrSt-YsUgwQQietV873V4m9UFUCH6SYEzC8ws7s-BnpBYj3VX9R-fN6j01Jun7CgHGx5hnhEJw1PGSH93iERPcXaZuqZ7I/s1600/IMG_20111224_154701.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcZ7JjKyw9K8orrYeUYOsAyq2KblH_evFJVZc0ibTOZTnmfrSt-YsUgwQQietV873V4m9UFUCH6SYEzC8ws7s-BnpBYj3VX9R-fN6j01Jun7CgHGx5hnhEJw1PGSH93iERPcXaZuqZ7I/s200/IMG_20111224_154701.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694037597647608642" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Pocky contains sodium phosphates</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7u56mRbZFMLNKD6yonRoCyYUO3c8wZ6KRx_Wo__Dz3_SgVmD3qbhVRl6iDqg86I_MVIKGLwbxk0L2y03tfiXZb2DT1ITYOYDN7GBOENsvLAaeSoByFoJGUxF9qDBx_Ttl1DHUxCmWCg/s1600/IMG_4042.JPG"><img style="margin-left:105px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7u56mRbZFMLNKD6yonRoCyYUO3c8wZ6KRx_Wo__Dz3_SgVmD3qbhVRl6iDqg86I_MVIKGLwbxk0L2y03tfiXZb2DT1ITYOYDN7GBOENsvLAaeSoByFoJGUxF9qDBx_Ttl1DHUxCmWCg/s200/IMG_4042.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695860347984536802" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ke4YTjy9TABidSa15-qzVc80chtDKa_qIv6erY8PxW-HLt14ATDVyqYtOinQZCVn2doWR8bsG2ah0KGYMnMUg-eh-nrUqe_gvgvM9IBMgFe-B_syyBLab9JPq52Id_FWHT7A4b5K-iI/s1600/IMG_4043.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ke4YTjy9TABidSa15-qzVc80chtDKa_qIv6erY8PxW-HLt14ATDVyqYtOinQZCVn2doWR8bsG2ah0KGYMnMUg-eh-nrUqe_gvgvM9IBMgFe-B_syyBLab9JPq52Id_FWHT7A4b5K-iI/s200/IMG_4043.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695860478276834210" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">M&M contains red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, and blue 2</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgffHygnHrTdrK_BZPo92zlwSGBDA5KNWgrV6WTAkJBfE1l5jB9FWKkX0wzzeIcc7u7Baw7fv8BjybbY8RlxqTQukDk6EzZfcXVEfe22fyqHv0xnMpeDBQloOruH1L_keaZr7ToXlMTLFo/s1600/IMG_4048.JPG"><img style="margin-left:130px; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgffHygnHrTdrK_BZPo92zlwSGBDA5KNWgrV6WTAkJBfE1l5jB9FWKkX0wzzeIcc7u7Baw7fv8BjybbY8RlxqTQukDk6EzZfcXVEfe22fyqHv0xnMpeDBQloOruH1L_keaZr7ToXlMTLFo/s200/IMG_4048.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695860570097303682" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMUmfJYtEKEXwXiUln2WyPYx0tF0s05J_KpAF6kjxbZhdlMO5qAD4eskG2kSUF1y-w2KgH9lODYmH5D11htIpQoM5STqgcXde4F61arxtbfRjED8LeQUoFrkpkAuHH-uJMrO5xFqr1n8k/s1600/IMG_4049.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMUmfJYtEKEXwXiUln2WyPYx0tF0s05J_KpAF6kjxbZhdlMO5qAD4eskG2kSUF1y-w2KgH9lODYmH5D11htIpQoM5STqgcXde4F61arxtbfRjED8LeQUoFrkpkAuHH-uJMrO5xFqr1n8k/s200/IMG_4049.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695860652126868802" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">NyQuil syrup contains red 40</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-26477070142477713672011-10-07T04:18:00.002+00:002011-10-07T04:20:24.009+00:00The myth about speaking EnglishIn urban Taiwan, there’s been an increasing trend in the belief that being able to converse in English to a foreigners on a street is cool, and being unable to do so is uncool. If I had to speak to a white person, a black person, or an Indian looking person in Taiwan, I would first try in Chinese. Only when the other party doesn’t understand me, I’d try English. I have two reasons<br /><ol><br /><li>In the United States, people speak English to me. They won’t attempt in Chinese or Japanese just because I look like an East Asian. In France, people speak French to me. In Japan, people speak Japanese to me. So why must I speak English in Taiwan when speaking to foreigners? Chinese is the language of the land here, in other words, they bear the burden of speaking Chinese more than I bear the burden of speaking English. Therefore, Chinese has precedence over English. Conversely, if I were to work in the States, I’d speak English at work, even to those whose mother tongue is Chinese, when alone.</li><br /><li>If I were to automatically speak English to strangers of a certain demographics (say white people), the implication of such action is that these people are unable or unwilling to immigrate to Taiwan. In these days, district offices, township offices, and public schools in Taiwan offer activities to immigrant spouses of foreign origin. Most of the activities involve language learning. By doing so, it means the society accepts them, and has faith in their ability to integrate with the society. But if I were to skip over Chinese for strangers of a certain demographics, it implies that these people cannot be immigrants. Such subconscious assumptions, may it be that our society doesn’t accept them, or these people are unable or unwilling to immigrate, are not good.</li></ol><br />Make no mistake, I do not oppose learning English. In fact, I encourage anyone to learn any language. That said, I must impart my personal experience of English learning. During the process, I witnessed how a dominating language slowly erodes a weak language. There was a time when I was active on Wikipedia. At the time I chose the English Wikipedia because editing the English Wikipedia makes the most impact. While doing that, I met editors around the world whose native language isn’t English. But they all joined the English Wikipedia for similar reasons, that was to maximize their contributions, or the Wikipedias in their languages were not mature enough. For these reasons, the English Wikipedia has become the largest, and is still growing at the fastest speed.<br /><br />English is not the only language that benefits from being dominant. During the course of history, Chinese has also made other languages extinct. Soon after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianbei">Xianbei</a> people established the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Wei">Northern Wei</a> Dynasty, they started sinicizing themselves. The Manchurians did the same after the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Now the Xianbei language is extinct, fewer than 100 can speak <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchu_language">Manchu</a>. The Han people never forced them to sinicize because the Xianbei and the Manchurians were in power at the time. They voluntarily did so. From this example, we can see how a dominating language rolls like a snowball.<br /><br />I have made some Indian friends in the States. They told me that in India, some schools choose English as the medium of instruction, some choose Hindi, while some choose the local state language. I’m not sure which kind of school did my Indian friends attend, but I know many of them do not speak their mother tongues fluidly. They have to pause and think when I ask if they know how to say simple words like “math” or “taxi”. Most of the time, they communicate in English on Facebook, with occasional use of Romanized Hindi. I also happen to know many people whose native language is Chinese, who went to high schools or colleges in the States. They, too, often use English only on Facebook.<br /><br />I encourage everyone to learn English. But I must remind everyone, the more you learn, the more responsibility you have to protect your native language.<br /><br />Further reading: "我的孩子不會講中文" (My kid does not speak Chinese) by 張湘君 ISBN: 9867894219Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-26347397628278593342011-09-19T17:40:00.000+00:002011-09-19T17:40:06.087+00:00East Asian Culture Comparison Table<table class="wikitable"><tr><td> </td><td> Mainland China </td><td> Taiwan </td><td> Hong Kong </td><td> S Korea </td><td> N Korea </td><td> Vietnam </td><td> Japan </td></tr><tr><td> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_New_Year">Lunar New Year</a> </td><td> Restored in 1980 </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes, but because of the time zone difference, new moon may be off by one day </td><td> Only before 1873. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_Prefecture">Okinawa Prefecture</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amami_Islands">Amami Islands</a> of the former <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABky%C5%AB_Kingdom">Ryūkyū Kingdom</a> still do. </td></tr><tr><td> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac">Chinese zodiac</a> </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes, but with rat, ox, tiger, cat </td><td> Yes </td></tr><tr><td> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term">24 solar terms</a> </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td></tr><tr><td> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival">Duanwu Festival</a> </td><td> Restored in 2008 </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes, but not a public holiday </td><td> Celebrated on Gregorian 5/5. Transformed into Children's Day </td></tr><tr><td> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival">Mid-Autumn Festival</a> </td><td> Restored in 2008 </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes, but on lunar 8/16 </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes, but not a public holiday </td><td> Yes, but not a public holiday </td></tr><tr><td> Pronunciation of the character "<a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%96%87">文</a>" </td><td> wen2 </td><td> bûn (Min Nan) </td><td> man4 </td><td> mun </td><td> mun </td><td> văn, von </td><td> mon/bun/fumi </td></tr><tr><td> Is there a standalone word for 10<sup>4</sup> </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Usually "mười nghìn", where "mười" means ten, and "nghìn" means thousand </td><td> Yes </td></tr><tr><td> Uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters">Chinese (Han) characters</a> </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Almost none </td><td> No </td><td> No, only visible at historical sites </td><td> Yes </td></tr><tr><td> 1-char family names, 2-char given names are common </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> No </td></tr><tr><td> Basic sentence structure (the ordering of subject, verb, object) </td><td> SVO (I eat rice) </td><td> SVO (I eat rice) </td><td> SVO (I eat rice) </td><td> SOV (I rice eat) </td><td> SOV (I rice eat) </td><td> SVO (I eat rice) </td><td> SOV (I rice eat) </td></tr><tr><td> Has <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-controlled_municipality">level 1 municipality</a> </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> / </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> Yes </td><td> No </td></tr></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-31305513842888510202011-01-22T08:18:00.003+00:002011-01-23T06:53:07.837+00:00Multilingualism in the Greater China RegionAlthough Han Chinese constitute as much as 92% of the total population, cultural exchanges between different ethnic groups are common through out the history, within today's political borders or otherwise. Linguistic influences in both directions are also widespread. Even some Han Chinese don't know that the modern word for "brother" (哥) is borrowed in the Tang Dynasty from the Xianbei language, which is of Mongolic. There is a Chinese idiom that roughly translates to "With great diversity comes greatness" (有容乃大).<br /><br />Below you will find public signs that are written in many different languages, starting from the Northeast region, then counter-clockwise<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_language">Korean</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanji">Yanji City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanbian_Korean_Autonomous_Prefecture">Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilin">Jilin Province</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20654675"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 355px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/20654675.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">延吉市實驗中學 = 연길시 실험 중학 = Yanji Experimental Middle School</div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2527598"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/2527598.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">東北亞喜宴 = 동북아 희연 = Northeast Asian Wedding Banquet</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language">Russian</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuyuan_County,_Heilongjiang">Fuyuan County</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiamusi">Jiamusi City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilongjiang">Heilongjiang Province</a> (where Russia is just across the river)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25187159"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/25187159.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">五金家電商場 = Амур бытовая техника --> Home appliances of Amur River</div><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language">English</a></div><br /><br />Russian in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aihui_District">Aihui District</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heihe">Heihe City</a>, Heilongjiang Province (where Russia is just across the river)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23559680"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/23559680.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">РЕСТОРАН "ПУТИН" --> RESTAURANT "PUTIN"</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_language">Mongolian</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_script">Mongolian script</a> and Russian in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzhouli">Manzhouli City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulunbuir">Hulunbuir City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Mongolia">Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region</a> (where Russia is 5 km away in minimum distance)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/36682818"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/36682818.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">電器維修 = ремонт магнитафонов --> Tape recorde repair</div><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;"> (магнит<b>а</b>фонов is a typo, should be магнит<b>о</b>фонов)</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchu_language">Manchu</a>, Han Chinese, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Tibetan">Tibetan</a>, and Mongolian in Mongolian script at the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonghe_Temple">Yonghe Temple</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongcheng_District,_Beijing">Dongcheng District</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing">Beijing Municipality</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/steveminutillo/1585024/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/1585024_813ee4502e.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Introduction in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language">Japanese</a>, Korean, and Russian at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juyongguan">Juyongguan</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changping_District">Changping District</a>, Beijing Municipality<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28549294@N05/5026071350/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 332px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5026071350_1689d99ec4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">居庸関長城のご紹介 = 거용관 장성 소개 = Краткие сведения о Стене Цзюйюнгуань = Introduction of Juyongguan</div><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some English</div><br /><br />Mongolian in Mongolian script, Mongolian in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet">Cyrillic alphabet</a>, and <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English">British English</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erenhot">Erenhot City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xilin_Gol_League">Xilin Gol League</a>, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/36095173"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/36095173.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">華聯商城 = ХУА ЛИАНЬ ХУДАЛДААНЫ ТӨВ = HUA LIAN COMMERCIAL CENTRE</div><br /><br />Mongolian in Mongolian script in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohhot">Hohhot City</a>, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KFC_in_Hohhot.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 299px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/KFC_in_Hohhot.jpg/500px-KFC_in_Hohhot.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some English</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_language">Kazakh</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_language">Uyghur</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacheng">Tacheng City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacheng_Prefecture">Tacheng Prefecture</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ili_Kazakh_Autonomous_Prefecture">Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang">Xinjiang Autonomous Region</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23288525"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/23288525.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">I cannot tell if the text above "中國農民銀行" (Agricultural Bank of China) is Kazakh in Arabic script or Uyghur. With some English.</div><br /><br />Uyghur at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id_Kah_Mosque">Id Kah Mosque</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashgar">Kashgar City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashgar_Prefecture">Kashgar Prefecture</a>, Xinjiang Autonomous Region (not far from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/44074313"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/44074313.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some English</div><br /><br />Uyghur and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarikoli_language">Sarikoli</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashkurgan_Tajik_Autonomous_County">Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County</a>, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Autonomous Region (where Tajikistan is 19 km away in minimum distance)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/37765636"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/37765636.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some British English</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Tibetan">Tibetan</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengguan_District,_Lhasa">Chengguan District</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasa">Lhasa City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet_Autonomous_Region">Tibet Autonomous Region</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19829729"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 376px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/19829729.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">有一些英語</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language">Arabic</a>, Tibetan, and Han Chinese in Chengguan District, Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/557293"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 375px; height: 500px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/557293.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_N%C3%BCa_language">Tai Nüa</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_L%C3%BC_language">Tai Lü</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingpho_language">Jingpho</a> in Jiegao Townships, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruili">Ruili City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehong_Dai_and_Jingpo_Autonomous_Prefecture">Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunnan">Yunnan Province</a> (where Myanmar is just across the street)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/37423481"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/37423481.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">I cannot tell if the text is Tai Nüa or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_language">Burmese</a></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/40561015"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/40561015.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">I cannot tell if the text is Tai Nüa or Burmese</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_L%C3%BC_language">Tai Lü</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinghong">Jinghong City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xishuangbanna_Dai_Autonomous_Prefecture">Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture</a>, Yunnan Province<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20385308"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 313px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/20385308.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some English</div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23167963"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/23167963.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/21729720"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/21729720.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Tai Lü and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_language">Lao</a> in Mohan, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengla_County">Mengla County</a>, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/30717672"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/30717672.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some English</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language">Vietnamese</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongxing,_Guangxi">Dongxing City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangchenggang">Fangchenggang City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi">Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/41638502"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/41638502.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">異國特產批發 = Bán buôn đặc sản nước ngoài</div><br /><br />Russian and Korean in Tianya Town, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanya">Sanya City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan">Hainan Province</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/45202185"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/45202185.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language">Portuguese</a>, Japanese, and English in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau">Macau Special Administrative Region</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Multilingual_sign_in_Macau.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 281px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Multilingual_sign_in_Macau.png/500px-Multilingual_sign_in_Macau.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />British English in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_City_District">Kowloon City District</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong">Hong Kong Special Administrative Region</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/lsb/en/facilities.php?ftid=0&did=4"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/lsb/photo/KC/To%20Kwa%20Wan%20Sports%20Centre%201_KC.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">土瓜灣體育館 = To Kwa Wan Sports Centre</div><br /><br />British English in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanzih_District">Nanzih District</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaohsiung">Kaohsiung City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China">Republic of China</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20464768"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/20464768.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">高雄市楠梓國民小學 = Nan-Tzu Primary School, Kaohsiung</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English">American English</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language">French</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minxiong,_Chiayi">Minxiong Township</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiayi_County">Chiayi County</a>, Republic of China<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10497284"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/10497284.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">嘉義縣表演藝術中心 = Chiayi Performing Arts Center<br/>法國春天藝術節 = Printemps, Français de Chiayi --> Spring, French of Chiayi</div><br /><br />American English in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugu,_Nantou">Lugu Township</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantou_County">Nantou County</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://travel.nantou.gov.tw/nantou.asp?View=%B3%C0%A8%A6%B6m&Id=802"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 480px; height: 601px;" src="http://travel.nantou.gov.tw/manasystem/Files/Tour/%E9%81%8A%E5%AE%A2%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF%83.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">遊客中心 = Visitor Center</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization">Romanization</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana">Katakana</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din_Tai_Fung">Din Tai Fung</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hsinchu">Hsinchu City</a>, Republic of China<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.xuite.net/nbs9999/life/37649337"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://2.blog.xuite.net/2/2/5/9/22750120/blog_1663025/txt/37649337/1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">鼎泰豐 = DIN TAI FUNG = ディンタイフォン</div><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">With some English. The Katakana "ディンタイフォン" merely denotes the pronunciations. In regular Japanese text, the name is still written as Chinese characters "鼎泰豊".</div><br /><hr/><br />In addition to multilingualism in the Greater China Region, the language of Han Chinese is also widely accepted and used throughout the world.<br /><br />Russian and Chinese in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabaykalsk">Zabaykalsk</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabaykalsky_Krai">Zabaykalsky Krai</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia">Russia</a> (where the border is 2 km away in minimum distance)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/26145865"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/26145865.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Mongolian in Cyrillic script, English, and simplified Chinese in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamyn-%C3%9C%C3%BCd">Zamyn-Üüd</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornogovi_Province">Dornogovi Province</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia">Mongolia</a> (where the border is 4 km away in minimum distance)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4228483"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 332px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/4228483.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />British English and Chinese in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Westminster">City of Westminster</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London">Greater London</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England">England</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom">United Kingdom</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bilingual_sign_Chinatown_London.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 328px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Bilingual_sign_Chinatown_London.jpg/500px-Bilingual_sign_Chinatown_London.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Simplified Chinese and Burmese in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokang">Kokang</a> (First Special Region), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shan_State">Shan State</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma">Myanmar</a> (where the border is 6 km away in minimum distance)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19253245"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/19253245.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Chinese is the primary language at this place, which is politically and militarily unstable.</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language">Thai</a>, English, traditional Chinese, and Burmese in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Sai_District">Mae Sai District</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Rai_Province">Chiang Rai Province</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand">Thailand</a> (where Myanmar is just across the river the Chinese border is 119 km away in minimum distance)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.eyesofthailand.com/2009/08/20/production-day-7-northern-thailand-and-myanmar/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 440px; height: 330px;" src="http://www.eyesofthailand.com/blog2/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/img_0614-440x330.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malay_language">Malay</a>, traditional Chinese, English, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language">Tamil</a> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang_Island">Penang Island</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang">Penang State</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia">Malaysia</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.chineseenglish.com/2010/03/28/multi-lingual-sign-prohibited-area/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://www.chineseenglish.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/waterfall06.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Malay, traditional Chinese, English, and Japanese on Penang Island, Penang State, Malaysia<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27156537"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/27156537.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />English, simplified Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore">Singapore</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://thecoffeespoon.net/waslost/2008/09/traditional-chinese-in-singapore/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://waslost.thecoffeespoon.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/image000-400x300.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Note that it is common in Singapore to mix traditional and simplified Chinese for everyday use. This example contains only traditional Chinese.</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_language">Lao</a> and simplified Chinese in Boten, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luang_Namtha_Province">Luang Namtha Province</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos">Laos</a> (where the border is 1 km away in minimum distance)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/30625178"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/30625178.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_language">Indonesian</a>, two Englishes??, simplified Chinese, and French in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung">Bandung</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Java">West Java</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia">Indonesia</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bandungdailyphoto.com/2010/08/getting-multilingual-getting.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 375px; height: 500px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_jufK9LBrE7w/TF1CQcYO9hI/AAAAAAAAFrU/HmGYZuvDJKs/IMG_0555%20-%20small.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Vietnamese, simplified Chinese, and English in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Cai">Lao Cai City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Cai_Province">Lao Cai Province</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam">Vietnam</a> (where China is just across the river)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9671753"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 375px; height: 500px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/9671753.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Vietnamese, traditional and simplified Chinese in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B3ng_C%C3%A1i">Móng Cái</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_Ninh_Province">Quảng Ninh Province</a>, Vietnam (where China is just across the river)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/24160136"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/24160136.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Note that traditional and simplified Chinese coexist on the same object</div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/24160131"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/24160131.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />American English, Chinese, Japanese, Korea, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language">Spanish</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_language">Filipino</a>, Vietnamese in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell,_California">Bell</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California">California</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">United States of America</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://multiamerican.scpr.org/2010/11/more-attempts-to-dissuade-latino-voters-reported/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://multiamerican.scpr.org/files/2010/11/bell-3-620x465.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Traditional Chinese and American English in possibly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Virginia">Richmond</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia">Virginia</a>, the United States of America<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.digitalbusstop.com/classified-ad-fail/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 499px; height: 426px;" src="http://www.digitalbusstop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/China-Seafood-Restaurant.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_English">Canadian English</a> and traditional Chinese in <a href="Richmond, British Columbia">Richmond</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia">British Columbia</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada">Canada</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://horngji.blogspot.com/2008/07/chinese-characters-on-famous-stationery.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigTQTBET4UXVgS6GgoJ_6_CeeQdXNe5nqndlxkCDTzF3LvyD66PHGXiw7TbDjDUtTbUBwuGoj3n1p7p4NxvTS_8oFOyHZi7XfUTIgoYU3P-RkSXdxqbFG12ydSAxNmsI-bEut4aSidIQs/s500/105_1242.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><hr/><br />With the sheer number of Chinese, some mistakes are inevitable.<br /><br />Possibly in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tainan">Tainan City</a>, Republic of China<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://applepig.idv.tw/archives/715"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2671861076_f8010bc878.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">台南海鮮 (Tainan Seafood) = Platform South Sea Fresh</div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shijiazhuang">Shijiazhuang City</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebei">Hebei Province</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://anchorstudio.blogspot.com/2007/11/translate-server-error.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzn396dXZuHRdW2wL8n1fANcUDyYNkLJRpwdclj99Qik93l-JeiKiyUrs8SzR5zbcJWXqFL5JYzEcWp2OikzMSd776QZc7JWQy09F-2T8Ptx3TEo3G-0n7D1NCIvqnZ3RKThrjiHYWCI/s500/%E6%9C%AA%E6%A0%87%E9%A2%98-1%E5%89%AF%E6%9C%AC.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; font-size: 150%;">餐廳 (Restaurant) = Translate server error</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-78770992907403291722010-11-08T07:53:00.011+00:002011-01-19T06:04:51.173+00:00The Chronicle (Drama) of Mobile 2010This chronicle is *NOT* to document important technological break throughs that matters to the consumers in 2010, but to record the dog-fight between these tech companies from the eyes of someone who follows tech news.<br /><br />This article is U.S.-centric, and the dates are in a U.S. time zone unless specified otherwise. Even with my best effort, the dates may still be off by a day or two.<br /><ul><br /><li>1/5 – The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_One">Nexus One</a> is released, along with Android 2.1 (Eclair). Multi-touch was not available and it is believed to be a gentlemen's agreement between Google and Apple.</li> <br /><li>2/2 – Android 2.1 gets an update with multi-touch.</li><br /><li>2/16 – Google CEO <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt">Eric Schmidt</a> says 60,000 Android devices are activated per day.</li><br /><li>3/2 – Apple sues HTC, the manufacturer that makes the Nexus One and many other Android devices for 20 patents. It is speculated to be a retaliation against Android's update with multi-touch.</li><br /><li>3/10 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/3/comScore_Reports_January_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 25.1% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Jan. 2010, while Google has 7.1%, and RIM has 43.0%.</li><br /><li>4/5 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/4/comScore_Reports_February_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 25.4% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Feb. 2010, while Google has 9.0%, and RIM has 42.1%.</li><br /><li>4/8 – iOS 4 announced.</li><br /><li>4/8 – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daring_Fireball">Daring Fireball</a> blogger <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gruber">John Gruber</a> points out that article 3.3.1 of the iOS4 SDK license agreement basically rejects Flash or Adobe Air on iOS 4.</li><br /><li>4/12 – Microsoft unveils <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Kin">KIN</a>.</li><br /><li>4/15 – Apple App Store rejects Pulitzer-Winning Satirist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fiore">Mark Fiore's</a> app.</li><br /><li>4/16 – Millennial Media, a Mobile ad network, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/16/millennial-media-android-ad-impressions-rise-72-percent-from-february-to-march/">reveals</a> that iOS has 70% share of impressions, while Android has 6%, and RIM has 14% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>4/17 – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engadget">Engadget</a> <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/17/iphone-4g-is-this-it/">reported</a> an iPhone 4 prototype.</li><br /><li>4/19 – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizmodo">Gizmodo</a> <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone">reported</a> the lost iPhone 4 prototype. For some reason, media direct their attention at Gizmodo and not Engadget.</li> <br /><li>4/19 – Gizmodo <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone">reported</a> how they obtained the iPhone 4 prototype that originated from Gray Powell, an Apple employee.</li><br /><li>4/19 – Apple formally acknowledges the lost iPhone 4 prototype is their property and demands it back from Gizmodo. Gizmodo complies.</li><br /><li>4/19 – Apple CEO <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs">Steve Jobs</a> allegedly says in an email, "Folks who want porn can buy and [sic] Android phone."</li><br /><li>4/23 – Law enforcement raided Jason Chen's house. Chen is the Gizmodo editor who reported the iPhone 4 prototype.</li><br /><li>4/26 – Motorola <a href="http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-ditching-google-location-services-android-phones">plans</a> to use Skyhook's XPS (a location software) instead of Google's.</li><br /><li>5/7 – Nokia <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5533482/nokia-sues-apple-over-ipad-and-iphone+related-patents">sues</a> Apple over iPad and iPhone-related patents.</li><br /><li>5/10 – NPD survey <a href="http://www.androidcentral.com/android-sold-more-phones-apple-q1-analyst-reports">shows</a> that in Q1 2010 in the U.S., Android has 28% U.S. market share, Apple has 21%, and RIM has 36%.</li><br /><li>5/12 – HTC counter sues Apple.</li><br /><li>5/20 – Google Vice-President of Engineering <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Gundotra">Vic Gundotra</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY3U2GXhz44">quotes</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Rubin">Andy Rubin</a>, "if Google did not act, we faced a Draconian future, a future where one man, one company, one device, one carrier would be our only choice."</li><br /><li>5/20 – Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Google TV announced. Google says 100,000 Android devices are activated per day.</li><br /><li>5/20 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/20/millennial-media-android-ad-impressions-rise-77-percent-in-april-iphone-sees-8-percent-drop/">reveals</a> that iOS has 62% share of impressions, while Android has 10%, and RIM has 17% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>6/7 – Steve Jobs announces iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010.</li><br /><li>6/18 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/18/millennial-media-apple-os-drops-by-33-percent-in-may-but-ipad-impressions-grow-160-percent/">reveals</a> that iOS has 48% share of impressions, while Android has 15%, and RIM has 19% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>6/15 – ComScore <a href="http://blog.comscore.com/2010/06/americans_smart_iphone.html">reports</a> that Apple has 25% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Apr. 2010, while Google has 12.0%, and RIM has over 40%.</li><br /><li>6/23 – Andy Rubin says 160,000 Android devices are activated per day.</li><br /><li>6/23 – Apple <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/23/looks-like-apple-is-suing-htc-again/">sues</a> HTC again.</li><br /><li>6/24 – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_4">iPhone 4</a> released.</li><br /><li>6/24 – iPhone 4 reception problem reported. Steve Jobs allegedly tells a complaining user "Just avoid holding it in that way."</li><br /><li>6/24 – Brian Maupin (tinywatchproductions) uploads an "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg">iPhone4 vs HTC Evo</a>" (NSFW) video on YouTube, featuring 2 cartoon characters with synthesized voice. Maupin also uploads an opposite video "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAOtC9QfXac">HTC EVO vs iPhone4</a>." Both videos become viral shortly. The former that bashes iPhone outpaces the latter that bashes EVO at a 5:1 ratio in terms of click rate.</li><br /><li>6/30 – Microsoft <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/microsoft-kin-is-dead/">discontinues KIN</a>.</li><br /><li>7/1 – <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/kin-more-proof-that-warring-fiefdoms-rule-at-microsoft/6729">Reports</a> <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/02/life-and-death-of-microsoft-kin-the-inside-story/">suggest</a> that the end of KIN is a result of ugly workplace politics at Microsoft.</li><br /><li>7/1 – Best Buy, the employer of Brian Maupin, puts Maupin on suspension, which further contributes the viralness of the videos.</li><br /><li>7/6 – Best Buy decides not to fire Brian Maupin. But he decides not to take the job back.</li><br /><li>7/8 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/7/comScore_Reports_May_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 24.4% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending May 2010, while Google has 13.0%, and RIM has 41.7%.</li><br /><li>7/12 – Consumer Reports <a href="http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-iphone-4-antenna-issue-iphone4-problems-dropped-calls-lab-test-confirmed-problem-issues-signal-strength-att-network-gsm.html">can't recommend the iPhone 4</a>.</li><br /><li>7/14 – Paramount Pictures shows interest in hiring Brian Maupin.</li><br /><li>7/14 – Microsoft COO <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Kevin_Turner">Kevin Turner</a> <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179164/Microsoft_exec_mocks_iPhone_4_dubs_it_Apple_s_Vista">says</a> "It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista."</li><br /><li>7/15 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/15/millennial-media-apple-os-grows-by-36-percent-in-june-android-up-by-23-percent/">reveals</a> that iOS has 56% share of impressions, while Android has 11%, and RIM has 17% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>7/16 – At a emergency press conference, Steve Jobs says 1.7% of iPhone 4 were returned, compared to 6% of iPhone 3GS, the perceived signal drop is a result from a miscalculating formula, and Apple will be giving away free Bumpers. Apple also makes a web page that shows the signal drop problem also occurs on BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, Motorola Droid X, Nokia N97 mini, Samsung Omnia II, and its own iPhone 3GS.</li><br /><li>7/16 – RIM's co-CEO's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lazaridis">Mike Lazaridis</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Balsillie">Jim Balsillie</a> states "Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. … During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls."</li><br /><li>7/17 – Nokia says "Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design."</li><br /><li>7/17 – HTC's spokesman Eric Lin says the support rate of Droid Eris is approximately .016% of customers.</li><br /><li>7/19 – Samsung defends their Omnia 2 phone "Reception problems have not happened so far, and there is no room for such problems to happen in the future."</li><br /><li>8/4 – Eric Schmidt says 200,000 Android devices are activated per day.</li><br /><li>8/5 – NPD survey <a href="http://androidandme.com/2010/08/news/android-news-news/npd-report-android-crowned-smartphone-os-of-choice-in-q2/">shows</a> that in Q2 2010 in the U.S., Android has 33% U.S. market share, Apple has 22%, and RIM has 28%.</li><br /><li>8/6 – HP CEO <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hurd">Mark Hurd</a> resigns for inappropriate business conduct found in an investigation into a claim of sexual harassment. (I know this isn't mobile-related.)</li><br /><li>8/9 – Oracle CEO <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison">Larry Ellison</a> comments on Hurd's resignation, "The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago."</li><br /><li>8/12 – Oracle <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/12/oracle-sues-google-over-java-patent-infringement-in-android/">sues</a> Google over Java patent infringement in Android.</li><br /><li>8/18 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/18/millennial-media-android-os-grew-by-47-percent-in-july-ipad-requests-up-327-percent/">reveals</a> that iOS has 55% share of impressions, while Android has 19%, and RIM has 16% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>8/27 – Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/27/microsoft-co-founder-paul-allen-sues-apple-google-facebook-ao/">sues</a> Apple, Google, Facebook, AOL, eBay, Netflix, Yahoo!, Staples, OfficeMax, Office Depot, and YouTube over patents</li><br /><li>9/1 – Steve Jobs announces the 2nd generation of Apple TV</li><br /><li>9/2 – Samsung Galaxy Tab announced in Berlin. Galaxy Tab runs on Android 2.2 and a 7" display.</li><br /><li>9/6 – Oracle hires Mark Hurd.</li><br /><li>9/6 – HP sues Oracle over hiring Mark Hurd.</li><br /><li>9/9 – Apple <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/09/apple-relaxes-restrictions-on-ios-app-code-iad-analytics.ars">relaxes</a> its restrictions on iOS app code.</li><br /><li>9/15 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/9/comScore_Reports_July_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 23.8% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Jul. 2010, while Google has 17.0%, and RIM has 39.3%.</li><br /><li>9/16 – Skyhook <a href="http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2010/09/skyhook-sues-google-over-motorola-deal-location-patent/">sues</a> Google for strong-arming of Motorola.</li><br /><li>9/28 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/28/millennial-media-android-ad-requests-up-996-percent-since-january/">reveals</a> that iOS has 48% share of impressions, while Android has 26%, and RIM has 19% in the previous month.</li> <br /><li>10/1 – Microsoft sues Motorola because of Android.</li><br /><li>10/3 – Microsoft CEO <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer">Steve Ballmer</a> says Android isn't really free.</li><br /><li>10/6 – Motorola sues Apple.</li><br /><li>10/6 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/10/comScore_Reports_August_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 24.2% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Aug. 2010, while Google has 19.6%, and RIM has 37.6%.</li><br /><li>10/11 – Windows Phone 7 announced.</li><br /><li>10/18 – Apple announced financial results for its fiscal Q4 2010 (ended 9/25). Steve Jobs says iPhone sale surpasses RIM 14.1 to 12.1 millions, Android's openness is disingenuous, 7" tablet is an awkward size, and 275,000 iOS devices are activated per day. Jobs also quotes TweetDeck's statistics to show the alleged fragmentation problem of Android.</li><br /><li>10/18 – Andy Rubin <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Arubin/status/27808662429">tweets</a>, "the definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make""</li><br /><li>10/18 – RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie says, "For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7″ tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. ... We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple."</li><br /><li>10/19 – Iain Dodsworth, one of the two developers of TweetDeck, <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/iaindodsworth/status/27813412620">tweets</a> "Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android? Errr nope, no we didn't. It wasn't."</li><br /><li>10/19 – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hewitt_%28programmer%29">Joe Hewitt</a>, developer of Firefox and FireBug, says that even Android is not "open" by Firefox's or Linux's standard.</li><br /><li>10/19 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/19/millennial-media-android-revenue-exceeds-iphone-ad-sales-ipad-up-316-percent-in-q3/">reveals</a> that iOS has 46% share of impressions, while Android has 29%, and RIM has 19% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>10/20 – At "Back to the Mac" event, the next generation of MacBook Air was announced. Shortly, people discovered that the new MacBook Air does not have Adobe Flash pre-installed.</li><br /><li>10/21 – Android and Me <a href="http://androidandme.com/2010/10/phones/rumor-samsung-will-have-a-google-experience-phone-this-year/">reports</a> a rumor that Samsung will have a Google-experience phone in 2010.</li><br /><li>10/22 – Giant Gingerbread (Android 2.3) man arrives at Google HQ.</li><br /><li>10/28 – Gizmodo <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5676008/hands-on-the-nexus-two-by-samsung?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29&utm_content=Google+Reader">claims</a> that Samsung "Nexus Two" is real.</li><br /><li>10/30 – Apple <a href="http://phandroid.com/2010/10/30/apple-sues-back/">counter sues</a> Motorola.</li><br /><li>11/1 – Samsung says the Nexus Two rumor "simply not true."</li><br /><li>11/1 – NPD survey <a href="http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_101101.html">shows</a> that in Q3 2010 in the U.S., Android has 44% U.S. market share, Apple has 23%, and RIM has 22%.</li><br /><li>11/2 – T-Mobile U.S.A. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KmfXupi9cg">launches</a> their 4G campaign, mocking A&T and iPhone 4 at the same time. Despite not meeting ITU's specification, most carriers in the U.S.A. still call their new service "4G".</li><br /><li>11/2 – Sprint <a href="http://www.tmonews.com/2010/11/sprint-disses-t-mobile-4g-network-claims/">responded</a> T-Mobile's 4G campaign, "Halloween is over–it’s time for T-Mobile to stop dressing up like their favorite super hero–Sprint 4G."</li><br /><li>11/3 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/11/comScore_Reports_September_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 24.3% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Sep. 2010, while Google has 21.4%, and RIM has 37.3%.</li><br /><li>11/3 – AT&T <a href="http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=6914">responds</a> to T-Mobile's commercial, "T-Mobile's claims about 4G are based on the same HSPA+ technology we have deployed to 180 million people today, more than T-Mobile’s reported 140 million, and we’ll have it rolled out to 250 million people by the end of this month, substantially more than the 200 million T-Mobile says it will have by year-end."</li><br /><li>11/4 – T-Mobile <a href="http://www.tmonews.com/2010/11/att-tells-t-mobile-whats-up-on-facebook-still-cant-connect-a-call/">continues the offensive</a> on Facebook, "Hey AT&T – It is easy for us to be proud when we have the 4G network to back it up. We challenge you to show us any data speeds on an AT&T iPhone that can top the speed on T-Mobile’s myTouch 4G. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Check out these amazing speed test screenshots from our T-Mobile fans: <a href="http://goo.gl/P0wk3">http://goo.gl/P0wk3</a>"</li><br /><li>11/4 – At&T replies to T-Mobile on Facebook with the same statement said on the day before.</li><br /><li>11/9 – Microsoft sues Motorola.</li><br /><li>11/11 – Motorola sues Microsoft.</li><br /><li>11/11 – Numerous rumors about the alleged Nexus S explode this day.<br /><ul><li>BestBuy website leak suggests Samsung Nexus S on T-Mobile.</li><li>Pictures of a physical Nexus S leak.</li><li>BestBuy internal document leak suggests Samsung Nexus S on T-Mobile.</li><li>Samsung "flagship device" (not Nexus S) coming in Feb 2011. Gingerbread.</li><li>Pictures shot with Samsung GT-i9020 (according to EXIF) found on Flickr.</li><li>First Nexus S was scrapped in favor of a new dual-core version.</li></ul></li><br /><li>11/15 – Eric Schmidt shows the Nexus S.</li><br /><li>11/18 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/18/millennial-ios-and-android-tie-for-smartphone-os-impression-share-in-october/">reveals</a> that iOS has 37% share of impressions, while Android has 37%, and RIM has 20% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>11/18 – Apple Co-founder <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak">Steve Wozniak</a> is reported to say that Android will dominate the smartphone market.</li><br /><li>11/18 – Steve Wozniak says his pervious statement was <a hrer="http://phandroid.com/2010/11/18/woz-says-he-was-misquoted/">quoted out of context</a>.</li><br /><li>11/18 – Microsoft Kin ONEm and TWOm are back with lower prices.</li><br /><li>11/27 – Apple <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5700063/apple-bans-android-magazine-from-the-app-store">bans</a> a Danish Android magazine app from the App Store.</li><br /><li>12/1 – Verizon announces their "4G" (LTE) network. On the same day, T-Mobile <a href="http://www.tmonews.com/2010/12/t-mobiles-reaction-to-verizons-lte-announcement/">reiterates</a> that T-Mobile has "America’s Largest 4G Network".</li><br /><li>12/3 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/layout/set/popup/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/12/comScore_Reports_October_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 24.6% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Oct. 2010, while Google has 23.5%, and RIM has 35.8%.</li><br /><li>12/6 – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_S">Nexus S</a> is officially announced.</li><br /><li>12/14 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/14/millennial-android-and-ios-in-deadlock-again-for-monthly-smartphone-impression-share/">reveals</a> that iOS has 38% share of impressions, while Android has 38%, and RIM has 19% in the previous month.</li><br /><li>12/16 – Nexus S is available from Best Buy in the U.S.</li><br /><li>1/6/2011 – ComScore <a href="http://www.comscore.com/index.php/layout/set/popup/layout/set/popup/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/comScore_Reports_November_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share">reports</a> that Apple has 25.0% of the market share in the U.S. in terms of 3-month average ending Oct. 2010, while Google has 26.0%, and RIM has 33.5%.</li><br /><li>1/13/2011 – Millennial Media <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/13/millennial-for-the-first-time-android-surpasses-ios-mobile-ad-impression-share/">reveals</a> that iOS has 32% share of impressions, while Android has 46%, and RIM has 16% in the previous month.</li></ul><hr/><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Sue graph. A→B denotes A suing B.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCXmwWUZg812k6T99WEcRBnNsOc8HCwnjcRICAP7C90xcN6AHZ7e57GBY5KpB5yaNykBOL3H14_-Usu_kNU0M7KvJYKPVhRtvdAflcBsu2OLba_ZXyKapTXEgutEkm6D2lyYbxjF8wAU/s1600/Sue+graph+en-us.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCXmwWUZg812k6T99WEcRBnNsOc8HCwnjcRICAP7C90xcN6AHZ7e57GBY5KpB5yaNykBOL3H14_-Usu_kNU0M7KvJYKPVhRtvdAflcBsu2OLba_ZXyKapTXEgutEkm6D2lyYbxjF8wAU/s1600/Sue+graph+en-us.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540068659267711138" /></a></div><br />Actually, similar graphs have been circulating on the Internet for some time. See also<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/whos-suing-whom-in-the-telecoms-trade/">Information is Beautiful</a></li><li><a href="http://www.cultofmac.com/correction-whos-actually-suing-whom-in-mobile-infographic/62671">Cult of Mac</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/04/microsoft-motorola-android-patent-lawsuit">The Guardian Technology Blog</a></li><li><a href="http://news.designlanguage.com/post/1252039209">Design Language News</a></li></ul><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">ComScore data are market shares in the U.S. in the past 3 months<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVhpHkeNLIkyd9AaGf3ue7FXI89w21un2RCzUx9qLd7fYxYRjpyrtFYs1J0NV6Jcx0M9BQevFcwL0rzMd1GFo86iy5EWjqLjfLnkfIusGYyyUxkFYiojjy4pwecin7NPZFxMheNHd2zFU/s1600/ComScore.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVhpHkeNLIkyd9AaGf3ue7FXI89w21un2RCzUx9qLd7fYxYRjpyrtFYs1J0NV6Jcx0M9BQevFcwL0rzMd1GFo86iy5EWjqLjfLnkfIusGYyyUxkFYiojjy4pwecin7NPZFxMheNHd2zFU/s1600/ComScore.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563769332792932162" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">Millennial Media data are shares of ad impression in the U.S. in the previous month<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9pC8s3hctKVeMlzHykkO-py0OQ06RTdzMdILyr8yPVXY3IktxeETGY_cri79RYQ_cjSvQMvc2jr_HOpueX9D8Y4IJELSGrGPnujZPsu6t_gBHk8B5ItEOVJWIpYE0vORztu7wk-WRwA/s1600/Millennial+Media.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9pC8s3hctKVeMlzHykkO-py0OQ06RTdzMdILyr8yPVXY3IktxeETGY_cri79RYQ_cjSvQMvc2jr_HOpueX9D8Y4IJELSGrGPnujZPsu6t_gBHk8B5ItEOVJWIpYE0vORztu7wk-WRwA/s1600/Millennial+Media.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563769799409504018" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">NPD data are shares of purchases in a given quarter<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASfGs6Cgk90fI1oOEL9wVBh3DmaADSHVbE-qvqoYZATmVuirVzNBk_-SBE0DoIjxB8r3r1iXxhrta-DU2-hikxcBXzLCj_gi3g5j_3DkLnVcUgVNbYf5PFBYjxzPp9eCaeizezDKOLBs/s1600/NPD.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASfGs6Cgk90fI1oOEL9wVBh3DmaADSHVbE-qvqoYZATmVuirVzNBk_-SBE0DoIjxB8r3r1iXxhrta-DU2-hikxcBXzLCj_gi3g5j_3DkLnVcUgVNbYf5PFBYjxzPp9eCaeizezDKOLBs/s1600/NPD.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537078363616729138" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-40810537252693825502010-10-02T06:13:00.004+00:002010-12-05T11:36:13.452+00:00ChinglishGood not easy.<br />Another has hole sky.<br />Hundred mouths cannot argue.<br />Cup bow snake shadow.<br />Not move sound color.<br />The dharma gateway of nonduality.<br />Fast horse add whip.<br />Insert wing difficult fly.<br />Face has difficult colors.<br />Powder body shatter bone.<br />River east lion roar.<br />Poor path end road.<br />Steal chicken touch dog.<br />Stupid stupid want to move.<br />Unforgiving when gaining reasons.<br />East see see, west see see.<br />The vengeance of non-co-load heaven.<br />District district small event, how enough to hang on teeth?<br />It was late when speaking, but fast at the moment.<br />One drum as gas, repeat then deplete, third then exhaust.<br />Old my old, and then old someone else's old. Child my child, and then child someone else's child.<br />First under heaven worry and worry, then under heaven happy and happy.<br />You calculate what east west. You give me small heart one point.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Good not easy. 好不容易<br />Another has hole sky. 別有洞天<br />Hundred mouths cannot argue. 百口莫辯<br />Cup bow snake shadow. 杯弓蛇影<br />Not move sound color. 不動聲色<br />The dharma gateway of nonduality. 不二法門<br />Fast horse add whip. 快馬加鞭<br />Insert wing difficult fly. 插翅難飛<br />Face has difficult colors. 面有難色<br />Powder body shatter bone. 粉身碎骨<br />River east lion roar. 河東獅吼<br />Poor path end road. 窮途末路<br />Steal chicken touch dog. 偷雞摸狗<br />Stupid stupid want to move. 蠢蠢欲動<br />Unforgiving when gaining reasons. 得理不饒人<br />East see see, west see see. 東看看,西看看<br />The vengeance of non-co-load heaven. 不共戴天之仇<br />District district small event, how enough to hang on teeth? 區區小事,何足掛齒<br />It was late when speaking, but fast at the moment. 說時遲,那時快<br />One drum as gas, repeat then deplete, third then exhaust. 一鼓作氣,再而衰,三而竭<br />Old my old, and then old someone else's old. Child my child, and then child someone else's child. 老吾老,以及人之老;幼吾幼,以及人之幼<br />First under heaven worry and worry, then under heaven happy and happy. 先天下之憂而憂,後天下之樂而樂<br />You calculate what east west. You give me small heart one point. 你算什麼東西,你給我小心一點Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-70108851017533191462010-08-28T08:00:00.001+00:002010-08-28T08:01:11.770+00:00Why is captioning photos a baffling ordeal?Some people wonder why I hardly caption my photos. Two and half years ago, I explained <a href="http://chochopk-en-us.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-is-organizing-photos-baffling.html">why organizing photos is a baffling ordeal</a>. But I didn't explain very well why captioning is too, even more so. I decided to do a self-observation. I take one of my photos, and measure the time to caption it. Here are 2 examples:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkkJ3YJrrjPUpJtubHMaGTEWBNEZL-UyERhmj2wlmayvcXAKtxzX70c4vn_a81DZSi6SO-fJ0y4CmBXxArYM_UzJeKYZSDiLrHD8GCGmAFyf9F0JZX9KG7RXUURB0paHmz1MYX9DbVuc/s1600/IMG_0427.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkkJ3YJrrjPUpJtubHMaGTEWBNEZL-UyERhmj2wlmayvcXAKtxzX70c4vn_a81DZSi6SO-fJ0y4CmBXxArYM_UzJeKYZSDiLrHD8GCGmAFyf9F0JZX9KG7RXUURB0paHmz1MYX9DbVuc/s320/IMG_0427.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510343043166643250" /></a>Stalingrad now serves line 2, 5, and 7 of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_M%C3%A9tro">Paris Metro</a>. The station opened as "Rue d'Aubervilliers" in 1903, and was renamed "Stalingrad" in 1946 because a nearby boulevard was renamed "Place de la Bataille de Stalingrad" in honor of the Soviet victory at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad">Battle of Stalingrad</a>. Although the City of Stalingrad has been renamed "Volgograd" as one of the results of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-Stalinization">De-Stalinization</a>, the Paris Metro station's name has remained the same.<br /><br />It took me 23 minutes to caption. I spent my time on<br /><ul><li>Looking up the station's history</li><li>Looking up the mean of "place" in French</li><li>Making sure that "Place de la Bataille de Stalingrad" still exists in Paris</li><li>Deciding whether to translate "boulevard" into "大道" or "大街"</li><li>Making sure that Volgograd is a new name, not a reversion</li><li>Adding links</li><li>Translating (I insist that all my personal publication such as press release on my personal life, blog, photo website, and Facebook update must be bilingual in Chinese and English)</li><li>Reading the history of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbeg_Khan">Uzbeg Khan</a> because the Chinese Wikipedia says its capitcal was in modern day Volgograd. But the English Wikipedia doesn't say anything. It doesn't add any value to the caption above. But this is what can happen if I start doing it.</li></ul><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxlkvaWiL7XCe0bQeVSI-pnjNzwKGYPyJi-pBoNY3qxd77ZmFGydEAF-0EBWgQpjSaIjFSbreabNxmigSZpnjMhJAWbcTVpsQDky0LGDBD9ZSCY8xDVjxN4n4Ibna00Ejx-fLFpbNh38/s1600/IMG_6859.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxlkvaWiL7XCe0bQeVSI-pnjNzwKGYPyJi-pBoNY3qxd77ZmFGydEAF-0EBWgQpjSaIjFSbreabNxmigSZpnjMhJAWbcTVpsQDky0LGDBD9ZSCY8xDVjxN4n4Ibna00Ejx-fLFpbNh38/s320/IMG_6859.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510361907192154498" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZq19JOWVwczFLJ5ESvIWhQqOwhlwyBffJcgOyevPF4d5gYtGLyZNpYnVWoLjS94cxwhsIWuovRDsVPJMGIFkOSn0BAu-N5jZtst3J9JteKyBgZsglf4wtn7sDS8R8E8bKzFi9hvzUaw/s1600/IMG_1365.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZq19JOWVwczFLJ5ESvIWhQqOwhlwyBffJcgOyevPF4d5gYtGLyZNpYnVWoLjS94cxwhsIWuovRDsVPJMGIFkOSn0BAu-N5jZtst3J9JteKyBgZsglf4wtn7sDS8R8E8bKzFi9hvzUaw/s320/IMG_1365.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510362275952403570" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKsuIXrsRXcU6lM9XpOtHgZHSFUrNqQ94v-d_Xb0YKs8_woOjDFgvU2cyZygWEC5RA-9lvI0K9sPMQQxW6KXmspqqtzpqzAeNYeTVK-k8feMRSfpG5Bf8kyWKQx9ITfgAsNn9oB0RnAw/s1600/IMG_6921.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKsuIXrsRXcU6lM9XpOtHgZHSFUrNqQ94v-d_Xb0YKs8_woOjDFgvU2cyZygWEC5RA-9lvI0K9sPMQQxW6KXmspqqtzpqzAeNYeTVK-k8feMRSfpG5Bf8kyWKQx9ITfgAsNn9oB0RnAw/s320/IMG_6921.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510362658301647634" /></a>All three pictures to the right were taken in Macau. The reason for taking them is to capture the usage of traditional and simplified Chinese characters, and the decline of Portuguese. Although traditional Chinese is the official script, many commercial signs are written in simplified to attract tourists from Mainland. And this doesn't occur everywhere. Note that in the second picture, "hamburger" is written as "漢堡" with the traditional "漢". The same thing is written as "汉堡" with the simplified "汉" on the middle board. In the third picture, "McDonald's" is written with traditional characters "麥當勞" in the background, while "the Grand Canal Shoppes" is written with simplified characters "大运河购物中心" in the foreground. Portuguese is nowhere to be seen in these three pictures. Portuguese nowadays only appears on public facilities and official objects, for the most part. In addition, I found myself having to communicate in English with a waiter in a restaurant in a hotel. This made me ponder, why I had to speak a foreign language on Chinese land, and this foreign language isn't even one of the official languages of this special administrative region. Two things to ponder: 1. Nobody seems to care about the official language. 2. The invading force of a dominating language is undeniable. Right now Portuguese is not a language that needs to be preserved. What about official languages that used to be widely spoken, now almost extinct, and were added as one of the official languages for political or cultural preservation reasons?<br /><br />It took me 32 minutes to caption the 3 photos above, as one story. Not much time was spent on finding data, but rather on forming my own thoughts.<br /><br clear="both"/><hr/>Of course, I intentionally picked the photos that are story-rich as examples. Let's assume an average of 2 minutes per photo. It is not unusual that I take hundred of photos per trip. Now please multiply.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-12999467713598135682010-03-29T04:30:00.003+00:002010-03-29T04:39:47.156+00:00Megapixel Myth<h4>High megapixel value equates to better quality? Megapixel = quality?</h4>If you search for "megapixel myth" on a search engine, you'll find many websites on this subject. In fact, there's <a href="http://www.megapixelmyth.com/">an entire website dedicated to this</a>. But most of these websites are text only, and full of technical jargons. Therefore, I decided to bust the myth with photos and simple language.<br /><br />The devices I used to perform the comparison are Canon SD940 IS (a.k.a. Canon IXUS 120 in Asia and Europe) and the camera on the Nexus One phone. Canon has 12 MPs, set to 5 MPs during testing; Nexus is 5 MP.<br /><br /><table><tr><td style="text-align: center;">Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120)</td><td style="text-align: center;">Nexus One</td></tr><tr><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.smarter.com/300x300x15/6/50/429850.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://images.smarter.com/300x300x15/6/50/429850.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></td><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fonehome.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nexus_one-300x300.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.fonehome.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nexus_one-300x300.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;">Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120)</td><td style="text-align: center;">Nexus One</td></tr></table><br /><br />Below are two photos taken by the two cameras at the same spot, almost at the same time:<br /><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">↓Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120)↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrEZWE5Wn19Cgt-SjXi8jV4qgrfzFvHaVqhfGr7jcWcwYDzYFczfx0F8cbS2_vgu829-gtollt3UqVdenzA1D-CGfpulw0lxrOKwuEl_CXk5j7xdREtsZYKuNwdKVCLylYFtDGNI1ANWc/s1600/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrEZWE5Wn19Cgt-SjXi8jV4qgrfzFvHaVqhfGr7jcWcwYDzYFczfx0F8cbS2_vgu829-gtollt3UqVdenzA1D-CGfpulw0lxrOKwuEl_CXk5j7xdREtsZYKuNwdKVCLylYFtDGNI1ANWc/s400/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453579279108747234" /></a>↑Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120)↑<br /><br />↓Nexus One↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWW-BGurgGKIUhO5d7EEbENWThVSpQaDJvcYIfKmqR2RKEA_kGNQ8JeELSvKBptSjmBrWvcF5rd0Bq53tXL2oCzOGYM9Eeef_tTu-ZDz35vUbYU6KVWWIXMsq5sTcsxbZFPMNVkrE6vSM/s1600/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center; cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWW-BGurgGKIUhO5d7EEbENWThVSpQaDJvcYIfKmqR2RKEA_kGNQ8JeELSvKBptSjmBrWvcF5rd0Bq53tXL2oCzOGYM9Eeef_tTu-ZDz35vUbYU6KVWWIXMsq5sTcsxbZFPMNVkrE6vSM/s400/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453580323612889938" /></a>↑Nexus One↑</div><br /><br />When reduced to this small, both look great. But if you view them at their original size, that is using each pixel on your screen to display one pixel from the photos, we get these results:<br /><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">↓Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120), 100%↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m3QcMXHthtQRNTKIwwmF4yyewwX9HP4z5WF4rHkWzpKkt1IL1TZxKNvfwW8ebWQyTScUcvKCLL9hzlk2kCDv1ZuPTAyMEhC9-lF-_jTLQgOamrLCo9iDx36owNsscDapJbtU_5aWWNI/s1600/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940+100.JPG"><img style="display:block; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m3QcMXHthtQRNTKIwwmF4yyewwX9HP4z5WF4rHkWzpKkt1IL1TZxKNvfwW8ebWQyTScUcvKCLL9hzlk2kCDv1ZuPTAyMEhC9-lF-_jTLQgOamrLCo9iDx36owNsscDapJbtU_5aWWNI/s1600/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940+100.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453581547559462514" /></a>↑Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120), 100%↑<br /><br />↓Nexus One, 100%↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJ335NJhrtbk4NXW6EvwevyRVOS68Xs2mBAqhH8sdU3C3LIyA5w__bopV-NMVoWk8aZWZmOycE3sk8qHBsnqXxWvKWW4TPrtJir4jauja3rgcmQE6-LTXxr8kQNkxLGYs8M2D8OtBGjM/s1600/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One+100.jpg"><img style="display:block; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJ335NJhrtbk4NXW6EvwevyRVOS68Xs2mBAqhH8sdU3C3LIyA5w__bopV-NMVoWk8aZWZmOycE3sk8qHBsnqXxWvKWW4TPrtJir4jauja3rgcmQE6-LTXxr8kQNkxLGYs8M2D8OtBGjM/s1600/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One+100.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453582037448949970" /></a>↑Nexus One, 100%↑</div><br /><br />Obviously, Canon the real camera has much better quality. If enlarged at 300%, the contrast is even greater:<br /><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">↓Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120), 300%↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCk9IFg1I_yEduQ94zxTij-rV-v7ERjlC-ty48q__v1NEHReMfqigLVA3HZRq7QPzh9BeXAC5CoyWI7IkKRRqeHTLa8KdLL4ivLG4iEfCV_2Fmv6XI-BLS5qxwz9SY0tBNqmCC-zJnnxg/s1600/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940+300.JPG"><img style="display:block; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCk9IFg1I_yEduQ94zxTij-rV-v7ERjlC-ty48q__v1NEHReMfqigLVA3HZRq7QPzh9BeXAC5CoyWI7IkKRRqeHTLa8KdLL4ivLG4iEfCV_2Fmv6XI-BLS5qxwz9SY0tBNqmCC-zJnnxg/s1600/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940+300.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453582786308650290" /></a>↑Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120), 300%↑<br /><br />↓Nexus One, 300%↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPByX_yTZM2XalJp_C4SS6sf1psuf1TFPSfBldvOy2eu84enWKVPoc5rVX6956LEROnZLqZYAPUpP1Hc_YyiTWLg-HXcE8_pfkhemgMtA4FNsqTqsMjH4A3RO9-yaIfulxc9GeEoTtNo/s1600/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One+300.jpg"><img style="display:block; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPByX_yTZM2XalJp_C4SS6sf1psuf1TFPSfBldvOy2eu84enWKVPoc5rVX6956LEROnZLqZYAPUpP1Hc_YyiTWLg-HXcE8_pfkhemgMtA4FNsqTqsMjH4A3RO9-yaIfulxc9GeEoTtNo/s1600/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One+300.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453583296853979986" /></a>↑Nexus One, 300%↑</div><br />Due to the web page layout, I cannot give you a more comprehensive comparison within the text. So I provide this side-by-side comparison. Click to enlarge and see the side-by-side:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6_ulBMVFdPCuaeKhk40XZrGcZSY27XhNcBKeSYETTHoa-St2Y1YvyVrDANasaGKTJhiF2PX-PPrK2u7eykUmPHloEKq0pIT2dG3Pr9hinNAHG-5Zmft25xTtBLlf4JTuqQg2Es1aKUA/s1600/Megapixel+Myth+Comparison.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6_ulBMVFdPCuaeKhk40XZrGcZSY27XhNcBKeSYETTHoa-St2Y1YvyVrDANasaGKTJhiF2PX-PPrK2u7eykUmPHloEKq0pIT2dG3Pr9hinNAHG-5Zmft25xTtBLlf4JTuqQg2Es1aKUA/s400/Megapixel+Myth+Comparison.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453584633828401186" /></a><br /><br />I was very forgiving to the Nexus One by testing under broad daylight. The result would be catastrophic if under low light:<br /><br /><div style="margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;">↓Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120), hand held, no flash↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Fh_zmdw6ANdBknLcTYcHD9gbdR_Q-AtVK9TBJbZFLe5G88YX43J9ZcOqVRB5WF1PVqIQj8B5szv0X0AmW0yeIrC2wzPEriFI2Dy5s3rCnGfNE5lFzbo1C6TeXcdtvaGquO0LkI5NW1A/s1600/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940+night+hand+held.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Fh_zmdw6ANdBknLcTYcHD9gbdR_Q-AtVK9TBJbZFLe5G88YX43J9ZcOqVRB5WF1PVqIQj8B5szv0X0AmW0yeIrC2wzPEriFI2Dy5s3rCnGfNE5lFzbo1C6TeXcdtvaGquO0LkI5NW1A/s400/5+Megapixel+Canon+SD940+night+hand+held.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453585419627948450" /></a>↑Canon SD940 IS (IXUS 120), hand held, no flash↑<br /><br />↓Nexus One, hand held, the output would be the same with or without flash↓<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPmsxtWqXMlfukVE9kuc6q1VOY5Hw5LEPRnIHz0yLTPUq0Ot5rZM1iEm6jxxl-wZ0rhiYK8OO8XtU5NsVkP-SQaopVg-m9oCLbB2NrOTJCi9OF_aeP5UgIIr-iMjG_YRRm-D2Jhetu7uk/s1600/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One+night.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPmsxtWqXMlfukVE9kuc6q1VOY5Hw5LEPRnIHz0yLTPUq0Ot5rZM1iEm6jxxl-wZ0rhiYK8OO8XtU5NsVkP-SQaopVg-m9oCLbB2NrOTJCi9OF_aeP5UgIIr-iMjG_YRRm-D2Jhetu7uk/s400/5+Megapixel+Nexus+One+night.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453586341507941730" /></a>↑Nexus One, hand held, the output would be the same with or without flash↑</div><br /><br />You might be asking, "if MP doesn't mean quality, what does it mean?" It measures the size of the photo. It is the number of dots that make up the photo. A 5 MP photo is composed by 5 million dots. When a camera takes a photo, the following happens<br /><ul><li>Light ray shoots off from the object</li><li>These light rays enter the camera's lens</li><li>Lens causes refraction or reflection</li><li>After refraction, the light arrives at the sensor</li><li>You can imagine that a 5 MP camera has 5 million units of sensors, where each one must determine how much red, green, and blue is hitting itself</li></ul><br />If the lens is bad, the number of MPs of the sensor is irrelevant because the sensor is behind the lens. If you want image quality, the basic requirements are<br /><ol><li>Good lens, no faulty refraction</li><li>High MP value</li><li>The photosensor must be accurate about the color and brightness</li></ol><br /><b>Therefore, high MP value is a necessary condition, but not the only condition.</b> If you want to learn about the image quality, the only way is to judge from sample images from an objective web site.<br /><br />How many MPs are enough? It depends on your ultimate output.<br /><ul><li>Viewed on a 19" screen → 1.3 MPs</li><li>4×6" print (10×15 cm) → 2.2 MPs</li><li>Viewed on a 26" screen → 2.3 MPs</li><li>A4 size print (29.7×21 cm) → 8.4 MPs</li><li>40×30 cm print →16.7 MPs</li></ul><hr/>If a camera cannot be judged by a simplified number, can you judge a person by number? Can you evaluate a student by a standardized test score? Can you say how "achieved" a person is by his or her salary?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-37912843035953671822010-01-16T09:17:00.004+00:002012-01-31T03:26:24.393+00:00Translation is hard(This article assumes a certain level of Chinese proficiency from the readers)<br />In recent years, the Chinese translation of movie titles of movies produced in English speaking countries has become a laughing stock among the bilingual community. It is evident when articles like <a href="http://i.mtime.com/ziranfanying/blog/905480/">"超搞笑的港臺電影名翻譯"</a>, <a href="http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/flyingtw/post/1241427588">"片名的遊戲版本0.3 之一"</a> (<a href="http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/flyingtw/post/1241427765">之二</a>, <a href="http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/flyingtw/post/1241427827">之三</a>), and <a href="http://forum.moztw.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13109">"香港台灣電影片名翻譯"</a> all point to the same twisted translation practice employed by the three major Chinese speaking markets (Taiwan, Hong Kong + Macau, and Mainland). These articles have summarized that countless movie titles are merely permutations of<br /><div style="margin-left: 2em"><br />「魔鬼戰將戰警絕地追殺令追緝令火線無敵烈火超級終極任務悍將王牌致命終結令絕命危機總動員奇兵女兒閃靈神鬼迫切第三類戰士魔宮也瘋狂本色傳奇獵殺不可能終結者第六感情挑時空遊戲捍衛威龍小鬼赤子駭客惡夜毀滅最後英雄戰場桃色戰慄出擊擋不住攔截驚爆(點)特區帝國刺激特攻隊靈異奪命禁入時刻密碼戰拼圖我的野蠻心靈獵X行動星際霹靂特務魔法重裝殺手生死戀公敵百分百未眠辣妹控訴愛XXXX難開女(男)人香異想世界麻辣戰地」(at least this is the long standing pattern in Taiwan)</div><br />The following pirate movie and science fiction movie further illustrate the problem<br /><br /><table class="wikitable"><tr><th>Original: </th><th><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_The_Curse_of_the_Black_Pearl">Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl</a> (1)</th><th><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_Dead_Man%27s_Chest">Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest</a> (2)</th><th><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_At_World%27s_End">Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End</a> (3)</th></tr><tr><td>Chinese (literal)</td><td>加勒比海海盜:黑珍珠的詛咒</td><td>加勒比海海盜:死人的(寶)箱</td><td>加勒比海海盜:在世界的盡頭</td></tr><tr><td>TW</td><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%A0%E5%8B%92%E6%AF%94%E6%B5%B7%E7%9B%97%EF%BC%9A%E9%BB%91%E7%8F%8D%E7%8F%A0%E5%8F%B7%E7%9A%84%E8%AF%85%E5%92%92">神鬼奇航:鬼盜船魔咒</a></td><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%A0%E5%8B%92%E6%AF%94%E6%B5%B7%E7%9B%972">神鬼奇航2:加勒比海盜</a></td><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%A0%E5%8B%92%E6%AF%94%E6%B5%B7%E7%9B%973">神鬼奇航3:世界的盡頭</a></td></tr><tr><td>Reversal from TW</td><td>Devine and Ghostly Voyage: Curse of the Ghost Pirate Ship</td><td>Devine and Ghostly Voyage 2: Pirates of the Caribbean</td><td>Devine and Ghostly Voyage 3: World's End</td></tr><tr><td>HK</td><td>魔盜王決戰鬼盜船</td><td>加勒比海盜:決戰魔盜王</td><td>加勒比海盜:魔盜王終極之戰</td></tr><tr><td>Reversal from HK</td><td>Demon Thief Lord v.s. Ghostly Pirate Ship</td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean: Duel with the Demon Thief Lord</td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean: The Final Battle of the Demon Thief Lord</td></tr><tr><td>ML</td><td>加勒比海盜:黑珍珠號的詛咒</td><td>加勒比海盜2:聚魂棺</td><td>加勒比海盜3:世界的盡頭</td></tr><tr><td>Reversal from ML</td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean: (The) Curse of the Black Pear</td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Soul Collecting Coffin</td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean 3: World's End</td></tr></table><br /><table class="wikitable"><tr><th>原名:</th><th><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix">The Matrix</a> (1)</th><th><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix_Reloaded">The Matrix Reloaded</a> (2)</th><th><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix_Revolutions">The Matrix Revolutions</a> (3)</th></tr><tr><td>Chinese (literal)</td><td>矩陣</td><td>矩陣重新載入</td><td>矩陣革命</td></tr><tr><td>TW</td><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%91%E5%AE%A2%E5%B8%9D%E5%9B%BD">駭客任務</a></td><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%91%E5%AE%A2%E5%B8%9D%E5%9B%BD2%EF%BC%9A%E9%87%8D%E8%A3%85%E4%B8%8A%E9%98%B5">駭客任務2:重裝上陣</a></td><td><a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%91%E5%AE%A2%E5%B8%9D%E5%9B%BD3%EF%BC%9A%E7%9F%A9%E9%98%B5%E9%9D%A9%E5%91%BD">駭客任務3:最後戰役</a></td></tr><tr><td>Reversal from TW</td><td>Hacker's Mission</td><td>Hacker's Mission 2: Heavily Rearmed for Battle</td><td>Hacker's Mission 3: The Final Battle</td></tr><tr><td>港澳翻譯</td><td>廿二世紀殺人網絡</td><td>廿二世紀殺人網絡2:決戰未來</td><td>廿二世紀殺人網絡3:驚變世紀</td></tr><tr><td>Reversal from HK</td><td>Internet Murder of the 22nd Century</td><td>Internet Murder of the 22nd Century 2: Battle of/for the Future</td><td>Internet Murder of the 22nd Century 3: The Century of Startling Changes</td></tr><tr><td>大陸翻譯</td><td>黑客帝國</td><td>黑客帝國2:重裝上陣</td><td>黑客帝國3:矩陣革命</td></tr><tr><td>Reversal from ML</td><td>Empire of Hackers</td><td>Empire of Hackers 2: Heavily Rearmed for Battle</td><td>Empire of Hackers 3: Revolution of the Matrix</td></tr></table><br />In my opinion, other worse examples include<br /><div style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/Speed_movie_poster.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/45/Speed_movie_poster.jpg/200px-Speed_movie_poster.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Speed = distance ÷ time</div><ul><li><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_%28film%29">Hancock</a></i>→台:<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%A8%E6%B0%91%E8%B6%85%E4%BA%BA">全民超人</a>、港:街頭超人、陸:全民超人漢考克</li><li><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29">I, Robot</a></i>→台:<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A9%9F%E6%A2%B0%E5%85%AC%E6%95%B5_%28%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%29">機械公敵</a>、港:智能叛變、陸:我,機械人</li><li><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_%281994_film%29">Speed (1994)</a></i>→台:<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%9F%E6%AD%BB%E6%97%B6%E9%80%9F">捍衛戰警</a>、港:生死時速、陸:生死時速</li><li><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rock_%28film%29">The Rock</a></i>→台:<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B5%95%E5%9C%B0%E4%BB%BB%E5%8B%99">絕地任務</a>、港:石破天驚、陸:勇闖奪命島</li></ul>Although these translations are crappy, I must point out that <b>good ones are hard to come by</b>. And the 4 examples above are the perfect proof. <b>Can <i>you</i> provide a better one?</b><br /><br />Many bilingual people like to mock these translations. But has anyone analyze what makes good translation so hard?<br /><br />One important factor is the differentiation between "literary" (L) and "colloquial" (C) in the Chinese language. There's a phenomenon among southern Chinese dialects called the "literary and colloquial readings" (文白異讀), that is the same character has a reading in a literary context, and another in a colloquial context. Using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Nan">Min Nan</a> which has the most number of such differentiations as an example, the reading from 1 to 10 are<br /><table class="wikitable"><tr><th>Character</th><td>一 1</td><td>二 2</td><td>三 3</td><td>四 4</td><td>五 5</td><td>六 6</td><td>七 7</td><td>八 8</td><td>九 9</td><td>十 10</td></tr><tr><th>Lit.</th><td>it</td><td>jī/lī</td><td>sàm</td><td>sù</td><td>ngó͘</td><td>lio̍k</td><td>chhit</td><td>pat</td><td>kiú</td><td>si̍p</td></tr><tr><th>Col.</th><td>chi̍t</td><td>nn̄g</td><td>saⁿ</td><td>sì</td><td>gō͘</td><td>la̍k</td><td>(as above)</td><td>peh/pəeh</td><td>káu</td><td>cha̍p</td></tr></table>(Note: Some special diacritics cannot be displayed in IEor <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome">Google Chrome</a>. <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox">Firefox</a> can)<br /><br />When describing monetary amount, the colloquial reading is used. The "一" in "一百塊" is read as "chi̍t". When describing a telephone number, like "0912", it is read as the litarary reading "空kiú it lī". In addition, even a character as simple "人" (person/people) is read differently in "有人" ("there's a person") and "人民" ("people" in a socio-political context). The primary cause such differentiation is that colloquial readings are inherited from some time between the Three Kingdom (三國) period and the Southern and Northern Dynasties (南北朝) (220-589 AD), while the literary reading is a result of southern Chinese trying to imitate the northern standard dialect during the Tang (唐) Dynasty (618-907).<br /><br />So what does the "differentiation between L and C" (文白異讀, DbLC) have to do with translation of modern English movie titles? Although DbLC is (almost) non-existing in Mandarin, the distinction still exists in people's mind. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Culture_Movement">New Culture Movement (新文化運動)</a> some 90 years ago. That is to say it was not long ago when the educated Chinese population during the Ming (明) and the Qing (清) Dynasties (1368-1911) wrote literary text by imitating classical Chinese from the Qin (秦) and Han (漢) Dynasties (221 BC - 220 CE).<br /><br />The title "<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29">I, Robot</a></i>" is translated as "機械公敵" (Robotic Enemy of the States. Yes, 公敵 is part of it only because Will Smith played the protagonist in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_%28film%29">Enemy of the State</a></i>) in Taiwan, and "我,機械人" in Mainland. Although "機械公敵" is not exactly the same as the original title, any Chinese native speaker will tell you that this title is more suitable as a title of an artwork; Although "我,機械人" is exactly the same as the original title, any Chinese native speaker will tell you that this title is not as suitable as a title of an artwork. <i>Hancock</i> is another good example. There are many more examples, the easiest being titles with only one noun, like <i>The Mask</i>, <i>The One</i>, or <i>The Pianist</i>.<br /><br /><b>The distinction between literary and colloquial is more pronounced in Chinese than in English. Therefore, if the original English title is a very commonly used word, then you can only choose between something that is faithful but too colloquial or something that is polished but distorted.</b> (Of course, commercial incentive is another important factor for this chaos.)<br /><br />So being bilingual doesn't really qualify a person to laugh at these translations, albeit not ideal, without examining the fundamental differences between the two languages and the collective habit on the choice of words between the two groups of speakers. In addition, there's no point with mainlanders mocking Taiwanese translation such as "捍衛" and "總動員" as a ghost of the past from Chiang Kai-shek's era, nor is there point with Taiwanese mocking HK translation as some cheap erotic or mainlanders' translation too colloquial. None of them are good at this.<br /><hr/><br />Now I'm done with English to Chinese. Let's move on to Chinese to English.<br /><br />There's this one time when I found out from newspaper that a certain media or group of people make fun of "unofficial" translations of Chinese dishes before Beijing Tourism Administration published <a href="http://unclejordan2003.blogspot.com/2008/06/chinese-food-menu-in-english-from-sina.html">中文菜單英文譯法</a> (English Translation of Chinese Dishes) during the Olympics. (<a href="http://www.twbbs.net.tw/2619912.html">Another news report</a>, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/19/olympic.dishes/index.html">CNN report</a>). The most frequently mocked examples of unofficial translations include<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mmh.org.tw/nutrition/pouch/%E7%B4%A0%E9%BA%BB%E5%A9%86%E8%B1%86%E8%85%90.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 182px;" src="http://www.mmh.org.tw/nutrition/pouch/%E7%B4%A0%E9%BA%BB%E5%A9%86%E8%B1%86%E8%85%90.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><ul><li>童子雞 → Chicken without sex life</li><li>麻婆豆腐 → Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman</li></ul>Although such translation is indeed inappropriate, I must yet again question what the root cause is. I propose the following<br /><ol><li>Chinese is a strongly "semantic-oriented" language</li><li>English is a highly hybrid language. When borrowing foreign words, the phonetic values are usually taken without looking at the meaning. (And if a borrowed word is written is Roman letters, then it is borrowed as-is)</li></ol><h4>Chinese is a strongly "semantic-oriented" language</h4>When the Chinese world sees something alien, they usually first look at what it is, what its functions are, and what it means. Only when all those fail would the Chinese resort to phonetic borrowing. This phenomenon is quite unique in modern language transfusion. Even in Korean and Japanese, the two languages most influenced by Chinese, they both tend to borrow as-is in comparison to Chinese. These two languages are not as semantic oriented as Chinese.<br /><div style="float: right;"><table class="wikitable"><tr><th>JP</th><th>reading</th><th>KR</th><th>reading</th></tr><tr><td>エ</td><td>e</td><td>ㅅ</td><td>s</td></tr><tr><td>レ</td><td>re</td><td>ㄱ</td><td>g</td></tr><tr><td>ベ</td><td>he</td><td>ㄹ</td><td>l</td></tr><tr><td>ー</td><td>(long vowel)</td><td>ㅂ</td><td>b</td></tr><tr><td>タ</td><td>ta</td><td>ㅌ</td><td>t</td></tr><tr><td>コ</td><td>ko</td><td>final ㅇ</td><td>ng</td></tr><tr><td>ビ</td><td>bi</td><td>ㅡ</td><td>eu</td></tr><tr><td>ニ</td><td>ni</td><td>ㅏ</td><td>a</td></tr><tr><td>ス</td><td>su</td><td>ㅣ</td><td>i</td></tr><tr><td>ト</td><td>to</td><td>init. ㅇ</td><td>(silent)</td></tr><tr><td>ア</td><td>a</td><td>ㅔ</td><td>e</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td>ㅓ</td><td>eo</td></tr></table></div>For example, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator">elevator</a>, invented in the West, is 電梯 in Chinese (tele-strair), "エレベーター" in Japanese (erebētā), and in Korean, it is sometimes "승강기", cognate to "昇降機" Chinese (elevator translated semantically), and sometimes "엘리베이터" (el li be i teo). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_store">Convenience store</a> is "便利商店" in Chinese, a semantic translation, and "コンビニエンスストア" in Japanese (konbiniensu sutoa). Similar examples (where it's a semantic translation in Chinese and phonetic in Korean and Japanese) include escalator, remote control, allergy, and BlackBerry, the phone.<br /><br /><b>Because Chinese is a strongly semantic-oriented language, many Chinese use the same logic while exporting Chinese words.</b> This is why 麻婆豆腐 (mapo tofu) becomes "bean curd made by a pock-marked woman".<br /><br /><br clear="all"/><br /><h4>English is a high hybrid language. When borrowing foreign words, they are usually borrowed as-is)</h4><div style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px; width: 260px;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Origins_of_English_PieChart_2D.svg/250px-Origins_of_English_PieChart_2D.svg.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 250px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Origins_of_English_PieChart_2D.svg/250px-Origins_of_English_PieChart_2D.svg.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Sources of English words. Latin takes up 28%</div>On the contrary, there are numerous borrowed words. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language">English</a> is a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages">Germanic language</a>. But as you can see from the pie chart, words from Germanic sources only take up 25%, while words from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language">French</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin">Latin</a> encompass 28% each. Both of which are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino-Faliscan_languages">Latino-Faliscan languages</a>, which are not so close to Germanic. Despite that, there are still many loan words from French and Latin. As a result, a concept can be represented by many different words. For example, "kingly", "regal", and "royal" all mean "of or relating to a king", and "kingly" is from Old English, "regal" is from Latin, and "royal" is from French (although ultimately also from "regalis" in Latin); "Water", "aqua", and "hydro" all represent water, and "water" is from Germanic, "aqua" from Latin, and "hydro" from Greek.<br /><br />More examples:<br /><table class="wikitable"><tr><th>Eng.</th><th>Chi.</th><th>Related</th><th>Chi.</th><th>Latin root</th><th>Meaning</th></tr><tr><td>body</td><td>身體</td><td>corporeal</td><td>有形體的</td><td>corpus</td><td>body</td></tr><tr><td>hand</td><td>手</td><td>manual</td><td>手動</td><td>manus</td><td>hand</td></tr><tr><td>fire</td><td>火</td><td>ignite</td><td>點火</td><td>ignis</td><td>fire</td></tr><tr><td>light</td><td>光</td><td>photon</td><td>光子</td><td>φως(希臘)</td><td>light</td></tr><tr><td>death</td><td>死亡</td><td>mortality</td><td>死亡</td><td>mors</td><td>death</td></tr><tr><td>year</td><td>年</td><td>annual</td><td>每年的</td><td>annus</td><td>year</td></tr></table>What about Chinese things? "<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A2%A8%E6%B0%B4">風水</a>" is <a href"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui">feng shui</a>, not "wind water"; "<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%86%E8%85%90">豆腐</a>" is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu">tofu</a>, fewer use "bean curd"; Even "<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%82%92%E9%9D%A2">炒麵</a>" (fried noodles) is sometimes written as "chow mein" or "chao mian".<br /><br />All the examples above point to one thing, that is <b>English often borrows words directly as-is</b>. Those that are unaware of this probably doesn't know "mapo" is acceptable.<br /><hr/><br /><div style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG/248px-WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />White ____ ?</div><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111600669.html?hpid=topnews"><i>Diplomatic tussle: 'Aobama' or 'Oubama'?</i></a> by <i>The Washington Post</i> is an unusual article about not politics, but linguistics. It shows the differences of opinion between the Americans and the (mainland) Chinese over some of the Chinese translation, which can be summarized as the follwing:<br /><ol><br /><li>The Americans wants the Chinese to call <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House">White House</a> "白屋" (lit. "white house"), and not the established "<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E5%AE%AE">白宮</a>" (lit. "white palace") because the U.S., as a federal republic, has no palace.</li><br /><li>The Americans wants the Chinese to cal the current president "歐巴馬" (Ou-bama), where as the Chinese prefer "奧巴馬" (Ao-bama) because "奧" can mean "profound and deep" (深奧), and "歐" can mean Europe (歐洲). The Americans' rebuttal is that "歐" is closer to the actual pronunciation.</li></ol>What do we see from this example? Although the Americans translators have learned the meaning of Chinese words and sentences, they are unaware of the distinction between literary and colloquial Chinese and the collective habit of native Chinese speakers. Second, both parties over-analyze the meaning of "歐" and "奧". In fact, either word carries only the phonetic value.<br /><br />This article is quite long, but I have only 3 take-away points<br /><b><ol><li>The distinction between literary and colloquial words is stronger in Chinese than in English</li><li>Chinese is a strongly semantic-oriented language</li><li>English often borrows words directly as-is</li></ol></b>Because of these reasons, translation can be a difficult task.<br /><br />Learning a language is more than just knowing the meaning of words, mastering the grammar, and being able to live a life in that language. There's another layer of the cognitive process behind a language that needs to be understood.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-61587513938463701342008-09-20T14:50:00.002+00:002008-09-20T14:51:48.713+00:00english.com.tw<a href="http://www.english.com.tw/">The website</a> says<br /><div style="margin-left: 2em;">English.com.tw = English(英語) + .com(網際網路) + .tw(台灣)<br />which translates back to English(English) + .com(Internet) + .tw(Taiwan)<br /></div><br />This really opens my eyes. I've never known that .com stands for the Internet. I always thought that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.com">.com was intended for commercial use</a>. This is really a self disgracing irony.<br /><br /><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.english.com.tw/">Archive of the website in question.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-2780555883565017762008-07-23T05:01:00.002+00:002008-07-23T05:02:04.179+00:00I don't want Chien-Ming Wang to be "Light of Taiwan"No, I don't want to be beaten by thousands of fans. In fact, I have great respect for people who have talents and work hard to earn their places. I'm not saying that against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chien-Ming_Wang">Chien-Ming Wang</a>. I am against the second half "Light of Taiwan". Accepting this kind of saying is acceptance of the following two statements:<br /><ol><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball">Major League Baseball</a> of North America is better than the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Professional_Baseball_League">Chinese Professional Baseball League</a></li><li>Taiwanese participation in MLB is rare</li></ol>Although the statements are true as it stands now, repeated use of the honorary title is the acceptance of the current state. It means that people are content with the current state. If the Taiwanese as a people have ambition of progress and improvement, they would try to negate the second statement first. Taiwanese now can be seen in many industries in the States, engineer, doctors, businesspeople. We don't call these people "Light of Taiwan". After the second statement becomes invalid, ambitious Taiwanese would invalidate the first statement. When both statements are false, nobody would call Chien-Ming Wang "Light of Taiwan". On the contrary, Americans would call any American professional athlete who work in Taiwan "Light of America". This is the status Taiwanese should seek.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-64450400335113901572008-06-27T16:10:00.003+00:002008-11-15T08:21:52.680+00:002008 food price inflation"清之味" (roughly translates to "light flavor") sandwich from Nikomart, made from the best and nutritious ingredients!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01vvDm4IWX4dogha_e-7i5mimRFj1j7j_lCpRIcSQG1iUeB3EzqJgunlftllIk0ii6q5YWqNlOgOdSnXS3OWnvF5vlBG_fbyyBCPWpQlb9gVwuzVUrRaHXxhUxZtRp8KIyuh2vTAK_f0/s1600-h/pic11048.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01vvDm4IWX4dogha_e-7i5mimRFj1j7j_lCpRIcSQG1iUeB3EzqJgunlftllIk0ii6q5YWqNlOgOdSnXS3OWnvF5vlBG_fbyyBCPWpQlb9gVwuzVUrRaHXxhUxZtRp8KIyuh2vTAK_f0/s1600/pic11048.jpg" alt="清之味 (roughly translates to light flavor) sandwich from Nikomart, made from the best and nutritious ingredients!" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216586956021753746" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And it really costs <a href="http://chochopk-en-us.blogspot.com/2008/01/twy.html">NT¥</a>10 (US$0.33, €0.21 at the time of writing) only! (regular: NT¥15)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxOOk8uTPc4Y6pxYk6YyZepyiE7CENNVUNaol5e9fYPmbBL_9v2w7j2wCQfOCoRn47UrcL-LOvc6X4O9HIbl0mbrDp_F-oE0OpSIe28Xq1T_YUkDcKYasb3n7mY5kYdHR08NItW68z9I/s1600-h/pic00023.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMxOOk8uTPc4Y6pxYk6YyZepyiE7CENNVUNaol5e9fYPmbBL_9v2w7j2wCQfOCoRn47UrcL-LOvc6X4O9HIbl0mbrDp_F-oE0OpSIe28Xq1T_YUkDcKYasb3n7mY5kYdHR08NItW68z9I/s1600/pic00023.jpg" alt="And it really costs NT¥10 only! (regular: NT¥15)" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216587826016177410" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The interior ........................ seems a little .........<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeMEO5drXD54J3-Tcj69DNDIlL8y7b_uq0lYXuPeRrqgBUxd6buYP9i2VkGgOkwim0oSdisKShnl2ftw0RhZZ6nNsiZi6DZgLjlvwSAMDmdPstdIplNuH90yIg-meaeYvDU7CAEEPsiQ/s1600-h/pic22291.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeMEO5drXD54J3-Tcj69DNDIlL8y7b_uq0lYXuPeRrqgBUxd6buYP9i2VkGgOkwim0oSdisKShnl2ftw0RhZZ6nNsiZi6DZgLjlvwSAMDmdPstdIplNuH90yIg-meaeYvDU7CAEEPsiQ/s1600/pic22291.jpg" alt="The interior ........................ seems a little ........." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216588158409396530" border="0" /></a><br /><br />WTF? WTH is this? Pig food?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdPDBvbMXAmQwBQctvdUVkalAMzSTaWFlWmj2GeayeNOpe5AfARVOFQWyjfguTCLxzf9tKPh-4BAfIRq8MID3EyLbCLVKYv9YSumerw10EZtR1rsNHXG9yepIzgK1w4S5hBHmU7Q_5q0A/s1600-h/pic18166.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdPDBvbMXAmQwBQctvdUVkalAMzSTaWFlWmj2GeayeNOpe5AfARVOFQWyjfguTCLxzf9tKPh-4BAfIRq8MID3EyLbCLVKYv9YSumerw10EZtR1rsNHXG9yepIzgK1w4S5hBHmU7Q_5q0A/s1600/pic18166.jpg" alt="WTF? WTH is this? Pig food?" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216588263995752162" border="0" /></a><br /><h4>See also</h4><ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_world_food_price_crisis">2007–2008 world food price crisis</a></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_crisis_of_2008">Economic crisis of 2008</a></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2008_stock_market_volatility">January 2008 stock market volatility</a></li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-72884822798909523382008-04-09T11:55:00.001+00:002013-02-08T16:43:58.468+00:00The two-party politics in the Republic of ChinaIt's not because of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_violence">legislative violence</a>, negotiations fail,<br />It's because negotiations fail, legislators fight so that they have an excuse.<br /><br />The two parties don't earn support by doing something good,<br />They screw up something, and then manage to place the blame on the other party.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935597969005671041.post-60819462934569219672008-03-19T00:07:00.000+00:002008-03-19T00:08:40.032+00:00Shouting in Japanese at restaurantsWhat is the reason that waiters and waitresses greet customers by shouting in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language">Japanese</a> at Japanese restaurants in Taipei? This phenomenon transcends food types, whether it's fondue or rice and dish. Taipei has the most diverse restaurants with cuisines from all over the world. But do you hear people shouting in Portuguese at a Brazilian barbeque, in Italian at an Italian pasta shop, in Cantonese at a dim sum restaurant, in English at McDonalds' or T.G.I.Fridays? For whatever reason, this is an unsymmetry.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0