The China Thread

[mongers]

Interview with Mo Yan, winner of the nobel prize for literature: http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/januaryfebruary/conversation/the-real-mo-yan

I liked this exchange:

LEACH: I'm told you wrote this wonderful book, which is entitled Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out in forty-two days with a brush instead of a computer. Would it have been different if you had written it with a computer?

MO YAN: ... Another reason I wrote is that I heard that people's handwriting, especially that of famous people, could be worth a lot of money in the future. So I'm going to leave this for my daughter. Maybe she can get some money.

Yeah, it's sort of the Old and the New China.

I think Mono would be particularly impressed by his practicalness.

[Jacob]

I think Mono would be particularly impressed by his practicalness.

I think a significant number of Chinese would appreciate that comment, not just Mono.

[Jacob]

Also - in Chinese language media right now: Bo Xilai is now officially arrested (as opposed to "not seen in public and excluded from the CCP").

BTW, I came across an interesting fact about Bo - while head of Chongqing, he arrested 17 of the 20 richest people in Chongqing and confiscated more than 200 Billion RMB (US$ 32 Billion) worth of property and cash.

[mongers]

Also - in Chinese language media right now: Bo Xilai is now officially arrested (as opposed to "not seen in public and excluded from the CCP").

BTW, I came across an interesting fact about Bo - while head of Chongqing, he arrested 17 of the 20 richest people in Chongqing and confiscated more than 200 Billion RMB (US$ 32 Billion) worth of property and cash.

That's a very good way to make some serious enemies.

[DGuller]

Wow, there are a lot of billionaires in China.

[Razgovory]

Wow, there are a lot of billionaires in China.

Of course.  It's communist.  Everything is owned collectively.  Everyone is a billionaire.

[Camerus]

Bo Xilai also apparently paid a famous actress $1M US on ten separate occasions for sex.

[Jacob]

Bo Xilai also apparently paid a famous actress $1M US on ten separate occasions for sex.

Got a link?

And is it Zhang Zhiyi? Because that's the rumour I heard, though she denies it.

[CountDeMoney]

And is it Zhang Zhiyi? Because that's the rumour I heard, though she denies it.

I don't care what the Party thinks, but Bo's stock just went up in my book.  Woof.

[Jacob]

I don't care what the Party thinks, but Bo's stock just went up in my book.  Woof.

If the rumour mill is to be believed, this was not an achievement unique to Bo.

[CountDeMoney]

I don't care what the Party thinks, but Bo's stock just went up in my book.  Woof.

If the rumour mill is to be believed, this was not an achievement unique to Bo.

Yet another party I've not been invited to. 

[Eddie Teach]

Interview with Mo Yan, winner of the nobel prize for literature: http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/januaryfebruary/conversation/the-real-mo-yan

I liked this exchange:

LEACH: I'm told you wrote this wonderful book, which is entitled Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out in forty-two days with a brush instead of a computer. Would it have been different if you had written it with a computer?

MO YAN: ... Another reason I wrote is that I heard that people's handwriting, especially that of famous people, could be worth a lot of money in the future. So I'm going to leave this for my daughter. Maybe she can get some money.

Yeah, it's sort of the Old and the New China.

I think Mono would be particularly impressed by his practicalness.

Be easier to type the book and write his daughter a letter.

[Jacob]

Yet another party I've not been invited to. 

The Chinese entertainment industry is pretty... practical... in the way you can access cash if you're a starlet. Not quite as bad as the Korean one, as I understand it, but still pretty straightforward.

An acquaintance of mine is a minor pop star in Hong Kong. I was asking him questions about the sex trade and celebrity life in Hong Kong (part of the research for Sleeping Dogs) and as an aside he told me of going to Korea where he had business connections. His friend picked him up in the airport and asked him "who do you want to fuck? Name a girl and I'll arrange it" and he started listing off pop-stars and TV personalities. No words on whether my acquaintance took him up on the offer (though he's now married to a Korean former hip hop singer).

Hong Kong and mainland China may not be so bad as all that... but there Zhang Zhiyi specifically has reputation, especially after a scandal that popped a year or two ago. In Hong Kong, Jackie Chan has reputation as a requirement for any young ambitious actress.

[mongers]

Forced evictions on the increase in China:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19894292

[mongers]

Yet another party I've not been invited to. 

The Chinese entertainment industry is pretty... practical... in the way you can access cash if you're a starlet. Not quite as bad as the Korean one, as I understand it, but still pretty straightforward.

An acquaintance of mine is a minor pop star in Hong Kong. I was asking him questions about the sex trade and celebrity life in Hong Kong (part of the research for Sleeping Dogs) and as an aside he told me of going to Korea where he had business connections. His friend picked him up in the airport and asked him "who do you want to fuck? Name a girl and I'll arrange it" and he started listing off pop-stars and TV personalities. No words on whether my acquaintance took him up on the offer (though he's now married to a Korean former hip hop singer).

Hong Kong and mainland China may not be so bad as all that... but there Zhang Zhiyi specifically has reputation, especially after a scandal that popped a year or two ago. In Hong Kong, Jackie Chan has reputation as a requirement for any young ambitious actress.

Rather sad, sounds rather like aspects of Hollywood in the 30s/40s.