Coruscation

"India can seem to have a fairly ambiguous and chaotic way of working, but it works," Ms. Bansal said. "I've heard people say things like 'It is so inefficient or it is so unprofessional.' " She said it was more constructive to just accept customs as being different.

...

"Some very simple practices that you often take for granted, such as being ethical in day to day situations, or believing in the rule of law in everyday behavior, are surprisingly absent in many situations," said Raju Narisetti, who was born in Hyderabad and returned to India in 2006 to found a business newspaper called Mint, which is now the country's second-biggest business paper by readership.

He said he left earlier than he expected because of a "troubling nexus" of business, politics and publishing that he called "draining on body and soul." He returned to the United States this year to join The Washington Post.

Continue reading "India to Indians: give up and accept it the way it is ?" »

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Mr. Liu calculated that his score leaped by more than 100 points over last year's dismal performance. But he was still downcast, uncertain whether he would make the cutoff to apply to top-tier universities. The cutoff mark can vary by an applicant's place of residence and ethnicity.
Ms. Li, on the other hand, was exhilarated by her estimate of 482.5, figuring it was probably high enough for admittance to a college of the second rank.

Posted to Fair and Asia.

Continue reading "Affirmative gao kao (the high test)" »

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In one case last month, the reports say, 410 Rohingya migrants were taken out to sea on a Thai Navy vessel and forced onto an open barge with just four barrels of water and two sacks of rice.

Four people were thrown overboard with their hands and feet tied as a way to encourage the others to board the barge, according to the reports.

After drifting for two weeks, about 100 of the migrants were rescued on the Andaman Islands, which are administered by India. About 300 remain missing after trying to swim to shore, according to several reports from the news media and human rights groups.

In a second case soon afterward, 580 people were reportedly seized off the Thai coast on three overcrowded fishing boats. These were towed back out to sea after their engines were removed, said Chris Lewa, an expert on Rohingya issues who runs a private human rights group called the Arakan Project.

Continue reading "Thailand overcomes migrants" »

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In Beijing, it didn't matter what the Dow was, of course, since the Chinese government's decision to make itself the world's leading patron of architecture was dependent on other things, including cheap labor. In time for the 2008 Olympics, the world saw the fruits of China's decision to put aside nationalism, hire the greatest architects from around the world, and let them do the kind of things they could never afford to do at home. That brought us two of the greatest buildings of the year, Herzog and de Meuron's extraordinary Olympic Stadium, the stunning steel latticework structure widely known as the Bird's Nest; and Norman Foster's Beijing Airport, a project that was not only bigger than any other airport in the world, but more beautiful, more logically laid out, and more quickly built. And the headquarters of CCTV, the Chinese television network, by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture--a building which I had thought was going to be a pretentious piece of structural exhibitionism--turned out to be a compelling and exciting piece of structural exhibitionism.

-- Paul Goldberger, the New Yorker's architecture critic.

Continue reading "Best building, 2008: Peking International Express" »

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The Dojinkai is one of the country's 22 crime syndicates, employing some 85,000 members and recognized by the government.

Traditionally, the yakuza have run protection rackets, as well as gambling, sex and other businesses that the authorities believed were a necessary part of any society. By letting the yakuza operate relatively freely, the authorities were able to keep an extremely close watch on them.

Continue reading "Traditionally, the yakuza have run protection rackets, as well as gambling, sex and other businesses" »

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Fashion publicity gets publicity where the goods are richer
than the models.

The juxtaposition between poverty and growing wealth presents
an unsavory dilemma for luxury goods makers jumping into India.

Expect follow-ups on Rate A Desi or Sepia Mutiny.

Continue reading "Fashion in Vogue, India" »

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Jadi points to Tehran.

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"To be a world-class city we need to have good quality housing",
Ajay Maken said in an interview in his office in an upscale part of Delhi
where power failures are rare and the water supply is good (although
wild monkeys dance on the cars of officials outside, resistant
to all campaigns to banish them).

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Peking Duck, China-centric Asian blog.

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BEIJING (AP) -- Foreigners in Beijing will be limited to buying
a single home for their own use under new curbs imposed amid
efforts to slow a surge in housing costs, newspapers reported
Saturday.

Foreign home-buyers in Beijing will have to prove they have lived
in China for a year for work or study, and will be barred from
renting out the property, the Beijing Morning Post and China
Daily newspapers said.

Continue reading "China curbs urban housing demand" »

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East Indian blogging by sepiamutiny, example.

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Raw like sushi: Ani Phyo.

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urbandictionary is looking good.

Collaborative nature compels user contributions
and feedback, thumbsupping or thumbsdowning
competing definitions on clarity, detail, and
plausibility (for the zero information set) or
accuracy (for those in the know.

The freshness of the content poses a challenge
o the traditional dictionary.

Its information architecture lists adjacent and
related words, and offers endless serendipity.

Example: garaigo.

Continue reading "Urban Dictionary" »

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Korean bbq place in Flushing, Queens. Recommended.

San Hai Jin Mi
36-24 Union Street,
Flushing, Queens, NY 11354
(on Union just south of Northern Blvd. )
ph 718-539-3274

Great bulgogi and they’re open 24 hours as well though they
are not set up for tourists like the ones on K-town 32nd Street.

Continue reading "Bulgogi Korean BBQ beef in Flushing, Queens" »

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hanzi smatter or hanzis matter ?
Proofreads tatoos, ex post.

勢 (power; force; tendency) and 夢 (dream).

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ThatsShanghai guide to Bejing, Guangzhou and of course Shanghai.
With an xpat perspective.

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Shanghaiist, Gothamist of the East: *; examples:
Shanghai Daily, amusing Chinglish: *

And fake StarBucks. (bb has more Starbucks clones).

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This Republican Theme Park from America is My Girlfriend by Jasik.

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As many road geeking opportunities as California ?

Continue reading "Shanghai Roads" »

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Sinosplice: worthy of blogrolling: updates
Ape Rifle / China-on-the-Thames / ode to VW Santana (Dasher/Quantum/Passat ?) /
Montreal over Toronto / subtle subtitles

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An investigation of the not-so-subtle bad architecture in Beijing.

Continue reading "bad architecture in Beijing" »

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Chinese Triad photo journal.

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Sarong Party Girl, sarongpartygirl.

Update 2009: moved to Babelogic and learned to draw.

Continue reading "Sarong Party Girl" »

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All Look Same's classification exercise for 20 stock photos:
test yourself.

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Why do you worship the ground I blog on or the geekery ?

Xiaxue won an asian bloggie award, topped the defunct Gweilo Diaries.
Definately a cannonical example of chatty look-at-me writing,
from Singapore. It's raining men! And the shopping ! Now that's
Sassy!

Press clippings folder.

Endorsers: Zapped, Google Blogoscoped.

Detractors: C(h)ristine, antistereotype (Auntie Stereotype?) 1, 2.

Continue reading "xiaxue / Wendy Cheng" »

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Tim Blair / Spleenville, lively and colourfull blogger from Australia has a new blog.

Continue reading "Tim Blair / Spleenville" »

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