Shanghai Scrap

On Saturday morning, Shanghai Airline Flight 9237, Shanghai Hongqiao to Linyi, Shandong, began boarding at 8:50 AM. Just before joining forty-some other passengers on the Bombarbdier CRJ, I took this photograph of the terminal through the morning haze.

On the basis of too much experience, I try not to fly north of the Yangtze River before noon between the months of December and February. It’s not superstition (though it does sound weird), it’s the pollution: weather conditions seem to lock pollution – euphemistically, and almost universally, known as “fog” – into China’s inland, northern cities until early afternoon during the winter months, and I’ve been through more than my fair share of flight delays to prove it. Unfortunately, the only flight between Shanghai and Linyi on Saturday was the 9:10 AM flight. Central Shandong’s epic pollution levels did not guarantee an on-time arrival.

To my surprise, the jet took off promptly at 9:10, and began its descent around 9:50. But then, as it dipped into the gray clouds over Linyi, the plane suddenly jerked upward (gasps from passengers), banked left, and began a less than gentle circle. (more…)

On Saturday, the Washington Post’s Ariana Eunjung Cha reported on efforts by Shenzhen-based Huawei to acquire 3Com, a leading US manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. The story, entitled, “Telecom Firm in China Sets Sights on US market,” describes US opposition to the deal, and specifically points to concern among US government and industry officials about Huawei’s reported connections to the Chinese government and military. What follows is this:

Xing Houyuan, dean of the Beijing-based Overseas Investment Research Center, which is under China’s Ministry of Commerce, said efforts to block the deal amount to discrimination, an attempt by the United States to protect key industries like telecommunications.

“The so-called national security protections are only aimed at nationally owned or nationally controlled companies of certain countries like China,” Xing said. (more…)

Below, a photo of the largest television graveyard north of the Yangtze River and, quite possibly, the largest one in all of China. Televisions brought to this location are – on average – twenty years old, Chinese-manufactured, and black and white models. They are procured nationwide, with most of the sets in this image having been shipped from Xinjiang and Heilongjiang.

I don’t believe in blogging/previewing information obtained while on-assignment, so – for now – I won’t divulge where this site is located. However, in the interest of promoting feel-good news, I will reveal that each of these televisions will be recycled to a roughly 60% recovery rate.

[UPDATE: Following the post, the comment from RandyG is an absolute delight. A must-read.]

The not so dirty secret about China’s thriving pirate DVD industry is that – more often than not – the selection is rather thin, out-dated, of marginal quality, and heavily tilted toward bloody Hollywood blockbusters, films with “Shanghai” in the title, and anything slightly innuendo-ish.

Which is why Shanghai’s true cineastes eagerly await late December and the first sprinklings of award-season “screeners” in the city’s pirate shops. Basically, it goes like this: Oscar and Golden Globe voters receive high-quality DVD copies of films so that they can judge them, conveniently, in their home, and at their own pace. Then, for reasons known only to them and their gods, these same screeners pawn off the DVDs to pirates who – kindly – make copies available on the streets of Shanghai. Thus, for the last two weeks I’ve been enjoying soon-to-be award-winning fare unseen even by my cineaste friends back in the US. The only draw-back – really, it’s just an occasional interruption – is this message that appears throughout the screeners:

I’ll admit: before writing this post I was dubious about the prospect that Hollywood might actually go after the awards voters who transfer their watermarked, supposedly identifiable screeners to the pirates. But a brief search indicates that the studios have managed to track down some of the culprits. Too bad for them.

In either case, I’m not so naive as to believe this situation can last forever. And, like the strong dollar, screener season, too, will one day be no more than a fond memory. But until then – or, at least, until the weekend – I’ll be busy screening the early handicappers for this year’s Best Picture.

[Addendum: It was just brought to my attention that Me Old China wrote something similar to this post during last year's screener season.]

Here’s the deal: we’re now three months into the rookie NBA season of 21/23/24/25/26-year-old Yi Jianlian, and the guy still refuses to answer questions about his age. That is, questions such as – brace yourself – “How old are you?” To be sure, this has been going on a while, with the most notorious dodge taking place in early October, shortly after the intransigent rookie joined the Bucks for his first practice. When asked if he would like to comment on the authenticity of his birth certificate (which lists his birth as October 27, 1987), Yi responded: “I have no comment on that.”

Let’s be clear: We’re not talking about steroids or dog fighting here. We’re talking about a player’s age. It really doesn’t need to be this complicated.

Fact is, the question of Yi’s age has dodged the emerging star ever since he first appeared on the NBA draft radar screen a few years ago (as I detailed here). It’s an important issue from a basketball point-of-view: younger players are considered more coach-able. That is, a 24-year-old Yi is far less valuable to a team than a 20-year-old Yi. Which is why it’s so interesting that DraftExpress, the most respected independent evaluator of NBA talent, still claims that Yi is three years older than his birth certificate indicates. The basis for this evaluation is Yi’s game, and his well-developed physique; but there have been age-related whispers and rumors for years – including a Houston Chronicle report that in 2006 Yi told Houston’s Shane Battier that he was twenty-four (Yi later denied the report). (more…)

Back tomorrow with bales of blogging excellence. Until then, still shaking it with Chaka.