I hope that teaching and banking allow them time to visit me (again) in HK soon. :)

To think it has already been three years...

Shanghai, which has bootleg pirate DVD bins on every corner, provides mountains of movies but at the cost of real difficulty in finding a particular movie you might have in mind. In this case, I have a number of US Christmas classics I've been poking about for: A Christmas Story, Frosty the Snowman, Elf, A Christmas Carol, etc. but to no avail!

An amusing difficulty here is re-encountering the inability of the Shanghainese to speak the "common language" of China. For example, approaching the DVD seller I ask, "Ni you meiyou SHeng-danjie de dianying?". 你有没有圣诞节的电影？ The point of confusion is the "SH", and "shengdanjie" here is Christmas. Ironically this is the same "SH" in SHanghai, yet the locals pronounce this as "S". This lazy "SH" requires constant listening vigilance for non-locals.

It's a fine line to walk: praise of economic globalization in the midst of a slowdown.

Here is a picture from the China Daily in an article talking about gift buying in Beijing. Today is a cold, cold day in China. I wish I had those decent winter clothes not needed in HK!

I'm checked in at yet another (albeit newer Motel 168) and have quite the interesting view of a bit of Old Shanghai from my window.

I'll be updating regularly over the next few days, and how to make some new connections between old memories and new ideas.

Such was my experience last week on the beaches around Pak Tam Au. The absolute quiet! And two weekend surf shops providing me with never-ending water, beer and Hong Kong-style beach food. I built fires, looked out over Sharp Peak (Nam She Tsim) over morning coffee and slept in my tent on the sand...

Out of range of 3, PCCW, etc. my phone turned instead to that classic, "Emergency Calls Only", that you get when you can't get a signal inside an elevator (which is not always).

Sitting on the beach, I smiled knowing that at any moment I can call out for help, but in the lack of access my relationship to the network is exactly where I want it to be. :)

I found this description particularly touching. Since I've arrived in HK, I've noticed a gradual but significant change. The amount of putonghua spoken on the street, for example, has increased measurably. The PGSA (and their silly e-mails) has started to walk lock-step with Beijing. And while neither is bad: it is a change, a passing, and something different than was before.

I think Xu Xi provided a rare moment: a mixture of comments on a changing HK, a changing Manhattan (where she also lives), and the disappearance of Cantonese in the larger world of things.

As last time, she connected the loss of the local tongue with the loss of Shanghainese, and those old parts of Shanghai culture. She relates how these are often described to her as to be disappearing too.

Soon too, I will leave this place. And when I return, that Hong Kong that I first thought I knew, will have also left, and it will be something other,

"Evanescent Isles" is a fitting title.

On my way home from my office on Friday night, I was snagged for wine, cake and an English Society ceremony - for which I was uninvited. Soon I found myself listening to good-bye speeches and karaoke music, and taking formal pictures with the undergrads. Overall it was a good time, but you never know what will happen on the way home.

I even got a souvenir! :)

Just yesterday however, Beijing put out Firefox China Edition. The browser is built on foundations of the open-source browser that we all know and love, yet with layout and keyboard changes designed to reflect typical usage by Chinese users.

I'm not sure if I am fully on board with the essentializing argument about how "Chinese" surf-the-net. Yet I do see a feature or two that I hope comes into the Western version. The Live Margins tab, and intergration with basic Windows functions of calculator, notepad and "My Computer" are a nice touch.

Overall, it is a comfortable browsing experience. More Baidu and less Google, but the streaming music through Sina.com is nice too. Is it legal though?

Finally a bit of innovation coming out of China! :) ...and more browser wars ahead!

I've been in my office all weekend, and Saturday was the usual HKU graduation November. Yet, like last year, almost a hundred cosplay enthusiasts arrived on a single day and gave a bohemian feel to the whole affair. Cosplay is:

short for "costume play", is a type of performance art whose participants outfit themselves, with often-elaborate costumes and accessories, as a specific character. (wiki)

Add the regular wedding photography, plus that questionable modeling of a sleazy sort, and add to this a juvenile violin recital in Loke Yew hall and it was a crowded weekend to remember! :) Actually I spend too many weekends in my office.

How many currencies can you see?