Posts Tagged ‘damjan denoble’
All About China Blogs | The Nature of China Blog Audiences | Why and How China Blog Folks (Might Leave Their) Comment(s) | And Some ADM “Sturm und Drang”
At the Foxhole, Gazing Out at the Touristy Masses and Drinking Too Much Joe
13:18 CET
What the frick am I going to blog about today?
What’s the deal with comments at blogs? Why do some blogs nab a ton of ‘em, while other well-deserving or well-meaning candidates aren’t nearly as well-trafficked or patronized?
Why do certain sleigh-ride sites (read: speeding downhill, quickly) score the bear’s share of online goggles, while those abundantly-more informative ones are left out in the cold to whither away and die a painful demise?
I’ve been contemplating these ideas over the past week, asking fellow China-blogging companions and online bombing-run wingmen for their opinions.
And you know what? I’ve been humbled by their responses. Really humbled. Inspired, too.
Let’s summarize these reflections, kids, perhaps ending up with some classic ADM sturm und drang about the nature of the Chinese blogging community and what this might entail for you, fellow China blogger, in your ceaseless efforts to attract and, more importantly, keep your portable audience.
Shall we begin? Yeah, um, uhuh. Let’s so do this, Chewie! Punch it!
Beijing’s “Kro’s Nest” Debacle…In A Nutshell
Much has been written over the past 72 hours about the fate of The Kro’s Nest, that soon-to-be formerly famous Beijing eatery that had, since its inception back in 2006 to much fanfare, been the mainstay for many a capital city pizza-and-beer craving expatriate.
For those who aren’t engrossed in such trivial matters, as we humble China bloggers and Beijing watchers sometimes appear to be, the line on this truly sordid tale sounds strikingly similar to a growing litany of bad business deals which have been littering Beijing’s cutthroat business scene of late. Beijing is rapidly becoming known for its backstabbing, double-crossing, and skullduggery and this can’t bode well for future investment.
Now I warn you in advance: there’s a heap of she-said/he-said shots across the bow and conjecture here: from what I’ve gathered in my own coverage of this case of greed, betrayal, aggression, and. now, slander (described so very eloquently here, here, and mostly here), emotions have been running very high and journalists are having a field day picking apart the unobjective emotionality of this story.
You’re Busy Obsessing About Sino-Googular Relations. But Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…
(credit: Aidan Hughes, Brute Propaganda)
You’ve become an overnight expert about Google’s operations in China. But have you ever considered the wealth of other pertinent stories written about at length in the English language Chinese blogosphere which demand our more immediate attention?
While the world seems to be off blogging its fingertips down to pencil nubs about the jazzed-up Google-rook-to-China-bishop bitch slap, my ears are positively aching – as I’m sure are yours – from the blaring reverberations of echo chamber punditry and politicking that needs to end pronto.
I’ve been frantically looking for some sort of intellectual escape and right about now would be the perfect time to familiarize ourselves with several of those other pressing China topics the blogosphere should otherwise spend its seemingly unlimited online time.
Let’s kick back and give those areas another good look…
Hardly a Top 10 List, But Here’s Your China Blogging “A-Team”
Well almost “A-Team”…and it’s going to demand a standout on-screen performance from Liam Neeson to supplant George Peppard’s memorable cigar-chomping steely image in our minds as the no-b.s., Wilkinson-sword sharp, always resolute under Katrina-force hurricane pressure, Col. John “Hannibal” Smith. Remember that dude? I certainly do. There I go dating myself again…
Anyways, the following sites are the five hot spots I check in with daily for my regular fill of Chinese blogging dish.
Thanks to the magic of global time zones coupled with the fact that the People’s Republic is well into early afternoon by the time I hunker down at the desk, mornings here in the Sketch Republic are usually flush with RSS content treasure as I kick off my daily grind at the warren. That means, I’ve got a heap of catching up to do within as short a stretch as possible, and believe me, every day it’s a delectable challenge.
Reading posts at these sites makes blogging all the more worthwhile. So come with me and learn why the following five are the gold standard of the English-language Chinese blogosphere.
To All You "China Bloggers” Out There: There Is *No Such Thing* As An “America Blogger”
Most of my regular readers here at ADM.com are well-aware of colleague Damjan DeNoble’s Sino-following pedigree and of our strong China-centric collaborations. For those others of you who are relatively fresh to this piece of online real estate, you might want to click on through to Asia Health Care Blog, its sister China Health Care Blog, or Damjan’s LinkedIn profile to acquaint yourself a wee bit better with the man behind the lexical magic and a hint of an explanation why I am honored to call myself Damjan’s friend and fellow China traveler.
Warning: don’t shoot the messenger (read: me) if you end up spending more than a couple of hours at any of his sites. On offer: a hot heap of snappy content like news, videos, opinion pieces, and a collection of comments of general interest to the blogging professional.
China HB’s New Vidcast
I thought this was particularly amazing, especially the background track. Damjan DeNoble and James Flanagan break down how Chinese doctors are not properly incentivized and why C-sections are almost 50% of the birthing procedures employed across the PRC.
So Where Do Your Best Ideas Come From?
I was thinking about some of my more prolific blogging friends lately, truly prolific and consistent e-scribes like Dan Harris, Chris Brogan, Julien Smith, Damjan DeNoble & James Flanagan, Marc van der Chijs, Jeff Wasserstrom, Will Moss, and David Wolf. It got me wondering what exactly differentiates the frequent writers from the occasional dabblers? Why do certain bloggers maintain such a torrid pace while others can’t be bothered to lift a typing finger, when lightning-quick dispatching is the very thing they do best?
Damjan & I Talk Chinese “Radishes”
In the spirit of those legendary exchanges between Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell, Damjan DeNoble and I talk China.
REACTION: “Panda Huggers vs. Dragon Slayers”
Damjan DeNoble of Asia Health Care Blog had this to say about the recent Panda Huggers post.
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Lets talk about Panda Huggers and Dragon Slayers. I am neither a panda hugger nor a dragon slayer. Instead, I believe that most developed nations are fairly similar in their approaches to acquiring resources and financial might. Eventually, the growth of all developed/quickly developing economies flattens out along an average trajectory. The relevant question to me is how a country reacts to crises – does it show itself to be a fire breathing dragon, or a slothful panda? What kind of transformation is easier for its communal mindset, its people, its military might, and its political ideology to handle?
In Africa, China is doing nothing different from what European powers have been doing for centuries. Trillions of dollars of American, and European foreign aid to Africa are sitting in the Swiss bank vaults of three generations of African dictators and corporate swindlers. We can choose to attribute this sort of waist to the inefficiencies of NGO’s, or we can choose to take the more realistic view that bribing the wheels of justice and power under the cover of foreign aid has long been par for the African course. I might get slammed for that, but like Frank Rich of the New York Times points out, once upon a time Enron was Forbes’ most innovative company six years running, and Tiger Woods was the face of wholesome America.
Yet, despite these similarities, no one ever talks about a three headed dragon of America, the EU, and China working in tandem to gut the African continent. This is interesting. But, why is it so.
I tend to believe that it is a dragon duel. The EU dragon has, to some extent, already had its time of free reign in Africa. One just need to Google the words “Berlin Conference,” “Belgium,” “rubber,” and “genocide,’ or to read a history of the Rwandan genocide to see how. What’s left is really Dragon China and Dragon America, and from either perspective, China’s or America’s, it is a logical media spin to show the foreign dragon and hide one’s own tail.
At the end of the day, America still holds a gigantic advantage on the African continent in terms of influence and China still has a lot of catching up to do. This holds true for oil commitments, minerals, as well as hearts and minds.
How Many Times Have Damjan & James Been Right?
The always informative, always eloquent Asia Health Care Blog majordomos with their thoughts about the current Chinese H1N1 outbreak.
@krdr It would seem that Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) is really scraping deep into the barrel for a role. He's probably searching his range.43 seconds ago from web
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@therealadm The real masculine movie (btw, it is Canadian) http://youtu.be/9nbl78cj5vM5 hours ago from TweetDeck
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