Ummm...hello? China?
Oh ok, hi, umm, what's up with the flickr blockade? You got something against the uber-cool and arguably most popular photo storage/sharing site?
Hmmm, mum's the word, eh?
I'm sure people pull some tricks to get around the blockage, but still, you don't you think it's a bit childish and rather lame to be blocking photos (let alone flickr!) in this day and age?
No? Well...most of the rest of the world thinks it is...good luck with that.
l苏菲的世界 � Flickr Shamefully Blocked in China
Wow...I mean I knew that China was the best place to get pirated DVDs, software, cars, and even European cities, but who knew that they would start pirating mythical places too?
Apparently, there exists a bizarro Disneyland somewhere in China that comes complete with Mickey, Minnie, Goofie, Donald, Hello Kitty(?), Doramon(?), among other copyrighted and trademarked characters. And get this...it's owned by the government!.
Whoa...wait a minute...a government owned, haven of copyright-violation? I mean, if it's little hucksters on the street hawking other's IP, that's one thing, but the government? Well, it sort of makes sense right? I mean, nothing goes on in China unless it's sanctioned by someone really high up. So figure some of big wigs in the upper echelons want to take advantage of their positions by lining their own pockets and you see where this is going.
My favorite quote from the Japan Probe article is when the reporter asks a visitor to the park how they feel about the use of other's intellectual property for their own personal gain:
I don't understand why that is such a big problem. Shouldn't others be able to use those characters besides [Disney]?" she asks.
I can't wait until China has some decent IP (no, not the Beijing 2008 Olympics logo) that others can pirate. Then we'll see how they feel about intellectual property.
Disneyland in China? Japan Probe [via slashdot]
Then the fun really began. The ticket lady paused then did some more clicking and checking the computer and told us that we had to upgrade to business class. A whopping $2300! I was so fricking livid but just paid the money because her parents needed to get home since they were just distracting Hongyun from school. I figured it was the best thing for them and the best thing for Hongyun. I was right, but man was that painful.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that Air China is a bunch of god damned liars who don't have anything straight and have lost my business for life (and I hope yours too after you read this).
An interesting thought occured while I was reading Wang Jian Shuo's experience about applying for a blog license in China. Yeah this is an offshoot of the whole MSN Spaces blocking "freedom" in China debate, but hear me out.
The Chinese are experts are word games and puns. I'm sure there exists slang or code words for banned ideologies and words. I mean, they've been repressed for so long now, I'm sure there is some system for this setup already. There must already be euphemism for these ideas and words in place that will naturally carry over to blogs. I suggested to Jian Shuo to use "fei ji" or "flying chicken" as a euphemism for freedom :)
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