This is Shanghai [Rob Whitworth/Vimeo] #RisingChina #Timelapse

0-4000 skyscrapers in three decades: no mean feat.

Timelapse of Shanghai’s skyscrapers from that many angles and vantage points – no mean feat either.

That this was accomplished with local Shanghainese synergy – bonus feat!

A wonderful example of cross-pollination significant in painting the narrative that it’s not all just us and them.

To understand the city, the team carried out rigorous urban exploration. In the words of JT “we walked, walked and walked, the Jane Jacobs way”. Weibo, China’s main social media platform was used to ask local Shanghainese people to share ideas of different vantage points and what they thought were the over-riding characteristics of the city. Stealth and curiosity were required to find and gain access to rooftops and locations. It became addictive for the team discovering breath-taking vantage points of the city. There was always an adrenaline rush upon reaching the top of a different building to see the vast urban jungle of Shanghai….

– – –

This is Shanghai
by Rob Whitworth
Source – Vimeo, published April 2013

In 1980 Shanghai had no skyscrapers. It now has at least 4,000 — more than twice as many as New York. ‘This is Shanghai’ explores the diversities and eccentricities of the metropolis that is Shanghai going beyond the famous skyline.

Photographer Rob Whitworth and urban identity expert JT Singh joined forces combining deep city exploration and pioneering filmmaking. ‘This is Shanghai’ is a roller coaster ride seamlessly weaving between the iconic, sparkling and mismatched buildings of the financial district travelling by boat and taxi touring Shanghai’s impressive infrastructure whilst glimpsing some of the lesser-known aspects of Shanghai life such as the lower stratum areas or the stunning graffiti of Moganshan road. And of course there is the opportunity to try some of the vast variety of street food and Shanghai’s most popular homegrown delicacy, the pan-fried pork dumplings, the shengjian bao.

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Civil Engineering, Climate Change, Communications, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Finance, Infrastructure, Mapping Feelings, Migrant Workers, Nationalism, People, Population, Soft Power, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Video

The East Asia Geographic Timelapse

The East Asia Geographic Timelapse of rural and urban China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. This is an ongoing project by the brother and myself to document the world through his photography and my music. Do share the love – Thank you!

The East Asia Geographic Timelapse from Repro on Vimeo.

Filed under: Bob's Opinion, Domestic Growth, japan, Media, Video

‘A seriously ill society’: Hit-run case of little Yueyue shocks China – and the world [The Age]

China’s global image under scrutiny: This event caught on surveillance cameras in Foshan city in Southern China flooded all my Facebook and Twitter feeds yesterday; from the China-bashers to China-ambivalent to enraged Chinese bloggers reflecting on the indifference of Chinese society.

In a latest update by Shanghai Daily – Help late; girl run over by 2 vans dies (Shanghai Daily, October 17, 2011) – Thanks to the 19th passer-by, a woman garbage collector who came to her aid about seven minutes after the first hit, the girl didn’t die immediately in last Thursday’s incident. But doctors said the girl died yesterday from severe brain injuries she had suffered in the accident.

Police have detained both drivers, with the first reportedly exclaiming that financial compensation would be less if the girl died, as opposed to being injured (unverified).

Elsewhere in the news and its interesting how each title spins a different story; from the descriptive to the value judgements:
Apathy toward injured child sparks anger (China Daily, October 17, 2011)
Shocking scenes as passers-by ignore dying toddler, 2, in China (News.com.au, October 17, 2011)
Little Yueyue and China’s moral road (Asia Times Online, October 19, 2011)
A moral void in Chinese success story (Straits Times, October 19, 2011)

Here’s the video on youtube (viewer discretion advised):

– Watch how a poor Chinese child gets run over and then run over again by two separate vehicles and people do nothing to help her. Unbelievable behavior. Footage is taken from a surveillance camera presented on local TV shows Yue Yue was walking in a hardware market in Foshan, Guangdong province, on Thursday, about 100 meters away from her home, when she was run over by a van at 5:26 pm.

Note: article typo below – It’s Foshan City not Fosham.

– – –

‘A seriously ill society’: Hit-run case of little Yueyue shocks China – and the world
Megan Levy
Source – The Age, published October 18, 2011

Minutes after being hit, the first of 18 people stroll casually past Yueyue's prone body. Photo: TVS

A two-year-old girl who was struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident in China was ignored by more than a dozen passers-by as she lay critically injured on the road.

Surveillance footage of the horrifying incident has sparked outrage and disbelief on China’s hugely popular social media sites, where an anguished public debate has broken out about the state of Chinese society.

The footage shows the young girl, named Yueyue, toddling into the path of a van outside her family’s shop in a busy wholesale market in the southern Chinese city of Fosham.

Filed under: Culture, Mapping Feelings, People, Population, Social, The Age, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Video

Chinese Warship On Libya Coast [Youtube]

4,000 tonne Chinese frigate off the Libyan coast amidst China’s condemnation of Libya air strikes. This is the first time a Chinese warship has ever sailed in the Mediterranean sea. This time it’s for humanitarian reasons – to evacuate its people, but the side effect of a display of military power overseas can not be missed; especially in a region where it is quickly making friends to secure commercial and resource interests.

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Chinese overseas, CNN, Economics, Influence, International Relations, Jasmine Revolution, Libya, Mapping Feelings, Overseas Chinese, Politics, Resources, Strategy, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Video, Youtube

Inside Story – Modernising China’s military [Al Jazeera/Youtube]

Boosting China’s capability via modernisation in a simple self critique – ‘A military without a world view is one without a hope‘ (Liberation Army Daily)

Filed under: Al Jazeera, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Culture, Domestic Growth, Influence, International Relations, Media, military, Politics, Strategy, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Video

The Lost Bladesman 2011 (關雲長) – Official Trailer [Youtube]

More Chinese public diplomacy through cultural capital in media representation. – This time, one of the most classic Chinese heroes – the ‘Saint’ of Force, Guan Yu who is revered interestingly in Hong Kong by both sides of the law – the police and the triads comes to the fore. They pray and worship the same God that is Guan Yun-Chang.

Loosely, if Captain America is used as a diagrammatic opposite committed to one’s nation beyond reason, Guan Yu would be the Chinese version – all about brotherhood and loyalty to that brotherhood to the death, beyond reason.

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Communications, Culture, Domestic Growth, Influence, Media, military, Nationalism, Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Video, Youtube

Can you really teach goldfish to do synchronised swimming? [Guardian]

Got wind from this from an old friend’s post on Facebook, thanks Jin San. This report has a vital flaw however, as the video link provided was a video posted on youtube of a Japanese variety program and not the Chinese Lunar New Year Opening Gala this year. Nevertheless, the video posted revealed a few useful things – two comments on the youtube link provided in this article provides an insight…

If it was done by magnets, wouldn’t the magnets in the fish try to stick to the magnet under the table, making them drag along the bottom of the tank? They don’t look like they are sliding on the bottom of the tank. not2dayshaq

And a contrasting view – I think magnets too on race tracks underneath, the lines the fish follow are really perfect and the speed of travel is so steady and every time they make a sharp turn you can see them brace themselves and try to cope with the fact that their body has been forceably turned. interuniversal321

I’ve had a look at the real video (see below – and am inclined to say the goldfish look sufficiently distressed). Have a look at the actual video here and form your own opinion –

– – –

Can you really teach goldfish to do synchronised swimming?
A recent glimpse of formation goldfish on Chinese TV has outraged animal rights activists who suspect it’s all done with magnets
Tom Meltzer
Source – Guardian, published February 16, 2011

Magician Fu Yandong directs goldfish during a New Year’s Eve television show in Beijing. Photograph: AP

Of their own volition, in perfect unison, six goldfish line up in a military formation and swim laps around a tank of water. This was the spectacle that greeted and astonished hundreds of millions of viewers at the opening gala of China‘s lunar new year festival earlier this month. Animal rights activists were less amazed.

Convinced that the trick must rely on magnets in the fish’s stomachs, a coalition of 53 groups sent a letter to Chinese broadcaster CCTV asking them to prevent magician Fu Yandong performing it again at tonight’s closing ceremony. Fu has denied the accusation of animal cruelty, telling one news programme: “If I used magnets, the fish would stick together.” So how does he do it?

At Davenports Magic, the world’s oldest family-run magic shop, proprietor Betty Davenport is perplexed. “I’ve been buying and selling magic since 1948. I know most of the tricks, including how they’re done. I have not heard of that one. There’s no magic that I know of that is similar to that at all.”

Filed under: Beijing OIympics, Chinese New Year, Communications, Culture, Influence, Lifestyle, Media, Social, Video

This is China [Youtube]

Largely positive images of cultural China in moving pictures, found on Youtube – 796,598 hits as of February 16, 2011 with 2,538 likes and 356 dislikes.

A sampling of the negative comments triggered by the video in the past 24 hours –

BOMB CHINA, SAVE THE WORLD!
k3nn1777 2 hours ago

Someone forgot to mention chinese expansionism, dictatorship, North Korea backing and the will to oppress individuality for the “sake” (haha) of the greater goods which is the rich and powerful men’s goods in the resume. China sucks, fuck China.
CroissantOrange 4 hours ago

History is never black and white. Those who talk in absolutes, unconditionals and unqualifieds, failing to deal with nuances and shades of greys are by definition, ignorant of history.
parsifal3142 14 hours ago

When you talk about History, you have to say the whole story, not the parts that statisfy you. The Cultural Revolution and the Leap Forward were truly the worse period in China even worse than Chiang Kai Chek. FACT
DemocracynowChina 23 hours ago

Filed under: Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Culture, Nationalism, People, Population, Public Diplomacy, Video

The Ad that Moved Chinese Overseas Students to Tears (with English subtitles) [Youtube]

An ad that was shared on Facebook by a friend – it may be an ad, but it sure did strike a very resonant chord.

Filed under: Chinese overseas, Culture, Media, Overseas Chinese, Social, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Video

China builds 15-story hotel in Changsha, China in 6 days建楼神速，中国6天造15层宾馆 [Youtube]

Filed under: Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Economics, Video