它看起来像查尔斯，超过新中国的鸿沟博客已经找到了新的点击源，以振兴中国博客现场：辩论在中国对打击色情物品。

虽然我通常不支持任何类型的审查，我不得不说我不能照顾色情在中国的事业。 性别贩子从我所看到的，是最可耻的，垃圾邮件，病毒缠身，一般无用的互联网网站，并会分散他们的注意力从更重要的事情做喜欢读我的博客的网民。 你可以确信，你不会找到我在示威者的行列时，禁止使用这些网站获得。

然而，有一个更重要的问题，禁止色情的，它是中国当局的定义比我们通常理解的色情去的方式进一步。 它适用于一些精彩的 ​​艺术作品，包括一个利的欲望和注意事项，如电影，或这个伟大的电视连续剧 ，由柳书。 它是用来像一些优秀的艺术家唐炜边缘化，并在总体上有助于进一步扼杀创造力的中国文学和艺术的场景。

可以肯定，多次禁止“不健康”的内容，只是一个借口，以摆脱对持不同政见者或保护主义政策辩护。 但一般来说，当中国当局对色情行为，它是一个真正的道德问题。 这里是我看到一个更有趣的角度来讨论，连接起来的问题，我问去年在约后的电视连续剧和共产主义道德：为什么在27假正经？

从我的生活在各种共产主义和前共产主义国家的经验，我认为这是不是严格意义上的中国现象。 事实上，它甚至不是一个共产主义的现象，而是一个保守的人共同的特点随处可见。 我维持，为什么在中国被禁止色情内容的原因是，中共是一个非常保守的组织，并作为各地所有的保守派，他们厌恶性的公共显示，即使在私下，他们可能认为没有去妓院的5倍一个星期。

那么，为什么不保守派往往有这特别是对性的共同的态度吗？ ，特别是共产主义政权，废除所有在性别相关清教的前列宗教，为什么呢？

红保守党

首先，我想在这里补充了保守派的定义，只是围绕一个词的意义，以避免整个讨论转。 最喜欢的政治术语，这个人可以有不同的含义，在不同的地方。 我使用这个职位的含义是，我认为是最直观，最了解国际。 从大英百科全书 ：

政治态度或思想表示偏爱机构和历史演变的做法，因此，连续性和稳定性的表现。 这首先表现在当今时代，通过工程柏克在法国大革命的反应，伯克认为其过激行为玷污通过自己的理想。 保守派认为，实施改革，应尽量少和渐进;他们明白历史和超过理想化的现实。

在像中国这样的共产主义国家的情况下，它始终是复杂的，使用正常的政治方面的保守/逐行，或左/右。 原因是，在1949-1978年期间的范式改变，和老保守派灭绝。 因此，一个“新的国家”从零，因此对于中国政治生活的目的，“机构和历史演变的做法是 ”创造只能算在共产党的历史定义。 而在中国的保守派往往是共产主义。

这种现象是很难独特的。 它遵循的革命运动的逻辑，到处获得主流电源：突然转移他们的焦点从“改变世界”，“维持现状”，和保守心态，通常采取控制。

这是根本没有必要解释这个已经在中国居住的任何人，但我有一种感觉，一些美国人仍然觉得奇怪，调用一个共产主义政权的“保守”。 如果你觉得这一切仅仅是智力多嘴，你是缺少了点。 中共的支持者是真正保守的人，他 ​​们的行为， 完全按照你期望从一个保守的其他地方。

从我的一些在中国共产党的热血青年男子，我在朝鲜的互联网晚长聊天的谈话，我有一个什么动作，那些相信“共产党人”的合理理解：他们不喜欢外国的影响，他们将一个荒谬的重要性国籍和种族，他们反对任何听起来像自由思考或质疑的旧观念，他们喜欢传统的女孩结婚，相当旧的大炮，谁不穿迷你短裙，或在公共发言太多;他们不喜欢同性恋的人，当一个女孩的行为完全一样的许多男人，他们快速调用“妓女”。

悲剧是，这些保守的人将永远能够与他们的同行在美国连接，因为双方都仍然由他们自己的宗教和冷战rethoric的约束。 一方应该有人发明之类的口号：世界的保守派，团结起来！

汤政治方面

我将不得不削减今天在这里，因为我的新博客政策，不要让我做平均每个职位超过1000字。 我们将继续在未来的一，但在我结束之前，我想提一提的非常有趣的问题在中国的政治术语。

由于上述范式逆转，仍是一个很好的协议中应使用哪些英语单词的名字在一个共产主义国家的不同意识形态的西方的混乱。 我没有在中国政治的学者，但我有关于这个问题（包括学术著作， 如看书维克多施），我得到的印象，不规范的条款。 我已经看到，尝试做一个分类的小手册的唯一的书：“ 什么是中国认为 “马克伦纳德。

我希望有人会借给我一只手在这里，我指向一些其他的资源，在这里我可以看一下这件事。 在此期间，我记得这本书和我的主动，主要的教派去如下：

老左： ​​在CPP的强硬派谁想要重振毛主义。 西方相反，这些左撇子其实是很保守的人。

老右派：崇拜者和台湾的国民党，在大陆几乎看不见的今天。 我从来没有见过，所以不知道他们是保守的字符或没有。 我以为FLG许多成员应对这样的描述。

新左派总理温家宝，推动更多的社会政策，在中共统治的财富的平等分配等，这样的政治家。 思维定势仍然保守，但小于老左派。

新右派政治家，思想家和一些业务在邓小平的启发鲨鱼“得到先富起来”，要优先考虑的沿海地区，并建立一个无情的资本主义制度。 他们没有任何的思维定势，因为他们太忙，先富，他们只要不关心政治意识形态作为他们的猫抓到老鼠。

右左：这是我自己的功能失调的名词包括像许志永或刘晓波的人，以及一些在中共呼吁政治改革，民主和公民权利。 其中许多是不是持不同政见者，但只是勇敢的党员谁也不敢以提高他们的声音。 这是唯一的回应“渐进式”的思维定势的想法，我。

你认为这个术语？

注：此清单并不意味着将作为参考，但而邀请参与，请提出你想要的任何长期，或点我好读一些有关现代中国的政治 。 对于那些来到这里找到一些性，请明天再来时，我会继续与主体后，我会重视中国的色情影像 。 有一个愉快的一天。

上海东方早报做了很好的覆盖年度 全国政协会议 。 我喜欢今天的纸质版，它带有一个可爱的羊驼夫妇旁边的胡图片和男孩走在他们刚刚开幕的全国政协过道。

这是一个漫长的故事，对于那些没有看，但左上角的这些可爱的动物来指粗鲁的谩骂中国人 ，人们不禁要问，如果没有一个年轻的恶意的文件编辑器，做头版布局。 因为我的意思是，“羊驼的成本在5000欧元的动物公平的新闻”今天难以顶级头版材料，是吗？

无论如何，这一年的时间再来，这里是双橡皮图章博览会，或两会，侵略全中国的媒体。 昨天我什至观看了就职典礼在中央电视台，英勇地行使我的听力技巧，无疑是今年最枯燥的政治事件。 如果你错过了它，想象一个巨大的杜莎夫人蜡像馆与成千上万的数字，他们每个人都看起来完全下，坐在同一位置。 添加到这是一个国家的赞美诗简短的性能和你去那里，开幕了！

即使是普遍认为，两会已几乎没有政治权力，重要的决定是事先采取其他器官，显示仍是重要的中国问题观察家，因为很多政策在这个时候宣布。 从理论上讲，这是在里面的人（通过区域代表出席会议）提出新思路，政府的行为。 本着这一精神，其他渠道已经打开最近，温家宝在互联网聊天一样。

今年，我们甚至有什么看起来像一个独立的私营报纸和网站的主动改变户籍制度。 虽然我怀疑，建议将飞（的某些条款已经审查）是好地看到，私人倡议是活着，而且仍然有独立新闻留在中国大胆地团结起来，并提出政策变化的一些位。

东方邮政还带有一个小采访最如雷代表的两会， 张晓梅女士。 此委托是去年在互联网上非常流行，一个惊人的建议ultraprolific起草人。 一些网民担心，今年以来，为所有代表都配备了免费的笔记本电脑配备（用纳税人的钱！），张某的表现将​​会增强的擂鼓人数甚至可能超过往年。

这里有一些著名的张女士提出的建议 ，其中不乏像左翼，女权主义团体将在欧洲提出。 这是可以理解的，很多网友都持怀疑态度：它是所有的表演给人一种政治自由，其实是不存在的假印象。 但我个人认为，无论张女士和雷霆代表的真实意图，它始终是积极的，有主动提出不同意见的人。 荒谬或不，这个活动肯定是一个更积极的形象，比首届会议的柔顺蜡像。

正如昨天许志永说，中国人民有一个任务来完成。 届时，将珍贵的一个活跃的民间社会的存在对中国，和上面喜欢提到的举措是一个好兆头的精神，是活着的表面之下。

而那就是都为今年的两会开幕。 覆盖面更广，如果必要的最终定论会议后。

澄清：我看了昨天的就职典礼，全国政协，全国人大单独上周五就职，这将更加宏伟，因为它是所有区域的代表团规模最大的一次。 不要不要错过！

我已经一段时间，因为我所有的假期时间已经由上海的两个引人入胜的故事，其中一人是电视连续剧，另一种新型的吸收。

串行WoJu，蜗牛的家，愣神Dwellingness窄，或任何翻译成英文。 它在中国已经在11月首次播出以来的炽热。 爱丽丝刘单位“和优酷言论博客最近涵盖。

由于这些博客指出，这一直是最具爆炸性的成功，我们还记得在中国的电视连续剧。 在不到一个月的时间，它引发了激烈的辩论在互联网上，吸引了数百万在线和关闭，并与该检查员狰狞的手。 快速成功的原因之一是有关的问题，买房子，正好碰到年轻的中国观众当场的中心主题。

但是，Woju是比房地产和腐败的故事。 这是一个扣人心弦的戏剧，丰富的次要情节的发展，围绕中央的三角恋爱，非常真实的字符填充。 一个近代中国社会的急剧的批评，和迄今为止最好的产品，我曾经在大陆电视上看到。 最初它是Liuliu，在2007年出版的一种新型的中国作家 ，我们应该在未来更加紧密地看。

这里是我的印象串行现在我已经完成了第15章。 我将重点放在两个主要的兴趣点：为希望了解中国的人的信息内容，并独立于其他方面的考虑产品的质量。 到底是我观察到相关的审查和其他一些有趣的事情。

内容

这个序列是中国通，有抱负的中国问题专家的天堂。 任何人想了解中国，应该看它。 如果字符是不完全真实（没有小说可以被）他们的忧虑，他们的问题和他们的动机是一个Hi - Fi扩增反映当今中国的年轻公民。 这是一个中国的现实集中。

过去几年我们一直讲的所有的元素都在那里，没有一个是失踪：广西建设，干部“二奶（爱好者），上海男人欺负自己的妻子，谁也不能看到自己的婴儿，非法工作的父母高息贷款，开发商和地方官员，shanghaiers和外地人之间的冲突，一夜之间丰富的温州，新中国的伦理道德，拆迁或“破坏和移动之间的”官商勾结，“钉子人”谁抵制，山寨手机... ...你的名字。

所有如此精确，你甚至可以看到多少的人物都在自己的工作收入，高利贷问什么兴趣，或付出多大的代价一个党员干部，以获得他的第一个小二奶（情人）。

肯定有更好的描绘中国社会在过去的书籍，但主题是变化如此之快，他们都过时。 我不认为有任何其他的小说今天的工作，更准确地反映上海社会大约2010。

“你好，我是局长宋的市委（我只是shagged你的女朋友）”

如果你正在学习中文，该系列双必须是一个伟大的地道的普通话。 如果你不是，然后站配有英文字幕的DVD，希望海盗与他的托福水平的翻译人员。 这有一定的市场，我不会感到惊讶，如果他们都与电影明年，只要政府不停止。

质量

但比上述更重要的是产品的质量。 这是很好的小说和良好的娱乐。

故事是由一个强烈的爱为中心的三角形就被美丽的女演员扮演，年轻的Haizao 李念 。 上面列出的所有要素，包括房地产热的赢家和失败者，倾向于解决此爱/恨的故事，接触了两个不同的世界：laobaixing和干部，这两个类的中国城市。

但也许串行最好的方面，一个中国的电视节目中呼吸新鲜空气，是绝对缺乏公众的道德教训。 这里没有英雄或恶棍。 贪婪的开发商，难耐徒劳的妻子，缩头缩脑的上海丈夫，神秘的， 离谱的上海姑娘李念饰演。 他们中的每单之一是人性的弱点和所有人一样的野心。 他们每个人可以以最好的和最坏。

即使是贪官是太人性化。 一个软弱的人在中年危机，在他手中的权力太大，不检查他的行为和系统。 腐败，爱情一样，发生的事件的自然过程，一个病态的社会​​和一个邪恶的个人计划的结果。 江州，中国世界街头，为上海站，是所有的人物都无可救药漂流行动的强大旋风。

检查

毫不奇怪，串行一直由政府审查。 然而，它已被审查的方式，罢工假正经我，如果不是太白痴。

因为我现在在欧洲，我已经能够观看YouTube上的串行和比较中国网站优酷上的审查。 图像上没有审查以上，其中上海市委的一位官员，公然与他刚刚被强奸免费使用他的政治实力的女孩的男友聊天。

相反，下面的图片审查：

在中国看到的原始场景，并低于审查的版本。

这是第一个正确的性教育的串行现场。 在原始版本中，您会看到在屏幕的四分之一Haizao呻吟面对，而其他的图像对应各自的妻子和男友，谁是在家里，担心自己的亲人，而他们正在奥运类的乌龟。

Haizao比上面显示的快乐先生宋淫秽的呻吟面对？ 绘制自己的后果。 同样有趣的是要注意在审查过程中，生产者参加的火爆场面不只是切出，但编辑和其他原件取代放大图像在上面的妻子，。

其他细节和问题

我会回来更多的细节时，我与串行，但目前我有2个问题，为市民，尤其是许多中国人我知道是谁已经观看了整个35章：

1 - 为什么会如此显着的串行显示“Coogle”的Haizao shanzhaied电话，它只是为了使其更切合实际，或者是报复，因为谷歌拒绝赞助？

2 - 有一个阴谋的一部分，我只是无法理解：Haizao如何能是处女当她第一次与宋睡觉，如果她一直与男友生活多年？ 这是一个情节的差距，我失去了一些严重的（和担心）中国文化的元素？

我昨晚摆弄一些统计数字，考虑到奇怪的想法，我们最近一直在讨论中国互联网的偏狭。 表达式本身是奇数，因为“互联网”和“偏狭”形成一个矛盾，但你很难看到这些东西，当你住在这里。 在社会主义市场经济体制的土地的正常程序。

无论我们的词组，但事实是，它每一次，无论是讲的语言 ， 媒体 ，或政治 ，一切似乎都在这个方向。 下面的图片是我尝试画一个互联网的世界地图来说明这个与外界隔绝，从网站上使用互联网世界统计数据。

这里是我的第一个想法：我得到了超过10万互联网用户，这使得总32，从中国到摩洛哥的所有国家的统计数据。 然后，我没有Excel图表中每个气泡的面积成正比，该国的互联网用户，关键的是，我充满矩阵代码气泡。 结果：矩阵的世界地图：

互联网矩阵的世界地图

在上面的地图中的一个有趣的事情是，亚洲已经是世界上最大的的互联网领域。 惊人的，但不是真的，毕竟，迄今为止世界上人口最多的。 这是什么是什么：互联网与印度和中国的增长将是在未来几年亚洲联合。 未命中，将真的没有他们的全球净。 截至目前，净大多数人来自发达国家，从现在开始，大多数人将来自发展中国家。 我们的社会之间的密切联系，将有在线和离线的重要后果。 也就是说，假如我们真的管理连接。

但是，当我们说互联网，没有多大意义，看看政治界限。 有没有这样的事情，作为边境管制网上，真正团结或分割人民是文化。 一个，尤其是最重要的参数是语言：无论你的国籍，你如何定义用户作为你冲浪，这是为什么我的浏览习惯看看 Blogger的不是像在我的国家的人更多类似这样的原因是语言ESWN和我完全不同的背景，但我们有共同冲浪语言

所以，我抬头一看10的统计数据在互联网上最常用的语言，从英国到韩国。 这一次，我各色标志的泡沫，我把他们大致对他们的发言社区的重力中心。 结果是冲浪语言的地图：

冲浪语言的世界地图

尽管如此，地图不是很大。 许多发言者在庞大的英语泡沫实际上是印度人，西班牙应该是在美国和欧洲，和澳大利亚是完全出来的图片。 物理距离已经没有净的意思，甚至比政治上的边界。 它变得清晰，我的目的没有多大用处的地理，所以倒不如转储Gmaps和坚持的气泡。

我的新图看起来像这样，在所有主要的互联网社区的代表在云。 我们都是相互关联的，只有坚实的不同之处在于语言。 两个人共享一个爱好，喜欢足球，但他们没有去相同的网站，如果他们冲浪在不同的语言。 媒体和互联网上的资源大部分是没有翻译成其他语言，而是重新编写和重新诠释本土博客/记者，社区之间的边境控制功能。

改进互联网的世界地图：云

我们看到云的事情之一是，所有社区相互接触。 但我恐怕这不是一个非常精确的图片。 通常情况下俄罗斯没有翻译日本的内容，也没有葡萄牙语翻译阿拉伯语。 英语有今天在互联网上的一个至关重要的作用，因为在大多数情况下，通过英语，其余的语言沟通：大多数内容是英语和翻译的第一，从有到其他社区。 英语的泡沫，包括来自世界各地的的用户，是互联网的中心。

与云的另一个问题是，它显示所有同样互连的社区，这是不太现实的的。 谁讲欧洲语言的用户更容易阅读英文。 西班牙社会，例如，包括许多美国人上网作为自己的语言之多的英文网站。 其实，大部分的语言泡沫的像素与英文泡沫的重要组成部分，所以我们可以代表一个维恩图的地图：

第二次迭代：维恩图地图

我们看到新的地图是从以前的一个非常不同。 现在有一个西方语言与英语的内容很多，两个更多的语言，分享了一下，俄语和阿拉伯语，然后三种语言，形成了今天亚洲互联网的核心集群：中国，韩国和日本。 您可能已经注意到，我得出中国在其余的距离。

由于种种原因，我们将看到，中国人不使用Facebook或Twitter的，或YouTube或MySpace，或eBay。 他们不看Boing Boing或赫芬顿邮报 ，和他们在自己的QQ聊天室聊天。 他们很少得到我们所收到的病毒邮件，相反，他们喜欢别人之一。 他们所有的事情，我们已经和多一些，但他们建立了并联在其独立的互联网包裹。

鉴于上述的气泡的大小是由一个受人尊敬的收集定量数据源的位置，才决定由半知情的感觉。 任何读者可能会说，中国不应该迄今正确。 有香港，美籍华人，甚至大陆的中国人用英语做冲浪。 我将不得不承认，维恩图是有缺陷的的，因为它未能证明这一点。

但在这样一个像互联网世界瞬息万变，位置真的没什么意思。 今天举行的，明天可能会有所不同。 什么是真正有意义的是动态：哪个方向是中国，以及如何将在10年的互联网看？ 大家都同意，中国的互联网社区发展非常迅速，而且是很自然的的。 令人担心的部分是，它也可能会逐渐远离其余的。

第三次迭代：动态地图

由于西方国家的互联网普及率已经非常高，印度仍然相对滞后，在未来10年中国互联网将成为所有其余的几乎一样大。 如果继续发散，它可能成长为一个平行的网络，像月亮黑暗的一面，一个巨大的，自给自足的岛屿，政府可以减少在任何时刻，里面大多数人不察觉的差异。 这违背了WWW的整体思路。

无论问题的真实规模，它是明确的大多数观察家有一个断开连接中国与互联网的休息，而且将进一步除了有强大的力量。 幸运的是，也有工作，以平衡的力量，并在未来数年的结果将在很大程度上取决于这些因素如何发挥互相反对。 这里是我的新的地图现在看起来如何：

互联网的力量

正如我们所看到在这篇博客之前，一些，使中国从世界的独立的主要因素有以下几种，以红色显示在图表：

• 语言 ，因为我们看到在这个岗位 ，我们证明了中国的语言是美丽的，在许多方面都是独特的，但它很难为中国人与外国人连接。
• 文化在广泛意义上的字，这意味着社区有不同的看法和价值观，他们无法理解对方。 这包括与媒体的问题。
• 政治 ，多种形式，包括保姆，中国的防火长城（GFW），直接抓人，中共蓄意行动，我们看到这里。

在绿色的主要因素，在向相反的方向去。 在这里，他们进行了详细的，乐观飘柔：

• 越来越多的桥梁博客和其他互联网使用，连接两个社区的工作。 这些措施包括不仅是英语Chinablogs，但主要是中国人，中国互联网翻译国外媒体和其他内容。 从这个不起眼的博客，我也没有对我的桂枝茯苓丸位。
• 后90年代和80年代一代已经称霸中国互联网。 他们对艺术的个人品味，音乐或电影可能会更加国际化，并推动他们与世界连接。 这一点是辩论虽然对象，和一些西方人是非常怀疑的80后。
• 商业是链接中国走向世界的最重要因素之一。 自欧盟的建设，这不是什么秘密，电子商务可以实现世界和平的最雄心勃勃的目标，所以不管你采取是那些商业头脑的中国，他们可能是主力军，仍是保持中国岛连接和控股万维网一起。

你觉得呢 ？ 你有什么想法？

你觉得我夸张？ 或者是问题，甚至比这更糟糕？ 我错过了在互联网地图的任何因素？ 上网的朋友：你是彩色的气泡内的像素，你知道这个世界上所有，因为它是你的家：评论和帮助我提高我的地图！

您可能听说过长期Laobaixing（老百姓），字面意思是“百家姓”，中国的老百姓。 在这个网站 ，专门给他们，他们也被称为LBX。

Laobaixing是一个伟大的词，不仅因为其明显的词源，而且还因为它的内涵是我们的“老百姓”完全不同。 从我所看到的的，在中国每个人都可以成为Laobaixing取决于哪种方式，察言观色，看Laobaixing是一个弥天大罪，你只能享受无人观看时。 见下文：

这是几个月前我看到一个小淮海路巷（ 56minus1是更快地将它张贴）的抗议。 注意白色抗议旗帜，以纪念否则相同的红色宣传的差异。 横幅说：“上海交响乐团搬迁到一个新的建设，严重扰乱和破坏社会和谐。”非常迅速地消失，有没有办法找出它是所有关于。 这个星期，我亲眼目睹，抗议第2章：

旗帜，是现在像海盗旗（借口坏手机摄像头）黑色的文字也更积极，曰：“宣传部门XX秘籍每个人，不关心如果Laobaixing生或死”。 我问球员谁保持的旗帜，但小车道 menwei紧张地打发我走。 附近有解释的问题：一张海报后面巷的上海交响乐团建设工程造成振动和裂纹的墙壁上。 第二天，我又回到了见证了绝望的Laobaixing：

这是小车道，LBX生活。 是的，这是一个Maseratti。 请继续关注下一集，我们将保持以下无依无靠的困境。

上星期五，我写了一个很长的职位，我结束了太多的想法。 主要的一点有点模糊了结果，但它是简单：词汇起着至关重要的作用，并在学习一门语言，因为这个中国不仅极其困难的先进水平，但也越来越难与时间。

我不认为这是开创性的研究的，但有趣的是，因为大多数人都没有意识到这一点，也为在语言和政治的betwen限制的影响，有两个字段，我们要培养在这个博客。 以下是结论充分的论据，例子和详细信息，请参阅以前的帖子，其意见：

• 要学习一门新的语言所需的主要知识是在三个方面：语法，语音和词汇。 语法和语音的不同之处主要从词汇，前两个规则适用于无限的情况下，而后者则是原始数据。 我们可以把它们的语言代码和数据元素。 代码元素是有限的，而不是增长。 数据元素的几乎是无限的和不断增长的的的，这是没有完全掌握母语。

• 学习一种语言时，代码元素发挥至关重要的作用水平在初级和中级，但在先进水平的真正障碍的沟通，因此进步是数据。 例如，在德国的先进学生，有时可能会使用错误的变格，并在西班牙，他们可能无法区分“RR / R”的声音。 这些东西往往不妨碍沟通，因为人类的语言是高度冗余。 我永远不会明白“佩罗”（但是）当一位发言者说：“perro”（狗）。 最终，不完善的地方口音相同：大多数的时候，他们仅作为元数据相关代码元素的含量。

• 但同时一定水平以上的代码是高度冗余，数据仍然在各个层面的关键。 从这个伟大的借款文章 ：短语“按摩在治疗静脉炎的有效”是毫无意义的的名词一方或双方是未知的。 一个单一的缺字，往往可以掩盖整个段落或文章的含义。

• 在现实生活中被动使用的单词的数量远远超过了典型的标准列出的语言水平。 这是因为半专业的话等离子，J acuzzi 或矩阵不包括词汇表，因为它们被认为是太稀有。 当然这些话是很少使用，但也有那么多，作为一个整体，他们实际上是非常经常使用。 此数据元素是如此之大，不能在课堂上背诵的，并获得它的唯一途径是通过多年的浸泡。

• 大多数语言学习者从来没有意识到这个问题的原因是因为他们是“欺骗”。 在世界上的大多数语言，这种高水平的词汇实际上是相同的，它并不需要学习的。 以上，最现代的话是国际和数据是没有更具体的语言的每种语言有一定的限制级别。

• 这个词汇衔接的限制水平为每一种语言不同，但它并没有这么多的依赖于语言家庭或地理来源，而是取决于大小和扬声器社会的发展。 这是极易中级以上的原因，甚至非印欧语系语言，如巴斯克：社会是不是大到足以支持复杂的条款，以及所有更高的数据是从国际的话通过。 大多数人往往误解和太重视语言的家庭的概念，并拿出一样荒谬列出这一项。

• 国际化的词汇越来越多的电信和全球化的进展，特别是因为英语已成为科研的唯一语言。 在科学发明新的瑞典方面有多大意义，例如，当所有的科学界正在阅读/英语写作自己的论文。 通常情况下，尽管政治努力，以促进本地的词汇，语言的经济恢复更高的数据传输回Internationalese。

• 在世界上只有一个语言，历史，政治和人口的原因，一直保持这一趋势的一个例外：语言是中文（普通话，粤语或其他人，这里是无关紧要的差异）。 它构成了一个高层次的数据的并行系统，其余的Word的共同很少说话。 日本和韩国，他们利用从中国和国际体系，但现代的话越来越国际和这些语言的趋同，其余部分例外。

• 此外，中国有一个可笑的困难其缺乏一个功能拼音脚本的唯一的书写系统。 这种化合物的词汇问题：不仅有更多的言语来学习比在任何其他语言，但每个字包含更多的信息，因为它需要其相应的字符。

• 此外，因为没有标准化的方式来抄写外国专有名词，甚至地方和个人的名字往往被“翻译”成中文，有时甚至完全离开原来的语音和成为中国自己的权利名称。 这增加了在中国的语言已经大量的数据元素。

这一切都需要我们的结论是：中国是最困难的语言学习在一个较高的水平，无论学生的起源。

这是特别有趣，因为到现在为止这个问题的正确答案是：“取决于你自己的母语”。 随着日本/韩国学生可能是个例外，这个职位需要，中国实际上是每个人最难的。 成反比的是，它也很难对中国学习其他语言，虽然这是由其他语言功能拼音脚本缓解。

另外一个有趣的结论：中国不仅难度大，它实际上是越来越困难。

随着世界变得越来越相互关联和技术占据了我们生活的重要组成部分，新的半专业词汇需要在日常语言中的增加部分。 参考国际概念，如“垃圾邮件”或“等离子电视”的表达式越来越多​​指当地文化遗产的表达式的地方。 在这个意义上说，我们可以说，在世界上所有语言的融合，而中国是一个岛国，其余所有分歧。

再就是，我们可以从中得出政治结论，但我决心写较短的职位，所以我们会离开的第二天。 批注和更正，欢迎到我的论点。

I just received an email that reminded me of this funny post on the China Hearsay blog. In the blog, he says of Wen:

This guy never ceases to amaze me. When he retires from politics, he should really start his own PR firm. The “everyman” stuff is handled perfectly. The only folks who have surpassed Grandpa Wen's staff are the people that convinced the American public in 1988 that George HW Bush, a rich dude from Connecticut that went to all the top schools, was an average cracker from Texas.

The mail I received today says:

你见过总理如此可爱的一面吗.喜欢吗？

Have you seen the cute face of our PM? 你喜欢它吗？

And it contains the photos attached below. It is not the first time that I see this kind of thing landing on my inbox, so I post it here to give an idea of the effectiveness of Wen's PR.

I guess my friend will be reading this in a minute, so my answer to her: Sorry dear for using you as blogging fodder again. And yes, I dig Grandpa Wen, in spite of my well-known allergy to cuteness. Whatever they say, he looks much better than the guys who will succeed him.

View Full Album

Do not miss this story by A. Galbraith of the China Economic Review . 在长时间的辩论，对中国的反应病毒，这是最合理的意见，我已经看到了在很长一段时间，也是最明智的。

这个故事提醒我的朋友，在西班牙的医生回来，告诉我，当我回家了去年夏天我说：“我们都去追赶它在医院，没准你会赶上它太。 Get done with it as soon as possible and you'll be fine for the season”. 这几乎概括在她住院的感觉。

这些过去几个月中，H1N1猪流感已被用作生物武器的辩论 ，往往证明比其他一些政治制度的优越性。 The truth is that the Chinese approach was in principle no better or worse than the Western one, and what it lacked in flexibility, it had in effectiveness—after all, the virus could have evolved into something more nasty.

But the real problem is not that. 我们应该问我们的政治家，包括所有国家，是他们走到一起，并​​同意对病毒的共同战略。 因为有一天势必大瘟疫来了，当这发生人类更好地了解到，面对它团结。

所以从这里，我规定所有政治家常识预防性拍摄，我和安德鲁祝早日康复。

（H / T ESWN ）

这在四川出差真的是充满了惊喜。 今天我们去参观的项目，一个巨大的产业园区将建成后，在世界上最大的的工厂生产x的典型中国大型项目的长江银行。

但出人意料的是，当我们去到镇上吃午饭，和我发现，在这一点上，流入长江的河流，被称为吴。 我没有意识到，因为工业园采取了不同的名字，但肯定的是，我们的客户证实了这一点：我们在涪陵滨江镇。

如果你读过中国的经典书“河城”，你知道为什么我是如此激动。 如果你没有，然后去和现在得到它。 既然你正在阅读我的博客，没准你正在寻求了解中国的那些疯狂的西方人之一。 这款本本为您解释所有这些，在这个过程中它给你一个进入中国内陆的生活难得一见。 有趣的是，特别是如果你已经没有在该国居住。

书

我这个机会做一个河城的小审查，所以，我就可以开始赶上我的旧的计划运行书评部分。 Considering this book is relatively old and already well known, I will just stick to the main points and try to keep this post reasonable.

故事很简单，它告诉作者的经历和感受，他的2年期间，留在涪陵长江第三层镇作为和平队。 没有什么情况下，除了它是中国在90年代内陆，一切发生。 这本书是从一开始愉快，几乎每一页最后的权利。

Here are the key points as promised:

- 令人赏心悦目的自然写作的地方和人民群众的生动描述。 其中一个最好的例子，我知道文学会议人类学。 难忘的是涪陵街道和他们的“棍棍兵”在最初的章节描述。

- 作者是一个很好的的观察员，而且，他有他的学生，记下他们的意见对他关于各种主题的直接访问的优势。 这本书的主要亮点之一是英语文学经典的背景上表示，涪陵和西方的心态之间的对比。

- For the sake of balance, some points I liked less: towards the end the book looses some strength (not surprising, after the great first half). 科学作者支队可以成为有点可气，有时感觉就像人类学家在作家。 The last dramatic scene with the mob doesn't help to fix this, and I couldn't help feeling that it was an unnecessary addition. 但是，这只是我看来，我在90年代涪陵从来没有。

河城

From what I have seen today, the town of Fuling is doing pretty well, changing so fast that it is almost impossible to recognize it in the descriptions of the book. 对于一件事，我们花了不到一个小时，从重庆的中心，有资格作为密切郊区。 这是巨大的反差与90年代的回水河镇。

Fulingers有一些世界一流的生产设施，以及一个良好的人口将在那里工作与来自全国各地的未来的数千名。 奇怪的感觉突然认识到，我已成为自己的人物，在涪陵转型的故事（虽然很次要）。

似乎有在中国永恒的只有一件事，那就是劳动人民群众，“laobaixing”。 果然，棍棍兵依然存在，在良好的状态，运行上下楼梯用竹竿挂着巨大的负荷。 对于他们来说，一切都没有改变。

I was pleasantly surprised when I booked my last minute flight to Japan, I got a very reasonable price for the 1st October National Day. When I went to Pudong airport I understood why: the streets were empty in Shanghai, nobody flew at that time because they were all at home with the eyes glued to the TV set, watching as thousands of men and women, looking silly in their flowery dresses, marched on Beijing's Chang An Avenue.

I had the chance to watch the parade for 30 minutes as I waited to board my plane. I have to say it was beautiful. Sure enough there were cringeworthy moments, like when the TV showed the communist model peasants, workers and miners , shining like Mario Bros in 256 colours. But of course, a good deal of hypocrisy is always mandatory in these State events, in China and elsewhere. And regarding the execution, I have watched quite a few of the famous mass events in Pyongyang, and I am pretty sure North Koreans are white with envy watching this one, if their state channel even cared to broadcast it.

All this display of patriotism reminded me of the conversation I had last week with little Yi. It was after we watched an advert on TV, the one where the little girl stands on Tiananmen Square squeaking in that ghastly toddler tone: “妈妈我爱你!” (mum, I love you), and a similar girl says the same in Tibetan in front of the Potala temple of Lhasa. The screen then goes white, and a message comes up: “祖国我爱你”. Motherland, I love you. I don't remember which was the company announced, but the advert has been showing continuously for months, and it was the eleventh time I watched it.

I had a delicate stomach that day, and pushed to the limits of resistance, I couldnt help bringing up the subject:

“This is ridiculous,” I said bluntly, “you can't love a country like you love your mother!”

“Of course you can,” said little Yi, “you don't understand the feelings of the Chinese!”

“Yeah, right.”

Babbling toddlers and feelings of the people. That was about as much as I could take before lunch. I regretted I'd spoken at all.

“Our country is like a mother for all the Chinese, ” she continued, “that is what they mean.”

“Yeah, OK, except that it is NOT the same. A mother gives you life, she will always love you and no matter what happens, no matter what mistakes you do or how stupid you behave, she will be there for you. A country, if you fail to comply, will just abandon you or even put you to death ”

“Well, it is a different kind of mother. If you fail, the punishment is terrible. If you work hard and succeed, the prize is much greater. It is a mighty mother with higher stakes, what is wrong with that?'

“Nothing wrong, just that that is not Love”

“It is,” she insisted. “Or don't Christians teach love of God, and isn't He much more terrible, that if you fail to behave even your life is not enough, and you get an eternity of pain?”

“I…,”

I shut up. She had some point there. I don't particularly believe in the Christian god, and besides, 2000 years ago they invented a mother Mary precisely to deal with the rough edges of the Old Testament. But it is true that, in religion and in politics, many people in the West feel that same kind of loving feelings as the Chinese. So this was not really a discussion about China, but a more general one on patriotism.

My problem is that I do not accept the word love to refer to a country. For one reason, because I understand love as a feeling that can only happen between persons, perhaps sometimes with animals, but not with things. And definitely not with abstract and easy manipulable concepts like “nation”. But granted, this is merely a problem of language, and I don't have the authority to prescribe how the word “love” should be used, even less how “爱” is employed in Chinese. Still, there is a more compelling argument against love for the motherland: I think it is not in the best interest of the “loving” party.

Let's look at the facts. Human society has to be organized some way, and the power needs to be held by someone. In the past it was the tribe, the emperor or the feudal lord. Now it is the nation-state, nothing particularly wrong with that. All forms of organization require the respect and participation of the citizens to work, and it is in the interest of everyone to treat them accordingly, once their legitimacy has been established. Therefore, I understand it is important to respect and work for the improvement of one's country, and I try to do it, just like I do for my company or for my university. But love them like a mother?

It might be that I am speaking from a very European perspective–though by no means mainstream even there. Perhaps I am failing to take into account the particular circumstances of countries like China. Europeans used to be the haughtiest and most virulent motherland lovers, until their excessive feelings brought about ruin and destruction. Patriotism in China never caused any catastrophe of even comparable magnitude, and instead worked well to save the people from foreign-imposed sufferings. So the feelings of many Chinese are understandable, if not necessarily beneficial today.

And still, the key question we have to ask ourselves is: are these feelings in the interest of the citizen, and in the interest of mankind as a whole? Can the World really be in peace if the relation between citizens and their countries is one of blind love, like child to mother? When there is a conflict of interests, is the loving child not forced to fight for his beloved to the last consequences? Since conflicts of interests and greedy rulers are facts of life that will not disappear, is not the love doctrine in contradiction with the ideal of World Peace that most of us profess?

I would like to hear opinions about this. Of course, I understand that for many sentimental people the feeling of love for their country is very much alive, and there is little to explain since it is just a feeling . But Chinese tend to be very rational and in control of their feelings, and when they choose to love it is rarely out of blind passion, but rather because they consider it a good option. I suspect their patriotism is in most cases the result of a prisoner's dilemma : if other countries act patriotic, the only rational attitude is to do the same.

But I wonder if people are actually following this logic (ultimately a defensive attitude) or are really so in love with their country and their flag that they don't even think much about it. And if you do think about it, do you actually believe that a peaceful World is possible in the long term?

Perhaps I think too much sometimes. Perhaps the fact that I am writing from Nagasaki, where I have just seen one of the most chilling exhibitions of human-caused horrors, might have some impact on my thoughts today. And still, I stand by all I write here.

What are your views?

(PS. On the same subject, also see this post just published on Chinageeks )

Yesterday I went for a walk on Nanjing Lu and I witnessed a strange phenomenon I had not seen before: the mooncake brokers. It was last Saturday of mooncake picking season, so they were all busily walking up and down the street, scanning the crowds for potential buyers and sellers.

A bit of background: Every few moons, the Chinese celebrate some important festival dating back to the dawn of history, which they spend visiting their extended family and enjoying traditional activities together. The core of these activities involves, of course, eating things, which is why every festival is associated to some particular edible present, generally small, sweet, and roundish in shape.

Of all the very commercialized Chinese festivals, the Autumn Moon is probably the most profitable for the companies involved. The mooncake, particular snack of this festival, has the advantage of being relatively durable, and so well adapted to spectacular red and gilded packaging in the Chinese style. Under these circumstances, there is virtually no excuse for a Chinese not to give and receive the traditional present. Company to employees, neighbour to neighbour, cadre to “ ernais” , for a fortnight the beautiful boxes circulate freely in the country, always given in pairs.

A lonely box of mooncakes separated from its partner

现在，有趣的是，月饼据我确定，没有给许多中国人，他们很少吃一半以上在一次的味道。 但是，这是意义不大，因为现在很少看到月饼作为食品。 相反，他们把他们作为法定货币的脸储备。 如果不给予和接受适量的月饼价值前秋月是类似于社会破产。 大家都知道，各大品牌的价格，所以这个“脸货币”是可靠的24K金。

所有这一切的最终结果是，大多数家庭最终与月饼的盈余。 当然，知道中国和厌恶“langfei”敏锐的商业性质的，你不希望他们坐在箱桩。 他们不这样做，整个赛季变成一个奇怪的比赛，摆脱了前秋月月饼，他们放弃了自己的社会价值（食用价值，持续时间长一点，但是那是次要的）。 所以，从公司收到的框给邻居，从邻居的迅速交给岁的李阿姨，谁给她公园舞蹈导师等，通过手中的许多对每一箱传递。

幸运的是，在上海的家庭，月饼有一个非凡的流动性，在其2周的交易时间，部分燃料的大型上市公司的习惯手，而不是直接给盒月饼券。 所有主要的月饼公司已在商业街网点兑换代金券。 正是在这些点附近，特别是在南京路，街经纪开设店铺。 他们通过员工折扣购买凭证，然后出售赎回月饼不那么幸运的个体户和其他逢低的。

日（星期六）为主要品牌的要价是票面价值的50％，售价在70％。 这些数字之间的差异是传播，这也是经纪人的净利润。

南京路月饼证券交易所

正如我在南京街走，我分析这种现象与我的朋友小易，谁也有赎回一些优惠券。

“，那岂不是更好，”我说，“如果企业只是给了钱直接？20％的利差是为员工和公司的净亏损“

“不，不，”她向我保证，“月饼券是必不可少的，公司将不给钱”

“但他们在春节钱的信封！”

她叹了口气，：“但是，这是中秋节，”她给我的傻老外看。 “没有一个家庭没有秋月月饼要离开！”

今年夏天我学到的事情之一是，虽然我可能会留在欧洲假期，中国没有真的离开我了。 以上只是一个国家，它是一个自然的力量，人类的另一面，现在是我生活的一部分。 中国始终是存在的，和她是无处不在，出现在人们意想不到的情况下。

以西班牙为例。 中国人的社会存在主要是新的，不流利的语言，从一个单点，在中国的起源：来自温州的小县，青田上游。 当涉及到语言，西班牙都没有太大的比他们更好，整个形势是识字老外的机会。 虽然一个简单的“nihao”英雄的一天通常是足够的，做一些准备工作产生更好的效果。 徜徉成中国店随便丢弃一个Qingtianese的问候，并发表评论非凡的历史的老石雕县，家里的中国-西班牙。 这使得你受欢迎。 您还可以喝茶，实践为几个小时就结束您的汉语会话。

以下是一个真实的故事，发生在我的假期的最后一天。 它包括一个具有非凡的睡眠能力的中国人的家庭，和一队西班牙冒险鸭。 我希望你喜欢它：

这是第一天早上从毕尔巴鄂飞往巴黎，在那里我被安排与法国航空连接到上海。 当我进入机舱的A319飞机，我立即标志着一个中国人的家庭，坐在前排：，一个中年的母亲与她的儿子。

她穿着风格的100名在一个无形的紫色外套，和她的十几岁的儿子盖了他的头在韩国的髋关节，跳连帽衫。 他们在早期飞行的商业氛围中脱颖而出。 但是是什么让我通知他们，我忍不住微笑，他们已经快睡着了，之前我什至得到了我的座位。 至于我可以看到，他们没有一个相当忙碌的飞行时间切换自己的立场。

旅程从一开始，我的神经，试图证明。 正如我们起飞，一声巨响从飞机后部，振动，成长壮大，我们飞到。 有一段时间没有别的事，但随后，我们接近法国，飞机突然靠在一边，和比利牛斯山脉转动180度，在我们身边，直到我们从我们来到为首回西。

The noise grew worse, and the passengers with notions of geography were increasingly anxious. The town of San Sebastian appeared below us for the second time, only this time the ground seemed much closer. All the service call beeps went off one after the other. I looked around to the other passengers and they were all looking around. Nobody spoke.

Finally, the cabin crew appeared on the aisle, delivering row by row the official version of the facts: during take off a flying object had collided with the blades of engine 2, producing the bang and subsequent vibrations that we were experiencing. It was a common occurrence, and there was no danger. As part of the normal safety procedure, the captain had decided to return to the home airport for maintenance.

“It was probably a bird,” said the stewardess when she got to our row.

“A bird?” laughed the steward, “that was a team of big fat ducks!”

I figured he must have been instructed to keep a light mood. I tried hard to laugh, picturing circles of ducklings turning in the turbofan as we struggled to get past the sharp Basque valleys.

***

After an endless flight we were safety landed back onto Bilbao airport. As we were waiting to disembark, the pilot confirmed that the airplane was done for the day. We had to pick up our luggage first and then go to the Air France office on the second floor to request a new ticket. As usual, my suitcase was one of the last to appear on the rolling band, and by the time I got to the office there was already a long queue, about the length of a duck-stricken A319, and every bit as noisy.

The crowd was growing unruly. Some French passengers harangued the masses with true revolutionary spirit, launching slogans against all winged creatures, including ducks, airbuses, and Air France pilots. Since I was last, there was not much point in queuing, so I just stood on one side in a way to signify my disapproval. Then I noticed the focus was gradually shifting, as the keen Robespierres directed their anger to some unidentified target at the front of the queue. I walked over to have a closer look.

It was the Chinese family.

Clearly, they hadn't understood the instructions to pick up the luggage, and they had come straight to the airline office before anyone else. They were first, and they showed no intention of giving up their position. On the contrary, they were holding it admirably. The mother covered the rearguard with her fierce eye, while the son held fast to the desk. They were obviously well trained in conflictive queues, and they seemed unimpressed by the mob.

Linguistically, the situation was not ideal. The mother was screaming in Qingtianese, the son translated into Chinglese and an Air France employee replied in elaborate Spanglish, while the French head of office stared in disbelief. I was alone, and my faithful friend the Electronic Dictionary & Thesaurus was out of reach in the bottom of my bag. But the time was to act, and I did not falter in the hour of peril.

I cut right to the front and put in a “Qué pasa?什么事?”. All four faces turned to me at once. The queue became suddenly quiet.

“They want to go to China!” cried the employee in Spanish.

“We want to go to China!” cried the son in Chinese.

The positions of the parties seemed to me very much unanimous, and ripe for an easy consensus. But further enquiry proved that it was not exactly so. I managed to reconstruct the following facts:

The family had slept through the flight, right until we landed back in Bilbao. Then they had not understood the strongly accented message of the pilot and they had dashed out of the plane straight to the connections desk, where they had been redirected to the airline office. And they acted so urgently because they only had one hour to catch the connecting flight. All they asked is to board their plane immediately, and they were pretty suspicious of this whole attitude of the staff in Paris.

Because they actually thought they were in Paris.

The problem was not an easy one to explain. Not only the mother's mandarin was as bad as mine, but also she was determined, and she had a deep rooted common sense. They had just flown into Paris and therefore this was Paris, she would take no nonsense from a laowai. I used all my persuasion. I noted how the souvenir shops were selling bullfighters, and not tour eiffels. Finally the young son understood, and he helped me convince her. The fact was settled: We were in Spain, and there were no direct flights to Shanghai from this airport.

The rest was fairly easy to manage, and after a few minutes the three of us left the office with a new ticket. Once their infinite gratitude had been sufficiently expressed, I couldn't help asking the son:

“But, how could you not realize that this is the same airport as before?”

“Well,” he smiled shyly, “Mum was just telling me that she finds all airports in Europe look strikingly similar!”

And his mother, who was tough but good-humoured, found it rather funny, and we all joined in a face-saving laughter. Then I knew I was engaged as official interpreter of the sleeping family.

***

In the end, my work as a translator served my interests well. We got our new tickets before anyone else, the last three places left to connect with the evening Paris-Shanghai. The revolutionaries were so stunned by the performance that they forgot to guillotine us, and the Air France employee gave us some free lunch vouchers for the VIP lounge. To make our wait more pleasant, she said, the company was offering one of their specialty dishes in the “Restaurant des Mondes”.

It was still far from the Spanish lunch time, so we had to wait while they opened the kitchen for us. The prospect of a free lunch worked well to improve the mood of my Chinese friends, and we had a lively chat in the VIP sofas. I took the chance to impress them with my baidupedic knowledge of their hometown. After that they opened up to me, and the last lines of suspicion finally vanished from the woman's brow.

I listened distractedly as the son informed me of the state of the rap scene in Zhejiang. A terrible state that was, apparently, and I waited for a chance to switch topics. It was his mother that I found most intriguing. All the while she was sitting very still, as if lost in her own thoughts. She had an outside appearance that in China would be classified as “peasant”, but her proud, resolute eyes didn't quite fit in the picture. What was she doing flying around with her single son? I finally asked him.

As it turned out, she was a renowned chef back home. Qingtian is the origin of thousands of Chinese restaurants across Europe, and their extended family had made a fortune with a popular chain of Chinese food. She had come as an expert to establish new recipes in the family restaurants in Spain, all the while teaching her son the secrets of the Chinese cuisine. They had toured the country for three months, making the company's food “more delicious, more authentically Chinese”.

“Her most famous recipe is Beijing Duck,” said the kid, licking his lips, “You have never tried anything like that!”

“I would love to have a chance to try it,” I answered, suddenly hungry for duck.

Then the mother, who hadn't said a word all this time, looked at me with a strange smile. I felt there was an invitation coming. Instead, she opened her eyes wide and nervously shook her son's shoulder.

“Heavens!” she cried, “we still haven't picked up our luggage!”

***

When I took them down to luggage collection, their belongings were still lonely turning around on the band, a number of shapeless pieces covered in woven tarpaulin. As we loaded them one by one onto a trolley, the son suddenly found something was wrong. It was the last packet, a cardboard box with some strange little holes pierced on the top. He held the box on his knees and showed me one of the corners where it had been torn open. The box was empty.

The woman was very upset. She started moving her arms up and down and speaking in her sing-song dialect at an alarming speed. I couldn't understand a word of what she was saying, but the replies of her son were more composed, and I could more or less make out the gist of it:

“I told you we couldn't take them on a plane, mum!”, he was saying.

“But how can we pass the long winter without them?”, she replied.

Suddenly I had a very dark premonition. While they were busy arguing, I walked over to the broken box and examined it carefully. As I held it up in front of me, a small, delicate object floated down from the broken corner. It was a feather.

I dropped the box as if it burned my hands, and I kicked it behind the rolling band were it wouldn't be seen. I was in panic now, and I joined the arguing party with my own version of alarmed mandarin:

“We have to het out of here, NOW!”, I said.

“What? But the box?,” said the mother.

“Forget it!” I pushed the trolley towards the door, “we will see to that later!”

“What? But we have to file a complaint. They might have found …”

“No!”

I tried to control my nerves, as I envisioned charges for terrorism, and the dire diplomatic consequences of China's national dish being presented as evidence of the crime. I tried to relax telling myself that at least there hadn't been any human casualties.

“Please help us,” she said.

“We can't do this now! Spain is a bureaucratic country, these things take a long time…” I muttered. “And anyway I'm sure your little friends are going to be fine!”

She gave me another inquisitive glance, like the first time I suggested she was not in Paris. She was clearly reconsidering about my sanity.

“Well, excuse me ,” she said, “but they are important to me, and if you don't want to help me I will have to file the complaint myself”

Just at that moment the airport PA system cracked with a life-saving announcement. All the passengers of the cancelled flight were asked to go back immediately to the second floor, were new information was awaiting us from the captain.

“Quick, this must be our lunch, let's go before we miss it!” I translated, and this argument finally seemed convincing enough for the stubborn lady.

***

On the second floor, the slick French captain was putting in practice the company's open information policy. The maintenance staff had just confirmed—he said—that it was indeed the impact of external objects on the engine that had caused the vibration. The strange bodies had been already extracted and brought in from the hangar for analysis. The decision to return to the airport had proven a good choice, as it was the chief engineer's opinion that we would have never made it to Paris.

A drop of cold sweat fell down my right temple as I considered the chances of those little animals finding their way into the turbine. Even if they managed to tear open the box and then break free from under the piles of luggage, even if they could unlatch the hold door with their little beaks, still, how could they fly over to the engine? It seemed impossible. I remembered the laws of fluid dynamics, and how turbulent airflows exhibit nonlinear, chaotic behaviours. For the first time in my life I felt I understood the real meaning of the Chaos Theory.

In the meantime, the mother had sent her boy to inquire about lost objects, and he was explaining their problem to the captain in such a perfectly unintelligible English that the brave man could only smile politely. They looked around at a loss, only to see that their laowai friend was nowhere to be found. I had just in time slipped into the gentlemen's restroom.

At this point, the airport loudspeakers buzzed again:

Passengers of the AF2435 to Paris, please proceed into our VIP lounge. As a special attention, we are offering you the chef's specialty in our exclusive “Restaurant des Mondes”

***

I joined the family again as they walked down the corridor to the VIP Lounge. It seemed that the luxury meal kindly offered by Air France had conquered the heart of the frightful woman. Her expression showed no more pain for the loss of her beasts, and I hoped she had decided to give up the search. Presently, she was impressed by the quality of the service, and her mood was chatty.

“They know how to treat a client, in France,” she said conversationally, “back in China it's not even comparable.”

“Oh, sure, great service here,”

“Even if they don't have any proper backup plans,” she noted, “they are just great at doing nice surprises.”

“Oh, yeah, you can count on the French for surprises”

“It is all in the attitude, isn't it?”, she said, and her only child nodded in agreement.

As we approached the “Restaurant des Mondes”, the atmosphere was so relaxed that I thought we had passed the worst. I just had to get them on our plane right after lunch, and there would be no more nonsense of lost object complaints. Then I saw the stewardess at the restaurant door, smiling. She held a large sign written in all the major languages of the World, including mandarin. It read:

TODAYS SPECIAL DISH:

“Thin-sliced duck Beijing style”

In case there were any doubts, underneath the text there was a colourful picture of a team of ducks thinly sliced as if by fast rotating blades, swimming in the dark sauce of the traditional Beijing recipe.

I tried with my body to hide the sign from their view, but I was too late. There was not much point anyway, the pictures were all over the place, and the food was coming out any minute. As we sat down, I peeped at her out of the corner of my eye. Her expression was enigmatic, the initial apprehension had turned into something more lofty. Was it triumph? I trembled.

The dishes were served and, unexpectedly, nothing happened. I glanced at my two friends. The were obviously enjoying their meal, emitting now and then favorable grunts and other judgements with the assurance of the true connoisseur. Then, halfway through their ducks, they looked at each other with an understanding smile and, following some mysterious signal, the lady suddenly stood up, knocking her chair behind her, and crying out loudly:

“I want to speak to the person who cooked this!”

There was a spark in her eye as she glared at the kitchen door on the other side of the dining room. I could not think of anything to say this time, so I just sat still, helpless as the slings and arrows flew swiftly towards their target.

Seeing that no help was forthcoming from my side, the mother ignored me and took direct action. She strode across the room and, without further preambles, she thrust open the kitchen door, roaring in Qingtianese. In a minute, the cook came out sporting a high chef hat and howling even louder than her. To my surprise, he was also employing some variety of Zhejiang dialect.

Then something strange happened. The moment he saw the chef, the son stood up and ran across the dining room charging like a fighting bull, and when the three of them were at a close distance, they came together in a long, warm hug.

I stood rather awkwardly next to them, wondering what was next. The chatter of the adults had risen to undecipherable speeds under the flow of emotions. I looked at the teenager for an explanation, but he was too absorbed speaking to the cook. Finally, I managed to catch some fraction of the conversation:

“Uncle Li, we knew it had to be you, nobody else in the World can cook Beijing Duck like mother! What are you doing here?”

“You know, I got a catering contract with Air France, didn't I tell you?”

“Uncle, you really need to help us, mother is really worried! This laowai is with us, but his Chinese is so-so, and he just doesn't get it!”

“Say, my boy, what is the problem?”

“It is the new down-filled coats that mum bought to take home for the winter. She was so upset when we found out that they've been stolen from our luggage…”