Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

You’ve probably heard a lot about Google in the last few days. The company was all over the media because of two important issues.

The first one had something to do with their profits, and experts’ expectations of those profits. That’s all very boring unless, of course, you are a shareholder. Which I am not. So I’ll just ignore that one for now.

The second one is a bit more catchy. It’s the rise of an old question - “What happens if Google will go evil?”. Google has access to such much information that it can easily change lives of so many people both to the good and to the bad. And I am not only talking about all that information that is so easily found with Google’s search engine. Just in case you forgot or never knew - Google knows who is looking for what, where are you coming from, which languages you can read, and what browser do you use. It has also a pretty good idea about websites that you visit - which ones and how often (by means of Google advertising and Google web statistics). If you use Google Mail, they know a lot more about you, than you probably do about yourself. And so forth.

Until now though Google was pretty descent in most its politics. But a few days ago they did something in China that many people saw as an evil act.

The thing with China is that it is still a very much controlled state. There are things like government firewalls that prevent people from accessing all sorts of resources - from pornographic to political. There is a lot of censorship - who can say what and when, etc. That’s on one hand. On the other - more than a billion people. In English that means - a huge market.

So there is no surprise that everyone and anyone are trying to get their hand on China. Doing so though requires a lot of manouvering around Chinese government and its existing policies. And here is where Google came to light recently. Instead of supporting free speech and other democratic civil rights, they agreed to do a lot of filtering on the results they provide for certain keywords.

How bad is it? Well, consider an example. Bad. Very bad.

Why should you care? I don’t know. You decide for yourself.

I was listening to the radio in the car today and there was this piece about China and its traditions and how people are afraid that traditions are being forgotten. On the average day I would just call it a bull and switched it off. But somehow they managed to catch my attention.

There were a few interviews with diffirent kinds of people about this issue. Old people were saying that they were worried that the younger generations don’t care anymore about the history and customs. Young people interviewed were saying that they indeed didn’t care much and that Western lifestyle and trends suit their interests better. And, of course, there were a few smart people who said that this all is a natural process and that, as always, the combination of old and new is waiting for us in the future. Like in all times.

These, lastly interviewed, people were saying something that is very close to watch I believe. I respect the traditions and the ways of the old. But I just hate it when people try to forcefully push the old ways into the future.

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I came across a huge list of names that were translated in Chinese. Here are three examples:

• Leon (there was no Leonid in the list):
  
• Olga:
  
• Maxim:
  

What’s your name and how does it look in Chinese?

I was reading up on the subject of kung fu. History of Shaolin monastery makes a good part of it. As does Beijing Opera which created lots of kung fu movie stars (Jackie Chan as an example).

• Yang Style Tai Chi Homepage
  Tagged as: art china chinese health kung-fu kungfu sport weapons
• Beijing Opera
  Tagged as: art china chinese culture history music opera theatre
• Kung Fu Cinema
  Tagged as: arts chinese dvd films japanese kung-fu kungfu movies
• Shaolin Kung Fu History
  Tagged as: china chinese culture history kung-fu kungfu shaolin
• China Travel Service - Travel China Guide: China Tours, Hotels
  Tagged as: china guides references tourism travel travelling
• Beijing Opera introduction
  Tagged as: art china chinese culture history music opera theatre

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I have realized something today. I love China. I never thought I do. Actually, I never thought on the subject. Neither about China, nor about any other country. (Well, maybe Cyprus, but that doesn’t count since I am living in this country).

Before you start looking for a different blog to read, let me tell you that I have never been to China. Nor have I read any books about China. I have met a few Chinese people, but I haven’t been really close with anyone of them. At this point you might be wondering how did I arrive to the conclusion.

Well, I was sitting there doing nothing when this Chinese girl popped up in my ICQ. Her English was good enough for us to talk so we did. She asked me if I ever visited her country or if I knew anything about it. I started thinking. And here is what came to my mind.

• I am one of the greatest fans of Chinese martial arts movies. There is a special place in my heart for all of them collectively and few of them individually.
• I really enjoy Chinese cuisine. Of course, all those places that I have tried might have nothing in common with the real meal in China, but as far as I went and as far as my imagination can take me, I really like Chinese food.
• I like Chinese art. Especially paintings, but anything works. Some of the best decorations that I have seen were embroideries on Chinese silk. And, of course, the china porcelain dishes. Those are really cool, though I haven’t seen many of them. But I liked those that I have seen.
• I like Chinese dragons. Dragons have a special place in Chinese culture and I totally dig them. Dragon dances, pictures, fairy tales and all the other dragonware - I like it.
• I like Chinese architecture. I haven’t seen any in real life, but those that come on pictures and in the movies look really cool. If you can’t think of any, I’ll remind you of Imperial palaces, Great Wall of China, and monasteries.
• I like Chinese people. I met a few. I didn’t get very close to any of them, as I have already mentioned above. But all of them seemed like decent people. What I liked about them was that they knew how to have some real fun without crossing too many of cultural borders. This is a rare quality, if you ask me.

I was surprised by myself. First of all, I never knew that I knew so much about China. Secondly, I couldn’t believe that with all these positive emtions towards China I never thought about the country or culture separately. Strange. I am really glad I discovered all those feelings. Now that I’ve done that, I put a visit to China on my todo list. It is one of the first things to do after I fix my financial situation.