Beijing ist sich treu geblieben. Laut, lebendig, ungeduldig. Ein paar luxuriöse Hochhauskomplexe sind neu entstanden, ein paar etwas ältere fangen bereits an abzublättern. Die Bulldozer haben keine Pause gemacht, die Bar-Meile östlich der neuen US-Botschaft hat dran glauben müssen, wo ich vor einigen Jahren meine ersten Froschschenkel nach Sichuan-Art unter giftig dunkelroten Chilischoten ausgegraben hatte. [...]
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Posted in Asia, Declarations of Love on Dec 5th, 2008
People are wearing their coats and scarfs today in the big glass house that is the main room of Beijing’s legendary Bookworm café. Outside, the afternoon sky is brilliant, but temperatures have suddenly dropped well below zero. A strong and biting wind penetrates the glass walls and lets them groan. No way the heating can [...]
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Posted in Asia, Where to Go on Nov 29th, 2008
Sometimes, unexpectedly, there comes a solution and a plan.
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Posted in Asia, Reports from Daily Clutter on Oct 25th, 2008
Arrived for a one-week visit at the Huazhong (Central China) University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, the official partner for my research project. I am warmly welcomed by my host, Prof Chen Shaohua, and his students. Will spend the next days lining out my humble contribution to a research project that aims at [...]
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Posted in Asia, Sports et divertissements on Oct 12th, 2008
Back in One Way Street Library, a library and bookstore that my Beijing friends have started some years ago. The main venue is at the margin of Yuan Ming Park in the northwest of the city, but there is also a downtown branch. From Yuan Ming Park on clear sky days the mountain range seems [...]
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The annual german embassy’s event for our national holiday is a rather big thing. Dozens of big black limousines queue up before 17, Dongzhimenwai Dajie, at 6 o’clock, other people in suits arrive on electric scooters to avoid the traffic jam. Security is tight but not paranoid. As the weather is fine this time everybody [...]
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Posted in Asia, Sports et divertissements on Oct 8th, 2008
Now it’s nearly three weeks that I am back in Beijing. I’ve moved to my own apartment in the northwestern Haidian district, home of the most important universities, a three-room in a lively, old-style neighbourhood - not Hutong, of course, but a 70s-style compound with some 20-floor high rise and plenty of smaller apartment buildings, [...]
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Posted in Asia on Sep 25th, 2008
Scarlatti is back, sending from Beijing, and switching to english again, for a while at least.
Today, after the (mostly unpleasant) experience of a rush-hour ride on Beijing’s new subway line 10, and the (nearly equally challenging, but much more enlivening) experience of a rush-hour bike ride through Haidian district, we are reporting live from [...]
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Posted in Asia on May 19th, 2008
Genau eine Woche ist es jetzt her, dass ein gewaltiges Erdbeben weite Teile der chinesischen Provinz Sichuan verwüstet hat. Noch immer sind Rettungstrupps unterwegs, auch wenn die Aussichten, noch Überlebende unter den Trümmern zu finden, praktisch gleich Null sind. Die Gefahr von Überschwemmungen, von Seuchen, von Trinkwassermangel, auch von Nachbeben ist keineswegs gebannt. Und selbst [...]
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Posted in Asia, Bullshit Detection on Apr 24th, 2008
Sie begreifen es einfach nicht. Die Bürosessel-Korrespondenten bei Spiegel Online können sich einfach nicht vorstellen, dass nicht alle Chinesen entweder unterdrückt oder von ihrer Regierung ferngesteuerte Roboter sind. Und dass ausgerechnet ihre eigene strunzdumme Berichterstattung zu jenem gewaltigen Schub an Nationalismus, jenem Schulterschluss mit dem ‘Regime’ beiträgt, den wir in den letzten Wochen in China [...]
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