Hey Mallcop,
Maybe this isn’t exactly the right message, just spitballing here:
I know. Something needs to go in the praise area, but the review copies won’t go out for another couple of weeks. I’m thinking of asking Bradley Winterton if he’d like one… but… well… I mean, I’ve gotton over the previous review; he had a point, after all, but still. I keep thinking of Lucy pulling away the football when Charlie Brown goes to kick it, which is probably totally irrational. Maybe he’s on this site. If he is, he could send me a PM.
Re Mormons, I tried to get Mormons in Taipei to show me their underwear, on several occasions, but they wouldn’t (“Aw, come on! Paw-lease!”). It could have had something to do with having been on the MRT, though. I visited a Mormon community in Bountiful, British Columbia last summer and snooped around and asked people questions. That was bizarre, like the 1800s with 2009 pick-up trucks. Luckily, I didn’t get riddled with buckshot.
Twitter’s massive. It is neat that we don’t have to use smoke signals or, ummm, telepathy to communicate anymore when not near a traditional telephone. I-Phones and Blackberries are quite cool, but there’s only so much you can go on about it, innit?
I kinda miss Taiwan sometimes. I gotta admit it.
Ed
I know you’re not supposed to do back-to-back posts, but…
Does anyone know of blogs/websites along the lines of say, Michael Turton’s, but from or on China? The reason I ask is that I’m offering a few review copies to bloggers, etc.; people who have an audience, even if it’s not a huge one. You can PM me or just post here, I guess.
Thanks,
Ed
You might try Danwei and Shanghaiist. Both publish book reviews from time to time, esp. the former.
But just so you know: Although it may be that all groups tend to dislike criticism from “outsiders,” that tendency is perhaps stronger in the PRC – even among foreign residents. 
Thanks Cranky Laowai.
So, the tendency is even stronger among foreigners in the PRC than it is (or can be) in Taiwan? Wow, if that’s the case, I’ve really got a struggle ahead of me. 
I’ve met some of those ardent PRC-supporting Westerners. It’s baffling to me. Somewhere, on TV or the web, I saw a clip about an American who left his wife behind and headed off to Beijing in order to help the Chinese in the run-up to the Olympics. His contribution? Correcting, or trying to, English signage. He’d been there, if I remember correctly, for two years and had found one million incorrectly labeled signs. He thought everything about China was fantastic. I thought: ‘Wow, the lengths some guys will go to to get away from their wives.’
Thanks again for that.
Ed
Not baffling to me. In the mid-1930s, plenty of Britons etc who should have known better expressed great sympathy for Hitler and Mussolini, praising them for “efficient government” that cut through the mess and delays of democracy.
The same happened in Spain during that period, with both facist and communist international brigades involved in the civil war there.
It is right. But if China opens up their markets, respect Taiwan’s regime, and work with Taiwan and other countries side by side, they will rule the world in a unique way. See they have very good connection with some developing countries already!
I look forward to reading the book. Looks interesting. 
In my best Nigel Tuftnel from Spinal Tap voice…
What’s wrong with being Nazi?
But seriously, I’ve wondered what makes those people tick. Maybe like Norman Bethune, they come to dispise their own country/society so much that they feel the need to sign up, as it were, with a place like the PRC. They need something to believe in.
Ed
There’s probably a chart that goes like this ‘initial distrust’ > ‘this place is different’ > ‘the commies run things efficiently and the trains work better than home’ > ‘I can see these people need a hard stick’ …
If you came to Taiwan 10 years ago and asked most foreigners what they think of the greens and independence they’d be shouting it from the rooftops, now if you asked one they’d be very ambiguous. Maybe ask the foreigners in China 10 years later how they feel.
You have to remember aswell that most foreigners in China are there for business or temporary residents, they are not so invested in it at a deeper level and don’t have much to fear. Many of the others will be students that have an interest in Chinese culture. And in reality China has been very stable over the last couple of decades, most foreigners living there have been doing pretty well.
For us foreigners involved with the Taiwanese community we have had certainly had more things to keep us thinking and questioning the government and our own attitudes and beliefs.
Shieeeeeeeeeeeet! I could have wrote that:
That’s funny because that’s exactly, word for word, what my book says, only I use ‘The End’ instead of ‘Fin,’ because my Elements of Style book says to write in English. And because Why China Will Never Rule the World only has one page, I put a big environmentally-friendly sticker on it, only it’s a Taiwanese-style sticker: a picture of Miffy under a big, neon green tree. Hao keai.
goodreads.com/author/show/13 … oy_Parfitt
Click on the link above and scroll down to “writing.” There’s a piece called A Float Down the Yangtze, culled from the book. A bit of background might help. I had just spent a couple of days in sweltering Chongqing where I was conned or nearly conned several times by the rather enterprising locals. I boarded the boat with a “first class ticket” but was charged an extra 65 yuan for a deck pass. After about a month, my patience (as I freely admit at a later point) was beginning to thin, but rather than focus on how I responded to everything, I chose in this section to focus on how my new roommate responded to things.
Anyway, some cheap bugger on here said they’d like to see more of the book, I believe, so here’s a bit more.
I’ve seen the review copy of the book, and it looks really, really good. I wasn’t satisfied with my first book; I would say I’m satisfied with this one. Supposedly, it’ll be in stores in North America in June. I have no idea when or if it’ll get to places like Page One or Caves. Depends on sales I guess. Ebooks will be available.
Don’t drink all that Taiwan Beer by yourself, now. Share it with others.
Ed
That Three Gorges boat ride sounds familiar, 'cept I had the misfortune to be on a lower deck, which meant that the views of the beautiful gorges were frequently interspersed with the sight directly in front of our railing of spit, biandang boxes, cigarette butts, and other trash raining down into the river from the decks above.
It seems to youtube comments thread of the author interview video has brought out all of the intellectuals for intriguing debate.
I enjoyed the description of the trip and roommate, it’s also very helpful for me to never ever book a boat trip on that river unless it’s some type of 5 star luxury cruise that you mentioned seeing. Sometimes it feels to me there are two styles of writing in the book, one of which is ‘flowery descriptions’ and the other which is just talking about what you see in regular language. I would ditch the flowery part myself but I realise that people have different tastes.
Will there be a Kindle version? I will certainly buy it if there is.
Anxiously awaiting this book.
Any chance of a Taiwan book signing!
It seems a title such as this should grab quite a bit of attention. Your candor and borderline disdain seems appropriate to write about a subject such as this. I believe you use the words ‘cultural relativism’; love it! I think this book could be very popular if it finds it’s audience. America is entering what might become known as the ‘Third Red Scare’, I believe this nationalistic movement is starting to emerge and will soon become prevalent.
also, do you think this book will affect your visa status to the Mainland?