Thursday, January 18, 2007

土洋之争

最近“洋”玩意儿在中国总是个话题,先有10个博士联名抵制圣诞节,现在又有了英语主持人请星巴克搬出紫禁城。理由都是保持中国文化。
要说支持,我已经明确表达了不支持抵制圣诞节。这次星巴克的事情我是支持把他请出去的。包括把运通公司的标牌请出紫禁城。不过我倒不是因为他们两位都是洋的所以要出去。
先说说运通公司赞助的那些个英语标志吧。首先,故宫博物院是收游客门票的。而且还不低。我有几年不去故宫玩了,不过网上说2006年旺季60元/人,淡季40元/人,钟表馆、珍宝馆另收费,听说这个价格还要涨。北京人的月平均收入不到2000元人民币,全国平均收入当然更低。除了门票收入,故宫每年还有国家财政补贴吧,毕竟故宫是国家的文化事业单位。
再说说我在国外参观博物馆和景点的价格。去自由女神像,包括来回的船票是7美元。卢浮宫我去时是7欧元;凡尔赛宫后花园免费开放,去它的镜厅是11欧元,我赶上过一次凡尔赛后花园的夜间的音乐喷泉表演20欧元。荷兰的博物馆略贵,国家博物馆和梵高博物馆都是9欧元,但是我当时有博物馆年卡,荷兰境内的博物馆都可以参观,便宜很多而且不限次数。而且都没有进了大门还要买“小门票”一说。
对比一下中国的博物馆价格和国民月平均收入,再比较一下西方国家博物馆价格和月平均收入你不难发现,眼下中国的博物馆门票价是国外相对价格的几倍,绝对价格持平。在这种情况下故宫居然没有资金来放置英文标志,还需要外国企业来赞助!无论是在美国、法国还是荷兰我都没有在任何一个国家级博物馆里看见一个商业性标志。不知道是故宫真的穷疯了还是故宫的领导们敛财有道?中国现在要和国际接轨了,标志都要双语了。这本也无可厚非,本来虽然汉语是世界第一大语言,但是懂汉语的外国人还是很少。既然要放,既然要显示国际化那就请故宫自己拨款放,别让外国品牌和外国人的感觉太好:哦!原来这是西方品牌出钱作的!
再来说星巴克吧。在古色古香的故宫突然看见星巴克绿色的标志是很奇怪。不过至少星巴克没有什么油烟不会熏着古建筑。但是最好还是请它出去。它目前在那个地方对解决游客的休息、饮食都没有太大帮助。去消费星巴克的大多是外国人和小部分喝咖啡的国人,星巴克那小小的店面也解决不了休息问题。大多数国人还是靠故宫售卖的瓶装水解渴,面包充饥。所以说星巴克根本没有存在于故宫的理由。如果说有,就是星巴克的广告效应和故宫的经济效应。
真正要解决的是游客的休息和饮食问题。毕竟故宫太大了。真要细细玩起来差不多要一天吧。大家只能在不多的几个长椅上歇歇脚,或者席地而坐。 卢浮宫在展厅里有长椅,你可以随时歇歇,坐着看展品。在进真正的展览区前有休息的咖啡座,在顶楼的非展览区也有餐厅,走累了或者饿了,可以选择去那儿坐坐,吃点东西。我在卢浮宫一待就是一天,没有它们我非得饿死不可。
故宫能否在不影响环境的位置设几个餐厅?其实我记得是有的,但是极其难吃。中餐在故宫里做不免烟熏火燎,那能否从外面配送呢?
至于休息的地方,我记得故宫有“外宾休息室”!真叫人气愤!凭什么在我的国家开设个外宾休息室?有人告诉我里面的玄机:消费很高,是引诱他们消费的地方。我赶紧回想了一下在国外逛的景点纪念品商店,回忆一下有没有诱导我消费,高价卖东西给我的地方。
我想星巴克也没什么必要非得在故宫里开下去。北京写字楼、商场下面处处都是了。外国友人实在想喝,出了故宫可以直奔王府井或者西单喝个够。不过星巴克的能量还真是不小。几年前进了故宫,又在向来瞧不起它的巴黎开了,巴黎最大的一家居然在Opera(大剧院)!
不知道这次请星巴克出宫的事情最后如何结束。

Friday, January 12, 2007

H&M is coming to Shanghai

H&M is going to open a shop at Shanghai middle Huaihai Road! I am shocking to know the news.

H&M to me is a place to get cheap clothes, which are fashionable but not of high quality. You can wear an H&M cloth when you are a student or an entrant-level career woman. But the brand is not for someone who has a serious job and get decent paid. It is a place I usually went to when I was a poor student in Amsterdam, dragging a dress from pales of clothes hanging on the shelf or from the basket. I usually waiting in long lines to try the clothes on and decide which ones to buy. And the price, oh, it is so cheap! Normally a shirt is of 20 Euros, a coat is about 30-50 Euros. In the discount season, you can get coat for only 7 Euros! I got several jeans at the price of 7 Euros, skirts of 10-15 Euros.

The country of origin labels on the clothes indicate most of them are manufactured in Asian areas, Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines, and of course China. That's why H&M can sale clothes at such low prices. And I found the clothes manufactured in China are of better quality than those manufactured in other Asian areas, and clothes with a label saying Spanish are of better quality than those with Chinese labels. If you don't believe me you can check at

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

连线:数字时代的传媒梦想

花了三天的时间阅读了《连线》,90年代新经济凯歌高进的年代又复活在眼前。中文版的《连线》是黑色的封面,凸出的书名,但是下面一行小字却很叫人倒胃口:互联网之父马云推荐。首先谁承认马云是互联网之父了?其次就算要推销书也用不着用作电子商务的马云来推销这本书吧,再次,要吹捧马云也不用如此肉麻吧。想来国内如我这般想的人还是不少的。后来在网上看见不少类似的评论。
但是不管封面如何恶劣,买了的书还是要看下去的。故事讲得有条不紊,路易斯,间,卡尔等一干《连线》杂志和后来《热连线》的人物跃然纸上,包括那个时代。
豆瓣上有豆友的评价,说路易斯是一个偏执的人,其实不然,他是一个有恒心的人。他的梦想就是办一本技术的《滚石》杂志,告诉人们新媒体来了,影响到了大家的生活。他在阿姆斯特丹的努力,在旧金山的努力就是为了这本杂志。人在困顿中努力靠偏执是不可以成事的,但是靠梦想则可以。
《连线》创造了一个时代:美国前总统克林顿的新闻官员向记者们展示这本杂志,想说明他们对最新事物并不陌生;迈克尔·奥维茨,好莱坞的首席明星代理人,这本杂志每月要订30本;尼葛罗·庞蒂在他的媒体实验室到处散发它;银行家们把它放在公司前台上,恐吓来访者;全美国的计算机程序员、软件经理以及工程专业的学生,都不愿把自己的这本杂志借给别人,以免它有去无回。
路易斯开创的杂志不仅仅是为电脑爱好者而办的,而是影响了一个时代人的生活。从美国到英国,从德国到中国。那个时代活跃着一大批像路易斯一样的有梦想的创业者,和一大批希望通过成立互联网公司,开发网络程序走上IPO之路的公司比如Yahoo, Netscape, 搜狐,等等。还有一些投资者,金融家,商人和媒体出版人,希望能够通过网络新经济而一举成为富翁或更富的富翁。
当我开始接触《连线》的时候,路易斯已经快要离开《连线》了,那是1998年的年底。我刚刚走出校门。那时,我认识了一个美国小公司,和一群美国人。公司虽小但是管理层各有来头。公司董事长及Co-founder之一是一个精明的投资人,曾经创立了VNU;另一个年轻的founder是一个出版商,在美国最知名的几家广告公司和媒介机构工作过,他的太太来自美国一个声望显赫的家族;总裁在美国第二大市场研究机构任总裁达10年之久; 程序开发人员便犹如《热连线》的开发人员,努力有激情和梦想。这些人虽然走到一起的目的不同,但有一个目的是共同的:通过这家网络公司成为富翁。
总裁给我带来一本《连线》, 年轻的Co-founder和我大谈《连线》和《热连线》,程序开发人员也大谈《连线》,他提到网络《热连线》的几率大于提到杂志。公司业务类似于Jupiter Communication, 提供网络营销市场分析和网络广告的市场分析。激情是可以感染的。于是我也扑到了《连线》当中。 说实话,迄今为止我依然保留着阅读连线网络版的习惯。
到了99年和2000年,随着国内Sina,Netease,和Sohu在美国纳斯达克的上市,国内互联网业界弥漫着浮躁和不耐烦,年轻的从业人员都希望能够拿自己的公司到美国上市,急吼吼地叫着30岁退休。其时纳斯达克的网络股已经开始下挫,但是人们依然激情四射。我认识的这家公司拿到了第二笔风险投资。记得2000年的某一天和年轻的Founder站在时代广场,纳斯达克仅在咫尺,Yahoo!的股票价格在显示屏上滚动而来,他说了句:这才是目标。我知道他也期盼着IPO的到来。虽然工作很繁忙,虽然有很多客户要拜访,虽然有很多数据要处理,虽然有很多程学要写,但是,那年的圣诞节全公司度过了一个个温馨得有些像家庭的日子。虽然当时互联网的冬天已经来了,但是寒意还没有走进每个人的心里。大家都期盼着春天的到来。可惜的是第二年等来的不是春天而是911。
911之后,我离开了那家小公司,他们支持了一段时间之后还是以较高的市值买给了美国第一大市场研究公司,成为其网络调研的一部份。两个Founder拿了一笔钱估计开始了下一个投资项目,总裁则成为了这家美国最大的市场研究公司的副总裁,开发人员也开始找下一个疯狂的理由。
这就是《连线》将我带进的数字时代,又是《连线:数字时代的媒体梦想》让我想起了这段时光。

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

15 seconds of fame: the story of Yingying Wu and Pseudo HumanEvents

Towards the end of 2005, a young undergraduate woman was known to the Chinese as an intellectual star. Her name is Yingying Wu, an undergraduate student of Beijing Normal University. In a press conference given by the University, she was described as a beautiful young women, who has more than 100 inventions and 3 patens, who was hired as VP of Topcpder, who with lots of titles. Just 2 days after the conference, a daily newspaper of Beijing carried an article question about Miss Wu's resume, especially her inventions and the claimed chair member at ACM. Many people followed the question. Then, pretty soon, Beijing Normal University said that the resume of Miss Wu has some information that they are not so sure. Meanwhile, on the Internet, more people found out that the young lady didn't tell truth about her resume.
The main doubts are:
A. What are the 100 inventions about? Miss Wu just merely says "they are dependent on our daily lives". She never shows any evidence about the inventions. 100 inventions, even Tomas Edison didn't reach such a number at the age of 21.
B. Only 2 patents were found under the name of Yingying Wu. And even more, the 2 are close to each other.
C. According to ACM website, she was not a chair member, she was only an assistant to programming contest committee.
In Miss Wu's words:
"November 15, 2005, I was elected ACM Asia assistant chair, became the first Chinese to enter the ACM board of chairs, then invited to attend the 30th International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals and the highest summit RCDS. "(From Ying-Ying Wu's words in the conference)
Investigation report:
The report was not found Ying-Ying Wu's name on the official website of the ACM. In ACM (ICPC) Executive Director William Boucher wrote a letter in English to prove Ying-Ying Wu, Ying-Ying Wu specify the duties of "Asia - China Reporter and Asia Director Assistant" (April 12, 2006). Yesterday afternoon, the deputy party secretary of Beijing Normal University psychology college Qiaozhihong said Ying Wu is not a member of the ACM board of chairs, but ACM programming contest organizing committee's assistant. It might be a translation mistake.
D. She claimed that she was a student of Stanford leading to a Ph.D, which appears that she was only a short term student of a summer school.
E. The famous Topcoder is a small American company with 75 employees around the world. And Miss Wu is the only employee in it Asian office.

Then the bubble of Miss Yingying Wu went out within a week! Even China Central Television Station mentioned Miss Wu in one of its news program in a negative tone. This is not the end of the event. Topcoder said undergraduate VP attracts eyeballs. Miss Wu said making her a role model is "a political task". She still claims that she has 100 inventions and considering continue visiting study in Stanford and working for a Ph.D.

The young woman testified that with the media power, everyone has 15 seconds of fame. Her event is what Boorstin calles: pseudo event.

According to Boorstin, a pseudo event is ...
A. not spontaneous. It comes about because someone has planted it or incited it. In her case, was planned by Beijing Normal University.
B. planted primarily, but not always exclusively, for the purpose of being reported or reproduced, and its occurrence is arranged for the convenience of the reporting or reproducing media.
C. ambiguous in terms of its relation to the underlying reality of the situation. Whether it is "real" or not is less important than its newsworthiness and ability to gain favorable attention.
usually intended to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

However, in this media staged event, Yingying Wu, the Beijing Normal Univerisity and Todpcoder under estimated the power of the Internet media. With traditional media, the planned party can easily control media messages surrounded the stage event. However, with the new media, everyone can express their suspicious and search for the truth. Each individual can contact related people for information. For example, someone wrote e-mail to ACM chairperson to clarify Miss Wu's actual role at the organization.

Miss Wu also wanted to use the new media to communicate with other. I don't know how many blogs she had. I found an English version, two at blogcn, one at sohu. But after her bubble went out only the English one has several articles left. All the others are closed, deleted all the articles. (Possibly she is afraid that those articles become evidence proving that she was lying).
Chinese media are familiar with building role models, from communist member Lei Feng, to athletes such as Xu Haifeng, from party leaders to ordinary workers or farmers. In the history of CCP, building role models is really a political task. Those role models are political symbols, encourage ordinary people to work their way, to identify with them. They moved people generation after generation.

However, time is changing. One day, the Chinese found they can hardly be moved by role models created by the government and only a few want to work their way and to identify with them. The Chinese people created their own heroes and role models, mainly through mass media or the internet. The new role models are stars, no matter entertainment stars or sports stars or stars in entrepreneurship. Yao Ming, the Chinese born NBA player is the first people-made role model in China. Young people like his and want to be like him. So far, he hasn't been made a government-subsided role model.

Miss Yingying Wu and the Beijing Normal University should learn more about the mass culture, corporate culture and media culture of modern China, or maybe the whole world. In the scandal, Topcoder won't lose too much. The small company gained eyeballs and free publicity. People remember its name in both countries. The press conference was not called by them, later they can appear as a victim of the scandal.

Beijing Normal University lost its reputation over 100 years! Its graduates encountered credibility crisis. There is one Wu Yingying from the University, there could be more.
For the young woman herself, she has been question by many. She looks good right now. But if she wants to change jobs one day, will other companies trust her? Will companies and universities put a big question mark on her name?

The staged event took place in a wrong time to a wrong group of audience. This age is an age having no interests in fairytales. The audiences they choose are too much intelligent to fool. They are well equipped with the internet, blogs, search engines, etc. The same audience can tolerant a not so beautiful "Sister Fu Rong" to picture herself in various unimaginable ways, mostly in "S" shape. They feel entertained and release their own tensions. But another not so beautiful girl get to a position they can't through a series of lies, they feel being fooled and furious. So they express their suspicious in various ways.
Timing and skills are really important for staged events.