Posts by Chris Waugh
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Capture: Better Food Photography, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Thanks. Managed to track down some on Chinese sites, too, but the pricing is strange, as in shipping costs nearly twice as much as the tins themselves, so my wife is going to ask her friend where she got hers. I'm pretty sure I could find some in certain markets, too. One way or another, I'll get what I need.
-
Capture: Better Food Photography, in reply to Islander,
Kumara are such a delicious food
Aboslutely. And who needs Menzies*? The more I read on the ancient Polynesian navigators, the more respect I have their awesome skills. And China has no shortage of kumara, to the point where I suspect my wife might have trouble explaining to our non-Kiwi and non-Chinese friends which kind of tuber she's talking about, as I suspect the only 'English' word she knows for it is kumara.
*Assuming we're talking the same Gavin Menzies who tried to prove Zheng He discovered everything, the only person I've ever met who had any respect for Menzies' work was himself a former Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy navigator. He said from a navigator's point of view it's all entirely possible. I see a slight difference between possible and probable.
-
Capture: Better Food Photography, in reply to Islander,
Nah, don't send anything. I'm in that frustrating moment in which I know everything I need can be found in Beijing, but in particular places I need to track down. My local Carrefour failed (but passed in a couple of other areas), tomorrow arvo I'll pop up to the Jenny Lou (totally Westerner focussed, therefore likely to have what I still need in terms of ingredients, at least), and I'll have a wee search online for trays and tins I need.
Kumara, you may be pleased to know, is easily bought in any market or freshly roasted in a barrel on a cart by the side of many a road around China. Personally I prefer to buy from the market, scrub thoroughly, and cook myself rather than trust what comes out of what looks like a repurposed 40 gallon oil drum. It's even better when I can get it from the in laws in season. It's nice knowing who grew your food.
-
Capture: Better Food Photography, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Ah, yes, I knew there was an app for everything. Looks about as reliable as the dodgy alcohol-burning stove I used out in Taiyuan - i.e. not at all.
-
It's not food, and not producing food yet... But I got my new oven! Just got to get a few extra bits like a cake tin and muffin tray. Tried this afternoon, but our local Carrefour proved to be as almost useless as usual. Could get some bits and pieces I needed but hadn't quite planned for this trip, but couldn't get what I'd gone there for. Planning another shopping trip tomorrow afternoon to track down baking supplies...
-
Hard News: The Huawei Question, in reply to Lew Stoddart,
Yeah, fair enough. I misinterpreted your comment, sorry.
And if the NZ government does have such grounds, I’d rather like the minister to tell us – or even just hint to us – what they are.
I wholeheartedly agree, but I hold no hope of that happening.
-
Hard News: The Huawei Question, in reply to Lew Stoddart,
But that’s just the thing: the nature of the Chinese government-industrial complex means you really can’t say this with any great certainty.
Really? Because that's not what I see.
Somebody up thread already mentioned Huawei's scaling down of it's business in Iran for fear it's Iran operations would impede it from doing business in the West. How does that represent it being a front for advancing Chinese government geostrategic interests?
If you've read much about China business, you'd know how much harder it is for private companies to get loans from banks. SOEs get pretty much all the cash they want.
The China I see is a mess of tensions between private, public and state; central, provincial and local; individual and collective; free expression (yes, I did just type that) and toeing the official line; ethnic/cultural/religious and regional/provincial identity and nationhood; CCP factions, PLA factions, the half dozen-odd legal minor parties and somewhat less legal political movements; generations; individual and family/clan greed and the public good. Why anybody thinks Hu Jintao barks an order and one and a half billion people instantly jump, I don't know. I do know the response is just as likely to be mockery or bemusement as obedience.
So, yeah, I fail to see how a private company based in Shenzhen must be a front for CCP plans to snoop on anybody.
Then again, living inside the GFW I'm already subject to CCP electronic snooping, so it's not like I'd notice the difference.
-
Hard News: The Huawei Question, in reply to Martin Lindberg,
but I would like to reserve the right to express concerns about the Chinese government (or one or another of their companies) and their actions without being called a Yellow Peril-shouting racist.
And all of that is perfectly fair. I'm certainly not complaining about people raising legitimate concerns.
But you see that phrase "one or another of their companies"? That's where you just stepped a little bit close to the kind of thing that gets me riled up. One or another of whose companies? Both Shanghai Pengxin and Huawei are privately owned. They are Chinese companies, but they are not the Chinese government's companies. Whether Huawei is a front for the PLA or worse is a matter of innuendo and speculation for which precious little evidence has been put forward.
But I'm certainly not accusing you of anything. I am very frustrated with Labour and the Greens (and totally unsurprised by Winston), and the Greens in particular, because there is so much of their policy and principles I like, because although I think there is a legitimate debate to be had about foreign involvement in the NZ economy (just so you know, I'm all for it), their opposition to Shanghai Pengxin buying the Crafar farms and now the Greens making noise about Huawei reeks to me of Yellow Peril. And the Greens in particular. I have noticed over several years Green MPs, associates, hangers on and supporters making a lot of rather unfortunate comments about China and the Chinese that fail to draw any distinction between the government, Party, state and people.
But actually Russell just summed up pretty much most of what I try to argue whenever PAS threads turn to China:
But I think there’s a tendency to see “the Chinese” as a monolithic entity, rather than the spectacular, emergent, heterogenous and not always great thing that China actually is.
Ah, 'heterogenous', nice word, because one thing I've noticed over a dozen years of living, working, making friends and marrying into China is a huge variety of experiences and viewpoints.
-
Hard News: The Huawei Question, in reply to Scott Chris,
Well said, sir.
-
I'm calling the Greens, Labour and Winston responses to the Shanghai Pengxin/Crafar farms saga Yellow Peril writ large and hysterical. I'm calling the same on the Greens jumping up and down about Huawei. (major tangent, if I may be permitted: am I really the only Kiwi who noticed Tim Groser led a trade delegation to China and told an influential Chinese business mag he wants more Chinese investment in NZ dairy, forestry and renewable energy, among other things? Prepare for more frothing at the mouth should the Greens, Labour and Winston get wind of that)
And thank you, Mr Ranapia, for reminding us of NZ's long and distinguished history of anti-Asian and specifically anti-Chinese racism. It is long since time we stopped allowing our politicians to get away with that shit.
I'm with Russell in that the pronouncements of Aus and US intelligence agencies should be taken with a hefty grain of salt considering firstly whose interests they are charged with looking after, secondly the US desire to contain China and maintain it's position at the top of the heap, and thirdly the recent history of rejection of proposed purchases of US companies by companies from 'politically sensitive' countries, cultures, religions or ethnicities (CNOOC, Dubai (?am I remembering that right?) Ports).
Oh, and I'm wondering, given their fear and loathing of China, if the Greens are happy to buy Cisco products. Cisco, after all, has been known to sell equipment to China that both allows the internet to function and allows the government to censor the internet. It's also interesting to note that Microsoft services are generally freely and easily available from this side of the GFW, whereas many Google services are not.
