shundi82

Same here.

A lot of threads up until some weeks ago felt kinda barren, because there were no or little interactions in the comment sections.

Now things are starting to feel more lively, engaging and interesting, because comments provide additional background and/or counter-arguments - and sometimes just good old stupid fun. :-P

Pinin' for the Fjords?

2 buff guys with a German accent: "But what about the wasteland?"

Mockingly using their accent: "Screw the wasteland!"

Your comment made me think and I've had the opposite problem.

I couldn't think of any clever comebacks.

The only one I'd have is:

"That's because you don't know how to ride anything but the short bus."

What are the ones you've had in mind?

Long may the sun shine!

Michael Bluth: "Her?"

I'm old enough to remember the McDonald's ad.

But to me it will forever be associated with

Saint Pepsi - Enjoy yourself: https://youtu.be/_hI0qMtdfng

So I take it the bells also do not jingle? :-P

I'll check, if the email address from years back is still valid.

If it is, I'll send a mail and update you on the outcome.

Thanks. Yeah, I could go on and on (like seeing Titanic for the first time in a small theater in Bei Da He - with a couple in front of me making out - so I had to be the asshole who was interrupting them constantly to get at least some parts of what was said in the movie). I got to relive some old memories, realizing that they were still clear as day after all these years. But I was on my phone - so I'd already typed for an hour or two (I never mastered the art of typing on the phone - until this day I'm still swiping). Also, who'd actually want to read a wall of text, that just bubbled to the surface with little coherency and lack of creative writing.

Though I'll see, if I can find the picture from my room's window in Beijing back then. It still has the old Hutongs in it. I remember waking up every morning to this gorgeous view, hearing the first rumblings of the market, the first trains, the radios being switched on in the small parks everywhere for the old people's Tai Chi exercises and the myriad of breakfast aromas in the air.

Edit: Found it. Since it's glued to the front cover of the photo album, it wasn't as well protected as the other pictures (which I'd also already scanned some years ago).

But for me it still invokes the same amount of nostalgia.

The writing inside the album also reminded me, that the album originally belonged to Yang Zheng, which he had gained as a price for his outstanding performance with his saxophone.

Interesting. To me, Japanese seems much more difficult. :P

I also have no idea how much of my experience is still applicable to modern China.

Back then China was really opening up to the West, eager to soak up everything new. It was still a sort of balancing act for the party (at the one hand, you could more openly criticize the party etc, but on the other you had stuff like the persecution of Falun Gong).

Beijing still had its old Hutongs, Hong Kong was still British and "bad mainland Chinese tourists", the "elbow" culture and flaunt of wealth/status weren't really a thing, yet.

Now China is turning inwards again. It'll have to weather some rough economical, social and political (external + internal) storms. And it's choosing the "nationalistic" and restrictive approach for that (which is pretty much the current West's approach/trajectory, mind you, but it's still sad to see).

But even so, I still love China. It really is a world of its own. You can meet hundreds of different cultures, see humble villages and mega cities, experience ancient traditions and cutting edge tech, travel through almost all climate zones, terrains/landscapes, flora and fauna -and still never leave its borders.