Welcome to irishbornchinese.com's blog. This is specially for IBCs (Irish Born Chinese) to post articles with regards to IBC's life in Ireland and comment on articles posted. The real reason for this site is that I wanted to bring together all the 2nd generation IBCs, either hang out, or chat on irishbornchinese.com's message board. Here you can talk about almost anything, fun places to be, games, music etc. In the future (or sooner) I would like to be able to link up with other overseas born Chinese forums/sites. Of course, even if you are not an IBC, come join in the discussions/views, and send me your articles. "Let's get together." Enjoy! -- Vicky Lee Wei Kay (李韋岐)
Series following George Lee as he investigates whether China's growing economic power represents an opportunity or a threat.
It's a four-part series, more info at http://www.rte.ie/news/features/china/georgeleeinchina.html.
Only found out after seeing an ad for it tonight (23:15 on RTE One). Keep an eye out for the next 3 eps throughout 2008 (according to RTE).
... are Asian. Guess what? Hong Kong International airport is the top airport according Skytrax after
collecting 8.2 million questionnaires from passengers over a 10-month period last year and this year.
So there was an article about the Asian businesses in the north side of the city, and from my interview with SCMP, I mentioned there was no Chinatown in Dublin. Well, some establishments want to have some sort of gateway for a Chinatown.
Business owners on Parnell Street have petitioned Dublin City Council to let them turn the area into an "official Chinatown" by building a giant archway, flanked by golden dragons, at the entrance to Parnell Street. If the council agrees to the project, it will be a real sign of just how diverse Ireland has become in a relatively short period of time. [...]
I wished it appeared sooner than the 12th (since the column IBC was featured in was the 13th July).
In the Indo, amusing tidbit about China cracking down on streaking and the f-word. Only in China, "Spectators House Rules"... it's not going to be easy. You cannot just change people habits just like that, it'll take time. I sure hope they have enough western loos there, I hate squat loos.
I forgot to blog that I was interviewed by Mark Footer from South China Morning Post. If you are subscribed to SCMP, you can read the whole article, but here is the article online.
First, it's the news that Bruce Lee's last home will become a museum (Reuters). A billionaire turned down an offer of HK$105 million (6.8 million pounds) for this mansion.
Billionaire Yu Panglin said:"I will consider the views of the community and different parties. I may consider donating the property if the majority thinks we should preserve it,"
The next news is about Jackie Chan who recently filmed a documentary promoting HK. Hong Kong Tourism Board recently announced that he is the new ambassador for tourism. Check out some of the pics.
Went to the HK tourism board and found their link to their Youtube page. The video promoting the Olympics is sooooooo cheesy!
I'm bi-lingual (English/Cantonese). What's that got to do with it? Well, came across this article (via Reuters) Switching languages can also switch personality: study. It's mainly about study on people who switch betweem English and Spanish, and studying their behaviour.
"Language can be a cue that activates different culture-specific frames," the researchers said in a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
I definitely can relate to that, take for instance, how I behave when I talk to my Irish friends and my Chinese friends when we all go out. My tone completely changes when I speak Cantonese, I'm more closer to Hong Kongers type of speaking here. I find that I am more expressive when I speak in Cantonese. I haven't thought how I really feel when I speak in English, I'm probably more serious?!? I think this would be quite hard off the top of my head unless I take notes all the time on my behaviour when I speak in either languages. Maybe someone might feel different who speaks more than one language.
I've finally gotten around to do it up, download it from here (yes, it's a PDF file, you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader if you cannot read it). It's just a round up of what's been happening in the forum since March.
All those flights I've been on, when turbulence hits the plane (worst I've been through has to be from Cairns to Tokyo when we were crossing the equator at the end of January in my last leg of our honeymoon. Just saw this news article about turbulence hitting a Cathay Pacific flight and a few people got injured. That's a big EEP for me. I tend to hold on to my hubby's hand real tight and I feels like I was about to rip up the armrest, I was tense. I'm sure many feel that way as well when the plane sort of drops a few feet when the plane is rumbling and shaking.... okay, better stop before I scare myself silly and not get on the plane.
Down in Limerick, three Chinese renters demolished part of their accommodation to grow cannibis were busted. I suppose it's a scam that gangs do but we never hear about it, but some still get through. I hope this does not cause too much trouble for Chinese renters.
I've always wondered what this fruit was called, I just found out it's called a Mangosteen. The latest fad in diets, http://tinyurl.com/5qm6eb (from MDN). More info about this fruit at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangosteen.
Andy pinged me about this. Hehe, I had to mouth the pronouciations once to make sure I what I was reading and what I thought it was are both the same.
Just happen this morning in Hong Kong. They issued a black warning around 6:40am (their time).
More from BBC News (you can view the video there as well), and also here from HK gov site.
Hutchinson Telecom's made a deal with Apple to officially launch the iPhone in HK.
Existing subscribers of Hutchison Telecom, a unit of conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa , were expected to be the first users of the iPhone in an early program starting this summer, the South China Morning Post said.
You don't really have to look hard, just head into the Golden Arcade.
At present, Hong Kong people can only buy the iPhone, a mobile phone that allows Internet access and plays music, through unofficial channels often in the form of parallel imports.
Other than that, there are no other details are given by Hutchison Telecom.
500 diners, 3500 ducks and lotsa fish. The biggest Chinese restuarant in the world (bbc4) based in West Lake (Hunan). Employees of 1000!
Work as a team. Do our best.
And they sing their motto.
They have a huge kitchens.... 1000's KG of meat and veg and 5 kitchens!
And they are fully booked!
The surrounding grounds of the restaurant and the premises itself is ultra chinese kitsch. They even have a stage with 800 seating spaces! An entertainment hall!
The employees are dressed up in tradional gard, guests are treated like they are emperors for one of their most expensive meals (the imperial meal). There's performers, even announcements and wishes for guests to enjoy their meals, just like royalty back in the days. Each dish has its own story.
They have a snack avenue, on the street. Same chef to cook the same meal everyday to maintain quality. They explain the process of how it's cooked.
The restaurant is always looking for new dishes, as their patrons are so demanding of wanting something new each day (from what the owner says)
They make sure the chef refresh their skills often.
Man, they get alot of ducks, 150-200 a day! All from one farm, they are all wild ducks. Owner goes and check the local food and how's it's cooked and adapt it for the resturant. A clip that was unnerving was the killing of a duck where they pierced the duck's chest to find its heart and pull it out!
They have competitions for the chefs. (it's like iron chef or the anime)
It's amazing how they kill, skin and chop the snake so quickly! And the snake is still moving even though it is in pieces! Eew. They scale and clean the fish and are ready for frying, the chef was holding onto the fish with his hans and hand was protected by a towel and he dunked the fish in the hot oil! The fish was still moving when he took it out and placed it on the plate! It just seems so cruel!
They make so much money that they have machines to count the them! They have meetings every morning to talk about problems from the previous days, and how to correct them. They check for cleaniness everywhere.
With the intent of being the best, the owners know that all locals know how to make tofu but the owner thinks that the chefs need to do better as their tofus are not as good. So the owner takes the chefs out to learn how to make tofu, incls. trekking up hills to get the spring water. From 10 dishes of tofu a day to over 100 a day. because of the quality of water used.
So, it has been interesting documentary of an owner, who's venture from the support of friends and family has cumulated in one of the largest and most successful restaurant in China and perhaps the world.
