The bottom line is, we don’t know exactly, but we can assume that Chinese politicians agreed and the engineers started development work for a Chinese moon rocket strong enough to put at least one person on the moon. The schedule says they will be ready in 12 years from now, which is the year 2022. Well, large scale project always get delayed, so I keep up my prediction that the earliest date for a Chinese person landing on the moon still is the year 2027.

1914 map of China. Source: Wikipedia

When I go to a party or to a bar I sometimes go there with friends, but sometimes I go alone. When I’m going alone I make a lot of new friends there. I talk to many people and of course a typical question is how I spend my free time. I have a number of hobbies. I like to do a barbecue with friends, I like snowboarding and I like other things. Mentioning one of these can unfold in good and long conversations. However, if I mention that I learn Chinese, the other person most often doesn’t know what to say. Sometimes they state that Chinese must be a very difficult language to learn, but then the topic is pretty much over.

I’m also registered with a few social networks (facebook, etc.) and there is one network which is rather popular here in Germany and there are two items of particular interest in people’s profiles. The title of the first is: “Places I have been to previously” and the other is “Places I want to visit in the future”. And so far I have to find a single non-Asian person, except myself, who either has been to China or wants to go to China. In fact people want to go to many places all over the world, but very few want to go to Asia at all. Only Japan, Thailand and Bali (Indonesia) are mentioned by a few people. A handful people have visited or want to visit Israel and Dubai. A single person wants to visit Vietnam. But that’s it regarding Asian countries. Note that I have looked at a limited number of profiles.

If China was as big as Paraguay or if China had as few inhabitants as Finland I wouldn’t be surprised. But it’s not like that. In fact China today has a lot of weight in many ways. Now China is regularly present in the mainstream news media. Of all foreigners studying in Germany, Chinese people are the largest group. So I kind of assume, people must have heard of this strange place called China. I do not expect everyone to know things about China. But the reality is, most people are completely uninterested in China, if not even ignorant.

So I have been thinking,
how is it possible that hardly anyone knows about China.

And I think the answer is pretty simple. Countries are not well known by default. They are only well know if they offer something for the typical ADD victim (Attention Deficit Disorder). Many people, if not a majority of people today suffer from ADD. They need a lot of attention by others and only can give little attention to others. Political news won’t cut it for them, they need Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. They need something that makes their life more fun.

Looking at China I can hardly see anything that the typical ADD victim could possibly be interested in. Apart from the fact that Chinese music is mostly boring it is also sung in Chinese and thereby very inaccessible. Chinese music has no edge at all. There is no Chinese Eminem yet. Although I do not understand a word of French I still listen to French Hip-Hop, simply because it sounds good. But Chinese music that is pleasant to the ear? I haven’t heard any so far. (My examples feature Hip-Hop, but I do see the same problems with Chinese Rock, Metal, Jazz, Techno and other music genres) They only have cheesy love songs.

How about movies? The situation is pretty similar to the music situation. There are very few movies or TV series in the mainland that I can bear to watch. When it comes to Hong Kong and Taiwan the movies are much better. In fact a few HK movies have been translated and exported overseas. While Taiwan and HK movies are better, the audience in these countries is rather small and publishers have a hard time evaluating if these movies can also succeed overseas. So they rarely make their way to the Western world.

Violence but no love. This is what I think when I see movies from the mainland. Last year when I was in Shanghai, watching TV in the evening, I saw some pretty disturbing war movies during prime time at 8 in the evening. But did I see any love? I have to think very very hard. No kisses. Kisses are also often cut out of Hollywood movies. Maybe a hug here and there. The lover of violent war films might find something interesting, but that’s not for me and I think many other people will agree.

Pornography is also completely of the map when it comes to China. Japan is well known all over the world for their steamy movies, especially amongst the male population. Although opinions on pornography vary, it has previously successfully promoted the CD (compact disk) and DVD (digitally versatile disk). It has probably promoted Japan to some degree and China is clearly missing out here.

Furthermore, there is no special well known alcoholic beverage coming from China. Japan has Sake. Many countries have their own special alcoholic product. Where is China’s special alcohol? Baijiu? I think baijiu could earn a name as a cleaning product. So how about Mijiu or ricewine? This one could become famous if some Chinese company makes an effort. Mijiu has a unique flavor and I have tasted a few bottles that feature a very pleasant and probably mainstream compatible taste. Maybe if they can make it a little bit sweeter to get it popular amongst young drinkers it could become a success story. It just hasn’t happened yet.

Beautiful beach in Sanya, Hainan, China. Source: Wikipedia

So what is left? Japan is well known for its Anime culture. Personally I’m not interested, but I do know a few people who started learning Japanese just because they like Anime stuff. Thailand and the Philippines are notorious for sex tourism. China also has its fair share of the red light business, but for some reason word hasn’t spread out all over the world. This is another missed chance for China to be well known. Then there are the beautiful beaches in many places of South East Asia. China has Hainan and I heard it is also very nice there. Yet it seems completely inaccessible to Western tourists.

I have my personal reasons why I’m interested in China. Namely great food, can’t live without my regular Hot Pot, attractive women and a challenging language. But China lacks products suitable for the average Joe and it also needs to ramp up the marketing for those things that already exist in China.

Does China intentionally behave this way to be the unknown, mysterious place?
Do you see a potential world class mass-compatible product coming from China?
If you come from a non-Asian country, what do your fellow people say when you tell them that you are learning Chinese?

Yesterday evening some friends an me were watching the world cup game for 3rd place, Germany against Uruguay. And of course, like before all games, a band plays the national anthem and many of the football players sing along. Also singing along were most of my friends in front of the TV. And at moments like these I think if I should learn our German national anthem. But why should I? What makes Germany so special that it deserves to be praised with a song?

Germany is just one company amongst many. And I pay money to get a service. I can pay 1 Dollar to get a bottle of Evian water, but I wouldn’t learn the Evian commercials by heart. For 100000 Dollars I could buy a nice Mercedes, but I wouldn’t learn their jingle by heart. For Germany I will pay a lot of money in form of taxes. It’s just another transaction between Junjie and some company. I pay taxes and they allow me to use their roads, their police protects me etc.

Next time in front of TV (in 4 years), I most probably still won’t be able to sing out national anthem. What do you think about this?

2011: Building of the first space station of China, called Tiangong-1. Maybe space station is a bit of an exaggeration, as it seems to be only two modules attached to each other and rather short lived.

2015: The second space station, this time a real space laboratory will be put in space and stay there for a while. No exact duration is given. I guess this is the mission that is also known as Tiangong-2, previously assumed to take place in 2013. It’s supposed to consist of a laboratory, a cargo ship and the Shenzhou crew transport vehicle. I guess multiple Shenzhous will be used to bring several crews in a row.

2020: Construction of a long lived space station, consisting of three 20 metric ton laboratories. This station should stay in space for roughly 10 years and it’s the first time I hear about this third Chinese space station on the schedule. This might be called Tiangong-3 then and it looks pretty similar to the previous Russian MIR space station.

Furthermore a concept study for a manned flight to the moon should be conducted in the nearby future.

This schedule supports my previous assessment, that there will be no Chinese moonflight in the early 2020s. However I’d like to see more international cooperation, so we can see bigger space stations much faster. That would be awesome.

Original document: China Manned Space Flight Program

See the full news video on Tudou:
North Korea beats Brazil 1:0

Place 1: 林柯彤 representing 意大利

Is 林柯彤 there to support the Italian team or to distract them? Pigtails for the win. Lin Ke Tong definitely earned her first place.

Place 2: 王贝迪 representing 乌拉圭

For not having that infantile Hello Kitty smile 王贝迪 wins place #2. Despite being quite attractive, Wang Bei Di didn’t help Uruguay get a single goal against France last Friday. Cheer harder

Place 3: 邓伊桃 representing 阿根廷

邓伊桃’s legs are as long as 阿根廷 stretches along Southern America. Deng Yi Tao’s dark painted fingernails definitely win my heart and a third place.

Place 4: 黄蔼妍 representing 喀麦隆

A wild haircut saves 黄蔼妍 the fourth place. By selecting clothes better Huang Ai Yan could have done way better. Cameroon’s flag has three colors, not one.

Place 5: 段潇洁 representing 葡萄牙

段潇洁 offers 175cm of classic Chinese beauty. Can Cheerleader Duan Xiao Jie help Portugal win the Football Cup?

Credit: Sina’s collection of Chinese Football Babes. Check out all the hotties there. Each team has one.

http://ihome.ust.hk/~lbsun/terms.html

Reading recommendation: My Kafkaesque Life and Taiwan
My Kafkaesque Life is currently producing the best pictures from Taiwan. Taiwanese food, super modern buildings, serene nature and even some Taiwanese ladies, it’s all there. And there are really masses of beautiful pictures. Want to see some eye candy from Taiwan, check out the site.

A shoutout to Aremonus
A shoutout to Aremonus, who is going to China this week. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a blog so far to let everyone take part in his adventures. Have fun!

Finally
That’s it for now, see you guys next time